Episode 50: Interview with Larissa Vassos; Entrepreneur, RRCA Coach
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Welcome to Chasing Life podcast, where we talk about fitness, running, career, and life tips to inspire you to live your best life. I'm your host, Sarah Kane, and I hope you enjoy today's episode. Welcome to another episode of Chasing Life. Today's guest is Larissa. Larissa, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.

The pleasure is mine. So we met through the RRCA run coaching certification that we both recently took. Can you start by telling us a little bit about yourself, but also what inspired you to get certified as a running coach?

Absolutely. What a great question. So let's start with a little bit about me. I'm currently based in Canada and I have a background in healthcare. Recently pivoted out of that and I'm now doing run coaching full time. So like Sarah mentioned, that's how we met.

And how I got into running in the first place was when I was in my physical therapy program, actually completing my master's, it was a way for me to kind of reset and re-energize.

manage the stress of a full-time master's program. When I started running, it was in 2013 and I had absolutely no clue what I was doing. I made so many mistakes and over the last eight years, it's just been one massive

learning curve, lots of trial and error. And I've learned a lot. And I wanted to get into coaching and teaching others to kind of avoid some of the mistakes that I made and empower other people to

you know, take back control of their own health and their wellness and just live a full life. That's why I got into coaching in the first place. I love that. I started running in 2011. So just a few years before you did. And yeah,

I also have realized the value and how much it really impacts my stress level and managing my stress. So it definitely relate to a lot of reasons why you started running. Can you share a little bit more about your running journey? What have you run? You know, what's one of the biggest lessons you've learned from running? Yeah, absolutely. My running journey involves a lot of half marathons, mainly that's like the distance I've stuck with.

And I've lived all over the place. So I've done races in the UK. I did some in Western Canada. I even did one in the States, actually in Minnesota. It was a 25K trail race. And that was probably the toughest one I've ever done physically because it was in the mountains and I was not prepared for mountains. But most recently I've run a marathon. Actually, my second marathon, I just did it two weeks ago.

And that mentally was the toughest. The lesson, there was many lessons to be fair, but the biggest one from that was the body will always give up before the mind or it always wants to give up before the mind. And it's up to you to be prepared for that and to have that sort of that training background so that you know when you're running that it's going to get hard.

and when that happens you know what to do about it. Yeah that's a great lesson. So how did you take any particular steps or learn along the way while you were training for your marathon and how to address that lesson?

Yes and no. Like I tried to train harder than what I thought the marathon would be. So for example, I was training over the summer and in Southern Ontario, it gets quite hot and humid. So I did a lot of runs in less than ideal conditions. Let's put it that way to try and test my body and also test my mental strength to see if I could push myself a little bit that way. And I

That part, I think, went really well. The parts that I might have missed, judged. And it was really interesting because we took the RRCA course two weeks before I was running the marathon. So I'd already done most of my training and I was learning after the fact. In terms of my actual physical training program, I peaked a little bit too early.

About like three or four weeks too early so that came back around to bite me in the butt, when I actually did the race. Interesting. So when you train for your second marathon, did you train on your own or were you working with a coach at that time.

Actually, no, both times I've just done it on my own. Again, lots of trial and error. I've never trained with a coach for a full marathon. I've only done it for a couple of the half marathons that I did. OK, and what do you feel was the biggest kind of difference between running your first marathon where a lot of people's goal might just be to finish versus your second marathon where maybe you were aiming for a specific goal after you ran your first one?

Yeah, that's a great question. Yeah, the first one definitely was just to finish, to survive and make it underneath the

the maximum time which i think was six and a half hours um my second so i ended up running it in five hours and three minutes which i was like super pleased with um and then the second time around my goal was four hours and 45 minutes and i was a lot more intentional with my pacing because i learned again from the first time around like i tend i went really fast at the beginning and then slower and slower and slower as the race went so i was more conscious about

going at a continuous speed. And I actually managed to finish in four hours and 43 minutes. So it was slightly under the time that I had hoped for, which was amazing. I was so stoked about that. Pacing a marathon is definitely tough. And the even tougher thing is it's not like you can just turn around after a month or two and try to run another one like you can 5Ks.

It takes a lot of buildup to get to one. And so you really have to be conscious of not going out too fast or yeah, just holding back those early miles because you probably feel really good, but by mile 23, not so good anymore. So definitely a great piece of advice for any first time marathoners, hold back the first few miles. You'll thank us later. Yeah. Almost go slower than you feel like you need to go.

