#107 - Alexa Aragon

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Welcome to a captivating conversation with Alexa Aragon, the rising trail running star who's taken the mountain running scene by storm. With remarkable top-10 finishes at the Broken Arrow Sky Race, Sunapee Scramble, and most recently, a second-place finish at Cirque Series Snowbird, Alexa has quickly established herself as someone the trail running world needs to watch.

What makes Alexa's story particularly fascinating is her unorthodox path. Unlike many elite trail runners, she balances her competitive pursuits with a full-time career as a middle school math teacher. Growing up in Montana in a family of runners (her parents literally met at a track meet!), Alexa excelled as a steeplechaser at Notre Dame before stepping away from competitive running to work in public health in Ecuador. It wasn't until moving to Utah's Wasatch Mountains that she rediscovered her competitive spirit through local trail races.

Alexa shares her refreshingly unconventional approach to training - "It's a little chaotic, it's just kind of what I feel like and what makes me have fun." Without a coach or structured program, she runs 30-40 miles weekly, complemented by rock climbing and mountain biking. Her race strategy? "Full send and find out" - a fearless approach that's yielded impressive results against established professionals. We dig into her experiences at Broken Arrow, her mountaineering adventures (including a 42-hour attempt at the WURL), and her passion for introducing underrepresented youth to outdoor sports through her school's adventure club.

Whether you're a competitive trail runner, weekend warrior, or simply love inspiring stories of people forging their own path, Alexa's journey demonstrates how making running truly your own can lead to unexpected success and genuine fulfillment. Follow along as she shares her experiences from hiding under rocks during thunderstorms to standing on podiums alongside the sport's biggest names.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up, fam?
Welcome back to the Steep StuffPodcast.
I'm your host, James Lariello,and I'm so excited to bring you
guys an episode today with noneother than Alexa Aragon.
Super excited to get to catchup with Alexa.
If you guys don't know thatname already, you absolutely
should.
Alexa has been on a heater in2025, with top 10 finishes at
the Sunapee Scramble, the BrokenArrow Sky Race 23K and the

(00:22):
Broken Arrow Ascent, and thenmost recently, just a few weeks
removed from a second placefinish at Cirque series snowbird
Um.
Like I said, she's been on aheater and she's pretty new to
the to the scene in general.
She's only a couple of yearsinto the sport.
Uh, last year she took a fourthplace finish at the U S
mountain running championshipfor Cirque series snowbird Um.
Yeah, by way now living in theWasatch, by way of Montana.

(00:44):
Alexa's got a pretty storiedhistory as far as athletics go
with family, both in the runningscene and as well as herself
being a steepler from Notre Dame.
So super exciting conversation.
Alexa's got a very brightfuture in the sport and it's
definitely someone you guysshould have on your radar for
someone who will probably be atthe top of the sport in the next
few years.
So, without further ado, I hopeyou enjoy this podcast.

(01:05):
None other than Alexa Aragon.
It's time, Ladies and gentlemen, we are live.

(02:13):
Alexa Aragon.
Welcome to the Steep StuffPodcast.
How's it going?

Speaker 2 (02:17):
Great, happy to be here.

Speaker 1 (02:18):
Yeah, stoked to have you on, stoked to have a
conversation.
I feel like you've been havinglike a I mean not that you
haven't had previous awesomeseasons, but, like you know,
between Broken Arrow and someCirque series racing like you've
been having like a.
I mean not that you haven't hadprevious awesome seasons, but,
like you know, between brokenarrow and some Cirque series
racing um, you've been having agreat season so far.
So I've figured this was agreat opportunity to, you know,
have a chat with you on thepodcast.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yeah, thanks, it's been really fun.
It's been one of my first likereal trail seasons, so I mean, I
guess last year kind of too.
Um, I've been really surprisingmyself this year, so I was
honored to get the invite to beon this podcast yeah, absolutely
crushing it.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
I mean we'll get into it.
But, like man, like you know,like top places of broken arrow
both in the vk and the 23k, Iwas like damn, like that's,
that's pretty solid.
It's interesting because, likeyou'll see a lot of like circ
series athletes like kind ofstay in the circ series and like
not, like you know, usuallythey'll just race that and not
go out to other things like someof them.
But it's cool to see other youknow athletes kind of go out and
, like you know, crush big racesand stuff like that.

(03:09):
What makes it kind of cool.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
So yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
It was fun because last year'sCirque series snowbird was the
USATF championships, the classic, and so that was like what got
me realizing like, oh, I couldmaybe compete at this level, so
I should try and get into somebigger races.
So I don't think I reallybelieved that about myself.
Um, before that happened andwas just like signed up for the

(03:30):
zerk series, so therefore in usclassic champs and then did
pretty well.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
So yeah, it's such a fun route, or for such a fun
like grouping of races, if youwill like.
Especially the utah ones arefun yeah where are you from
originally?

Speaker 2 (03:44):
I'm from Billings, Montana, but I live in Salt Lake
right now Okay, how do you liketraining in the Wasatch?

Speaker 1 (03:49):
I love it.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
Yeah, it's so great.
I mean, especially like being ateacher.
I don't have like superflexible hours for training, so
during the school year and thespring I'm able to just like get
straight to a trail easily,like right from work.
Just like get straight to atrail easily, like right from
work.
Um, it's really accessible,able to train elevation pretty

(04:11):
easily.
Um, there's so many trails,there's a lot of people who like
the same thing, so like plentyof training partners, so it's
been really fun.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
Yeah, yeah, and I feel like the Wasatch, the scene
has just grown so much Like.
There's just so many athletesthere and you know people like
you've never, even heard of justlike kind of coming out of the
woodwork.
So it's like, very like yeahdepth is deep, so people like to
say yeah, definitely just a lotof really athletic and
hardworking and motivated peoplearound here, so it's been fun
for sure well, we already talkedabout like where you're from,
kind of, but maybe give like,give me like the five minute

(04:37):
elevator pitch on like yourbackground with running, um, how
you got into it, and then we'lltalk about college as well yeah
, okay, um, background withrunning.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
I come from like a family of runners so, um, I kind
of like knew I was gonna be arunner when I was a little kid.
Like my parents literally metat a track meet, um.
So when I was little I'd runlike the montana women's run for
a little, like once a year.
It was like two mile race, um.
But just like, grew up being inthe baby job, jogger, like
seeing my parents run, raced inhigh school, earned a

(05:09):
scholarship to Notre Dame, so Iwent there for college.
I ran the steeple and the 1500,mainly the steeple.
And then, like, after college,I stopped running for a little
while, I thought about goingprofessional and then went and
lived in Ecuador and did publichealth for a little while.
So it was like really hard torun there, didn't really keep it

(05:30):
up, kind of just wasn't supermotivated to stay in it.
I did a few road races and thenI moved out to Salt Lake three
years ago and so one of myfriends took me to one of the
wasatch trail series trail racesand I won the short course and
I was like, oh, this is kind offun to be competitive again.
I was gonna just be chill, butthen, like, put a bib on me and

(05:53):
I get competitive.
So, um, yeah, I got back intotrail racing and then it's been
like the last two years Istarted doing the cirque series
too.
Um, just kind of like seeinghow well I can do in those
shorter, like sub ultradistances super cool yeah, we
got to talk notre dame

Speaker 1 (06:08):
like I told you I told you before we recorded this
, I went to miami, so likethere's that catholics versus
convicts thing like, oh, yeah, Ilove notre dame, but that's
okay.
Um, in fact it's kind of funny.
I don't know if you're afootball fan at all, but like we
play you guys again for thefirst time in a while, I think
like early August or like midAugust.

