Episode 26: Brandy Ramirez - Never Quit

Episodes

Sep 29

Listener note: This episode includes detailed discussion of breast cancer treatment and a brief mention of an abusive relationship.

Triathlon coach and mom of four Brandy Ramirez beat stage 3 breast cancer, then built She Strong and the Monarch Triathlon so other women know their diagnosis isn't who they are.

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About this episode

Brandy Ramirez is a certified Ironman and TriDot coach, USAT race director and mom of four from Kingman, Arizona. She didn't become an athlete until she took up running at 30 after her third child, learned freestyle at 36, and went on to race about eight half Ironmans. In 2017, two days after turning 42, a routine checkup led to a stage 3 breast cancer diagnosis.

Brandy breaks down the triathlon distances for runners and tells the story of her one and only DNF, a cold shock reaction in a 51-degree glacier lake at the first Ironman Alaska. We talk about her aggressive treatment, parenting four kids through it, the devastating one-mile jog that inspired She Strong, and the Monarch Triathlon, her own 'super half' distance that funds college scholarships for girls whose caregivers have battled cancer. I was introduced to Brandy by Aum Gandhi from episode 12.

In this episode, we discuss

How Aum Gandhi from episode 12 introduced us
Raising four athletic kids and what a bad coach can do to a young swimmer
Starting to run at 30 after her son was born and learning to swim freestyle at 36
The half and full Ironman distances explained for runners
Her first and only DNF: cold shock in a glacier lake at Ironman Alaska
Chasing a full Ironman finish and a spot at the World Championship in Nice
Finding a lump at a routine checkup two days after turning 42
Going from stage 1 to stage 3 and choosing aggressive chemo and a bilateral mastectomy
Going to chemo alone and still making her son's basketball game
How her diagnosis affected her kids and what she wishes she'd done differently
The painful one-mile jog that led her to create She Strong
Growing the She Strong Facebook group to more than 4,000 women worldwide
The Monarch Triathlon's super half distance through Bullhead City, Union Pass and Route 66
Coming back to race Eagleman after cancer with coach Kurt Madden and TriDot
What to say, and not say, to a friend who has cancer

Chapters

Intro
Meet Brandy and her four kids
From running at 30 to triathlon
Ironman distances explained
DNF at Ironman Alaska
Breast cancer diagnosis at 42
Chemo, surgery and being a mom
The run that started She Strong
The Monarch Triathlon
Racing Eagleman after cancer
Coaching with TriDot
Songs, next races and how to help

Where to find Brandy

Monarch Triathlon
She Strong (private Facebook group)

Mentioned in this episode

Races: Ironman Alaska, Ironman 70.3 Eagleman, Ironman World Championship, Monarch Triathlon, Boston Marathon, Berlin Marathon, New York City Marathon, Chicago Marathon, Ironman Texas
Organizations and charities: She Strong, TriDot, USA Triathlon, Athlete Bouquets
Other: Kurt Madden, Mike Reilly, Run Tri Bike, Route 66, Union Pass

Previous guests mentioned

Related episodes

Frequently asked

What is the Monarch Triathlon?

The Monarch Triathlon is a race in Arizona created by Brandy Ramirez, with a one-mile river swim in Bullhead City, a 47-mile bike over Union Pass and a 7-mile run finishing on Route 66 in Kingman, and registration helps fund college scholarships for girls whose primary caregiver battled cancer.

What is She Strong?

She Strong is a private Facebook group founded by triathlon coach and breast cancer survivor Brandy Ramirez for women who have battled or are battling any form of cancer, and it has grown to more than 4,000 women around the world.

Why did Brandy Ramirez DNF at Ironman Alaska?

Brandy Ramirez fell face-first into 51-degree glacier-fed water at the start of Ironman Alaska and went into cold shock, which kept her from putting her face in the water and led her to pull out of the swim.

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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 and fitness. This podcast brought to you by Athlete Bouquets. Celebrate finish lines and milestones of the people that you love by visiting Athlete Bouquets Calm. Hello and welcome to episode 26. I joked last week that this was the marathon episode, you know, given 26, right? 26.2. But ironically, this week's guest is not only a runner, she is a triathlete. So the 26.2 is just part of the overall Iron Man experience and she will be talking about that. But before I get into this week's guest, I did want to give a quick congratulations to everybody who ran Berlin.

I am having severe FOMO, especially for those of you who went to Munich afterwards for Oktoberfest. I love seeing all the pictures and I hope to get there someday. Also, congratulations to everybody who got into Boston 2024 and thinking of those of you who did not, especially Nicole Dubronski, who I don't know if she'll ever listen to this, but she was a previous guest and waited 10 years to qualify. And finally did last November. And now they had this big ass buffer and she doesn't get to go next year, but I know that she waited 10 years. She's going to get there at some point.

And if you're listening to this and you're in the same boat, I know it doesn't really help. But you're still a boss and qualifier. You still did the thing, which I haven't done yet and hopefully I will someday, but still really proud of you. And it's okay to be upset, because I sure as hell would be probably not even talking about it. So this week's guest I was introduced to from a previous guest, Ohm, who was episode 12. And if you haven't listened to that, go back and listen to it. He did a marathon. Ultra marathon, Sorry, On Everest. Yeah, Everest ultra marathon. Didn't even know that was the thing, so go listen to that.

But he introduced me to Brandy Ramirez, who is a mom of four. She is from Arizona, is where she hails from today. She and I talk about triathlons, which is a world somewhat unfamiliar to me. I've done a couple which you'll hear me talk about, but nothing close to an Ironman or half Ironman. So we talk about kind of she breaks down the distances and what that's about. We talk about her first go at a full Ironman was actually last summer. She had her one and only DNF. Did not finish. And she tells that story, which is just nuts. We then talk about her 2017 cancer diagnosis.

She had breast cancer and her story there is just is really, really inspiring. It's, you know, always a tough topic. But as she will articulate, cancer is hard to hide from. You can't really avoid it. So whether you've had it or you, you know, you certainly know somebody who has. And I would be remiss if I didn't really just give a shout out to my friend Megan Thacker, who passed away several years ago now from from cancer and was really a big piece of the motivation behind athlete bouquets. My company. She sent me flowers before my second Chicago Marathon, and I'll just, I'll never forget it.

And I'll never forget how that made me feel. And really, that's kind of why I'm doing this now, ironically. So as much as cancer effing sucks. You know, there are some Silver Linings, so. So Brandy talks about her experience with cancer and getting back into fitness afterwards, which ultimately then inspired her to start an organization called She Strong, which we will talk about is just incredible in a race called the Monarch Triathlon, which is in late September. The first one was last year and she's deferred this year's to next year, so save the date. For next year. And we talked about her first Iron Man after after cancer, what she sees for the future of she's strong and just ultimately what's next for her going for another full Iron Man in 2024.

But I really and I love this conversation. So I know that you're really going to enjoy this conversation with Brandy. So thank you for your time Brandy, especially during race week. I did not know that when I asked you to meet this week, so my goodness, thank you so much. Hopefully this is a nice break. Yeah, actually I sent you an e-mail and we had to defer the race this year. Oh, you deferred, Okay. That's what you were talking about, 24. I read it and I know it, said Grave. And I was like, okay, I hope that wasn't like, what happens when you're traveling and you're trying to.

