A couple of days ago, I finished my first ultra trail running race: the Squamish 50K. This episode is a reflection on what it took to get there, what actually happened out on the course, and what I’m still processing afterward. This wasn’t a fairy-tale race story. I came into it after broken ribs, sickness, a short training window, and a lot of uncertainty about whether my body would hold up.
I kept coming back to one idea: race to the level of my durability, not the level of my fitness. That was humbling. I had to go against old instincts from 20 years of mountain bike racing, let people pass me, manage pain, and accept that who I am today is not always the same as who I’ve been in the past. But I finished, my kids ran across the line with me, and I learned a lot about patience, limits, identity, and what it means to show up honestly.
This episode is for anyone who has had to meet themselves where they are, not where they wish they were.
Key Takeaways
– Race to the level of your durability, not just your fitness
– Who you are today matters more than who you’ve been
– Finishing can be meaningful without being glamorous
– Pain and suffering don’t need to be glorified
– Identity is allowed to shift
LINKS
Episode with Ethan Kross on Chatter
James Clear’s Atomic Habits
Episode with Katy Milkman on How to Change
Is self care stressing you out? Solo reflection
LISTEN TO SONYA
If you want to work towards your goals and more, check out my self-paced online course: Moxy & Grit Mindset Academy.
Episode Transcript
Sonya (00:12)
A couple days ago, I finished my very first ultra trail running race. So the race was called, or it is called the Squamish 50K. So it is a 50 kilometer trail running race, has 2,500 meters of elevation gain. so 7,500, 8,000 feet of elevation gain. And I’ve always wanted to do it. So many years ago, probably six to eight years ago.
Matt and I were in Squamish. This was before we moved here. And we were mountain biking down a trail called Somewhere Over There. It’s a really fun, black technical trail.
And I saw course markings and I thought, is this a mountain bike race? And it it was no, it was a running race. And I thought, my gosh, I can’t believe that people actually run on trails like these. And then I got intrigued and I went and I looked it up and I looked at the entire course and it was shocking that people could run a race like that. So I was kind of intrigued by it, but I also just couldn’t even imagine how I could even do that.
And fast forward many years, I wanted to do it in 2022, but I ended up getting pregnant and we had just moved to Squamish the year before. so I didn’t do the race, but Matt did the race. And that made me want to do it even more. And every time I saw someone in town wearing a Squamish 50 hat, I wanted to do it. I started out as a runner before I became a cyclist. So I did I ran my first marathon when I was 18. I started running probably when I was 17. I was a tennis player in high school, but I just liked running for fun. And then kind of out of nowhere, I decided I was gonna run a marathon. And that was the Duke City Marathon in Albuquerque. and I did a couple 10Ks and then I ran it again the next year, but I ran it injured, so it was horrible. And I basically quit running after that. And I had started mountain biking around that time and I had been asked to walk onto the UNM cross country team for running, but I had just found mountain biking and I fell in love with it. So I pursued mountain biking instead.
But running has always been a side passion of mine. I’ve dabbled a bit here and there in some running races. And a couple of years ago, there was a race in Colorado where it still exists. It’s called the Grand Traverse. It’s a 40-mile trail running race. You run from Cresta Butte to Aspen. And then if you sign up for the the two-day category, which is what I did, you race your mountain bike back the other direction from Aspen to Cresta Butte. And so I started training that year.
I didn’t really train enough, to be honest, because I did the Breck Epic, which is a seven-day mountain bike race in Breckenridge, two days or no, two weeks before the Grand Traverse. So I didn’t really do very much running in the month before. So I did the Grand Traverse and it was it was lots of fun. it was a really cool adventure. It was fun to do something new. But unfortunately, something popped up, which also happened in my training runs, and my hip flexors, both of them.
And my hamstring attachments at the bottom at the base of my glute on both sides seized up so I could barely walk. So I had to walk for a really long way and I finally made it to an aid station. And there was no way I’d be able to walk to the finish like that without doing serious damage because I still had like, I don’t know, 17 miles to go or something. So I ended up dropping out of the race. And I’ve talked about this before. So that was my first attempt on an ultra, and I quit the ultra.
