How to reach your goals by making fitness a lifestyle with Alexandra Walker! Ep81

Richard Conner 0:00

Hey everyone. Are you wondering what will it take to get to the next level in your fitness journey, whether it’s running your first 5k or becoming an elite racer? Well, we’re going to talk to Alexandra Walker, who shares her amazing story about going from not running at all to becoming an elite racer and winning championships. And she does this all while working and being a single mom. So just an inspiring story that she’s going to share her tips to help you along your journey. Hope you enjoy.

Intro/Outro 0:33

Welcome to Inspire to run podcast. Here you will find inspiration. Whether you’re looking to take control of your health and fitness or you’re a seasoned runner, looking for community and some extra motivation. You will hear inspiring stories from amazing runners, along with helpful tips from fitness experts. Now here’s your host Richard Conner.

Richard Conner 0:56

Hi, everyone, welcome to inspire to run Podcast. Today I have the honor of sitting down with Alexandra Walker, aka Alex. Alex is a mom of a 15 year old son and lives in San Antonio, Texas. She was born in Bogota, Colombia, and raised all over South America. Alex started running after her divorce and then got into obstacle course racing in 2014. In 2018, she took fourth in the World’s Toughest Mudder and third in the 3k No RAM Championship. In 2019. She took fifth in the Spartan World Championship, and 21 and 22/4 in the Spartan US national series. Alex is coached by Nancy Culp, and people can follow her program. They’re so welcome to the show. Alex,

Alexandra Walker 1:41

thank you for having me.

Richard Conner 1:44

The honor is all mine. You have such wonderful accomplishments and an inspiring story. So really looking forward to getting into the conversation learning a little bit more about you, and I’m sure will inspire our community here.

Alexandra Walker 1:57

Yeah, definitely, hopefully.

Richard Conner 2:00

For sure, so you know, great bio here, we’ll just kind of roll back the clock a little bit. I’m most interested in starting your story about when you started to get running, get into running after your divorce. So would love to just kind of start there and learn a little bit more about what was going on. And what really led you to make the choice to do running. Yeah, so

Alexandra Walker 2:20

I’ve always been in sports. I’ve just never been a runner. And so after I got divorced, I don’t even know the year. That’s how long it’s been 14 years ago. I had gained weight after I had my son and I was like, well, I should probably do something. And I had worked at a company that had a gym there. And they just you could go work out for like an hour during your lunch. And so a group of us started doing it. And then we’re like, let’s start running. So then we picked up running and we could barely run half a mile. It was kind of funny. And that’s kind of how it started. And then we signed up for a 5k and five K’s lead the 10 ks and half marathons and marathons and then I was like, Oh, well, I want to try trail running running on the road is really boring. And I found trail running. And then I was like, Well, this is fun. But like what else is there? And a group of people had done Tough Mudder at my work. And I was like, Oh, well, you know, I want to do that like obstacles, like being a big kid in playing on things. That sounds great. So I signed up for a Tough Mudder went and did it. I’m really competitive. So I didn’t like that. They don’t time you you don’t know where people are at like it wasn’t, it was fun, but I was not the kind of person that just goes and does things for fun. So then I was like, Okay, well, let me see what else I could do. And I found out about Spartan racing, and then that’s timed. And so I signed up for a beast in Dallas, and I went and did it. My brother actually like the day before signed up. Also he’s like, I’m coming and doing it too. And my mom’s like, well, you’re not a runner, but he came out and we did it. I couldn’t even climb a rope. There was like tons of obstacles I couldn’t do. And then after that, I was like alright, well what do I need to do to fix that? And I looked up like where you could train for obstacle course racing and I found power Park fitness, which is outside San Antonio in spring branch. And I went out there and David who owns it taught me how to climb a rope and do monkey bars and I got stronger and then I was like okay, well what do I do next. And that’s where I ended up hiring Yancey as a coach. And I then found out there’s like the Elite Field for Spartan racing, where you don’t just go and get time you can also be competitive with other people at the time age group wasn’t a big deal, but elite was. And so I was like, I’m going to do that. And I went out to Austin. I did it. I think I was like 10th. And then I was like, Well, what do I need to be? How fast do I need to be to be with the top girls? And that’s kind of how I put everything together and became what I am now.