Yeah, the death. The death of the race. The death of the race. OK, well that makes me feel a little better. Well, you probably would have just said hell no, I am planning a race and cannot meet that week. Yeah, probably would have chose to rewards, but yes, absolutely, yeah. Yeah, well I'm so grateful to for the introduction. So OM was episode 20 or not 26. That's you. He was episode 12 of this podcast and. He's just amazing what him and Jason are doing at Run Try Bike is really cool. I'm grateful that he thought of you, who's like, you have to meet Brandy, you have to have her on your podcast and here we are.

That's awesome. Yeah, I love both AM and Jason. They they help me so much and they're so knowledgeable. So yeah, I'm always grateful for the help and assistance that they always provide for me. Have you met either of them in person? Yes, I've met Jason and his girlfriend. I'm in Arizona. They're in Arizona, so the last time I was in there neck of the woods, we went out to dinner. Oh, that's so nice. I don't get out West as much as I used to. I've been traveling a lot lately, which is great. I didn't really ever travel too much so. Good. Sorry. This delay is killing me.

I'm sure it's killing you. I feel like we're like news reporters waiting for it to be like and thank you. We're going to survive somehow. Some way? Well, I'll ask you, I'll ask you an initial question. I'd love for people just to get to know you a little bit. So if you wouldn't mind providing just an introduction who you are family. And then we'll just kind of roll from there. Yeah, absolutely. So my name is Brandi Ramirez. I am single, but I do have four amazing children. They are like the light of my life. So and I'll try not to talk about them too much because proud Mama moments and I'll start crying.

So I am on staff with try dot. That's also the platform that I coach with. So I am a coach. I'm a certified Ironman coach. I am a certified Tri dot coach. I have a bachelor's in science and health. I'm a USAT race director, certified race director. So I know a little bit about a little bit. Yeah. Are you from Arizona? Originally California? Born and bred in California and now I live in Arizona. Okay 4 kids. How old are they? 23/20/18 and then my baby is 9. 90 How fun. Yeah, I have two girls and I try. I'm the same. I try not to talk too much about them.

Although now you've got like adult kids and so they're doing so many cool things, yes. Boys, girls. I have three girls and one boy. How awesome are they into fitness and triathlons at all yet? Or I'm not triathlons. So all of my children have always been athletes and we're talking competitive swimmers, competitive gymnastics, varsity basketball, volleyball, softball. My son did wrestling, you know, football. So yeah, you name it, they've probably done it. My second daughter was amazing at swim team, but we're in a very like small rural area. And so the coach, when that coach took over the team, it's just one of those coaches who shouldn't be a coach.

And she just took the swim out of my daughter, which is horrible because when my daughter was seven, she was making state times and the 100 fly and the 50 fly, she broke a 33 year old record here when she was 11 years old. So yeah, so that was really sad. We had people tell us, you know, that she could go to the Olympics and it is. That's what happens when you have a bad coach come into your life. So I always remember that when I'm coaching my own athletes because I'm always just trying to inspire and motivate them and bring out all the best and the positive in them and and keep them engaged and so.

Dang. We'll talk about Proud Mom 7. My oldest is 6 and she's just now finally like can swim. Like is a good enough swimmer where I'm not as worried about her. Not like Arizona where everybody has a pool in Indiana. It's obviously very seasonal when we swim, but still that would be really hard, especially since you're a coach yourself. Now it's just like, how can one person and coaches have a lot of influence, right? They can hold a lot of power and if you're a good coach, you can use that in positive ways to bring out the best. But you know, if you're not, it could, it could be devastating to some athletes, so.

Now, Brandy, when you were growing up, were you in sports at all? No. So I'm honest about it that I probably live vicariously through my children. I had a mom who who really didn't want to put the time into her kids, you know, so didn't play sports when I was younger. When I got into high school, I did track for a little bit. But anything that was like an after school activity, my mom just would not really sign off on it. So I wasn't really an athlete when I was a younger person. I didn't start really becoming an athlete until after my son was born and I took up running again, and that was when I was 30.

And then from there it just went from running to triathlons. Like I technically wasn't even a swimmer. SoCal born and raised, so I'm a surfer. So yeah, you know, we swim, but not the freestyle form of swimming. So yeah, I didn't actually learn that until I got into triathlons, which was when I was about 36. Six. Wow. OK. So, so interesting that you didn't get into, like if I was on the outside looking in, I would assume you've, you know, been very active, especially before children. Where did your son fall in the kids? Third. OK, so after your third kid, that's when you. Really started.

How did what did you start with like running a little bit? How was that transition? Yeah. So running has always been a good place for me to kind of go, you know, you just, you can put your music on. And especially as a mom, it's it's that one moment in time where, you know, you don't have to say you're sorry to somebody or move your child out of the way or make sure everybody's paying attention, right. You could just put your music on and just kind of shut the world out. And that was what I started with. I just started running. I would nurse my son at like 5:00 in the morning and put him down.

And in Arizona around the summertime, he was born in March. So around that summertime, you know, it's already 80 degrees at 5:00 AM. So it started with just walks, you know, I just got up and I was like, okay, I'm going to go out for a walk just to clear my head. And then it just slowly turned into this. I'm going to run from here to the end of the street. And then before you know it, I'm running 6 miles a day consecutively every day of the year. And from that I had a friend who was training for the first ever fool for her. And I remember asking her like, what is a fool, Iron Man.

And so she told me and my response was like, you do that in one day and she was like, this is not a three day event. I'm like, you're running a marathon, Yeah. It seems like it should be, it should be, it should definitely be. And you know, and at that point I had like done some five KS, I had done some 10 KS, things like that. And I just, I appreciated being out with the other runners, not so much like wanting to take first or second place. I mean, I am competitive by nature, but just being in that environment was so uplifting to me to, you know, race morning, be out there, the hustle, the bustle, you know, the butterflies in the stomach.

And so when she when my friend told me about the full Iron Man, she also told me about the half. So for me, like in my head, I've always thought that like I was a badass. So I was like okay, like let's see if you can do this, Let's see if you find your breaking point in the training and racing of a 70.3. Luckily I didn't. I loved it so. Okay so this. Podcast is technically a running podcast, So for people listening who might not actually know the distances for Ironman, will you break those down? Yeah, definitely. So 1/2 Ironman is a 1.2 mile swim.

It's a 56 mile bike ride and a 13.1 mile run. So you're doing a half marathon at the end of that, and then for a full you're just going to double all of that. Your swim is a 2.4 mile, your bike is 112, and then you're doing a 26.2, a full marathon at the end. Yeah, Jesus Christ. I mean, it's just really, when somebody first tells you that you're like, oh OK, yeah, isn't are you going to sleep in between those? And it's just crazy. It really is mind blowing to me. I personally have run over 50 half marathons and I've done 7 full marathons.

I have done a couple of Sprint tries here in the indie area and then I did a long Sprint in Michigan, which was like a half a mile swim and then whatever, a Six Mile run. I forget the bike ride maybe was like 11 miles, so that was really tough. It was probably about 30. OK, it was hard. I remember it being hard. But I've never done an Ironman, so it's just like, I'm in awe. Kind of like ultra runners too. I'm just in awe of this. Physical and mental event. Because my goodness, that's amazing. So how many how many have you done to date?