Yeah. So the last marathon I ran was about a year ago and the pacing plan that I followed the first three months, two or three miles, I think it was were 20 seconds slower than my goal race pace. And what ended up happening is, and then I would chip away like every five miles, I'd

dial and my pace closer to the goal pace. And then by the end, my legs still felt decent. And I actually ran like 20 seconds faster than my goal pay. I had a little too much left in my legs at the end, but better to feel that way than dying on mile 25. But it, you know, it's scary to think, well, I'm

I'm not banking time or I'm running way slower than my goal pace is. But if you pace correctly, then you'll end up running faster than your goal pace by the end. And it all kind of equals out to where you want it to be. Yeah. And that's kind of what happened the second time for me. It wasn't perfect, but it was a hell of a lot better than the first time around. Yeah. So tell me about your decision or your journey to be

a full-time running coach? So as I went through my career as a physical therapist, I worked a lot in private clinics where I was seeing, you know, sports injuries, also like acute injuries, low back pain, knee pain, all of these things. But I was seeing a lot of the same stuff over and over and over and over. And I came to realize that a lot of what I was treating was

I felt like I was just putting band-aids on solutions. Like I wasn't fixing the root of the problem. I was just fixing it temporarily. And so I saw a lot of the same injuries, a lot of the same illnesses, and it really got me thinking about how to prevent yourself from getting into that position in the first place. Like it's always easier to prevent than to have to treat something once it's already a problem. So that was kind of the...

mindset shift for me in terms of, you know, treatment and then shifting more towards the prevention side of things. And that's what sparked my interest in holistic health and wellness. I also do a lot of mindset work currently, and that was the big factor that really made me decide to leave health care. I felt that I wasn't really helping as much as I wanted to.

Yeah, that's really interesting. And kudos to you for kind of recognizing that it wasn't aligning with how you wanted to feel in your career. So I think that's pretty awesome. What type of mindset work do you do? Or do you, you know, work with private clients on this? Or how does that fit into your daily routine?

Yeah, I do a lot of my own mindset work, but also the clients I work with now, I do one-to-one coaching and it's wellness coaching with kind of an emphasis around running. I also do mindset work with the runners that I work with because I've come to, again, through my own experience and just chatting to other runners, come to realize that mindset is so, so important for athletes, especially when you get into those longer distances.

So I do mindset work with pretty much everyone that I work with one to one, as well as myself every single day. It's a huge component of my own training. Do you have a favorite resource or a book that you often recommend to the people you're working with?

Yeah, I just finished reading Atomic Habits by James Clear. I'm not sure if you've read it or heard of it. I found that immensely helpful. It talks a lot about mindset shifts around like, I have to do this to I get to do this. That was a huge one for me, as well as creating new routines such as exercise or running, focusing more on the process as opposed to the end result. So who do I need to become?

to be able to achieve this goal versus how am I going to achieve this goal? So turning the focus a little bit more inward. And as I was going through that book, again, I was learning for myself, but also sharing with my clients. And it's been really amazing to see that book put into practice.

Yeah, I have heard of that book. Actually, one of my earlier podcast guests recommended the same book. So it's on my list. I guess I need to buy it because people keep telling me about it. But I would agree with you that mindset for runners or any endurance athletes is huge because your physical training can take you to a certain point. But if you don't believe that you can, you know, achieve your goal or overcome any

mental barrier of, well, I can't run that distance, then you're not going to reach your goal. And that's something I've been focusing on a little more. So this year, especially earlier in this year, I was injured and so I couldn't run. And so I was like trying to focus on other things that could kind of still contribute to my, my journey as a runner. And so I was reading a lot of like sports psychology books and, um,

I have a pile of personal development books on my nightstand, but I still need to get through them all. But I think, you know, those are great reminders because the thing with personal development is it's not just, you know, say career-based, but it also applied to a lot of different areas in your life. And atomic habit sounds just like that because it's general enough that, you know, you can take it and apply it. And it sounds like you, you know, when you work with your clients on that, that

that it helps to make that connection. And, you know, when you're teaching the material, it helps to just reiterate and reinforce the ideas of it too. Yeah. And it's really great to see like what you said, how it can be applied to different areas. So something like getting a solid sleep routine that doesn't directly impact the

you like on a day-to-day basis but over time having that routine in place and those sleep habits it's going to affect your performance like if you're not sleeping well over weeks and weeks and months and months leading up to a race you're not going to do as well but when you think about running or training for let's say like an ultra or a marathon you don't necessarily think about okay I'm

You know, what's my sleep routine like? What are what's my morning routine like? What what are my habits around food, around around water? Like, but those things all come into play. So the habits can be directly related to the sport or the activity or to like the lifestyle and everything else that goes with it.

