Hey everyone!
As you’re hearing this, I’m currently out on the trails attempting to complete the Cocodona 250 — a 250-mile journey across Arizona from Black Canyon City to Flagstaff. Bib #184 if you want to follow/cheer along!!
Since I couldn’t record a fresh episode this week (for obvious reasons!), I’m bringing back one of my favorite conversations from last year: my chat with Christy Krchnavy about her 2024 Cocodona experience.
Christy shared some incredible insights about the mental, physical, and emotional challenges of tackling Cocodona, and her words are just as powerful today as they were then.
Whether you’re dreaming about running Cocodona someday or just curious about what it’s like to take on a 250-miler, I hope you enjoy this special rebroadcast.
Thank you so much for continuing to support the show — I’ll be back soon with brand-new episodes once the adventure wraps up!
Until then, run long, run strong, and keep Choosing to Endure.
- Richard
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, hello and welcome.
If this is your first time withus, thank you for stopping by.
You're listening to Choose toEnjoy the show dedicated to the
non-elite runners, where weshare stories, interviews, gear
and training tips specific tothe tail end heroes of the ultra
universe.
If you haven't had a moment todo so yet, please consider
(00:22):
heading over to your favoritepodcast app, maybe even the one
you're listening on right nowHit, follow, rate the show and,
if you're on Apple, maybe evenleave us a short review if
you're so inclined to.
My name is Richard Gleave.
I've been running ultras since2017.
I've taken on and finishednumerous distances at this point
(00:43):
, all the way up through 220miles, and I am unashamedly a
member of the back of the pack,just like you guys.
Now, today, I am chatting witha lady who probably needs no
introduction if, like me, youspent a large part of the
previous week and a halffollowing one of my favorite
races, the monster that is theCocodona 250 mile race across
(01:09):
Arizona.
Now she was the queen of thegolden hour on screen high five
in almost everyone in Flagstaff.
Today, we have the incredibleChristy Kirchnavey joining us.
Christy is a back of the packrunner, mother, wife and
assistant race director when shehas time for the Ultra
Expeditions crew up in theDallas Texas area.
(01:32):
She has been running longdistances since her son was born
as a way to have time toherself and stay healthy, and
loves hiking and being outside,which I think showed during the
Cocodona run.
She says that ultras allow herto take time to enjoy herself on
the trail, take a few picturesand still make it to the finish
(01:53):
line before the cutoffs, which Ithink is an entirely noble goal
.
So sit back, take a listen toChristy's Cocodona story We'll
be right with you after this.
To Christy's Cocodona story.
We'll be right with you afterthis.
Discover raw, inspiring storiesfrom runners who've been right
where you are.
This is the Choose to EndureUltra Running Podcast With your
(02:21):
host he's English, notAustralian Richard Gleave.
So, christy, I am super pumpedto have you on the show.
Thank you so much for sparing alittle time to talk to us today
.
It's been just over a week weekand a half, I think since we
watched you cross the finishline.
How are you feeling at thispoint?
Have you even started recoveryyet?
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Can you move?
Yes, well, thanks for having me.
I'm actually feeling prettygood.
Even from day one of being done, my muscles all felt fine, I
wasn't sore.
The only thing that wasbothering me are my feet.
From about mile 120, I battledreally severe blisters and just
(03:07):
every time I came in just kindof had to get them dealt with
and move on and yeah, so that'sreally the only thing that's
still bothering me is my feet.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Well, that's pretty impressive, I think, after 250
miles on the trails and in thesun to well, I'm going to say,
only have blisters.
Blisters are a pain,metaphorically and physically,
but I think that's pretty good,well done.
So we heard a little about youin the intro there, but maybe we
start with your journey intoultra running.
How did you originally get intothe sport and what are some
(03:39):
experience or races that haveshaped your running career prior
to getting up to Cocodona here?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Yeah, so I started running when my son was just a
few months old.
I've run prior to that, but I'dnever run distance.
So when he was born and Ineeded some time to myself
because you have a little humanattached to you at all times I
would get my baby attached toyou at all times.
(04:08):
I would get my baby, nurse mybaby and then go run for 10
miles and then come back.
I spent a lot of time 3 am 4 amrunning, and I still do most of
my running at the wee hours ofthe morning because that's what
works well for my family.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Kudos to you.
I love that.
Family first is always the wayto go in my book.
Had you done any races beforeCocodona?
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah.
So I ran with Ultra Expeditions.
I ran Piney Woods as my first50K, which is always really near
and dear to my heart.
It's a beautiful trail up inTyler, texas.
And then I also ran CaprockCanyon 100K with them and after
those two I was just hooked.
I was like this distance thing,like this is the way to go,
because I'm not a fast runner,but I'm I joke, I'm really hard
(04:55):
to kill, so I just keep goingand I'm not going to beat anyone
, but I'm going to definitelykeep moving until I finish.
That's kind of how I got hookedon distance.
I was like I can go slow andstill last everyone.
Okay, I can do this.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Yeah, and that's why I love these really long
distances too, because you getso much time that you don't have
to go fast.
It's really beneficial for thelikes of you and I who like to
go slow, shall we say.
So, with those races in thebank, what inspired you?
What motivated you to go?
Look at Cocodona 250?
Because that's a big jump rightthere.
Was there something specificabout that race that kind of
(05:33):
drew you into it?
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Yeah.
So I did 100 miler.
Well, I did 100 miler that IDNF'd and I had a lot of foot
problems and I realized I missedthe cutoff and I realized I'd
never wanted to feel that wayagain.
So I was like I'm going to puteverything into this.
I did Dino Valley 100 mileragain and I finished and felt
(05:57):
great.
So then during that race I toldmy crew to never let me do
another 100 mile race becausethis was the worst decision of
my life.
And then a week later I waslike I think I'm going to sign
up for Cocodona.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
And they're like well , you told us never to let you
do another 100.
I'm like well, this is not 100.
This is 250.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
I like your reasoning there Very good.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
They're the loophole.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
So you were familiar with Cocodona prior to that.
I mean, had you watched any ofthe previous races or you just
came across it online and waslike, wow, that's a race I want
to try?
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I lived in Arizona for six years.
I was a teacher there and so Iwas really familiar with all the
trails in that area and knewhow beautiful it was, and so
last year I watched it a lot.
I got nothing done that week,as I'm sure a lot of people can
understand.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
And then when I, when I told my husband I wanted to
do it, he's like all right,let's do it, like I.
I am very lucky with a verysupportive husband.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Very supportive, yeah , and I don't know he was just
like go for it.
He didn't have any hesitation.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
No, he, he has this ability to believe in me.
That is really cool.
He's like if you're going to doit, do it.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Brilliant.
So now you are in the Dallasarea.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
I am.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
How did you build a training plan for all of the
terrain in Arizona?
Living in where we live, youknow there's not much of that
around the Texas area in general.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
So I did a lot of internet research and ended up
stumbling upon a 200 miletraining plan that I followed
pretty closely and it reallyemphasized time on feet, hiking
(07:52):
with a weighted pack and justyou know, getting those long
hours on the trail.
I am very lucky I'm in FlowerMound and I live 15 minutes from
North Shore Trail, which isactually a biking trail, but it
also runners go there as well.
So I would be on North ShoreTrail at 3 am most days of the
(08:16):
week training, and I'd say Itrained six days a week.
I took Friday off.
My husband liked to joke that Iwould do a marathon before
church on Sunday and then spendthe rest of the day with family,
so it was a lot of sleepdeprivation practice.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Yeah, I mean I was going to say that's the way to
do it right Get your sleeptraining going while you're
doing your physical training.
That's insane, but good for you.
So did you have any challengeswith your training block?
I mean, how long did it takeyou?
What kind of length of trainingblock did you have?
Speaker 2 (08:48):
I trained for 48 weeks.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Whoa.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yes.
So I was serious about it.
I was not going to fail.
I knew if I was going to signup, it was something I was going
to commit to.
I don't have the natural talentof a runner.
I just am very stubborn andvery.
Once I set my mind to something, I do it.
(09:13):
So I set myself up a 48training week block, and there
was weeks I was near the end.
I was averaging about 80 milesa week with about 14,000 to
15,000 feet invert.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Because the trail by me has a really technical
section and I would just do thatin loops.
It's a 10-mile technicalsection.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
That's pretty handy too, it is.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
And then anytime we were anywhere for ultra
expeditions, like we're in CapRock Canyon, I would train there
, I would mark the course andthen, when everyone else was
heading to bed, I was like allright, I got a 20 mile run to do
.
Oh my goodness, so it was.
Yeah, it was a lot of mentaltraining as well.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Folks, I've been on that course as well.
That is a challenging course.
That is a course that I thinkif you're going to do training
anywhere in Texas for Cocodona,that's probably as good as
you're going to get from aspecificity standpoint,
especially that technical climb,that straight up.
What is it?
700 foot straight up, scramble,basically yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Around that loop?
Yeah, that's wild, I love it.
Was there any other sort ofspecific stuff?
Definitely for you coming fromArizona there?
Any other sort of specificstuff?
Definitely for you coming fromArizona and knowing that area
and some of those trails, didyou go back?
Speaker 2 (10:29):
up there, or yeah, so I, um, I knew the climbs would
be my strength, but I alsowanted to practice them because
I'm a flatlander in Texas.
So I went to Guadalupe Peak inTexas.
Oh nice and um, my crew who'smy crew chief?
Nicole, she was amazing and shecame with me and she literally
(10:50):
waited around for two daysstraight in the car crewing me
while I went up and downGuadalupe Peak four times in one
day.
And then the peak next door,hunter Peak.
I went up and down there thesecond day.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Yeah, so you really went out and did some like what
I would call proper, as much asproper as we can here.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
And obviously you finished, so I would say it was
successful.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Which is cool.
So let's talk about the raceitself.
Well, let's do logistics first,because, like running a big
race like that, you've alreadymentioned the crew and the
logistics of running a race likeCocodona 250.
How did they help you in thepre-race, in the build-up and
then throughout the race itself?
Because crews are often missed,I think, in the big journey and
(11:36):
they play such a huge role in alot of people's ability to
finish.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Tell us about your crew.
Give your crew a shout out.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Oh my gosh, I can't shout out my crew enough.
They were the reason I finished.
I keep telling them I had theeasy job.
They had to do the stressfuljob of waiting for me and
panicking because the trackerwould always say I was going to
be behind the cutoff and then Iwould like gain an hour somehow.
(12:07):
And they're like Christy,you're stressing us out.
But no, my crew was amazing.
I had my husband, who was justthe biggest support, my
sister-in-law, nicole, my crewchief, rebecca from Alter
Expeditions, and then I hadthree pacers in addition Misty,
rhonda and Patty, and um man,they were the best I knew.
(12:28):
If I could just get to my crewevery time, that they would
solve the problems, and I just Ibelieved that every time, no
matter how bad I was feeling, ifI just get to my crew, they'll
solve everything.
Fantastic, yeah, that was kindof how I got through, just
knowing they were.
They were close every time.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Now, did they move along the race with you, or did
they have a central spot andjust kind of bounce back and
forth to wherever you were?
Speaker 2 (12:52):
We rented an Airbnb in Clarkdale, so they kind of it
was.
It was in the center of thecourse, so they did a little bit
of both.
They kind of traveled with meand then we had a big SUV that
we rented.
So Nicole had like her car, shewas like my supplies, and then
(13:16):
Jacqueline, my sister-in-law,she was like shuttling pacers.
That woman like miles and milesof shuttling pacers back and
forth.
She's a saint and so, yeah,just everyone fit in exactly
where they should have been andit was seamless, like they were
the reason I finished honestly.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
I'm fascinated by how people select crews, and so
some folks go with their friends, they go with people they know
well.
Other folks they like to havespecific roles, dedicated sort
of roles within the crew,whether they're friends or not.
I want somebody who's trainedin foot care and I want somebody
who's whatever.
How did you go about selectingyour crew folks?
Speaker 2 (14:00):
You know, with 250 miles it's kind of a little more
challenging because it's a hardsell to say, hey, do you want
to take a week off and follow mearound the desert and touch my
gross feet Like who's signing up?
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Not really.
You don't have a huge line forthat role.
I don't know why, but Nicole,kind of she just jumped in.
I asked her if she would comebe crew and kind of lead the
charge and she said yes and theneveryone else followed and fell
into place.
My husband was always goingbecause he's stuck married to an
ultra runner, so he's kind ofstuck with it.
(14:37):
And then my sister-in-law,who's not a runner, she didn't
want to miss out.
She's like I'm joining this fun.
I'm like I don't know how muchfun it's going to be, but let's
do it.
One of my pacers, Misty.
She lives in Arizona and so shewas able to.
She paced me at the end.
She was the one in the yellow,too strong hat.
And then my other two pacers Ihad never met before.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Oh, do tell, that sounds interesting.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
So one of my sweet friends had to drop as a pacer
because she had a conflict thatwas completely not her fault.
Like she felt terrible and Iwas like it's okay, it'll work
out.
So Misty put the word out totrail runners that she knew, and
Rhonda and Patty, my other twopacers.
(15:23):
They wanted to join so I hadnever met them before and they
ran with me.
Patty joined me for some reallyrough sections of nighttime.
She climbed with me up Mingus.
She took me through Schnebley,which was she was pulling
sleepwalking runners out of thetrees Like it was crazy.
(15:43):
Yeah, she would like she's likeokay, christy, keep going
forward, because I wassleepwalking runners out of the
trees.
