Episode 11 | Catching Up With Erin Azar aka Mrs. Space Cadet After Blowing From Pandemic Struggles to 700K Followers + Major Inspiration
12/30/21 • 40 min
"I never thought I would inspire anybody in life. I quit everything. I was never an inspiring person. To see me now, by just sharing my story of going from really sad to really glad and that being able to inspire somebody is a dream come true. I love making videos. I love sharing my story. I love oversharing, as my husband would say. The fact that it can help people is like, 'Are you kidding this is amazing?!" It is just more motivation to keep going, keep making videos and keep running because there are so many benefits that it's brought to me. Seeing the change that it brings other people is addicting and it never gets old."
We welcome back Erin Azar – also known as Mrs. Space Cadet. She’s a rapidly-growing social media star with 720,000 TikTok followers and 70,000 Instagram followers. She describes herself as an "expert struggle runner and struggle lifer making running more approachable for beginners." I first learned of her in Dec. 2020 when she was a guest on this podcast in Dec. 2020. She is one of the people who really picked up the sport during the pandemic and chronicled her journey on Tiktok to millions of viewers. The sport is growing right now and there are thousands of people like Erin. In this episode, we recap her experience in this running journey including running the NYC Marathon and also how we can get someone like her to connect with track and field since there’s typically that disconnect. This is a fun conversation and I hope you all enjoy it as we wrap up the year and start an epic 2022.
▶ Follow Erin: @immrsspacecadet
"I never thought I would inspire anybody in life. I quit everything. I was never an inspiring person. To see me now, by just sharing my story of going from really sad to really glad and that being able to inspire somebody is a dream come true. I love making videos. I love sharing my story. I love oversharing, as my husband would say. The fact that it can help people is like, 'Are you kidding this is amazing?!" It is just more motivation to keep going, keep making videos and keep running because there are so many benefits that it's brought to me. Seeing the change that it brings other people is addicting and it never gets old."
We welcome back Erin Azar – also known as Mrs. Space Cadet. She’s a rapidly-growing social media star with 720,000 TikTok followers and 70,000 Instagram followers. She describes herself as an "expert struggle runner and struggle lifer making running more approachable for beginners." I first learned of her in Dec. 2020 when she was a guest on this podcast in Dec. 2020. She is one of the people who really picked up the sport during the pandemic and chronicled her journey on Tiktok to millions of viewers. The sport is growing right now and there are thousands of people like Erin. In this episode, we recap her experience in this running journey including running the NYC Marathon and also how we can get someone like her to connect with track and field since there’s typically that disconnect. This is a fun conversation and I hope you all enjoy it as we wrap up the year and start an epic 2022.
▶ Follow Erin: @immrsspacecadet
Previous Episode
Episode 10 | Sara Vaughn Crushes Her Marathon Debut (2:26:53) With A Win At The California International Marathon, 5th Fastest U.S. Debut Ever!
“I think the biggest thing is that I still love it. I’ve told myself after every season when you get tired toward the end and you don’t tend to love it as much, it’s OK if you want to walk away if the fire doesn’t come back. I’ll take a break and I’ll step away from the sport and I’ll always miss it pretty terribly like a few days later. I know it’s still there. I know I have more to give. The pure love for the sport is what keeps me coming back. If I set big goals and know what it takes to get there, then that keeps me on task and accountable.”
Sara Vaughn is traditionally known as a middle distance athlete who ran in the 2017 World Championships in the 1500m. Sara most recently won the California International Marathon in a huge jump in distance.
Sara is coached by her husband Brett and typically runs high mileage and balances her training, family life and her full-time job as a realtor. If you listened to last week’s episode you now know she is Kiera D’Amato’s new rival and I can’t wait to see these mother runners duke it out over the marathon distance one day.
At 35 years old and after her fourth baby she decided it was time to jump up in distance to the big 26.2 to keep her motivated after a disappointing U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials. Sara recently won the California International Marathon in 2:26:53, which is the fifth-fastest debut by an American woman in history and she is only getting started.
SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS
Join WHOOP, the No. 1 fitness wearable, to help monitor your health, improve your sleep, track your body's metrics 24/7. The new WHOOP 4.0 features a robust sensor upgrade that allows you to monitor blood oxygen levels, skin temperature, and more. Join now for free at the following link: https://join.whoop.com/morethanrunning
▶ Follow Sara: Twitter | Instagram
Next Episode
Episode 12 | Heather MacLean On Handling Post-Olympic Comedown, Getting Her Love For The Sport Back
"My immediate feeling afterward was a little bit of disappointment in myself. Now I think back on it and realize I created this goal at the trials. I was an underdog making it to the Olympics in the first place and I created this goal for myself after I qualified for the Olympic team. To think about how far I've come, it's hard to think about that right after the here and now. You think about it later down the road. I'm trying to remind myself now about all the things I overcame in order to make it to that point...It's good to reflect on all the things people have overcome in their lives because it puts your life into perspective. For me, it helps me get through the day-to-day and helps me be so grateful for all the opportunities I have now and what I want to achieve in the future."
New Balance Boston star and 2021 Olympian Heather MacLean rejoins the show to discuss how she's handled the post-Olympics comedown and the attention that came with it. She ran her personal best of 4:02.09 when she took third in the U.S. Olympic Trials, competed at the Monaco Diamond League and then reached the semifinals of the women's 1,500m at the Tokyo Olympics. Now, she's in Flagstaff preparing for another indoor season with her sights set on the women's Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games.
SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS
Join WHOOP, the No. 1 fitness wearable, to help monitor your health, improve your sleep, track your body's metrics 24/7. The new WHOOP 4.0 features a robust sensor upgrade that allows you to monitor blood oxygen levels, skin temperature, and more. Join now for free at the following link: https://join.whoop.com/morethanrunning
▶ Follow Heather: Twitter | Instagram
If you like this episode you’ll love
Episode Comments
Generate a badge
Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode
<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/more-than-running-with-dana-giordano-40029/episode-11-catching-up-with-erin-azar-aka-mrs-space-cadet-after-blowin-18668989"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to episode 11 | catching up with erin azar aka mrs. space cadet after blowing from pandemic struggles to 700k followers + major inspiration on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>
Copy