There Was Never a Doubt | Lessons from the Moab 240

In this episode of On Your Lead, Thad sits down with endurance athlete Christine O'Hara to unpack what it really takes to push through the hardest moments in ultra running—and in life.

Christine shares the story behind her experience at the Moab 240, a race that tests runners across 240 miles of desert terrain, sleep deprivation, and mental fatigue. But this conversation goes far beyond the race itself.

They dive into the mindset required to keep moving forward when things get difficult, the power of breaking overwhelming challenges down into one step at a time, and how the lessons learned on the trail translate directly into everyday life.

Christine also opens up about parenting, building strong families, and the importance of being present in a world filled with distractions.

This episode is a powerful reminder that when the path ahead feels impossible, sometimes the only thing you need to do is take the next step.

Whether you're a runner, leader, parent, or simply someone navigating a hard season, this conversation will leave you thinking about what it really means to keep moving forward.

Contact Thad - VictoriousVeteranProject@Gmail.com

Thanks for listening!

Transcript

The DFL Reveal And Setup

Thad 0:04

Was there a time, and I and I have to imagine there was where you felt like quitting became an option? Where it was like, okay.

Christine 0:11

There was never a doubt I would I could finish this, right? And I think it was just that's yeah. I was gonna finish this. I mean, part of it too for me was like, I'm not coming back here and doing this again. So I gotta it's like now or never.

Thad 0:27

Welcome to On Your Lead, the show about the miles that make you better at life, leadership, and everything in between. I'm Thad David, a Marine Recon Scout Sniper veteran, speaker, and endurance athlete. Let's get into it. Welcome to another episode. I'm here with Christine O'Hara. How are you doing, Christine?

Christine 0:45

Good, I'm great.

Christine’s Roots In Sport And Ultras

Thad 0:46

How are you? I'm doing wonderful. Thank you so much for joining us. And for those of you that do not know, Christine finished the Moab 240 DFL, which actually means, and it was a new title for me that uh I learned about, and it's your title, but it actually means Dead Fing Last, which is apparently a big celebration.

Christine 1:03

Is that yes, and it was great for me too. Yes. A giant celebration.

Thad 1:09

Yeah, I didn't realize, and I'd love to see it all come together at the end of it. But before we even get into Moab and your journey there, uh, Christine, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Christine 1:19

Yeah, absolutely. So thank you so much for having me. I yeah, I grew up in Minnesota. I live out east now, right outside New York City, but grew up in Minnesota playing ice hockey. So sports had always been a big part of my life. And, you know, kind of through that journey, continued to work out post-college, just used to that athletic lifestyle and started to get into triathlons, ironmans, and then ultimately ultras, which led to kind of the dream of doing Moab, which is really exciting. But I'm a sales executive in the city. I have two little kids, which are my pride and joy boy, girl, Harvey, and Aubrey. Um, and yeah, it's just it's been a fun journey kind of balancing all of it with a race as big as Moab and kind of the result that's that's happened with it, which was yes, finishing, but DFL.

Thad 2:08

Yeah. Well, I mean it's amazing to me everything that you have going on in your life and that you're able to put in the because I I can't even imagine the amount of training that you had to put in to make that happen. Uh, but before we do that, too, I want to circle back because before this, uh you actually mentioned when we were just kind of chatting before we press record. Um, I know we were talking about Pikes Peak Marathon, and you had mentioned that your your dad was actually, you have a picture of him doing Pikes Peak Marathon, and you had done the half. Um and so this has kind of always been, you've been exposed to running for a pretty long time.

Christine 2:40

Really long time. So my dad, I mean, he was a football player in college, but also similar, just had that discipline his whole life. So after college sports, he continued to just work out and dabble into running and he loved the mountains. He always loved hiking. So he was doing tons of trail running um before I think a lot of us knew it was even a thing or became a bigger thing. Um, and so even when he met my mom, he was training for the Pikes Peak Marathon in Colorado.

Thad 3:04

Okay. And how did he even hear about that? Because you grew up in Minnesota?

Christine 3:07

We grew up in Minnesota. He was from the East Coast, went to Minnesota for work, met my mom state, kind of the rest is history. But he was in the running community and he had gone out to Colorado a bunch just to kind of train and so heard about it through his small running community. And for him, that was a race he really wanted to do. And I believe he crushed it. But yeah, I have a really cool picture of him coming in through the finish.

Thad 3:28

Oh, that's amazing. I'm I'm I just read a book recently about just the origins of the Western states. And in the earlier days, they were talking about how they would advertise for it. And I'm imagining your dad kind of finding out on this because they would send out these magazine, they would put ads in magazines, and like people would just cut out these old magazine articles. And that's how you found out about a race back then. It's just fascinating to me that that he found out about it and well just was able to go crush it.

Speaker 2 3:56

So yeah.

Thad 3:57

Very cool. So you've done all of these races, you've done Iron Man, uh, tons of different races. What was your when was your first ultra that you did?

Christine 4:05

The first ultra marathon was probably five years ago. It was, well, it ended up being Leadville 100. And then I did prior to that, though, I did a couple 50s to train for it. So probably that was my first. Um 50 miler trail races, which were in Minnesota to to train at the time. That's where I was training for it. And then the first dipping my toe in 100 was Leadville. Um, I didn't finish Leadville. I got altitude six. We finished round 67.

unknown 4:29

Okay.

Christine 4:30

Uh, mile 67. But then shortly after, two weeks after that, that I did superior 100 in northern Minnesota. I mean, I was trained. I think I just got, you know, you got I got sick. And so I was really ready to do 100. And fortunately, I was able to get in last minute to the superior 100 and have that experience.

Thad 4:46

So that was in the how long ago? What how long did that take place between Leadville and Superior? Because that's two weeks. Two weeks.

Christine 4:53

Two weeks. So Leadville, or maybe it was three. It was like two or three weeks because I yeah, since Leadville was, I think, August 19th that year, and then it was right over um Labor Day, was the superior.

Thad 5:04

And so you just you were hungry, ready to go. Ready to go. Okay. I can well and Ludville's is unique at just with its altitude. It just it yeah, I think it surprises people with how they're gonna feel going into it.

Christine 5:16

You know, it really does, and I think it is so high up. I went to the camp. I did the camp and I actually was, I mean, I definitely felt it, right? Because you're you're 10,000 feet and only going up, um, as you know, since just completing it too. Um, but I I was good at camp, but I think it just, yeah, the race you don't know sometimes when it's gonna hit you. I've always been fairly good with altitude. I've done some other altitude things, but just hit.

Thad 5:39

Okay. And when and you said 67 miles. So you had made it, did you you made it past? Yeah. Okay.

Christine 5:46

So I made it over Hope and Back.

Thad 5:49

What a the back side of Hope Pass is a different level of pain. Different. And you can't describe it.

Christine 5:56

No, not experience it.

Thad 5:59

I I I don't know if that was your experience, but like for me, I was joked that um if there was a bell up there that you could just ring it and a helicopter would swoop in and say, I would have contemplated just get me out of here. Just it it was it's a special kind of of just pain. So what caused you to drop out of that one, if I can ask? Was it that one?

Christine 6:21

I missed the cutoff. Yeah, I was stopping so much because I was so sick, I just couldn't get the time back.

unknown 6:27

Got it.

Christine 6:28

I think I would have kept going, but yeah, it was the cutoff. I missed the cutoff at 67.

Thad 6:33

Knowing you what I know about you and just your story and pushing your perseverance, I have no doubt that you would have kept going. Um, yeah, man. Well, so you you did that and then you did superior, which I've heard superior is just a brutal in its own right. I mean, just a very difficult. How was that race?

