From Times Square Billboard to The Speed Project: Miss Outside (Yvonne Zapata) Does It All

Fresh off completing The Speed Project solo—a grueling journey from Los Angeles to Las Vegas—Yvonne Zapata (aka Miss Outside) takes us deep into the physical and mental challenges of ultrarunning.

From battling an infected toe that doctors warned could end her race to navigating pitch-black mountain paths with no cell service, Yvonne's determination shines through every obstacle. Her five-person crew became her lifeline, managing everything from bandage changes to midnight trail navigation and all the snacks.

The journey becomes even more remarkable knowing that just months earlier, Yvonne was hit by a car outside her home, tearing ligaments and tendons that sidelined her for weeks. This forced break prompted soul-searching about her identity beyond running: "Who am I if I'm not Miss Outside?"

As a special education teacher who was once non-verbal as a child, Yvonne brings unique perspective to her running journey. She's conquered five of six World Marathon Majors, appeared on billboards in Times Square, and found joy in everything from Disney-themed races to pacing fellow runners through New York streets.

Throughout our conversation, Yvonne reveals the deeper purpose behind her running: representing her Puerto Rican heritage, creating space for women and non-binary athletes in ultra-running, and reminding us of the privilege of movement itself. "I'm running for people that cannot run," she shares, highlighting how easily we forget why we started running in the first place.

Follow Yvonne @missoutsideeeee on Instagram and join her as she takes on Chicago and New York marathons this fall, with many more ultra adventures surely on the horizon.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:16):
This is the Lucy Beatrix podcast.
I'm a fashion model turnedathlete, and on this show I
interview people who find joyand creativity and freedom in
running.
Today we were talking tosomeone a lot of people know in
the New York City runningcommunity and that is Miss
Outside, also known as YvonneZabata.

(00:38):
And Yvonne is a triathleteturned marathoner, turned
marathoner, and she is fresh offof running the speed project,
which is a race from los angelesto las vegas, and she ran this
solo.
So welcome to the show thankyou for having me.
I'm excited to be here um, yeah,it's a little overdue.

(01:00):
We were planning to do this afew months ago, but things,
things happened.
But it's actually worked outperfectly because you're fresh
off of the Speed Project.
It's literally what a week agothat you finished, yeah, a week
ago.
Yeah, that's so crazy.
So for people who don't know,who are not in the running
community, what is the SpeedProject?

Speaker 2 (01:17):
So, the Speed Project is a race from LA to Las Vegas.
It's about 300, 340 miles andyou're going through different
obstacles, different roads.
You're seeing basically LAgoing into the mountains, to the
desert.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
Then you hit the Las Vegas sign.
Yeah, like, wow.
So I, I did the speech projecta couple of years ago, but I did
the relay version, which Ithought was pretty intense.
I thought I was going to die.
It was like so crazy.
But that's where it was fivepeople, three girls, two guys,
or three guys, two girls, and wetake turns, which you did.
This too.
You did the relay last year.
Yes, in 2024, right, yeah, Idid the relay last year.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
I did it with Bodega Baddies.
It was a group I created withwomen and non-binary where we're
different groups either inQueens, brooklyn, manhattan, the
Bronx.
We just basically collided andcollaborated and we just ran it.
I crewed this time and thenthis year, of course, I ran it
solo.
But it was such a beautifulexperience and I was like I want

(02:19):
to come back to just run thissolo.
Yeah, because I want to see itfrom like a solo perspective.
Like what is it like to justrunning by yourself all these
miles instead of making sure youhave somebody either in the suv
or the rv to tag them sayinghey, you're it, you have to do
this amount of miles?

Speaker 1 (02:34):
and then we'll meet you at the other segment so when
you so you did it with thegroup last year and you guys,
you didn't, you had a crew oryou didn't have a crew yeah, we
did had a crew because you had acrew.
And then this one, when you didit by yourself, your crew was
yeah, I had five people my crew.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
So I had um ricky, I had anna, I had adiel and I had
selena, had whitney, I had likefive people from different run
clubs, such as like we runuptown, define who are basically
, the crew is basically thepeople in charge of getting you
whatever you need when you'renot running.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
Yeah, so, like the time in between.
So how, how do you even goabout?
Like I've thought about wantingto do this, but I'm just like I
don't even know like where tostart.
How do you decide like okay,I'm gonna do this, and then like
put together all the logisticsof, like a rental car or like
what do you have to do?
Like what's all the preparationto get ready for running this
beat project?

Speaker 2 (03:25):
so the first thing, is you sign up and then, after
you sign up, you have to figureout who's going to be in your
crew, and then ask them and askthem like hey can you join me
for this journey for a week,because it takes about a week to
do this journey and you'll bemaking sure I'm okay.
You're basically being my momor my dad during that entire

(03:47):
race.
Like you're the parent, I'm thechild.
Just make sure I'm okay and inone piece going to las vegas
yeah and when I asked people,there was people saying, um, no,
I have work.
And then you know work andconflicts involved where they
have to take care of theirfamilies, and someone's like,
hey, I'll do it, let me know.
The days I'm in fully want tosupport you in your journey.
So I picked five people and Iwas like very like hesitant on

(04:11):
who to pick because like they'regonna see the raw me, oh yeah,
of crying, whining, complaining,yeah, or you know, happy, sad
emotional like going throughdifferent stages where no one
else could see that besides themyeah.
So when I picked my crew, I wasvery thankful and blessed to
know that these people like aregonna be there for you.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
So um, so anyway.
So you choose your crew.
You get that locked down.
Now how do you go about?
Like the car?
Is it one car that's drivingwhile you're running?

Speaker 2 (04:40):
so it's one car.
Either you pick a suv, a jeeplike a wrangler, or either you
pick an RV.
So I picked the RV.
I didn't have no SUV, no Jeepor anything, because it was just
only me.
And it was like, ok, I guessI'm just me, I don't need like
another Jeep or vehicle behindme, right Making sure.
But boy, I was wrong.
I was like, ok, I should havegotten a Jeep, yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
I was like, okay, I should have gotten a jeep yeah,
throughout the journey, and itwas to go along with the rv yeah
, as like a sprinter van type of.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
So yeah, it was supposed to like tailgate me
behind me, okay, while likethere's like sketchy moments or
like sketchy um segments,because there was one part where
it was like going into themountains and it's just pitch
black and I was so scared to goalone.
Yeah, because like rattlesnakesor yeah, wolves or something I
don't know, and I heard therewas a coyotes, I was just
freaking out and I was nottrying to show it, that was

(05:30):
freaking out, but I was verylike, okay, I don't know what's
gonna happen, right?

Speaker 1 (05:35):
but I'm scared.
So were you alone runningthrough that like?

Speaker 2 (05:38):
through that area.
So no, I wasn't.
It was either my friend Arielor either Ana or somebody from
my crew that will make sure I'mOK and they will have, like,
their lights and I'll have mylights.
But sometimes I'll be so scaredand they will know I'm scared
because the way I'm talkingthey're like oh, you're scared.

Speaker 1 (05:56):
And I'm like yeah, yeah, so scared.
Well, obviously, so when you'regoing through those situations,
so like you're running, you'regoing, you just have to get to
the next point to meet the RV,like a checkpoint, almost like,
okay, the RV is going to be 10miles away and I just have to
get to that point.

Speaker 2 (06:11):
So the person that was in charge of the RV was
Ricky and he was like hey, thissegment is six to seven miles.
You're going to go through here.
Just make sure you make a leftright, a left right, whichever,
and then you'll meet us at theend.
And I was like, okay, that's noproblem, but it's pitch black.
Yeah, I don't know where I'mgoing and sometimes there's no
service.
Yeah, exactly, so I was scaredso how did you break up?

Speaker 1 (06:32):
so it took about a week, right from start to finish
the 300 and something miles.
You know what the total mileagewas so I did about 240.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
I had to skip power line.
Okay, because of my toe.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
I want to get into that later on right like the
power line, is like the cheat orlike the shortcut it's the
shortcut, but it was just.

Speaker 2 (06:48):
Oh my god.
I did not know like I was gonnado this one day, but it just
happened.
I'm happy that I finished itand say I did it.
I will definitely go back anddo it again because it was such
a like a eyeball like experiencefor me to just go out there and
do it and represent not onlylike myself, but my community
yeah, it was just.

