Episode 20: Baylee Smith - Make It Count

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Aug 18

Baylee Smith is one of 21 siblings, ran eight marathons while earning her master's in architecture, and raised over $15,000 to run Boston for charity. Her mantra: make it count.

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About this episode

Baylee Smith lives in Denver, works as an architectural designer, and is the second oldest of 21 siblings, most of them adopted internationally and many with special needs. She became a runner almost by accident when a college freshman seminar called Off and Running required a half marathon as the final, and she has since run Disney, Chicago, New York and Boston, many of them for charity.

Baylee and I met by email when she was fundraising for the Michael Lisnow Respite Center before Boston, in honor of her sister, and we finally got to talk for the first time on this episode. We cover how she raised more than $15,000, the Adrianne Haslet keynote basket that raised over $1,000 on its own, her exactly even splits at Boston, and her plans for Hood to Coast with her siblings on her 28th birthday, Berlin with her mom, and London for Smile Train.

In this episode, we discuss

How we met by email through her Boston fundraising for the Michael Lisnow Respite Center
Growing up the second oldest of 21 siblings, many adopted internationally and with special needs
A 16-person family trip to Disney World with four wheelchairs
The college freshman seminar, Off and Running, whose final exam was a half marathon
Leaving computer engineering for a master's in architecture
Rock 'n' Roll Denver, her first Disney marathon as Minnie, and piecing together race costumes
A side ache from mile 8 to the finish at Chicago and a finish line photo in a wheelchair
Running New York virtually to earn a 2022 entry and breaking five hours there
Breathing trouble on the inhale and trying an inhaler to finally get faster
Raising over $15,000 with raffles and restaurant nights to make the respite center's Wall of Fame
How Adrianne Haslet donated an hour of keynote speaking to her fundraiser
Running Boston 2023 with identical 2:30:09 halves
Entering the Berlin lottery as a team with her mom and getting in on the first try
Running Hood to Coast with siblings under her grandmother's 1995 team name
Run Crafts by Baylee, her race bracelet shop that gives 15% of monthly sales to a charity runner

Chapters

00:00 · Intro
02:00 · How we met through Boston fundraising
03:00 · One of 21 siblings
11:00 · A half marathon as a college final
13:00 · Computer engineering to architecture
16:00 · Disney marathons and race costumes
19:00 · Chicago and a wheelchair finish
22:00 · Virtual New York and breaking five
26:00 · Breathing issues and an inhaler
29:00 · Choosing a Boston charity
31:00 · Raising $15,000 and Adrianne Haslet
36:00 · Boston with even splits
42:00 · Berlin with Mom
49:00 · Hood to Coast
55:00 · Favorite brands and Run Crafts by Baylee
1:03:00 · Mantra and what's next

Where to find Baylee

Instagram: B Smith Runs
Instagram: Run Crafts by Baylee
Etsy: Run Crafts by Baylee

Mentioned in this episode

Races: Boston Marathon, Hood to Coast Relay, Berlin Marathon, London Marathon, Chicago Marathon, New York City Marathon, Walt Disney World Marathon, Dopey Challenge, Colfax Marathon, Rock 'n' Roll Denver Half Marathon, Portland Marathon, Paris Marathon
Organizations and charities: Michael Lisnow Respite Center, Smile Train, Give Kids the World, Team for Kids, Denver Beer Co., rabbit
Other: Adrianne Haslet, Road ID, Miraflora CBD, Nuun, Garmin, Sarah Marie Design Company, Erica Sara Designs, Crowned Athletics, Clif Bloks, Honey Stinger waffles, Pop-Tarts, Abbott World Marathon Majors

Related episodes

Frequently asked

How did Baylee Smith fundraise for the Boston Marathon?

Baylee Smith raised over $15,000 for the Michael Lisnow Respite Center through raffles, donated baskets and restaurant nights, earning a spot on the center's Wall of Fame before running Boston in 2023.

How many siblings does Baylee Smith have?

Baylee Smith has 20 siblings. She is the second oldest, and most of her siblings were adopted, many internationally and many with special needs.

How did Baylee Smith start running?

Baylee Smith, who hated running as a soccer goalie, signed up for a college freshman seminar called Off and Running in Colorado Springs, and its final exam was running a half marathon.

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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 and welcome to episode 20 of Finish Lines and Milestones. That kind of feels like a milestone. 20 episodes almost half a year. Crazy. So this week I have a virtual friend of mine, Bailey Smith, joins us from Denver, Colorado, and we met via email actually earlier this year. I'll tell the story when when we first start, but she's just absolutely lovely and she's run a lot of marathons in the time that she's been running and.

A lot of it has been for charity and the way that she supports charity is just super inspiring and how she supports other runners who are running for charity. Also inspiring. She is one of 21 siblings, which is just mind blowing. So we talk a little bit about that. I feel like we could have talked about that the whole time.

I still have questions, but really cool to hear about her family and then she's getting ready to do the hood to coast next week. It's actually on her birthday and she's also gonna run Berlin coming up in September. So man, I'm just excited to cheer her on and I hope you enjoy our conversation. All right.

Welcome Bailey. How are you? Good, how are you? Good. We were just saying before we hit record that we can't believe this is the first time we're actually talking because we've known each other at least virtually. Yeah. Since only January. I actually feel like it's a lot longer than that. Is that only January?

Yes, because I looked it up before this, so Bailey and I met via email. Really? You sent me an email in January and I, I thought it was like years ago that this happened, but Bailey sent me an email. She was fundraising for the Boston Marathon and it was so crazy. She was raising money for the Michael Lindow, how do you say that?

Liz? Michael Lindow. Yeah, Michael Lindow. And you're like, Hey, if you, you know I love your shop on Etsy. Would you wanna donate something? And. It was so crazy because it was in honor of your sister mm-hmm. Who you had recently lost and she hadn't woken up from, from her nap. And, and I was just dumbfounded because literally the day before that this email came to my inbox, I was working at Fleet Feed at the time.

Mm-hmm. A running store. And this couple had come in and they had these matching necklaces on and, and I thought maybe it was something for their like relationship. So at some point I just asked what they were for and it was for their daughter who was 18 and didn't wake up from a nap. And it was in honor of her.

It was this serendipitous like, meant to be thing. And I told you that story via email and said, absolutely, I'm gonna support you. Like how can I help? And then ever since we've just been friends on Instagram and I love watching all the amazing things you're doing, especially as it relates to running. So yeah.

So that's how we met. And. Yeah, it's, that is, it's like I get goosebumps every time you tell that story. It's just wild. Like some things you're just like, yep, what that's meant to be because mm-hmm. I really didn't even know that was something that could happen either. Yeah, so, so that'll tie into kind of who you are and where you're from because you're one of a lot of kids.

One a lot of kids. Let's just, yeah, just tell, tell me all, tell us all about it. So, I have 20 siblings, as you mentioned earlier. One is an angel, an owl, but. Everybody is, three of us live up, actually, no, four. My sister, actually, one of my siblings just went to college. She's a freshman now. Wow. So four of us live up in Denver.

Everybody else lives in Colorado Springs. Yeah. No, they're, they're a handful and a half, but they're great. 20. I mean, I don't even understand. So tell me. So three of us are biological. Okay. Um, and everybody else is adopted international adoptions. Um, one, a couple US adoptions, like, but they're international first.

I've been to China three times. I love traveling. So. Wow. So how, so where do you fall in that mix? I am second oldest. Second oldest, okay. Yes. And then is your older Me and the youngest is 19 years. So 19 years. So is your older sibling one of your biological siblings? No, he was a preemie that my dad, my dad was his nurse in the hospital. So my dad adopted him, and then when my mom and my dad met, my mom ended up adopting. Oh my gosh. I feel like we could have a whole episode just on going through all your siblings and figuring out, that would be fun. Just meeting everybody one at a time. Yes. Like how they came into your life, where they were from, like the story behind it.

