Show notes
Who is Alison Staples? Alison is a physical therapy assistant, Crew leader at Riot Squad Running, run ambassador at Under Armor, and coach at Formula Running Center. What was it like starting running age 30, did any part of you feel behind? I had no idea about anything running. I ran in what we're getting to how I started running, but I had no idea about the right community. I didn't know the distance around a track. All I knew was that I just ran down the street and came back and it was, like, the most exhilarating fill in the world. I had no knowledge of anything else. The first time, I had to go for a run. It was awful, but I kind of just stuck with it because it was hard. And I was like, "Oh, this is hard. I think I like it." I was more of an elliptical person up until I started running. What made you decide to want to try running after being an "elliptical person"? I really wanted to run someday, but I didn't understand how people liked it. I went to the gym three days a week. I had my elliptical routine, the 25 or 35 minutes. And then I just did, like some squats and stuff and that was it. I was good. I worked at the time. Well, I still do. I work for a pediatric hospital, I work with kids and adults with spinal cord injuries. And in 2008, we decided to put together a team, a charity team for the Baltimore running festival. One of our co-workers had gone up to Boston and just fallen in love with the Boston Marathon, especially the hand cycle division and thought it would be a good idea to bring that back to Baltimore, especially to our patients who are paralyzed and can't walk. We put together a team for the Baltimore running festival, and I had a girlfriend, a Black woman who I really admired, there aren't a lot of Black therapists, so I looked up to her in that regards, and then she loved running, and I didn't see a lot of black women running at the time, so she was just like this magical unicorn, and I teased her about it all the time. But I secretly admired her tenacity when it came to like running how dedicated she was. When this charity team came around, she was like, "You know what? I think this would be good for you to do. You can meet so many people like this. Who knows? Maybe you'll meet your husband." That's how I met my husband. I'm, like, sign me up, so I was like, yeah, you know, whatever I'm doing 5k. And she told me I could not do a 5k. She wasn't paying the race fee for 5k. We had to do a half and I was like, I don't know what a half is, but it's not full so fine, and that that is how I got coerced into my first race It is really important to have people in our lives who believe in us a little bit more than we believe in ourselves, those role models, how could someone find a mentor like that? I think it's doing the things that you're most scared of, all the things that take you out of your comfort zone, and then you'll find someone who continuously pushes you out of your comfort zone and continuously sets the bar higher for you than you will ever set the ball for yourself. So, you know I was content on the elliptical, and she's like No, no, no, you have to do a half marathon now. Granted that's a huge job, and no one has to do that job, but that goes for anyone. So maybe you're like a solo runner and you really want to run with the group But you're really intimidated by your pace or just groups in general. So, maybe you find a group with less people, but, yeah, just stepping out of your comfort zone and finding things to do that you are scared off. We generally put you around people who will push you out of your comfort zone and really tap into potential that you have for sure. I don't know about you, but I've found with the mask situation that I find it easier to do things like that right now. I don't, I don't know why, maybe it's like I feel protected by the mask or something. But I've done quite a few things lately on my own where I'm taking in groups because I don't know, I feel like that sounds weird. Comforted by the mask like it allows me to be braver and just go out there on my own. I don't know. The crazy thing about this pandemic is that it strips us all of what we thought was important before. So, like, who cares about what? Choose the clothes you have on, or, you know, the fact that we're all struggling. Maybe the same, maybe in different ways. But who we are, in essence is all that is needed to show up. And I think that's been one of the greatest lessons of this pandemic. How has your relationship changed since? Do you ever encourage her to do something she hasn't? It's so funny because you know, the funny thing about this situation is that she had me sign up for this race. And then she left the job, maybe, like a few weeks later. So she left me to train by myself and I tease her about it all the time. Like since then, she's moved to a different state, but we still keep in touch. She still goes out on her run. She still motivates me, even if she doesn't know. So she'll post like, wow, she really got up and ran at four o'clock in the morning. Let me get up. She still motivates me and she just thinks that it's so funny how my running journey has evolved