Over the Next Hill Fitness
Welcome! We all know, as we age, it’s harder to put ourselves first and get in enough fitness, flexibility, and nutrition. Maybe you’re new to formatted exercise, maybe we need to push to the next level or set some goals. Perhaps you’ve always wanted to run a 5K, a marathon, or even an ULTRA marathon. This podcast is designed to get you moving and headed towards those goals. You’ll have opportunities for general coaching during each episode or you may contact me for personal coaching afterward. Are you ready to get over this next hill in life? Let’s get started.
Over the Next Hill Fitness
S2 Ep 19 Mother-Son Duo's Unbroken Running Streak and Life Lessons -Cassandra and Elijah Beach
What if a simple commitment to running could transform your life and strengthen your family bonds? Join us for an inspiring conversation with Cassandra and Elijah Beach, a dynamic mother-son duo who have maintained an incredible 1,897-day running streak. Elijah began running to counterbalance his love for gaming and to combat weight gain, while Cassandra started to support her son's health after he faced bullying at school. Together, they share the heartwarming and challenging journey that not only improved their physical health but also brought them closer than ever.
Imagine turning a spontaneous five-year anniversary trip to Vegas into a marathon adventure! We recount the exhilarating story of how a casual vacation turned into the Marine Corps Marathon, showcasing the hurdles and triumphs of their first marathon experience. From running separately to hitting the dreaded "wall" at mile 23, their resilience shone through. And just when you think it's over, they reveal the surprising twist of a family trip to Disney World right after this grueling event, exemplifying their commitment to staying active and finding joy in every step.
In our final chapter, we delve into the highs and lows of consistent running, from participating in multiple mini marathons to the aspiration of tackling an ultra marathon. We discuss the culture of running in different regions, including some humorous run-ins with the police due to their unconventional routes in rural Indiana. We also shed light on the crucial role of nutrition and fitness in achieving peak performance while sharing invaluable lessons on body composition, muscle mass, and self-confidence. Through our experiences, we aim to inspire others to embrace a healthier lifestyle and discover the profound impact of running on both physical and mental well-being.
Hydrapatch.com code OTNH10
You can reach out to us at:
https://coffeycrewcoaching.com
email: Carla@coffeycrewcoaching.com
FB @ Over the Next Hill Fitness Group
IG @coffeycrewcoaching.com
and Buy Me a Coffee
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Carlau
https://hydra-patch.com/discount/OTNH20
https://rnwy.life code: OTNH15
https://jambar.com code: CARLA20
Hello and welcome back to Over the Next Hill Fitness Podcast. I'm Carla Coffey, your coach and host for today's program. The program is sponsored by Coffey Crew Coaching. If you need a coach for running or fitness or any of those things, let me know. I can get you fit and get you running and if you're brand new off the couch, that's okay too and get you running, and if you're brand new off the couch, that's okay too. Please continue to follow, share and rate the program.
Speaker 1:So rate me five stars, go in and write a little review. It's not for my ego. You can just say Carla told me to do this, but we like listening to her podcast. Or you know I eat ham sandwiches, it doesn't matter, they don't read them, it just helps me climb the charts. So please do that and share the podcast as well. You can follow me on Facebook, instagram threads, so just find me anywhere. I suppose there's also a link in the show notes to buy me a cup of coffee. That's just financial support. If you'd like to share five bucks with me, I'd appreciate that. There's some links in there for Jam Bar, hydra Patch. There might still be a link for Runway. So look in the show notes and get those discounts.
Speaker 1:All right, today I'm going to be talking to Cassandra and Elijah Beach. They are a mother-son duo that is in the middle of a running streak. They have run consecutively for days and days, so pay attention to that number when it comes up. All right, let's get going to the program. Welcome to the show, cassandra and Elijah. It's so great to have you here.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Thank you, I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 3:Thank you, me as well. Super excited to talk to you today. Thank you for inviting us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my pleasure. So let's start with how long the two of you have been running together.
Speaker 3:Today is day 1,897. So five years May, june, july, five years two months May, june, july. Five years and two months.
Speaker 1:Five years and two months and a couple days, okay, and the reason you gave me that number is because you guys haven't missed a day in that many days, right?