Because to, to me, I mean, you know, I have two kids, two small children, but it's like, and then recently, my most recent episode was about a guy who he adopted, four foster kids, four siblings. And I'm just like. That's insane. Four kids and then you're 20, 21. I mean, that's just, how cool is that? So what, what made your parents, like, have you talked to them about like why?

So my mom and my dad are both nurses, so they are, so a lot of the kiddos actually have a special needs. There's four, you know, five that are in like wheelchairs and then two blind, two that are hard of hearing three that have muscu spinal muscular atrophy. So like all the kiddos, just my mom, my parents have big hearts, so clearly Yeah, my like the biggest hearts.

That's so interesting. Yeah, so we actually, actually all of us just went to Disney, uh, so, oh, not all of us. My dad stayed home with a couple that can't go but, so 16 of us were in Disney World for eight days and. I didn't realize it was a trip. Weren't that many of your siblings? It was a good trip. They had a blast.

That's so crazy. Yeah. And were some of the couple of the wheelchair siblings? Yeah, they had four wheelchairs on the trip wheelchairs. Um, big applause or big kudos to the cast members. They, they are very patient people and they're amazing. Yeah, I mean again, I just imagine like even just taking my kids to this seems really overwhelming.

It does help a little bit now that I think the older a little bit, so it's helpful, but still like the accessibility stuff. I'm sure Disney has gotten pretty good at that. Yeah, so that's good. We do have to take two buses to the parks 'cause. They only could take two wheelchairs at a time. Sure. Wow. How cool.

It's fun. That's so fun. So our man, I, I have so many questions about all that, but I feel like let's it, we would end up talking about it the whole time though. So wait, do any of your siblings run? Um, a few of 'em do a lot of 'em actually play soccer. Okay. Um, and then three of 'em are in like competitive cheerleading.

Um, I'm not that flexible that I can't do like a cartwheel to save my life. So I give them that whole, that whole thing. But they're amazing to watch. But the ones that play competitive soccer. One just got done with her college season. Okay. Uh, and she's actually running, her and my brother, the two biological ones.

Okay. They're running a big relay with me, actually next week it's called Head to Coast Uhhuh. So I saw that I got some of my siblings on it. Oh, that's cool. Oh, how fun that they'll be. And it's on your birthday too, which is? Yeah. How old are you gonna be, if you don't mind? 28. 28. Man. One way to kick off a birthday is waking up at one in the morning.

Yeah, we're gonna need to drop our start time is 1 2 50. I was like, what? Okay. I was like secretly hoping I was like 10. Yeah. I've never even, I've never even heard of a start time that early. Yeah, the ranges were like 2:00 AM to 3:00 PM so we honestly didn't know when we were gonna start, and then I got the start time and I was like, oh, so we're just gonna a little early, not go to bed, basically.

How did you convince them to do it with you? So actually this was my brother's idea. He wanted to do it. And so we entered the lottery. The lottery is one in four chances to get in. Okay. Uh, I wasn't planning on us getting in. And the day we got in also was the day I had to pay tuition. So they take the money the day you are picked for the lottery.

So I paid both at the same time and I dropped my phone in class because how much money? Oh man. Yeah. I was like, huh? Like, that's a lot. Okay. So, but yeah, it's like, it's a lot to organize, but it should be really fun. Oh, that's cool. So are you, I'm gonna assume you're originally from Colorado, given that you and all your siblings are there.

No, so we are actually from Washington State. Okay. I, we lived there until the middle of my senior year in high school. So end of 2012. Okay. And then we moved here and then I finished my senior year here. Okay. And here, remind me, here is Colfax, Colorado Springs. Colorado Springs. Yeah. And then you went to school in Colfax.

Where is the Colfax coming in? Is that your first marathon? Is that why I'm like, uh, Colfax is actually a big race weekend that I am a part of, um, every year. Okay. Uh, they, they have like 5K, 10 miler, half that runs to the zoo, and that was actually my first Colorado marathon though. Okay. And how, where is that in relation to Colorado Springs?

Um, so that one's actually up in Denver. Okay. And that's where I live. Got it. And the Colorado Springs is about an hour south. Yep. Yep. So, fun fact for you. I was born in Aurora. Okay. Yeah. So I am technically a Colorado native, but there you go. I moved in Indiana when I was four. My parents lived out there.

Actually started their business out there and then moved back to be closer to family because they then had me and my sister and we were little and they needed help. So they, so that's how we came back to Indie. But I have a cousin who lives out in Boulder. Okay. And I worked for a digital marketing firm that was, I'm gonna, I just totally blanked on where they were.

But anyway, close-ish in the, I flew into Denver and it was like within an hour anyway, so I used to get out there. Okay. Every once in a while. It's great. And that's great. And I miss it so much because there's just something about being able to look out the window and just the mountains or there. I don't get that clearly in, uh, Indiana, so.

Wow. Okay. So you're at least, you're from out west. Have you ever been to Indiana? I have not. No. Chicago. Well, you've been to Chicago. 'cause you I've been to Chicago. Okay. Chicago was fun. I like the city. The race, not so much, but I liked the city. Okay. So how, let's back up before we start talking about all the races, 'cause we'll just go into that rabbit hole and never come out, which I'm excited about.

But how did you end up running in the first place? What got you into running? So it, so I was a goalie in soccer. Like I, in like middle, like elementary, like middle school, high school, like I hated running, played soccer, but I was a goalie and then softball, I played like first and I was a pitcher. Like I hated running.

The idea of running a mile was like the worst thing in the world. Yeah. Um, freshman year at, in Colorado Springs, our freshman seminar for. College. We had to pick one, and so they're like, sign up for this one. I was like, what is it? They're like, just sign up. It'll be great. It was called Off and Running, and I had no idea what it meant, and so I signed up for it.

I was like, so what's the whole big deal about it? They're like, so for your final, you have to run a half marathon. I was like, I had to do what now? And I didn't even know how far and half Marathon was. Yeah. Oh my gosh, that's so cool. But we don't get many people sign up for it. I was like, I wonder why.

Yeah. What? Of course in California we would have that. So the, literally the whole semester we worked on training plans and nutrition, and the final, we ran a half marathon. Wow. And so was it. So then which one. No, we just ran it as a, like a class. So they ra it wasn't even like an actual race. That part outta, we routed out or the teachers routed out a course and they, that was part of our grade.

That is so wild. Like you'd think at least at the end you'd get to experience. Yeah. I hadn't even experienced rain. Wow. That, yeah, that was pretty funny. So that was 2013 or no? Yeah, 2013. Wow. So what was your major where you like had that as a Um, I, so at the time I was in computer engineering. Um, computer engineering.

And you had to do this 'cause it was just like, you were different. It was a freshman seminar, like when you were a freshman, you had to do all those weird stuff. Yeah. Uh, yeah. So then I had decided my senior year of computer engineering, I didn't wanna do it anymore, so I moved up to Denver. There you go.

And now I'm in architecture. So. How did that happen? Did you just decide that you wanted to talk to people and you didn't wanna be an engineer? 'cause there's, that's, uh, a lot of the computer engineering I was getting into was like, programming. So a lot of like code. Yeah. And it was very boring. Yeah, that's what I mean.

You're like, I didn't wanna sit there. I literally stood up. I got my, I got one of my exams back and I failed it. I literally stood up and I walked out. Yeah. I took, so I, um, I studied business in college, but I took a lot of, a lot of different kinds of classes. One of them was, I forget like probably intro to programmers or something like that.

Yeah. And yeah, I just, it gives you an appreciation certainly for It does. I was just like, hard, it's, I can't do this. I love math. So like I, when I came up here, I almost got a minor in math. I made it through Calc three and then I just was like, I don't need it. Right. Yeah. Like what do you end up? Yeah, I, I remember I took calculus every day my freshman year.

Um, every day at least I think my first semester. 'cause I also, I ended up studying business statistics was my major. Okay. Because I love, I was really good at math and I loved it. Yeah. But there's like, what do you do for a job? I'm not gonna be like an actuary or anything, so, no, and like for architecture, you only need pre-calc, so.

