Just stay consistent and go as slow as you want to keep going just to build that habit. I would say, Don’t compare yourself to anybody. It’s not just Olympians who need electrolytes. These companies are looking for people who aren’t Olympians. What does greater representation of different types of athletes mean on and off social media for you?Ī huge part of my platform is trying to get companies on board, not only to advertise to different body types and different groups of people with different abilities but also to support them through social media and community building, so these tired moms who haven’t run in 20 years can look at someone and be like, “Oh, that looks comfy” or “Those shorts look like my thighs wouldn’t chafe in those” or “Maybe I do belong in those.” So that’s why I kept posting.Īnd now people tag me in their Instagram photos with that pose. I felt like the really curated feeds were keeping people from feeling like they could run or try to run or work out in any way. Before, I felt really isolated, but I realized that there were a lot of people like me. Immediately after that video, I saw a huge untouched space that I felt needed to be touched in order to empower more people. I thought I was too slow to even call myself a runner. I will not! And that’s what I put out there. I will not clean up my house to film a video. I’m not sure why - my husband thinks I’m insane - but I 100 percent do not care. The amount of support I felt toward me was amazing, but the amount of support other people felt too - “Hey, I’m like that too” - made me really tear up. I didn’t have a gym or anything, and thought: I’m going to film this, I just want to remember where I’m at at this point. I felt like I just had to go outside and run. I just had my third baby and I was mentally and physically in the dumps. I was not aiming to become a content creator. This whole social media thing came out of nowhere to me. When did you start running, and what do you think set off a nerve on TikTok? This conversation has been edited and condensed for length and clarity. Let’s just think of it as a little adventure, come on.”)Īpart from that - 23.7 million likes later - the pandemic has done little to slow her down. (In one TikTok, she begins: “It’s seven in the morning and we’re going to run 12 miles because I’m training for a marathon that was canceled. She has not yet had the experience of crossing the finish line of an organized marathon. The 37-year-old mother of three has documented her 15-mile runs with her loyal “cheer squad” (that would be three trees in a row), admitted when she had to pee mid-run, shared how much she struggles on what she calls “barf hill” and explained the awkwardness of passing walkers when their pace is close to her own. She has since logged hundreds of miles and garnered a following of more than 617,000 on TikTok. “Today we have four miles, help,” she said to the camera, deadpan.
She invited followers to join her, “a slightly overweight person who drinks too much beer,” as she tried to train for a marathon. In one of those first videos, Azar is wearing a sweatshirt, a nursing bra, shoes with holes in them and glasses that fog up as she runs.