Geez, I don't even know. I have never really kept track you. Don't have a spreadsheet. I have a I think I have a spreadsheet of my races. You know, I've done a couple sprints, a couple Olympics, it goes Sprint, Olympic, half and full. Those are the distances. And you know, if you want to do a Sprint, you just double that. That's the Olympic. You double the Olympic. That's 1/2 and. Double the half and that's a fool. That's the progression of them. Probably 8 halves. And the fool was never anything. I I mean, I used to jokingly say, like fools do fools. That's pretty. That's fair.

You know, like who wants to race for 17 hours? Like, you know, But then they announced Alaska last year and that really intrigued me. I cannot tell you why I'm not a cold weather person, but something about racing the first time ever that they hosted it. And so, yeah, so I went out to Alaska and sad to say, it was my first and only ever DNF on my record and in all things, as I, you know, started training and got into Iron Man's, it turns out to swim is my personal favorite. It's my strongest of the three disciplines. It was just something that's very natural for me.

And yeah, I D&F in the water and that was it. I'm sorry, geez. So when was that, sorry, this year or last year? This was August of last year. Yeah, yeah, that's I knock on wood, I haven't D enoughed. I feel like it's only a matter of time because it's a numbers game like if you race and do enough, but man for your full. So are in your mind, are you seeking redemption for that or are you kind of like, yeah, I mean competitive, it's like that was a loaded question. I did. I was, yeah. I was scheduled this year to do the full in Maryland and then I was going to do the full in Florida, which is in November.

But Maryland, That race was in September. It was literally like it would have been last weekend. Right, Yeah, I thought. Yeah, couple weekends before I raced and so I was just like, that's just not going to happen, you know, I I can't race and then host a race. It was just you chaotic. And then so with my new job and and my traveling and whatnot, I just literally have not been able to get my long rides in and so had a discussion with my coach just a few weeks ago and we decided to pull the plug on Florida. So I will be doing a fool, definitely because for some reason qualifying for niece for championships is so cool in my head.

So I'm like I have got to qualify in 24 to race niece. So yeah, that is definitely on my. Which would which would mean. What do you have to do for that to happen? You have to go to a fool. You have to, you know, be in the the top of your class, your age group and hope and pray that you get a roll down and then you get to go to for me because I'm not you know a podium kind of girl. So I have to hope for A roll down. So I'll probably be racing a couple fools in 2024 just to qualify for Niece.

Niece is in September. Octoberish of 2024, Yeah. I haven't really looked at the schedule, but you know, like we're going to Kona for women's because women and men are separated, right? This year, women fully will race in Kona. The men already raced in Nice, they raced a couple weeks ago, and so next year it'll be flipped. So the men will race in Kona and the women will race in Nice. So it's going to be October, September. Yeah, you can tell I'm definitely in the running world, more so than the Tri world. I don't know really a lot other than the generic distance, Like the distance of the half and the full is about all I know.

So it's really cool. Wow, how I'm going to be cheering for you, just so you know what happened. And I know this is probably not the most fun thing to talk about last summer, but what happened in the water? So you know, I got to Alaska a few days early. I think I was there like three or four days before race day. Wanted to get there acclimate. The the day I landed, we had an atmosphoric river is what it was called. It was a weather condition, right? So there was just it rained nonstop the 2nd that I got there and I did go out to the lake and you know, I did just a real quick got in the water, everything was okay, not a big deal.

My coach had been warning me, you know, the temperature in that lake can drop overnight in my brain like I'm in Arizona, we have lakes. I don't see how a lake can drop in temperature drastically, you know, overnight, But so race morning, we're all lined up. Mike Riley's there. It was one of the last full Ironman's that he announced. And so he makes an announcement to all of us that the water temperature had dropped below 56 degrees. And because of that, they would be cutting the swim to a 1.2. And I'm like, in my head, I was like, cool, I'm out of here in 40 minutes.

Let's go. That's great. I don't have to, you know exactly. I don't have to do 2.4 like I'm going to be out of this lake and. Yeah. So there is only one picture of me from Ray's day. And there was a drone. And so there's a picture of me with the guy, his arms in front of me, and I'm getting ready to start my watch. I'm waiting for him to lift his arms so I could walk into the water. Well, he does that. And as I start walking down, there's this huge boulder on my left. And so I go to step over this boulder and on the other side, there is nothing.

It's just a big hole. And so, like, I face the planet right into the water, just like boom face, you know, try to come up and trying to like catch my bearings. But you have people coming in behind you and they want to get in water. And for me, the swim is my strongest. So I was like, you know what, let's go game on. You know, I just like dive in and I start to swim only takes a couple of minutes. And, like, I'm literally not able to put my face in the water. And I just keep going and, you know, talking to myself, like, what's wrong with you?

Do you feel OK? You know, kind of going through my body. I was like, OKI feel fine. I feel good. Put your face in the water. And I just could not get myself to put my face in the water. And so I'm doing like this breaststroke with the flutter kick. And, you know, I mean all of the things. I'm a coach. Like, I flip over on my back. I like, take a couple breaths. I, you know, calm down. What's going on? I'm not hurt, not cold. Nothing feels wrong, you know? So when I flip back over, try to swim, still this goes on for like 25 minutes.

Like I go over to the canoe, I hold onto the canoe, try to figure out what's going on in my brain. And when I pushed off, finally I put my face in the water and I was like, let's go, like finally, you know, that only lasted for like 2 minutes and now my face is out of the water again. Now I'm having like, pains in my chest. I'm like, haven't even made it to the first buoy and it's like pretty far out in front of me eventually. Like, I just, I can't figure out what's going on. Like, I know I'm not going to make the time.

I'm nowhere near my first turn and it's like going on 25 minutes and I'm like, what is happening? So finally I tap out, you know, they come and get me and I'm like, burning up trying to rip my wet suit off. Like, I forget the fact that I can unzip my own wet suit. Everybody else in the boat is freezing. Like, there's this one girl. Oh, I've done seventeen of these. Don't feel bad. And, like, I don't feel bad. I mean, I'm angry and I'm like, I've been hot. I'm like, somebody unzip me. I'm trying to rip my clothes off. Yeah. So when we get to the the land, I'm the only person in the boat that they take to medic.

And I'm like, I don't know why I have to go to medic. I'm stripping off my wet suit and turns out I had what's called cold shock, hypothermia. So, like, when my face hit that water when I fell, like, it sent my body into shock because the the water was 51 degrees. And so it was cold. But my I just started freaking out. Like, mentally, I laugh at it now because I'm like, okay, I'm the only person who's trying to strip off my clothes and everybody else had blankets on and stuff. And I was like, what's the problem? It's hot. But yeah, so it was that.

Looking back, if anything like that ever happens again, like at least I know now to just like, stand up and go off to the side and like, let my heart rate come down, kind of try to relax, like, and then ease into it. But hindsight's 2020, right? Right. Yeah. When you said you weren't cold, I'm thinking, yeah, something's wrong. Like where you can't feel the cold or like something is that's crazy. I didn't even know that was the thing where you didn't. Feel hot? That's nuts. Yeah, you just, you don't start thinking, right. You know, your brain just starts going somewhere else. I did go back to the lake because everybody was talking about this glacier.

