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.
So, whether you are running towards something big or away from something that's been holding you back, I am here to hold your hand and help you pick up the pace.
Today, Molly Seidel returns to the Alley on the Run show as an ultra marathoner.
Molly just completed the Black Canyon 100K, where she finished fourth and earned a golden ticket to Western States this summer.
Earlier this year, Molly made her ultra debut at the Bandera 50K, where she won the race outright, beating the first male finisher by six full minutes.
Molly's 40939 broke a course record that had stood since 2012.
And she didn't just break the record, she shattered it by 15 minutes.
We had so much to catch up on, and it is always a treat to chat with Molly, so please enjoy this conversation with ultra-marathoner Molly Seidel.
Ultra marathoner Molly Seidel.
Oh my God.
Hi, how are you doing?
Oh my God.
I'm so tired.
I'm so tired and I'm so hungry.
Are you, have you been able to get sleep since this weekend?
Like how is your body feeling?
I think we always expect after any hard effort we're going to sleep.
Great, but our body's not always ready to just do that.
So how has it been?
No, my, my like central nervous system was definitely a little fried for a couple of days.
So, like especially the night after the race, my legs were just so sore that I kind of barely slept, but it worked out okay.
Cause we were at an Airbnb with some of our friends down in Scottsdale.
So like Molly and Marty went to bed.
I stayed up and just waited for the rest of the girls to get home from the bars and then like yapped until like 1am.
So it's uh, the last few days have been a little like wonky, but you know it's getting a little bit better.
I was up at four 30 this morning though, like baking banana bread.
So, well, it's great to be someone in your life then.
I mean, the people will benefit from getting to have some of your snacks and treats.
Does this compare in any way to efforts in the past, whether it was marathons, shorter effort like?
Does anything compare to how your body is feeling in the wake of a hundred K, to anything else you've done?
No, it's honestly so different.
Even just the difference from marathon to ultra marathon is totally different, because I feel like with a marathon your cardiovascular system is so fried.
And my cardiovascular system actually feels pretty good, but I am just so sore.
And my whole body is kind of just like, what did you just do?
So it's been nice taking a little bit of time down.
What I've noticed though is like I'm feeling better quicker than I do after a marathon.
So I'm hoping like we'll get back to training in the next like two weeks or so.
Whereas, like with a marathon, I usually need like an extended period of time before I get back into it.
All right.
Well, before we break it all down, I have to ask my opening question, which is always what is making you happy today?
Oh, what is making me happy?
I just had a really good rotisserie chicken sandwich from Swedish Hill here in Austin.
Wait what?
At what time?
10 am, at 10 am i got off because i'm just like cross-training today.
So i went over to my fancy ass gym here and uh, then i was so hungry that i just went over and got myself a rotisserie chicken sandwich and just vibed and you're not allowed to have like computers in there anything.
So i just kind of like sat and i wrote in my little journal and i just felt so very uh, i don't know Better than everybody else is what I'm trying to say.
I felt better than everyone.
Yeah, you're superior.
You are the superior being.
And that doesn't even include what you just did this week.
Like you need a sign.
Did you get a medal at this race?
I got a belt buckle, which is so fun.
I am absolutely wearing that to line dancing at some point, because my brother, since he's in the leather business, is going to send me a nice little belt to go along with it.
Oh, they don't give you the belt.
You just get the buckle and you have to put it on.
I never knew that.
Yeah.
You have no attachment.
So you have to figure out how to strap it to your body yourself.
Got it.
Okay.
So someone's on the job.
Love that.
Uh, what are you into right now?
Shows, books, movies.
What are you consuming?
Oh, See, the problem is I really haven't watched any TV lately.
Like I just have not had the brain space for it.
And I have trouble getting into shows.
I really want to go see Wuthering Heights, but I've heard mixed reviews on it.
Me too.
But the soundtrack is great.
Very sexy soundtrack.
That's what I've heard.
I've heard the whole movie is basically like just a music video.
So yeah, I could be into that.
Yeah.
Did you watch heated rivalry?
No, I didn't.
But everybody else in my life has watched it.
I don't know.
That's just not really my jam.
Like hockey, butts.
I don't know what it is.
Like, I'm just not really into like romance stuff or like, like I don't really read smut novels.
I'm not really into like super romantic shows.
It's a sports show.
That's not a sports show.
From the one scene that I walked into while other Molly was watching, I was like, Oh, wow.
Is that what you call each other?
Other Molly?
Do you each refer to?
No, I call her Molly.
I call her Molly.
But so that people on the podcast don't think I'm like a Pokemon saying my own name all the time, because it is now become incredibly confusing for everyone.
But it's so cute.
I love it.
All right, well, let's go back in time a little bit to catch us up to talking about Black Canyon.
So the last time that you were on the show was right before the New York City Marathon.
So if we were to go back to New York in November, give us the brief rundown.
Obviously, you know, maybe wasn't a banner day.
You ended up pulling out around mile 18, but obviously made the right call.
So tell us a little bit about your reflections on the 2025 New York City Marathon.
Yeah, honestly like New York, even though I pulled out of the race like we got out of it exactly what I needed.
Cause the whole goal of that race was basically like do my threshold block and like feel strong doing workouts again, like get back in the rhythm of training and then start specific ultra training, basically the week after that race.
And so pulling out of New York rather than like going and potentially really hurting my knees allowed me to like take.
I think I maybe took like two, maybe three days down after it.
And then we started ultra training that next week.
And I was able to get in a really, really strong block coming off of it.
So like, while it definitely like hurt my ego to have to like drop out of that race, especially one that I've like, I typically see myself as like a strong runner at New York.
So that was hard, like having a bad race there.
But in the grand scheme of things, because it was a B race, I think the fact that I didn't compromise my training going forward, it was what allowed me to like really go strong in the beginning of 2026.
So it was like it was a mixed bag.
It was like the race itself sucked um, but like we had a ton of fun afterwards, like We ended up like just hanging around New York city for a couple of days, went and saw, Oh Mary, like honestly still had like a 10 out of 10 time despite dropping out.
I had a little bit forgotten that I dropped out of the race when we were flying back.
I was like, Oh wait, the race didn't even go well, but this was so much fun.
Oh, but that's so good.
How does that compare?
You know you've talked quite a bit about when you had to drop out of Boston and which was like there was so much attention on you heading into Boston that year.
So emotionally?
How did that experience in New York compare to when you had to drop out of Boston a couple years prior?
It was completely night and day.
Like I actually made that comparison.
I can't remember who I had said it to, but basically, like after Boston, I felt like that was like one of the greatest disappointments in my career.
And I feel like just mentally that knocked me for such a loop.
Like it took me a really long time to mentally come to terms with it.