Okay. Yeah, that's, I didn't even need it. What got you interested in architecture? Um, I love drawing. Uh, so that kind of started the whole thing. I didn't know nothing about buildings, so yeah, I went into it with nothing. Turned out pretty good. So now what do you do? Um, I actually just wrapped up my master's in architecture.

Um, and I work as an architectural designer at a firm, so. So do you work with like commercial businesses then? So I am in the commercial side of things. My boyfriend's actually in the residential. He's in architecture too. We were in class together. Oh, that's cute. But he's in the residential side of things and I'm more of in the commercial side of things.

So actually I'm working out at DIA the airport. So yeah. Okay. Wow. Well that's fascinating. We just wait till maybe someday you build a home together. It be like, be fun. I, people are gonna argue it'll never get done. Yeah. I was like, maybe that wouldn't be fun 'cause you'd never get done. We, we joked about that and we're like, we have two different styles.

I don't think it'd ever get done. Right. It'd be like a duplex with like your style of architecture. Half and half, just half and half. Completely different. Yeah. That's funny. How interesting. Well that's really cool. And congrats on your masters. Like what? Thank you. Yeah. And I can't believe you ran eight marathons while you were getting your masters.

I did. I fundraised. Why did you do that? Uh, running has been a lot of, been quite a good escape for me stress wise. Yeah. I've had a couple burnouts with running. Uh, my hardest, hardest burnout was probably 2021. I ran five marathons. I year, uh, three of them were virtual. One was the virtual, like dopey challenge.

Mm-hmm. Um, and then, yeah, so that was a very hard crush and burn. Um, but yeah. So, okay. So after you had your weird college, um, marathon, marathon that you ran, that wasn't really a race. No. Did that give you the running bug or did it, was there kind of It wasn't that big. Um, I did the rock and roll half and I was like, oh, this is kind of fun.

That was like my first like race, um, in Denver. Yeah. So I did that one every year until basically. Fizzled out. They're no longer in Denver. I was gonna say, I've never heard that. They had one there. They, they used to actually have a full, it would ran through downtown and everything. So now the, actually the only full marathon that actually runs through downtown is Colfax.

Um, but, so that was my first like, set of races that I did. And then I found Disney. So Disney was super fun. I did the marathon in 2018. I remember telling hi my best friend Valerie, she was with me and I looked at her and I was like, I'm never doing that dopey thing. I was like, that's insane. And she's like, Uhhuh.

Okay. So Disney was your first marathon experience? Yes. Okay. That's pretty cool. I feel. Yeah, it was fun. I ran into costumes 'cause I thought you had to. That's funny. What, who did you dress up as? I was Minnie. I kept it really simple. I did like the polka dot arm sleeves and the skirt and the tank that said, run your bow off or something like that.

Oh, that's cute. I feel like running in costume is like, to me, I'm, I would be so nervous about it, but I, oh, I like now every year that I've done it. After that I always ran in costume dopey planning. Four outfits, I have to tell you. Was really hard to do. Yeah. Well 'cause I would wanna make 'em And now they have like companies like Crowned Athletics.

Mm-hmm. I'm sure you follow that. And they have like all this athletic wear that's looks like costumes. I'm like, that's nice because I, yeah. Picture people. I pieced mine together from Etsy. Like, I literally was just like finding pieces and like my friend for one of my fundraising things, I like did pick my outfit for which race.

So my friend picked. For the 10 KI was bing bong from, is it inside out? Inside out? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Oh, Bing bong. Oh my gosh. Piecing together. Bing pong is incredibly difficult. Yeah. What'd you do for the, so for those of you who have not seen inside out, it's an elephant like imaginary elephant. Yeah. He is.

Got a lot of different colors. Yeah. So how'd you do the elephant? I didn't like do like a trunk or anything. Okay. But I'd found like pants that worked and I found like a tank top. And then for the vest I actually went to Joanne's and like cut a vest out and like hand sewed it. 'cause I don't have a sewing machine.

Right. And then like, and then I found like a little hat. It was Oh, perfect. Perfect. That is so fun. I'm gonna need to see a picture of that now that you've described it. Oh, I can probably find one. Yeah. So, okay, so you were mini your first Disney marathon. Yeah. So then after Disney as your first experience, then what's the timeline of then getting into what I'll call the more serious road race?

Um, so I, a couple my. RU and Disney friends were like entering lotteries and I had no idea what they meant. And so I entered Chicago for 2021 and I was like, oh sure, I'll enter it again. I got into the lottery and I was like, cool, this will be fun. This was like my first marathon outside of Disney, so I had no idea what to expect.

I knew you probably shouldn't run in a costume, so I didn't. Um, but then I found out about the majors and I was like, well those sound kind of fun too. Yeah. So I went, I did Chicago and then I figured out how to do New York and I did it virtually that right after Chicago. And so I got a spot for 2022 for New York 'cause I ran it virtually, so.

Oh, interesting. That's how I got it. Because the lottery is like impossible to get in with New York. Yeah. Yeah. I only got in 'cause I wrote a big ch I ran for charity and I didn't even, well I ran for charity virtually then I got in and then you got in. Okay. That's so cool. So, and then how was Chicago then for you compared to, well because you said you didn't like it.

Well, I, okay, so the city's great. Yeah, I just didn't have a good race. Um, I all of a sudden got a side ache at eight and I've, I did the training like I always do. I ran 20 and I was fine. I got a side ache at eight mm and I had a side ache until 26.2. So I had that side for the rest of the race. Ended up training a muscle on my back because of how bad it hurt.

Um, I tried everything from like, I even ate pickles and I hate pickles. Oh. I was trying to just get it to go away and I was like, my boyfriend was tracking me on the app and he's like, you just tanked. I was like, yeah, it hurt really bad. And you still ended up. I still finished it. I, it was funny. We were going, I was, there's like a little hill.

Mm-hmm. To get to the finish line for Chicago. The worst placement for a hill, I swear. Yeah. I was slowing down. I was still jogging, but I was slowing down and this guy looked over at me and goes, let's go. And so I kept up with him and I sprinted my heart out through that finish line and then I almost passed out.

But it was great 'cause they caught me in a wheelchair and I was good. Yeah. So I actually have a finish line photo of me in a wheelchair. Oh man. Uh, yeah. So that hill is, it's just, it's that bridge. It's a bridge, but it feels, it might as well be a fricking mountain because Yeah. Literally right at the end it feels like eternity.

I'm like, ugh. Yeah, I remember Mike. So I've done Chicago four times and it's all, I did it all before the lottery. So my first Chicago was 10. 10 10. It's easy to remember. Also my first marathon. Okay. And so I didn't realize there was a hill there at the end until, yeah. You get there and you're like, I didn't, I didn't like I've heard about it and I was like, okay, I'm from Colorado.

Like that would be that bad. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like once you know it's there, you can at least kind of mentally prepare. Prepare, yeah. Prepare for it. But the first time not really knowing, I was like, oh. So now, yeah, anytime I talk to somebody running Chicago for the first time mm-hmm. I'm like, just so you know, there is a hill sign and it's not really pleasant when you've been running for a really long time.

So, yeah. So good. So what did you do for your virtual New York? How did, what was your course that you met? Uh, so in Colorado we have this, it's the, I call it that, it's like the plot river. It runs from Denver to, it probably runs further, but Denver to Parker. It's like kinda like diagonal through the city and there's a trail that runs alongside of it and it's actually pretty much exactly 13.1 miles out.

So I literally ran out and back back. There you go. Um, yeah, so my boyfriend found me yourself. Um, well, my boyfriend biked out and he was actually my race photographer. That's nice. For the virtuals. So, uh, ran that out and back and that was it. Wow, that's not very exciting. So then, so that got you an entry for Yes.

2022. 2022. Last year. Last year, yep. Okay. Wow. Which was, by far, if I could run another marathon of the majors again, it would definitely be in New York. Yeah. It was so much fun. It's amazing. Did you, yeah, last year was warm, right? It was very hot. Uh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I, I, I loved it with the exception of just the logistics of.