Christine 6:51

Yeah, it was pretty brutal. I think I didn't know what I was getting myself into, but really, really technical course. So again, hard to get speed, lots of roots and rocks, and you know, you don't have the elevation, but it's just a slower race uh because you can't get that running. I think you have the first 20 miles you can run and get some pretty good pace. I mean, I think I was doing an eight-minute mile, those first 20 miles, and then because it was fairly flat, but I once you started getting more into the thick of the trails, that's where you, you know, not having grown up or really training on that type of terrain um really slowed me down. So I think there were some miles I was going 30 minute miles through some of it through the night. Yeah.

Thad 7:31

What caused that big shift and and just speed difference?

Christine 7:35

I think a lot of it was that terrain. I think there was just no way you really had to watch every single step um with the rocks and the roots. And you were climbing. Like there were times I was climbing up over rocks um to stay on that trail. And I think that was that was a lot of it. It just was hard to get that speed going because of the terrain.

Thad 7:57

I've heard that that one as well, and just looking at it, because I've I've been up there for work actually quite a bit. And there's not, you know, you look in and I'm I'm I'm pointing off in the distance because the the mountains are right here in Colorado Mountains. Whereas you don't you don't have that, but I think that one, I mean, Superior has what, 18, 19, it's got a sizable amount of elevation gain the whole time, doesn't it?

Christine 8:20

Yeah.

Thad 8:21

And to be able to pick that up, there's gotta be a just I mean, it's almost like a death, death by a thousand cuts type of thing where you're just up, down, up, down.

Christine 8:29

It's a great way of putting it. I think that's yeah. It was it was really um, it was very humid, you know, but it was yeah, it was an interesting, it was an interesting race. But I had a coach who did a ton of ultras. He did Leadville actually a handful of times. And so my coach at for for my ultras that year, he told me he would never do superior, merely because of the terrain. He's like, I just wouldn't enjoy it. And I was like, I get it now. Yeah, I finished.

Thad 8:57

Yeah. Would you go back and do it again? No. That that difficult.

Christine 9:03

Yeah.

Thad 9:03

Okay.

Christine 9:04

I just didn't enjoy it. I think there were people, of course, they're like all races who go back every year, but for me, I didn't enjoy that type of Ultra.

Thad 9:11

That makes sense. Well, it's it's amazing that you did it just two weeks after Leadville. I love that like that to me just it just blows my mind um the fact that you dove in and did that. So this was 20 did you say 2017? 2022? Okay.

Christine 9:28

22, yeah.

Thad 9:29

Okay. And so you've you know had Leadville, um, then superior. At what point in time did you say? Because I don't think you probably started out saying, I'm gonna do Moab, unless maybe you did.

Christine 9:40

No, I didn't. I think the first time, I think probably through something, maybe was, you know, we didn't have the ad clippings like back in the day to find the races, but I think I think there maybe some Facebook forum mentioned some 240 race, and I think in my mind, especially going to Lentville camp, it came up a little bit, but I was like, no way on earth would I ever do that. But I also was there was this curiosity though. It wasn't because I said that too. I said that with my Ironmans, I said that with 100 mile races. I'll never do these, right? And here I'm doing them. And there was just this curiosity about Moab. I mean, there are other 200 mile races, but there was something about Moab that just kind of stuck with me. And yeah, that's kind of where the seed was planted, was kind of when I started dipping my toe into these ultra runs.

Thad 10:22

I love I love how similar it is for all ultra runners, how we all start out with, oh yeah, I'm doing this, but I would never do that. Right. And then a year later, you're, you know, hitting the sign up button and just doing it. Well, what when you think about Moab, what what enticed you with it? What did you find intriguing with it?

Christine 10:41

Yeah, I think one, there was a little bit of the distance, but uh how people described it, they said a little, yes, the beauty, spiritual, but just kind of the concept of it, um, how it how it came together, how it's really rare people will even go that distance. And I always thought we were in a super small community doing a hundred miles. And it's like I can't even imagine then the percentage of folks that do 200 plus. Um, but I was just so fascinated by the fact that a human body could even do this and the hundred, let alone anything 200 plus. So I think those those were some of the things about Moab that stayed with me.

Thad 11:14

And that Moab is a big uh loop, isn't it? Yes.

Christine 11:18

Is that correct? It's a big loop, yeah.

Thad 11:19

Because I've looked at a couple of them that are loops or point-to-point. I think Coca-Dona is a point-to-point across Arizona. Yeah. And they all look it's just it's very interesting to see the terrain and just everything that goes into it. Yes. Um is fascinating. So you did these in 2022. When did you discover or say, you know what, Moab is this is it? I'm gonna make this happen.

Lottery Luck And Nine-Month Plan

Christine 11:43

I think things had to fall in place. My kids were pretty young. I was my company moved me out to the East Coast to run our New York City sales team at the time. And so I was going through relocation with the family, the two little kids. You you know, so much of this is also a mental piece. There's one thing to manage time and do physical. So there's the time component, right? That um, and none of us have time, right? But the reality of a relocation and two little kids is just for me to train for any ultra at that point was pretty unrealistic. Um, so I did some halves, I did like the New York City Marathon, very normal races. But I um I think once I was able to really manage different work schedule, I switched jobs. Um the kids were a little more self-sufficient. I this was this was the time. Again, no perfect time. You gotta find ways to make it work, and I know we'll probably talk about that. But I think that's when I entered the lottery. It was early January of 2025 and got in.

Thad 12:39

Okay. How many people applied for that lottery? Thousands. Oh, really?

Christine 12:44

All over the world. Yes, that's what I heard. Okay, yeah. We could we could pin candles to an ask, but yeah, they just yeah.

Thad 12:51

I didn't I I knew it was a lot. I would have guessed less though, because it just did the 240. I I would not have guessed. Yeah. Um and you got in, this was your first time applying, and you got in the first time.

Christine 13:02

Yes. And I didn't know. So then of course you meet people as you run, and people have been trying for years to get in. And I Okay. Yeah, so I those are where you there's things in life where you kind of know are meant to be.

Thad 13:15

Yep. This was this was your year.

Christine 13:17

Yeah. Yeah.

Thad 13:18

And so you you found out in January that Moab was happening. And that's September?

unknown 13:25

Yeah.

Christine 13:26

Or was it October? October. Yeah, October 10th was the start.

Thad 13:29

So you got nine months basically to train up and and get ready to go for it. What what was your goal? What was your game plan? What did you hope to have happen at Moab as you thought about it at that point in time?

Training By Time, Not Miles

Christine 13:41

Yeah, great question. I think the big one always, and it always had been, was just to finish. I think knowing it can get really daunting. I think any big ultra can get daunting when you think about the mileage. I immediately, though, started interviewing coaches. Um, I landed um with a great coach, Cliff Pittman, out of CTS um group. And so he put together a plan right away. So I ran, you know, throughout January and then landed with him, and we started executing his plan in February. Um and I think that was great because we would do weekly calls and text. He was pretty accessible. I got to run with him um at a training camp. But my big goal for Moab was to what ultimately finish that race.

Thad 14:22

Okay. And no time goal, just let's just knock this out and just finish.

Christine 14:28

Yeah, we had a goal because just I was doing pretty well through training. So he was able to back into what I really like about Cliff too, is there's a lot of analytics just with with, you know, we recorded a lot of my data just through running and nutrition and all of that to back into some stuff. So we we landed on 90. We thought even it could be a little bit less, and obviously it ended up being with again conditions you can't control with the weather. Um, cutting it super close.

unknown 14:52

You're cutting it.

Christine 14:54

We were thinking like 90 hours.

Thad 14:57

That and it's and the cutoff is how many hours is the cutoff?

Christine 15:01

117. Yeah. 117.

Thad 15:03

Okay. All right. Well, and so I'm so curious to jump further ahead, but I'm gonna fight the urge to ask some of those questions as well. And so you had um, you're in Jersey, found out in January what's going on in your life right now around this training plan that you put together.