Richard Conner 4:53

That’s That’s really incredible. And I’m so impressed how you came from not running at all. Oh, All the way to winning these championships, and I love your mindset along the way. So I gathered, you’re very competitive, but not only competitive, you are taking action and you’re taking those steps to improve yourself and to win. And that’s, that’s really incredible and inspiring. And I’d love to know just a little bit about, you know, kind of going back a little bit again, but like, why running versus, you know, other you said, you played sports before. But, you know, there are a number of folks who are looking at running like, I don’t want any anything to do with that. Like, why did you choose that versus another sport?

Alexandra Walker 5:33

Oh, I’ve never had been asked that question. Um, well, one, all you need is shoes. So I think it was like, the easiest thing to just get out my door kind of thing. Like, if you get into biking, you have to buy a bike, you have to buy a helmet, you have to buy shoes, you have to buy all this other stuff, which we think running is cheap, but it really is it by the time you sign up for races and do everything else, it all adds up. It is an investment. But at first it simply just getting out the door, like anybody can do it. And then I just wanted something where I could move my body. And I just, I felt, I guess therapy with it. You know, like I said, I went through a divorce. And you know, with that I had to find something that I could like, fight I guess what demons i might be having in my head. So like release any stress, I was a single mom, like, what am I going to do at this point. And I think running just made me feel better, and just kind of helped me, I guess, calm my mind in a way. And then I could get back to being a parent when I needed to get home.

Richard Conner 6:33

I love that. And I appreciate you sharing that, you know, I’m sure there are a lot of other folks who are in similar situations. And running can be the outlet not only physically, but mentally. And I appreciate you sharing your own story around that. And you know, just to kind of share my story to connect with kind of how you progress from not running to winning championships. So I ran cross country in high school. So for me, running was my sport, right? That’s where I started. But I was never, I was never the top runner. And it took a number of years off. And then I got back into running by running the 5k at my old high school, which was very nostalgic, and it was a lot of fun. But it still wasn’t consistent with it. And I think similar to your story, I really became more consistent when I found obstacle course racing. So same thing, didn’t know how to climb a rope. I was scared of heights, I still am and really couldn’t do you know a lot of the obstacles, the to decline in the sport in a Spartan Race. And I did my first race, I think it was back in 2018. I finished it, but then I looked back, I was like, You know what, I could do that better. But I need a coach and did the same thing, right hired a coach and who helped me learn the techniques and learn the obstacles. But at the time, I was thinking, Well, I just need someone to show me what to do. And then I’m just gonna go do it. But my coach helped me with so much more. And one of those was really kind of that motivation and accountability that I thought it was like self motivated. But there was a lot more benefits to getting a coach.

Alexandra Walker 8:03

Oh, yeah, when you can guide yourself so much. But you need to have someone to keep you one accountable to ask you questions. Three, like you need a someone to bounce your thoughts off of when it comes to training, like, Hey, I felt this way or this and that. And that way they have like constructive criticism. And you have to be open to taking that in. And you also have to be open that like you’re not going to be the best at it. Like a lot of people see these people come into OCR, and they just have these phenomenal races, and it’s just natural to them. Now we just never saw whatever their backstory was whether wherever they came from, we just never saw. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen that picture with the mountain. And then there’s like the other side of it under the water. Nobody sees that bottom half of whatever hard work they put in it just this made their sport. Click.

Richard Conner 8:51

That’s right. And I’m so glad you brought that up. Because, again, if you’re someone who’s not running today, or maybe you’re doing in a five K’s and you’re looking to do more of like half marathons marathons, you’re like, wow, it might feel like a big leap from where you are today to get to that point. But you’re absolutely right. Anybody who gets to where they are, they had to build up to it. They didn’t just happen overnight. Like I’m sure that there is point 1% That probably could just put on shoes and never run a marathon before and just do it. But that’s not the majority of us.

