Episode 2: Alyssa Stickley - My Best Friend Got Drunk and Registered for a Marathon

Episodes

Apr 14

My best friend Dr. Alyssa Stickley ran a sub-4 marathon because a near-stranger from Denver signed her up over wine at Ruth's Chris. We recorded this one hiding in her closet.

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About this episode

Dr. Alyssa Stickley is my best friend, a dentist who owns Danville Family Dentistry in Danville, Indiana, and a mom of two. We met in 2015 through a Facebook group for owners of dogs from the same goldendoodle breeder, and we've been golf partners and running buddies ever since.

This was my very first guest episode, recorded in a tiny closet in my house while our kids played downstairs. Alyssa tells the story of how a day of drinks with fellow dentists ended with a guy named Jack registering her for the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon, which she finished just under four hours. We also talk about her Bourbon Chase Ragnar relay, how she makes time for herself as a business owner and mom, and the songs that get her to the finish.

In this episode, we discuss

How Alyssa and I met in 2015 through our goldendoodles, Hosier and Doug
Growing up in Lawrence and playing softball, volleyball, cheer and basketball
Feeling pressure in softball and choosing IU over playing in college
Her dad, in his 70s, still running at Fort Harrison State Park three times a week
Her first 5K at IU and jumping straight to the Geist Half Marathon
Running 10 to 12 Indy Mini Marathons
The bike ride to Broad Ripple that ended with a stranger signing her up for the Monumental Marathon
Training by text with Jack from Denver and long runs with her bootcamp friends
Starting in an early corral, running eight-minute miles and finishing just under four hours
Buying her dental practice and switching to four-day weeks
Making time for herself with Pure Barre, facials and golf without the guilt
Getting back to early morning runs with a friend
Running the Bourbon Chase Ragnar relay from Bardstown to Lexington with an all-women team
A scary middle-of-the-night leg and her trick of saying hi
Her rap-heavy race playlist and always sprinting the finish

Chapters

00:00 · Intro
01:49 · Recording from a closet
04:30 · How we met through our dogs
09:58 · Growing up and high school sports
13:58 · IU and staying active in college
19:15 · First 5K, Geist Half and the Mini
21:00 · The night she got signed up for a marathon
25:00 · Training and running the Monumental Marathon
32:08 · Owning a practice and making time for herself
38:00 · Pure Barre, eating and fitting in workouts
41:30 · Back to early morning runs
46:50 · The Bourbon Chase Ragnar relay
56:00 · Workout songs and next milestones

Where to find Alyssa

Danville Family Dentistry

Mentioned in this episode

Races: Indianapolis Monumental Marathon, OneAmerica Indy Mini Marathon, Geist Half Marathon, Bourbon Chase (Ragnar), Indy Half Marathon, Fargo Half Marathon, Revel Big Cottonwood, Disney marathon weekend
Organizations and charities: Danville Family Dentistry, Indiana University, Pure Barre
Other: Fort Harrison State Park, The Monon Trail, Forensic Files

Previous guests mentioned

Related episodes

Frequently asked

How did Alyssa Stickley end up running a marathon?

Alyssa Stickley, an Indiana dentist, ran the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon after a dentist from Denver she had just met registered her for it over dinner and wine at Ruth's Chris.

What was Alyssa Stickley's marathon time?

Alyssa Stickley finished her only marathon, the Indianapolis Monumental, in just under four hours after starting in an early corral.

What is a Ragnar relay like according to Alyssa Stickley?

Alyssa Stickley ran the Bourbon Chase Ragnar from Bardstown to Lexington, Kentucky, on a 12-person all-women team in two vans, with each runner covering three legs including one in the middle of the night.

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Transcript

This transcript was generated automatically, so it may contain errors.

Welcome to Finish Lines and Milestones with Ally Brettnacher incredible stories and tales of triumphs with everyday people achieving their goals in fitness. This podcast brought to you by Athlete Bouquets. Celebrate finish lines and milestones of the people that you love by visiting athlete bouquets.com.

Hello. Hello, episode number two. This is Ally Brettnacher and I am going to be joined by my best friend, Alyssa Stickley, or Doctor Alyssa Stickley. As I should say, I am so lucky to have such a wonderful friend like her who in the midst of her chaotic life at the moment. Spent an hour in a closet with me talking about all kinds of things.

Um, but she is a dentist, owns her own practice now. Danville Family Dentistry in Danville, Indiana. Two young kids, Abby and Wyatt, five and three years old, and her lovely husband and husband, Austin, who was the one watching the kids while we did this. So you might hear some background noise. Again, if you listen to episode one, you know this is not gonna be the most professional podcast in the world, but certainly laid back fun conversation with Alyssa.

I certainly learned things about her that I didn't know, and I hope you find it entertaining and inspirational. She doesn't think she's inspiring, but seriously, she is one of the most thoughtful, kind people I know. And I hope you enjoy this conversation with Dr. Alyssa Stickley. All right, we're doing it.

Let's do it guys. Let me just set the scene for you right now. Dr. Alyssa Stickley and I are in her closet in her bedroom hiding from our children. Mm-hmm. And the odds are probably pretty high. That one of them's gonna come find us during this recording. That's all right. That's mom life. Also setting the scene.

I live in a fairly old home, well built in the seventies, so the closet is tiny. It is our master bedroom closet, but it's probably like four feet by five feet. Yeah. We're almost touching knees. Like we're almost, we're really close. We have some beer. Mm-hmm. Cheers. I brought some pillows in here to make it comfy.

Yep. So here we are. All right guys. This is my first podcast with a guest. And so Alyssa has graciously agreed to be my Guinea pig. We, uh, have been friends How long? Eight years. 2015. 2015. Yeah. So I am going to, I'm gonna let Alyssa introduce herself, and then she's gonna tell you the story about how we met, which is hilarious.

And then we're gonna learn more about her. And she doesn't think she deserves to be on this podcast, but I told her only 10 people listen to it. But that, yes, she does deserve to be on this podcast because she's a marathoner, a mom, a business owner. But before I steal all her thunder, I'll stop. Alright, so my name's Alyssa.

Uh, I'm 37. I just turned 37 in February. Uh, born and raised in Indianapolis, northeast side. Lawrence Central, if you guys are local at all. Some of 'em, yeah. Yeah. Um, schooling wise, I guess I went to, again, Lawrence Central for high school. Graduated in oh four, uh, was in Bloomington at iu, um, for four more years.

So oh eight there. And then I went straight to dental school. Um, I always knew, well, maybe when I got braces, I kind of decided I wanted to do dental, go to dental school. I went straight from IU to I-U-P-U-I, where the dental school is. So it's downtown Indianapolis, and that's a four year program. So once I got done with that, that was 2012 when I graduated, and then I lived downtown for another, probably two years or so.

Um, so I lived downtown Indy for a total of seven years and loved the city life, especially before kids. I met my husband right before my fourth year of dental school. So in 2011, and then we got married 2015. Um, we moved to the suburbs and then, which I wasn't too happy about at first, but it's been great.

And then now we have two kids. So my daughter, Abigail, we call her Abby, she's five. And my son Wyatt is three. He turned three in October. And Hos. And Hosier, yes. Which is the perfect segue. Perfect segue. So Hosier is our golden doodle. He just turned 10, so he turned 10 in January. You know, he was our first kid, he was in our wedding, uh, walked down the aisle, sat with the groomsmen, all that, um, inside a hotel we would, was not an outdoor wedding.

But yeah. Speaking of Hosier and Ally, our, my dog Hosier is actually how I met Ally. We got Hosier from a breeder in Peoria, Illinois. And the reason why I got him from that breeder was 'cause I met a dog previously when I was staying in Chicago for a CE or a continuing education course, and met this dog.

