Episode 36: Tracie Hunter - Indiana Runner Girl

Episodes

Dec 8

Tracie Hunter ran her first Chicago Marathon in 1998 in a cotton T-shirt with almost no training. Twenty-five years later she ran Berlin, Chicago and New York in six weeks, all within five minutes.

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About this episode

Tracie Hunter, known on Instagram as Indiana Runner Girl, grew up in Bloomington, studied statistics at Purdue and started running after her freshman year by counting laps on a YMCA track. She jumped straight to the 1998 Chicago Marathon and has since run 34 marathons, including eight Chicagos, London as part of the Abbott World Marathon Majors age group championships, and three ultras. In fall 2023 she ran Berlin in 3:21:06, Chicago in 3:21 and New York in 3:26 within six weeks, at 46.

Tracie is a single mom of two teenage girls and coaches runners through her business, IRG Training. We talk about learning to pace and fuel after years of going out too fast, how she coaches herself, her Ainsley's Angels experience at the Mini, her loop-course ultras at Eagle Up, why she loves winter running, and how she makes her funny, helpful Instagram reels, including the cheese reel I got to be part of.

In this episode, we discuss

Being a mom of teen girls who get embarrassed by her Instagram
Growing up in Bloomington and choosing Purdue over IU
Starting to run after freshman year by counting nine laps a mile on a YMCA track
Running the 1998 Chicago Marathon with a 13-mile long run and no fuel
Eight Chicago Marathons, a 3:36 Boston qualifier at 24 and racing faster in her 40s
Three World Marathon Majors in six weeks: Berlin, Chicago and New York
How a virtual marathon in 2021 earned her a guaranteed New York entry
The Abbott World Marathon Majors age group championships in London and Chicago
Learning to race by effort and to fuel after years of stomach issues
How to recover between marathons run a month apart
Starting IRG Training right before COVID and coaching herself with VDOT
Pushing a rider at the Mini with Ainsley's Angels
Three ultras at Eagle Up: 100K, 50 miles and 50K
Winter running, layers and Goodwill onesies
Making Instagram reels, the cheese reel and her mantra "run where your feet are"

Chapters

Intro
Teen daughters and embarrassing reels
Bloomington, Purdue and fellow mathematicians
Straight to the marathon
Eight Chicagos and a Boston qualifier
Three majors in six weeks
Age group championships
Learning to pace and fuel
Why no triathlons
Recovering between back-to-back marathons
IRG Training and coaching herself
Ainsley's Angels at the Mini
Ultras at Eagle Up
Winter running and race signs
Content creation and the cheese reel
Mantra, music and Boston

Where to find Tracie

Instagram: @indianarunnergirl
Coaching: IRG Training

Mentioned in this episode

Races: Chicago Marathon, Berlin Marathon, New York City Marathon, London Marathon, Boston Marathon, Tokyo Marathon, Sydney Marathon, Philadelphia Marathon, OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon, CNO Indianapolis Monumental Marathon, Zionsville Half Marathon, Fargo Half Marathon, Carmel Marathon, Eagle Up Ultra, Full Mo 50K, Snickers Marathon, Travis Manion 5K
Organizations and charities: IRG Training, Ainsley's Angels, Abbott World Marathon Majors, Purdue University
Other: Jeannie Rice, Meb Keflezighi, VDOT, Suits

Previous guests mentioned

Related episodes

Frequently asked

Who is Indiana Runner Girl?

Indiana Runner Girl is Tracie Hunter, a Bloomington native and Purdue graduate who has run 34 marathons, coaches runners through IRG Training and is known for her funny, helpful Instagram reels.

Can you run three marathon majors in six weeks?

Tracie Hunter ran Berlin, Chicago and New York within six weeks in fall 2023, finishing all three within five minutes of each other. She says the key was walking and recovering after each race instead of trying to gain fitness in between.

What is Eagle Up Ultra?

Eagle Up is a loop-course ultra near Canton, Ohio, where runners pick a distance from 50K to 100 miles within 24 hours. Tracie Hunter has run the 100K, 50 miles and 50K there.

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Transcript

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

Welcome to Finish Lines and Milestones with Ali Bretnacher. Incredible stories and tales of triumphs with everyday people achieving their goals and fitness. This podcast brought to you by Athlete Bouquets. Celebrate finish lines and milestones of the people that you love by visiting athletebouquets.com. Hello and welcome to episode 36. This is Ali Bretnacher and happy holiday season. If you're like me and you still have shopping to do, check out athletebouquets.com as my friend Rachel in the introduction of this podcast so kindly told you about great gifts for anybody who ran a race this year that you are still shopping for. And let's see, I am still recovering from the cold that I had last week.

I did my long run workout prescribed by my coach yesterday. Thought I was in the clear I've been today chaperoned a kindergarten field trip and feel like I'm almost back to square one. Just feeling run down. But man, this season will just do that to you. So took an extra rest day today and hoping that I will continue to get healthier, especially heading into the holidays. So the episode this week was so much fun. I love Tracy Hunter. So glad that she is now a friend of mine. She was on my list for this show from day one. I knew of her on Instagram as Indiana runner girl, so certainly if you don't follow her yet, you need to do that.

But I met her. I've met her in person a couple of times after races. We talked about a random run in we had before Berlin and now got to spend some time with her recording this and we had a lot of laughs. We talked about how she's a mom of two girls as well. Hers are older. We talked about how she's embarrassed them on the Internet. We talk about how we are both mathematicians. Marathons are her jam. So we talk about how she went straight to the marathon distance without doing anything else Before that. We talk about how she discovered her speed, why she's never done a triathlon even though she was a swimmer.

Advice. We talk about her coaching business, IRG training. We talk about her participation in the Mini last year doing Ainsley's Angels, which I've signed up to do in 2024. We talk about her Ultra. She's done three of them. We talk about how she's her own coach. We. Talk about winter running, which of course is what we are all at least in Indiana, doing right now. And we talk about the future and her content creation process. That was fun to talk about too, because she is like the queen of reels on Instagram. So we actually made one that you'll have to go check out if you haven't already seen it.

So I really hope you all enjoy this conversation with Tracy as much as I did. All right, Tracy is here. And Tracy is also known as Indiana Runner Girl on the Instagram. Are you on TikTok too or do you just do? Instagram I have a TikTok, but I have not. I had to delete all my old Tik toks because my daughter was embarrassed. Fair enough, yeah. I actually wanted to ask you about your reels and daughters and how that works, 'cause yours are old enough to be embarrassed now. How old are your girls? 15 and almost. 13 OK, yeah, so is that like, prime embarrassment age?

Oh yeah. Oh, that's fun. So they probably do They. What do they think of your Instagram? So they actually they they are proud of me. I think my oldest is in high school, so a lot of her swimming friends and teammates follow me on Instagram, so I have to be a little bit more censored now with my material. Now I'd love to know a little bit more about what it was like when you were not censored. A lot of the sports bra, the sports bra changing videos from the back you. Know I'm like, yeah, we're not doing. That no more of that. Oh my gosh, that's funny.