Like it was crazy.
Yeah, she would like she's likeokay, christy, keep going
forward, cause I wassleepwalking.
And then she would like pull arunner out of the trees and be
like this way, honey.
And she just like like five to10 sleepwalker runners just on
that section.
It was like an eight milesection.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
It was.
It was carnage.
It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
But what a cool thing to do to step in and help pace
somebody you've never met.
I think that's that speaksreally well of those two
individuals I have to say.
So how did you because Iimagine at the point that they
jump in you're not like superchatty I wouldn't have thought
how did you get to know thesepeople, or did you?
Speaker 2 (16:22):
You know, I I'm pretty, I'm pretty chatty there
was.
I pretty much talked toeveryone with me, the pacing
with me, except at the endbecause I lost my voice, because
the there was a prescribed burnin Sedona and so I lost my
voice at the end and Misty mylast pacer.
I finally said I can't talkanymore, my voice is shot, and I
(16:45):
was like I can't talk anymore,my voice is shot, and I was like
I need to put my headphones in,and that was the first time I
put my headphones in.
The entire race is like thelast 50 miles.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
So after that I was just chatting with everyone.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Yeah, it seemed like there are a lot of people having
kind of breathing challenges,whether it was from the burn or
just from the dust coming in,even Browning up front.
He suffered from that and whenhe got passed at the end I think
he was having breathingchallenges as well.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Yeah, they got really bad in Walnut Canyon.
I have a video of it.
Like there's just smoke in theair, like it's all hazy and
we're running and I'm like thisis great, like we're fine and
just have the picture of the guyand guy with the harp and
everything burning behind himand he's like, no, we're cool.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Yeah, it's all just follow the trail, we're good.
Follow the flags, we'll be allright.
Yeah, interesting, okay.
So we've started on the race.
Let's talk about the race, yourrace specifically.
Did you have a strategy fromthe get go for coca dona 250 and
how?
How did your race pan out?
Walk us through your race anddid your strategy evolve as you
(17:54):
went through the various aidstations?
And I'm always curious howpeople find that first, I don't
know.
What is it?
It 30 odd miles through CrownKing there, which everybody says
is a beast?
Is it that bad?
Can you confirm?
That was a challenge.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
You know I hesitate to say this because I don't want
to give people the wrong idea,but I didn't think it was that
bad.
But here's why I brought anumbrella with me.
I don't know if you if on thelive stream you saw the person
they were dubbing Umbrella.
At first I was Umbrella Guy.
They didn't realize I was agirl.
And then I became Umbrella Girl, yes, and then I became Mary
(18:34):
Poppins of Cocodona.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Yes, so not only did you have this awesome finish,
but you were also a celebrityearlier on in the Cocodona
experience, and I don't know,did you even know that at the
time?
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Oh, I had no idea.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
No.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
No, I couldn't see much around my umbrella.
All I could see was forward.
So I had it bungeed to my packbecause I knew on the first day
the priority would be water,staying cool and just managing
my pace.
I'm a strong climber, so Iwanted to get out of that day
(19:09):
feeling good and not destroyedfor the rest of the race.
So once I put my umbrella up, Ijust kind of cruised.
I could run with it.
I only had to close it once forwind and I really stayed very
cool.
I never felt hot, I was alwaysout of breath, but it's very
steep.
It's a very steep terrain andit's very rocky, but it's
(19:32):
beautiful.
I was just trying to soak inall the beauty and just
appreciate that I was there andthat I had done all the work.
And these are the victory miles.
This is not the work.
This is the reward for all thework.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
I mean, that's a pretty long victory lap, a 250
mile victory lap.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
It was, but it is one .
Speaker 1 (19:50):
I mean, I'm with you on that.
After your 48 weeks of mentaland physical training, I would
imagine this seems like, yeah,it's just a couple of days and
I'll be at the end.
So back to the umbrella for aminute, because I am fascinated
by this.
How did you even theorize thatyou could climb with an umbrella
attached to your pack?
I mean, I don't think I've everseen that, but it's brilliant.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
So my sister-in-law, my other sister-in-law who's
married to my actual brother,she is a thru-hiker and they use
umbrellas in really hotsections of the PCT, like
through California.
And so when we werebrainstorming the beginning of
the race and kind of problemsolving what the issues would be
(20:35):
when heat came up, I was like,well, why don't we just bring an
umbrella?
And it just seemed like a verysimple solution.
So I like scoured the raceguide and made sure it wasn't
like outlawed, because you know,sometimes there's rules about
things like that and therewasn't.
And so I just kind of I waslike, all right, well, I'm not
(20:56):
going to ask, I'm just going toassume it's OK.
And so I just kind of took my,took my cue from through hikers.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
I think that's a really cool hack.
Pun intended, it did keep youcool.
Did you have it on that wholeclimb all the way, aside from
the one time you took it downfor a win?
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yeah, I opened it up at mile seven at the aid station
at Cottonwood Creek and then Ihad it open until, I want to say
, maybe five miles before LaneMountain, because it got a
little brushy and I was catchingit on everything and so I had
to close it.
But then I just I just bungeedit to my hiking pole because it
(21:33):
was a really lightweightumbrella and most of the people
were really they were veryreceptive to me having it.
It was funny because they'relike oh man, why didn't I think
of that?
One guy said I should havebrought two and sold one at mile
20 for $500.
I was like I probably wouldhave just given it away, but
yeah, so.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
It worked out great.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Well, kudos to you for coming up with that and for
executing it during the race,and I don't know again if you go
back and look at some of thatlive stream, if you haven't
already.
There is some fascinating livestream when they pick up you
with the drone, with theumbrella Just wonderful chat
about the umbrella and how coolof a hack it is.
We may end up seeing a wholelot more umbrellas next year,
(22:16):
and if we do, then you know youare the original umbrella lady,
I started a trend.
Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
My husband has a picture of me on the treadmill
with the umbrella he's like Ithink she's lost it.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
But again, you practice with it.
Right, You've got to practicewith the thing I did.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
So how did you?
Speaker 1 (22:32):
have it Again and we'll carry on in a moment, but
you said you had it bungeed toyour pack.
For anyone that wants to trythis for themselves, how did you
attach the umbrella to yourpack?
Speaker 2 (22:42):
I bought these little like pack bungees at REI and I
just had three different placesthat it was bungeed, so it was
nice and secure and just wentall the way up my shoulder and
then it just kind of hoveredover my head.
So if I was running I kind ofhad to hold it a little bit, but
walking I didn't touch it.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Excellent.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
And really you're not running that much on that
section.
Well, no, there's not a lot ofrunning involved.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
All right, so we've got you through, I think, crown
King.
And then how did it go for youfrom there?
Speaker 2 (23:13):
The first night was rough.
I ran with a guy, karel, who,for 16 miles and he really got
me through that section.
I had a pretty good tumble.
I hit my knee really hard.
I had so much rocks and likejust dirt in it.
I was like we're just not goingto mess with it.
It was like dripping down.
I'm like we're just going toleave that, just pretend like it
(23:34):
didn't happen.
So that was, that was hard.
The first night was just afterbeing out all day in the sun and
even though I wasn't very hot.
It's a lot for your body.
Yeah, I ran out of water goingup to Crown King.
I had about a liter left withthree miles to go and I ran into
someone sitting on a rock whoasked me if I had water and I
(23:57):
couldn't say no.
So I gave her some and so Iconserved about a half a liter
for three miles and up to up toLane Mountain.
So between being a little bitdehydrated and then continuing
on through the night, that was.
It was a rough night, but oncethe sun came up it was, it was
good.
So I took a 15 mile nap, 15minute nap at Wambatochik and
(24:20):
then I was good to go.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
OK, well, we're getting to sleep here in just a
bit, and whether you had astrategy for that.
But yeah, so keep us movingwith you.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Okay, let's see.
So every single day my goal wasto get 50 miles, because I knew
if I could get 50 miles then Iwould be like I'd make it, and
in the back of my mind wasalways the cutoff.
I knew I was going to bepushing it near the end.
So I had a little piece ofpaper with every single aid
station and all the cutoffs inmy pack and I would just pull it
(24:52):
out and look what the nextcutoff was and know I had to
make it by then.
And so I went through the night.
There was a girl out ofMomotochik that was going to
drop.
She was sitting on a rock and Iwas like, well, you can't drop
at this rock, so come on, let'sgo.
I feel like I was likecollecting runners it was really
fun actually and so I got herto the aid station and she ended
(25:15):
up dropping, but I tried toconvince her to keep going but
she wasn't having it.
And then, pretty uneventful,until I got to Whiskey Row and I
got my first pacer, my sweetRebecca.
Rebecca and Nicole are bothnurses, or Nicole was a nurse,
(25:35):
but they were my nurses on crew,so I kind of trusted them to
make sure I didn't do anythingtoo stupid and that I didn't
hurt myself too bad.
So that definitely eased mymind, knowing that if something
happened I did have two nurseskeeping an eye on me.
But yeah, so I mean it was just.
It was beautiful miles.
I really enjoyed having Pacerswith me.
(25:58):
We talked and shared lifestories and just tried to take
it all in, just reallyappreciate the fact that we get
to do this and I could beanywhere and I get to be on a
trail, you know, for days on end.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Yeah, your cruising along.
At this point you didn't haveany challenges other than the
occasional trip and knee.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
Yeah, I had that one fall.
I had, like I said, I hadblisters starting at mile
probably 110.
And they just kept, you know,taking my socks off, wiping down
my feet, managing any blistersand putting them back on my
pacers would would kind of text,nicole, with any issues, I was
having any food I needed andthey, um, she would kind of have
(26:48):
things ready or have it in hermind how she was going to break
it to me that I didn't get thatthing.
Um, yeah, so I had a lot oftrouble, starting at the Dells,
with fueling.
I've never had problems eating.
I like I love food, I eat allthe time.
I couldn't swallow food like Icould chew it and I wasn't
(27:11):
nauseous but I couldn't swallowit.
So I think I fueled about 150miles on Mentos and first form
ignition like carbohydrate drink.
Whoa Well done you Not ideal?
Speaker 1 (27:26):
No, probably not in your pre-raised plan.
I wouldn't have thought butwell done anyway.
Do you think that was from thesmoke, or smoke or the, you know
, the dust in the air that waskind of jacking with your throat
I have no idea.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
It's something I've never encountered before.
I've always.
I always wolf down food whenI'm running.
I'm always hungry.
Starting at the dells, Istarted just dry heaving
randomly and I was like this hasnever happened before.
I don't know what's happening.
I would just like take a fewsteps and dry heave and take a
few steps and Rebecca, who'swith me?
Who's the nurse?
She's like are you OK?
(28:03):
I'm like mm-hmm, just keepgoing.
I'm like, just keep going.
And so then they would get outtheir phone and text Nicole.
I'm like no one likes a snitch.
Stop telling on me.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Fantastic, yeah.
And just on the food topic, youknow they have such good aid
stations out there and they seemto get better and better every
year, so it's such a shame youwere not able to take advantage
of any of those.
But just from an aid stationgeneral perspective, did you
have a favorite aid station thatyou went through Like which was
?
When you look back, you think,yeah, that that you went through
, like which was.
(28:38):
When you look back you think,yeah, that was a.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
that was like really cool probably whiskey row,
because I ate two pieces ofpizza there.
That was like the first thingI've eaten in like 50 miles and
it was glorious, and my crew gotso excited that I was eating
the pizza and then so she triedto give me another piece and
then I was like no, no, that'snot happening anymore, so it was
(29:06):
like a novel food worked andthen it stopped and then like
they'd have to figure outsomething else that worked, like
I ate Chick-fil-A nuggets onetime and then they tried to give
me another nugget, I was like,don't, I can't touch those, like
I can't even smell them.
So it was a lot of problemsolving on the go, so yeah.
(30:00):
So you talked a little bitabout your 15 minute sleep.
Did you have a predefined sleepstrategy or were you because I
know it can go both ways?
I've talked to people that arelike, yeah, I'm, I'm going to do
exactly this amount of sleep atexactly these places.
Or were you kind of on the I'mjust going to sleep as and when
I feel like I need and canactually sleep bandwagon, which?
Which way did you go?
Yeah, so I'm an over planner.
If you had seen my, my bins ofof gear, like everything is
labeled, there's like everythingthat's in the bin.
I had like spreadsheets andtime sheets and like I'm so, yes
, I planned my sleep to the likeminute.
Yeah, now, did that go asplanned?
Absolutely not.
So my plan was to sleep threehours at Mingus and three hours
(30:23):
at Munns and that's it.
Because I'm a back of thepacker and I know I am going to
be cutting it close.
I didn't think I had time formore than that, but when I went
into Whiskey Row I talked tosome of the runners that were
passing me like I was standingstill and I was like going as
fast as I could and they're justlike zooming past me.
And I caught up with one of therunners that I had run with and
(30:45):
he was like what's going on?
I was like I can't go anyfaster.
And he's like well, how muchhave you slept?
I'm like 15 minutes.
And he's like you need to sleep.
Like this is, this is now daytwo.
You need to sleep.
And I was like well, I don'thave time to sleep.
He's like you'll go faster ifyou sleep.
So I took a one hour nap atwhiskey row and I felt like a
(31:06):
new human being, like it wascrazy, I was running again.
I felt fresh.
It was very, very strange.
So I slept a total of three onehour naps and then I took a lot
of dirt naps.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Oh awesome.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Yeah, so I about four hours total, I don't know
exactly because at mile about140, my watch decided that
running was no longer for it anddecided to crash.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Oh no.