He was staying at the house I was at for the weekend. Fell in love with the dog. He was my like phone background for like six months. 'cause I was obsessed with him and I said, when I live by myself, I don't have roommates. I'm ready for a dog. I'm gonna get a dog from this breeder. 'cause I was like, this dog is the shit.

So that's exactly what I did about seven months later. So with this breeder, they have a Facebook page for all the owners and it's full of people posting photos. And once you get your dog, it's like the greatest thing in the world. So you're on it all the time, posting photos, seeing other dogs, you know, finding siblings and I don't know all of that.

So, um, I posted out, I think I posted out, I was like, any of these, any of these dogs in Indie? And Allie wrote back and maybe, no, it was actually it was me. I posted when I first got Doug. Okay. And I was like, Hey, this is Doug. We're in Carmel, or no, we were in Broder pool at the time. And you commented on my post and you were like, Hey, we're at local too.

We should have a play date. Mm-hmm. So you get credit for the post. I'm just kidding. I do. But you get credit for actually saying something. Yes. So I'm super friendly and was super excited. 'cause there's no, there's none of these, this breeder's dogs really an indie. There was another. Girl in Broad Bowl that I think tried to get together to, or knowing me, I probably tried to start my own.

I think I did. It's my separate Facebook group you did for like indie, my God poodles. Um, I said, Hey, come over let's out of our dogs meet. And this was our first or second year in our house and we have a pool. It was in the summer and I was like, Hey, bring your suit. You know, we can drink. Like, I was just excited to, yeah, I was gonna gonna have a party, so I guess that was inappropriate.

So I don't remember that for what it's worth. But your husband Austin remembers it and he likes to remind us of that every time we tell the story. Yeah. How It was super awkward. I didn't bring my suit for the record. Yeah. 'cause I did, I don't know, I don't remember it, but I probably would've thought it was weird and my husband actually thought it was so weird that he wouldn't come.

And so my sister Casey, I don't know why she was, she wasn't living in India at the time, but she was, must've been in town and she was like, I'll go with you. Yeah, and she was a great buffer because Austin and Alyssa went to iu, and Casey went to iu, so they had that in common. But yeah, it was, it was great.

It was zero to six then we were best friends. Well, yeah, I don't quite remember how quickly it met either, but you know, when you like meet your husband, your boyfriend, long-term birth for the first time and it just goes quick, I think that's kind of how it went with us. So, yeah. That's so sweet. Just No, I remember.

I don't know what it was about you. Yeah. But we were just, I think you call me your, um, not soulmate, the like. I can't think of the word. Um, soul sister. Not soul sister. I called you my soul sister before. I have heard that one from you, but it's weird as that. Oh, I can't think of it. Maybe it'll come to me.

But you were like Yeah, I basically, I we're aligned. We aligned. Our stars aligned. Yeah. It was just we, it's like you meet someone and you're like, yep, we're gonna be friends forever. And I think we had just gotten married like the years before. 'cause you were married in 2014. 14, okay. And it was just, it's just weird now knowing you for so long that like we didn't go to each other's weddings because I know we would have, but that's so sad.

Yeah. Doug would've gone to your wedding. Absolutely. That's my dog. Well, was he alive then, because he's a little younger? No, he's a year younger. Okay. Because Doug just turned nine. Okay. In April. So he probably would've been a puppy. Yeah. I'm surprised you didn't have a birthday party for Hosier at 10.

Yeah. Well it was in January. Yeah, that's fair. So we did a little something at our house. Yeah. I got my photo for Facebook and there you go. That was enough. Yeah. So we get to tell that story to people we meet. Mainly when we've, we've been golf partners now for a number of years, and so we'll meet these ladies and they'll like, oh, how do you guys know each other?

And so we're, and sometimes they'll like, oh, you guys are the ones who know each other through your dogs. Yes. And we'll be like, yeah. Yes. That's us. We're the A team. Yeah. We'll, just by our names. Yeah. We're not very good. Yeah. Yeah. We're not bad. We're like the c Well, we might be like a B minus now. Yeah. Is what I would, um, okay, so let's, let's back up.

Mm-hmm. Now that people know who you are, now let's, let's go back to the beginning. Actually. I'm gonna learn so much, I think probably because I don't really actually know. Yeah. We're, besides, we haven't gone on a long road trip together. Right. We talk about haven't honeymoon together, so we don't know all these things.

Okay. Well bring it on. What do you wanna know? Well, how'd you grow up? I would just say, I dunno, just normal two parents that were married, you know, I didn't grow up in a divorced family. I had an older sister, she was like four years older, so we weren't really. That close at a young age. You know, we were never in school together.

So by the time I went to middle school, she was in high school. When I went to high school, she was in college. Um mm-hmm. But now we're super close. She does, uh, live in Bloomington, um, where, which is like a little over an hour away, hour and 50 minutes away. So we don't see each other often. But if she lived here, we'd be very close.

So. And did both your parents work all the time while you grew up? Yep. My parents both worked. I always did. Like in elementary school I did Loving Care, which was like the before school program in Lawrence. Oh, that's hilarious. I know. Loving Care. So they probably dropped me off at like, you know, six 30 or seven and I did stuff till I went to school.

And then I had afterschool care, which is also called Loving Care. Um, I remember, it's funny, when I had to go to SI when I went to sixth grade, believe it or not, I was like super scared to go home 'cause my parents weren't gonna be home. So that was the first time that I've had to like ride the bus home and I was home alone for like.

30 minutes or an hour or something. So that was, that was weird for me 'cause I was used to always being cared for, I guess. So, yeah, pretty normal. Did you play sports? I did. Let's see, I don't think, I, I always, I started young with gymnastics, so I probably was like three or four. My parents put me in gymnastics and I had an older sister, so, um, kind of whatever she was doing, that's kind of what I did.

Let's see, I also started playing softball probably when I was in third grade, second or third grade at the local little league out in Lawrence. And then I also did dance, so at my Loving care they had the dance classes and I loved to dance, so I, I did really well, like in dance and I kind of progressed.

I always like danced with the older girls and I, I love dance, but I didn't do it professionally. It was kind of like, I dunno, we have dance at our kids' daycare now and it's definitely not like real dance, but. I love that. Um, I was gonna do competitive gymnastics 'cause I was in level five and I could have done the competition but I was doing dance and softball so I kind of just stopped at that.

But in sixth grade, I guess middle school sports actually started and I ran track and then I played, I was fast. And so my track coach was also the girl's basketball coach, so he was like, you're gonna be on my basketball team. And I was like, I've never played basketball. Hey, me too. I did that same thing.

Yeah. So he was like, yeah, you can do it though. So I didn't really do it 'cause girls had been playing in AAU and stuff and so I really never got to play 'cause I was a bench player. So I played that for one year. That was my seventh grade year. Yeah. Um, and then I was a cheerleader and I cheered for boys basketball and then I also played volleyball.

So dang. I did like kind of all those in middle school. Uh, also played softball. So what about high school then? Did you stick with one of those? So, high school I was a basketball cheerleader. Then I also did competitive cheerleading. Oh. Uh, when I was in eighth grade. Really? Yes. So I did one year where I did the whole, you know, went to Disney, did the competitions.

I was on a co-ed, like it was a high school co-ed team, but there were three of us in eighth grade that did it with them. So that was a really cool experience. It was super expensive. I did only did it a year. Um, but I went to high school. I was on the volleyball team, so I did fall volleyball. I cheered for boys basketball in the winter and then I played softball.

Yeah. All right. So those were my three main sports. Do you remember any of your cheer dances? Um, just maybe the one, I mean, I remember lots from middle school 'cause they were super cheesy, but. The only thing I probably know by heart is like the fight song. Okay. Like the fight and I'm not doing it. I Well, I wasn't gonna have you do it now.

Okay. But maybe after. Maybe let me keep drinking my beer. Yeah. Maybe you'll get it out of me. Yeah. I, I don't know if you'll be able to hear their kids downstairs There has for a toe touch and that would be really sad. Oh geez. Yeah. But the gymnastics young helped 'cause I was always, could do, I, you know, did the flips on the basketball gym floor and with the competitive cheer you had to be able to do like a back handspring tuck or, you know, that kind of stuff.