Oh man, 15 and 13. So my girls are 6 and 2 1/2, so I have two girls as well. Yeah, those are they're fun years. They they get more fun as they get older and harder as a different in a different way. You know, like when they're young it's hard because they are not independent and now they're too independent. Yeah. And they think they can live on their own so. And they know everything, of course. Yeah, but. They they feel like they know everything their whole life, right? Yeah, I was going to say, so does my 2 now. Yeah, she knows everything. And my 6 year old actually says that to me a lot now.

I know. OK. Did you? You didn't. There's no way you could have known that. So they do. They like you still? I think so. That's good. They do. Do you think part of that is being a single mom? I don't know. Because I I don't know. I gave my mom so much crap as a teenager. Yeah, so I just. I mean. There's a lot of crap in there but but. Like, no, I, like, was not nice, Yeah. At all? Well, you know, as as you become a parent and as you go through these phases of life, you kind of realize how hard you were as a child growing up.

You're like, oh, now I get it. Now I get when my parents said that to me or whatever. Yeah, now I understand why it's like nothing good happens after midnight. Well, yeah, I don't. Can't remember the last time I stayed up till after midnight, so it's fine. Yeah. Oh, man. So are you originally from Indiana? I am from Bloomington. Bloomington Yeah, OK. And then I went to Purdue. I was going to say yeah. So I went to the opposing school for college and studied statistics there. Oh yeah, I was a they called it at Miami, Ohio Decision Sciences, which was a fancy way of saying business statistics interesting.

So not like straight up stats, but like maybe fluffy stats you could say. I like that. So you're a mathematician too. That's what my aunt calls me. She calls me a mathematician. I am a mathematician. But my running math is not very good. It's like for being a mathematician, I cannot add or subtract or anything at all while I'm running. And the longer you're kind of out of that field, you're like, I don't remember how to do do that at all. Right. Yeah. No, yeah, absolutely. When I see my my sophomore's school work, I'm like, yeah, I don't remember how to do any. Of that.

That's terrifying to me. Really. Yeah. It's got to make you. It's kind of humble you real quick. Like, I have zero idea. I've just heard elementary math is really tough now. The ways they teach things. Yeah. Anyway, I don't. I'm not ready for that. Not yet. No. Thank you. What age? Because we're near the holidays and I this is just something I was talking to my parents about. What age did your girls stop believing in Santa? I have no idea, my dad said. 1st grade. My dad said it was like first grade. This is the last Christmas. We never really talked about it. So they still believe and they still get gifts from Santa, right?

Yeah, right. So they're like, I'm not saying anything and these aren't going to appear anymore and then I'll only get gifts for my mom. Yeah, exactly. Smart. Yeah. Yeah, we'll see. Mine's like we've just watched some sort of random Christmas movie that was the girl was trying to like prove the existence of Santa. And so then my 6 year old's like I need proof and I'm like. OK. I would say 8 is probably where they might know. Yeah. Anyway, that's sad. I didn't realize I was. 10 When my dad told me and I I already knew, Yeah. Like you're like, yeah, I've known for a while, Dad.

That's. Funny. Oh so Purdue. Not not IU. So why not IU? I just wanted to get out of town. Yeah, I could see that because everybody from my high school went to IU or majority, you know? So I was like I got to leave and my parents give me in state options, you know, and they were like Purdue's probably better than Ball State so, so I just went there. There you go, Yeah. Did most of your family go to IU being just being in the area or were they? My sister went to Purdue. My brother went to Purdue. OK, so there we. Go. But my brother did transfer to IU after one year so.

Interesting. Yeah. OK. Yeah, I could see not wanting to be a townie. Exactly or call it. The town? Yeah, out here. But would you go back and visit and hang out at IU when you would be home? Yeah, that'd be kind of amazing, I mean. Bloomy. Tons of fun town. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And your running journey started at Purdue. At Purdue, my freshman year, basically after the whole school year, I started running. I gained a bunch of weight. Freshman year I used to swim and so I went to Purdue and did not swim and I kind of worked out a little bit. But then I was like, Nah, you know the winter got kind of cold and didn't.

I didn't go to the Co rec very often to work out gained some weight and then that summer I was like, OK, you're going to start running. So I just went to we had went back to Bloomington. We had an outdoor track at the Y and 9 loops for was a mile. So I just start counting to 9 and doing mile after mile after mile and it was before we had Garmin watches. So you just had like a Timex watch and timed it and then you were done with your own? So how did you keep track of your laps? Just by time. Yeah, just counting.

Because that'd be so hard. It is, you know, stats, but you just. It was pretty, you know, like every loop was a minute or whatever. You know, it's like a 9 minute mile. So it's pretty easy to keep track of. Yeah, I have a really hard time without having a garment or something to keep me honest. If I'm running, which I don't really do loops very often, but if I do I lose track very. Quickly. I have no idea. Yeah. It's like, and I space out now and I lose track of everything, yeah. So, and I read that you went straight to a marathon, You didn't run like a local 5K, you just went right to the 26th 2.

How did that happen? So I just so that freshman year I ran and ran and ran and ran and realized I really liked running. So I just kind of kept doing that. And then I met a friend who so all through College in the summers, I would be a camp counselor. I used swim camp, and I met a friend who was a runner at the time. And she was like, I'm going to train for a marathon. Do you want to do Chicago Marathon with me? And I was like, yeah, why not? No big deal. I can do this. And so, like an idiot, I went to Chicago without hardly training.

You know, I think maybe my long run might have been a 13, but I have no idea. Oh, jeez. Yeah. Whoa. Yeah, it was ugly. I love seeing the pictures of it, though. Like a cotton T-shirt. Like, yeah, yeah. I mean, in a way, it was nice back then because you didn't know any better, right? So I just went into it. I thought a marathon was going to be easy. I definitely died at 13, if not at like 8 miles. And I remember walking early. I had stomach issues. I didn't fuel. The second-half of that marathon was a nightmare, but I loved it. Chicago. Chicago is amazing.

Like just a fun place. Have you done, Chicago? Yes, it's the one I've done the most. I've done Chicago four times. Yeah, yeah. But not for a while. It's a good you need to go back. I put, I did put my name in, Yeah, yeah, you. Should find out soon. Right. What's today? Tuesday. Find out Friday. OK, yeah. So when this comes out is the Chicago. Nice day. You will know. Are you just are you grandfathered and you do it enough? If you want to do it next year, you could or. Do you have to have a streak? Yeah. Yeah, I I don't. OK. You don't have the streak, OK, I.

Did for a while. It was my I would do that race and then take the rest of the year off and then do it again. And then like I I was not good after marathon, like recovery and kind of continuing training. I would always take the winter off and then kind of start again in August. Yeah, almost like Start. Fresh again, which is not good because I wasn't being consistent, but that was the race where I qualified for Boston. It took me like 4 I think, Chicago to qualify for. Boston How many times have you run Chicago? I just finished the 8th time, OK And that's my most run race.

OK. Wow. And this year was how many years talking about math since the 1st Chicago that you ran? 25 years ago 1998 to 2023, which is crazy. Wow. Yeah, and what's the difference in time? If I was 15 minutes faster than then my very best Chicago, which was not my first Chicago, wow. So 15 minutes. Yeah, so I think by my, I think by my 4th Chicago, I was at a 336. OK. So it took me a little bit of time to get under and I think by my 4th I was a 336, which is a BQ. Yeah. And then I never was able to get any faster at Chicago.

