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Guest: Hillary Burgess @running_up_that_hillary

Show Notes:

Hillary Burgess ⁠and I finally got to meet in person at this year's CNO Financial Indianapolis Monumental Marathon in November. She's just as amazing in person.

During this episode, sponsored by ⁠Amazfit⁠ and⁠ Foot Levelers,⁠ we talk about:

• How she’d never been to Indiana on purpose except for this year’s Monumental Marathon 

• ⁠The Brooks Running Collective⁠ and how she came to be part of it 

• Her experience at the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon with BRC - first time doing a shakeout run, first time wearing glitter, first time with her name on her shirt, and a half marathon PR!

• Run/walking and how that strategy works for her    

• Running Every Woman’s Marathon in Arizona the week after Monumental 

• Her upbringing - growing up in Arizona, having her dad as her cross country coach

• How she ran her first ever marathon without knowing she had COVID 

• The four of six World Major Marathons she’s completed so far and how she’s committed to running all of them for charity 

• Following in her dad’s footsteps and becoming a running coach 

• Starting her podcast, ⁠Today in Running History ⁠

  Sponsor Details:

  - ⁠Amazfit⁠ - Use ALLYB for 10% off your order

  - ⁠Foot Levelers⁠ - Visit their website to find a provider near you

  This is a SandyBoy Productions podcast.

Episode Transcript

FLAMS - Hillary Burgess

[00:00:00] This is a Sandy Boy Productions podcast.

 

Ally Brettnacher: Welcome to Finish Lines and Milestones, a podcast for everyday runners. I'm your host, Ally Brettnacher, and if you run, you're a runner every runner has a story. Join me each week as I share these stories and we celebrate finish lines and milestones to together. This week's episode is brought to you by Amaze Fit.

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I just know that it is, and I just put it on the charger when I'm in the shower, and that keeps it charged as much as I need. The other thing is the price point. So watches range from $99 to $399, which is very competitive when it comes to pricing, especially with the quality that you're getting with Amazfit products. So if you are interested in trying Amazfit or you know that somebody you love is looking for a GPS watch this holiday season, go to amaze fit.com.

you can use code ALLYB to get 10% off your order. There's also holiday sales that will be taking place from December 13th through December 23rd, and you can get up to 45% off again already great prices, so be sure to go check that out. And thank you so much to Amaz fit for supporting this podcast.

Now, thank you for being here. Whether you're new or you've listened for a while, I [00:02:00] appreciate you so much. The Spotify wrapped came out for creators, and I think I said this last week. I just really appreciate all of you who have this as your number one show. It makes me so. Happy to be telling stories, building this community.

So if you haven't yet, go rate review, share the podcast, that would mean a lot. It's all I want for Christmas. And if you wanna follow along on Instagram, I'm Ally, A-L-L-Y-T, Brett, BETT runs so we can be friends there too. So this week's episode is Hillary Burgess. She is running up that Hillary on Instagram, so you may know her from there.

She is a, what she would call a micro influencer, but she's built quite a community there alongside her day job. She was town for the CNO Financial Indianapolis Monumental Marathon last month. So I actually got to meet her in person, which was really fun. She came to our event. That Lindsay Hein and I hosted after the marathon, and so she's just as wonderful in person as she is on the [00:03:00] internet, and I wanted to get to know her better.

So I know you're gonna enjoy this conversation where we talk about the monumental marathon. She also did every women's marathon. What's coming up next for her, how she's avoided burnout over 26 years of running. And so without further ado, meet my friend Hillary.

Hi, Hillary, welcome. Hi. Thank you. I am so happy that I finally got to meet you in person after following you on Instagram for what felt like so long.

Hillary Burgess: It was such a, such a fun weekend. I was so excited to, to get to meet you out there.

Ally Brettnacher: Yes, we got to meet in Indy. And how did you end up coming to Indianapolis for the race?

Hillary Burgess: So I had actually, I had never been to Indiana besides like the middle part of a bus ride from Detroit to Chicago. I was technically in Indiana, like very briefly once. Oh yeah. Um, but never, never on purpose. Just, just that. and this is my second year, so I'm part of the Brooks Running Collective and they're the gear sponsor or the, the.

Clothing sponsor, whatever, [00:04:00] sponsor for Indie. And so they have us at the beginning of the year, we'll rank what, races we would want them to, to send us to. Oh. And I was like, oh, this timing-wise works in my schedule. Um, I've never been to Indianapolis. And I'm sure the weather will be good.

So I chose that one as my, as my first choice. And I got selected. And so they paid for the, the registration and everything. I didn't really know what to expect. but uh, that's how I ended up there.

Ally Brettnacher: That's so cool. How many members of the Brooks running Collective?

Hillary Burgess: Ooh, I don't know.

Let me check. I have it, I have our Slack thing. So let me see how many people at least are using Slack. I think most people are on Slack. 'cause that's our, our main thing of communication. I wanna say somewhere around a hundred.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay.

Hillary Burgess: Let me see. 50.

Ally Brettnacher: 150. And this is your second year? Yes. In BRC.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: And how did that end up on your radar? How did you become a part of it?

Hillary Burgess: So I started, I started my running [00:05:00] Instagram in January of 2023. it, honestly, it started off, I, I didn't know anything about, you know, content creation or, I didn't know there was brand ambassadors. I didn't know anything about any of that.

I just was running, a lot and posting about it on Instagram and I felt like it was getting annoying. On my personal page, like for, for like my, my, my friends and family who, you know, they wanna see like my kids and stuff like that, right? and it was just a lot of running. So I was like, all right, I'm just gonna make this, it'll be a digital running journal.

I figured it would, I would get maybe 30 followers. like the people who followed my personal page, who were also runners. I figured they'd come on over there. And that would be, that would be the extent of it. and it, really blew up. and so during 2023, there were a few people here in San Antonio where I lived that were part of, the Brooks Running Collect Collective.

At the time it was called, run [00:06:00] Happy something, um okay. But essentially the same sort of thing. And so that's how it got on my radar. And so. Later that year, whenever, whenever applications opened, I had seen how much fun they had. Like, it seemed like a really good group. I honestly didn't wear a ton of Brooks at the time.

and I put that in my application. Like I, I, you know, I was straight up, I said like, I like y'all's vibe and your, you know, your values as a company. I don't have a ton of experience with the products themselves, but I feel like I align really well with the actual brand. Mm-hmm. So y'all should, y'all should gimme a shot.

And, for some reason they read that and they're like, alright, let's do it. and I was, I was honestly shocked that I got a spot at all. And so 2024 was my first year with, with the group. And now, like everything that I own is Brooks. It, it took over pretty, pretty quickly. I came to, to really genuinely love the, the products.

Mm-hmm. [00:07:00] Um, but it was the, the people and the, the brand that kind of, got me on board in the, in the first place got me interested and it's been, it's been great. Yeah. That's so

Ally Brettnacher: cool. I mean, obviously you love community. Just building a community on Instagram and then having this whole other community as kind of a sub-community within that is, is so cool.

And I love that they take you to a race. Do they do that typically, like one in the spring and one in the fall, or is it once a year?

Hillary Burgess: So they have a few. so I was supposed to do Houston, in January, and I went out there. I ended up having pneumonia, so I went home Saturday evening. but that's one of the big ones.

We have a lot of Canadian members and they'll do, Vancouver. so it's one Brooks running Collective for North America. but most of the people who got selected for Vancouver were, were some of our Canadian members. they had some people for the New York City Marathon, they had for Philly, whatever, the one that already happened, not the one that's upcoming for Philadelphia.

Right, okay. Um, they had people for that [00:08:00] one. they have a High Rocks Hero rocks. Thing. Yeah. High

Ally Brettnacher: rocks.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah. Whatever it is. I don't, I don't, that's not my, not my thing. So I don't pay all that much. Me neither yet.

Ally Brettnacher: We'll let Kee we'll let Keegan another member of p Rrc. We'll let him do that. Yeah, he just

Hillary Burgess: did, he just did that.

I know. Yeah. so they have that and, and so I don't know how many, like if people do more than one, I think some people do more than, one for my schedule, indie fit the best. and so I, that's the, that's, and then obviously I was supposed to do Houston, that, that did fit. but, life got, life.

Life life got me. So, um, yeah. But it's, it's cool. That's a, that's a part of it. we have a, we have an annual conference, that we, we go to, we meet up there and then they do a really good job with meetups, like at, at the majors and, and everything too. So even though they're not official Brooks events, they'll set up stuff. So for, uh, I ran New York City last year, and I got to, to hang out with a lot of the, Brooks Running Collective people. They had the Brooks [00:09:00] Hype House out there. We did a lot of that stuff. Mm-hmm. And then this year in first Chicago, it was, it was the same sort of thing.

Ally Brettnacher: That's so cool. So I would say about half my listeners are local to the Indianapolis area, because that's where I am. And so I wanna hear all about your experience in Indy. Yeah. So when you came from San Antonio, did you travel with anybody or did you come solo?

Hillary Burgess: No. so I, so one of the things with the, the Berks Running Collective, they recently, uh, like as of last year, changed the rules.

So you can only be on it for three years. cause they wanna give more people. opportunities and everything. So the three people who were in San Antonio when I first got into the collective, all three of them had been in for, for three or more years already. And so for 2025, none of them were, were, were able to, to stay on.

and so I'm the only San Antonian at this point. so I was traveling by myself. and unfortunately, so I have a love hate relationship with our airport. I love it because I've never waited more than like eight [00:10:00] minutes to get through security, ever, you know, on holiday weekends, like literally never.

Ally Brettnacher: So nice. And that's

Hillary Burgess: great. Except we can fly like four places. So, uh, 'cause we're so close to Austin, Houston, Dallas. So basically they just, they're like, oh, well y'all don't need direct flights. Just, just get one from, from one of those, those hubs. And so, so that was the only thing I had to, had to switch airplanes, to get to Indianapolis.

We don't have any direct flights, but it was still, it was, it was like four hours total with switching planes in Dallas. So it wasn't Wow. It wasn't horrible.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. That's not too bad. Well, especially as a mom, it's like when you get to travel and be like in an airport on an airplane all by yourself, it's like a vacation all own.

Oh, that was great.