Alexandra Walker 9:20

Yeah. And I do think that anybody can put on shoes and go run a marathon. It just depends on how fast you’re going to do it. It might take you 12 hours, but it depends. Also, like I do believe that you can get up and our bodies are meant to move. But it just depends on your mindset. Like you’re not going to go run a three hour marathon, but it might take you 12 You can walk it with blisters.

Richard Conner 9:41

Good point. Good point. Yep. Yep, definitely. So super cool. So you know, thank you for sharing that to kind of where you are today in terms of you’re performing very well in your races. And I know you’re continuing to, you know, improve and look to continue to improve your performance and so Tell me a little bit about kind of during that journey, what would you say was the biggest obstacle that you faced? And how did you overcome it?

Alexandra Walker 10:07

Um, I guess managing time, like I worked full time, and then I had my son. And then I also went back to school to be a dental hygienist. So I was in school full time. Fortunately, I have amazing parents that helped me out with that. And then I, my sister also lives in the area. So she would help me with my son. But I would either run with him in a stroller, put them on a bike when he was old enough. And then when he was little bit older, every Spartan Race I went to, he went to it. So like most of the Texas community knows my son, because he would be hanging around all the races, since he was little. And it’s fun to watch him to where he is now where, you know, he’s faster than I am. So I don’t know, I guess, finding the time and then realizing that sometimes it’s going to be waking up at four o’clock in the morning, or it’s going to be after work at nine o’clock at night, you know, and sometimes I might have to run up and down the street, because my son was sleeping at the time he was young. And I would just run up and down the street and do my workout right there. And it might be boring. But if you want it, you’re going to figure out how to get it

Richard Conner 11:09

completely agree, completely agree. And I love how you incorporate family in what you’re doing. Right. It’s not two separate activities. It’s really, you know, you’re managing your life and a lot, there’s a lot of overlap. So really great way finding that balance and bringing your family and then I see your posts on social media with your son. And it looks like he’s becoming quite the athlete. So you know, tell us a little bit about kind of how that started and how that’s going.

Alexandra Walker 11:33

Yeah, I definitely did not think that I was going to create the ultimate trading partner with my son. I was not even my mindset. I was just like, Well, he’ll get to do the Spartan kid races, and he’ll have fun. And then I would put them at the local races because I would be running like something and he would just join in. And then he wasn’t really competitive. He’d be the kid that would go and grab the little girl sandbag and carry it for her and help her and I’m like, No, you’ll drop the sandbag and go like I’m competitive. And he’s like, no, she needs help. And so I never thought I’d see him have that fire in him where his claws would come out. But come Middle School, he got into cross country in eighth grade and track and he went sub five in the mile. And then he kind of saw that he was good at it. And he then as a freshman now is 440 miler, and then his two mile is in the 956 as five K’s in the 60s. And then he’s also does obstacle course racing in DECA. And so he’s a stronger runner. So it’s fun. Now he’s like, I’m chasing him, I can still out carry him on buckets and sandbags and certain things because he’s still young, and he’s having to create that strength. And that takes years. But so we balanced out when we race each other in OCR, but if it comes to a road race, he’s gonna put me in the ground.

Richard Conner 12:56

That’s incredible. Well, congratulations to him. And I love again, seeing the post and seeing his journey. And, you know, thinking about my own journey with my kids, or my younger ones are still relatively young. But, you know, we talked about like, how do I get them more active? And one of the easiest ways is to do it through running, because that’s what I know. And that’s what I do. So I’ve been really thinking about, like, how do I do that with my own training, and maybe this is something you can even help me with. And maybe our listeners are in a similar situation. My training is for half marathons, and my training is for deca, they’re not doing any of that today, right? They would just be getting started. So how do you how do you do your training and as well as have your son as your training partner, especially when you got started,

