This story began with a few aches and pains that got worse while running… that led to the Running Through Menopause program and now it has recently led to Queen Bee Half Marathon Success!
Meet Celeste Keiser
when she was growing up she always wanted to be in health care, she knew that she wanted to help people.
Celeste is a fantastic mom of two kids. She, her husband, and the two children live in a small town in Cincinnati.
Her earliest memory of running was being on the junior high track team at her school. Celeste joined because all her friends had decided to join, her brother who is a few years older also was part of the team so it seemed like a good choice at the time.
I was the worst person on the team!”
She ran for a couple of years and then eventually stopped running with the team and started running by herself… for herself.
This lasted through high school and even college when she was studying to be an Optometrist… she began to really enjoy the feeling that we all hold so dear to our hearts. The reason why we all lace up our running shoes come rain or shine.
When The Running Bug Bit Celeste
Some friends and colleagues of mine said that there was going to be a marathon in Cincinnati in the next year, and they wanted to do it.”
Celeste and her friends had 1 year to train and that’s exactly what they did.
It was such a great experience! I immediately thought to myself as I crossed the finish line… I loved that and I can’t wait to do it again!”
Celeste found some more friends that now had the same running interest as hers and they began to train together.
As a group they started to do different distance races and it became a real running group of close friends… this was over 20 years ago and some of them still run and train together on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
It’s amazing to look back at everything we have been through together..”
Celeste’s First Marathon
Celeste describes that first marathon in three words: Fun. Unforgettable. Difficult.
I remember hitting the wall and really having to push through those last couple of miles.”
She loved the crowds and energy of the whole race as well as how proud she felt of herself afterward.
In fact, Celeste enjoyed it so much that she has run that same race, the spring marathon in Cincinnati another two times.
That Magical Running Moment
For Celeste, the moment where she truly fell in love with running was actually when she met her now husband. It was at that same Spring marathon in Cincinnati.
They joke about it to this day, he was just her boyfriend at the time and he had also decided to run that first marathon side by side with Celeste.
Being quite sporty he was able to pick up the training quite quickly with only a few months till race day. They both ran the marathon together and crossed the finish line together and when they crossed the finish line Celeste had such positive thoughts about how fun that was and her husband thought… “Never again!” He did not have a magical running moment.
Celeste loves that at races people cheer for you on the sides, even if they don’t know you. She never really experienced that growing up because she didn’t compete but now it’s one of her favorite parts of racing because it’s a brand new experience and nothing beats that feeling.
The Start Of Our Journey With Celeste
Celeste enjoys training in the mornings and coming home to relax after work and eat dinner with the family. Training in the mornings gives her a boost of accomplishment.
The running group Celeste trains with runs in the mornings and they run different routes so it’s always exciting. She does enjoy running by herself from time to time, especially on weekends.
One day a woman that she runs with began to tell everyone in the group about this new online training club that she has joined. She said that she had to run hills according to her program, so the whole group decided to run her hills with her just to try it out.
Time passed and that woman began to talk about how much she is enjoying the training so…
I thought… well, I’m already running the hills and then the interval workouts with her. So I’m just gonna give it a go.”
Before Celeste joined Coach Parry she was experiencing a lot of small, niggly, running injuries. They were holding her back and she was forced to skip workouts and couldn’t see any improvements. She was doing no strength training at the time.
When my friend from the running club started to talk about the strength classes offered at Coach Parry, I thought, I really want to try this! And I mean, It’s been the first thing I have noticed and all the aches and pains diminished after I began the strength training.”
Celeste’s sister (who lives in a different town) also joined the Coach Parry training club, as well as a few other ladies, and they all do their Tuesday intervals together with the running club so that even the runners who aren’t CP members still get some benefits.
Running Through Menopause
Celeste has been following Coach Parry’s Running Through Menopause Training Program for about a year now and she said one of the biggest impacts that she has noticed is that she feels so much healthier. She feels like she is healthier compared to people her age, her blood pressure is under control and best of all, she can eat a lot more without worrying.
She also pointed out that she doesn’t pick up illnesses as much as she used to and following the program and more importantly, sticking to it has had a massive impact on reducing stress and improving sleep in Celeste’s life.
I notice my mood and stress level getting worse if I have a couple of weeks off. When I stick to my training, I feel like I can sleep better through the night and not wake up and worry about things.”
Join us for a free online presentation of the…
The Running Through Menopause Masterclass
…and discover how you can run well (and faster) as you get older, without training more or harder than you currently are, all while avoiding injury.
If it feels like you’re training harder than ever but not running the paces you’d like to be running or if you’re constantly tired, fatigued or running in some sort of pain, then this is specifically for you.
