Hear me ROAR! Christy Krchnavy Conquers Cocodona 250 with an Umbrella, High-Fives and the Heart of a Lion

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Well, hello and welcome.

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If this is your first time with us, thank you for stopping by.

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You're listening to Choose to Enjoy the show dedicated to the non-elite runners, where we share stories, interviews, gear and training tips specific to the tail end heroes of the ultra universe.

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My name is Richard Gleave.

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I've been running ultras since 2017.

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I've taken on and finished numerous distances at this point, all the way up through 220 miles, and I am unashamedly a member of the back of the pack, just like you guys.

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Now, today, I am chatting with a lady who probably needs no introduction if, like me, you spent a large part of the previous week and a half following one of my favorite races, the monster that is the Cocodona 250 mile race across Arizona.

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Now she was the queen of the golden hour on screen high five in almost everyone in Flagstaff.

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Today, we have the incredible Christy Kirchnavey joining us.

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Christy is a back of the pack runner, mother, wife and assistant race director when she has time for the Ultra Expeditions crew up in the Dallas Texas area.

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She has been running long distances since her son was born as a way to have time to herself and stay healthy, and loves hiking and being outside, which I think showed during the Cocodona run.

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She says that ultras allow her to take time to enjoy herself on the trail, take a few pictures and still make it to the finish line before the cutoffs, which I think is an entirely noble goal.

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So sit back, take a listen to Christy's Cocodona story We'll be right with you after this.

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To Christy's Cocodona story.

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We'll be right with you after this.

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Discover raw, inspiring stories from runners who've been right where you are.

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This is the Choose to Endure Ultra Running Podcast With your host he's English, not Australian Richard Gleave.

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So, christy, I am super pumped to have you on the show.

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Thank you so much for sparing a little time to talk to us today.

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It's been just over a week week and a half, I think since we watched you cross the finish line.

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How are you feeling at this point?

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Have you even started recovery yet?

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Can you move?

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Yes, well, thanks for having me.

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I'm actually feeling pretty good.

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Even from day one of being done, my muscles all felt fine, I wasn't sore.

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The only thing that was bothering me are my feet.

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From about mile 120, I battled really severe blisters and just every time I came in just kind of had to get them dealt with and move on and yeah, so that's really the only thing that's still bothering me is my feet.

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Well, that's pretty impressive, I think, after 250 miles on the trails and in the sun to well, I'm going to say, only have blisters.

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Blisters are a pain, metaphorically and physically, but I think that's pretty good, well done.

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So we heard a little about you in the intro there, but maybe we start with your journey into ultra running.

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How did you originally get into the sport and what are some experience or races that have shaped your running career prior to getting up to Cocodona here?

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Yeah, so I started running when my son was just a few months old.

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I've run prior to that, but I'd never run distance.

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So when he was born and I needed some time to myself because you have a little human attached to you at all times I would get my baby attached to you at all times.

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I would get my baby, nurse my baby and then go run for 10 miles and then come back.

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I spent a lot of time 3 am 4 am running, and I still do most of my running at the wee hours of the morning because that's what works well for my family.

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Kudos to you.

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I love that.

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Family first is always the way to go in my book.

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Had you done any races before Cocodona?

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Yeah.

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So I ran with Ultra Expeditions.

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I ran Piney Woods as my first 50K, which is always really near and dear to my heart.

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It's a beautiful trail up in Tyler, texas.

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And then I also ran Caprock Canyon 100K with them and after those two I was just hooked.

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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 to kill, so I just keep going and I'm not going to beat anyone, but I'm going to definitely keep moving until I finish.

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That's kind of how I got hooked on distance.

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I was like I can go slow and still last everyone.

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Okay, I can do this.

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Yeah, and that's why I love these really long distances too, because you get so much time that you don't have to go fast.

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It's really beneficial for the likes of you and I who like to go slow, shall we say.

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So, with those races in the bank, what inspired you?

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What motivated you to go?

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Look at Cocodona 250?

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Because that's a big jump right there.

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Was there something specific about that race that kind of drew you into it?

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Yeah.

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So I did 100 miler.

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Well, I did 100 miler that I DNF'd and I had a lot of foot problems and I realized I missed the cutoff and I realized I'd never wanted to feel that way again.

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So I was like I'm going to put everything into this.

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I did Dino Valley 100 miler again and I finished and felt great.

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So then during that race I told my crew to never let me do another 100 mile race because this was the worst decision of my life.

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And then a week later I was like I think I'm going to sign up for Cocodona.

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Wow.

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And they're like well, you told us never to let you do another 100.

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I'm like well, this is not 100.

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This is 250.

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I like your reasoning there Very good.

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They're the loophole.

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So you were familiar with Cocodona prior to that.

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I mean, had you watched any of the previous races or you just came across it online and was like, wow, that's a race I want to try?

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I lived in Arizona for six years.

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I was a teacher there and so I was really familiar with all the trails in that area and knew how beautiful it was, and so last year I watched it a lot.

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I got nothing done that week, as I'm sure a lot of people can understand.

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Yeah.

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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.

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I am very lucky with a very supportive husband.

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Very supportive, yeah, and I don't know he was just like go for it.

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He didn't have any hesitation.

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No, he has this ability to believe in me.

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That is really cool.

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He's like if you're going to do it, do it.

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Brilliant.

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So now you are in the Dallas area.

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I am.

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How did you build a training plan for all of the terrain in Arizona?

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Living in where we live, you know there's not much of that around the Texas area in general.

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So I did a lot of internet research and ended up stumbling upon a 200 mile training plan that I followed pretty closely and it really emphasized time on feet, hiking with a weighted pack and just you know, getting those long hours on the trail.

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I am very lucky I'm in Flower Mound and I live 15 minutes from North Shore Trail, which is actually a biking trail, but it also runners go there as well.

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So I would be on North Shore Trail at 3 am most days of the week training, and I'd say I trained six days a week.

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I took Friday off.

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My husband liked to joke that I would do a marathon before church on Sunday and then spend the rest of the day with family, so it was a lot of sleep deprivation practice.

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Yeah, I mean I was going to say that's the way to do it right Get your sleep training going while you're doing your physical training.

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That's insane, but good for you.

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So did you have any challenges with your training block?

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I mean, how long did it take you?

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What kind of length of training block did you have?

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I trained for 48 weeks.

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Whoa.

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Yes.

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So I was serious about it.

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I was not going to fail.

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I knew if I was going to sign up, it was something I was going to commit to.

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I don't have the natural talent of a runner.

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I just am very stubborn and very.

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Once I set my mind to something, I do it.

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So I set myself up a 48 training week block, and there was weeks I was near the end.

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I was averaging about 80 miles a week with about 14,000 to 15,000 feet invert.

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Wow.

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Because the trail by me has a really technical section and I would just do that in loops.

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It's a 10-mile technical section.

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That's pretty handy too, it is.

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And then anytime we were anywhere for ultra expeditions, like we're in Capra Canyon, I would train there, I would mark the course and then, when everyone else was heading to bed, I was like all right, I got a 20 mile run to do.

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Oh my goodness, so it was.

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Yeah, it was a lot of mental training as well.

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Folks, I've been on that course as well.

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That is a challenging course.

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That is a course that I think if you're going to do training anywhere in Texas for Cocodona, that's probably as good as you're going to get from a specificity standpoint, especially that technical climb.

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That's straight up.

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What is it?

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700 foot straight up, scramble, basically yeah.

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I love that around that loop.

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Yeah, that's, that's wild.

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I love it.

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Was there any other sort of specific stuff?

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Definitely for you, coming from Arizona and knowing that area and some of those trails, did you go back up there or?

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yeah.

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So I, um, I knew the climbs would be my strength, but I also wanted to practice them because I'm a flatlander in Texas.

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So I went to Guadalupe Peak in Texas oh nice and um, my crew, who's my crew chief, nicole, she was amazing and she came with me and she literally waited around for two days straight in the car crewing me while I went up and down Guadalupe Peak four times in one day and then the peak next door, hunter Peak.

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I went up and down there the second day.

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Yeah, so you really went out and did some like what I would call proper, as much as proper as we can here.

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Yeah.

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And obviously you finished, so I would say it was successful.

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Absolutely.

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Which is cool.

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So let's talk about the race itself.

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Well, let's do logistics first, because, like running a big race like that, you've already mentioned the crew and the logistics of running a race like Cocodona 250.

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How did they help you in the pre-race, in the buildup and then throughout the race itself?

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Because crews are often missed, I think, in the big journey and they play such a huge role in a lot of people's ability to finish.

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Yes absolutely.

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Tell us about your crew.

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Give your crew a shout out.

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Oh my gosh, I can't shout out my crew enough.

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They were the reason I finished.

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I keep telling them I had the easy job.

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They had to do the stressful job of waiting for me and panicking because the tracker would always say I was going to be behind the cutoff and then I would like gain an hour somehow.

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And they're like Christy, you're stressing us out.