You know, you have to go see this glacier. You have to go see this glacier, Okay. So I took my I had my oldest and my youngest with me. And we go and we see this glacier. This glacier is attached to the lake that I was swimming in. So it's like all the rain that was happening overnight is coming off of that glacier and pouring that into the lake. So it's like people were just throwing ice cubes all night into the water and I was like, oh, I think that makes sense. Makes more sense. I didn't know the glacier. Yeah, the I mean the lake is basically from the glacier, the melt of the glacier.

God, that is cold. I've touched glacier water and that's like, I can't imagine swimming in that. I'm a horrible swimmer. So yeah, if you go back and you look at that, so they cancelled that race, the Iron Man will never host that race again. But if you go back and you look at the transitions, every person took at least 20 minutes coming out of the water to warm up in the tents, which is just. Unbelievable. What's like the average transition time, you know? I mean, normally it's like 9-10 minutes. So this was like 20 minutes? Bus. So it's like that you could clearly tell, yeah, this was.

Well, I mean, you have to take some solace I guess in like, OK, wasn't just me struggling with these this environment, but it's still really frustrating. Well, I'm excited you will have an opportunity to get some redemption in 2024 because you deserve that. Damn it. And gosh, so I really want to talk about the end of 2017. And your diagnosis, because up until this point, everyone's like, man, Brandy is a badass triathlete mom, but they don't know this huge piece of who you are, which is a breast cancer survivor. So can we talk about that? Yeah, certainly. So in 2017, it was two days after I turned 42.

I just had my birthday, and two days later I went to my doctor for my just annual checkup. Right. I was scheduled to raise Boulder in August of that year, and so I was in pretty decent shape. We wound up, I wound up not racing because my exhusband's father passed away, and so that took precedence over it. But I go to my doctor and I knew something had been going on. Right? Like, yeah, I have a bachelor's in science and health. I'm certified in yoga and Pilates. So I'm pretty in tune with my body like I can. I know what my body's trying to tell me something.

And I had been running a low grade fever for about a week and a half and I was just treating it asymptomatically, you know, when it spiked, I took Tylenol or ibuprofen. It would break it, it would go down. I didn't feel horrible. I knew that I had been tired because probably like 4 weeks before that I had gone to my primary and I told her I wanted ACBC, that I was just exhausted more than what is normal for me. So we did that, and there were some telltale signs in there, but not really a lot. Like my white blood cells were not really very, very elevated.

There were some markers that were a. CBC what is that? A complete, a complete blood count. It's blood work and they, you know, they break down everything that's happening within your blood. And so then when I went in for my checkup, you know, my doctor and I are just talking. She's like, you know, you have a fever. Tell her, yeah, I've had it for a while. She's like, do you want to treat it? I said, no, I have no other symptoms. It's just a low grade fever. She starts the breast exam and she gets to my right breast. And she's like, do you feel that?

I'm like, I do now? And she's like, have you been doing breast exams? I'm like, no, I'm only 42, like. And so Long story short, she sends me for a mammogram. But as soon as I left that office, I knew, like right away I knew that this was going to be a cancer diagnosis. I have no family history. I was young, I was strong, I was fit, you know? So anyway, I do. I go in for the mammogram, it comes back. And they sent me for a PET scan. I met with my oncologist. My oncologist at the time was just like the lump in my breast was only a 1.02, really, really pretty small.

And I'm grateful that I had the doctor I did because even when I did the mammo, they could not find it. They had to do it like four or five different times trying because it was really high up. It was high up and like almost in the muscle, like not down in the breast. And so it was a hard view to try to get. So honestly, if I had gone for a mammogram with nothing else, they would have missed it. They wouldn't have seen it. But my primary did, yeah. So then, you know, he's telling me, oh, you're a stage one. It's just very small.

We can just go in and kind of scoop it out and you should be fine. I'm like, okay. Then they send me for my PET scan. My PET scan revealed that I had a 3.23 lump in my right lymph nodes, so in my armpit on the right side. And that had broken through my first set of Sentinels. So your, your lymph nodes carry the water in your body, right? So it had broken through the first set of those. Had it broken through the second set, it would have meant that it was within my entire body, that it had exposure to my entire body. Yeah, so luckily it had only broken through my first one.

But see, like I said, if I, my doctor hadn't found that, had I waited six more months, it could have potentially broken through my second set of Sentinels. But so my diagnosis went from a Stage 1 to a Stage 3. It was, you know, very serious at this point. So I told my doctor that I wanted aggressive chemotherapy, that I wanted a bilateral mastectomy. My hair and my breast did not make me the woman that I am, you know? And at the time, my youngest was only like 3 years old, you know, I was not willing to do, you know, a scoop out of it.

My body reacted very well to the chemo. It is exactly what it was supposed to do. So it was an option to just save my breasts and go in and have them scoop out that one part. But that's not a risk I was willing to take and it's very intimate for each person. So I'm not saying anybody should do what I did because I did it. That was just the best decision for me, you know? So yeah, I did 30 bouts of radiation. I had an 11 hour surgery. My cancer is estrogen and progesterone positive. So they threw me into menopause at 42. And I'm on hormone blockers that I'll take for another 5 1/2 years that stops my body from producing estrogen and pedestrian so that I don't have a reoccurrence.

But yeah, that that was probably one of the hardest things. I didn't care when I lost my hair. I didn't care when I lost my breast. What I was mad about was that they removed all the lymph nodes from my right arm. That's me. Was just like my quality of life is something that is special for me, right? I want to be able to compete. I want to be able to run, you know, I terrified that I'm going to get lymphedema, which is the swelling of my arm and like that happens because you don't have lymph nodes to move the water out. So that part was very upsetting to me, that they did remove all of them, but you know you can't go back and change things.

So I'm realizing now I don't know. I didn't know what lymph nodes were. Which sounds? I don't know. I don't know. Does everybody know what lymph nodes are? I feel like I've heard the term certainly, but I picture them here. What is? What is this? You have lymph nodes there. OK, so I'm not absolutely crazy, but they're also so there. Are they all throughout your body then? Yes. I mean, you have to imagine your body's made of water. Water. So it's moving. The lymph nodes are the freeway for the water in your body. I had no idea, I feel. Dumb, but especially talking to somebody who has the knowledge that you do.

Yeah. Wow. Could you, after they found your doctor, found the lump, could you feel it? Like when she showed you he or she showed you where it was, could you actually feel it? So that's an interesting question. I'm one of those people who refused to feel it. I didn't want to feel it. I didn't want to think about it. I didn't. I knew it was there, and that's all I needed. And for me, like, I'm one of those people who would think something through 100,000 different ways. And so I didn't want to become, like, obsessed with it, right? So I just chose not to ever feel it.

