Gut Instinct: Lauren Callahan of Goddess Health Shares How Diet, Reiki & Holistic Coaching Can Impact Ultra Running Performance

To do so yet , please consider heading over to your favorite podcast app hit , follow , rate the show and , if you're getting something of value , feel free to leave a review and let others know . My name is Richard Gleave . I've been running ultras now since 2017 .

I have taken on and finished numerous ultra distances , all the way up through 220 miles , and I am unashamedly a member of the back of the pack , just like many of you . Now , today , we are joined by the wonderful Lauren Callahan .

Lauren is an ultra runner like us , but also a gut health expert , a Reiki master and author of Couch to 50 Miles the story of a girl , a trail and the relentless need to always run .

Now Lauren is hopefully going to share with us today a snapshot of her journey into ultra running , as well as how both gut health and Reiki may be useful tools for you to consider as part of your training .

Additionally , lauren is also a performance and recovery coach with Goddess Health , where she helps , in her own words , everyday female athletes in their 40s and 50s to improve their mood , energy , sleep and recovery and to ditch the RBF bloat and the belly fat for good .

So this should be a really awesome conversation for all of us , but especially if you're someone who fits into that demographic , stick with us . We're going to be right back after this . Discover raw , inspiring stories from runners who've been right where you are . This is the Choose to Endure Ultra Running Podcast with your host .

Talking of which , I wanted to get into your book right out of the gate , because I think a lot of listeners can associate with Couch to 50 Miles . That's where a lot of us started , maybe not 50 miles , but certainly on the couch . So now , lauren , what inspired you to write this book ? Can you share a little bit about the story behind the book ?

But , you know , one reason is because one of the things that I have heard over and over and over again when people ask me about what I've done as far as athletics go , is I hear I could never do that .

I can barely run a mile , and I think what I really wanted people to know was that that was me , you know , just about seven years ago you talk about 2017 , right For me at that point in my life , I was walking , slash , jogging , a mile a day , and I'm not undermining that experience . That was really important for me at that time , but that was me .

Right , I could barely run a mile , right . So I don't think it's out of the question , you know , if you don't want it to be out of the question to to run an ultra , and I think the other reason too , um , was also maybe to show the human side of it . You know , I think people look at ultra runners and think , oh , my god , they're immortal .

Yeah , and , and I think I wanted to show that . You know there's that . There's another side to it . You know there was a lot of inner healing work that was going on for me and my pursuing running ultras was a huge reflection of that and some of that you don't want to invite that into your life if it's not there , right ?

So you know there's both sides of that story . There's a human behind the person that is running 50 miles on the trail or , dear God , like you , running 220 , right ?

Surely , if you run 50 miles , this must be easy for you . Well , no , even a two mile run can feel really , really hard .

It's not a linear transition until I you've run 50 miles , so everything else should be easier . It doesn't ?

You kind of almost at some point go back to the start and you can go again , but it doesn't translate to great . I can go out tomorrow and run 50 miles .

And then I think , oh , I've done it . And then I never continue to grow and look forward to the next thing and I will say that , like , I may change my mind tomorrow and be like oh , I want a tattoo with that race . I just did so .

I'm saying at this point in my life , though , I want to have that mindset of always looking forward to the next thing .

That's what you're doing , and I take great pains to say no , I try and do a beer at every aid station and I eat hot dogs and burgers , you know , and they're like well , that's ridiculous . Yes , it kind of is , but that's the point . It's just whatever you need to get to the finish . It's very different from road racing .

So , yeah , anywho yes , now , in your own transformation .

We talked a little bit about your two-miler here and struggling , but when you were going from a non-runner to an ultra-runner , how did you set yourself out to do that and what were potentially some of those moments along the way that were pretty key in getting you to the finish line , or maybe even to the start line and then ? Subsequently to the finish line .