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But no, my crew was amazing.

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I had my husband, who was just the biggest support, my sister-in-law, nicole, my crew chief, rebecca from Alter Expeditions, and then I had three pacers in addition Misty, rhonda and Patty, and um man, they were the best I knew.

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If I could just get to my crew every time, that they would solve the problems, and I just I believed that every time, no matter how bad I was feeling, if I just get to my crew, they'll solve everything.

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Fantastic, yeah, that was kind of how I got through, just knowing they were.

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They were close every time.

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Now, did they move along the race with you, or did they have a central spot and just kind of bounce back and forth to wherever you were?

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We rented an Airbnb in Clarkdale so they kind of it was in the center of the course, so they did a little bit of both.

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They kind of traveled with me, and then we had a big SUV that we rented.

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So Nicole had like her car, she was like my supplies, and then Jacqueline, my sister-in-law, she had, she was like shuttling pacers.

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That woman like miles and miles of shuttling pacers back and forth.

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She's a saint and so, yeah, just everyone fit in exactly where they should have been and it was seamless, like they were.

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The reason I finished honestly.

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I'm fascinated by how people select crews, and so some folks go with their friends, they go with people they know well.

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Other folks they like to have specific roles, dedicated sort of roles within the crew, whether they're friends or not.

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I want somebody who's trained in foot care and I want somebody who's whatever.

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How did you go about selecting your crew folks?

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You know, with 250 miles it's kind of a little more challenging because it's a hard sell to say, hey, do you want to take a week off and follow me around the desert and touch my gross feet Like who's signing up?

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Yeah.

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Not really.

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You don't have a huge line for that role.

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I don't know why, but Nicole, kind of she just jumped in.

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I asked her if she would come be crew and kind of lead the charge and she said yes and then everyone else followed and fell into place.

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My husband was always going because he's stuck married to an ultra runner, so he's kind of stuck with it.

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And then my sister-in-law, who's not a runner, she didn't want to miss out.

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She's like I'm joining this fun.

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I'm like I don't know how much fun it's going to be, but let's do it.

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One of my pacers, Misty.

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She lives in Arizona and so she was able to.

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She paced me at the end.

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She was the one in the yellow, too strong hat.

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And then my other two pacers I had never met before.

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Oh, do tell, that sounds interesting.

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So one of my sweet friends had to drop as a pacer because she had a conflict that was completely not her fault.

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Like she felt terrible and I was like it's OK, it'll work out.

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So Misty put the word out to trail runners that she knew, and Rhonda and Patty, my other two pacers.

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They wanted to join so I had never met them before and they ran with me.

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Patty joined me for some really rough sections of nighttime.

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She climbed with me up Mingus.

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She took me through Schnebley, which was she was pulling sleepwalking runners out of the trees Like it was crazy.

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Yeah, she would like she'd be like okay, christy, keep going forward, because I was sleepwalking runners out of the trees.

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Like it was crazy.

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Yeah, she would like she'd be like, okay, christy, keep going forward, cause I was sleepwalking.

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And then she would like pull a runner out of the trees and be like this way, honey.

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And she just like like five to 10 sleepwalker runners just on that section.

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It was like an eight mile section.

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Oh, my goodness.

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It was.

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Oh my goodness it was, it was carnage.

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It's crazy.

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But what a cool thing to do to step in and help pace somebody you've never met.

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I think that's that speaks really well of those two individuals I have to say.

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So how did you because I imagine at the point that they jump in you're not like super chatty I wouldn't have thought how did you get to know these people, or did you?

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You know, I I'm pretty, I'm pretty chatty there was.

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I pretty much talked to everyone with me, the pacing with me, except at the end because I lost my voice, because the there was a prescribed burn in Sedona and so I lost my voice at the end and Misty my last pacer.

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I finally said I can't talk anymore, my voice is shot, and I 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.

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The entire race is like the last 50 miles.

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Yeah.

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So after that I was just chatting with everyone.

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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.

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He suffered from that and when he got passed at the end I think he was having breathing challenges as well.

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Yeah, they got really bad in Walnut Canyon.

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I have a video of it.

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Like there's just smoke in the air, like it's all hazy and we're running and I'm like this is great, like we're fine and just have the picture of the guy and guy with the harp and everything burning behind him and he's like, no, we're cool.

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Yeah, it's all just follow the trail, we're good.

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Follow the flags, we'll be all right.

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Yeah, interesting, okay.

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So we've started on the race.

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Let's talk about the race, your race specifically.

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Did you have a strategy from the get go for coca dona 250 and how?

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How did your race pan out?

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Walk us through your race and did your strategy evolve as you went through the various aid stations?

00:17:57.913 --> 00:18:01.365
And I'm always curious how people find that first, I don't know.

00:18:01.365 --> 00:18:01.586
What is it?

00:18:01.586 --> 00:18:07.241
It 30 odd miles through Crown King there, which everybody says is a beast?

00:18:07.241 --> 00:18:08.443
Is it that bad?

00:18:08.443 --> 00:18:09.345
Can you confirm?

00:18:09.345 --> 00:18:10.406
That was a challenge.

00:18:11.308 --> 00:18:19.332
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.

00:18:19.332 --> 00:18:23.926
But here's why I brought an umbrella with me.

00:18:23.926 --> 00:18:27.934
I don't know if you if on the live stream you saw the person they were dubbing Umbrella.

00:18:27.934 --> 00:18:29.464
At first I was Umbrella Guy.

00:18:29.464 --> 00:18:30.769
They didn't realize I was a girl.

00:18:30.769 --> 00:18:35.945
And then I became Umbrella Girl, yes, and then I became Mary Poppins of Cocodona.

00:18:36.788 --> 00:18:46.330
Yes, so not only did you have this awesome finish, but you were also a celebrity earlier on in the Cocodona experience, and I don't know, did you even know that at the time?

00:18:46.530 --> 00:18:47.231
Oh, I had no idea.

00:18:47.992 --> 00:18:48.153
No.

00:18:48.333 --> 00:18:51.056
No, I couldn't see much around my umbrella.

00:18:51.056 --> 00:18:53.161
All I could see was forward.

00:18:53.161 --> 00:19:03.256
So I had it bungeed to my pack because I knew on the first day the priority would be water, staying cool and just managing my pace.

00:19:03.256 --> 00:19:13.588
I'm a strong climber, so I wanted to get out of that day feeling good and not destroyed for the rest of the race.

00:19:13.588 --> 00:19:17.541
So once I put my umbrella up, I just kind of cruised.

00:19:17.541 --> 00:19:18.423
I could run with it.

00:19:18.423 --> 00:19:23.229
I only had to close it once for wind and I really stayed very cool.

00:19:23.229 --> 00:19:29.363
I never felt hot, I was always out of breath, but it's very steep.

00:19:29.363 --> 00:19:32.973
It's a very steep terrain and it's very rocky, but it's beautiful.

00:19:32.973 --> 00:19:40.011
I was just trying to soak in all the beauty and just appreciate that I was there and that I had done all the work.

00:19:40.011 --> 00:19:42.505
And these are the victory miles.

00:19:42.505 --> 00:19:44.128
This is not the work.

00:19:44.128 --> 00:19:46.093
This is the reward for all the work.

00:19:46.519 --> 00:19:49.849
I mean, that's a pretty long victory lap, a 250 mile victory lap.

00:19:50.290 --> 00:19:50.491
It was.

00:19:50.660 --> 00:19:51.161
But it is one.

00:19:51.161 --> 00:19:52.221
I mean, I'm with you on that.

00:19:52.221 --> 00:20:00.330
After your 48 weeks of mental and physical training, I would imagine this seems like, yeah, it's just a couple of days and I'll be at the end.

00:20:00.330 --> 00:20:04.295
So back to the umbrella for a minute, because I am fascinated by this.

00:20:04.295 --> 00:20:10.069
How did you even theorize that you could climb with an umbrella attached to your pack?

00:20:10.069 --> 00:20:13.744
I mean, I don't think I've ever seen that, but it's brilliant.

00:20:14.567 --> 00:20:26.275
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 hot sections of the PCT, like through California.

00:20:26.275 --> 00:20:39.413
And so when we were brainstorming the beginning of the race and kind of problem solving what the issues would be when heat came up, I was like, well, why don't we just bring an umbrella?

00:20:39.413 --> 00:20:42.329
And it just seemed like a very simple solution.

00:20:42.329 --> 00:20:53.576
So I like scoured the race guide and made sure it wasn't like outlawed, because you know, sometimes there's rules about things like that and there wasn't.

00:20:53.576 --> 00:20:57.924
And so I just kind of I was like, all right, well, I'm not going to ask, I'm just going to assume it's OK.

00:20:57.924 --> 00:21:02.270
And so I just kind of took my, took my cue from through hikers.

00:21:02.681 --> 00:21:03.021
Yeah, I think.

00:21:03.021 --> 00:21:04.567
I think that's a really cool hack.