Wow, that's amazing self-awareness. You're like, I that's not going to be good for my mental health. So I am, yeah. I have in my right breast a fiber adenoma, which was still really kind of freaky because I found it the same way. My doctor's like, hey, if you felt that. And I'm like, what? And then of course. Then I could feel it and it freaked me out because, you know, you're always, you don't want to find anything in your breasts at all. And so that was, you know, but she, she was like, oh, it's not even she wasn't even worried at all. But I still was like, well, what if she's wrong, you know?

And so thankfully, it was just that, and it's just going to be there. It's not big enough to cause any problems. But man, I thought that do you typically get mammograms at 40? Like, was that probably coming up for you then at that time, but you hadn't? Yeah. When I went to my oncologist, that was what, you know, he looked at me. He's like, we're going to do your Broca test. He goes, I guarantee you you're Broca positive. And I was like, okay. And so we did the Broca and I'm Broca negative, which is comforting to me. It means that I'm not going to, like, pass on that genetic to my kids, right, All four of my kids.

So that was comforting to know. But like, I remember just looking at him and I was like, why do I have this? And he just was honest. And he said, I have no answers. You're Brock and negative. You're an athlete. I nursed all of my children. Like, I eat good. You know, like, I mean, I'm doing all the things I'm supposed to do. But that's one thing about cancer. It's not selective, you know, I mean, nobody can hide from it. It's just going to choose who it chooses. The worst How long were you in chemotherapy? I did six months of aggressive chemotherapy. So I started with the Red Devil and I remember, you know, my doctor asking me, you know, when do you want to start?

And I just, I looked at my watch and I was like, I got time and so we went. I didn't have a port yet, so we went down to the the treatment center and scheduled for the next morning. I remember going in and just by myself, I always went to chemo alone. I didn't have friends or family or anybody there with me. I did have friends. You know, ask me, like, can I come and sit with you? And for me, like, that was just like a mental thing that I needed to be alone so I could be strong. If that makes sense. Like if somebody would have been sitting there, probably would have been crying like the whole time.

So yeah, they, they walk up to you when they're doing the Red Devil Fool Hazmat, you know? And it's just like, yeah. And because I didn't have a port, when they give you the Red Devil, they inject it by hand. So they're sitting there. Just, you know, I live in a very small town, so one of my nurses, I knew her very well, like her son went, was in the same grade as my oldest daughter. Her second son was in the same grade as my second daughter. So yeah, we were just sitting there talking about things. And then I did 2 versions of chemo. I did the Red Devil and the other one escapes me right now, but I did 6 rounds of that and then 12 weeks of coming in once a week for two more doses of different kinds of chemo.

Like we, we treated it very aggressively. But I remember that first time I was done and I left, somebody came and picked me up and I went home. My son's junior high school was just right down the street from me and he had just scored the starting point guard position. So it was like an hour later and I just drove to my son's basketball game and watched him play. Yeah, I'm picturing, you know, as a especially as a mom, it's like 4 kids, 4 kids at this time. Your youngest one is 3 years old. Yeah, it doesn't. You still have to be a mom. Well, I mean, how the heck did you do that during all your treatment?

So that was, that was a very hard time for me. My daughter was a senior and I'm going to cry. Yeah, I would too. You're going to make me cry. I'm going to try. My daughter was a senior and my second daughter was a freshman. My son was in the eighth grade. And then I had my 3 year old. And honestly, like, if I could go back, I would probably do things differently, right? We all would. For a year. I just watched my kids completely go downhill. Luckily, my oldest was smart. She'd been in the gifted program, She'd done the CNA program. She held all these things, but she got into an abusive relationship and I think probably just had a sheer terror that, you know, her mom was going to die and be sick.

And so her grades just started plummeting. So the school and I got together. She tested out of a bunch of her classes. I think she only need like three classes she tested out of those three classes. She graduated in January, so she graduated early and that was the best thing to do just to get her out and get her done. My second daughter failed the end of her freshman year. She failed the beginning of her of her sophomore year and just watched her struggle and go through things. And for me, it was the first time ever that like, I just pulled away from everyone. I didn't know how to deal with it.

And that's the only thing I regret. I should have talked more to my kids. Yeah, this is so scary, to your point. It's like, what do you talk? I mean, the conversations to be had, there are ones that nobody wants to have. Yeah. You know, like I remember telling them that I was sick and and just like I was like, look, I'm not going to die. That was like the very first thing I told them. I am not going to die. I'm probably going to have to back off a little bit. I may not be at every single one of your games, but I was.

I went to every single basketball game, every volleyball game. You know, I did everything that I possibly could. Luckily, I owned my own business. So during the day, if I was tired, if I didn't feel good, I was able to lay down and take a nap. I was in a relationship that, like, I I joke now that cancer saved my life because it made me really open my eyes about what my home life was really like and what I didn't want to tolerate anymore. And so that was a blessing. But the only thing I'll always regret is my kids, yeah. Well and now thinking about that and what you've gone through and thinking about the fact that you're.

Looking to do 2 full Iron Mans next year at 4344 and what you do for other women who are going through or have gone through, what you've gone through, it's just it's really freaking amazing. No, thank you. I mean, gives me goosebumps when you were done with treatments. Like, how did you climb out of that? Yeah. So, like, you know, going through treatments for me was just, and, you know, and I have friends. I have coworkers who are just like, you know, you're very, like, blunted to the point. But you say it in a way where people are acceptive and they hear you. So I guess that's a positive thing.

But that's exactly what I was when it came to my treatment. I was just, like, focused on just my treatment, you know? And then there's parts of it, too, like at home, Like, I couldn't go home and and sit there and cry. It would terrify my kids, right? And so I just had to have this strength to me, right? And of course, I'm a very spiritual person. So, like, I would have conversations with God and just be like, why me? Like, what did I do, You know? And for me, like, I just kind of felt like I was supposed to be an example and I was like, okay, I'm going to be the best example I could possibly be.

And at the time, I thought, for me, my example is just who I am to my kids, what I'm giving to my children, right. And so that's why I just. I tried to be strong and kind of get through it towards the end, after my radio, after my chemo, my surgery, my radiation, I think I had like 3 weeks left of radiation. All of a sudden my energy just started coming back. I was like OK, starting to feel better, starting to feel like I could do something. So I decided to go for a run, right? And so I'm a triathlete. We have an offseason. You know we race hard, train hard and then we have like 6 weeks off.

So we season comes around and so I was like okay, just face it like that like and you're you're finally able to train like you finally feel good. And so I was just going to go for like a one mile jog. Nothing great, right? Just it was the most devastating horrific one mile pretend to jog ever. Like, I wouldn't even call it a jog. Yeah, I came home big, huge dramatic cry in the shower. Like, I could have won an Emmy. But then when I was done feeling sorry for myself, I just kind of thought to myself, okay this, this is what this is about.

And I swear I had an epiphany. Like, right then and there I was like, I'm supposed to use my knowledge and what I've gone through to help other people. Because, like for me, I have the knowledge on how to start at nothing, how to start at the ground, how to build my tolerance, how to get my muscle back. I know how to do that. And I kind of thought to myself, how many other women have done exactly what I just did, Battled, cancer, radiation, chemo. They're feeling better and they want to be better, stronger versions of themselves. And how many of them go and train whatever their version of training is and how many of them failed just like I did just now on this run?

