Over the Next Hill Fitness

S4 Ep14 What Happens When You Stop Believing Your Limits with Suzan Brydon

• Carla Coffey

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She couldn’t make it through school PE without breaking out in hives, never saw adults “work out” where she grew up, and didn’t run a single 5K until age 42, yet Suzan Brydon now stacks ultras like most of us stack errands. Our conversation traces the real turning points: rural southern Illinois roots, a lifetime of allergies and autoimmune challenges, and the moment her husband, in the middle of cancer treatment, calmly declared he’d run a half marathon. That kind of future-focused grit became the spark Suzan needed to try Couch to 5K and prove that “I’m not athletic” was just an old story. 

We get specific about what actually helped: structure, medical oversight, dietary changes, and the willingness to be uncomfortable without panicking. Suzan shares how community and fun kept her going, from her first Mo Cowbell half marathon to the pure joy of Disney races. Then the distances grow: marathons, 50Ks, 50 milers, and a bigger mission to run an ultra in all 50 states, with her husband now deep in the ultra world too. She also recaps Denali 135 in Alaska and what it’s like to feel supported when your crew leapfrogs you mile after mile through stunning, isolated scenery. 

The heart of the episode is purpose-driven endurance. Suzan breaks down her Cigna community ambassador fellowship that powered a 2,000-mile American Discovery Trail run across the Midwest for Girls on the Run, including rural health research and constant community talks. We talk nutrition for ultrarunners, the reality of “trails” that include highways and bushwhacking, safety concerns like dogs, and why giving back publicly can become the mental edge that keeps you finishing. If you’ve ever wondered whether you could do something that sounds impossible, this will nudge you to get curious and take the first step. 

Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs a spark, and leave a five-star review so more runners can find stories like Suzan’s.

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Welcome And Support The Show

SPEAKER_01

Hello and welcome back to Over the Next Tale Fitness Podcast. I'm Carla Coffee, your coach and host for today's program. This program is sponsored by Coffee Crew Coaching. If you need a running or personal trainer fitness coach, uh look me up. Hit me up at Carla at CoffeeCrewCoaching.com. You can email me there. You can go to the website, coffeecrewcoaching.com, and uh fill out a form there. And let's see if we work together. I'm not for everybody, but it might be for you. You can also look in the show notes for some discounts on certain products. You can buy me a cup of coffee and support the program uh in that way. But the biggest way you can support me is by giving me five stars. Uh I know it takes a minute to open the app of wherever you're listening and do that, but I really appreciate it. And it does help people to see the show. And you can share it with friends. And if you want to be on my podcast, if you want people to hear your story or you know of someone that has to have their story heard, please reach out to me, Carla at coffeecrew coaching.com, and I will look forward to hearing from you and talking to you on the show. Today we're gonna be talking to Susan Bryden, amazing athlete. Uh great story. You guys are going to be just over the moon listening to her. Um, and I get a chance to meet her uh probably about the week that this drops. She's running a race locally here, and um she has agreed to be my guest at my home. So I'm super excited to meet her in real life and maybe crew her just a little bit for her 50 miler. So let's get into the show. Hey, Susan, welcome to the show. Hey, thanks for having me. Yeah, we got a little have some technological problems, but you know, what would a podcast be without it? So exactly, yeah, nothing new there. Good times.

