We recently connected with Lisa Pozzoni and have shared our conversation below.
Lisa, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
I’ve been taking risks since I started my first fitness business about 20 years ago and it’s been a constant journey of risk taking and pivoting. I’ve learned that waiting for things to be perfect is a waste of time and it’s best to just put it out there and then you can pivot and tweak along the way.
I had my fitness business for about 12 years when I realized I was really getting into walking and running and enjoying that more as my favorite form of cardio. I would cross finish lines that I never thought possible and it made me feel like a million bucks. Early in my running journey, I was lucky enough to have a personal training client give me a book about ChiRunning. I read it, found out how to become an instructor, and I’ve been teaching ChiWalking and ChiRunning since 2010. As a matter of fact, I’m a Master Instructor. Learning technique was a game changer for me. Running is such a high injury sport. I’m proud to say that I”ve been running for about 16 years and have only been injured 2x! (I’m an ultra runner so depending on the week I can be running anywhere from 20-60 miles weeks).
My business used to be Easy Fitness Solutions and I used to go to people’s houses to work them out. Once I got into the walking and running, I decided to take a huge risk and rename my business The Running University. I was doing both while I transitioned but I took the risk and here I still am!
The other big risk I took was to create an online community off facebook in 2019 so I could reach more women.
All this risk taking and pivoting has brought me to where I am today. Now my tagline is helping women over 50 find the joy in walking and running. None of this would be happening if I didn’t take these risks.
One of the things I love most about running is that you learn and practice so many skills that relate to life….taking risks is one of them!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Lisa Pozzoni and I swore I would never be a runner. Now I say, “Never say never” because you truly never know what will happen to you when you meet the right people that inspire and encourage you. Hint, hint 😉 I started out with a personal training business for 10 years and then pivoted to create my new business: The Running University. TRU will celebrate 10 years in 2024!
I thought running was way out of my league! I thought I was too overweight, it was too late in my life to start running, “real” runners would make fun of me, I would probably get injured, I was going to be the slowest person ever…
Not only have I had all of these thoughts (and more!), but I’ve trained 100’s of people that started out here too. I absolutely love watching people transform right before my very eyes! This is what I do and I’ll admit, I’m pretty darn good at it!
Running has a bad reputation and walking doesn’t even have a reputation. I’m here to change all of that.
I started out as a long distance walker when I started doing the Breast Cancer 3 Day. This event is 20 miles for 3 days in a row. I started my Las Bombas Team in 2005 and in 2021, after 16 years of the team walking for Susan G Komen, our team reached the $1M fundraising mark! I don’t walk anymore but our team still does.
I started dabbling in running and one of my personal training clients gave me the ChiRunning book and the rest is history. I swore I would never run and I swore I”d never run trails. Now I am an ultra runner that runs on trails in the day and night AND I get to coach others to do the same! As I went through this process I realized I wanted to help others do the same. Most especially women over 50.
I believe there are some key components to becoming a successful walker and runner. For me success means being able to do both of these for the rest of our lives. Since walking and running can have a high injury rate, this is where I start.
I teach ChiWalking and ChiRunning in person and online. I can do a video analysis of your walking and/or running and show you how to walk/run more efficiently and minimize “pounding” the ground so it can be done sustainably.
I love being able to help runners who had knee and hip replacements be able to run again.
I have an online community of women who are either walkers, hikers or runners. Some of them are beginners and some of them have been doing this for a while and keep celebrating finish lines they never thought possible. This is one of my claims to fame! I’ve had several women do their first trail runs and ultras (an ultra marathon is anything over a marathon which is 26.2 miles) after turning 60 years old! My team is called the TRU TRIBE (TRU=The Running University). I have women from around the country (and one in Mexico) with most of them being in the Phoenix area. Here we learn together, train together and grow together.
I am different than other coaches because performance is not one of the ways we measure success. While becoming faster and getting stronger can certainly be an achievable goal with us, my main focus is making sure to stay injury free while having all the fun! So most of our women are mid to back of the packers. Meaning we know we will not win the race (and don’t care to!) It’s all about getting out there, staying fit and healthy and having fun (together). When women support and uplift each other, magic happens. So while the walking and running bring us together, the community keeps us together.
My taglines have gone from: Walk.Run.Play to Crossing Finish Lines You Never Thought Possible to Helping Women Over 50 Find the Joy in Walking and Running.
If you’ve ever contemplated distance walking, or becoming a runner, or are already running but getting injured and not enjoying it, then you should reach out to me!
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I love to share stories of my challenging running experiences because it helps inspire others. In the running world, there are a lot of acronyms. This is why I have a blog and You Tube channel! DNF and DFL are a few of them. I’ve done both and they both are tales of resilience.
DNF means Did Not Finish. This means you missed a cutoff time or didn’t finish the race. Read that story here: https://therunninguniversity.com/2021/07/15/my-first-dnf-did-not-finish-🙄/
DFL means Dead Effin Last. I think it’ obvious what this means! LOL Read that story here: https://therunninguniversity.com/2023/01/26/i-was-dead-effin-last-here-is-what-i-did-about/
If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?
200% I know that I was put on this Earth to do exactly what I’m doing now! I count my blessings every single day that I get to do this for a living!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.therunninguniversity.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trucoachlisa/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheRunningUniversity
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/therunninguniversity?sub_confirmation=1
- Other: https://therunninguniversity.myflodesk.com/connectwithme
Image Credits
Sportograf