Meet Halee and Ron Wood | Certified Coaching & Counseling, Writing, and Speaking

We had the good fortune of connecting with Halee and Ron Wood and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Halee and Ron, what role has risk played in your life or career?
This question made us give each other a sideways glance and seriously laugh out loud. We couldn’t be more different in how we approach risks. Halee is the risk taker, and Ron… not so much. Early in our relationship, Halee assumed Ron, too, was a risk-taker because she was quickly transferred to Oklahoma for her work and Ron agreed to leave his lifelong home in Philadelphia to move there as well. To Halee this seemed like an amazing adventure, but for Ron, once the reality set in as to what he agreed to, it was complete insanity! So it’s been the majority of our married and business lives together…

We are both willing to take risks, but the emotions surrounding the risk differ for each of us. One of the biggest and most challenging risks we’ve taken is Halee leaving her oil-field career – a career in which she had spent most of her life dreaming about and working hard to achieve, a career and people she loved, and a career that paid very well. Because Ron worked for a small, local non-profit, Halee’s career transition meant more than a two-thirds pay cut while growing our family and launching a new business.

It looked like a financial disaster on paper, yet we had peace that it was the right direction. We placed a poster board on our wall titled, “How God resources His plans.” For the first year of our new-found poverty, we documented on that board every resource that came to us unexpectedly – meals purchased by friends, theatre tickets given to us (we were sure we would never have fun again😂), clothes handed down, anonymous gift cards placed on Ron’s drums at church, and a full gallon of milk that didn’t bust even when Halee accidentally ran it over (yes, that’s a true story). By the end of the year, we had no fear, and it certainly bolstered our confidence to go where the Lord leads, even when it seems ridiculously risky.

Taking that plunge was an absolute game-changer for us.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
As a Certified Life and Relationship Coach (CLC/CRC), mentor, Bible teacher, inspirational speaker, and writer, Halee, along with Ron (Licensed Professional Counselor), own and operate “Run the Race Together.” We work independently with individual clients and together with couples who feel stuck, are in transition, or are rebuilding their lives after loss and trauma. Halee’s current book in progress is “Sorrow’s Voice,” a compilation of her prayer journals in the months following the back-to-back deaths of her mom and their son.

Through both training and personal experiences of loss and trauma, we are equipped to teach and share hope-filled, practical messages. God’s woven storyline of redemption in our journey is an incredible testament to how He meets us, picks up our shattered pieces, and restores our broken hearts. Every step of our business journey continues to be intermingled with our continued healing and growth.

Our business model came about very organically but only after a hard yet beautiful process.

Because of Halee’s abuse as a teenager, we sought support and healing through Celebrate Recovery (CR, a Christ-centered recovery ministry) early in our marriage. The relationships we developed in this environment while also learning and living out the recovery principles changed everything for us and about us. Eventually becoming Ministry Leaders of CR for twelve years, we discovered our passion and giftedness to lead groups, teach, and speak. When our middle son passed away a few years into this journey, Halee’s love and gift for writing were born. People were deeply connected with her storytelling and teaching, whether spoken or written.

After stepping away from Celebrate Recovery leadership in 2015, we continued living out the 12th step, “Having had a spiritual experience as a result of these steps, we try to carry this message to others and practice these principles in all our affairs.”

Ron continued as a counselor, and Halee resigned from her engineering position primarily to support our family through the adoption and transition of our youngest son. Yet she never stopped writing, speaking, mentoring, and walking alongside women in hard places. Once we understood we’d be able to better serve our family and others by more fully committing ourselves to these things, we decided to monetize the work Halee was doing.

“Run the Race Together” was launched in 2018, largely organized and operated by Halee for writing and speaking. In 2019, after certification, she added professional coaching services. The business/ministry (“businestry”) name is based on Hebrews 12:1 which states, “Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith..”

At first glance of this verse, most people connect with “yes, God has given me a race, and I need to run it well.” But what became apparent to us was the number of times the verse uses singular versus plural words. It NEVER uses a singular word and uses “us, we, our” EIGHT TIMES! Nobody is meant to run this race of life alone, and we were on a mission to run alongside others and spread this truth far and wide because of the healing and joy it brought into our journey and that which we were witnessing in the lives of others.

It wasn’t until the pandemic-related shutdowns that it occurred to us to serve couples together. While Halee was meeting virtually with a client in one room of the home, and Ron was meeting virtually with a couple in another room, he was thinking, “This would be so much better if Halee and I were meeting with this couple together,” then, WHAM! He thought, “Wait, why are Halee and I not meeting with couples together?”

This launched a whole new leg of our businestry – serving couples together through coaching packages, a private Facebook group (The Simple Marriage), weekend events, and other resources. It has been AMAZING!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If we had best friends cornered in Tulsa, OK for a whole week, we’d do our fair share of sitting around, eating good food, and reminiscing and catching up on old times.

Multiple trips to The Gathering Place would be a must! Less than 20 minutes from our home, this amazing park spans over 100 beautiful acres of one-of-a-kind playgrounds, gardens, trails, boat rentals, eateries, outdoor concerts, and events! And, if that weren’t enough outdoor fun, we’d also hit at least one of many trails on Turkey Mountain, a treasure nestled in the heart of our sweet city.

On any evening, we could enjoy a concert at the Cane’s Ballroom or head to a theatre performance! While there are many theaters to enjoy, you would find us at whichever one featured our oldest son and his thespy mates.

For the best food and the most laughs, we’d head east on I-44 a few hours into the Missouri hill country, where we’d find our friends Jim and Cindy starting up a campfire and awaiting our arrival. There we’d get spoiled rotten, probably hear a coyote or two, and enjoy more stars and smores than the mind can comprehend.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
While we were engaged, an older couple in our church, Pam and Bud, offered to mentor us. The word “mentor” is an understatement – they walked hand in hand with us through our recovery journey, she was in the room with us when our boys were born, and they challenged and encouraged us in our spiritual journey. We are incredibly grateful for their love for us during good and bad days.

Also, a huge shoutout to Brian Jennings, author, pastor, and friend! Brian saw us as ‘legit’ in our field before we could openly admit it to ourselves. In the many ways we felt unqualified, he helped us gain confidence through training, (client, speaking, and writing) referrals, advocating, listening, praying, and encouraging. Oh! And let’s not forget all the practical support! He and his wife Beth have watched our boys countless times so we could do our work or get some time away.

Everyone needs a Pam, Bud, and Brian in their lives!

Website: https://runtheracetogether.com/

Facebook: @RunTheRaceTogether (https://www.facebook.com/runtheracetogether)

Other: Our free, private FB group for couples – The Simple Marriage: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thesimplemarriage Email: info@runtheracetogether.com

Image Credits
Highland Park Christian Church