00:21:04.567 --> 00:21:07.105
Pun intended, it did keep you cool.

00:21:07.105 --> 00:21:11.730
Did you have it on that whole climb all the way, aside from the one time you took it down for a win?

00:21:12.692 --> 00:21:30.016
Yeah, I opened it up at mile seven at the aid station at Cottonwood Creek and then I had it open until, I want to say, maybe five miles before Lane Mountain, because it got a little brushy and I was catching it on everything and so I had to close it.

00:21:30.016 --> 00:21:40.251
But then I just I just bungeed it to my hiking pole because it was a really lightweight umbrella and most of the people were really they were very receptive to me having it.

00:21:40.251 --> 00:21:43.009
It was funny because they're like oh man, why didn't I think of that?

00:21:43.009 --> 00:21:47.352
One guy said I should have brought two and sold one at mile 20 for $500.

00:21:47.352 --> 00:21:52.608
I was like I probably would have just given it away, but yeah, so.

00:21:52.949 --> 00:21:53.590
That's awesome.

00:21:53.951 --> 00:21:54.653
It worked out great.

00:21:54.880 --> 00:22:03.210
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 that live stream, if you haven't already.

00:22:03.210 --> 00:22:14.509
There is some fascinating live stream when they pick up you with the drone, with the umbrella Just wonderful chat about the umbrella and how cool of a hack it is.

00:22:14.509 --> 00:22:20.872
We may end up seeing a whole lot more umbrellas next year, and if we do, then you know you are the original umbrella lady, I started a trend.

00:22:20.872 --> 00:22:22.246
Yes, absolutely.

00:22:22.759 --> 00:22:27.166
My husband has a picture of me on the treadmill with the umbrella he's like I think she's lost it.

00:22:28.441 --> 00:22:30.147
But again, you practice with it.

00:22:30.147 --> 00:22:32.300
Right, you got to practice with the thing I did so?

00:22:32.342 --> 00:22:32.702
how did you?

00:22:32.763 --> 00:22:37.048
have it Again and we'll carry on in a moment, but you said you had it bungeed to your pack.

00:22:37.048 --> 00:22:42.428
For anyone that wants to try this for themselves, how did you attach the umbrella to your pack?

00:22:42.949 --> 00:22:55.067
I bought these little like pack bungees at REI and I just had three different places that it was bungeed, so it was nice and secure and just went all the way up my shoulder and then it just kind of hovered over my head.

00:22:55.067 --> 00:23:00.184
So if I was running I kind of had to hold it a little bit, but walking I didn't touch it.

00:23:00.786 --> 00:23:01.207
Excellent.

00:23:01.688 --> 00:23:03.791
And really you're not running that much on that section.

00:23:03.791 --> 00:23:06.162
Well, no, there's not a lot of running involved.

00:23:06.863 --> 00:23:09.950
All right, so we've got you through, I think, crown King.

00:23:09.950 --> 00:23:12.902
And then how did it go for you from there?

00:23:13.423 --> 00:23:14.746
The first night was rough.

00:23:14.746 --> 00:23:21.463
I ran with a guy, carell, who, for 16 miles and he really got me through that section.

00:23:21.463 --> 00:23:23.488
I had a pretty good tumble.

00:23:23.488 --> 00:23:25.051
I hit my knee really hard.

00:23:25.051 --> 00:23:28.686
I had so much rocks and like just dirt in it.

00:23:28.686 --> 00:23:30.330
I was like we're just not going to mess with it.

00:23:30.330 --> 00:23:31.382
It was like dripping down.

00:23:31.382 --> 00:23:34.711
I'm like we're just going to leave that, just pretend like it didn't happen.

00:23:34.711 --> 00:23:36.982
So that was, that was hard.

00:23:37.222 --> 00:23:43.736
The first night was just after being out all day in the sun and even though I wasn't very hot.

00:23:43.736 --> 00:23:45.538
It's a lot for your body.

00:23:45.538 --> 00:23:49.289
Yeah, I ran out of water going up to Crown King.

00:23:49.289 --> 00:23:58.734
I had about a liter left with three miles to go and I ran into someone sitting on a rock who asked me if I had water and I couldn't say no.

00:23:58.734 --> 00:24:07.534
So I gave her some and so I conserved about a half a liter for three miles and up to up to Lane Mountain.

00:24:07.534 --> 00:24:13.030
So between being a little bit dehydrated and then continuing on through the night, that was.

00:24:13.030 --> 00:24:15.765
It was a rough night, but once the sun came up it was.

00:24:15.765 --> 00:24:16.448
It was good.

00:24:16.448 --> 00:24:21.311
I took a 15 mile, 15 minute nap at Wambatochik and then I was good to go.

00:24:21.601 --> 00:24:26.462
OK, well, we're getting to sleep here in just a bit, and whether you had a strategy for that.

00:24:26.462 --> 00:24:28.827
But yeah, so keep us moving with you.

00:24:29.269 --> 00:24:30.471
Okay, let's see.

00:24:30.471 --> 00:24:42.613
So every single day my goal was to get 50 miles, because I knew if I could get 50 miles then I would be like I'd make it, and in the back of my mind was always the cutoff.

00:24:42.613 --> 00:24:45.789
I knew I was going to be pushing it near the end.

00:24:45.789 --> 00:24:55.050
So I had a little piece of paper with every single aid station and all the cutoffs in my pack and I would just pull it out and look what the next cutoff was and know I had to make it by then.

00:24:55.050 --> 00:24:58.208
And so I went through the night.

00:24:59.279 --> 00:25:02.490
There was a girl out of Momotochik that was going to drop.

00:25:02.490 --> 00:25:06.463
She was sitting on a rock and I was like, well, you can't drop at this rock.

00:25:06.463 --> 00:25:07.666
So come on, let's go.

00:25:07.666 --> 00:25:15.833
I feel like I was like collecting runners it was really fun actually and so I got her to the aid station and she ended up dropping.

00:25:15.833 --> 00:25:18.964
But I tried to convince her to keep going but she wasn't having it.

00:25:19.585 --> 00:25:31.150
And then, pretty uneventful, until I got to Whiskey Row and I got my first pacer, my sweet Rebecca.

00:25:31.150 --> 00:25:44.912
Rebecca and Nicole are both nurses, or Nicole was a nurse, but they were my nurses on crew, so I kind of trusted them to make sure I didn't do anything too stupid and that I didn't hurt myself too bad.

00:25:44.912 --> 00:25:52.019
So that definitely eased my mind, knowing that if something happened I did have two nurses keeping an eye on me.

00:25:52.019 --> 00:25:53.926
But yeah, so I mean it was just.

00:25:53.926 --> 00:25:55.613
It was beautiful miles.

00:25:55.613 --> 00:25:58.260
I really enjoyed having Pacers with me.

00:25:58.260 --> 00:26:15.180
We talked and shared life stories and just tried to take it all in, just really appreciate the fact that we get to do this and I could be anywhere and I get to be on a trail, you know, for days on end.

00:26:15.721 --> 00:26:18.067
Yeah, your cruising along.

00:26:18.067 --> 00:26:25.800
At this point you didn't have any challenges other than the occasional trip and need yeah, I had that one fall.

00:26:26.123 --> 00:26:31.519
I had, like I said, I had blisters starting at mile probably 110.

00:26:31.519 --> 00:26:53.858
And they just kept, you know, taking my socks off, wiping down my feet, managing any blisters and putting them back on my pacers would would kind of text, nicole, with any issues, I was having any food I needed and they, um, she would kind of have things ready or have it in her mind how she was going to break it to me that I didn't get that thing.

00:26:53.858 --> 00:27:00.632
Um, yeah, so I had a lot of trouble, starting at the Dells, with fueling.

00:27:00.632 --> 00:27:03.217
I've never had problems eating.

00:27:03.217 --> 00:27:06.383
I like I love food, I eat all the time.

00:27:06.383 --> 00:27:13.500
I couldn't swallow food like I could chew it and I wasn't nauseous but I couldn't swallow it.

00:27:13.500 --> 00:27:21.971
So I think I fueled about 150 miles on Mentos and first form ignition like carbohydrate drink.

00:27:22.394 --> 00:27:23.499
Whoa.

00:27:23.538 --> 00:27:24.982
Well done, you Not ideal.

00:27:26.934 --> 00:27:30.564
No, probably not in your pre-raised plan.

00:27:30.564 --> 00:27:33.499
I wouldn't have thought but well done anyway.

00:27:33.499 --> 00:27:42.988
Do you think that was from the smoke, or smoke or the, you know, the dust in the air that was kind of jacking with your throat I have no idea.

00:27:43.028 --> 00:27:44.934
It's something I've never encountered before.

00:27:44.934 --> 00:27:46.057
I've always.

00:27:46.057 --> 00:27:48.221
I always wolf down food when I'm running.

00:27:48.221 --> 00:27:49.084
I'm always hungry.