Rural Roots And No Fitness Culture

SPEAKER_01

All right, so uh tell us uh when and uh how you got started running.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, happy to. There's a there's a good story there. So I always start my story with my upbringing because I think that's an important piece of how I got to where I am today. So I grew up in a very rural area of southern Illinois, uh, in that little pocket uh closer to Kentucky and Indiana, over there in the the far southeast corner. More, I always say we should have seceded to Kentucky down there. We're more Kentucky than than Illinois in that in that space. Um, but I grew up in a very rural area there. There's still not a stoplight in the whole county to this day. And uh in terms of exercise, exercise would have been the work that you do in a blue-collar job or work that you do in the yard or on the farm. Um, it was not organized exercise. I did not see any adult organized exercise anywhere around me. There was no community 5K, there's no puppy yoga in the park, there's um, you know, not like uh HIIT classes on the corner. Uh, we didn't have access to any of that. And there's a lot of things we didn't have access to, including health care and a lot of fresh foods and other things. Um, so I certainly did not see exercise modeled. And then um I would couple that with the fact that when I was younger, I was what my lovely uh hick mama would have called a sickly kid, which means I was allergic to everything. Um I if if I touched it or ate it, it was most likely gonna give me hives or make me really, really sick to in my stomach. So um, so because of that, when I was in school, I actually used to have to go every week when we'd have PE, I would try PE for five or 10 minutes, and then they would send me to the principal's office with hives all over my face because I even had a hyper histamine reaction to my own sweat. So I was convinced from early on that exercise would not be a part of my life. Uh I was a bookworm. I was an indoorsy kid anyway, and so I gravitated toward books and uh academics and just assumed that I just would not be a physically active person per se. Uh I was a pretty healthy eater, just for the most part, especially as I got older and learned a little more, but I did not really have any exercise habits built whatsoever. When I got into college, I had moved to Colorado. So I saw lots of people exercising. And uh I started bike riding a little bit, but it was really just to and from class, to and from work. I was a first-generation college student, so I worked 30 plus hours a week uh to pay for tuition. And again, I was just focused on academics and making money, and that was it. So I didn't really um go into any sort of exercise routine that had any consistency whatsoever for for quite some time into my adult life. Fast forward to uh early 40s, and I still did not have any particular exercise habit built, but my husband happened to get a second cancer diagnosis. He had had cancer when he was in his early 20s and then uh recovered well, but then had a recurrence of a different kind of similar but different cancer when he was in his early 40s. And my husband was in cross country when he was in middle school and high school. And as an adult, he was just your typical, you know, maybe 10 mile a week, perhaps 15 mile a week casual runner. He used it for stress relief. So I saw him doing that a little bit, but it wasn't a huge part of his life. Um, but when he was in radiation, he were sitting in the oncologist's office and he said, When I get done with this radiation, I'm gonna run a half marathon. And that blew my mind for several reasons. One of which is, oh my gosh, how could you be going through something that is so physically difficult, emotionally difficult, but you're not thinking about any of that. What you're thinking about is this big goal that's future focused, uh, that you want to pour all your energy in. And there was no trace of hesitation in his comment that he was going to do this. It it was a it was done. It was a done deal. Uh that blew my mind. And then the second thing that blew my mind was 13 miles because that seemed so far for me. It is so far. It is, yeah. And I had never done a 5K. I had never done more than putter around the block, and that was it. So I reflected on that during the week that he had made that proclamation. And I thought, you know, surely, Susan, if he can do that with what he is dealing with, you can run a 5K. That that has to be possible. As scary as it sounds, that has to be possible. So I uh I decided, you know, watching him gave me perfect modeling. I needed the messaging component, but so I wasn't sure how for me how to get there. So at the time I used the classic couch to 5K uh that uh that would help me check the boxes because I was good at at doing work and checking boxes. So that was helpful. And then I tacked on an extra motivation, which was community commitment with a give back component. So what we did was we went out through our social media channels and our friend networks and said, um, this is what Andrew's going through. He's gonna train and run a half marathon, and Susan's gonna do a 5K, and together we're gonna raise money for cancer research. Um please support us. So the combination of the modeling, the messaging, and that public commitment and the give back component together uh is really what got me through the, you know, that trying to get used to running and the fear that this was going to be very difficult. Um and when he when he finished his radiation, he absolutely crushed his half marathon. And I always say, I finished my 5k. I was uh, I think, you know, I was very nervous and I think I whined quite a bit. And I uh and I was, you know, uh I might have even teared up at the end. I don't know, but I do know I got through it and I survived. And I thought that this is this is awesome that I did this thing. I still didn't have any running bug. Um but I looked around me and I saw all of these people that seemed really excited to be doing it. So I thought, maybe there's something to this. So I uh that was in the fall and uh when I was 42. So it wasn't until I was 42, till I ran my first 5K. Um, but I thought, okay, that wasn't so terrible. It wasn't the worst thing I've ever done in the world. So I decided to run another one. We did a turkey trot together, and then your classic hot chocolate run. And I started getting into the vibe uh of the race environment, um, not the competitiveness, but just the community, right? And the swag. The swag was great. So I uh I thought, okay, we've done a couple of these. This is great. Unfortunately, the next year uh my my husband had a recurrence of cancer. They didn't quite get it all. We thought they did. It caused quite a number of problems. And this time he had to go to chemo. And so again, he's in the oncologist's office. Uh, he's he's on the chemo drip, and he says, When I get done with this, I'm gonna run a marathon. And again, I'm like, what is it with this guy? He's making the rest of us look bad for sitting on our couches. We joke about that a lot, but he truly is my my inspiration, my hero. Um, so he immediately started planning his uh marathon plan in his calendar. And I again, I thought, 26 miles, that's uh just unbelievable to me. Um, but this time I didn't say I can't do that. This time I said I'm not ready to run a marathon. But but surely if he can do that, I can possibly train for and run a half marathon. And so that year he trained for and absolutely obliterated his marathon 16 weeks after chemo. Uh, I think he was about seven minute 45 second miles. I think he just ran through sheer rage and finished that uh like a boss. And I did not run that fast. Um I think I ran maybe seven miles of my half marathon and walked most of another five or six miles. But I would say uh again, I finished, I was alive, we tacked on the give back component again, this time for cancer caregiver uh support. And at that point, I realized, you know, I've been underestimating what I'm what the body, what my body is truly capable of. And and there's a lot of reasons for that that we can go into. But that was a pivotal moment to for me to watch him that close to chemo and getting his health back that quickly and maintaining his mental health status by having that big audacious goal that to him was never in question that it was achievable. Uh that really changed how I think about what I'm capable of and what is possible.

SPEAKER_01

Wow. That is quite a story so far. We haven't even, we're only 10 minutes in.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. No, I I love telling that story. And then, you know, with where I am with Ultra Running now, the progression is probably kind of obvious, right? So I I finished that marathon and I still was able to, or finished that half marathon, was still able to stream my favorite shows and uh, you know, hobble into the kitchen to get a slice of pizza and walk the dogs the next day. I was still alive and kicking, everything was fine. So then I tried another few and they were fine. Then I tried my first marathon and that was good, and then another and then another, then a 50K, then a 50 miler, and then you know, on and on. We can we can go into those details. But um that that half marathon, I think, was the turning point for me in terms of trying things that seemed impossible in my previous years.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. So speaking of that, um, how was that transformation from when you were a child and couldn't do things without your face blowing up and whatever? So, had you outgrown that? What was the turning point physically? Not not just mentally, obviously.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. So still struggle with allergies,