I mean, of course there's logistics, right? You're getting 50,000 people in, like one of the biggest cities in the world to the start. Yeah. Shut down. And you have to get all those people to the start. I actually didn't have a problem. I stayed on the New Jersey side, um, and I took a bus to the start and I had an inflatable stadium seat.

I got there ridiculously early 'cause the buses stopped at 6:00 AM mm-hmm. Um, I got there ridiculously early. I sat down, I had my bagel, I had my Pop-Tarts, and I sat on my inflatable stadium seat against a tree and I just hung out. Inflatable stadium seat. That's a pro tip. Definitely recommended it for New York.

Yeah. I brought, people told me to bring magazines like, 'cause you'll be sitting for a long time. And I was, so I did, and then I was like, what, what am I gonna do? Sit and read these magazines? There's all these people to talk to, right? Like, yeah. Yeah. I just zoned out and I just basically sat there and Yeah.

People were frantic though, because the ferry got messed up. Yeah. I took the, I did the bus as well, so I don't have experience with the ferry, the bus. Was fine. We didn't have any issues. It just, yeah, it was just a lot. You just gotta, yeah. Yeah. You just go with the flow. Just kind of go within, just get there and, yeah.

We had this, this guy we met at this in the subway, getting to the bus. He gave us his wife who didn't speak any English, and they were from, oh, I wish I could remember. I think they were from Venezuela, maybe. Oh, geez. But he was like, you know, you take her. And we're like, sure. Sure. So we had this woman with us, like the whole time leading up to the start.

And I just remember like hugging her and telling her, you know, good luck and like, just never seeing her, you know, you're like, oh, okay. You're like, hopefully she good. I know. I, I just wish I could knew how to find her. Anyway, I digress. Okay. So New York last year and then, yep. And I broke five on that one, which is, that was my first in-person live race where I broke five.

I broke five during one of my virtuals, but it was the first in-person one. Yeah, that's amazing. At New York especially, 'cause you know, you wanna talk about hills. I mean, central Park is not pleasant. I remember turning down and I saw the, the incline up First Ave. And I was like, really? Like, okay then. Yeah, I don't even, I just remember pe somebody telling me it's hilly in Central Park.

And I was like, okay, that's good to know. And it was, yes it was. And I didn't expect, because I had run in Central Park before, like traveling for work and I'd, I'd run out there, but I, you know, ran in the flat part. But obviously it's huge. So at that part you're almost done. So Yeah. The hills feel like really hard.

Yeah. Like, no. Yeah. So at least you have, I feel like training too at Elevation has to give you some sort of help. But then I, I think so today you posted a picture with an inhaler. Yeah, so a couple of my siblings have asthma. My dad has asthma and I've never really gotten tested for it. Um, and I get laryngitis every year.

Um, so I just don't have a voice for like two, three weeks. It's great. Um, but according to my doctor, the inhale issue is like a bronchospasm. So it's your vocal cords having a hard time with the inhale part. Apparently asthma is more of the exhale. So you have like the wheezing thing, exhale for asthma.

Okay. So the inhale is the bronchiospasm thing. Interesting. So do you run with, do you have to run with an inhaler now? Like will you No, I can just apparently take it before you run. Okay. So I tried it today. It tastes disgusting, but you know. Yeah. I've never, I've never used an inhaler. I've only ever done, like, I've used the like, um, boost oxygen that they have now.

Mm-hmm. Yep. Those are, yep. I've had those for Fourteeners. I bet. Yeah. They're great. I got super sick at a wedding last summer. Mm-hmm. Or the summer before. No, last summer out in Colorado. Yep. And, um, altitude sickness. Yeah. I was not prepared for that. And so, yeah. So anyway, so I was using that. Those oxygen things are brilliant.

They are created those. Yeah. Um, okay. So wait, we'll see if the inhaler helps. It's, yeah, I hope so. So what, what's the, so you're hoping that it'll prevent you from having the laryngitis issues that you have? I don't know if it's like gonna prevent that. It's just I, whenever I like, 'cause like I've been the same, been the same pace for like 10 years.

It's really frustrating. Mm-hmm. Because I've done, and like before, everybody like says, well you gotta do speed work. I've been doing the speed work and I do the strength training and I do the slow long runs where you run those slower. Mm-hmm. And I just. Can't get faster. 'cause when I go faster then I can't get an inhale.

And my doctor said, well then if you can't get an inhale, then you go slower. Yes. And then I can't breathe. I see. That's why I can't get any faster is 'cause I'm trying to breathe inhale wise. So that's Frus. That is so frustrating, especially when you're putting in all the work for it. Yeah. In the right way because Yes.

Yeah. Like I'm trying. Yeah. So, so New York, you broke five and then this year, was Boston your first marathon of the year? This year? Yes. Yes. So you, you ran for charity for Boston? Mm-hmm. And so this is kind of after you did Chicago and you're like, okay, the majors you got, you did New York with through the virtual and then did New York and then.

So then Boston was, was next. Yep. And how did you decide the charity that you ran for? So I actually did a lot of research. Um, I had like my top three. Um, and then you basically do like runner interviews. So you talk, you talk to the charity, like head person that's in charge of either like of their running team or of the charity.

And like I did like a whole bunch of like questions. I did video chats with everybody and I provided like a questionnaire, like a fe like my fundraising goals and all that. Um, and it came for one of 'em, it came down to me and this other girl and they picked her. And so I reached out to the Michael Respite Center and it was immediate?

Yes, within like a day. Wow. I didn't know that they had that type of a process for running. Yeah. And like for anybody going to Boston, I definitely recommend having like your top three 'cause you don't get into. I applied to four, so. Wow. Really? Is it, I wonder if it's like that for other, how did that work for New York for the virtual thing?

Did you just, that sells out really quickly? I actually just did it through team for kids. Okay. Yeah. Um, but that settled out really quickly. My mom was trying to do it this year and I literally, I logged on and it was sold out within like 10 minutes. So yeah. Some of those things I don't really know about.

And are, did you enter the lottery for Tokyo yet? No. So I'm actually doing London next year. Oh, that's right. Okay. 24. So we're doing, it's called Smile Train. Um, it's for kids with cleft lip and palate, um mm-hmm. That need repairs and all that. I have a brother. Surprisingly, I do have a brother. Yeah. That has a clef lip and pal repair.

So just, I always try to find cherries that I can connect to. Yeah, absolutely. Um, so like for Disney it was Give Kids the World. 'cause I've actually been there with my siblings and then like for the Michael L no respite center, like they have a lot of the, the kids I can relate to with arc, my siblings and all that.

So, yeah. Yeah. So back to Boston, um, you ended up raising over $15,000. Yeah, so I, the most I've ever raised, which is insane. That's so amazing. So. Congratulations for that. That's, thank you. So, and thank you for helping me. Really inspiring. Absolutely. I know this, I was like, absolutely I can help in a small way.

And so will you talk a little bit about that process mm-hmm. And like how you put all of that together. And then kind of along with that, I wanna hear about your relationship with Adrian Haslet. Is that said? Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So for fundraising, I was very intimidated by the number. 'cause my, I said I could fundraise 10 and like, well, just so you know, if you fundraise 15, you get on the wall of fame that they have this wall in their respite center.

And I was like, okay, we'll start with 10. Yeah. I was like, I don't even know how this is gonna go. Uh, so I did a lot of like raffles and I did a raffle with like a lot of running company, like, blanking on everybody's names, but like, Vander jacket did it, uh. You donated and a lot of like shops donated for baskets.

And so I did like raffles. Um, I did a lot of restaurant things. Denver Beer Code did a happy hour for me. And um, so all that, I actually ended up getting way past 10,000. And I was like, okay, I guess, I guess we're gonna try for 15. I ended up hitting 15 'cause they, uh, the respite center decided they were gonna try to help me get to 15.

And so they had this football signed by a Patriots player. And I do apologize. I do not know a thing about football. I tried. Yeah, me, you don't have to apologize to me. I don't know anything either. Uh, so they, uh, raffled off of football and then that little push put me over 15. Wow. So I got on the wall, or they call it the hall or Wall of Fame.