Speaker 2:Correct.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:It's been an experience. So, elijah, tell me what it's like running with your mom. It definitely has its good days and bad days. I've kind of learned to love it. It's been an experience. We always talk, we always run.
Speaker 1:It's just something that gets me outside especially, yeah, because you're a gamer too right.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, but for the world to know, I do not only game, I also work out and I'm a health coach and I run, so I'm a pretty well-rounded mule, but I think it's been awesome running with my mom for these past years.
Speaker 1:It's really gotten me out of who I was and the places I were going Cool, so what got you into running?
Speaker 2:Games, games.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:I was gaming too much, gained a lot of weight and I didn't like it and I wanted to run and just balance it. I guess more like a instead of giving up something I love, why not incorporate healthy stuff into it? And that was kind of the thought process behind it, I guess.
Speaker 1:Do you mind if I ask how old you are?
Speaker 2:I'm 19 now.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you've been running with your mom since you were 14-ish 14-ish.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's been pretty crazy, I know Wow.
Speaker 1:So, cassandra, what a great example you are. Tell me what got you started running. So, cassandra, what a great example you are.
Speaker 3:Tell me what got you started running? Well, I started running when I was 35. So I had done a couple of I don't know if you can see all my medals back there I had done a couple of mini marathons in my lifetime the Indianapolis half, indy mini and I had walked them only. And then, when I turned 35, something inside of me wanted to run it and so after that I had just continued to run. After that I had just continued to run and I had done several more before my children all were in track and cross country and my daughter had started doing the minis with me and it's just a once a once a year thing in May. And then Elijah had done, I believe, one with us. We all ran it together before he gained the weight and before the streak had started. And then running has kind of been an outlet for us for a long time.
Speaker 3:So it kind of made sense when he was in eighth grade and he was coming out of his hardest year of school. He was being picked on, he was being bullied for being overweight and I knew we had to do something. And so it was cheap, it's easy, really. All you have to do is go outside and run you don't have to have fancy shoes right and so we just went out. We knew we had to do something. I knew I had to help him and I wasn't going to just let him sit around all summer that year and continue to feel sorry for himself and and continue to watch him. Um, it was really when he had just started gaming and, um, this, this game, fortnite had come out and he was obsessed with it and so he was playing it all the time. And when you're games you lose track of hours and you snack and you eat and you do a lot less physical activity and you become pretty sedentary pretty quick.
Speaker 3:So I knew we had to do something that summer to get him out of the house and so the first day school got out that year we went for a run. And then it was pretty quick in the that first week that we realized like one day turned into two, two turned into three, three turned into a week, and it was really pretty quick that we realized we're not going to stop, like we've gained some momentum, we're going to keep going. And then we went on vacation, I think. So the streak started the day school got out in May, and then I think that next month we went on vacation not very far, but we drove, so in the drive we had started getting a couple other states to the streak, and so then we started thinking, wow, what if we could run in all 50 states? And um, this year we've really kind of accomplished a lot. We finished all 48 states, the um continental.
Speaker 3:Oh, I lost the word for it the contiguous yeah, um, continental us states, so we've got all 48 lower states. We just need Alaska and Hawaii. But so it's kind of picked up a lot of momentum. This year has been a lot. We just hit our five year anniversary and we just finished running in the last three states. So yeah, that was a lot, but yeah, it's been. It's kind of hard to pack five years into a condensed sentence.
Speaker 1:So when you run in the different states, are you running races or you're just running Both? Both OK, what distance races do you run?
Speaker 2:Go ahead, Elijah.
Speaker 1:Oh, marathons Very cool.
Speaker 2:Is that your favorite distance? Um, I don't know. I kind of like one mile sometimes I mean 26 is just rough.
Speaker 1:Indeed.
Speaker 2:On the body.
Speaker 1:But I do love doing it though. When you do the streaks, because you're still in a streak. What is the minimum that you have to run to consider?
Speaker 2:it a streak, one mile, one mile.
Speaker 1:One mile, so you're doing at least a mile every single day.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:Wow At least. So what were your thoughts, Elijah, when your mom said, hey, we're going to go for a run?
Speaker 2:The very first time, the very, very first day. I can't say I was incredibly happy, but I mean I got over it. I mean it's not like she dragged me out to go run. I mean I just did it.