Speaker 2 (06:24):
Oh, that's exciting.
Yeah, I don't pay attentionthat much, but I should pay
attention to that game.

Speaker 1 (06:30):
No, for sure, For sure.
How, uh, what was yourexperience like there?
Like, what was it like going,uh, especially as a D one
athlete?
Like what, how did you like it?

Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yeah, um, I, I did like it.
It was definitely challengingfor me.
Me, I ran like 25 miles a week,20-25 miles a week in high
school and so then when I, like,went to Notre Dame, it was a
big wake-up call for me.
Training that hard, I rememberthinking like I'm not gonna make
it through this the firstcouple weeks, um, and like every
run was so hard for me, eventhe easy runs, um, and but I did
make some of my best friendsthere, um, it was.
It was challenging, for sure,um, like academically and um,

(07:10):
athletically, um, but it was agood place to be and I'm
thankful for that experience.
There's definitely days that Iwas like what am I doing here?
But there was a lot of gooddays too.
Um, yeah, and the footballgames were super fun, the
community there was great.
Yeah, I would say overall, lovemy experience at notre dame

(07:31):
yeah, what did you think?

Speaker 1 (07:32):
uh, let's talk about the program a little bit like.
I know so many d1 runners thatlike either love their programs
or absolutely hate them.

Speaker 2 (07:39):
Like, what was your experience like, uh, you know,
especially running steeple andall that yeah, I mean, I think
that's a hard one, because Iit's changed a lot since I was
there, um, and there weredefinitely things that I didn't
love about it, and there were,um some athletes that were had a
great experience and some thatdidn't.
I think for me, um, I was a lotof a team player and like

(08:03):
wanted to make sure likeeverybody was doing well, um and
enjoying it and just liketrying to take care of people,
and so it was like hard when Isaw that some people were not,
um enjoying the team atmosphere,um, or the program, um.
I think that I learned a lot,though, about like one of the
things that I love the most thatI took away from that is like I
never pay attention to mileage.

(08:23):
I just like run by minutes,because our coach always had us
run like for a certain amount ofminutes, and I think it makes
me pay attention to my body more.
It's like I'm going for an hourrun Like who knows how many
miles that's going to be on oneday versus another, just
depending how I'm feeling, orlike if I'm on trails or road,
um.
So there's definitely some goodtakeaways from the program.

(08:45):
Steeplechase was super fun itwas my first time doing it when
I got into college, um, and Ihad a really good steeple
specific coach.
So, um, I got pretty good athurtling and I think it was like
a good fit for me because it'skind of one of those races where
the toughness is the mostimportant thing.
It's not as much tactical, butit's just like who's the
toughest one out there, and Ithink that translates well to

(09:08):
trail running and honestly, yousee a lot of D1 steeplechasers
out there on the trails now.
So I guess the coordination andthe toughness comes together
well for trail running.

Speaker 1 (09:18):
So that's what you think it is.
You stole my next question.
I was going to say what do you?
Because I ask every steepler,this steeple or that's like
between Rachel to my check AllieMac, like there's so many
really high level like trailrunners that come, you know,
from the steeplechase I've Alliehas told me it's something with
heart rate being able to likekeep your heart rate like real,
like relatively under control.
I've heard coordination Like iswhat do you think Like as far

(09:41):
as why it translates so well?

Speaker 2 (09:44):
um, yeah, I think it's definitely about
coordination and, I think, beingtough, being able to jump over
things, like I said, um, likekind of the stop and start.
I mean being able to take afall in the middle of something
and get back up and continue,like I'm sure all of us have
taken multiple falls on thetrack, um, and multiple falls on
the trail, so I think beingable to like shake that off and

(10:05):
like stay focused is importantpart of both of those sports.
The heart rate, I don't know.
I mean my heart rate is crazywhen I'm racing, so I can't say
I also have like a super oldwatch that I do never I never
wear one of those like armbandsor anything like that.
So who knows like how accurateit is, but it'll be like over
200.

(10:25):
And so I don't think that'sreally in control.
But yeah, I think it's reallyjust like being willing to like
put yourself in the pain, cave alittle bit.

Speaker 1 (10:36):
Interesting.
Yeah, I mean I feel like I saidit translates so well, like I
feel like there's just like somany of you guys that come over
and I don't know it's differentfrom like the traditional track,
like some people are hit ormiss um, even like coming from
the roads, like merit, likemarathon doesn't directly like
translate into um like being agood trail runner, but for some
reason the steeplechase, likeyou guys are all like, very
rarely does someone come fromthe steeplechase and not do very

(10:58):
well on trail.

Speaker 2 (10:59):
So I know it's like one to one kind of cool.

Speaker 1 (11:02):
I got to ask you about growing up in Montana like
very wild place, like supercool, not a ton of people, like
very interesting.
What did that teach you aboutthe outdoors from like a very
young age?
Like were you always kind ofinterested in the trails Like
did you know that was a thing,or was it more like hiking for
you and stuff like that?

Speaker 2 (11:18):
Yeah, well, I actually grew up like I mean a
bit on the trails and like Iwould run on the trails when we
would go, you know, like campingor like away for the weekend
somewhere with the trail, likewe'd go to the Tetons a lot
running the trails there.
Um, there's a lot of areas inMontana that we'd get on the
trails or like the dirt roads,um, but mostly my outdoor
experience was like mountainbiking and fishing, um, my

(11:41):
parents two favorite activities.
So I feel like as a kid, thosewere the things that I was into
and I think from that I justlearned to like do the things
that you love.
And that's the thing about liketrail running for me now is
that I feel like it's become mymy own, like run it's made
running my own and like thething that I love, not so much
like the thing that I should dobecause my family is all runners

(12:04):
or you know I have thisscholarship, or like all those
pressures that I used to have.
Now it's just like for me andit's the thing that I love to do
.
So I think, um, yeah, being inMontana, just realizing that
it's important to get outsideand like do the things that you
love and that make you feel, um,alive, and that it's okay to
value those things.

Speaker 1 (12:23):
Interesting.
Yeah, I mean, I feel like it'ssuch a cool place to grow up to
Like you.
Just, I don't know it's similarto like.
I talked to a lot of peoplethat have grown up in Alaska and
you know, you just develop moreof an awareness too, for like
grizzly bears and like moose andstuff.
It's not like normal.
Kids don't grow up like that.

Speaker 2 (12:41):
So it's interesting, it's different, um yeah, it's
nice not having to run with bearspray around here.

Speaker 1 (12:47):
So that's true, and you it's like access is perfect
in in, like the wasatch too,because like you are not like I.
I last year I did alta searchresult and then I went up to
grand targhee after it's notthat far like it's actually like
the access is pretty close, soit's not not too bad at all yeah
, there's a lot of cool placesin driving distance, which is
awesome, yeah.
One of the things you said kindof early in your story.

(13:09):
We were talking about goingworking in Ecuador or down in
South America, Like what wastalk about that experience.
It sounded pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (13:16):
Oh yeah.
So I thought I wanted to dopublic health for a little while
and I went and did aninternship right out of college.
Notre Dame was really greatabout being like, okay, there's,
these are all the opportunitiesthat you could have, um, after
you graduate, and like sendingout different like opportunities
.
And so I saw one one day andapplied for it, and I went and
worked with this um foundationcalled the Tandana foundation

(13:37):
and so I was doing public healthdown there, um, and I did that
for almost a year and I then Igot into education somewhat
through that like thinking aboutlike public health, education
was really important to me andthen went back and got my
master's.
So I was only there for a shortperiod of time, but it was.
It was definitely a reallyimpactful year or so of my life

(14:01):
and I think that it, like interms of thinking of running, it
definitely was like a majorturning point because it was
like okay, now you're notcontinuing running, like you are
doing this instead and you andyou're choosing this different
path.
Um, and my both both of mysisters went on to be
professional runners, but I kindof skipped that, and so it's
interesting like reflecting onit now and getting more

(14:22):
competitive now, like later inmy life um, just thinking about
how I kind of missed that stepfor this opportunity.
But I'm really grateful forthat and it's been cool to see
like I can still kind of getinto a space that's more
uniquely my own in running um,without have gone going down the
same path that most you knowcollege do want to go straight
professional, like running thetrack for a little while and

(14:45):
then then go to the trails.
I kind of skipped thatprofessional track time.