I tried again when I was like 39 and had a bad race, 'cause I always used to go out as hard as I could. Yeah, yeah, so even like not too many years ago, I I still was racing poorly. Yeah, so. Which blows my mind like just my in my short knowledge of of you, it's like, oh, Tracy is like, really knows how to race, which you do now, certainly. Thank you. Yeah, so 15 minutes off your best. What's the age comparison then? How old were you when you ran your best Chicago compared to now I? Was 21 OK and 46 now? So you shatter.

Just shatter BQ. Well, I guess I was, I guess I when I went the 336, I was 24. OK, OK. So it's still over 20 years later? Yeah, that's just. Yeah. Mind blowing to me, it's crazy and so encouraging. Yeah. So encouraging, 'cause I am feeling like, OK, I finally PR Ed again in the half. So now I'm kind of like I I did a sub four in Chicago. I think that was 2014, the year I got married. That year I was like in super shape, you know, and it's like so funny. But I ran just under four. It was like, I don't know, 35659 or 50 like very.

Is that your PR? That is for the marathon, Yep. Because then ever since I have run either like more for fun, just to complete the distance kind of thing, thinking 04 out, I did a sub four pat on the back. I'm good with that. But now now I'm like you can. Get you can do that. Now I'm curious about what's possible. Especially with your new half PR. Right, Yeah. Which was was that again. 14314 Yeah, yeah. So yeah, that translates to I forget the final time, but like that's like a just under 8 minute mile, which would just be like, I don't know, 811 pace for a full marathon, which I forget, but it's like really fast for me.

Like thinking about that I'm like, but also just thinking about getting to the next step, right. Not necessarily doing that, but OK, so 8 Chicago's and then I want to talk about just right out of the gate this year because it's wild to me that you ran and we're just laugh about that Three world majors within is it six weeks was that the time frame 6. Weeks from the first to the last, from Berlin to New York. Crazy. Crazy. It was kind of crazy. Walk us through how that happened because you had to defer one of them, right? Or. How did that come? Together. New York was I did a virtual marathon in 2020.

I was one of the lucky runners who was able to do to sign up for a virtual marathon in 2020, which would allow me to enter, OK, New York, I still had to pay but like, it was like an auto. Your auto. Guaranteed to run, guaranteed. Entry is what I was looking for. So in 2020, I did Pandamit Marathon in northern Indiana. You're gonna need to say that one more time, Pandamit. OK, 'cause I thought you just said pandemic. Really weird. No, no, that's not how you pronounce it, Tracy. Really weird, but. Pandamit. That's funny. Northern Indiana, I think it was 2021, actually, when I ran it, and it was freezing cold, terrible, terrible day, The wind.

So it was like in the country, right, And you had to do loops and it was it was November because you had it. You have to do the virtual New York on a certain weekend, I think the same weekend. The New York that they usually do it. And so you can either do one out by yourself or you could do a real race or whatever. But I did the pan, damn it, and I had a major temper tantrum during it because it was it was seriously the worst weather ever. Like, I think feels like 20, you know, spitting sleet kind of weather. Yeah, that sounds.

But it didn't. It doesn't matter what you go on the virtual one. Just like you just finish it. Yeah, so. So 26.2, you make it. I actually had a pretty good time because it was so cold, you know? Like I, the faster you run, the faster you're done. Yeah. Yeah. So I did that and I think it was 2021 and that gave me auto entry to New York and you have to use it within a certain time period. So I got into New York last year. So this year would be the last year that I was allowed to use my entry. So. I didn't want to throw away an entry in New York City, so I was like, OK, I'm going to do that.

And then I I think I got into Chicago age group champs. Which we also need to talk about. Yeah, from doing at the time, I think you had to do 2 ranked marathons and then you get an invite through Abbott. And so I was in Chicago and I also had entered into the Berlin lottery and got into Berlin. And then I was like, wait a minute, this is whoops, yeah 'cause I was like I could do Chicago and New York a month apart. That's pretty normal. Like not normal, but you can recover and then it. Doesn't sound as insane. Yeah, yeah, I have done it before, put it that way.

Then when I had Berlin as well, I'm like, I don't know how this is going to work. So did you put your name in just thinking? Well, there's probably not any way I'm gonna get it. It was the first time you ever entered for Berlin. I actually got into Berlin in 2020, but they cancelled it. So I took my name out of the thing for 2021 because I didn't know what travel was going to be like anything. So I I just dropped my entry and then try it again. OK, I wonder if they, like, used somehow like people who had already gotten in previously. That's crazy.

Yeah. But Needless to say, could you not defer Berlin this year? I am not sure. So you maybe could have. Yeah, the timing just worked out OK for me, so I just did it. Yeah, I could see with seasons of life with girls and like what they have going on in their lives, You. Just never know what's gonna happen next year, so. So you're like, well, let's. Do it. OK, Yeah. Wow. So that's what happened. So. Amazing, but really fun. You know, really good fall. And now it's like, how do I talk? About seasonal, like depression, like you had all these like amazing race experiences.

Especially being the majors, they're just really amazing races. It's not like you just do some local race and then another one. These are like people are cheering for you and you see so many running friends and other people that you know and just a lot of excitement all at once. And then it's like it's winter. Not really. Yay, Indiana. Yeah. So exactly. Have you ever been to Europe before? I have. OK, Yeah. So I've done London. Oh, right. I did know that because you've done London. Was that with the age group that was? In 2022 in London and my parents are from England, so I had been there as a little kid, OK?

Yeah. Are they? Where are they now? Still in Indiana, Like Bloomington. No, no. My mom is in Bloomington. My dad is deceased. OK, OK. And so, so you travelled abroad when you were little, Yeah. And London you did. How? How did that come about then doing London in 2022? Was that because you qualified with? London's a really hard marathon to get into, even through lottery, although I have. I did have a runner get in this year, which I've never seen, yeah. So when Abbott said they were using that as the age group championships and I was going to have an opportunity to go, I was like, I'm going no matter, you know, I'm.

I'm going to get there and do this one and that. That race is incredible, if you ever have the chance. I I hope so. I hope so. Yeah, I mean, they all are really great. Yeah. So how did you? OK, Let's back up a little bit and talk about how, how did you get faster to begin with, because you talk about not necessarily racing super smart back then. And so how did you determine that you could actually get faster? I guess being a like swimming background, did that help you as an athlete? I don't. The swimming background helped me with like the determination and consistency and showing up day after day.

I think over time you really learn your effort where you need to learn your effort and you shouldn't be going out in a marathon all out unless you're an elite runner. You know where you can hold that effort for a long period of time. I cannot. So I I've really started to learn what my effort is and I asked myself, can you hold this for half a marathon? Can you hold this for a marathon? And if you're at mile 5:00 and you're breathing really hard, then you are going to be in trouble. Yeah. And I used to go out every, every marathon in my half marathon PR 'cause I I didn't race half.

So it was like this. That's a new PR, I'm killing it. And then you die at mile. 16 You know you're walking, then you die. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. But also just fuel. I never used to fuel, so fueling is huge. Like at all? At all. Nothing. I wouldn't even drink water, I don't think. Jeez. I used to have stomach issues and I would think it was because, you know, maybe of something I ate. So then you just. Don't didn't want to eat anything, right? Yeah. But then it's even worse. So Oh my goodness. Fueling. Pacing properly. You're training. You can't. I used to train everything the exact same pace.

