Andrea Golden Has Fallen Head Over Heels in Love with Running

Andrea Golden is another “victim” of runner peer pressure, signing up for her first 5k at the urging of a friend.

Now, like many of us, she’s completely hooked!

Running NYC as Her First 26.2

Last fall Andrea ran the New York City marathon as her first, and to date only, marathon.

Andrea Golden in Front of the NYC Skyline

When she answered our opening question with the marathon, I had to ask if she thinks she would have enjoyed her first marathon experience as much if she was running a 500 person race instead of a multi-thousand person race through the streets of New York.

It’s impossible to know for sure, but Andrea talked about how running that race was a payoff for all of the weeks and months (and miles!) of the buildup so there is definitely a chance that she would have still loved the marathon regardless of whether it was New York or any other race.

While Andrea can’t compare New York with other marathons, I did ask her for some highlights of the race from her perspective.

She talked about how great things were pre-race, even though she had to get to Staten Island several hours before the start of the race.

Andrea also couldn’t say enough about the support of the spectators that runners get to experience as they run through each different borough, and she said she’d love to run New York again at some point in the future.

Andrea Golden Credits Running With Changing Her Life

Before her friend talked her into running, Andrea wasn’t the most active person in the world.

But since she started running just a couple of years ago, Andrea has not only been bitten by the running bug but by the health/fitness bug as well.

Andrea Golden

As she became more physically active, she also changed the way that she ate to better fuel her body for the new demands she was placing upon herself.

She’s also taken the initiative to get her personal training certification and she’s also become certified in several different group exercise disciplines, and now helps other people improve their health as well.

She recently started her own in-home personal training business, where she meets with her clients at their homes and brings the workouts to them.

Exercises for Runners Other Than Running

At this point, it should come as no surprise to anyone that I’m pro-cross training.

Andrea has quickly caught on to the value of strength training, foam rolling, and doing other cardio exercises to improve our overall fitness and our running performance.

I asked her for some suggestions of exercises that she’d recommend for runners to do, and she hit on some good ones.

The biggest point that Andrea made was the importance of strengthening your core, and hands down one of the best exercises that targets your core is the plank.

Planks may seem like they are pretty mundane, but Andrea referenced a book featuring 101 different plank variations you can do. There are definitely not shortage of options when it comes to strengthening your core, so make it a priority!

None of Us are Perfect

As much as I’m always harping on the benefits of doing different types of cross-training exercises for runners, I’m far from perfect when it comes to always doing my strength training or foam rolling.

And that is ok.

We talked about the importance of trying to be consistent over time with stretching and cross training, but remember that missing one day isn’t that big of a deal.

Don’t use that as an excuse to skip a day, but when life gets crazy know that missing your cross training once in a while isn’t the end of the world.

Do your best to make your cross training a priority, but don’t let one missed day turn into a missed week or more.

Talking with @run2golden about how #running literally changed her life! #runchat Click To Tweet

If you want to connect with Andrea, check out her website and make sure to say hi to her on Instagram or Twitter.

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