Speaker 1 (07:07):
Oh, my god.
So you do, you have a.
You have 240 miles that you'vebroken up over the course of
seven days which I don't knowwhat the math is, of how?
Many miles a day yeah, but howdo you?
How do you break it up?
Like you, you have these like10 mile chunks and then you take
a rest, or like, how doesday-to-day look when you're
doing it?

Speaker 2 (07:24):
so my day-to-day was planning to do 10 miles each
segment and sometimes you knowthere's a hiccup on the road
where it's like, okay, let'schange the whole plan, we can't
have you do this.
But it was mostly do 10 miles,segment me and set the rv, eat
something, grab something,change if you have to go back
outside.
It was like you gotta keep yeah, you have to just keep going in
a direction, yeah, andsometimes I would stop and I

(07:46):
would just be like, oh my god, Igotta go back out there.

Speaker 1 (07:49):
Yeah, and I don't want to go back out there.
How long would you rest for,like when you're taking your
break of changing and whatever?
What was the longest period oflike downtime in between the
segments?

Speaker 2 (07:58):
so it was about like an hour 30 minutes.
I just needed to eat the entiretime.

Speaker 1 (08:03):
Did you ever?

Speaker 2 (08:04):
sometimes no, it would depend on how I feel.
I was like hey, like I needsomething, and sometimes my crew
would text me what do you wantto eat?
I have, we have this, this.
This is that, and I was likeokay, I want chicken nuggets,
give me my sweet potatoes and Ineed my pepsi right now, and
they will meet me and then theywill like, run towards me.
They'll be like here, take it,and I'll just take it, like I

(08:24):
was.
Just, I had to feel myself andI had to remind myself like,
even if it's a long race and I'mnot hungry, I have to put
something in my stomach.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
Yeah, you kind of just have to be putting in
calories as much as you possiblycan the entire way.
Um, so, when you like, whatwould you say was the the bottom
, or like the lowest point ofthat entire process of like you
know, like you didn't know ifyou could keep going, or like
you know what was like thelowest, low of that entire
journey.

Speaker 2 (08:49):
So it was more of like I got blisters and I had an
affected pinky toe where itencompassed my entire pinky.
It looked like a tomato and myfriend whitney had to pop it and
she's.
This was like the third orfourth day, I don't know what
day, because everything was justa blur after day two yeah
because I was very delulue theentire time, like I didn't know
where I was yeah people werelike where are you, like

(09:10):
everyone's facetiming calling me?
I'm like I don't know.
Yeah, I'm just trying to getthere.
I'm just trying to get there.
Look at my, go find my iphone.
Because a lot of people werejust like tracking me with on my
iphone.
I was like just find my iphone,then you'll figure out where
I'm at.
Yeah, yeah, but it was just soscary because I had an infected
pinky toe how?

Speaker 1 (09:28):
how much of the race were you in by the point that
that happened?

Speaker 2 (09:32):
so I was about to hit 150 miles and I was like, oh my
god, I never had an infectedpinky so you still have 100
miles to go.
Yeah, so I got on yeah, oh mygosh, and I didn't know that was
happening to me, so we went tourgent care really quick.
It's a segment there.
There's just everywhere, likeyou know stores, gas stations,
in and out.
I had to in and out so manytimes over over the period, like

(09:55):
they got me in and out burgers.
That was the best thing ever,during that whole trip, yeah.
But I went into the urgent careand they were like hey, like you
got an infected pinky toe and Iwas like wow, they were like we
don't know if you shouldcontinue, we don't know if you
should keep going.
I was like even walking.
They were like no, like.
We don't know if you should keepwalking, like our best

(10:15):
suggestion is to keep walkingand just just stop what you're
doing.
And I was like I don't want tokeep going.
I do want to keep going.
Sorry, I want to keep going,but I just don't want to keep
going.
I do want to keep going, sorry,I want to keep going, but I
just don't want to stop.
I'm very big a believer of notstopping, because I'm spending
so much money to be here SpeedProject is so much money.
You're spending so much on anRV, the gas, people's time,

(10:37):
people's time.
Like you know, people aretaking like no PTO for this.
I was having no PTO for thisentire race, so I was like you
know what f it?
We're here, let's continue.
Yeah, whatever happens, we'rejust gonna get to that finish
line and that's my goal.
And then we had to likeliterally backtrack and sit down
of saying what's our next gameplan and how we're gonna get you

(10:58):
safely in one piece.
Yeah, to las vegas, yeah.
And I was just like you knowwhat?
If we have to skip power line,because power line is a 40 mile
um segment where there's nosupport, you're by yourself out
there.

Speaker 1 (11:11):
Yeah, and it's not trail, it's like rocks, yeah I
like, yeah, when I did it, I Iwasn't on the power line segment
, it was like overnight and likethat was the one that I did,
like the death valley segment,but I didn't do power line and I
heard the horror, like when,when my teammates came back from
it, they were just like this isthis was the most traumatic
experience of all time becauseit was just so crazy, but so you

(11:32):
were skipping that I wasskipping.

Speaker 2 (11:33):
That makes sense.
And I said, hey, like you know,I have an infected toe, I need
somebody with me.
I need to bet embedded myentire toe where I had to put,
like you know, alcohol, clean itevery segment, so every segment
.
After that I had to go back inthe RV to just clean it really
quick, wrap it, put new socksand get back out there again and
again, and again.
I kept changing my socks everysegment so okay, how many like?

Speaker 1 (11:56):
okay the RV.
Did you have a shower on yourRV?
Yes, but no one showered,everybody hated me so it was a
week of no showering for you andanyone else.

Speaker 2 (12:05):
Yeah, they were not used to it at all they were like
part of it, I guess, and wetook sink baths, so we would
stop at like a gas station, likeat night, and we'll do like
wipeys or like a sink bath andI'm like oh my god, yeah, we, it
was just so, it was hystericalyeah, and like we'll brush our
teeth, I will have a waterbottle, yeah, and we'll have a
toothbrush.
And then we would justtoothbrush out like outside the
rv and like we'll brush ourteeth, I will have a water
bottle, yeah, and we'll have atoothbrush.

(12:25):
And then we would justtoothbrush out like outside the
rv and like if we had to go peeor anything or take number one
or two yeah, it was the woods Iwas like how it is how it is.
Have fun like we had our whitebees.

Speaker 1 (12:36):
We had everything like yeah, welcome to the speed
project welcome.

Speaker 2 (12:40):
And then a lot my moon was facing so many, so many
ways of throughout the trip Iwas like, okay, I guess this is
it.

Speaker 1 (12:48):
Like yeah it really teaches you, like, how much you
can get by on less.
Like you're like, oh, wow, Ispent a whole week like with
nothing but myself, like runningand like you know, or like just
you know, the bare minimum ofsurvival, and then, when you
finally did take a shower, whatwas that like?

Speaker 2 (13:05):
oh, my god.
I cried because I had a roomwith my crew.
I was like, oh my god, it'shere.
And I cried so much in thatshower because it's like me
thinking of like how many peoplethat are out here that are
homeless, that don't have theopportunity to take a shower,
that don't have the opportunityto eat, and it's like you have
that eye experience of like, ohmy god, like there's people that

(13:27):
are struggling that don't havenothing.
Yeah, and this is showing melike so much of what we should
be grateful for, because it'slike we take everything for
advantage and we don't say, ohmy god, like you know, at least
we have a home, at least we getto shower that's true.

Speaker 1 (13:42):
I think that that's a really interesting takeaway
from the speed project of theidea that, like it, teaches you
how privileged we are in ournormal day-to-day life.
Like I can relate to thatfeeling of just like thinking,
like, wow, like there are somany people who who do just have
to live like this, like theydon't have the opportunity to
just take a shower or something.
So it gives you a lot ofperspective on, like what you

(14:04):
actually need or like how muchlike luxuries we have in our
everyday life.
But so when you were preparingfor the speed project, like
training wise, how do you trainfor, uh, an ultra marathon?

Speaker 2 (14:16):
like that I just did a lot of mileage it was mostly
like long miles making sure mybody is just getting equipped to
standing up.
So I was standing up for aperiod, long time, to just get
you know like okay, we're gonnastand up for this amount of
hours.
If I need to walk, I'll take along walk, or either I would
just do my own mileage.
Sometimes I will have to not goto community runs, just to do my

(14:37):
own long runs yeah and itsucked because it's like I had
to learn how to stop for likefive seconds and then keep going
because Cause you know, in thestreet project.
You're stopping for a period oftime and then you got to go
back out there and keep goingand going and it was just me
doing long mileage like everysingle week.
I did like 50, about 50 to 60miles a week.