Yeah, same. Which I didn't know what I was going honestly cuz I had a Timex watch so you just run and like I said, sometimes the simplicity was helpful and sometimes it was not right. Yeah, yeah, 'cause you're like, I have no idea. And then you go to the race and you're all excited and you have no idea that you're running way too fast. And yeah, so at what point did you did the age group thing get on your radar? Did you know that that was even a thing? It has only been around, I think, for three years. Oh, OK well, that makes me feel I was like I had no.

Idea. Maybe four years. So I don't think I was eligible the first time it came around. And then I think London might have been the second one because of 2020, right? OK, I could be wrong on that. But I think London was the first year. I don't know where it was done the first year. So the second year, London and then this year Chicago. OK. And then next year they're going to do it in Sydney. OK Yeah. Cool. Yeah. So what's the yeah? Criteria changed the rules, but you had to do 2 ranked and they have a list on the Abbott World Age Group. I think that's the site, yeah, or the Wanda site or something.

But they have a list of marathons that count in the ranking. So it can't be like one of the net downhill, although I think Boston counts which is the net downhill, but it can't be like the Revel races. I don't think, yeah, it makes makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. I'm surprised those are BQ courses. Oh, and you have to be over 40. OK. Yeah, so it's only old people. Only old people. Old fogies like me. Which is technically masters level, right? 40 It has to be a Masters runner, yeah, and there are some. I can only, I can only imagine because I know how fast you are and I looked up your ranking and I'm like, I mean it's it's incredible that you're you're ranked in the world for being as fast as you are but then you're like who the hell are these people that are.

Faster. Oh, I know who they are. I bet you do. I see them at the racist. Oh my. Gosh, no. Some people are. Yeah, it's it's crazy. And especially like looking at like Jeannie Rice, who I believe is 70 and she can go at 325. She has the world record 3/25/70. You're like in the world. My dad's talking about doing. He wants to do Boston when he's 70. So we've been talking about what he needs to do to like qualify. He does and he's been been to Boston a couple times, but he so he's just trying to like figure out. How old is he? He's 67.

He's born in 56, so you can do that, mathematician. I suck at this. I'm like, I don't know how old, I don't know how old I am, how. I don't know how old I am. So it's like. I keep giving myself extra years for some. Reason, right. Like some days I'm like, yeah, I'm 38. I'm like, no, wait, I'm 37 or is it 36? No, I'm 37. I did see a sign, a sign somebody was holding up at Chicago and it's like 48 or something like that. And I was like, oh, that's me. And I was like, no, I'm 46, you idiot. Two years? Wow, you're almost 50I.

Feel like it sometimes. That's funny. Wow. OK. How old I was. So, so I pulled the rankings on the website I so how do you read these? So it's like you are 93rd in your age group in the in the world. Yeah, that's awesome. Top 100 in the. No, it that's not right in the US. Place in the age group, OK? It might be in the US still, yeah. In the United States, how do you know then? Well, so then, so it only shows you then the US, not all over I. Don't know it should. Show you in the world this. I don't know. We need to find out.

OK, Anyway, you're ranked. You're ranked. And it. That's incredible. Wow, that's so crazy, though. So then this year at Chicago, did you compete then by default? Yeah, I mean, I try, OK. I'm telling you, there are there are women my age going like 250, you know, which is insane. So walk me through the times of your the three majors this. Fall. So at Berlin I went to 321 O six OK low, Chicago 321 high. OK. And New York was 326 low. They were all within 5 minutes. Wow, that's a whoa that's. Great. Yeah, it showed that I had my fitness and just. Yeah, look at you now like a machine.

You're smart, you know what to do, and you just execute on. Yeah. And New York is a way harder course. So you would expect it to. Be a little bit. Slower the weather and all of them. New York. It got kind of hot, but not for me necessarily, but for the people later in the day. Yeah. When you say 326 low, you mean so it's like lower in the seconds. Yeah, okay, yeah. Just I don't never heard anybody say it like. That it's my swimming talk. Probably Okay. I don't talk. I don't know anything. How did you not end up doing triathlons as a swimmer?

Or have you done any? I have never done a triathlon. That's so weird to. Me. I don't have a road bike, so I'd be embarrassed on. My I've done. The only triathlons I've done, I've done on a mountain, Yeah, which is like a. Million. And I also don't like open water neither. Yeah, especially not Eagle Creek or anything scary. I don't. I really don't like that no at. All so if I someday. You can do one in a. They have a lot of them that are in pools, don't they? I think so. Like when my kids are grown up, I know because I know that I don't swim right now.

Man, it's been like 10 years, you know, gone to LA Fitness. And like done some. Laughs. Yeah. I don't know how to swim properly I should say. So I have done a couple Sprint triathlons and it was really hard for me and I remember in college I was I had a stress fracture, which is really knock on wood. But my only injury, I just overdid it. And so of course, because I was insane in college. What sport did you in college? I didn't. I just ran myself. Like that's when I started running. And it was mainly because I had gained a bunch of weight and everybody was like, yeah, everyone's super skinny.

So I'm like, I'm just going to run on the treadmill for 1,000,000 miles and and so of course injured myself that way And so then I just swam in the pool because I had to exercise. There was no, I was like, this is my only means of exercising. I have to exercise. And so that's the only time I swam. And I had a couple of girlfriends who actually like, knew how to swim. So they tried to help me. But you know what? Now that I think about it, this is a tangent, but I have a you're going to be like what the hell? But I have a deviated septum.

I just found out. And so I'm getting it fixed next year, and I wonder if that's it. Helps you breathe. I, like, literally don't breathe through my nose. Ever. Really. Like, I have to think about it to do it. Interesting. So I wonder if I couldn't swim because I trying to breathe. Swimming was extremely difficult for me, even running. Now as I pay more attention to my form and trying to get better at that, the breathing was the same. And I'm like, how the hell do people breathe through their nose? And that's kind of what led me to get it checked out and now you.

Can't get any air? Yeah, like half of my nose is like, blocked off, basically. Wow. So anyway, so that's why I'm going to blame that on why I can't swim. So. But I'm just surprised that you, with your swimming background, have not. Yeah, it's. I would love to do an Iron Man someday, but I know the time it takes for training. That would have to be later. When you're an empty nester. Yeah. Yeah. So Berlin, did you travel? Because I saw you right before Berlin, which was fun. Yeah, I'm going to have to repost that video of us. So if any, I don't know if anyway, surely some of your athletes listening like Angelica and Margot will will be like, Oh yeah, I remember this because they were subjected to it by their coach.

Oh, Margot. Margot is not my. She's not your athlete. Why not? Because she just got picked up a MEB as her coach. Oh, cool. I know. Well, can't compete with that. Yeah, all right. Well, anyway. What? Yeah. Like Kopflevsky. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, is there another MEB in this world? I don't know. There might be there might be a baby MEB. Maybe okay, but you traveled with them, so you traveled to Berlin with them. Was it just the three of you? Traveled. We all traveled separately and Okay met there, yeah. Why did you travel separately? Well cuz Marco was going to Amsterdam Okay before.