Hillary Burgess: It was great. Except

Ally Brettnacher: for on your way home maybe, but we'll talk about that later.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah. And on the way there, I got my own, uh, I got my own row, on at least one of my flights. I can't remember. now I took a picture of, of my, myself, I got a full row for one of 'em. And so it was, it was nice.

Ally Brettnacher: And then when you're here you have like an [00:11:00] agenda Yeah. For the club. Yeah. Or collective. And I think that's so fun too. So kind of walk us through what the weekend was like for you, like what you did.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah, so we got in, there were four of us who were staying together. and so we met up, we couldn't check in yet.

and our shakeout run wasn't starting yet, so we ended up going to eat. I can't remember where, where we went. It was something that somebody recommended.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay, good. Um,

Hillary Burgess: yeah, it was somebody local had sent me a list of places to go. and we looked up which of them had, you know, it was nearby and looked good.

We went there. I can't remember what it was. It was like a coffee shop, but they had like sandwiches and it was super close. Where did you stay?

Ally Brettnacher: What hotel?

Hillary Burgess: we stayed in an Airbnb. That's right. Okay. It was a four minute, like, when the roads were open, it was about a four minute drive. Okay. when they were closed, you know, we had to go all around.

Yeah. But it was, it was super close.

Ally Brettnacher: Nice. Okay.

Hillary Burgess: It's like 1.2 miles or something. Not far at [00:12:00] all.

Ally Brettnacher: Perfect.

Hillary Burgess: Um, so we went, we ate at this place. It was really good. They, they had, it was like soups and sandwiches. They had like a, their house soup was like a tomato artichoke soup.

Ally Brettnacher: You went to Pata Chu.

Hillary Burgess: Okay.

That's what I see. I was like, which is a great

Ally Brettnacher: recommendation.

Hillary Burgess: It was really?

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. It's in the Simon building. It's like in an office building almost on the, it's on the first floor. I dunno if you would remember what it, or there's a couple locations. Oh, it was, it was close to where we

Hillary Burgess: needed to go. So it was, it was convenient.

It was really good. and I was starving at that point. so we met up there. Keegan ended up coming and, and meeting us. there also Good. So it was the three girls I was staying with and him. And then, did you

Ally Brettnacher: get the cinnamon toast? Did anybody get the cinnamon toast? I did not,

Hillary Burgess: no. What did I get?

Oh, I got an omelet. That's what I got. Okay. Their omelets are really good. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: But I always get the cinnamon toast with the omelet. Oh, okay. I should have been able to, I thought, I wish I could've told you, man. 'cause they like just, it's like a chunk layer of that cinnamon sugar and it, it's really All right, I'm coming back then I guess, I guess [00:13:00] come back for it when you're back here, you gotta get the pou cinnamon toast.

Okay. Yeah.

Hillary Burgess: so we did that and then after that we walked over to, I think it's White River or something. Mm-hmm. Okay. The park. Um, and so that's where they had our shakeout run, and it was so, it like the, foliage could not have been at a better spot for that weekend. and it's crazy because like, you know, It could be at any point in, in the fall. Yeah. Like you never know when that stuff's gonna gonna change. And like, I'm sure there's been years for this race where the trees are already bare. Um, totally. And, and so it worked out perfectly. Like it was, it was like, it could not have been nicer. And so that, and that park, they were all different kinds of trees, so they weren't even the same colors.

They were just all changing at the same time. And it was just, it was beautiful. And with the river there, like, great first impression for the, for the, well, I guess my first impression was the restaurant, which was also great. Um, and, uh, and so we did, we did a shakeout run. It was just the, the Brooks [00:14:00] running collective.

The, the, people in charge brought us some shirts and some. Fuel for the race and some like goodie bags and stuff like that, which was cool. and then we just did three miles, around the, around the park. and it was other Did you go down by the canal? Yes, we did.

Ally Brettnacher: Right. Okay. 'cause I think I remember you telling me and I was like, that'll be perfect for a shakeout run.

It's a cute little, it's not super far. It's perfect for a shakeout run. Uh, I've done many laps down there and then it's just such a nice view of the city too, in certain spots.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah. Oh, it was beautiful. And I don't usually do shakeout runs, because usually they're like first thing in the morning, and if I'm traveling right for something, I don't wanna do that.

So I just sleep through them. Yeah. I don't blame you. Yeah. Like, I don't even remember if I've ever done a shakeout run, to be honest. Ever. I mean, like, local stuff I'll run in my neighborhood or something. That's

Ally Brettnacher: surprising though, given the number of

Hillary Burgess: races you've done Yeah. Over the last 26 years.

Yeah, we'll get to that, but I just, I don't know. I like to sleep. So the fact that this was at 2:00 PM was great. So like, all right, perfect. The weather was [00:15:00] nice. and yeah, it was beautiful. and then they had a dinner for us, but we were all super, super tired. So instead we went to, we went to Kroger and we just got stuff to make pasta at the Airbnb.

Ally Brettnacher: Perfect.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah. So that was, that was awesome. I, I am a big fan of pasta, like I have the lowest standards for, places to sleep. pasta, coffee. Like, I can appreciate all of these, like, I can appreciate a comfy bed and like really good pasta and really good coffee. Mm-hmm. But like, I also will be just fine with, with a a 99 cent box of, of penne with butter.

And that's what we did. Yep. And it was great. Um, perfect. And you saved

Ally Brettnacher: probably who knows how much. Yeah. Because I feel like it just gets more and more expensive to eat in general. Yeah. These days. Especially out at a restaurant. So, yeah. There you go.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah. So, we did that and then I went to sleep. oh, we went to the expo at some point too.

We went, uh, I, I totally forgot about that part. That was, yeah. 'cause it

Ally Brettnacher: would've been around four 30. When was the Yeah, whenever the, yeah, so we went to the

Hillary Burgess: [00:16:00] expo after the, the shakeout run. so we did the shakeout run that took maybe 30, 35 minutes or something. and then we kind of hung out for a while before and after.

Even though we saw each other this summer, it's still been a few months. And, so just catching up with everybody and then we went to the, the expo, and it was really hard not to buy more stuff. usually I was gonna say, usually I don't buy a ton of stuff at, at expos. but having it be like a Brooks event and it was like really good quality stuff and I really liked it.

I did only buy one tank top, so I was very, very proud of myself. It was, it was restraint. and the expo was, it was such a good size because like, it was not overwhelming. Like, you know, like Chicago getting out of there quickly was like nearly impossible. Mm-hmm. I, I didn't stop barely anywhere in Chicago.

I was just, I was like, I wanna get my stuff and I wanna leave, but you have to go through everything. Mm-hmm. And it's like a maze and you can't go in the same place you, entered. You can't leave that way. and [00:17:00] then, you know, we have a lot of, races here that, you know, the expo is like two tables, so Cool.

Totally. I'm glad I, I glad I went all the way, all the way down here for, for that. So it was a good, it was a good size. That was, and it's also my favorite size of race also where it's big mm-hmm. But not so big that you can't move and like all that. And, um, right.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I, I agree. And yeah, I'm biased obviously.

Yeah. No, I, I, we actually doubled the size of our expo this year. Really? Okay. So we usually do, it's like one of those halls. And so I think the bigger expo gave us more opportunity for like photo ops and just made it feel Yeah. Like less crowded and overwhelming. And so I'm glad you felt that as part of your experience.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah, it was, it was great. And, you know, y'all had the interviews going on. So that was cool to see. It was cool to, to come meet you, when you were Yeah, that was so funny. Were working there.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. I was like messaging with you on Instagram and you're like, I am behind you. And I just like, turn around and like, we just [00:18:00] lock eyes and were like, Hey, just a little creepy.

Sorry. So, no, it was so great. I love it so much. yeah. And then after that you, that's when you went back to eating dinner? That's when we went to Kroger

Hillary Burgess: and then we ate and then went to bed. Like, I, I went to bed pretty, pretty early. And so same thing with the pasta. You know, like My, my bed at home is super comfy and I love it, and it's like my favorite place in the world, but I can sleep in any bed, couch, chair, ground, like anywhere.

Wow. Wow. That's such a talent at any point. Yeah, it's, it's, it's nice. so I fell asleep and then apparently, I guess there was, like the girls that I was staying with, I guess there was some commotion and there was some bug and in one of their beds Oh. And all, and all this, and I slept through all of it.

Like, I had no idea any of this even happened. Like I just went directly to sleep and then suddenly it was five in the morning. and yeah, so I, I That's

Ally Brettnacher: amazing.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah. Yeah. It's a, it's a talent, especially

Ally Brettnacher: before a race, like, especially before a race. Yeah. I always sleep like crap the night before a race pretty much.

So I [00:19:00] feel good if I get, you know, good night's sleep. Maybe the night before that, but the night of the race, I'm like, if I sleep great, but my nerves, no matter what kind of race, like whether I'm racing or just having fun or whatever, I still get nervous. It's so weird. Yeah.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah, I'll have, I'll have like those anxiety dreams sometimes, like where I somehow miss the entire race, like things like that.

Yes. Yep. But I, I'll, I'll be asleep while I have those dreams. You know, I'll, I'll have the anxiety, but I will also sleep for seven or eight hours, so.

Ally Brettnacher: That's great. And so what is your race day morning routine look like?

Hillary Burgess: So this was actually the first time that I've done like, any sort of filming before a race, just because I was in an Airbnb.

Oh, also surprising. Yeah. So just 'cause I was in an Airbnb with other girls, doing the same thing. So I was like, oh, well I'll do that. So fun. So I actually mayday pre, pre-race video, like in my pajamas. And then I was in my race day stuff and I was like, all right, here's a video. Um, usually I don't do that.

My usual thing is I wake up and like, as late as I possibly [00:20:00] can, you know, and, and get myself to the, to the start line. on time. I also, you know, I wasn't, I wasn't. In charge of transportation. So I was also, you know, I had to be ready when, when they were ready and all that. So it, this was definitely different than my, my usual, race day morning, I always make coffee.

Mm-hmm. So mid coffee there, and usually I just get dressed. and I go like, it's about a 10 or 15 minute process from the time I wake up to the time I'm, I'm, I'm out the door. but I, it took a little bit longer this time. I even, I did, um, I did glitter. I had never done any sort of glitter. Um, it's makes it so

Ally Brettnacher: much fun.

