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Welcome to the Allie on the Run show.
I'm your host, Allie Feller, and this is where I talk with people who are doing exciting things on the run and beyond.
From professional athletes and celebrity runners to the everyday amateur and back of the pack runner we are here to celebrate everyone and anyone who enjoys a life on the run whether you are running towards something big or away from something that has been holding you back i am here to hold your hand and help you pick up the pace today the queen of adventure deirdre keen returns to the alley on the run show deirdre made her her debut here in 2021 after being featured on Humans of New York.
At the time, Deirdre was a pediatric ICU nurse at Memorial Sloan -Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
She talked about running 10 miles to work every day, about her role working with kids with cancer, and about how her dad passing away led to her running, marathoning, and so much more.
She returned to the show in 2023 after she ran and won the World Marathon Challenge.
She did those seven marathons in seven days on seven continents and was the fastest woman to do so that year.
Now, Deirdre, who still lives in New York City and now works as a consultant at McKinsey, is fresh off her latest endurance feat, the Everest Extreme Ultra Marathon. Yeah, I will let her explain all of the details of this three -week adventure that had her traversing glaciers and mountain passes and at one point basically being involved in a makeshift rescue mission to get away from the mountain and get safely home.
But before we get into it, I want to thank our sponsor for this episode and that, as you heard seconds ago, is New Balance.
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Now let's hear from Deirdre Keene.
Oh my gosh, Deirdre Keene.
I'm so obsessed with you and I'm obsessed with the way that you live life because you're always on adventures.
You're always living life to the fullest. And I think we We all need to be doing that however we can.
And so I am thrilled and honored to have you here to chat about your latest adventure as an Everest Extreme Ultramarathon finisher.
What did I even just say?
Who are you? Thank you.
Thank you. Yeah. I did not know that was a thing until a year ago, but obviously once I heard about it, I'm like, okay, this is added to the bucket list. Sign her up.
And she did. How can I make this happen?
Well, I want to start right there.
Bring us back to a year ago.
I want to hear how did you find the Everest Extreme Ultra Marathon?
It's such a mouthful to say.
Have you gotten good at rolling that off the tongue?
I'm struggling. Yeah.
Initially, I did not really say the extreme part, but after completing it, I'm like, it deserves an extreme.
It's not just annual ultra.
It's an extreme ultra.
Yes. Okay. So a year ago, how did you hear about it, and what did life look like at the time?
What kinds of things were you getting up to?
So a year ago, I was training for my first hundred mile race, Leadville, and two of my buddies from the World Marathon Challenge started posting that they were doing this.
One was doing the marathon, the other was doing the ultra.
And I was following their journey and looking at it being like, this is one of the most incredible things I've ever seen.
Not only do you get to run in one of the most beautiful places in the world, but it's also so focused on the journey of how you get there because no one shows up at Everest Space Camp and just runs.
It's a three -week process nearly to get you there and to get you to that point.
So I wanted to do it.
I tried to put it around my training plan for my next ultra, and I found a way to get a month off work so I could go.
tell us a little bit about your work and your job and how you're able to do that because my first thought is a lot of people listening are like how do you get a month off work how were you able to make this happen I know I can't tell you how many times people have asked like are you still working which is a very fair question so I work at McKinsey I'm a consultant and I'm focused in healthcare sector so I do a lot of stuff with health systems pharma companies med tech companies companies and they have a great program called Take Time, where essentially you can take 10 to 20 percent off the year
unpaid. And rather than not pay you for that month or two months that you take off, they decrease your salary by that percentage.
For me, it leads to such better quality of life because when I'm working, I am working such intense hours and I'm traveling so so much, having an outlet and something to look forward to gets me through that.
So I use Take Time this year to take off most of May.
And that is how I was able to go up to Everspace Scan.
That is awesome. And I love that you're taking advantage of it.
I feel like that's such a thing where companies are like, you know, they promote like, we don't count sick days or time off, take as much as you want, and then no one takes advantage of it.
And you're not sure how to to approach that so I just think that's so awesome that that's in place and that you're using it and using it to do something so cool so people people feel guilty about taking time off from work that is so much in American culture and that was reconfirmed when I was on this trip just talking to people from different countries like we work so much more but life is short we don't know what battles we're gonna face we need to take advantage of these adventures and no one's going to be in their final days thinking like, wow, I am so glad I worked as much as I did.
Yeah. In fact, I wish I had worked more.
Yes. I wish I worked more.
There were PowerPoint pages that could have been made, finance models.
All the missing decks.
All the missing decks of the world.
So are you still, the last time you were on the show was when we talked about how you had just completed and won the World Marathon Challenge, doing those seven marathons in seven days on seven continents.
Did you stay in pretty close touch with that group?
you talked so much about the relationships that you formed during that experience are you still in touch with a lot of those people yes definitely um we have a group whatsapp and we try to do a race a year we did an ultra last year in antelope canyon in arizona which was great most of us signed up for the 50 miler and i don't know if we have anything signed up for yet this year but um one of the women did the everest marathon this year so i just saw her a couple of weeks ago, two more people are thinking about doing it next year after my experience.
So we're constantly messaging.
And I see them at the world majors.
So I saw a bunch of them in Boston.
I'll see them in Chicago.
It's a great group.
If there's an extreme running event anywhere in the world, they'll be there.
Someone will be there.
You know, we all went through the DARE program and we were taught about peer pressure and like, they really made it seem like people were just going to be offering us cocaine on the way to school every day, which for the record has never happened.
But the number of things I've been peer pressured into doing when it comes to endurance sports like Officer Simpson simply did not prepare us for that.
It's an endorphin rush.
It's like you want your next hit?
Yeah. Come chase me in these mountains.
I'm kind of all for it.
You sign up. Well, did you sign up when you first heard about it?
What happened next?
Did you immediately put plans in motion and schedule your year around it like this seems like it was the big adventure of this year right like in the way that world marathon challenge was for that year but you tell me it was definitely like the adventure that took the most time off from work and the most planning but it also was the build -up for UTMB that I'm doing end of August so I'm doing the race around Mont Blanc which I think is 104 miles and I was looking at my training plan which consists of a lot of races and I'm like okay like this is a great way to build up to that.
I'll acclimate at high altitude I'll do 43 miles in tough terrain and it's enough months out that I can build up even more mileage from there and when I presented it that way to my fiancé who you know I needed a bit of buy -in because we're also paying for a wedding he was on board and I was able to persuade him my way of thinking.
and he's quite the little runner himself now he is so Brian had been we met online three years ago next month and um I was intrigued because he was a working professional who was also a marathoner but his father was a big ultra marathoner and had run western states numerous times so he really wanted to get into ultras and kind of pulled me into them so he would sign us both up like he He signed this book up for Leadville, UTMB, Iger, Laverito, and then would back out a month, a month beforehand.
