Episode 38: Ashley Haynes - Chaotic Potential

Episodes

Dec 22

In 2023 Ashley Haynes ran every distance from 10K to 100 miles, won a 100K, and qualified for Boston two weeks after her first 100-miler. She doesn't follow a plan. She just runs.

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About this episode

Ashley Haynes and I serve together on the Beyond Monumental board, and I wanted her on the show from the day I started it. In 2023 she ran every race distance except the 5K (5Ks don't bring her joy), including her first 100-miler at the Indiana Trail 100 in 21 hours and 34 minutes. She also won the Run Woodstock 100K and, two weeks after the 100, ran a 3:30 at the Monumental Marathon, her first road marathon since 2009.

We talk about how she went from sprinting in high school for her National Honor Society application to doing math on a 50K sign at mile 23 of her first marathon. Ashley explains the ultra distances, her three rules for ultras, her five-year run streak, back-to-back 200-mile months, her parents and their cowbell crewing her races, and why she calls herself 'chaotic potential.' She also paced me for the first part of my half marathon PR at Monumental.

In this episode, we discuss

Eating salads with two knives at the Carmel Public Library
How we met and Ashley's five years on the Beyond Monumental board
Ashley pacing me for the first seven miles of my Monumental half marathon PR
Coaching Girls on the Run and the Beyond Monumental Kids Movement 5K
From high school sprinter to running with friends at Michigan State
Spotting a 50K sign at mile 23 of her first marathon in Akron
Learning about Courtney Dauwalter, Camille Herron and other women in ultrarunning
Run Woodstock, the running festival where she won the 100K
Running every distance from 10K to 100 miles in 2023
Training for the Indiana Trail 100 with back-to-back long runs and night running
Her parents crewing nearly every aid station, cowbell included
Her three rules for ultras and her love of Pringles at aid stations
A five-year run streak of 1,827 days and two years of 200-mile months
Running a Boston-qualifying 3:30 at Monumental two weeks after her 100-miler
Her mantra 'Run the mile you're in' and what's next

Chapters

00:00 · Intro
05:04 · Salad with two knives
06:33 · How we met and Beyond Monumental
09:00 · Pacing my half marathon PR
12:13 · Growing up and moving to Indy to teach
15:50 · Girls on the Run and the Kids Movement
21:00 · From sprinter to first marathon
27:46 · Getting into ultras
32:30 · Every distance in 2023
39:00 · Parents as crew
43:40 · Chaotic potential and training plans
49:00 · Five-year run streak
59:30 · Pacers, rules for ultras and aid station food
1:10:00 · Age group awards and finishing at night
1:14:30 · Monumental Marathon and Boston
1:25:30 · Mantra and next milestones

Where to find Ashley

Instagram: @ashley.a.haynes

Mentioned in this episode

Races: Indiana Trail 100, Run Woodstock, Dances with Dirt Gnaw Bone, CNO Financial Indianapolis Monumental Marathon, Beyond Monumental Kids Movement 5K, Akron Marathon, Bayshore Half Marathon, Fort Ben Half Marathon, Drumstick Dash, Boston Marathon, Great Lakes Relay, New York City Marathon, Ragnar
Organizations and charities: Beyond Monumental, Girls on the Run, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Running Fit, Barre Ripple, Hair We Share, Ainsley's Angels
Other: Courtney Dauwalter, Camille Herron, Taylor Swift treadmill workout

Previous guests mentioned

Related episodes

Frequently asked

Who is Ashley Haynes?

Ashley Haynes is an Indianapolis ultrarunner and Beyond Monumental board member who in 2023 ran every distance from 10K to 100 miles, including the Indiana Trail 100 in 21 hours and 34 minutes.

How long is Ashley Haynes's run streak?

Ashley Haynes started running every day on January 1, 2019, and reached five years and 1,827 consecutive days at the end of 2023.

What are Ashley Haynes's rules for running ultras?

Ashley Haynes's rules for ultramarathons are to always stop at the aid stations, walk up the big hills and use the downhills.

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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 38. This is Ally Brettnacher and this is the final episode of 2023. Since I started in April, I have. Publish an episode every single week and it pains me to take a break, but I am trying to practice the art of saying no. Also realizing that at the end of the day it's not a big deal.

Nobody cares. So the next episode will be January 19th, Friday, January 19th. So mark your calendar. Most of you haven't listened to every single episode anyway, so go back and listen to the ones that you've missed. They're all so great, and I also hope everybody is not stressing too much through the holidays.

I can't turn my brain off. It's a laundry list at all times of things I gotta get done. And so I'm trying to work through that and taking a break from the podcast certainly is helpful for me not to have to cram a bunch more stuff in throughout this crazy time. So. I am also getting ready to, if you listen to this on December 22nd, when it comes out on December 23rd, I am chopping off my hair, so I am donating my hair for the second time in my life.

I have super healthy, thick, long hair, definitely starting to get some grays in there, but I don't dye my hair so I can donate it, and I am donating this time to hair. We share a nonprofit organization that you can donate your hair. They have a program called, I forget, the ponytail tracking, so you get to actually see what happens to the hair that you donate.

So you donate between eight to 12 inches. I will be making that decision based on what my hairdresser says and her advice, but I am excited actually to. Get my hair outta here. I ha brushing it out after running especially has started to become difficult. Certainly drying it, straightening it is a labor of love and I'm really excited to be able to give my hair to somebody who needs it.

So, uh, updated pictures and a, I will be certainly documenting the transformation on Instagram at Athlete Bouquets or my personal Instagram, Allie t Brett. But anyway, I am super thrilled for this episode because it has been a long time coming. Ashley and I know each other through the board at Beyond Monumental, and I knew I wanted to have her on this podcast from the minute I started it.

But she was in the process of hitting some big milestones this year. So she ran every single race its distance in 2023 outside of a 5K and five Ks don't bring her joy. So she said no to that, which again, props to her. So during this conversation, Ashley and I talk about how, how we met, how we ran the beginning of the monumental marathon together this year.

It was her first road marathon since 2009. We talk about the Beyond Monumental Kids Movement, which is part of what we do at Monumental, how she thought about running her first ultra while she was running her first marathon. We get into details about the ultra world because I, as you know, if you've been listening, have not run one.

So I'm super curious. Her parents, we talk about, because they are huge supporters of Ashley's and Crew, her at most of her races. Ashley started a five year run streak in 2019, so come this year, it'll be five years of running every single day, no days off. She also, this year had 200 mile months, almost 3000 total miles for the year.

We joke about the Taylor Swift treadmill workout. Ashley wants me to try it since I have a treadmill, but I probably won't be able to do that. We talk about food for ultra racing, which is something, a topic I just love in general, and her three rules for running ultras. We talk about age group awards and awards she's received for winning races.

We talk about running at night and we joke about race pictures, although we have some really good ones from the race this year together. So I will be sure to share those. And if you want to follow Ashley Haynes, she is Ashley dot a Haynes, H-A-Y-N-E-S on Instagram. So this was fun. We could have done it forever.

I had to leave earlier. We probably would've continued talking for much longer. But I hope you enjoy this conversation with Ashley as much as I did. Hello everyone. I'm here with Ashley Haynes. Hi Allie. Hi Ashley. And I just ate salads with two knives. Uh, knife chopsticks. Knife chopsticks. So I brought lunch to the library.

And I didn't think to check the to go bag for the silverware. And then come to find out there wasn't any, so we're at the lovely Java house in the Carmel Public Library, and all they had were knives. So I grabbed two knives thinking, okay, we'll just stab the shit out of our salads. And then Ashley had the brilliant idea.

Well, you know, it helps. It helps slow down the fast eaters. We realized it was like a game. Yeah, pro. Pro tip. If you would like to try to eat a little slower, just use two knives to eat or to feel really satisfied after eating a salad. I was so hungry. All I wanted to do was just shovel it in my mouth and I had to take so long.

But it was delicious. And we did it. We did it. So I'm really excited to get to know you better. I'm so excited to be on your podcast. I think I told you when you first posted in April that you were starting a podcast as like, I volunteer as tribute. Yeah, please interview me. Yes. But not until the end of the year.

Yeah. So this, so everyone knows this is the last episode. 2023. We're closing it out with a big bang. I'm gonna be taking a few weeks off because I'm saying no to being stressed out about trying to get stuff done over the holidays and I'm just gonna enjoy it. Good, good for you. Right. So Ashley and I met through, originally through Jillian Walker, our friend.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. When you were doing linking Indie women. Yeah. And she was like, you need to meet Ashley. She's on the board. I think it was when I joined the board of Beyond Monumental. She knew you were on the board and then she introduced us. Yeah. I think around this, I also think she knew that we just both ran.

Yeah. She like, you like this, you'll like each other. You guys should talk. You can talk about running. Don't talk to me about it. Talk to each other about that. Yeah. Please don't. Yeah. Don't talk to me about it. Yeah. And so how many years have you been on the Beyond Monumental Board now? I was trying to do that math.

I think it. Was 2019 when I first started, because I remember volunteering at the marathon the first year that I was on the board. I was working the VIP sponsor tent and it was freezing. It was freezing cold morning, and then I'm pretty sure the next year was 2020 and we didn't hold the race because of, uh, COVID.

Yeah. Okay. I had thought you were on it longer for some reason. No, I think, I think, I mean, this will all be 2024, so it's almost five years. Yeah, COVID makes it weird to, I feel like, yeah, it just makes it weird. COVID time is like meeting styled with uh, two knives. Yeah, it is. Really? Yeah. How did you end up on the board?

What made you get involved? So I was working at Keep Indianapolis beautiful in the non-profit space. And Al White, who used to be on the Beyond Monument board, worked at Lily and we were doing a lot of volunteer activities with Lily at the time. We did an annual day of service with them and Al was like, Hey Ashley, we're looking for board members.

You run, you're in marketing, you work at a non-profit. This seems like a great fit for you. And I was like, sure, Al. So then I met with Jed and John from the board and here I've been for almost five years. And they're like, you like running, I like running, you like running, you like working with kids. I was like, yeah.