Christine 15:22

Yeah, and that was the great part about Cliff too. Like, you know, work is extremely important. Kids are really involved in a lot of activity. So, how do we, you know, I said I'll wake up at any any hour. Like I'm not concerned about getting training in, but here's the things that are going on, whether I had conferences or work travel or big meetings that I just needed extra time to prepare for kids' sports or vacations. And we worked, we just planned ahead. Um, and then it was really what we did is we didn't focus on miles in the training plan. We focused on hours running. And I think a lot of kind of coaches, especially with these big ultras, tend to do do that. Um and so I just had to get in hours before work. Um, rain or shine, I'd be out there. Sometimes because of kids, I'd have to be on the treadmill, right? Putting in four hours on a treadmill is not ideal, but you find ways when you have a goal to make it work.

Thad 16:10

And so you this is something that's fascinating to me that I was actually contemplating I put together my training plan for 2026.

Speaker 2 16:17

Yeah.

Thad 16:17

And normally I go off of miles, but actually this year I'm switching and um over to time.

Speaker 2 16:23

Yeah.

Thad 16:24

What was that switch like for you going from miles to times?

Christine 16:29

That's a good question because that was my for initial was always miles. And I feel like the miles helped me maybe be a little faster. But speed's not a big thing, but I think I was just because I just want to get it done. But I was like, oh, hours. I could just, you know, let me go slower up this hill. Maybe I'll even walk. I think that was the mental shift. So I don't know if miles would be better for me from a speed standpoint. Yeah.

Thad 16:56

That's well, I I think about my run this morning because I knew I was, you know, I haven't switched over to the time yet, but I knew it's I've got I'm just doing eight miles this morning. It's 14 degrees out. I'm freezing cold. I didn't wear enough gear. And and so I was moving, probably pushing that upper end of zone two. Yeah. Whereas you I think you hit the nail on the head with it that it once it's a time thing, I'm gonna be out here for whatever the time frame is.

Speaker 2 17:23

Yeah.

Thad 17:24

Doesn't matter how fast I'm going. I I would imagine you could do more of that slower zone two kind of freely. Um is that what you experienced with it?

Christine 17:33

Yes. And maybe I think that's a lot of the goal of the coaching is to keep you consistently in that zone too for a long period of time.

Thad 17:41

That makes a ton of sense. And so you didn't say you have kids sports, you've got work, you've got vacations, all of this stuff going on. Uh was the early morning your your favorite time to go train, I guess your easiest time to go train, or did you find your good question.

Juggling Work, Kids, And 2 A.M. Runs

Christine 17:59

It was. And so I think, you know, yeah, there were 2 a.m. wake ups a lot of times, right? Because I had to get on a 7 a.m. train to the city. There were times where it was just in the neighborhood. I didn't get to go to the trails. And sometimes it's really hard in those hours to practice nutrition. But you know, you make some of the little bits of sacrifices to to when you have a laser focus on a goal.

Thad 18:24

And as you think about January towards that October time frame, which I would imagine there was some taper on that, so maybe September time frame. Um, what sort of hurdles did you run into during your training lead up to it? Yeah.

Christine 18:38

It was long. It was really long. I think, you know, when I was in Minnesota, when I first started training, and even in my Iron Man days, right, and doing those races, I had this community that I could go out with for bike rides. They might have not have been doing Ironman's, but they would join me on a bike ride for a certain period of time. Or when I was training for something like a lead bill, you know, they may not join me for the miles, but they'll come for 10 miles, right? And so there's always some sort of community when it came to a race like this. You know, yes, there's probably communities out here, but there's also, I'm going at crazy hours of the day, right? To get this in. So it's not that there's not even a community or someone who would join you. It's just you've got to do it within your schedule to make it work. And so I think for me, it ended up being very long. Um, it was a slog. I think the hardest parts for me were probably July and early August. Um, I I was able to go to a camp over Memorial Day, which was just a highlight, right? To run in Colorado, to be around other runners. I think that really recharged me and gave me some confidence too of just where I was at in my training. But the training, the training was really hard. Mentally being increasing that volume, making it work, feeling extremely like just alone in this, sometimes questioning why am I actually doing that, digging deep to really understand what is this why? Right. Um because you are you are tired. And you know, to be able to execute both at your job as a mom, but then also, you know, in in this, you it really did require a lot of saying no to a lot of things. Um, just mentally having to clear my mind so I could execute on those three things work, being a mom, and then this race. And you know, nutrition was a huge part of it, hydration. I think all of that plays a key role into being successful in it, but a lot of that is a mental strain. And I think when the volume really increased in July in that early August time frame, and you're out eight hours in the woods by yourself, listening, I don't know, to whatever music. It's just it gets it gives you a lot of time alone in your in your thoughts.

Thad 20:45

And I'm curious to ask what what did you land on and it is your why there? Because you said you you have to have that. What was your why you discovered in that training? What was that why for you?

The Why: Presence, Parents, And Legacy

Christine 20:57

You know, I think the why for me with a lot of these races has never been one thing, and I think I've always wanted it to be, right? Because what they always say that, like, no, your why. And I think, you know, for me, there's an element I look at life as, and I have for for a long time. And it could be because I was close to my father, he passed away, he lived life big and large, and you know, taking advantage of of different opportunities physically with his job, with us as kids, just always being fully present. I think there's something where I look at life like this is just this is our one shot. I look at example up for my kids, just what I'm setting, and I want them to dream big and go after big things. So there's some motivation there. I think there's a closeness to my dad that I feel when I do these things. Um because he introduced me to it. Um and then I think ultimately it's always what can you unlock in that next level of yourself? Because if you can unlock certain levels that you didn't even know existed, that leads to tons of positive benefits throughout your life. The ripple effect is is enormous.

Thad 22:02

I I love Everything inside of that answer with that and you that one connection to your dad. I don't want to just gloss over that because I I'm just imagining you running and and having that that mental just connection with him. And uh you know, uh my mom passed away before my kids were born.

Speaker 2 22:22

Yeah.

Thad 22:23

And so I I share that. I don't know when your when your dad passed away, but uh just I would imagine it it maybe brought some good feelings for you uh to know that uh he would be super proud of you and and the things that you're doing. Um but you mentioned the unlocking of levels. Tell us some more about that.

Christine 22:46

Yeah. I mean, you think about a race like this, and you if you go in, or even a hundred, right? And you're thinking that you're thinking about the 240. You're never gonna get through a 240 when you're thinking about the 240. So much of and even a training schedule like this. If I looked at January and everything I had to do leading up to October 10th, it is beyond daunting. It is truly chunking out the process. It is the one mile at a time, it's the one hour at a time, it's the one day at a time. You the presence you have to have and feel to do to take on something like this is very real. And so when you think about an unlock of that and just how that can transform as a parent, as a leader, is is something that is benefits beyond just training for a race. There's just a true presence that you have to have and patience and trust in a process to break something apart, and also just how you're calibrating to focus. Like I know at 45 minutes I have to eat something, right? I know, and it's the simplification of something really big to accomplish then, you know, the ultimate goal.

Thad 23:59

Where have you seen that um presence show up? And I know you you you wear many, many hats, um just as a parent, as a as a mother, where have you seen that show up?