Speaker 1 (14:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (14:56):
But it was just, it was, so it was a lot on my body.

Speaker 1 (14:59):
Yeah, getting your time on feet down.
Your time on feet down, um, soso what was the?
Do you have any memories oranything about, like the death
valley portion?
Was it ever really hot?
Like?
How did the um elements likeaffect you during the speed
project?

Speaker 2 (15:11):
so day one day two it was hot, it was very brutal,
where the sun was just beaming,and I was so used to running in
the cold.
We had a cold winter in newyork, yeah it's still winter now
.
It's still winter now, so it'slike I couldn't really like
process me running in the heatall all at once, right away, for
like several days.

(15:32):
Yeah and I couldn't really like.
I just I was like oh my god,I'm running in the heat.
I did not train for this heat.
I trained in the cold, brutalcold, low five degrees like.
The highest was like 40, 50,but it was just so hot and then
the couple other days it gotnicer.
It was more like okay, this ismore spring, this is more demure
, more cutesy yeah, and I'm likethis is what I like.

Speaker 1 (15:54):
I could do this.
Yeah, I could do it.

Speaker 2 (15:56):
I had an infected toe and sometimes I would walk like
if it's hot.

Speaker 1 (15:59):
I would just walk, because that's smart too,
because it keeps you at leastgoing versus running and then
burning yourself out and youhave to stop and I was trying to
burn myself out the first twodays and I was like I can't do
this to myself if you're goingto sustain.
It's like you have to kind ofpull it back.
That's a huge thing, I think,with doing the speed project
alone.
I'm guessing, because Iobviously haven't done it but
like just just the endurance ofit, of just like, what can I do?

(16:20):
What pace can I just keepholding?
And for a lot of that it mightjust be walking, but just
getting you in that directionand moving forward some way,
versus just standing still.

Speaker 2 (16:30):
It was just.
It was an experience that Iwill definitely do again.
I would love to do again, butthat freaking.
The whole entire weather wasjust bipolar.
Like, I'm like what's going tohappen?
I was like, oh, it's going tobe hot, oh, be hot.
Oh, it's gonna rain.
Oh, like, thank god, we didn'thave no rain.
Last year when I did a relay,it was snow.

Speaker 1 (16:48):
Oh, my gosh, it was snowing.
I remember that it was likesnowing.
That was the weirdest.
That never happens.

Speaker 2 (16:53):
It was snow and it was cold, it was raining, it was
hail and I had totally,completely different weather
where it was hot, it was breezyand there was times where it was
just cold.
But it was cold during themorning, early morning, because
my day started at around 3 am.
The day.
The first day of the speedproject was from santa monica,
started at 3 in the morning itstarted at 4 am but like the
rest of the week where I wasrunning, I started at 3 am on

(17:15):
the dot so I woke up at 2 30 am,got myself together.
My crew will make me mybreakfast, get my clothes on.
Sometimes I would take my time.
They were like yvonne, get yourbutt up.
You have about like 10 minutesto get outside because I was
just so over it and I'm like, ohmy god yeah and I was telling
them I can't wait to be in mybed, I can't wait, like I was

(17:38):
just like they saw me complainso much, like I never like done
this before.
So it was my first ultra andhave never done the ultra period
right, yeah before ever.
So it was just like, oh my god,like I can't believe I'm
experiencing something that Inever thought I would say I will
not do, but now I'm doing itnow, and it was just eye-opening
like it was so cool to just sayoh, this is how my body feels

(18:00):
after a much miles yeahand sometimes, like I will have,
like people saying, oh my god,you're doing amazing, we're
seeing you live, because I had alive every time to keep
everyone updated, becausethere's no tracker to right to
see how you're doing, it'seither you're alerted.
Them say, hey, I'm at this mile, I'm feeling great, we're in
somewhere and we're gonna keepgoing.

(18:20):
But I was.
I didn't know where I was.
After day three I was just likeI need to get to this finish
line somehow, some way yeah andjust finish, but it was, as so
much that happened, like I gotchased by dogs so what?

Speaker 1 (18:35):
so tell me, like, um, what was the most?
What?
Which point do you feel likewas the most dangerous?
Because I know for myself, likemy mom was terrified when I did
.
She's like, oh my god, likewhere are you?
Like what, if something badhappens, like that, like an
animal bites you, what would yousay is the most dangerous?
That you felt like where you're, like I don't know if I can
keep going like this, like mylife is on the line, or if you
ever got to that point so it waswhen it was a lot of times.

Speaker 2 (18:55):
But the first time was when we went through the
woods, the mountains, and myfriend he was like you have to
go in there.
And I'm like in there and itwas just pitch black and there's
like no path.
There was no, there was a path,like it was a huge, big, huge
path, but it looks so dangerous.
And they said no trucks or novehicles about beyond this point

(19:17):
.
And I'm like, oh my god, Ican't believe I have to go
through this and you, but youhad your friend with you.
I had my friend audio with doyou have like a headlamp?
Or I had a headlamp.
He had like a huge, like light,like a little light, um thing,
whatever.
And we just kept going and hekept trying to play with me.
He was like, hey, look, lookover there, his eyes.
I'm like don't tell me.
He's like, yeah, I see eyes.
I'm like do not tell me that,because I just did not want to

(19:40):
look over there look anywherebut there was one point where we
were almost fell off a cliffand there was like this one tiny
like section where it gotsmaller the road, and my friend
ricky's like I don't think I cankeep going because if I keep
going it's not gonna break.
So my friend adiel, he ran down, he's like you know what, let
me run down.
And it was a huge downhill andif you go, if you keep going,

(20:05):
you may have to make a sharpleft.
And if you do not make thatsharp left while you're driving
and there's a cliff right there,you're, you're dead you're
fucked and stuff, but it wasjust scary it was so scary and I
was like, oh my god, like thankgod.
We looked before we even gotdown and they asked me do you
still want to do this segment?
I said, yes, I still want to dothis segment.

(20:26):
I'm still here.
I want to keep going.
Why don't you guys back up andjust meet us at the other side
of this other segment when it'sover?
So, that's what they did, and Iasked somebody else to come with
me besides Adiel.
So my best friend, ana, wentwith me and we just started like
just we were just talking, likewe were having like a regular
conversation, acting like ifwe're in Central Park.
But it was more like I neededthem to talk to me.

(20:48):
It was 3 am and we just weheard things and things moving.
But I was just like come on,let's keep going, let's keep
going.
And there was no service.
We were so scared because somepoints.

Speaker 1 (20:58):
If something happens, what do you do?
You can't call anyone.

Speaker 2 (21:00):
Yeah, I can't call anybody and they don't have.
You remember, it's find myiPhone, so they how can they
really know where I'm at and howfar I am from the end of that
segment?
Right?
So that was just so scary.
And another scary part was whenme and my friend me and her
were running before we hit themountains and it was just pitch
black and there was no serviceand she tried to get satellite

(21:20):
somewhere so we can call ourfriends because we were like,
how long this segment?
He said it was 10 miles, it'spast 10 miles, yeah, and I was
just so scared because I thoughtI lost them.
But then when I foundflashlights and I saw them, I
ran to them crying like, oh mygod, it's you guys and it was
just you were.

Speaker 1 (21:36):
It's like you just don't know.
I totally know that feelingwhere you're just kind of like
looking like you're okay theysaid 10 miles and it's like
you're looking for the meetingcheckpoint thing or like the rv
and you're not seeing it.
You're like, well, how muchlonger do I have to go?
And every step that's past thatpoint.
Yeah, it's just like a panicyeah but so then when you got to
that part, that's like when youcan start to see the outline of
Vegas, or like you know, you'regetting kind of close what was

(21:59):
that, like it was more like ohmy god, I'm finally almost there
, I can't wait, I just want tofinish.