And were you dependent on yourwatch, or did you have a
navigation, or was it easy to go?
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Like did you need your watch or was it?
I didn't know what day it was,so yeah it just it completely
crashed.
It was like a triangle of deathand my crew tried to reset it.
It wasn't short on battery, itwas full on battery.
It just would not like itwouldn't go.
So I ran over 100 miles withouta watch and just had to
(32:11):
mentally be like OK, this is thenext problem and this is we're
just going to deal with it thenext problem, and this is we're
just going to deal with it.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
So that's.
That's really interesting,because there is definitely a
field of thought out there thatsays you know, all the data that
we've got and all the watchstuff that we look at is kind of
counterproductive.
So and I'm not saying I supportthese arguments, but they're
out there that say, hey, youshould, at some points in your
career, go run without a watchand just kind of run through the
day, let the day go up and downand figure things out and free
(32:41):
yourself of all the data andkind of run naked is what they
call it without any of that.
So how did you find runningwithout your watch?
Was it tough to start with?
Did it?
Did it in the end?
Were you?
How did you feel about no watch?
Speaker 2 (32:56):
It was very difficult .
In the beginning.
I had a little bit of a pityparty for myself.
I was with my Pacer, ronda,when it died and we tried to
reset it and I was just likethis is you've got to be kidding
me Like it's my watch, likeit's the one piece of gear I
didn't think was going to fail.
And then I was, you know, I wasjust walking, kind of being
(33:21):
kind of grumpy, which for me isnot very grumpy, but I was
feeling grumpy.
And then I was like you knowwhat?
This is where we're at, likethis is what we're going to deal
with and next the next problemwill come up and I'll have to
deal with that.
And that's like we just have tokeep rolling.
So there's really not a lot oftime when you're kind of chasing
those cutoffs to dwell on aproblem.
(33:43):
You just have to find asolution and move.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
Now, talking of the cutoffs, were you always aware
that you were really close?
Were you always really close tothe cutoffs, or did you ever
kind of get yourself, you know,some time built in there?
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Yeah, I was kind of hanging out mid, mid, uh, mid to
back in the beginning, firsttwo, two and a half days, and
then my blisters became a verylarge problem, um, and we were
spending a long time managingthe blisters and managing the
just the feet pain, and it kindof just kept getting me pushed
(34:16):
back, pushed back.
So I was always aware of thecutoff.
We knew that Mingus was goingto be a tight cutoff.
I came in 20 minutes ahead ofthat cutoff.
My crew did a NASCAR styleswitcheroo and even let me lay
down for five minutes and I saidI just need five minutes.
(34:37):
And they're like OK, that's allyou get.
I'm like all right, that's fineFive minutes.
But it was weird, if I sleptfor five minutes I would dream
like I would go through a fulldream cycle.
I would wake up and I'd be goodto go for another 10 miles.
I took a two minute nap onceand it was glorious.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
I know it's weird how that happens, isn't it?
It's like everything resets andyou buy yourself hours from a
five minute nap yeah.
Very very strange.
So you were, at one point atleast, only 20 minutes from
cutoff.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
Yes, yeah, a little bit panicky time right there,
and I was stressing my careerout, yeah, a little panicky at
that, I would be.
Yeah, the tracker would show thetime according to like what
your current pace was.
Show the time according to likewhat your current pace was.
So if I was climbing up Kasnerand I was going an hour per mile
, it was showing that I was liketwo hours behind the cutoff.
And then they were freaking outand texting my pacer and being
(35:28):
like she's got to move andthey're like she's climbing a
mountain and so, but then whenI'd start going down again or
start going flat, I would startrunning and then I would, you
know, make up an hour.
And so my poor Nicole, she waslike I give up, Like she stopped
trying to figure it out.
She was like I didn't make itbefore the cutoff.
(35:50):
I can't, this is your cutoff,Make it before then.
I don't know what to tell you.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
I like it.
I like it.
So you talked about Kastnerthere and I don't know, maybe
this will come up in the nextquestion, but I wanted to get a
feel for sections of the racethat crossing, the water
crossing was just beautiful.
Speaker 2 (36:21):
I had known that section before I've run it.
It's like soldiers pass area inSedona and it's just miles of
red rock and it's it's beautifuland I ran really well in that
section.
I, you know I was actuallymoving, my feet were just numb
by that point.
So it was, that was a goodsection.
And and then also just likesharing the Dells in Prescott
(36:47):
with my pacer, rebecca.
She had never been over thereand so it was just.
She was like oh my gosh, likethis is gorgeous, and we really
had a nice time just enjoyingthe beauty of that area.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
That was, I think, where Joe McConaughey got lost.
Did you have a problemfollowing?
Oh really yeah, he got lost.
He got turned around in theDells and lost his lead at that
point and Jeff Browning bumpedinto him as he was coming the
wrong way on a trail and so butyeah, one or folks have have
said the dells can be kind oftricky to figure your way
(37:20):
through, especially at night.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
Yeah, yes, I was there during the day okay and I
had done that section before,which helped.
I had done a lot of thesections in hiking arizona and
so there was a lot of times Ijust felt kind of at home and
like I knew what I was doing, um, which really, I think, think
helped me Awesome.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Brilliant, okay, and then I cut you off, but you're
the least favorite section ofCocodona.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
So climbing up to Camp Kippa was really hard and
really long.
I was in this section where noone was around me.
I was kind of in a weird likepocket of no people for hours
and at one point I just laiddown on the trail and turned off
my headlamp and stared at thestars and I set my timer for six
(38:07):
minutes and I was like I'mgoing to take six minutes to
look at the stars and just notbe in the race and that really
helped.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
So that that was a hard climb, though, especially
after crown King.
And just it's your first nightalone.
It feels really far by thatpoint.
Um, you just started.
So that was hard.
And then probably the worstactually was Kelly Canyon.
It's just a straight flat roadand there's construction
(38:37):
vehicles and I had been on thetrail for four days by that
point in the quiet, and theconstruction vehicles were so
loud and I was like this is justit's, it's not supposed to be
here, and it was.
That was hard.
I took a lot of dirt naps onthat section.
Just I just laid in the middleof the road.
Oh man, my face was like don'tget hit by a car.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Yeah, that does seem a very sort of juxtaposed
position, right when you're outin the solitude and quiet of the
mountains and all those trailsand then suddenly jump on road
with the construction.
Did you have any close calls?
Was there traffic coming?
Speaker 2 (39:14):
No, it wasn't, it was a dirt road.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
It wasn't really traffic.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
There was one construction vehicle that went
by us and I was not sleeping onthe trail at the time so she
wouldn't have let me get hit bya car, I promise.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
She's a good pacer, Thankfully.
Yes, Probably job one for yourpacer.
Don't let your person get hitby moving vehicles.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
She was trying to encourage me to go off the side.
I was like, no, this looks niceand I just laid down in the
middle of the ground.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
So you had gone quite well then, meeting and getting
ahead of all the cutoffs.
When we picked you up on thecams later on, it was probably
just as you were going up MountEldon, right or there or
thereabouts.
So tell us how that went,because that seems really
intimidating after all that timeyou've been out there, you know
(40:04):
you all the temperatures,everything else.
You've got going on and suddenlyyou have to go up this.
I don't know, is it 1500 feetin a mile or I don't know.
It's a.
It's a huge looking climb yes,it was rough.
Speaker 2 (40:15):
So so how that went down it was a little bit of the
perfect storm of things thathappened Because I was so close
to cut off at Mingus I didn'tget to sleep at all.
We were kind of counting on anhour there and it just didn't
happen.
And so I was very, very sleepdeprived by that point.
Sleep deprived by that point.
(40:40):
And coming through theflagstaff area, it was anytime
there was rocks, it didn'tmatter if it was flat.
My, I couldn't run.
My feet were just so blisteredI had just everywhere there were
blisters, and so that wholeflagstaff getting up to eldon is
very rocky and it's like a washyou go through that's.
It was the middle of the night.
There was like washing machinesand trash and it was a weird
(41:01):
section of the course that wewere in, and so then you're
doing that little hookup andaround Flagstaff.
So when I climbed Eldon, mistyand I had a plan.
We were going to get to thebase of Eldon, we were going to
take a five-minute dirt nap,have some caffeine, eat some
calories and then climb.
But I was so sleep deprivedthat when we woke up and when we
(41:24):
were climbing I had this weirdfeeling like that I was lost.
And I kept telling her I thinkthis isn't the way, I think
we're on the wrong trail, Idon't think this is the way to
go.
And she's like no, no, keepgoing up, it's okay.
Like, you're good, follow theswitchbacks.
And I was like no, there are noswitchbacks, I don't think this
is it.
(41:44):
And so that was all the way upEldon, like I just kept telling
her, like I think we're lost, Ithink this isn't it.
And she's like no, christy,keep going up up there.
Yes, so then it felt like wehad been climbing for literally
12 hours.
So when I saw Jamil at the top,first of all I thought he
might've been a hallucination.
(42:04):
I didn't hallucinate at all,but I was like I don't think
that there's no way it's him,because obviously I'm lost and
this is not Eldon.
So but I saw the towers and wehad Misty and I, like a year ago
, had gone up Eldon to kind ofget a feel for it, and so, but
it was in the daytime and so atnight it just feels so different
(42:26):
.
So when we climbed up and wesaw Jamil, I thought it was
eight o'clock, not seven o'clockNow, remember, my watch is not
working, so every time I have tocheck the time, I have to pull
out my phone, but I've got mypoles and so it's like too much
work.
So I thought it was eighto'clock because we had been
literally climbing for fiveyears.
Speaker 1 (42:46):
That was like that was what was happening.
Speaker 2 (42:48):
And so when I saw Jamil and he was like how was
your night?
And I said a prof.
The next question I asked himwas how far till finish?
And he said 9.6 miles.
So in my sleep-deprived braindoing math, I thought I have two
hours to go, 9.6 miles, andthat I can't do that on a good
(43:12):
day, much less like on a 240mile day, five days so.
But something in my brain justsnapped and I was like I don't
care if I have to run six minutemiles, I am getting to this
finish line before the cutoff,like I'm not going through all
of that pain and all of thatsleep deprivation and not
(43:33):
getting a buckle.
I am getting a buckle, sothat's.
I didn't realize he was filmingme at the time.
I was just freaking outinternally and I went like a
crazy person sprinting downEldon.
Speaker 1 (43:46):
Yes, you did and there's evidence of it.
I mean, folks, if you haven'tseen this clip, I guess out on
Cocodona site you can go look itup.
I think it's like FinalFinisher Summits Eldon, I think
that's maybe what it's calledbut yeah, it's Jamil watching
Christy come over the crest ofEldon.
(44:08):
And then suddenly I mean youtake, you just absolutely floor
it and take off.
And I think you said at somepoint oh no, my pacer is
somewhere back there yeah, Ididn't want him to.
Speaker 2 (44:19):
To think there was again.
I'm a little sleep deprived bythis point, so I thought
somewhere in my brain, I think Ithought that she was gonna get
lost because I was trying totake care of my pacer, which is
ridiculous.
I'm in no place to take care ofanyone by this point.
Speaker 1 (44:34):
And you didn't just take off.
I mean, you did just take off,but then it picks you up coming
by the aid station.
Most of us would check in theaid station, get a little
something and go, but not you,christy.
You were on a mission, as yousaid.
You just bombed straight by itand the people commenting on the
live stream were like oh, oh,oh, uh, I guess she's not coming
(44:55):
in the aid station like she'sgoing.
She's really booking it downthe down the hill and you were.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
I mean you, just because I thought it was an hour
later.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
Yeah, it was brilliant, it was fantastic tv,
so well done for that I'm glad.
Speaker 2 (45:06):
I had no idea anyone was filming it.
I was just there was no way Iwas going to not get a buckle.
I was like I don't care what Ineed to do, I'm going to get a
buckle Like I'm going to sprintdown this mountain if I need to.
And my pacer finally caught upwith me.
I, I cannot drop my pacer on agood day.
She's a phenomenal runner.
And so some of the people werelike you dropped your pacer.
(45:37):
I'm like oh no, no, no, Isurprised my pacer, just hang on
a minute.
She, she caught me real easy.
But she, she was like whathappened?
I'm like I, I have 9.6 milesand I only had two hours.
She's like Christy, it's seveno'clock, you have three hours.
Speaker 1 (45:43):
I'm like oh okay, I can take a deep breath then yeah
so at that point I was justlike, let's just finish so at
what point did you, like youwere herring down that mountain,
proper flying three miles fromthe top.
Speaker 2 (45:59):
I got about three miles down when she's like she
caught me.
Um, because she went like upand around, she thought I was on
the aid station, she couldn'tfind me, and then she.
So she finally found me and Ikind of explained what happened
and she's like, okay, well,you're good, like you, you can
take a walk break.
Speaker 1 (46:16):
I'm like no, let's just go yeah, so you must have
caught the two chaps in front ofyou somewhere in the forest
coming out off the bottom of themountain I think there's a
little climb before you get into, like the parks around
flagstaff.
So were you aware that you werethe final finisher?
Before that were you coming?
Speaker 2 (46:36):
over the top you didn't know I didn't.
I didn't know I was last.
I mean, I knew I was near theback because time wise, and
again I thought it was eighto'clock, so I I figured I was
near the back, I didn't know Iwas absolute last.