Mm-hmm. So the tumbling helped for sure. Yeah. But I have no skills anymore. Okay. So played some sports in high school. How, when did you know that you wanted to go to iu? Did your family go to iu? My older sister went to iu. Okay. Of course, that makes sense. So my dad was definitely an IU fan. Okay. He actually played baseball at Anderson College.

Um. But my older sister went to iu. I know when I was applying for schools, I actually considered playing softball at some schools because I did travel softball through. I didn't mention that. Yeah. But I did travel softball thing. Um, so I looked at some schools, they were mostly like small, like went to Loyola and Chicago and smaller schools.

And I kind of was like, done, 'cause my dad played baseball, he always pushed softball. Mm-hmm. So that was my, um, that was my sport that he was always, I always felt like I was expected to do something. You know, I was, the fast one, I was the lead off hitter. I was the center fielder. You know, I just, I, I would be like preseason all conference stuff.

So I just felt like I had to have like a certain, you know, batting average. I was always expected to get on base. So that was my, my sport of, I felt pressure. Volleyball was my fun sport. 'cause it was my fun sport. I just loved it. I had no expectations. I'm kinda short, like yeah. But I, that was probably my favorite.

The one I most enjoyed. But yeah, I considered playing softball, but I was like kind of done with it. By the time I was a senior in high school, I pretty much had to go in state this with my, my parents, you know, I wasn't gonna go outta state. Yeah. So I applied to IU and I don't know if I applied to Ball State, it was pretty much as IU and Purdue.

Um, but my sister went to iu, so I'd been there. Wasn't really interested in Purdue, but I definitely gave it a shot. I just went and looked. Um, but yeah, once I, I was like, I'm just gonna go iu and I, and I, I love iu, big IU fan. Did you at, I forget what was the rec what's the rec center called at iu? Um, like where you work out?

Yeah. This already answers my next question. I, I swear I used it. Okay. SRSC, is that what I'm thinking of? I swear it started with an H. Oh, the, like the hyper center or hype? The hyper. The hyper, yeah. Is that what I'm thinking of? Yeah. But the hyper was like in the sense like. I don't know. Sorry. Are you people?

I don't know. I'm pretty sure where I actually worked out, um, close to like the dorms where I lived was the SRSC. It's probably called something different now, but yeah. Yeah. I would run there and I would work out. So yeah, I did, I definitely was active and I think I did like the little volleyball leagues and stuff.

Okay. So yeah, I was taught when, when you listen to my first episode, if you ever do Alyssa, I will never. Sorry. Great. Is it an hour? Is it an hour? No, I think it's, no, mine's 30. It was 30 minutes. Okay. I can do that. You have, you have a 40 minute commute every day. Oh, is can I get through it to my phone? Oh my God, everyone my best friend.

This is why we're such a good match. Yeah. Because I am super techie and Alyssa is not, and so when I first got here to her house, I helped her turn her phone off of Do not disturb by just swiping down and clicking the button. Anyway, so, um, yeah. So I was talking about it in college. I had a really unhealthy relationship with, with fitness at Miami because everyone was like, all the girls were like super thin.

Mm-hmm. And I was worried about gaining the freshman 15. And so I got like really into running and I was at our rec center all the time. Really? Yeah. Now you just ran on the treadmill. Mm-hmm. And I did like, they had group fitness classes, so I do like, I'd rather treadmill do group fitness and then run again and like be crazy.

I was crazy. Yeah. Into that. So it was, it was too much. Yeah. Too much. Yeah. For sure. So, and then after, so have you always, have you always been just kind of active? Did you, were your parents active growing up or you just like, kind of got into it because you were in sports and you wanted to continue to move your body?

Like how Yeah, so I feel like my, my mom's never been active. Mm-hmm. My dad has always been active and you know, he played, he played college baseball. Oh, I didn't know that. So because of that, I mean, my dad is 72, maybe seven. Maybe 73 and he runs like three times a week. I don't know if you knew that, but my dad, I didn't.

Yeah, so he, they live out in Lawrence still, and he runs at, I can't think of the state park, but goes to the state park three times a week. Yeah. Fort Ben, Fort Ben St. Yeah. Runs there three times week. Shout out to the indie half. You gotta do that one. So I, I used to run there with him, like in my summers in between school I'd go, we'd drive together and we would run together, or we'd run a little separate too.

But, um, but yeah, my dad still runs. He has, he again is 73. He has a pull up bar in our, uh, in his garage. That's cool. So he, he's, he's always, you know, been very active and made that a point. Again, he's a little slower now, so he is probably pisses him off that he's, he's a little slower, but he still makes it a point, you know, to run.

So, uh, because of that, you know, I've always tried to stay active and I always felt like with my body type, I'm a little shorter. I tend to like. Gain muscle easier. You know, I'm the person that's never gonna have a thin armor thing leg. So I always felt, um, and my mom gained weight quickly and fast and she didn't work out much.

So I kind of always thought like, it's in my genetics, I've gotta work out a lot. Um, so I kind of always made it to point, I went in waves, like everyone where I'd work out a ton or not really much, but um, but yeah, I always made it an effort to keep active in my lifestyle. And when, when did you run the mar your first marathon?

Um, well I guess I, I'll start with my first 5K. So I was at iu. Alright. Um, and there was a 5K on campus and I was like, you know, I'm gonna try that. And I'd never really been a runner. I'd never done that for fun. Like, when I went to the SRSC, I would, I don't, I don't know if I'd run, that's not true. 'cause they had really cool trekking classes, heavier to trekking.

They have like an instructor. They have all, it's, it's a treadmill class. Oh. And there's an instructor on the treadmill and they, um. They'll say like, go to this incline, basically Peloton tread before Peloton was, so I guess I did run on the treadmill bit trekking. Yeah. But I was like, I'm gonna do a 5K.

And I, I think I did with my friend Rochelle. Okay. So who've still not met? Maybe she should, she should come on my podcast. You. She should totally, should. Okay. You might have to go to Chicago to do it though. That's, unless you can do it remote. We can You, Jesus Christ. I love you. I know, you're so cute. But no, she, she would be an excellent, um, person to have on here.

She is incredible. But no, she did it with me. And honestly, like once I run that first 5K and it's kind of hilly in Bloomington, so I was like, Ugh, this is hard. But, um, I was like, okay, I'm gonna do half marathon. Like, it was instant, like 5K, half marathon. And I think that summer, um, when I came home from college, I ran my first half marathon was the geist.

Oh. And that was like maybe the first year they did it. Yep. I mean, maybe so like. So I ran the Geist half marathon and pretty much after that I was like, I really like this. I didn't make it like a big part of my life, but after that I started doing the mini and I've probably done, I don't know, 10, 12 minis by now.

That's where I got into it. And then if you wanna talk about the marathon, we can, is it? Yeah. Where you wanna go? I wanna go to the I. Well, 'cause I've talked to you about it a little bit. Mm-hmm. But I think, well before we were chatting, before we started recording, you're like, I don't know why you want me to be on this.

And I'm like, well, there's other, other reasons outside of the fact that you're a marathoner. But I feel like there are a lot of people who do that and then like move on and like, I don't know. It's so incredible that you've run a marathon. Like do you think that, you don't think that's incredible? So the only time I think that, and you may have heard me say this before, is when I am driving somewhere and you know, I'm like, okay, you know, 25 minutes to this city.

And I literally like shit in my pants. I'm like, I fucking ran that far. And like, it takes so long to drive 25 miles. And I was like, that is disgusting. That's how I feel about it. That's so funny. But like, that's the one time I, you know, think back to the marathon. I was like, long time, how did you, how did you train for it?

