#whywerun | Antonella Chispe

#whywerun | Antonella Chispe

Words: Antonella Chispe

Based out of North Hollywood, California, Nella is a lover of all things community and trail running and is a firm believer that running goes deeper than just beating the clock.

It's these synergies that made it easy to welcome Nella on board our new Team of US Ambassadors, so we touched base to learn a bit more about her 'why'..

"My ‘why’ behind running is as simple as it makes me feel whole. It brings me happiness, it has introduced me to so many amazing people in the community and it makes me feel strong.

I like that running is challenging at any level. We set goals and chase them. It’s never really about the time goal, rather the journey that has led us there. I don’t know if I am the only crazy one (I am sure I am not…haha!) but I like to go through tough runs. Not only does it challenge me physically, but also mentally, not only in running, but also in my everyday life. I’ve gone through some tough personal experiences that I feel running truly helped me get through.

I used to be hard on myself when I didn’t reach goals and wasn’t at a certain level. For example, four years ago I was at my top shape and then also decided to go back to school. It wasn’t too long after that being full-time school and work, I had to back down from running a bit. Even though I was still out there getting my miles, I wasn’t able to keep up to the level that I wanted to be at. It was hard at first, but I learned to let it go and just have fun. So, today when I face tough runs, I work on my mental toughness and take it for what it is. Change my game plan. Taking it mile by mile. I truly believe that as long as we keep moving, we’re making progress. And with every run we also learn something about ourselves, bad or good."

You can follow Nella on Instagram here