2016: The Year of You

The New Year is almost here and you can hardly walk into a grocery check-out line without the “New Year, New You” magazine headlines slapping you in the face. We get the message, and most of us don’t need to make a drastic change. When you’re a runner, you know it’s the small changes that count.

So for 2016, instead of trying to reinvent ourselves, we’d prefer to take it one decision at a time to work toward a goal. I know some of us are wondering ‘how we can become better runners?’. Well, we have a few ideas that we are hoping to try as well.

• Believe in transformation. Last year, if you participated in a 5K run, step it up a notch in 2016 and try a 10K race. Not only will this force you out of your comfort zone, but maybe (if you keep on that training schedule), you’ll be ready to tackle a 15K like the Hot Chocolate race in Atlanta this January…woosah! Or a half marathon… or a marathon… there are so many BGR! members who started with their very first run and just kept at it, so don’t doubt yourself for a second. Take Bea's story for inspiration. One day she got all dolled up for a party, brought a poppin' purple dress, yet when she looked in the mirror she didn't like what she saw staring back. So Bea decided to do something about it! This could be YOU next year. 

• When your body has something to say - listen and take action (before it MAKES you). This is really key to any runner’s success. When you’re training for a race, the goal is to reduce the risk of injury and stress while boosting your enjoyment of running. This is also why we strongly encourage ladies to WALKB4URUN...shout out to everyone who ran their first race last year! Point is, you don’t want to train so much that you break your body down.

Consider our recipe for relaxation before or after a big race.

• Step one: Dry brush. With an all-natural bristle brush, brush your skin starting at your feet and move in long sweeping motions toward your heart.
• Step two: Once you’ve brushed your entire body, hop in the tub for a long soak. Rejuvenate your skin while soothing tight muscles and sore feet with Village Naturals Therapy Aches + Pains Tension Relief .
• Step three: After getting out of the tub, pat skin dry and apply Village Naturals Therapy Aches + Pains Muscle Relief Hand & Body Lotion. The best part is, Village Therapy is a BGR! sponsor… so love them extra when you need some relief. ;)

• Go through your pantry, and say goodbye forever. The holidays will be over before you know it, and there will be no more excuses. Sugar is addictive. The more you eat, the more you want. So go cold turkey on sodas. Quit sweets forever, and move on to just one daily dark chocolate square. Bad eating habits have consequences, and if you’re a runner, you absolutely will feel the difference when you eat healthier. Consider creating a meal plan that includes healthy post-race foods like kale, avocado, nuts or quinoa. Also, there are tons of “runner-friendly” smoothie recipes online that you could experiment with. After messing around with a few ingredients, we actually created a protein smoothie that tastes just like yellow cake...yum!

These are just a few ideas to get you motivated and excited for this New Year! By making just a few intentional changes, you can find the you you’ve been searching for! She’s not new… she’s been there all along!

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