Christine 24:13

Yeah, I think it is also just how I approach my kids, right? And what I think we're in a world as parents too, where they're pulled in so many different directions. You know, I live in a town that's really competitive with sports, right? I mean, kids are in private lessons at like five years old. And in my mind, I'm like, I played D1 hockey and I'm like, what? Like, what are we doing here? But I think you you're pulled and feel pressure as a parent to put your kids in everything for them to be able to act a certain way, speak a certain way, read at a certain level, be able to perform a certain way at different sports. And, you know, when you really just focus back on like who do we ultimately just want want to be in the world are calling us parents, is we want to just raise really good humans, right? And so even just the simplification of cutting the noise of that and what, you know, listening to them, what are they gravitating to, patience even with them and being present with them, I think also not only the pressure of parents wanting to be at certain levels because of society or whatever community we're in, I think also our attention as parents, you know, I always say being a parent, kids aren't hard. It's we have tired parents that are pulled in a thousand different directions and overstimulated. And that's why kids can be hard. And I think putting away the phones sometimes, truly focusing on let's go play a board game or let's go for a walk, those types of things. I think, you know, you don't need to train for a 240 file 40 mile race to realize that. But I think it's an example of just awareness that can come out of it and have an impact in in your kids, being a mom.

Saying No And Leading Better

Thad 25:51

What I'm thinking about we were playing, we our kids got uh settlers of Catan Jr. for Christmas, which I'm so we're we're a big board game family, and that one has just been it it's really on their level right now that they can bear into it. And to me, with what you just shared, that's that that 45 minute, it's time to get some nutrients on this run. That that presence of saying sometimes we just need to stop and this is that this is that parenting hack of everything else is down and we're just gonna play a board game right now.

Speaker 2 26:23

Yeah.

Thad 26:24

And that that people we're not winning the the parenting goal today, but this is the nutrients that we're taking right now. I like that. Uh well, it's from you, so thank you for sharing that.

Speaker 2 26:35

Um packaged it.

Thad 26:38

Well, it's been just picking up what you're putting down. I I really I love that insight that you bring to it. Um and so it one other thing I wanted to ask about too, because you mentioned that you had to in order to do something this big while keeping everything intact, you had to say no to a lot of things.

unknown 26:55

Yeah.

Thad 26:56

Um and I don't know if you're willing to share what are some of those things that you had to say no to or you felt like you were important to say no to at the time.

Christine 27:04

Yeah, you know, I think there's there's social things, right?

Thad 27:07

Okay.

Christine 27:08

Um for me, you know, I love community of friends and being with them, but there are things that, you know, I I couldn't join. I had to sleep, right? I think there were things where, you know, even with with you know, nutrition-wise, so I guess it's not saying no to nutrition, but being really, really disciplined in you know, what I was consuming. I don't want to say I gave up all alcohol, but I, you know, definitely, definitely limited a lot of that and other things. So there was good whole foods I was bringing into my body and and recovering mechanisms I was doing and water, because I think so much of when you're not getting probably the sleep that you need, um, you've got to really find ways to um find rest and recovery in different ways. And that's through nutrition. And that's also then when I think about even work. And so you think of some of the ripple effects and the unlock in work. I think there's, you know, any of us, I don't want to just just say women, but there is a tendency to always say yes to things, to lead the project, to take the notes, to send the recap, to lead the team meeting, to raise your hand and say, I'll do that initiative, or to do more initiatives. And I think, you know, not just this race caused this, but I think over the course of years of being in kind of one, probably maturity, like just in a career, but also and in leadership, I also think the races have helped and Moab, where you really understand what is important. And so it's not just translating to the kids, but you really understand what's important. So say no to some things at work, or if they are really important for the company, who can you tap into to elevate to lead that instead? And so that delegation piece too. So I wouldn't say it's necessarily a no at work, it's just understanding a bigger picture of what's truly important to drive the goal. And I think that's anything. It's like, what is your goal? You know, what are we trying to accomplish this quarter or this year? You know, I'm in sales, right? Well, then who are the people you have on the team? Who are the people you need on the team? And then what are those key three to five strategies you need to achieve? And then how do you back back into that and make sure everyone's firing at all cylinders and they're supported the way they need to be supported?

Thad 29:11

So I think races lend it to that. Say that one more time.

Christine 29:16

I think races and training like really help lend to that. Again, there is maturity in a career, but I think there is this compression that happens when you train for something this big, whether it's the hundreds or the Iron Man's or the 240, that condenses these learnings, these life learnings, um, uh in in a way that years of experience can that's really fascinating to think about.

Peak Training Blocks And Mental Lows

Thad 29:40

And what I heard with that too is almost making you a better leader and that you do have to delegate. And I think um well, and I I did an interview recently um with a um Mike Aversaw as a Navy ship commander, and just he mentions and references how you have to kind of give up a little bit to get command. And that's kind of what I what I heard with what you're sharing too, is that where can I delegate this piece? Because I have to now.

Speaker 2 30:12

Yeah.

Thad 30:12

Like I have to choose to say no to other things, which would, in theory, make you an even better leader at work, which is fascinating.

Speaker 2 30:22

Yeah.

Thad 30:23

So it thinking about the social things, because I think that this is what a lot of people in life, and I say a lot of people, I think myself too, but you know you when you're training, you you do say no to things. There are things you say no to. Um because you just eventually something's gotta give.

unknown 30:41

Right.

Thad 30:41

When you you're doing that level of training. And you look back at you said June, July were the toughest times. Was there anything you'd look back at and say, man, I I regret saying no to so many things during that time?

Christine 30:53

No. Now I now I don't.

Thad 30:55

Okay.

Christine 30:55

No, and I and I don't think I did in the moment. I think I think I was grateful to have the coach that I had to talk to and be open about just feeling like things were a lot. I mean, there was a point in time where, you know, it felt like so much running. I do like running, but it was so much running. And I asked if we could just substitute even like the Peloton or a bikin for some of our runs sometimes. And that was a huge shift. Who knew that little tweak, one day a week I could do a Peloton for a couple hours or whatever versus run was gonna just change my training trajectory. But he was like, goodness, I have to run again six days a week. I was like, I need a let's mix that up.

Thad 31:39

Yeah. And so you were able to just kind of shift gears a little bit.

Christine 31:42

Yeah, and that helped a lot. Yeah. But there's nothing I regretted, like looking back that I had to say say no to.

Thad 31:50

And I love how quickly you had a no there. Because I think in the moment, when we're saying no to it, we it feels like we're we're we're letting we're missing out on so much. Um, when the I I found in my experience that a lot of times those things in my life tend to always be there, like the friends that are doing things socially. You know, if you miss out on insert, you know, uh Jazz Fest came to mind up from New Orleans originally. It's like it's gonna be here next year.

unknown 32:20

Yes.

Thad 32:20

You know, and there's gonna be a hundred other New Orleans style parties that will happen after, you know, and then it it's just it's always gonna like things like that will always be there, whereas these opportunities, and I I love how quickly it was a a no for you that there was no regret. Because I think that's where people that are contemplating doing big things can falter because there is a little bit of that pressure. And so it's it's great to know that that you didn't have it. And it's interesting too that June, July, was that the mileage you said was the most difficult?

Christine 32:47

Yeah, July. Well, then July, August, actually. And then I had um the first couple of weeks of September. So a month out of the race, we did the biggest weekend just to kind of simul simulate the race. So we did, you know, close to a hundred miles over that weekend. Um hour-wise, that translated to a good amount of you know, 40 hours plus um the whole weekend. I took a day off of work for it. I took a vacation day PTO to go run eight hours, 10 hours in the trail.

Thad 33:18

I'm many a PTO days of just used for trail runs. Um what was your weekly mileage looking like at that time frame, just out of curiosity, as as you think about it?

Christine 33:32

65, like okay yeah, 65, yeah, and not like crazy.

Thad 33:36

Okay. And then you would just sprinkle in some big runs. Like you just have a hundred-mile weekend. Yeah.

Christine 33:43

Yeah. We would do every week there were two big days back to back, whether it be four or six hours or six hours, six hours. And then this one was over three days. And then sometimes he would build it in where it was three days. So you would have maybe one or two days per week that were big, like before a workday, anywhere from three to four hours. And then the weekends would be probably around six.