Whereas I don't know if it's just a matter of like being older, having dropped out of more races at this point and like realizing like Oh, like.
Honestly, nobody cares.
Like I don't care.
Nobody cares.
So I feel like coming off of it, it was just like, yeah, this is just a reality of like racing pro athletics like if it's not going to be your day there's no point like hurting yourself and trying to think of it and like the bigger scheme of things, like, rather than, oh I've disappointed everyone it's just like, okay, it was a tough day in the office on to the next.
Yeah, we all have them.
We all have tough days in the office.
Yours is just on a slightly grander scale or more public scale billion spectators, a couple of people watching.
But then you come back and you run a 50 K in January, which you don't just run.
You win the race outright.
You beat all the boys too, which I freaking love.
What was it?
The first male finisher was six minutes behind you.
You broke the course record by 15 minutes.
Like All around a great day.
So bring us to the 50K.
And I want to hear again your reflections on this one.
Yeah, the 50K was kind of crazy because both Molly and I got the flu the week before.
So we had to like really like I took a couple like a string of days off the week beforehand.
And my coach was even like OK, like if you're not feeling good, you probably shouldn't do this race.
I'm like, there is no way I'm not doing this race.
Like I am getting to the line.
I will do whatever I have to do.
And Bandera, it's a very small race out in like it's west of San Antonio, I want to say.
And this was the first ultra marathon that other Molly had seen so far.
So she drives out with me.
I like walk her through basically at this state park.
Like she's going to hand me my bottles at two different locations.
So basically every 10 miles throughout the course, she'll hand it to me at 10.
She'll hand it to me at 20.
I show her the locations.
We then go to our hotel, which is a real life version of Schitt's Creek.
I wish that I could share the photos with you.
It is hilarious.
Like I've never seen more wood in a hotel room, not even hotel.
Like we had a cabin and there were three beds in our room.
We had a cat basically assigned to us.
It kept just following us around and tried to get into our room.
So the whole lead into the race was very glamorous, very glamorous.
The actual race is, I would say for about two thirds of it, it was great.
And yeah, was leading, felt really good.
Just wanted to get out ahead of the boys, was running technically super, super strong.
And then I decided to take some salt tabs from an aid station and just projectile vomited for the whole back 10 and basically saw the face of God on the final hill.
Yeah.
So how did you keep going through that though?
Because you did, I mean, on paper, hell of a race.
So what's going through, like, was it just a lot of mental, like, I can do this.
How did you get through those 10 miles?
I, I don't even know because, like it is this weird thing that I do that I'm not like willing myself through it.
It's just as if I'm so dumb that like it doesn't occur to me that I could just stop because we had to go past where the finish line was.
And like, I don't know, it, in my mind, it just wasn't even like a consideration.
I was like, well, obviously I've got to finish.
So I think for me too, it's like the last couple of years have been so hard.
Like I've been through so many ups and downs that I'm like there is nothing in a race that I can experience that is worse than what I've just gone through.
So like I can deal with about 90 minutes of vomiting.
90 minutes.
God, that sounds miserable.
But hey, you're so tough.
Great day on paper.
Any imposter syndrome when it comes to being in the trail and ultra space.
You know you've talked a bit about like That.
I'm not coming into this race as an Olympic bronze medalist.
I'm coming into this race as someone who's newer to the trail and the ultra space.
So I'm curious both with the 50 K and then we'll get to black Canyon.
Do you show up on these starting lines, feeling like this is where I'm supposed to be and I belong?
Or is there a bit of like oh my gosh, I'm the new kid?
How do you feel?
Yeah, I wouldn't even say it's imposter syndrome.
I would just say that it's like the typical nerves that come with doing something new, like.
I think for, for me, this is a drastically new side of the sport for me to be doing.
Like I've done trail races, but ultra is a very different thing than what I've experienced before.
So I think like Bandera to some degree, because a 50 K is just a marathon with some extra sauce on it.
Like it's, I think that was definitely like, okay, I've run the course.
Like I feel very confident that like, I'm going to do well at this.
I had like run into a guy out there training on the course the week before.
And I basically told him like, yeah, I'm going to try to win the thing.
So like, I felt very confident with that.
I think going into black Canyon with the level of competition that I was up against, knowing how experienced those women were.
And also just knowing like I had never run over 35 miles.
Um, I think I just felt those nerves of being like I just don't know what this is going to be.
Like I'm going to learn a lot in the race, but like you can't really be confident until you've done something.
So it's like, you have to be okay with just going into it, scared and doing it anyway.
When did you decide that you were going to run the black Canyon a hundred K last February?
Um, I wrote like in my journal that like I was going to run black Canyon and I at the time I couldn't run at all
Like this time last year, I was still pretty brutally injured.
So I at the time.
It was just really a feeling of being like I know that this is where I want to go.
That was part of the reason, like I had just left Puma for that reason of being like I know I'm going to focus on trails.
But it took pretty much that entire year to ideate and figure out like how I was going to approach it and the steps that I was going to take to actually get there.
Was that a factor when your relationship with Puma ended?
Was that a factor of like, I want to move to ultra distances?
Yeah, I would have been required to run two marathons a year if I'd stayed with Puma.
And so that was kind of it of like that's really hard to articulate to a brand of just being like hey, like I'm considering going into this completely new thing.
So basically, it was like when they offered, and it was like, lower than what I'd been on.
And I was, like you know, like I think, just the the compositive factors here, of like being reduced, and then also wanted, like wanting to go into a new sector of the sport and not be restricted in what I'm trying to do because I'm being held to a contract, like requirement.
I think it, like, it just made sense for me to, to say no.
I don't know how much you can share, but I'm going to ask anyway is that because like, Puma doesn't currently have like the whether it's the shoes or anything else to support a shift into ultras, or is it that you're sort of in a box of like, we want you to be a marathon, or we signed you as a marathon, or you check the marathon, or about like, what's the reason?
Do you know why it had to be two marathons a year?
I think that's just what a standard contract is.
Yeah, that's a standard marathoning contract.
I think anybody who was going out and signing a professional marathon contract.
That's generally the bare minimum.
And then there are performance restrictions on there.
You have to run a certain level.
But I think they made trail shoes that I've raced in before.
But I think I wanted to have the freedom to test out product.
I'm a huge product nerd.
And so for me being able to try out different things, see what my body felt best and was really important to me.
And yeah, also like that's just a tough like investment strategy to be like.
Hey, like that thing that you've been enormously successful at for us.
Like what if you just do a totally different thing and we still pay you to do that.
So like, I don't know.
But it's going well.
But it's going well.
But I mean at the time, like it, If I told somebody February last year that I was doing this, like that would have been crazy.
