Uta’s Spring Greeting 2024: Let’s Run Together

Dear Friends!

I send you many greetings with best wishes for all your fitness and running endeavors wherever you are this spring. Recently, I followed some exciting events like the World Cross Country Championships and the Berliner Halfmarathon and, of course, some of your social media updates on your fitness and training via Instagram. It is so motivating to see people of all backgrounds and genders out running together not just to reach the finish line. But to embrace regular exercising as part of a healthy lifestyle. Keep going, and, yes, let’s keep running together!

Congratulations, Junior Mentors! © Michael Reger / Take The Magic Step®

Since there is this wonderful interaction on social media with you on different topics about running, fitness, yoga, and health, I have a few reading suggestions at the end of my greeting. 😊 And just in case you are about to race in one of the beautiful running events this spring, here are some thoughts on how to keep a “Cool Focus” during the final days and week of preparation: Keeping A Cool Focus: Just A Few More Days Until Your Marathon Celebration.

Some of you were asking about my schedule and upcoming events. Here is a short update.

SOS Outreach in Colorado

I returned to Colorado at the end of March. We went to our charity partner SOS Outreach and witnessed the graduation of the Junior Mentors of the leadership program of this fantastic organization. This charity is located in Eagle Vail Valley. And has been supporting the children for more than 30 years. The Junior Mentors are young adults who embraced and enjoyed many years of SOS programs that encourage character education with six core values: Courage, Discipline, Integrity, Wisdom, Compassion, and Humility.

Together with our Take The Magic Step Foundation we have supported SOS Outreach since 2007. And we are filled with gratitude that we were able to build a beautiful connection based on deep friendship and a common goal to serve the children and youth.

Good luck, dear Boston Marathon runners! © Boston Marathon Foto

5K and Boston Marathon

Our next stop will be my beloved Beantown to enjoy the activities of the Boston Marathon. On Saturday morning, April 13th, I will join the runners and participate in the fun B.A.A. 5K [Boston Athletic Association] through downtown including the final mile of the original Boston Marathon course.

On Sunday afternoon, April 14th, I will speak to the team and marathoners of the Dana Farber Marathon Challenge [DFMC]. This team is dedicated to fighting cancer and raising money for cancer prevention and treatment at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. I talked to the team first in 1998. And what they have accomplished and how they grew as an organization is just amazing thanks to Jan Ross, the program director of the DFMC, and her team.

Of course, I will enjoy Marathon Day, Patriot’s Day April 15th, as one of the many spectators together with the New England sport fans, cheering for the runners. Some of my friends are participating. And I cannot wait to follow them along the course… with happy memories of my own race 30 years ago while winning in Boston 1994. 😊

Let’s Run Together! © Take The Magic Step®

Events and Charity in Berlin

In the months of May and June, I will focus on the late spring and summer events in my hometown of Berlin. These include the KoRo Women’s 5K and 10K, the training run for our “Run for Children” team (who will soon start to prepare for the Berlin Marathon taking place in the end of September), a wonderful kids’ event, the “Olympiad,” with one of our Berliner charity partners. And hopefully many great training runs. I also will be teaching yoga and meditation with friends, our athletes, and my clients in Berlin and continue my studies with Ayurveda.

On May 4th, thousands of participants will take on the KoRo Women’s 5K and 10K races on a beautiful course that winds through the Tiergarten Park in Berlin, finishing close to the Brandenburg Gate. The event raises awareness for the fight against breast cancer. I can’t wait to run the 5K through the Tiergarten. And enjoy the great atmosphere of this beautifully organized by SCC Events and cheer on the 10K runners afterwards.

Before the training run with members of the Run for Children team. © Take The Magic Step®

Run for Children

Together with more than 100 runners of the “Run for Children” charity team we will focus more and more on the training for the Berlin Marathon later this fall. It is amazing that after our donation success of the Berlin Marathon 2023 – each runner is raising EUR 1000 –, we can again top our support for the children in Berlin this year. We were able to add one more charity partner in Berlin. And we could continue supporting the existing relations and organizations in town.

As of June, the runners will receive my training information for their marathon preparation. And as in previous years we will meet and run together. A highlight will be the well-organized kids Olympiad in Berlin Neukoelln mid-May. Playing and running with the children who spend the afternoons with after school activities in one of our four charity partner facilities.

Another highlight will be the 30th celebration of the Children for a better World organization in the end of June in Munich. We embrace their work, and I am thankful to be able to serve in the Kuratorium, and work with our wonderful team on “Run for Children,” a program that we started in 2020. It has been a fantastic collaboration ever since. I cannot thank my colleagues from the Berlin Marathon enough as well.

Relax your body and mind… © Take The Magic Step®

Extending My Yoga Studies

My yoga studies will already continue online in the beginning of June. Following, first weeks in July will bring me back to Massachusetts. It is so exciting to extend my yoga studies for my teachings of yoga and meditation with Ayurveda at the Kripalu Institute for Yoga and Health in Stockbridge in the Berkshire. It will be a special and final program on my way to finish the 500 RYT yoga teacher training. I am a certified 200 RYT teacher for almost two years now. And I enjoy especially sharing a variety of meditation programs, like Mindful Walking and the different Loving Kindness teachings.

This extension will bring more depth in my teaching sessions. I hope my students will benefit in a wonderful way from it. I also plan to include these trainings in my event days. I will keep you posted on my programs and teachings with specific details. When and how I add yoga and meditation to my own fitness routine as well.

Additional reading: Uta’s Yoga and Stabilization Guide for a Better Running Technique

Apart from writing the online columns for the “WELT,” coaching, teaching yoga and meditation, and running with my friends, we are working together with my team on one project close to my heart. Here is the link to my new Speaking and Event Day Website which is still in progress. Stay tuned. I am filled with gratitude to my dear team.

Greetings from North Boulder. © Take The Magic Step®

Celebrate This Beautiful Way of Life

It feels that all the work and all the efforts of learning and training came together. I am looking forward to speaking and running, sharing my passion for longevity, and lifelong fitness. And for never giving up in retreats, single sessions, and Event Days. “Running To Freedom™” is one of the main speaking topics, as is “Take The Magic Step™ to Lifelong Fitness.”

Now, I can’t wait to run in the forests in and around Berlin, adding weight sessions, yoga, and meditation. Let’s celebrate this beautiful way of life, enjoying living in the moment. Thank you for traveling part of our ways together. I will keep you posted here on Uta’s Blog, via my Instagram, and my LinkedIn account. I wish you a wonderful fit spring! Never give up and keep running!

Runner’s Hugs…

Yours,

aka Pippi Langlauf

Reading Suggestions:

1. Uta’s Favorite Exercises to Improve Your Fitness and Running Technique
2. How To Prevent Injuries While Running
3. Periods of Training for Your Marathon Preparation and Distance Progression for Your Long Runs
4. Getting Your Children Excited about Running
5. When I Started Running: Lasting Lessons, Chasing Dreams, and Fond Memories