All of those things. Nice. Al and I, I never, I didn't remember his last name. We volunteered this year together at the welcome table at the Expo for the, for the Monumental. And he was just lovely. So anyway, he is, he's great. He's uh, he's how I, here's how I got to be here. Well, thank you Al. 'cause now that's how, that's how we got to know him and that's how I'm actually here right now with you.

And that's how it all happened. So this year you helped me run my pr. I did. You really did. I am so grateful for that. You like, have no idea. You know, I was thinking about it today. Could I have done that without your help? I mean, yeah, maybe it wouldn't have been as enjoyable though. I can tell you that I was so nervous 'cause I've never paced anyone before and you're like, can you, can you keep me around eight minutes miles?

I was like, I sure can try. And then when you're checking like How are we doing? I was like, well we're going a little bit fast. I don't know how to actually get us to just hold an eight minute mile. But no, I had, so I had a lot of fun running with you. It's hard when you run on by yourself all the time and I'm like, oh people right to run as well.

And I don't, I really don't run with other people very much. I don't either. And it seemed like a lot of pressure kind of. Well, 'cause I had another guy who trains with my coach, Chris Jones, and we actually just ran the zionsville half together. He had offered to help pace me for, and I at this point was convinced that I wasn't gonna be able to run a pr.

So I was like, no, I'm good, you know? But then for whatever reason I was like, yeah, actually let's just like meet up in the morning and see what happens. And then it happened and you were a great pacer, albeit a couple miles a little quick because I asked you and you're like, yeah, we just did like a seven, I don't know, way after 7 47.

And I was like, okay, then. Um, no wonder I feel like I'm gonna die. That's good to know that we were going fast because I was wondering if I could hold that pace, but it worked out great. And well see, my problem is that I don't. Ever. Particularly when I'm racing, I never have a goal pace that I'm trying to hit.

I just go out and I run, which is why pacing was so hard for me. 'cause I'm like, I don't actually know how to pace myself to try to hit a particular time. See, and this, I didn't know about you going in, by the way. No idea. You're like, yeah. I was like, she, she runs a lot and she runs fast. She'll know exactly how to do this. That was actually, this year's monumental, was my first road marathon since 2009. Yeah. So I ran my first Wow road marathon in 2009, which I did train for. I think I had Googled like. Marathon training plan. Mm-hmm. So, I know I did, I know I did train for that. It was in Akron, Ohio. Why I do not Akron, I do not remember why Akron, Ohio.

It was, I think it was a spring, like an April time. Okay. That's marathon. So it was probably just based on timing in proximity. I was living in Michigan at the time, probably timing in proximity. There's a lot of hills in Akron. There are not a lot of hills in Michigan where I was training, but that was my first one in 2009.

And then I didn't run another road marathon again until 2023. That's crazy. I didn't realize that. I did, I will say I dropped my marathon pr time by almost an hour, like 10, 10 15, however, however many years long later that is, but I, I dropped, I'm faster now than I was when I was 23. Yeah. Well, same, I think, well clearly in the, in the half anyway.

Haven't tried the marathon again yet, but we shall see what 20, 24 holds. I'm still like avoiding the conversation with my husband to be like, Hey, so. I kind of wanna run a fall marathon. What do you think about that? Because I do get tired. Hey, you kind of wanna run a hundred miles. What do you think about that?

I don't know. I was telling my mom about this today. I told you I was with her this morning and she's like, I was like, yeah, I'm interviewing my friend who ran a hundred miles this year, and my mom goes. Why So we'll get to that. Let's back up though. Are you from Michigan originally? Um, technically born in Virginia.

I lived there until middle of first grade. And then my parents and my family is originally from Ohio, so we lived in my grandparents in Ohio for a little bit while our house was being built in Michigan. But pretty much from like summer before second grade through high school, I lived in Michigan. So I will say that I'm from Michigan.

Okay. And you went to iu? I went to Michigan State. Shit, I messed that up. I'll edit that out. And so you went to Michigan State, right? Yep, I did. Along, along with the majority of my graduating class and some of my very good friends in high school. Okay. It's kinda like a little, like we, we, uh, graduated high school and then like pods of us, like all went to like between Michigan State, university of Michigan and the other schools up there.

Okay, so what brought, I just assumed that college is what brought you to Indiana, so that's not true. So was it your job after school or what brought you here? Um, in a way both. Okay. So I went to school for advertising and public relations and I graduated and got a job as one does in Michigan in a auto related field.

So I worked for the advertising agency that worked with Ford Morgan Company. Okay. So more or less worked for Ford and I was there for almost five years. And while I was there. I had the opportunity to work on some of our nonprofit accounts. Um, our creative director was really awesome about giving back to the Detroit community, so I got to work on a number of accounts.

I really loved working with the nonprofit organizations. Decided that I didn't wanna sell cars anymore for Ford. I looked at nonprofit marketing jobs. There weren't really any around the time, but I had been coaching girls on the run, and I loved coaching girls on the run. Uh, my mom has gone back to school multiple times.

She ended her career as a middle school science and technology teacher. I've got uncles and aunts that have been in the education field. So I decided I would go back to college and get my degree in elementary education. So in a way, school kind of did bring me here in the sense that I got my master's in education at University of Michigan.

And then my best friend also decided that she wanted to become an elementary school teacher, but she did Teach for America and she got placed in Indianapolis. So I was graduating from my master's program looking for a job. Michelle was moving to Indianapolis anyhow to start teaching and do her Teach for America coursework.

And I was like, great, I'll move to Indianapolis with you. Why not? So I did kind of move down here because of school, after school and for a job, but a completely different job than what I had originally gone to school for. So did you come here without a job and find one once you got here? No. I found like, I, I found a job in Indianapolis and Washington Township before I moved down.

So like I, I had applied for, I also knew nothing about the Indianapolis Area School, so I just applied for jobs at all of the school districts. Um, I ended up in Washington Township. Okay. Describe Washington Township. Um, Washington Township is like the northwest ish area of Indianapolis. I don't know how, I don't know how many elementary schools there were five or six at the time.

And then one, they all feed up eventually to one really big, high school North Central. Okay. And we talk about school districts a lot because of our work with the Beyond Monumental Kids Movement, where we have programs for kids to essentially learn how to run that now culminates in a 5K. For them, which is amazing.

Yeah. Really similar to Girls on the Run. And that's part of the reason why I was really interested in joining the board too, because of my experience with Girls on the Run, because I knew what Beyond Monumental is doing with the Monumental Kid movement. When I moved here and I was teaching, I continued coaching Girls on the Run.

I started a club at the school that I was teaching at. Okay. And the, I mean, the girls that were part of it, there's I think third, fourth, and fifth grade-ish, um, had a fantastic time. The lessons a lot about like, uh, self-esteem and empowerment in addition to running. But also the boys in my class that were not actively part of the program, they knew that I ran, they knew that I was running the running club and they were really into it too.

Like they would race each other at lunch. I think there was one lunchtime where our principal at the time, Mr. Taylor, he also was a runner, and they're like, Ms. Haynes. Can you and Mr. Taylor race at lunch? I was like, for sure. Make sure Mr. Taylor's wearing his dress shoes that day and I'll wear my tennis shoes.

Then it, then, then we'll see how, we'll see how that goes. And like, but like the boys like, it wasn't a lot of times, um, like. If you were misbehaving, you couldn't play at recess, you had to walk around the track. My class was running and walking around the track for fun because they knew that it was something that I loved doing and that I was involved in.

I was like, this is really awesome. And beyond monumental is doing, trying to instill that same love and that physical activity aspect into kids. Yeah, I love it so much. So is Washington Townships one of our school districts? Um, we had a couple of schools in there. I mean, the majority of our schools are in, uh, Indianapolis public school system because we've been working with Kathy Langdon, who's the, I don't know her exact title, but she kind of oversees the program and has her years and years.

Mm-hmm. So it's gotten into a lot more of the Indianapolis Public Schools. And in Lawrence Township we've got another big cluster of schools. But our goal is to try to get into all of the districts in Marion County and then hopefully start to expand. Mm-hmm. Even beyond that. Well, there's all kinds of different stuff now in Carmel that I'm learning about having a kid in public school.

But it's, you know, I certainly love seeing what we're doing with the movement to get these kids excited about running and that 5K event. So amazing. I'm really glad we started doing it. 'cause it used to be So the year that you volunteered in 2019. We would've had all the kids Yep. At the big race. Yep.

What was that like when we did it that way? Um, chaotic. I mean the, the marathon and the half marathon for the adults is like the center stage race. And then also trying to then have a group of like a thousand, 1500 kids that are trying to coordinate the buses coming in with all the road closures and all that.

I mean, the kids felt really special and really excited to have like a big crowd cheering mm-hmm. For you, but also kind of get, got lost I think in the day of the marathon activities. But having the standalone 5K starts and finishes at Lucas Oil, almost all the kids know of the cults. Like they get to go to the place where the cults play, like see it, they kind of have their own mini, uh, monument run that they do with their 5K going around the streets.

The streets are all closed just for them. And I think that's part of what makes it really exciting is that this is an event that is just for, for them. It feels right. It feels like what it should be. It's been really cool. Well, and Ashley and I volunteered at the, uh, finish line, filling up water. It was my first time.

It was your first time too, right? We were the first time ever volunteering to like fill up water cups. It's really hard work. I just say we did a really good job. A good job though, because I, I can't say that when I was, uh, running the marathon this year, I was like, some of these water stations could have benefited from Ashley and Alley being here and making sure they've got like the three levels of water cups and the pictures.

We had a system down. It was really fun volunteering. We crushed it. Yeah, we did. I felt good about it, but I was tired after that and I just kept thinking, you know, this was a 5K compared to like people who volunteer for marathons where they're out there for, I mean, I'm sure maybe they have shifts, but like being out there for hours and hours.

I mean, obviously it's hard to run a marathon, but volunteering I keep saying like people need to experience that. Yeah, and it's, and it's so much fun too. I mean, like I primarily run ultra trail marathons and some of those volunteers, they're out there for 5, 6, 12 hour shifts. Some of them that are like the hosts of the different aid stations, but they have so much fun with it.

