05: Coach Erica Rasmussen - Oola Fitness

Episode 5

 Date Recorded: February 3, 2023

 Title: Coach Erica Rasmussen – Oola Fitness

 Description: Erica is a mom of two young children living in rural Colorado. She runs a successful marketing and communications consulting business, helps lead a nonprofit that supports youth empowerment, teaches fitness classes to seniors in her community, teaches Oola at the university level, and maintains a very disciplined fitness routine. She is truly a goal-getter!

 Erica wholeheartedly lives and shares Oola every single day, while prioritizing her family, adventure-seeking, and staying true to her inspiring Oola Fitness goals. What are her goals and how is she doing this, you ask? Tune in to find out!

 Connect with Coach Erica Rasmussen on Facebook or on Instagram: @Oola_Erica.

After our podcast interview, Erica accepted a charity invite to run in the 2023 New York City Marathon to follow Erica's Quest toward her half marathons, and now Marathon, as well as learn how you can get more involved in Erica's journey. Visit https://www.ericaruns.com for more information.

 New episodes of Life Coaches in Cahoots drop every other Wednesday.

Listen and subscribe today and to connect with coach Stephanie go to:
https://linktr.ee/StephEilitz

https://lifecoachesincahoots.buzzsprout.com/share

Transcript

Stephanie: 2:26

Hello and welcome everyone. Today's topic involves everything related to health and wellness in your life. It's about how you use your body and what you put into it. It's also about mental health and self-care. What am I talking about? Oola Fitness. And today we have Coach Erica Rasmussen with us to dive deeper into this important F of Oola. Erica is a mom of two young children living in rural Colorado. She runs a successful marketing and communications consulting business, helps lead a nonprofit that supports youth empowerment, teaches fitness classes to seniors in her community, teaches Oola at the university level and maintains a very disciplined fitness routine. She is truly a goal. Get. Erica wholeheartedly lives and shares Oola every single day while prioritizing her family adventure, seeking and staying true to her inspiring Oola fitness goals. And today we're going to find out what those are and how she's doing that. I am Coach Stephanie and I'm here today with Coach Melinda, my co-host, and a coach who is literally running towards her goals. Coach Erica Rasmussen. Hi Melin.

Melinda: 3:32

Hi, I'm Coach Melinda. Stephanie and I are on a mission to showcase some of our fabulous Oola life coaches and share their stories, and We are very excited to introduce Erica Rasmussen to our listeners today as she shares about herself and Oola Fitness. Welcome Erica, and thank you for joining

Erica: 3:52

us today. Hello ladies. It's so great to talk with you today. I am thrilled to be here. We

Stephanie: 4:00

are thrilled to have you. And holy cow, you are one busy lady, wife, mom, business owner, working on your own incredible fitness goals. We wanna start today by talking about an issue so many people struggle with. What are you doing to maintain a healthy work life

Erica: 4:16

balance? That's a very good question, and it's a constant work in progress. I think that it's very easy to get overwhelmed, and we need to go from overwhelmed to more like whelmed. And with that, for myself, I've gotten really good at time blocking. I've gotten really good at scheduling the time that I need, to prioritize what matters most. So in Oola, we call it the oranges, and then fit those Skittles. I really think that knowing my priorities, being really clear with my time and my boundaries on my time has helped me significantly. Yeah,

Stephanie: 4:51

that's great. Oola has really helped. A lot of people with the prioritizing of the time, and Erica mentioned the oranges. Those are your action steps that lead you closer to your goals. And the Skittles are the boring to do tasks that not everybody wants to do, but has to do in their day. so we're gonna just jump into Oola. Tell us how you first discovered the word Oola and what path led you.