Did you like Google training plans? So I would've never, I still would've never run a marathon. I don't know if you know how, why I ran a marathon. No, I don't. So I was biking my friend and I, Laura. Oh yeah. Good. Mm-hmm. Um, we were like, let's bike on the Monon, which is a bike path that to Broad Ripple. So we lived downtown at the time and I don't know how many miles it is, but we biked, our goal was to bike to Broad Ripple where there's lots of bars and restaurants, eat lunch and bike back downtown.

So that was our goal for the day. So we biked down, bike up, I guess, right? Yeah. You bike up. Yeah. Okay. So we biked up to Rod Ripple and we found, we were like, let's go to this restaurant, and I forget which one it was. So we, this is on a Friday. Laura and I are both dentists, so we don't, I have worked Fridays, I didn't this, but at that time we were not working that Friday.

So that was our fun thing to do. We walk in and there's a table of dentists like there and they're like, oh, hey, we loosely knew them. Oh, hey, come join us. Okay. So we did go up to this table. There's like six of us there. They're already drinking. They got a picture of beer. We start drinking and then, yeah, things get crazy.

One of the dentists we had never met, he was a stranger to me, he lived in Denver at the time and he was all, I dunno, he was a funny guy. And he was like, Hey, let's continue this party at Ruth Chris. And he was just probably like, you know, I got money, let's do this, whatever. So we were like, okay, we never eat fancy.

So we continued the party. We went to Ruth Chris for dinner. I don't even think we like showered or anything. And at dinner again, more wine was flowing and we were talking about like bucket list stuff. And um, his name is Jack. I don't remember his last name at the time, but Jack was like, Hey, I've always wanted, he runs the mini every year he flies to Indy from Denver.

I think he went to dental school in Indy, so that's why he has that tie. And he was like, I've always wanted to run a marathon. And I was like, ah. Maybe. Maybe I would do that someday. But wine's flowing. Wine's flowing. He's like, we're all gonna sign up for this marathon tonight. Which was the indie monumental in the fall.

This was in the spring when we did this. And I was like, okay, you know, mine my, I was feeling good. I was like, yeah, that sounds good. Let's do it. And Laura's like, okay, sure. Well, we all pull out our phones to register for this marathon. And me being the poor dental student that I was, or maybe I was outta school, but still poor.

And it was like a hundred some dollars to register. It was like 1 25. It was like, uh, no thanks, like. Don't really wanna do it. I'm not gonna pay $125, that's for sure. And he was like, I'm signing everybody up. So this guy Jack from Denver, shut the fuck up. Well, that's how you, oh my God. He, he at least signed me and Laura up.

Okay. Maybe the other, and it, it was just the three of us. I don't think there was anyone else from that group that actually did. And so, yeah, he signed us up, so we were committed. And then Laura trained with me locally. We all three that weekend I think did our first little run for like, you know, five miles or whatever.

That's hilarious. When he was in town. But then he went back to Denver. I ran locally with Laura for a few weeks and then she hurt her knee, so she was out. Okay. She like tweaked something. And then, so again, I had Jack's phone number. We would just text and like train. We just texted each other, you know, took pictures of our, um, whatever map we did and the mileage we did, and we just.

Again. Yeah. Trained Austin still thinks that he like, liked you, liked me. I, I, I was thinking the same thing. I was like, how cool of a story would that be if that was your person, like, oh yeah, we met when he like, paid for me to Yeah. Run the marathon. Yeah. And I, whenever I tell this story, Austin's like, you just wanted to get in your pants.

I'm like, uh, well, I mean, it worked. Oh, wait, no, no, no. Sorry, sorry, sorry. What worked is I ran a marathon. Oh, damnit. That was funny. I ran a marathon, so, yeah. Just to clarify. Yes. Um, but no, it was cool. And I'm not the best trainer. I'm not a, even in school, like I, I would even say I'm not like a diligent student.

I'm not good at, like, I, I half-ass trained for things. To be honest, I've, I've told, says, says the dentist. Says, well. Says, says Great. Well Allie, like even with running like I'm always like, I can just run running is one thing that I feel like I mentally can do. Like even if I'm not fully trained, like I can just do it.

Yeah. Um, which I think is kind of a talent in its own. Yeah. Um, so, but yeah, it was cool. We kind of trained, but then I didn't train fully, but I think my longest run was 17 or 18 miles. Okay. Before it. And I did that and that was cool. 'cause at the time I was super in shake, but 'cause I was doing bootcamp, so because I was doing bootcamp, my leg, I mean, I was in really, really good shape at the time.

It was near my wedding. Yeah. It was right after my wedding or the year within my wedding. And so I had friends in bootcamp that would run with me. So when I do my long runs, they would all meet me and they'd run, yeah. Seven miles with me. And then another one person would've run five miles with me. So, but yeah, that's how I trained.

I trained up to like 17 or 18 miles, did what I could. And then, yeah, the race was crazy. So did you run with Jack? So Jack and I started together. That's hilarious. This is so great. And Jack, I have no idea about this. Jack, let me show you a picture. Okay. And then I feel like I don, I don't even think we're friends on Facebook though.

Oh, that's disappointing. Um, so, so how do you have a picture of him? 'cause he, okay. 'cause you know his last name. Is that how you have a picture? I know his last, I, I'm pretty sure it's Jack Chop. Oh, what a name. I don't know. I don't know. Okay. So anyway, table that, because I'm gonna, so Jack do some more diligence there.

I think it's Jack Troy. But anyway, Jack did not train him very well. Oh. So Jack was like, yeah, like this is not gonna go well. It was a beautiful day. It was like. Perfect weather. It was like, probably, which is a miracle, 39 or 40 at the beginning of the race. Like, and it ended up being like 55 and sunny that day.

It was perfect. So I had just ran the mini that year. Okay. And I ran the mini really fast. I forget what it was, but I was in, because I had ran that so fast, I was in like corral C for the monumental marathon swear. And I was so shocked. I was like, what? So, um, I, I didn't have a plan. I was just like, I wanna finish, I think maybe loosely.

I was like, I wanna finish in like four and a half hours. Yeah. Like, that was my plan. Well, starting in an early corral, no joke. I didn't even know I was running fast. So we're just, that's tough. So we were just running and running and we looked down like we're doing like eight minute miles, like, or eight and a half, you know, we were just like, holy crap.

Like this is bad. And we did that for like seven or eight miles, I swear. So the only reason why I got under four was because I ran the first. So many really fast. 'cause I was in a fast group. Yeah. Like it was crazy. I didn't realize you had a sub four just under That's amazing. Yeah. That's how I, my, my PR is just under four.

Yeah. Yeah. So it's amazing. So yeah. I kind of hate you for that. We ran fast. He and I, I'll have to find this guy and talk to Yeah. Tell him I just talked about my, on this podcast, but he stuck with me, I swear to like mile 17 swear. And he had not really trained that well. That's amazing. So, and then he took off.

He was like, I'm done. He, well, he was, I wasn't done. He was like, you go, you go. Yeah. Because I still had Santa and honestly it was hard. And I started to slow down a little bit, but it was just like the last two miles or mile and a half where I was like, I think barely moving. I, I don't think I, I think I walked for like 30 seconds after a water rake, but I ran the whole time.

That's amazing. Did you have a watch? A watch? I don't know. Well, how'd you know how fast you were going? I must have had a watch. Yeah. Or I, you know, so one, I think people think this is weird, but when I run, I just run with my phone in my hand. Yeah. I hate that. I remember we did that one. Yes. Yeah. So I probably just had it on my phone.

Oh my gosh. Like, uh, yeah. I don't put it in a sleeve or have a little fanny pack I run with nothing besides my phone. Right. I must have had something there. Maybe I had a little fanny pack with a gel or something. Yeah, I hope so. But I, I, I don't have any of the fancy things. Yeah. So that, that's so amazing.