The sweepers were behind me thewhole time but they, they told
they were super nice and they'relike no, you've got time.
(46:57):
Like don't worry, don't, don'tlet us stress you out.
So I was just chatting withthem.
I was like hey, how's it going,what you doing, how you doing?
I was a little sleep deprivedand so, and so when I, yeah,
when I came up and over and thenrealized I you know, by that
point I was like I'm done, let'sjust, let's just run it in.
(47:18):
And then when I was passingpeople, I wasn't intentionally,
I was just like I want to bedone, like I want to see my crew
, I want to get to the finishline, I don't want to be on this
mountain anymore, yeah, and sokind of endorphins took over and
I was like let's roll.
Speaker 1 (47:31):
So let's talk about that for a minute, because you
got a cam all to yourself comingin, so we were all able to
watch you running throughFlagstaff.
And you know, I have to ask youwhat is your secret?
Because 248 miles into a raceyou're running really, really
well, and I watched a lot ofpeople come in and they were not
anywhere near what you weredoing.
(47:53):
So I need to know what yoursecret is, and I'm sure other
listeners do too.
Like, how are you doing that?
Speaker 2 (47:59):
Well, part of it is just I'm extremely stubborn and,
uh, I just my, I have a way tolike you know, you just have to
turn off the pain in your brain.
You're just like you know whatit's going to be there and I can
either focus on it or justignore it, and there was nothing
I could do to make it hurt less.
So me focusing on like, oh mygosh, my feet hurt, oh my gosh,
(48:23):
my blisters hurt, I am tired.
Like that's not going to makeit any better, like what's?
I kept asking myself throughoutthe whole race, like what story
do I want to tell?
Do I want to tell a story of250 miles to myself, of like, oh
, poor me, poor me, or do I wantto like conquer this and be
like I'm going to do it with asmile and with a good attitude?
(48:43):
So there was a lot of people whowere, who gave of their time
and energy to help me, and Ididn't want to be miserable,
hang out with for five days.
So it was kind of an intentionalthing to like have a positive
attitude and I think because ofthat, when I was near the finish
, it just kind of I was justrunning because I was happy to
be done and to be near thefinish.
(49:06):
It was great seeing everyone onthe street and to be near the
finish, it was great seeingeveryone on the street.
I actually leaned over to mypacer because I ran out of water
, because I did not stop at theaid station, because I panicked,
and so I was out of water thatentire Flagstaff section and so
I leaned over to Misty and I waslike I am so thirsty and she's
(49:27):
like I know me too.
And then at one point she'slike I know me too.
And then at one point she'ssignificantly taller than me and
so she's got very long legs andI am not gifted in the height
area.
So at one point she was walkingand I was running.
I was like I'm gonna need youto pretend like you're running
because you're making me lookslow.
She's like oh okay, I got youand so she's like trotting in
(49:48):
place to try to pretend likeshe's running, because I'm like
I'm going to need you to make mefeel better and pretend to run
(50:09):
running in.
Speaker 1 (50:09):
I'm sure others would agree.
I mean, you were smiling, youwere happy.
I don't think I've ever seenanyone high five as many people
on on the latter part of acourse in my life.
And and obviously you've got a.
You've got a camera runningwith you at this point as well.
Were you, were you aware of thecamera at all?
Was that even in your head?
And how were you high fivingall these people?
Were they coming at you?
Were you going and finding them?
Like just, and all these people, were they coming at you?
Were you going and?
Speaker 2 (50:29):
finding them Like just fun to watch.
I knew he was there.
He was a really nice cameraman.
Shout out to him I'm sure hedid so many miles back and forth
, back and forth and he was sonice.
But I knew he was there.
But I was just again trying tostay in the moment and soak in
the fact that I was done, like Ihad done the work, I had
conquered all the problems andlike this is again, this is the
(50:51):
victory.
Like this is the good, excitingpart and I wasn't going to be
mopey going in when I did thisamazing feat.
As far as the high-fiving, Ithink scientifically that
high-fives give you extra power.
So maybe that's my secretbecause I high five people
because when you know, when Iwork races with ultra
(51:13):
expeditions, like I'm alwayshigh fiving people because it
makes you feel better and evenif you're having a crummy day
like you're, like that littlecontact just it boosts you up.
So I always make it a point tohigh five anyone I can always
make it a point to high fiveanyone.
Speaker 1 (51:30):
I can well.
You definitely high-fived themost people at the end of coca
dona that I've ever seen andI've watched it all the years
within the closing mile and ahalf.
So I think well done to you.
Amazing with your positiveattitude, I love it.
I think you ran that wholesection.
I don't think I saw you stopand walk at all, which most
people you know walking it in atthat point.
But so, yeah, kudos to you.
I thought that was a reallycool finish and obviously you
(51:51):
then make you make the left onbirch and you go along to the
alley and everybody, includingthe commentators, are you know
hey this is great and and Idon't know if you know, when you
the the lady who finished last,you high-fived her just before
the alley turn yeah, I hadtalked to her a bit.
She was so sweet yeah, she was anice lady, and then you made
(52:13):
the turn into the alley and wewere not expecting what happened
then.
I don't know either and folks,if you, if you this, go to I
think it's, I don't know it'sit's late on in in the video of
the final day.
It's probably two hours 48, 50minutes on the lap.
But go find christy's finish,because she turns into cocodona
alley and absolutely takes offlike I mean you were sprinting
(52:37):
to the finish.
Yeah, I'm done.
What was in your head at thatpoint?
Speaker 2 (52:41):
I was so excited.
I think, just being an averagerunner, there's a little bit of
imposter syndrome always whenyou line up to these things,
knowing like I could, I couldtry my best and it just might
not be enough.
And I kind of always going intoit with that, like I'm I'm not
going to be faster than people,but I'm going to outwork them
(53:03):
and I'm going to train harderthan them and that, at the end
of the day, like that is eithergoing to be enough or not.
And so, knowing that, like allthe work I did and all the hours
I miss sleep, and my husbandlike took my, you know, took one
for the team and had Jacksonall weekend so I could go train,
like that it just kind of allflashed through my mind and it
(53:26):
was just like a celebration oflike I did it, like it was, we
did it.
Like I was so excited I did notplan to jump into my husband's
arms and I don't know how heknew I was going to jump.
I must've given him a littlelike nonverbal cue, because I
was glad he caught me, cause Iwould have fallen down.
Speaker 1 (53:42):
It was amazing, and I mean everybody, all the cameras
around you.
I'm sure that'll show up onsome of the Cocodona sites in
due course when they finishprocessing that, but it was
absolutely phenomenal.
There were people crying in thelive stream at that AJW.
Andy Jones Wilkins, who wascommentating at the time.
He said there was a Stravasegment for the alley.
(54:03):
You've got to be pretty closeto owning like queen of that
segment if there is one.
I mean everyone was justtotally taken by surprise, but I
mean so happy because we'd kindof followed you from the top of
from the moment you crestedEldon.
People were emotionallyinvested on the live stream in
your finish and I don't know ifyou had any idea of that but
(54:26):
yeah, there were thousands ofpeople watching that
and all following you as youcame through Flagstaff.
So just brilliant, brilliantfinish.
Speaker 2 (54:36):
My dad was on the live stream, apparently like
chatting with everyone and mydad's great, like he's hilarious
, he's super witty.
My mom and dad had my son allweekend, so shout out to them
like because I would not havebeen able to do it with my
five-year-old like hanging outoh yeah and so he was the one
who, like, started the lion.
(54:56):
I don't know if you saw the lionemojis.
I watched it later and he waslike, oh, she's got the heart of
the lion.
And then so when I watched itback, I was crying.
I was like all the roaring andthe lion emojis like yeah like
they don't even know me.
It was really special, it wasvery cool.
Speaker 1 (55:13):
And that right there, I think, is the beauty of
Cogadona, with, with all of thelive streaming that they've been
able to put in place, it reallymakes everybody feel a part of
all of these journeys, butespecially the people kind of
coming in towards the end,everybody is rooting for you
guys to come through and we allfeel it, and yeah, I mean it was
, um, it was a pretty emotionalfinish for all of us, even
(55:36):
though you had no idea.
Speaker 2 (55:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (55:39):
It was really cool.
Um, so definitely folks go gowatch that one, watch the last
day and the last 10 or 15minutes of uh, of the recording.
It's it's.
It's's really cool.
Any other thoughts on the race?
Any advice for somebody?
If?
Because I think you can go signup for 25 at this point, I
think it's open.
So yeah any advice for somebodythinking about signing up from
(56:00):
a either training perspective orracing perspective.
What are some things that youwould tell somebody in advance
to watch out for?
Speaker 2 (56:08):
do don't do um, I'd say, just as far as training
goes, like don't discount beingtough.
And like you don't have to bethe best runner, you don't have
to be the fastest runner, youhave to have a heart to like
finish and you, like anyone can.
I honestly believe anyone canbe an ultra runner, like I am
(56:30):
not a great runner, but I have aheart to finish and I know I
will keep going until I do so.
I'd say, you know, just if youare passionate about doing the
race, sign up.
Like don't don't avoid itbecause you think you're not
good enough or not elite.
I'd say, if you want to sharemiles of people in Cocodona,
(56:53):
sign up.
It's a beautiful experience,it's very special.
Speaker 1 (56:58):
It truly is, and actually I don't think you have
to go 250 miles to get that.
I think you can get a similarexperience from a lot of races
out there coca dona inparticular I think that's partly
why we do these races right,because those experiences exist.
It's the whole community behindit.
I think is tremendous.
But coca dona in particular, Ithink it stands on its own as a
(57:19):
200 mile race, and there aresome really good 200 mile races.
Yeah, the live stream aspectreally adds something different
and then obviously there's somany different terrains through
the race itself just just atotally different race yeah, I
think it really puts on displaythe trail running community and
what we all love about it thatpeople don't always see.
Speaker 2 (57:37):
It's like giving water to someone at mile 30 when
you're almost out.
My pacer at one point went backup a mountain to find someone's
phone who he had lost.
He had lost his phone, likepeople cheering for someone at
the back of the pack who never,you know, thought they'd be
doing 250 miles.
It's like it's the beauty oftrail running on display and I
(57:58):
think that's why it's really funto watch, because I think we
all want to be part of that.
Speaker 1 (58:04):
Yeah, absolutely.
Now, one thing we do, christy,at the end of each episode here
is that we ask a guest to choosea song that they would like to
add to the free Choose to EnjoySpotify playlist.
Typically, it's somethingfamily friendly just lift you up
, motivate you or keep youmoving while you're out on a
trail, such as Cocodona.
(58:25):
Now do you want to share thesong you chose and why it
resonated with you?
Speaker 2 (58:31):
Yes, so I thought about choosing Baby Shark
because you know I have afive-year-old but I didn't want
to do that to people.
Can you imagine?
Speaker 1 (58:40):
Thankfully you did not choose that one
(59:07):
no-transcript.
We might have had one or two onerepublics, and they're quite
popular for the runningcommunity, apparently, in
general.
Well, so, as we approach theend of this particular episode,
christy, thanks again forjoining the show and sharing
your incredible journey acrossArizona with us and everything
(59:29):
that that encompassed.
Christy did it.
You can too, if you'relistening, and it's pretty darn
cool if you ask me.
As we said, cocodona 2025 isopen if you want to go sign up
for your own adventure.
Christy, is there a round twoin your future here?
I don't know if you've eventhought about that yet.
Speaker 2 (59:49):
No, probably not for a long time.
I don't race a whole lotbecause I get I mean, I have, I
have a family and I get a lot ofmy race vibes from working with
ultra expeditions.
I get to see people cross thefinish at least twice a month
and I love it Like I.
That's my jam.
So probably not for a while,but I'm still in the racing
(01:00:11):
scene.
So if you want to come see me,come, come to one of our races.
Speaker 1 (01:00:14):
Well, head over to Ultra, sign up if you want to
get to the Cocodona 2025.
And, on that note, if you areout there on the internet and
looking for races, definitelyalso go check out Ultra
Expeditions, where Christy is at, and you'll see her at the
finish line.
They have some really coolraces going on.
I think the website isultraexpeditionscom.
You can go out there and findout where Christy is herself, as
(01:00:39):
well as the rest of thefantastic Ultra Expeditions crew
.
They have races going on outthere Barrier Island Ultra
that's a beach race up to 50miles.
I have to do that one one ofthese days.
What a great way to spend aweekend with friends out there
on the beach.
And they have the Border toBadlands race out in the
beautiful Seminole Canyon Parkright there by the Rio Grande on
(01:01:01):
the Mexican border, and alsoone of my all-time favorites,
the Wild Canyon Ultra out atCaprock Canyon State Park, one
of, I think, the toughestcourses in Texas where you can
experience the truly etherealred rock canyons.
They're utterly unbelievableand the only Texas state bison
herd, so you actually get to runnot with but around alongside
(01:01:26):
Bison out on that course andthey are very intimidating, I
have to say those things areabsolutely massive.
So, anyway, go check out UltraExpedition's site for those
races and more.
Go sign up for something.
I will, of course, put thoselinks in the show notes.
Now, while you're on theinternet signing up for Cocodona
(01:01:49):
or checking out where Christyand her crew are going to be,
don't forget to also subscribeto the show here, get notified
each time a new episode dropsand, of course, follow, share
and like.
That would be very muchappreciated.
Doing any of those thingsreally helps with the algorithms
.
That in turn, helps get theword out and increases the
chances of other back of thepack ultra runners finding the
(01:02:12):
information that guests likechristy have to share when they
give up their time.