Speaker 1:I wasn't happy but I did it and I'm very glad that I did it at what point do you think or do you remember that you started enjoying it Like?
Speaker 2:really Honestly, I don't really remember when I started to enjoy it. I just say after the first couple days, because I feel like if I didn't enjoy it I would have quit on the weekend. I would have been like, nah, the weekends aren't, I'm not going to run on the weekends, but I didn't. So I must have really liked, liked it.
Speaker 1:I don't really remember when exactly that was do you guys always run together or do sometimes you do a solo run?
Speaker 2:sometimes it's solo um and that's just. I don't really know. Just sometimes that's how she goes on. Trips a lot and it's just occasionally.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and at what point did you guys decide to do a marathon? Or have you always run marathons, cassandra?
Speaker 3:No, I'm going to cry. On this one, so this year I turned 48. On this one so this year I turned 48. And I wanted to do like I always kind of had this anchoring in me to push for more. And I never did a full because I was scared that I would hit the wall Right, and I was comfortable with a half because I knew I could do that and I felt safe there. But I got to a place. I think I've done the Indy many, 18 times and so I got to a place where I was like, okay, I need something to challenge me.
Speaker 3:So I had tried to get into the Marine Corps full marathon in Washington DC last year and I didn't make it and not last year, the year before, so 2022. And I thought, okay, well, I'm going to try again this year. And I got in and it was. It just happened to be the 48th running of the Marine Corps marathon and I knew, if I was going to run a marathon, that it had to be something that meant a lot to me, cause it would probably be like a one and done type thing, cause I really didn't know if I was going to hit the wall or if I could physically do it Right. Um, and so my dad was a Marine. He was born in 1948 and I was 48. It happened to be the 48th running of the Marine Corps marathon, and so I just thought this is it, this is the year of 48. And so that just has kind of been that way. And then this year I knew that this was the year of 48. So I also made it a point to get all 48 states this year.
Speaker 3:So then, for our five-year anniversary, we just like, didn't have a plan. We just got on a plane, went to Vegas. We needed Nevada, oregon and Washington were the last three states, and so him and I and normally my daughter goes with us, or it's a family trip or we're, you know, the whole family is involved, but this one was just him and I. We didn't have a rental car, we didn't have a hotel, a game plan, we just flew out there and then we just won it.
Speaker 3:So, so, no, to answer your question, no, I haven't always ran marathons. It was something that I knew was going to challenge me, and in the beginning Elijah did not sign up with me to do it, but as time went on, um, I asked him. You know, do you want to do this with me? And he was like I don't really know. You know, his motivation wasn't the same as mine and he's a lot younger than I am, too right. So I think after a while he just said that he couldn't watch me do it and not be there without me doing it, and so I would agree with that. Yeah good, watch me do it and not be there without me doing it, and so I would agree with that, yeah good.
Speaker 1:So what did you think? So that was both of your first marathon, correct? So what did you think of that, elijah?
Speaker 2:beat the crap out of me, did you?
Speaker 1:guys run the whole way, or did you do a little walking?
Speaker 2:little, little spurts of walking, but mostly running all the time they had, um, they had gates that you had to get a certain time before because it was so hot that day that they would shut, they would pick everybody up.
Speaker 3:That didn't make the gate, so you had to, like, run past the gauntlet in a certain amount of time oh, wow yeah, marine core marathon yeah, and it started getting really hot as the race went on, so they were cutting the time short. So even if you had trained for a certain time, because of the heat the gauntlets were getting shut down earlier, so we didn't stay together. So it was kind of um scary. I didn't know where he was and my mom kept sending me updates. Like he just made it through the gauntlet.
Speaker 1:That was going to be my next question was if you guys ran it the whole way together.
Speaker 2:A little bit, but we lost each other pretty fast.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we lost each other.
Speaker 1:So what is now that you've done that and realized that first did you hit the wall?
Speaker 3:I mean, that's pretty standard it was Eternity and it was in mile 23 and it was so hot, it was concrete. There were. There were actual water stops, but the water stops were these it was like a octagon tank and it had like water nipples on it all the way around the octagon and people were putting their mouths up to it and I was so thirsty but I thought you know what? I would rather die of hydration before I go and drink out of that. After everyone else I had the exact same thought going across the bridge too.