when she had to literally push me out the door. And she's like, you know, this is not about me anymore. This is about you tapping into something that we didn't even know that you could have the potential to tap into, so I think it's both inspiring on both our parts just to watch each other grow in the space. What would be your advice to someone listening, who has a friend in their life that they want to encourage to do something outside of the home? Yeah, I think you should always know how to push the people around you. So I need my friends to curse me out all the time, and I'm fine with it because that's what's going through my mind. But I think you really have to find a circle and trust people, too, you have to welcome people into your space. There's a certain amount of vulnerability that you have to have in order to let people, and you have to trust people with that space that you give them. So the first step is just to find someone that you really trust someone that you respect and someone that has your best intentions at heart. What about the friend who wants to be encouraged? One of the beautiful things about coaching is that you get to see people in their weakest moments. You get to pull people out of whatever headspace they are in, help them hang in there. You really get to tap into that person and figure out like, and so isn't very vocal about what it is that spot on her. But I can see like she's fighting really hard. So maybe I just saw her like she needs to relax. And it's really about observation and figuring out how you can best serve someone versus you putting yourself on somebody else. What happened after that first race? Well, before the race, I did nothing, right. I went and bought a brand new pair of shoes the day before that matched the shirt because, you know, if anything else, I was gonna look good in this picture. Well, the shoes were right out the box. And when I got to the race, I just looked around. I was like, Wow, this is You know, I thought running looked a certain way and I got there I was like, Wow, there are small people. There are big people. They're tall people, you know. There are White people. There are Black people, there are men, there are women. That's just kind of amazing that there are all these different types of people, and I thought our running was just for thin white females or white males. Even just being at the start line was just amazing. And then having the support of my co-workers there is, well, it was just a really good feeling. So everything you know, I think I had trained up to eight miles when I say, trained, loosely trained, loosely trained up the eight miles I did seven. And then the pain set in. Well, one of the things I love was just like, you know, you always find those run angels on the course and they come and go in different ways. Maybe it's somebody at about 8.5 miles who's just telling you you could do it, keep going. And that to me, it was like the most exhilarating and refreshing And like most memorable part of the race, was just all these people just supporting you throughout the entire time that you're out there on the course. Did you pay attention to see if others were struggling around you too? I was looking around trying to see if anybody noticed that I was dying. Instead I saw other people who needed to be saved as well. I was always true. Yeah, but it was great. So I found myself also encouraging other people. So I'm like, Great, This is great. Like, you know, this is our first run together. I ran the first few miles with the co-worker. So I'm like let's just zone out to the song and we'll make it up this hill. So I was surprised that as a new runner this is my first race, I found myself encouraging other people, and that gave me the motivation. Though I did receive encouragement and to keep going along in a race, that's really cool. My finish line picture is of two of my co-workers. It was like the most ridiculous thing ever. I'm being held up by two of my co-workers helping me through the finish line. But it was so funny because like, this is like, my first race. It's amazing. I made it. Yeah, And then when I went out just, like, loosen up my legs a few days later, I'm like, wow, that's crazy. I really did it. I really I'm not gonna say ran because I didn't run out 13 miles but I'm like, well, I really participated in a half marathon, I did it and even though I was still in pain, I'm like, wow, you know, I could do anything so I think after that feeling came I loved that. Were you hooked from there? You know I was still at the point where I had to still let my friends drag me into things. So the same friend was like, hey, let's go do it another half in Philly. So it was still at the point where my friends were dragging me, I'm gonna say, dragged me, but more pushing me. And granted, it doesn't take a lot to convince me to do something. When did you start pushing yourself? I think after my first full marathon, I completely bonded with it, and I really wanted to figure out why, and I really wanted to get better at being a runner after my first marathon. So I took a RRCA certification class just to get better for myself