Erica: 5:16

Absolutely. So it was actually two years ago, that I found out about Oola, early in 2021. And, I was just kind of feeling like I have more potential, more to give the world. and was honestly just kind of, I'd lost myself after having two kiddos. So I had two kiddos in two years. two high risk pregnancies. nearly lost. My daughter actually was told that I'd lost her, but she survived, and is thriving. Both kids are thriving now, and so in the midst of. Those really rough newborn, you know, early toddler years. I had also lost my dream job. I was pretty proud of myself. I went to school for ski resort management and marketing. I wanted to run a marketing team at a ski area. That was my goal. and I was like, sweet, I'm in my twenties. I hit it. I'm good. Got my kids. Life is great. but then I actually lost my job because the resort had been acquired. and actually now it's like the best blessing ever cuz it's led to so many wonderful new chapters. But, with that I'd kind of job hopped. I was trying to figure myself out, like get to know myself again. try and like sleep through a night with two young kids and just landed on ULAs website after being recommended from my coach at the time, who wasn't an Oola coach, but he knew about Oola and thought it might be good for me. And it was, and I was all in, because it just resonated so well with me, especially the accelerators and the blockers and the seven Fs. I just was like, whoa. I had no idea how incredible the community was. so yeah, I was pretty hooked from Oola, like as soon as I heard about.

Stephanie: 6:58

you are a major part of the great community of Oola. We appreciate you

Erica: 7:03

Thank you, Was there

Melinda: 7:06

a particular Aha moment or a Eureka moment at a special event or something that really made you realize Oola is for you?

Erica: 7:16

Yeah. You know, I. I really think that my Oola aha moment was stepping off the stage at Oola Pza last December. I was not expecting to get called up to stage, to talk about my journey. but the next thing I knew, A photo of me popped up on the screen and Dr. Troy called me up to stage to share my journey, which was a lot for me to share, and I never imagined sharing it in front of hundreds of people. but the important thing was what happened after. as much as I had, you know, at the time I had been down 80 pounds, but I felt like I walked off that stage and had like 80 million pounds of pressure just released. and so that was an aha for me and kind of leading up to that point. It's, it's ironic because. What led to Dr. Troy calling me up on stage to, to share my journey was, we had met up on the bridge during the seven mile run. and him and Travis caught me and we got chit chatting. And what's ironic is a year prior to that, I couldn't even really run across that bridge. I had just barely made it across, and that was it. I told myself I'd run seven minutes. and so the last thing I'd expected was to be able to be running for miles and then heading back over that bridge I was. Running strong and it was like, it's like an uphill bridge. And the next thing I knew there was Dr. Troy and I'm like, oh my goodness, now I'm gonna have to talk and run And I did and, and we had a great chat which led to him. Having me go up on stage. And I think that piece is once we get like confident in ourselves to know that whatever goals we wanna achieve, for me it's been this fitness journey this past year. we have to believe in ourselves first and then. it's really important to bring others along too. So me sharing my journey has helped inspire others and given others courage. And I think that piece for me is so huge cuz none of us should ever feel that we're alone. And oftentimes when we are on a path to bettering and improving ourselves, as much as we can have the support around us, it is all on us. And so to know that we're not alone, is super empowering for all of. I think

Melinda: 9:29

that's very important. Both Stephanie and I were za, so we got to share that moment with you. That was awesome. And then we also got to find out that you have challenged Dr. Dave to run with you. So do you think he's gonna be able to keep up outrun you? How do you think

Erica: 9:45

that's gonna go? You know, we've started talking a little bit about, some pacing goals. but it's pretty funny because he had said, yeah, I'll run it with you. Last year at the Oola Convention, what happens to me is every Oola event I go to, I get inspired and I come up with goals naturally. Right? so I loved convention as the runner up to the Oola Life Challenge with a goal of running more, like something about being runner ups. Spoke to me. not that I got second, not that I didn't win first, I was just psyched for the transformation that I'd experienced. but running was speaking to me and I just felt this nudge to like run more. So I said, you know what? In the next year, I'm gonna run a half marathon. So first I googled how long a half marathon was and then I was like, oh, okay. I got my work cut out for me. And then I googled the hardest half marathons in North America. I have a goal of finishing a running race in every, single one of the 50 states. And so I said, okay, well where's there a hard half marathon? And I go, oh, great. Awesome. I'll run this really hard marathon in Idaho. It was, it's eight miles uphill. and it turns out that that weekend, Dr. Dave's out of the country and, It's like our Oola summit weekend. And so we regrouped and long story short, we're running the following weekend on a flatter course that's not one of the toughest races in America, which I think is probably a smart idea for my first half marathon. And yeah, he's doing it with me. I'm really, really thrilled. it's definitely gonna be a challenge for both of us. I sometimes doubt myself with why I even came up with this crazy goal because, I've embarked upon a pretty intense training plan, leading up the, the race right now is 78 days away, so we're in kind of that home stretch of 11 weeks and it's, it's getting real. I'm like, oh my goodness, Erica. This is an intense goal, but I think the thing that gives me so much motivation, I'm not gonna be running it alone, and to have Dr. Dave support is just like truly incredible.