Speaker 1 (14:51):
Do you put pressure on yourself, Like now obviously
you said trail is more your own,but having like a dense family
of runners, especially havingtwo siblings that are like our
pros obviously like I don't know, my sister and I are super
competitive like I'm just a verycompetitive person by nature
like, do you do you have thatneed to, like, want to like turn
your trail career pro?
Like because you probably willhave that opportunity to if you

(15:14):
continue on the track thatyou're on now?

Speaker 2 (15:16):
yeah, it's a good question, so I think so.
I've been a teacher for 10years now and I teach middle
school math and I love it and Ican't imagine having running be
my only thing.
So I think going pro in thesense where, like, it's the only
thing that I'm doing would behard for me.
I still want to keep teachingand one of the things that, like

(15:39):
, I love the most about beinghere and the access to the
outdoors is getting my studentsinvolved.
I have an adventure, an outdooradventure club that I run at
school.
So once a month I bring my kidsout to do different activities
we mountain bike, we climb, weski, cross country ski.
Yeah, it's been really fun forthem and it's a group of

(16:00):
students that typically doesn'thave access to outdoor sports.
So I'm really passionate aboutthat and I wouldn't want to give
up that side.
So if I could be pro and alsostill be supporting my adventure
club or just getting studentsand at risk youth and youth of
color into the outdoors, I wouldreally love to have that

(16:21):
opportunity.
So, like, I've talked to acouple brands that thought that
said maybe they could support mein that way.
So, like I've talked to acouple brands that thought that
said, maybe they could supportme in that way too, like as a
runner, um, and representingthem and their brand, but also
them supporting, like mypassions and my students.
And so if it could work outthat way, then like, yes, I
think I would want to take it tothat level um.

(16:41):
This year is the first year,like I said, that I've surprised
myself and been like level Um.
This year is the first year,like I said, that I was
surprised myself and been like,oh, I can actually like be in
the mix, you know, um, with someof these professional runners.
So, yeah, it's kind of been thefirst time that I've been
thinking about it and would lovesome support.
Like getting to races on ateacher's salary is not the
easiest thing unless they'relike here, the Cirque series, in

(17:03):
the in the Wasatch.
So, yeah, it would be great tohave that support.
But I think my my main goal isto like have fun with it and to
use it as like a stepping stoneto help my students be able to
figure out like what are theirstrengths in the outdoors and
like what are they passionateabout and like what can the
outdoors bring to them and theirgrowth.

Speaker 1 (17:29):
I doors and like what are they passionate about?
And like what can outdoorsbring to them and their growth?
I love that.
Let's uh, let's talk about,like, let's talk about your
season, so far obviously top 10at the broken arrow vk, which
the ascent now so, and then top10 at the 23k as well, which I
think were like two, two raceswhere folks got to learn your
name, like people heard aboutyou on the live streams and
stuff like that um how did that?
we'll talk about your races aswell, like how they went for you
, but also like how, how havethey have things changed since

(17:51):
then?
Like, have you started gettingmore followers on instagram?
Have like people startedreaching out because now people
are starting to know your namein the sport?
Like how, how have thingschanged a little bit since then?

Speaker 2 (17:59):
yeah, um, yeah, definitely have had some more
like followers on Instagram andStrava and, yeah, even just
being invited to be on thispodcast was huge for me.
I followed you guys for a whileand so it's just been fun to be
like, oh my God, I get to be onthis.
So, yeah, it's definitely mademe realize, like I said, that I

(18:30):
can be in the mix and um hadlike a few conversations with
some brands, but I don't haveanything like solid and I I
don't have a coach or like atraining plan, just kind of out
there having fun.
Um, so very unofficial, but, um, it's been exciting to think
about like where it could go.
Um, and I've also been able tolike connect with more
professional runners and, yeah,I think like people, I've always

(18:51):
kind of like even the last year, I placed pretty well in a
couple of bigger races, but I'venever been like on on top of
like on a podium or like winninga race or anything any of those
big races.
So I think it's like my namehas been consistently in the mix
and now it's kind of like, okay, I'm still showing up there.
So I've been proud of likebeing able to be consistent,

(19:13):
even if I'm not like at thefront of a race.

Speaker 1 (19:15):
No, I mean, like I, I gotta, you know, also preface
this with the audience too,because I don't want to overstep
, like your dude, last yearfourth place in cirque series
snowbird, which was the usmountain running champs, like
that was also like a light out,like a performance, considering
grayson was there, rachel wasthere, like every big, you know
big name woman in our sport andman um so like showing up and
just being able to throw downagainst some of the best in the

(19:37):
sport, like you've already, youknow, had an opportunity to
prove yourself and you're justgetting more consistent, which,
which is crazy.
Let's talk Broken Arrow.
Obviously, the ascent was aweird kind of thing.
Originally it was supposed tobe almost 3,000 feet.
Then they chopped it in halfbecause of weather.
Did that play into?
Did that get in your head alittle bit?

(19:57):
I know, sometimes when coursesare changed for athletes, it's
like, oh, this isn't what I wastraining for, so it's going to
be different.
Like how, how did that play outfor you?

Speaker 2 (20:06):
Yeah, so I had never done an ascent or a VK I know
it's not really a VK, but um, soit was going to be my first
uphill only race, which in mymind I was like I see myself
more as a faster downhill runnerthan than an uphill runner, um,
so I was pretty nervous aboutthat.
I was like I have no idea howthis is going to pan out, but

(20:27):
I'm just going to go out thereand give my best, and I think
that it being shorter probablyhelped me.
I was able to just be like I'mgoing to go out, like I know
this is going to be painful thewhole entire time, so I'm just
going to like go hard from thebeginning and just see how long
I can last.
So obviously, if the course islonger, I might have absolutely
blown up.
Um, but yeah, I was like goinghard from the beginning.
It was like kind of crazy Causeyou couldn't really tell where

(20:50):
you were in the race.
It's just like everybody, a massgoing up the ski Hill, um, and
yeah, I mean I didn't reallyknow, like, where I was in the
race until later on.
Um, someone started saying likeyou know, top 10 women, like
number nine, number eight orwhatever.
I was in the race until lateron Um, someone started saying,
like you know, top 10 women likenumber nine, number eight or
whatever.
I was at Um.

(21:10):
So, yeah, it was really fun.
I definitely thought that wewere close.
We were at the finish um, oneof the first uphills, and like
really pushed it and then sawhow much farther we had to go
and was like, oh God, um, butheld it together.
So, yeah, it was exciting and Ithink it gave me a lot of
confidence for the 23 K to belike no, you showed up and like

(21:32):
you showed that you can be astrong uphill runner.
So like, don't think ofyourself as only a fast downhill
runner.
Like you can also push on theseclimbs too.
Yeah, I mean yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:40):
And it was so crazy to like the mass start First off
the mass start throws me off inthe sense where it's yeah, it's
so and it was so crazy too likethe mass start first off.
The mass start throws me off inthe sense where it's it's on
like a ski hill, but it's likenot a ski hill.
It's like there's like plantsand like, yeah, trees and stuff.
I didn't race it this year.
I've been on the course before.
I'm just like what are you guys?
doing like there's yeah this issuch a weird start I know and

(22:00):
this year it was likeparticularly strange too,
because it like went from thatto like road, to single track,
to like road again.