It's like a little plaque and it has my name on it. So that's really cool. And then the part of fundraising, um, I was doing a bunch of like the little baskets and Adrian Haslet reached out and she goes, Hey, I don't know if it would work, but I ha would donate an hour of keynote speaking. And I was like, but it would have to be for Boston people.

And I was like, okay, well I don't know if I have any friends in Boston, but we can try. That ended up being the most popular basket I have ever done. It raised that basket. I did three little baskets. That basket alone raised over a thousand dollars just for that. Her keynote speaking. Time that So she reached out to you?

Yeah. How did she find you? Well, I kept tagging her 'cause I wear her blade necklace. Okay. From Erica. Sarah Designs. Yes. Yep. Um, so I always tag her and like stuff if I am wearing it. Yeah. So I had kept tagging her and so she's like, Hey, so the people that won this girl, so this girl kept like coordinating with her friends to like buy the tickets and basically, and then I found out they're hosting a female athlete conference and I was like, okay.

She goes, it'd be really fun, great to win it. We have a very small budget. I was like, okay. Yeah. So. They ended up winning it, which is great. And I was able to go to Boston with my mom this year, and I got to meet Adrian. She was fantastic. She's so sweet. Yeah. So for anybody listening who doesn't know, I feel like people might not know who she is.

If you don't know Adrian, she's a survivor of the Boston bombing. Mm-hmm. She lost one of her legs and she was it, which year was it that she ran with Shalane? Was that 20? 22? 20? That was 2022, I think last year. So, yeah, I think so. Yeah. Yeah. Adrian was not a runner. She was like walking by the finish line the year, the bombing and just kind of got caught up.

Yeah. She was a ballroom dancer. Oh yeah. Which is just kind of wild. Just wild that you're not even like involved at all. You're just there. Wrong place, wrong time. But for her, her story of just kind of getting literally back on her feet, like mm-hmm. Being able to like become a runner. Wearing her leg. And so yeah, like you said, people can't see it, but I'll have to like a little, there's a little blade, um, necklace.

I love Erica. Sarah I. Love, and so I love that they did that together. Yeah, it was a great little club. So cool. That tagging kind of just tagging her and being in her orbit certainly paid off, man. I know. Never really know. It's amazing. Yeah. When something like that will you just, yeah. That's really cool.

You don't really know on social media who's always watching. Yeah, exactly. Or like, Hey, does she ever even, and I'm sure she's like, you know, maybe she's commented or said something, but you know, she's commented a couple times Yeah. Before that. Yeah. That's so freaking cool. So she's very nice and it worked out great.

So Yeah. That's absolutely amazing. I would love to hear her speak at some point. Oh, it was, meet her. I got goosebumps listening to her. It was an amazing story. Yeah. She's coming out with a book I heard. Oh, I would read that. I will definitely read that or listen to it. I don't read books that much anymore.

I have, I have a hard time with books. I still haven't finished one from Des, but I'm trying. Oh, it's good. Oh, see, that's when I, I've like gotten to like a halfway point. I'm like, I just need to actually pick it up. I love hearing her voice, so I did, I listened to that one on audiobook. It's just nice. It's nice to hear her.

Yeah, her voice. That helps. Um, yeah. Wow. So $15,000 wall of fame. And then how, how was your Boston experience? Um, so it was very, so it was really cool. So I, they're very strict on like your bus time and I was panicking because the unveiling of the tile was at a specific time. Uh, so I talked to the security people, the head person for security, Boston, Boston bus scheduling.

And I was like, Hey, I need to get on this bus. I'm not going to the start. I'm going to my charity. I was like, I swear I just need to get to the start area. And then I'll walk from there and they let me get onto the bus two hours before I was supposed to even go. Wow. And, um, I made it to the charity and we did the, um, I made it to the respite center and we did a tile unveiling.

And then actually we just got to hop right into the corral and go from there. They had like a fireplace there. It was raining. Yeah. Well, it'd be nice to have the fireplace, that's for sure. Oh yeah. I dried my feet. It was great. Um, but yeah, the, my first, the first half is like a, they say pace yourself. I was like, okay.

So I really paced myself. I did, I tried really hard to make sure I didn't get too caught up in like the crowds or anything. And then halfway point I could tell there was a difference. And so I paced myself some more. Um, I found my boyfriend just be before Mile or Heartbreak Hill. I keep saying Mile High, heartbreak Hill.

It's a Denver thing. Yeah. Uh, just before Heartbreak Hill. And it was funny 'cause, so I tossed in my rain jacket 'cause it finally quit raining. And it was funny, I got to the top of Heartbreak Hill and it says, you summited Heartbreak Hill. Like, that's it. Oh, nice. And so, um, I summited that and then after that it was coasting.

I like felt great, but it was crazy. When I finished, I got a text from one of my friends. She goes, how did you do that? She goes. You did it like completely even splits. I'm like, what are you talking about? My first half, 13.1 and the second half of 13.1 were exactly the same time. Oh, that's wonderful. So I finished at exactly five hours in 18 seconds.

That is wild. That's so wild. Like I have no idea. That is a talent, that's a skill to be able to, so it's 2 30 0 9 and 2 30 0 9. Oh yeah. I know. I try, I actually kind of play a game with myself, especially on easy runs. Like trying to just, let's see if you can do like 10 minute miles, like 10, 0, 0 or like how close you can get to like the same splits just to try to like get your body in a rhythm.

Mm-hmm. Of like, and feeling what that feels like. Did you feel like you were like the same, were the mild splits pretty similar or just kind of shook out that way based on your kind of ebbing and flowing? I actually haven't looked at the bio split. I think they just kind of just. Somehow it just worked like that.

I have no idea how I did that. Yeah, you're like, yeah, I know. I'm so good at, I tried that absolutely did not stop at a port body. Yeah. Yeah. Oh my gosh. So wow. That would've really had me flustered. I, I can't believe they did the tile unveiling like the morning up. Could they have not? I know. I was like stressing out.

I was like, I have to get there. Couldn't you do it like the after or We did the crazy. Well, this such a tradition, which I get, um, okay. The funny thing is, we were even there the night before for a team dinner. So it was there, it was just covered and I was like, can you just uncover it now? I feel like that would be a lot less stressful because the idea, but it ended up working out great.

I'm so glad it did. I know. It stresses me out. I'm sure. I was texting the, um, one of the charity members. I was like, I'm coming. I swear. She's like, hurry. I was like, I'm coming. Oh my gosh. Yeah. You're like, please. Oh gosh. So would you run Boston again? Yes. Uh, I don't know if I could do charity again.

Especially raising $15,000 again. But I would love to try. Yeah, it was great. Yeah. Well with Adrian on your side, I feel like, dang. So then from there, so that was in April, like not all that long ago. Yeah, it feels like forever ago, but it really wasn't that long ago. I know. It was crazy 'cause I had a court day with school.

I was like, Hey, so I am gonna go run the Boston Marathon. I'll be back later. Yeah, right. Like you're like, I'm gonna need that day or the day after all. Yeah. So is that what you did? Well, I had a paper due. Oh. And I had like a project do everything and I was like, can I have a couple extra days? I don't really have time to like finish it.

Yeah, man. So. So they let you have that? Yeah, they're great. It was funny. Yeah. Yeah. Gosh. Good for you. I know cramming that in, like the training runs with all of your schoolwork and working. And working. Yeah. And did you get to see your boyfriend at all during this time? Luckily, we lived together. Okay.

There you go. So that's good. That helps. He is very glad. He is. Like, you're not going for your PhD, are you? Oh, oh my gosh, man. Is this a Colorado thing? I feel like my cousin, both, like my cousin who lives in Boulder, works for the Bureau of Reclamation and she does, I swear she does like engineering stuff, but I don't, that's clearly like not, it's like not architecture.

I feel like that's like in the same family-ish. I don't know. She does stuff with water and so does her sister. We have a water division in our firm. Okay. Yeah. So she does stuff like that. They work on water. I don't know anything about it, but yeah, she does stuff like that, like for the government. And then my cousin lives actually in Boston and she.