And so I think it's that, that it's, I think even just for me, maybe more so than any of this other stuff, it was just the psychological aspect of I had been a sponsored athlete for such a long time.
And I think that that like inherently puts some level of restriction on what you do.
Like, obviously being sponsored comes with like enormous benefits, like financially and through support.
But I think it also kind of tries to fit you into a very specific box.
Like you even see it.
It's like you're paid to be a track runner.
You're paid to be a road runner.
You're paid to be a trail runner.
Like even at Nike, it's like separate things.
Like who I negotiate with to try and get like a Nike deal in trail is completely different than their roadside.
So those don't even like communicate.
So I think it's that, that it's like I think for me, being able to have the freedom to figure out what I wanted to be in running was very important to me.
So you work with multiple brands, but you don't currently have a shoe sponsor.
Is that something, do you want one or do you not want to be?
I definitely want a shoe sponsorship.
I think like right now I'm between like, I think different options.
So like going into Black Keenan, I actually did a very short term deal.
So just for the race with Satisfye.
So obviously that's clothing only brand.
And so like that was really fun because then I had the option.
I can just wear whatever I want on my feet.
Whereas, like if you go with some of the larger brands the, the ons, the Nikes, the Adidas that's obviously an all inclusive like thing.
So it comes with a few more restrictions.
Usually it's a bit higher dollar amount if you're doing like all in versus one.
So I think right now, like I'm talking to a couple of different brands.
I'll hopefully have something figured out by Western States.
But yeah, it's figuring out like what makes most sense for me at this point in my career.
Is it crazy to say I'll have that figured out by Western States?
It's so crazy.
I'm like that.
It just feels so good to like, because that was the goal.
Going into Black Canyon is to get the golden ticket.
And like that's why I was so stoked at the end of the race, because like I worked so hard for that.
And there were so many times over the last year that I did not know if like this was going to work out.
It was so validating to get it and just being like no, like I do feel like I belong here.
That finished video of you that's been going around where, like you finish, you go over to Molly, you get a nice kiss.
Like it's, it's so emotional.
And I feel like that was a very different, like it's, it felt different watching that video of you.
You seemed more emotional than I feel like we've seen you at a finish line.
Is that an accurate assessment on Instagram?
That's absolutely accurate.
Like crossing that finish line, I think is probably the most joke that I've been in a really, really long time.
And that race I like.
That was probably like some of the like highest highs and lowest lows I've had in a race.
Um, just because, like there's so much time and I did like I had a pretty, pretty horrible 20 mile stretch in there where I was really doubting.
I know it was like insane.
I like from mile I want to say 25 to 35, was pretty dire straights for me to the degree that, like my coach, was like having to talk me through it at deep canyon at 32 mile mark um, but being able to be in that, sit in that and then come out of it and still hold the golden ticket, like position crossing the finish line and being like, oh my god, i did it, like i held it for 30 miles, even though i felt horrible like that, some of that like excitement and joy of just being like man, I can't believe I mentally got through that and I accomplished my goal and all my favorite people are here right now.
Do you get to keep that big golden ticket?
Is that somewhere?
Or yeah, I hung it in my garage but it was so funny because we had to drive around with it all weekend.
Then and my friend Barney, who had been crewed for me, she was sitting in the back of my truck and it kept like hitting her at multiple points and like That photo of me, like sitting in the seat where it's like over my head.
When we get two people in the back of the car it is so cumbersome.
Like those giant novelty checks or tickets or what, they're not easy to carry around.
So I'm glad that I like live within driving distance.
So when you decided why Black Canyon, why is this the race that you chose?
Walk us through the thought process and how much was the focus on?
I want to do this 100K or is it like I'm doing the 100K to get to Western States?
Yeah.
So originally it started out when I started working with my coach Cliff last August.
I believe we started working together.
Black Canyon was always the goal.
And we shifted things around for it.
So originally I was going to do a 50 miler before black Canyon to prep, but I had a wedding that weekend.
So I was like, no, we're not doing that.
We're going to do New York, but black Canyon a combination of it being local, it's within driving distance.
So I could get on the course.
And also the fact that it is so fast and runnable that that is the a hundred K that most easily translates to what I've been doing.
Like me, trying to go straight from marathon to one of the really hilly, mountainous hundred Ks might not necessarily make sense but being a marathon runner, the course at black Canyon really played to the strengths that I already had.
Um, just because, like the technical aspect, the muscular strength aspects are the hardest ones to develop.
Whereas like I've got years of aerobic conditioning.
So, like I, I have probably a higher LT than most of the women on that course, but I'm not as strong as them.
So it's like, I can bank off that.
Um, so yeah, it was lactic threshold.
Yeah.
Lactate threshold.
Just because like, that's the main thing that you do when you're marathon training.
But it was so funny of like being in that race and being like, oh my God, I'm getting my doors blown off.
Like by these women.
They are so strong and realizing, like that kind of like aerobic sharpness and fitness.
That is not the deciding factor in ultra marathon.
It really is just like that strength.
And I was blown away how strong those top three women were.
Like when Jen came past me at mile 24, I felt like I was moving backwards.
She was going so fast.
That's fun.
That's humbling.
Yeah.
It's so funny.
Cause like some of the chatter online is like, she's an Olympic medalist.
How did she not win the thing?
I'm like, I don't think you understand how strong these women are.
Like, It is next level, these women who are used to running 50 miles and above.
I'm like, they are built different.
What is it?
What is the allure for you?
You've talked about Western States for a long time now, but can you share a little bit about your Western States origin story and what the appeal has been why you've wanted to make your way there?
Yeah, like many other really uncool middle schoolers who are super into running.
I read Born to Run when I was a child.
Obviously bought Vibram Five Fingers and ran in those for a long time.
But I was a huge like.
This is like you can tell the level of like nerd that I was as a kid.
That, like Scott Jurek was my biggest hero.
And obviously it talks about him winning western states a bunch and same thing like uh, like ann tracen who had won i believe she's won western states nine times or so like legends of the sport.
I think, like being introduced to that as a really young kid and being like oh, that would be so cool to run 100 miles someday.
This is me as like a kid that's running the mile in high school, so like i think for me that definitely always was one of those like pipe dreams of like I want to do that some way, in the same way that I was like I want to win an Olympic medal someday, where it seems very far off when you're a kid.
So I think it's that like getting to do this now and getting to line up at Western States is really wild, because it seems like all the things that I like manifested as a 12 year old are like kind of coming true.
Yeah.
So can you explain the process of getting a golden ticket and what you had to be able to do at black Canyon to get that golden ticket?
Yeah.
So basically, because black Canyon is one of the trail majors, like you have to get a top three finish at these races in order to get an automatic qualifier for Western stage, which is I don't know if I would consider like, because UTMB is also the world champs of ultra running, I would also consider Western States the world champs of ultra running.