And I'm one of those people like when I commit, I commit like that is it.
I will find a way to get it done.
So I was like, I don't really want to run ultras, but sure, like I'm still going to do it even though you're backing out.
and it's been this weird journey where I've fallen in love with the challenge of like trying to build up the mileage and running for the sake of running without sprinting so like a marathon's a long distance right but you're running as hard as you can ultra it's okay to walk you're just out there for the day and the goal is to get to the finish line yeah I love that and it's okay to walk in marathons too.
It's okay. Of course.
Yes, absolutely. It's always okay to walk.
Um, that's not what I'm trying.
No, I get it. I get it.
It's, it's a totally different beast and it's a different environment.
And yeah, it's, it's completely different.
I mean, why is he backing out of these?
What's happening? To be fair, he does travel a lot for work.
Like he has more international travel.
So I hear him in the intense schedule and I'll give him a break.
as long as I, he still lets me do it.
Yeah. I like that. So what was your understanding of what this Everest extreme ultra marathon, what was your understanding of what it was going to entail and what you were going to have to do to make it to the start line?
Honestly, I did not do due diligence.
Um, life was busy. I was like, all I really need to know is what I need to pack.
Um, I've been at high altitude, well, somewhat high altitude before, four like I trekked to Machu Picchu Leadville's pretty high I've gone to ski towns and I've never had poor reactions to high altitude but you know when you don't do your research you are in for many surprises so I didn't realize like when you're up at high altitude for three weeks it does impact you like there's no way to avoid it I didn't realize how hilly this ultra was I thought I was just gonna be running downhill from base camp I didn't realize how technical the terrain was or how difficult it would be to adjust it different
to diet that's like not meat -based and eating a lot of lentils and rice and not having the snacks that I love to enjoy so in hindsight I should have prepared more but it did lead to like a sense of adventure and excitement like I didn't know what each day was gonna bring and I just went with it you mentioned your training plan earlier and how, when you saw this, you looked at the training plan to see how it would fit in.
What is your training plan?
Do you have a coach?
Are you self -coached?
Who is signing off on all of these things you're doing?
No one. And that is why it's allowed to happen.
It's the Deirdre Keane training plan.
I had a coach for the world marathon challenge, but since then I've kind of figured out, like I know how I can do it as long as I build up the mileage.
and it started with Boston Marathon in April um from there I did a 50k beginning of May and then there was this 43 miler um in Everest like two and a half weeks ago now and then this coming weekend I have a 52 miler up in the Catskills so I'm trying to build because I need to build up the distance to 104 miles it's not so much about the races it's just getting the miles under your belt in a way that's somewhat enjoyable and races are better than just going outside by yourself and running 40 miles or attempting to.
Oh, no question. How has your body been feeling throughout all of this, both the training, the actual event, the recovery, just kind of big picture.
How is your holding up tired?
Yeah, I'm definitely I'm tired.
I feel it more now than I did when I was younger.
there is some truth to aging, I guess.
But I also I'm not mentally burned out.
I'm really enjoying this stage of my life where I'm just trying to see what I can do.
And I'm tired with good reasons.
I ran 90 miles last week, that is totally appropriate to feel exhausted.
But I like seeing that I'm in my mid to late 30s.
And like, okay, I'm starting to run 100 mile races for the the first time.
Like what else can I do?
During a normal week, if there is such a thing, what are your work hours like?
Are you in an office?
Are you traveling? I'm thinking it takes time to run 90 miles.
And you've been on the show before when you were working at Sloan Kettering and you talked about doing the 10 mile run commute just to get to work.
What does it look like now?
And how are are you getting 90 miles a weekend it's so much trickier now um especially with traveling so if I'm working from home a day or two I'll go for a run in the morning and then the evening go for myself or do my running club and Cortland track club and then during the day I might take the dogs out so my dogs don't walk anymore they only run we'll do like one or two miles between between meetings.
So we'll go outside for 15 minutes and just try to get a short run in.
And then if I'm traveling, I'm up at 530 or six trying to squeeze 10 or 12 miles in before I'm in a office or a conference room for 14 hours.
So it's brutal. And it's a lot of running on the weekends.
But it's another challenge.
It's a logistical challenge.
So obviously, for an event like this one, and really for all of the things that you're doing, I imagine you have to incorporate some serious hill training.
You live in New York City.
Are you able to get in enough climbing that you felt adequately prepared for that aspect of this event?
How are you running hills?
My running club does hills on Tuesday, which is great when I'm not traveling.
However, when you're traveling, I was in Orlando for four months leading up to this, which is pancake flat, Let me tell you.
So I relied a lot on strength training.
I would do a lot of lower body strength Peloton classes, like 20 minutes squeezed in here and there.
And it's not a replacement, but you're just doing the best you can.
And it was enough. I love hearing that.
I love hearing all of the ways in which you're like, kind of normal, but also doing really exceptional things.
I think a lot of us are squeezing in the 10 minute Peloton classes when we can, because it's not nothing.
And so I appreciate hearing that.
And it adds up and you'll hear later, like as I was climbing up a mountain, I was like, thank you, Callie, Katie, all my Peloton instructors for making me do upper body because that is why I'm able to pull myself up here right now.
So tell me a little bit about you keep referencing this three weeks, right?
This wasn't just a fly to a start line, do a race and come back.
Can you explain the logistical side of it and what all of that entailed?
Yes. So I left Monday, May 12th, and I flew to Kathmandu via Delhi.
And I got there the next day on Tuesday, where I met the Himalayan Expedition Group, which hosts the Everest Marathon and Ultra.
And from there, they took us to a hotel in Kathmandu where I I met my trekking group.
There's nearly 250 participants in total who do this, but they break it down in groups from eight to 12, just so it's not overwhelming as everyone's trekking up to base camp.
And then I was in Kathmandu for a day before we flew out to Lukla, where we started a 16 -day trek to get up to base camp to start the race.
And the race was a day in itself.
And then it was a three day track slash 4x4 slash bus ride to get back to Kathmandu.
Yeah, those adventures coming back look like something special.
Oh man, I have never experienced anything like it and it will be a long time before you see me on a bus.
Fair, we'll get to that part.
So bring me to the days leading up to this.