I was like . I have got to do something . So that was the thing that got me starting right , even just doing that one mile a day , when it changed

. You know , when I say I took that next step , you know , up that second pivotal point , that was very storybook . That was , you know , the man who is now my husband walked into my life and he was , you know , we're .

We were talking and he was telling me that he was training for his first half marathon at St Jude's because his daughter now my stepdaughter is a St Jude's patient and she is cancer free .

Um , but this was a way of like , yeah , this was a way of giving back right by doing the St Jude's Marathon weekend , and so that's the moment that I decided I'm a runner , so I started training with him . So that was that moment of pivoting to , you know , looking for some higher mileage .

And I think the third pivotal point was , you know we had done a couple of half marathons . You know , several different races .

We had done a couple of half marathons , several different races , and my husband had a friend who now lives in North Carolina and he came to Louisiana , where we live , to do a race and he ran a 50-mile race and it was at a trail that was less than a mile from our house .

So we had this privilege of living really close to a beautiful forest trail that's 26 miles long . So so he comes , he swoops into town , runs 50 miles , wins the race and then gets in his car and drives back home to North Carolina Like nothing happened . And my husband and I were just like whoa again , like he's a mortal right . Who does that ?

Wow , but hearing his friend do this , I guess we just hadn't been in that circle . We didn't know that people really do this . And it really just put that seed of a question in our minds what are we capable of , what can we do ? And that question was the one that really got our wheels turning what , how , how far can we go ? What other races can we do ?

And then you know I would say that is what started the train and you know , once you maybe do that longer distance or do that different kind of event or something like that , you just start wondering what else can I do ? How else ?

Yeah Now , did you go straight into the 50 miler or did you kind of , did you do a marathon of 50k , you know , did you build your way up ?

But after the half marathon , I did attempt to do a marathon and I tried and I tried and I tried and actually tried for four years and I never could get it , like something always derailed me , usually having to do with injury , and I would say , within the training process , you know , I would , you know , have certainly over-training was an issue , so like there

would be recovery issues that translate into , like injury and you know , mistraining days and being sick , right , like getting sick a little more easily , and so there was that whole cycle and I could just , for whatever , for all the different reasons , not ever achieve that marathon .

And then , you know , and I know this is something that we'll talk more about but I began to get curious about gut health . And as I did a little more research , a little more research , you know , I come to this understanding that , you know , gut health is related to everything .

And I hear these stories about these athletes who improve their gut health and , all of a sudden , they were not getting sick to the extent that they were , they weren't having injuries to the extent that they were and I'm over here thinking , yeah , really , like I improved my gut health , I'm not going to have knee injury All right . Let's see about that .

But I had , you know , tried a million things right , like changing my run form and , you know , going to all the professionals and doing all these things , and nothing was working . So I decided I needed to give this an honest go and so I worked for and after . That is when I finally ran my marathon .

But I will say kind of more into answer of your question that marathon that I ran wasn't actually part of a race , like I just did it in the woods on my own as part of training for the 50 miler that I had signed up for .

So really like mentally in my mind , I kind of skipped over the marathon and just decided to go for the 50 miler , and that's when I was finally able to do it .

Because , you must've been like sort of anxious or did you feel kind of good about what you were about to do , Like what was , what was in your head at the on the start line of that first 50 ?

So I did have like a knee problem show up , but I was so determined , um , so two months later I decided to go out into the woods and just do it , right , with nobody there . Yeah , and so you would think that that would mostly take like performance nerves out , because if you're doing it with nobody around , you know nobody can see you if you fail .

But that was also the thing that I knew would get me in the end was , if nobody knew that I was doing it , it would be easy for me to give up . So I , who pretty much never went on any sort of social media , at that point I purposefully went onto my Instagram account Facebook , I don't even know and I posted that I was going to run 50 miles .

I wanted to make sure that people knew it so that I couldn't just talk myself out of it easily , right ? And so just doing that like added some performance anxiety , I guess to my day . And you know I , I had wanted that , like I had trained really um , consistently .

