A Month of Barre: Channeling My Inner Ballerina (Originally for Barre Evolution of Greenville, SC)

Last fall, while I was training for my first marathon, a college friend moved to town and joined me for some of my running workouts. We had trained together for previous half-marathons, and she had always beaten me in past races. In short, Sarah Mae was and is the cheerful and motivating training buddy that you want with you for the last month-and-a-half of marathon training in the hills of Greenville, SC. We had many enjoyable conversations on our running dates, and apparently Sarah Mae's comments about how much she loved Barre Evolution classes were more persuasive than I thought. When I saw an advertisement towards the end of winter, I recruited another Barre Evolution newbie and signed up to try barre. 

After the first class at Barre Evolution Greenville, I was both very sore and very much in love with the teacher, the workout, and most importantly, the playlists. In eight years of cross country and track team workouts, racing five half-marathons and one full marathon, several years of yoga classes with a few pilates and Zumba workouts thrown in along the way, I had never done anything like the Barre Evolution method. I simultaneously felt like I had never worked out before and felt empowered to quickly learn and master these moves. Why yes, the varsity college athlete mentality is entertaining in the real world. 

I recently gifted myself a month of unlimited barre classes at Barre Evolution Greenville. Before beginning Boston qualifier training, I was strategically avoiding doing any significant running for a few months. After trying a few classes in March and unexpectedly falling for the Barre Evolution method, now that I was back from vacation and steadily treading through the busy season at work, I was ready to attend as many classes as possible. Between May 15th and June 13th was my time to embrace barre. 

In 30 days of classes at Barre Evolution Greenville, I learned both hilarious and profound things:

1. Barre is the hardest and best workout you’ll ever do without shoes on. It is no dance class.
2. Shaking is desirable, and it continues even after you’re in good shape. Keep working hard to get even closer to peak strength and toning. Fitness is a process, not a destination.
3. Your least favorite teacher can become your favorite teacher. While I certainly respected and appreciated the guidance of all of the Barre Evolution Greenville teachers, I figured out towards the end of the month exactly which classes I enjoyed the most. Each teacher has their own style and you will figure out whose style is slightly more enjoyable and challenging than the others.
4. Your "navel" and your "seat" are your new key body parts. Don't worry, though: your glutes and your thighs can escape Barre Evolution without being renamed a la Ellis Island.
5. Music is one of the best motivators out there. Notably, Katy Perry medleys are fantastic (as if I needed a reminder), and “Budapest” is not George Ezra’s only great song featuring a European city: listen to “Barcelona.”
6. Two pounds is a lot of weight. Believe me, I know that it doesn’t sound like it, but please do all of the arm-targeting repetitions with great form and without breaks before you tell me that you're too good for the two pounders.
7. Tell your coworkers that you are going to ballet barre class, or you might accidentally influence a rumor that you enjoy the bar a little too much.
8. Barre exercises are very beneficial for your posture. The combination of yoga stretches, core and back-strengthening, and continual reminders to “tuck your seat” has improved my poise. I even get less sore than I used to due to life’s usual stressors.
9. Voluntarily leaving home before 6 am can feel great—if you’re heading to barre class, that is. I took two of the 6 am classes and I’m so glad that I did. I will admit, I didn’t quite know what to do when I left class and discovered that my first-choice of coffee shop had not yet opened for the morning. Good thing that there was another excellent choice already open just around the corner.
10. Dry shampoo is even more awesome than I thought it was. One of my favorite parts of barre class is that you get a high-quality, challenging workout but don’t have to shower before returning to the office or heading to happy hour. The doubting newbie has become a believer.
11. It is possible to do 40 pushups. This does not mean that I didn’t doubt or that I didn’t get tired while on my way towards having better form, doing more repetitions without taking a break, and finally, feeling moderately proficient at those elusive standard pushups. In the words of Dory, “Just keep swimming.”

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Barre Evolution and hope to continue taking occasional classes. I feel the strongest and most toned that I have been in a while. Now, I’m off to Boston marathon-qualifying, then perhaps a sprint triathlon, and then maybe-just-maybe one of these days barre classes will empower me to do a full split like six-year-old Jessica could. With the right playlist for motivation, who knows?

The Big Goal: My First Marathon (Originally for Outdoorosity.org)

On Sunday, November 30th at 10:07 am, I completed my first 26.2-miler. Crossing the finish line was a beautiful and surreal moment. There were people all around me and many things happening all-at-once, but I was most aware of my legs and the clock. I ran for three hours, 46 minutes and 19 seconds in a row, ten miles further than I had ever run in a day. I can now say that I am a marathoner.


It was a difficult and rewarding journey. I trained for months and went out in the cold and dark when I just wanted to stay inside. Navigating the various water fountains and public restrooms of downtown Greenville, South Carolina became second-nature. I made it through ten-mile tempo runs where I really didn’t know how I had maintained an 8:12 pace. During the warmer portion of training, I enjoyed a lot of post-run slushies. I laughed aloud the day I realized how excited I was about only having a seven-miler on the schedule. There were a lot of achy days, and there were many moments of post-workout elation.