And then we ate at where's the, the burger place Fat Dan. I made a Fat Dan and I had the biggest burger. Yeah. And that was my first, I've only been there one time. That was my first time I ever at blisters. Oh yeah. So, but no, it was, it was good. And I remember looking at my, not my Fitbit or whatever I had at the time, monitoring my steps, but it was like 42,000 mile or so I something crazy.

Yeah. Or steps. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, damn. Yeah, it's a good day, so you're not gonna do another one. So my hips were sore for like a month after that. Yeah. I, I always say, and I probably said this to you, but I would maybe do another one if I had someone that was like, Hey, let's do New York. Let's do a cool one.

Yeah. And if, 'cause my whole goal was like, I'm gonna run the whole way. I'm gonna do that. I don't wanna, I don't know if I wanna have that goal ever again. I to run the whole way. Like, I think I would maybe wanna do like a cute like, run walk thing. Yeah. I feel like Disney would be good for that. Like more just like an enjoyable experience.

I'm learning more about Disney because I am somewhat interested in doing one. At some point I would do with you, I know we've talked about this, it'd be really fun. Too bad we just missed the window to register for next year. It's like insane. Oh, the whole like, yeah. 'cause I just saw someone on Facebook register for the dope challenge again.

Yeah. I don't wanna do that one. No. No. Okay. That's insane. But you know, people like ride the rides and like take pictures and do like, so it's different culture of a marathon than like. Chicago or anywhere else. I really wanna do one abroad, like overseas at some point. Oh, I love to travel, so I would be, yeah, all for that.

I'll just sign you up. See, now I know how to get you to do it. I'll just be like, Hey, I'll just register you. Yeah, exactly. Or just get me, just get me drinking and I pretty much do anything. Yeah, that's true. I think it's so interesting to me that you felt committed because a stranger signed you up. Like you could have just easily been like, dude, we were drinking. Like I'm out. But instead you trained for marathon and ran a marathon. Yeah. That's really cool. Yeah, and Laura would too. That's a great story. Laura would've too, but her knee, she related to your knee. It was a fake injury. Fake injury. So, but yeah, it was, I'm glad I did it. I'm, it's one of those things I said I've done it.

Would I ever do one again? Maybe not close to it. With my lifestyle now I really could not train to be. Yeah. Like properly trained for it. That's actually a good segue. Kind of what I wanna talk about now is kind of how you fit. Taking care of yourself into your lifestyle. So to paint the picture, you're a dentist, but you own your own practice and you just took that on mm-hmm.

Within the last year. Mm-hmm. And you've got two young kids and your husband had a really stable job. Very successful. Now he's at a startup and so he's started something new and your life's kind of crazy. Mm-hmm. And that's why I am so glad that you let me trap you in a closet for an hour. Hey, anytime.

Anytime. Anytime. But I think I'm just so inspired by how you've continued to stick to doing stuff. And I know you haven't, like, you know, getting the practice in order and all that's been really tough and not, you haven't been able to take care of yourself like you want. Mm-hmm. But now the last time I saw you, you've like, dude, that pure bar and whatever else you've been doing, you can tell, you can really tell that you've put a lot of effort in taking care of yourself.

Mm-hmm. So talk about how you've been able to make that happen. 'cause I think one of the things I really want out of this whole thing is people just hearing from people who are normal people. Who are just figuring it out. Like how do you make it work? How do you work with, you know, your spouse to like take turns and take care of yourself?

And it's just such a hard thing. I was just talking to, I guess it was spurred from a conversation with my mom. 'cause I feel like my mom really never took care of herself to be honest, you know? Yeah. She like, sorry if you get your hair cut at Great Clips, everybody. But like, she's always gotten her hair cut at Great Clips.

She, you know, didn't really take care of your body, you know, she never really wore makeup, you know, that kind of stuff. So she was not fashionable. So I got like none of that from my mom. I forget what she said to me and she said, oh, so my mom has been retired for a long time and I just recently changed.

So I bought the practice last February and. The hours, they were set hours. I said, Hey, I'm gonna work these hours for at least six months to a year and then I'll change 'em to be more conducive to my lifestyle, my employees, better work life balance, everything. And so starting March 1st of this year, we switched to No Fridays.

So we closed Fridays week. We were currently working every other Friday. And to be honest, when I was doing that schedule every other Friday when I had off, literally I, from like eight o'clock to three 30, I had like back to back things to do. Yeah. And so I figured starting March versus year with when I would have every Friday off, I'd be so much more free.

And it's not been, I find myself still completely jam packed from eight o'clock with appointments or errands to run. And probably like you, you overcommit yourself to everything. Yeah. You know, I sign up to host baby showers for people. Yeah, you do. Um, so, so yeah. My mom's just like, how are you still busy every Friday?

You know you don't work Fridays. Like, can't you just plan a three hours where you do nothing? And I go. I kind of was not very nice when I said this back to her, but I was like, Hey, mom. I go, am I, I might consider myself a little selfish, but I actually spend a lot of time focusing on myself and doing things for myself.

And I was like, honestly, like I get my hair done on Fridays. Um, I get my facials like once every four to six weeks. I really, you know, when you have kids, a lot of the things that you did for fun you can no longer do, or you have to really make time for them. Mm-hmm. So on Fridays, my kids are in school, so yeah.

I just try to do those things that bring me joy and like I'm right getting excited for golf season, so I wanna play golf every Friday. Yeah. Um, I don't know. I, I do those things. I get facials, I'll get a massage here and there. So important. I feel like I've been, well now that I have, I'm in a season where I don't have.

Mm-hmm. A, you know, a real job. It's, I'm still like, oh yeah, working. I do things all day, every day. Yeah. I don't sit and watch TV or, or twiddle my thumbs, you know, but I, sometimes I feel like people think that I don't do anything. Yeah. So that's why I say it and it's like, whatever, only thing I'm jealous of is you probably can nap every once in a while.

Do you know? So I actually stopped doing that because. I love because I felt so guilt. Like I already feel guilty and I talked to my therapist about this today actually. I already feel guilty about my situation. Like I am having so much fun doing what I love and it's great, but I feel I just can't get rid of this sense of guilt.

But because I knew you felt that way at the beginning, but you still feel that way. Yes. I can't get over it. It's so annoying. How much of it do you think is like what other people think of it and think of you? Me, I just make it up in my head. Yeah. And then I, you know, I talk about how, well, I'm just putting words in their mouth whether they think that or not.

If they do think that it's 'cause they're jealous because they wish. Absolutely. They had this scenario. Yeah. Which just makes me feel bad all over again because I just feel guilty. Yeah. But I just gotta get over it and so I'm working on that. But, um, what was I gonna say? The only thing I'm honestly like jealous of is like the amount of time you can work out.

'cause that is important to me. Yes. And I like that. I do. So I'm like, I would love that to be like active and, you know, do your Peloton stuff and stuff so that, I mean. Yeah. That, that, that, to me, I'm like, I wish I had that where I didn't have to sneak it in and Yeah. You know, but I don't take naps during the week.

I still, I wouldn't be jealous of that too. Right. Because there were times where I'd be like, okay, like I, I have, and, but then I was like, okay, this is, you know, I could easily do that every day. And I, it's for me, I just have too much. I'm like, Nope. Gotta stop this. Yeah. And I do it on the weekends, still will have, you know, Sloan, my youngest will take a nice solid nap.

Mm-hmm. Sydney has quiet time and so I usually on the weekends still do nap. Oh, that's good. I'm a good napper good. So I find that I need, I need that. Um, but I feel like most moms have a really hard time shutting their brains off enough to like do that. Oh yeah. So I consider it a talent at this point. No, that would be good.

But how are you doing, are you still doing peer bar right now though? So I'm signed up for like eight classes a week. Um, and. Wait, eight classes a week. Oh shoot. I'm a month one of those. A month. Yeah. Okay. I was like, dear God, no, no, no, no, no. A month. I always say the wrong thing. Yeah. Um, but yeah. And so the reason why I signed up for Pure Bar was because they have weekend classes.