Allergies And Learning Discomfort

SPEAKER_00

still take allergy shots, uh, have most of the last decade been on and off autoimmune medication. Um I made a lot of dietary choices, like getting rid of gluten and some other things that I was really hypersensitive to that helped. Um I don't have the hives and things the way that I used to, although it they do randomly crop up. But what I found is yes, though some of those things still happen, but that's okay. Um, it it hasn't stopped me. What has changed for me is perhaps when I was in elementary school, I could have still continued in gym class because nothing escalated about the hives. They they were there and then they just eventually went down. So what I've realized um pretty quickly is yes, I do have more allergic response than a lot of people. Yes, sometimes my breathing gets a little wonky. None of that has been out of control. It is something I monitor with physicians and things, but I've found more than anything that as long as I was willing to be to lean in to being a little uncomfortable, which that's something we don't like to do, um, then I found that it uh it was manageable. So I just it it's a combination of all of those things. Um, I I think, but more than anything, I think I just had to be willing to be uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_01

Okay. And probably um we know more now than we did then. So it was probably as a child, especially quite scary for you. And if your parents have never dealt with it and the teachers have never dealt with it, they're like, let's sit her down and let's protect her, she's clearly gonna die.

SPEAKER_00

That's right. Exactly, exactly. Uh, I'm sure that the best of intentions and probably was the best thing at the time. Um, but I I think that um between the dietary changes, which were hugely impactful for me, and then a little bit of oversight and medication coupled with the willingness to be uncomfortable. Um, this kind of got me where I am today.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Yeah, I think, and and depending on who you are, um, you can experience that uncomfortability at a 5k, but it grows exponentially the more miles you tack on. You have to be willing to be uncomfortable, you know. Right. So and it uh and it doesn't matter how many marathons you've done, they're all uncomfortable. Nobody finishes going, well, that was like a walk in the park, you know. We all have our different, you know, like, yeah, it was okay or whatever, but we're all hurting. I mean, these people may not tell you they are, but it's all, you know, so we all are gonna deal with that being uncomfortable. And so, yeah, and that's even at a 5k. Shoot, that's even at a mile for some of us.

SPEAKER_00

So that's right. Yeah, every day is different, and your body reacts differently every day.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. So, um, do you remember what your first half marathon was? Was that there in southern Illinois? Or was that in Colorado?

SPEAKER_00

It was the Mo Cowbell, which was in Missouri, um, that they based the whole race. The whole race was inspired

First Races And Disney Magic

SPEAKER_00

with the uh Will Farrell skit on Saturday Night Live saying you need he needed more cowbell. And so they did the Mo Cowbell, which is in St. Charles, Missouri, right there on the river. Um, that actually was my first half, and and later on, my first full. Oh, it's just a really nice course. It's nice and flat. There's a lot of community support. It's a great time of year. The weather's pretty nice. Um, there's lots of places for crew to uh, you know, your family that's celebrating you to hang out and go to restaurants and hotels around and things like that. It's just a it's a nice one.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, very cool. Yeah, I've heard of that race. Yeah, that's a popular one. So, of your half marathons, what was your favorite one? Or was that the first one your favorite?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I think so. Just because it was so cool to me to think that I was actually able to accomplish that. I think that was probably my favorite. Although I would probably have the same answer with the marathon as the half marathon. The first being for each being Mo Cowbell made it important. But I will say I've done many, many Disney races at Disney World since then. And those are very special to me uh for a lot of reasons. They're super fun. Like there, there is nothing that beats the vibe down there with the costumes and the music. Every mile you have characters. I don't know if you've ever done it, but no, but I've heard.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

It's just so amazingly fun to get to run through the parks before they're open. Something very special about that. Um, and and just every mile, they have some support for you, whether it's a local marching band, a DJ, um, a character, all those things. So that's the Disney races to me. Um, if you're looking for a place to really motivate yourself and have a great time, uh, they're so great and they're not at all competitive. There's nothing competitive. Most racers um stop and take pictures with the characters every mile, andor they you can schedule a ride for yourself through the fast passes so that like when you get into let's just say Hollywood Studios or Epcot, you just get off the course, ride your ride, and then get back on the course. So it's just such a fun experience. Their swag and all their uh their medals are ginormous and very glitzy, and uh everyone gets into it. So, and then if you want to really challenge yourself, they have things, of course, like the Dopey Challenge, where you do the 5K, then the 10K, then the half, then the full. And that's a special thing as well. So I highly recommend those. Those would probably be my favorites.

SPEAKER_01

Wow, yeah. We won't tell everybody about the hour of the day you have to get up to participate in those.

SPEAKER_00

That's that's better left unsaid, especially if you're bringing family with you or little ones in particular, who expect you fully when you're finished to go right into the parks and walk five miles and ride rides. So that's that's the worst part of it all. That'll be our secret, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Now, is your husband still running? And do you run any races together or have you?

SPEAKER_00

Yes, we run a lot. We run more now together than we did. So my husband was my inspiration getting into running. Um, during COVID, uh, I needed, like many of us, needed to find interesting new things to learn and do. And during COVID, I

Cancer Comebacks And Ultra Ambitions

SPEAKER_00

I'm very fortunate that I have access to a lot of trails right by my house. And I decided that I had this marathon thing nailed down and I was going to try my first 50K. Well, at the time, it's COVID, they don't have 50Ks, but they were doing virtual 50Ks. So I self crewed my own. 50K mapped it out on the trails by my house. I left some water and you know bananas and snack bars on my porch. And then I just did like, you know, 10 miles this way and 10 miles this way and 10 miles this way and back. Um, but I I did that 50K and had that same reaction and thought I'm still alive and kicking, still streaming my Netflix shows. I'm gonna do as soon as they races open up, I'm gonna do this. So I did some 50Ks and I think one or two 50 milers. And then I saw that my husband was getting interested uh by watching the crowds and watching me. And so I talked him into doing his first 50K. Uh, I think you and I had briefly talked about this. So I've been trying to work on a bucket list of doing an ultra in every state.