00:27:49.084 --> 00:27:54.685
Starting at the dells, I started just dry heaving randomly and I was like this has never happened before.

00:27:54.685 --> 00:27:55.876
I don't know what's happening.

00:27:55.876 --> 00:28:01.701
I would just like take a few steps and dry heave and take a few steps and Rebecca, who's with me?

00:28:01.701 --> 00:28:02.262
Who's the nurse?

00:28:02.262 --> 00:28:03.546
She's like are you OK?

00:28:03.546 --> 00:28:05.521
I'm like mm-hmm, just keep going.

00:28:05.521 --> 00:28:07.901
I'm like, just keep going.

00:28:07.901 --> 00:28:12.194
And so then they would get out their phone and text Nicole.

00:28:12.194 --> 00:28:14.523
I'm like no one likes a snitch.

00:28:14.523 --> 00:28:15.921
Stop telling on me.

00:28:17.795 --> 00:28:19.136
Fantastic, yeah.

00:28:19.136 --> 00:28:30.866
And just on the food topic, you know they have such good aid stations out there and they seem to get better and better every year, so it's such a shame you were not able to take advantage of any of those.

00:28:30.866 --> 00:28:35.847
But just from an aid station general perspective, did you have a favorite aid station that you went through, like which was?

00:28:35.847 --> 00:28:38.073
When you look back, you think, yeah, that that you went through like which was.

00:28:38.073 --> 00:28:40.077
When you look back you think yeah, that was a.

00:28:40.578 --> 00:28:47.298
That was like really cool probably whiskey row, because I ate two pieces of pizza there.

00:28:47.298 --> 00:29:20.182
That was like the first thing I've eaten in like 50 miles and it was glorious, and my crew got so excited that I was eating the pizza and then so she tried to give me another piece and then I was like no, no, that's not happening anymore, so it was like a novel food worked and then it stopped and then like they'd have to figure out something else that worked, like I ate Chick-fil-A nuggets one time 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.

00:29:21.203 --> 00:30:00.039
So it was a lot of problem solving on the go, so yeah.

00:30:00.039 --> 00:30:01.010
So you talked a little bit about your 15 minute sleep.

00:30:01.010 --> 00:30:02.855
Did you have a predefined sleep strategy or were you because I know it can go both ways?

00:30:02.855 --> 00:30:03.959
I've talked to people that are like, yeah, I'm, I'm going to do exactly this amount of sleep at exactly these places.

00:30:03.959 --> 00:30:05.239
Or were you kind of on the I'm just going to sleep as and when I feel like I need and can actually sleep bandwagon, which?

00:30:05.239 --> 00:30:05.403
Which way did you go?

00:30:05.403 --> 00:30:05.971
Yeah, so I'm an over planner.

00:30:05.971 --> 00:30:08.711
If you had seen my, my bins of of gear, like everything is labeled, there's like everything that's in the bin.

00:30:08.711 --> 00:30:15.377
I had like spreadsheets and time sheets and like I'm so, yes, I planned my sleep to the like minute.

00:30:15.377 --> 00:30:17.503
Yeah, now, did that go as planned?

00:30:17.503 --> 00:30:18.386
Absolutely not.

00:30:18.386 --> 00:30:24.146
So my plan was to sleep three hours at Mingus and three hours at Munns and that's it.

00:30:24.146 --> 00:30:29.146
Because I'm a back of the packer and I know I am going to be cutting it close.

00:30:29.736 --> 00:30:42.221
I didn't think I had time for more than that, but when I went into Whiskey Row I talked to some of the runners that were passing me like I was standing still and I was like going as fast as I could and they're just like zooming past me.

00:30:42.221 --> 00:30:47.083
And I caught up with one of the runners that I had run with and he was like what's going on?

00:30:47.083 --> 00:30:49.323
I was like I can't go any faster.

00:30:49.323 --> 00:30:51.481
And he's like well, how much have you slept?

00:30:51.481 --> 00:30:53.403
I'm like 15 minutes.

00:30:53.403 --> 00:30:55.278
And he's like you need to sleep.

00:30:55.278 --> 00:30:57.263
Like this is, this is now day two.

00:30:57.263 --> 00:30:58.166
You need to sleep.

00:30:58.166 --> 00:30:59.618
And I was like well, I don't have time to sleep.

00:30:59.618 --> 00:31:01.365
He's like you'll go faster if you sleep.

00:31:01.365 --> 00:31:09.756
So I took a one hour nap at whiskey row and I felt like a new human being, like it was crazy, I was running again.

00:31:09.756 --> 00:31:11.940
I felt fresh.

00:31:11.940 --> 00:31:13.761
It was very, very strange.

00:31:13.761 --> 00:31:19.371
So I slept a total of three one hour naps and then I took a lot of dirt naps.

00:31:19.835 --> 00:31:20.737
Oh awesome.

00:31:21.859 --> 00:31:32.987
Yeah, so I about four hours total, I don't know exactly because at mile about 140, my watch decided that running was no longer for it and decided to crash.

00:31:33.355 --> 00:31:33.655
Oh no.

00:31:33.655 --> 00:31:37.926
And were you dependent on your watch, or did you have a navigation, or was it easy to go?

00:31:50.285 --> 00:31:53.087
Like did you need your watch or was it?

00:31:53.087 --> 00:31:57.070
I didn't know what day it was, so yeah it just it completely crashed.

00:31:57.070 --> 00:32:00.942
It was like a triangle of death and my crew tried to reset it.

00:32:00.942 --> 00:32:02.962
It wasn't short on battery, it was full on battery.

00:32:02.962 --> 00:32:06.365
It just would not like it wouldn't go.

00:32:06.365 --> 00:32:19.180
So I ran over 100 miles without a watch and just had to mentally be like OK, this is the next problem and this is we're just going to deal with it the next problem, and this is we're just going to deal with it.

00:32:19.200 --> 00:32:27.203
So that's really interesting because there is definitely a field of thought out there that says you know, all the data that we've got and all the watch stuff that we look at is kind of counterproductive.

00:32:27.203 --> 00:32:46.558
So and I'm not saying I support these arguments, but they're out there that say, hey, you should at some point in your career go run without a watch and just kind of run through the day, let the day go up and down and figure things out and free yourself of all the data and kind of run naked is what they call it without any of that.

00:32:46.558 --> 00:32:49.645
So how did you find running without your watch?

00:32:49.645 --> 00:32:50.856
Was it tough to start with?

00:32:50.856 --> 00:32:51.176
Did it?

00:32:51.176 --> 00:32:52.481
Did it in the end?

00:32:52.481 --> 00:32:52.883
Were you?

00:32:52.883 --> 00:32:54.548
How did you feel about no watch?

00:32:56.173 --> 00:32:57.476
It was very difficult.

00:32:57.476 --> 00:32:58.297
In the beginning.

00:32:58.297 --> 00:33:01.402
I had a little bit of a pity party for myself.

00:33:01.402 --> 00:33:15.545
I was with my Pacer, ronda, when it died and we tried to reset it and I was just like this is you've got to be kidding me Like it's my watch, like it's the one piece of gear I didn't think was going to fail.

00:33:15.545 --> 00:33:23.463
And then I was, you know, I was just walking, kind of being kind of grumpy, which for me is not very grumpy, but I was feeling grumpy.

00:33:23.463 --> 00:33:25.576
And then I was like you know what?

00:33:25.576 --> 00:33:33.117
This is where we're at, like this is what we're going to deal with and next the next problem will come up and I'll have to deal with that.

00:33:33.117 --> 00:33:35.721
And that's like we just have to keep rolling.

00:33:35.721 --> 00:33:43.570
So there's really not a lot of time when you're kind of chasing those cutoffs to dwell on a problem.

00:33:43.570 --> 00:33:46.023
You just have to find a solution and move.

00:33:46.955 --> 00:33:50.586
Now, talking of the cutoffs, were you always aware that you were really close?

00:33:50.586 --> 00:33:55.547
Were you always really close to the cutoffs, or did you ever kind of get yourself, you know, some time built in there?

00:33:55.935 --> 00:34:17.561
Yeah, I was kind of hanging out mid, mid, uh, mid to back in the beginning, first two, two and a half days, and then my blisters became a very large problem, um, and we were spending a long time managing the blisters and managing the just the feet pain, and it kind of just kept getting me pushed back, pushed back.

00:34:17.561 --> 00:34:20.304
So I was always aware of the cutoff.

00:34:20.304 --> 00:34:24.369
We knew that Mingus was going to be a tight cutoff.

00:34:24.369 --> 00:34:27.420
I came in 20 minutes ahead of that cutoff.

00:34:27.420 --> 00:34:37.043
My crew did a NASCAR style switcheroo and even let me lay down for five minutes and I said I just need five minutes.

00:34:37.043 --> 00:34:38.748
And they're like OK, that's all you get.

00:34:38.748 --> 00:34:40.661
I'm like all right, that's fine Five minutes.