Speaker 2 (22:06):
Yeah, and it funneled a little bit too at the top, so
it was kind of like a trafficjam.
So you're like scrambling up.
I was like grabbing plants,like dusty you get funneled in.
You'd have no idea where you'reat.

Speaker 1 (22:19):
Proper, proper trail running for you, did you?
How was like the recovery inbetween?
Like, do you?
Obviously it's saturday torecover and it's like what is it
?
1600 feet.
So it's not like a stupid, likehard.
I mean it's a hard effort, butlike yeah there's no descending,
so you're not really damagingmuscles like are you able to
recover fine for the 23k or yeah, I mean I felt pretty good for

(22:40):
the 23k.

Speaker 2 (22:41):
Um, I like did an easy run with my friend who came
with me on the trip on onsaturday.
We just like explored aroundthe area, um, and so that was
fun.
Um jumped in donner lake,donner.
Um, yeah, I had a good relaxingday.
Got to um see part of the 46k,see some of my friends finish

(23:01):
that or cheer from the for them,um, from, I mean I was just
watching like the live results,but just like fun to be in the
environment, um.
And then, yeah, 23k, I feltdecent so I just kind of went
for it.
Like again this season has beenI've been telling myself it's
just full sudden find out.
Like the thing about not havinga coach or a sponsor, is it or

(23:24):
a team is no one really cares ifyou blow up besides yourself.
So I'm just like, okay, I'mgonna put myself in it and just
hang on for as long as I can.
And that's pretty much been myrace strategy for all of these.
Um.
And yeah, I kept thinking like,oh, I'm for sure gonna blow up
at some point in this race.
I mean it was the longest trailrace I had ever run, so I did
the shortest and the longestrace that I have ever done in

(23:46):
the same weekend, yeah, and youknow, like some of the climbs
felt tough, but I think that'spart of the sport.
Like I always remind myselfyou're here to hurt, you're here
to dig Like that's what thesport is about.
So it's not supposed to feeleasy.

(24:07):
So I just kind of kept hangingon and then I was able to
descend pretty quickly and Ithink that helped me, like,
secure that ninth place spot.

Speaker 1 (24:14):
Did you?
How did the race work out foryou?
Like were you in no man's landmost of the time?
Were you in?
Like were you battling with anyother ladies Like how was, how,
was that working?
Were you battling with anyother ladies Like how was how
was?

Speaker 2 (24:22):
that working, yeah, um, so the first three miles or
so, it was kind of like the fourbroke away and then, um, it was
like five, six, seven, eightkind of all together and and we
could see the top four.
Um, and it's kind of windythrough the trees.
I'm sure you're familiar withthe course or if you've been
there.
Um, yeah, so, um, it felt likenot completely no man's land,

(24:48):
cause I had a couple of girlsaround me and I could also see
the leaders there.
Um, once we got to like thesteeper climbs I, that's when
there was like a little moreseparation, um, and yeah, and I
could always, I always had eyeson somebody, which was nice
because, yeah, gettingdisconnected is a little bit
harder.
And then up the climbs, allieMack passed me and so I was

(25:13):
trying to like latch on to herfor a little bit.
You know, like another amazingstrong uphill runner.
So I was like just try to hangon, yeah.
And then the first descent mystomach was kind of not feeling
great, so it was hard for me topush it.
Um, and at that point I waslike I think I had been passed
by Allie, and now was a ninthspot and I was kind of getting a

(25:34):
little separated um from thegirls but yeah, so kind of took
that first downhill a littleeasy and then felt better when
we climbed back up to get readyfor the last descent um.
And then on that climb is whenthe men started catching up to
us, because they started, Ithink, 20 minutes later.
So that was kind of nice tolike not be completely on my own

(25:56):
.
I mean, yeah, they were flyingby me but yeah, and then I could
look back and I saw sydneythere so I knew she was like
somewhat close um, and yeah, Iwas just honestly like really
stoked to be in the top 10 atthat point that I was just
enjoying the whole rest of theway down and like couldn't
really believe it.

Speaker 1 (26:13):
So yeah, that's so cool, it's so cool.
Like you realize what spotyou're in and you're having fun
and you're working, but likeyou're still having fun and it's
like, yeah, in the course, andlike you get in that flow state
almost which is it and it's like, yeah, in the course, and like
you get in that flow statealmost, which is it's like
that's a hard thing to find,like it's, once you're in it,
it's like, yeah, it's awesome.

Speaker 2 (26:29):
Yeah, it was so much fun, and the environment there
too.
I mean like people cheeringdown, like the last mile was
super fun, the bell ringing bell.

Speaker 1 (26:37):
Yeah, yeah, you know what it's.
It's the environment's insane.
I see I love it and I can't sayI hate it.

(27:00):
But I love it because whenyou're in the race it's so much
fun but there's so much going onand so much you can literally
just jump in just before the gungoes off and you're good to go.
You don't have to yeah, thatstuff, whereas broken arrow is
like a whole thing.
It's like a giant weekend.
So, yeah, yeah, do you think,um, after this did golden trail
series, like approach you to doany more races this year?
Or like, are you thinking aboutpossibly traveling or doing

(27:23):
anything like that to do any ofthe other races?

Speaker 2 (27:25):
Yeah, okay, so they haven't.
I tried to reach out to them tofigure out, like, how do you
even get involved in it?
I mean I feel so new to trailrunning right now that I'm still
figuring out like what are thebig races Like, how do you get
involved, how do you become likea golden trail athlete?
And I was able to talk toRachel at the last Cirque series
a little bit, so like trying tolearn a little bit more about
the series and everything.
So that's been fun to be ableto learn from some of the um

(27:47):
athletes that have been aroundfor a while.
Um, I would love to next year bepart of that um, run a few of
those Uh, like I said, gettingto those races is hard for me.
Um, so if I have a sponsor,that would be amazing because
then I could actually afford togo to some of those races and
compete.
But yeah, I mean I, like I said, surprised myself and like

(28:09):
getting a top 10 finish at agolden trail uh race really was
exciting and made me startthinking like, okay, maybe I
could go and run some of theseother races and take that
opportunity.

Speaker 1 (28:20):
You can hang with the best of them.
And like and that's the thingtoo is like, and I don't know,
maybe it's too.
We'll put this out into theuniverse.
We'll see if, because I knowsome people that are affiliated
with that do listen.
But like, if I mean it might betoo late for series and all,
but who knows, maybe not.
You know, I know they do helpwith um, they help with all that
stuff, and rachel I'm sureshe's- that's what she was
saying.
Like there's some support, yeahyeah, there's anybody to talk to

(28:42):
, it's her, she's the best.
So, yeah, yeah she's.
She's good people yeah she'sawesome.
So what does that leave for therest of the season?
Are you going to go up to grandtarghee race, the cirque series
race there, like what do you?
What do you got planned?

Speaker 2 (28:53):
yeah, so actually I'm planning to run the rest of the
cirque series, so, um, rightnow.

Speaker 1 (28:58):
Yes, grand targhee, or which one I'm still debating
on if I'm going do targi.
I would hope so.
I'll definitely be at crystal,maybe a basin, I feel like I
have to be at a basin, butdefinitely crystal.