Alexandra Walker 13:40

I put them on a bike, you know, they’re not going to run as far as you do, they’re not going to want to be out there for an hour or two hours. But if you put them on a bike, they can have fun, they can be in charge of snacks, they can be in charge of water handing you water, like make them part of being coaching you because they feel part of the team. And they have fun with it. You know, and that’s where you start out in DECA now has a kid’s part where they have like the little 10 pound rams, so then you can also incorporate that and you know what the first time I sent a deck a strong I thought like you could just tell his little eyes like he hated it. Because it was so hard on him like they carry 260 pound dumbbells that’s 120 pounds. That’s basically what he weighs. And so watching him slowly get better at that strength has made him stronger and just gonna make them better people in the long run to have to overcome all those difficulties and watching you workout that makes them want to work out because fitness should be again a lifestyle and it should be something that goes on until you’re 90 you know if you make it that far and you want to be doing it all the time and you want to teach your kids that that’s a daily activity too.

Richard Conner 14:50

I love that. I love that. Yeah, definitely have to start with the bike and I was even thinking there’s a local well there’s obviously a lot of schools, but local school with a nice track. So could I do some of my workouts on the track where they’re still close by, and they could do anything at their pace, and then I’m doing my workout and we’re still together. And I liked the idea of having them help out. So I’ll start to think my, my, my little ones are at the point where I don’t know how helpful they will want to be, they could obviously be very helpful. But you know, they’re going into middle school. So I have to see how to encourage them to be helpful.

Alexandra Walker 15:25

If you ever do like Ultras, my son, since he was little, like, he would be my waterboy. Like, literally, if it’s a laptop Ultra, he would be the guy that handed me my water, enemies things and they just feel part of it. And then they get to go play for the 2030 minutes that you’re out running anyways. So there’s those things too, that you can incorporate also, rock climbing, like bouldering inside kids are amazing at it, just go do those kinds of activities where they can still have fun and be part of it, they want to move, they want to crawl up stuff and act like little kids too. And you get to be part of that. But I love the track idea. Because it does make sense like, and if they don’t want to, they can go run on the soccer field area.

Richard Conner 16:04

Until you love it. Awesome, awesome. So thank you for sharing that. And again, great job being a wonderful role model for your son, but also getting him active and getting him into sports and really looking forward to see all that he’s going to do in the coming years. And what I love to do is, you know, turn the conversation back to you in your training. So you know, we mentioned a little bit about your training with Yancey. Tell us a little bit about that, like, what is that training like for you and some of the areas that you’ve worked on some of the struggles that you had and how you overcame those?

Alexandra Walker 16:37

Yeah, so I was really good at obstacles. Once I figured them out. That was where my strength was, and my weakness was running. So we figured out how to put that together. And like Nancy is one of my friends. And we talked about my training. And we discussed like, what’s working what’s not. And, you know, I just if I wanted to compete with the best I needed to be a better runner. So we definitely have like those focus periods where we focus more on the running and the speed and the strength and the climbing up mountains. And then you also have like your obstacles because you can’t forget about that. And it’s kind of weird. OCR is very similar to being a triathlete because you have multiple things that you work on besides strength, grip, work, and then running. It’s not just running. So you have to find that balance where you can get really strong, but you can still run fast. And then you also want to still keep with the grip work. And so Yancey kind of just puts all that together.

Richard Conner 17:32

And then how do you find balance even within that. So in my own situation I found, especially last year, I tried, I felt like I tried to do too much I want to get faster. And my half marathon time, I want to get better at the Spartan Races, which I did my first inperson Trifecta last year, which I’m super excited about. But I didn’t feel like I had enough time to do all of that super well, like reached my half marathon goals, as well as perform as well as I wanted to in sport. And so like how does that work? How do you kind of find the balance there?

Alexandra Walker 18:00

Well, if I’m going to get fast at my half marathon, I’m automatically going to be faster at Spartan because my running is just going to get better, right? And then it all comes down to like breaking down whatever race you want to do, right? So if you’re working on a half marathon on the road, the chances of you running a mountain Spartan isn’t going to go together. So you have to find what is your goal. But if you find a flatter, half marathon like Spartan like, you know, those that have like less hills, then you can put those together like that training does come together at some point. And then grip work. It’s a daily thing. I mean, I do pull ups every day, I have a hand gripper that I literally between my patients. I’m a dental hygienist and I will do my little hand grip workouts before my next patient comes in. So I incorporate it throughout my day.