Speaker 3:And I just prayed and prayed and prayed that I made it out of that off of that bridge. But that was the hardest part and then after that it was kind of like a huge emotional roller coaster. I really can't say I hit the wall. I would just say that that was extremely intense up there on that bridge and just doing it because I had seen so many Marines that were falling, that couldn't make it, that were getting taken out on stretchers and people puking and people tapping out and and yeah, so it was a huge thing just to finish it. And then seeing that and actually getting to the finish line, it like pumps you up even though you can't walk. But it was amazing, it was for me it was amazing.
Speaker 3:Go ahead, Elijah.
Speaker 2:You're definitely chair bound a few days after amazing.
Speaker 3:Go ahead, elijah, you're definitely chair bound. A few days after you can, yes, yes. Well, after I had planned a surprise trip because my husband and my daughter did not, um, they had no clue about this for about almost six months and, um, they had never been to support us at a race before my husband usually and so, because they were coming, we wanted to make it like a family trip. And they thought we were going to spend the whole week in Washington DC. And he was like what are we even going to do there? And I was like, oh, we're going to go to the Jimmy Carter Museum and we're going to go here and we're going to go there. And he was like I don't even like Jimmy Carter. He was like, anyway, so we planned a surprise trip to Disney World, and so the very next day we drove from DC to Washington and we were walking around Disney World for three, four days after running a full marathon. So it was pretty intense but that's perfect, that's.
Speaker 1:the best thing you need is to keep moving. So, yeah, in spite of how it felt that first day, that's what you needed. So, um, have you done other distance races, elijah, or just the one?
Speaker 2:no, I've done about three or four mini marathons, which is 13.2 miles or something like one probably half point one yeah, yeah okay.
Speaker 1:So yeah, you got a few under your, your belt. Now, when is the next marathon?
Speaker 2:I have. We don't have any planned at the moment yeah, that's the thing.
Speaker 3:We're kind of in limbo right now, um, with what to do, elijah's kind of in a place where he doesn't really know how much longer he wants to streak, which is understandable.
Speaker 2:It's been a long time it's been a journey yeah.
Speaker 3:And so we don't really know what the next big thing is for either either of us I feel like for me, I'm thinking an ultra or I would like to start running in other countries, um, and start adding those to the street, because even if he chooses not to, I probably am not going to stop streaking.
Speaker 2:What's an ultra? Just to fill me in.
Speaker 3:Would you like me to answer?
Speaker 1:that, yeah, go ahead. Yeah, an ultra is anything over 26.2. So typically most people would do like a 50 K, which is 32 miles, I think, and then there's 50 miler, then 100K and 100 miler and now I think they even have some 300 milers. They go up like 125, 200, 250, 300.
Speaker 2:There you go. I'm signing you up for the 300 mile race.
Speaker 3:I'm not ready for that.
Speaker 1:Well, you got a ticket coming in the mail. So were there any downfalls during the training for that marathon, like any injuries, anything like that, any setbacks?
Speaker 2:There was a day that we were trying to run 18 miles and we live in like a very rural area, so there's not a a lot of easy running places on the highway or back roads, and we just went out and we ran this back road to this town and this is a very small town and we went on another back road out in the middle of nowhere and it had to have been 100-plus degrees and we don't have our phones. Our phones are dead and we're out there and it's very hot and we just we, just we couldn't even run back. We had to walk back to the shade it was. It was.
Speaker 1:That was the definitely the worst day of the training yeah, and no way to call, no way to come get us well, and we didn't really want to.
Speaker 2:We wanted to finish it, but it was pretty.
Speaker 1:It was pretty bad have you ever run and gotten lost?
Speaker 2:oh yeah, we, yeah, we've done everything. We purposely get ourselves lost to find new spots to run, because we've explored everywhere around here.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, I've gotten lost before and I've gotten lost on a trail run too and called my husband and, you know, send him my location. Do you see where I am? How do I get back out to the main road? Because I'll be on a trail somewhere.
Speaker 2:We ran out of gas while trying to find spots and had to call somebody to give us gas. We've been pulled over. Like five or six times.