Speaker 2 (29:07):
Yeah, maybe we'll see yeah, yeah, so I'm heading to
the aliaska one this weekend, um, so I'm excited about that.
That'll be a fun little trip,also before school starts.
But yeah, school is back.
Like august 11th we get backfor professional development, I
know, and then the kids come thenext week, so it definitely
gets harder for me to train andget to races once school's back

(29:31):
in session.
But I'm still going to try andprioritize it the best I can and
get out to all those races.
It's nice about the Cirqueseries Like I can drive to most
of them, so I can do most ofthose in a weekend, quick
weekend trip.
So that's the plan as of now.

Speaker 1 (29:43):
Has the rut crossed your mind at all, especially
being from Montana?

Speaker 2 (29:46):
Yeah, actually, um, so I've had some friends do it
before and they had a lot of funand I've, you know, I've always
heard about it.
I never really dreamed that Iwould be a trail runner, so I
don't know.
I just now that I feel like,okay, it would be possible to do
that I would love to do at atsome point.
I know it's hard to get into,but, um, maybe I can like reach

(30:07):
out and get an elite spot orsomething.
Yeah, I would love to do thatit's a little longer than I
typically race, but it would befun.
I would say do the 20k over the28k, because the 28k is is
brutal absolutely okay, that'swhat I've heard that there's
like some really brutal justlike scree, field fields, and.
But it'd be fun.
That's the mountain that I grewup skiing, so it would be a lot

(30:30):
of fun to be racing on it oh,hell yeah, big skies, dope.

Speaker 1 (30:33):
What a beautiful area , like super cool, I gotta ask
you this.
So you just took second place,uh uh, at cirque series.
Snowbird to jane moss.
Uh, who's?
Also a friend of the pod, lovejane.
She's super sweet yes um yo,how did that race unfold for you
?
That course, I is so nasty, sosteep, like 3 000 feet of
climbing and like eight miles.
Like how did uh, how did thatrace go for you?

Speaker 2 (30:54):
um, yeah, so well, we did the course course preview
the day before, which I was likesee, why are we doing this on
friday?
You?

Speaker 1 (31:03):
did the same thing to me at killington.
I did the course pre-pro andI'm like injured, I'm like dude,
I'm going to die.
There's no way I could do boththis and then the race the next
day Anyway.

Speaker 2 (31:11):
I know it was definitely like getting in my
head too, because I was like mynormal pre-race is like three
miles on the flat roads orsomething like that.
So definitely got in my head alittle bit, cause I was like
wait, jane, she trained for shedoes two labs at broken arrow
and I only do one.
Like am I going to be able tohang with her?
Like I'm just not a longdistance girl but um, but we

(31:37):
started off pretty fast Cause itwas like downhill and through
the parking lot.
So, um, and I think Rachel waspushing the pace a bit and I was
kind of like you, you know what, if I don't attach to her, like
then I'm gonna be out the backdoor.
Because I was just like didn'thave the best week building up
and was feeling like kind oftired, um, so I just decided
like I'm gonna go and hang on toher as long as I can again like
full send and find out.

(31:58):
It's kind of been my um racestrategy.
So I went with her for a bitand we were kind of um, I think
Jane was probably like had hereyes on us and was like right
back there.
Um, eventually she came up tous and then was like passing us,
and so I then decided to kindof stay with her as long as I
could, and there was a few timeswhere we went like back and

(32:20):
forth, um, but by the time wereached we talked at the top of
the cirque.
I was struggling to stay on herpace and so she just kind of
like slowly distanced herselffrom me for a while until, and
then up on baldy, um, I knew Iwas like a little bit of a
distance from rachel, but Icould tell that she was like

(32:42):
right there.
So I definitely pushed thedownhill a bit and I pushed that
section off of Baldy.
I hate that part where you comelike straight down and you get
a bunch of like dirt in yourshoes, yeah.
So I hate that part.
But I tried to push it and pushthe boulder field and that
little, that last little climb,and then, yeah, it felt like

(33:03):
pretty decent on the downhill.
I kinda of.
This is the same thing thathappened to me when I ran a
basin with Jane last year where,like I kind of knew she was
long gone in front of me so itwas going to be hard to gain a
couple minutes on her on thedownhill.
Um, so it's just trying tofocus on like continuing to push
and hold my second place.
Um, and I could hear like theannouncers announcing her when
she crossed the line when I wasfinishing up those switchbacks,

(33:25):
so I was just like reallyexcited that, um, she was the
one to take the win that day.
Um, yeah, we were joking, causeSteve told us that no one who
has done the course preview hasever had the best race
afterwards.
So, yeah, we were joking thathe was sabotaging our race.

Speaker 1 (33:47):
Honestly, you two have done the best, like the
last year.
Granted alta, he didn't evenrace.
Michelino did.
Uh, grant hargie shout out tomichelino, he absolutely blew up
um.
And then I can't remember whodid.
I think it was julian who didnot, julian car, another julian
who did um the other one I blewup in killington.

(34:08):
You guys are the only ones asfar as I know yeah, we were like
we broke the course previewcurse.

Speaker 2 (34:16):
So yeah, just it was just a lot of fun.
Like I love racing with janeand it was fun to like get to
know her a little bit more.
That past week um was reallyhappy to see like rachel was um
feeling better and like being onthe podium with her is always
really exciting.
You know, she's such aaccomplished runner in the trail
uh races.

(34:38):
So yeah, it was just a fun timeand yeah, steve and julian do a
great job putting on thoseraces.
I've always had a lot of fun atthem.
So, yeah, I had some friendsthere too.
My sister was in town, so itwas just like a fun afternoon.

Speaker 1 (34:52):
Super cool.
I couldn't think of a.
I mean, those races are stupidfun, like, especially like the
Wasatch ones in particular.
I feel like they get a lot morepeople, or at least a lot more
hype to them.
The Wasatch ones's like out,done snowbird, so it's a little
bit different, so nice and fun.
I got to ask you about trainingso you said you don't have a
coach, you're just kind offiguring it out as you go.

(35:12):
What does your volume look like?
Are you doing a lot of flatstuff, mountain stuff?
What do you like to do?

Speaker 2 (35:18):
Yeah, it's a little chaotic, it's just kind of what
I feel like and what makes mehave fun.
So, basically, I mean I I kindof took like what I learned in
college and I try and do acouple workouts a week and a
long run a week.
I probably run on average like30 to 40 miles a week.

(35:40):
I've definitely had, like I hadlike a 58 mile week a couple
weeks back and was like, oh,getting up there.
But I also mountain bike and Irock climb, and so I spend like
some of my time doing that too.
So, even if I am not running asmuch, I'm like still doing a
bit of training and that's goodfor, you know, my cardio and

(36:02):
everything.
So, um, I one thing that Ithink has like really helped me
is that I've been lifting withmy friend who is a PT, um at
Roadrunner Athletics, and so sheis really helping me like stay
injury free.
So I think that's huge Um.
But yeah, I definitely train onthe road sometimes too not so

(36:24):
much in the summer because it'sso hot down here, um, but like
every couple of weeks I'll do aroad workout and then, um, my
sister runs for um Nike and theywere here for their altitude
training and so I like jumpedinto a couple of their track
workouts, um, yeah, yeah, so,but you know, so it's just like,
okay, they're here, they'redoing a workout, sure, I'll jump

(36:51):
in on that.
There's no like set structurereally.
I mean, you know, I I know thegist of it, like get a couple of
hard efforts in, like gettingsome threshold work, in getting
some interval work, in makingsure I'm having rest days.
But my rest days are usuallylike I'm going to go mountain
biking or I'm going to go climb,yeah.
So I don't really track myweekly mileage, a ton or any of

(37:12):
that.
And it's honestly been workingfor me because I think it makes
me really listen to my body anddo what I need and also, like
keeps me excited about the sportand not feeling like, oh, I
have to go do this run today.
Like if I wake up and I'm notfeeling good, or I start the run
and it's not feeling like a dayI can do a workout, then I just
push it to the next day and Ifigure it out.