The studied waves. She's like getting her PhD in like waves. I'm like, what the hell? That's cool. I guess you're so smart. You guys are just too smart for me. So after Boston, now you are, Berlin is up next, well, not quite next, but like in top of majors. It's up next, next major is Berlin and yeah, I got into the lottery, so I ended, I heard you could enter as a team and you have a better chance.

Oh, so I, I convinced my mom before she even ran her first marathon to enter as a team. Your mom's run. Okay. Because she, she did dopey this year. Okay, that's so cool. So I flew out in January. I was there in Disney for 48 hours. Uh, and I went to the finish line. So, oh my gosh. So did you do any of the races this year or you were just there to No, so I decided I'm not gonna do Disney until I'm done with your majors.

It's just very tough. Well, yeah, I had, and so this maybe is a good moment to segue in the fact that, you know, ales from the run dopey group. Yeah. So you probably knew her before I even did. I joined the Dopey group. Let's see, when did I run Dopey? 2020. 20. No, 2020. I ran the Disney Marathon 2021. I ran it virtually.

So I joined probably in the year of 2020. During the pandemic? Yeah, because I met her in the airport this year, in February. Oh, okay. So yeah, I have, so yeah, you knew her before I did. And then she was like, yeah, I'm an admin in this group. And I like look at the group and I'm like, geez, this is a big ass group.

Like, yeah. And she does all the t-shirt or a lot of the t-shirt stuff anyway. Yeah. So actually she's been like my, I, I've had her make a couple different group stuff. So yeah, we are doing head to coast and we got team shirts. We're the Naugh goals and bad buoy. Okay. That's amazing. That was my grandma's team name when she ran it, uh, in 1995 when I was born.

What? That is so cool. Okay, so cool. So I got her a shirt and she's gonna meet us at the finish line. Oh, that's really neat. That god, that ties together really nicely. Yeah. Especially since it's on your, on your birthday. Um, I know. Well, let's pause on that real quick. Yeah. How, how did you get in? How many, so you had a team mm-hmm.

Do the lottery for Berlin? Yes. So just one time. Oh yeah. Back to Berlin. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. You got in. Yeah. The first time I entered the lottery I was like, guess we're gonna Berlin. I need to find a chart of like, when the windows are to apply for lotteries. 'cause I think after, so maybe like 20, 25 and beyond, I'd like to start throwing my hat in the ring.

Definitely. Just find like in like the crazy thing is for everyone's like, do you have to like, run as like a relay? I was like, no. Basically you just, you're either get in together or you don't get in together. You don't have to do anything like special for the team thing. It's just you're just there with them.

So. So how many, how many people did you enter the water for? Just me and my mom. Okay. So just, you guys got it? Yeah. I think you can make a team of three. So she running as well then? Yes. That's cool. Yeah. So she ran her first marathon in Dopey this year. Okay. Um, and then she's preparing for Berlin with me this year.

Fun. That's really cool. Yeah, that's really special. My dad and I have done marathons together and it's just, it's really cool. Oh, that's awesome. My mom's still would, she's the runner in the family before we were all, and then she had hip problems and so she can't run, so she kind of, she won't, maybe she would admit it.

She listens to this. Hello Mom. But she, um, you know, kind of gets frustrated with my dad and I and how. Into running. We are. 'cause she can't anymore, but she's Oh yeah. A wonderful cheerleader. And I know that if she could, she would. Yeah. Um, but that's really fun that you guys are gonna go to balloon together.

Yeah. Are any other family members gonna join you? Um, so my boyfriend's coming with me. Um, my brother's kinda up in the air if he was gonna go with my mom or not. Um, and they'll just meet there. Cool. Are you mentioned earlier on that you tra have traveled 'cause you've been to China because of some of your siblings?

Yes. So have you been to Europe before? No. Okay. So this will be your first day. It'll be fun. Oh, what else? Are you doing anything else around the marathon or are you just gonna be there? Um, we're gonna do to Berlin for five days. A lot of like the race stuff be Berlin. Mm-hmm. Um, like some light exploring.

And then we're actually gonna go to Paris for five days. Nice. I had a dream last night that I went to Paris. It's really random, but it was like, we were in Italy and then it was like, let's go to Paris before we go home. And I was like, yay. Okay. I dream about Europe. I miss it. I love, I studied abroad. I, I've been on my, I come from a Catholic family, so I've been to Italy for like church stuff growing up, but there's just, you're gonna love Europe.

It's, I'm very excited. It's so magical. It should be fun. Um, I actually just made a sticker for the Paris Marathon. Somebody asked me to do that and I was thinking that would be such a fun marathon. It just seems like if I wanna travel anymore, I like, I don't know. I just wanna get all the bang for my buck.

So it's like, okay, let's run a marathon and go to Europe. Around the marathon. Exactly. He's gonna, he loves it. He loves it not, but you know, I know my boyfriend's like, yeah, my boyfriend's kind of reaching the race ca limit here. Yeah. It's tough. I had a guy that I talked to, he had, has run 75 marathons and he is like, yeah, we just make vacations around my running.

And my mom listened to that episode and was like, uh, hell no. I am not just gonna travel all over the place for your running. That's so funny. Wow. So Paris for five days. So you just is there is, gosh, you just, I wanna like eat everything after I run a marathon. That's why we're looking at like, you can do like wine and food tours.

Okay. That's what we're looking at. Yeah. I love food so. So you're like, yes. All the above Food tour. Well, in Germany, you know, they, the pretzels, it'll Beto Fest too, and it'll be October Fest. I have, my running coach is running Berlin and I can't remember, I thought she was going to October Fest. I can't remember if plans changed.

I swear they did. But I was like, October Fest was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had. I went in college. Mm-hmm. And from what I remember of it, um, I drank a lot of beer. Um, it was just wonderful. As one does, it's just like the most cultural, it's such a cultural experience and it's so much fun.

And now looking back, you know, the, if the Berlin marathon's been around the same time every year, I'm sure there were plenty of people who came from the marathon to October Fest. Mm-hmm. Oh, definitely. It's so big. Yeah. Yeah. So you're just gonna stay in Berlin though? You're not doing Munich. Yeah, just kind of how it worked out.

Be, you know, I tell you what, October Fest would be a marathon. Yeah. I figured after the marathon I might be a little tired. So just something. A little different will be good. Yeah, for sure. Oh, that's amazing. And then, okay, let's talk a little bit more about Hood to coast. So we've teased a little bit of it.

Yeah. That we talked about it a couple times. Um, and that's in less than two weeks, right? When? It's literally next week. Next week. Oh my gosh. I know. I'm not panicking at all. 196 miles. And where does it start? So it starts in on Mount Hood. Okay. You run to which, which is where, sorry? In Oregon? No, you're good.

Okay. In Oregon, Mount Hood, and it runs to Seaside, Oregon. Okay. You have 12 runners the entire coast of Oregon. So you actually are really, you're not actually going down the coast, you're kind of just running alongside Washington or just on the Oregon side. Okay. You'll get to the coast a little bit. Look, my sister gets to do the last leg, and so she'll get a really pretty leg, but.

Okay. Yeah, I'm trying to like picture, I don't know in clearly. I don't know what state Mount Hood was in. I probably, if you really would've to the fire, but so Hood is not near the coast. It's more inland. Mm-hmm. And so then you run from so hood, then all the way to the coast. I see what you mean. Yep. Like the border.

I'm picturing it now. So 106 miles, many 12 runners. 12. 12 runners total. Two vans. Got it. Two drivers. Uh, and it's, they're estimating our finishing time around 30 hours. So we start at two 50 in the morning. Okay. And you just go, you just go like, okay, how long can it take you to get, get there? So it's first like, it's like a Ragnar relay basically.