It's like two world championships, basically.
But Western States is really big, and it's a US-based one.
For this race because some of the women in the field already have golden tickets and entries.
You don't necessarily have to get top three.
You just have to make sure that you get... what was it?
I'm not explaining this correctly.
Basically, if anyone in the top three has golden tickets, it then rolls down to the next one.
So I had to make sure that I only had two women in front of me that didn't have golden tickets yet.
So when I got passed by Jen and Ann and Tara, I was like well, basically learning at deep canyon that tara already had a golden ticket, i was like i'm still in it, so i just had to stay ahead of i think it was shea was behind me because abby, who won western states last year, was directly behind me.
So i was like i got to stay in front of those guys so i can keep my ticket.
And so yeah, i was basically racing the whole last 30 just being like i have to just stay in fourth place position and i will go to western states.
So was this you before the race sitting down?
Were you looking up all of these women to see their stats, with someone telling you like how'd you know?
No, I was just waiting.
My coach is like, I'm a very vibes based runner as people can probably know.
It was funny of being like everyone on my crew, like my coach, all my friends.
They were way more like knowledgeable about every other aspect of this race.
I was kind of just like They'll tell me what I need to know in the race, but basically I'm going to race the people around me.
I'm going to try, like, I'm going to try to go for as high of a spot as I possibly can.
And then I'll just like, let the chips fall where they may.
So basically in the race, I was like racing as hard as I could and knowing like okay, like I just got to stay in this spot.
Who was in your crew and how did you choose these people?
And what did you feel like you were? most needed or what were your anticipatory needs for your crew?
Yeah, basically I was looking for a combination of like really good friends, people that I really trust, and people that have like some experience with helping crew ultra.
So basically the crew was my girlfriend, Molly, who she helped me at Bandera.
And obviously she is like, she is like the biggest type girl for me.
I also had my friend Marnie, who she's crewed a bunch of ultra marathons and I've done a bunch of running with her.
So she is like spreadsheet extravaganza.
Like she has everything planned out to a T.
When we were figuring out like bottles of nutrition the night before she had like her computer up like logging stuff in my training partner, Megan Van Pelt, MVP has like they're.
Big, big trail runner.
They know this world super well.
They know everybody in trail running.
And they've spent a lot of time around Jim Walmsley and his wife, Jess.
So they know this world well.
As well, my two college teammates, Danny and Alex Aragon, came out and were helping.
Lex is a mountain runner.
Danny ran pro in the 1500 meters.
She's run at trials quite a bit.
Um, so both of them are just like such good, like adds to the team, both extremely positive people.
Um, and then my coach, Cliff Pittman, who he is like.
That man is the reason I was able to finish that race.
He was like able to keep me in it at 32 and just be like, you are fine.
You are absolutely fine.
You just got to keep going.
Yeah.
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Sweet dreams.
So let's go to race morning.
How were the vibes?
How were you feeling about to run your first 100K?
I was honestly stoked.
Like trail is so different from road.
Like I feel like in road, you're just so nervous and everyone's so on edge.
Whereas, like we got to the high school and like I don't, we woke up early, just drove over like everybody's stoked.
I had the whole Morton came out and they had been filming like they're doing, like a mini documentary about the race.
And so like the whole Morton crew was there, like the satisfy crew was there.
They were stoked that I was racing in their stuff.
Um, got to see a bunch of friends at the start and yeah, basically just like, did my silly little warmup and got my vest on which that was like the second time I'd ever worn that vest.
So I was like, we'll see how this goes.
And yeah, just headed over and started.
Uh, you had a statement on the vest.
You had ice out on the vest.
I want to hear about that decision.
Yeah no, I think that mattered a lot to me, just cause like, obviously I disagree pretty heavily with what ice is doing currently.
And I think being able to express that opinion through my racing, through what I wear, is pretty important to me.
I'm, I don't know.
I haven't been like super vocal on social media, just because I don't feel like that's where I can put my voice to best use sometimes.
But I think like being able to make a statement on what I wear through what I do, and like wear that for 62 miles, like mattered a lot to me.
Yeah, that was really cool.
And what did you wear on your feet? on my feet, I wore Nike ultra fly twos.
Lucy may sent those over.
Apparently the original box that she sent got completely mangled and sent back.
And so she was like, like kudos to her expressed, shipped a pair of ultra flies like within a day to my house.
She had texted me.
I think it was like the Wednesday before the race.
She's like, how long are you going to be at your house?
Like, the shoes got sent back.
Can I send you a new pair?
I'm like, yeah, don't worry.
Like we'll be here till Friday.
They arrived the next morning.
Like the devil works hard, but Lucy may have Nike ACG works harder.
I love it.
But yeah, I had been, I'd been training in those.
They sent me a pair right after Bandera and I just really liked how they feel.
I've been doing a lot of my training.
Like I vacillate between on and Nike mostly.
And so getting to run in those on the black Canyon course, really, really helped.
So I felt very comfortable in the shoes.
When you roll up to run a road marathon or any road distance, everyone knows who you are.
There's so much Molly hype at road races.
Was that happening at this race?
Yeah, definitely.
Like there was, I think people, maybe it's that it's trail is such a community based like sport.
I don't know, knowing a lot of the people there getting to see friends, but also, I think, people just being genuinely excited that I was there and like saying hi.
It was less of like in the marathon world.
A lot of times it's just like oh Molly, let's take a photo, let's do this blah blah, blah.
And I think like in trail people were saying just like really sweet things to me, but not being like overly, I don't know into it, I think it.
I really felt that level of like, community and And just felt like I was amongst friends there.
So when you say you did your silly little warmup, what does a warmup for a hundred K look like?
I just bounced around for like minutes or so.
I wouldn't even, it was like barely running.
I'm kind of just like, I'd have had a calf injury going into this race.
So basically like I'd hurt my calf at Bandera.
And so it was just a little bit limited in the amount of training that I'd been doing.
I actually like, flew back to Texas the week before to see my doctor here and just get it shock waved.
So mostly it was just checking out to make sure that my calf felt good.
And it did.
What was the race plan?
Race plan was honestly just go out and basically like.
The two people that I was trying to mark off of were Riley and Abby.
So Riley won the race last year.
Abby Hall was the Western States winner from last year.
And both of them, I really, I've seen how they've raced before.
I think both of them are incredibly smart pacers.
They don't go out super crazy.
They always keep it really in check and then are strong over the last part of the race.
So I think like my goal would be like, Hey, like just try and run with those two.
Um, Abby went out actually really, really fast.
And then Riley was leading the chase pack.
So that was literally, I was just like, it's a single track trail.
So you got to get in a baseline and just try to flow for as long as you can.