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_00

Distance doesn't matter as if it's an ultra, it counts. And so I was going to tick off the state of Florida and found a really cool 50K there. So I talked him into joining me for his first 50K. And uh and that gave him the ultra bug. I will say, just to share, because it's again part of the story, we did the we did that 50K um in December of 22. And January of 23, we were about to do the Disney Dopey Challenge again because we liked doing that together. And he had another cancer diagnosis. Uh, this guy, I don't know, he uh, but he had this time it was um B cell lymphoma and it was very aggressive. So he came in to meet his cancer team to talk about the treatment plan and told them he had just finished his first 50k and that when he was finished, he was going to run a 50-mile race. And so he did, and he did, and he did great. And now he is pretty uh addicted to the ultras. He just finished his fourth hundred miler. All right, where was that at? Uh, that was at Canyons Run in California. Oh, it covers part of the Western States trail, so it's pretty hardcore. He likes the elevation gain. I tend to gravitate more toward the road running, rails to trails, trying to be fast, that kind of thing. He tends to gravitate, gravitate toward the um lots of vert, lots of technical trail, roots and rocks, and that sort of thing. So um we crew each other, but on the big races typically, um, like he'll do a hundred and then maybe four weeks later I'll do a hundred so we can kind of crew each other. But uh on any other race, we tend to run it together.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, that's great. Yeah, that's really great. So um how many states have you run an Ultra in at this point?

SPEAKER_00

I have a map right in front of my computer that I'm looking at. I just did state 22. I just did the Denali 135 in Alaska.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_00

Um five stars. Highly recommend. It was beautiful. And it was uh that you know, the Denali Highway, it's you're just running from one

Denali 135 And State 22

SPEAKER_00

end to the other of it. Um, it's very isolated, but uh it was the most supported I had ever felt in a race because your crew has to just follow along. So, you know, they would I'd meet them and then I would run for a couple miles, they'd pass me, and then I knew that, you know, at the nine or 10 mile mark down the road, they would be there ready for me again, would come back if I needed something. I I didn't, thank goodness. But um, but the scenery was beautiful. Um, I've just never seen, I've never been to Alaska, so it was stunning. Um, and I knew it would be pretty, but I didn't realize it would be that pretty that pretty. And the race itself was very manageable, it was only 8,000 feet of gain across the 135 miles. Um, they gave you a full 48 hours. It was uh, and the people were great. So I highly recommend it.

SPEAKER_01

See any bears?

SPEAKER_00

You know, I was terrified that I would see bears. I the only time I saw a bear was from my car as I was driving to the airport. That was it. Uh so I'm very happy about that. I did hear people say, you probably won't see any bears. They smell you from 10 miles away, they don't want anything to do with you. Um, I was more warned about moose because there were some moose that had been seen all that whole week with their babies around. And you know, that could be really dangerous if you happen to run into them. Um, but I did not. I only saw them again from my vehicle. I didn't didn't see them.

SPEAKER_01

So wow. If you enjoy Alaska, you should both go back and run the Prince of Wales marathon. Okay, good to know. Gorgeous, and especially stay on the island and do all the trail hikes before, after, you know, whatever floats your boat. But yeah, that that was one of my most favorite races. And you probably saw a ton of eagles, right? Because we saw eagles like they are crows, you know, just everywhere. Yeah, that was majestic to us, but to the people that live there, they're like crows, you know. Yeah, right, right.

SPEAKER_00

Nothing, but yeah, we thought that was great. I appreciate that. That's a great recommendation.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah, you guys will like that. Um, so you've run an altar in 22 states. Uh, do you have a favorite other than Denali?

SPEAKER_00

Another favorite? Great question. Um, I loved this race called Strawberry Fields that I did in it's I flew into Portland, but it's really in the southernmost tip of Washington State on part of the Lewis and Clark Trail. Um, I think it's probably there's probably a piece, a tiny piece of it that might have been on the PCT. I'm not really sure. Um, because it's been quite a while. I'd have to look it up. But I it was a it was just a for-loop um race, and it was there were waterfalls everywhere, just beautiful, stunning, you know, river flying through the area. It had this very um kind of deep foresty section, but then it had a few meadowy kind of areas, and then a couple of climbs, and then all the water and the waterfalls. It was just to me, it was the perfect combination of scenery in such a beautiful place. So I would recommend that as well.

SPEAKER_01

Nice. Yeah, that sounds beautiful. Wow. Now, was there one that was like the hardest you've done? You're like, I don't care if I ever do that one again.