Speaker 1 (37:33):
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, I think there'ssomething to be said about like
not making it a job, like themore you make it a job and like
I have to do this, the less youwant to do it.
Or like it hinders performancewhen you're still having fun.
I think that that's, I don'tknow, like everything's so new.
Right, like you, you can alwayscome up with different routes.
You can always do you.
Let me ask you this Like I knowyou said, like you do some
stuff on the road, some stuffthere, but like is it more like

(38:06):
flat running or is it more it'smore trails?

Speaker 2 (38:10):
but sometimes I'm just like chilling on a trail
and just like running six mileswith my friends and not really
training.
And then sometimes, like onSaturday, I went and ran temp
really hard on the up, um, andthen like had a really fun time
coming down.
So, yeah, once I get excitedabout something, I'll like go
for it and like see how fast Ican push it and, um, yeah, so I

(38:34):
I guess it's hard to knowbecause I don't really track it
that often, but I think most ofit in the summertime is trail
running.
I did um train for the SaltLake half marathon.
There was April 26th because Iwas going to do the sun and
peace scramble June 1st and Iwas like I need something to
motivate me and there's stillsnow on the trails.

(38:54):
So I did a lot of road runningearly season, like March and
April and but this summer it'sbeen maybe on the roads like
once every week or two weeks.
All my other runs are on thetrails dude, I can't.

Speaker 1 (39:11):
I'm sorry, I did not bring up son of p, I forgot to.
Uh, you took a tap.
You top 10 finish there too.
It was like, dude, you'rehaving such a crazy season, like
what did you think about the?
Uh?
Sorry, not to completely changethe subject, I just had this
question for you, like what didyou think about the Northeast
trails?

Speaker 2 (39:25):
It was so fun.
It was a mud bath though, buthonestly I laughed out loud like
five times during the race justbecause I was like slipping
around and like face planningand you'd be just like sprinting
downhill and all of a suddenyour leg is like knee deep in a
mud swamp that you couldn't see.
So it was just, it was a funtime.

(39:46):
The forest was really fun.
It was like a lot of roots andtrees, which I loved that I got
a little bit in no man's landthere.
So I was just kind of likeremember, you're not just like
romping around in the forestLike you're in a race, you got
to keep pushing.
Yeah, it was fun, and againlike surprise myself there too.

Speaker 1 (40:05):
So yeah, yeah, yeah, dude, what a season.
Um, so I was on, I did the livestream first on a piece, so we
like we had such a good timewith Danny and MK, but like it
was just really fun to get to,uh, you know, follow you guys
throughout the course and kindof seeing as things unfolded.
Like, did you feel?
Like I feel like it wasimpossible to feel strong on the
descents there just because,like you said, like you'd always

(40:25):
be falling and tripping overstuff and losing David Norris
lost a shoe, like it was wild.
Like were you able to actuallylike hold ground on the descents
?
Like what did you think?
Or was it?

Speaker 2 (40:39):
easier to make up ground on like ascending on the
climbs.
I think I was able to holdground pretty decently on the
ascents, to be honest.
Yeah, I was like flying downthe like once you got out of the
swampy area and then there'sthat road kind of like down to
the bottom of the course.
I felt like I was able toreally fly on that.
The ascents were hard for mebecause it was like so slippery
and wet, and so that wasdefinitely difficult.

(41:01):
I think my strongest sections,though, were like that like the
road, where it was like probablyless than 10% grade, just
trying to like push as much as Icould.
You know, we had just done thatbig climb, so I think a lot of
people were like in recoverymode and I was like I'm going to
push it here, and I think thatwas probably like my strongest
sections of the race.

Speaker 1 (41:19):
Super cool and you were close man Like do you think
, uh, uh, two years from nowyou're gonna try and get on team
usa?

Speaker 2 (41:25):
I mean, I would love to like it's crazy to even say
that out loud, because I don'tthink at the beginning of the
season I would have even thoughtthat that was possible but I
think this season I reallyproved to myself that like I can
be in the mix and especially ifI like start taking training a
little more seriously, um, andlike prioritizing it, like I
don't want to sacrifice all theother things that I love to do,

(41:47):
um, but at the same time I thinkthere's like so much more room
for me to grow as an athlete andlike ways that I can take my
training more seriously and likemaybe be a little more
regimented on my trainingschedule and learn from some of
these pros, um, that canhopefully like get me to that
point.

Speaker 1 (42:04):
Do you think you'll wind up getting a coach soon or
stick with what you're doing?

Speaker 2 (42:08):
I don't know.
I honestly have kind of loveddoing my own thing and just like
being able to listen to my bodyand like trust in my own
decisions about training andit's.
You know, I do like ask some ofmy friends sometimes like I'll
reach out, I'll talk to Steveabout like a course and be like
what do you think I should do toprepare for this?
And he'll be like, okay, maybethis run or just like hearing

(42:34):
what some of the other pros aredoing.
And then I'm pretty closefriends with Charlie Linton, who
is the coach at the U.
So if I'm doing a track workoutor like a road interval workout
, I'll like ask her you know,how much rest should I have
between these things, like youknow?
So I I feel like I don't have acoach, but I have some like
consultants.

Speaker 1 (42:55):
I don't have a coach.
I coached for years and this isthe first year I've ever not
had one.
Granted, I did get a massiveinjury.
It was probably my fault, butlike other than that, once you
start figuring it out, it reallyworks.
It's like oh, and you havedifferent people that in your
repertoire you can ask questionsspecifically about workouts is
where I struggle.

Speaker 2 (43:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (43:11):
You think this could be?
Could I do this?
Am I going to blow up here,like you know, just questions
like that?
But like, yeah, I think chatGPT a lot too.

Speaker 2 (43:23):
Maybe we should try that one.
Yeah, I feel like I have enoughyou know, my sisters too like
I've been in it enough to try tolike piece it together.
But I'm sure there's still alot to learn about trails
specifically.
So we'll see.

Speaker 1 (43:39):
I got to ask you about rock climbing, like kind
of mixing that in.
Do you scramble a lot Like?
Are you more like into thetechnical stuff?

Speaker 2 (43:46):
now, yeah, I do love scrambling.
Um, last year my friend and Iattempted the world and we got
very close.
We did not quite finish it butwe did a lot of scrambling to
prepare for that.
Um, so, and then and like nowI'll go and scramble with some
friends.
Like love getting up SouthRidge quick.
And yeah, I I definitely likelove that part of the course too

(44:10):
.
When it gets like a little bittechie up there, it's fun for me
.
And like, even when I ran tempthe other day, like my favorite
part was like the end I was ableto really push.
It's not super scrambly butyeah, it's fun for me.
And rock climbing I mostly likesport climb so it's a good

(44:33):
recovery day.
Like post race, hike up likeone mile to the crag and just
hang out, do some climbs, um,relax with my friends.
So it's been a really good likeside sport for me.
I'm not like amazing at it butum, yeah, it's been fun.

Speaker 1 (44:45):
I feel like you can get super fit from it, like all
the rock climbers I know arelike monsters Like they're super
fit.
It's crazy.

Speaker 2 (44:51):
Yeah, it definitely helps and, honestly, like
there's some times that I'mtrying so hard on a route that
I'm like trying harder than whenI'm running.

Speaker 1 (44:59):
Yeah, oh, you can get your heart rate up there, it's,
do you um?
First off tell tell.
Heart rate up there, it's doyou um?
All right, first off tell tell.
I gotta hear about like thisworld attempt.