You know , for when I , when I attempted the 50 mile race that I didn't finish , I mean I like I was like a star student as far as training goes , you know I , I mean like I didn't miss a day , like I did it . I mean maybe I missed one day , I don't know , but I mean you know , on the whole , like I didn't miss my training .

And so when I didn't finish that race , it was quite devastating for me and it really it really rocked my confidence . So when I showed up , even for this race , that was just in the woods and nobody was around for two months later , yeah , I was .

I was really nervous because my confidence had just kind of been shot , like I didn't know that I believed in myself . But I had this moment where I decided who cares if you , if you have failed in the past , it's in the past . It means absolutely nothing about today , like it's not a story that holds any weight to it at all .

Just because I didn't do it yesterday , it doesn't mean I can't weight to it at all . Just because I didn't do it yesterday doesn't mean I can't do it today at all , and so that was the mindset that I took in with me that day , that kind of overcame all of those nerves .

And so then I kind of had less than a month to go into this run , so my training really wasn't there , but it was one of those things that I just I was like it's Louisiana , it's only getting hotter . It was like March or something . So I was like I've got to do this now or I'm going to miss my like .

I'm not going to end up doing it because it's just going to be too hot for me .

You can do all the training in the world and feel really good standing on the start line and go and have an absolutely rubbish race , like it just doesn't work and you can roll up to a race two weeks later with no training or you know a year late , whatever Like you can roll up to a race on the back of signing up last night and have one of the best

races you've ever done . So it's a mystery sometimes how this stuff plays out , but yeah , it's it's really intriguing trying to figure out and crack the code . You know that whole I'm going to age myself but the whole Rubik's cube is how on earth all this stuff fits together . It's crazy , and that's part of the appeal , to me at least .

It's like trying to figure out what worked and what didn't work from the last time and then apply it to this time and it just it doesn't have the same effect .

We treat ourselves like we're robots , like , oh , if you just hit your zone to you know pace whatever and your heart rate threshold and stay in it for this amount of time , like it's going to work . And then I mean we're human beings , we're not robots .

There are so many factors exactly like that Rubik's cube , right , and you know you have to lovingly and very compassionately address all of those different factors and be compassionate where there is breakdown , right , and not expect that you're just going to be this robot that follows a training plan and it's all going to work .

Yes , there's probably things you can do that will improve your chance of getting to the finish , but do I have to hit every split of every mile of every day of every week ? You know it's , it's OK . One run , one miss split is not going to , it's not going to impact you that much when you're going 50 miles or 100 miles , you know .

But certainly , nutrition is nutrition , although I think it is a misunderstanding to think that nutrition is the only part of gut health , but certainly , you know , nutrition is primary , one of the primary things in gut health .

So , yeah , I'd spent a lot of time , you know , working on my nutrition and my gut health outside of the actual , you know , racing or training environment , during the runs , and this was true then and this is still true now . Palate fatigue is a real thing for me , I mean , it's a problem , right .

So when I was I I don't remember what all I did for nutrition that day , other than I did have a lot of chocolate milk , because that's something that I could have , and there are other people that would never be able to stand that .

oh wow , like real eggnog , not the no alcohol stuff yes , yeah , yeah , I put it in the water bottles . Oh my god , like I . I went through like 50 miles of eggnog back in november . Now I'm not doing that during hot weather . It's actually tomato soup for me in hot weather .

And then he had it in a bottle and he was drinking it and I was like that is the weirdest thing I've ever seen . But yeah , eggnog is right up there too .

It's like a little tear on the side of , like a minor tear that I get on the side of my knee .

So when I didn't finish it , I went back two months later to the same trail and to the same exact run , just without the official race actually happening Although I did , you know , we know the race director and I was like okay , so if I go back and finish this , can I still get the mug ?

I don't know why , but that was a huge motivator .