So right now with my schedule back in the day, probably for several years, as you know, I was waking up at 4 45. Yeah. And going to an all women's bootcamp down the street, which I love. I, um, I still loved it. I still love it. Um, and it was just like my, I wouldn't maybe go every day, but at least I would do it at least four or five days, like four or five days a week.

It was just my routine. And then on the weekends I couldn't even sleep until like six. 'cause I was used to waking up that early. But just with the practice when once I bought the practice, I couldn't really do it. Um, I, and again, it's funny I say that 'cause I'm like, I could. Yeah. But, but it's, yeah, I kind of changed.

So I was like, I needed a place that. Is open on Saturdays and Sundays. That's structured. I've never been the person that's, honestly, I have to go somewhere. I can't, I had a Peloton for a while. Mm-hmm. Anything that I'm supposed to do at my home, I don't do. Yeah. So I gotta get outta the house and even just going to like, LA Fitness or, you know, planet Fitness or something like, I'm not good at that either.

Yeah. Like, I need to go somewhere where something's structured, they tell me what to do. Mm-hmm. It's mindless. Um, so I liked peer bar for that. Um, but yeah, they had Saturday classes and Sunday classes every week. So I try to, now that I have Fridays off, I try to go Friday and then either Saturday or Sunday and when I'm really feeling it, I'll get in three.

Yeah. But, um, so basically your level of fitness now, or like how freaking good you look, is it now more, it's less on the activity side and more on like how well you've been doing with your eating? Yes. So, which is amazing and that's what you have to do. Yeah. Because I always felt like I had to work out a ton.

Yeah. Um, and I'm an eater. I love eating. Like I am the, like eat the whole bag of chips and salsa person. Yeah. Like I can't have a bowl of cereal. I eat the whole box. Like I've always been that way. I'm bad at that too. So, so basically you have to, what what I've had to shift mindset wise is like, uh, people that are emotional eaters.

You know, if you had a bad day Yeah. You wanna go to, you know, Freddy's cheeseburger or whatever and get, get the meal, eat the fries, and all that. Like that used to be me or, and to be honest, it, at some point I didn't really care. I was like, I'm eating my pizza. Yeah. Or whatever. But now it's just being more mindful 'cause I don't have the time to, you know, contribute to.

To working out and burning calories. Mm-hmm. So, and I just have to find sneaky ways to get workouts in. And honestly, I used to run three miles. I'd go to bootcamp and then I'd run three miles afterward mm-hmm. That my life. And now I'm like, let me go on a walk at lunch, you know, to get outside. Yeah. So I try to do that.

Um, one of my, one of my dental assistants, she's, you know, found something on TikTok or, uh, like about wall Pilates. I'm sure you've all heard about this wall Pilates that will make you so fit. So she's like, bring, bring me sticky socks and we'll do wall Pilates at lunch. So that was last week. We haven't got it in this week, but maybe tomorrow is our day.

So just little things like that. Well, now that the weather's changing. Yeah. Oh yeah. That's a lot different. And I went on my first jog in a long time on Tuesday morning. Ashley Schwab, our friend who lives down the street, she met me at our, our, I know she just had a baby, kind of sick. I'm like, why do, I'm like, she met me at five 30 in the morning on Tuesday, and we ran, uh, just for 30 minutes jogged.

Very much jogged, but we, we jogged the whole way and yeah. Okay. I'm kind of sad I wasn't invited. I would've said no because I, I have a hard time right now with the five 30 thing. Yeah, I could do it though. For you and for Ashley, maybe. Well, well, uh, we haven't set a time yet, but we're doing it Friday. If you wanna join us.

Well, I'll be in Florida. Oh, well, darn. Yeah, but when you get back, yeah. Sign me up. I know Ashley's, Ashley's somebody I'm gonna have on this podcast. She's so different too, because she's a stay at home mom, so it's like whole nother world. Oh yeah. She's great. And I love running with other people. Yeah. I'm a talk.

I, I can run and talk again, running, obviously if you had me do like eight minute miles, I couldn't talk to you at this point in my, uh, fitness levels, but, uh. I just love talking and running. People love, well they say they love running with me 'cause I just can talk. Yeah. And so they're like, wow, that just went by really fast.

So, so it was nice. I'm, I'm looking forward to it. We're gonna try to plan to do it once or um, twice a week. And honestly like Tuesday was awesome. I was like dreading it. 'cause I used to do that wake up early. Mm-hmm. And lately I've just been sleeping in and like, getting up and like washing my face and going to work pretty much.

But it's great. I had so much more energy. Yeah. I wasn't like tired driving to work. Um, you know, you accomplish something before 6:00 AM I don't know. Yeah. I, we might get back into it and I texted her the um, it doesn't take much for me to like be excited and I love five Ks. I love half marathons. We talked about when we were gonna do it again.

And I said, Hey. I go, just the thought. I was like, wanna sign up for the mini with me? The mini marathon with me? And you can bring Prim, which is her lovely sweet little baby who's like fourth baby, my God. Two year, two months old. Two, uh, ish. When was she born? I don't remember. I was like, no idea you two months we can bring prim.

I was like, we can run with her. We can take breaks if you need to nurse. I was like, just for fun. 'cause I like already ran. I was like, yeah, we should do the mini. Okay. Yeah, do it. So, oh, she texted me back. She was like, she probably said, no, that's a little aggressive. It is a little aggressive, my God. And it was, but, but I want you to go.

Zach's doing it. And he doesn't run. 'cause he, but who is he running with himself? I'll run with him. There you go. If he wants to Yeah, he will. He will now. But can he run slow? Yeah. Or is he gonna run the whole way? Will he walk or No? I mean, I'm sure he would. I, I don't know because I don't know what he does.

Okay. Well I'm sure as long as I kind of was like. I'm obviously not gonna run it and be like, I'm gonna try to get into two hours or whatever. Yeah, for sure. 'cause I, this is my first time ever ran. Yeah. My abs are sore, my inner thighs are sore. Yeah. From a 30 minute little joggy. I'll text him. You could do it is, he's already signed up.

Yeah. So am I. But he, he's not running with like Sloan or anything? No. He's just doing it by himself. Yeah. Hmm. Yeah. I don't know why I like to run by myself if I'm actually like trying, but a lot of times I don't try, I'm a, I'm a good, I'm a good friend. I'm a good friend to like, if anyone's like, Hey, when we're on the mini, and I'll be like, I'll do it with you.

I'll run walk. I'll do whatever pace you want. Yeah. So like, I, I enjoy that too. Just, well, for me it's gonna be fun, fun run this time, because on May 19th, so the mini is, um, one of the largest half marathons in the world. It's in Indianapolis. It's awesome. First weekend in May. Uh, it's on my mom's birthday this year, May 6th.

And so I am doing it, and then I'm doing the Fargo half marathon in North Dakota. Mm-hmm. On May 19th. And so those are pretty close. Together for me to like try to go fast at the mini, which is also hard 'cause it's just so packed. Okay, great. So I'm gonna have fun and then I'm gonna go fast. Hopefully. So like for the mini, like you can do a sub to half, right?

Yeah. I'm assuming. Okay. But it is hard. So the mini is hard 'cause there's so many people, so I always tell people if they, and sorry if this is bad, but I'm like, you should lie about your time. So you can start sooner. What? Oh, so you can start sooner. So you can be in a senior corral. Because if, okay, if you're running in your first mini and you say you've never run it, you're like, well crap, it's probably gonna take me like three hours to run it.

Or like three and a half hours, whatever you think and you put three and a half hours when you sign up, you're gonna be in Kral Z. Okay. That's fair. That's good. That's decent advice. Kral Z. Yeah, you don't want that. And then you're weaving in and outta slope. You I I people that are walking. So if you're gonna try to run it, I would, I don't know, I always say a lie just a little bit to get up.