SPEAKER_00

Yes. Um the Shawnee Hills race, which is right in my backyard where I grew up. Oh, that's the funny thing. That's what I'm there were surely people, uh, adults

The Hardest Trail And Bushwhacking

SPEAKER_00

who were doing cool trail running when I grew up. They just obviously were not part of my community because the river to river trail in Illinois, there's a lot of things that happen on that trail, lots of hiking, lots of um, lots of running, but it's very dense bushwhacking in certain sections and um tons of snakes uh and spiders. So I I found that one very difficult just because it was really technically tough to navigate. It wasn't like it was so much uh vertical gain per se. It was more of to climb over things and uh, you know, move big brush out of the way and that that sort of thing. So I found that um I found that very difficult. Uh the same thing goes when I did my run across the Midwest for Girls on the Run. I I had to go through the entire or almost the entire River to River Trail because that was the pathway through Illinois, southern Illinois, and it was terrible. It was my least, my least favorite part.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it's I you know you gotta kind of pick your battles, you know. People Yes. I'm not ri originally a trail runner. I started on the road, but there are some trail runs that I really enjoy and some road runs that oh, I don't care if I ever run that again. You know, yes, so yeah, yeah, you gotta kind of pick your battle. It's like I can't I like both, but I don't know if I would like that one either.

SPEAKER_00

Right. Oh, it's just so it's not to me, that's not running. I mean, and this is coming from someone who does run-walk intervals. That's how I approach every single race. So I'm used to walking quite a bit of sections, and anyone that knows ultra running knows there's a lot of walking that happens or power hiking or whatever you want to do. But um, but that to me, the bushwhacking, uh, that's not that's not running to me. That's just trail maintenance.

SPEAKER_01

I know should not be part of my race. Yeah, can we get some volunteers out there?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01

That's funny. So, well, tell me about this um Midwestern thing you do with the girls on a run. What was that about?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so I had been doing ultras for quite some time and had really been sharing um that with everyone and anyone I talked to because I'm so passionate about it and how I got there. And people seemed really inspired by the story

2000 Miles For Girls On The Run

SPEAKER_00

and uh the fact that I didn't come to running till later in life. Um and I I happen to work for Cigna Healthcare, and Cygna has this program called a community ambassador fellowship. So, what this is is they they award about 12 a year. So it's really competitive. You have to go through this elaborate application and selection process. And if you are fortunate enough to win, which I was um very fortunate to win, they give you 90 days away from your position. They're still paying you, they're holding your position, and they're they're allowing you to go take whatever your unique special skills are, plus $20,000, and applying it to a health and vitality focused community project. So I was I heard about the program, I was really intrigued. For a year or so, I watched some other people's journeys and doing that program, and I started thinking about what are my special skills that I would be able to apply to something like that, because the give back component has always been so important to me. Side note, anytime I do an ultra of any kind, even the denali or anything else, I always tie a give back component still to this day on top of that race. So, for example, with the denali, I messaged all of our operations area, about a thousand people, and I say, I'm doing this race. Um, whoever can come closest to guessing my finish time, I will make a donation of X in your name to whatever your charity of choice is. So I tend to have always done that, and it gives me that extra little motivator. Um, and it gets people interested in the kinds of things people are doing to maintain their health and vitality, in my opinion. So I'd been doing that for a while, saw this program, and I thought, okay, uh, here are my skills. I'm in operations, so I'm pretty good at logistics, I'm good at planning. Uh, I'm also I have a PhD in communication, so I'm a decent public speaker. I have a passion for community give back and motivating people. I love ultra running. So, how can I take those components and potentially combine it with my my academic geekiness that I still embrace to this day, and uh and bring that all together into something that would impact a community that's important to me. While I was kind of letting that all marinate um and thinking about my future running challenges, I thought as much as I'm plugging away at these states to tick the boxes of the 50 states, I would love to run on my feet from one coast of this country to the other coast of this country. Uh, so I kind of had that in the background as a someday I will do this. Well, I ran across this uh trail, and I use that term very loosely. Trail called the American Discovery Trail. And it was mapped in the early 90s by quite a number of hiking folks. I think they even uh had some folks that had done some work with National Geographic and other things, but uh, they decided they wanted to map a route out from coast to coast. And so they went the other way. They started in California, mapped, mapped their way to Delaware. But they called what came out of that, they called it a set of GPS coordinates called the American Discovery Trail. And it it wasn't just to be able to make it by foot across the country. They also wanted people to experience America. And the way that they described that was yes, some iconic places, the arch in St. Louis, downtown National Mall in DC. So there, you know, there are some places that were seen as, you know, this is iconic. We want to go there. Um, but also they made a point of saying they wanted people to see real America and in that way kind of rural America. And so I started looking at it and realized that this trail goes right through where I grew up, like really right in the heart of where I grew up, right through the St. Louis area, which is where my corporate headquarters were. And uh, when I first encountered the trail, that's where I was living before I moved back to Colorado. And then it ends, uh at least the Midwest section ended in Denver, which is where I am today. So it felt like that was meant to be. And I also realized that if I were to do an ambassador fellowship there, I could speak to girls and families in rural areas just like the ones where I grew up, and be that model that I didn't have, uh, to be able to share that message of how I got to where I am today and um simultaneously do some rural health research to give to girls on the run and to Cigna so they could increase their impact in rural areas. So it just all started coming together in this most beautiful way. Um I used my social media platform for motivation, but I also used it as a way to raise funds for girls who wanted to do Girls on the Run but couldn't afford the fees and uh was able to win the scholarship and spent the 90 days going from the trail starts just at the border of Indiana, um, by outside of Cincinnati through southern Illinois, southern Indiana, southern Missouri, southern Kansas, and then ends into Denver. Uh so it was 2,000 miles. I did that for uh 20 roughly 23 miles a day for 84 days last year.

SPEAKER_01

Wow.