But to me that wasn’t a failure. I don’t have any I’ve I’ve actually I’ve written about this in my book. Like, I don’t have any shame or embarrassment about that because it was a fun experience. I was able to do something new and I just wanted to see what was possible. And at the time, that’s what was possible. So I I didn’t I don’t know, it just didn’t really bother me.
and then the next day I still did the mountain bike race and I it was fun because I surprised myself. I despite running 23 miles in the mountains, I and doing a stage race two weeks before, I I still was able to pull something together and have a decent race at the mountain bike race, primarily racing against people who didn’t run 23 miles the day before. So that was a fun chance to surprise myself and it was just fun to be a part of the community and to see new trails and new places. But I’ve still wanted to complete an ultra, and to me it felt ridiculous that I hadn’t because I’ve done
All these ultra endurance mountain bike events. Like I have a a strong pedigree in endurance mountain biking. And it felt weird that I had done, you know, shorter stuff like twenty-five K and things like that, but I had never finished a 50K plus. I had never attempted another one after that. And again, that was only two years ago.
I’ve sort of stepped back from mountain bike racing. A lot of people will officially retire and there’s like a whole thing about it, but that just didn’t feel authentic to me because I’m not really retiring from sport. I’m just not doing it in the same way. So last year I had a whole mountain bike season planned and I was gonna do my first international stage races again. And, you know, everything was lined up on the calendar, and I even picked races that I knew would intrigue me.
racing with my favorite race partner, Gordon Wadsworth. We’re gonna go to Iceland. And I just still didn’t want to do it. Even though I had the carrot in front of me, the reasons why I love to race, novelty, adventure, cool people. I just didn’t want to be away from my kids. So I thought I was forcing all of this. And I I’ve I’ve talked about this on the podcast before. And I was talking to my friend Yal Schoenbrunn, and she’s actually going to be on the podcast pretty soon with her new book that came out or that is coming out. but she said to me just on a phone call like, it sounds like
you’re racing because of FOMO. And when she said that, it was like something clicked and I realized like that’s it. And this is like this old version of me that’s afraid of missing out. And it’s still pushing, even though the current version of me doesn’t actually want to do that anymore. So I canceled my whole race season last year. I’m trying to think if I did any races last year. I did. I did some running races. So we spent the summer just like
having fun, like going on rides when I felt like it. the kids were in Whistler bike camp twice a week. So Matt and I were doing all these big adventure like mountain run, trail run, hike thingies, like up in the Alpine and Whistler area. And it was really fun. But I wasn’t really like training for anything per se. and then we signed up for a couple of races, just local races, like one that’s literally on the trails behind my house called Lap the Bluffs, which I’m actually
potentially doing in a couple in like two weeks depend or I guess it’s a week and a half now, depending on how the 50K recovery goes. And then I did I think it was like a 30K or 35K. it was around Canadian Thanksgiving in Kelowna. And that also did not go well. I didn’t train very much for that. And again, the same thing happened. My hip flexors died even though I was pacing it very conservatively. I had to walk the last six miles and it was pretty miserable, but I got to the finish line of that race. So I did not want to repeat that.
At the Squamish 50K. I started powerlifting in the gym for perimenopause, but also just because I wanted to get stronger and that’s something I plan to continue. I ran a trail half marathon in Pennsylvania when I was in Philadelphia for a map master of applied positive psychology program that I teach in. I was there. So there’s just like a weekend. so I went and did that for fun. so and I had signed up for the Squamish 50k, and I thought this is gonna be awesome. Like I can’t wait to finally do this race. It’s in my like
the town that I live in. it’s a it’s a premiere ultra in North America. Like this is gonna be really cool. But then in March on my son’s birthday party, he it was at the ninja gym and I was playing. I I thought to myself like why are all the adults just standing around? So I thought I’m gonna go play. So of course I’m playing I’m like swinging on the rings where you like swing one arm to catch and you like catch have to catch the next ring.
And I’d never done anything like that before. so I did it once. I’m like, that was fun. Let me do it again. I did it again and I got to the end and my hand let go of the last ring. I didn’t quite grip it and I fell and I broke a bunch of my ribs. So I couldn’t run for months. I couldn’t go to the gym for months. The only thing I could do was ride the trainer. And I was in Philadelphia again, and there was a mountain bike race I had signed up for. So that was like something I did is I just went and did this mountain bike race, which was very well organized, very cool, but it was.
Also just like very unsatisfying. Like, I don’t know. I don’t know why, but that was the first that’s the only race I’ve done mountain biking in the last two years. I think I just miss my family and I miss just being I was there kind of by myself and it just kind of felt like this lonely experience. don’t know. I’m just I’m just sharing the background for whatever reason. I don’t have a plan for today’s podcast other than to just talk about the buildup to the Squamish 50K and my experience with it because it’s not really a fairy tale ending.