Speaker 2 (22:05):
like my goal was just to finish.
I did not care who was in frontof me, back me, I just want to
be done.
Because I was just so over itand I was very Delulu where I
was just like, okay, I don'tknow how many miles, but this is
how we're going to get thereand we're going to keep going
and I just kept going.
I just like you know, I hadlike firm belief Get yourself to

(22:26):
the sign.
Yeah, just get myself to thesign.
yeah, just get myself to thesign, however, which way I can't
do right now, but it's just myfoot.
I was on a lot of antibioticsand painkillers throughout that
whole entire race where Icouldn't even feel my toe I
couldn't, but if I felt it, Iwas like guys, we need to stop
for a second.

Speaker 1 (22:42):
I need to take my meds right now yeah, just to get
to that, and I took my stuffthat you got from the urgent
care when they checked it out.

Speaker 2 (22:48):
They had to.
They told me that I had tobecause it was infected and my
whole skin came out.
My whole nail came out, so mytoe looks like a naked mole rat
right now.

Speaker 1 (22:56):
Yeah, where it looks disgusting, it's a badge of
honor.
Yeah, it's like you got to runthe sweet powder but you lost
your toe.
Yes, in the process.
And it's like if I was to gothrough power line.

(23:16):
I think I don't know how itwill be.
I think that was a reallystrategically smart move to have
skipped that, especiallybecause you're alone.
I think if you're on a relayteam, it's like other people can
break it up and whatever.

Speaker 2 (23:23):
But if you're alone.

Speaker 1 (23:23):
That's just like a lot and it's just so technically
hard.
It was so hard, but sotechnically hard.
It was so hard, but so like,real quick.
There's something to be saidabout your style.
Like you're a very stylishrunner, you're very into like
the swag and like like, if youlook at your instagram, I was
just like looking at all yourpictures and I was like, okay,
there's just like a big vibehere.
What kind of gear did you dressyourself in?
Or like is there any um brandsor apparel like what?

(23:45):
Like, what's your favoriterunning apparel?

Speaker 2 (23:47):
so it was planet noosa.
Um, they're in berlin, they'relike copenhagen.
They sent me a bunch of cutelike stuff and I was just like
I'm gonna wear this, oh cool.
And then lululemon provided megear on, provided me gear.

Speaker 1 (24:01):
It was just I very stylish what were your shoes
that you were wearing so?

Speaker 2 (24:04):
I was wearing the on um trail and hoka trail so I
love we're wearing trail shoes.

Speaker 1 (24:10):
How much of it were you actually on like the
shoulder of a road?
Because I remember when I didit there were like periods where
we're like on, like road.
Were you on road at all?

Speaker 2 (24:19):
I had to be on road because it was just no sidewalk
or nothing, and sometimes I wasend up in a highway where I was
on the freeway.
Yeah, yeah I kind of rememberthat was scary yeah because
there's like these fast trucksgoing by you.
That's terrifying you don'tknow if they see you.
If they see you because one hit, you're dead.

Speaker 1 (24:36):
Yes, I know that's the scariest part no one
understands that nobodyunderstands.
I remember the exact samefeeling where I was just like
this is so scary because I'mlike afraid of semi is just
gonna hit me, while I'm runninglike a little curve, but I also
feel like there are so manyteams doing it that I do think
that, like I don't, I would hopethat, like they're seeing all
these other runners and stuff,but how many people did the
speed project?

Speaker 2 (24:55):
solo, um, about 40 something, I believe it was a
lot of women and non-binary,which was great to see.
I feel like we needed morewomen and non-binary on that
pacific start line because youknow, when people see solo, they
just think immediately menrunning it, not women and
non-binary.
So just seeing that alone wasjust amazing.

(25:18):
And then, um, the speed projectprovided a program and it was
for women and non-binary.
It was the radical equalityprogram, where they provided
like information, training,anything that you need, like it
was just a whole program to kindof facilitate more women and
non-binary runners.

Speaker 1 (25:36):
That's interesting.
So now, knowing what you knownow from this experience doing
it by yourself, you said youwant to do it again.

Speaker 2 (25:43):
I would definitely do it.
What would?
You do differently, knowingwhat you know now it was more of
making sure I have to look atthe route to know what segments
do I need to have support withme because I was like, okay,
this is the route, let's studyit okay.
And then there were some routeswhere we will go in with the rv
and we'll have cliffs.

Speaker 1 (26:02):
I'm like back it up, back it up.

Speaker 2 (26:04):
They were like you want to keep going.
You want to keep going.
I'm like, yeah, back it up.

Speaker 1 (26:08):
You guys gotta meet me on the other side.
We had to just take a quickgame plan yeah, so how did you
do the original route like thisthis time that you did it like
who made the route the firsttime?

Speaker 2 (26:17):
so I basically stole maps from different crews,
different leaders, okay, yeah,and I would see like their
master, mike strava, and I'mlike, okay, I'm saving this, I'm
saving this good way to do it.
Yeah, that's interestingbecause I kind of was wondering
that I'm like how okay, I'msaving this, I'm saving this.

Speaker 1 (26:29):
That's a really good way to do it.
Yeah, that's interesting CauseI kind of was wondering that I'm
like how do people know whereto go?
But so you kind of just lookedinto, you did your own research
and found a route.
So now, if you did it again,you would change, knowing when
you would map out the segmentsand make sure you had support.

Speaker 2 (26:54):
What other stuff like .
Would you do anything toprevent getting?

Speaker 1 (26:56):
some kind of a toe infection.

Speaker 2 (26:56):
Just make sure I have blister tape or blister
band-aids with me.
I had k-tape and I believethat's what happened, like the
friction of my sneaker with mysock and then with that.
That's what caused my infectionand now I know like, okay, next
time, yeah, let's get youblister band-aids so you could
be knowing what the hell you'redoing.
Yeah and stuff.

Speaker 1 (27:08):
So it was just you, did you run into any kind of
like uh, stomach problems, likeno, wow okay, that's amazing
because, like for me, I rememberI just like my stomach was
horrible.
It was like just a nightmare,but so that says a lot yeah,
what do you think is the likewhat helped you not have any
kind of issues because that's ahuge thing with ultra marathons
is like gastrointestinalproblems and stuff.

(27:29):
So what helped you not have anyproblems with?

Speaker 2 (27:31):
that it was more just eating the right amount of
times.
Like my friend Whitney, she'slike you need potassium.
She gave me a banana.
You need this right now.
Gave me a water.
You need this.
Give me pasta.
She's like you got to eat.

Speaker 1 (27:43):
You got to fuel yourself so it was Whitney's
role, like the fueling yeah, shewas making sure I fueled
everything and she was on pointwith it, like let's eat this
right now, you need to eat this.

Speaker 2 (27:54):
And then, when I had my vest, she packed me like
gummy bears, candy worms,sandwiches, water.
And every time she was like ateacher.
If you come back and you finishyour test, you're like let's
see what's wrong and we'll seewhat's right.
So she looked at my vest.
She's like you did not even eatthis, why are you not eating
this?
And she's like you, you seethis, this is still full.
Why we're not eating?

(28:14):
Why we're not drinking this?
And I'm like oh, I'm not.
She's like I don't care ifyou're full or not, you need to
drink this right now and it wasmore fueling myself and I'm
happy that I had no stomachpains, no, like bathroom
problems or anything like if Ihad to go, like I will go during
my segment and I'll find a treesomewhere or something, or, if
not, the entire highway wouldsee my moon.

(28:35):
But it was just more like okay,I'm fine.
And I kept going and I waseating so much like yeah, I
think I lost weight, I gainedweight.
I don't know what I was feeling, but I was just eating so much
Like.

Speaker 1 (28:48):
I have to.

Speaker 2 (28:49):
Yeah, I ate so much sandwiches.
I had so much seltzer water,pepsi.
I had candy, I had macaroni andcheese the cup ones.
I had a cup of noodles.
I had chicken nuggets, I hadtocino rolls.
Tocino rolls were my favorite,they were out that whole trip.
It was more like I would justmicrowave them and I would just
eat it.

Speaker 1 (29:08):
Like it was so good.
So those are that's good tipsabout like just like feeling by
eating, like being on a goodschedule, eating a lot and, yeah
, it sounds like also justhaving the person who's like
they're making sure that you'reeating, that's huge Cause.
It just keeps you kind of likecause when you're doing it,
you're not like it's hard tolike remember to do all the
steps that you need to be doing,but having other people kind of

(29:29):
keep you on the right track.