You cheer on the athletes and I know a lot of the volunteers, particularly at the longer races, they might have friends or family that are racing and if it takes them five, six hours to do a loop. You can drive around the course and like go cheer 'em on or you can like volunteer your time at a station and cheer a whole bunch of people on.

Yeah. And as a runner, so much appreciation for the people that are handing you food and water like they are like the best people in the entire world during that race time. Yeah. Yes. I can appreciate that for sure. So 2009 was your first marathon in Akron. Before that, did you run as a kid? Did like, how did you end up getting to the point where you ran that marathon?

Sure. Did you play sports in high school? I did soccer. Which soccer? I did track. I had track one year basketball one year. Tennis a couple years. I, you know, I went to small high school, so I got to dabble. So I did run track in high school, but my sports career leading up to that, I tried ballet. I tried swimming.

Uh, I'm not a very good swimmer. That's why I didn't do triathlons, um, ever. I tried gymnastics, I tried T-ball. I tried softball one year, for some reason in eighth grade, I was like, I'm gonna try soccer. Why? Why is like a 14 year, 13, 14-year-old, like. I'm gonna go out and play a sport that I've never played before.

Seems like fun. It was not. Um, so I, I'm not a co I'm not a, I'm still not a coordinated person. My siblings, I'm the oldest of four. I've got a sister and then it's girl, girl, boy, boys, so a sister and two younger brothers. They were all really into sports. Um, like they all played soccer. My sister ran cross country.

She played varsity soccer. My, both of my brothers, um, played soccer forever. And then they got into lacrosse and football playing like all varsity level in high school. And like all of that, I. When I went to high school, I was a child that really liked reading. I really liked, uh, imagining things in my imagination to join National Honor Society.

In high school, you had to participate in a certain number of clubs and then other activities which were in my high school, like theater, band, music or like a sport. I am not musically, I'm not musically gifted. I did dabble in piano in the trumpet for a minute. Wow. I had a lot of dabbling activities when I was younger.

That's so I'm learning so many things. Um, but track you could run really short distances and there were a lot of really cute upperclassmen, boys that you could watch while you were doing that. And I had a whole bunch of friends that were doing it. I was like, great tracks for me need something to put on my National Honor Society application.

And I guess eventually my college application. So I was a sprinter in high school. Freshman year, I'd also tried the hurdles and I tried long jump. I did like the four by one or the four by two relay. I do remember going to the fresh, like a freshman invitational, like I was part of like a relay team that did that.

Um, and then I seemed to be plagued for the remainder of my high school career by like shin splints. Oh. And, um, high jumping where like my primary goal is like we can just hang out on the high jump pit during track meets. The longest run that we had to do as a sprinter group was a two mile run. My high school, um, we were on like our, our roads were like named and distance by mile.

So our high school is on 10 mile. So our long our long day workout, we run down the driveway of the high school and run from 10 mile to nine mile and back. Two miles. Not to, not to eight mile. No, not, I though I did later run to eight mile. Very different eight mile where I grew, I grew up than the one that I'm, I'm all of a sudden gonna be like, wow, I, I'm really learning about you.

You grew up, uh, no. Very, very different. Very different. Eight mile. Um, so what I'd do is I'd run with the group until we got to the end of the high school driveway and we made the left hand turn. And then I did as much walking as I possibly could. Same, same with like any of the other, like the ladders and the sprinkles and uh, whatnot.

So I did, I was not one of those children that we were talking about like in, that had instilled a love of running 'em. Yeah. I did it 'cause I needed it on my high school resume, I guess. But then when I went to college, I didn't have that same sort of structured activity and I needed something to do. I tried, like, I went to the, I joined the gym, like the, the student gym for a little bit and like did the treadmill and the stair mill and all of those things.

But then I had a group of friends that. They've been runners. When we were in high school, they kept running. They joined the Michigan State Triathlon Club. Like, well, if I wanna hang out with any of my friends, I need to do something outside that's more physically active. So I was like, I don't have a bike.

I am not good at swimming. I don't feel like I want to learn how to be good at swimming, but I can run. So then I started running when I was in college, just recreationally for myself, and I trained for my first official race in college. We had a 5K like our, like this. The school put on like a 5K that, um, I did, I don't even know what my time was or even where I would look up my time.

It was like the dino, the dinosaur, five KI really liked dinosaurs. I was like, great, perfect. And then I did the Bay Shore half marathon up in Traverse City, Michigan in 2008 with my sister. My sister ran cross country in high school. She didn't really, she didn't run in college. And, but she kept running. So I was like, great, like we can run like a half marathon together.

So we did that, um, in 2008 and I was like, well, I think maybe I'm gonna try and train for a marathon. So then I trained for the marathon in Akron. And while I was running that marathon, I don't have a lot of like, memories of like the actual race itself. I remember two things. Uh, mile 16, we were crossing over a bridge and we'd either just come down or was about to go up a really big hill.

I was like, this is awful. I don't wanna keep doing that. I don't wanna keep, why did I sign up for this incredibly hilly race? And then I kept going. Um, but at mile 23 ish, I saw. I remember it was up on a hill to the right, there was a sign that was promoting an upcoming 50 k. I don't remember where the 50 k was.

I don't know if it was a road or a trail, 50 K, but I spent like the next two miles doing the math. I was like, well, I know that a 5K is 3.1 miles. Like, you know, it took me two miles to like, I was gonna say at the end, like towards the end of a marathon, you'd be like, how many miles is a 50 K? And I was like, well that's only like five miles more than what I'm doing right now.

Surely I can do five more miles than I can than I am right now. I was like, yeah, maybe we'll try that someday. And then in 2012, um, I did my first 50 K trail marathon in Michigan and I have been running very long distances ever since. So three years between 2009 and 2012. Yeah, and I'm trying to think what happened.

I know that in 20, I think it was the spring of 2010, I got a stress fracture. And after, after years in high school of pretending to have stress fractures or whatnot, I finally actually got one. Um, and I think it took me a while to recover from that one. And then I'm sure that I did some amount of training and planning to try to go from like being injured to running 31 miles.

Yeah, I at one time, so Wow. I've only done one trail race. It was out at Eagle Creek, one of theirs, and it was years and years ago. I actually don't even remember which one it was or what happened. But tell us, I guess, a little bit about. The ultra world. Sure. So that was like the mid 2010s when I started doing ultras.

And there were definitely other women that were competing. 'cause I think there, I was like saw them while I was running and racing and they either, can you hear my stomach? No, because I can't. And it's like, I'm like. Calm down. Now. We're all gonna be listening for it though. Well, hopefully you can't hear it, but I can't hear it.

I can't hear it. Okay. Sorry. Um, but I wasn't really aware really until this year about the ultra community, and that's why like 10, 11 years after I've been running them, there is a woman, her name is, I think it's Camille Herron. She's like a world champion Road ultra Okay runner. I didn't even know until this year that that was really a thing.

Like I assumed that they were road, road ultras, but I didn't know. And then even with women in the sport in general, Courtney De Walter, Sally McCray, I wasn't also aware of them until this summer. Either because they're just not talked about a lot. Like, you know, I know I knew a lot of like the, the marathon winners, like the Des Londons mm-hmm.

And Kara Goucher and Lauren f Fleshman. I think in part because recently they've written books or started, uh, running podcasts. Like I've been aware of them, but also because, like, because of the Boston Marathon, because of the Olympics. Like I think marathons are just have become more well known. Mm-hmm.

But there's not a lot of awareness and definitely even as someone that's in the sport about other female. Ultra runners. Um, so I've been really diving in this year and learning more about them and what they're doing. And Courtney Dewal just won 300 mile races within a 10 week. Yeah. I don't, I, period. I don't understand.

And like, they're doing crazy. They're doing crazy things. And at the same time I'm like, I, I love trail running. I love it. And I was like, and Courtney and Sally, they were all coming up in the mid, in like the mid 2010s. I was like, if I had any awareness back then that this was something that you could do as a career, like you could, you could get paid to like go run in the woods.

I was like, maybe I would've like considered trying that. I don't know. Yeah. Because it was so new and there's so few people doing it, it makes me really happy to see so many more women in particular that are out on the trails of the races that I'm doing at higher distances. Mm-hmm. Than what I've seen before.

Yeah. So when you ran your first trail, 50 k. Sorry, where was it? In Michigan? It was in Michigan. Ren, Woodstock. Okay. Okay. Is that the one you just did again? Yes, this year just, I just did the a hundred K, um, this year. It's a really awesome race. It's put the running company that's put on is called Running Fit.

They used to be my running store, um, in high school. Okay. Growing up. And then they started putting on races. They eventually sold off the running store part of the business, and now they just put on races primarily in the Midwest. But red Woodstock happens the beginning of September every year. And it's like the music festival where like you show up on like Thursday and you can camp and there is music and there's like a five mile run.

The 50 mile? No, the a hundred k and the a hundred mile start Friday night there's a marathon, there's a 50 k, there's a half marathon, there's a 10 k, like, it's like three and a half days of just like party running. Um, and just everybody's there because they love the sports. So like imagine like the music festival, but like running instead.

Well, they were, they did Running Man this year for the first time. Did you see I got a bunch of ads for that? No, I didn't. It seemed like they're, they're trying to do like Burning Man, but for running. Same concept. Maybe at a more like Instagramable, I'm doing air quotes, Instagramable State, like where they really were trying to get like influencers there and like really do it.

But it sounds like you found one that's been around for. A while. Yeah. Yeah. I think it, I don't even know how long it's been around the, one of the race directors this year, it was his 10th wedding anniversary. He and his wife got married 10 years ago at the finish line of his a hundred mile at Ren Woodstock.

And they were both there like volunteering and like race directing for the entire like weekend. It was really great. Like that's one of the things that I love about running is also the community that's around it. Even like if we run alone. Yeah. Right. Even if you run alone most of the time, like you, you're passing runners all the time.

I was running this weekend and I was wearing my, um, hat for my a hundred mile and like I just passed, uh, this couple and they were pushing a stroller and they guy says it, oh. I was like, oh yeah, like you're talking, you're talking Hi, did you do the race deal? I'm like, it is just all over. Yeah. So in, in ultra running.

