Each week, we'll be profiling members of our action team. Tune in and learn some more about these amazing womyn.

In Their Shoes: Amber W

Q1: Who are you? Describe your work, life, and sport of choice.

I am Amber Walther. I am happily married with a rescue dog. I am a high school teacher in Rochester, NY and absolutely love my job. I enjoy getting outside: running, hiking, or even walking, I just need sunshine and fresh air to feel good. I recently started selling my teaching resources and am building my brand - Success through Literacy and also used to blog about dealing with IBS. You can find me on social media at @eatsandexercisebyamber or @successthroughliteracy - I love making new friends!

Q2: What is your sport of choice? How did you get started with it? Do you compete in races, if so what's your favorite distance?

Running - but my body doesn’t always allow that to be my first option. I hated running in high school and picked it up after a 5k in college but only did it on a treadmill. After an injury at 21, I didn’t think I would be able to run again, but got back into it later in my 20s through 5ks and made my way up to a few half marathons. Races are my favorite, there’s nothing better than the finish line rush - I love 5ks and 10ks cause they require less training, but a half marathon always makes me feel like a B.A.  

Q3: What is your driving force behind your sport?

Running makes me feel alive. Exhausting myself physically quiets the chaos that is my mind sometimes. It challenges me and pushes me. It also is something I’ve been told I shouldn’t do, so the stubborn side of me wants to prove doctors wrong. I have Ehler’s Danlos Type III.

Q4: What are three words that people use to describe you?

Positive. Loving. Extra. (If you know teenagers, you know what that means)

Q5: What is your favorite thing to listen to while working out (music, podcast, audiobook, etc)...or do you prefer to go without headphones?

I love mashups - anything by 2Friends or Rap Music is my guilty pleasure. 

Q6: What is your favorite meal or recipe?

I love my mom’s homemade chicken dish or any of her classics she has transformed to be gluten free and dairy free for me. My go to recipe for company though is oven roasted chicken thighs with himalayan pink sea salt. 

Q7: Name a book you recommend to all your friends?

Dear Martin by Nic Stone was the first Young Adult book I read that opened my eyes to the injustices my black and brown students face daily and pushed me to keep learning, educating myself, and reading more books to become an abolitionist teacher. 

Q8: What is your secret pleasure TV show to indulge in?

Catfish on MTV - it is mindless. 

Q9: Last question - what are your favorite workout shoes?

Brooks Adrenaline GTS 19s. I don’t know why they changed the 20s so much, but I don’t like those, so I ordered five pairs of the 19s off Ebay...and I don’t just wear them to work out - I am that girl that wears sneakers majority of the time - yes even with a dress.