Packing alone would send me into a tailspin.
did they send you a list of what to pack how did you know and and I'm assuming were you carrying everything with you the entire time what did that look like so I clearly have no knowledge of anything like this I am so outdoorsy girl same I was like okay what like I didn't know what the climbing equipment was at all so I was like I will get that there because they give you an option by the mountain the nearest village you can rent it heck yeah done that's great done one thing not to have to worry about and then they tell you like how many bottoms you need tops coats and layers and I really just
followed that and looked up some blogs of people who've done it before like you need a woman's take on it for instance dry shampoo would never have thought to bring that that was a godsend.
I showered probably twice in three weeks, not by choice, but because there was no there was no means and like if I didn't have dry shampoo, what would I have done?
Suffered, yeah, like hand warmers, like things like that.
So I was very intentional about the packing, knowing I wouldn't have access to the things, what the itinerary was, and like what what would be expected of me, not so much research done, but, uh, it is what it is.
So that's what I really want to understand what sort of, and I know it's a three week span, but for each day, did you have, were you able to wash stuff?
Could you do laundry at any point?
So you have to be mindful that everything needed to fit in a bag that was around 15 kg, because we had porters we had Sherpas that were carrying our belongings and they are incredible they are obviously very well acclimated to that altitude but they are so strong and are able to walk faster up these mountains with two or three of our bags than we can with day backpacks it's impressive but because they need to be very wary and think about like what am I bringing because someone has to actually carry this and I just looked at every single item I'm like do I I need this.
Can I get by without this?
So I ended up bringing maybe like three pairs of leggings and two hiking pants.
And whenever we could, we would try to do wash.
And by wash, it's like me in a bucket with some Johnson and Johnson soap, doing the best I can.
It was not very clean, but it got rid of like the dirt stains.
So it was just a very practical packing job.
and by the end i was like i just want to burn all these clothes like i never want to see this again understandable what about footwear footwear i had a pair of hiking boots thank god my sneakers and burks broken stocks okay so you get there what do you remember feeling upon arrival and when i say arrival once you landed like you said where'd you go what'd you do so we were in the Shankar Hotel in Kathmandu and I was nervous I kind of realized on the way Deirdre you were spending three weeks away from home away from any of the amenities that you're used to with a group of people that you don't
know and I meet this group of people and it's a mix of eight of us total from our mid -30s to mid -50s from India, China, Hungary, Iran and Australia and I'm like everyone is so different like am I going to connect with these people are they going to be able to relate to me those worries were unfounded in the end but at the in the beginning it's terrifying because you're they're going to become your family for the next three weeks like you can't just call your loved one during the day and be like hey I need a chat for a little pick me up like they were my people and what bonded us and what we all
had in common and was this sense of adventure and willingness just to see what would happen.
And I ended up so close with a group of people I would never have come across in everyday life.
Were you nervous about the traveling alone component, aside from socially and wanting to, of course, bond with this group?
But what about in terms of any safety concerns or anything that you were apprehensive about?
Nepal is so safe. When I was running around on Katmandu I knew like my biggest concern really was traffic you just think I'm so careful there's no traffic lights really for the most part and then dogs just be mindful about where they are there's a lot of wild dogs but the people and especially up in the Himalayas I've never felt so safe in my life I would go out running at 5 30 in the morning like as the sun was coming up and if people saw me it was to stare at me being like why are you running never a safety issue the nicest most honest people you will ever meet so it's my understanding and please
tell me if i'm wrong that there were sort of two components of this there was of course the ultra which was the main event but there was also a group of six of you that summited island peak this 20 000 footer before the event yes what i know i know i know like why make it harder dear deer job but of course if there's a harder option yeah i mean didn't you go for some crazy hike before the world marathon challenge started like this is nothing new and got hypothermia it's a it's definitely a trend classic deer classic deer indeed so i i knew i was taking a month off at work and i was like i need
to take advantage of this and do everything possible and i saw that they offered a climb to one of the smaller mountains in the Himalayas.
It's like Mount Everest is over 20 ,000 feet in comparison.
This is over 20 ,000.
It's no joke. It's a very high mountain, but when you're comparing it to the big boys there, it doesn't seem like that much of a big deal.
And that was my mind take my mindset and I was wrong, but I wanted to do that.
And these were the eight people in my group.
It was only six of us that signed up for this out of the the 240 people that were doing the event, because we were the only crazy people that would want to do a marathon or ultra and also do this.
So we left sooner than anyone else on the expedition.
I think we left like three days earlier because we had to go and take this detour in order to summit island peak.
Okay. What type of people were doing this of that, you know, whether it's the six or the 250.
Was there an overwhelming demographic or a majority demographic that you saw?
No, we were all so different.
So tell you about the people in my group.
There was, obviously myself, there was Stephanie Austin, who is a serious ultra runner from Australia.
She was telling me she won a golden ticket for Western States.
And I was like, Oh my gosh, like you, you're a real deal.
and then later on in the trip she happened to mention the time she came second place to Courtney Dallwater I was like if that if I were you that would be on my tombstone someday like how are you just letting this slip this is I'm obsessed with her um so like that's the type adventurous person that was on the trip and then you have these two guys in their mid -50s who are retired from the Indian army one guy had summited Everest twice with Indian army the other guy was head of the Gurkha division which is like the Nepalese hardcore soldiers then you had this guy from Hungary who lives in Philadelphia who is a extreme
marathoner and then a guy from Iran who's living in Australia who's just a family man but like wants to try a mountain summit and then And lastly, we had Evelyn from China, who was a journalist and had been to North Korea for a marathon. So people with wild senses of adventure.
Yeah, what a beautiful thing that it was so cheesy, but it reminds me of the quote in Mean Girls when she's talking about math.
And they're like, why do you like math?
And Cady Heron says, because it's the same in every language.
Like, isn't that kind of the same that we could say about running that like, yes, you all speak this one universal language.
See, is always teaching us new lessons.
Thank you. Thank you, Tina Faye, for producing that and helping write it.
But that's so cool that everyone has such different backgrounds literally from all over the world.
But it's this one beautiful thing that unites all of you unequivocally, which is so cool.
So let's talk first about that Island Peak Summit.
How long did it take?
What did it look like?
And are you, I'm guessing of the six of you, there was a guide?
There was someone leading you?
They didn't just send you up and say, follow the trail markers.