So , from a gut health perspective because that's not something I have thought about , maybe a lot of listeners maybe haven't thought about either as part of the nutritional equation , why is that important , especially for runners ? And then what can we do to kind of identify where we're at now with it and if we and improve if we need to ?

. So you know , scientists these days are calling the gut your second brain . Oh yeah , and there's a really good reason for that . It's because it is connected to everything in your body . So it is connected to your um , certainly your energy , certainly your gastrointestinal health . I mean , we could kind of guess that one for sure .

But your your immunity , so your ability to be around sick people and not get sick , or your ability to overtrain a little bit and not get automatically sick from it I'm not encouraging overtraining , but you know where I'm going . It's connected to your mood , right ? So your ability to feel happy and calm and motivated for your training .

So I can't tell you like how many you know middle-aged women in particular I talk to , I mean they're , you know great , like runners and triathletes , and they tell me Lauren , I'm not motivated , like I don't , I don't want to do it Right . Your motivation is actually very directly connected to your gut health , your ability to think clearly . Think clearly .

You know women especially in this , in this middle age time period . I mean , men experience this too , but brain fog is a very real thing . Your gut health is directly related to that . Your gut health is related to inflammation on so many different levels and in so many different ways .

And so if you think about that , I mean for me , I'd consider inflammation , I'd say it's the root of all evil , and especially as a runner , right , if you have inflammation , yeah you're not recovering the root of all evil , and especially as a runner , right , if you have inflammation , yeah , you're not . You're not recovering the way that you should .

Yeah , you're way more susceptible to injury and have a harder time recovering from that injury . Certainly , if you have inflammation , it is going to prevent you from it .

You know you might end up with sleep issues , right , like issues falling asleep or staying asleep or having a good kind of restful recovery sleep , and if you don't get that , once again you cannot recover as a runner . If you were just , you know , experiencing like not having energy as a runner , again , your gut health is directly related to all of that .

So there are 11 different gut metabolites that were tested . So , I'm sorry , let me back up . You can get your gut health tested so that you know exactly what you're working with . Okay , so that you do know what to do ?

Yeah , and that's one of the first things that I do with my clients is that we get their gut health tested so we , we can know the path like we're not guessing , right ? So one of the gut metabolites that was tested , it's called 3-methylxanthine , and 3-methylxanthine is a direct reflection of inflammation in your body that's related to caffeine .

Yeah , right , and that's something certainly that's , you know , talked about a lot like how much is too much , right , in running circles ? Well , in any circle , but anyway . So I was very surprised to find that I , like , my threeylxanthine level was high , like really high . And I'm thinking , oh , my God , I'm a tea drinker .

I don't even drink coffee , I drink black tea and , okay , maybe I drink it a little strong and maybe I have two or three cups a day , but whatever , it's tea , this should not be an issue . And so you know , so I do the things to like help improve this Right .

But months later when , um , you know , my husband is going to get tested , right , cause I'm totally sold , like I'm feeling the difference in my body , like I'm I'm feeling better , like I can feel inflammation going down , I'm getting better sleep , I'm having more energy , like I don't have anxiety the way that I used to like so many .

I'm not getting sick the way that I used to like all these great things , right . So my husband gets tested and I'm thinking , oh dear God , his three methyl xanthine is going to be terrible , because that man could put away some coffee like a lot , a lot , a lot of coffee .

Like if you come to our house and he makes you coffee , like you will probably have to add hot water to it . It's very strong . So he gets his results back and do you know that his three-methylxanthine levels were like a little high , but not that much Like he was actually pretty darn close to optimal levels and I was like what the hell , how does that ?

work , yeah , and so this , you know , how does that work ? Well , it's just , you know , an illustration of how

I mean . Yes , I can give you the general principle reduce caffeine for better gut health , and that would be true . But is that super relevant to you and to your gut health ? Maybe , maybe not . You know this one person can drink a cup of coffee and this other person can drink a cup of coffee and they have very different effects and gut health .