Speaker 2 (29:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (29:32):
So, since you've been back and you finished the race,
what has been the receptionLike how?
What kind of feedback have yougotten?
I noticed I saw on yourInstagram like you had like some
kind of party or something, orlike people are celebrating.
Has it been like fun to enjoy,like the whole thing, and yeah,
it's been fun to enjoy.

Speaker 2 (29:51):
It's been fun to be able to get the support that I
get from a lot of people.
Sometimes people won't say likeyou know, you didn't finish,
that's on you, because I didn'tfinish the whole entire thing,
where I just only did 240 miles,where they didn't see it as
their eyes of me as a finisher.
But I was like f the noise yeah,yeah, let's continue to
celebrate us yeah, yeah so Icontinue to celebrate me and you
know I've been around positivebeautiful people like positive

(30:14):
beautiful people around me likethey took me out.
I've been going out.
I don't ever go out like thatlike I used to, even I'm young,
but like I don't go out likelike I used to like in my late
like teens I used to be like,okay, let's go outside, let's do
this, and I'm like it's amazing, people have been throwing me
like parties.
Yeah, people have been takingme out to drink, to eat, to like

(30:36):
come over when they can like Ihad some people come over to my
house the other time.
It was great and like there'speople that have been sending me
messages, facetiming me and theone thing that asked me, how do
I feel?
And I was like what do you mean?
Like, mentally, I'm like I'mstill in the desert.

Speaker 1 (30:50):
I'm not here, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (30:51):
I'm not mentally, I'm not here yet, like it still
hasn't processed, because once Ifinished this race, I had to go
straight to work so I didn't gostraight and so, yeah, it's
probably worth mentioning.

Speaker 1 (31:02):
So you work in special education and, um, so
you're a teacher.
Yeah, I'm a teacher.
Um, so your schedule likethat's who you're you are day to
day like your work life, isthat?
Um?
So it is interesting to thinkyou have like this other alter
ego where you're like running inthe marathon or ultra marathon
in the desert and then you'recoming right back to work.
How many days did you haveafter you finished until so?
I?

Speaker 2 (31:21):
took a week off without no pay and then I had
like one personal day and I usedthat on monday when I came back
and then I slept the wholeentire day.
Once I came back home I justslept.
When I got back to work,everybody's like oh my god, how
are you?
We heard that you ran.
Congratulations, oh my god.
And my kids looked at me likeif they haven't seen me in years

(31:44):
.
They looked at me like oh,you're back.
And some of them are non-verbalso they were just like oh,
yvonne, like they have to say myfirst name.
Sometimes I'd be like yay,yvonne.
I was like yay me.
And sometimes they hug me likethey were happy to see me.
Some of the kids in that schoolthey were like we heard you ran
, how are you feeling?
But sometimes they would see melike going downstairs because I

(32:04):
was like I look like a crippledperson where I'm just trying to
walk because I was stillhurting, but they were just so
happy to see me.
I got so much love from my bossand, like the administrators and
like the teachers, it was soamazing to just receive that
love when I got back to work.

Speaker 1 (32:20):
I think it's pretty awesome to think that your
students and your peers at theschool, that people can look at
you and see you in the schoolcontext and then just be like,
wow, this person is doing reallybig things, yeah, and it's not
every day, like that's a reallyunusual thing because, like
people know people who runmarathons yeah, but to go do
something like that is like awhole other level.

(32:41):
So I think it's probably prettyinspiring for those people to
see what's possible to like havethat kind of a life outside of
the education setting.
But speaking of regularmarathons, which is only 26.2
miles compared to the speedproject, you're also a pretty
established marathoner becauseyou've run seven marathons right
.
And how many of those wereworld majors.

Speaker 2 (33:03):
So it was five out of the six, so you're going for
your six star.
I'm going to my six star.
I have to do Boston again.
I didn't get my time.
I got cut off by two minutes.
I'm going to go back to.
Boston when I have the time andthe energy.
Is this part of that whole time?

Speaker 1 (33:17):
qualifier, thing.

Speaker 2 (33:18):
Yeah, I've heard a lot about this.
So you have to go back to do it, to get the.
Okay, I beautiful, I like the,I love the atmosphere of just
being around different crews,but not like it was just weird.
But I would love to go back tojust do it and actually get a
finishing time and get my star,because I didn't get my star
that time.

Speaker 1 (33:38):
So yeah, real quick, if anyone listening who doesn't
really know like there's thisthing of like there's all these
world major marathons and six ofthem in all the cities or
whatever in like know, paris,london, tokyo, uh, chicago and
then boston.
But boston has like a rule youhave to finish it under a
certain time.
And it's controversial becauseit's kind of like, whatever you

(34:01):
finish, like, that's it's, it's,that's the way that it should
be.
But like that, that racedefinitely has its like, their,
their old school ways.
But so, that said you, you havecompleted five out of the six.
And what is the last one thatyou're?

Speaker 2 (34:15):
tokyo, tokyo, yeah, so that's the last one you have
to do yeah, the last one I haveto do, so I'm gonna probably do
it some way.
Somehow get a bib.
I've been trying every year.
They always reject me.
I don't know if tokyo likes meit's a hard one to get into.
It's so hard but I would loveto go to tokyo.
Take like at least a monththere to just explore be able to
go to disneyland over thereyeah, okay, so let's let's talk

(34:37):
about the disney marathon yesyou do the disney marathon.

Speaker 1 (34:40):
That's some of the ones that you've done.
I've noticed on your instagramthat you had some disney races
yes so what's your relationshipwith disney?

Speaker 2 (34:47):
so I've been going to dis since I was five years old.
It's like my home.
My dad always took me and mysisters there every year.
Ever since my fifth birthdayI've been going every year.
Like it's like my comfort, likemy comfort place where you do
not worry about what's happeningon the outside real world.
You're just there, living yourbest life and just having an

(35:08):
amazing time.
And I feel like with Disney,like it holds a childhood with
me where it's just me and my dad.
That's how we bonded so muchand me and him have the same
birthday.
So I just bond with him throughDisney and now he works there
now so I just go there for freeand I just go and just spend
time with him and like all Ihave to do is just pay for my
flight and I get to just bethere and just have the best

(35:30):
time.
And sometimes this is a toxicrunner trait of me I'm like, ok,
let's see what time I can go toDisney but also run a race,
exactly.

Speaker 1 (35:40):
And.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
I do Sometimes.
I look and I sign up and I tellmy dad hey, I guess I'm doing
another Disney race.
He's like OK, I guess I got towake up at 2 am Because the
other disney race.
He's like okay, I guess I gottawake up at 2 am because the
wake-up time is brutal.

Speaker 1 (35:53):
You have to wake up at 2 am.
What is the story with that?
So they try to do the racereally early in the day so that
they can open the park?

Speaker 2 (35:57):
yeah, okay so you get up by like 2 am, get to the
parking lot at the epcot parkinglot at like three something.
The race starts at 4 am.
You finish by like 8 am.
You're done, yeah, but you'rejust so tired because the next
day you have to do like a 10k ora half.
Oh yeah, because there's like achallenge of all the races in a
row, so I don't be challenged.

Speaker 1 (36:16):
Yeah, I have a friend named bruce who's obsessed with
all this?
Oh my god, I think I know him,you do, I think I think I see
him on instagram, that's funnybecause I, um, because I always
see his races, like I'm like Ifought, kind of follow like
along of all that, but, um,that's so funny.
So you, so you have thisrelationship with disney that
now you've turned it into likeyou're an outlet to do these
races.
Um, how many disney races?

Speaker 2 (36:38):
have you run?
I ran the springtime surprisechallenge last year, I ran the
princess one.
This year, I ran just themarathon this year and then I've
done like a couple, like I'mstill trying I want to do the
wine and dine that's in november, trying to get it.
I'm running new york, new yorkcity marathon this year.
So I got in and stuff.

Speaker 1 (36:57):
Yeah, this announcement I'm running new
york city marathon this year andstuff.
So um yeah do you want to saythe other race you're running
after the new york city marathon, oh, or before, before chicago?

Speaker 2 (37:06):
yeah, I'm running, I'm running.

Speaker 1 (37:07):
Chicago, New York, and then maybe this Wine and
Dine Disney marathon.

Speaker 2 (37:10):
Yeah, I'm trying to see if I can get, trying to see
how I can get, so it's calledWine and Dine and is it a full?
marathon.
It's a 5K, 10k and a half, butit's a full challenge.
But what I love about it is themedals because they're so
creative with, like each Disneymovie.
So the.