Correct me if I'm wrong, it's starts at 50 K. Yep. That's the lowest. That is like, you become an ultra marathoner when you do a 50 k. Really anything over the 26.2 miles, I guess technically is an ultra. Okay. So I could run like 26.2. Sure. Um, and then there's a 50, so the 50 k then, does it come it kind a hundred k or no, a hundred K is more than 50 miles.

It's 60 something. 'cause obviously yeah, math is hard. And so it goes 50 k, 50 mile, a hundred k, a hundred mile typically. I mean there have been a number of different distances that have had, like, there's some 60 Ks. I don't know what the mile math is on that. Okay. Yeah, no. Um, and there's 75 mile races, so like a lot more of different Okay.

Like different distances. But yeah, the 50 k, the 50 mile, the a hundred k and the a hundred mile are the, the standard four ultra distances. Okay. And have you done all of those distances? I have done all of those distances and I did all of those distances in 2023. Right. She's shaking her head at me right now.

I'm just like, well, 'cause I knew, well, we waited to record this. 'cause I was like. Well, I don't want to interview you until after you run your a hundred miler, which was in October. Yeah. Yep. And you did, you had your 50 K before 50 K? Yep. When was the 50 mile? So in May, Jesus. So I had signed up to run the Indiana Trail hundred.

Um, it happens in the middle of October at Channel Lake State Park every year. Put on by another really great running community in Northwestern ish, kind of north Is it in Fort Wayne? Northwest of Fort Wayne. It's like in the Fort Wayne Wabash area. Okay. Um, so I knew I was gonna do that. So. I went out for like, one of my first runs in January of 2023, and I saw this, it's a, it was a Subaru Outback, and I've seen this car, and I think the owner a couple of times out at Eagle Creek since, but he had all of like the mileage stickers on the back of his car.

He had like 50, I think he hadactually, think he had a, maybe he had a half and a marathon as well. And like the 50 k, the 50 mile, a hundred k, a hundred mile. And I looked at it, I was like, well, I'm training to run a hundred miles in October, and this was January, so I had like nine and a half months, 10 months.

Um, I was like, I can, I've run a hundred, I've run a 50 K before. I'm like, I could probably fit all those other distances in between now and October also. I was like, eh. Okay. That's my new goal for the year. So I ran, I've run all the distances from a 10 K up to, um, a hundred miles in this year. I was gonna also run a 5K.

And I had told this to my family. I'm like, I'm gonna run all the distances, including a 5K, five Ks don't bring me joy. So as I got towards November and December, I was like, I, I was looking at them and I was even gonna maybe run the 5K, um, in Zionsville when you did your half marathon. I was like, well, that've brought me a little bit more joy, like knowing that you were there.

Dude, there's the donut 5K this weekend. Do you like donuts? I, they don't bring me joy though. Oh. And part of, part of it's like I could spend, part of it was I could spend like $50 registering for a a 5K or I could spend $75 registering for a hundred miles and I get a lot more bang for a lot more miles from my buck there.

Yeah. Yeah. Um, so I ran a 50 K in Michigan in the end of April. I ran a 50 mile at dances with dirt Noone down in Brown County in May. I did. It might have been the same race that you did at Eagle Creek, or at least the same running group, A night, half marathon in July. Because Is that night, is that night?

No, I didn't do that one. Um, because running a hundred miles, like one of the big differences, the things that I had to, two things that I had to train for for a hundred mile were running big miles back to back. So I would do like 25 mile, 25 mile days back to back on the weekends and then running at night.

I'd run at night like in the dark before, but like running at night was something that I hadn't never really done. Like we're talking like middle of the night, right? It's three in the morning, right? So like this, this night, half marathon started at nine o'clock. At nine and then like you run in the dark with a headlamp and everything and like, and on and on the trails, making sure that you don't fall and all of that.

Um, so that was in July and then I did a hundred k. In Michigan at Run Woodstock in September. I did the half marathon at Fort Ben. Um, oh, that's right. Beyond monumental. Yeah. The beginning of October. The next weekend was my a hundred mile or the rainiest coldest weekend. In the entire day. Actually I think in entirety.

My of October, my sister, my sister got married that weekend and we still talk about it. We're like you. I mean, not to her, actually. I don't tell her to rub it in. You got the worst day, literally like in all of fall. I mean, shoot, it's gonna be 55 degrees on Christmas for God's sakes. I know. It's like it's, and it rain.

It was, it was horrible. Like 40 and raining. It was like, it's like the worst rain also because it's a cold rain. Yeah, I remember. So I did that and then I do normally run the Te Kmsa, either trail marathon or 50 K, and that's the third week in October. I was playing around with doing that, but after running a hundred miles, I did not.

Um, and then I ran. Beyond monumental marathon, the last weekend in October. And then, um, for the second year in a row, I've gotten my family to get up on Thanksgiving morning and do a Turkey trot. So that's where I did the 10 k. My family walked the fi, the 5K. My dad did finish a little bit before me. I was very proud of him.

He, he walked his five KA little bit faster than I ran my 10 k. Um, and I had to go back and cheer on my mom and my cousins as they were finishing up. That's so fun. Did you get any of your siblings to do it too? Um, my brother did it last year. Okay. They didn't, Nathan was gonna do the one in Detroit with his friends this year, and then he, when he showed up for his skin, I was like, so how was that Turkey trot in Detroit?

He was like, yeah, that didn't happen. I was like, I'm not surprised. I miss we, I'm trying to think of how many times I've done it. The Turkey trot, maybe a couple. 'cause Zach and I used to live in broader PO and we would, we lived. Yeah, we would just jog over there 'cause we were at 63rd and park like by CBS.

Yep. Um, so we weren't very far from the start and you know, if we were gonna be there anyway, it's like, might as well. But now being up in Carmel, we've kind of gotten out of the rhythm of doing that. And I think now there's some in Carmel. Um, but I just, I don't know, I kind of got out of the habit, if you will.

Um, actually the guy who officiated my sister's wedding, he's on the board for the Turkey trot, what's it called? Drumstick. Thank you. Drumstick Dash. Thank you. I don't know why I couldn't think of that. So. Talk to me a little bit about your parents' involvement in your sport. 'cause I love that you'll talk about, like, I've seen pictures your parents have taken and do they crew you at your races?

They do. So I like to, I like to joke with my parents, um, about two things. The first being that when I, um, was six or seven, so before I moved from Virginia up to Michigan, I was in ballet. And from my memory and the pictures of myself in the cute sequence on like the pink tutu, I loved ballet. My parents did not sign me up for ballet.

I after to removed. So one, I tell them you, I could have had a career, um, in dance being a preed donna ballerina, but you did not sign me back up for ballet. Instead, you got, uh, your oldest child was not into organized sports. Not coordinated. They did get to, they did come and like they had the whole track, uh, thing.

Like both of my parents I think did track when they were in high school. And like my dad in particular, like really liked watching me do track. Um, but they didn't get to have that whole high school athlete experience that they did with all of my siblings. Like my mom and my dad were like the team parents for like my brothers and my sister for like, from like my dad coached, uh, from like.

Whatever, the first kindergarten team that they were on, like, and they were super involved in my sibling sports. Um, so I joke I didn't give them that experience as a high school athlete. Now they can come watch me for 21 and a half hours in a row, run in the rain and drive around making sure that I have food and clean clothing and things to drink and all of that.

But no, they're, they're really great and they, uh, they come out and crew me at most of my, um, big long runs, which the way that most of the runs that I, in like the Indiana, Michigan area, they're set up as loops. So even the it hundred, it was four loops of 25 and eight stations are every four, four and a half miles. You don't really, like, you can do any of these ultra races, even the, even the big ones, you can do them without a crew. Like I know that can feel like a barrier to a lot of people that get into ultra running, right? Like, I'm scared to go and like do it by myself. I've gone and done a number of the subsequent 50 Ks that I've done.

By myself. Like I'll dry out, like even to the point where like I'll get up like three o'clock in the morning and drive down to Brown County Run and then drive home. Like you can absolutely do these races without a crew. I just like, I like to invite my parents like, you can come and enjoy something with me.

You can cheer me on. And they have a lot of fun doing it. Like they love, they, they're both very social people. They like talking to the other runners and the other people that are coming to spectate. Um, and like making sure that I have all of my things. I give them very clear instructions. I want to make sure that I hit, ask me if I want this or this or this.

So they, they seem to at least have a lot of fun doing it. That is so sweet. I love that so much. My dad's cute. I have to kind of, for this last round, tell him like, when I do and do not want information. Um, because, because, so like we talk, we talked about how I don't really pace myself or really like, know how to pace myself.

I don't really run with a lot of strategy. I put a lot of thought into my running, but I don't have like, the way, like what I'm impressed about you, Allie is like the, like you have a coach and like you have like a plan and like you follow that. I'm like, I've never done any of that. I just go out and I run and I like, I just, I enjoy running.

I just go and run. Um, I make sure that I know that I can complete, that I'm prepared to complete any particular distance, but like, I don't have like a, I'm gonna, you know, take it slow on like these first 20 miles and then I'm really gonna like pick it up and like all of that. Like, I don't, I've never done that before.

But I am, I am pretty good. I'll say I'm good at ultra. Running. I, in all of the races that I've done, I've either placed top three, like within the top three overall, or I've won them, or I've definitely won my age group and the majority of the ultra runnings runs that I've done. So I'm, I'm, I am good at it.

Um, but that also means that I don't really have a sense of how far behind me the other female runners are. So what my dad, my dad will do now, like, when I come into an aid station, he'll be like, okay, like, the next woman is like five minutes ahead of you. Or like, or I'm like, he's like, or like, the, the next woman coming up behind you, she's like, 30 minutes, 30 minutes, 30 minutes behind you.

Um, so like, he's gotten really good at like, giving me that information. Um, but sometimes I'm like, like I don't need to, like, at some points there isn't like, I don't wanna know, like, don't tell me like keep, I'm just, I'm just you. Right. Keep track of it. So like, if I do ask in, you know, in two hours, like you can tell me.

Um, but sometimes like I don't want to know the information. That's funny. I like, I think it's really important to point out that you just said that you're good at something. I know. Why is that so hard? Yeah, I liked that. I liked that you said that. That's that. Everyone should take that away. I'm, I am good at alter running.