Thad 34:06

Oh, right. And I think too, yeah, I asked you a mileage question when you were a timing, was your uh your big thing. So yeah, I'm gonna I need to reprogram my own mind to start thinking about that.

Christine 34:18

I know.

Thad 34:19

So what are you gonna do?

Christine 34:21

No, I agree. I had to do the whole I had to do it too.

Start-Line Calm And A Historic Storm

Thad 34:24

Just not asking about it um in that way. Because it's I'm I'm excited for it. I think it's gonna be a great shift. So all of this training, all of this preparation, and now you end up in Moab, um getting set for the race. I mean, what are you feeling getting started for such a I mean, this is an epic yeah, this is an expedition. I mean, that's the whole time that I was following you. This is an expedition in my mind. But what were you thinking at the start line of this and just getting ready for it?

Christine 34:55

You know, I truly believed it was the reward from all the training. Because the training was, I will still say, kind of the hardest part. I think the one thing too, we were all kind of the weather conditions, we're all looking at it and we didn't know like weather could shift anytime, but there was a lot of rain and lightning that Moa had had an experience going into this race. So weather was a little on the mind, but I would say overall, I was going in extremely excited just to get there. I had been wanting this for nine months now and well, and longer, right? When you think about it, it was always a goal and a dream. And I think that I had a lot of peace going into it. A lot of peace. And even at the start line, I wasn't nervous, I wasn't shaking. I just like was very just calm and excited to get going.

Thad 35:36

Interesting. Where do you think that piece came from?

Christine 35:39

Great question. I think there was I think it was the buildup of how much I've wanted to do this and really let's see how my body executed from the training. Like, let's see what happens.

Thad 35:52

Okay. I that it makes a ton of sense. I can't imagine being calm and peaceful in that moment, knowing what you're about to undertake. And it also makes me think, too, that there's you know, almost that the the money's in the bank. You've made the deposits, nine months of of you put the deposits in, and now it's time to cash cash out.

Christine 36:13

Right.

Thad 36:14

As long as you put the deposits in, you're ready to go.

Christine 36:17

Right.

Thad 36:18

Um, and it's amazing that you were so calm and so ready uh for this journey.

Christine 36:23

I was I was surprised, like, because I would say Leadville, I wasn't, right? Like any race I would get, you know, it's just that good nervous kind of energy. And it's not that I didn't have that. I think it was really knowing that it was a journey or an expedition.

Thad 36:36

One other thing I wanted to ask you about too is because you're you've got this expedition, you're you've got this calming piece, and yet you do literally have a storm upon you, uh, which actually I I believe you looked it up. Let me know if I'm off on this, but it was the most rain Moab has ever experienced in 150 years.

Speaker 2 36:54

Yeah.

Thad 36:55

Um So what was the thinking going on at that point in time?

Christine 37:00

Yeah, you know, I think there's a level of kind of delusional positivity that we all have doing these ultras. And so I think a lot of us like, oh, it can't be that bad, right? And even Candace, when we're doing the race, race kind of rundown the day before. It's like, yeah, I mean, this could happen. I mean, they gave us like the flash flooding, what we would need to do because we're in the desert, they can't absorb, so we could run into flash floods. Like they we did go through all that protocol, but it was again this posity, like, but we've talked to the locals, we think it's gonna be fine. And so we just kind of believe that. And, you know, it did miss a little bit on that first day, but I remember like I remember going through the first night, and it was just wind, fog, and torrential downpour for 10 hours. Even in my mind, like getting to that next aid station, and that also is where you were doing like 20 minute miles, 25. You just could not get the speed because it was slippery, you couldn't see the flags. But I remember thinking, well, that was the first night. It can't be that bad after that. Like, there's no way this is gonna keep going. And it did.

Thad 37:59

The entire time.

Long Gaps Between Aid And Heavy Loads

Christine 38:01

Yeah. So we had like a little bit of a respite where it did get, I think, only hot once quickly, like maybe an hour or two. And then where you truly got the desert, which Moab's known for is like the heat during the day, cold at night. And then it was really overcast. And I got, you know, I finally was able to pick up my pacer at mile 68 because you couldn't have a pacer till mile 68. And I, you know, the first time, the interesting part about 240s versus hundreds too is how far apart the eight stations are. I don't know if that's all 200 plus races, or if it was specifically, I know a lot of with Moab was just protection of the land and just permits and wanting to avoid some traffic. And so I saw my crew at mile 17, and then I didn't see them till I think close to mile one twenty six around. So I went almost a hundred miles without seeing or a hundred miles without seeing my over a hundred miles without seeing my um crew. And which was there were still aid stations, but they were also really far apart. So I think that was something that I knew about it because I did a lot of studying on Moab prior. I just think I wasn't as it just surprised me. Like you had to carry a ton on you.

Thad 39:16

Well, I was just gonna ask you, what did you what did you pack differently? I mean, just no number one, you're going so because of the weather. Number two, because it's already like even if the weather wasn't bad, those are that's a big spacing in between these.

Christine 39:29

Yes. And they so that's what they kind of prepare you for too. So I did was carrying tons of water on me. Um, I practiced with that on nutrition. We did all have to have emergency 500 calories. We did have to have some emergency equipment on us, and nutrition was part of that. But then on top of it, you know, I was carrying a good amount of of nutrition. I think the hard part was knowing my times were so far off, but I wasn't alone, right? Like after that first night, everyone was behind on their times. So you're not the only one experiencing some of that and and just kind of the belief like I gotta just trudge through and kind of try to make up as much as I can. But yeah, you're carrying you're carrying quite a bit.

Thad 40:05

Yeah, I I was watching you, I think somebody had sent me an Andy Glaze video clip, I think. I could be misquoting it, but it was it essentially just showed trail shoes and they were packed with mud. I mean, and just I was imagining you out there with like five-pound weights on your feet. I mean, it's just that had to have been so heavy just being soaking wet, slushing along, just how did you handle that? Just continuing to go through that level of just when is this gonna stop?

Mud, Lost Shoes, And Crew Strategy

Christine 40:42

Yeah. I think you also have an acceptance, a delusional acceptance of this is just what I can't control this, right? And I think I I there were points, yes, where after another storm that second night, and then turning these corners and realizing these huge pieces of mud, my shoes were falling off. Like it was taking us an hour to go a mile because the mud was so much. Like you couldn't even, you took a you just got stuck. Um, I remember I never have thrown out equipment before, but I had to absolutely throw out those shoes. There was like no salvaging after this mud.

Thad 41:20

But yeah, it was a little bit after it was done that the shoes were trashed.

Christine 41:25

Those are yeah, there was just no way I was gonna, yeah. I think the no, no. Okay. I think the other thing of planning too for something like this is I think we had over 15 aid stations, and I just packed not knowing you know, things could happen with the crew and the weather. So I packed all the essential equipment in the crop bags, which I think was really important. So I did pack change of clothes and extra calories and shoes. And they would just, if they got there, would grab it. But if they didn't, like we just planned ahead so I could could change out. So I think that was really important. But that was like the level of planning. I spent hours creating this beautiful color-coded spreadsheet of just every aid station, if this, then that, that my crew was literally like studying.

Speaker 2 42:07

Okay.

Christine 42:08

But it was just a different level of planning for something too with the weather conditions. I remember before leaving, because I was looking at the rain and I was talking to my coach, I was like, I have all these extra shoes, but I was like, I think I need more. And he's like, You'd rather just be overprepared. I remember going to the store and just buying like three extra pairs of shoes just to have them. And I did, I used them.

Thad 42:27

You I was gonna ask you if you you ended up using the extra pairs.

Christine 42:30

Yeah, I did, but feet were destroyed. I don't think I knew how bad because every aid station they would tape over. But I think because of the con well, yes, the yes, because of the conditions, my feet absolutely got wrecked.