Melinda: 11:51

Another great example of the good community support and, uh, there's so much opportunity within Oola, but I, I gotta say, I'm feeling like he's pretty strong-willed. He stayed in that ice bath for like seven minutes the other night. I'm like, that's some willpower there.

Erica: 12:08

Seriously.

Melinda: 12:09

Yeah. So there's lots of opportunities. And so you go out and you share Oola and you spread the opportunity. You wanna tell us a little bit about what you offer as a life coach, what opportunities

Erica: 12:20

you share? You know, I've done a lot of, group coaching at the university level as well as with businesses. And um, actually even in my marketing and communications consultancy, I feel like. Life Coach hat is something I have to wear every single day. cuz ultimately when, you know, I'm helping a business reach their goals, or work toward reaching their goals, it's really important that, a coach comes into play. And so, I kind of get to use Oola, not only, Within the coaching setting traditionally, but also within the consulting setting, which is really exciting. And for me, I've, I've kind of taken the first half of 2023 to be really focused on my own goals as I reinvigorate where I'm going with my coaching. so it's also an exciting time of. Pause or turning down the volume on, my own coaching, just as I work to kind of have that balance of being really serious about, my goals and, the business that I have. and also dreaming ahead to envisioning the coaching business that I want to be growing. I love that. I love that.

Melinda: 13:35

as a coach, you yourself get to work on yourself and the personal growth and show other people that it's absolutely okay to pivot and turn and switch things up. Yeah, I love it. Great answer.

Erica: 13:48

So

Stephanie: 13:48

our topic today is Oola Fitness. And we asked you on today's show, because you have had quite a journey in this area over the past year and you have already shared quite a bit, I do know there's more. So you wanna share a little bit more with our listeners, like some of the goals you've hit and some of the current goals you're

Erica: 14:07

working on? Yeah, absolutely. I think it's important to think. like where I started, cuz it didn't just happen overnight. As much as we'd all love to press that easy button and be like, boom, my goals accomplished. Really the journey is what makes it so special, and I think that's an important reminder I've had to tell myself and others have had to tell myself along the way. We have to enjoy the journey. Not to say it's always gonna be sparkles, glitters, and glitter and unicorns, but the reality is, we have to embrace the journey that we're choosing for ourselves. And sometimes that means a different path than we planned, as well, but. Last year at this time, I had said to myself, okay, I am ready. I'm ready to really take my fitness seriously, my health, seriously. It's not fun being in your mid thirties and having conversations with your doctor about the potential for diabetes. It's not. Hasn't been fun for me. being made fun of all my life, as a young kid, I was bullied for being overweight. I was made fun of. I got called names. I, tried playing basketball and, you know, I ran louder and people would make fun of me. and so that just has, Not felt good, right? but beyond that, like I wanted to feel physically good and mentally good and really took it upon myself last year to get serious. And so, during my Oola life challenge, I'd set a goal to lose 30 pounds by my birthday. And with that, the momentum just continued. so I'm actually getting close to that, um, a hundred pound mark, saying goodbye to a hundred pounds. which is really exciting. And with that it's taken so much effort, and so much consistency and discipline. but I'd be lying to say if there weren't tears along the way, you know, it's, it's been hard. Oh, I can't

Stephanie: 15:58

imagine. And I follow you very closely on social media, so I see everything and I love that you just put yourself out there. You're just so genuine. I know you might have already answered this, but just to be clear for our listeners, what is the main fitness goal you wanna achieve this next year and why?