Speaker 3:I think more than that actually. Yeah, outrunning Inconspicuous behavior. Yeah, I don't know what they're doing. You were in a car. Or out running.
Speaker 2:Inconspicuous behavior.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Out running I don't know what they're doing. So you were in a car, you were actually on foot.
Speaker 3:And they stopped and said why are you running Multiple times? At least six is a minimum. I want to say. At last count. It was seven, but yeah, and the first time I'm older I shouldn't say this on a podcast, but he is so fast, he seven. But yeah, and the first time I'm older, I shouldn't say this on a podcast, but he was, he is so fast, he's so much faster than me, right, and I have tiny little legs, and so when the lights came, we didn't know. It was a cop car at first and it had just was like a slow creeper car. And then it did a turnaround and it was at night, this particular one, this was the first time we got pulled over and he took off running and we were on kind of a spooky road and I just grabbed the back of his shirt and I was trying to keep up with him because it gives me a little momentum, and the car came and then we kind of just ditched in the bush, but I actually leaked a little.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he shined his light on and I peed my pants a little. I mean, I got so scared, I was so scared. And then the cops were like, shining their light on us, like what are you doing? And we're like we didn't know it was a cop car until it literally turned on its lights. And then we're like yeah, what are you doing? And so now we don't even, Now we're just like okay, what are you?
Speaker 1:pulling us over for now, you know.
Speaker 2:Where do you live? Park County, indiana. Indiana, it's the covered bridge, capital of the world.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:They have a festival and it brings like 4 or 5 million people to our little small town.
Speaker 1:I don't know if I have what's a nearby city bigger. Terre Haute okay, I've heard of that, so you're fairly south then yeah actually we're about.
Speaker 3:We're directly, kind of we are directly um west of indapolis, about 11 miles from Illinois, okay, oh, on 36. Gotcha, yeah, so Terre Haute south of us, but Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1:So I live in Madison, wisconsin, and there's people run here every single day, no matter the weather 30 below 100 degrees, it doesn't matter. So people run here so much A cop would never, ever pull you over. They were just like, yeah, they're just runners, they're crazy runners. Oh, it's pouring and lightning, eh, they're runners, they'll run. Yeah, so that just surprises me so much that you got pulled over. Yes, we have More than once. I mean, you should have went and introduced yourself to the whole police force and said, hey, we're training for this marathon, so to look at our faces, we run now they know.
Speaker 3:Now they know we haven't been pulled over in a long time but but we have had um multiple injuries, um, just since the streak, elijah actually fell and broke his collarbone and we thought it was going to kill the streak. And then, in the very beginning I think I was running in the worst kind of shoes possible they just caused me to have a stress fracture in my fracture in my um shin. But we, we've just powered through it. We got covid early on. I mean, you name it, we have dealt with it sickness, illness, broken bones, so you ran with a broken collarbone and you ran with a broken shin well fractured, it was not.
Speaker 2:Uh, the doctor actually said not to run.
Speaker 3:I'm sure he gave you okay to run.
Speaker 2:I recall differently, maybe I'm wrong, but I thought he said not to and we just ignored him completely.
Speaker 3:If he would have said no, we wouldn't have continued. He gave you the okay.
Speaker 2:Maybe I'm wrong.
Speaker 1:He probably said you don't need your shoulder to run, get up. But running with a stress fracture in your shin, that's pretty rough.
Speaker 3:Yeah, a fracture is a break it was painful, it was very painful, but it he. I was worried it was never going to heal and it didn't. It did about going to heal and it didn't. It did About four to six weeks later it stopped hurting.
Speaker 1:But you just gave up. I can't warn her to stop running, so I'll just give up. Wow, so what's the like, elijah? What's one thing you learned about yourself during these past five years of running every single day, or more than one thing?
Speaker 2:I'd say I really found a way to always better myself. It'll teach me how to, no matter where I'm at or what I'm doing. I can always look back on this and it's a way to always know to keep getting better day by day, and that I forgot what the word is at the moment. But Tenacity. Consistency is the key.
Speaker 1:There we go. I was thinking. You have a lot of tenacity to run every single day. That's that's amazing. What about you, cassandra? What have you learned about yourself? That's amazing. What about?