That's what the title of this episode's gonna be. Ashley, I'm good at ultra running. But you are. Yeah. You win stuff. I, I am intrigued. I think if you had a coach and strategy and like really gave it, I know. A go, you know, I know I've been thinking about what my goals are for this year and one of the things that I've never really done is like, do like an actual training.

One of the things that I've, like, one of the questions that you asked me was like, what are you proud about in like your fitness journey? One of the things that I'm proud about from this year is that I put together. It wasn't like a complete training plan, but it was a mileage calendar at the very least.

Like I knew what miles I was going to be running when, every single day from April until October, and I followed that. I mean, there were some days where like I had scheduled myself to run like 15 miles and I either only felt like or had time to do 10 and like I made adjustments as I went through, but like I stuck to that calendar and I have, I don't think that I've really done that since I ran that first, my very first marathon where that was the first time that I'd done that.

I'm like, I need to, I need to Google marathon training plan and I then I need to do whatever it is the marathon training planning tells me to do. Um, but I've gotten, I've gotten also out of the habit of like strength training and mobility work. I teach bar at a bar studio in Broad Ripple, um, called Bar Ripple.

I forgot we did that too. Shout out. Shout out to them. Any listeners that wanna come take a class, please DM me an Instagram. I'll hook you up. I'll have to do that. The class. You should. And before COVID, like, I was going and going to cla, taking class, not every day, but like very, very regularly. COVID kind of threw me out of that routine as it, I mean, as it did for everybody.

Mm-hmm. And we switched to doing virtual classes for a number, number of months. Did you do them on Zoom? Mm-hmm. Would you teach class on Zoom? Yeah. And we still do, we still offer a hybrid. Like you can take class virtually or you can come into the studio. We've got a lot of, a lot of people have primarily returned to the studio, but it's a really good flexible option.

Especially if even like myself, if you're traveling and you're in a city and like, I don't wanna find like a random class or studio to go to. Like we have the option where you can just take like. Stick to your regular class and routine and just you'll, you do it in your hotel room or wherever, wherever you are, like on, on the screen.

Which has been like the, like one of the very, I think few good things, particularly for group fitness classes coming out of COVID is kind of that flexibility. But it COVID completely knocked me out of that routine. I never really got back into a good habit of like strength and like flexibility, mobility training.

So as I'm setting my goals for 20 24, 1 of the things that I'm thinking of, and I have, what is it, less than like a week, um, to decide what I'm gonna do. So I can start January 1st a little, a little more is do a more comprehensive training plan for myself. Well, you know, who is launching an ultra running coaching business, Lindsay.

Right. I know we talked about that when we went running. I would hope so. You could be like, I'll be your Guinea pig. I, you know, I might, I might just, I'll be your model. Athlete. It's funny 'cause we had, we talked about it 'cause we went running at Eagle Creek a couple weeks ago. You had connected Lindsay and I, because like you guys are both running this a hundred mile race, you should talk.

And then we didn't talk until after the race. Like there were, I mean there weren't a lot of people, there's probably like, like 400 total across the three race distances. One, I didn't like know what she looked like to really be able to look for her. And I didn't run into her when we were running, uh, the hundred Mile.

But we connected afterwards and we were running, we did a trail run at Eagle Creek and she was telling me about that and she'd asked me if I'd ever thought about it. And I was like, I'm like, I don't even do enough training. Like I was gonna say structure for myself to, I'm like, I really loved coaching girls that have run.

And Lindsay bless her, she was so sweet. She's like, well, you know, like you, you take classes and you get a certification for that. I was like, I didn't even know there you could, there's a certification way to become a running coach. I was like, what a whole new world. Someone will tell you how to do it.

Like, but yeah, you could, your poster, you know, like I'm good at ultra running. Well, that's what like tagline like the well, and like what I've, what I've, uh, coined for myself is, uh, chaotic potential. I know that I could probably, I know I'm good at, I know I'm good at ultra running. I know that I could be a lot better if I had like, training and structure.

I'm working towards that. But, you know, maybe I'll tell Lindsay if she wants to, if she wants a Guinea pig to Yeah. Well you know, it's interesting because you also don't want to somehow to have that take the joy out of it for you, right. Because I could, you know, you've been doing it this way for so long.

I mean, clearly it works well enough. You're placing or winning, you know, you don't want it to be like this pressure where you feel like, oh, I have to go do this and Yeah. You know, and I say, so two things, like Courtney Dewal, who I mentioned before, there's not a lot of info. She doesn't share a lot about, um, her training program.

'cause I've learned about her. I was like, how does Courtney, like, how does she run a hundred? 300 milers in, in 10 weeks. From what I like, the articles that she has at interviews, she runs a very similar, I felt very validated. She was like, I just, I'll go out and sometimes I'll feel like running for four hours in the mountains.

Sometimes I won't. Like, she has a very similar, like, I'm just, I'm gonna, I mean, I'm sure she has a lot more like actually to it, but from like, the way that she talk, like I've heard her talk about it. She's like, I just go out. I go out and run. Like, I run how I feel if I feel good. Like I, I do this and like, like somebody else feels, somebody else feels the way that I do.

Yeah. So that, that was super validating. The other thing for me, and this will be five years, is I've been running every single day. I've got a five year run run streak. And I wrote these numbers down 'cause I knew I wasn't gonna be able to do, uh, the math with you. Mm-hmm. So I started 2019, Jan, January 1st, 2019, and then through the end of.

This year it'll be 1,827 days in a row that I've run every single day, no days off. Um, so also hashtag I love it. Hashtag hashtag no days off. So part of it also is the time commitment, because I've been doing this thing where I, like, I have committed to running every single day, which in a complete training program you would take rest days.

I don't remember what those are like. Um, or like, you don't run, but you do like weights or like you do other mm-hmm. Things. Um, but because like I'm running every single day, kind of fitting all of those different things into a single day can be challenging. So what's your, is it a mile? Like you gotta do at least one mile?

You probably never run a mile. I did actually. Oh. Um, but so yeah, I would say at least a mile and the mile, though I. Think it was early, I think it was January. It was either January, 2019 or it was January, 2020. If it was 2020, then 2020 was just like the worst year ever. But we had like those negative 35 degree wind chill days.

Oh, I remember seeing pictures of you with your like whole face frozen. Yeah. In, in January. And I, I must have been 2019 'cause I feel like I had just started my commitment to like do this. And I was like, well, I have to go and run or like three days in. I've blown my New Year's resolution. I went out and I ran a mile.

Like, I like complete everything except for like my eyeballs, um, covered. And I went out and ran. This started as just a New Year's resolution in 2019. Wow. So, because it was, I had never done a run streak before. Mm-hmm. I'd been running since freshman year in high school, but I've never done like a run every single day.

I was like, great. 2019 for whatever reason. I was like, I'm gonna run every single day. And then, um, I kept running at the beginning of 2020. I hadn't stopped yet 'cause I was kinda like, maybe we'll just see how. How long ago? Mm-hmm. And then COVID happened and I started working from home and I didn't have an excuse to not go run every day.

I didn't, wasn't driving to and from work. Right. I could, working from home, especially early during the pandemic, nobody knew what they were doing anyhow. And I was like, I don't know how to do my job remotely. I'm just gonna go for a run. Um, so I didn't have an excuse not to run every single day. And then it's kind of like as you build a habit, but beyond a habit where it's just a thing that I do like at this point, I don't know how long I'll keep up my run streak.

If there's something huge that would prevent me from running, then maybe I would end it. But at this point, like it would feel weird not to go running. Yeah, I don't have a desire to do that. I don't know why. Like, well, I think part of it's having young children. It's hard enough. I fit it in during the day usually.

I guess I don't really have an excuse as I'm really, I don't, 'cause even like, 'cause my kids are outta the house and on the weekends usually Saturday I do run, uh, a lot of times it's a treadmill workout. 'cause then the kids will just be down with me. And then Sundays are usually my rest day. But I could easily like, just do a quick mild jaunt.

But, um, Jay Idol, George, do you know Jay? He was on this podcast a while ago, but he just celebrated in November. He celebrated 10 years. What's his minimum? Does he have a minimum? I think it's a mile. He said for a while, I think it was maybe a year. Like he did, like more than that. I forget. I would have to, I'd have to look at my, or listen to my podcast episode again.

But yeah, I'm, he had a minimum and I think his, he did 'em all outside because I know some people like, don't, it doesn't matter if it's inside or outside or whatever. Like, what are your stipulations clearly outside if you're gonna do that. I don't have a treadmill, so I, my only choice is run outside. I also feel like you could like run back and forth in your kitchen or something like, but yeah, my, my house is very, I would get bored of that real, real quick.

Yeah. There was a, I think it was in 2020, there was this kid that ran a marathon in his living room. Like he just ran circles in his living room and he think, oh my God. Streamed it live on TikTok. Oh, that sounds something about right. Yeah. Yeah. I've, I remember seeing videos of people like up on their, the rooftops of their buildings, like doing stuff like that.

But then like, you know, if you're only, like, if your commitment is like a mile every day, it's like 10 minutes. Yeah. It's really not that bad, which makes me think about a whole bunch of other habits I really wanna instill. Like, you know, I, I think sometimes I'm like, oh, I should, I'm gonna Mexico in February, so I'm like, oh, I should do abs like every day until then.

And then I'm just like, no. So I do, I do think like I'm going to do like strength and mobility. I'm gonna, I'm gonna, one of my commitments for 2024 is, I know I'm gonna add that back in because I also kinda wanna see like if I do all of, all of the quote unquote air quotes Yeah. Write things, training things Yeah.

That you're supposed to do. Like how, how much better can I do? Mm-hmm. At some of these, particularly the races that I do every year. So every year I do dance with the dirt. No bonus. It's that same running company from Michigan that puts on, they have everything from, there's a, a relay, I think it's like a 60 mile relay that you can do with a team.

Mm. And then everything from like a 10 k up to a 50 mile. So I ran my first 50 mile there last year. So I kinda wanna see like how if I, if I actually spend like five months from January to May, like really doing a more comprehensive, like total training for myself. Like how much faster right. Can I get, like if I actually, I mean Indianapolis is pretty flat there.