Richard Conner 18:49

I love that, you know, and I’m sensing a theme that you do really well here is, you know, and I think you’ve even mentioned about fitness being a lifestyle, like you’re really incorporating fitness and just about everything that you do. And I think that’s an important lesson for folks is it’s not like this one thing you do off to the side, it truly free to be. I don’t know if I want to use the word successful, but maybe that’s the right word for you to be successful and reap the benefits. It’s it’s really a lifestyle, it’s something you have to incorporate in multiple aspects of your life.

Alexandra Walker 19:17

Yes. And if I walk away from the sport, it’s something that I want to continue doing. I might not do it at the level that I’m doing it or the amount of time I’m spending doing it. But I still want to continue to move my body until the day that I die. It’s just a little bit different for me in the sense that if I want to compete with some of the girls who don’t have jobs, and they’re able to, you know, wake up and train whenever they want, I have to put in those same hours if I want to compete at their level, and I want to be there so I have to find that time whether that means I wake up in the morning and run. If at lunch I run or just do some strength work and then I get home and I do some work like I have to find those two or three hours that they’re Putting in so that I can be just as good as them?

Richard Conner 20:04

For sure, for sure. And then, you know, what would you say are the benefits now, so you talked a little bit about the benefits back then when you first started running, and what you’re looking to get out of it, but you’re in a much different place today. So, you know, what are you looking for now? Or what benefits are you getting? Now, by putting in the time by getting up at 4am? By doing the comp, you know, competing in this elite world? What are you getting from it.

Alexandra Walker 20:28

So it’s kind of the same if I’m honest, because just as you want to get better back, then you’re doing the same no matter how fast you get, you still need to be a little bit faster. So you’re just constantly making something better. Like for me, I love running mountains, I can run down them really great, but I can’t run up them the same as some of the other girls who live in the mountain city. So I have to get on a treadmill and figure out how to get faster on the uphill. And then there’s just little things I actually break down my races after I race in I also use Strava. If you ever gone to races and you see like the little segments, one for the carry one for the first three laps, I tend to make a lot of those because I want to break down where I either did better than someone else or they did better than I am where I need to work. So if that means I need to be better at carrying heavy carries. And I will figure that out. If I need to be better at obstacle gauntlets, then I’m going to figure that out. If I need to be better just in the first three miles, then I’m going to figure that out, I kind of break it down like a puzzle piece and see where my weaknesses are. And then I work on them. And then I figure out how to still keep what I am good at alive.

Richard Conner 21:36

And that’s, you know, you’re still I love what you said there because you’re continuing to progress, it may look a little bit different today than it did back then when you first started. But you still have the mindset of you want to improve, you want to you want to progress and there’s always areas for us to work on, right. So nobody’s perfect. And you kind of set your goals to be to be there at the top. Yeah.

Alexandra Walker 21:59

And it to me, if I’m getting better, and I don’t want to race then I’m still getting better. So that makes me like check mark, I’m still reaching that ladder, and I’m stepping up. And that’s what’s most important to me, it’s when you get stale, that we tend to like get frustrated, or we get an injury and we get frustrated. But if you can just figure out how to just get a little bit better on that ladder, then we feel better about ourselves. So that’s how I feel about racing nowadays, if I can just be a little bit better than yesterday, then I’m, I’m doing what I need to do.

Richard Conner 22:31

Agreed agreed. And I’ve been kind of going through that as well over the last couple of years in particular, because I went through a period of time where I felt like, I’m not hitting my target time. But more than likely I’m getting the PRs. So I’m like, alright, well, at first, I’m feeling bad about myself, and I’m not really hitting that target time, I have to do better, I have to do better, and wasn’t really recognizing Well, I am improving. So that that counts for a lot, right? Maybe I didn’t hit some arbitrary time. But I put in the work and I am improving. So I’ve kind of changed my mindset is especially for this year, like, okay, my target time is really my stretch. But the PR is really what’s important to show that I’ve made it put in the work and I made the progress.