Speaker 3:you, Cassandra. What have you learned about yourself? I would say the word that comes to mind is resilient. Also, consistent consistency. I don't think you really realize how big of a deal it is until you get so far right. And now we're so far into it that people are like, wow, that's incredible, that's amazing. And I'm constantly reminding people that Elijah and I are no different than you. We're just consistent, we just do something every single day. But when you stack it on top of each other every single day, it puts you in a different category of people, and especially for Elijah, especially for the place where he came from and being picked on the planet can't do which is just be consistent.
Speaker 1:Taking running off the table. They can't even be consistent and they don't run.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, and even early on in the running streak and even still now. I think he's used to it now, but he gets made fun of or was for running with his mom, or you and your mom, or blah, blah, blah. And you know you also have to have a thick skin too, because because they're not always pleasant comments people say about our streak, um, and people have called us liars, people have said a lot of hurtful things and I think really resilient is what comes to mind, and I just always remind not only him but myself, that people are going to attack you. If you're carrying the football, you have to be prepared to be tackled, because they're not going to try to tackle somebody sitting on the couch or doing nothing with their life, and so you're an easy target, especially if you are out running with your mom, because it gives them, you know it's just. Resilience is the word, is what is going to be my choice of word, because it takes a lot to do all that and have, you know, the motivation to continue to do it.
Speaker 1:For sure yeah. And people are cruel you know, that's the unfortunate thing.
Speaker 2:Agreed.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so tell me about what you did for fuel during this race. Did you only use the aid stations? Did you carry your own fuel? How was that for your training and learning what to do and what not to do?
Speaker 2:believer and I'm really not into the fanny pack kind of thing. So no, I did have one, but I lost everything. I accidentally like missed the hole or something and my salt packets fell. But we had salt like little salt tabs that you take during the race to keep yourself from passing out. It's a far distance. We had had energy shells, energy chews, and then they also gave out Gatorade and water and anti-chafing cream and Band-Aids and they had medical people at every corner. Wow, but yes, pretty much I only had the little energy, little gummies.
Speaker 3:He lost his, yeah I lost all mine. And it was pretty rough.
Speaker 3:Halfway through he lost his. But I used salt, I packed them up and I had them spaced out because we were using them during training and they actually helped a lot. We were using them during training and they actually helped a lot. But before that we had never really used We've never really used any sort of supplement, supplement during the halves. Because we've done that so many times now, we just don't even think about it. It's not, it's like nothing. And the marathon actually had a scare. So we were super prepared, had all our stuff packed in our fanny packs and somehow, and we had no way to communicate with each other. So it was, I didn't know.
Speaker 2:It gets so sticky and sweaty that if you touch it it just doesn't work. So really, it's just, you don't get on it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so did. Did you go ahead?
Speaker 1:I couldn't like like, hey, I'll leave you some here under this rock so they didn't have any um any fueling options other than gatorade and water. They didn't know they had waffles.
Speaker 2:They gave you like little energy waffles and they gave you Cliff energy gels too, and they also have at the end they have a goodie bag and it has your medal and everything after you would eat the race.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, I was going to say usually on a marathon they at least at some point start handing out some kind of gel or something so you could have a little something. So no race things in the future. Just gonna try to keep doing a mile at a time, huh just winging it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I like that that's.
Speaker 1:That's a good strategy. Now do you guys lift weights and foam roll and all the other precautionary things, or just run? Yes?
Speaker 2:I I work out about five times a week probably.
Speaker 3:Nice. We both have separate gym memberships. Um, both of my kids do. They go with their friends and I go with my friends, and so that's pretty cool. That's actually pretty cool Proud mom moment. So my daughter's's 23 she just turned 23 and he's 19. So it's kind of neat that, um, that we've gone from from where they were, especially him, to now, and fitness and health is so embedded and ingrained in who we are. That, um, you know it's it's.
Speaker 2:It's kind of like an effect like everyone around us becomes healthy. All my friends go to go to the gym now and I'm I'm their biggest inspirer, and that's that's what I crave for in life is to help people me too.
Speaker 1:That's great. Yeah, we need more nice people in the world, apparently, right.
Speaker 2:Agreed yeah. That's it for sure For sure.