How many have done that? And how many of them don't know what I know? And so how many of them just say, well this is me post cancer, this is me and I can't do it anymore. And I was like no, like I created she strong and it was to let other women know you do not have to be that person. Your diagnosis is not who you are. You can be better and stronger. You just need to know how to start and and have the support that you need around you that tells you yes, you can be better, you can be faster, you can be stronger.

And that was when I created She Strong. Wow. Yeah. So talk a little bit more about what she Strong is. So She Strong originally started as just a private Facebook group where women who have battled or who are currently battling cancer, doesn't matter what form. It doesn't have to be breast cancer, any form of cancer if you're going through it and you need a positive environment. I created She's Strong. Of course I did, you know, go in as an individual trying to find other supportive groups. And they were, honestly, they were so scary, Everybody talking about recurrences and all this negativity. She's strong is not that.

And it just started with one person, a good friend that I met. I coach her now and she was like, you have to do that. You have to create that website. And I was like, OK, so then I create this Facebook and it just kind of grew from people talking to each other. We have 4000 plus women in there now and that's globally like we have women from Israel, like you know, just they're all in there. It's very private. Sometimes we share very personal information, but it's all just about us sharing our experiences with others. Like people come in like, hey, I was just diagnosed today.

Like, what do you think about this? You know, I've had women who just listen to their doctors. They only got a unilateral mastectomy. They're like, gosh, I should have gotten a bilateral mastectomy, but now insurance won't cover it. So we really try to talk about all those things. You know, we talk about your health, we talk about your endurance. We share stories. We we laugh. Because once you've been diagnosed with cancer, you're like, in this club that nobody wants to be a member of, right? And you just, you really only understand it if you're there. And so that's really what she's strong is about. It's grown from that to last year I hosted the first ever Monarch Triathlon which was an all female try.

I call it the Super half because it's a distance that I created. There is no other distance like it. And it's for women who can either race an honor themselves. They can race an honor of a loved one, but part of the registration is used to create scholarships for young girls whose primary caregiver doesn't have to be their mom. If, you know you were a teenager and your dad was your primary caregiver and he battled cancer, we create scholarships to make sure that those girls have a chance to go to college. And that's based off of my own experience with my second daughter. She is an amazing athlete, but because she failed the end of her freshman year, she felt the beginning of her sophomore year.

She graduated on time as a senior with 1/2 day just like everybody else. But her GPA was like a 2.6. It being that low, like there was not even scholarships really that she could apply for because they had to be like a three-point hour higher. And that's not okay like girls like my daughter who didn't quit, who put in the extra effort to graduate on time. Those girls should be commended, you know? They should be like, yeah, like, obviously you're doing great for your life. You were young and you had to face that. So yeah, it's very personal to me and I love the fact that we can create an opportunity for these young girls.

That's so incredible. So last year was the first year. This year it was supposed to be this weekend, but you're doing it again next year. What's the reason for that? So we had a couple of our really big sponsors that withdrew. So it became logistics. It was just too hard to kind of scramble around. But we've made changes to the race to ensure that things like that won't happen anymore. And I did decide to allow men to race it. I've had so many men contact me, like, you know, my mom died of cancer, my sister battled breast cancer. Like, my wife is doing this. Why can't I race in her honor?

And so because of that, I'm just as much as I'm very much women power, I can really understand why they would want to be able to race too. And so next year it will be open to both men and women, but it will still be the same monarch. It will still be focused on creating scholarships for young girls, but we're just going to have some better opportunities and better setup. So I'm trying to look at it like a positive. We have more time now to make 2024 the best monarch it can possibly be. So why the Super half distance? So that's a great thing about being a race director is that I could just make it very personal.

So cool. Yeah, you get to you get to make one up, which I think is amazing. Yeah. So where I live in Kingman, AZ, my kids were born and raised here, all four of them. It's a very small rural town, but right down the way is a place called Bullhead City, which is right across the river from Laughlin, NV. I graduated from Bullhead City from Mojave High School, so Bullhead is like a home for me as well. I could use a pool. We have an Olympic distance pool here. I could people put people in the pool and they could swim and I could keep it all in Kingman.

That's just not who I am. Like I want people to see the beauty of Bullhead City, to swim in that river, which is just amazing. And then it was just a lot of like firsts and just there's special reasons for the entire race. So last year was the first time ever that there has been a bicycle race that went through Hwy. 68, which is the highway that you have to take to get from Kingman to Bullhead or Bullhead to Kingman. That was the first time ever in the history of that highway that anybody's ever been on a bicycle and raced it. So that was part of it.

So everybody gets to swim in the river and then they will bicycle from Bullhead City to Kingman, the very top of Union Pass, which is the pass that you come through on Hwy. 68. And that's very special to me as well. That was operated by a family long time ago and it was just, you know, country Western. And I believe her name was Mary. She had two daughters and a husband. They were paid by the government to make sure that Union Pass was always open, that it was cleared, right. That was their job. They created a little farm up there of vegetables and all these different things that they would give to people when they would pass by.

She died from breast cancer and her daughters stuck around and kept Union Pass open and kept that running for a very long time. When you Crest the top of Union Pass, as you come down, you can look to your right and you could see their house is still standing there. It's called Rock House. And so for me, that's just huge, right? Obviously, it's like it kind of all comes together for me. And so, yeah, so the new cycle in you will hit Route 66. So it's technically the first time ever that anybody raced a cycle race on Route 66 here in Kingman, AZ. Then you dismount in Kingman, you will finish your run on historic Route 66, and then you cross the finish line under our new arches, which are downtown.

Like, it's all very personal to me that the high school that's right there is the high school that all three of my kids graduated from. So yeah. And what are the distances? And you will swim a mile in the river bike for 47 miles and then you run for seven. So technically the race distance is a total of 56 miles and a half. Ironman your bike portion is 56 miles. Okay. So that's why it's called a super half. I like it. That's really cool. And why, Monarch, I see a butterfly. I think I see a butterfly on your shelf behind you. Yeah, Yeah, you do.

So the Monarch also is very special to me. I kind of felt like going through cancer. Like there is times I look at these photos of myself and no joke, I look like an 8 year old man, right? Like I'm just, I'm flat chested because I was flat chested for a year. Almost didn't do reconstruction, really didn't want to, but I was flat chested for a year. I lost all my hair, just had these, like little spraggly pieces that hung from the top of my head, all of my muscle definition, the, the treatments. Just like I lost all of it. Like it was just skin that just was sagging and hanging.

It was horrible. I looked at these photos and I'm just like and so I kind of feel like, you know, we go through this transformation as cancer patients, right? You, you have this ugly duckling moment, and then you start to get better, you start to get stronger, your hair starts to come back, your eyelashes, your eyebrows, all of it, right? And so for me, it was very much a transition. And the butterfly represents that because the butterfly starts Caterpillar and then it blooms into this beautiful creature. Also, the word monarch means the sovereign, which means the queen. And so kind of for me, that's how I want these women to feel when they cross that finish line.