I just, I am obsessed now with glitter. Yeah. Yeah. It

Hillary Burgess: was, like, it was fun. 'cause one of the, the girls had like glitter, like, uh, I think it was actually hair gel, but I put it on my face and it worked and it was good.

Ally Brettnacher: beautiful.

Hillary Burgess: And so I'd never, I'd never worn any sort of glitter or anything. but I did all that and then, um, and your shirt was so

Ally Brettnacher: cute.

I loved how you had your name on your shirt. Yes. It was obviously Brooks. So that

Hillary Burgess: was, yeah. So that was actually [00:21:00] one of the, the girls on our team, Amy, she made those for all of us and, and brought those for Oh, for all of us. Which was, which was so Amy, uh, which was so awesome. That's so nice. Yeah. Yeah.

And that was another thing I had never done. Like I've, I've had, you know, some of the, the race bibs, they have your name on 'em, Or I've done like the pins and pastes ones. like the, yeah, like those ones. But I've never actually worn my name on my, outfit. And so that was so cool, like getting to do that.

And I mean, I wouldn't have, like if she hadn't brought them for everybody. yeah. So it was, it was a cool, it was a cool thing. Um, and so all of us had had those, and then most of us were like, not exactly matching, but our last few, kits they've sent us have all been in the same color family with fuchsia and this like mm-hmm.

Bluish grayish. And so we're all wearing like variations of that. Which was cool also. Yes. And then I actually got to, so we got to the start line, and we went in the expo, convention [00:22:00] center, whatever that is. and it was warm in there. And then the girls I, I was with, they went to go get in their starting corrals and I decided not to do that, because it was cold and I wanted to stay with the indoor bathroom and everything.

So I ended up just watching from the window. and then when I saw my corral approaching, I went out there, I climbed through the fence. and I started the race probably 90 seconds after going outside. So, so good. Yeah. Um, so

Ally Brettnacher: good. I like started. Our start line was different this year actually. I don't know if you knew that.

We usually start, there's like the big capitol building, like the State House. It actually had a bunch of like scaffolding on the top of it. They're still renovating it or whatever. And so usually that's where we start. It's also where you finish, right? I don't know why I am questioning myself. but it's like right there and you're on capitol and they had construction that they kept saying was gonna be done.

And so two weeks before the race, we made the [00:23:00] announcement that we moved the start and it was over like a, you know, a few blocks. But I actually think we might keep it that way because of like stories like that where it's like, hey, we got to use the warmup area in the convention center until right before the race, because before we still had the warmup area in the same spot.

And so people would have to like leave earlier to go walk to the start. But now. That's amazing that you did that. That's, yeah.

Hillary Burgess: And there was only a handful of, of people at that point. Like most people, you know, they, they like to be in the corral sooner and all that. Mm-hmm. Um, but it was like, I was, I was there and, and there was some like, I don't know, like 80-year-old guy who was like, he and I were both standing there together and made some conversation with him, for a while.

And it was like mostly empty. There's nobody in the bathrooms, like the, the cleaning crew had already come in and, and, and all this. Wow. So I, yeah, it was, but I ended up, 'cause I was in, coral DI saw them, come up and so I just headed out. I, and, and I, I got in and, [00:24:00] started the race

Ally Brettnacher: and took off.

Yeah. And I remember when I talked to you at the expo, you said you would be like really thrilled with a sub two. Yeah. And then you just like crushed that, so. Yeah.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah. How was your

Ally Brettnacher: race?

Hillary Burgess: Oh, it was great. So the weather could not have been better. So nice. Obviously chilly standing around, but once you start moving, it was perfect.

And so I did, I did intervals of, four and a half minutes running and then 30 seconds walking. and it's, it's always tough, you know, making yourself walk like half a mile into, into a race. Yeah. because, you know, and I wanna, I want to just tell everybody, I'm like, I promise I can run more than half a mile.

Like, I can, I can do it, but I'm fine. Good. It's on purpose. Yeah. Or like when, like spectators see me, see me walking and I'm not even at the, at the one mom, they're like, you can do it. You can do it. I'm like, I promise I'm okay. so that's always tough, but I was like, okay, if I'm going to, if I'm gonna pr, like I need to stick to my race plan.

Like I need to, I need to [00:25:00] do it. And so, I just ran faster. you know, I was feeling good, so I just ran faster during the running things, but I didn't skip a single walk until, like literally my last walk. I was the only one that I, that I skipped, and that was at like, probably 12.7 or something like, so I did every Right

Ally Brettnacher: as you're coming into like, everybody screaming.

Yeah.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah. so I, I did every, every five minutes. I, I walked for 30 seconds, for the entire race, so.

Ally Brettnacher: Wow. Um,

Hillary Burgess: that was, that was big. I, I also don't wear a watch, so, the only thing that I have is that I know that they're five minute increments. And so, I, when I pass the, when I pass the mile marker, I have some sort of idea where I'm at, just based on how many interval, like where it comes in that, That was like when I, I knew I had to, I knew I had to, to keep a nine minute pace or faster. And, so I knew, like when I got to mile five, I should be, it should be [00:26:00] before the 45 minute mark. Mm-hmm. Which is when it would, it would go off. Um, my, my interval timer would, would go off at 44 and a half minutes and then it would go back into a run at 45 flat.

So I was like, so you could

Ally Brettnacher: still, you still had, did you have the timer, like in your ear? Yes. Okay. I was like, wait, how in the hell are you doing this? So I do you have the timer knowing, okay. Okay. I do have time. But you don't have a watch that's showing your cumulative time that you're like looking at for your, okay.

Hillary Burgess: No, I just know, I, It's like a whistle, it's an interval app and it whistles at me. Okay. twice to walk and once to run. perfect. And it's, uh, they're five minutes, so 40, uh, four and a half minutes of running and 30 seconds of walking. So I can kind of calculate like, anything that's nine minutes that lines up with five or or 10.

So I knew that I needed to be past the nine mile mark before 90 minutes past the five mile mark before 45 minutes. or past the 10 mile mark before 90 minutes and the five mile mark before 45. and other than that, [00:27:00] like it was just kind of running by feel. cause I was going all out, like I was running at a pace where, like I couldn't have pushed harder.

Ally Brettnacher: Mm.

Hillary Burgess: So looking at what my time was wouldn't have helped me. like Chicago? Yeah, it might've helped a little bit more because I was, I was aiming for a, a 10 minute pace for that one. and so I could run faster at, at any given time. Not sustained, but like I could. So it might've helped a little bit more for that.

But, it also helped, like, having it be a 10 minute pace that's, you know, two intervals per mile. And so I, I kept good track there too.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Wow. Okay. So you use an app. Are you also listening to music? Yes. While you have. Okay, that makes sense. And so how do you know, like, how does it decide, like how, what increments to do?

Like, 'cause I'm assuming not everybody does four and a half minutes and then 30 seconds, I'm assuming it's, it's different. How do you determine what intervals make the most sense? So there's a couple, you just kind of trial and error.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah, so trial and error is kind of the way I did. [00:28:00] Like, I just came up with it because my Chicago goal was four 30.

and so I was like, okay, if I run 10 minute miles, I will end under four 30. and it just worked for me well, and so I, I ended up finishing in, in four 15 in Chicago using, using that. and oh geez. So I was like, all right, well I'm gonna just, I'm gonna do that for, for Indy also. like I don't need to adjust the intervals, I'll just run the running portions a little bit faster.

So instead of running, uh, at like a nine minute pace during the run part and then walking at whatever pace, I ran closer to like an 8 15, 8 20. And then, then I would walk for for 30 seconds and then it ended up averaging around, like 8 45 pace.

Ally Brettnacher: Nice. Yeah. At what point in the race did you know you were gonna PR.

Hillary Burgess: probably at the, the 10 mile mark. 'cause I, I knew that I was, uh, it was, at least five minutes before, 90 seconds. And I realized that I could run, I could run the last three miles, at a 10 minute [00:29:00] pace. and I would, I could, I could still finish in under two hours. I wasn't sure if I was gonna, 'cause my PR going in was 1 57, so I wasn't sure that I was gonna PR until the end.

And I actually didn't even know my time until, until I finished and I turned off Strava at, and it was 1 56 0 3. and so I was like, Ooh, I wonder if my chip time, if I was able to get under 1 56. And so it wasn't for like a while 'cause I didn't have any service. It wasn't for a while that I could actually check and see.

and it actually was 1 55. Which was cool, but, but yeah, so I didn't even know right away. I knew it was a PR because it was obviously, 1 56 or 1 55. Yeah. But yeah, I wasn't sure on the exact time until later when I, when I could get service.

Ally Brettnacher: Hmm. Well, congratulations. Thank

Hillary Burgess: you.

Ally Brettnacher: So amazing. Yeah. And when I talked to you at the expo, I was like, and then the next day you pr I'm like, wait a minute.

Yeah, wait a minute. She just absolutely crushed that. So That's so great. Congratulations. Yeah. Thank

Hillary Burgess: you. And, and I was, what I [00:30:00] was most proud of was how even my splits were like looking at, because they had the check-in thing at 5K, 10 k, mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. 15 K or 10 mile or something, and then the finish and all of them were within like 10 seconds of each other.

So it was, it was, I didn't, I didn't go out fast and then die at the end and just kind of hang on. Like it was, it was even effort throughout. So I was, I was really proud of

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Yeah. As you should be. It's amazing. And then right after the race, what did you, what did you do?

Hillary Burgess: I went back out to cheer four, my friends that were doing the full, so yeah.

Where was that again? What, where was your cheer station? That was at like, the 41 kilometer mark, so Okay. Less than a mile from the finish. so it was like, but but not so close that, that, you know, people were, were turning it on and sprinting and everything. It was like the last place in the race where people were struggling.

So it was a really good spot to be. so we went out and at the time, like, I finished the race. Oh. first thing I did was throw up. uh, [00:31:00] so I, I stopped Strava, I throw up. I get a medal, I get a Do you usually

Ally Brettnacher: throw up after a race? Is that normal for you? Sometimes. Usually in the summer.

Hillary Burgess: Okay.

So not, not typically when the weather's nice, like usually when it's hot, but like, sometimes with like an all-out sprint, I will.