00:34:40.661 --> 00:34:46.983
But it was weird, if I slept for five minutes I would dream like I would go through a full dream cycle.

00:34:46.983 --> 00:34:50.259
I would wake up and I'd be good to go for another 10 miles.

00:34:50.259 --> 00:34:52.827
I took a two minute nap once and it was glorious.

00:34:53.195 --> 00:34:54.840
I know it's weird how that happens, isn't it?

00:34:54.840 --> 00:34:59.072
It's like everything resets and you buy yourself hours from a five minute nap yeah.

00:34:59.072 --> 00:35:00.878
Very, very strange.

00:35:00.878 --> 00:35:04.507
So you were, at one point at least, only 20 minutes from cutoff.

00:35:04.934 --> 00:35:10.623
Yes, yeah, a little bit panicky time right there, and I was stressing my career out, yeah, a little panicky at that, I would be.

00:35:11.375 --> 00:35:16.266
Yeah, the tracker would show the time according to like what your current pace was.

00:35:16.266 --> 00:35:20.617
Show the time according to like what your current pace was.

00:35:20.617 --> 00:35:24.606
So if I was climbing up Kasner and I was going an hour per mile, it was showing that I was like two hours behind the cutoff.

00:35:24.606 --> 00:35:42.050
And then they were freaking out and texting my pacer and being like she's got to move and they're like she's climbing a mountain and so, but then when I'd start going down again or start going flat, I would start running and then I would, you know, make up an hour.

00:35:42.050 --> 00:35:48.181
And so my poor Nicole, she was like I give up, Like she stopped trying to figure it out.

00:35:48.181 --> 00:35:50.362
She was like I didn't make it before the cutoff.

00:35:50.362 --> 00:35:52.481
I can't, this is your cutoff, Make it before then.

00:35:52.481 --> 00:35:53.543
I don't know what to tell you.

00:35:53.885 --> 00:35:54.306
I like it.

00:35:54.306 --> 00:35:54.815
I like it.

00:35:54.815 --> 00:36:06.822
So you talked about Kastner there and I don't know, maybe this will come up in the next question, but I wanted to get a feel for sections of the race that crossing, the water crossing was just beautiful.

00:36:21.715 --> 00:36:24.443
I had known that section before I've run it.

00:36:24.443 --> 00:36:33.001
It's like soldiers pass area in Sedona and it's just miles of red rock and it's it's beautiful and I ran really well in that section.

00:36:33.001 --> 00:36:38.043
I, you know I was actually moving, my feet were just numb by that point.

00:36:38.043 --> 00:36:40.597
So it was, that was a good section.

00:36:40.597 --> 00:36:50.304
And and then also just like sharing the Dells in Prescott with my pacer, rebecca.

00:36:50.304 --> 00:36:53.186
She had never been over there and so it was just.

00:36:53.186 --> 00:36:59.952
She was like oh my gosh, like this is gorgeous, and we really had a nice time just enjoying the beauty of that area.

00:37:00.775 --> 00:37:03.463
That was, I think, where Joe McConaughey got lost.

00:37:03.463 --> 00:37:04.838
Did you have a problem following?

00:37:04.838 --> 00:37:06.244
Oh really yeah, he got lost.

00:37:06.244 --> 00:37:22.061
He got turned around in the Dells and lost his lead at that point, and Jeff Browning bumped into him as he was coming the wrong way on a trail, and so, but yeah, one or two have have said the dells can be kind of tricky to figure your way here, especially at night.

00:37:22.282 --> 00:37:28.018
Yeah, yes, I was there during the day okay and I had done that section before, which helped.

00:37:28.018 --> 00:37:39.547
I had done a lot of the sections in hiking arizona and so there was a lot of times I just felt kind of at home and like I knew what I was doing, which really, I think, helped me Awesome.

00:37:39.648 --> 00:37:45.126
Brilliant, okay, and then I cut you off, but you're the least favorite section of Cocodona.

00:37:46.076 --> 00:37:50.146
So climbing up to Camp Kippa was really hard and really long.

00:37:50.146 --> 00:37:53.744
I was in this section where no one was around me.

00:37:53.744 --> 00:38:15.782
I was kind of in a weird like pocket of no people for hours and at one point I just laid down on the trail and turned off my headlamp and stared at the stars and I set my timer for six minutes and I was like I'm going to take six minutes to look at the stars and just not be in the race and that really helped.

00:38:16.003 --> 00:38:16.242
Yeah.

00:38:16.724 --> 00:38:20.478
So that that was a hard climb, though, especially after crown King.

00:38:20.478 --> 00:38:22.882
And just it's your first night alone.

00:38:22.882 --> 00:38:25.715
It feels really far by that point.

00:38:25.715 --> 00:38:27.460
Um, you just started.

00:38:27.460 --> 00:38:28.844
So that was hard.

00:38:28.844 --> 00:38:32.775
And then probably the worst actually was Kelly Canyon.

00:38:32.775 --> 00:38:52.659
It's just a straight flat road and there's construction vehicles and I had been on the trail for four days by that point in the quiet, and the construction vehicles were so loud and I was like this is just it's, it's not supposed to be here, and it was.

00:38:52.659 --> 00:38:53.222
That was hard.

00:38:53.222 --> 00:38:55.094
I took a lot of dirt naps on that section.

00:38:55.094 --> 00:38:57.179
Just I just laid in the middle of the road.

00:38:57.179 --> 00:39:00.043
Oh man, my face was like don't get hit by a car.

00:39:00.244 --> 00:39:11.150
Yeah, that does seem a very sort of juxtaposed position, right when you're out in the solitude and quiet of the mountains and all those trails and then suddenly jump on road with the construction.

00:39:11.150 --> 00:39:12.655
Did you have any close calls?

00:39:12.655 --> 00:39:13.657
Was there traffic coming?

00:39:14.536 --> 00:39:16.259
No, it wasn't, it was a dirt road.

00:39:16.298 --> 00:39:17.500
It wasn't really traffic.

00:39:17.659 --> 00:39:25.987
There was one construction vehicle that went by us and I was not sleeping on the trail at the time so she wouldn't have let me get hit by a car, I promise.

00:39:26.007 --> 00:39:27.086
She's a good pacer, Thankfully.

00:39:27.086 --> 00:39:30.050
Yes, Probably job one for your pacer.

00:39:30.050 --> 00:39:33.331
Don't let your person get hit by moving vehicles.

00:39:35.514 --> 00:39:37.019
She was trying to encourage me to go off the side.

00:39:37.019 --> 00:39:39.367
I was like, no, this looks nice and I just laid down in the middle of the ground.

00:39:40.855 --> 00:39:46.240
So you had gone quite well then, meeting and getting ahead of all the cutoffs.

00:39:46.240 --> 00:39:56.791
When we picked you up on the cams later on, it was probably just as you were going up Mount Eldon, right or there or thereabouts.

00:39:56.791 --> 00:40:05.675
So tell us how that went, because that seems really intimidating after all that time you've been out there, you know you all the temperatures, everything else.

00:40:05.695 --> 00:40:07.983
You've got going on and suddenly you have to go up this.

00:40:07.983 --> 00:40:11.295
I don't know, is it 1500 feet in a mile or I don't know.

00:40:11.295 --> 00:40:11.635
It's a.

00:40:11.635 --> 00:40:14.998
It's a huge looking climb yes, it was rough.

00:40:15.579 --> 00:40:27.728
So so how that went down it was a little bit of the perfect storm of things that happened Because I was so close to cut off at Mingus I didn't get to sleep at all.

00:40:27.728 --> 00:40:30.789
We were kind of counting on an hour there and it just didn't happen.

00:40:30.789 --> 00:40:34.552
And so I was very, very sleep deprived by that point.

00:40:34.552 --> 00:40:40.456
Sleep deprived by that point.

00:40:40.456 --> 00:40:42.684
And coming through the flagstaff area, it was anytime there was rocks, it didn't matter if it was flat.

00:40:42.684 --> 00:40:43.065
My, I couldn't run.

00:40:43.065 --> 00:40:54.597
My feet were just so blistered I had just everywhere there were blisters, and so that whole flagstaff getting up to eldon is very rocky and it's like a wash.

00:40:54.597 --> 00:40:57.079
You go through that's and it was the middle of the night.

00:40:57.079 --> 00:41:09.021
There was like washing machines and trash and it was a weird section of the course that we were in and so then you're doing that little hookup and around flagstaff.

00:41:09.242 --> 00:41:19.108
So when I climbed eldon, misty and I had a plan we were going to get to the base of eldon, we're going to take a five minute dirt nap, have some caffeine, eat some calories and then climb.

00:41:19.108 --> 00:41:27.101
But I was so sleep deprived that when we woke up and when we were climbing I had this weird feeling like that I was lost.

00:41:27.101 --> 00:41:34.981
And I kept telling her I think this isn't the way, I think we're on the wrong trail, I don't think this is the way to go.