Yes. So we flew into Lukla and we'd met our Sherpas at the start of the track.
and then we were climbing for I want to say nine days before we actually did the summit for Island Peak and mind you I'd never been camping before so we get our we get our mountaineering equipment and they bring us to base camp and I see a tent and I'm like wow I'm gonna sleep in a tent for the first time we set up our sleeping bags and all that good stuff and they're like let's practice using the equipment I again never touched any of this I'm like watch the Jumar and they're like okay Jumar will help pull you up so we're practicing on the side of a hill with the Jumars into the rope because you're
always fixed to a rope and then for rappelling down they're like here's this figure eight this is how you do it so I kid you not we literally practice this twice before they say you're set now like we'll continue on tomorrow and you'll get to do it in real life okay are you nervous at this point i started to get very nervous as we were trekking to base camp and i could see the summit of island peak and i'm like that is high that is really really high and we're all the way down here like that's going to take a long time so we when we got to base camp we practiced a bit we went to bed maybe around
six because we had to get up at 11 30 pm for a 1 1 a .m. start because you want to be up and down in a safe time and again this is just six of you this is just the six of us and three Sherpas and the Sherpas we had come to love and trust and rely on throughout the trek and they are the reason like we survived this so we left at 1 a .m. we had a breakfast of porridge we take off myself Evelyn and Stephanie were so worried about having having to go to the bathroom and the harness.
That was obviously going to be my next question.
Oh, it's like, it's a serious concern because you're tied into it.
And they're the old fashioned ones where it's kind of like a pulley system and you're going into different buckles.
It's not just a clip on.
And when you're at high altitude, one of the ways your body adjusts is by diuresing.
So you're peeing a lot more than you normally would.
And with that, and also with fluid intake, take we're very mindful that we didn't want to over hydrate and then have to try to figure out taking the harness off while we were clipped in ascending up a mountain which ended up being a terrible mistake because i got so dehydrated so we uh we left at midnight and the initial four hours was climbing like up a technical hiking train so like not using equipment it was dark i remember looking over the ledge thinking like what's down there i probably don't want to know but following the sherpa and having to stop every few minutes from being so short of breath
so this we do this for four hours before we transition into our actual mountaineering gear where we have to put on the harness our crampons our helmets and start roping into the lines that that are up the mountain.
I was so prepared with all my hand warmers.
I had two hand warmers in each mitten and glove that I had on.
I had foot warmers in my shoes.
I even had like hand warmers tucked into my bra because it was freezing.
It was so cold when we started, but as the day went on and we got into our mountaineering gear and we're starting to climb up, it became such a vigorous workout that you started overheating.
And like that's when also dehydration took its hold on us.
But at the time, you're just like focusing on climbing and one step at a time.
So you're roped in, you have a Jumar, and you're pushing the Jumar up.
And if you like let go, it's holding you up there, you are clipped into the rope, you won't fall, but you really need upper body strength to keep pushing yourself up and I remember Stephanie and I were at the front and we were hitting a vertical rock wall and I'm looking up at this being like no way am I gonna be able to pull myself up and the Sherpa is like guys like this and he goes up and he's kind of dangling and having a hard time I'll never forget looking at Stephanie and we're looking at each other like if he can't do it how are we going to be able to do it so he pulls us up Stephanie Stephanie's
trying to push me up.
She must be 90 pounds soaking wet.
I'm like, please, Stephanie, like reserve your strength.
We both need to get up this.
That was the trickiest part and also really made me want to focus more on upper body strength going forward. But once it was more snowy and we're able to stick our crampons in, you had some leg leverage.
And is it total darkness at this point?
By the time we put on the crampons and the mountaineering gear, the sun was rising.
It was beautiful. So yeah, the sun, not necessarily your friend when you're up there, because it reflects off the snow and makes it very warm.
And I only had, did not pack goggles.
I only packed sunglasses, which fog up.
I think you would have looked into this, but it is what it is.
And got to the summit.
I was the first one there.
And I remember thinking like, is this it?
Is there any further to go?
And like, I'm walking around to all the edges and like, like I don't think there's anywhere else to go and like waiting for someone else to come join me for the Sherpa to get there to confirm that I was indeed at the summit and it was wonderful like the sense of achievement when especially you've no experience and no practice of summiting a mountain is very hard to verbalize it just made me feel like I could do anything like I haven't done this before but I really tried and I made the most of it and I did it like what a confidence builder so you get to the top and then you have to get back down
yes and then we wait for everyone to get there so i was up there for an hour but it wasn't like it didn't feel cold what really kicked in was the dehydration you're not supposed to do this if i was eating snow i was so thirsty why are you not supposed to do it so you're not supposed to do it for two reasons um it was for bacteria, because it's stagnant and lying out there.
And then also you're breathing just such cold, dry air.
It also leads to a cough, which we all got in the end anyway.
But I was like, dehydration versus maybe getting sick or having a cough.
I'll eat the snow. So we went down and I drank something, but no one tells you going down, at least for me is just as hard, if not not harder or I have a fear of coming down and just like falling so it took me so much longer than it should have and at that point we had been out there for maybe eight nine hours we had a Snickers bar but we hadn't really eaten much we were dehydrated so I was a bit confused and not a comfortable not very comfortable with the repelling equipment so every time I had to change lines I would wait for Sherpa just to make sure that I was locked in and doing it okay because the risk
of falling was just too high um and came down to base camp 13 hours later so dehydrated so sunburned even though we put on sunblock and ate something rested for an hour before we had to trek back the four miles to the village four miles and you're not jogging that you're trekking um I actually I listened to one of of your podcast yes you took me to Everest I took you to Island Peak uh -huh I took you to Island Peak because I was like I need some inspiration and I need like bubbliness and joy right now and I'm like well don't listen to the recent ones then well Allie Feller is my girl that's so cool
oh my god that's so awesome at this point had you seen I think I remember you you posting that you at that point, you had gotten your first glimpses of Everest, right?
Like, you could see it.
What tell us about when you first saw Mount Everest?
I thought I would see Everest more.
And to be honest, I only saw Everest once.
We saw Everest outside of Namche when we were continuing our ascent, maybe three or four days in.
And it was in the morning.
And it was so beautiful.
I just stood at it, stood looking at at it and ah and I was like I need to call someone we still have cell phone service at that point because we were lower down in the Himalayas so Brian was on a flight to Japan for work and I'm like it's 11 o 'clock at night in New York like no one's going to be up I'm like my brother who's much younger will be up he's gonna be out and my brother was at a bar and he was like oh my god my sister's facetiming me she's on Everest and like I'm not on Everest like look at this look at this said FaceTime, she's there.
He's like outside Dorian's on the Upper East Side.
Yeah, it's like four drinks in, but it was very cool being able to share it with someone.
And I'll never forget that day.
She's beautiful. All right.
So can you give us a little bit of an explainer with the race, with the Ultra?