Alexandra Walker 23:12

Yeah. And we tend to also put big goals in our head and you being a cross country runner, when you were younger, that makes it a little bit difficult because I do watch people who have ran when they were in high school be a little harder on themselves, you’re never going to be 17 years old running those times. So you have to be realistic, right. But we all have big dreams that we create. And the way I put it is I have a big dream. And then I have a dream underneath it like a goal underneath it. And then I have a okay IPR. So if I can hit one of those three, then I need to be happy with what I’m doing. But we all have the big one, where it’s like, I’m gonna run a 15 minute 5k, or whatever that goal is. And it’s good. But then that’s what a coach is for to say, okay, that might not happen in the next six months. But it will happen if you keep going at it.

Richard Conner 24:01

Right, right. And that actually, that’s a really important point, too, because it’s also the time period. Right? So you may not be able to do it within just a couple of months. But give yourself enough time. And, and I know that there’s some runners who shared their journeys over the years, right, of maybe marathon races and what their time was, you know, time was over time. That sounds weird to say. But it took a while to kind of see that really big improvement to where they are today. So so that you’re exactly right. It does take time. And you do have to have that patience to go along with the work.

Alexandra Walker 24:34

Oh, yeah. Like when I first started the US National series in Spartan. I mean, Nancy was honest with me, it’s like you’re not in the same universe as these girls. So whatever we need to do to be in that universe, we’ll do it. And you just keep working hard. And we’ll get there and then it took a couple of years for me to get there where I can be in the area and see them when I’m racing. And that’s what I wanted, like whatever to close those gaps, right?

Richard Conner 24:58

Yeah, for sure. So What does that look like for you now? Like, what’s next for you? What’s your next big goals? Or what are you targeting for you know, this year and next.

Alexandra Walker 25:07

So I’m in the middle of the savage series. And so I’m doing that and then I dabble in deca, sometimes it’s not my wheelhouse, but I like to play there. As you know, my coach created deca, and I just love watching that become something big. I think hybrid fitness is the next big thing. And I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite, but I do like doing it like I enjoy going out there and suffering even if I’m not good at it.

Richard Conner 25:37

True story and the suffering part. I love DECA as well, but I love it when I’m done, because it’s such a big accomplishment. But I’ll take a road race any day and twice on Sunday. But a Decker race, I really have to mentally prepare for it. It’s, it could be 20 minutes of just pure focus and pain and torture. But you know, when you get on the other side of it, you’re like, look what I accomplished.

Alexandra Walker 26:02

It is more mental than physical, in the sense that you have to keep telling yourself to keep moving to keep going to keep pushing. And I feel like that when you’re done. And you’re like, Oh, I pushed past the bike, and I pushed past whatever mindset I had at that time, you know, because there’s every time I think I’ve done a deck, I’m like, I just want to quit right now. I don’t even want to keep doing this. And then I’m like, wait, we’re already in it. We only have a couple more stations. Let’s go. And so when you pass overcome those mental barriers, I guess it becomes like you said at the end, you’re like, Yeah, I did it.

Richard Conner 26:37

For sure, for sure. And you know, it’s funny, you mentioned that about quitting, you just have, you know, a couple of stations left, that was absolutely my first Decker race was a strong, and I got all the way to the burpees. And I probably had five burpees left. And in my mind, I’m like, I don’t even care if I finished this or not like I am so done. I just had five left, just do the five and then you’re done. So I’m in a different place today. But even thinking back then like, it’s, yeah, it’s definitely a mental game.