Yeah. Kind of like that. Yeah. Yeah. They called the mother of all relays. Yeah. So they were probably the original before Ragnar was even a thing. I think so, yeah. I feel like, especially if your grandmother did it in 1995. Yeah. Like, I don't know when Ragnar started, but I think, I have no idea. One of my friends did like one of the inaugural ones and it wasn't, it was, you know, long ago, but not like 1995 long ago.

So, oh my gosh. So what are you gonna pack? Um, that's the crazy thing is we have to keep very limited. So literally you're gonna have three running outfits in three Ziplocs pair of shoes and pair of clothes. Yeah. So very minimal, like extra shoes. I'll probably have just one pair of running shoes. Okay. I know that's, it kind of goes against what I usually do, but Yeah.

Just because you've gotta pack somewhat light. Uh, yeah. You have eight. You have eight. No, you have seven people per van. Yep. So it is just trying to keep everything minimal because we also have like snacks and stuff, so Yeah. How many legs will you have? Three. Three already? Yeah. Yeah. So my total is just over 18 miles.

Okay. Just, um, what's your longest leg? Mine. Oh, I could tell you coach. I've been wanting to do, coach my coach. Put it in calendar. Let's see. That's not it. All right. So the first one's 5.4, the second one's 5.1, and the next one's 7.7. So the last one's 7.7. Okay. And what do you get Too bad? Get the elevation profile along with that.

So you can see. Yeah, like I can look at it. Yeah. And it, they'll rate, they like provide like a rating of like hard, very hard, medium, easy. Yeah. So do you like. Do they randomly just assign it to all your runners? Mm-hmm. Or do you have Okay. Like I can plug everybody in. Hey, Bailey's pretty, she runs a lot so she can do this.

And then, you know, for a while we had like 11 runners and I was panicking because changing the team from 12 to 11 means everyone basically has to train for a full, and everyone's like, well, like not many people on this team have ever ran a fool. Yeah. Oh my gosh. It was like, I don't know how to tell 'em that.

How did you find the team? Or do you know everybody? So, so two of 'em actually. So two three of 'em are actually my siblings. So my half sister's on the team. Okay. And her daughter and her boyfriend are on the team. And then my boyfriend's friend, his girlfriend and her sister are on the team. And then my boyfriend's other friend and is driving, but his girlfriend's running.

Okay. And then two other people that my mom knows are on the team. That's amazing. Just like you. So it's like kind of like a bunch of friends and pieces all together. Yeah. But it'll be so fun. I, I can't wait till I can figure out how to make that happen with some of my friends. It's a lot to plan. I'm not, I'm not gonna lie, it feels like a lot, it's hard enough to do a effing girls' night, like just to go see Barbie.

We had like, I know. Survey for God's sakes. Like, who, when are you available? Wow. Well, that'll be super fun. Yes. Are you, what kind of fuel do, are you gonna bring? So I'll bring my Poptarts. Yeah. Pop-Tarts. That's, I love my Pop-Tarts. What flavor? What flavor? Yeah. Strawberry frosting. Like the, just the normal, well, the, like the classic Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Classic. The, so yeah, with like the strawberry with like the white and the sprinkle. Yeah, the white frosting. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Um, and then I have like my cliff, I like, I call 'em fruit snacks, but they're not, they're like cliff blocks. Yep. Yeah, I like those. Um, I have like the sodium ones, so Ill have those and then probably some honey stinger waffles.

Margarita, have you ever done the Margi margarita flavor of the cliff? I feel like I have, I tried it during a race for the first time and that was not my best idea. Yeah. Well, they have a lot of salt in 'em. Yeah. So that's what I have the watermelon one. Okay. Like a watermelon citrus one. That's, yeah, salted watermelon is my jam.

When it comes to like, that's you, that's that one. Salted watermelon, salted caramel. Those are the ones I always salted caramel. I don't know if I can do that one. It, it does kind of, yeah. It's like you're swallowing caramel just straight up. But I've also tried, they have the, um, maple syrup now. So when I went to North Dakota, I like bought some at the expo because I'm like, okay, I'll finally, I'll try it.

And I tried some for the first time on a treadmill run just to like test it out and it's like, yeah, it's just maple syrup. And you're like, I don't know about this. Uh, my goos that I like, like the gels are, I like citrus, like a citrus flavors good. Okay. It's easy to do. Lemon lime. Yep. Is good. So you mentioned too, like the waffles, so the, the Yes.

Honey ci waffles. Yeah. Yep. Cookies and cream. My flavor. Flavor tried that. I've never tried that. That does sound pretty. I'm like now like, what's my snack gonna be? Although it's lunch. Do you eat lunch? I know, I'm literally like looking, I was like, I gotta go make lunch. Yeah. You're like, I'm so hungry. Um, yeah.

How much time do you have, by the way? Um, I mean, I take, yeah, I gotta take the dogs out whenever we wrap up. You're good. Okay. Okay. 'cause we got, I mean, man, uh, I could talk to you for hours. I know, because now, so part two or something, part two of like all the other stuff, but, um, so you also, yeah. Especially, so if people wanna follow you on Instagram mm-hmm.

You are B Smith runs. Yes. So you'll find Bailey on Instagram. But I noticed on your Instagram you have like all these different brands that you like, have coupon codes for, that you're in graphic for. Tell me a little bit about those. Okay, so I have a couple. So Road ID is one, so I'm really big for like runner safety.

Mm-hmm. Um, I use the Road ID app that actually it texts my boyfriend when I start running. Um, and he can track me. Um, and then it alerts him. I always forget to shut it off if I, or pause it when I stop at Starbucks for a water refill. And so he's like, frantically calls me. I was like, I'm sorry. I'm good.

Yeah. But it's really good. It's really helpful. Yeah. Um, and then Mira Flora, CBD, um, and I, a lot of people. Kinda on the fence with CBD, but this one I love their, uh, muscle cream, especially currently, I kicked my sister's wheelchair in Disney and my ankle's not happy. Oh. Uh, so I've been kind of babying it a little bit and putting a lot of their CBD cream on.

Okay. And then they have great drinks. I love their drinks. It's like a sparkling sport drink. Oh, interesting. What, say it again. Mira Flora. Mira Flora. Okay. Like MIRA? Mm-hmm. Flora. Okay. Just like it sounds. Yep. And then, let's see, what else? Noon. Yeah. I, I suck at hydrating. I'm not gonna lie. I'm like the worst.

I'm just drinking coffee here. My water bottle. I'm like, I, it's like I suck at hydrating. Yeah, I have. Um, and then, let's see, what else am I a part of? I don't even remember half the time. The Rad Rabbit. Is that all of I'm on a team. I'm on a team. What is that team for? Um, so Rabbit Athletics is, uh, it's a company that was started by two women in California.

So they have like a rad team, which is like your average athlete's. Me who love food way too much. Yeah. But average athletes and they have like a trail team and then they have the elite team. Okay. Um, it's a great little community. I love being a part of it. Um, what else is on here? Colfax? I'm an ambassador for Colfax.

It's a really fun race in thunder. Um, so if you ever need an excuse to come back to Denver. Yeah. Well I need Colorado on my race map list. Yeah. I'm like unofficially going through the states. 'cause what better excuse to like see. Well, I'm gonna probably do the 10 miler next day if you'd like to come join.

Oh yeah. The half goes through the zoo. That sounds really fun. Yeah. Definitely recommend it. Um, and then I am on League of Garmin. So funny story. I used to wear both Apple Watch and Garmin when I go around. Do that. Swear to God. I did too. Yeah. Um, and then I finally just decided to transition to Garmin and I actually changed to a Android and I have gotten so much crap for it, but it's fine.

Yeah. Boo green text apparently. Yeah. Like, sorry. But it works so much better with my garin. It's great. Yeah. Um, but oh, and then Sarah Marie designed Sarah Marie Design Company. Uh, I have a little discount code. Oh, nice. I love her stuff so much. They're so cute. Yeah, I know. I, yeah, I need more of it. I would, I mean, yeah, I gotta be careful 'cause I know she just released Berlin stuff and was like, I'm in so much trouble.