You did not summit Mount Everest. Can you explain what exactly this is?
okay so from popmond do you fly into lucla which is the nearest airport to um mount everest and it's the most dangerous airport in the world because essentially it's an airstrip that just goes off a cliff sick yeah and i'm not a great flyer you think being a consultant i'd be a flyer i am not it's a dingy little plane and you have to have a good amount of visibility to land there And I just remember seeing this little airstrip at the edge of a cliff because there's 10 of us on this plane and you can see the pilot and you can see what he's looking at through the window.
Nope. Yeah, nope. No, thank you.
We land. I get off that thing and I'm like, please, God, never again.
And then from there, you do a slow acclimatization trek over two and a half weeks to get to Everest Base Camp.
camp. And Everest base camp is obviously at the bottom of Mount Everest. And it's where people who are climbing Everest spend about two months while they acclimate and like look for a good window to climb to summit Everest and get to the different camps, like just practicing what that hiking, the hiking, the climbing will look like.
So we made our journey to base camp and that was the start of the ultra marathon, but I definitely did not go any further than base camp.
There was was no climbing during race day.
The closest taste I got of climbing was climbing Island Peak.
Did you get to interact with other people when you were at Everest Base Camp?
Like, gosh, I would just want to go up to every single person and be like, what brought you here?
What are you doing here?
What what motivated you?
What what excursion are you on?
Did you get to interact with people beyond your group?
We did during the trek.
There was a lot of people who were coming down and And many people go to Everest base camp and trek the Himalayas and go to these different passes and do these different summits without actually summiting Everest. So you probably only have a couple of hundred, I want to say like maybe around two or three hundred that climb it every year.
And we were at base camp the last two days that you could possibly climb.
so everyone had pretty much finished the climb and had gone and the everest marathon group took over base camp which was a very cool experience in its own way before that happened or just aside from the 250 of you you know there's been so much coverage i guess of everest there's so many documentaries now and there's it's such a big conversation about how many people are doing this and about how crowded it is, really.
Did you feel that? I'm not on the track.
I think the bottleneck is really when you're summiting, because I've seen those photos and videos where it's you're just waiting for the person in front of you to go one step.
And it seems ridiculous that people are going so slow.
But after climbing at much lower altitude, I get it like you go a couple of steps or God forbid, you're pulling yourself up.
It really takes it out of you.
you feel like you're so out of shape it's really quite impressive uh but on the trails itself the trek up and down it was so manageable and we just felt like we had the great outdoors just to ourselves all right so you come and take over everest base camp can you describe it for us and what it looked like what it felt like what the accommodations were like and of course what the bathrooms were like yes so trekking up to base camp we had lodges which we meant that we like had our I was a spoiled brat I paid a few hundred bucks to have my own room the entire time uh yeah like I don't know I'm more
willing to do that uh but it was very basic it was like a cushion a pillow and you had your sleeping bag I didn't realize what a luxury that was until I got to base camp and I was in a tent and the sun sets and you're like, it is so cold.
You're in your sleeping bag with all your clothes on.
And I had just hand warmers everywhere.
And God forbid you have to go out in the middle of the night to pee.
It's just a different experience because you're actually lying on ice.
Base camp is a glacier with a bunch of tiny stones on it.
So you can feel the coldness through the bottom of the tent.
So I'm sure this is such a dumb question, but but I'm going to ask it anyway.
Is there electricity?
They have some solar panels for light bulbs, but there's no, like for charging our phones and stuff, we had power banks with us.
And then at lodges, you would pay to charge your power banks, but there was no outlets in the room.
There was really no indoor plumbing.
You would use these little buckets for toilets and like fill up the water and it would like flush itself into a hole a lot of things there are sometimes sinks outside but like a lot of hand sanitizer um instead of showers like baby wipes I'm done with that that's fine yeah I could do that I did not think I would be able to do that I was like I'm not gonna be able to live without a shower in the morning after a run especially when it's cold so I just learned like I would get up in the morning I'd run and I would try to end my run like as fast as i could so i'd be nice and warm before i had my shop
my little like baby wipe down and then like that was it for the day what about in terms of like did you sleep well did you feel safe at night is there wildlife um my non -outdoorsiness is really showing i'm sorry no but it's so different depending where you are and there weren't any predators that we were worried about um sleeping at high altitude is hard i woke up a lot middle of the night like either short of breath or having used the bathroom and also in very like vivid nightmares like about not about the race but like death like terrible things happening to loved ones work and it was so strange
to wake up me like why am i having these very visual dreams and bad dreams here, but it's associated with high altitude.
Whatever the reason you have much more vivid dreams and you remember them.
That's wild. So did not have great sleep.
Um, and then it was, it was cold.
There was no indoor heating, but nothing compared to sleeping and attend to base camp.
So you're at base camp and this, at this point you, which again, you posted that you were going for like three and a half mile runs or something each morning yes I was okay where so you're not at base camp until say like day 15 or 16 up until that point you're trekking there and we started say at 12 000 feet and we worked our way up to 18 and a half which is where our base camp is and in the mornings I'd wake up at 5 or 5 30 so cold in the lodge and I had my own room so I would like lie in the ground and do 10 minute abs trying to warm up a bit before I'd face going outside and I would try to
run five to ten kilometers in the area I was which running is a very strong word for what I was doing because the train was tricky and I didn't appreciate how much altitude would impact my breathing so any sort of incline I was hopping and plopping and essentially decreasing my pace to like a quick walk at a 15 minute mile pace.
Um, but I wanted to push myself to get comfortable with breathing heavily at high altitude and also the train.
Cause I'm not a, I do trail runs, but I'm not a naturally gifted trail runner.
I'm clumsy. I don't have the coordination.
So I just knew I needed to give give myself practice so should we go to race day yes let's go to race okay you're up at 3 30 in the morning as you said two options marathon option and ultra option 12 of you only 12 is that how many 12 of us so there was 12 international runners and eight Nepalese runners and the like the one word of advice the Sherpas gave us was to not try to keep up with them like they live in the mountains they are acclimated they are very comfortable running these trails like you will hurt yourself if you try to maintain their speed and truer words were never spoken so we
woke up at 12 3 30 and there were the 12 of us plus the eight Nepalese hardcore guys and there was only two three women who started the race um two of us who finished it and it was very cool like it's just 20 of us total at the start line looking around being like okay the sun's rising let's go and it was particularly nice because the first couple of miles it's like single file trail and I can imagine doing the marathon with over 200 people would have been a bit frustrating because I hate holding people up if I feel like I'm going slow I hate trying to navigate around people but we soon spaced
out that the first couple of hours of the race I saw on no one which is a very unique for a race and you start and you're on a glacier so you need to be so careful that you don't slip it's pure ice with some rocks that slide around and it wasn't pretty getting out of there but the first mile or two out of base camp is the most technical probably from safety standpoint usually when you're on the show and you're talking about the things that you do I'm like hell yeah I want to do that and I feel like this time I'm just happy to be hearing about it.