Yeah, I think Okay Angelica could go out a day before I could, and I was the last one there. OK, well, I guess you know, it is a luxury traveling alone, really these days, like as a parent, like being on a plane by yourself with nobody else to worry about, is a special kind of heaven. Yeah, except for when you're flying 9 hours overseas. I mean, but you're by yourself. True and. You can watch all you can watch as many movies as you want and not feel guilty because you're stuck in a metal tube in the sky. You've got little ones still. Yeah, yeah. So it's really rough doing that.

I haven't, we haven't taken them anywhere beyond like Florida. Yeah. So did you, did you have any travel issues? I can't remember. I don't think so. OK. All right. You're not the one I'm thinking of that. It's somebody that had like an issue I. Think Rachel knew somebody that had an issue. OK, Yeah, 'cause that would be horrible. Yeah. And the weather in Berlin looked amazing. That's good. And then really for all three of the the majors that you had, you? Had probably the best weather. That was insane, actually. Like, looking at that. I mean, I'm not even running and I'm checking the weather app like I'm running because I just am so excited for it to be nice.

And they said the man set the world record. I don't know. Yeah. Kelvin something right? Was it Kelvin kept him? Was it right? I mean, I we should kind of know. I don't. I follow the sport more now than I ever used to, but I still don't really know names of people. But I think it was Kelvin that kept him. Whatever, I'm going to edit out. So it just sounds like we know. Oh yeah, of course. But it was insane that, yeah, the record. And was it the men and women's records, I think? She did that record, too. Well, here in Indy on Monumental Day, we had two course records, which was amazing.

And that weather was amazing, too. It was cold. First it was, yeah, I bet, Yeah, I appreciated seeing you out there. I remember just like just being like, 'cause sometimes, especially at that stage of the race that I saw you, there are no words anymore. So just kind of scream and get your attention. I did. And I was so happy. Yeah. So I had somebody ask me on Instagram, Athena runs, asked me how Like tips for doing races that close together. I mean, obviously it wasn't ideal, but like let's say what's your advice for doing maybe a month apart? So it's like a reasonable. Right.

You can't gain any more fitness at that point when it's a month apart. So you need to be smart about your recovery and mainly just maintain. So maybe do a couple workouts, but mainly recover the whole first week after a marathon. I just walk so I don't sit still. That was a huge mistake that I used to make is I would do nothing at all, like absolutely nothing. And that kills you like you need to stay active, get the blood flow going, do gentle stretching or whatever. No lifting weights or anything. You need to make sure you're eating a lot to fuel back your body.

You know, everything. That's, you know, all your little muscle tears and everything. So a lot of protein, a lot of sleep if you can. And then if you have a month apart, you can do like a 16 mile or two weeks out and then kind of taper again the two weeks apart. The Berlin and Chicago, I had never done that before so I didn't quite know what to do. But in my training leading up to Berlin, I did two really long runs like a 20 and a 22 back-to-back. And then I would do like AI would do 2 long weeks or two hard weeks of volume and then one big cut back.

OK, so every 3rd week was a cut back week. And so I knew with my taper and cut back for Berlin that I would be able to cut back again and do Chicago. I was kind of worried about what would happen in New York, but I knew I'd be OK for Chicago just with just with the one week of walking. And then I did. I actually got sick in between. I got like a bad cold. So the whole week I just kind of slept. And I don't even know if I walked a ton to be honest, like a mile a day or something. But my main priority was to just get rid of my cold.

And even like the Tuesday before Chicago, I still felt kind of yucky. I think I did. AI might have only done a 10 long run in between and then the week leading up to Chicago, I didn't 8. So that's kind of long for me on race week, but it felt really good. So I was like OK, I'm just going to do this. And so in between those two races I didn't do any kind of hard running besides maybe strides or something, but just total recovery basically. I think the the most important thing is that you have to know that running hard at that point is just going to wear you out and right.

It's not going. To Yeah, you don't gain anything from doing race pace or it just breaks you down even more so just to try to recover. Yeah, I know. It's so hard for. Yeah, I mean it's. And you had to do that in between your haves, right? Yeah, 'cause I didn't. Well, my main focus was on monumental, and so I knew that was the only one I really, truly was going to race. Yeah. And then Zionsville's kind of just an anomaly, 'cause I was like, I'm just going to see what happens. And then I still felt really good. But yeah, I did a good job of not.

Overdoing it, yeah. Which is, I think, the testament to having a coach, which I wanted to ask you about because I thought again, since I've known you, I just assumed you'd been coaching for like ever four years. But four years isn't as long as I would have anticipated. So how did that all get started? And. So in 2018 I had a coach until 2019. So one, for one year I had a coach and I never knew you could even get certified in coaching. So I kind of, you know, on Instagram you see a lot of people posting about stuff, and it was kind of a new thing then, I guess, and now it's much more popular.

A lot of people got certified over COVID, 'cause it was time to do whatever you wanted to do, you know, online. They offer the online course. Mine was in person. Oh, where'd you go for that? Somewhere north of Waukegan, maybe? Oh yeah, is that. That's in Wisconsin. I think it's cool. I can't remember if it was Waukegan. That sounds like it's not in Illinois anymore. I feel like it's in Illinois though, that I feel really dumb. I don't know. I don't know. Anything cool? Yeah. So were you in like a conference room? Like, were there how many people? There were like 75 people. And so it was really fun to meet up with other.

That would be really fun. It was really fun. And then so that was October of 2019 or September of 2019. And then COVID hit. So I had just started my coaching like December of that year and I stopped using my coach because she was expensive and I was like, I can't afford this anymore. And then COVID hit, you know, in March. So then a lot of my clients, they actually wanted accountability during that time. Right, I was going to say. I would imagine it was actually, even though there weren't races, people were like, I need to. Train for something or have something to motivate me.

Yeah, so that it was, it was good and bad. You know, I think had there been races I would have had more clientele, but it's been slowly growing over time and it's, it's great. I love it. How many athletes do you have? It it varies depending on the season. Like right now, you know people have finished their fall marathon goal, so they take a break and then they come back for spring. Spring season, Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I was going to say, I swear every weekend you've got at least a handful, if not more, of athletes racing. I have a lot of people that like racing.

Let's just say it isn't necessarily all the PR race. Yeah, right. But well, like I was, I like do all that, like, you know, just all the local halves. I'm like, well, I'll just run them all. Yeah, and I'm OK with that as long as they know it's not. All out. Every. Yeah, yeah. Which is hard to do a race and just have fun. I've tried to to embrace that. OK, So, yeah, so four years you've been coaching now Team IRG, which is Indiana runner girl training. What was I going to ask you? Oh, I was going to ask you about something different about Ainsley's Angels because you did that at the Mini for the first time last year.

Is that right? 2022. OK, yeah. So for people who don't know what that is, will you explain what that is? Yeah. So it is an organization that allows kids and adults with disabilities to be able to participate in a race. So they get pushed by we are the I I don't know what. Runner. Angels. Yeah, the angels and they or there are angels, I think. OK, yeah, I forget this. I don't know. How about that? We don't know anything. Oh, it's a it's a great organization. It's a great way to get involved in giving back to the community. So I signed up to do it, by the way, for this next mini.