Which I think is good to share all of these different experiences that we have. So so yeah, so then I finally and then I got sick a bunch in May, and then I finally got back to running in June. And so I thought time is ticking, the squamish 50K is mid-August. Like, do I even have time to train for this? Because I don’t want the all these problems to happen to me again. so I was signed up for another race called the Pemby Pounder, which was like a 15-mile running race in Pemberton, which is like
small mountain town near here. So I went into that in June as kind of my kickoff into training. And I did a a good job. Like I’m proud of myself for the consistency that I had leading up to the Squamish 50K. And I mean I wasn’t running like massive weekly mileages. I was running like 30 miles a week and some of those were broken from like like came from like a 20 mile run, you know, one 20 mile run. So I could have, you know, of course I could have trained better and all those things, but I was under a time crunch if I wanted to do this race.
And so I did the best I could. And my long runs, I still was having hip flexor pain and things like that, but it was going better than it ever had. And so I thought, well, if if I gotta walk a bit on race day and I, you know, whatever, who cares? And I had this cool like heuristic come into my mind that I have to race to the level of my durability, not to the level of my fitness. And that’s incredibly frustrating, actually, but also very accurate. it’s hard to have like
really strong fitness, but then to be limited by basically your your chassis, your body. but it’s because I haven’t done the work. So I knew that going in. I knew that that was a possibility. And people were asking me if I was excited about the race. And I actually wasn’t, which was kind of weird. I was excited to like have done to to be done with the race, but I knew that I wasn’t gonna get to race the race. I was my first race I’ve ever signed up for as a participant
Where I knew that I wasn’t going to be like actively racing. And I’m trying to define what that means. Like for me, racing means I get to exert myself, like my physical capacities. I get to give it my all. I get to tire myself out. I get to make strategic choices on the race course, like things like that. And I just knew that I wasn’t gonna be doing that because my goal was to basically run it at a fast jog and see if I could last to the finish line without, you know, having to quit because my durability blew up.
So it’s a really different mindset. but I still went in nonetheless with that mindset. And I will say that I followed my rules there. So the race morning came, lots of energy around it. And I got to s to like there’s this guy, his name’s Gary Robbins, and he’s in charge of this entire Coast Mountain Trail Sis trail running series here in the like the the Sea to Sky Vancouver, you know, Squamish Whistler area. And he’s super cool, just really good energy. And I just really wanted to to do this race.
So it was fun to see him on race morning and like I got I went and like talked to a bunch of different people. I felt really out of my element because I just don’t have much experience in running racing. And it’s it’s just so funny, like the difference between running and mountain bike racing. Like mountain bikers are like aggressive at the start. Like people are like vying to get to the start line like super early, you know, 30 to 45 minutes before the start. People are already lining up because they want their position and like running, people like
Mosey over to the start line like two minutes before it started. And I I remember I like noticing this the very first time I did a trail running race, thinking like, why isn’t everybody lined up? And people just barely moseied on over right before it started. And then the starts are like very chill. They’re very like even even the the 25k races, they’re like very civil. I feel like mountain bike racing is just everybody’s it’s like a free for all and and you’re trying not to have people crash you out and people are going as hard as they can. So it’s just really different. The vibe at the start, it’s very chill.
And I was proud. Like I I went I went slow. I did my slow jog. I was just, you know, I was just like in the p in the pack somewhere. and I had to go against every single instinct in my body after 20 years of mountain bike racing that said, close that gap, you can do it, or like just just speed up a little bit. And I kept telling it, like, no, we can’t do that here. everything will fall apart. And I remember hearing people, there’s like this really long, it’s like an hour long basically like hike. It’s you can run it a little bit, but it’s like a hike up to the top of a mountain.
And I heard people just like killing themselves, like breathing hard and like pushing themselves super hard. And I remember just feeling so jealous because I wanted to do that. But I knew I couldn’t because if I did that, then there would be a price that I would pay from a durability standpoint. So I just didn’t do that and I kept like I kept it chill. And then I just couldn’t wait to see my my family at the aid station. Like that was keeping me going. And the aid station was about halfway through and all these people were passing me, like.
I would just hear like thunderous feet coming up behind me, person after person after person, just going backwards. And I I’m thinking like I’m keeping my pace, like what’s wrong with me? And it was really humbling to have that happen. And also I’m not a great downhill trail runner. when it’s really steep, like if it’s like moderate grade, I’m okay. But whenever it’s really steep and technical, like I’m just I’m just trying to get down it where people around me are like hammering, running down it, which is so impressive. and also really hard to feel inadequate.