Erica: 16:17

Yeah, my UVA one for this year is crossing the finish line of my first half marathon with a smile. and then there's a couple sub goals under that. my hope is to really cross that finish line, a hundred pounds lighter. and, starting to think about sometimes, but really the. The glory's in the grit, right? It doesn't really matter what my finishing time is, it's the fact that I'm finishing and, and that's all preparation for my second half marathon, um, six weeks later. So I'll be running, the distance of a marathon. Pretty soon here I got work to do Wow, that's

Melinda: 16:54

exciting. That gives us a lot more to follow with your journey. So while we're following you on social media, we can see that you're quite the healthy cook and some of those dishes look so delicious. Is that something

Erica: 17:06

new for you too? Oh yeah, I used to be a really good baker. I loved baking cookies and I would add extra sugar on top of the cookies, like probably more than I needed to. Or extra chocolate chips. And the chocolate chip cookies. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's all about our choices and how much we choose to consume of that. but. I also have had a knack for, being an artist and having an eye. and so with that, I love to make colorful meals. and I, I learned a lot, about nutrition last year and, you know, macros and understanding, um, Just healthier eating. Like, I didn't know avocados had fat in them. I didn't know that vegetables even had calories. You know, there's been a lot that I like and I love learning. So that's what, what's been cool about this too. It's amazing. if we choose to learn, there's a lot to learn. so I kind of started simple and small. and now I'm on a pretty disciplined food plan where I pretty much make my food for the week, on the weekends. Put it in cute little mason jars. So it still looks pretty and exciting. and, have some free, some. And the biggest thing is, food is beautiful. Food is empowering. Food is what gives us the fuel we need to live our best lives. And so therefore we gotta nourish our brains and our bodies, and all of that starts with, smart choices. Are you following

Melinda: 18:33

any healthy diet in particular, and do you use a coach to get all this

Erica: 18:38

information? Yes, I have a coach, Adina Braun. she's the one that designs my workout plans. Um, and my workout plan's actually on my board behind me. So like every day I am looking at what I'm doing and holding myself accountable. Um, and my food plans. and that's the thing that I've learned, especially now that I'm training for a half marathon. that's intense. the variations that have to occur within a meal plan to make that work for what my body needs based on, the type of training day I have, it's baffling to me and exciting to learn more about. But, I'm on a pretty, pretty strict plan right now. you can choose to be like, oh, this is strict and this is hard. Or you know, there can be a mindset switch of, wow, this is gonna get me to where I need to go. And, and I'm definitely of that, wow, this is gonna get me to where I need to go, just because I know that what I feel myself with is totally gonna help me, in these next, 11 weeks gearing up to that half. That's

Melinda: 19:40

great. I know for myself, improving my fitness requires me to consistently burn more than I consume. But I don't think I could handle Adina I did just do the by design and that I really enjoyed and that was my speed. I have to work up to a dean's level. I think

Erica: 20:00

he's amazing. So, so grateful for the opportunity to be coached by her just because it really has, helped me up level where I'm at. I never would've imagined, a year ago as I kind of jumped into that journey, being ready to be coached by her. and it's. Been such a blessing, because she really has helped me significantly. in addition to that, body by design is also something that I've done and I love. And, I think that it can produce amazing results and amazing awareness of healthy recipes cooking differently. Acknowledging portion sizes, and having that motivation and inspiration. and again, empowerment in the kitchen, that I think some of us really want and need. So body by design's incredible as is Adina. Both are great. Whatever you can do to support your goals is pretty amazing and we all have to make those choices for us. Right. Okay.

Melinda: 20:55

So what advice do you wanna give our listeners who might be stuck with their own fitness goals?