Yeah, I agree with that. I'm going to reference another one of my podcasts. Brian Green talks, he like outside of the actual training of running the things you mentioned, the sleep, the water, the nutrition, that's what he talks about in his book, make the leap. And it's,

referred to as a hidden training program. And so it's, yeah, all of these things that do add up and contribute to your running performance outside of, you know, actually running the miles. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, it's really interesting as well like just to learn more. I feel almost like running is, it can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be and the more I dive deeper into it the more curious I become and almost peeling back the layers of the onion you know to get to the, the juicy bits in the middle. So yeah, I agree with that and I also after running I've been running for like 12 years, and I

I feel like you can continue to learn new things every year too. And even if you've been running a long time,

Just, yeah, there's always things to learn or improve. And I think that's what one of the great things is about the sport. Like I'll tell you something I've learned recently was running on a track, right? So I've had a GPS watch for, I don't know, six, seven years now. And when I run on a track, I just go for whatever my watch beeps. While I recently hired a running coach myself, even though I'm also a certified coach, but he was telling me that when you run on a track,

that your GPS, because the track is so like such a tight circle, if you will, or because the distance, the GPS sometimes doesn't accurately calculate your distance. Right. So if you're running on a track, like, don't just trust what your watch is beeping at you. Like realize that if you run four laps on the track, that's a mile, regardless of where your watch aligns. You're like, so I had a workout, which was to do eight hundreds, two laps of the track. And I

Last week when I did it, my 800 starts were like all over because not only was I running in like lane three, but I was just going off of when my watch would tell me I ran a half mile. So my, my coach was like, yeah, don't do that. Like actually split your watch manually. And I was like, well, that's kind of a pain, but I did it. And it turns out like pacing on a track is

takes a little adjustment if you're not like just working off your watch. So I hope that made sense of like, that was just a new thing I learned this week. And then I heard it, heard the same fact in another podcast. And I was like, I have never heard this in like my 12 years of running, but it also could be because I'm plugged more into running resources more over the last year than maybe I was previously. But yeah, you can constantly learn new things to try to improve your skills, including running on a track. Yeah.

So just a follow-up question to that. Yeah. Did he suggest taking the watch off completely and just going by feel and like measuring the distance that way? So it was a good question. So what he suggested was looking at basically using my watch as a timer.

and splitting it when I ran the laps, not looking at the distance that my watch was telling me. Yeah. Because the disc, you can't, if you run it. And so he's like running lane one, not in the middle, not in lane three. He's like run two laps, split your watch and like do it that way. Um,

So it was interesting because say I was going to run a seven minute pace, I would, I was looking at my watch and I was running at a seven minute pace but then when I hit the split at 800. It said I ran 336 well half of seven minutes is 330. And so I had to like recalibrate I was like okay so if I want to hit a 330 for an 800, then I have to run like a 650 pace so it was weird to like kind of calibrate that.

So it definitely took an adjustment, but I just thought I'd pass on that lesson I've learned recently. Yeah, it's actually, that's a good one. The truck that I have here, it's not because where I'm living, it's really Southern Ontario. So I'm actually close to Detroit, like right across the river. So we have a lot of American people.

influence. So the track here is one mile, like it's a one mile track. It's not a really small one. It's quite large. So when I'm doing like intervals or whatever, I actually just go by the track markings because I found my watch, not that it was inaccurate, but I just found that it was a little bit harder to gauge the

your pace when you were just relying on that. So I've actually scrapped the watch completely when I'm at the track and I just go by markers like benches and posts and stuff like that. And I've found that mentally, even that makes a huge difference. And it's almost like you're free when you don't have that watch, like just beeping at you all the time. It's kind of nice. Yeah. I mean, I think that's a really good

piece of advice too, is that especially with the technology runners have become maybe too dependent on watches to know like, what is their feel? Or maybe, you know, they look, say I've done this in a race. I look at my watch and be like, Oh my God, I'm going way too fast. And then I slow down and maybe I could have held that pace, but it's all the mental aspect of it, of thinking, Oh no, I can't hold this pace for three more miles. Like I got to slow down where if I didn't have it, or maybe I was just running by feel then, um,

I could have maybe done say better than I thought just because I wasn't afraid of, oh my gosh, my legs are going to fall off. So yeah, I think, you know, all this to say is that when you run in a track, use the track markings because they are, it's going to be the same every time. Yeah.