00:41:34.981 --> 00:41:38.262
And she's like no, no, keep going up, it's okay.

00:41:38.262 --> 00:41:40.619
Like, you're good, follow the switchbacks.

00:41:40.619 --> 00:41:44.179
And I was like no, there are no switchbacks, I don't think this is it.

00:41:44.179 --> 00:41:50.260
And so that was all the way up Eldon, like I just kept telling her, like I think we're lost, I think this isn't it.

00:41:50.260 --> 00:42:01.239
And she's like no, christy, keep going up up there.

00:42:01.239 --> 00:42:02.704
Yes, so then it felt like we had been climbing for literally 12 hours.

00:42:02.724 --> 00:42:04.532
So when I saw Jamil at the top, first of all I thought he might've been a hallucination.

00:42:04.532 --> 00:42:11.596
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.

00:42:11.596 --> 00:42:26.684
So but I saw the towers and we had Misty and I, like a year ago, had gone up Eldon to kind of get a feel for it, and so, but it was in the daytime and so at night it just feels so different.

00:42:26.684 --> 00:42:34.161
So when we climbed up and we saw Jamil, I thought it was eight o'clock, not seven o'clock Now, remember, my watch is not working.

00:42:34.161 --> 00:42:45.105
So every time I have to check the time, I have to pull out my phone, but I've got my poles and so it's like too much work.

00:42:45.105 --> 00:42:46.871
So I thought it was eight o'clock because we had been literally climbing for five years.

00:42:46.891 --> 00:42:47.715
That was like that was what was happening.

00:42:48.615 --> 00:42:51.543
And so when I saw Jamil and he was like how was your night?

00:42:51.543 --> 00:42:52.766
And I said a prof.

00:42:52.766 --> 00:42:56.943
The next question I asked him was how far till finish?

00:42:56.943 --> 00:42:59.449
And he said 9.6 miles.

00:42:59.449 --> 00:43:19.594
So in my sleep-deprived brain doing math, I thought I have two hours to go, 9.6 miles, and that I can't do that on a good day, much less like on a 240 mile day, five days so.

00:43:19.594 --> 00:43:33.775
But something in my brain just snapped and I was like I don't care if I have to run six minute miles, I am getting to this finish line before the cutoff, like I'm not going through all of that pain and all of that sleep deprivation and not getting a buckle.

00:43:33.775 --> 00:43:36.567
I am getting a buckle, so that's.

00:43:36.567 --> 00:43:38.773
I didn't realize he was filming me at the time.

00:43:38.773 --> 00:43:46.974
I was just freaking out internally and I went like a crazy person sprinting down Eldon.

00:43:46.994 --> 00:43:49.599
Yes, you did and there's evidence of it.

00:43:49.599 --> 00:43:58.170
I mean, folks, if you haven't seen this clip, I guess out on Cocodona site you can go look it up.

00:43:58.170 --> 00:44:08.896
I think it's like Final Finisher Summits Eldon, I think that's maybe what it's called but yeah, it's Jamil watching Christy come over the crest of Eldon.

00:44:08.896 --> 00:44:14.010
And then suddenly I mean you take, you just absolutely floor it and take off.

00:44:14.010 --> 00:44:19.114
And I think you said at some point oh no, my pacer is somewhere back there yeah, I didn't want him to.

00:44:19.615 --> 00:44:21.081
To think there was again.

00:44:21.081 --> 00:44:34.416
I'm a little sleep deprived by this point, so I thought somewhere in my brain, I think I thought that she was gonna get lost because I was trying to take care of my pacer, which is ridiculous, like I'm in no place to take care of anyone by this point.

00:44:34.985 --> 00:44:36.192
And you didn't just take off.

00:44:36.192 --> 00:44:41.538
I mean, you did just take off, but then it picks you up coming by the aid station.

00:44:41.538 --> 00:44:46.289
Most of us would check in the aid station, get a little something and go, but not you, christy.

00:44:46.289 --> 00:44:48.773
You were on a mission, as you said.

00:44:48.773 --> 00:44:57.028
You just bombed straight by it and the people commenting on the live stream were like oh, oh, oh, uh, I guess she's not coming in the aid station like she's going.

00:44:57.028 --> 00:45:00.197
She's really booking it down the down the hill and you were.

00:45:00.324 --> 00:45:02.510
I mean you, just because I thought it was an hour later.

00:45:02.630 --> 00:45:06.869
Yeah, it was brilliant, it was fantastic tv, so well done for that I'm glad.

00:45:06.989 --> 00:45:08.815
I had no idea anyone was filming it.

00:45:08.815 --> 00:45:13.072
I was just there was no way I was going to not get a buckle.

00:45:13.072 --> 00:45:18.778
I was like I don't care what I need to do, I'm going to get a buckle Like I'm going to sprint down this mountain if I need to.

00:45:18.778 --> 00:45:21.086
And my pacer finally caught up with me.

00:45:21.086 --> 00:45:23.614
I, I cannot drop my pacer on a good day.

00:45:23.614 --> 00:45:25.137
She's a phenomenal runner.

00:45:25.137 --> 00:45:37.148
And so some of the people were like you dropped your pacer.

00:45:37.148 --> 00:45:38.472
I'm like oh no, no, no, I surprised my pacer, just hang on a minute.

00:45:38.472 --> 00:45:39.074
She, she caught me real easy.

00:45:39.074 --> 00:45:39.797
But she, she was like what happened?

00:45:39.797 --> 00:45:41.061
I'm like I, I have 9.6 miles and I only had two hours.

00:45:41.061 --> 00:45:43.067
She's like Christy, it's seven o'clock, you have three hours.

00:45:43.947 --> 00:45:58.992
I'm like oh okay, I can take a deep breath then yeah so at that point I was just like, let's just finish so at what point did you, like you were herring down that mountain, proper flying three miles from the top.

00:45:59.413 --> 00:46:02.418
I got about three miles down when she's like she caught me.

00:46:02.418 --> 00:46:08.065
Um, because she went like up and around, she thought I was on the aid station, she couldn't find me, and then she.

00:46:08.065 --> 00:46:16.068
So she finally found me and I kind of explained what happened and she's like, okay, well, you're good, like you, you can take a walk break.

00:46:16.148 --> 00:46:31.309
I'm like no, let's just go yeah, so you must have caught the two chaps in front of you somewhere in the forest coming out off the bottom of the mountain I think there's a little climb before you get into, like the parks around flagstaff.

00:46:31.309 --> 00:46:34.815
So were you aware that you were the final finisher?

00:46:34.815 --> 00:46:36.385
Before that were you coming?

00:46:36.425 --> 00:46:38.791
over the top you didn't know I didn't.

00:46:39.192 --> 00:46:40.614
I didn't know I was last.

00:46:40.614 --> 00:46:49.311
I mean, I knew I was near the back because time wise, and again I thought it was eight o'clock, so I I figured I was near the back, I didn't know I was absolute last.

00:46:49.311 --> 00:47:00.713
The sweepers were behind me the whole time but they, they told they were super nice and they're like no, you've got time, like don't worry, don't, don't let us stress you out.

00:47:00.713 --> 00:47:02.485
So I was just chatting with them.

00:47:02.485 --> 00:47:06.688
I was like hey, how's it going, what you doing, how you doing?

00:47:06.688 --> 00:47:18.175
I was a little sleep deprived and so, and so when I, yeah, when I came up and over and then realized I you know, by that point I was like I'm done, let's just, let's just run it in.

00:47:18.175 --> 00:47:27.740
And then when I was passing people, I wasn't intentionally, I was just like I want to be done, like I want to see my crew, I want to get to the finish line, I don't want to be on this mountain anymore.

00:47:27.740 --> 00:47:31.650
And so kind of endorphins took over and I was like let's roll.

00:47:31.951 --> 00:47:40.434
So let's talk about that for a minute, because you got a cam all to yourself coming in, so we were all able to watch you running through Flagstaff.

00:47:40.434 --> 00:47:43.688
And you know, I have to ask you what is your secret?

00:47:43.688 --> 00:47:53.271
Because 248 miles into a race you're running really, really well, and I watched a lot of people come in and they were not anywhere near what you were doing.

00:47:53.271 --> 00:47:57.467
So I need to know what your secret is, and I'm sure other listeners do too.

00:47:57.467 --> 00:47:59.413
Like, how are you doing that?

00:47:59.853 --> 00:48:09.358
Well, part of it is just I'm extremely stubborn and, uh, I just my, I have a way to like you know, you just have to turn off the pain in your brain.

00:48:09.358 --> 00:48:19.833
You're just like you know what it's going to be there and I can either focus on it or just ignore it, and there was nothing I could do to make it hurt less.

00:48:19.833 --> 00:48:25.764
So me focusing on like, oh my gosh, my feet hurt, oh my gosh, my blisters hurt, I am tired.

00:48:25.764 --> 00:48:28.056
Like that's not going to make it any better, like what's?