Erica: 21:02

You know, I think I took a deep breath before I answered that, and I think that's indicative of being patient, right? it is not gonna happen overnight. We have to be real with ourselves and we have to set realistic goals and understand that it is a process. it's not gonna happen quickly. But we have to celebrate the small wins along the way. And so that's a key piece. like I have another weight loss goal, and I'm not just looking at achieving that one goal. Adina and I have broken it up into a series of pieces where I'm two pounds away from hitting a pretty incredible m. and I'm gonna celebrate that. And then there's the next goal, and then the next goal and, and so I think we really have to kind of look at it, Like it's not a sprint, it's a marathon, you know? And so we have to look at, both the short term decisions and emotions that we deal with, as well as the long term decisions and emotions that we deal with. And then I think, it's critical to acknowledge emotions because it can be a very emotional journey. Um, and that's something we can't ignore. And, and understanding what we need to help us with that is critical. And that's one of the reasons why I've taken to running cuz it's really helped, my mental health considerably. I believe

Melinda: 22:18

what you've said about celebrating the little wins along the way is very important. So give us an idea what celebrating this win is gonna be like.

Erica: 22:29

Ooh, now we got into the planning dreaming stage. I actually might be hitting it next week, so I gotta get my act together. But I think it's not just the balloons, the confetti, it's like I don't plan on having balloons or confetti, although that would sound like fun. and it's very, you know, Oola fun. I think that one of the biggest things I've learned on this journey is to truly be. Present in my own mind and present in my own body and not just expect results and achieve them and move forward. But take that time to humbly be proud of myself and acknowledge, wow, Erica, that's great. Rather than check that's done, move on. Next thing, cuz I think, it is typical of me to just wanna be like, achieve, achieve, achieve. And I know we'll get talking about Enneagrams later. so. one of the best pieces that I've heard is like, in order to grow sometimes we need to, get slow. and what I mean by that is, is slowing down the pace in our thinking, our aspirations, to also really feel. The good, you know, rather than constantly keep striving, striving, striving, really being present and enjoying that victory. And so I think for me, it's literally just gonna be like, Constantly that day, like encouraging myself, cuz that's one thing I, I haven't always done. And I think we all could do more. so just throughout the day being like, Hey, remember you hit that goal? hey, good job. literally give myself a pat on the back. and just know that okay, like that just gives me an injection of confidence to keep going on my journey. So it's almost like filling the bank, with good credit. for what's to come, you know, cuz it's a perpetual journey for all of us. Well

Melinda: 24:17

if you catch that goal, I hope you'll share it. So Steph and I could pat you on the back as

Erica: 24:22

well. Thank you.

Stephanie: 24:24

you have definitely filled my Oola fitness cup today. you are so inspiring and I'm sure our listeners are just gonna love listening to this because you're just giving such. Tips and nuggets and advice. We are gonna shift a little bit in the interview now, and we like to ask all of our coaches on our show. Some questions similar to the Pist questionnaire, which has its origins in a parlor game, popularized by Marcel Pist, who was a French sas, a novelist, and he believed in answering these 35 questions and individual reveals his or her true nature. And obviously, we're not gonna ask you 35, but the first one we are asking is tell us something in your life that has grown out of a personal disaster.

Erica: 25:13

my courage. My courage has definitely grown out of a personal disaster. I had shared earlier that, I was told my daughter wouldn't make it, during my pregnancy, literally in the doctor's office like. Sorry, she doesn't have a heartbeat. Let's get you to the hospital. that was a very hard day. Fortunately at the hospital, things turned out better. so with that, I then delivered her a month thoroughly, and thought, wow, everything's gonna be great. She's healthy. I'm healthy. but quickly I realized, I had some pretty tough postpartum depression and anxiety. and that for me, I struggled with amidst just trying to be the mom of a newborn and a one and a half year old and the best wife possible and do great at my job. And, you know, the best, the best, the best, the best. while fully realizing I felt at my worst. And so in that it, it kind of translated many times to me. When I'm trying to be at my best, I often feel at my worst. because I push myself and have too much pressure that I place on myself. so what I've really unraveled in this past year, and Dr. Dave was the one to tell me, Hey Erica, you don't need rocket launchers, but you do need a parachute sometimes. and that parachute analogy has helped me so incredibly much, because I kind of feel like that Oola community, whether we see each other or not, Um, we kind of are a parachute for each other, and we also have to be the parachute for ourselves. But I think that, I had really not fully gotten over, some pretty tough stuff after my daughter's birth until pretty recently. and that. empowerment of myself and that parachute, has given me courage to just keep crushing it, but not in this pressure sort of way. and I totally still have friends that, give me that nudge of like, Hey, Erica, is that a realistic goal? Hey Erica, you know, are you putting too much pressure on yourself? And that's why it's really important to surround ourselves with those that will call us out when we maybe get too aspirational. That's a great