Versus GPS, you know, they're, they're pretty accurate, but not, you know, to the feet or, you know, as accurate as if you run laps on a, in lane one on a track. In lane one. Yes.

That's a good, that's a good, uh, good story. Thanks for sharing. Yeah, that's my lesson, but I was like, okay, it's probably good. I hired a coach because even though, yeah, we just took the RRCA class recently, but I feel like now I, it'll help me to understand what my coach is telling me to do because I, you know, understand, you know, how training plans should be developed. And then take what works for you and implement that with your own clients.

Absolutely. Yeah, I'm excited to start working with my own clients someday. But I mean, I don't know about you, but I really enjoyed the course. Being a runner for so long, I really enjoyed like just kind of this insider knowledge or this new education and learning material that I'm really passionate about. What did you think of the course?

I agree. It was amazing. I felt like 90% of it was really useful. There was about 10% that I was like, yeah, I might not ever need to use this, but 90% of it, I was, I was really engaged in the learning. And it was also really great to meet like yourself and other people who are really passionate about running because it's,

I've come to find like people love it or they hate it. And a lot of the people I know, unfortunately don't love it. So then for me to chat, like running chat to them is pretty much useless. It falls on deaf ears. They don't care. So I'm like, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, all the time. And they're not excited. So it was really nice to have other people who were just as passionate and some even more passionate. Like there was one of the girls who had just ran Boston and all this. And like, that was amazing.

Yeah, I agree. Well, I mean, that's one of the reasons why I have a podcast because then I can talk running to, to, with, with other people who enjoy everyone. Yeah. That's amazing. Yeah. Yeah. So the course was, I love the course and you, like you felt the same. Yeah, I did. Yeah. And I would say one or two topics that were a little dry and I guess, you know, maybe understand the science of it, but

It's like, yeah, kind of the meat of this is how do I write a training plan for somebody? So, and, you know, know how that nutrition, you know, impacts training. And also, you know, I feel as a coach too, we have to,

you know, be aware of the business of coaching and also the, you know, say like CPR related issues and any liability and just to be educated on that. Yeah. But yeah, I really enjoyed a lot of the material. So I thought it was well worth my time. The nutrition stuff as well for me personally was really interesting because that's probably the area that

I have the least experience in. And so most of it was, was new or at least building on pretty basic knowledge. So I think learning more about like fueling, especially like, for example, runs 90 minutes or longer, like getting the gels, like every 60 minutes and making sure you're timing it all properly. Like for me, that was just revolutionary thinking. I was like, Oh my God, like this all makes so much sense now. Right. So I love that part of it.

Yeah. And I mean, you bring up a really good point. I know when I first started running, like I didn't know anything about fueling. I'd be lucky if I even drank like two bottles, like one bottle of water during the day. Like, and so, you know,

Over the years, I've kind of learned more and more just by plugging into reliable sources, whether it's like, say, Runner's World magazine or other reliable health sources. Even I met with a nutritionist a few years ago. And so just making sure that you are educated about what you're eating and focusing on good quality foods. Fueling makes a huge difference on running. A lot of people may not realize that.

how much it doesn't really impact you, but yeah, right. It does. Yep. Yep. And so does water, right? Especially running. I get similar weather in the summer as you, where it's hot and humid in New York. And so you're making sure you're well hydrated, not just during the run, but before it too. And then of course, replenishing afterwards will help you. So you don't feel like

You can't move off the couch for the rest of the day. Yeah, a great point to bring up. And as well, like for yourself, do you train outside year round? Like because winters in New York are quite cold.

um, summers are quite hot. So are you always outside? Yeah. I've become a little bit of a fair weather runner in that, like if it drops below 30, I'm like, man, let me run on my treadmill. Yeah. Um, but most of the, I mean, if the roads are clear from snow and ice and if it's, you know, 30 and sunny, we don't get many days that are below freezing. Um,

maybe like a week or two in January. And if that's the case, then I'll opt for a treadmill. But my coach reminded me, he's like, you race out on the roads, so you need to train on the roads, right? Because the treadmill is definitely a helpful tool, but it's a different...

environment than running on the road. So I try to get on the roads as much as I can, unless it's, you know, raining, pouring rain. I also don't want to run anymore. Yeah, it's hard. Like when, yeah, it's hard to motivate yourself to even go outside, let alone go for a run when it's like that.