Speaker 2 (45:09):
Like, where did you guys bail?
Like, how far did you get?
Like what we?
Um, we bailed off a souththunder after like hiding under
a rock from a thunderstorm forlike 30 minutes.
So, um, so we, and then we hadto go down bells canyon still,
which sucks, that's the worstpart of the world.
So, um, yeah, it was.
We definitely were a lot slowerthan we had hoped.
Um, I ended up accidentallykicking a rock down onto my

(45:30):
friend um on her head and shehad a head injury and so we had
to deal with that.
It was really scary.
It's probably one of myscariest moments in the
mountains, to be honest.
Um, and it was like in achimney.
It was like seven hours in onthe cottonwood traverse.
Um, yeah, so that was bad, butrecovered from that like she
didn't have any concussionsymptoms.
We watched her closely and thenwe just kind of like decided

(45:52):
we're gonna just keep going to.
We had all these people likehelping us and supporting us.
So we'd be like, okay, let'sjust make it to this person, and
then she'd be like actually,like I think I want to keep
going and so we just continue on, um, and so it kind of like I
think the reason we got so faris that we took the pressure off
ourselves of finishing it afterthat head injury and we were
just kind of like doing it stepby step and getting as far as we

(46:13):
could, and so I don't know, Imean I felt really proud of us.
It was like very slow, but yeah, after dealing with the head
injury and just like taking ourtime at all the stops.
I think getting that far was abig win and maybe we'll try it
again, but definitely not thissummer.
We were like we need a breakfrom that.

Speaker 1 (46:32):
How many hours were you guys out there?

Speaker 2 (46:34):
Because I know this is bad.

Speaker 1 (46:36):
It's like going faster out there for an eternity
.

Speaker 2 (46:38):
Yeah, well, we were not moving fast.
We definitely took a lot oftime in the stops and like
dealing with our injury.
We definitely took a lot oftime in the stops and like
dealing with her injury.
We, I think in total we endedlike 42 or 43 hours.
It was great, holy shit, that'sso.
I was like delirious coming updown bells canyon.
Yeah, I was honestly feelingphysically fine until we started
going down bells canyon and Iwas like I'm done with this,
like we're bushwhacking, it'sraining on us.
Yeah, basically it was likepouring rain.

(47:00):
We had to hide under the rockand then we were kind of like we
don't really want to do bighornin the notch while it's like
raining and stormy, so and wehad been feeling it for that
being out there that long.
So, yeah, it was kind of like awild thing to attempt, but I
think it was like anotherconfidence boost that I mean,
there's not that many women outhere doing that stuff in the

(47:21):
wasatch, and so for us to beable to do that, you know we we
had trained and we had like doneall the sections, but you know
we're not like the fastestscramblers or like the fastest
mountaineers that are here andlike the professionals that are
here in the wasatch, but westill like could get that far.
So I think it was cool to seeand prove to ourselves that you
know there can be more women outthere going for those things

(47:42):
and you're're maybe we're notgoing to be like sub 24 hours,
but like we can still do it.

Speaker 1 (47:46):
Yeah, you never.
I'm just like you never know.
The more you do it, the betteryou get and like, the faster
you'll you'll improve.
The reason I asked about wasbecause it's it's very rare,
especially in our sport.
You'll find women that it's.
There's a technical componentto like some things like, um,
where you can be a really goodscrambler, slash, rock climber

(48:07):
and then also be very talentedat running uphill and downhill.
There's not too many of them,and when you do find them, I
always ask the question like isthere any objectives like that?
Interest you like the grandTeton or something like that?

Speaker 2 (48:17):
Yeah, yes, well, I actually would love to climb the
grand we.
I didn't attempt last year andgot rained out, um,
unfortunately, we like turnedaround and then started going
down and then it was like areally sunny, beautiful day.
So it's just one of those timeswhere you like have to make the
hard decision and, um,unfortunately, like sometimes
you make that decision, you'relike, thank god, we made the
right decision.

(48:38):
Sometimes you make it andyou're like, okay, we could have
, we could have waited it outand finish that.
So, um, have never summited it,summited it, but would love to
summit it.
Um, I'm going to be around therein August and would love to go
for it.
Um, and then, yeah, I think inthe future I would love to try
and like go for more um, likemountain FKTs and um like

(49:00):
scramble a little bit more andlike add my trail running to
scrambling and trying to go forsome of those things.
I think that's like down theroad.
A lot of those are like biggerdays and again, like my mileage
is not very high, I'm like arare day that I'm running over
like 13 miles.
So I definitely have some workto do for that, but it would be
really fun no-transcript.

Speaker 1 (49:49):
So it's like if you combine those things, there's a
lot of things that like you cando that maybe the average really
good runner might not be ableto.

Speaker 2 (49:56):
So yeah, yeah, and I think I'm usually like out there
with my friends just enjoyingthe day and, like you know,
trying to be safe and have fun.
Um, so it'll be fun to like tryand push myself a little bit
more and see if I can just gainthose skills to be able to move
faster in those more technicalsituations.

(50:17):
Super cool.

Speaker 1 (50:18):
Is there anything like outside of?
Obviously?
We talked about Cirque series,we talked about golden trail.
Is there any like race oreffort that you've seen, that
you're like?
I want to do that in the nextfew years.
Is there anything like thatcomes to mind?

Speaker 2 (50:29):
Um, okay, this is going to be random, it's not
like a official race.
But so my friend and I did skiddrawing um in February, which,
if if you're not familiar, it'slike you have a horse and they
have, and then you're tied,you're a skier and you have a

(50:49):
rope and you hang onto it andyou like go off, jumps and stuff
.
So that was really fun.
It was our first time doing it.
It was hilarious.
It was a lot of effort for akind of ridiculous goal.
But there's these races that arecalled ride and ties and it's
like someone rides a horse andyou run and you like, and the
person ties the horse there andthen you run, you get to the

(51:10):
horse, you ride the horse, youcatch up to them and then, um,
it's like, it's like a.
Really I know I told you it'sgonna be ridiculous.
So I really want to do one ofthose, like just for fun.
Um, I think I just like to keepmy goals kind of like
light-hearted too, um, where itlike just go out and do what is
fun to you.
So that's been on my radar forlike wanting to do a race like

(51:30):
that.
I'd love to run abroad at somepoint.
I went to Chamonix last summerand, just like seeing all the
pictures, the Mont Blancmarathon and all that um really
inspired me.
So that's my more seriousanswer to the question.

Speaker 1 (51:50):
Do you?
Are you familiar with Mountmarathon?
I feel like you would crushthat race.

Speaker 2 (51:54):
No, I'm not again.
Like I'm so new.
I like, yeah, tell me whatraces should be on my radar for
Mount marathon next year.

Speaker 1 (51:59):
So Mount marathon it's like Sir Caliasco, but like
different.
It's like only three.
It's a 5k, but it's like almost3000 feet of vert for a 5k.

Speaker 2 (52:08):
And it just happened.

Speaker 1 (52:09):
Right, it just happened on July.

Speaker 2 (52:10):
It's always July weekend, it's super special.

Speaker 1 (52:13):
And I just I always bring it up because I always
want more athletes to go there,because the field, like the
fields, are already deep, but toget more you know just more
people there in general, or getmore people excited about it.
It is such a cool race, yeah,highly recommend.

Speaker 2 (52:25):
I will definitely look into it, cause that short
distance is probably more mything anyways.

Speaker 1 (52:30):
It's sick.
Yeah, and Mel, you know,marathon du Mont Blanc, it's not
a bad one either.