Melinda: 27:30

message to put out there for everybody. Yeah. How about since we've heard you and some of your hardship and distress, let's ask you when and where were you the happiest

Erica: 27:41

you've ever been? I would have to say the happiest I've been in a really long time, was last summer we had a cabin experience with, seven Oola coaches and ambassadors, at our lake cabin in Minnesota and. we were out in the middle of a lake and we all put our word for the second half of the year on a brick. We wrote it in Sharpie on a brick, and then we threw the brick in the water and had to go dive for it. and when I told the ladies that was what our activity was, they might have thought that I was a little silly, but. We all just found that super empowering and it was really cool to then everyone one by one went and grabbed and found their brick. Some were way easier to find than others. like it's a muddy, murky lake, right. You know? and then they got their brick and shared. why that was their word. And it was just super empowering and inspiring to be surrounded with some of the people that I love most and kind of hear their goals, hear their aspirations, and, and know how I could support them, as we progress forward, in the year. So that was just a really special sunny day moment in the middle of a lake.

Stephanie: 28:56

I grew up in Minnesota, so I understand your lake experience.

Erica: 29:01

I love it.

Stephanie: 29:02

what relationship defines love for you? And it can be real or fictional?

Erica: 29:07

I see a relationship as a beautiful two-way street. Also a beautiful dance. A beautiful dance in the storm, sometimes a beautiful dance in the sunshine. You know, so I, I think with that, it, it has to be built on strong communication, laughter kindness and respect. Okay.

Stephanie: 29:29

And what person, place, or experience has shaped you the most?

Erica: 29:33

So that's a tie for me. And not just a tie because they're married, but tie because, they're both equally incredible inspiration to me in my life, especially when I've needed it most. and they may not have known that I needed it most, but I did. and so. Dr. Dave, and Adina Braun both have tied for first place in helping me the most, get my life on track, um, in the way that I want it to, and in helping me feel, ready to conquer what I know I'm capable of conquering and truly live my potential. And so those two, they get a tie. I think they'll have to share the prize, but I think they'll be okay with that. That's a perfect answer. Okay,

Melinda: 30:18

so the last of these questions is, what advice would you give to your younger

Erica: 30:23

self? Who I'd wanna hand her a really big book, but the Cliff Notes version is Give Yourself Grace. it is not a race. Right? I, I think too often I would overachieve, overwork over care, overdo it. and be miserable. And so, you know, really giving myself grace to enjoy the process, is something that if I had told myself a long time ago, it probably could have been more helpful. not that I've been miserable all my life, my blood types be positive, but I think that if I had slowed down more throughout my journey prior to now, I would've enjoyed more and just been more present and really appreciated the simple. Whereas now, like I see a beautiful sunset and I wanna cry like it's a Hallmark movie. and that's important, you know? we all have to really embrace what is and use our senses to enjoy every day. Very nice.

Melinda: 31:25

So we are asking all of our coaches on our show if they have taken an Enneagram test for anyone out there that's unfamiliar with the Enneagram. It is a system of personality typing that describes patterns in how people interpret the world and manage their emotions. It is simply a map of self-discovery and personal growth. Have you taken the

Erica: 31:48

Enneagram test? I have, yes. And do you know you're Denver? I'm a three.

Melinda: 31:56

Okay. Do you wanna share with us what a three is, or would you like me to share?

Erica: 32:02

You know, you're probably more of an expert in the Enneagrams than I am, so I'll let you go for it.