Right. I mean, you did bring up a good point earlier in this episode about talking, you know, that mental game of going out in weather that maybe is less than ideal so that you can, you know, maybe be prepared for that on race day. But to me, I'm like, well, it was going to rain on race day. I'll just deal with it on race day versus trying to suffer through it on a training run. Great point. And plus you can't predict the weather. You can try really hard. Oh yeah.

And you can hope that it would be ideal, but that's the one thing we can't control on race day. Yeah. So I'm sure we could probably talk about running for a long time, but something I would love to hear from you is about what you are currently obsessed with, whether it's a TV show, a book, anything. Actually, it's neither a TV show nor a book. I recently just tried lentils for the first time. Yeah.

which I know I'm 30 years old. I've just started eating lentils. So I actually really like them. And I would say that that's probably the thing I'm currently obsessed with only because I'm trying to put them in two different things and see how it goes. So I made a soup the other day with green lentils, which I thought was pretty good.

and i'm gonna do some sort of like quinoa salad this weekend so yeah green lentils is my current obsession so for those who maybe don't know what lentils are could you describe them so it's a plant-based protein so basically um as as a runner or as any any athlete when you're looking to build muscle mass and get stronger you need to have certain levels of protein in your diet and

through the running course that we recently took together, um, I came to realize that I was definitely not hitting my protein goals. And so that's kind of why I've incorporated things like lentils into my diet, um, within the last month. And it has helped not only with like my muscles, like I do feel stronger, but also with my energy, like day to day, um,

so it's been it's been great so far like they're not the best tasting but you can you know put soy sauce or if you mix them into things it goes well so are they like a like a bean or a vegetable yeah it's like oh i don't know how to describe it like a soft almost like a soybean okay yeah soft small um you cook them in like boiling water and then

if you cook them too much they become mushy so you have to avoid doing that but um

Yeah. Plant-based protein and there's green, brown, red, like there's so many different colors. Nice. I will admit that I've never tried lentils. Oh my gosh. I'm so glad it's not just me. I was thinking I was behind the ball. Yeah. It's just like another way to get protein into your diet. So if you're looking for increased protein, it might be worth a try.

I'll definitely check that out. Yeah. Thank you. Another question that I like to ask is what is the best piece of advice you've ever given or received? Right. So that's a great question. I don't know about me giving advice. I can't really think of anything memorable, but receiving, I was told what maybe a year or so ago by a mentor, when you're making a decision,

and you don't know the answer, like if you don't know what to pick, have someone ask you a series of like really easy questions like, "Is the sky blue?" "Yes." "Do you have a dog?" "Yes." Like just quick, quick, quick, quick, quick and then throw the hard question in there

And if you're not thinking because you're just going with your intuition and giving answers, you'll give an answer. And that's like your intuitive response. So whenever I have a difficult decision, I'll get someone to just like pepper me with quick questions and then chuck the hard question in there. And you always get a quick answer. So that for me has been like, again, life changing because now that's how I make like quite a few of my big decisions.

Yeah, that sounds really cool. I am an overthinker with big decisions. So maybe I'll have to, again, I'll have to try that. Yeah, that's a great reminder is like your intuition knows what the answer is, but probably you're overthinking it and that's what your struggle is, right? So I love that. Yeah, I'll have to definitely give that a try. So what was the last big decision that you made? Oh, it was whether or not I was going to leave my profession. Yeah.

So, I mean, I hummed and hawed about it for months and months, but like in the end, it just, I got my mom to like, my mom's an engineer, so she's very question oriented. So this game was like really fun for her. And I said, okay, mom, this is the question, but like, you know, mix it in with all the other ones. Don't tell me when you're going to ask it. And I knew in my heart I needed to leave, but it's just so, it's such a big decision and I really struggled to make it. And in the end I decided, well, my intuition told me it was impossible.

for for the best yeah and how's it going honestly i'm so grateful i left i i miss certain parts like i miss obviously a steady paycheck and i miss like the social component and having

colleagues that I would see at work. Cause now I work from home, so they don't see anyone unless I'm on zoom, but I love being able to make my own schedule. I absolutely love being in business for myself and just, you know, creating content and social media and forming connections and doing all of the things kind of like that will help me grow, but also help my business grow. And I can really direct my energy to the areas that