SPEAKER_00

And did community talks every week, two to three community talks a week. So I would be out there on the trail, knock my miles out, get back, shower, try to take a power nap, and then go do a community event and or write up some research on rural health obstacles, um, and then repeat. So that was uh that was my adventure in 2025.

SPEAKER_01

Wow. So tell us what that was like running at almost a marathon every single day. Uh tell us about your feet, tell us about what you ate, um, how many other aches and pains you had.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. Happy to. And then and then we can get to this year when I did 32 miles a day for 32 days. But

Daily Miles Nutrition And Recovery

SPEAKER_00

uh, it was it really wasn't as bad as you would think. Um, it took me for the first couple of weeks, I was absolutely exhausted. Um, that kind of got better after a couple of weeks when I got in the groove, um, and especially once I got on some trails like uh the Katie trail that goes across Missouri, super fast and flat, crushed gravel, rails to trails, beautiful, um, with a little bit of tree canopies. It was ideal conditions. And then even on into Kansas, although hot because it was late June, July, um, it's mostly just flat farm gravel roads. Uh, so you know, I felt pretty good all through that. The last couple of weeks felt like the first couple of weeks. I I think I was kind of at the end of uh of my time of having no off days. I think the biggest challenge for me was not at all my feet, you know, uh lost a typical toenail the the early part of the uh trail, but after that, really no issues. Um, it was really about the calorie deficiency. I I'm not a big person to begin with, and I'd say that's where I struggle the most, even in ultras, is trying to get my nutrition right. I just can't seem to consume enough calories to keep up with it. So in a regular ultra, it's not a problem. You know, I do my race and then I have recovery. But in this, where I don't have any off days for 84 days, uh yeah, I was pretty skeletal when I got to the end of the uh end of the time. But I did recover and um and made it fine.

SPEAKER_01

And then did it again, but worse.

SPEAKER_00

And then did it again, but worse. Yeah. So I covered in 2025, I covered that Midwest section and raised some good money for girls on the run, did lots of that community support. And then, of course, by the time I got to the fall and you know, early winter, I'm like, I really would like to knock off another section of that trail. So I talked to my leaders just within my department, not a formal company thing, but I said, I think I could do the eastern segment of that trail. That's Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, and then in through Cincinnati, picking

32 Miles A Day For 32 Days

SPEAKER_00

it up where I, you know, started last time. Uh, I think I could do that roughly thousand-mile section for 32 miles a day for 32 days, and still do some flex time, like dial in on some conference calls and do my emails in the evenings and that sort of thing, and still do a couple of community events. So I they were they were amenable for doing that. They uh thought it was inspirational. So fortunately, I had great leaders. They allowed me to do that during the month of May. I had a different nonprofit partner this time. I worked with Souls for Souls. They provide athletic shoes to kids who are experiencing homelessness because it increases not just their movement, but also their attendance at school, their confidence. So I was excited to help them out and uh yeah, tackled that eastern segment. So now I just have the uh the western segment left. You know what that means for next year? I'm gonna work out those logistics.

SPEAKER_01

So, how many miles is that? Is that another thousand that you have left?

SPEAKER_00

So um I'm going to do it a little differently. Uh, I'm I'm knocking out the remainder of Colorado just on the weekends over the next six to nine months in little chunks because it's home and I don't have to have huge travel plans. Once I knock the Colorado section out, it leaves me roughly 1300 miles. And um, you know, I was able to set the fastest known time on the eastern segment, mostly, well, 32 miles a day for 32 days without an off day is a lot, but mostly because no one does this trail. So uh it may stay for quite some time because no one wants to do this trail. Uh, for a lot of reasons we could talk about. But um, but I think for the western segment, I'm going to approach it very differently. I think I may do 13 miles a day and just really enjoy the scenery. Um, it's that's going to be such a beautiful. Beautiful section to go through. I kind of want to take my time and I definitely still want to do the community talks again because I I just find that so um rewarding and invigorating. I don't want to let that piece go. So I think I'm gonna do double down on that component.

SPEAKER_01

Wow. You are one incredible woman. My goodness. Thanks. So with that trail, you said it was a quote unquote trail. Uh tell us what you mean by that. Was it like a lot of city streets? Clearly, they didn't have you walking on the highway.

SPEAKER_00

Uh oh, they did. Yeah. They didn't. No. Oh yeah. Yeah. So as you can imagine, lots of things have changed since