Is there any chatter or conversation out there?
When, like you said, you're in a single pace line, you're pretty close to each other.
Are you talking at all?
No, we would talk a little bit once it like opened up.
Like because basically, when you first start the roads a little bit wider uh, and then you narrow in.
So we are talking a little bit on the road.
Once we were on the single track, definitely like silent.
Um, But once things opened up, we like chatted maybe a little bit.
And as the race progressed, once you kind of settled into your groups.
I actually talked to a lot of guys throughout the race.
Like oftentimes I would have a guy like immediate in front of me, immediately behind me.
And there'd be a little bit of like back and forth.
About what?
Like, how are you feeling?
Or like, this is fun.
I don't know.
Like it would be super random.
A lot of times, like if you caught up to a new person, like people, a lot of the guys oftentimes would be like pretty excited that i would like be running with them.
So that was actually really sweet.
But um, what was it?
I met this guy, marco.
He had an austin.
The loop is a running store in austin, so he was wearing a loop shirt.
I'm like, oh my god, are you from austin?
He's like i live in new york now but like i'm from austin originally, i was like, oh my god, that makes my day.
And then we ran together for quite a while, like quite a few miles.
Um, the on rep was behind me and he was like, sad to see you're not wearing on shoes.
I'm like, Oh, sorry, dude.
I wore my Bandera.
Got to keep you guys on your toes.
But yeah, it's just stuff like that.
And like I ran into what is it right around like mile 42?
I want to say I ran into my old training partner, Craig Hunt, who he was having a pretty tough day.
And he then ended up pacing me for like 15 miles.
So it's just stuff like that, that it's like happy little accidents.
Yeah.
How often were you going to see your crew?
What was the plan there?
So the crew is only allowed access to Bumblebee Ranch, which is at 19, Deep Canyon Ranch, which is at 32, and Table Mesa, which is at 50.
So I got to see, I got to have crew access at those points, but they were able to hit a couple of the earlier spots, just to cheer.
So I saw them at, I want to say, Antelope Road.
Not sure if that's a thing.
And then hidden treasure mine.
I'm somebody who actually knows why, can't it is going to be like that's not the terms, but like i'd seen them a couple times prior to the first aid station, but then after that you really are kind of just like in no man's land until you can get to the main aid stations.
So you didn't have.
So your crew was a station i mean not stationary because they were moving around but no one in your crew was running with you.
Is that correct?
No, and I had not set up a pacer beforehand because I was a cocky little bitch and was like I don't need pacers.
Like, I don't believe in Pacers for the, for the profile.
And then everybody else had Pacers and was absolutely dusting me out.
I was like, okay, I actually believe in Pacers now.
And then when Craig paced me, I was like, this is objectively way better.
I definitely believe in Pacers.
I am eating my words.
So how did that work with him?
Like when you say he paced you, were you like, Hey, can you help me along?
Or was it just, you ended up side by side?
Like how'd that happen?
No, basically.
So Craig was running in the pro men's field and he ended up having a pretty tough day.
So when I ran into him, he was like poles out hiking up a hill and I turned around.
I was just like, hey, Craig.
And he immediately like put the poles in the pack and he was like, I'll run with you.
And so he just like I like I never asked him to.
He just did that, like basically running with me.
And he's so good because like he calls out all the turns.
He is like telling you how far away from the aid stations you are.
And he's basically like I'm the kind of person that I'm just going to match whatever pace someone's putting down.
So it really helped that he was just going.
I was able to push a little bit harder having someone there.
And by the time we got to Table Mesa at 50, that's where he had been planning on dropping out.
I believe his wife was there like ready to pick him up.
And he goes, I'm getting all my bottles restacked and whatnot.
And he asks MVP, he's like, can I drop out now or do you need me to keep running?
And MVP's like, keep running.
And so he got me over the final climb and then he cut it.
Okay, so let's walk through the first, chunk of the race.
You, you tell me let's, let's break it down and how those early miles, maybe the mile by mile, first 400 meters on the track, felt great.
Yes.
I love this.
We'll be here for several hours.
Yeah. basically like the first 20 of the race is so downhill and so we had practices i'd been on the course before so i knew but it is like it's crazy being in the race and just being like oh we are flying downhill and because like for me as a marathoner up to 26 miles i'm like oh my god this is great i feel so good i'm so fast and then everything after that i'm like oh my god this is terrible But it was like coming through Bumblebee, I was leaving.
So I started leading right around mile 12 and held that for about 12 miles.
And I felt great, like rolling really smooth, body felt really good.
And after that, my inexperience caught up to me really quickly.
Like I could feel how inexperienced at the event I was because, like I missed refilling water bottles at Gloriana Mine and then I ran out of water.
I got really dehydrated really fast and I just like tanked, and that was when I lost the top three women and I could just feel like my legs just hurt in a way that like they have never hurt in a race and even though like, my breathing was really regulated, like I wasn't running as hard as I run in a marathon, but I'm like I physically could not run faster than this right now.
So it was like a very new experience of just being like I've never felt like this in a race before, where I feel like I'm at mile 25 of a marathon, body wise, like with how much everything hurts.
And I still have 40 miles of running.
Yeah.
How did you navigate that to hit a tough spot where in your normal races you know normal in quotes?
There you'd be done.
And here it's like you're early in the race.
Well, not even that.
I think the scary part for me was coming through 32.
So coming into Deep Canyon Ranch, I'm seeing my crew.
At this point, I have just been blown by the top three women.
And so I'm mentally already like, oh shit, this is going south really fast.
I feel like I'm moving backwards.
I feel terrible because my whole body hurts and I'm so thirsty.
So I'm just in this nexus of negativity or whatnot.
So I come into the aid station and, knowing that I've never run over 35 miles, I am now at 32 miles and I'm like I have to run 30 more miles.
I don't.
I like I physically can't comprehend how this is going to be because like, I just have never run that far before and I feel so bad right now and it really was just a matter of like I told my coach I was like this might be kind of a just finished kind of day.
And he was like, you are doing fine.
Like, I know it seems like you're doing really bad right now, but you're doing fine.
You just need to start pounding water and you need to start pounding your gels.
And like, you're strong on the uphills.
You're done with the big downhills now.
Like this is the part of the course that you're going to be okay on.
And I think it was that of almost just like so much of managing discomfort in a race is not like talking yourself through it.
I find it's creating separation between like, your physical self and your mental self of being able to tweeze a part of like.
Can I give myself one more mile to work through this?
Can I like, can I mentally give myself a little bit of room from how potent these emotions feel right now?
And that's kind of just what I did over the next few miles of just.
It really was just like okay, just keep running.
You don't have to run any faster than you're going right now, but like, just don't stop.