00:48:28.056 --> 00:48:32.554
I kept asking myself throughout the whole race, like what story do I want to tell?

00:48:32.554 --> 00:48:43.847
Do I want to tell a story of 250 miles to myself, of like, oh, poor me, poor me, or do I want to like conquer this and be like I'm going to do it with a smile and with a good attitude?

00:48:43.989 --> 00:48:52.201
So there was a lot of people who were, who gave of their time and energy to help me, and I didn't want to be miserable, hang out with for five days.

00:48:52.525 --> 00:49:06.079
So it was kind of an intentional thing to like have a positive attitude and I think because of that, when I was near the finish, it just kind of I was just running because I was happy to be done and to be near the finish.

00:49:06.079 --> 00:49:10.030
It was great seeing everyone on the street and to be near the finish, it was great seeing everyone on the street.

00:49:10.030 --> 00:49:27.407
I actually leaned over to my pacer because I ran out of water, because I did not stop at the aid station, because I panicked, and so I was out of water that entire Flagstaff section and so I leaned over to Misty and I was like I am so thirsty and she's like I know me too.

00:49:27.407 --> 00:49:29.012
And then at one point she's like I know me too.

00:49:29.012 --> 00:49:36.356
And then at one point she's significantly taller than me and so she's got very long legs and I am not gifted in the height area.

00:49:36.356 --> 00:49:39.072
So at one point she was walking and I was running.

00:49:39.072 --> 00:49:43.548
I was like I'm gonna need you to pretend like you're running because you're making me look slow.

00:49:44.570 --> 00:50:09.385
She's like oh okay, I got you and so she's like trotting in place to try to pretend like she's running, because I'm like I'm going to need you to make me feel better and pretend to run running in.

00:50:09.405 --> 00:50:09.947
I'm sure others would agree.

00:50:09.947 --> 00:50:10.751
I mean, you were smiling, you were happy.

00:50:10.751 --> 00:50:14.764
I don't think I've ever seen anyone high five as many people on on the latter part of a course in my life.

00:50:14.764 --> 00:50:16.369
And and obviously you've got a.

00:50:16.369 --> 00:50:18.615
You've got a camera running with you at this point as well.

00:50:18.615 --> 00:50:21.150
Were you, were you aware of the camera at all?

00:50:21.150 --> 00:50:22.956
Was that even in your head?

00:50:22.956 --> 00:50:24.965
And how were you high fiving all these people?

00:50:24.965 --> 00:50:25.806
Were they coming at you?

00:50:25.806 --> 00:50:27.148
Were you going and finding them?

00:50:27.148 --> 00:50:28.648
Like just, and all these people, were they coming at you?

00:50:28.648 --> 00:50:29.009
Were you going?

00:50:29.028 --> 00:50:29.889
and finding them Like just fun to watch.

00:50:29.889 --> 00:50:30.771
I knew he was there.

00:50:30.771 --> 00:50:32.771
He was a really nice cameraman.

00:50:32.771 --> 00:50:34.032
Shout out to him.

00:50:34.032 --> 00:50:37.536
I'm sure he did so many miles back and forth, back and forth and he was so nice.

00:50:37.536 --> 00:50:40.458
But I knew he was there.

00:50:40.458 --> 00:50:59.974
But I was just again trying to stay in the moment and soak in the fact that I was done, like I had done the work, I had conquered all the problems and like this is again, this is the victory, like this is the good, exciting part and I wasn't going to be mopey going in when I did this amazing feat.

00:50:59.974 --> 00:51:06.047
As far as the high-fiving, I think scientifically that high-fives give you extra power.

00:51:06.047 --> 00:51:23.157
So maybe that's my secret because I high five people, because when you know, when I work races with ultra expeditions, like I'm always high fiving people because it makes you feel better and even if you're having a crummy day like you're, like that little contact, just it boosts you up.

00:51:23.157 --> 00:51:30.548
So I always make it a point to high five anyone I can always make it a point to high five anyone.

00:51:30.570 --> 00:51:30.769
I can well.

00:51:30.769 --> 00:51:35.632
You definitely high-fived the most people at the end of coca dona that I've ever seen and I've watched it all the years within the closing mile and a half.

00:51:35.632 --> 00:51:36.858
So I think well done to you.

00:51:36.858 --> 00:51:39.648
Amazing with your positive attitude, I love it.

00:51:39.648 --> 00:51:41.331
I think you ran that whole section.

00:51:41.331 --> 00:51:47.132
I don't think I saw you stop and walk at all, which most people you know walking it in at that point.

00:51:47.132 --> 00:51:49.157
But so, yeah, kudos to you.

00:51:49.157 --> 00:52:10.266
I thought that was a really cool finish and obviously you then make you make the left on birch and you go along to the alley and everybody, including the commentators, are you know hey this is great and and I don't know if you know, when you the the lady who finished last, you high-fived her just before the alley turn yeah, I had talked to her a bit.

00:52:10.527 --> 00:52:17.949
She was so sweet yeah, she was a nice lady, and then you made the turn into the alley and we were not expecting what happened then.

00:52:18.731 --> 00:52:26.956
I don't know either and folks, if you, if you this, go to I think it's, I don't know it's it's late on in in the video of the final day.

00:52:26.956 --> 00:52:29.472
It's probably two hours 48, 50 minutes on the lap.

00:52:29.472 --> 00:52:38.208
But go find christy's finish, because she turns into cocodona alley and absolutely takes off like I mean you were sprinting to the finish.

00:52:38.208 --> 00:52:39.632
Yeah, I'm done.

00:52:39.632 --> 00:52:41.536
What was in your head at that point?

00:52:41.936 --> 00:52:43.405
I was so excited.

00:52:43.485 --> 00:52:55.780
I think, just being an average runner, there's a little bit of imposter syndrome always when you line up to these things knowing like I could, I could try my best and it just might not be enough.

00:52:56.385 --> 00:53:09.434
And I kind of always going into it with that like I'm I'm not going to be faster than people, but I'm going to outwork them and I'm going to train harder than them and that at the end of the day, like that is either going to be enough or not.

00:53:09.434 --> 00:53:31.257
And so, knowing that, like all the work I did and all the hours I miss sleep, and my husband like took my, you know, took one for the team and had Jackson all weekend so I could go train, like that it just kind of all flashed through my mind and it just like a celebration of like I did it, like it was, we did it.

00:53:31.257 --> 00:53:36.972
Like I was so excited I did not plan to jump into my husband's arms and I don't know how he knew I was gonna jump.

00:53:36.972 --> 00:53:46.047
I must have given him a little like non-verbal cue because I was glad he caught me, because I would have fallen down it was amazing, and I mean everybody, all the cameras around you.

00:53:46.289 --> 00:53:53.251
I'm sure that'll show up on some of the Cocodona sites in due course when they finish processing that, but it was absolutely phenomenal.

00:53:53.251 --> 00:53:57.166
There were people crying in the live stream at that AJW.

00:53:57.166 --> 00:54:00.052
Andy Jones Wilkins, who was commentating at the time.

00:54:00.052 --> 00:54:03.059
He said there was a Strava segment for the alley.

00:54:03.059 --> 00:54:09.398
You've got to be pretty close to owning like queen of that segment if there is one.

00:54:09.398 --> 00:54:17.297
I mean everyone was just totally taken by surprise, but I mean so happy because we'd kind of followed you from the top of from the moment you crested Eldon.

00:54:17.297 --> 00:54:28.690
People were emotionally invested on the live stream in your finish and I don't know if you had any idea of that but yeah, there were thousands of people watching that

00:54:29.291 --> 00:54:32.619
and all following you as you came through Flagstaff.

00:54:32.619 --> 00:54:35.793
So just brilliant, brilliant finish.

00:54:36.766 --> 00:54:45.371
My dad was on the live stream, apparently like chatting with everyone, and my dad's a great like, he's hilarious, he's, he's super witty.

00:54:45.371 --> 00:54:48.204
My mom and dad had my son all weekend.

00:54:48.204 --> 00:54:56.769
So shout out to them like because I would not have been able to do it with my five-year-old like hanging out oh yeah and so he was the one who, like, started the lion.

00:54:56.791 --> 00:54:58.277
I don't know if you saw the lion emojis.

00:54:58.277 --> 00:55:01.547
I watched it later and he was like, oh, she's got the heart of the lion.

00:55:01.547 --> 00:55:04.251
And then so when I watched it back, I was crying.

00:55:04.251 --> 00:55:09.639
I was like all the roaring and the lion emojis like yeah like they don't even know me.

00:55:09.639 --> 00:55:12.695
It was really special, it was very cool.

00:55:13.125 --> 00:55:37.534
And that right there, I think, is the beauty of Cogadona, with, with all of the live streaming that they've been able to put in place, it really makes everybody feel a part of all of these journeys, but especially the people kind of coming in towards the end, everybody is rooting for you guys to come through and we all feel it, and yeah, I mean it was, um, it was a pretty emotional finish for all of us, even though you had no idea.