Highways Dogs And Trail Angels

SPEAKER_00

the early 90s, right? So this trail was designed to obviously keep you off the interstate. But glad. Um yeah, um, that's illegal, I think. But a lot of the um a lot of the highways that are just a natural part of this trail perhaps used to be way less used than they are today. And so uh I did take a few small detours um uh from hiking America and some other hiker notes that I was able to get. But really, I only deviated maybe 10 miles in the whole thing. I really tried to stick to the legit original um American Discovery Trail. But unfortunately, like there are sections that are, you know, rural highways, and perhaps it's not back-to-back traffic, but quarry trucks that come barreling down, you know. So that's there are lots of sections, and I I do on my website, I every day of the trail, I always uh create, edit, and post a video vignette of what the what it's like that day, what were things like? And you can see there's a lot of times I talk about, well, today was a death highway day. Um because but I I tried to say, as much as I want to share it and legitimately say, if you're gonna do this trail, be prepared for this. Um I also tried to, you know, say, well, this is, I guess today is sprint practice. Like I'm doing surges today, because as soon as there's an opening, I'm just booking as fast as I can to get to the next area where I have at least a little bit of shoulder. Um, but those were probably in some ways my favorites because uh it, you know, it's it's a paved road and uh I can't get lost. I know where I'm going, but there's very little shoulder and it can be pretty dangerous, especially on the days like it was pouring down rain. That's that's not where you want to be. So uh, but that was part of the deal. I just had to face that. I think other segments, um, it truly is a hodgepodge of rails to trails, forest trails, including tons of bushwhacking. Those were very bad days. I have a lot of good posts out there where you can hear tears welling up, and I'm like, I've just got to get out of here. Um, so that was that's a tough section. Um, the city sidewalks were totally fine. The rural um towns uh on the roads were totally fine, the gravel farm roads, totally fine, dirt roads, totally fine. I think um it's those highways with no shoulders, the bushwhacking sections um were the most difficult. And there are the nature of running through a lot of these rural areas. You get to see some parts of America that you would not if you stuck to the interstate driving your car. That's great. And there are really quaint areas with really cool people out there. The disadvantage is again, no protected green space and things like dogs. Uh every week I had dog encounters that I had to prepare myself for. Um, luckily, nothing terrible ever happened, which is great. I'm very happy about that. Um, but there were times that were close calls, and there were also times where I found some trail angels through hiking notes, and I was able to call them ahead of time and say, hey, I hear near you there's a dog issue. And the trail angels would be like, no problem, I'll meet you out there. And they would, they would be there to watch out for you, which is so great. I mean, talk about a sense of community. Like that just really spoke to my heart. And I tried to post about those experiences a lot because um, you know, running, people think running is a solo sport. It's not. You have a ton of people, uh, whatever, whatever race you're running, whether that's your family cheering for you, you're in an ultra, you have a crew working, or pacers doing a thing like this cross-country thing. Um, it's not just that, it's also the local communities saying, hey, we'll open up a venue for you to speak, or hey, I know that neighbor, their two dogs are just noisy, let me go help you with that. So um I was super grateful to have the notes and to have the connection points. Um, but it truly was life-changing for me to do those segments. Now that I've run a little over 3,000 miles across the country, now I'm just itching to do the the rest of it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. So I'm assuming you didn't go alone. Somebody hauled your things to the next hotel in a car.

SPEAKER_00

So what happened was um in each case, I had a travel trailer. And the last year, my husband was my main crew. He would drop me off in the

Travel Trailer Crew And Logistics

SPEAKER_00

morning, maybe, you know, 35 miles away. He would go back to the travel trailer and work his job remotely and then pick me up, you know, six, seven hours, whatever it was later, would pick me up at the end. So I always had someone to help me get to and from. Uh, this year I used my aunt and uncle who are retired and lovely. I used them a little more for this year, but it was the same concept, just uh moving it, moving the trailer every couple of days and having a base camp to go to. Um, I think the funny thing is when people hear that I did this race, the first thing they say is, that's not possible. And then the second thing they say is, how many people did this race with you? And I'm like, no one. Like I think the impression was there were a big group of us that were doing this. And I'm like, no, like I it was me depending on the day and depending on how many miles for six to 10 hours. Uh, I'm out there by myself and had lots of big thoughts and uh, you know, and had to just kind of face whatever it was that I ran into on my own. Um, but I definitely had a crew that helped me with transportation and was there to, you know, to have dinner with me and uh and be there to support emotionally.

SPEAKER_01

Wow, that is so fantastic. Shout out to your crew.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, oh my gosh, I could not do it without them. No way.

SPEAKER_01

And so for all the listeners out there who are thinking, wow, I want to do that, because there are some of us. Yeah, good for you. Get on it. You're gonna do it.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, that's right. And it is possible, like I've I learned so much last year that this year the logistics were easier for me. I was like, I know exactly how to try to go about opening doors for community speaking events. I know roughly how to start planning where to put where to look to put my travel trailer. Um, I know whether it works better to move the trailer more frequently so my crew is closer to me versus uh being more distant. Sometimes that's helpful. So I think um we also tweaked my miles per day. I still had to average 32 miles a day this year, but we did something different this time. We tweaked the average per day using elevation information. We couldn't figure out quite how to do to know whether there was gonna be bushwhacking because that gets super slow. But but we did tweak it. So there were days where I did a several days where I did 47, 48, 49 miles because I knew when I was coming through um more of the Appalachian area that I was gonna have more uh 23 mile day instead. So we've learned a lot and we'll apply that for sure when I do the Western segment.

SPEAKER_01

Wow, that's really great. And you know, good on you guys for figuring that out.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, that was my husband. He's uh he's he he geeks out on that kind of logistical planning with when it comes to the mathematics and the elevation. That's his thing. So I couldn't do that without him.

SPEAKER_01

Wow. So um when next year will you do the last piece, do you think?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so um I have three kiddos, they're all spread out in age, and my youngest is gonna be a senior this year. So once he gets through his senior year, which is gonna be so fun together, and he's off into college, I think that's when we're going to try to take that trip

Western Segment Plans After Senior Year

SPEAKER_00

on in the western segment. So probably early fall time period and take our time with our dogs in the travel trailer, just kind of puttering our way uh toward the it's Sacramento area, uh, which is where the trail ends, and the you know, uh at the ocean part near Sacramento.

unknown

Wow.

SPEAKER_00

Well, that'll be fun. Yeah. First empty nest trip. We'll just see how we go.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, you'll get all those lonely miles crying your eyes out about it. So that'll be good. That's right. Or you'll be celebrating like cream by yourself. Depends on how you look at empty nesting.