Ally Brettnacher: yeah.

Hillary Burgess: It's, it's not, yeah. We talked

Ally Brettnacher: about there was a lot of puke at the finish line. Yeah. When I finish my race and then we hung around to watch the marathon finisher. I mean, there are people just like, there's a lot of puke and I was kinda like, oh,

Hillary Burgess: yeah, yeah.

It's not there being so much

Ally Brettnacher: puke, but it's normal. I mean, people, it's, yeah, I mean,

Hillary Burgess: you're pushing yourself. It's a good day to push yourself. Yeah. You're pushing yourself hard. I also, ended up, cause they had, they had fuel, like on the, on the course. Like I usually bring three gels for a half marathon.

Okay. And, after I did my third one, like, I was kind of feeling myself, like run outta energy. And so I had taken one of the, whatever, whatever the, the gels, I think it was Never second. Never second,

Ally Brettnacher: that's right. Yep.

Hillary Burgess: And they were like liquidy. and so I ended up taking one, At like maybe mile 12 or something.

[00:32:00] and I know most of the benefits you get that late in it are, are like just tricking your brain into thinking that you're, you're, you're getting stuff. Sure.

Ally Brettnacher: I know. Yes.

Hillary Burgess: and so, you know, having taken fuel, like, Eight or nine minutes before the finish. Definitely. Is it like, it was fresh in, in my stomach.

Like I was pushing myself really soon after. After taking a, in yeah, a gel and it wasn't a gel I was used to, so it was,

Ally Brettnacher: yeah.

Hillary Burgess: You know, but it wasn't, you know, I did the same thing

Ally Brettnacher: actually. I at mile, like 11 or so. Yeah. A friend of mine had given me, she brought me a pumpkin spice goo to try, 'cause I love pumpkin spice this, and it was delicious.

I love it. Like I was, I took it and I was like, I need, I would definitely add this in my rotation, but. Same thing, like we're pushing hard at the finish, and so we're getting closer. I'm like, God, I hope I don't throw up this pumpkin spice cue. Yeah. 'cause that would ruin it for me, maybe. Yeah. But

Hillary Burgess: yeah, it's funny.

So I was, I, you know, it was a, it was a brief, it was, you know, I, I threw up, I was nauseous for 30 seconds. I stood up, I got a [00:33:00] medal. They gave me a beanie. I walked away immediately, lost the beanie. Um, oh no, I got one later. So I did go back and get one. once all the half marathoners had finished, I went back and I, and I asked, I was like, Hey, I lost mine.

Can I have one? And they had like, plenty of leftovers, so they did give me one. and then it was all of this like adrenaline. And I had been running at, at full on effort and everything. I was at, I was running it like a full on effort and so I, I was super warm and I'm like, oh, I'll take a foil blanket and I'll be totally fine to cheer for the next two hours and I don't need to go, go pick up my, uh, my bag from bag check.

I don't need to wait and do that. So I go out to the, the 41 K mark. We're, we're out there and like the adrenaline lasts for a little while I start cheering. It was awesome. Like the, this was like when the, like, the fastest people were coming through when I was, when I got got out there, you know, people running, two and a half hour marathons.

Yeah. Um, when I, when I got to, to, to cheer out there. [00:34:00] The fast, fast people. And so I was like so excited, um, that I got to watch that and all of this. and then we had some of our people who were finishing the half marathon, also, so I got to cheer for some of them. And then at some point between our last half marathoner and our first full marathoner, it just like hit me.

I was like, I'm not feeling so great. and, and, we had, one of the, the women from Brooks, she gave me an uncrustable and that perked me back up and there you go. Give a girl what she likes. Yeah. And it was, it was cold. Uh, I was definitely getting cold at that point. but I was like, I'm not gonna miss anything.

So I just, you know, that, that Mylar did, did, double duty for, for longer than, it should have. I didn't get my jacket for a few hours after, after finishing. but it was, it was fine. And it was such a cool experience because I usually, and I, and I think most people do this, you know, I usually.

Run a race and go home or go to my hotel or go to lunch or go to whatever. and it was so cool staying and cheering for people and mm-hmm. like not even [00:35:00] just the people, like the Brooks people that I knew, like random people. Yes.

Ally Brettnacher: Like, it was

Hillary Burgess: such a fun, a fun thing like, just cheering, cheering for people and then we got to see, you know, like the, the back of the pack, half marathoners.

so that was really cool. and then our marathoners started coming through and that was awesome. So we had five people doing the full marathon. Mm-hmm. And I wasn't tracking anything at that point. I was just like yelling a lot and shivering. but like we had people tracking, so we're like, okay, they just, they just hit 25 at mile 25, so they'll be here in three minutes, four minutes, whatever it was.

And, so we didn't miss any of them. and that was, that was such a cool thing that we, that we, we got to do. And, all of them hit their goals. I think most of us in the half hit our goals too. I mean, there's a lot of us, so I don't, I don't know for sure, but, but it was a lot of PRS that day.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. I have to shout out Leah, who lives in Indianapolis. Yeah. She ran her first marathon. Yeah. And absolutely crushed it.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah, [00:36:00] she did. She did, when she came by, like she, you could tell how emotional she was because she was Yeah. You know, she's less than a mile from finishing her first marathon. And to get to like, see that I'm like getting goosebumps, like to get to I know.

Just to like be a, a tiny part of that was just such a cool thing. and she looked, she looked strong. I think she, she ran pretty even splits also. mm-hmm. Which, uh, is, is not the most common for first marathons. You know, a lot of people Right. A lot of people go out really fast and then they're just dying.

cause they don't know the distance yet. And so she crushed it. Mm-hmm. With, with, yeah. She really did. Finishing strong and, and all that. And then, we had, Amy, who I mentioned, who made us the thingies, she, um, and she's a walker runner too, so she, was trying to be, bq. And, so she was able, she finished in 3 28.

Um, and I believe, I don't know how old she is, but I believe a BQ would've been three 30 for her age group.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay. Um,

Hillary Burgess: so she, she bq you know, with, with walk run intervals, which that's amazing. Uh, yeah. [00:37:00] And, and then, um, Lena, who was one of the girls I, I stayed with, she had used to live in Indianapolis and however, many years ago she had run it the first time she finished in 4 44.

And so her goal was to finish an hour faster than that. so she wanted to finish in 3 44. She ended up finishing in like 3 36. And so she, and I think that was a, a pr, it was definitely a course pr by more than an hour, but like, I think it was an all time PR also. Wow.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Hillary Burgess: Paisley didn't have a time goal, but she, she looked strong.

She, she did, did great. and then, we had one guy, Owen, and I don't know what his goal was, but I think he hit it. and so that was good too. Yeah. So, yay. We saw all five of our, our marathoners and, and like slowly as the rest of the half marathoners finished, like everybody made their way over. So all of us were cheering.

Like it started with fewer and then more of us over there. And so it was a, it was like a. Super energetic cheer station. It was awesome.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. And that's amazing. You got to see all of your marathoners. [00:38:00] Yeah. I kept telling myself like, I was tracking probably like 30 people and I'm like looking, I'm like, okay, after this one I'm gonna go back because I needed a shower.

Yeah. And like get ready for our event. So I'm like, okay, after this one I'm gonna go. And I kept doing that. Yeah. I just didn't wanna leave like cheering for people. Yeah. It was so much fun. I love doing it. It was, it was

Hillary Burgess: awesome. Yeah. Um, and so when, 'cause Lena was our last, our last full marathoner, which is insane.

That like, out of the, it is like, like our last full marathoner was still under three 40. so she finished and then, I walked over to the finish 'cause we were staying together. And so that's when I finally got my jacket. And then we ate pizza. We have, there's like an entire montage of us eating pizza.

first on her, on her, uh, on her, parents' cameras. And then, your friend. My friend Timmy. Yeah. Got pictures. He got them too. So we have the, the high def professional pizza pictures, like I'm so happy. 10 pictures of us. Um, and then at that point, um, it was, you know, it was four [00:39:00] hours after, so like the half marathon was, was completely done.

And so that's when I went back and I'm like, Hey, can I have a hat? I lost mine within 30 seconds of y'all giving me one. and then, yeah, and then we just, we went back, and just, just hung out until your show.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh my gosh, you didn't take a nap.

Hillary Burgess: I sat in bed and liked everybody's indie post. Yeah. Okay.

Um, so that's a good rest too. Yeah, it was some downtime. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. I so badly wanted to like, sneak in a, a power nap, but it did not occur. I always underestimate how long things are gonna take. Yeah. And time,

Hillary Burgess: but like there were so many people posting about the races and everybody did so well and I, you know, I have to like, and comment like every, everybody.

Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: So, yeah, absolutely. And it's like, yeah, you're still kind of on that post-race high too. Like even if I would've laid down, I don't think I would've been able to fall asleep, frankly, because just of all the things that still I needed to do and then just the adrenaline of the day and Yeah. but yeah, I was so thankful that you and Keegan came to Yeah.

To the live podcast. The [00:40:00] celebration. Yeah. That was, that was so fun. That was

Hillary Burgess: such a fun event and thank you. I was starving by then. The food was great. Like, it was, it was fantastic. Pretzels and, some sort of like, like cantaloupe with with prosciutto. Yes. That was where we go. Yes. With, yep.

Ally Brettnacher: Um, that's what Timmy took a picture of me eating that.

And there's like 10 pictures. I was so pissed. I was like, God, you rub your own

Hillary Burgess: food

Ally Brettnacher: montage. I do. And it's really special.

Hillary Burgess: That's great. Yeah. The food was good. There were, there were plenty of like non-alcoholic. drink options, which I always love. Like, I love, a non-alcoholic beer. So they had, athletic brewing at the finish and then y'all had it at your event too.

Mm-hmm. So I was, I was excited by that. and then got to, got to talk to, to some people who, either I had met on Instagram or they had followed me on Instagram. Like there's a few people that that I met at that event. That's cool. So that was really cool. I gotta see Howie. And so I had just had, his brother on my podcast and so I owed him, an update on when that was gonna be posted, which was the following [00:41:00] day.

and then you're gonna have to

Ally Brettnacher: tell people, you're gonna have to tell people who Howie is and who his brother is. Yeah. Sorry, not everybody's gonna know. Yeah, yeah.