(37:32):
So the springtime surprise lastyear it was the akuna matata
one where they had um simbarunning and then there was the
liloa stitch, the 626 um ohanachallenge, which was the whole
entire springtime surprisechallenge.
They had like the 5k, they hadlike the princess one which is
the mulan 5k 10k was like thealaddin princess jasmine then,
13.1 was aurora.
then of course the whole thingwas the sleep, was the sleeping

(37:52):
beauty and snow white challenge.
So it was amazing to justcollect those medals, because I
love disney, yeah.
So I just hang them up and I'mlike, oh, I can't believe I did
that and the merch is amazingyeah, it's not expensive, but
it's amazing.
I love the merch.
I just love going to like theseraces because it's like you're
going.
You're running through allthese like amusement parks in

(38:14):
disney, you hear the music andyou're just like having the best
time in your life.
It's like you're a little kidand the costumes are amazing.
I don't know if you've seen thecostumes I have, but people
have gone all out, so I went allout for disney.
Princess, were you dressed?

Speaker 1 (38:29):
as it is.

Speaker 2 (38:29):
Yeah, so I was dressed up as princess mia from
princess diaries.
I had the glasses, the tiaraand I had the long you know
gloves and I had all whitebecause you know that was an og
movie, and that's what you'rerunning in.
yeah, so I had an og, likethat's the og movie that I grew
up watching with my sister, so Iwas like I need to be princess

(38:50):
Mia.
Then, for um the half, I wasprincess Ariel.
This is when I had my red hairback then and I was just had the
fish.
I had the little fish stars andI had like the purple top with
the you know um green pants orthe green shorts, and I loved it
.
And it was great and I tookpictures everywhere.
I was like I'm taking my time.
This is no PR race.

Speaker 1 (39:10):
This is amazing.
I think that's a very.
That kind of a race is veryconducive to just having fun and
not be like so in your head,competitive about it like, it's
just like enjoying the vibes andthe community because everybody
else doing that race is like onthe same page of, just like
we're here for the fun of it,like dressing in a certain way.
But speaking of community, what?
How would you describe the newyork city community of running

(39:32):
and like where you fit into that, like which team you run with
which groups, all of the thatgood stuff.

Speaker 2 (39:37):
So I, when I started running in 2019, I started with
boogie down bronx runners and Iwas with team rwb and I was just
do and I was just runningtriathlons.
Like that was before.
Running came into everyeverything else.
It was just triathlons.
I was a triathlete first beforea runner and I'll go with
Boogie down to the track onThursdays and Lenny was there

(39:58):
and he always raffled off Yankeetickets and I would always win.

Speaker 1 (40:03):
I don't know why.

Speaker 2 (40:03):
Awesome so every time random every time I went there
I had manifested I'm like I'mgonna win these tickets because
I love the Yankees and I willalways win, but I love their
vibe.
Like their vibe was just alwaysabout community and bringing
people together and, no matterwhat pace, like you still belong
there.
So then that's when I startedto run with them more.

(40:23):
Then I'm like, ok, there's morerunning crews, just the Bronx,
let's start going out somewhere.
So I started myself just goingto different groups and just
being there and they were like,who are you?
I was like, oh, my name isYvonne.
Like it was not Miss Outside,it was just Yvonne and I just
started like showing up, justshowing love.
And then one day it was likethe Washington Heights 5k that's

(40:46):
my favorite race.

Speaker 1 (40:48):
I've heard really good things about that race and
I always pr that race.

Speaker 2 (40:51):
I'm, oh it's amazing race.

Speaker 1 (40:53):
It's a hard course, but it's so much fun.

Speaker 2 (40:55):
And then I kept saying we outside on the
megaphone and everybody was likeoutside, outside, okay.
And then that's when the nextday my friend she was like hi,
miss outside, how are you, sinceyou're always outside, and I
was like miss outside, thatsounds like a ring to it.
So I kept calling myself missoutside.

(41:15):
And then that's when everyonestarted calling me miss outside.
So then it just started growingmore and more.

Speaker 1 (41:21):
Miss outside.
It's miss outside, yeah, it'soutside.

Speaker 2 (41:25):
And right, yes, five, five, five and I just started
just running with people indifferent boroughs.
Like I moved to Brooklyn in2022 and I was moving in with my
current boyfriend I have nowand I was just like, oh my God,
like I don't know any run crews.
And then that's when peoplewere telling me go to GFTC.
So I went to GFTC with Jerry,ran with him.

(41:46):
Then I started to know moreabout communities where I was
like OK, go to other communities.
Then I got to learn about whatmake moves with tammy, such an
amazing group.
That's the group I run with nowokay they are, but they are
located in bushwick, best eyeokay around there, and we run
from urban asanas.
It's an all black owned womanum what you call it yoga studio

(42:07):
cool.

Speaker 1 (42:07):
So you've kind of bounced around the different
teams and then you're also a runleader or pacer for the no name
.

Speaker 2 (42:14):
Yeah so for no name.
So I run with no name duringthe summer.
I pace either 12, 13, sexy pace.

Speaker 1 (42:20):
We're a party people in the back and I just vibe and
I just see how everyone thereare people who are marathon
training, so it's kind of likethe long run pacer for for that
that's.
That's really awesome so yeah,it's kind of like the long run
pacer for, for that that's,that's really awesome.
So, yeah, you're kind of likeall around the different running
communities and, funnily enough, uh, the way that we met is
because, uh, we, I did a photoshoot a couple of years ago Um,

(42:42):
I think it was like February of2023.

Speaker 2 (42:44):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (42:45):
And you were on set when I got there and I could
hear you talking to the makeupartist or something and I was
like who is this person?
But what we were shooting wasthe billboard in Times Square
that we were both on.
Oh my God, that was so cool,kind of a life changing
experience for both of us.
Oh my God.
So describe that experience ingeneral, like what was that?

Speaker 2 (43:03):
like you know from the start to finish, like doing
the shoot and then seeingyourself come in do a photo
shoot to represent women for allwomen's history month
international women's month andI was like, oh my God, okay,
this is so cool, I'm down to doit.
So that's when we did the photoshoot I felt like such a movie

(43:25):
star, because the way they didmy makeup, the way they asked me
what I wanted to drink, the waythey just put clothes on me, I
was like I never got a chance todo this.
This is so cool.
And then, you know, we metduring the photo shoot and it
was just so cool to have you andI believe, um, soraya, soraya,
there and we just we all hadlike such I remember in the

(43:45):
moment I didn't like I knew itwas ultimately supposed to be a
billboard on times square, yeah,but I was like what is that
actually going to be exactly?

Speaker 1 (43:52):
and then, when it was international women's day, I
wasn't actually physically innew york but my friend was and
took the picture of thebillboard.
Oh my god and then I saw your,your picture and I was just like
oh my god.
So what was it like when youwere standing in times square on
the main billboard seeingyourself?

Speaker 2 (44:06):
it was such like.
It was so unbelievably real,like I didn't know that this was
gonna happen to me, because I'malways in times square with my
dad.
My dad always takes me to timessquare.
My dad used to work at thecrown plaza hotel on 42nd street
before I shut down, wow, andI'll always hang out there.
So now, from hanging out with myfamily there every saturday to
now going to times square andseeing yourself on a big, huge

(44:28):
billboard was just eye-opening,because I did not know that it
was gonna happen around thistime.
And it's just everyone startedhitting me saying, oh my god,
congrats.
Like it was, just like Icouldn't picture myself, because
women that look like me likewe're not usually up on there,
like we're usually likesomewhere else, but it's just to
see that and to representmyself.

(44:50):
And like I had my puerto ricannecklace on.
So I decided not to take thatoff during the photo shoot,
because that's how I identifymyself as a Puerto Rican Latino
woman.
And there was another girl Ibelieve her name is Nora and she
was like I know that you werePuerto Rican because I saw that
necklace.
Wow and she was also PuertoRican.

Speaker 1 (45:10):
Wow and.

Speaker 2 (45:10):
I was like that's amazing.
I got to see her and she wasalso like on the billboard too
amazing.
I got to see her and she wasalso like on the billboard too
Cool.
And I don't know if she did itlike another time or another way
, but she was on that billboardtoo.
Wow, and I met her whole familyand like we just connected and
it was just so beautiful.