Yeah. And it was so cold.
It was so, so cold.
I had so many layers on and just, you know, and also running with poles is very different, right.
But necessary. It's like having an extra set of legs to keep you balanced.
Can you describe the course?
Yes. Okay. So essentially it starts at base camp.
And if if you're doing the marathon, it primarily descends to Namche, which is the Sherpa capital up in the Himalayas.
But if you're doing the ultra, you're going that route until you hit Pangche.
And you're doing a pass up through the mountains.
That's an additional 20, a little less than 20 miles.
So that the trek, yeah, the part where you're trekking on the path that people use to get to base camp is technical, but it's very reasonable because people have to walk it.
The porters carry bags up there.
There's yaks. Like, I don't, I can't tell you how many times I had to stop during this course for the 20 yaks combined because that's how they carry belongings up and down from base camp.
All those tents, all that equipment is put on the the back of a bull essentially and is brought down are they happy do they have okay lives yes like the sherpas take such good care of them they're so respectful and appreciative of animals so I'd say while they're working animals they are treated pretty well okay but if you're just stopping on the side of a mountain letting 12 yaks go by with these massive horns I mean very mindful of where those horns are and making sure that you're in the inside of the mountain so you you don't fall off.
All I can hear in my head right now, shout out to all the parents out there who've ever read the book.
I love you till the cows come home.
All I hear is there's a page that's, I'll love you till the yaks come back, come back.
It's just like in my head on a loop right now.
So, uh, that's the mom brain part of this.
Okay. So it's not a, is it, it's not a loop.
It's a point. It's not a loop.
It's a point to point.
And there's only one way to get to mom Namche.
And it is on your own two feet.
So like, if you decide that you can't do it, you're going to stay somewhere in a lodge and the next day, you still have to go to Namche.
So it's very, you know, it does encourage you to keep going, knowing that you can't Uber to the finish or say like, you know, forget about it.
I give up airlifted.
Get if you're if you are injured, and are willing to pay the thousands of dollars, you could get airlifted, but like you You really have to meet criteria.
That's not like, I don't feel good.
I twisted my ankle style.
This is too hard. This is too hard. So the first 19 miles is following the trek path down towards Namche.
But as I mentioned, you need to do the additional miles to make up 43.
So they send you on this crazy pass through the mountains where they give you a Sherpa.
And I was initially so excited about this.
I'm like, oh, I'm going to have a Sherpa.
And this just feels so legitimate.
in it and I'm going to be out there in the wild but no one else out there so I get to the 19 mile point where I meet my Sherpa and I kid you not he's a 12 year old boy what a pleather jacket and a bottle of water and I'm here like in all this running equipment and I'm like well I'm just embarrassed for myself and who's liable for who here like he's so young and we take off and I didn't realize he was going to be with me for 23 miles.
Like I had my gels, I had my snacks, I had my trekking poles.
He just had his pleather jacket and a bottle of water.
And he was seamlessly doing like going up into these mountains for I'm just short of breath, bending over my poles trying to pull myself up and going down.
So technical, I was worried about tripping and falling that I I would like, glacier pace, literally, for once, literally, going down, trying to make sure I didn't hurt myself knowing that I had to get out of there safely.
So he was with me the entire time did not know any English, which is very unusual, probably because he's younger.
All the Sherpas that we met were completely fluent in English.
But he wasn't and I remember we stopped at a point or he stopped for lunch and I thought he was finished so I kept going and I got so lost and for once very very scared I'm like I don't see any yellow ribbons which were what dictated where the course was and that we had drawn the course on our Garmin watches so I knew I was off but I didn't know where the right trail was because there's so many different yak paths and then I see this young boy's head pop over the mound and looking down at me I'm like I've never been so so happy to see someone in my life so he brings me back to the path and he
sticks with me till the end and I was like I can't believe like this kid when is this kid gonna finish like is he with me he can't seriously do 23 miles without any other snacks or anything so I'm sharing my candy with him I'm just trying to keep him going as well and then when it got dark I was so thankful to have of them because I was scared again I was like I'm just worried that I'm just going to wander off a cliff here or fall and really hurt myself and no one's going to find me so he got me to that finish line it was definitely a joint effort and not many words were exchanged because we couldn't
communicate but there was exchange of snacks and like thumbs up and smiled god I want to speak whatever language he speaks because I would love for him to be a guest on the alley on the run show oh i'm sure i'm sure he's got stories yeah i'm sure he had so many things to say about me like he's just there walking filming because everyone has a smartphone which is also very impressive and i am just trying not to die thinking this is one of the hardest things i've ever done yeah so did you have service during this like i'm just picturing pure wilderness like you and this guy out on a mountain on a glacier
no service no airlifting you out of there just like very rugged.
Yeah and that is exactly what it was.
I had no service. I don't know if he maybe had local network but even on roaming I had nothing and I was so it was so hard and I was so focused on getting it done for once like I did not take out my phone.
I listened to music for most of it but typically I would take photos, I would record some videos, I would just try to like really commemorate the occasion but I'm like this is much harder than I thought and I just need to focus on getting to the finish line the altitude took it out of me and the elevation gain I wasn't aware until I got there that it was gonna be over 11 ,000 feet in elevation gain yeah and at like 15 ,000 plus feet like you feel every step of that so are you pretty much I mean you're hiking really like, were you running at all?
And then if it's flat, um, running downhill, if it wasn't too steep, I would run with my poles, but like my fastest minute mile was probably 10 minute mile.
And then everything else was just trying to do less than 20.
And another possibly stupid question.
What was the terrain?
Are you on snow the whole time?
