January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 22

HEALTH & WELLNESS
As a writer and speaker, Mirna Valerio
continues to encourage people to live their
lives to the fullest via outdoor experiences in
whatever spaces and ways they enjoy most.
Learning to Live to the Fullest
By Lindsay Hogeboom
"
T
his is one of my core beliefs: that we allow people to live,
to experience, and to express the fullness of their humanity
every time and all the time, " reads Mirna Valerio's website
(themirnavator.com).
Valerio, who is also known as
" The Mirnavator, " is many things
- a former educator, ultrarunner
and author, to name a few. " I am
primarily a trail runner, although I
run road races as well. I'm a DEI
practitioner - diversity, equity and
inclusion consultant, " she says in
an interview with NRPA's Cort
Jones for the Open Space Radio
podcast. " I'm a mom, I'm a cyclist.
I get to work with a ton of amazing
brands and companies just trying
to get people to feel good in their
bodies and to get outside in whatever
way, shape or fashion is available
to [them]. "
Valerio may be best known for
22 Parks & Recreation |
her blog, Fatgirlrunning. In 2008,
she had a health scare that prompted
her to reignite her passion for
running. Simultaneously, Valerio
began documenting her experiences
as a larger athlete in what
she noticed was a sport dominated
by thinner, whiter individuals. " I
didn't really know what blogging
was. All I knew was that my friends
were like, 'Stop writing all your
stuff on Facebook. Do a blog,' "
she says in the Open Space Radio
interview. " So, I start this blog and
I got some pushback for calling it
Fatgirlrunning because I identified
as a fat girl who ran - same today
- and I wanted to tell my story. I
J ANUAR Y 2 0 22 | PARK S ANDRECRE AT ION . OR G
wanted to tell stories of what was
important to me - what races I
did, the experiences that I had,
both positive and negative, and it
caught on. "
In 2015, Valerio's blog was
picked up by the Runner's World
website, and the exposure to her
writing started a widespread conversation
" about whether one can
be fat and fit, " she says. " And of
course, there were lots of positive
and encouraging comments and
conversations about this, but there
were also negative and very presumptuous
commentary as well. In
the end, I didn't really care, because
it was about me reclaiming my own
health. And if that motivated other
people to do the same, to sort of reassess
their life, reprioritize things,
start a running habit, start a hiking
habit - whatever it is, start a going
PHOTO COURTESY OF MIRNA VALERIO

http://www.themirnavator.com

January 2022 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2022 - Parks & Recreation

January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - Intro
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - Cover1
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - Cover2
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 1
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 2
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 3
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 4
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 5
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 6
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 7
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 8
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 9
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 10
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 11
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 12
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 13
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 14
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 15
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 16
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 17
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 18
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 19
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 20
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 21
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 22
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 23
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 24
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 25
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 26
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 27
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 28
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 29
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 30
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 31
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 32
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 33
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 34
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 35
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 36
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 37
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 38
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 39
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 40
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 41
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 42
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 43
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 44
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 45
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 46
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 47
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 48
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 49
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 50
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 51
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 52
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 53
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 54
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 55
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 56
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - Cover3
January 2022 - Parks & Recreation - Cover4
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/february-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/january-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/november-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/october-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/september-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/june-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/february-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/january-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/november-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/october-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/september-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/june-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/february-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/january-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/november-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/october-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/september-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/june-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2021
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com