I ran a half marathon this weekend!!!

And I genuinely cannot believe those words are true. But I have the medal to prove it!

I want to tell you more about how on earth it happened that this girl who always assumed she wasn’t a runner and had never run more than two miles without stopping until 2026 ended up running 13.1 miles this weekend – without stopping.

But first, maybe you read my recent post about creating a money plan and thought: “I’ve made budgets before. My problem is actually sticking with them.”

I want to tell you a story.

For years, I believed I couldn’t run. As in, it just wasn’t possible for my body to go more than a mile or two. Some of that fear went all the way back to a C I’d received in PE in second grade!

In March of this year, my 21-year-old daughter called and asked if I’d run a 10k with her. I didn’t even know how long a 10K was, but I said yes. I had 9 weeks to train and I learned so much about my body in those 9 weeks. And I also discovered that I ACTUALLY COULD RUN. In fact, I wasn’t that bad at it and it was something I enjoyed.

WHAT EVEN? Who was I??

Armed with confidence from the 10k, I decided to sign up for a half marathon. Only this time, I’d be doing it by myself. I spent the last few months training using the Runna app. 

I had a lot of great runs and a lot of hard runs. I got a little better and a little braver and a little more confident.

But I still went into Saturday’s race feeling super scared and anxious — especially to run such a long race all by myself.

You know what happened, though? I didn’t end up running it by myself!

I made three friends named Shylah, Kellie, and John during the first mile, and we ended up running the entire race together. 

We didn’t know each other at all before that morning, but we bonded a lot over those 2 1/2+ hours we were running together.

And the truth is: I might have quit if it wasn’t for them.

We cheered for every runner we saw and we cheered for and encouraged each other. We distracted one another with stories and beautiful scenery. We made sure that everyone was drinking and fueling and not pushing too hard.

And we all finished!!! I truly credit Shylah, Kellie, and John for why I made it to the finish line in under my goal time AND had the best race experience I could have hoped for.

Who you surround yourself is often who you become. Had I been racing with people who were complaining or talking about how hard it was or stopping every 10 mins or quitting altogether, it would have been a lot harder to keep going.

That experience helped me see how much the right support can change our follow-through.

That’s why my new book, The 7 Habits of Financially Healthy Women, goes beyond helping you make a budget.

There’s an accountability-style quiz to help you identify whether you do best with one-on-one support, a group, or tools for tracking your own progress.

Then I help you make it specific:

• Who will you ask for support?
• What will you track?
• When will you check in?
• How will you adjust after a difficult week?

You’ll also explore practical spending systems, including cash envelopes, and ways to create a pause before an impulse purchase.

If you have plenty of good intentions but keep getting discouraged, these are tools I want you to have.

You can build a plan around how you actually function — including the busy weeks when motivation is low.

Pre-order your copy + claim your FREE bonuses here! 

My book releases tomorrow so the bonus offer ends in one day — don’t miss out!!

And here’s to surrounding yourself with a community of people who cheer for you, support you, and love you on your financial journey, just like Shylah, Kellie, and John did for me during the half marathon!

P.S. One of my big hopes is that I can also be a cheerleader to you through The 7 Habits of Financially Healthy Women. I want you to know that you are not alone. No matter what your financial past looks like and no matter the shame or guilt or stress you might feel around money, that doesn’t have to be where you stay stuck. Here’s to writing a brand-new story that might look entirely different than you ever dreamed was possible!