Maybe , maybe not . You know this one person can drink a cup of coffee and this other person can drink a cup of coffee and they have very different effects and gut health and all that . So , yeah , so it's different for everybody .

I can give you the general principles , but just keep in mind that there's no like one straight shot , but as far as what you can do , you know , the analogy that I like to use for gut health is is a forest . So I live near a forest , so this is an easy one for me .

And and well , I mean dear God , but like we're all ultra runners , like how many of us don't hang out in the forest ? So you know , if you think about a forest , you know if you , if you go out to where a forest should be and you're like , oh look , there's a tree 10 miles away . Like that's not a forest .

Right , like you would know there's a problem , because in a forest , you know , you would have like a lot of trees and a lot of like wildlife and our gut is the same way . I would think of the trees and all that like bacteria . Our gut likes bacteria and it likes a lot of it .

It doesn't want just a little bit , okay , it wants a lot and it likes a lot of it . It doesn't want just a little bit . Okay , it wants a lot and it wants a variety . So if you walked into a forest and you had nothing but pine trees , like you would say , well , that's a problem , right .

Like where you know where are the , you know the hardwood trees , where are the mushrooms ? Like , where are the flowers ? Where are the deer ? Where are the rabbits ? Like you know the birds , like you need other wildlife and things to say that it's a healthy forest . And so , again , like , our gut is the same way .

It wants a high population of bacteria and it wants a diversity of bacteria . So how do you get that ? Well , there are a few things . So , for example , if you're not getting enough fiber , you are going to have a problem with the population and diversity of bacteria in your gut . Your gut wants fiber and fiber supports that right .

So that's one thing that's going to help with that . As far as you know , if we go , if we keep going with the forest analogy , right . So if you walked into the forest and you , you know , maybe see all the trees , but you don't see the deer and you don't see the rabbits .

But you look around on the ground and you see that something has been rooting around . It's probably a hog . Now , in Louisiana , wild hogs are actually an invasive species . Yeah , and if they're around , they're driving off all of the other wildlife , right ? It's a real problem In our gut . This is the same thing . It's a real problem in our gut .

This is the same thing that's happening when you're eating crap .

So if you're having a bunch of junk and a bunch of like processed foods or foods with highly refined sugars and inflammatory oils , for example , those are things that basically are kind of like the wild hogs in the forest , like they ravage that bacteria in your gut and you end up not having the bacteria that you need to process like good , healthy food , which

translates into all the things we talked about earlier , like immunity and energy and emotional balance and all that . If you're just having junk , it basically just destroys all of that right and just messes up that balance .

Like most stuff that's at an aid station table , like I just can't , even , like I can't take it in if I wanted to , like I can have one fig bar and then I'm done . So I usually end up having to bring my own stuff . But you know that's one day of racing . Like your body , your gut , is going to experience a lot of stress anyway .

Certainly , if there are some healthier options , go for it . But I mean , really , like , if there's a point where all I can have is like chips and Coke , I'm going to have chips and Coke , right , because that's what I can take at that moment . So , really , like , the bigger focus is outside of race day .

Like , what are you doing on a day-to-day basis , right ? I mean , if I were going to , you know point out a few other specifics . So , like , women in particular generally know that they don't get enough protein , especially as they get older , they know that they need to increase their protein , especially women who are middle-aged and above .

We grew up in this generation where we were taught carbs are bad , food is bad , fat is bad .

Like you need a good balance of of carbs , of healthy carbs , of healthy fats , of healthy proteins from , like , real food sources , as opposed to trying to like pack it all into a bar . You know that's in general .

I mean , if that's the only thing you're gonna get for that day , like go for it , but in general , like you need to go for those higher quality proteins . So I'll maybe give an example to kind of break that down too . One of the gut metabolites that will show up again and again in these tests and in your gut health is serotonin .