And gradually I started to feel a little bit better.
Relatively, my entire body still hurt so bad, but it really was just that of giving myself a little bit of room to be like.
I know this is scary, but all you have to do is keep moving.
How did you feel on the more technical parts of this course?
Did you feel well prepared for?
I feel like that's such a big part of the shift from roads to trails is like it's a very different type of running.
Did you feel ready for that?
I felt about as ready as I could.
I think for me so much of like my growth in the sport will come from just getting more comfortable on technical downhills.
Cause that definitely is my weakest point right now.
And that's where The girls were just eating me up alive.
But like I'm great in an uphill.
The flats, I feel like my economy is really good.
So it really was just kind of like surviving the downhills and then like being able to like feel comfortable on the uphills.
What was your nutrition plan?
Did I see a Rice Krispie treat in a pocket at some point?
You did see a mega size 50 grams of carbohydrate Rice Krispie treat.
That was honestly.
I think the Rice Krispie treat might be why the race turned around for me, because that 32 is my first Celsius and my first Rice Krispie treat.
And it just changed my whole goddamn life.
But no, I the majority of my nutrition.
I use the Morton gel mix, and they have flavors now for it too.
So I had a little bit of orange flavoring in there.
Um, so usually I do that in like the handheld and then I have gels in a flask as well.
So I alternate between those two of like gel mix, which is a little bit more liquidy, and then the physical gels in a in a handheld.
So I switch off with those.
And then when I get to 32, I have a full can of Celsius and I eat my big rice crispy treat in thirds over the next like hour or so.
And then yeah, back to gels basically.
So it's pretty simple.
Like we laid it all out before.
It's pretty easy.
I have electrolytes in a bottle and then I'm still drinking water as well.
So yeah, it's like, it's a lot of planning that goes into it.
But like my crew was so good.
They were like a pit crew of just like like Trade out bottle, trade out bottle.
Like get the gel flask in there, like Rice Krispie in.
Yeah.
So when you found your crew at each of these aid stations, were you going in and sitting and them swarming you?
Did you change shoes at all?
Or you're just you're upright, get in, get out.
Upright, get in.
Like it was so crazy because, like many of them, are pretty new to crewing, marnie was, i believe, the only one who's like fully crewed an ultra marathon before and they were so fast, like to the degree that other people were like in the race were complimenting how good they were.
After they're like oh my god, the dream is like professional.
I'm like i know i hand selected them all, But no, they were so good.
So like basically what I let them operate is like their own autonomous unit.
I was like, hey, I'm going to come in.
This is what I need.
But I'm going to let you guys organize how you want to because, like you guys are all very, very smart women.
Like I trust that, you know, like what you need to do.
So Molly would manage my bottles.
She would trade out the bottles.
Lex would literally like pour the Celsius in my mouth.
Danny and MVP were stuffing ice everywhere on me and Danny would like dump water on top of me.
And so it was like everybody had their role of what they were doing.
And like same thing, like I had a little back zip pocket on my on vest.
And so like Marty would like slip the gels in, take out the other ones.
Like it was actually wild.
So I never sat down.
I just like stood standing at one point.
They were like spraying sunscreen on me.
Um, so it was like pretty crazy how good they were.
How much were they talking to you?
Were they saying like, how do you feel?
How you doing?
What were those conversations like?
They weren't as, most of the talking was just between me and Cliff.
And I think cause they were so locked in like they were definitely like positive, but it also was like in the race.
You're basically in silence for like hours.
And then you come into these aid stations and it's like a homophony of sound.
And so like, I couldn't hear anything.
It was all like just this blast of noise and everything's happening so fast.
Everybody's just like touching you and like putting things on you.
And so it almost was pretty overwhelming.
So, like the majority of talking that I did was with my coach, when he would run into the aid station with me and then run out with me.
And he's like communicating how far back people are, like things that I need to focus on basically, like the stuff that I needed to know.
Once you got to mile 35, were you like, Oh, this is the furthest I've ever run.
Was that on your mind much?
I didn't actually realize it until we hit black Canyon city is an on or it's an aid station that your crew can't go to, but it's like a fully worked aid station.
And that's at 37.
And so when I hit that, I was like Oh, this is officially the farthest I've ever run, and from there it was just like okay, we're in it.
Like uh, can i ask, did you need the bathroom at all during this race?
Um yeah, i definitely went to the bathroom okay, because it's a long time to be out there without doing that.
Yeah, i would just strategically time it for, like if i, because we had river crossings, or i would just like dump water all over myself.
Like excellent yeah, okay.
So, At any point, like I'm curious about the points in the race that you know you talked before about being like I don't know that I can keep doing this.
Like, this is so hard.
Was there like a flow state point?
Did you ever get into that of just cruising?
Yeah, I think once I hit like after Black Canyon City, so 37, that next stretch, like it's a long stretch, until Table Mesa, because what is it?
That's 13 miles basically, from 37 until 50, and that really was like when I started getting into the flow of it, like feeling like I was just like in it, I'm just out there, you're just in your own head, but it wasn't as stressful anymore.
I was kind of like okay, like we're running, I'm trying to run hard to make sure that I stay ahead of the people behind me.
But I really was like Like my heart rate had evened out.
I was right around like 150, I want to say, from almost at like 150 to 155.
And so it was kind of just like cruising.
And it's a lot of like flitting between like management.
Like you almost are checking in on the systems of your body and then like, focus on the trail, focus on like okay, do I need to eat?
Do I need water?
Check on the systems again, focus on the trail.
Like you really are kind of just in it.
The best part though, was like hitting four miles to go the final aid station and then being on like fire road and just being like oh, I know how to do this, and like really opening it up and being like now we're cruising.
And at that point, did you know how many women were ahead of you and who they were?
Yeah, I knew at that point, like I had known for 30 miles, like I knew I wasn't going to catch the women in front of me.
But I knew that I was far enough ahead of the women behind me that I had had it pretty locked up.
And so that's when it got fun.
But it's like my body was just so tired and like I cannot even describe the full body ache that comes like that deep into a race, because I have never felt that before.
And so it was that of just being like I didn't even have like conscious.
I literally just started praying over and over my head, just like Hail Mary's, continuously for the last.
30 minutes of the race just being like, I just got to get through this.
And was anyone around you at this point?
No, I was totally solo.
Yeah.
Oh, solo.
No music.
Just were there spectators out at that point?
You would see spectators every so often, or like people's pacers would come back to you basically.
Cause like people's pacers would start walking.
So you'd pass them on the trail.
So you see people every so often and, But, no, you're kind of just out there.
All right.
So what are the highest and lowest points of the day?
Ooh.
The highest point of the day.
I mean, crossing the finish line is definitely the highest point of the day.
Also because I just got to stop running.