Save Your Seat In This Training Now…
Celeste says that she feels stronger and that she notices it in even the small things like walking upstairs or getting out of her car.
Two things she has enjoyed most about the program is just being able to trust that it’s been created for her so she just needs to follow it to succeed.
The second thing she has enjoyed has been the Community forum. Celeste loves to read the success forum specifically because is a real source of inspiration and motivation for her.
Favorite Part Of The Journey To Achieving Her Goal
The long runs have been a really good experience for me.”
Celeste ran a half marathon before she started the program and found the long runs leading up to the half marathon hard and she just didn’t feel good at all. That half marathon was not a good experience and she didn’t meet her time goal.
So, the long runs leading up to her most recent achievement (Which we will get to soon) were way better.
The Queen Bee Half Marathon Success
All Celeste wanted to do was to do better than her last half marathon, she did it in 2 hrs 20mins.
She did just that! Celeste managed to complete the Queen Bee half marathon in 2 hrs 13 mins!
It’s a really fun all-women’s half marathon, men can join but they can’t place and they start at the back.”
They have like really great prizes and gift bags. It’s a fantastic event that brings like-minded women together to achieve goals and make some incredible memories.
It’s one of Celeste’s favorite races.
One of her friends who is also a Coach Parry member said they would run the half marathon with Celeste.
The friend was training for a marathon at the time so her pace was faster than Celeste’s. The friend treated the half marathon as a training run and paced Celeste the entire way.
It was amazing! I just started off slow… it was a cooler day, and the hills, everything just felt so good!”
The first few miles of the race are uphill but Celeste felt good and she kept thinking to herself that all she needs to do is keep on running as long as she feels good.
Towards mile 11 they could see the balloons for the 2:15 pace group and then they started to get closer and closer. They caught up to the balloons and Celeste thought they would stick with them just for a little while but then she saw her friend take off, so Celeste thought: “Ok, I feel good, I may as well catch her.”
So she did.
The friend said, “we only have 3 miles! Keep going!”
In the past, the race has always ended on an uphill, so in their minds, they knew that still had a climb before the finish line, but then the two started to notice the road wasn’t going uphill, it was flat and they could see the finish line.
“It was the best feeling ever!”
The best news for us was that Celeste felt good after the race, with some tired legs but no injuries.
Another Personal Best
Since joining Coach Parry Celeste has also beaten her 10-kilometer personal best.
When I joined, I didn’t think I was ready to train for the half marathon. So I thought I’ll train for a 10k and set a time goal.”
Celeste says she ran faster than she ever has. Usually, she runs just to feel good and not push herself to the extremes but in this race, she did and loved it.
She would like to continue with the 10km races and half marathons for now…
Celeste’s Biggest Contributor To Achieving Her Success
The strength training!”
She said that sometimes she reads in the forum about how people don’t want to do the strength training, they just want to run and she used to feel the exact same.
But lately, she enjoys it and can see the benefits all the time.
Making sure you do the correct strength training is important. The good news is we’ve created a free strength training plan for runners that you can download by clicking here.
Struggles Along The Way
Time was a big struggle for Celeste as she had a hard time fitting in her long runs on the weekends.
Confidence was also something Celeste had to overcome, she didn’t want to give up when things got tough but she often doubted if she could even achieve the goal.
That’s why she really enjoyed her friend being with her at the half marathon, pacing her and providing that boost of confidence.
I didn’t have to rely on myself… in my own mind, I’m thinking, I’m running too fast. I’m gonna die at the end. It’s gonna be tough. I didn’t have to think about that. I just kept going.”
What’s Next?
Celeste wants to run the spring half that she didn’t do too well in to get her revenge… Even if it is a hot day.
Long-term goals consist of another marathon… but that is a big “maybe!”
Celeste wanted to share that her favorite part of this journey is how ‘real’ everything is when working with Coach Parry.
You can tell that people that work at Coach Parry really want to help people, it could be elite, but it’s not just for elite people. I think you guys care about people like me that are just, you know, out to do their best and keep in shape and keep healthy and you know how to make a good connection with people like us. So, I appreciate that.”
Too Special For Words…
I asked Celeste to describe one of her favorite memories that she has made so far in her running career… She struggled to put it into words… Purely because of how special the moment was for her.
Celeste remembers one time she felt this feeling of being incredibly in tune with her body.
This was at a time when she was doing quite a bit of training with a group of people that are faster than she is. She always thought “Gotta keep up! Gotta keep up!” and it got really difficult. Celeste was struggling with confidence and she just felt she was always the hold-up of the group.
But not this moment! This special moment was in summer on an early morning run and it was hot. They had planned to run hills and it all just clicked for Celeste. She said she was running like the wind! It felt amazing for her…
“It was the first time I felt Like a Runner!”
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