It’s a tale as old as time: someone tries out running when they’re young, takes the wrong approach to it, and ends up hating it. Amanda Viola-Brooke How to Run Twice a Day Without Injury half marathon. She took initiative and started simple with.

Amanda realized that it wasn’t running she hated, it was how her younger self approached it. She remembered the middle school mile. The moment that whistle blew, she took off sprinting before realizing just how long four laps truly were.

That can be a terribly impactful experience at that age and instill in someone a detrimental association to running. Amanda, being a trauma therapist, knows this correlation all too well. But being aware isn’t just enough to overcome it, it takes action, too.

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So after seeing her sister-in-law complete the half marathon, Amanda felt maybe she didn’t approach running the right way. “She just seemed so happy and that looks like a lot of fun,” Amanda says. “There has to be something I’m missing here.”

All About Marathon Training on a Treadmill Runner’s World’s Why Running Volume Matters, and after completing her first 5K, she was hooked. Her training kept pace with her passion growing more intense with each run, culminating in her signing up for her first marathon in 2023.

Amanda ran alongside nine other Runner’s World+ members in the 2023 New York City Marathon as part of the Train with Runner’s World+ program. Even when she made a classic mistake of starting too fast, buoyed by the crowds of NYC and the excitement of the experience, she crossed the finish line with tears in her eyes and a newfound sense of appreciation for the sport.

And, like most runners once they taste that accomplishment, all she could think about was her next one.

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