Hillary Burgess: Um. So, uh, Howie Kaki, he is, uh, an agent to lots of important people. Nikki Hilts and Hillary Bore and, and plenty of, fast important runners.

Uh, yes. And then his, his brother is, is Meb.

Ally Brettnacher: yeah,

Hillary Burgess: no big deal. Yeah. Yeah. So cool. So he was there. and, you know, I met some of y'all's other vendors that I hadn't met before. I made the little poster. I had never gotten one of those, I'd never gotten one of those at, at events. You know, they have 'em, like at the, at the majors and stuff, but it's always like, oh, let's go wait for three and a half hours to stamp a poster.

And I'm like, I'm not doing that.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. So I got

Hillary Burgess: to do one of those. That was really cool. Uh, and then we sat down for the, for the podcast and it was, it was cool. It was, it was, It was fun, to, to listen. actually had Emily on my podcast yesterday, so, so yeah. Oh, that's so

Ally Brettnacher: great.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah. Um, so I had talked to her in Chicago.

I [00:42:00] think that, I don't think that was a podcast. I think that was just like a panel discussion, but, I talked to her then I'm like, oh, hey, you should come on. And then I saw her and, and you know, she'd on, on Lindsay's podcast. And so that was really cool to watch. and then we, we, uh, we left pretty quickly after that because Brooks had like a dinner thing, um mm-hmm.

And it was like, fat somebody, some fat. Guy.

Ally Brettnacher: Fat Dan's. Fat Dan. Yeah. It was like, it's a

Hillary Burgess: man's

Ally Brettnacher: name and he is fat and they have sandwich, it's man's name and he is fat and the food is so good.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah. So we walked over there, to, to see everybody, 'cause people, a lot of people had like super early morning flights and so it was gonna be our last chance to, to see everybody.

So we went over there and hung out and, ate sandwiches and and then we weren't ready to go home, so we got ice cream like four feet from there. I don't know what the place was called. Yeah. Um, but it was somewhere like right there that sold ice cream. Okay. And they also had like chocolates and stuff, so I don't know if, um,

Ally Brettnacher: I don't know [00:43:00] where Fat Dan's is downtown.

Yeah. I probably I should, but I don't. Yeah. And so, yeah, whatever's right there, was it on the circle?

Hillary Burgess: Uh, it was like on a triangle. It was like, it was like the tip of a triangle. So you walk this way and then like that.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay. Like was there a foga decia there, like the big Brazilians together? Oh, I dunno.

Okay. Nevermind. I don't know. I'll look it up. I don't dunno. I don't know. there's so much change. I mean, everywhere, every city I feel like is always changing. But like downtown Indianapolis, I used to work down there. I used to go there every day, but now I don't go down there very much. And so every time I do, I'm like, where did this come from?

Yeah. Like, uh, and then you find you did get home, but the snow, I cannot believe it snowed.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah, no, it was cool. I mean, I can, uh, so first my, my flight got delayed not because of the weather just because of just the regular flight delays and the government shut down and they had like four people working total.

So I got to spend, some extra time in India. So, uh, when I got the text that my, my flight was delayed, I was like, all right, I'm gonna go to a coffee shop. And then that's when I looked up, I messaged you, but then I [00:44:00] immediately found a cat cafe and I was like, okay, whatever you tell me is not gonna gonna compete with a cat cafe.

No.

Ally Brettnacher: And I would've never suggested that because I'm not a cat. I just, it's not on my radar. Yeah. Like, I,

Hillary Burgess: so I, I don't like dogs. I'm, I'm not a dog person. I don't want to pet your dog. Like, I, I, it's just not my, my thing. But I love cats because I, I feel. Like I am, like cats are a lot more like me.

Like, like I'm not a big hugger. I'm not, like there's only so much time that I can spend with people and then it's like, you know, I get to a point and then I'm just like, I wanna be by myself. Like, like the way cats are, they're like, all right, I love you and now I'm leaving. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Love you.

Goodbye.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah. and so I went to this place, they had really good coffee. It was called Nine Lives Cat Cafe. That's so funny. Um, and, they had really good coffee, and then you go and you can just hang out with cats. And I just found these two cats that just wanted to sleep and I just wanted to like, hang out with them.

Like, you know, they didn't, they didn't wanna play [00:45:00] or eat or do anything, like, they just, they just wanted to hang out there and purr. And I was like, all right, I'll just, I'll just hang out with y'all. And so I spent like an hour just, just sitting next to two cats and it was great. And.

Ally Brettnacher: That's so funny. Do they let you, can you adopt cats from there?

Hillary Burgess: Yes. Yes. Okay. So they, like, probably the cats I hung out with are already gone. Like, they have such a fast turnover with, with cats, they have these, Polaroids on their walls that it, they're just covered with. Every time one of 'em gets adopted, they take a Polaroid and it goes on the wall and it's just like,

Ally Brettnacher: that's cool.

Hillary Burgess: Thousands of cats. I mean, so many. and, and so that was something that was really cool. Like, um, yeah. And then they also were having a food drive and I happened to have, the, the second, box of, of penne pasta. Like I just had it in my bag because I'm like, well, I don't wanna leave it at the Airbnb.

Like, you know, like, that's

Ally Brettnacher: so funny.

Hillary Burgess: And, and so I was like, Hey, look, I can help.

Ally Brettnacher: Wow. That is funny.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah. Um, so it was, it was actually, you know, I, like, I wanted [00:46:00] to get home. my original flight, I would've gotten home at 11:00 AM which would've been nice. but it was kind of, it was kind of nice like getting to have that extra, extra couple hours. And then I went to the airport, and then my flight was delayed again, um, multiple times.

And then I finally got on the airplane and they're like, Hey, like we're in line to be defrosted. but so are like 3 million planes. Oh no. Also. And so we just sat there for forever. Brutal. And, uh, and I'm like, why couldn't y'all have just done this before you got us on the flight? You know, like, if you were gonna delay us anyways, like, why do we have to be on the full, the full flight?

all of us packed in here, just sitting on the tarmac waiting to, to be defrosted. But eventually we took off. Made it to Nashville. and then my flight, uh, that flight I thought I was gonna miss, but it was delayed also, so,

Ally Brettnacher: okay. Oh, there you go. So yeah,

Hillary Burgess: I was like, all right, cool.

Ally Brettnacher: And I made it happen.

Cool. Finally made it.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. And then I had no idea that you were running every women's marathon. Yeah. I don't [00:47:00] know why I didn't, we didn't talk about it. And so when I saw you were heading there, I was like, oh my gosh, how cool we have to hear about that experience.

And then, then I need to like, we need to go back in time because of how long you've been running and tell people that story. But I wanna hear about, about Arizona. How was your weekend?

Marker

 

Ally Brettnacher: A quick break in the show to let you know that this episode is also brought to you by Foot Levelers. Foot levelers have been in the custom orthotics business for over 70 years. They have millions of customers all over the globe, and the key things you need to know about foot levelers is that they're customized to your feet.

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I'll have another podcast. The President of Foot Levelers, Jamie Greenwald was on there and she was episode 6 46. So if you really wanna hear the whole story, you can go listen there or go to foot levelers.com to find a provider near you. Thank you so much foot levelers for supporting this podcast

. I wanna hear about, about Arizona. How was your weekend?

Hillary Burgess: It was awesome. . It was probably the beginning of this year, or maybe last fall, some, sometime, in the past 12 months, I got an email from somebody, they're like, Hey, do you wanna run, every woman's marathon as part of Team Milk?

And so they have this really cool thing where the Dairy Farmers of America, it's, is like the big sponsor. But then each, like local dairy has an individual rep. So the one that I ran for was hy, which is a South Texas dairy. But then they have, you know, Shamrock [00:49:00] Farms and Tru Mo and you know, whatever, whatever the, the like local milk is.

And they each have a, they each have a local representative for them. And so all of us are training all across the us. And, so it's all part of like one big team, but then there's the local aspect. So it was kind of a, a really cool, thing and I was like, yeah, let's do it. and I already knew at that point that I was running Chicago, so the goal for every woman's was always just to go out and, do whatever my legs felt like doing that, that, that day.

you know, yeah. I, I, I never had any intention to, like party pace, whatever, like, but I certainly didn't plan on, on racing. It was just kind of like, whatever, whatever happens. and it was cool. So I actually, I grew up in, Arizona. I lived there from, uh, when I was six. So I was born in San Antonio.

and then when I was six, we moved out to Arizona, which is where my parents went to college. My dad went to high school out there. and so we moved there. I lived there, elementary, junior high, high school. [00:50:00] And then I graduated high school and I moved back to Texas. and so I spent 12 years of my life in, in Arizona.

My dad's whole side of the family's still out there, and so that was another big draw when they reached out.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Hillary Burgess: I'm like, I'm like, yeah, like, well, you know, I can bring the family. My, my youngest hadn't even seen, I hadn't even met my grandma yet. and Wow.

Ally Brettnacher: I hadn't been back. How old's your youngest?

Hillary Burgess: Four.

Ally Brettnacher: Four? Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Aw,

Hillary Burgess: yeah. That's so nice. Um, so that was another big draw, so that was really cool. I got to see, see some of my family out there. and it was just such a, such like a positive, experience altogether, like the race, the expo, everything, like just. Radiating positivity, which was, which was such a cool thing.

Like, it's like what you would expect for a women's race, but then you know, everybody, you can be cynical and be like, oh, well my, it's probably not actually like that, but you know, it really was. And it was, it was really cool.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, I looked absolutely amazing. And I saw they had posters there too, which made me smile.

They did.

Hillary Burgess: They did. I, so [00:51:00] I took a picture and I left it there. Um, I did not bring it home. Yours is sitting next to me, so I did bring, bring meters home. Great. Yours made it to my house. That one, I was like, I'm not, I'm not bringing this home. But I did get a picture with it.

Ally Brettnacher: I feel like it's a good, it's a perfect photo op too.

Yeah. Agreed. Yeah. Yeah. Really cute.

Hillary Burgess: And, and it was, it was fun. It was the course. I mean, I don't know if they could have even done it differently just because of, yeah. Where mountains are. But it was tough because it was like the first half was downhill and then you go back up and around and all this stuff.