Alexandra Walker 27:05

It doesn’t matter how fit and good you’re at it. We all think the same thing. We’re all in that like pain cave, trying to like crawl out of it. So

Richard Conner 27:16

yeah, for sure. So you know, for our listeners, that’s a really important point. Because again, you’re if you’re seeing someone like you, Alex out there winning the winning these championships, getting on the podium, you’ve seen these half marathon marathon racers, and you’re not there today, you might think, Well, gosh, how can I ever get there, but you know, a lot of the things that we talked about is so true about, you know, first putting in the work, but just knowing that it’s going to take time, right? If you start and you put in the work, you’re going to improve, and you’re going to get towards whatever that goal is for you. So I love that we talked about that. And then kind of how do you build it in with everything else that you have going on in life and making it as part of your lifestyle and kind of building into your routines, whether it’s with your family, or whether it’s with work are getting up at four o’clock in the morning. So really, you know, really great tips there. And then, you know, really thinking about the mental aspect when you’re in it and staying focused and staying positive to push yourself through because it’s hard even for athletes, right? Even for experienced athletes, this is hard work. So just knowing that it’s not just you, right? It’s it’s all of us. But you know, through that pain, you’re gonna get progress, and you’re gonna get results.

Alexandra Walker 28:27

Yeah, we just know how to cover it up better on our faces. That’s reds, it doesn’t mean that we’re not hurting. We just know how to hide it a little bit.

Richard Conner 28:36

Well, you haven’t seen my photos yet. So I don’t hide very well, depending on the race. I don’t know. So I need your photographers, because my just gets me probably my, my worst moments. I don’t know. Well, when

Alexandra Walker 28:47

you get to where you’re trying to beat someone else, it’s how much can I pretend I’m okay, so that they heard a little bit more than you become a different game that you’re playing. I teach my son this all the time to like you’re going to hear someone greet different. And you’re going to know when to bite at that moment. And you know when to make that move, because in track, it’s the same thing. Like you can run by them, you might be hurting just as much. But if you pretend you’re not they are going to pull back. So it’s the same concept in our racing as well. It becomes a mental game of like, who is hurting and who’s going to show their cards first.

Richard Conner 29:25

Love it. Love it. Alex, this has been such a fun conversation we learned so much from you. Appreciate you sharing your story and your journey. Just incredible, incredible story. You know, kind of as we wind down here, what would be the one thing that you would say to our community to you know, I normally asked to help inspire them to run but with this conversation I would ask what would you say to inspire them to get to that next level?

Alexandra Walker 29:51

Consistency is not about like having these amazing workouts, it’s about consistently putting in maybe even just be level workouts. If every day you can do something that makes you a little bit better or a little bit better than your whoever you’re competing against. Because we all have people that we put in our heads and we all have, you know, things that we do. But if you can just remind yourself that if every day you’re doing something to make yourself better, it will come whenever it comes.

Richard Conner 30:17

Love it sage advice for our listeners. Really appreciate it. Alex, how can our listeners find you and you know, follow your incredible journey online?

Alexandra Walker 30:26

Um, Instagram is the best place to find me. I tend to use my stories and my reels the most there. So I don’t even remember my thing. I think it’s Alexandra, the Ranger or Texas Ranger on there. So but you can just look up Alexandra Walker, you’ll find me on Instagram. And that’s probably the best place and if you ever have questions, I do answer my DMs. So just send me a DM and I’ll get to it.

Richard Conner 30:51

Perfect, perfect. So I’ll put that information in the show notes to make it easier for our listeners to find you. And we talked a little bit about the work that you’re doing with the ANC and your program there. So maybe share a little bit about that as well.

Alexandra Walker 31:02

Yeah, so Yancey, Camp is waiting again to camp.com. And there’s different athletes for whatever you might be focusing on. And then you can pick your athlete like if you want to train with me, you pick me and then there’s an app that you can go to and we chat on the app. There’s a group you can chat with everybody. That’s part of it, you get my workouts and then we work together to reach your goals.

Richard Conner 31:27

Perfect, perfect. Alex, thank you so much for sharing this information. Thank you for coming on the show. And you know good luck this year. I know you’re gonna do great and your son as well. So excited to follow your journey and yeah, thanks again. Thank

Alexandra Walker 31:41

you. Appreciate it.

Intro/Outro 31:43

That’s it for this episode of inspired to run podcast. We hope you were inspired to take control of your health and fitness and take it to the next level. Be sure to click the subscribe button to join our community. And also please rate and review. Thanks for listening

Transcribed by https://otter.ai