And that. Yeah. And even if you're trying, I mean, even if you have a good time and you're starting in d there's still people that are walking at the beginning. Yeah. It drives me nuts. Probably. 'cause they lied, like I just suggested. Yeah, yeah. Oh, I'm gonna run. 'cause they wanna start sooner. To get early sooner, but no, you're just weaving in and out.

Yeah. You just like, like a stampede trying to get through. And you can't run fast 'cause you're running laterally not forward. Yeah. But it's still fun. I I love that race. It is, it is so much fun. Okay. Um, sorry. No, don't be sorry. I was trying, I wanted to talk about the Ragnar race. Oh, that was amazing. Yeah.

Is is there time? There's, there's some time, but I also wanna leave time for Okay. We have like the quick questions at the end. Let's talk about the Ragnar, because I really wanna do one. And how did you end up doing that? Did you get drunk and sign up for that? So my neighbor did one like two years ago and she asked me then.

And she's my neighbor. Like we're loosely friends. And it was supposed to be like a weekend, and I think they did this one in, I forget where they were, maybe in Michigan. She's like, yeah, we're gonna spend the whole weekend in Michigan. And I'm like, okay. Uh, like I'm busy in my life. Like I'm not gonna spend a weekend with you running with a random strangers.

I don't know. Like, that's not gonna be my like vacation. Sorry. Love you Jen. So, and like, I don't know, I just was like, no, thanks, like, not interested. Like, tell me about it later. Well, she asked me a year, the year after that and I was like, okay, tell me more. And I kind of like looked in the website and the, probably the only reason why I said I was gonna do it is 'cause I signed up but was thinking you were gonna do it.

Oh, I know. I really did. I really had every intention of doing it too. So I signed up and. Allie was gonna do it too, but then it just didn't end up working out. And actually you were just supposed to be a alternate. Alternate. Yeah. I was like a backup. So at the time we were gonna sign up together, so I said yes.

And then when I signed up officially, they were like, oh, our team's full, but you should have your friend be an alternate. 'cause there's 12, um, we did a road race and road races have 12 people on a team, so I was the 12th. So they're like, oh, ally will be an alternate. She'll definitely get to do it because someone will hurt their knee, you know?

Yeah. Someone won't be able to do it. Someone will get sick. So I said, okay, cool, cool, cool. Well, it, I forget, it was closer to the date when it ended up opening up and Allie had committed, uh, I think to the monumental, or I forget which marathon it was. The, it's the Indy half. The Indy half, yeah. So I was like, okay, that's fine.

And honestly, so I was like, whatever. I'm a very adventurous person. I'm pretty much, I'll do whatever. I like to do things on for fun, and I like, I kind of like strangers. I'm, I'm the person that will like, go on a bachelorette party and not know anyone and like, love that. I don't know. I dunno if I thrive in those environments or what.

But so I was like, okay. I signed up for it and honestly it was so fun. I just loved it. I can't even explain it. We, uh, we did the bourbon Chase Ragnar, which, uh, we run as a team from Bardstown, which is south of Louisville to Lexington. Don't quote me, I think it was like 212 miles. And what a Ragnar consists of, at least this road race.

Um, there's teams of 12, there's two vans. So you rent these vans, um, and you decorate the vans. It's like a big thing. And then there's six women in a van, and you run the race continually. It's like a relay race. So there's, um, instead of like a baton, like on a track, you have like a slap bracelet and just Oh, that's right.

Run. So someone is constantly running the whole time from the one city to the other. And then the vans alternate. So like in van one, there's runners one through six. So they run the six legs of that and then van two takes over and they run, you know, seven to 12. And then while the second van is running, the first van is resting.

So whether that be they rent a hotel for a few hours or they pop a tent and they rest that way, or if it's daylight and they're in a city, they rest in a park or do some yoga and stretch. Like that's, that's kind of what it's, so, I don't know. And it was really cool because I'm sure there was teams that were super elite and they were all good runners.

But the Ragnar that I ran more, especially at the van that I ran, I was in Van two, which was like the nine-ish runner van. Um, it was still super fun. So there anyone can do a Ragnar, that's kind of the cool thing. 'cause um, I think the smallest legs, so like the easiest legs would be like three miles. You, everyone runs three legs.

On the whole trip. So the shortest ones would be like three miles, four miles, three miles. So that one person runs those legs. Um, the better runners, I mean, they had legs that were nine miles, some were 10 miles, so they might run a leg that's like six miles, 11 miles, seven miles. And we ran in Kentucky and there were some hills in Kentucky.

So they were not easy. I was very fortunate. You know, I submitted like, I can't really train, not really gonna train in it for the experience. And so I, my legs were like, I think they were all like four and a half, five miles. And the first one was not bad, the second one was at night, in the middle of the night.

And that was an experience. If we have time to talk about, I would. Yeah. Um, and that was my first one, was in the middle of the night. The crazy experience, but easy. Like flat-ish. Yeah. Small files. My second one was way more hilly and it was in the middle of the day and I was on a highway. It was super boring.

Yeah. So I hated that one. And then I was the very last leg of the entire, uh, entire Ragnar. So I was the last, it was, that was the kind of cool thing. I ran into Lexington, um, and that whole leg was like five miles and it was like pretty much flat and downhill. Like it was flat going in. That's nice. And I was on like park paths.

Yeah. Like running through parks. So I was like, oh, thank God. Yeah. Because I don't really, you know, I mean technology, they, they tell you the legs and like the topography and like Yeah. The elevation. I couldn't read it at all. So Yeah, you're just like, what? It was all surprise. But yeah. If we have a second, my first leg was in the middle of the night.

Yeah. And be being in the second, uh, van and being that we were like a slow running group by the time I ran, 'cause I was runner. Six in that van I was around around 12 essentially the whole thing. Yeah. There was like not many people around me. There weren't many renters around me. I wouldn't like that. And we kind of joked and I'm not scared, like I used L City.

Like I'm not really scared of people or situations, like I don't think that way. Mm-hmm. Um, and then when we signed up, when we had our first meetings, they were like, oh yeah, like I ran with like pepper spray and shank and like all this stuff. And I was like, what, what? And they're like, and I was like kind of dismissing it.

Like that's super silly. Um, but I had a weird interaction. Like I always looked before me, behind me, but we were running through a small, like neighborhood area and I swear there was a sketchy guy. I was, there was no one in front of me or behind me. And the vans aren't around 'cause they go to the next exchange point and he was walking like pretty much in the middle of the road.

Oh fuck Yeah. And he had like a hoodie. Oh God. And he was tall. It was a man. It was dark, it was this problem. I forget like maybe one in the morning or two, like you're running at all hours. And I was like, alright, alright, great. This is how I die. Uh, I didn't feel that way, but I was like, I'm gonna run fast.

And I forget what song I had on, I read the songs, but I was like, okay. And I think, and this is what I, I used to live downtown indie and I ran all the time then. And my thing, if I saw a sketchy figure or sketchy person, I was always like, hey. And I don't know if I read that somewhere in an article, but I was just like, hi.

Oh my gosh. I was supposed to like say hi to them and like catch them off guard. Like, that seems like a horrible idea. I don't know. Google it. Okay, Google it. God, I read this somewhere and it's always made me feel better. 'cause if they. Identify you and like somehow personify you or whatever. Like, I don't think they're gonna attack you as much.

I don't know. So I was just like, hi. Well, he was on his phone and he didn't even say anything back, thank God. So he just kept walking, but he didn't even look at me and I was like, hi. And so then literally I was running and like looking back to me the whole time and my mind was like, dude, he's on the phone with someone in the next neighborhood saying like, you got a lone runner coming in like two minutes.