Yeah. And so if you look at the actual medal of the Monarch in the top of each corner and the bottom of each wing, it's the swim, the bike, the run, and then there's a crown. And so that's what the monarch is all about for me. Well, not to mention these tiny creatures that way, like next to nothing, travel thousands of miles in their migrations. They are just, you know, I see my grandmother's and when I see monarchs. What a special meaning for such a special race. Thank you. And we didn't really talk about the time too, between you. You like having kids and getting into triathlons and then being diagnosed kind of that, like before and after.

But you had done, I mean, you were an Ironman before and you're in Ironman after and your first race back. I'd love to hear a little bit more about that. Yeah. So my first race back was Eagleman, which is in Maryland and it's a June race. It's warm and beautiful and it's an ocean swim. So I know when I started to go back to training, I am a certified Ironman coach. And back in the day there was this, you know, method of training where it was like 2 disciplines a day, seven days a week. A lot of hours went into it and as I started wanting to come back to racing, if I knew for me I could not go back to that old way.

Like there was no way my body would have handled 2 disciplines a day, seven days a week. And so one day I went on to a Facebook Coaches Ironman site and I just asked like, what platform are you guys using, right. I knew I needed a different way to train. And so Kurt Madden, who is very historic in the triathlon world, he's a Hall of Famer. And so Kurt Madden responds and he says, why don't you look at Trydot? And so for me, in my head I was like, oh, this is Kurt Madden. I know you're like. Wait a minute. Like Kurt Madden and I had never really had a coach, right?

My friend who had been training was the one who trained me. We trained together off of a book that like, yeah, so that was before I was a certified iron, my coach. So I reached out to him. I couldn't tell you really why, but I reached out to him and I said, hey, would you consider coaching me? USAT had given me a grant that I had applied for to create the first ever she strong try team. And so women from within my group, I had put it up. They wrote in letters on why they wanted to be part of the team and so now all of a sudden I had ten women who would be racing with me in Eagle man.

Never in my life had I ever had people racing with me. I only raced because I wanted to, just because it was me. So I had all this pressure. So Kurt responds to me like, sure, let's jump on a Zoom, OK, Yeah. So when I tell my friend who got me into the sport, Oh my gosh, you got me talking to Kurt Patton. Yeah, Long story short, him and I get on the call, I tell him my story, my background. He not only tells me that he wants to be my coach, he also shares with me that I should try to be a try, not coach.

And I'm like, OK, so I signed up with Tridot, started training with Tridot. I remember showing up in Maryland. It was very surreal. It was just one of those, like, this isn't happening. Tomorrow I'm going to wake up and I'm still going to be in Kingman. Like, you know, just just being there, race morning, Iron Man Village, doing my check in. All of it was just, it was just a dream. It was one of the best feelings ever, just knowing like, okay I'm here, like I'm going to do this again. But it was also slightly terrifying, right? So race morning, I'm walking down to the water and Tri dot is the best platform.

I will not train with the different platform. I will not coach with a different platform. Tri dot is everything. It takes your data every day that you train and it creates your schedule for you based off of your data so that you have continual gains and you don't overtrain. And it's just it's the best. But at that time my old way of thinking was I have not done a 1.2 mile swim, I have not done a 56 mile bike ride and I have not actually done a 13.1 run. So race morning I was just like, what if this is a disaster right? But one of our slogans with Try dot is trust the process.

And I was just like okay, We're about to see, you know, right. This is so. And I could tell you up to that point I was racing or training maybe 9 hours a week. And that's the other great thing too. Like you can really decide like how much time you could put into it 9 hours a week with four kids and my own business. That was completely doable. Like, yeah, I could get that time in. I'm happy to say I went out and I raced and I actually PRD in that race. I remember getting in the water, got through my swim, I got on my bike which was just a road bike at the time.

I didn't even have a time trial yet, but I got on my bike and I was just trying to stay nice and easy. I knew I had a 13.1 mile run coming right, so I didn't want to push too hard and blow up on the bike and just moments of just like passing people or talking to people and I was just, it was just amazing. It was the best feeling ever. My bike split, I believe was a 313 and that was just going super easy. I wound up crossing the finish line and I walked a lot on my run. I'm not going to lie, yeah, there's a lot of times I was just talking to other people and and we were walking and taking our time.

I believe it took me like 6 1/2 hours and I crossed that finish line. I felt good, I felt strong. I was so impressed with my training that, you know, I didn't have to put in like blood, sweat and tears. And I still did a really decent time my first time back from being sick. It was it was the best feeling ever just crossing that finish line and and knowing that I didn't give up on myself. And you know, I tell all of my athletes and my friends that had I not found Trydot, I probably would not still be racing. Like, no joke. Trydot saved my triathlon career because it made it possible.

They made it possible for me to do my training, to get my training in, to cross the finish line. And I know for a fact, if I had to go back to that two disciplines a day, seven days a week, I wouldn't have been able to get that done. I didn't know. That's how. I mean, I knew that, you know, training for triathlon and Ironman is takes a ton of time. It's like having a whole nother job. 2 disciplines, seven days a week. Yep. Wow. Yeah, I have two. I mean, as a runner I have two rest days every week. Well, actually, I have a strength day.

Today is my strength day. So it's like 30 minutes of strength. OK, That's my rest. And then Sundays I have off. But other than that, you know, I'm doing something. But two disciplines. Like, not just one. Two disciplines every day. Wow, that's nuts. Yeah. And you got to train. And so did he. Was Kurt. Was he at your race? Have you met him? Yeah, he was not at Maryland. I have since then met him and his wife, Kelly. They're like family to me now. Like I look at my life now compared to my life then, and so many things have changed. Yes, I when I go to San Diego, we always go out to dinner.

They're just two of the most humble people you would ever meet in your life. So he is still my coach, but him and I also work for try not together if we're both on staff. And how long have you been on staff there? Actually, I just started on staff in September. Cool. So it's. Knew how many employees? There's only 20 employees. How awesome. I come from my career's software, sales, marketing software. But like technology despite the Internet issues we've been, we had at the beginning of this that hopefully don't return in the last few minutes that is. That's so cool. So to work for a 20 some person company in the sport that you love.

Wow. That's got to be. That's I hope. I hope that's so much fun for you. It is. It is just like I pinch myself almost every day. Like this is really my life right now. Like it's the people on staff are some of the most decent people I've ever met in my life. It's not like corporate America. We're all here for each other, to help each other and to build a better version of ourselves and our products like every day. So yeah, I'm just, I'm so blessed in my life. How amazing your strength and like, where you are. I hope your kid. I mean, I'm sure your kids look at you and they're like, they see that they have.

To I would hope so. I mean, I've got four of the best kids ever. So, man, I mean, that's. I mean, Brandy. My goodness, I wish I could hug you. I don't know if you're a hugger, but I would if I was, if we were in person. I am a hugger and I would hug you back, man. Yeah, So are you still while you're on staff? I tried out. Are you still working? You're still coaching? How many athletes are you typically coaching? So I keep my roster pretty small. So I believe right now I have 11 athletes. I think the highest it's been for premium is 13.

But then I also have like six or seven other athletes on like lower levels. So my premium athletes get like 24 hour access to me and. Yeah, because of that, I do keep a smaller roster on them, just. But they're people that have been with me forever. Like my very first, my very first member of the She Strong Facebook group is one of my athletes and she is still one of my athletes. And so it's very personal when I, when I take an athlete on, when I accept them into my roster and it's because I. I love my athletes. My athletes are some of the best athletes ever and they're there for the long haul, right?

