Hildee Weiss on Becoming a Runner at 46 and Embracing the Inner Athlete

July 24
46 mins

Episode Description

Hildee Weiss is a wife, mother of five, grandmother, freelance writer, and runner. She started running at age 46 with a hand injury, a trainer named Jeff who believed in her before she believed in herself, and a head full of reasons why she couldn't do it. Twelve years later she has run 5Ks, 10Ks, half marathons, Spartan races, and trail runs. She has broken bones, had surgery, lost her motivation, and found it again. And she just wrote a book about all of it.

This conversation is about what happens when you finally decide to do something for yourself after years of doing everything for everyone else. It's about identity, self-belief, the difference between I have to run and I get to run, and why it's never too late to start.

Topics covered:

  • Who Hildee was at 46 and what finally pushed her to make a change

  • Why she looked out the window at runners and thought not me

  • Meeting trainer Jeff and what it means to have someone believe in you before you believe in yourself

  • Her first 5K, her broken foot, and how she came back from both

  • What running unlocked in the rest of her life — raising five kids, handling hard things, finding inner strength

  • The shift from I have to run to I get to run

  • How a surprise five-mile group run helped her find the joy again after surgery

  • Why she stopped obsessing over pace and data and had her fastest run in years

  • Writing the book Embracing My Inner Athlete and what the process looked like

  • What success actually means — and why it has nothing to do with pace or medals

  • Why she wants to be that woman on the podium in her eighties

  • The night run in Jerusalem she's training for with her kids

Stay connected:

Hildee's book: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Embracing-My-Inner-Athlete/Hildee-Weiss/9798894410326

Hildee on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/momoffive68/

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