Oh shit. Well, that's, that's what went through my mind. But no, all was good. That was my only scary moment on the whole, but that's not because that's really what that's happened. This was just after that. Yeah, that lady died, Lisa, there was soon after that. So Oh man, I would've lost my shit. Yeah. I can't believe.

Um, but he ran fast. But then I, I, I honestly, when I kept looking back a million times, I kept thinking like, oh my gosh, I'm so embarrassed that I'm looking back. If he's looking back and think he knows, he thinks I'm sketched. I, I was, I was so conscious about it. Yeah. We're running. Oh my gosh. I hear Austin yelling at the kids.

We're running outta, hold on. I wanted to say though, we did bond one of our first trips, maybe one of our only trips we've been on together, which is mind blowing really. It really is. With all the time we spend together is when we went to Salt Lake City for the Run, revel, and we bonded over, we shared a room and we watched forensic viles.

Oh, by the way, for hours. Love that. Yeah. So did you watch that show before or was I just like, yeah, no, we were both like, let's watch forensic files, and I thought I was a weirdo. And you're like, yeah. And then we were like, of course. I was like, of course Alyssa likes forensic files. Of course. Um, okay, so because we've been talking for almost an hour and our time is probably short, um, which just the kids in general.

Um, two questions for you to wrap this up. Okay. I could talk to you in a closet all night. Yeah. Um, but okay. First is, what is your favorite, like workout mantra or song? So, I definitely don't have a mantra at all. Okay. I have like when a golf, I've got my golf things. My golf. Yeah. I know you do my, my swing thoughts, but, um, yep.

Really, nothing at all for running, to be honest. Uh, I really don't get into my head at all when I run, I just do it. But music's very important. I have to feel the music. It's all about the beat. It's gotta make me feel good. It, uh, when I used to run it like on the treadmill, go to the gym in the winter, like if I showed up and I did not have my EarPods or my ear, I went home.

I literally could not run on a treadmill unless I had my music. Yeah. And then like for my Ragnar, my last like official race, 'cause I haven't really run, been running races. In a long time. Yeah. That was my first kind of like back to school race. I literally like specifically picked out like my 70 songs that I wanted on it.

And yeah, they were all handpicked. And honestly, even though I loved them all, they're on my playlist. Depending on like how I was feeling and I was running, I would skip it, you know? Yeah. It's, it's all about the moment and what I need, like when I am trying to run fast or I've always, since I've ran races, I've always tried to run the end fast.

Yeah, that's good. I've always printed, you're supposed to, whether it's a minute or whether it's, you know, 30 seconds. I've always sprinted at the finish. So like, even like if I'm almost finishing a race, I'm like, oh, I keep skipping till I get that song. Yeah, yeah. And then, okay, what's that song? Well, it depends.

The moment again, it depends. Well gimme a couple. Gimme a couple. Yeah. So I, I, I really love rap r and b especially being, um. You know, born in 86. I love my middle school, high school rap songs. Yep. Those will always put me, see, we bonded over that when we first met Shirley always put me in a good mood. But yeah, I just pulled up my list for my Ragnar and it's like, okay, like Kise milkshake.

Oh, interesting. Okay. Oh yeah. Uh, Jayquan Tipsy. Yep. Um, you know, like Paper Plains? Oh yeah. Big Sean. Mm-hmm. Uh, like more recent stuff. Um, Savage, like all the fun stuff. Yeah. Um, and I love Doja Cat. Yes, you do. I do. Um, got some Miley Cyrus party in the ussa is on every playlist, right? Yeah. Yeah. Anything that makes me feel good, has a good beat.

I'm into it, but it's a lot of rap, I would say. Yeah. In some country if it's got a good beat, but for me it's all about the beat. Yeah. Yeah. Makes sense. Yep. I love gasoline. Oh, daddy Yankees, my, oh yeah. Jam. So. Okay. Good ones. Love them. And then the last question would be, what's your next finish line or milestone?

And so it doesn't necessarily have to be running, although now I'm gonna guilt you into signing up for the mini. Yeah. Um, but yeah, what's, what's the next big thing? So since I just did my first little jog in the morning, like I'm thinking, I just wanna start, hopefully Ashley who lives down the street, will commit to, you know, doing that once or twice a week.

'cause I feel like that's really good just for the mind and waking up and, I don't know, just accomplishing something. Mm-hmm. Um, and then, yeah, I'm already ready to sign up for the mini pretty much so, and I would love to do it another Ragnar. That was just the coolest experience to me. So like Avian said, I was with strangers.

Um, but a lot of it is just the bonding experience among women. Yeah. Um, and we did, we were all women team, but. Yeah. At first I was like, that's not how I wanna spend a weekend. Like when I could be with my family or my, like my true friends. Right. Or I could be, or I could be, you know, like in Napa. Yeah, exactly.

I was like, and oh, that was the other thing. It was super expensive. Oh, I told you. 'cause I didn't have any of that stuff, so I was like, oh yeah, you did have to. Oh yeah, my little running weekend. Well, you have to like pay for a hotel. I ended up having to buy like neon shirts, like Under Armour shirts. All of the gear, like the head I, I ended up, oh yeah, the headlamp.

I hope my husband never listens to this, but I ended up buying those Aero pec. Like, oh, the shocks. The shocks, yeah. Yeah, the shocks things. Those are for safety though. Those are for safety. But I lost them. Sh Of course they did. I lost them like in my tent in the middle of the night at like three in the morning when I was packing up.

They must've just be in the grass in the, that somebody scored. Somebody scored. So anyway, yeah, I just dropped some cash and I literally was like, I should just go to Napa next time. Yeah. But it was, it was such a good, um, just experience and I, I really think you would like it, Allie. 'cause you know, you're, you know, obviously a, a good runner.

You like the races. Mm-hmm. You love the competition and this is a different feel. Yeah. It's more laid back. You can still compete with, like, running your legs and stuff, but it's more just about the comradery and the experience and like, if you have to camp out in a tent, it's just cool. All right. I'm interested.

I am. I'm really interested. Yeah. I think the one in December in Florida would be really cool. Okay. I'm thinking about that. There's tons. Yeah, there's tons. There are so many. Okay. Uh, I can't believe we've talked for an hour that flew by. I wanna talk more. Just, I really did. I loved how I got to hear your marathon story.

That is crazy story. I love that so much. I'll have to look up. I'll have to look up Jack. I wanna find Jack now and know if he's really funny, if he wanted to hook up with you. 'cause he totally did. Oh, no. Sweet Jack. Well thank you everybody who has listened to this, uh, certainly appreciate that. It's like 10 people.

Alyssa. Don't gimme that face. Okay. But they are the most wonderful 10 people you'll ever meet. Oh, good. They really are. They should come run the indie. Many should all meet up. Think some of them. Are we, we should meet up. I love you. Let's meet up at the, oh my gosh, you guys, Alyssa is my favorite. She is my absolute favorite. Um, so yes, thank you. And I will talk to you next week. I don't know who my next guest is yet, actually, I should have probably had that prepared to give you a teaser, but it's gonna be somebody else.

Cool. Probably somebody that I know so I can keep, uh, up with this Guinea pig stuff until I get a hang of it. But yeah. Uh, have a wonderful weekend and happy. Yeah. This means I love you very much for being your first guest. I know. I think you know that, right? Yes. Yes, I do. Okay, okay. I absolutely do. Yeah.

Zach wouldn't do it, but he doesn't run. He, he said to me, he goes, is Alyssa a runner? I didn't know Alyssa ran. I was like, yes, she ran a marathon. That's how I feel. No. Well, how I, how I, when I'm talking to patients, when I see like their hokas or like, I can tell they're like under running. I'm like, oh, I, I always say, I used to be a runner, or I say, shut up.

I say, at one time I was really into running. So that's kind of how I describe. Okay, well now you're a runner again. I guess so. Yeah. What am I? I went on my first yog. Yeah. Okay, guys. We're out. Bye bye. Happy running.

Ally Brettnacher