Thad 42:42

Yeah, oh yeah, I saw pictures of your feet afterwards and they were so gross. Just that it's I I can't imagine how painful that it must have been. But even just switching into, I mean, dry shoes, which actually I want to go back to something you said earlier too, because I think I I think it's important to talk about too, because you you said there's a level of acceptance that this is what's going on. And it it makes me think about there's a lot of studies done on on veterans and uh military members in POW camps. And there's typically two people in those camps that one one group that says, Oh, we're gonna be out by insert next holiday. Oh, we're gonna be out by insert this next holiday, and the other group that just says, no, we're here. This is it. And those people tend to survive the longest because they're just accepting of it. Whereas the group that is always they're constantly disappointed. Uh what do you think caused you to accept just the reality that it's soaking wet right now? Because I would have had to imagine that if you would have kept thinking over the next sunrise, next sunrise, it's going to dry up, that there would be a certain amount of craziness. What what what do you think went into that thinking?

Acceptance Over Optimism

Christine 44:00

That's interesting to think about from and you know. The next holiday, or like, no, this is what it is. And I think that's exactly why I finished this race and others did. I think that, you know, I thought about this for a while with Moab because a lot of people are like, how did you get through all this? You know, people dropped out because of the weather. You know, I don't think it's just experience with races because there have been races where I'm where I get to that point. Like, it's not, it's gonna be this, right? Or it's gonna be that. And I think it's not just the race experience, but I think it's life experience. I think there's a lot you draw in to complete something like this that goes beyond just having experience in races. And I think about that goes through a lot of things we've all battled through in life. We all have things, right? And you draw upon all of that as you're executing on something like this. And I think I feel like it was a culmination of I I turned 40 this year. So I think it was a culmination of 40 years on this planet that it was drawing me into this the kind of mental capacity of that true acceptance.

Thad 45:10

Okay. I love that one and happy 40th. Uh to you. What a great way to just absolutely crush your 40th.

Speaker 2 45:18

Thanks.

Thad 45:19

I'll go do the 240. What a great year. Okay, when was that? Was that July?

Christine 45:27

July 1st, yeah. It was during the meeting.

Thad 45:29

Yeah. Did you just kind of let go a little bit and have some fun?

Christine 45:32

Oh, well. And that was important. Yeah.

unknown 45:34

Yeah.

Thad 45:34

I was gonna say, I bet that probably helped the the sanity check-in of of life. Um well, good for you. During the race, was there a time, and I have to imagine there was, where you felt like quitting became an option? Where it was like, okay, okay, not at all.

Christine 45:53

There was never a doubt I would I could finish this, right? And I think it was just that's yeah. I was gonna finish this. I mean, part of it too for me was like, I'm not coming back here and doing this again. So I got it. It's like now or never.

Thad 46:10

Okay. And because you with having that experience at Leadville, you knew what it was like to be up against cutoffs. And I don't know, were you up against cutoffs at all at Millet?

Christine 46:18

Only at only at the end. I actually got in a good Yeah, I got in a good spot, kind of in the middle and got more in the middle chunk of things, but it was yeah, it was that fourth night that really set me back.

Thad 46:29

Okay.

Christine 46:30

And so even then I was okay, like in the big scheme of things.

Thad 46:34

Really? Even on the fourth night, you were you were good to go?

Christine 46:38

Yeah. So I we still had a good chunk of hours. I mean, it was it was way past 90 was not happening, 100 was not gonna happen, 110 hours wasn't gonna happen, but I was I had a good buffer between 110 and 117 hours for finishing time. And so when I got to that 200 mile mark, I mean, that was the worst night. The fourth night, I think that's where the culmination of a lot of things hit. It was, you know, people who were out there, and that's the difference between like the people who finished earlier in the race who didn't have the fourth night, and me and a bunch of others. Like that was probably the scariest night for a lot of us.

Night Four: Whiteout, Cold, And Survival

Thad 47:09

Um what made that scary?

Christine 47:13

Uh, for me, where I was at at the point of the race, it was the second technical. There's kind of two technical climbs. I think there's a lot of technicality in Moab, but these were considered the two technical climbs. And so I was at that between one um 185 and 200 was was the climb. And you know, you're going up to 10,000 feet and down, and just it's to get to the 200 mile base camp. And I think our aid station, and I think the what happened was it was great actually. There, I got a picture under rainbows, like all leading up to this kind of 185 mile mark where it was 15 miles in. And we were in the aid station getting some food. I took like a 30-minute nap, maybe 20-minute nap actually. And we were getting ready to leave, and all of a sudden, the wind just everything was blowing. It went completely fog, fog, and the wind was, I don't know, 40, 60 mile per hour winds, and it just dropped the temperature below freezing. We had to go. We we had to move. So my pacer and I, we we left the aid station, and that's where I was like, no way on earth. I couldn't even see him in front of me. He, even though he was super close, and you know, he was looking for all the flags. And I, that's where I was starting to think, like, no way on earth this could last this long. This has to go away. No, it lasted all night. And that was where it was taking us an hour to go, a mile. And I think the hard part there, they were sending out searching rescue crews. We were freezing. So you think we had great gear, he had Gore-Tex, like we were soaked to the bone, soaked to the bone. We're falling on mud nonstop because it's so slippery, you're just falling. You can't even get a step in. And all you can do is move forward. You can't, you can't stop because you have to cling to any piece of warmth you had. I there was a lot of thoughts in people's minds that we kind of just quickly assessing after, kind of getting through that night, where some of us did think we were gonna die. Yes, we were hallucinating and super tired. That's where you did, even though we had a lot of food, I was like running out of food at that point because it was, you know, longer than you would ever imagine. I remember we had emergency bivvy blankets and I wrapped mine. I had to wrap mine around me. Another, this is a great thing about the community too. Some people were passing me, gave me, loaded me with some food, and also gave me the it had an extra bivy and wrapped it around like my legs. So I had like this like a dress, like around my like a shawl and like a skirt of this, this emergency blanket, and just falling constantly in the mud. And just I remember my pacer, just we have to, we have no choice. Like there is no one coming to save us. We can't, you have to to get to anything warm or to get, we have to get to the aid station. And I think that was the heart in my mind was oh my god. And as a mom, like there were definitely thoughts like this was this could be it. And I think I never had that in my life. And so you've you you know experienced probably your time, you know, with the military, but like I hadn't had that ever.

Thad 50:11

So I mean, in that face though, of this could be it and continuing, what what gave you the strength and motivation to keep going?

Christine 50:19

It just wasn't a choice. And I think like getting it finally probably four miles out from the aid station. I again, these angels just appear, whatever you want to call them. But I think these angels just appear, and I was actually my watch stopped and I kind of got a little lost. My pacer at this point kind of ran ahead because I wanted to tell, tell them to help a lot of people behind us, too, right? Um, to get searching Rosh Skew a little bit out there faster. And so I was like, go ahead, I'll be fine. I had the map on my thing. My watch dies. This thing's supposed to last however long, and we had it charged. I have no idea. And now all of a sudden I can't, I still can't really see the flags. That it's cold and cloudy, it's not raining anymore. But this group came, these two pacers, they're two runners, and they're like, follow us. Our goal is to do 20-minute miles so you within these four um last four miles. So you guys have time to eat and sleep before you embark on your final 40. And I was like, okay, they're like, but you've got to keep up with us. And I just did. I just stayed with them. And it's just, yeah, out of the blue, they came and I just followed them to the station. And I think that kind of rejuvenated me. And what I also realized too is even looking back on this, I think so much I was still shaken up, even when the race was finished about those 15 miles. But I also realized life isn't those 15 miles, right? My I finished this race. It's that race was 240. And I think we sometimes in life we go through things and we can get stuck. We can get paralyzed by certain things in life. And you have to realize, like, this is a blip on your radar of life. And I'm not ever gonna have as scary as those 15 miles were, it's not gonna define my ex my Moab experience.