So I ended up running like a 2 0 3 half marathon and like a two 18 second half. it was like significantly slower. And, it didn't even feel like I was running slower. It just felt so much harder just because yeah, you know, you're flying down. Well, it's hot too. And the sun, sun out. What was the temperature?

Sun? So it wasn't, it was like mid seventies when I finished. Um,

Ally Brettnacher: okay. But still, but

Hillary Burgess: it was full sun. you know, you, when you've been running [00:52:00] for three or four hours, like, 75 and sunny feel, that's hot warm. That's hot. Yes. And they had, they had like stations, at every bathroom stop, they had like little baskets that had all sorts of stuff, so they had sunscreen.

So I stopped multiple times to put on sunscreen.

Ally Brettnacher: That's smart.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah. like it was, it was direct sun. And that's, that's one of the things, so Texas is pretty warm also. but one of the things that I've always, as someone who's lived 20 some years here and 12 there, the thing that I prefer is that we have so much shade here.

So like, it might be, it might be 90 degrees, but like. It doesn't suck the life out of you the same way. Mm-hmm. When you can run on a shaded trail the entire time and out there Totally shade is, is so like, not common. And so we're out on the Yeah. These canals and it's just beating down on us. And, and so by the time I got back into like, like old town Scottsdale, I was ready, ready for the race to be [00:53:00] over.

yeah, I was, I was definitely, I was over it at that point. but then the, the finish, the finish area was so cool. Like, they had the, like professional, like retired professional athletes, like we're the ones giving out the medals and stuff. Yeah. Which was so cool. I did see that. Cool. Like, like not only were they there, you know, doing the announcements and the panels and all the, the stuff that, like, usually you'll see people like that doing, but they were actually like the people putting your medal on you, which is, is such a cool thing.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. So cool. Yeah, I actually didn't realize, but at Indy, Emily Feld was doing medals too. I don't know why I didn't get mine from her. Maybe I was just, I don't know. I got one from another board member of our, like, somebody I knew, but I loved that she just, she stayed there. Yeah. And was just handing out medals to everybody.

Yeah. And I saw that De Dez was doing that. Yeah. Um, at every Woman's and Catherine Switzer, I mean like, yeah. And Dina Crap.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah, it was, it was such a cool, yeah, Dina

Ally Brettnacher: was there too. She that So cool. Yeah. And actually I gotta to hang out with

Hillary Burgess: Dina on Saturday. So she was on my podcast, a couple months ago.

and so I had kept in contact with [00:54:00] her and I knew she was gonna be out there. And, so she, she's like, oh, well I have this panel coming up if you wanna walk with me from my hotel to where I'm doing the panel. So it was like 15 minutes. but it was like, it was like so exciting for me. Like I'm like, I get 15 minutes to hang out with Dina Castor and all this.

So that was really cool. And, you know, I went to, to her panel, Molly Huddle was part of that panel. Alicia Montonya was the, um, mod moderator. So that was, that was really cool. I got to have, so my daughter was with me, for when I went to the expo in the first place. and it was, it was really cool 'cause since it was a women's marathon, like they had so many things catered to like families and then like, you know, everything was sparkly and glitter and, and all that.

Yeah. Yeah. And so she got to get her hair braided. Um, oh,

Ally Brettnacher: that's amazing.

Hillary Burgess: And they did like the pink tensile in her hair. And it was, it was awesome. 'cause like, I don't, I don't run like with my hair down, so it's like, if I did that, like you would never see it, I'd be in a hat and all that. So I'm, let's get, let's get your hair done, let's do that.

And so That was smart. Yeah. Yeah. [00:55:00] She loved it. Is she your 4-year-old or She's the 4-year-old. Old, yeah. Okay. And then my son is 10 and he actually went to, okay. My dad was in town also, cause he hadn't seen his mom in a while. And so mm-hmm. He took my son to, an a SU football game 'cause that's where he went.

Oh, perfect. That's where he met my mom. So,

Ally Brettnacher: Aw, that's perfect.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah. And then my husband just slipped in and then came and met us at the expo later on.

Ally Brettnacher: Nice. Well, congrats. Thank you. I mean, mean, that's, I mean, two marathons in a season. I just always have so much respect for people who can, do that.

That's, it's amazing.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah. It was, it just looked like

Ally Brettnacher: such a good place to do it though.

Hillary Burgess: It was great. I ran faster than I had planned. Didn't, obviously I didn't pr but like, it was still faster than I had expected. I thought like, if I could, if I could finish in under four 30, I'd be happy. And I finished in 4 22.

it was still, it was still pretty, pretty fast. Yeah. By, by my own standards.

Ally Brettnacher: Right. And was it your 10th marathon? 11th. Okay. You gotta update that Instagram bio now. I know, I

Hillary Burgess: know. I do. Chicago was, yeah, exactly. I, I saw it and I was like, I

Ally Brettnacher: wonder if it's 10 [00:56:00] or 11.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah. Yeah. Now it's 11. I do need to, to update that.

Yeah. I stopped, I stopped updating it for, for half marathons. cause I lost count. Right. I'm somewhere in the eighties. I, I called, I called Indy my 85th 'cause I'm somewhere in the eighties, but I don't know exactly where. Um, yeah, but we're calling that 85.

Ally Brettnacher: I know. I have a spreadsheet, so I know I have, I've done 66, so I'm, I have count.

I'm pretty sure it's accurate. Like, I scour, it took me forever. I did this a while ago, but like, I scoured the races. I knew that I'd done and like I did each year that I might've done it and then like it was, yeah, it took a lot. But like, yeah. Where you're at now with, you know, running your first half marathon when you're in high school, it's like.

No. Was in college a lot with my first half. Oh, you were in college. That's okay. Half was in college. Still college. Yeah. cause mine was right after, maybe the year before I graduated or the year after I graduated was my first, half. But yeah, that's, it's amazing. Yeah. So I like how you mentioned Arizona and growing up in Arizona.

'cause then now we can take the people back. Yeah. And talk about how You had your [00:57:00] dad as your running coach. Yeah. Which I thought was so cool. So are your, were your parents both active as you were a kid?

Hillary Burgess: Not my mom as much. She was more active just like chasing after us, like all, all of that kind of stuff.

Doing

Ally Brettnacher: the mom work? Yeah. Yeah.

Hillary Burgess: But my dad grew up running as well, so he got started as a kid. he actually ran his first marathon in 1980 when he was 12.

Ally Brettnacher: Get the tech outta here. Yeah.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah. So, uh, so yeah, which is not a good thing. Don't do that. Yeah. That's insane. Um, but it was 1980, so, so like the eighties had different rules for, for everything.

you know, the person who handed him his metal was probably smoking a cigarette, so

Ally Brettnacher: it's like, probably, yeah.

Hillary Burgess: Um, so that was his first marathon, but then it was another 20 years before he ran another marathon. And so, when I was a kid in the, in the late nineties, my dad, was getting back into road races and there were, you know, I was, I was seven, and he's like, Hey, do you wanna do a 5K with [00:58:00] me?

And I'm like, yeah, let's do it. I don't know what that is. I don't know what that entails like, but, you know, it sounds, sounds fun. You know, he showed me how to, pin on a bib and how to Oh yeah. Um, tie the zip, tie the timer to your shoe. cause obviously that was before Yeah. Those good old days.

Ally Brettnacher: Like the loop, like the loop

Hillary Burgess: ones. Yeah. And then you have to actually like return it. no, not even the loop ones. Like this was before the loop ones. This was the, the like chunky ones that you have to give back to them at the finish. Wow. That's, um, so that then they can go do whatever they do so that you have an official time later on.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Hillary Burgess: and wild. Yeah. and. I did, the first one. It was, so two days ago was, was the 19th. That was, that's my, my runner ary, wow. Of, of that first 5K. And I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but like, we immediately did a bunch more. Um, so I spent the rest of elementary school, doing, doing five Ks on the weekends, um, with my dad.

we usually just did 'em in the, like fall and [00:59:00] winter because it was so hot out there. And like now I, yeah, like I'll run it, I'll run all summer, but like, you don't put a second grader out, like, like, Hey, you're gonna go run. It's, it's, uh, it's, and I mean out there it literally gets triple digits for months.

It's insane.

Ally Brettnacher: Like, I can't imagine.

Hillary Burgess: No, it's terrible. so, you know, it wasn't, it wasn't a constant like running. Every day, every week, whatever. But, um mm-hmm. But for the rest of elementary school during racing season, like when the weather was nice, we did did a lot of those, which was, which was really cool.

My dad got back into marathoning, so at the same time, I also got to watch him for a lot of his races. That's cool. That was really my introduction to the distance. so obviously this was before smartphones and everything, and so we would drop my dad off 20 miles out into the desert, and then he would run home and that was like, we would measure it out on the odometer, on the car.

and then, oh

Ally Brettnacher: my gosh.

Hillary Burgess: And then he'd run home. We would leave [01:00:00] him, um, we would leave him water bottles in, in like designated spots. Good, good. And, you know, he didn't. You know, he, he, he didn't die out there. He made it home every time. I don't know how many people, I mean, man, other people were training like that and might still be, you know, the little skeleton against the cactus, but, right.

That's funny. Yeah, it home. Good

Ally Brettnacher: motivation, like, you gotta get home. So good luck. Yeah. I mean, I guess if it would've taken him like a lot longer than you expected, you just drive back out there and find him, but Yeah. Yeah. That's So I have,

Hillary Burgess: oops, sorry, I have a bell on my desk. Um, I was like, so I'm in sales.

My, my, uh, my husband made me a bell so that when I saw something,

Ally Brettnacher: oh, I used to have a gong for my, when I would close a deal. Yeah. It's, we had

Hillary Burgess: them, we met at work years ago, and there was a bell there, and then when COVID made us all work from home, he made me one for, for my desk. That's, so that's what that is.

but I love it. And, and then my dad started, started coaching cross country, around the time I was going into junior high. So [01:01:00] he, he coached high school, cross country, and so, uh, and he had run cross country, when he was in, in junior high and high school. And so it was just kind of, like a no brainer that that was what I was gonna do in junior high.