So serotonin is one that a lot of us are familiar with more as like a neurotransmitter , as in if you go to the doctor and you say I'm feeling depressed , then you will likely get a prescription for an antidepressant and that prescription will likely be an SSRI with one of those S's standing for serotonin , and that medication will not give it to you but impact

how your body produces it . Well , little known fact is that 90% of your body's serotonin is actually produced in your gut . If it's in like its natural state and you're not taking medication for it , okay . How does that happen ? Well , serotonin is actually a derivative of tryptophan .

So a lot of us are familiar with tryptophan like Thanksgiving turkey , but you can get it from like a variety of high quality proteins . Yes , you will see it on a package for like a protein bar , but that's low quality , okay . Your body receives it differently , but you can get tryptophan from eating like chicken thighs , for example , okay . Or free range eggs .

So if your gut is healthy , like you're not eating crap , you're like having fiber , you're hydrating well , you're not overly stressed , okay , cause your body registers that stress in your gut and brings about inflammation , okay .

So if you've got like a nice environment there in your gut , you will eat that chicken thigh and get tryptophan and it will break down into serotonin and now you are a happy person , all right . And then that serotonin will further break down into melatonin .

Melatonin being , you know , like if you can't sleep , you're going to go by like the little gummies right , that's melatonin . Right , it helps you sleep . Your body already knows how to produce that . Okay , so you eat . The chicken thigh breaks down the serotonin . You feel happy . It breaks down to the melatonin .

Now you can fall asleep at night and serotonin also helps initiate digestion . So now you're digesting the healthy food that you're eating , right , and everything is flowing the way that it needs to .

So you can see , like , if there's a breakdown somewhere in that process and you're like , oh my God , like I'm crabby all the time , you know , and I can't fall asleep and I have all this anxiety and I'm bloating , you know I feel bloated all the time . Right , you know it's not .

You know you can see how that impacts you as a runner , for sure , and just as a human being , and all of that is very , very fixable , right , like you can . You can do the things to improve your gut health and it's very fixable , right , like you can .

You know , it was kind of different in that time period , but really focused on it during that time period . And then then all of a sudden I run my first marathon , I do my first 50 miler , I do my first Ironman , I do another 50 miler , I do another Ironman , I do 50K , do 100K , and I do it all within one year .

Right , and I've been struggling so much for four years . But not only that . I had several moments where I was like , oh my God , I'm falling asleep now , like I didn't , I didn't even realize it was an issue , like I'd just gotten used to having trouble falling asleep .

And then I'd have another day where I'm like , oh my God , I'm not bloated the way that I used to be . And then I'd have another day where I'm like , oh my God , I don't have anxiety the way that I used to be and I didn't do anything in particular that you know I knew .

To try to alleviate any of that , all I did was improve my gut health and all of those things like naturally leveled out for me . So yeah , I'm pretty enthusiastic about it .

Reiki , Reiki , Reiki , Perfect , so Reiki . What is this , and how can it help us overcome mental and physical challenges of ultra running or just kind of lead a better life ? I'm not familiar with reiki yeah .

So when I say every level , I mean physical , emotional , mental , certainly spiritual .

In my own experience with reiki and certainly I'd say that everybody experiences this differently in my own experience , though , like I could tell you my very first reiki session so you know , with a Reiki practitioner , a Reiki master , they're just simply channeling this energy to you .

There are no bells and whistles , like it is the most anticlimactic thing you will ever experience . It will seem like nothing is happening . Right afterward , you know , there were several things that happened for me and again , everybody responds differently .

Okay , and that is because Reiki knows how to go to the source of the place within you that needs healing and balance . Okay ,

you know .

So for me I did actually , once again , you know , I had a , I had a minor tear on the side of my knee and this is something for me that , if I get it , I know that I'm not running for like three weeks and probably a month if I want that thing to heal completely and it had only been a week , maybe like a week and a half or something , and I had

this Reiki session and it disappeared , like it just completely went away , which floored me Like that never , that never , ever , ever happens . Now I also say that there have been other physical things that I've experienced , you know , maybe like pain in the knee or in the hip , that they did not go away right away . Okay , so it like it wasn't .