SPEAKER_00

So probably more of the latter. I always say I'm not an empty nester, I'm a bird launcher. My job is to launch birds, and so um so I am totally excited about my son to go to college. I know we'll miss him, but that's you know, we we've we've done a great job. He's done a great job, and I'm just gonna have fun watching him. I think he'll probably go to Boulder, which is where I got my undergrad at CU Boulder. So um excited to watch him grow and yeah, do our own thing.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. And so none of the kids join you on any of these runs, like participating.

SPEAKER_00

No, but my youngest, um, he's done the most crewing. And when I was in the Denali race at the very end of the race, he offered to run maybe five or 10 miles with me. Um, I didn't take him up on it because I was afraid we hadn't checked it in advance, and since he's under 18, I wasn't sure what they would think about it. Come to find out, they said he could have, and maybe I shouldn't have been overly conservative about it. But uh yeah, he's just starting to get a little more interested, I think, in doing some pacing, which I love, but he's done some crewing now for a couple of years.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I had a nephew pace me um for one of my 100 milers uh last year, and it's the fastest section I ran. He's in track, and I thought, oh no, I'll just follow and you're like, why did I choose him?

SPEAKER_00

I'm like, you gotta slow down.

SPEAKER_01

He's like, oh, that was the fastest section I ran. So yeah, you gotta be careful with those young people.

SPEAKER_00

That's right. That's right. Yeah, my and my son is not a runner per se. He loves mountain biking, but I will say uh the cane break 200 that I did in Georgia, he did the last five miles with me. And we also ran pretty quickly. So yeah, I think you're right. I gotta be careful with that.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, careful who you choose. Yep. Oh, and now, is there anything that I haven't asked you that you would like the listeners to know?

SPEAKER_00

I think the main thing that I always want to talk to people about is to just continually question the limits that you're placing on what you think is

Question Limits And Give Back

SPEAKER_00

possible. I mean, you want to be smart about it. You don't want to take completely random risks and you want to make sure you're taking care of your body, mind, and soul. But um, but we just tend as humans to spend a lot of time on trying to maintain our habits and our comfort. Um, and it's when we start to get uncomfortable, that's where the growth happens. Uh, and we we tr we tend to place those limits a little prematurely on ourselves. So uh, and and I'm not just referring to running there, right? Just anything in life, growth is is uncomfortable and hard. Um, but I just really encourage people to lean into something that maybe they think sounds interesting but impossible. Uh, at the very least, get curious about it. You know, if you're interested, if you're a runner, you've been a runner, and maybe you're hearing some of these ultra things and you're interested in that, like just get curious. Go pace someone, like we were just talking about. Go crew someone, see what the vibe is like, see what the community is like. Before I did ultras, I listened to several audiobooks, read books about it, um, trying to understand what it's like, what it does to the body, what are people's experiences, what did they get out of it? Uh, and then um just randomly talk to one or two people that I had encountered who had done ultras and then tried it on my own. I figured if I self-crewed my own, uh, I could quit anytime if I wanted to. No one's there but me. Um, so just kind of toying with some of those possibilities, I think, is so rewarding. And I think you'll surprise yourself as to what you actually can accomplish.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. Yes. Better words were never spoken about that, I'm sure. Yeah, we are so much more capable than we think. Yes.

SPEAKER_00

And if you need an extra sweetener, I do recommend that public uh taking that um give back component and making it public. I don't know if it's just because I'm a people pleaser, but whenever I make that public statement and commit to the race and to fundraising, there's a magic in there for me about the fact that there is no doubt in my mind that if I uh uh have to slowly drag myself across the finish line, by golly, it will happen. It has there's only one. I surprisingly, I of all the races I've done, I've had one DNF, and that was an acute respiratory infection, and there was nothing I could do about it. Beyond that, sometimes I've come in first, sometimes I've come in at the very back of the pack, uh, but I have always stuck to it and been able to finish with that in mind, that I want to be able to draw that person's name who tried to guess my time, uh, whoever's closest to that. And I want to give money to their charity because it's important to them. And I want, I want them to see that I have that it's possible to do really hard things, whether I succeeded in terms of speed goal or not. And uh I think that to me just gives that little extra boost that sometimes we need when things are getting hard and we realize that you know we could just bow out. Um, but maybe taking a moment to pause, maybe making an adjustment instead of jumping to the quit uh can make all the difference. And and having that extra little motivator hanging over you or on your shoulder, um, I think can can really make that decision easier.

SPEAKER_01

Wow. Yeah, that is a great uh sentiment as well to give back. Give back to your community, back to other things. So good on you, lady. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, well, thank you so much for being here today. I have thoroughly enjoyed our conversation. Um look to see you in a few weeks. That's gonna be fun for us.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I'm excited. That'll be great. Thanks for the invitation.

SPEAKER_01

Real life, that'll be fun. Yeah. All right. Well, I will look forward to seeing you then, and hopefully, we'll have you on the podcast again. All right, thanks so much. Thank you. Bye-bye. Bye. Hey friends, what did I tell you? Was that not the most fun episode? Oh, she's so amazing. So, if she put a little bug in your ear about trying out an ultra, go for it. Go give it a try. Even if you just do your own thing, like she did with snacks on the front porch. Go give it a try. But honestly, uh,

Final Encouragement To Try An Ultra

SPEAKER_01

try a race. Everybody will be supporting you. It'll be just you'll love it. Or you might not, but you probably will. Thanks so much for listening, and I'll look forward to seeing you next time.

Contributor

Carla Coffey

Host