Oh, it's so hard. My partner is a a mom of four and has recently been pushing a double stroller so I was like, yes, you can be my partner. Angel riders. Angel. Riders and runners, Riders and we're all angels. Everyone's an Angel. Yep. Riders that I was like this year for the mini. Next year, 2024 is like what is it? Maybe the 45th or so. There's like a milestone anniversary, and so Ainsley's Angels wants to have that many. Teams. Running so. Anyway, so at the end of the races, so I've done it twice. I did a like local 5K Travis Mannion 5 Ki think in Zionsville or on Labor Day.

I did that last September and you let the riders get out if they, if they're able to get out of the wheelchair and run across the finish line and it is like so emotional. So the first time I did the Mini with Angelica and we had. Oh, that's right. Angelica was with you. We had a rider and you know the they're we get to meet their parents before we start and it is very emotional. I mean we were bawling when our our rider ran across the finish line. Yeah, I'm so excited about it. It will definitely change the way you look at things, so. Yeah, it's well.

And one of my mantras is like, you get to do this, right. And so I think about that a lot. And especially for people who literally like they, Yeah, they literally cannot, right. And being able to provide that experience, I'm really looking forward to that. Yeah, I'm excited. So is Are you going to Will you do that again for 1/2? We'll do it again. Marathon Seems I. Don't. I don't know how people do it for a full. It is hard and the Mini's flat, you know, but there's that little hill going down down the track to. The track getting into the Speedway. And. Oh boy.

Our ride rider was a little bit heavier and Angelica and I were like both pulling on the handle and I think some other people. I was going to say I hope people were. Like Oh yeah, everybody is so kind and they cheer you on and and you'll have a sign that says your writer's name and people and you become team whatever your writer's name is and people will cheer for you. And so I I yeah, I do that too. So I'll run by anybody that you see. Like go team Brian and it's yeah, it's it's really. Definitely a lot of respect for. That. Yeah, Yeah, I'm looking forward to that.

Yeah. Have you. You've done also Ultra marathons. Yeah, three of them. Is that right? Yeah. Remind me of the distances. So I started with 100K because I do everything backwards. Cool. OK, K and 20/21/2021, 2020? How far is 100K? 62 miles, OK, Yeah. All right. That makes sense. 2022 I did 50 miles OK, which sounds way worse than 100K, but it's not. Right. It does that's. Funny, I don't know why. And then I did a 50K last year all at the same place. OK where? Canton. I think it's Canton. OH or OK. Canal. Fulton. OH, it's near Canton. OK. Called Eagle Up Ultra. OK, why over there?

I have no idea. It's just that I liked running loops and it's a loop course. You camp out like you can have tents and you can tailgate. OK, I really liked the setup of it the first time I did the 100K and so I just kind of have kept going. Because you know what to expect and you can kind of plan. For that, yeah, I don't know that I could do. I mean you can do it, but like a point to point Ultra. Right. Like the the full mow which is like you just. Yeah. And that's, that's on paved, yeah, paved and this, this one is partially paved, partially grass, partial gravel, it's kind of interesting and you do it over and over and over, whereas the full mow, you're just running in a straight line, right, right.

But some Ultras have elevation and. Right. So the one you've done is pretty flat then? Pretty flat, yeah. I'm not even sure how much there is a little hill at one point in the race, but so over time it probably adds up a little, but it's not definitely not thousands of feet or anything. So they're in. June, June, yeah. OK. OK. Yeah. Yeah. Is that like the ultra season? I don't know, but I like doing it then because I have nothing. Else well, I was thinking like because that's when the full MO is, I guess. So I was just saying that's when they are same exact weekend, that very first weekend in June.

I don't know if I'll ever try to do the full MO, but. Yeah, I'm intrigued by it because, and I've said this before, it's it's just where I've spent so many miles training. And so it's like, you know, it's kind of home and, you know, it seems like a safe place to try for that. And I was actually talking to my mom about it today. I'm like, she's like asking me how far it was. I'm like, well, it's 31 miles. She's like, oh, that's not that much for a marathon. I'm like. Yeah, and as long as you pace yourself. So a lot of people run walk in ultras and when you do 100 kilometers you have to walk eventually.

I I was able to run 42 miles of my 50 Miller two years ago and then I literally couldn't walk. So like the end. So the way Eagle up works is you sign up for a distance and they have 50K is the smallest. Then you can do a 50 Miller then you can do 100K then you could do 5050 which is a 50K plus 50 miles. So 80 one mile OK or 100 miles and you only have 24 hours to complete it so you can. I don't like that you can change your mind on your distance, so say. The first year that day. Yeah, so the first year I signed up for 100, Ki ran 100K.

Second year I signed up for 100 Ki stopped at 50 just because I was like, I'm done and it doesn't matter because you still get a finisher medal and it's so like, I wish they didn't do that and you got ADNF, but they they do. So anybody can change your distance. So a lot of people are signed up for the 100 Miller and then say it gets hot. They're like I'm done, you know you you. I don't know. I don't like, I don't either. And then this year I signed up for the 50K and did the 50K but. What are you going to do next?

Year I'm not a sign up for anything. I always sign up last minute too. So I signed up for the 50K. So over the spring I I ran only halves and only right I know and I ran. I went out and ran like a 21 day and I was like I'm going to sign up for the 50K so I gave myself four weeks to train. But this is what trail you know like ultra running is. It's very laid back and fun, and it's a different you should I recommend that you try an ultra sometime. I will mark my words. I will try one. Yeah, at some point, yeah.

Are you going to go up to the 100 miles? I I I will someday, OK. But maybe not this summer, because I have big marathon goals. So. Oh. OK. Well, I want to hear more about that. So how, how do you coach yourself? How? Yeah, that's hard. How does that work? It's hard. Sometimes I get humbled. So I I use V dot for my athletes and I have a running account for myself on there and so I'll just put in, I'll program what I want to do that week. I have a goal in mind you know of what I'm going to train for and then sometimes I'll do a workout and I'll be like Oh my gosh, I need to change so and so's workout because that was way too hard.

But I just, I really have to listen to my body and that's why I tell people you have to communicate with me whether or not. Right. That was really hard. I yeah. Yeah. Yeah, or like I didn't hit any of that. Or or, you know, even on an easy run, if you're starting to feel worn down, you have to listen to your body and take another easy day. You're not going to lose your fitness. You know you don't want to run yourself into the ground. You don't get anything out of that. So it it's it's been hard. Yeah. Do you feel like the accountability, It doesn't seem like you need accountability necessarily, but do you feel like having accountability in your, like online community, does that help?

Because I feel like if I didn't have a. Coach. Like help other runners, I don't know. Probably helps both then I do it helps you. It does help me to see people show up day after day and hitting the workouts that I give them or doing their best right like that. That helps motivate me, for sure. I don't have any trouble showing up, but sometimes, you know, I get to a point, like in the winter, if it's really snowy and cold, I'm like, I don't want to go today, you know, So I'll just. That surprises me because your logo IRG, she's got gloves and a hat on.

Like, yeah, I like my winter running. That's my favorite. OK. But there's a level. Is there like a degree mark where you're like, I'm out? I'm never out, OK? Do you ever run on the treadmill? I don't have a treadmill, so I don't. I I have just invested in a lot of good quality running clothes and so I will wear 2 layers of pants if I have to. I'll look like the kid from Christmas Story out there. I never. I almost asked you to wear one of your onesies today to this interview. Just, you know, for our videos. That will make after this, Oh my gosh, those are all goodwill and they get thrown, they get thrown at the end of the race or sad.

