Runner’s World+ Member: Kayla Weatherman
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Kayla is a Runner’s World+ member. Join her and thousands of others chasing their goals with day-by-day training plans, expert advice from editors and coaches, and unlimited digital access. We regularly feature members online and in print.
Since I started running at a young age, running has made me who I am. It set me down a positive path for my life and instilled a strong work ethic that transferred to my schooling and then on to my career. The training in middle school and high school cross country and track—putting in the miles, waking up early to train even during summer break, and often doing two-a-days—taught me the importance of putting in the work to continue improving. That perseverance, positivity, and determination pays off.
Since I have been running most of my life, it’s really just a part of my weekly routine. Not much extra thought is needed other than what route I want to run and for how long. At the core though, I continue running because I love how it makes me feel. Some days running is therapeutic and serves as a form of stress release and other days it serves to lift my mood by getting endorphins flowing. While it may occasionally be tough to get out the door for a run, you never regret it afterward.
I’m a baby in the winter so I’ve primarily been running on the treadmill (I’m loving Peloton tread classes right now) and I do a lot of cross training. When the weather is above 45 degrees I usually do group outdoor runs with Mile High Run Club. When I run by myself or with my husband we normally run along the West Side Highway or my favorite three bridges to and from my apartment in SoHo: the Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, and Williamsburg Bridge.
I will only run in Asics. I've been wearing Asics since middle school and they haven’t done me wrong (it’s not worth risking injury by trying other shoes, as cool as they might look, in my opinion). I’ve been alternating between the Gel-Kayano and Dynablast. I also always wear a running belt outside in order to run hands-free with my phone and to have a place to put emergency cash and an extra mask to wear after a sweaty run.
While I love running, I also really enjoy most other physical activities. I regularly mix in yoga, HIIT, boxing, swimming, and spinning along with my weekly runs.
I have two. The first is to complete my first marathon (hopefully the 2021 New York City Marathon). A half marathon is more of my jam distance-wise, but I want to run a marathon at least once in my life and it’s important to me to run it in the city in which I live. The second on-going goal is to run/train for my own enjoyment of running and to not feel pressured to run races to legitimize myself as a runner.
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