Angels On Course And The One-Step Rule

Thad 51:59

What do you think those connections are in life that people have that are similar to that? Like, where does that show up for them?

Christine 52:06

I think we go through, I think a lot of us go through really hard things. You know, it could be a death of a parent, it could be something with a child, it could be something with work, right? I think it all it all can vary on the level of degree of of it is. Everyone deems hard things differently than others to that level of degree in which it it is hard for you. But I think I think those things can really put people frozen in time, make people not want to take risks, um not work through some of those things. Um, knowing that there's light at the end of the tunnel, I think people can get really trapped in in a lot of that and it can dictate the choices they make for the rest of their life.

Thad 52:45

And what what what advice would you give to them in those moments when they're going through those tough things?

Christine 52:52

I can say there's light, but take one step. Just take one step.

Thad 52:57

Okay. Just take one more step.

Christine 52:59

One more step. Then take get yourself to take another step.

Thad 53:03

Mm-hmm. I love that. And you you had mentioned earlier with that too, your pacers, and I want to reference one. I know you had several, um, but she is a hero to me. I've never even met her, and I am secretly in love. Uh I've told my wife all about her, so she knows. Uh, but Tracy actually paced you for 100 miles of this journey. Um how did you meet Tracy? And she was with you towards the end too, wasn't she? She got you. Yeah. So how did you meet Tracy? How did that whole thing come about?

Christine 53:39

Yeah, so she did about yeah, she did 60 miles right because uh because we couldn't see the crew for a while. So she did 60 miles meeting me at miles 67, 68 until we could see the crew again, and then she did the final 40 with me. I met her, our coaches connected us. So I met her coach at that running camp in Colorado Springs over Memorial Day weekend. I needed pacers, so my coach reached out to that whole group, and she that coach reached out to Tracy, who just completed Coca-Dona 250. And Tracy's like, I'm in, and worked with her coach to keep her running up so she could be prepared to to pace a good amount of mileage. But we weren't going into that race thinking she was gonna do 100. So she was gonna go do a good chunk, but it wasn't gonna be a hundred. And so what she did was pretty phenomenal.

Thad 54:24

Oh, she's uh it's absolutely incredible that she just stepped up and I mean that's a that's a legit ultra marathon, just in pacing for for her to step in and do. Um, it's it's absolutely fascinating.

Christine 54:39

And well, and then think about like the mind shift too for me, like how I was that that 60 miles initially, um, to then how I was just completely didn't know where I was the last 40, you know, especially the last 20. Didn't know where I was like hallucinating. My feet are absolutely killing me, and I didn't know how bad they were, right? Until they were bandaged, but every step hurt, and I didn't know. I thought that's just what this was. And she didn't know, right? But she had to pull out every trick in the book to get me to move. And she was very aware of the cutoff times.

Pacers, Tracy’s 100K+, And Cutoffs

Thad 55:13

Oh, I I think we all that were following you were all of us were very aware of of the entire the entire thing. Um not not so much like Tracy, but just uh it's I think that's absolutely pivotal. And and you keep I know you you said there was no possible way you were stopping, but I'm imagining you with just excruciating pain in your feet.

Speaker 2 55:36

Yeah.

Thad 55:37

20 more miles had to have felt like forever at that point in time. Um, and still no, you were just not stopping.

Christine 55:46

I wasn't. I also didn't realize how close we were until kind of the like close we were to the time cut off. It didn't really dawn on me until the sun started to break. Um and Tracy told me and I actually saw the sweepers coming behind us. So we were probably, I forget how many miles out at that point, maybe seven. And we were still working our way down some some terrain. I just wanted to get to that road. I was like, if I get to this road, I'm gonna run. I don't care. I'm gonna run however fast I possibly can. I don't care if it hurts. Like, I just need to get off this kind of terrain that's kind of making me a little slower because it just was so rocky, and so it just hurts so much to move. And um, so that's when I realized how close we were to the cutoff at that point. But that took a long time.

Thad 56:34

I didn't know it for it took a long time for me to realize how close we were.

Christine 56:39

Oh, yeah.

Thad 56:40

It was to the cutoff. And that last, I don't know the exact time frame, so correct me if I'm off base. But your your last four miles, I believe you had of everybody, even the winner of the race, you had the fastest last four miles of the Moab 240. Is that that correct?

Christine 57:01

I think that could be. Yeah, we gotta verify that, but that's pretty cool. I think that's probably true. I told you I was gonna run.

Thad 57:07

Yeah, well, no, and that's what you did. I mean, well, I I believe that was uh what I had heard after the fact was just Tracy said, we've this is what we're doing, or we're not finishing. And something in you just buckled in and just you win. And I believe you put in. Now I want to verify it um just to make sure. But I'm pretty sure you had the fastest split of anybody in that last four mile section.

Christine 57:30

Yeah, it was I it could be even five, too. I think Candace mentioned something about five miles, the race director to us at the end, but I was so out of it. But she mentioned something like that. I think Tracy and Claire overheard it, Claire, my crew captain, uh and best friend. But I think the that's one hell of a best friend, I'll tell you that.

Speaker 2 57:50

But Claire, oh we've been through a lot together.

Christine 57:55

She sent me a picture the other day of us in like heels and dressed to the nines at like all these scales and events we used to do. And I'm like, and now we're now we're crewing races right now.

Thad 58:05

Claire told me about one of the night, I believe it was the night you guys met. Oh gosh. Uh uh. Well, it and I just I I thought it was what a beautiful thing, um, because it was something about it was cold out with heels, and she was taking care of your feet.

Speaker 2 58:21

Yeah.

Thad 58:21

And I I just had to stop and the conversation, wait a minute. So the night you met, you started taking care of her feet. And now to this day, you're still out there taking care of her feet. That's right. That's also called Yeah, it's that's so amazing. Um, yeah. No, she's she's absolutely just an incredible, incredible person, incredible resource. Um yeah, it's so key.

The Fastest Final Miles To DFL

Christine 58:47

Like you, you know, this, like running ultras. Those that team is so key when you do this. I mean, you put in the work in a lot of it too, is you don't want to disappoint them because they're taking time off and they're putting time in, right? But I think, yeah, Tracy, I think was we figured out a good technique for the final two miles, and then I told her I was gonna run. And I think it I even surprised Tracy and Tracy was like, we can actually walk a little right now. I was like, we're running. And so she's like, okay. So like when we hit the pavement, she's like, no, we can actually like walk a minute, like we're good. Like there, we just have to get to that bridge and we turn the corner, and then it's like right there. It's like, we're running. But it was it was pretty great. And I think that I didn't know how big a deal DFL was. And they even say, you know, they do, they draw the biggest crowd of the race, not even, you know, because these aren't spectator sports really. And so I think, you know, even then the first finisher and so the tunnel of all the finishers in the family. I turn this corner and I have this huge tunnel to run through. And, you know, going back and watching it and just even hearing the announcer, like they didn't think I was gonna make it. And they're like, we hope you all stick around because Christine's gonna come through, but she's not gonna make it, right? But stick around and cheer her on. And then I think hearing the shift in his voice, like, wait a minute, wait a minute, and talking to friends who are watching, like you were probably watching the dot just starting on the little track, we're going faster and faster. Yeah.

Thad 1:00:04

So incredible, and because for anybody that because anybody listening or or watching this, because I I got the video clip of the end, and you can actually pull it up on YouTube and and watch it. But everybody that was out there, every single person made a big tunnel at the finish line for you at the end. What was that like for you? What what emotions hit you as you hit that finish line and you saw all those people out there celebrating you?