Speaker 2 (52:33):
It's a good one Series and all that's another
one, but that's a marathon Likethat's a sweet race
no-transcript, and I think thatmaybe part of the reason I'm not
I am, I just am so new to itand I like didn't really believe

(52:55):
that I can make those kinds ofgoals.
But now, um, starting to getthat confidence is helpful, and
so maybe I'll start like settingmy sights on some of those
races, nice, nice.

Speaker 1 (53:04):
All right, I got some , some questions I got to get to
.
I usually keep these as formalabout you questions.
I'm curious who inspires you.

Speaker 2 (53:12):
Um, let's see.
Well, I mean, I really getinspired by like seeing some of
my friends out there who arestill racing and, um, like
chasing their goals and evenjust like not professional
friends, just people who arelike I want to do this thing,
I'm going to work really hardfor it and I'm going to go for
it.
Um, so I don't know, even justlike talking with jane this past

(53:34):
week and hearing about hergoals and like seeing her get
the win at the cirque series andjust like doing super well in
the broken arrow, like that was,was really inspiring.
Um, my sisters, for sure, likethey've been working really hard
.
My youngest sister, um, who isrunning for Nike, just like
putting in the work every day tolike reach these goals that she
has.

(53:55):
Um, yeah, and my, my grandma wasa runner as well, and so, um,
she kind of like was thetoughest of all of us and was
running every day and she livedtill 95 and she recently passed
Um, and we really think thatpart of that is because she
would like she'd run three milesevery day, um, until she had to
start walking those three milesand then until those miles

(54:16):
became like a half mile.
So, but she was like out thereum every day doing her little
daily walk.
So, um, yeah, I think thepeople that are willing to put
in the work and um chase thethings that are important to
them really inspire me.

Speaker 1 (54:33):
It's a beautiful answer.
I got to ask you aboutcompetition, like on a scale of
like one, two as intense as youcould possibly be.
Like where do you fall on likethe competition scale of being
competitive?
Like how competitive am I?
Yeah, like wait, so let's saywe're playing a board game here
like, are you?
Gonna crush me.
Like is that, is that the plan?
Like like how competitive areyou?

Speaker 2 (54:53):
I'm pretty competitive.
Like, even if I have nobusiness being competitive, I am
pretty competitive.
Um, I think it runs in thefamily.
I think, like, like I said,like back to my friend taking me
to that Wasatch trail race, Iwas like, oh, I'm just gonna
like jog this and then, like youput a bib on me and I'm like
I'm racing and so I think Ican't help myself sometimes and

(55:15):
I think that's like part of whyI do well, even like with my
training being so chaotic, Ijust like getting a race and I'm
like, okay, like you're here tocompete and I'm able to lock in
on that pretty well super cool.

Speaker 1 (55:28):
Um music.
Gotta ask you this is atwo-parter one do you ever
listen to music during workouts?
And two, what's what's the songright now, or like what's your?

Speaker 2 (55:37):
okay, wow, the song okay.
I definitely listen to musicduring workouts.
I work out on my own a lot oftimes, so that's really helpful,
because then like can't hearhow hard I'm breathing.
It's a good distraction.
I think the song that Ilistened to before Broken Arrow
was Ready For it by Taylor Swift, and it actually really got me

(56:00):
pumped up, so it got me somegood luck.
Yeah, okay, all right.

Speaker 1 (56:11):
Very cool, very cool, um damn, oh, that was going to
ask you nervousness.

Speaker 2 (56:13):
Do you get nervous on start lines?
Um, for sure, yeah, definitely.
I think that that's like Ican't imagine not being nervous
on a start line.
Um, yeah, start lines is likewhen you panic, panic about
everything, like are you wearingthe right socks, like things
that you never think about in aworkout, and then all of a
sudden, you're like I need theseexact socks.
I like am I taking the rightfuel?

(56:34):
I remember like in Broken Arrowthey had a meeting about the
fuel stations for the, for theelites, and so I was like I have
no idea how to do that, I don'teven know.
Like I was like trying to lookat what other pros were doing,
or like before a centipedescramble, I was like are they
taking their water?
If they're not taking theirwater, I'm not taking water.
And then I just like quicklytook my belt off because I

(56:55):
didn't see any otherprofessionals taking their water
.
So I definitely like get thosenervous jitters and like making
those last minute decisions.
Um, yeah, for sure, get nervous.

Speaker 1 (57:07):
I like it.
What, what shoes are youwearing these days?
Like what do you?
What do you like to wear?

Speaker 2 (57:11):
Um, I run in the Bushido threes, the last one to
you guys, bushido's really.

Speaker 1 (57:18):
Yeah, they're super comfortable.
I'd never seen people racingthose really.

Speaker 2 (57:22):
Well, okay, so so I've been.
Yeah, that's so I've been.
Yeah, that's what I've been,that's what I scrambling and
training yeah, so I definitelyblow through them really fast.
So I literally just orderedsome new ones before this
podcast.
So, and then my sister, the onethat runs for Nike, got me some
of those.
Like they're like the fastsuper shoe, I think there's.

(57:46):
I don't know if, if there's,it's like alpha fly or something
like that for trails yeah, oh,the and so I ultra fly yeah,
ultra fly.
Okay, yeah, ultra fly.
So she got me some of those um,and I've been racing in those a
couple times and I really likethem.
So they're not quite as liketechnical for so i'm'm not sure
if I'll wear them for Alaska ornot.
I have to figure that out.

(58:06):
I'll probably like have somenervous panic about that before
the race.

Speaker 1 (58:10):
I'm just curious to see if you do wear the Bushido's
.
I'm so curious to hear, like,how that goes for you, cause
like that's a great technicalshoe, but I've, just like I said
, I've never seen anybody racingthem.

Speaker 2 (58:18):
just because it's cool, it's a cool ship yeah
again, I don't know what I'mdoing here, so I just wear
whatever I have cool, cool, cool.

Speaker 1 (58:30):
Well listen, alexa.
I thank you so much for comingon.
This is a great conversation.
Um, I'm sure I'll bump into youat a cirque series race.
Hopefully I'll be one of themin the next few months or month
or so.
So wish you the best of luck inyour season.
Really appreciate you coming onfor a chat.

Speaker 2 (58:43):
Thank you.
Thanks for having me.
It was great talking with you.
Yeah, thank you.

Speaker 1 (58:48):
What'd you guys think ?
Oh man, I want to thank Alexaso much for coming on the
podcast.
It was a great conversation,really looking forward to where
the rest of her season is goingto take her and just what she's
going to be able to do in thefuture.
Like I said, someone thatdefinitely has the talent,

(59:08):
ability to be at the top of oursport.
Um, before you guys get going,give her a follow on Instagram.
I'm going to link it in theshow notes and you can.
Also, if you are listening tothis, you can find her
underscore Lexi L E X.
I underscore A R a G O N.
Give her a follow, let her knowwhat you guys thought about the
episode and send her for her,some words of encouragement.
She takes on the rest of theCirque series races in 2025.
Guys, if you enjoyed thisepisode and you continue to be a
supporter of the podcast, ifyou haven't already, please give

(59:29):
us a five-star rating andreview on Apple, spotify or
wherever you consume yourpodcasts.
And yeah, I've got a lot ofgood stuff coming your guys' way
.
We're finally back from theEast Coast, we're finally
starting to get some thingsscheduled and we've got a lot of
fun episodes with a lot of coolathletes and just race previews
and collaborations we'reworking on over the next month

(59:51):
or so.
So some cool things on thehorizon and I appreciate you
guys tuning in and your patienceas we're starting to ramp back
up and hopefully have moreepisodes your way.
So thanks so much.
Have a great rest of your week.
Listen up, guys.
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