Speaker 1 (45:24):
It's pretty awesome to think that you got to be on a
billboard in Times Square asyourself, as a runner, and just
like completely you not justlike you know someone modeling
for something.
It was like you're there asyourself for what you've done
and who you are in the runningcommunity.
So, that's pretty cool.
I feel like that was like sucha special experience and there
are only a few people on theplanet that we all got to

(45:46):
experience that on the same dayfor international women's day.
But um, what other kinds ofrunning uh related like photo
shoot, branding, campaign typethings have you done?
Because I know I saw somethingabout like the new york marathon
at one point yes, new york citymarathon, I've done it.

Speaker 2 (46:00):
It was crazy because I always told jerry like I want
to do this, I want to do this, Iwant to do this.
I really want to be a part ofthe new york city marathon
campaign.
I kept manifesting.
I'm very big on manifestation ofknowing what's going to happen
to me.
I kept writing down this isgoing to happen to me one day.
It's gonna happen, just so,whatever.
Then I spoke to a lady namedjen, and she was.
She found me on instagram.

(46:20):
She's like hey, you have beenheard a lot from a lot of the
community and I want you to be apart of this photo shoot for
new york city marathon.
I just I had to drop my phoneand I was just like, oh my god,
it's happening, and I was justso excited.
Then, when we got on the call,it was other friends from the
community that I have run with,so it was much more special and

(46:40):
I was just like Because you getto share it with other people.
Yes.
So I was just like, oh my God,I can't wait till this come out.
I didn't tell nobody until itcame out and I was like, okay,
it's gonna drop.
Everybody would just startfreaking out saying you didn't
tell us that you were doing this.
And I was like, yeah, I wantedto keep it a secret, make it big
, and it was just so amazing tojust be able to be a part of

(47:01):
that, and, you know,representing not only myself but
the other communities, becausewhen everyone sees me, they see
me I miss outside representingall the crews.
So me just seeing myself on likedifferent platforms of like the
expo sometimes on a bus, atrain, like I would see my face
everywhere on a newspaper, likethat was so cool, it's amazing.

(47:21):
Like everybody was like, oh,like, even like people from
outside the country like, oh,you're on that billboard.
I was like yes, yes, and theywould take pictures of me and
they were like, oh my god, socool, congrats, hope you framed
this and stuff.
And I was like thank you.
And I had a friend that tooksome parts of the expo, like the
huge, like picture of me thereand she was like hey, I have a

(47:43):
present for you.
This is from the expo and I'mlike where I'm gonna hang this?
in my house and she was, likeyou can hang this by the windows
, but I still have it in mystorage unit right now, but it's
a huge picture of just mestanding and that was so cool,
like that's really.
But I got to keep that and Iwas like, oh my god, like that's
so cool.
I don't know how I might have amansion one day, let's see yeah

(48:05):
, so I'm just gonna it's.
It was a I it was, it was Idon't know how to describe it
was just so amazing it's gottafeel pretty validating that.

Speaker 1 (48:13):
It's just like everything coming full circle of
, like when you think ofsomething like amazing that
could happen to you.
That it actually does.
That's pretty cool, especiallybecause you're like planting the
seeds, like if you're um, youknow, if you're doing the work,
like you're going and runningand like being out there, I
think that, like naturally,these things are going to show
up, these opportunities andstuff will come your way.
What kind of things are youkind of like manifesting now

(48:34):
that you like want to see happen, that you hope happen?
I?

Speaker 2 (48:37):
want to do more ultra marathons.
I feel like the ultramarathoning kicked in now, where
I caught the bug after now thatyou know you can do it, you're
like yeah, I'm like okay let'ssee what 50 miler or 100 miler
that I could do one day and Icould just run it like outside
of new york, because you know,when you're doing the speed
project, you're not only goingthrough different obstacles but
you're seeing the wholelandscape of it and it's so

(49:00):
beautiful.
Like the amount of photos I tookin TSP were just the views, and
it was not just me, it was justthe views.
And it's so like I'm like NewYork or nowhere, like you can
never get this back in New York.
Like sometimes I'll take apicture.
I'll be like oh guys, look,that's central park and it would
just be sand.
And then there were times whereI would just like picture

(49:23):
myself like wow, like I'm wakingup to this.
I'm running through this.
This is not central park, thisis not prospect park, this is
not mccarrion park where you'redoing track.
This is like the middle ofnowhere where it's so beautiful
and I feel like we takeadvantage of, like what we see
around us when we're racingoutside of New York.
And it was just so cool to justexperience that, where you know

(49:46):
you're running and you're seeingso many beautiful things and
you're seeing the sunset and thesunrise, like I got to see the
stars.
I got to see so much to see thestars amazing, I got to see so
much and like I had to take amoment and where it's like I'm
happy and I'm grateful to bealive because around, like what
July, I got hit by a car that'sright yeah.
I got hit by a car in July so Iwas not running.
So I took that moment to myselfsaying, wow, like I didn't run

(50:09):
for like four to six weeks right, and now I'm running so, back
up, this is something that Idefinitely talked about.

Speaker 1 (50:15):
So you were basically training for something.
What were you training?

Speaker 2 (50:19):
for when you got hit.
I was training for ChicagoMarathon, every woman's marathon
.
I wanted to do it and then, allof a sudden, I got hit in front
of my house.
Of course You're just crossingthe road or something.
Yeah, crossing the road and gothit, and the guy he hit me and
it was just, it was a blur, Icouldn't get up, I couldn't get

(50:39):
up to walk, so you go down onthe ground.
Yeah, I was just.
I went down the ground, Icouldn't put any weight, it was
hurting, and they were like yeah, you tore your ligaments, your
tendons.
You are out for about eight tonine weeks.

Speaker 1 (50:49):
Wow, and I cried so you had to skip the races, like
you're not.
You're not running any races.
And after that, um, and whatwas broken?

Speaker 2 (50:57):
um nothing broke.
Thank god.
It was mostly like ligaments,tendons were just torn really
hard and heal yeah, it was veryhard to heal and I was just
crying because I love racing, Ilove marathons and I love doing
what I do.
Like I feel like that's likethe best thing that anyone could
ask for, and it's like for meto not do what I love is just me

(51:18):
trying to figure out what.
Who am I besides running?
And it was so hard to sit anddwell with that for the past few
weeks.
I had to learn so much of likeif I had no running, if I took
out running, besides me beingmissed outside, who am I as an
individual?
And I got to learn like, okay,I like to do this, I like to
bake, I like to color, I like todraw, I like to hang out with

(51:39):
my friends.
But who am I like deeper into?
Like what can I do besides justrun and work out?
Because I was just losing mymind, not running or doing
anything.
Like I will go to likedifferent races and I not run,
and just like it was amazing tosee cheering people on.
But it hurt inside because it'slike wow, like I wish it was
this meet this year.

Speaker 1 (51:58):
Like running yeah and doing what I love to do, but it
sucked so maybe that downdowntime, though, when you
couldn't run because of thegetting hit by a card, taught
you who you can be when you'renot running.
But then it also might havefostered a very deep
appreciation for when you doreturn to running.
When you did return to runningthat you could like appreciate
it even more yeah I know what itfeels like to not have this, so

(52:19):
now I'm gonna go run from santamonica to las vegas.

Speaker 2 (52:23):
That was my that was like my biggest like comeback.
I'm like I want to run this, Iwant to challenge myself to
something that I never thought Iwould do, because everybody's
like run an ultra.
One day and I said no, I wouldnever right.
And all of a sudden, okay, I'mrunning solo.
And when I announced that,everyone was freaking out
they're like, oh my god, you'redoing it.
And I always said I would neverdo anything above 100 miles or

(52:44):
26.2.
And now I did the speed projectand now like now you've got that
bug where you want to do more,but I want to do more who are
some of the um?

Speaker 1 (52:54):
either they're runners or non um.
Who are the, the heroes thatyou look up to, of people that
you aspire to be like or likeyou know um?
Guiding lights, mentors, peoplelike that?

Speaker 2 (53:04):
usually it would be my mom.
My mom has always been a bigimpact in my life where I saw
her run throughout my years whenI was younger, where she had
done marathons, she had donetriathlons, ironmans and like
she got me into doing that.
And then like other leaderslike Coffee, of course, he
always like try to teach me.
Like you know it's you versusyou or you know you being here

(53:26):
is so important, like keep going.
And like other leaders, like myfriend Tammy, like she impacted
me so much of.
Like you know you want yourwoman.
You are Latina.