Because some of them are. Just beautiful. Classic. I know. Yeah, 199. Where is your goodwill? Ours is expensive. What? Yeah, we went and there the coats were like 20 bucks. I'm like Jesus Christ, like, yeah, I could go to Walmart and buy something nice. So there's one in Whitestown on Main Street, OK, And it's, it's fine. And then the one over by Target and Carmel? Yeah that's the one I that I I don't know maybe I need to go with you that could be that could be there's a content idea for you too you could take here's how you go buy a onesie at your local good one.

Yeah, I now own and the proud owner of a onesie. From how it's Halloween. It's like just multi colored pumpkins. And so I thought about wearing it before Zion. You would. Have worn it today. I would have died. I thought about it, but I see these people here a lot, you know? And I thought, well, they don't care. Nobody cares, right? So I could just show up in a pumpkin onesie and they'd be like, hey, hey, can I have your library card or like, yeah. Hey, it's December now. Don't worry. I thought about it. I didn't think about it. So, yeah, So winter running. Yeah, no, I I love winter running.

I am not a summer girl. I need to get better about loving the winter running because since I own a treadmill, I will just default suit and I do have a nice treadmill and now I can watch Netflix on my treadmill. So you better believe that I'm like, do I want to bundle up and go outside while it's like spitting rain or do I want to watch Suits Well, it's pretty. Suits is a good show. Suits is good. The rain is hard. You have to have a hat or I wear. I always wear a hat and you sometimes wear jacket or whatever to keep it at, but I always feel better running outside.

I do need fresh. Air, you know, I do too, actually. Like whenever I complete a run outside, I'm like, man, yeah, I feel really good, but it's just getting out the door, getting bundled up, especially in the winter. Yeah, it can be, can be tough. But yeah, especially when I was marathon training, I would try to do more outside just because I feel like that's better to actually be outside in the elements versus because obviously on race day you don't get to pick. Caramel I don't know if you're doing caramel this year, but that has snowed in April before. So I don't know that I would ever sign up for that marathon just because the weather is so crazy.

It has like I've done the half, I don't know how many times, four or five times this year. I did the 10K because I was trying to save my 50th half for Fargo in North Dakota, and so I downgrade. I did the 10K. But. 50 halves. So I was going to ask you, you've run 34 marathons. How do you keep track of the half marathons? Yeah, I. Know, I know I need to go look at my athletes and see, yeah, I think it's less than 20. Really. That surprises me. Do you rate? You mentioned a 5K. Do you do other distances? So I I have not done very many five KS either.

I They scare me. I it's. I just so like, if you're gonna pay the money for a race, why not get the biggest bang for the buck and do? Right. Do the furthest distance they offer. Yeah. Is that why you did the 100K to start your Ultra? Career. Well, you know, I've done 100 mile or. True. Which, Yeah, yeah. Wow. There were a couple of things I wanted to make sure. We circled back to what was 10. I wanted to talk about Sydney. Are you gonna? I'm not going to go. Not yet. Not yet. Yeah, you're. Going to wait till they make it. Amazing. Well, just with Berlin and New York and Chicago.

Chicago's a good one because you can drive, but it's just way out of my budget. That's true. It's. And then I'm doing Boston in the spring, so I have to some at some point draw the line. Plus, I really want to go to Tokyo in 2025, so I can't do Sydney and Tokyo. I mean you can but. I started go fund me. Yeah, I know. Hey guys. I mean airfare. I looked up Tokyo because I had the chance to enter for Abbott. Sends everybody like an e-mail. Hey, you're on your 4th star. You're on your 5th star. This is your 6th star in Tokyo. You there are 100 spots do you want to enter this drawing?

And so my six stars Tokyo, I was like. Oh. Should I enter it? Well, OK. I'm already signed up for Boston in the spring, and then I looked up airfare to Tokyo. It starts at $2000, you know, plus airfare. Plus hotel. Or whatever, Yeah. So no. Yeah. So no. So I'm going to wait. I'm on the, I'm on the like 50 year plan on all of the stars. I don't need to be in a hurry and I don't even know if I want to get all the stars. And if they add Sydney, I mean it. It's sad for me to have to pass up the opportunity, but we sometimes you have to be.

Able to know Yeah you do. It's a good. It's a definitely a talent that I'm, yeah, constantly trying to refine, right? And so I have to say I'm OK. Yeah, it's OK. Yeah, it's hard, especially with, you know, with social media just seeing, right. You know, it feels like, oh, you know, you ran three world majors in six weeks, for goodness sake. Like people are running them all in one year somehow. And you're like, what? How is this even how possible? And I feel like everybody's running. You know, it just, but it's just this my little circle of the Internet. It's like that's not everybody that's like .00000 whatever percent of the world population that's doing these crazy things.

So yeah. Yeah, so you have to draw the line. So that's why I haven't done a lot of races. So I've just done marathons, usually one or two a year. And then I would have to say in my 40s I started getting a little crazy doing like more than one in a season. I feel like I could finally maybe do that now if I wanted to. Maybe not with the girls the age they are, right? I'm kind of. That's why I'm like, you know, should I do a full next year? Should I not do a full next year? The only time that I tried to do 2 in a season was before kids and I attempted to do Chicago in early October and then Philadelphia in late November.

And this was when they still had the half and the full on the same day. And you could just go right to finish the and do the half, or you could go left and do the full. And I was like, deathly ill. I should not have even been running at all. But I was, you know, I was there and I'm very stubborn. And so, yeah, I just peeled off and finished. Oh, well, that's good. But it was, you know, I I used to get sick a lot after races, actually. And I think now I attribute my not getting sick to having a coach to keep me honest and make sure I'm running easy and not out there killing myself.

And I've learned a lot more about fueling. Yeah. And carb loading. Yeah, good God, Carb loading is really hard. Yeah, I'm not, I'm not the best carb loader because I it does not. I don't eat like that on a normal basis. So then like doing it 3. Days trying to eat like 3 bagels in a day is like and having one bagel you're like. Walking around like, let's go to that bagel place. Let's go to that bagel place. But they were delicious. So I was. Like, yeah, no problem. OK, I can do this. But yeah, like eating, yeah, it's it was. And drinking Gatorade, I can do that or.

But I can't. I can't eat plates and plates of pasta. Yeah, I can eat some. But yeah, not, not, not tons and tons. Let's be this is a good, this is a good opportunity for me to ask you another question. I got from Jennifer Nye, who is just on this podcast. She asked me if you had to pick for the rest of your life. You can pick one Snickers or McDonald's Coke. Wow. That's a that's a hard question the rest of my life. Yeah, well, am I allowed to have other chocolate? Yeah. So I guess you're right. You know, it's like. Because there's no other McDonald's Coke.

Yeah. I got to go with coke. I know, I know, Snickers. I'm going to lose my sponsorship. Have you ever done the Snickers marathon? I haven't, but I want to. It's a bucket list. Where is that? Albany, GA. Georgia. There's an Albany and Georgia. I think hopefully, I'm pretty sure. Cincinnati, New York. I think so. I was gonna say, don't quote me on that one again, but OK, I think it's Albany, GA OK yeah. And it's in March. Cool. That would be fun. It would be fun. It's a really bad time in my swim mom. Like. OK, March is like championship season. OK, gotta wait on that one, but I will do it someday.