Speaker 1:So we've talked about any setbacks and we've talked about the things you've learned about yourself. Is there anything that you would like to learn or want to pursue about yourself, about running, about weightlifting, or anything that you think, man, I wish I knew this five years ago or I knew that, but now I want to learn something else. Is there anything along those lines that you're thinking about, cassandra?
Speaker 3:um, I'm really in a place now where I'm at body composition and um, um, body fat, and so, gosh, I wish I knew now, I wish I knew when I was 35 what I know now, because now, especially where I'm at, and I wish elijah would learn this, um, and he does to an extent he does have pretty thick skin because you kind of have to but just, I'm at a place now in my life where I really don't care what other people think of me, and, man, if I would have had that when I was 35 or 25, or if I knew now then what I know now about nutrition, um, and also, I too am a health coach.
Speaker 3:We're both health coaches and so I've helped a lot of people. I didn't become a health coach until three months after the streak had started and I have helped literally hundreds, if not thousands, of people lose weight and get healthy. And just the knowledge of how our body is such an amazing vessel and if you just put good in what it will give you and how it can heal itself, is incredible. It really is. And so, gosh, if I knew all the things that he knows now about body composition and muscle mass and just the importance of nutrition. The sky would be the limit right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, if only right. What about you, elijah?
Speaker 2:I'm going to say the same thing with her. I've really gotten to a point where people saying mean stuff just is like throwing a pebble at me. It's annoying, but you do you. And I'm really at that place where I feel confident enough to finally start going after my passion, which is being an influencer of some kind. Whether that be any platform, it doesn't really matter, but I want to be an influencer and I want to help people. Platform, it doesn't really matter, but I want to be an influencer and I want to help people and I want to put myself out there. But I've always had that as my biggest, my biggest roadblock and I'm kind of just getting over that.
Speaker 2:It's still definitely rough when someone says something, but yeah, I mean we can have thick skin, but there's always a soft spot in there when you have a good heart and especially the people that that don't know that don't have that built yet, and then someone says something about them and then their main trigger would be stress food and they're going to just continue to eat because they don't know how to really handle it. And that's kind of what health coaching does, is it teaches us how to fix those problems altogether.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure. Wow, so is there anything else that you would like the listeners to know about you? How about you, Elijah? Is there anything? Any last words of wisdom you would like them to know or to?
Speaker 2:I'd say always follow your dreams. It doesn't matter if people, even your own family, is going to say something about it. People are just not going to like what you're doing. But it's not their lives, it's your life and you got to live your life. You can't be held back.
Speaker 1:Great, and that's my last words of wisdom. Those are great. How about you, cassandra?
Speaker 3:wisdom, those are great. How about you, cassandra? I wouldn't say there's necessarily something that I really want people to know about me more, so that I would just like to encourage everyone to do something, even if it's just getting outside, for you know, five or 10 minutes a day, because it boosts your dopamine levels and you know it doesn't have to be. I'm going to go and run every day for five years with my son, but just to not live a sedentary life and to break away from your from, from, from, what'd you say?
Speaker 2:Technology phones.
Speaker 3:Technology, yes, your phones, your devices, your televisions, your cancel your Netflix account. You know, I know that sounds crazy, but get outside, listen to it doesn't have to start out huge, you just have to start. It's just one push-up a day, or one squat.
Speaker 2:One good decision.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it could change your entire life.
Speaker 1:Yes, I like that One good decision. Yeah, it could change your entire life. Yes, I like that One good decision Absolutely. Well, it's been such a pleasure talking to you guys today. I'll be excited to keep in touch and hear how much longer or shorter the streak goes. So that'll be exciting because you and I are friends on Facebook and on Messenger, cassandra, so we can kind of keep in touch and you can tell me we're still going five years down the road. So, yeah, so thank you guys so much for being on and I will look forward to talking to you again later.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for having us, carla. It means so much to us and we really appreciate it, so I hope you have a wonderful day, you too.
Speaker 1:Bye-bye.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Bye, all right. Well, thanks for listening to the episode. I hope you enjoyed it. Please continue to follow, share and rate the program. If you're needing that coach, reach out to me. There's a button in the show notes that you can contact me directly. Share it with a friend. If you think their story needs to be on the podcast, I'd love to hear from them. So thanks again and have a great day.