The beginning you're on on ice and rocks and then it's slippy stones for the most part um going up and down like it's hard to get a grip the couple of weeks that I was trekking up to base camp every time we were going downhill I would ask like the sheriff was like can you show me because they're so good at running downhill like can you show me some of your tricks and they were showing me like running sideways and kind of using your hips to lead you rather than just going face down front or face down first and it was very helpful but there you just can't pick it up in a couple of weeks and be like
okay so you never saw other people that you were doing this with not after mile 19 and then so there was two checkpoints that was very very word out at mile 19 you had to do by six and a half hours which sounds like ridiculous of course you should be able to do 19 miles in six and a half hours but it was so technical and slow I was worried about making it and I only made that cut off by 30 minutes I think I might have been the last person to make that cut off and that's where the four other international runners didn't make it and they had to do the a marathon distance and then you had mile 33
um was at 12 hours and I knew I was like I am making the 12 hour cut off because there's no way I'm staying in a lodge they expect you to then see the lodge overnight and gets Namche the next day I was like no I'm not doing that so I was just trying to get my shirt butt to hustle with me I'm like come on sir we're getting here by the 12 hour point yeah so ultimately this took you around 15 hours it took me 15 hours I really didn't think I was going to take that long because the distance itself 43 miles sounds much more manageable in a shorter distance but it's just so technical were you ever afraid
of I don't want to be like were you afraid of dying but like were there parts on this that were so technical that was like one one wrong step, one wrong slip.
Like how intense was it?
It was very intense.
But we talked in the past about like, when I run, sometimes it feels very spiritual.
I just had this profound faith that everything was going to be okay.
And I remember a couple days earlier, Evelyn, my new friend from China, took a photo of me.
And she's like, dear Jo, like, I just captured a photo of a butterfly over your head.
And we hadn't seen any butterflies and I'm like can you please send me that I was like I feel like that was my dad yeah so I just I knew it was going to be okay but I knew that I had to get myself there you have to wonder how much your dad is looking down watching you do these things and being like man my daughter's a badass and how much he's like I wish you would step back from that ledge my my friend.
Like a typical dad style.
Yeah, I'm sure he gets frustrated at times and like, probably has to work a little bit harder than other fathers who are guardian angels.
But I keep him busy.
Yeah, he definitely always comes through.
Oh, I love that. That's awesome.
All right. So did you know like, was there a true finish line?
Or is it like, oh, there's the the there's the lodge up ahead we made it how much was this like an event it was a serious finish line and I came in with the last there were still some marathoners out there when I came in so the marathon started at 7 and say I finished at 8 p .m. like they some people had been out there for 13 hours during the marathon um so there were still people there there was still a finish line there There was lots of cheering when I crossed the finish line, but it was by no means as busy as it would have been during the day when most of the marathoners finished.
OK, so what did that moment feel like when you made it to the finish line?
Very, very emotional.
The first thing I did is I went over to my little kid Sherpa and I gave him the biggest hug and I'm like, thank you.
Like, I couldn't communicate any of this, but I wanted to through my hugs and like, I'm sorry for being frustrated with you at times, but I would not have made it to the the finish line without him um and then I tipped him because I was also wondering like how is this kid gonna get home wait yeah real question how does he get home I'm sure like the Sherpa community is incredible they take care of each other as I soon learned when we got stranded probably more than most people do um so like I think he just stayed with someone locally and probably trekked back the next day wow do you know I mean obviously
you didn't get to chat much but like like, do you have any sense of how many times he's done this?
Like, is he doing this once a year or is this like a weekly thing?
Do you know? I think this was his first time because I would assume with the bottle of water and a feather jacket, he didn't really know what was in store.
And then towards the end, the poor kid was tired and that's when I was kind of pushing him.
I was like, Like, we got to go.
Like, we need to hit this 12 -hour cutoff.
Like, this is very serious.
So he, I don't know how he was fit enough to do 20 miles.
Acclimated or accustomed to the trainer or not, like, that is a lot.
He, however, was the youngest. I talked to other people that did the ultra, and they had people in their mid -20s who seemed like they had done this a few times and no more experience.
experience. Stephanie, who was in my group who won the international category, men and women, she I think actually broke the international record at 11 hours.
She outran her Sherpa.
The guy couldn't keep up.
So when she got to an aid station, she was like, he's back there somewhere.
I think he's okay. Okay.
I know that I romanticize things too much, but hear me out.
10 years from now, you're running the New York city marathon. You're feeling great.
You see someone up ahead.
He's struggling. He's having a hard time.
And you're like, I'm going to make sure this person's okay.
You put your hand on his back and say, are you okay?
He looks at you. You lock eyes.
It's your Sherpa. He has decided that he is a marathoner and he came and ran the New York city marathon and you two finish it together.
together that would be a beautiful story right someone write the script there's some plot holes that we can fill in later I feel like I'm thinking about how old I am and how old he is I actually could be his mother that's fine people we have people of all ages yeah yeah but I'm just thinking like my you'll still be there from a different time of my life oh there oh oh he's your son well do you remember giving birth at any point?
But I feel like a motherly instinct towards him.
Yeah. I just want to make sure that he finishes.
Yes. Okay. So there are a lot of directions this movie could take either way.
Someone get on it. Perfect.
And you have rights to the story.
Obviously, I don't even need them.
You take them. This is your thing.
Amazing. Thank you.
Okay. But I would love like a guest role.
Like maybe I could just be one.
I could be the run.
I could be the race announcer at the finish line who announces.
Oh, when you guys finished and that's how you learn his name because the announcer announces your names together obviously it would be a cameo yeah for sure because it's ali on the run yeah like i'm gonna play myself but okay these are we have a lot of good ideas you mentioned twice now getting stranded would you like to take us to that part of this story yes so you finish the ultra and people finish the marathon and you think like you have a rest day.
There are no rest days in Himalayas.
Like every day is a working day.
So from Namche, we had to trek down five miles to Mungo, it's a different town, towards the airport.
And let me tell you, we've all experienced walking downstairs the day after a marathon. Imagine going five miles down a mountain on slippy terrain after an ultra it was grueling but we get there we spend the night in the lodge and the next day we're continuing our trek down it starts raining i'm like oh this is lovely but i could see the sherpas getting more and more stressed and then we stopped for tea and they're like we're gonna be real with you we don't think there's gonna be any flights out of lucla the same airport we flew into there's two options here we can go to lucla we can see if we
can get a helicopter we can wait wait a couple of days, see if we can fly out, or we can track another five miles down to the nearest village that four by fours have access to drive out to Rumpjump, and then take a bus.
And like that will guarantee to get us there in like the next two days.
And I was flying out Brian and I were meeting in Thailand.
And I was like, I really don't want to miss that flight.
And I can't imagine being stuck in the mountains in a village for unknown amount of time, if that's a a guaranteed way out like let's go and we're all in the same mindset we're all adventurous it was the two groups that decided to go that route while other people waited up and look glad to see if they could fly out and it was slippy muddy walk down we're sliding down we get there they were trying to find enough four by fours for us they were able to like scratch scramble four of them together, but people were sitting like out, all the Sherpas were sitting out the back of it.
There was six or seven of us in a five person Jeep.