Christine 1:00:28

That I couldn't have imagined that in my wildest dreams. Like I just I didn't one was it a thing, it is a thing. It maybe I don't, it just was. And I think I told you, remember the the when I was lost and I came across a couple of those pacers. It was actually a pacer I had seen at several different aid stations, and he was just so funny. And we just had this good connection because he was from the East Coast and making jokes, and it was he was one of them. And he's like, You're gonna stick with me, you're gonna finish this race, you're gonna do it. And I he came running up. He was one of the first people I saw before I entered that tunnel. And he was like, I knew you were gonna eff and do it, I knew it. And he's like, You gotta see this tunnel. And I turned the corner with him. But it was like so great to see him, Nick, I believe his name was, and he was like almost more excited for me than anyone. And you know, Tracy right there with the biggest grin on her face, and you know, even as we were running those four miles, she's like, just think of everyone you're inspiring right now, Christine. Like, this is just such a story. And I like, you know, you can't truly comprehend as you're in it, but to go through that tunnel, like I was just I was really overwhelmed, um, just with with such joy.

Thad 1:01:38

It's it's an incredible video to watch. I just I really, really amazing. And one thing I also didn't know, too, that I thought was really cool in it. There might be other races that do this. This was the first time I've seen it, but um, watching you go get your buckle, which I didn't realize that every single buckle at Moab 240 is different and unique. Yeah. And you got to go pick one.

Speaker 2 1:02:04

Yes.

Thad 1:02:04

What was that like for you?

The Finish Tunnel And Choosing The Buckle

Christine 1:02:07

It was yeah, I remember that moment. It was like, how do you even choose something to represent what I just went through? Like how this is like gonna be your tangible little takeaway, right? And I think that was very hard to actually like choose one at the time. I was like, Oh, pink's my favorite color. So of course I'm gonna choose the pink one. But I was like, no, I ended up not. There was something, what was it? It was there was kind of something representative of nature and like wind, kind of like a storm. But then this bird to me kind of represented like more of a dove and like this piece. And I think this I that image just stood out to me from again, all I could collect because my mind was like mush from the race. And so I chose that one. It was not pink.

Thad 1:02:47

Well, and I mean what a beautiful thing to end on, though, because you said you had so much calming peace starting the race. Yeah, and to end it with that peaceful dove is a is a great cap at the end of that.

Christine 1:03:00

Yeah.

Thad 1:03:01

Um, what an incredible journey. Um yeah, I'm fat I'm still in awe of what you've accomplished with that. Um, it's absolutely incredible. Thank you. Um well, thank you for sharing all of it that went into everything that you've done, especially with everything you have going on in your life, is is just absolutely just fascinating.

Speaker 2 1:03:22

Yeah.

Thad 1:03:23

What's next?

Christine 1:03:26

Um, I, you know, I want to have that excitement like I had with all my races. And so it's not that ultras are out. Right now I'm focused a lot on just recovery and mobility. I've only run a couple times since Moab. I've had some ankle stuff just even going into the race. I had some ankle stuff that just was really exposed through the volume of training. So wanting to get my body in a really, really strong, good place. So I've just been super diligent every day about my strength and mobility work and seeing some really good results. So that's really encouraging because I do want to run more. I want to do some other races. Um, I want to try different things. I want to climb different types of mountains. I want to go on, you know, tons of different types of adventures. I don't think I'd ever do a 200 plus again, but I um I'm excited. So this year we'll see. I'm really open. I haven't signed up for anything. I haven't thrown my name in the hat for any lottery. Um, but you know, we've talked about some races. I'm really open to just kind of looking at everything. There'll be something I do, but this year, but again, it's this is your whole journey. Like just even if I choose not to do something this year, it doesn't matter. Like it took me three years when I did my last ultra to do one again. So and it ended up being Moab. So it was it was three-year split between because it was 22 when I did Superior, and then I hadn't done anything over a hundred. Um, it was only halves and then that New York City marathon, and then it was Moab 240.

Thad 1:04:51

Whoa, what a leap. That's incredible. Yeah, yeah.

Christine 1:04:57

Yeah.

Thad 1:04:59

Yeah, I didn't I didn't realize that that was that was the first one many years.

Christine 1:05:06

Right. Yeah. I don't think I'll go that long again, but just was the season of life.

Thad 1:05:11

Yeah. Well, and I did I guess too, it glosses over, which I think is important to mention too, but your feet were jacked up.

Speaker 2 1:05:18

Yeah.

Thad 1:05:19

I mean, they were jacked up. Like there was what was that like? What was the healing like for you after the fact? What was that recovery process?

Christine 1:05:29

I slept for days.

Thad 1:05:31

Okay.

Christine 1:05:31

Um, I think it's surprising to some people. Like they you think you'd be ravenous and like super hungry after these things. I was not. Um, but I had to like force myself to eat. But yeah, recovery-wise, it just I it took me about two weeks to fully like walk at a decent pace again. I was limping for a little bit just because one foot in particular was a little troublesome. But yeah, now it's great. Like I can walk pretty far, I can can do some distance and and my feet are almost fully healed. So, but that took almost two months.

Recovery, Injury Lessons, And What’s Next

Thad 1:06:00

Yeah, that's I when I saw the pictures of it. They were I mean it looked like the entire side of your foot was one big blister on both feet. I mean it was it was some serious damage. And you had gone into it with an ankle injury. So you started it with an injury. Yeah. What was that injury like?

Christine 1:06:21

Yeah, so it was uh a a lot of it was like sprain caused to the inside of my ankles wasn't your typical outside um ankle sprain, and it I think that was over years. You know, I think you know, something that's interesting, I think there was probably a lot of alignment stuff, and I just kept doing races and I kept doing my thing, and I didn't really, you know, there was nothing that caused me to think anything could be wrong from an alignment standpoint or ankle injury, but over the course of years, and then it just really everything when you do a volume training like this, and for a race, it comes out. So I think it was a buildup over time of things. I don't think there was one injury that caused the ankle piece of it, but yeah, my left ankle just extremely weak and in a lot of a lot of pain. But we I did some physical therapy, all of it was runnable. I could do the race, it was never you're not doing this race, but definitely went in with an injury, yeah.

Thad 1:07:16

It's incredible to me that you had that going on and still just this unwavering mental ability to just this is happening with not having done an ultra in three years, is very, very impressive. Very impressive. Thank you. Well, of course. We kind of mentioned it earlier, and as we kind of wrap up, is there anything you want to share with anybody before I ask you one final question?

Christine 1:07:44

No, I think, yeah, I I think we covered a lot of of it, but it is, you know, you when you see a potential in in humans to do sometimes these really audacious or unbelievable things, um, you want, you almost want everyone to kind of experience that to whatever level it is for them. Again, it's not always a hundred-mile race or a 240 race. It's not always a race. But I think that's where, you know, the one step forward piece is something I whoever listens to this or wherever the message ever goes, right? And I think that's kind of a message I want with my life is the moving forward piece. And it doesn't always have to look pretty. Moving forward isn't always pretty, but it is something that again unlocks really spectacular things if you can just believe in each step.

Thad 1:08:39

I'm gonna use that going forward, that unlocking of different levels with one more step is a beautiful, beautiful way to look at it. Um I somebody shared with me a long time ago it's something that I've taken with me to to many things. I I just like to I find comfort in it. Um, but it just says we we don't rise to the level of our expectations that we actually fall to the level of our preparation. And I'm just curious to ask you, it how does that show up with you and that race specifically? And does that resonate at all with you?

Christine 1:09:16

Yeah, I think it absolutely does. I think the preparedness piece is big. I think that translates into all parts of your life, right? I think anything we do, but I think if we take it literally with a race, that preparedness gave me a lot of trust, and that's why I had the peace I had at the start line.

Thad 1:09:38

Thank you so much for joining us, Christine. You are an incredible human being uh and just inspiring us to take one more step. So thank you.

Christine 1:09:47

Thank you so much.