It's not like you do this Reiki session and everything magical , like magical healing , happens , but I will say that you know , I did have again some very , very powerful effects from that Reiki session , such as that pain going away . But also you know what I also experienced or sorry , let me go back to the other things .

What I would say is , with these other things that I experienced that maybe didn't go away , like physical , you know pains , you know that just were bothering me , right , they didn't go away right away , but what I can say is that they healed much more quickly than usual , and this is one of the beauties for me of Reiki is that it really is a way to tap

into your natural healing energy . It's like if you cut yourself , your body knows how to heal itself , for the most part right , and Reiki is kind of a way of helping you access that natural healing energy that we all have .

And so , again , what I've noticed is that when I've experienced something on a physical level , I'm able to recover from it a lot more quickly than I have in the past . And then you know all levels right .

Like you know , there's certainly an element to Reiki and this was maybe one of the primary purposes when it was first I want to say developed , but I think discovered is more of an appropriate word that you know there's a balance emotionally and mentally . That happens as well .

You know we like we cannot deny at all I mean , there's plenty of science backing this up that when we have experiences that we haven't maybe processed , you know , in the way that would be completely like healthy and whole for us , we hold on to them , they become stored energy for us .

And those stored emotions you know , experiences , memories , we know that they manifest themselves physically .

So when we experience physical symptoms of some sort , there's often an emotional or mental kind of component that is maybe just out of balance a little bit or is contributing to it in some way , and that is one thing that Reiki helps to heal and balance within us . Just find the imbalances within you and help your body-mind to release them .

I know there are places where having a Reiki practitioner on staff is actually like just a very normal part of a holistic treatment . You know , reiki is not like a substitute for medical care , it's not a substitute for therapy .

Like I was a therapist , I believe highly in therapy , but you know this also brings another , just a very different complimentary kind of element to healing and balancing .

So yeah , often , you know , in some places you might find a Reiki practitioner in you know a holistic kind of practice , but a lot of times you'll you'll just find a Reiki practitioner who works on their own , which is kind of like what I do . Right , I have a coaching practice and I include Reiki in that as part of .

You know , this holistic healing and all of my Reiki is done from a distance . So traditionally , you know , reiki was in person and still is and involves like healing through hand placement . But universal life force , energy , doesn't know time or space . So distance Reiki healing can happen as well , so you can find Reiki practitioners who are online as well .

Yeah , I mean , you do have this sort of holistic outlook and I think ultra running kind of sort of fits into that from the mental and emotional standpoint as well as the physical .

And I've had races where I've been , let's say , a hundred miles into a race or day two or day three of a really long race and for whatever reason you're just like the emotional side of things is incredible . I just start crying and I have no idea why I'm crying and it's just stupid stuff .

And I could be listening to a song and it literally makes me cry and I have no idea why . But yeah , just , I don't think , people , really you can train a lot for physical and the mental side of of of doing these , these ultra events . But I think the emotional side of things is super interesting to get into , cause I don't think we really train for that .

But this may have some place there .

Yeah , reiki can help you release that , and sometimes that can be a very physical experience , like you can actually experience what feels like maybe detox symptoms . You know , like after my first Reiki session I had the worst headache I'd ever had and I had some gastrointestinal like . It was almost like I went through like a gastrointestinal kind of detox .

But , yeah , very physically you can experience a release of emotions , beliefs , you know , the , just the things that are not for your highest good .

And so I bring that up because I love , I love the combo with running and Reiki , because exactly what you just said like you can be running and it's like I don't know something about running , can be running and it's like I don't know something about running , especially like long distances that kind of relaxes all of your defenses and the emotions that are very

much stored energy within you come to the surface Right and all of a sudden you're crying because you just saw like blue , blue blueberries on the trail right , or you remembered something that happened you know three years ago and you're emotional over it .