During the months of training just as much as the last few hours before the race, I used bits and pieces of knowledge that I had gained through the benevolence of all of the coaches, teammates and races of the 12 years that I have been “a runner.” Throughout my training, I asked three accomplished athletes—my beloved high school coach and RunnerGirl founder, Rae Ann Darling Reed, an inspiring college acquaintance who had recently won a 50k, Chelsey Woods, and a dear Furman University cross country teammate and racewalker extraordinaire, Erika Shaver—hours’ worth of questions about fueling, pacing, running with music, and anything else that came to mind. I read some great articles in Pace Magazine and Runner’s World. 26.2 car magnets now held even more of my interest than they had before. Would I earn the privilege of displaying one of these symbolic decorations on my own car?

My roommate the night before the race, a former high school rival and church friend, encouraged me and sang along with me to some favorite country tunes and of course, songs from the new Taylor Swift CD. The veteran of now three marathons and a Boston 2016 qualifier, I laughed when Emily Egan mentioned that she stressed before her first race remembering that “the first person who ran a marathon died.” It was a beautiful and slightly terrifying thing for me to realize that I had no idea if I could do this or not.


Sure, I had trained a heck of a lot. In October, my best friend of almost five years had mentioned that I looked a lot more muscular than I used to. Tempo runs had never before felt like second-nature and I was feeling really good after completing each 13-miler (huge thank you to the wonderful and tireless Sarah Mae Lammert for her company!). But, you never know. The uncertainty that is inherently a part of the attempt of something daunting is exactly why it is so rewarding when the daunting goal is accomplished.


On November 30th, I woke up at 3:57 am, quickly dressed and grabbed my supplies (stored in the essential race-check bag) then waited in line for the shuttle. During the commute, I chatted with the woman next to me about previous races and about our hopes for the day. I ate fruit snacks and graham crackers, and drank water and Gatorade. I enjoyed the amusing camaraderie of the port-a-potty line and made my way to the start. Despite thousands of spectators and runners, I found Jean-Louis, the pacer, who had run more marathons than he could count, holding his trusty “3:45 pace” sign. I got my stopwatch ready to go, and before I knew it, we were moving. It was real now. The Space Coast Marathon had begun.


We ran an out-and-back course along the water in Cocoa and Rockledge, Florida. I started dutifully eating Clif Shot Bloks at mile six. We passed many locals cheering from their front yards: people from many different demographics and a variety of outfits, including astronaut suits, Buzz Lightyear costumes, Princess Leia buns and even Jabba the Hutt. Some of the onlookers held hilarious signs, my personal favorite being “Remember, you paid to do this.” Several dolphins splashed in the water to our right and pelicans dive-bombed to catch fish. Halfway through the race, I was on-pace for about 3:40 marathon. A middle-aged man who had been with my pace group mentioned that he was hoping to break 3:40, and I told him that we should go for it. John and I got to know each other over the next 11 miles together, and I was extremely grateful for his company. My mom texted me encouragement as I ran. A guy in a lawn chair blasted a Pitbull song at exactly the right moment. John and I had sped up to roughly eight-minute-per-mile pace and I needed his help to stay there. I high-fived four people who I didn’t know and cheered for both acquaintances and close friends running in the opposite direction. I kept telling John, “Wahoo! We’re still crazy” and my legs kept moving. Aside from the blisters that accompanied me for the last eight miles and a few twinges of pain, I felt great. After I finished, I gave John a sweaty hug: we had both broken 3:40 by more than a margin. I congratulated Emily for qualifying for Boston with plenty of time to spare and I completely shocked myself by finishing only 79 seconds off of the Boston-qualifying standard. Happy exhaustion sunk in as I stretched, called my parents and devoured a lot of pancakes. Later, as I wandered on Cocoa Beach before my flight, I realized that I’d have to try for the Boston Marathon qualifying standard one of these days. What an adventure that will be.


I am immensely grateful for the ability to complete my big goal through God’s power alone. Thanks for all the support, friends and family. Don’t be afraid to try a marathon, a 5k, a triathlon, a new class at the gym, a steep hike, Jiu-Jitsu, or challenge yourself to form a healthy new habit. As Nelson Mandela said, “It always seems impossible until it’s done.”
In case a long race is your big goal, here are my favorite distance race training tricks:








-Use a resealable plastic bag to protect your phone in the likely event of sweat and the unlikely event of inclement weather.
-Incorporate occasional yoga sessions when you can. For me, yoga classes were an essential time to reset while working on flexibility and other muscles.
-Keep a portable size sunscreen in your everyday bag. Refill from a larger bottle when needed.
-Leave for a run immediately after your workday is over. It’s a lot easier to procrastinate, get hungry, or waste valuable daylight hours if you go home or before you complete your run.
-Buy two pairs of your favorite running shoes at the beginning of your training: it’s a lot of mileage and you will need them.