Speaker 1 (53:37):
You need.

Speaker 2 (53:37):
We need to show more of that.
We need to show more peoplethat we matter and we represent
here.
And you know there's a lot likemy boyfriend.
He's been a big impact in mylife because he's the person
that says just keep going, justkeep doing what you have to do,
don't stop.
And, like you know, I havereally good friends and family
that have been there for mesince day one.
It's like I'm very grateful forthat.

Speaker 1 (53:56):
So your family's overall really supportive and
excited about all this stuff.
Did anyone kind of say are youare you sure about running the
speed project Like this?
Seems like a really dangerousthing.

Speaker 2 (54:06):
My mom was just like what's?
Don't tell me, it's this racethat you did last year, but with
a relay.
And I was like, yeah, she'slike.
She's like, okay, I don't knowhow you're gonna do this, but
you're gonna do it, you'll getthere.
And I was telling people theywere like whoa.

Speaker 1 (54:21):
I was like yeah, they were like this is really big,
like you're doing this LA toVegas, and they're kind of yeah,
they're like oh my god.

Speaker 2 (54:30):
And like they were asking do I need help anything?
I was like I'll figure it out,I'm just learning as the way I
go.
And I was just training andpeople were saying like you're
everywhere and I'm like, yeah,I've just been running, like my
whole training block has justbeen running.
I was training for like what 25weeks of just straight running
every day.
Wow, like running in the dark,running in the morning, running
at night, running during, likewhen it's raining sometimes yeah

(54:53):
, like in the blizzard allconditions, all elements.

Speaker 1 (54:56):
So um you on the radar now.
You've got um chicago coming upin the in the early fall, then
the new york marathon, thenpotentially the wine and dine
disney.
What other races and excitingthings you have that you're
looking forward to this year?
Um?
I'm doing the mini 10k, themain thing is my favorite the
women's mini 10k.
That's amazing.

Speaker 2 (55:15):
I love that one and then I'm trying to do like, more
, like run, try and do morehalves.
I think halves are my favoriteyeah, especially after doing so
much.

Speaker 1 (55:23):
Yeah, I feel like that probably is a very
appealing distance yeah, and I'mdoing high rocks in june cool,
oh, that's like the, the weighttrain, like yeah.
Yeah, I don't know too muchabout it, but are you doing it
alone?

Speaker 2 (55:32):
or I'm doing with a friend.
She invited me and I was like,okay, I guess we're doing it
like we're gonna have fun shewas like what's your goal time?
I'm like I just want to finish,yeah, like I don't care about
what place we're in, just let'sdo this, because it was my first
time like lifting, like that,and it's her first time.
But she's been killing it andI've been like, okay, we're

(55:52):
gonna do this, yeah, we're gonnado something new yeah,
something new.
And you know I want to do moreraces of just like leaning more
into community and like justhaving to do fun runs, like like
I was telling you before justwaking up and actually just
doing a five miler just for funand not just for training, right
, yeah, and I want to do thatuntil like june comes, and then
that's when I start training andthen no name comes and you know

(56:13):
, trying to get people to thestart line, the finish line of
new york city marathon, becauseit's great to be a pacer where
you get to see people's journeysand then watch and like then
when you walk because you'regoing to run the race as well.

Speaker 1 (56:24):
It's just so much fun .
Do you think some of the peoplethat you train with are going
to run with you in the race,like that pace group?

Speaker 2 (56:30):
yeah, I hope so.
I want them to I would be likeoh, if you guys want to run with
me, this is the.
This is the route I'm takingthat's so fun and that's the
sexy pace crew.

Speaker 1 (56:37):
Yeah, like this, the like you know, more.

Speaker 2 (56:39):
More about like the fun of it versus yeah, like
crazy and I would just probablydrink around the whole entire
new york city, because there,it's fun.
New york city marathon is somuch fun like this is my third
time doing it, but it's just somuch fun.
I remember 2022, when it wasbrutally hot, and I remember
that, oh, I was sweating at mileone.

Speaker 1 (56:58):
You ran the one.
That was really hot, oh man I.

Speaker 2 (57:01):
I was like, oh my god , and they were like take it
easy, it's hot.

Speaker 1 (57:05):
And I was sweating yeah, so much brutal year.

Speaker 2 (57:08):
Hopefully it's not like that this year I pray, I'm
like, oh no, I don't want.
I want to be like nice, like anice cutesy, like little.
Yeah, nothing crazy 40 degrees,like you know, tank top weather
but kind of cold.
I just want to experienceeverything again, Like I feel
like ever since, everything thathas happened to me last year.
I want to just enjoy justracing and not worry about my

(57:30):
time because I'm so focused onmy time.

Speaker 1 (57:33):
And.

Speaker 2 (57:33):
I'm like, ok, I got to beat this, I got to beat that
.
And I'm like, okay, like what?
What's your why?
Why do you really run?
And I had to sit down withmyself and ask myself what's my
why in running and why I love torun, why I love to be here and
be around the community.
And I feel like some peoplejust will worry about like races
where we don't know why, weforget why we run what is what

(57:53):
is your, why?
my why is my community, myfamily, my friends?
And I feel like I'm doing thisfor, like the women that are so
scared to say no, for the kidsthat are so scared to say no,
because I was a special ed kidwhere I was non-verbal.
I was non-verbal for threeyears when I was younger and I
was so scared to say no when I'mso scared to say yes, like I
had people choose for me how tosay yes or no, and I I'm like

(58:14):
you know what.
It's time to put your foot down, learn how to you know
experience new things whereothers don't get to see and, you
know, take in everything.
And it's like when I run, likeI'm running for my health and
I'm running for people thatcannot run and now that have no
legs or no like body parts, likeyou know.
And I see the achilles and Irespect the achilles people so

(58:34):
much running I've been like goachilles, you're killing it.
And now I get to figure outlike, oh, my god, like I was not
running for a short period oftime, we're just walking on one
leg and I had to put non-bareweight on my right leg.
So now I get to experience thatI say, oh my god, like I'm
running for me and I'm runningfor my community.

(58:55):
I just want people to see thatof what running is really all
about.
It's about community and it'sabout bringing people together
and why we're here, cause, youknow, we always tend to forget
why we're doing this in thefirst place.
The medals are nice, the timesare nice, the year is nice and
everything, but we have toremember why we're here and why
we are running, because we tendto forget that, we tend to

(59:17):
forget why we're running.
And I feel like running hasimpacted my life so much where
it brought me to meeting newpeople like you, like different
people within the community,where people have not only
touched my heart in such abeautiful way but like have been
, like saying, like I believe inyou, like you could do this,
like you know the, you know themileage, and like people have

(59:38):
just been like there for me, andit's like I created beautiful
friendships and relationshipswhere, you know, I now have
people that I call my soulsisters or my brothers, or like
they're like my mom and my dad.

Speaker 1 (59:48):
So it's like seeing that and to keep going and to
experience that is just ablessing that's amazing, I yeah,
I think everything in therethat's kind of like sums up
exactly what you're all aboutwith the running journey and, um
, it speaks to someone like mebecause, you know, for someone
who hasn't really been racingthat much, I think it's so
important to remember our whyand like, why we choose to run

(01:00:09):
and how there are people whoaren't able to run and that we
get to run as a like you know,just a powerful statement of
like and that we get to run as alike you know, just a powerful
statement of like.
We get to do this.
This is a choice that we'remaking.
Um, so if you'd like to goahead and um, tell everyone
where to find you if they wantto connect with you on social
media, um, what's?

Speaker 2 (01:00:28):
your instagram.
Okay, so my social media is missoutside with five e's, not six
e's we have a hiccup, but fivee's follow me, get to connect
with me, see my journey.
I've been posting non-stopabout the speed project.
If you want to see more of thespeed project, go to miss
outside solo.
It's still on instagram.

(01:00:49):
We still have videos and livesthat we did not so long ago like
literally a week.
I can't believe it's been aweek.
But yeah, if you guys want toconnect with me, don't be afraid
to hit me up.
I'm a loving person.
I love free hugs.

Speaker 1 (01:01:02):
Yeah, Yvonne is definitely a very fun person to
follow on Instagram.
I highly recommend giving her afollow.
And yeah, until next time.
Just be fast, Just win.