Sally Stilwell Found Her Identity as a Runner After a Major Loss

Sally Stilwell started running due to the encouragement of friends (peer pressure wins again!), and the social component of running continues to be something that is very important to her.

Sally Stilwell

Sally is a big fan of the half marathon, and she recently ran her first 10 miler at the Cherry Blossom 10.

She enjoyed the slightly shorter distance, and actually said that she was more confident going into the Cherry Blossom race because she’s run 10 miles so often in training for longer races.

And it’s also a nice psychological boost to know that as soon as you take your first step in the race, you’re already into single digits in terms of how many miles you have left!

How Sally Stilwell Got Into Running

Sally has been running for about 10 years, and started because of the suggestion of a coworker who was (and still is) working on running a marathon in every state.

Sally was going through a rough patch at the time, having lost her husband to cancer, and getting into running and creating new friends within the running community was what she needed at that moment in her life.

Getting into running was a challenge physically for Sally, like it is for many new runners, but she kept at it.

She eventually ran her first race, and she hasn’t stopped since!

Traveling and Racing With Friends

Unlike her friend Lisa, that got her into running and is working on her 50 State marathon goal, Sally doesn’t have a goal of running a race in every state.

However, she enjoys traveling with her friends for their races and running a half while they are running their fulls.

A few years ago, Sally traveled with her friends to participate in 5 races in 5 days as a part of the Mainly Marathon series.

Sally Stilwell Running in the Mainly Marathon Series

Sally spoke glowingly about the Mainly Marathon series, as did Erika Howder back in Episode 233. She enjoyed it enough that she’d definitely do it again if some of her friends decide to do another series, she’s just waiting on them to decide when and where!

Sweat Out the Small Stuff

Sally started her blog three years ago, in part because her non-running friends got sick of hearing her talk about running on Facebook! (Pretty sure we’ve all been there!)

So she started blogging as a way to keep a journal of her experiences as a runner.

The title of the blog is a play on the phrase “Don’t sweat the small stuff”. Sally has found, as many of us have over our years of running, that a run is a great way to prevent some of those little things in life keep from building up and causing us more stress!

Going for a run, and sweating out the small stuff, is a great way to keep things on an even keel in all areas of life.

Today’s Show is Sponsored by: Running With the Bears

Future Plans

After running a couple of marathons last year, and dealing with some nagging injuries along the way, Sally is holding off on running 26.2 this year.

She does have a couple of half marathons on her calendar though, including the New Jersey half marathon.

She’s definitely not closing the door on running more full marathons in the future though.

The emotion of running a marathon is something that is nearly impossible to put into words, and Sally has felt the emotions at just about every finish line.

I know how that goes…

So this year she’s foregoing the full marathon distance to give her body a break and to allow her to continue running marathons for many years to come.

When it comes to longer term goals, Sally hopes to be able to give back by helping out with the Girls on the Run program to help make an impact in her local community.

When Sally Stilwell was dealing with a rough patch in life, running helped her find her identity. #runchat Click To Tweet

Make sure you check out Sally’s website, and connect with her on Twitter and Instagram!

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