And we're in it for probably 45 minutes, trying to go down the mountains when they realized the road's impassable.
So every time you go down, you'd slide.
And then if there was any sort of uphill, they weren't able to go over the mud and we just saw Sherpas pushing these jeeps up trying to pull them up this went on for a couple of hours nightfall was coming there was no going back there was looked like no going forward so they're like okay guys we're gonna have to walk to the next village people were scared in the other group but I will say my group probably because we were a bunch of people that signed up to summon the mountain with no real experience experience we're like let's just take it how it is like we're in a safe place we're with these
incredible sherpas nothing bad is going to happen to us we just got to walk to the next village and we'll figure something out we walk into a village as it gets dark there's no lights on and um our lead sherpa goes into the lodge and he says dd which means older sister and sherpa community never met this woman he was like and then spoke nepalese to her and said like essentially i need you to house feed and house these 30 people 30 uh -huh she had because the other group was quite large and then the sherpas and she had a baby wrapped around her back and she just started turning lights on went into
the kitchen got neighbors they all went into their yards pulled up vegetables started making us dinner my group i was just like i don't care where i sleep in this lodge but like I'm indoors I'm warm I am safe and that was the mindset of my group the other group was a little more cranky they're like why do we even go this way like this does not seem ideal and behind the counter we saw there was I think whiskey and beer like none of us had drank in so long we're like guys like let's just drink and we were cheersing and having a great time while this amazing family cooked us dinner and we ate and we
just slept wherever we could in that lodge and it was so beautiful and really a testament to how incredible the Sherpa people are and the next day was round two and they squeezed us back into those four by fours we're in them for seven hours until we got to Rumchump which is the nearest town that has a road and from there we hung out in like a little lodge for a bit till they figured out how to get us a bus bus because there was also protests in the time at cotton do that were pro -monarchy so there was a lot of like controls and like i think there was curfews so you couldn't be in the city at night
out uh but they got us a bus they told us initially it was going to be seven hours it took 12 hours it was overnight bus and the bus would just stop and like let people on and off it was the craziest thing i've ever seen people would come on and just like sleep on the floor and we're like what's happening but we got to Kathmandu at 6 a .m. and I was never so happy to be anywhere in my life and off a bus and took a shower eat breakfast and had the best sleep in a real bed after three weeks of sleeping on various surfaces quick question um the group that decided to like wait it out and see if they
could get a flight how'd they do yeah there was was actually a mix so first we were told that no one else had made it out and we're like yes like we made the right decision and then the two Indian guys in our group because they worked with Gurkhas they could speak Nepalese they would hear what the Sherpas were saying they're like actually like a bunch of groups did fly out and they're already here I'm like are you kidding me but there were are some groups that were stranded so it was a mixed bag I'm happy with our decision in the end and also for the story itself yeah like we we got there and I
will always remember my escape from the Himalayas yeah you gotta do it for the podcast have to do it for the podcast which thank you so much everyone needs an exciting ending to an adventure yeah so what are some of the biggest when you reflect on this whole experience what are some of whether it's the biggest takeaways takeaways or the snapshot moment from all of it what do you remember most what sticks with you most from this experience as a whole um some of the snapshots that stick with me is this bond and i've experienced this before but like this extreme bond you can develop in a short period
of time with people you would normally not have much in common with but suddenly who become your family and who you may never see again but for a short period of time like they were your foundations they were your grounding grace and they got you through and then another snapshot is getting to learn about a different culture so intensely and immersively over a short period of time and having a respect that you would never have experienced unless you were there and completely in tune and lastly I would say being off the grid we had wi -fi satellite wi -fi at night but during the day there were no phones
there was no connectivity with the outside world and it was beautiful it was so great being fully present in the moment and realizing as you're living an experience like I will remember this forever this is one of the most incredible things I've ever experienced would you do something like this again absolutely I mean obviously yeah I was thinking about it while it was going on.
I was like, I'd love to come back here someday with Brian or kids, God willing, when they're older.
Then Brian and I are kind of playing around with the idea of someday climbing Everest, but TBD.
That surprises me very little.
I can't wait. When you do, I'm obviously going to want the full recap here on the Alley on the Run run show.
So you told us a bunch of things earlier.
You also at some point, uh, dropped the word Chicago into this conversation.
What's next for Deirdre Keene?
Where will we see you running and racing in 2025?
So build up is for UTMB.
I'm scared. I feel like those are where the big shots are.
Um, I've done UTMB in both Eiger, which is in Switzerland and Labarito, which is Italy, really, but they are very technical trails.
I've never done a hundred miler.
So I'm nervous about that.
And the Europeans are just so intense when it comes to ultra running.
They are legit. Um, so that's on the ultra agenda.
And then for marathons, I have Chicago coming up, hopefully New York.
And in December, uh, after Brian and I get married for a honeymoon, moon we're going to climb Kilimanjaro oh my god you're so cool I love we'll go to the beach but I'm like let's do something intense shocking he knows what he knows what he's marrying he is and he loves it he does well and I love you I could listen to you talk forever I love love love hearing about your adventures and I just really admire the way that you live and the way that you do things and the way that you show up in this one life that we have so thank you for living the the Deirdre Keene way and for sharing it with all of us.
I think you're amazing and can't wait to catch up after the next big, exciting thing.
Thank you for having me, Allie.
Always love being on the show with you.
Love you. Love you too.
Thank you so much for being here for this episode of the Allie on the Run show with my guest, Deirdre Keene.
I love this woman. I loved getting to chat with her.
I will admit recording episodes is hard right now.
If you're caught up on all all things Allie on the Run, then you know that I'm in a bit of a tough season of life right now.
And it was so nice to just sit and chat with a friend and hear about all the ways that she is absolutely living her life to the fullest. It is inspiring in so many ways.
So thank you, Deirdre, for coming on the show yet again.
And thanks to everyone for tuning in.
For more from me, I'm Allie on the Run 1 on Instagram.
My newsletter is Allieontherun .substack .com.
and you can find me on Patreon if you want to support over there.
Patreon .com slash Allie on the Run.
What else can I tell you?
NewBalance .com slash running is where you're going to get all of my favorite things that are definitely going to end up being your favorite things as well.
I like to think I know what I'm talking about when it comes to New Balance.
So head over there, show them some love and let me know what you buy.
Take a screenshot. Tell me all about it.
Tell me why you're obsessed with the Rebel, the Super Comp Trainer, the SE Elite V5.
There's a lot of good stuff going on over there.
oh and you know what else i wanted to tell you you've got this you're doing great and thank you for joining me on the run
