About

Hi! My name is Alexis, and I’m super passionate about running.

Specifically, I’m really into half marathons.

I am designing my best life and running happens to be a huge part of it. 

But it isn’t only about running.

“Running” is also a metaphor for controlling, creating, and designing my best life, intentionally. 

I am passionate about running, making financially smart decisions, and creating my best possible life.

My running experience started when I joined the military at 19, but I wasn’t very good at it. In fact, I hated every minute of it.

Why?

Because I spent all my training runs comparing my splits to the time I thought I needed to hit for my physical fitness test. Thus, I spent a small amount of time was spent running because it was painful. I despised it!

Then, I made a decision that changed everything.

I decided to make running a habit, no matter how fast or slow I went. I knew that in order to make this a habit, I would have to find a way to enjoy it. Thus, I finally allowed myself to run slow.

What did this look like in practice?

I told myself I would run continuously for 30 minutes. No walking. I could shuffle as slow as I needed to, but I would not walk.

Side note: For me, I wanted to get over the mental hurdle. I was physically able to run, my mind really just didn’t want to keep moving forward.
If walk/run intervals work best for you, then do that! The best running plan is the one that you can stick with.

And so it started. I jogged so slow to catch my breath that I felt like I was barely moving, but I kept moving forward in a steady shuffle. I was moving at a 13-14 minute per mile pace.

But this is when everything changed. Something happened in me.

I enjoyed my run.

I kept working at it. I ran continuously for a certain amount of time, forgetting about pace and distance.

Before long, I could continuously run over 45 minutes. Only then did I allow myself to speed up the pace or make a goal to cover a certain distance.

And so I realized, running can actually be an enjoyable experience if only we allow ourselves to slow down and be okay with running slow.

I have since worked up to faster paces and longer distances, but my “easy” pace is still somewhere around 11-12 minutes per mile.

After my light bulb moment when I learned to slow down, I learned that most athletes actually train the great majority of their miles at a pace MUCH SLOWER than their race pace. Like 2-3 minutes slower per mile than their race pace.

HOLY COW! Who knew??

Now I go slow most of the time, but the consistency that has come with learning to enjoy running has allowed me to run much, much faster on race day.

Since this initial realization, I have continued running as a part of my lifestyle. I ran my first half marathon in September 2018, and I’m hot in the pursuit of several more half marathons.

I think it’s safe to say I’m addicted!

The Running My Best Life blog is a manifest of my passions.

In addition to running, I am also very passionate about personal finance and travel hacking. My husband and I became debt-free at the age of 23, and love sharing how we create our best financial life with friends and family.

He’s a sweatheart…and when I talk him into running with me, he usually smokes me!

A few non-running things about me:

  • I’m married, and my husband is the greatest thing since sliced bread. He’s the peanut butter to my jelly, and he keeps me from working too hard. I would probably be a really boring person without him.
  • We have 2 fur babies, Bruno (Adorable Pit/Lab Mix) and Ginger (Rhodesian Ridgeback/Blackmouth Cur Mix).
  • We live in Utah, love downhill skiing, camping, hiking, and all things being outdoors.
  • By day, I’m a project manager for the government. (And that’s all I can tell you about that.)
  • I’m also working on my Master of Business Administration right now. SO…that takes up a ton of what little free time I thought I had.
Ginger and I on a hike, with some of the beautiful views not far from our house

I hope my stories, experiences and advice inspire you to create your best life.

Some of the topics I like to write about include:

I created this blog because I want to share my ideas and help others. Running My Best Life is designed purely for the benefit of the reader–YOU!

Become part of the community:

I would love to hear about YOUR running story!

Jump into my FREE 6-Day Half Marathon Training Kick-start Course, or grab a copy of my FREE Running Workout Tracker, respond to the first email, and let me know how you got started on your running journey. Thanks for joining the community!

Happy Running,

Alexis

Running My Best Life