I signed up for the cross country team, and I was pretty, middle of the pack then, same as I am now. Like, you know, I was not, not a phenom by, by any, any stretch of the imagination. But that's, you know, that's one of the things that made me fall even more in love with the sport is that you don't have to be the, the, person at the front.

Like there's a place for, for everybody. It's, it's one of the only no cut sports where, if you wanna be there, like you're on the team, no matter what, which is, which is. So cool. And, um, so it led into high school, did cross country and track in high school. I ended up meeting my, my best friend, in high school track.

and so to this day she's, she's my, my best friend. We talk on a daily basis. Um, oh, that's so amazing. So that was a huge part of it. Yeah. My dad was my And your dad. Yeah. Your dad was your coach. Yeah. That's so cool. So that was such a cool [01:02:00] thing too. and then I was sick of Arizona. I decided I am going back to Texas.

I moved to Austin. So I went to ut, in Austin and I decided that I was going to, like, you know, I ran, I ran like the first two years I would just run like occasionally just around campus or like, we had an indoor track, like stuff like that. And then, my junior year I was like, I'm gonna run a half marathon and.

I had run like six miles, and I'm like, that's close enough. And I went out at like an eight minute pace. I'm like, oh, this feels so good. I'm, uh, this is amazing. And then I just, the last like five miles was just pretty much walking. Like, I finished that first half marathon in two 14 and I went out at like a 1 45 pace.

Like it was, I mean, it was a, a rough last five miles, like that, like I'm talking like 15 minute miles. It was rough. but I decided to do it [01:03:00] again the next month. and I prd and then I did it again the next, like two months later and I PRD again. And then I didn't PR again, for 10 years after that.

So I spent 10 years running in that like low twos. Area.

Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.

Hillary Burgess: I, had two kids in, in my twenties. So I had my son when I was 23 and my daughter when I was 28. And Wow. And, I ran as much as I could. so both of them, I did not run through the whole pregnancy. I, both of them, the running ended with a half marathon.

so I did the Austin half Marathon in 2015 when I was, uh, six months pregnant with my son. Okay. And I finished, and like my skeleton like, just like broke apart into all of its individual pieces. And I didn't, even run half a mile again until I was six weeks postpartum and it had been glued back together.

and then. Literally the same thing happened with my daughter, um, except I was five months [01:04:00] pregnant at the time. I ran, I ran a half marathon, with her. And then, I, like I had to get a ride on the, golf cart to even get to my car. my brother had driven, 'cause like there was no way that, I was like, like literally my skeleton just fell apart.

Like I was just like unable to function after that. So it went from half marathon to zero running, for both of them until I was six weeks postpartum. But

Ally Brettnacher: yeah. Wow. I did the awesome marathon pregnant, until 17. Mm-hmm. How funny. Yep. That's so cool. It was my first kid, so I was pregnant. My first kid I was going down, a friend of mine, Selena, she lives in Austin still.

And uh, I was going down with two of my other girlfriends. We kind of all kind of a random group of of women, but then we would meet up to do races and. And, uh, one of them told us she was pregnant before we went. And so we were all really excited. I'm like, I'm gonna wait and I'm gonna surprise them when I get there.

And so I remember telling them, and it was so fun. So Kim, my friend, who was also pregnant, uh, I think her and I [01:05:00] ran most of the race together, but we made little signs on the back that said like, baby on baby's first half, I had a, I

Hillary Burgess: had a, I wore a, a lanyard and it said baby on board. It was like one of those signs, there you go.

That you put on your car. Yes. But I put it onto a lanyard, so. That's so amazing. That's awesome. Which was

Ally Brettnacher: so fun. 'cause people would be like, you know, pass flying by me up the hills and be like, oh my gosh, you're amazing. And I was like, I, I was, was really hard.

Hillary Burgess: I was trailed by the, the sweeper car for most of it.

I, I did that half marathon because I was six months along at the time. So, I, yeah, I, I finished that in 3 51. Like it was, yeah. It was a slog and it was No

Ally Brettnacher: wonder you like fell apart. Yeah. That's so much time on your feet.

Hillary Burgess: It was a lot. Yeah. Yeah, it was, it was a lot. Um, it's my, my slowest half marathon by like 45 minutes.

Um, I've had a few summer half marathons over three hours, but nothing close to four like that. Like Wow. That was, yeah. That's

Ally Brettnacher: just, that's incredible that you were able to do that and, [01:06:00] and then five months barely pregnant. Barely. I like mine the times that I did it, I think the furthest I ran was like only 20 some weeks.

I did a half marathon with my first, I did two half marathons with my first and then none at all with my second pregnancy. just 'cause my body didn't want me to, I guess. Yeah. Yeah.

Hillary Burgess: So, and after mine, my, my body said the same thing. I was like, yeah, you're not, yeah. It's, you're not doing a 5K you're not walking a mile like you're doing nothing.

Yeah. Until this baby Yeah. You're done now. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, yeah. Oh my gosh. So, and then, After becoming a mom, you ran six weeks postpartum. What was your first marathon after becoming a mom? After. Before. So I had actually

Hillary Burgess: never, never, never ran a marathons until, uh, until my, uh, I had both my kids thought about that.

Ally Brettnacher: That's right. Which is so amazing.

Hillary Burgess: So I did, so Rock and Roll, San Antonio, which we used to have out here. that was my first half marathon in 2012. My first full marathon in 2022. My first postpartum half marathon in 2015. and [01:07:00] 2021. Wow. And they, and they don't have it anymore. So it's being replaced this year by just the San Antonio Marathon.

Like, we're gonna have our, our own thing. So I think the course is really similar. It's just, being put on like by the city itself, which, which is cool. Like it's, it's not just one stop on the thing, like, it's like our actual marathon. So I'm excited for it.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, that's really cool. Um,

Hillary Burgess: so that was my first postpartum, for, for both kids and my first all time half and all time full.

Ally Brettnacher: Um, that's really cool.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah. but I, so I did the, the half, my daughter was born March 29th. I did the half, At, like the first weekend of December, and it was really, really tough. I like called my dad at like mile 10 walking and like, I can't do it. Like, it was, it was really rough. but I did finish it and, I got, you know, more into shape and all that.

And then the next year I'm like, you know what, I'm gonna do a full marathon because I turned, I turned 30. And like, it's just a thing, you know, you can't, you can't be in your thirties and like, not have at least [01:08:00] like a little bit of a desire to run a full marathon. And so I'm like, all right, it's time.

and so that is actually the first time that I discovered in interval training. Before that I had never, like, I walked plenty, but it was not planned. Like, it was just kind of like, if I need to walk, I'll walk. Yeah. which actually ends up being a lot more than, than planned, but I, I joined the San Antonio Roadrunner, so our, our local run club.

and when I was training with them for my first full marathon, that's when I, was introduced to the walk run method. and I ended up, I used it for my first, full marathon. that was a, that was a horrible experience. uh, so, oh no. Yeah, so it rained the entire time. I felt sick the entire time.

and I fell really hard at like mile 19 and I, there's footage of me finishing. I have never looked worse, like it, like in active childbirth. Like I looked better than I did at the finish line of, of that race. Like, it is so bad. and then I went home and I just kept feeling [01:09:00] worse and worse and worse.

And then I got a fever and I'm like, this is not something that, that running does to you. So I ended up taking a COVID test and I tested positive for COVID. about six or eight hours after finishing my first marathon, it turned out out of

Ally Brettnacher: town.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah. So that was, uh, that was really bad. Yeah. No wonder you felt so bad.

It took me five and a half hours. I thought I was gonna die. It was, uh, it was terrible. so I did the only thing that I could, which is sign up for another marathon. 'cause I'm like, okay, if I do this healthy, it's gotta be, it's gotta be better than that. Yeah. If I do it, I

Ally Brettnacher: don't have COVID. Well, I can't believe since 2022 you've run 11 marathons.

Like, that's so many marathon celery. Like, yeah. It's amazing.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah. It, it was, it was pretty, it was a pretty quick, like, all right, I'm doing this a lot. Um, but I did the Austin Marathon for the first time that spring. So about, two months after San Antonio. And I took like more than half an hour off my, my time.

I finished in 4 57. And, and I was like, okay, obviously [01:10:00] there's more room to improve, but this is what I should feel like, like it shouldn't, it, I, I shouldn't feel great, but it shouldn't be like, I want to literally die actually. Yeah. Like there's, there's a, a, a line between the two and so mm-hmm.

That was the first time that I'm like, okay, this is what a marathon feels like. it, it feels like dying, but like only in a dramatic sense. Like, like you can, yes. yeah. I

Ally Brettnacher: totally get, yes. It's nice to like finish and be like, okay, I don't necessarily have more in the tank. Yeah. But I also like, can make my way through.

Yeah. I don't

Hillary Burgess: need to be medically evacuated, getting snack. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: I don't have to go in the medical tent, which I have, have done before. Yeah. and you've done four out of the six major marathons I have. So which ones have you have you done for the majors?

Hillary Burgess: So my first one was Boston, which was two months after Austin actually.

So that was your

Ally Brettnacher: first major? That was my

Hillary Burgess: first major and it was, it was the craziest thing. So I had met somebody on, on Instagram and this was right when I started my Instagram and I met somebody who was running that year for, for charity. [01:11:00] And, and I just. DMed him. I'm like, Hey, tell me how you did all this.

And he's like, oh, well, um, you know, I found a charity that really resonated with me and I, I reached out, like directly to them and all this stuff. And so I'm like, oh, you know what? I'm gonna go find one and then maybe in 2024 I can run the Boston Marathon. And so I go online and I find backing it up, my daughter was born with a heart condition.

she had heart surgery at 15 months old. And at this point, when it was March of 2021, she was about nine months post-op. And so I found a charity that was called Team Big Heart. And it was, I was like, oh, this is perfect. And on their website, they had never taken down the submission form for the 2023 Boston Marathon.

They, and, and, and so I filled it out and I said, okay, I know I like, we are one month away. I am sure that y'all, are full, but since this is open, let me just tell you my daughter's story and [01:12:00] let's get a head start for 2024. Yeah. And, and so I was like, let's just, let's just get a head start on 2024.