No more running.
Yeah.
The lowest point of the day.
Ooh.
I got to say I was pretty – when – like yeah, when Tara Dower came past me just before deep Canyon ranch, like I was already so dehydrated.
Like I'd had no water for a couple of miles at that point.
It was starting to get really hot.
And I was already like, okay, I just got to stay ahead.
And she came blowing past me.
And I was just like, okay, this is it.
Like I'm, I'm done.
And I'm, barely halfway into this race.
I am the dumbest girl in the world.
Like it was really that I was just like, you idiot went out.
Well, no, it like, it was just like, you went out way too fast.
Why did you think that you could do this?
You're so dumb, stupid.
Awesome.
The inner monologue.
And that's that high level functioning of an elite athlete, mental performance.
All of that journaling led you to this.
Yeah.
Ready to go.
I just need a little like pity party.
Oh, I did fall at one point and break a nail.
So like that was kind of a low point.
The cattle guards I hated because each one is its own like puzzle to figure out.
What is that?
So cattle guards, they have them because it's open free range for cattle out there.
And so they put up these gates everywhere.
Or it's like grates in the road, or it's It is a literal like step ladder of metal rungs that you have to climb over.
And each one is different.
It is like it's so maddening because every time you get up to one, you have no idea what it's going to be.
So it's like a puzzle that you have to figure out mid race.
So when you think about Western states and the fact that you will be running it next year, what do you think about next year, this year?
Wait, i thought you.
I thought the golden ticket was for 2027.
No, it's for this june.
You're running western states in june.
I'm running western states this year ali, come on.
Okay, when you think about running western states in a couple months, we have to use that as some sort of clip on instagram.
That no no, i do my research, i work really hard And I know it's so funny because that was a similar situation when I told my mom that Western States is not in fact 100K, it's 100 miles, because she thought it was 100K that I had just qualified for.
And I was like I'm so sorry you're going to have to spend a lot more time watching, because she watched all eight and a half hours of that race on the live stream.
She's like, what do you mean?
I'm going to be watching for longer.
I'm like, well, it's a hundred miles.
She's like, no, it's not.
It's a hundred kilometers.
I'm like, no, it's definitely a hundred miles.
She's like, Oh my God, that's way too far.
Agreed.
And agreed.
Okay.
Well, I apologize for my, my mistake, my error there.
When you think about running Western States in a couple months, how does that feel?
I'm honestly really excited about it.
Like I, I, definitely have like a level of like fear and respect for that distance.
Like a hundred miles is no joke.
So, like I think, for me, getting going into it and looking at it as like okay, like in the same way that black Canyon was a big learning experience, like this is going to be a really big learning experience.
Yeah.
You obviously have a great coach, but are there other people or resources that you're leaning on or anticipate leaning on in the buildup to Western States?
No, definitely my crew.
When we got back up to Flagstaff, Marnie Molly and I, we went and got coffee and literally started planning things for Western States.
Marnie had her spreadsheet out.
She was so ready because she's crewed Western States before for one of her other friends.
So like The planning is definitely already started there.
I have Craig who ran with me in this one.
And also my teammate Roy link later have both expressed that they'd be willing to pace me, which I'm very, very excited about.
And it is like such a kind thing for both of them to offer.
Um, and yeah, it really is kind of like ultra marathon is so much more logistics than marathon.
And so a lot of it is the planning. getting on the course specifically, I'll be racing.
Um, actually this might, this is an exclusive for you.
I'm going to race canyons 50 K in the buildup.
So I'll get to check out part of the course.
I'll also do a training camp out there in Memorial day weekend, I want to say.
And yeah, just give myself every opportunity to like learn the terrain, learn the course, do my full build.
I'm just excited for it.
Like I think for me getting to go from like I don't know, not running last year to being able to get a golden ticket at black cannon just seeing what a steady year of training can do
I'm like, I, I can see myself improving at this sport like so quickly.
And so that's where I'm like, I'm really excited just to get in another full ultra marathon build over the next four months and see what I can do.
Do you have any idea what that will look like and what the mileage will peak at?
We don't really go off mileage, in honesty.
Like, we go off of time.
But basically I've got two weeks of break, so we're going to go up to Steamboat next week and do a little bit of skiing.
And then when I come back, I'm going to spend about a month in Austin.
I'll do a short VO2 max block while I'm here, just because that's easier to do when you're low elevation.
I'll go back up. and do probably about a month of threshold work.
And then we'll do, I think two full months of like race specific endurance.
Are you at all intimidated by the hundred miler distance or by Western States specifically?
No, I think I respect it, but I wouldn't say intimidated by it.
Just even in the sense of like.
It's obviously 38 more miles than I just ran, but I was equally as scared of Black Canyon after running Bandera.
Like when I ran Bandera, the idea of running 30 more miles seemed insane.
And I think that experience it's less of like a physical confidence and more of a mental confidence.
Like I know that the physical strength is there.
I've done the training.
I've worked very hard.
I think for me, for me at Black Canyon, there was a very real fear that, like the last few years of not having been able to train and race all that much, that I had lost that ability to like push through hard things, even dropping out of New York.
That really hit my confidence of being like, I just don't know if I've got that dog in me anymore.
And I think for black Canyon, the best part of that race was realizing like no like, I've still got that.
I can go to the well when I need to.
And so I think for Western States.
I now know I'm like okay, like I do believe in my own ability to get through really tough spots.
And I'm going to have four more months of like ultra specific training.
Like who knows what I'll be able to do.
Is there anything that you would have done differently with this race with the hundred K?
If you could redo it, anything you'd change?
No actually, like I think so much of this bill cause, like Like I started ultra training the second week of November and so like it was such a steep learning curve, like I'd never done an over three hour long run before.
I had never like done so many things.
And so it was just so much learning like I definitely made a couple mistakes.
I think like having to deal with the calf injury like.
I don't think I was as fit as I probably could have been going into that race, but I am really proud of like, how I handled the setbacks and managed it.
And I think that that's a level of like maturity that I just didn't have as a marathoner, of being able to like trust that the fitness was there and like back off in order to like show up to the race healthy rather than like peak fitness.
So I think, for me, I'm looking at Black Canyon as like successful on all fronts, because I coming away from it being like okay, like we had a really successful result, and i feel like we left some meat on the bone with training, like i'm going into this next one, being like i don't feel like i have to take a month off because i'm so mentally burnt out, like i feel really excited to get back to training and doing this and i feel like i'm capable of it.
And does it feel like you have something to prove?
Or no?
Like headed into western states because Look, a lot of people are talking now of like holy shit, Molly just killed it.
Like you're killing it on the trails.
You're killing it in the ultra distances.
What does it feel like to be headed to Western States?