I know where the hill, I know where, I know where all of the hills are in Indianapolis. But if I add on like true like hill. Training to my, to what I'm doing. If I add in even like speed work. Mm-hmm. Like I had intentions of doing that this year, running for the a hundred, but part of like the timing for the a hundred mile is a lot of my big mile months were over the summer when it was hot.

And I don't wanna go out on the track and like run 800 repeats in August. Yeah. Yeah. It's hard. Yeah. Um, but if I do all of those things, like how much better, how much can I do in my races? Yeah. And I've never, I never, I've never really gone into races being like, I'm going to try to hit this goal. Mm-hmm.

Again, like I just, I just go and I run them. Go and see how you feel and either like, I'm running really well and, uh, there's nobody that's. I'm running in front, or like somebody's running better than me and they pass me and they keep running better than me and they win or they kind of, their, their wheels fall off and then I win.

Like, I don't really go into it with a plan, but like, what if I did? I don't know. Yeah. So I might, I might, that might be one of the things that I try for 2024. Are you competitive? Yes, but only in, I guess in weird ways. So like, let's say that I was running whatever distance it was that I was running, if there is someone, if there's another woman behind me, I'm going to pick up the pace and then do everything in my power.

Like not to let her pass me. If there's a woman who's an hour running an hour ahead of me, I know I'm probably not gonna catch her. I'm not gonna try, like I won't do that. So it also kinda like situationally depends. Mm-hmm. I was running during lunch earlier this week and I could hear somebody like heavy breathing behind me and I was like, this person's either like working real hard, uh, for themselves.

Like they're working real hard to pass me. I'm like, I can just go a little bit faster. I'm gonna make sure they don't pass me. And they did not. So I also like have like those weird moments of like, this person has absolutely no idea that we're in any sort of competition. Right. Nor should it be a competition, but I'm gonna go win.

Oh my God. It's like, I remember in college. I, I, I remember getting in an argue with my roommate 'cause I, um, we were on treadmills next to each other and I, she would like speed up and I would like speed up my treadmill. And, uh, she caught on. She knew what I was doing and she's getting so mad. She's like, stop that.

I'm like, what? I don't want you to go faster than me. You know, ally, since speaking of treadmill, since you do have a treadmill, I would love for you to do the Taylor Swift uh, treadmill. You know, I've seen a lot of videos about it and this ultra-marathoner came out and said it wrecked her. So I was like, I'm there.

I saw that. But I saw other people that also did that're like, it was tough, but like it was doable. Yeah. It's only three. It's only three and a half hours. Yeah. Some of it's walking. The slowest, the slowest songs are walking slower. Songs will be just like a really, really slow walk. Yeah, I know. It's interesting to me.

I would love to try it. Did you get tickets for next year? No. No. If anybody has tickets, please let me know. I have some, but you can't have, well, I know if anybody ends up selling their tickets, please let me know. Right? I know. Gosh. Yeah. We got hers for a hundred dollars. How? We just, we, so my friend from Michigan actually is the one who got a code and like did the whole thing.

And I remember I was texting with her. It was stressful for me. I'm not even trying to do it. And she's, you know, they, it's wild. Yeah. She didn't think even though she had a code, she was on the game. She got in every time she'd try to buy it, it would like be like, these aren't available anymore. She started thinking that she wasn't even gonna get 'em even after that.

So anyway. Yeah. I'll wait. I'll wait until it gets closer to next November and then I'll Right. I know it's so far away. I'll pay whatever, several hundred dollars to get them. We're talking about Taylor Swift tickets, by the way. Oh, do we? Yeah. Well, we are, because we were talking about Taylor Swift.

Hopefully that strung together somewhat. If not then, sorry, just a tangent for you. Uh, I wanted to ask about. The instructions are that you give your parents, like, what does that look like? What do you eat? I wanna know a little bit more. And also, will you run a Ragnar next September? No, I told you I can't.

I'm gonna be on vacation. I forgot. Otherwise, I saw, I saw the you sign of that I vacation. I would love to, we're going to Yosemite. My dad's super excited. I can't, okay, I digress. If you do it again though, uh, I for sure I love you shall see. I love, uh, relay distance races. So I have, and this was also speaking of new things and like crewing for the hundred.

It was the first time that I ever had pacers. Most ultra races, you can, depending on the distance, have a pacer with you after the first 50 miles. Like somebody you bring? Yep. Okay. Just like some, like some essentially like somebody to a friend, to a friend to run with you. Um, race, different races, do it different ways by and large.

Um, most pacers don't have to pay to run right. The race. Like they can, they have access to all the eight stations and everything. They're really just there to kind of support you as a runner. Um, which for some people, depending kind of your physical state and your mental state and like how a race is going for you can be really important, particularly in the really long distance races.

Because if you're not eating right, you can start to hallucinate in some of like the, like the more extreme ultra races that you have to like, have like the GPS map to navigate. If you get lost off course, you have to go back to where you got lost and like do if, even if you, like, if you went. Five miles off course and you go back, you gotta do 10 extra miles.

Um, so having a pacer in those races can be really important. Again, alto races, you don't have to have a pacer. So this is the first time they ever had a pacer. I had three guys that were pacing me. One was a friend from work and then two of his buddies, um, from the Northwest Indiana running club area. So they took turns running with me from mile 50 to Mile a hundred.

And one of the things that they had asked me before we ran was like, they're like, this is your race. Like, what do you need? Like, how can we support you? Like really similar to like my parents, like what do you need? How can we support you? So my three or four rules for ultra running are one, I always stop at the eight stations.

Eight stations are one of the best parts about ultra running tents with cookies just appear in the middle of the woods. It's great. So always stop at the eight stations. Um, walk up the big hills, use the downhills and I think there's the fourth one, but I, I don't remember what it's, those are the, those are the three big ones.

I broke all of those rules within like the first two hours running the a hundred. I didn't stop at the first aid station. I ran up the hills and, uh, the downhills are really muddy 'cause it was raining. So I did not use the downhills in a lot of cases, but. With my parents, like they, they, particularly the aid station one, they show up at almost all the, a stations that you're allowed to show up for some races.

A lot of times it's in a busier area because of traffic. They won't let spectators come and stop at some of the aid stations. But my parents crew, they by and large go to every aid station. My mom has this really awesome cowbell that she brings and rings so you know that she's there before you can see her.

That's so sweet. And like they cheer on the other runners and, and things too. So like there a lot of, they, they do the cheering part. I will give them like, if I like, like noon. If I water like a particular thing, like I'll make sure like they have that because these stations, by and large have the similar food, but you also don't know exactly where you're gonna get.

Right. Um, and my, my favorite ultra running food are Chipsa, Hoy and Pringles. They did not have either of those things at the a hundred mile raise, I had packed extra for myself in like my cooler that I had at the main a station tent. And then I gave my parents the extras. Yeah. I'm like, please make sure to bring these to all the A stations that you're at.

Particularly once I learned that there were no Pringles. I love Pringles while I'm, while I'm running Original. Original, yeah. Or just original. Regular. Regular. That's the only choice. A hundred. A hundred percent. A hundred percent. Um, so like my parents, like every time that they see me, they're like, which of these, like, here's your bag of things that you gave us.

Which of these things would you like? And just like, you know, asking how I'm doing and, and all of that. Like, but like I said, like these, the races, ultra races that I've done, the age stations have pretty much everything. You don't really need to have. Crew, but it's just always nice to see you. Well, yeah.

Seeing your mom and dad. That's so nice. Do what are some of the weirdest things you've seen at an aid station? Um, like food wise? Mm-hmm. Um, or anything. Well, for that matter, so I'll say the, the a hundred mile rays had some of the fanciest aid station food. Like I'm used to a stations that have, uh, for like the ultras, they'll have like boiled potatoes.

Ew. Pr, like, like, like, like warm with like salt. It's a carbo. It's a quick and easy carbohydrate. Right. But like potatoes, watermelon, bananas, bars, gels, cookies, m and ms, things like that. The a hundred mile. I think each aid station got to decide, like, I think they gave 'em like a standard, like you need to have these things like bananas.

Like otherwise they had an option of like, what to. What they wanted to put at their aid station. Mm-hmm. So there were some, um, that had like this, they called it slurry. It was like ramen noodle chicken soup, mashed potato. I was gonna say mixture. Thinking about how the weather you ran in, I started to think about chicken broth.

Yeah, the ramen. The ramen broth was actually really good. I did. That sounds good. I did like that. Um, but there were some like nut cookie bars. There was one that had jello, which they didn't have jello when I came back through, but like, like, like a jello jiggler. I was like, I was like, oh, I don't want that right now.

But maybe when I come back through, um, then you just start thinking about jello and I, I thought about, I thought about it for 25 miles and I came back to that aid station and there were no more jello jailers left. No, I couldn't handle that. No. No wine had, they had glu, they had gluten-free cookies instead, which were like, gross.

Not really a substitute. My poor mom just told me she made sugar cookies last night and she's gluten-free. And I was like, well, are they good? She goes, well, we need to put a lot of icing on. So gross. But no, like, it's one of the things that's fun about like ultra running aid stations is there's, you know, it's like a buffet in the middle mm-hmm.

Of the woods. When we were, when we were running Monument Hill, particularly when I got to the top half of the Marathon AIDS stations, I was like, I could really go for some Pringles right now. I don't think any of the aid stations are gonna have Pringles. We talked to Jet about that for next year. She had texted me and been like, Hey, could you just put some Pringles, like right in front of this building?

And I'm like, on my way back it's, I want a banana and a Cliff bar. I want some Pringles in North Pringles, please. Well, I told this story, I think on this podcast, but I can't remember when, but I, when I was running the New York City Marathon, I really wanted pretzels. Like it's all that sounded good. I just wanted pretzels so bad.

And if somebody. It could gimme pretzels. I would be like, love them forever. So I managed with all the energy I could muster to get my phone out. I think I had it in like apy belt, a spy belt at the time. And you know, like I don't wanna touch anything when I'm, I just don't wanna expend any more energy.

