My best advice for avoiding injuries is to diversify your practice.

I love running and I’d do it every day if I could, but I know my physical and mental health benefits greatly from other activities like strength training, stair climbing, hiking, and yoga.

It’s hard to be kind to others when someone is yelling at you all the time. This is a testament to positive self-talk and it rings so true.

We often speak to ourselves in a way that we’d never speak to someone we love, and I’m trying to be kinder to myself so I can offer that positivity to anyone I encounter.

I find a healthy balance by doing different types of exercise every week, eating balanced meals to fuel my training, sleeping as close to 8 hours as I can, and also saying yes to exciting things even if they throw all that routine out of whack.

Everything’s better with a community.

I wish more people experienced how much fun a healthy lifestyle can be and the doors it will open for them.

My favorite way to start the day is working out with November Project, a free fitness movement that started in Boston.

I do a long run with a few of my training friends early on a Saturday morning.

I’ve found a handful of strong women who challenge my pace every week, and I feel so powerful running together as we talk about everything under the sun.

Miles tick by and before you know it, we’ve accomplished something that felt insurmountable hours before.

I was truly challenged when I left my friends and boyfriend behind in my absolute favorite city and moved to Los Angeles last year.

“There will come a day that you cannot do this. Today is not that day.”

I found this mantra before I started training for my first marathon, and my mom had just been diagnosed with a neurodegenerative muscle disease.

I felt like as she was losing her ability to move her body, I had to take full advantage of that privilege.

It reminds me to do everything I can when I can and never take my health for granted.

A friend once told me that running is supposed to feel hard, which has been surprisingly freeing because it helped me accept that it’s ok if some runs just feel like a struggle.

You can’t get that runner’s high every day, and as you start to set aggressive goals and work towards getting faster or running longer, it’s going to be tough.

When I start to get uncomfortable, I tell myself that I can do hard things.

We can always push so much further than our minds tell us. “

Dreaming by Smallpools

I dance to this one in my car. It’s my road trip song.

I like to run the Harvard Stadium stairs with November Project in place of an interval run.

It’s incredibly intense, challenges different muscle groups, and easily the hardest workout in town.

You lunge up the big steps and run down the small steps with quick feet as you recover. Your calves and quads will feel it for days!

Start small!

Before every run, do a quick dynamic warm up routine to get those legs loose.

Think lunges, squats, hip circles, leg swings, and butt kicks.

After a few minutes, start running at a comfortable pace and alternate with walking segments.