And that's a beautiful thing , you know , because it allows those emotions to come to the surface and for you to process them in a physical way . Maybe you mentally process it for a little bit and then release it . And Reiki does a very similar thing . And what I love is when you experience that together .

Like I love doing a Reiki session on myself and then going for a run , I feel like it just helps release everything that does not need to be there .

And so I did leave the world of therapy and I started Goddess Health and so basically I coach women who are in midlife generally that's usually who I work with- there are a few exceptions , but mostly women who are in midlife , and I help them improve their gut health and we , you know , we take a very special look at prioritizing self-care , because what I have

found is that women who do this are healthier and more present , have more energy . You know , they're living the lives that they want to live when they can prioritize their self-care , when they can improve their gut health .

We also spend a lot of time on reducing inflammation , and the reason for that is because most women in midlife are either in menopause or perimenopause and often don't know it specifically around the perimenopause . You know perimenopause is that time period leading up to menopause and often don't know it specifically around the perimenopause .

You know , perimenopause is that time period leading up to menopause and it can be like four years , it can be eight years , it can be 12 years , and a lot of women don't know that they're in it and so they've got very imbalanced hormones and they're like I can't sleep , I'm anxious all the time , I have no energy , I'm tired , like what the hell is going on ,

right ? I'm like I've got all this belly fat and I'm an ultra runner . You know , like what is going on , and it's often this , this imbalance of hormones that they're unaware that they have . There's not a super clear test for it either . So so we work a lot on balancing hormones reducing inflammation . We work a lot on balancing hormones reducing inflammation .

You know , I do bring Reiki into it to just help bring that deeper sense of balance .

Now , one of the things , Lauren , we also like to do here is encourage guests to choose a song to add to the free Spotify Choose to Enjoy playlist . Typically , it's something family-friendly . Maybe it lifts you up or motivates you or just keeps your butt moving while you're out on the trail . Now you chose a really fun song .

Do you want to tell us what song you chose and why this one particularly might resonate with you ?

Yeah , I ended up really liking a couple of his songs , and this is one that just particularly gets me going , and it's one that I associate with my first hundred mile attempt , which I didn't finish . But I did get through 100K of it and for some reason that that song is Thank you .

That song is one that I just associate with that race , so maybe it brings back those memories for me , but it also just gets me going . It's a good one to play before I go run .

We'll definitely get that song added to the playlist so that folks out there can enjoy it as much as we do .

Looked at the key roles of gut health , some nutrition , a little bit of mental resilience too , and Lauren's holistic coaching approach integrates these elements and provides us a lot of really cool and interesting different strategies for us as back of the pack runners . Definitely Reiki I've got to get that name right .

Reiki has shown how we can enhance our performance and our general well-being . Lauren's practical tips on training and even some race day strategies maybe some mental toughness and her story of overcoming challenges and staying motivated are particularly inspiring , and hopefully they might empower you to go tackle your first ultra , wherever and however long that might be .

So you can find more information on Lauren's website at laurenbcallahancom , and her book Couch to 50 Miles is out there on Amazon for you to go to take a look at if that's even English and purchase .

Lauren also has a free masterclass , which is , I think , on Zoom that you can go check out , called the Four Things Every Woman in Midlife Needs to Know , and again , we'll put all the links to these in the show notes . So definitely avail yourself of these opportunities as you wish .

Now , while you're out on the internet searching for more information about Lauren and her book or her coaching , don't forget to also subscribe to this show as well , get notified each time a new episode comes out and , of course , follow , like and share . It would be very much appreciated .

Doing any of those things really helps promote the show , gets the word out and increases the chances of other runners finding the information that awesome guests like Lauren have given up their time to come and share with us .

You can find us on Instagram , facebook and over at choosetoeenjoycom , so be sure to head over to any of those spots , check us out , say hello , drop us a message or suggest a topic if you have a moment . I love getting those interactions . Until then , run long , run strong and keep choosing to endure .