So we're creating this relationship. It's been 2-3 years and you know, I love watching them succeed. That's my joy and my passion is hearing them, you know, say like, Oh my gosh, I finally got my nutrition locked down. When I when I finished my race, I felt amazing. I didn't feel tired of just all of these things. Watching them grow as a smarter athlete, it's just amazing and. I'm very privileged to to have my athletes and to be a part of their journey. For when it comes to she's strong. What do you see in the future like, will you do a retreat type of events together?

Like what else do you see? Yeah, so I have done 1 camp for women called Race Day. It was all about race day. It was, you know, leading up to race day, how to get through race day. And so I did that, and that was. Amazing. My friend who got me into the sport, her name's Anna, and she also cohosted it with me. It was just her and I. We had 12 athletes and it was wonderful. We had a great experience. That is something that I do want to keep doing. And I do have, you know, ladies reach out to me pretty much all the time.

If you're going to have another camp, are you going to do another camp? Since then, things have changed like so much since I hosted that first one. Like I've gone through a divorce. I have my own house. Started my job with Tri dot. I travel a lot. So those are things that I do want to continue to do. I love bringing first time females into the sport. You know, letting women know that like, yeah, you could do anything you want, you could be stronger, you can be faster, you can accomplish so much. And so that's really what those camps are about. It's about beginners and first time female triathletes.

So I do want to continue to do that in the future. And then I I would love to host the Monarch every single year. I don't even know how many years. Yeah, yeah, I don't know. I'm 37 and so and I have two, you know, two kids we're done with. We have two kids. That's all we're going to have. And so it's just this transition of getting my body back, being like kind of how I was before. So I just raised a half marathon last weekend, 2 weekends ago and had a postpartum PR. But I'm like chipping away at the whole idea of actually having a PR kind of after kids or for you after cancer.

Like to me that's just mind blowing. And we could talk. I mean, I could ask you more questions about all of that, but I want to be respectful of your time. So I want to ask you the last couple of podcast questions that I ask everybody. And so the first one is, and I know the answer to this because I cheated. Because I listen, I've listened to you on a podcast before, but a song or mantra that you have. Yeah, so my life mantra is really simple. Just two words, Never quit. So when it comes to songs, you don't want to listen to my run list, you'd be hitting the explicit button a lot.

I want to know Tell TELL us. I have a playlist for this podcast, actually, since I ask everybody for songs. So selfishly I I use it when I run actually. Yeah, goodness, I can actually look at that because rattle off a couple. I do have my own version of my run list. It's funny, I go from like, I don't know some uplifting stuff, like I don't know Beyoncé to like hardcore rap. Like both of those things get me going in different ways. Yeah, Let's see. So Fighter by Christina Aguilera. Oh, yeah. That's a huge one for me. Sound like a really, really good one. I have pink, of course, Like everything Pink's ever done.

It's My Life by Bon Jovi. That's a huge one for me. I don't know which ones. I can actually tell you that are like, yeah, of course I've got like, you know, too legit to quit from, you know, back in the day. So. The one that I really like is Psycho by Dixie and Ruby Rose. So yeah, like a lot of my songs are just aggressive towards my ex. So I mean, that's just what I like. What do I really share with you? Yeah. You'll be like, wow, there's a lot there. We could. No, I that's funny. I appreciate that. Yeah, so and then like.

Cool Down songs for me are just like Mary Jane, right by Tom Petty, Mary Jane's Last Dance. That's like huge. It's one of my all time favorites. Like I just, I really love those Feel Good songs when I'm doing my cool Down Walk Unstoppable by Sia. Yeah, that's that's my that's my chance. Too. Yeah, but just songs like that. I can't really tell you the other ones because they're just, they're so bad. Obviously Flowers by Mariah Siler is right. Oh yeah, yeah, My girl, my six year loves that song too. Just obsessed. It's so cute. But yeah, that's a good one. And then like Bang Bang by Nessa Barrett.

Ooh, yeah, yeah, I think so. Yeah, that's pretty much like. I mean, there's 200 songs in here, but that's how I just keep adding. I add just my. I have a playlist for this podcast and then I have my New York Marathon playlist, which I ran the New York Marathon in 2018. And so it just has become my running playlist. I just haven't changed the name of it. So next question. And then I'm going to add one more final question as a bonus. And maybe that's what I was thinking of before now that I think about it, but next finish line or milestone? Next finish line or milestone?

I'm scheduled to race Oregon in July, but I'm hoping to hit the full in Texas in April. Hey, heck yeah, okay. And then my final question is for people listening, How can we support you? And she's strong. How do you support me? Probably just love to share the website which is Monarch triathlon.com if you want to join. That she's from Facebook group. Make sure that you search groups because there is a Facebook page which is not the same as the Facebook group. Yeah. And anybody. You know, we we have people in there too that will like sign on. They're like, I'm sorry, I don't have cancer, but I need advice for my mom, you know, or something like that, which is fine.

We love that. I mean, we do. We have moments in there where we talk about. You know the stupidest thing anybody ever said to us when we were in the middle of chemo? You know, oh gosh, those things keep me up at night sometimes thinking like, how do I show up for these people and not make like even today I'll think back to things I've said to you and be like, was that dumb? Like why did I say that? Or? Yeah, And you know, that was one of the things that I found when I went through my cancer battle was just. I had a dear friend and I remember she sent me a text and I was not very public with my, my cancer diagnosis.

I didn't go on Facebook and you know, I mean like, my own brother didn't even find out until I was like already, like through my radiation. So it's like, and it was just because I didn't need people calling me every day and like feeling sorry for me or you know, I just, I didn't want that part of my life. But so I did have people who would send me text messages. And they were just like, so God told me today to text you. Really. Or did you hear that I have cancer, You know? And then they were like, well, I just didn't know how to say it.

So there's just a lot of moments where people do reach out to me, like, you know, how do I support my friend? What do I say to my answer? You know? And for me, it's just like, one be honest. Right? Like, just be honest. I heard you have cancer. What can I do for you? You know, just just face it. We're facing it on the other side of it, right. So And we got a lot more than just kind of being like, I woke up this morning and had it feeling nice to call you. No. Like, no, you did not. I know what this is about.

Come on just it's okay. You can say the word cancer like it's. Exactly. And so that's just, you know we do have women who come in there so if you are like. If you're dealing with somebody who has been diagnosed and you need help, like how do I approach that? Definitely you can, you know, message me and we'll help you out because it is just about helping anybody who's going through cancer. So yeah, best way to help and support. If you know somebody who's going through it, recommend the site, you know you can, they could join, you can ask us questions or just share the Monarch triathlon.

Well, thank you again so much for your time today, Brandy. I'm so glad to know you a little bit better. You're just you're amazing. So thank you for all you're doing for other other women. I love it so much, but I hope everybody listening is as inspired as I am. I'm going to go now, do my workout and I hope everybody has a great weekend and I always say happy running, which now feels kind of funny because you're a triathlete, so happy swim, bike running to all the triaths out there. Thank you. We all appreciate that.

Ally Brettnacher