So you can find us on instagram, facebook and over at choose to
endurecom.
So be sure to head over to anyof those and check us out, say
hello, drop us a message,suggest a or provide some
constructive feedback if youhave a moment, and you can now
(01:02:33):
actually message us directlyfrom the show notes too.
So there's no excuse really.
Until then, be like Christy andrun long, run strong and keep
choosing to endure Jewel.
Well, hello and welcome.
If this is your first time withus, thank you for stopping by.
You're listening to Choose toEnjoy the show dedicated to the
non-elite runners, where weshare stories, interviews, gear
and training tips specific tothe tail end heroes of the ultra
universe.
If you haven't had a moment todo so yet, please consider
(00:22):
heading over to your favoritepodcast app, maybe even the one
you're listening on right nowHit, follow, rate the show and,
if you're on Apple, maybe evenleave us a short review if
you're so inclined to.
My name is Richard Gleave.
I've been running ultras since2017.
I've taken on and finishednumerous distances at this point
(00:43):
, all the way up through 220miles, and I am unashamedly a
member of the back of the pack,just like you guys.
Now, today, I am chatting witha lady who probably needs no
introduction if, like me, youspent a large part of the
previous week and a halffollowing one of my favorite
races, the monster that is theCocodona 250 mile race across
(01:09):
Arizona.
Now she was the queen of thegolden hour on screen high five
in almost everyone in Flagstaff.
Today, we have the incredibleChristy Kirchnavey joining us.
Christy is a back of the packrunner, mother, wife and
assistant race director when shehas time for the Ultra
Expeditions crew up in theDallas Texas area.
(01:32):
She has been running longdistances since her son was born
as a way to have time toherself and stay healthy, and
loves hiking and being outside,which I think showed during the
Cocodona run.
She says that ultras allow herto take time to enjoy herself on
the trail, take a few picturesand still make it to the finish
(01:53):
line before the cutoffs, which Ithink is an entirely noble goal
.
So sit back, take a listen toChristy's Cocodona story We'll
be right with you after this.
To Christy's Cocodona story.
We'll be right with you afterthis.
Discover raw, inspiring storiesfrom runners who've been right
where you are.
This is the Choose to EndureUltra Running Podcast With your
(02:21):
host he's English, notAustralian Richard Gleave.
So, christy, I am super pumpedto have you on the show.
Thank you so much for sparing alittle time to talk to us today
.
It's been just over a week weekand a half, I think since we
watched you cross the finishline.
How are you feeling at thispoint?
Have you even started recoveryyet?
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Can you move?
Yes, well, thanks for having me.
I'm actually feeling prettygood.
Even from day one of being done, my muscles all felt fine, I
wasn't sore.
The only thing that wasbothering me are my feet.
From about mile 120, I battledreally severe blisters and just
(03:07):
every time I came in just kindof had to get them dealt with
and move on and yeah, so that'sreally the only thing that's
still bothering me is my feet.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Well, that's pretty impressive, I think, after 250
miles on the trails and in thesun to well, I'm going to say,
only have blisters.
Blisters are a pain,metaphorically and physically,
but I think that's pretty good,well done.
So we heard a little about youin the intro there, but maybe we
start with your journey intoultra running.
How did you originally get intothe sport and what are some
(03:39):
experience or races that haveshaped your running career prior
to getting up to Cocodona here?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Yeah, so I started running when my son was just a
few months old.
I've run prior to that, but I'dnever run distance.
So when he was born and Ineeded some time to myself
because you have a little humanattached to you at all times I
would get my baby attached toyou at all times.
(04:08):
I would get my baby, nurse mybaby and then go run for 10
miles and then come back.
I spent a lot of time 3 am 4 amrunning, and I still do most of
my running at the wee hours ofthe morning because that's what
works well for my family.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Kudos to you.
I love that.
Family first is always the wayto go in my book.
Had you done any races beforeCocodona?
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah.
So I ran with Ultra Expeditions.
I ran Piney Woods as my first50K, which is always really near
and dear to my heart.
It's a beautiful trail up inTyler, texas.
And then I also ran CaprockCanyon 100K with them and after
those two I was just hooked.
I was like this distance thing,like this is the way to go,
because I'm not a fast runner,but I'm I joke, I'm really hard
(04:55):
to kill, so I just keep goingand I'm not going to beat anyone
, but I'm going to definitelykeep moving until I finish.
That's kind of how I got hookedon distance.
I was like I can go slow andstill last everyone.
Okay, I can do this.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Yeah, and that's why I love these really long
distances too, because you getso much time that you don't have
to go fast.
It's really beneficial for thelikes of you and I who like to
go slow, shall we say.
So, with those races in thebank, what inspired you?
What motivated you to go?
Look at Cocodona 250?
Because that's a big jump rightthere.
Was there something specificabout that race that kind of
(05:33):
drew you into it?
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Yeah.
So I did 100 miler.
Well, I did 100 miler that IDNF'd and I had a lot of foot
problems and I realized I missedthe cutoff and I realized I'd
never wanted to feel that wayagain.
So I was like I'm going to puteverything into this.
I did Dino Valley 100 mileragain and I finished and felt
(05:57):
great.
So then during that race I toldmy crew to never let me do
another 100 mile race becausethis was the worst decision of
my life.
And then a week later I waslike I think I'm going to sign
up for Cocodona.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
And they're like well , you told us never to let you
do another 100.
I'm like well, this is not 100.
This is 250.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
I like your reasoning there Very good.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
They're the loophole.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
So you were familiar with Cocodona prior to that.
I mean, had you watched any ofthe previous races or you just
came across it online and waslike, wow, that's a race I want
to try?
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I lived in Arizona for six years.
I was a teacher there and so Iwas really familiar with all the
trails in that area and knewhow beautiful it was, and so
last year I watched it a lot.
I got nothing done that week,as I'm sure a lot of people can
understand.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
And then when I, when I told my husband I wanted to
do it, he's like all right,let's do it, like I.
I am very lucky with a verysupportive husband.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Very supportive, yeah , and I don't know he was just
like go for it.
He didn't have any hesitation.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
No, he, he has this ability to believe in me.
That is really cool.
He's like if you're going to doit, do it.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Brilliant.
So now you are in the Dallasarea.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
I am.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
How did you build a training plan for all of the
terrain in Arizona?
Living in where we live, youknow there's not much of that
around the Texas area in general.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
So I did a lot of internet research and ended up
stumbling upon a 200 miletraining plan that I followed
pretty closely and it reallyemphasized time on feet, hiking
(07:52):
with a weighted pack and justyou know, getting those long
hours on the trail.
I am very lucky I'm in FlowerMound and I live 15 minutes from
North Shore Trail, which isactually a biking trail, but it
also runners go there as well.
So I would be on North ShoreTrail at 3 am most days of the
(08:16):
week training, and I'd say Itrained six days a week.
I took Friday off.
My husband liked to joke that Iwould do a marathon before
church on Sunday and then spendthe rest of the day with family,
so it was a lot of sleepdeprivation practice.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Yeah, I mean I was going to say that's the way to
do it right Get your sleeptraining going while you're
doing your physical training.
That's insane, but good for you.
So did you have any challengeswith your training block?
I mean, how long did it takeyou?
What kind of length of trainingblock did you have?
Speaker 2 (08:48):
I trained for 48 weeks.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Whoa.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yes.
So I was serious about it.
I was not going to fail.
I knew if I was going to signup, it was something I was going
to commit to.
I don't have the natural talentof a runner.
I just am very stubborn andvery.
Once I set my mind to something, I do it.
(09:13):
So I set myself up a 48training week block, and there
was weeks I was near the end.
I was averaging about 80 milesa week with about 14,000 to
15,000 feet invert.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Because the trail by me has a really technical
section and I would just do thatin loops.
It's a 10-mile technicalsection.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
That's pretty handy too, it is.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
And then anytime we were anywhere for ultra
expeditions, like we're in CapRock Canyon, I would train there
, I would mark the course andthen, when everyone else was
heading to bed, I was like allright, I got a 20 mile run to do
.
Oh my goodness, so it was.
Yeah, it was a lot of mentaltraining as well.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Folks, I've been on that course as well.
That is a challenging course.
That is a course that I thinkif you're going to do training
anywhere in Texas for Cocodona,that's probably as good as
you're going to get from aspecificity standpoint,
especially that technical climb,that straight up.
What is it?
700 foot straight up, scramble,basically yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Around that loop?
Yeah, that's wild, I love it.
Was there any other sort ofspecific stuff?
Definitely for you coming fromArizona there?
Any other sort of specificstuff?
Definitely for you coming fromArizona and knowing that area
and some of those trails, didyou go back?
Speaker 2 (10:29):
up there, or yeah, so I, um, I knew the climbs would
be my strength, but I alsowanted to practice them because
I'm a flatlander in Texas.
So I went to Guadalupe Peak inTexas.
Oh nice and um, my crew who'smy crew chief?
Nicole, she was amazing and shecame with me and she literally
(10:50):
waited around for two daysstraight in the car crewing me
while I went up and downGuadalupe Peak four times in one
day.
And then the peak next door,hunter Peak.
I went up and down there thesecond day.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Yeah, so you really went out and did some like what
I would call proper, as much asproper as we can here.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
And obviously you finished, so I would say it was
successful.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Which is cool.
So let's talk about the raceitself.
Well, let's do logistics first,because, like running a big
race like that, you've alreadymentioned the crew and the
logistics of running a race likeCocodona 250.
How did they help you in thepre-race, in the build-up and
then throughout the race itself?
Because crews are often missed,I think, in the big journey and
(11:36):
they play such a huge role in alot of people's ability to
finish.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Tell us about your crew.
Give your crew a shout out.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Oh my gosh, I can't shout out my crew enough.
They were the reason I finished.
I keep telling them I had theeasy job.
They had to do the stressfuljob of waiting for me and
panicking because the trackerwould always say I was going to
be behind the cutoff and then Iwould like gain an hour somehow.
(12:07):
And they're like Christy,you're stressing us out.
But no, my crew was amazing.
I had my husband, who was justthe biggest support, my
sister-in-law, nicole, my crewchief, rebecca from Alter
Expeditions, and then I hadthree pacers in addition Misty,
rhonda and Patty, and um man,they were the best I knew.
(12:28):
If I could just get to my crewevery time, that they would
solve the problems, and I just Ibelieved that every time, no
matter how bad I was feeling, ifI just get to my crew, they'll
solve everything.
Fantastic, yeah, that was kindof how I got through, just
knowing they were.
They were close every time.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Now, did they move along the race with you, or did
they have a central spot andjust kind of bounce back and
forth to wherever you were?
Speaker 2 (12:52):
We rented an Airbnb in Clarkdale, so they kind of it
was.
It was in the center of thecourse, so they did a little bit
of both.
They kind of traveled with meand then we had a big SUV that
we rented.
So Nicole had like her car, shewas like my supplies, and then
(13:16):
Jacqueline, my sister-in-law,she was like shuttling pacers.
That woman like miles and milesof shuttling pacers back and
forth.
She's a saint and so, yeah,just everyone fit in exactly
where they should have been andit was seamless, like they were
the reason I finished honestly.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
I'm fascinated by how people select crews, and so
some folks go with their friends, they go with people they know
well.
Other folks they like to havespecific roles, dedicated sort
of roles within the crew,whether they're friends or not.
I want somebody who's trainedin foot care and I want somebody
who's whatever.
How did you go about selectingyour crew folks?
Speaker 2 (14:00):
You know, with 250 miles it's kind of a little more
challenging because it's a hardsell to say, hey, do you want
to take a week off and follow mearound the desert and touch my
gross feet Like who's signing up?
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Not really.
You don't have a huge line forthat role.
I don't know why, but Nicole,kind of she just jumped in.
I asked her if she would comebe crew and kind of lead the
charge and she said yes and theneveryone else followed and fell
into place.
My husband was always goingbecause he's stuck married to an
ultra runner, so he's kind ofstuck with it.
(14:37):
And then my sister-in-law,who's not a runner, she didn't
want to miss out.
She's like I'm joining this fun.
I'm like I don't know how muchfun it's going to be, but let's
do it.
One of my pacers, Misty.
She lives in Arizona and so shewas able to.
She paced me at the end.
She was the one in the yellow,too strong hat.
And then my other two pacers Ihad never met before.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Oh, do tell, that sounds interesting.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
So one of my sweet friends had to drop as a pacer
because she had a conflict thatwas completely not her fault.
Like she felt terrible and Iwas like it's okay, it'll work
out.
So Misty put the word out totrail runners that she knew, and
Rhonda and Patty, my other twopacers.
(15:23):
They wanted to join so I hadnever met them before and they
ran with me.
Patty joined me for some reallyrough sections of nighttime.
She climbed with me up Mingus.
She took me through Schnebley,which was she was pulling
sleepwalking runners out of thetrees Like it was crazy.
(15:43):
Yeah, she would like she's likeokay, christy, keep going
forward, because I wassleepwalking runners out of the
trees.
Like it was crazy.
Yeah, she would like she's likeokay, christy, keep going
forward, cause I wassleepwalking.
And then she would like pull arunner out of the trees and be
like this way, honey.
And she just like like five to10 sleepwalker runners just on
that section.
It was like an eight milesection.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
It was.
It was carnage.
It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
But what a cool thing to do to step in and help pace
somebody you've never met.
I think that's that speaksreally well of those two
individuals I have to say.