Like, oh dear. So much Berlin stuff. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So how much time will you have between hood to coast and Berlin then? Not a time a month, exactly. Okay. Yeah. Well, that's pretty good then you'll have, yeah. So basically I'm running 19 this weekend. Okay. Ankle permitting. It's fine. When I run, it's the side to side it doesn't like, so as long as I don't twist my ankle and be cut like I usually am.

Good. Yeah. Um, and then after head to coast the next weekend I have my, my 20. Nice. And then I can taper and then taper 10. Oh my gosh. And then I'll probably get laryngitis. I usually get laryngitis around middle of September. Well, hopefully not. Hopefully it's just, you can speak before you run. It's really funny 'cause I literally was hiking a fourteener last year, end of September, and we're going up and I was like, huh, my voice keeps cracking.

Literally we got to the top of the fourteener and my voice was gone. Oh man. Yeah. You're like, oh, that's, it was so bad. And I was like, oh, hey. Right on time. That's perfect. Um, I've gotten used to it. It's fine. Yeah. Well, what a shitty thing to get used to. Luckily it doesn't hurt. Yeah, I feel fine. I can run.

I just have no voice. It's just the change in seasons. That's so weird. Um, okay, I wanna make sure we touch on your Etsy business run crafts by daily. Yeah. So yeah, I make grill erase bracelets. Um, so I actually started this as like a little fundraising thing for Boston. If people donate, I would make them a little bracelet and then my boyfriend's like, just start an Etsy store.

Like, I don't think it'll be popular, but, okay. So yeah, is what I do is. I have a lot of race bracelets on there, like New York, Chicago, Berlin, and then like Disney stuff, like if you're looking for a specific one. But every month I donate 15% of sales for the month to a charity runner. I love that so much.

Yeah, it's fun. And it's so cool that you do that for another charity runner. 'cause you're, I feel like always raising money for a charity, like one of your races, right? Mm-hmm. So what made you decide to give it to somebody else versus just continuing to do, 'cause everybody's always looking for something.

Like even a little bit goes a long way, not gonna lie. Yeah. Like some months it's like five bucks, 10 bucks. So, but it's like. Just a little push can sometimes help get 'em to like their deadline. Yeah. Yeah. And I love all the Disney, like the creativity behind like, hey, choose my costume or like that. Yeah.

Stuff. I feel like it's very Disney oriented. I hadn't seen some of those things. 'cause Ali does some of that stuff too and I'm like, huh, that's really smart for like Yeah. Traditional road race to try to tie some of that in there. Mm-hmm. But yeah, I love that you do that. That's so cool. So yeah, you're on Instagram at Run Crafts by Bailey, which is B-A-Y-L-E-E by the way.

Yes. Um, and also then on Etsy. Um, so go support Bailey. Their bracelets are so cute. And then I wanted to, gosh, we uh, we've like exhausted this time so fast. So then you're London 2024. Yes. Did that, was that a lottery? Situation? No, that's charity. That's charity. Okay. It's for the smile train. Oh, that's right.

The smile train. We, we did touch on that. Um, that's amazing. I can't wait to help support you there. And then, God, man, I relate to you so much too in your, you had told me that you don't stretch as a runner. I feel like, did anybody, like do any runner stretch? Find me a runner that actually stretches Please.

Because if they do, they're line like I don't see everybody. If they do their line free running warmups, it's like they shake their legs a few times and they're like, here we go. It's like not actual stretching. Yeah. I hate stretching so much. I do like my general, like my, so my hips are unaligned by an inch.

Oh. Which is why I pro I pronate. Okay. That's why I have knee problems, but, so I do like my stretches. Mm-hmm. In quotation stretches. Yeah. Um, and I was like, okay, I'm good to go. Right. No, exactly. Exactly. Um, okay, well, I'm gonna ask you the end of the podcast questions and perhaps catch up another time just on continuing to follow your part two.

Yeah. Running journey. There we go. Um, so first is, what is your favorite running mantra or song, or both? So, definitely my favorite mantra is I always say make it count. Um, so I, I run a lot for charity, so I always make my trading count. I always make sure my training, I remind myself that I'm training and running for them.

So I always try to make my miles count. I like that. I really like that. Any songs? I just made a playlist actually, for the podcast, so no, you don't wanna know what songs I listen to. My boyfriend judges me heavily, so we're just gonna not just let us judge you. Let us judge you. Is it Disney stuff? Because I love that.

No, it's not. It's like I have to have a beat. Okay. So a lot of it's kind like. Know how to explain it. Come on. Is really weird. No, it's really weird. You're, you're really not gonna gimme Okay, I'll, I'll, I'll ease off. Okay. No songs from Bailey. I'm super curious, but, okay. Well, one of 'em I really like, sometimes Pit Bull comes on.

It's, he is really fun to run to. I'm not gonna lie. Why is that? Anything anyone would judge you for? I love, no, that's, he just happens to pop up on the playlist for some reason. Okay, okay. But like, he's really fun to run to. I like Shake Sonora or Cannot talk. Oh yeah. Yep. That one's really fun. While you're running one, just give it a try.

I'm like, no, I love, I am, I swear like in another wor like life, I am like Latina because like music probably Me too. Music just speaks to me. Like, I don't know what it is about that kind of music, but I just, oh much. I can't speak Spanish at all, but I try, I'm on day seven of Duolingo. I just got back. I should be learning German or French, but I have not started at all, so they, everyone speaks English.

It's fine. I figured. Yeah. It's nice to try, but it's German is really fricking hard. And then too, yeah, I figured I'd just kind go to French. Yeah. And in French, well, it's probably a lot in different now since I studied abroad, but I swear we'd like try to speak French and they would just speak to us English.

I'm like, well, I'm trying probably. Please lemme. Um, and then we already know that your next finish line is Hood Coast. Mm-hmm. And then, then Berlin and then London. And then what? And then I actually have another, I have one in mind for fall. Okay. I try, I'm gonna stick with like two pre year. Yeah. Um, so I'll do DU coast or I'll do London.

My goodness. Next year. Colfax always. And then I'm actually looking at doing the Portland Marathon in the fall. My dad's, that was my dad's only marathon. He is done. Oh, that's cool. So your dad's run before as well? Mm-hmm. Oh, that's really cool. I'm still trying to beat his time. He gives me a hard time. Oh God.

My dad qualifies four 15. It ranges for, it changes every time I ask him. It's like 4 15, 4 20, 4 18. I'm like, what time is it, dad? Yeah. Like, what is the exact time? Let's go. He's like, I don't remember. Yeah, I don't know. I gotta beat my dad's time. He did like a three 30, so. Oh wow. Yeah. That's gonna take me a while, but I'm going to, I'm working with a coach. I'm trying to keep getting faster. Yep. We'll see if my body lets me. That's the thing, like you've experienced as well. It's frustrating when, for me it's like age aging is really like getting in my way now, but I feel like so many of the female runners, it's like they're in their prime. I'm 37. It's like, come on.

Like I can, I'm trying. We'll see what happens. I would, I met, well one of the speakers at the female athlete conference, she goes, I didn't get my first gold medal until I was like 35. She goes, I was like, she was. You're growing. You're good. I was like, alright. Late bloomer. Yeah. Perfect. Oh man. Well thank you so much for your time, Bailey.

Yeah. Happy, happy to chat. It was fun. Each other a little bit better. It's like, I feel like Oh, that's great. Like I said, I've known you forever, but it's been only since January. That blows my mind. Oh man. Well this will actually come out tomorrow. Oh, wow. So, yeah. Um, we're done. I, I'm curious. I don't usually like how I sound recorded, so we're gonna see how this goes. It's fine. Yeah. I know it's hard to listen to yourself talk. Mm-hmm. I've gotten used to it now, especially with all the editing to listen to myself over and over. I'm like, oh God. Can you say something like, can you say something else here? Yeah. Other than, oh, that's awesome. Like, no, whatever. Nobody cares.

That's the beauty of it all. So. Nope. Oh. So everybody, I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. Thank you for listening and happy running. Yes, happy wedding. Thank you.

Ally Brettnacher