No, I don't feel like I've got anything to prove.
Cause it's like, with all of this, this is like I think it's a really fun, like it's really fun getting to learn how to do this and like not have the expectations of needing to like go out and I don't know.
Maybe it's that I'm looking at this as like a multi-year endeavor.
And so for me it's realizing like this year I get the luxury of, like just getting to Western States is already such a victory for me.
And I think I get to go and be a little bit like creative with how I approach it, or like creative in the sense that, like I think, if the stakes were higher, if I was coming in as like an established trail runner for years, I think there would be really high expectations.
I think everyone in the trail world is just like intrigued to see how I do more than anything.
And it's not like like if I don't go out and like necessarily crush it at Western States.
It's kind of like Hey, it's our first year doing it.
And I think I'm allowing myself to do that.
Like I had an enormous amount of success very early on in the marathon and it burned me out very quickly.
And so I think for me, being able to focus on, like the longevity, and using this year to build up strength to set myself up for the next few years is the goal.
If I get to be successful in my first year doing it, that's great.
But like I'm trying to focus on the process of process of all this, rather than the outcome right away,
So what are you doing?
You mentioned at the very beginning that you are, you're not doing total rest right now.
You're moving the body a little bit.
What are you doing?
I'm just doing like, 30 minute runs every other day just to like get things moving.
My coach gave me some isometrics to do.
And then like being here in Austin, I get access to Dr. Moose.
So like he like shock waved my entire posterior chain the other night.
So like that kind of stuff helps me get my body turned around pretty quickly.
And so that's really nice of being able to like just have some downtime.
And then, once I get back, I'm going to LA this weekend to go see Alexi and actually do her podcast, which I'm very excited about.
I know I'm so excited to get to see her.
Um and then yeah, I'll be back in flag for a couple of days.
Do some uphill skiing and get ready to go ski and steamboat.
Hopefully they actually have snow.
OK, the stuff you're talking about, like going skiing.
I've always assumed that when runners have professional contracts, I don't know if it says no skiing, but I always imagine that with like, especially the big shoe contracts, it's like don't do things that could jeopardize running.
Is that a clause that you've seen in contracts before?
And is it nice to be able to do that stuff right now?
Oh, like I've never taken a break from skiing.
I've skied my entire professional career.
If it is in my contracts, I just have not cared.
Um, but no, like I've been skiing longer than I've been running.
I'm actually very, very confident on skis.
So yeah, for me, that's just like a fun, like soul filling activity.
I'm not going to cut that out just because the brand tells me not to.
And especially on trail.
So many trail runners do uphill skiing anyway that I think it's a little bit more like widely accepted
I mean, Anna Gibson's like skiing at the Olympics right now, trail runner.
So I think there's definitely a little bit more wiggle room there.
What message or advice would you offer to people who are trail and ultra curious?
What would you say to them?
I would say like it, like you should just like go and do it.
I was talking with somebody about this the other day, but like, I don't know.
I think everybody wants to see them as like completely different sports, but it's like life's really short.
Like if you want to do a trail race, like babe, just go do a trail race.
Like, don't be afraid to do something different.
And it's that like, yeah, maybe it's going to like, it's going to be challenging.
It'll be hard, but it might like be something that you never knew you were missing before.
I think it's that, that it's like I think so many people are afraid to try something new and it's just like why not?
Yeah.
Just do it.
Just put that on a t-shirt.
Yeah.
Somebody should use that as like a marketing.
Great marketing.
Just do it.
That's really good, Allie.
Do you just come up with that?
Yeah.
I'm pretty clever.
Speaking of t-shirts, your crew had some good ones.
What can you tell us about the shirts?
Yeah.
They surprised me with those.
Oh, you didn't know?
No, I didn't know.
So Molly had been really sneaky because I had to go get my hat embroidered with Celsius on it.
And so when we went to the embroider, she was like, You have to leave right now.
I was like, what?
She's like, go sit in the car.
And so then she talked to the embroidery guys and got those shirts made.
I believe MVP had created the design.
They like, took the photo of my truck brandy as well, while I wasn't looking, so that I could have my truck on the shirt.
But like that was just so fun.
So they all showed me the night before the race.
I was like, oh, my God, this is so good.
And now Molly has to keep ordering the shirts because more and more people want them.
Yeah, I want one.
I'll pay for it.
I'll Venmo you.
Yeah.
I'll Venmo Molly, whatever.
Yeah.
Those shirts are awesome.
Well, we have to see if we can actually order more because Jesse, the guy who's in charge of the like embroidery and print shop that we got them.
I've never met someone who's so uninterested in business.
Like Molly like asked to order more shirts and he was just like no no, She's like.
The people of Flagstaff have a work-life balance that is truly unparalleled, because they just don't want to work.
I'm trying to give you money.
Do you want my money?
And she's like, no, this isn't a question.
I am asking for business.
Amazing.
Why is your truck named Brandy?
Where did the name come from?
Because brandy carlisle, i mean i figured, but you know, brandy car lyle oh, that's good yeah yeah, i bet she could be brandy truck lyle, but i feel like that doesn't car.
But yeah, she's an icon she's, and so are you.
It was awesome seeing you race this weekend and just seeing all of the the love and support and the cheers for you.
It's just Yeah.
That finished video.
I think I'm one of many.
I know I'm one of many who actually felt really emotional watching it, like excited, but also just like you look so happy and it's just great to see.
And so keep doing what you're doing.
And I mean, I'm pumped that you're running Western States this year.
This year.
Do you want to come out?
Do you want to come out?
Yes.
Yes.
I'll do a sketch of the t-shirt since you're not going to be able to get more.
I'll have to like freehand draw it.
No, don't worry.
There's going to be new t-shirts for Western States.
I'll tell Molly that you need one.
But I think you'll really like the ones that we have planned.
I do know what those ones will be.
Ooh, okay.
Any spoilers?
No.
I knew it.
I knew it.
No more exclusives here, folks.
We got them all.
You are the best.
Thank you for doing this.
Always a treat to have you on the show and so excited to see how your summer plays out.
Thanks so much, Allie.
This is great.
Thank you so much for being here for this episode of the Allie on the Run show with my guest, Molly Seidel.
How can you not love and root for this woman?
This was such a fun one.
I love you.
I appreciate you.
Check out Lagoon Pillows.
Thank you Lagoon for your support, for your sponsorship, for your partnership in 2026.
LagoonSleep.com slash Allie is going to get you 15% off your favorite pillow.
I sleep on the otter.
I love it.
I recommend it.
I snuggle with it.
It's great.
You're great.
You're doing great.
You've got this.
You're doing great.
You got to get those in the right order, right?
What do I say?
You've got this.
You're doing great.
Thank you for joining me on the run.