So how did you because Iimagine at the point that they
jump in you're not like superchatty I wouldn't have thought
how did you get to know thesepeople, or did you?
Speaker 2 (16:22):
You know, I I'm pretty, I'm pretty chatty there
was.
I pretty much talked toeveryone with me, the pacing
with me, except at the endbecause I lost my voice, because
the there was a prescribed burnin Sedona and so I lost my
voice at the end and Misty mylast pacer.
I finally said I can't talkanymore, my voice is shot, and I
(16:45):
was like I can't talk anymore,my voice is shot, and I was like
I need to put my headphones in,and that was the first time I
put my headphones in.
The entire race is like thelast 50 miles.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
So after that I was just chatting with everyone.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Yeah, it seemed like there are a lot of people having
kind of breathing challenges,whether it was from the burn or
just from the dust coming in,even Browning up front.
He suffered from that and whenhe got passed at the end I think
he was having breathingchallenges as well.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Yeah, they got really bad in Walnut Canyon.
I have a video of it.
Like there's just smoke in theair, like it's all hazy and
we're running and I'm like thisis great, like we're fine and
just have the picture of the guyand guy with the harp and
everything burning behind himand he's like, no, we're cool.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Yeah, it's all just follow the trail, we're good.
Follow the flags, we'll be allright.
Yeah, interesting, okay.
So we've started on the race.
Let's talk about the race, yourrace specifically.
Did you have a strategy fromthe get go for coca dona 250 and
how?
How did your race pan out?
Walk us through your race anddid your strategy evolve as you
(17:54):
went through the various aidstations?
And I'm always curious howpeople find that first, I don't
know.
What is it?
It 30 odd miles through CrownKing there, which everybody says
is a beast?
Is it that bad?
Can you confirm?
That was a challenge.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
You know I hesitate to say this because I don't want
to give people the wrong idea,but I didn't think it was that
bad.
But here's why I brought anumbrella with me.
I don't know if you if on thelive stream you saw the person
they were dubbing Umbrella.
At first I was Umbrella Guy.
They didn't realize I was agirl.
And then I became Umbrella Girl, yes, and then I became Mary
(18:34):
Poppins of Cocodona.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Yes, so not only did you have this awesome finish,
but you were also a celebrityearlier on in the Cocodona
experience, and I don't know,did you even know that at the
time?
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Oh, I had no idea.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
No.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
No, I couldn't see much around my umbrella.
All I could see was forward.
So I had it bungeed to my packbecause I knew on the first day
the priority would be water,staying cool and just managing
my pace.
I'm a strong climber, so Iwanted to get out of that day
(19:09):
feeling good and not destroyedfor the rest of the race.
So once I put my umbrella up, Ijust kind of cruised.
I could run with it.
I only had to close it once forwind and I really stayed very
cool.
I never felt hot, I was alwaysout of breath, but it's very
steep.
It's a very steep terrain andit's very rocky, but it's
(19:32):
beautiful.
I was just trying to soak inall the beauty and just
appreciate that I was there andthat I had done all the work.
And these are the victory miles.
This is not the work.
This is the reward for all thework.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
I mean, that's a pretty long victory lap, a 250
mile victory lap.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
It was, but it is one .
Speaker 1 (19:50):
I mean, I'm with you on that.
After your 48 weeks of mentaland physical training, I would
imagine this seems like, yeah,it's just a couple of days and
I'll be at the end.
So back to the umbrella for aminute, because I am fascinated
by this.
How did you even theorize thatyou could climb with an umbrella
attached to your pack?
I mean, I don't think I've everseen that, but it's brilliant.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
So my sister-in-law, my other sister-in-law who's
married to my actual brother,she is a thru-hiker and they use
umbrellas in really hotsections of the PCT, like
through California.
And so when we werebrainstorming the beginning of
the race and kind of problemsolving what the issues would be
(20:35):
when heat came up, I was like,well, why don't we just bring an
umbrella?
And it just seemed like a verysimple solution.
So I like scoured the raceguide and made sure it wasn't
like outlawed, because you know,sometimes there's rules about
things like that and therewasn't.
And so I just kind of I waslike, all right, well, I'm not
(20:56):
going to ask, I'm just going toassume it's OK.
And so I just kind of took my,took my cue from through hikers.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
I think that's a really cool hack.
Pun intended, it did keep youcool.
Did you have it on that wholeclimb all the way, aside from
the one time you took it downfor a win?
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yeah, I opened it up at mile seven at the aid station
at Cottonwood Creek and then Ihad it open until, I want to say
, maybe five miles before LaneMountain, because it got a
little brushy and I was catchingit on everything and so I had
to close it.
But then I just I just bungeedit to my hiking pole because it
(21:33):
was a really lightweightumbrella and most of the people
were really they were veryreceptive to me having it.
It was funny because they'relike oh man, why didn't I think
of that?
One guy said I should havebrought two and sold one at mile
20 for $500.
I was like I probably wouldhave just given it away, but
yeah, so.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
It worked out great.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Well, kudos to you for coming up with that and for
executing it during the race,and I don't know again if you go
back and look at some of thatlive stream, if you haven't
already.
There is some fascinating livestream when they pick up you
with the drone, with theumbrella Just wonderful chat
about the umbrella and how coolof a hack it is.
We may end up seeing a wholelot more umbrellas next year,
(22:16):
and if we do, then you know youare the original umbrella lady,
I started a trend.
Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
My husband has a picture of me on the treadmill
with the umbrella he's like Ithink she's lost it.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
But again, you practice with it.
Right, You've got to practicewith the thing I did.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
So how did you?
Speaker 1 (22:32):
have it Again and we'll carry on in a moment, but
you said you had it bungeed toyour pack.
For anyone that wants to trythis for themselves, how did you
attach the umbrella to yourpack?
Speaker 2 (22:42):
I bought these little like pack bungees at REI and I
just had three different placesthat it was bungeed, so it was
nice and secure and just wentall the way up my shoulder and
then it just kind of hoveredover my head.
So if I was running I kind ofhad to hold it a little bit, but
walking I didn't touch it.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Excellent.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
And really you're not running that much on that
section.
Well, no, there's not a lot ofrunning involved.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
All right, so we've got you through, I think, crown
King.
And then how did it go for youfrom there?
Speaker 2 (23:13):
The first night was rough.
I ran with a guy, karel, who,for 16 miles and he really got
me through that section.
I had a pretty good tumble.
I hit my knee really hard.
I had so much rocks and likejust dirt in it.
I was like we're just not goingto mess with it.
It was like dripping down.
I'm like we're just going toleave that, just pretend like it
(23:34):
didn't happen.
So that was, that was hard.
The first night was just afterbeing out all day in the sun and
even though I wasn't very hot.
It's a lot for your body.
Yeah, I ran out of water goingup to Crown King.
I had about a liter left withthree miles to go and I ran into
someone sitting on a rock whoasked me if I had water and I
(23:57):
couldn't say no.
So I gave her some and so Iconserved about a half a liter
for three miles and up to up toLane Mountain.
So between being a little bitdehydrated and then continuing
on through the night, that was.
It was a rough night, but oncethe sun came up it was, it was
good.
So I took a 15 mile nap, 15minute nap at Wambatochik and
(24:20):
then I was good to go.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
OK, well, we're getting to sleep here in just a
bit, and whether you had astrategy for that.
But yeah, so keep us movingwith you.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Okay, let's see.
So every single day my goal wasto get 50 miles, because I knew
if I could get 50 miles then Iwould be like I'd make it, and
in the back of my mind wasalways the cutoff.
I knew I was going to bepushing it near the end.
So I had a little piece ofpaper with every single aid
station and all the cutoffs inmy pack and I would just pull it
(24:52):
out and look what the nextcutoff was and know I had to
make it by then.
And so I went through the night.
There was a girl out ofMomotochik that was going to
drop.
She was sitting on a rock and Iwas like, well, you can't drop
at this rock, so come on, let'sgo.
I feel like I was likecollecting runners it was really
fun actually and so I got herto the aid station and she ended
(25:15):
up dropping, but I tried toconvince her to keep going but
she wasn't having it.
And then, pretty uneventful,until I got to Whiskey Row and I
got my first pacer, my sweetRebecca.
Rebecca and Nicole are bothnurses, or Nicole was a nurse,
(25:35):
but they were my nurses on crew,so I kind of trusted them to
make sure I didn't do anythingtoo stupid and that I didn't
hurt myself too bad.
So that definitely eased mymind, knowing that if something
happened I did have two nurseskeeping an eye on me.
But yeah, so I mean it was just.
It was beautiful miles.
I really enjoyed having Pacerswith me.
(25:58):
We talked and shared lifestories and just tried to take
it all in, just reallyappreciate the fact that we get
to do this and I could beanywhere and I get to be on a
trail, you know, for days on end.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Yeah, your cruising along.
At this point you didn't haveany challenges other than the
occasional trip and knee.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
Yeah, I had that one fall.
I had, like I said, I hadblisters starting at mile
probably 110.
And they just kept, you know,taking my socks off, wiping down
my feet, managing any blistersand putting them back on my
pacers would would kind of text,nicole, with any issues, I was
having any food I needed andthey, um, she would kind of have
(26:48):
things ready or have it in hermind how she was going to break
it to me that I didn't get thatthing.
Um, yeah, so I had a lot oftrouble, starting at the Dells,
with fueling.
I've never had problems eating.
I like I love food, I eat allthe time.
I couldn't swallow food like Icould chew it and I wasn't
(27:11):
nauseous but I couldn't swallowit.
So I think I fueled about 150miles on Mentos and first form
ignition like carbohydrate drink.
Whoa Well done you Not ideal?
Speaker 1 (27:26):
No, probably not in your pre-raised plan.
I wouldn't have thought butwell done anyway.
Do you think that was from thesmoke, or smoke or the, you know
, the dust in the air that waskind of jacking with your throat
I have no idea.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
It's something I've never encountered before.
I've always.
I always wolf down food whenI'm running.
I'm always hungry.
Starting at the dells, Istarted just dry heaving
randomly and I was like this hasnever happened before.
I don't know what's happening.
I would just like take a fewsteps and dry heave and take a
few steps and Rebecca, who'swith me?
Who's the nurse?
She's like are you OK?
(28:03):
I'm like mm-hmm, just keepgoing.
I'm like, just keep going.
And so then they would get outtheir phone and text Nicole.
I'm like no one likes a snitch.
Stop telling on me.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Fantastic, yeah.
And just on the food topic, youknow they have such good aid
stations out there and they seemto get better and better every
year, so it's such a shame youwere not able to take advantage
of any of those.
But just from an aid stationgeneral perspective, did you
have a favorite aid station thatyou went through Like which was
?
When you look back, you think,yeah, that that you went through
, like which was.
(28:38):
When you look back you think,yeah, that was a.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
that was like really cool probably whiskey row,
because I ate two pieces ofpizza there.
That was like the first thingI've eaten in like 50 miles and
it was glorious, and my crew gotso excited that I was eating
the pizza and then so she triedto give me another piece and
then I was like no, no, that'snot happening anymore, so it was
(29:06):
like a novel food worked andthen it stopped and then like
they'd have to figure outsomething else that worked, like
I ate Chick-fil-A nuggets onetime and then they tried to give
me another nugget, I was like,don't, I can't touch those, like
I can't even smell them.
So it was a lot of problemsolving on the go, so yeah.
(30:00):
So you talked a little bitabout your 15 minute sleep.
Did you have a predefined sleepstrategy or were you because I
know it can go both ways?
I've talked to people that arelike, yeah, I'm, I'm going to do
exactly this amount of sleep atexactly these places.
Or were you kind of on the I'mjust going to sleep as and when
I feel like I need and canactually sleep bandwagon, which?
Which way did you go?
Yeah, so I'm an over planner.
If you had seen my, my bins ofof gear, like everything is
labeled, there's like everythingthat's in the bin.
I had like spreadsheets andtime sheets and like I'm so, yes
, I planned my sleep to the likeminute.
Yeah, now, did that go asplanned?
Absolutely not.
So my plan was to sleep threehours at Mingus and three hours
(30:23):
at Munns and that's it.
Because I'm a back of thepacker and I know I am going to
be cutting it close.
I didn't think I had time formore than that, but when I went
into Whiskey Row I talked tosome of the runners that were
passing me like I was standingstill and I was like going as
fast as I could and they're justlike zooming past me.
And I caught up with one of therunners that I had run with and
(30:45):
he was like what's going on?
I was like I can't go anyfaster.
And he's like well, how muchhave you slept?
I'm like 15 minutes.
And he's like you need to sleep.
Like this is, this is now daytwo.
You need to sleep.
And I was like well, I don'thave time to sleep.
He's like you'll go faster ifyou sleep.
So I took a one hour nap atwhiskey row and I felt like a
(31:06):
new human being, like it wascrazy, I was running again.
I felt fresh.
It was very, very strange.
So I slept a total of three onehour naps and then I took a lot
of dirt naps.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Oh awesome.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Yeah, so I about four hours total, I don't know
exactly because at mile about140, my watch decided that
running was no longer for it anddecided to crash.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Oh no.
And were you dependent on yourwatch, or did you have a
navigation, or was it easy to go?
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Like did you need your watch or was it?
I didn't know what day it was,so yeah it just it completely
crashed.
It was like a triangle of deathand my crew tried to reset it.
It wasn't short on battery, itwas full on battery.
It just would not like itwouldn't go.