Melinda: 32:07

that's the great thing about the Enneagrams. There's so many different testing out there that you come up with different things. We choose to only. Share the positive strengths of our enneagrams. So, and recently we discovered somebody else is a three as well. So that'll surprise you, but we're not gonna tell you who you'll have to listen. Uh, so number three is the achiever. They are pragmatic, productive, and efficient. Settle quickly and easily into new circumstances. Always know how to make friends and leave a good first impression. Motivate others and lead your team to the win. Are able to remain calm and composed under stress and still perform and think those things are very you. what do you think about

Erica: 32:54

that though? Yeah, absolutely. I think that, I like results. I like achieving, like I said earlier, it's nice to check it off. and I think it's, it's important the more we are aware of ourselves and our strengths as well as our weaknesses, that is critical self-awareness that does impact our mental and physical health. if we know a little bit more about the recipe to what can make us successful. Then if we activate that, then we're even further on that path toward being able to achieve what we want. So, yeah, it's, it's definitely that self-awareness where okay, yeah, I wanna achieve, but, does it have to be perfect? No. and so I would definitely say that I'm a, a retired perfectionist, but still, Really, really driven and that fire within, ignites the heck outta me. Like yesterday I was training and I'd gotten a couple miles into my, treadmill workout and I was just getting dizzy. And when I pushed myself on the treadmill lately, something about running in place makes me dizzy. Running outside doesn't do it. So I go, okay, you know what? You're finishing your, your training outside. I walk outside, it's zero degrees. I'm hot and sweat. and I go run actually even more than I needed to, cuz I was having so much fun and it's like, I'm gonna get it done. If I wanna get it done, I'm gonna get it done because I wanna make sure that if I make a commitment to myself to achieving something, darn it, I'm gonna achieve it. But sometimes, we have to just, course correct and take a different path than planned. So yeah, Enneagram three is totally me and I can't wait to figure out who that other person is. I actually kinda have an idea based on knowing who some of your other guests are, but I'll be surprised. I

Stephanie: 34:41

love the picture you posted after that run with the icicles on your eyelashes

Erica: 34:46

It was awesome. Yes. Literally I had like a, an ice beard and mustache. It was great.

Stephanie: 34:53

So the, other favorite question that we love to ask everyone on the show, and we're always curious to hear what it is, what quote or motto do you value and live by?

Erica: 35:05

I. Mean to sound cliche, but I think that as soon as I heard be grateful, have faith live Oola, that's something that for me, those three lines motivate me daily. in my good days and my bad days. it's definitely like, there's always something to be grateful for. We, need to continue to perpetuate our faith and live Oola, like who wouldn't want to, right.

Stephanie: 35:31

Right. That's perfect. This has been fantastic. We cannot thank you enough for joining us today. Is there anything we haven't asked you today that

Erica: 35:41

you feel you wanna share? You know, if there's someone sitting out there that's doubting themselves, I want you to listen up. We've all have those moments for sure. and a year ago I never would've imagined. you both would've had me on to talk about UBA Fitness. I would've thought that I'd be the last choice. and so it is really incredible what consistent discipline can do to our journeys within a year. and that's a piece where like a year is a long time, so you have to break it out in months, week, stays. But you know, getting in those three action steps a day toward what you want for you, and maybe you wanna become an awesome artist and you need to start painting, cool. Maybe you wanna be a singer, awesome. But you have to start, you know, so whatever it is for you, you have to get started. And the road will often be bumpy. it's not gonna be this beautiful. Smooth road, but know that along with the bumps in the road, that's where we grow, that's where we learn. And so know that you've got whatever you want to achieve. It's just all up to you to get after it.

Stephanie: 36:55

That is fantastic advice before we part. We want to let you know that our next episode will showcase Coach Nicole Morrison and the topic of LA Family. We want to remind you that you are all designed for greatness and purpose, Stressless, feel better and enjoy life a little more. Thanks again for being with us today, Erica. Goodbye

Erica: 37:17

everyone. Bye.

Melinda: 37:19

Thank you.

Erica: 37:20

Bye.

Microphone Array (Intelr Smart Sound Technology for Digital Microphones)-1: 37:20

After our podcast interview, Erica accepted a charity invite to run in the 2023 New York City Marathon to follow Erica's Quest toward her half marathons, and now Marathon, as well as learn how you can get more involved in Erica's journey. Visit erica's runs.com. E R I C A R U N s dot c o m. Ericas runs.com.