And I finally got my phone out, I text them, the only word I could get out is pretzels. And I don't remember if it was even plural or same word, pretzel pretzels. I texted them, I get up to them, it's like mile 16. I see them and the, and and I'm like, do you have the pretzels? And they didn't. And I was so mad.

And they're like, we didn't know what you meant. I was like, how could you not understand? Anyway, so I came back and I spectated the following year and I brought pretzels and we made this huge sign that said pretzels. And we put decorate it with like glitter glue and it was amazing. And um, oh my god, I'm gonna forget his last name.

Matt, who ran him with Shalan. What's his last name? Matt James. He was on the Bachelorette and he's the bachelor. Him and Tyler were running that year and Matt took some of my pretzels. You're welcome. And I stalked Tyler at the Port-a-potty and I also shook his hand after, and I feel like I basically touched his, you know, 'cause And then I didn't think about it until after and I was like, go, God.

I digress. Sorry mom. Anyway. Okay. So interesting. I, they're fun. Like the A stations are also like, like little mini like. Parties. But yeah, hang on to parties too for like, people, friends and family that are coming through, like the volunteers. Um, they, you can't have the food if you're just spectating, but, um, to like, to chat with.

And especially the, the ultras that go into the dark, like they put out Christmas lights and like, there's some that, like, they do themes. Like there's one, I don't remember, uh, which one is, but like, flamingos is their theme and they get like, like, oh, I like that. Like dozens of like those Yeah, yeah.

Flamingos that you stick in the ground. Mm-hmm. That they just decorate it like a luau, like each, like they're, they're really, they're really fun. The EU stations are really fun. Yeah, I feel like maybe to like dip my toe, maybe I'll go like crew or like, you know, decorate a tent or something. I dunno. I'm really, I'm interested.

It's not that I'm not interested, I am interested. It's just a whole different world and I'm, I'm kind, I'm a spoiled roadrunner. I'm very, you know, I'm like your typical cliche, like when I see the videos comparing the two people. Like I know Laura, Laura Green did one recently and it was so funny 'cause I'm like, yeah, that's me.

Like, I'm just like checking my watch. The GPS like got all my shit, got my headphones. And you just have the ultra runner who's just couldn't care about anything and it's like, so chill. Just think about watching the sunrise when you're in the woods. It's so peaceful and beautiful. I mean, it doesn't sound bad.

I mean, I don't know. I'm interested in running up north. We're doing a road Ragnar. Mm-hmm. So it's not in trail, which I'm kind of bummed about. We just, the scheduling, trying to schedule is like a nightmare. But it will be in Traverse City area and it's gonna be a little hilly. So I'm a little nervous about that, but I got a while to worry.

It's be there. I did, um, in college there was a group of us that would do, um, it, it was called the Great Lakes Relay at the time. I don't know if it's still called that now, but it was from essentially like a diagonal line from, it wasn't all the way, like the thumb ish area of Michigan up to Traverse City.

It was like 270 300 mile relay. Oh, interesting. But like, you can't like camp overnight. It's like they had designated spots and then like you, and that was primarily on dirt road. Some, I think some of it was. Paved what I remember, which is funny now the, I always was doing the short legs. 'cause even at that time, like I was not like a distance runner really yet.

I do like the three, three and a half mile, maybe four mile legs. Most of mine, when I remember the year or two that I did, it was all on sand. And I just remember being done with that, being like, I hate this. I just wanna run on the road. I don't wanna, I don't wanna run in the dirt and the sand. I'm like, that was, that was hard and miserable.

And now looking back, I'm like, well, little did I know. Yeah, right, that you would like, love that random question. But I know we gotta, I gotta get my kid off the bus sometime soon. Random question about winning stuff. So I have had the experience of doing that very seldom. And it would be age group stuff, not like overall stuff.

And I got recently fourth, 4th of July, I don't remember if you've seen, saw this. But I won like a pirate, booty blow up pool. It was the best, I I picture in the trail in ultra world that there's like weird shit that you win. Is that true? Like what have you gotten as either overall or age group awards?

Yeah, so for the, it's like some of the age group ones that I've, that I've won for Ren Woodstock because it's, you know, Woodstock themed, um, little VW like buses where the Oh, cute. The age group, group prizes this past, what did I, I don't even know what, I got one. I know one of the things that I got to take home was a volunteer had made these like, uh.

Not crochet. They're not cro, they're like crocheted, but like around a frame, like giant peace signs that like, like the top three overall in each race. Like, got to take one. Like they had 'em, they use 'em as decoration, but then as you finish, like you get to like cut 'em down and like, um, oh, that sounds kind of cool.

Could you hang it like on your wall as a decoration? Yeah, it's hanging on my door. That's cool. Right now. 'cause they don't have any other, other hooks than the ones in the back of my door. And then like there's, I got like some skull and cross bone shaped, um, from like, from the, like the naone races and like some tree, like tree shaped tree stump.

Like a lot of like creative, primarily wood-based for some reason, awards, but also like blankets and like running bags and things like that. The big, the big, uh, the big prize though is a free entry Oh. To the following year's race. So one of the reasons why I'm running a 50 mile again in May is that I won.

And so I get to run it for free this year, which, you know, just keeps you coming back. Yeah. But what's funny about finishing and even winning some of the longer races, like the a hundred k, for example, I won, I won that one in September and it took me, is it 11 hours and 26 minutes to run the 30 or 64 or 65 miles?

Um, what's that pace? Uh, a little under 11 minute miles. Okay. I finish at one 30 in the morning. Whew. Everybody except for my parents were pretty much asleep. Even the people at the finish line weren't really expecting me to come through, which I thought was a little bit silly because I'd run through, there's an aid station like less than half a mile before you get to the finish line.

I'm like, surely somebody should have radioed. Maybe I was just running so fast, but I kind of surprised them with the finish line. And even the a hundred mile that took me 21 hours and like 34 minutes I finished at like three 30 in the morning. So like some of, and there were more people that were, uh, awake at the finish line for that one.

But some of these races, like you're finishing in the middle of the night, it's a really different experience. And like crossing the finish line at Boston or at Monumental. Yeah. Where like there's crowds that are cheering. Yeah. It's, it's very much like a I did that thing. Yeah. And whoever's there with you is there to celebrate.

Otherwise this, it was kinda like, I actually really loved running at night. That was one of the things that was new for me this year because I run a lot in the morning. During the week and then I'd done practices running in the dark. But when you run at night, like time doesn't mean anything. Mm. So once it's dark, it's dark.

You could be running for like 30 minutes or like three hours, but like nothing's changing around you. So you kinda like, you like a weird, I think, I think it helps with a longer distances Yeah. Though. 'cause you're like, I have no idea how long I've really been running. I just know I'm gonna keep running until I'm supposed to stop and time doesn't mean anything.

Ooh. Have you ever hallucinated or did you at this year No. I could see how that would happen. Yeah. I think a per particularly like the 200 mile distance is becoming a thing. And I think really when you get up to that level of distance, and I'm sure for many people, like I know a hundred miles is a lot, um, for anybody that if you're not prepared properly, and that's a big part of the reason why Pacers and like the race staff and like all, like following all of the safety measures that are put in place for ultra race are really important to also to keep you safe.

Yeah. As a runner. Yeah. Yeah, I'm such a baby. I would be so scared. It's a lot less scary. It's less scary than I thought I was. I was really nervous. And I did the trail half marathon at Eagle Creek because I just, I hadn't even tell, I had just gotten like the, it was just a belt head headlamp that I was using, and I realized this is in fact not enough light.

I need to actually order a for real headlamp. Yeah. So then I had a, I used a belt, um, light and a headlamp. Yeah. When it was dark, I had two lights and my mom was like, that's how we knew you were coming. We could see your two lights off in the distance, and we knew that you were getting ready to come so I could get my really loud, wonderful cowbell ready.

I love that so much. I wanna go circle back to monumental again, and then I'll ask you the end of the podcast questions. Okay. But I wanted to talk about monumental because it was your first road marathon since 2009. Mm-hmm. And. Like I said at the beginning, you helped pace me for the first half for me. So the first half of the half, which is about seven miles, we split the full marathon, keeps going, the half marathon turns left and kind of heads back towards downtown ish.

So I remember yelling at you being like, okay, you know, don't run too fast. Make me look bad. And you did. I didn't. I think we, we had a pretty similar pace at the end. I don't know. You crushed it. So what, you ran a three 30 marathon, right? Mm-hmm. Just, but also, I don't know if I could have done that without you.

Oh gosh. You said you couldn't, you said it seven miles. I know, but like you said, you helped, like we set the pace at the beginning together and I was like, well, I gotta, like, I remember getting to the half marathon mark of the marathon. I looked at my watch, I was like. Ally better have finished right now because I'm about crossing this, this, uh, finish line at her PR time, so she better be done. And I'm like, and I'm staying pretty on good pace with her right now. Like, if she is done, I'm like, yeah, she is done. So, no, no, you, I mean, as much as you say that I helped you, like you helped me because I went into the marathon at the, in January when I was like, I'm gonna run a hundred miles and being on the board for five years, I've never run the monumental.

Right. I know. That's why I did it last year. I was like, that's right. And that's why I was like, well, I should probably do it. I mean, I'd done the Fort Bend half, I was like, I should probably experience what it's like to run the full marathon. So I knew in January that I was gonna run the full marathon. I knew it was gonna be two weeks after I'd run a hundred miles.

I knew that was going to be hard, and I was like, uh, maybe I qualify for Boston. Eh, I'll see if I can do it. And then like, as it got closer, particularly after I ran the a hundred K in September, and then like I. It was in the process of like actually running the a hundred miles. I was like, you know, if I can just finish the marathon, that would be great.

Um, so having like running with you at the beginning was just as important for me. Like you helped, like together we set the pace to accomplish our goals. Goals at us helping each other. Yeah. We got some good race photos too. Out of that. They're amazing race. I've got more good race photos in 2023 than I have in the previous, like 12 years of running.

It's probably, it's probably ai. They probably just fix you. Maybe also, but like, also like shout out to the Indianapolis local photographers, uh, Terry Fletcher and Timmy Howard are two of them. That a number of the photos that I have, one of the two of them took and sent me. I was like, here's what, like, here's what it looks like when I'm running because my mom, my mom bless her heart, oh God, sorry mom.