as a runner, not to coach anybody else, which it's funny how this kind of spiraled into what it is now. But it wasn't till after my first marathon and I thought like, this is really about me now in my journey and running and not about anybody having to drag me along. Now it's not so much about the running. It's about the mental part and about the emotional aspect that comes with running. It's more about the life journey and the life lessons that running teaches you versus the physical aspect of running itself for sure. What have you been doing to keep yourself and others motivated during this time? Yeah. So for myself, I look at my outdoor runtime as my peaceful tranquility, like my me time just to get away from the phone, get away from the computer just like really zone out. And I think I've done a few virtual races, although I take them less seriously than I do training myself. I'm not a fan of virtual races, but I think they do serve that at that point for people right now. For me running right now, it's just about a release. It's about maintaining some form of normalcy. It's about just maintaining the fitness that I've had, and if I capitalize on, if I get faster, so be it. Right now it's just about a release for me, and for the people I'm coaching. They really just love having accountability and consistency in just some sense of a normal life. What has the pandemic taught you about running? I love how it's gotten back to how simple it was before a training block. You know, you have this marathon, you have the 16 week training block day in, day out, it's unforgiving. It's time based. You have to hit these paces, and you know, you could certainly do that now. But for me, it's like I love going without a watch, leaving my watch at home. I love going on a run and not even worrying about what my paces are. I love going on a run and not even posting about it. I love waking up like okay, today I want to do eight miles tomorrow. 12. That's fine. This is what I feel like doing today. Maybe tomorrow It's like a track workout. So I love the flexibility of just, like, kind of going along with the flow and really just enjoying the simpleness of running that I think sometimes training takes away for sure. You run with a metronome, why? I used a metronome a lot in my clinic because a lot of my patients have gait deficit. So maybe one extremity is a little bit more effective than the other. And they just need timing as when to put that affected leg down. So for me my cadence has always been on the lower side, maybe like 164-166. And granted, I'm tall, but I'm not like, terribly tall. And it annoys me when I go out and run with my friends who take quicker steps, they always finish faster than me. It seems to be like less effort. So it's like, you know what? I really have to try to get in the habit of turning my feet over, and I can't do it on my own. Like it just, it just never worked out for me. So a metronome, I use it a couple times a week, and it really helps me the run is just like it's just less effort. I really don't think about it. I've tried to listen to playlists of like 171-180. But then I get too caught up and singing and get too caught up in the words. Let me just put on some monotonous ping ping ping ping ping ping ping. So I know when I put my feet down and I'm sure the crazy run around the neighborhood with this loud pinging happening, but it's therapeutic, it's calming to me. Why did you become a Physical therapist? I was kind of floating around for about a year. I was bartending. And then I started volunteering at the hospital. Now I was volunteering in the kids department and then they had an opening in spinal cord injuries. And it was just amazing to me that no two injuries are the same. Everything is different, everybody presents differently and people who have spinal cord injuries, some of their injuries are traumatic, meaning like car accidents. Some of them have non traumatic meaning, maybe one day they just woke up feeling sick and then 12 hours later, they couldn't walk. These were people who needed a lot of help, not just physically but emotionally. And I think that that is something that really resonated with me and why I chose to stay in it. How difficult has it been with all the emotions of the last year on top of working in a career like that? Yeah, the first two weeks I worked there, I cried every single day. It's like, Oh my God, I can't believe this is awful. This five year old kid is now paralyzed because of this accident, or this person lost their whole family and all they have is movement below the neck. This is the saddest thing in the world. Then I had to look at it differently, like wow, this person had this thing happened and they still show up every day. They are still hopeful for recovery in some type of way. And maybe, you know, maybe for them the highlight of their day is coming into therapy and seeing all these other people just being in this community and giving their all for maybe one or two hours. So, you know maybe the person isn't walking. Maybe the perso…
Full show notes at the publisher 
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
Stay Connected