I’m just trying to I’m just trying not to sugarcoat anything to make it just, you know, very, very honest. But yeah, I felt like very inadequate about my downhill running, which I already know I am, but also very inspired to see what’s possible and knowing that I just haven’t done the work. so yeah, I came through the aid and then here’s a funny story. So I’ve been trying out these new gels. I don’t really I don’t really eat much sport nutrition stuff anymore since I don’t mountain bike race as much, but I did some
Some training and tried out these gels, a different brand that I’ve never had. I I don’t even r really remember the name. I just remember the packaging because I’ve been using it. But they had a caffeinated gel, like 100 milligrams of caffeine. So I thought, I’ll buy that like for the race. Like I’ve had these gels before, so it’s gonna be fine. It’s not like a new gel that I’m trying on race day. It’s just one with caffeine. So I go and I take like a I take like half the gel. But the texture, like I don’t know if you’ve tried some of these new gels.
I was like a goo energy athlete forever. So I’m used to the that texture. It was like even and even though the other gels in this this company were smooth, this was like a mucus-y texture that I was not expecting. And so I literally like gagged super loud, like dry heave sound because of the texture. And then I was like, no, no, no, you need the caffeine. Like just just finish just finish this this bit. So like I had I I just like swallowed the bit that I had left in my mouth.
And then I dry heaved gagged again. And it was really funny because people around me were probably like, what the hell is this happening here? And yeah. And then we had like this really long climb. And I I was I was having fun. And I learned that if your hip flexors are starting to hurt to stop and like shake your legs out. So I kept doing that, but things just kept getting worse and worse. And then and then everything just imploded. Like my hip flexors were just incredibly painful. my knees were hurting. I’ve never had sore knees, like running downhill, both of my knees were just like horrible.
I had never had knee pain running downhill before and it just got worse and worse and worse. And like my I have I get like pain at the Achilles insertions on my heels. And I had a long way to go, but I thought, well, I can kinda run and I can kinda walk. So I’m just gonna run walk for the rest of the race, which is a long way to go.
And it actually really miserable. I was thinking to myself, like, this isn’t fun. it’s not fun to do races where you’re just like have basically injury pain and then to just gut it out. Like, I know that I’m tough and I can do that. But I also knew that I would regret it more if I dropped out. Cause the last one I dropped out of, I had to. I didn’t have a choice, but this one I had a choice. And I was asking my husband today, like in hindsight, what should I have quit or should I have?
was it a good idea to press on? And I think finishing was the right decision for me and I learned a lot. it was just really hard. Like it was like stampeding people by me all the time because I could barely like pick my legs up. and there was that one point I was wearing like spandex shorts and I was grabbing the spandex and like pulling the spandex up to like lift my legs. So it was it was basically a disaster. and also I was carrying way too much stuff. So this is a lesson learned is I
I mean, I do this on my bike too. I just I don’t know. I think I’m so worried about running out of food and water because I know how detrimental that is that I over carry. So I just was carrying probably like an extra five pounds that I didn’t need to be carrying. and then I came into the the last eight station, we still like ten K to go. And this woman had like a Ted Lasso believe sign and I was just so broken. I was just like trying so hard not to break down crying in front of her. Even just thinking about it, I feel emotional. It’s like, it’s so hard.
and then the last trail system was the one behind my house. So it was still a long way to go, but it helped me mentally because I had done those trails before. I know every rock on those trails. I have lots of other memories I could think about on those trails. And it was a true lesson in patience. like I’m not glorifying this in any way. I’m not gonna do another ultra until these problems are solved because I just don’t want to ever go through that ever again.
But I also just wanted to record this podcast because I just want to normalize this experience. Because I think a lot of times we hear podcasts about these like, you know, zero to hero experiences, or they overcame everything at all odds and they were successful. And like that didn’t happen for me. And it hasn’t happened for me in ultra running. And I I’m I’m fine with it. I know it’s because I haven’t done the work. but I know so many people go out to races with.
You know, wanting to do these things and they have these experiences. So I just wanted to share mine. just in case that’s it’s been you. So you know that you’re not alone. And it doesn’t matter. I kept telling myself, it doesn’t matter who you’ve been. What matters is who you are today. And who you are today is you are at your limit. Like this is what it is. This is what it looks like to be at your limit. You’re giving the best effort that you can with what you have, even though it’s far from what you know you’re capable of.
And that is okay. So I had to keep working through that that mental exercise of like just forget about everything in the from the past and just be who you are today and accept that person.