Like at the aid stations, I'm like. Either like, I'm eating. Yeah. Or like it's blurry and I'm, and I'm moving. Or like, it's just me standing like when I'm done. Um, but no, like it's so, it's so like, like the race photographers are so important. So like they capture the experience like while you're doing it that nobody else Right.

Could Well, and all you want is just like, look. Like an athlete, like strong, you know, it's like I don't wanna look like a supermodel, but I just don't wanna look like I am weigh 500 pounds, like with eight chins. And it's like, why do the photographers are in the ground too, by the way? I don't know. Like, I don't know.

I don't know. Never's a good angle for me running. I don't know. But in general they did, they did get some really good photos of us at money myself for sure. They are, they were good. And that's like rare. It's like, oh, nice to have a good race photo. Um, I still share like the, my favorite race photo is actually from the New York City marathon in 2018 that I still use for a lot of stuff because I like it so much.

I felt like absolute dog shit when they took that picture of me too. And I just baked it. You do a really good job though. Smiling for the race photos, whereas I'm like, maybe they won't look at me. Yeah, you got, you got like, you're looking right at the camera. You got the big smile. I'm like, I'm like ready for it.

Those are my moments where I like try to pump myself back up too. I'm like, okay, pretend like you're running. You've got your name and bib showing so that you can actually find yourself. Whereas like mine is like half hidden underneath my shirt because I'm just like, I don't know how this is supposed to work.

I don't know anything about this. Oh man. I hope we get a chance to do that again at some point. For sure. Yeah, it was fun. I enjoyed it. And that race, the weather was great. We had so many course records. I wonder if we'll ever have an ultra marathon. Who knows? You gotta, you could do that. I don't know. I don't know.

I dunno, either. We have so much work to do, still to make monumental even bigger. We'll see what the future holds. Mmm. So 2024, are you gonna run Boston? 'cause you qualified, right. Um, have you run Boston in the past? No, I haven't. And it's never really, it's not like a bucket list, like I'm training for this type of goal raise for me.

I did wanna see, like, I wanted to prove to myself, uh, that I can run a hundred miles and then two weeks later qualify for Boston. I really, I did really wanna prove that to myself. I didn't like speak that out loud very much, but I, I wanted to prove that I could do that. Yeah. Um, so like doing that is enough.

If the cutoff times don't change too much and I am able to actually put my name in for Boston and I were where I to get in, I would totally run it. Yeah. But like, I think it was like. Either just over or just under five minutes off of the qualifying times this year to be able to Yeah. Run the 2024 Boston race.

So even if you qua like, sure I qualified and like I'm, I'm proud of that, but like, I don't know if that's even good enough to run right. To actually race it. I know I keep thinking about, I've now spoken it out loud that I would like to run Boston. I would like to qualify, I would like to go do it. I think I'm in a position to continue gaining speed and I, I'd be curious, I'm not planning on doing that next year because what I've learned, especially with having a coach, is like, I know that it takes time.

Like I just put in a really good year of speed work, but I didn't do the distance part of it. So maybe next year I can do a combo of those things. Run a, a full marathon again, see how much time I can. You know, chunk off of my sub four, that's my mm-hmm. PR is like 3 57 and then go from there. Like to your point, there's so much time between when you ran a full and then going to do it again.

Like Yeah, it's like an hour. I feel like I was a whole entirely different person and athlete when I ran that sub four. Yeah. I was in great shape, but I was running like a crazy person. Like I just would go out and run as fast as I could for whatever my plan said. Yep, yep. So it'll be interesting to see also the older you get the, uh.

The Boston qualifying change time, so I know that's, I keep saying, I'm like, oh, I'm almost 40. So like I could just wait till it bumps it up and then everyone tells me, don't worry about that. Right. So like, I mean like the standard qualified time is like the three 30, but for my age grade was 3 35. Ah. So I do have, if they do, how old are you?

I'm 37. Okay. Same old. Yeah. We're the same age. Same old, same old. We're the same old. Are you sure You don't want that to be the title of this podcast? That's, that's really funny. The same old, the same old. Um, but yeah, you, you have, you have more room for qualifying, uh, for Boston. The older that you get to.

Yeah. Right. So I'm like, that's why like that 40 mark's interesting. Because you can be like, you can do it while you're 39. Whatever. Whatever. Yeah. Yeah. I dunno. We'll see. Well if you need to, as you're doing your distance training, just let me know if you need somebody to run distance, right. Yeah, I know who to call.

Because I could be like, Hey, you wanna go run any distance that you're training for a marathon? And you'd be like, that's no problem. Well, and that was like for the longest time. Um, 'cause people always like, like are you training for something? And like, I have the races for the, for like, that I love doing every year that I always do.

But really like my baseline, what are you training for is if anybody knocked on my door was like, Hey, do you wanna go run a marathon today? Whether or not I had the time to do it, I knew I could physically say, yeah sure I can go do that with you. Yeah. You're the person. I keep seeing those stupid videos that are like, tag the person that would you would go run a marathon with right now.

And they'd say, yes, now you're my person. Like, get a thousand dollars to just go show up at Ashley's doorstep and be like, would you like to go run a marathon? 'cause you really could do it. Yeah, sure. Okay. Did you look at your notes? Did we miss anything big? No, I think we got everything. Okay. Um, let's make sure.

Okay. I think so. I think the only other thing that in my lovely permanent marker. I love it. No, it's, so this is my fifth year of. No days off running every single day. This is my second year of 200 mile months. Oh. So, um, 2022 and then 2023. I've run a minimum of 200 miles every single month. Um, so my total miles for the end of 2023 will probably be a little bit over 2,860 miles, which is the most miles that I've run.

Um, I don't think I'm gonna hit 3000. I, like I could. Right. I mean, I still have enough time. Yeah. And with the holiday break, if I run, I, I could do it. I don't think that I'm going to try to run enough this year. Yeah. But almost 3000 miles. That's a lot of miles. Wow. How do you not get hurt? Not finding some wood, but not wood in here.

Oh, maybe that door's wood. I don't know. I don't know. I think, I think in, in part, like you hear a lot of, you know, as you get older, like your knees start to hurt or your body, you know, falls apart mm-hmm. Or hurts because they're running. And I, I do think that's true. And if you're not training safely and running safely, definitely true.

But I think part of it is. Running every day has kept me from getting, yeah, seriously hurt. I did, in 2016 when I was running a 50 k, I ran with my cousin and I did do something to my right ankle, which still bothers me to, like, you can't put a lot of, uh, like strength training type type pressure on it because like, I don't know, there's cartilage or something that got stuck in there.

Um, I did, I injured that at mile seven of the 50 k and then I finished running the next 24 miles, which I didn't do a lot of racing and running. Then in the end of 2016 and early 2017, because I hurt myself, so I don't know, I, I just attributed the fact that I'm like, my body is used to doing. This every single day.

And, um, try not to do anything too crazy. It's part of the reason why I am careful going down the hills when I do ultra running. 'cause I am afraid of falling. Falling. Yeah. That would be. But you know, like my, that same cousin, he did a transcontinental run in 2019. He ran from California to New York and he was running almost every single day, like 50 mile days.

And, um, I know a number of people that have done that. And your body just, your body's amazing and it can adapt Yeah. To doing things like that. Yeah. That's wild to me. Okay. Um, I just noticed that it's two 30 and, okay. My kid gets off the bus at, uh, 2 52. Okay. So I've got like, okay. So rapid fire, the last couple of questions.

Okay. I'm ready. And you know them. So first, what is your favorite mantra and or song? Sure. Run the mile that you're in. Yeah. You know, it, those tattoos look good on you. Thank you. I mean, it's, it's true, especially for like the long, like if you're running a hundred miles. At mile one, you can't be thinking about mile 99 like you are.

You are living in the mile that you are running at the moment. Yeah. And I saw your bracelet says one more loop too, right? I did, yeah. I got these, uh, Christie that does the, the bracelet that you put in your que Yeah. Yeah. So before the a hundred, I got the run your mile that you're in because I got the tattoo and I'm like, I need something that's not gonna Yeah.

Wash off or the permanent marker that I tried doing for myself. Yeah. And then one more loop because a lot of the, uh, a number of the ultras that I do are loop races. Yeah. So like four more, three more, two more. Yeah. One more loop. Yeah. And to be fair. That tattoo lasted through the rain of a hundred mile race.

It sure did. It lasted for like two weeks. That's wild to me. I, you know, I tested a bunch to try to figure out, hey, what can last through a marathon? But that's a, you picked a good one. That's a testament. So yeah. Whether you want it to last that long or not. Okay. And then do you listen to music while you're around?

No. No. You're one of those I listen, yeah. I'm one of those. I listen to nature. Cool. Okay. What finish line or milestone is next? Um, well the next milestone is gonna be December 31st when I officially hit five years in a row. Yep. That's so of running every single day. So that's big milestone. My next for sure Finish line will be, uh, the Naone 50 mile in May.

I haven't decided if I'm gonna do any other Do you do the Mini Ever race between that? No, I'm pushing, this year I'm doing Ainsley's Angels. Okay. So I think that that's gonna be a way for me to experience it differently and. I don't know. My, my, my thing with the mini is very technical and the fact that a mini marathon is a small 26.2 mile race.

It is a, a half marathon is a 13.1 mile race. Yeah, it is weird. Yeah. 13.1 mile race is not a mini marathon. It is a half marathon. And for that reason and that reason alone, I will never run the mini marathons. I thought you were gonna say, I'm out like on Shark Tank and for that reason, I'm out. I'm out the end.

Thank you everybody for listening to this episode. This was so much fun. I could do this all afternoon. It was fun. I am, any anytime that you need to fill in guest hosts, I'm here. Yeah. Oh my gosh, it's so fun. I'll bring the forks next time. Oh my gosh. Knives. It's so ridiculous. All right, well thank you everybody for listening.

Happy Holidays and enjoy the rest of what's left of 2023. I will be back the third week in January with a new episode, so I will talk to you then. Happy running everybody.

Ally Brettnacher