I feel it's going to be most beneficial. Whereas when you're working for someone, you're always being told what to do, where to go and how to spend your time. So it's the complete opposite. And I love it. Sometimes I've wondered, yeah, what it would be like to work for myself and working from home. I'm grateful that I was able to work from home for all of 2020 and then half of 2021. So I got like that taste of, could I handle, you know, being kind of alone all day long. And I

I did enjoy it. I mean, what people will find hard to believe is I'm actually an introvert. And that doesn't mean that I don't like people or that I don't like talking to people. It's that like large groups of people drain my energy. There's a difference, right? I get filled up by like one-on-one conversations, like what we're having right now versus if I'm like earlier this week, I had to go to like a social mixer and

And I gravitated to the one person I knew. So, and I was, it was in and out. They said, okay, can you just commit to an hour? I was like, okay. So when the clock hit an hour, I was like, I gotta go now because I get up at 530 to run. So, but anyways, yeah. Thank you for, you know, sharing kind of your experience because I do feel like sometimes people may,

like glorify entrepreneur, but there is a lot of like behind the scenes of you are responsible for your paycheck. You are responsible for like finding your clients and, and doing your work, but at the same time, yeah, the making your own schedule. Sometimes that sounds sometimes enticing to me. I don't know if you can see this, but like every day I, I kind of time block my time. Um,

But one of the things that I've come to notice is that when you are so used to working for someone else and being told what to do, when you're given a day with infinite time, it can become hard to stay focused on a task without becoming distracted. So that's why I started time walking. And that was kind of like the thing that really helped me stay on track.

So yes, being an entrepreneur is amazing, but it can definitely be challenging. So anyone who says otherwise, they're lying for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for your honesty about that. And I think you're offering great advice about the time blocking is to like give yourself tasks for that day. And then, you know, and also, you know, that just stay focused and same thing. I feel like what I can

relate to that is when I took my online master's course a few years ago, I had to kind of like set my, okay, at 7pm every day, I'm going to work on homework. It's about like being disciplined so that you can work on your priorities. But it also allows you that flexibility, right? When you're

you know, if you, if you want to run in the middle of the day, then you can do that. Just block your activities around it. Right. Yeah. And tonight, like I knew we would be chatting. So I purposely made sure I was done everything first and it's just nice to have that option. But at the same time, you also have to be structured and disciplined to do your work when you need to do it. Yeah. Yeah. Cause your paycheck depends on it, right? Definitely does. Yeah.

All right. So I've really enjoyed our conversation. So I'm going to wrap it up with my final question, which is what does chasing life mean to you? I love this so much. So to me, life deserves to be lived. Like you need to live life to the absolute fullest and chasing implies chasing

that you're, to me at least, implies that you're following or searching or like on a journey for something. And I like to think that that journey will never stop. Like you will continuously be changing and transforming and growing as a person from the minute you're born until the minute you die. And so I

Ultimately, chasing life would be experiencing everything that life offers you from day zero till the end of your time, and really feeling and thinking and moving through that experience as like as fully and as openly as you can.

So, you know, the saying like live life to the fullest and like you only live once like that sort of embodiment. But all of the time, always thinking, OK, like, how can I cherish this day? How can I make today important? How can I make this conversation important? If today was my last day on Earth, like, would I be would I be happy with my day? Would I be proud that this was my last day? And if my answer is no more than it is, yes, then OK.

for me, I would really want to change something. But if you ask yourself, you know, like, am I happy? Am I content? Do I have love? Do I have joy? And if you're answering yes, yes, yes, more often than no.

then I believe you are exactly where you're meant to be and you're on that journey and it will be beautiful. That answer is beautiful. I love hearing how all my guests and how they interpret it differently based on their experiences or their life or their goals or whatever it might be. I just love hearing that answer and I thought your answer was beautiful. So thank you for sharing that. You're so welcome.

Thanks for having me. Honestly, this has been fun. Oh, you're welcome. So if people want to connect with you more, where can they find you? I mostly hang out on Instagram. My handle is at Larissa Vasos. So I'm sure Sarah will take it below. And that's where I post about running, about wellness, mental health.

and a little bit of travel now and then when I can. I like to travel when I can too. Absolutely. Who doesn't? Yes. Well, thank you so much again, Larissa. It's been a pleasure. I'm so glad that we connected and we can stay in touch with our running journey and our coaching journey.

Yes. Thank you so much, Sarah, for having me. Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed today's episode, please share it on social media. Tag me at Sarah Chasing Life or at Chasing Life Podcast. If you haven't already, please be sure to subscribe and rate this podcast. That helps me to reach more listeners.