OK, the other thing I really wanted? I'm just OK. Do you reuse your spectating signs? I wrote that down I. I I did. How weird is it that I figured that out? That's how big of a stalker I am. I was like, wait, that's the same sign. So one no, I reuse 2 because I used the poo one. Yeah, because I had them for Monumental 2019 and no, no, no. I made them in 20, 21 maybe. OK And I saved them because they were hit. I was like, these are awesome. They loved the signs. So I'm just. Going to say what does the poop one say?

You are the. Poop emoji? It's emoji. Right. Yeah. OK, Love it. And people loved it because it's easy to read, right? You are with the letters. And the other one was good job, random stranger. And people loved that and it was really bright. So I was like I put this behind a bookshelf and try to remember that I have it. Yeah. And use it again someday. And then, so two years later, I I use those. And they made a couple other ones, but those ones were good again, so I threw them. They're actually still in the back of my car. There you go, a month.

Ago. Right now. Like in the parking lot? Yeah. Oh, we could make a video out of that. Let's just go out in front of the high school and just hold up the signs. Strike. We'll just cheer on people as they enter the library. How to spectate people going about their everyday lives. Yeah, good job everybody. Anyway, I could. So that brings me to my next question which was, which is about content creation. Because if you don't follow Tracy on Instagram, you should Indiana run a girl. She has so many just just amazing reels. They're hilarious. They're also very helpful, too. A lot of them are educational.

So I want to know about your creative process. And then we need to finish the cheese conversation because I didn't kind of. I kind of left that hanging out there. So how did you start doing that? Basically it's through watching and like learning or thinking. If I find something funny that somebody's done, I'll save it and then I'll try to think of a way to apply it to running. Yeah, love that. I don't like taking somebody's running content and. Like rebranding it as your own. It's like, I don't like that. I like to try to be original. So if you see something that I did that somebody else did.

Except for when you copy the cheese, no. When you copy, what's her name when you're 20 twinning. But that's different obviously because. I'm intentionally. Yeah, right. Yeah, which is perfect. So you just find something, save it, and then kind of put your own spin. On it, you know, sometimes I never look back at my saved things like everybody else. But I know. And then sometimes it just hits me and I'm like, Oh my gosh, this is perfect for running or whatever. Or I I know how to put a spin on this. Like, one time I saw this reel where this guy was really sad about something and I was like, I'm gonna do this with running shoes.

And so I was like, walking out to my trash can. And I sometimes I think they're funnier than they are or it doesn't hit or whatever. But but I was cracking up like in my street, you know, throwing the shoe in my trash can and acting like I was all dramatic about it. I really like to be dramatic in my yeah, I like to act. Yeah, it's so great. Tell us about the. Cheese, okay. So the cheese. I don't even know why, but the cheese reel came up in my feed and I was like, this is hilarious. So it was babies crying and their parent throwing a slice of cheese on their face to calm them down and they would like instantly stop crying.

And I think it was a fad from like 2019 or something. So I don't even know why it came up, but it was on my explorer page or discovery page and I said this is going to be so funny to use about runners nervous about run racing. You know, it was right before Berlin, so we went out and bought cheese and we went to. American cheese, like the slice of Kraft American Singles. Went to a neighborhood in Carmel and ran into Allie and Rachel, her coach, and I was like, well, we could actually use some extra criers in this video, so the rest is history.

I loved it. I got to be the cheese thrower I like. Weaseled my way right in there. I was like, no, this is my jam. I'm into this. I've always wanted someone to ask me to make a real with them, and so here. We need to do more of that. We're going to, I'm telling you, we're going to do one if we have time today. I don't know. But it was so funny. It was really hard to throw cheese at somebody and get it to stick on their face. It is. It is interesting to see how challenging making a reel can be, you know, like, and that's something that I don't have the patience for necessarily.

So I like mine to be pretty short, right? And you have to see me like unedit the OR not edit the, you know unedited version sound like I just. I didn't. I didn't pick up on that. But now I did an unedited version. That was before her kids, you know, and. Oh my. God, we've gone off the rails. That's so funny. Yeah, cheese was good. Cheese was funny. It was really funny. But yeah, I try to do that if I am making. I have so many ideas for content, but I just, I can't spend 3 hours to make a video that 10 people are going to like.

For me anyway. It's like at least you have a big community of people. For me, it's like I'll make something too. Oh well, it's all relative, but it's. Hard when you see like nobody. Nobody care and I'm like, this is good content people like. Come on with that, you just have to be patient. Totally well. And then like a random video all of a sudden like I've had one that hit and it was like a video that I've done for like Metal Monday. I'll like just have a video of me like putting up my metal and my bib and my like set up downstairs. And I did one for after North Dakota and people like loved it.

And it was like I've done this like 8 times, but this one you like. OK, sounds good. Like you know for sure I. Don't understand it quite, but. Yeah, well, let's let's go to the end of the podcast questions now. I can't believe that went by so fast, So fun. It went really fast, just like you. Fun or. Yeah, both. So what is your favorite running mantra or song? Favorite mantra is run where your feet are. I like that one, so I tell that to myself, you know, during races because you don't want to think ahead of the race like mile. Basically it's like run where run the mile you're in.

I don't think about other people. I think about myself. I think about where I am currently in the situation. I I use it for a lot of stuff on training runs or you know, if you're worried about a a workout, you know run right where you are. Now the segment that you are doing where you're where you are, yeah, that's a good one. Any song? Do you listen to music when you run? Always, Yeah. OK Yeah. Favorite song? See, you can be fast and listen to music. That's good. I feel like a lot of. People, I tried to stop listening to music. It backfired, like on I I could do it on workout days and I really liked it to like learn my breath and effort.

You can like listen and TuneIn. I tried it on a long run, just a long slow run. And I was like, I need my music. I can't. I couldn't do it. Like, I'm at 18. I just couldn't do it. So I went back to music. But favorite song. I mean, I love pop, I love Pitbull, you know anything like that. I don't really have favorite song. OK, I have an idea what we're going to do for our our video. OK, OK. What is your next? Are we dancing? I mean there maybe. I don't know, I I don't dance a lot, but I love to dance.

OK. What's your I don't dance on the Internet a lot, but like Loki, I am like, yeah, what is your next finish line or milestone? Big one's Boston. Yeah, OK. Yeah, that'll be 9 Boston's for you. It'll be my 8th Boston, 8th Boston. It'll tie. Oh 'cause you did virtual. Yeah, yeah, yeah, OK. It will tie Chicago. OK. Does Boston do like a grandfather in thing or is? It 10 consecutive years, so I don't have that either because I stopped for a while. Oh, right. Yeah, OK. Yeah. We didn't talk about motherhood like little kids, but you did take a break for a bit when your girls were young.

Yeah. Yeah, I I. Probably 6 years I I still ran 1/2. OK. So I still kind of was running. But six years. No marathons, I think. Thank you for doing this. Thank you for having me. This is so fun. I could do this all day. So now we gotta go so that I can you can make a video. OK. Well, thank you everybody who has listened to this and I hope you have a great weekend if you're listening to this on Friday and happy running. Yep, happy running. Thanks, Sally. Thank you.

Ally Brettnacher