So the the for the finish, you get down and you have a couple miles. I don’t know if it’s like 3K. I don’t know how many miles that is. You get down on the road and you gotta run on the like a flat road. And I’m basically like straight legged, like running and just trying to get there. And my kids would be at the finish line. And then they they popped out and they ran across the finish line with me, which was the best part of my day to have them cross the finish line with me. And then after that, I was just ready to go home. I was just so done.
And I I had to use like the handrails at my house to get up and down the stairs. Like both sides, I was like dragging myself up and down the stairs. Like my knees were real in really bad shape. I was broken after that. Like I haven’t been broken after a mountain bike race like that, except for maybe 24 hour rolls where like my eye, my eye muscles were so sore and my back was killing me. But other than that, like I’m not used to being so broken. So that was surprising.
And then the next day I was pretty much I was a little bit sore, but I I was pretty much fine. So
It’s amazing what the body is capable of doing. And I knew my I now know my limit. I know that when I I’m ca I’ve gotten better. Like some so the things in hindsight that I’m thinking about is number one, when you do something hard, you have to mentally process what happened. For me,
It was incredibly mentally difficult. It’s taking me time to process the mental difficulty to get through that event and the pain and suffering that happened at the event that wasn’t at the hand of just from lack of fitness, but from like un uncool pain, the kind of pain that you shouldn’t probably be pushing through. And I’m fortunate that I didn’t injure myself. So I don’t want to glorify that in any way. I think that I knew what I think I know the difference between injury. This is gonna be a long-term problem.
an injury, this is just going to be like really annoying and really uncomfortable and I will be fine. So I I think I knew the difference there. And that’s why I pushed through this one and I didn’t push through the other one. The other ultra that I attempted. So recognizing that, Number two
I’m trying to be more authentic to what I need instead of like making everybody else feel good all the time. And that’s been really hard for me. So what that looked like was leaving immediately after the finish. I didn’t want to talk about my race. I didn’t want people to ask me how my race was because I didn’t have anything good to say and I didn’t want to be negative. And I honestly did not want to talk about it. So I I left, not because I I was angry or anything like that. I just didn’t want to be negative. So I needed to remove myself from the the area. So I did.
I got to show my kids honestly that not every race ends with a podium. that’s something I’ve showed them repeatedly this year. it’s it’s good to show them that. I love showing them like because they’re they’re just so used to seeing that. And I think it’s so good to show them that like this is what it looks like for a lot of people and that’s okay. And to not expect yourself
to be on that podium or to do well at all the time or to meet your goals or your expectations. I think that’s a really important lesson to teach.
Number three, whenever you’re looking back at something, sometimes you need a little bit of space. And, you know, we hear like, you know, people run a marathon, they hated it, and then they sign up, they’re ready to sign up for the next one. This isn’t quite like that, but I am able to look back on the event and just be like really glad that I did it because I just wanna be a part of things something like that. Like the what what Gary Robbins and his crew at Coast Mountain Trail Running does is like they gave they’ve given they’re the biggest contributor financially to the trails in Squamish. They
Over the last 14 years, they’ve given a quarter of a million dollars. They bring so much to the local community. And to see that in action, to see that excellence and that beauty of what they have been able to do from, you know, a very well executed event, a a cr a tremendously amazing race course. the energy and positivity that they bring, the the entire setup and takedown, like everything around this event that I saw. I’ve done lots of events and I was very impressed.
not just by the quality of the event and the quality of the people, but what they give back. Like that was just incredible to get to witness that. It was incredible to witness the caliber of the athletes around me and the the grit of the people around me. That was really cool to be a part of that.
It was also really good to just really accept my limitations. I’m I know that I’m tough and I can push through things, but I don’t always want to do that. So I’m not gonna sign up. Like I said, I’m not gonna sign up for another ultra and push my limitations in that way again. I don’t need to do that. So I think what I’m my plan is to do go back to the half distances and I still haven’t actually
been able to race those either. Those are more just like running without actually being able to push myself because I just haven’t done the work. So to do the work, and it motivates me to do the work in the gym that I need to do. It’s like, it’s like a forcing function to address all the the limitations that being a cyclist for for 20 years and only being a cyclist has has done. And I wouldn’t change any of that. so I’ll tell you the reasons why all those things were happening.