So I ran over 100 miles withouta watch and just had to
(32:11):
mentally be like OK, this is thenext problem and this is we're
just going to deal with it thenext problem, and this is we're
just going to deal with it.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
So that's.
That's really interesting,because there is definitely a
field of thought out there thatsays you know, all the data that
we've got and all the watchstuff that we look at is kind of
counterproductive.
So and I'm not saying I supportthese arguments, but they're
out there that say, hey, youshould, at some points in your
career, go run without a watchand just kind of run through the
day, let the day go up and downand figure things out and free
(32:41):
yourself of all the data andkind of run naked is what they
call it without any of that.
So how did you find runningwithout your watch?
Was it tough to start with?
Did it?
Did it in the end?
Were you?
How did you feel about no watch?
Speaker 2 (32:56):
It was very difficult .
In the beginning.
I had a little bit of a pityparty for myself.
I was with my Pacer, ronda,when it died and we tried to
reset it and I was just likethis is you've got to be kidding
me Like it's my watch, likeit's the one piece of gear I
didn't think was going to fail.
And then I was, you know, I wasjust walking, kind of being
(33:21):
kind of grumpy, which for me isnot very grumpy, but I was
feeling grumpy.
And then I was like you knowwhat?
This is where we're at, likethis is what we're going to deal
with and next the next problemwill come up and I'll have to
deal with that.
And that's like we just have tokeep rolling.
So there's really not a lot oftime when you're kind of chasing
those cutoffs to dwell on aproblem.
(33:43):
You just have to find asolution and move.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
Now, talking of the cutoffs, were you always aware
that you were really close?
Were you always really close tothe cutoffs, or did you ever
kind of get yourself, you know,some time built in there?
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Yeah, I was kind of hanging out mid, mid, uh, mid to
back in the beginning, firsttwo, two and a half days, and
then my blisters became a verylarge problem, um, and we were
spending a long time managingthe blisters and managing the
just the feet pain, and it kindof just kept getting me pushed
(34:16):
back, pushed back.
So I was always aware of thecutoff.
We knew that Mingus was goingto be a tight cutoff.
I came in 20 minutes ahead ofthat cutoff.
My crew did a NASCAR styleswitcheroo and even let me lay
down for five minutes and I saidI just need five minutes.
(34:37):
And they're like OK, that's allyou get.
I'm like all right, that's fineFive minutes.
But it was weird, if I sleptfor five minutes I would dream
like I would go through a fulldream cycle.
I would wake up and I'd be goodto go for another 10 miles.
I took a two minute nap onceand it was glorious.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
I know it's weird how that happens, isn't it?
It's like everything resets andyou buy yourself hours from a
five minute nap yeah.
Very very strange.
So you were, at one point atleast, only 20 minutes from
cutoff.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
Yes, yeah, a little bit panicky time right there,
and I was stressing my careerout, yeah, a little panicky at
that, I would be.
Yeah, the tracker would show thetime according to like what
your current pace was.
Show the time according to likewhat your current pace was.
So if I was climbing up Kasnerand I was going an hour per mile
, it was showing that I was liketwo hours behind the cutoff.
And then they were freaking outand texting my pacer and being
(35:28):
like she's got to move andthey're like she's climbing a
mountain and so, but then whenI'd start going down again or
start going flat, I would startrunning and then I would, you
know, make up an hour.
And so my poor Nicole, she waslike I give up, Like she stopped
trying to figure it out.
She was like I didn't make itbefore the cutoff.
(35:50):
I can't, this is your cutoff,Make it before then.
I don't know what to tell you.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
I like it.
I like it.
So you talked about Kastnerthere and I don't know, maybe
this will come up in the nextquestion, but I wanted to get a
feel for sections of the racethat crossing, the water
crossing was just beautiful.
Speaker 2 (36:21):
I had known that section before I've run it.
It's like soldiers pass area inSedona and it's just miles of
red rock and it's it's beautifuland I ran really well in that
section.
I, you know I was actuallymoving, my feet were just numb
by that point.
So it was, that was a goodsection.
And and then also just likesharing the Dells in Prescott
(36:47):
with my pacer, rebecca.
She had never been over thereand so it was just.
She was like oh my gosh, likethis is gorgeous, and we really
had a nice time just enjoyingthe beauty of that area.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
That was, I think, where Joe McConaughey got lost.
Did you have a problemfollowing?
Oh really yeah, he got lost.
He got turned around in theDells and lost his lead at that
point and Jeff Browning bumpedinto him as he was coming the
wrong way on a trail and so butyeah, one or folks have have
said the dells can be kind oftricky to figure your way
(37:20):
through, especially at night.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
Yeah, yes, I was there during the day okay and I
had done that section before,which helped.
I had done a lot of thesections in hiking arizona and
so there was a lot of times Ijust felt kind of at home and
like I knew what I was doing, um, which really, I think, think
helped me Awesome.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Brilliant, okay, and then I cut you off, but you're
the least favorite section ofCocodona.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
So climbing up to Camp Kippa was really hard and
really long.
I was in this section where noone was around me.
I was kind of in a weird likepocket of no people for hours
and at one point I just laiddown on the trail and turned off
my headlamp and stared at thestars and I set my timer for six
(38:07):
minutes and I was like I'mgoing to take six minutes to
look at the stars and just notbe in the race and that really
helped.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
So that that was a hard climb, though, especially
after crown King.
And just it's your first nightalone.
It feels really far by thatpoint.
Um, you just started.
So that was hard.
And then probably the worstactually was Kelly Canyon.
It's just a straight flat roadand there's construction
(38:37):
vehicles and I had been on thetrail for four days by that
point in the quiet, and theconstruction vehicles were so
loud and I was like this is justit's, it's not supposed to be
here, and it was.
That was hard.
I took a lot of dirt naps onthat section.
Just I just laid in the middleof the road.
Oh man, my face was like don'tget hit by a car.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Yeah, that does seem a very sort of juxtaposed
position, right when you're outin the solitude and quiet of the
mountains and all those trailsand then suddenly jump on road
with the construction.
Did you have any close calls?
Was there traffic coming?
Speaker 2 (39:14):
No, it wasn't, it was a dirt road.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
It wasn't really traffic.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
There was one construction vehicle that went
by us and I was not sleeping onthe trail at the time so she
wouldn't have let me get hit bya car, I promise.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
She's a good pacer, Thankfully.
Yes, Probably job one for yourpacer.
Don't let your person get hitby moving vehicles.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
She was trying to encourage me to go off the side.
I was like, no, this looks niceand I just laid down in the
middle of the ground.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
So you had gone quite well then, meeting and getting
ahead of all the cutoffs.
When we picked you up on thecams later on, it was probably
just as you were going up MountEldon, right or there or
thereabouts.
So tell us how that went,because that seems really
intimidating after all that timeyou've been out there, you know
(40:04):
you all the temperatures,everything else.
You've got going on and suddenlyyou have to go up this.
I don't know, is it 1500 feetin a mile or I don't know.
It's a.
It's a huge looking climb yes,it was rough.
Speaker 2 (40:15):
So so how that went down it was a little bit of the
perfect storm of things thathappened Because I was so close
to cut off at Mingus I didn'tget to sleep at all.
We were kind of counting on anhour there and it just didn't
happen.
And so I was very, very sleepdeprived by that point.
Sleep deprived by that point.
(40:40):
And coming through theflagstaff area, it was anytime
there was rocks, it didn'tmatter if it was flat.
My, I couldn't run.
My feet were just so blisteredI had just everywhere there were
blisters, and so that wholeflagstaff getting up to eldon is
very rocky and it's like a washyou go through that's.
It was the middle of the night.
There was like washing machinesand trash and it was a weird
(41:01):
section of the course that wewere in, and so then you're
doing that little hookup andaround Flagstaff.
So when I climbed Eldon, mistyand I had a plan.
We were going to get to thebase of Eldon, we were going to
take a five-minute dirt nap,have some caffeine, eat some
calories and then climb.
But I was so sleep deprivedthat when we woke up and when we
(41:24):
were climbing I had this weirdfeeling like that I was lost.
And I kept telling her I thinkthis isn't the way, I think
we're on the wrong trail, Idon't think this is the way to
go.
And she's like no, no, keepgoing up, it's okay.
Like, you're good, follow theswitchbacks.
And I was like no, there are noswitchbacks, I don't think this
is it.
(41:44):
And so that was all the way upEldon, like I just kept telling
her, like I think we're lost, Ithink this isn't it.
And she's like no, christy,keep going up up there.
Yes, so then it felt like wehad been climbing for literally
12 hours.
So when I saw Jamil at the top,first of all I thought he
might've been a hallucination.
(42:04):
I didn't hallucinate at all,but I was like I don't think
that there's no way it's him,because obviously I'm lost and
this is not Eldon.
So but I saw the towers and wehad Misty and I, like a year ago
, had gone up Eldon to kind ofget a feel for it, and so, but
it was in the daytime and so atnight it just feels so different
(42:26):
.
So when we climbed up and wesaw Jamil, I thought it was
eight o'clock, not seven o'clockNow, remember, my watch is not
working, so every time I have tocheck the time, I have to pull
out my phone, but I've got mypoles and so it's like too much
work.
So I thought it was eighto'clock because we had been
literally climbing for fiveyears.
Speaker 1 (42:46):
That was like that was what was happening.
Speaker 2 (42:48):
And so when I saw Jamil and he was like how was
your night?
And I said a prof.
The next question I asked himwas how far till finish?
And he said 9.6 miles.
So in my sleep-deprived braindoing math, I thought I have two
hours to go, 9.6 miles, andthat I can't do that on a good
(43:12):
day, much less like on a 240mile day, five days so.
But something in my brain justsnapped and I was like I don't
care if I have to run six minutemiles, I am getting to this
finish line before the cutoff,like I'm not going through all
of that pain and all of thatsleep deprivation and not
(43:33):
getting a buckle.
I am getting a buckle, sothat's.
I didn't realize he was filmingme at the time.
I was just freaking outinternally and I went like a
crazy person sprinting downEldon.
Speaker 1 (43:46):
Yes, you did and there's evidence of it.
I mean, folks, if you haven'tseen this clip, I guess out on
Cocodona site you can go look itup.
I think it's like FinalFinisher Summits Eldon, I think
that's maybe what it's calledbut yeah, it's Jamil watching
Christy come over the crest ofEldon.
(44:08):
And then suddenly I mean youtake, you just absolutely floor
it and take off.
And I think you said at somepoint oh no, my pacer is
somewhere back there yeah, Ididn't want him to.
Speaker 2 (44:19):
To think there was again.
I'm a little sleep deprived bythis point, so I thought
somewhere in my brain, I think Ithought that she was gonna get
lost because I was trying totake care of my pacer, which is
ridiculous.
I'm in no place to take care ofanyone by this point.
Speaker 1 (44:34):
And you didn't just take off.
I mean, you did just take off,but then it picks you up coming
by the aid station.
Most of us would check in theaid station, get a little
something and go, but not you,christy.
You were on a mission, as yousaid.
You just bombed straight by itand the people commenting on the
live stream were like oh, oh,oh, uh, I guess she's not coming
(44:55):
in the aid station like she'sgoing.
She's really booking it downthe down the hill and you were.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
I mean you, just because I thought it was an hour
later.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
Yeah, it was brilliant, it was fantastic tv,
so well done for that I'm glad.
Speaker 2 (45:06):
I had no idea anyone was filming it.
I was just there was no way Iwas going to not get a buckle.
I was like I don't care what Ineed to do, I'm going to get a
buckle Like I'm going to sprintdown this mountain if I need to.
And my pacer finally caught upwith me.
I, I cannot drop my pacer on agood day.
She's a phenomenal runner.
And so some of the people werelike you dropped your pacer.
(45:37):
I'm like oh no, no, no, Isurprised my pacer, just hang on
a minute.
She, she caught me real easy.
But she, she was like whathappened?
I'm like I, I have 9.6 milesand I only had two hours.
She's like Christy, it's seveno'clock, you have three hours.
Speaker 1 (45:43):
I'm like oh okay, I can take a deep breath then yeah
so at that point I was justlike, let's just finish so at
what point did you, like youwere herring down that mountain,
proper flying three miles fromthe top.
Speaker 2 (45:59):
I got about three miles down when she's like she
caught me.
Um, because she went like upand around, she thought I was on
the aid station, she couldn'tfind me, and then she.
So she finally found me and Ikind of explained what happened
and she's like, okay, well,you're good, like you, you can
take a walk break.
Speaker 1 (46:16):
I'm like no, let's just go yeah, so you must have
caught the two chaps in front ofyou somewhere in the forest
coming out off the bottom of themountain I think there's a
little climb before you get into, like the parks around
flagstaff.
So were you aware that you werethe final finisher?
Before that were you coming?
Speaker 2 (46:36):
over the top you didn't know I didn't.
I didn't know I was last.
I mean, I knew I was near theback because time wise, and
again I thought it was eighto'clock, so I I figured I was
near the back, I didn't know Iwas absolute last.
The sweepers were behind me thewhole time but they, they told
they were super nice and they'relike no, you've got time.
(46:57):
Like don't worry, don't, don'tlet us stress you out.
So I was just chatting withthem.
I was like hey, how's it going,what you doing, how you doing?
I was a little sleep deprivedand so, and so when I, yeah,
when I came up and over and thenrealized I you know, by that
point I was like I'm done, let'sjust, let's just run it in.