00:55:39.248 --> 00:55:39.509
Yeah.

00:55:39.648 --> 00:55:40.291
It was really cool.

00:55:40.291 --> 00:55:47.664
Um, so definitely folks go go watch that one, watch the last day and the last 10 or 15 minutes of uh, of the recording.

00:55:47.664 --> 00:55:48.206
It's it's.

00:55:48.206 --> 00:55:49.110
It's's really cool.

00:55:49.110 --> 00:55:50.826
Any other thoughts on the race?

00:55:50.826 --> 00:55:52.009
Any advice for somebody?

00:55:52.009 --> 00:55:52.188
If?

00:55:52.188 --> 00:55:55.827
Because I think you can go sign up for 25 at this point, I think it's open.

00:55:55.827 --> 00:56:03.527
So yeah any advice for somebody thinking about signing up from a either training perspective or racing perspective.

00:56:03.527 --> 00:56:08.530
What are some things that you would tell somebody in advance to watch out for?

00:56:08.530 --> 00:56:09.311
Do don't do.

00:56:10.652 --> 00:56:16.878
I'd say, just as far as training goes, like don't discount being tough.

00:56:16.878 --> 00:56:38.097
And like you don't have to be the best runner, you don't have to be the fastest runner, you have to have a heart to like finish and you, like anyone can I honestly believe anyone can be an ultra runner Like I am not a great runner, but I have a heart to finish and I know I will keep going until I do so.

00:56:38.097 --> 00:56:42.914
I'd say, you know, just if you are passionate about doing the race, sign up.

00:56:42.914 --> 00:56:48.255
Like don't don't avoid it because you think you're not good enough or not elite.

00:56:48.255 --> 00:56:54.271
I'd say, if you want to share miles with people in Cocodona, sign up.

00:56:54.271 --> 00:56:57.918
It's a beautiful experience, it's very special.

00:56:58.565 --> 00:57:02.835
It truly is, and actually I don't think you have to go 250 miles to get that.

00:57:02.835 --> 00:57:13.360
I think you can get a similar experience from a lot of races out there coca dona in particular I think that's partly why we do these races right, because those experiences exist.

00:57:13.440 --> 00:57:14.987
It's the whole community behind it.

00:57:14.987 --> 00:57:15.851
I think is tremendous.

00:57:15.851 --> 00:57:21.289
But coca dona in particular, I think it stands on its own as a 200 mile race, and there are some really good 200 mile races.

00:57:21.289 --> 00:57:36.777
Yeah, the live stream aspect really adds something different, and then obviously there's so many different terrains through the race itself just just a totally different race yeah, I think it really puts on display the trail running community and what we all love about it that people don't always see.

00:57:37.599 --> 00:57:42.771
It's like giving water to someone at mile 30 when you're almost out.

00:57:42.771 --> 00:57:47.847
My pacer at one point went back up a mountain to find someone's phone who he had lost.

00:57:47.847 --> 00:57:55.692
He had lost his phone, like people cheering for someone at the back of the pack who never, you know, thought they'd be doing 250 miles.

00:57:55.692 --> 00:58:03.806
It's like it's the beauty of trail running on display and I think that's why it's really fun to watch, because I think we all want to be part of that.

00:58:04.106 --> 00:58:05.146
Yeah, absolutely.

00:58:05.146 --> 00:58:16.250
Now, one thing we do, christy, at the end of each episode here is that we ask a guest to choose a song that they would like to add to the free Choose to Enjoy Spotify playlist.

00:58:16.250 --> 00:58:25.172
Typically, it's something family friendly just lift you up, motivate you or keep you moving while you're out on a trail, such as Cocodona.

00:58:25.172 --> 00:58:30.293
Now do you want to share the song you chose and why it resonated with you?

00:58:31.193 --> 00:58:38.556
Yes, so I thought about choosing Baby Shark because you know I have a five-year-old but I didn't want to do that to people.

00:58:38.556 --> 00:58:39.956
Can you imagine?

00:58:40.476 --> 00:58:42.777
Thankfully you did not choose that one.

00:58:42.976 --> 00:58:43.956
You're like your office.

00:58:43.956 --> 00:58:55.481
No, I chose Run by OneRepublic, which might be a little too on the nose but it's very peppy and I'm a very happy peppy individual.

00:58:55.481 --> 00:59:07.583
So it's bouncy and fun and it talks about running and keeping going and I really like the beat and whenever I'm feeling a little bit low, I put that one on and I'm like, oh yeah, let's go.

00:59:09.085 --> 00:59:09.387
Love it, love it.

00:59:09.387 --> 00:59:11.398
I think we had another OneRepublic.

00:59:11.806 --> 00:59:16.411
We might have had one or two OneRepublics, and they're quite popular for the running community, apparently, in general.

00:59:16.411 --> 00:59:30.717
Well, so, as we approach the end of this particular episode, christy, thanks again for joining the show and sharing your incredible journey across Arizona with us, and everything that that encompassed.

00:59:30.717 --> 00:59:31.719
Christy did it.

00:59:31.719 --> 00:59:35.351
You can too, if you're listening, and it's pretty darn cool if you ask me.

00:59:35.351 --> 00:59:39.713
As we said, cocodona 2025 is open if you want to go.

00:59:39.713 --> 00:59:46.396
Sign up for your own adventure, christy, is there a round two in your future here?

00:59:46.396 --> 00:59:48.628
I don't know if you've even thought about that yet.

00:59:49.369 --> 00:59:52.534
No, probably not for a long time.

00:59:52.534 --> 01:00:03.309
I don't race a whole lot because I get I mean, I have, I have a family and I get a lot of my race vibes from working with ultra expeditions.

01:00:03.309 --> 01:00:06.394
I get to see people cross the finish at least twice a month and I love it Like I.

01:00:06.394 --> 01:00:07.797
That's my jam.

01:00:07.797 --> 01:00:11.987
So probably not for a while, but I'm still in the racing scene.

01:00:11.987 --> 01:00:13.050
So if you want to come see me?

01:00:13.050 --> 01:00:14.434
Come, come to one of our races.

01:00:14.985 --> 01:00:18.958
Well, head over to Ultra, sign up if you want to get to the Cocodona 2025.

01:00:18.958 --> 01:00:29.192
And, on that note, if you are out there on the internet and looking for races, definitely also go check out Ultra Expeditions, where Christy is at, and you'll see her at the finish line.

01:00:29.192 --> 01:00:31.556
They have some really cool races going on.

01:00:31.556 --> 01:00:34.460
I think the website is ultraexpeditionscom.

01:00:34.460 --> 01:00:42.563
You can go out there and find out where Christy is herself, as well as the rest of the fantastic Ultra Expeditions crew.

01:00:42.563 --> 01:00:48.815
They have races going on out there Barrier Island Ultra that's a beach race up to 50 miles.

01:00:48.815 --> 01:00:50.827
I have to do that one one of these days.

01:00:50.827 --> 01:00:54.135
What a great way to spend a weekend with friends out there on the beach.

01:00:54.135 --> 01:01:17.038
And they have the Border to Badlands race out in the beautiful Seminole Canyon Park right there by the Rio Grande on the Mexican border, and also one of my all-time favorites, the Wild Canyon Ultra out at Caprock Canyon State Park, one of, I think, the toughest courses in Texas where you can experience the truly ethereal red rock canyons.

01:01:17.038 --> 01:01:33.913
They're utterly unbelievable and the only Texas state bison herd, so you actually get to run not with but around alongside Bison out on that course and they are very intimidating, I have to say those things are absolutely massive.

01:01:33.913 --> 01:01:39.657
So, anyway, go check out Ultra Expedition's site for those races and more.

01:01:39.657 --> 01:01:41.838
Go sign up for something.

01:01:41.838 --> 01:01:45.762
I will, of course, put those links in the show notes.

01:01:50.184 --> 01:02:01.003
Now, while you're on the internet signing up for Cocodona or checking out where Christy and her crew are going to be, don't forget to also subscribe to the show here, get notified each time a new episode drops and, of course, follow, share and like.

01:02:01.003 --> 01:02:02.867
That would be very much appreciated.

01:02:02.867 --> 01:02:06.277
Doing any of those things really helps with the algorithms.

01:02:06.277 --> 01:02:16.833
That in turn, helps get the word out and increases the chances of other back of the pack ultra runners finding the information that guests like christy have to share when they give up their time.

01:02:16.833 --> 01:02:21.827
So you can find us on instagram, facebook and over at choose to endurecom.

01:02:21.827 --> 01:02:36.226
So be sure to head over to any of those and check us out, say hello, drop us a message, suggest a or provide some constructive feedback if you have a moment, and you can now actually message us directly from the show notes too.

01:02:36.226 --> 01:02:37.648
So there's no excuse really.

01:02:37.648 --> 01:02:52.971
Until then, be like Christy and run long, run strong and keep choosing to endure Jewel.