It’s very common with cyclists. So number one, we often struggle to either have strong glutes or to properly engage our glutes. So when I’m running downhill, my knees are caving in because my glutes are not turning on and my single leg stability is not very good. And I’ve known that. so how you fix that is you work on your glute activation and glute glute strengthening, which it doesn’t mean more running and more biking, it means spending time specifically on those things.
Number two, this is in part due to childbirth and in part due to being a cyclist, is like we don’t engage our core properly. I’ve I’ve done pelvic floor physio and all those things to figure all those things out. And also learning how to power lift and do squatting has taught me how to brace my body properly. But it’s just not strong enough. that pathway is not strong enough to last through a really long race. Like I was out there for seven and a half hours. which actually isn’t objectively a horrible time, but that’s just like a very long time to be out there.
and then like the Achilles stuff, I still exactly sure what that’s about, but I think it’s probably just strengthening calves and probably stability again. This probably has to do with the glute. Like it’s so interesting if you think about how connected everything is. if your glute is weak and then your foot is wobbling, you might not be stabilizing properly at your core and at your glute. So that’s my my next mountain is managing those things and continuing to have fun.
I would do more mountain bike racing if there was mountain bike racing around here. Like I love cross-country endurance mountain bike racing. I don’t want to quit doing those things. But what I do want to quit is dragging my family all over the country, spending gobs of money doing things that I’ve done lots of times over. I love I love doing those events, but the amount of time and effort that takes with where I am at at in my life right now, it’s just not worth it to me anymore. to do that on a regular basis. And also,
I wanna be able to do lots of things. Like I wanna be able to like go to the gym and go running and go skiing and and not be so focused on on cycling, riding my bike six days a week. And I I’ve barely ridden my bike this summer and I know I’ll come back to it, but I honestly haven’t missed it to be completely transparent. And I wanna ride my bike and have fun and not have that that feeling of I should be doing this. So that’s been really refreshing to finally be able to let it go. Like I knew last year that I I knew where I wanted to be and it was just it felt still felt so hard.
And it felt like bad to not be riding my bike. Even in this in the spring, it felt really bad to not be riding my bike regularly. And now, like, it doesn’t scare me anymore like it used to to do that. It’s been years of of this sort of shifting. and no running is not gonna be this next thing that I’m gonna pour myself into and try to like have a race season and do all the things. It’s just something I wanna do for fun. Like I wanna be able to push myself and feel good. I don’t wanna be limited by durability issues, but I also just wanna go and like
celebrate my fitness and just have a good time and not worry about anything else. So that’s where I’m at with that.
Yeah, so like I was saying, if there was more cross-country endurance mountain bike racing around here, I would definitely do it. I’ve I’ve been asking myself, like, what is the relationship that I want to have with mountain bike racing? And like I still objectively can go do well at races. Like I got on the podium at the last mountain bike race I did in, you know, Pennsylvania. but like I don’t care about that. I want to just have a good time, but I don’t want to have to travel a long way. And like we used to have all these mountain bike races in the Pacific Northwest and
you know, in the sea to sky corridor and now it’s it’s very focused on either gravel or enduro. I’ve done some enduro racing and I love I love technical downhill, but I I feel and I I’ve done some enduro racing, but I just feel like it’s a risk that I’m not willing to take because it’s not a matter of if you’re gonna get hurt. It’s a matter of when. and I’m just not willing to do that. I can’t I can’t. I need to take care of my children. I want to take care of my children. I don’t want to be injured. I don’t want to risk having that happen.
So yeah, it’s just been hard like finding my relationship with mountain biking because the thing that I want to do just isn’t available to me. I can and I I do enjoy going riding and stuff, but I I miss racing mountain bikes, but I don’t miss the traveling. I don’t miss all those things. So if cross country endurance mountain biking comes back and there’s a lot more events to do, you’ll see me at those events. But that’s so that’s why if you’re like, why is she running? It’s like so many running trail running races everywhere.
And it’s just so much more accessible. you don’t have to train as many hours. It’s just something to do. But I have to tell you, I just I love mountain biking so much more than trail running. It’s just so much more fun. It’s like playing on your bike. But I’m also enjoying the challenge of trail running and you know, meeting my limits and working to overcome them. So that’s where I’m at with that. Thank you so much for listening to me ramble on about the Squamish 50K. I hope that you found it.
Helpful. And of course, I worry it sounds like me just complaining. And that’s not what my intention was, but it was just to tell you about like what the true experience of doing a race like that was like for me. And I know for other people as well. And what it’s like to how you how you relate to that and what you do after something like that. So I hope you have a great week. Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. And I am looking forward to seeing you right back here next week.
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