(47:18):
And then when I was passingpeople, I wasn't intentionally,
I was just like I want to bedone, like I want to see my crew
, I want to get to the finishline, I don't want to be on this
mountain anymore, yeah, and sokind of endorphins took over and
I was like let's roll.
Speaker 1 (47:31):
So let's talk about that for a minute, because you
got a cam all to yourself comingin, so we were all able to
watch you running throughFlagstaff.
And you know, I have to ask youwhat is your secret?
Because 248 miles into a raceyou're running really, really
well, and I watched a lot ofpeople come in and they were not
anywhere near what you weredoing.
(47:53):
So I need to know what yoursecret is, and I'm sure other
listeners do too.
Like, how are you doing that?
Speaker 2 (47:59):
Well, part of it is just I'm extremely stubborn and,
uh, I just my, I have a way tolike you know, you just have to
turn off the pain in your brain.
You're just like you know whatit's going to be there and I can
either focus on it or justignore it, and there was nothing
I could do to make it hurt less.
So me focusing on like, oh mygosh, my feet hurt, oh my gosh,
(48:23):
my blisters hurt, I am tired.
Like that's not going to makeit any better, like what's?
I kept asking myself throughoutthe whole race, like what story
do I want to tell?
Do I want to tell a story of250 miles to myself, of like, oh
, poor me, poor me, or do I wantto like conquer this and be
like I'm going to do it with asmile and with a good attitude?
(48:43):
So there was a lot of people whowere, who gave of their time
and energy to help me, and Ididn't want to be miserable,
hang out with for five days.
So it was kind of an intentionalthing to like have a positive
attitude and I think because ofthat, when I was near the finish
, it just kind of I was justrunning because I was happy to
be done and to be near thefinish.
(49:06):
It was great seeing everyone onthe street and to be near the
finish, it was great seeingeveryone on the street.
I actually leaned over to mypacer because I ran out of water
, because I did not stop at theaid station, because I panicked,
and so I was out of water thatentire Flagstaff section and so
I leaned over to Misty and I waslike I am so thirsty and she's
(49:27):
like I know me too.
And then at one point she'slike I know me too.
And then at one point she'ssignificantly taller than me and
so she's got very long legs andI am not gifted in the height
area.
So at one point she was walkingand I was running.
I was like I'm gonna need youto pretend like you're running
because you're making me lookslow.
She's like oh okay, I got youand so she's like trotting in
(49:48):
place to try to pretend likeshe's running, because I'm like
I'm going to need you to make mefeel better and pretend to run
(50:09):
running in.
Speaker 1 (50:09):
I'm sure others would agree.
I mean, you were smiling, youwere happy.
I don't think I've ever seenanyone high five as many people
on on the latter part of acourse in my life.
And and obviously you've got a.
You've got a camera runningwith you at this point as well.
Were you, were you aware of thecamera at all?
Was that even in your head?
And how were you high fivingall these people?
Were they coming at you?
Were you going and finding them?
Like just, and all these people, were they coming at you?
Were you going and?
Speaker 2 (50:29):
finding them Like just fun to watch.
I knew he was there.
He was a really nice cameraman.
Shout out to him I'm sure hedid so many miles back and forth
, back and forth and he was sonice.
But I knew he was there.
But I was just again trying tostay in the moment and soak in
the fact that I was done, like Ihad done the work, I had
conquered all the problems andlike this is again, this is the
(50:51):
victory.
Like this is the good, excitingpart and I wasn't going to be
mopey going in when I did thisamazing feat.
As far as the high-fiving, Ithink scientifically that
high-fives give you extra power.
So maybe that's my secretbecause I high five people
because when you know, when Iwork races with ultra
(51:13):
expeditions, like I'm alwayshigh fiving people because it
makes you feel better and evenif you're having a crummy day
like you're, like that littlecontact just it boosts you up.
So I always make it a point tohigh five anyone I can always
make it a point to high fiveanyone.
Speaker 1 (51:30):
I can well.
You definitely high-fived themost people at the end of coca
dona that I've ever seen andI've watched it all the years
within the closing mile and ahalf.
So I think well done to you.
Amazing with your positiveattitude, I love it.
I think you ran that wholesection.
I don't think I saw you stopand walk at all, which most
people you know walking it in atthat point.
But so, yeah, kudos to you.
I thought that was a reallycool finish and obviously you
(51:51):
then make you make the left onbirch and you go along to the
alley and everybody, includingthe commentators, are you know
hey this is great and and Idon't know if you know, when you
the the lady who finished last,you high-fived her just before
the alley turn yeah, I hadtalked to her a bit.
She was so sweet yeah, she was anice lady, and then you made
(52:13):
the turn into the alley and wewere not expecting what happened
then.
I don't know either and folks,if you, if you this, go to I
think it's, I don't know it'sit's late on in in the video of
the final day.
It's probably two hours 48, 50minutes on the lap.
But go find christy's finish,because she turns into cocodona
alley and absolutely takes offlike I mean you were sprinting
(52:37):
to the finish.
Yeah, I'm done.
What was in your head at thatpoint?
Speaker 2 (52:41):
I was so excited.
I think, just being an averagerunner, there's a little bit of
imposter syndrome always whenyou line up to these things,
knowing like I could, I couldtry my best and it just might
not be enough.
And I kind of always going intoit with that, like I'm I'm not
going to be faster than people,but I'm going to outwork them
(53:03):
and I'm going to train harderthan them and that, at the end
of the day, like that is eithergoing to be enough or not.
And so, knowing that, like allthe work I did and all the hours
I miss sleep, and my husbandlike took my, you know, took one
for the team and had Jacksonall weekend so I could go train,
like that it just kind of allflashed through my mind and it
(53:26):
was just like a celebration oflike I did it, like it was, we
did it.
Like I was so excited I did notplan to jump into my husband's
arms and I don't know how heknew I was going to jump.
I must've given him a littlelike nonverbal cue, because I
was glad he caught me, cause Iwould have fallen down.
Speaker 1 (53:42):
It was amazing, and I mean everybody, all the cameras
around you.
I'm sure that'll show up onsome of the Cocodona sites in
due course when they finishprocessing that, but it was
absolutely phenomenal.
There were people crying in thelive stream at that AJW.
Andy Jones Wilkins, who wascommentating at the time.
He said there was a Stravasegment for the alley.
(54:03):
You've got to be pretty closeto owning like queen of that
segment if there is one.
I mean everyone was justtotally taken by surprise, but I
mean so happy because we'd kindof followed you from the top of
from the moment you crestedEldon.
People were emotionallyinvested on the live stream in
your finish and I don't know ifyou had any idea of that but
(54:26):
yeah, there were thousands ofpeople watching that
and all following you as youcame through Flagstaff.
So just brilliant, brilliantfinish.
Speaker 2 (54:36):
My dad was on the live stream, apparently like
chatting with everyone and mydad's great, like he's hilarious
, he's super witty.
My mom and dad had my son allweekend, so shout out to them
like because I would not havebeen able to do it with my
five-year-old like hanging outoh yeah and so he was the one
who, like, started the lion.
(54:56):
I don't know if you saw the lionemojis.
I watched it later and he waslike, oh, she's got the heart of
the lion.
And then so when I watched itback, I was crying.
I was like all the roaring andthe lion emojis like yeah like
they don't even know me.
It was really special, it wasvery cool.
Speaker 1 (55:13):
And that right there, I think, is the beauty of
Cogadona, with, with all of thelive streaming that they've been
able to put in place, it reallymakes everybody feel a part of
all of these journeys, butespecially the people kind of
coming in towards the end,everybody is rooting for you
guys to come through and we allfeel it, and yeah, I mean it was
, um, it was a pretty emotionalfinish for all of us, even
(55:36):
though you had no idea.
Speaker 2 (55:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (55:39):
It was really cool.
Um, so definitely folks go gowatch that one, watch the last
day and the last 10 or 15minutes of uh, of the recording.
It's it's.
It's's really cool.
Any other thoughts on the race?
Any advice for somebody?
If?
Because I think you can go signup for 25 at this point, I
think it's open.
So yeah any advice for somebodythinking about signing up from
(56:00):
a either training perspective orracing perspective.
What are some things that youwould tell somebody in advance
to watch out for?
Speaker 2 (56:08):
do don't do um, I'd say, just as far as training
goes, like don't discount beingtough.
And like you don't have to bethe best runner, you don't have
to be the fastest runner, youhave to have a heart to like
finish and you, like anyone can.
I honestly believe anyone canbe an ultra runner, like I am
(56:30):
not a great runner, but I have aheart to finish and I know I
will keep going until I do so.
I'd say, you know, just if youare passionate about doing the
race, sign up.
Like don't don't avoid itbecause you think you're not
good enough or not elite.
I'd say, if you want to sharemiles of people in Cocodona,
(56:53):
sign up.
It's a beautiful experience,it's very special.
Speaker 1 (56:58):
It truly is, and actually I don't think you have
to go 250 miles to get that.
I think you can get a similarexperience from a lot of races
out there coca dona inparticular I think that's partly
why we do these races right,because those experiences exist.
It's the whole community behindit.
I think is tremendous.
But coca dona in particular, Ithink it stands on its own as a
(57:19):
200 mile race, and there aresome really good 200 mile races.
Yeah, the live stream aspectreally adds something different
and then obviously there's somany different terrains through
the race itself just just atotally different race yeah, I
think it really puts on displaythe trail running community and
what we all love about it thatpeople don't always see.
Speaker 2 (57:37):
It's like giving water to someone at mile 30 when
you're almost out.
My pacer at one point went backup a mountain to find someone's
phone who he had lost.
He had lost his phone, likepeople cheering for someone at
the back of the pack who never,you know, thought they'd be
doing 250 miles.
It's like it's the beauty oftrail running on display and I
(57:58):
think that's why it's really funto watch, because I think we
all want to be part of that.
Speaker 1 (58:04):
Yeah, absolutely.
Now, one thing we do, christy,at the end of each episode here
is that we ask a guest to choosea song that they would like to
add to the free Choose to EnjoySpotify playlist.
Typically, it's somethingfamily friendly just lift you up
, motivate you or keep youmoving while you're out on a
trail, such as Cocodona.
(58:25):
Now do you want to share thesong you chose and why it
resonated with you?
Speaker 2 (58:31):
Yes, so I thought about choosing Baby Shark
because you know I have afive-year-old but I didn't want
to do that to people.
Can you imagine?
Speaker 1 (58:40):
Thankfully you did not choose that one
(59:07):
no-transcript.
We might have had one or two onerepublics, and they're quite
popular for the runningcommunity, apparently, in
general.
Well, so, as we approach theend of this particular episode,
christy, thanks again forjoining the show and sharing
your incredible journey acrossArizona with us and everything
(59:29):
that that encompassed.
Christy did it.
You can too, if you'relistening, and it's pretty darn
cool if you ask me.
As we said, cocodona 2025 isopen if you want to go sign up
for your own adventure.
Christy, is there a round twoin your future here?
I don't know if you've eventhought about that yet.
Speaker 2 (59:49):
No, probably not for a long time.
I don't race a whole lotbecause I get I mean, I have, I
have a family and I get a lot ofmy race vibes from working with
ultra expeditions.
I get to see people cross thefinish at least twice a month
and I love it Like I.
That's my jam.
So probably not for a while,but I'm still in the racing
(01:00:11):
scene.
So if you want to come see me,come, come to one of our races.
Speaker 1 (01:00:14):
Well, head over to Ultra, sign up if you want to
get to the Cocodona 2025.
And, on that note, if you areout there on the internet and
looking for races, definitelyalso go check out Ultra
Expeditions, where Christy is at, and you'll see her at the
finish line.
They have some really coolraces going on.
I think the website isultraexpeditionscom.
You can go out there and findout where Christy is herself, as
(01:00:39):
well as the rest of thefantastic Ultra Expeditions crew
.
They have races going on outthere Barrier Island Ultra
that's a beach race up to 50miles.
I have to do that one one ofthese days.
What a great way to spend aweekend with friends out there
on the beach.
And they have the Border toBadlands race out in the
beautiful Seminole Canyon Parkright there by the Rio Grande on
(01:01:01):
the Mexican border, and alsoone of my all-time favorites,
the Wild Canyon Ultra out atCaprock Canyon State Park, one
of, I think, the toughestcourses in Texas where you can
experience the truly etherealred rock canyons.
They're utterly unbelievableand the only Texas state bison
herd, so you actually get to runnot with but around alongside
(01:01:26):
Bison out on that course andthey are very intimidating, I
have to say those things areabsolutely massive.
So, anyway, go check out UltraExpedition's site for those
races and more.
Go sign up for something.
I will, of course, put thoselinks in the show notes.
Now, while you're on theinternet signing up for Cocodona
(01:01:49):
or checking out where Christyand her crew are going to be,
don't forget to also subscribeto the show here, get notified
each time a new episode dropsand, of course, follow, share
and like.
That would be very muchappreciated.
Doing any of those thingsreally helps with the algorithms
.
That in turn, helps get theword out and increases the
chances of other back of thepack ultra runners finding the
(01:02:12):
information that guests likechristy have to share when they
give up their time.
So you can find us on instagram, facebook and over at choose to
endurecom.
So be sure to head over to anyof those and check us out, say
hello, drop us a message,suggest a or provide some
constructive feedback if youhave a moment, and you can now
(01:02:33):
actually message us directlyfrom the show notes too.
So there's no excuse really.
Until then, be like Christy andrun long, run strong and keep
choosing to endure Jewel.
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