And then, I get a call from Susan Hurley from Charity Teams. She actually passed away this last week. like incredible, incredible woman. I get, I get a phone call, from her and she like, Hey, I saw this and I actually just got, three bibs for the race. Two of them are going to like. Rich people that can like pay the, the charity thing.

the charity minimum. Like, like, and she put it more eloquently than that, but that's essentially what it was. Yeah. And she's like, do you think you can raise $8,500 and get yourself to Boston in the next 32 days? And I was like, yeah, let's do it. like I'm in sales. Yeah, I got this. I can do it. And it was what helped was that I had so many people while we were going through all of her stuff with her heart, who are like, let me know if we can do anything, to help anything.

And so I was [01:13:00] like, you know, our journey's over, but there's so many people who are, in the middle of it. and so if y'all can donate in, in her honor. and I hit the, I hit my, my goal in 22 days. and, I could not get a flight to Boston. That was the other thing that was, I was unable to do that.

Um, but I did get a flight to Newark, and a train ticket, so I made it up to Boston.

Ally Brettnacher: Wow. My

Hillary Burgess: third marathon was the Boston Marathon, my first major. we got there at like 4:00 PM on Sunday. just because of how the travel logistics the only way we could even get into town. And so I didn't get to do any of the full, like, experience, like I made it just in time to get my, bib and then, go to sleep.

Like go to sleep and then go run the marathon. But, oh, it was such a cool, such a cool experience. I could not believe I was there. So I still like, like telling that story. It's, it's insane the way that it played out. Yeah. But I finished, uh, and I, I ended up pring at [01:14:00] that one as well. So I had run 5 32 and then 4 57.

Then I ran Boston in 4 44. And, so that was the first time that I got in my mind like, you know what, maybe I could run in under four and a half hours. And so I left Boston with the, the goal of sub four 30 and six stars. And so that summer I had, the, uh, you could sign up for the virtual New York City marathon.

and then that would guarantee you entry for the following year for the in-person one. Oh. And so I, I. Decided to do that with Team for Kids. So if you do it with the virtual, I don't know what it is now, but at the time you only had to raise a thousand dollars. So that was pretty like, like compared to 8,500.

I'm like, oh, I can

Ally Brettnacher: do that. Right. That's, you're like, that's nothing. Yeah.

Hillary Burgess: yeah. And so I, I did that. I ran the, uh, I ran the virtual marathon, the weekend of the 2023 New York City Marathon. And got my spot for 2024. So I was like, okay, [01:15:00] cool. Where'd you

Ally Brettnacher: run? Just like around your, around San Antonio.

Hillary Burgess: It worked so well because we had a 20 mile race that week, that weekend. That's so nice. So I ran the 20 mile race and then, I just went back out on the course and did the last 10 K and there were like still people like still running at that time. So like I was never, you know, by myself. Like it was, it was almost like having an actual marathon.

It was, it was, yeah. I lucked out.

Ally Brettnacher: yeah, I don't know. 'cause I don't know how people do.

Hillary Burgess: No.

Ally Brettnacher: Like marathons virtually just like on their own. I don't, yeah,

Hillary Burgess: no. And then my best friend got engaged and so I, she told me, Hey, we are gonna get married in Portugal. and I'm like, oh, cool. When she's like, oh, September 21st.

I'm like, okay, so I'm gonna be in Europe at the end of September in 2024. Lemme look at when the Berlin Marathon is, and it turned out it was one week later. And so I signed up for, to do new charity, to do the Berlin Marathon. so in 2024, I ended up doing Berlin and New York City. And, [01:16:00] uh, it just worked out that way.

'cause I had already gotten, gotten my spot from the virtual one, but then I mean, I'm gonna be on the right continent one week before, like, like there's no way I could just not do it. That's right. Like, you know, what am I, when am I going to happen to be in Europe again? Right. You know, I've never happened to be in Europe anytime before that.

So I did, Berlin last fall. That was number two. And then New York City, six weeks later, was number three. Yeah. And then, I, still hadn't hit my four 30, goal time and I was like, I'm gonna do Chicago for my next one. because it's, it's fast and flat. And I mean, if world records are set there, then personal records could be set there.

Yes. Yeah. And so I set up for another charity and I did fundraising for that. at that point I decided I was just gonna do all six majors for charity. Like even if there was a possibility of getting, a spot without doing that. Mm-hmm. I just, I was like, on principle, I'm gonna do it. and I trained and then that was.

six weeks ago, and I [01:17:00] finally had my, my Breakthrough Race, after missing my four 30 goal, six times. I finished in four 15 and, um, oh my God. And then I, and then I finished last week in 4 22. So I, I, um,

Ally Brettnacher: heck, now it's like, you're like,

Hillary Burgess: okay, now, now, yeah. Now can I go under what next? Yeah. Now what?

Yeah. Yeah. So, and then, number five is London in, in April.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh my gosh. And then the hardest one to go. Get to do even for charity? Yeah. Tokyo will be left. Then they

Hillary Burgess: have a thing where you, like you can get a spot if it's your sixth. They're pretty good about giving you a spot to, to finish up. Okay. Um, that's nice.

And then there's a lot of charities that do like BYOB. So like if you already have a spot, then you, you run for that charity and like your minimum is lower. So that's kind of my plan for that. Yes. Okay.

Ally Brettnacher: That's cool.

Hillary Burgess: I haven't thought too much about it, but if I finish in, seven, that'll be a month before my 35th birthday.

So it's kind of like a goal that I set for myself. I'm like, right. There you go. Six, uh, six stars by 35.

Ally Brettnacher: There you go. [01:18:00] Before your 36th year. Yes. Because when you turn Right. 'cause you turn 35, then you'll be in your 36th year. Yeah. Yeah. You know, marketing, you can just twist it a little bit. Okay. Six stars before my 36th year.

That's so cool. Wow. That's crazy that Boston was your first major.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah. And

Ally Brettnacher: like how that all came together. That's really special. I think I had somebody on this podcast who ran for team, what is it called? Big Heart Team. Big Heart. Yeah. I think he ran really? He had a, open heart surgery . Wow. Yeah. And ran.

It was crazy. Anyway, that's amazing. but I've heard of that organization. Yeah. okay. And then, okay, two more topics I wanna make sure we hit on before we're done. your podcast. Yes. And then also becoming a running coach. Yeah. And it's following in your dad's footsteps a little bit there. Yeah. Um, so whichever one you wanna tackle first.

Hillary Burgess: So I can talk about the, the coaching. So I, it's just kind of an on the side thing my run club is an RRCA club, and so they have every, so often they'll have the RRCA courses, that you can do the [01:19:00] Roadrunners Club of America.

Ally Brettnacher: I was wonder, I knew what to step for, but thank you.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah.

and so they'll have that and so, a bunch of people do it. Like even if you don't end up coaching, like you just learn good stuff like that. Just that, that was kind of my idea. Yeah. I'm like, even if I don't coach anybody, it's a good learning experience. mm-hmm. And so in March of 2024 Is when I, I became a certified. Running Coach. I have, I have a handful of people who, who I, I coach. I got them through Chicago and Berlin and New York City, the last, the last few, few years. all middle of the Packers. so I am not, I'm, I am not, coaching people who want to qualify for the Olympic trials or for Boston or for anything like that.

Mm-hmm. Like I am very much a like, let's get you to the finish faster than you did your last one. and is

Ally Brettnacher: there for interval training in particular, is there. A special certification or like aspect of the course you do for that to, or is that,

Hillary Burgess: I, I need to look into [01:20:00] that honestly. So, Jeff Galloway has so many resources for that.

Mm-hmm. Um, he's coming on my podcast in a couple weeks and I Awesome. That's like, one of the things that I really want to, talk about is like more resources with that. 'cause I didn't used to really post about it. Like, it was just, I didn't think much about it. Mm-hmm. Um, it wasn't like a like, ooh, like I'm gonna like hide the fact that I, that I do this.

But it was like, I just didn't think about about it, so I didn't post much.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Hillary Burgess: Then after the, the four 15 and the 1 55, and using intervals for both of those, a lot of people, you know, really resonated with that. And the fact that intervals are not just for beginning runners or for people who, you know, your only goal is to make it to the finish line.

Like you can Yeah. Have time goals. You can get faster with it. you can be a 26 year runner. yeah. And, and get the benefits from it. I need to look into that more, like, to see what sort of specific coaching things, because that's a great question. I think that would be, that would be something that would be really good to, to [01:21:00] know.

But as of right now,

Ally Brettnacher: yeah,

Hillary Burgess: I don't, I don't know. But, I just do it on the side. It's not, it's not a, not a full-time thing. I'm good with having, having five or six runners at any given time. it's a good manageable amount. Um, yeah,

Ally Brettnacher: I mean, that's. That's a lot. And then you have your, like, content creation side of your world.

Then you have your podcast side of your world. Yeah. And like, you know, a day job. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know. Yeah. Just a little bit. And you're a mom?

Hillary Burgess: Yeah. And a mom. You know,

Ally Brettnacher: a wife somewhere in there. Yeah. Yeah,

Hillary Burgess: yeah. and then, so the podcast, so the first time I was on a podcast was pretty soon after Boston.

and I went on a podcast, uh, it was just called The Marathon Podcast to, to talk about, my experience being a charity runner. and this was, this was, is that the

Ally Brettnacher: one with War? War? Who? Warwick The Marathon podcast. That one? Or is it a different marathon podcast?

Hillary Burgess: Um, I'm not sure. I don't know. I don't know.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay. A woman. I'm have to look. I'll have to look A blonde.

Hillary Burgess: A blonde woman.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay. No, so there's another [01:22:00] one that's, I feel like it's newish. Okay. Or it's new to me called the Marathon Podcast. Okay. I'm sure there's a lot of marathon podcasts out there. So this was two years ago. Disregard.

Hillary Burgess: Um, but I went on there, and this was like right after there was, it was, there was some sort of post, where people were bashing charity runners at Boston.

And I put out some sort of post, in, response to that, about like misconceptions about charity runners, you know, they're taking up. People's bibs and they're not serious runners. And, you know, they're all back of the packers and like, all of all of this stuff. And I put that out. Yeah. And so she had noticed that and she's like, Hey, do you wanna come on my podcast, to talk about this?

And so I went on and I'm like, this is fun. Like, I can talk about, obviously I can talk about running like for, for like forever. Constantly. Forever. Yes. Um, and so that was kind of the first time that I really thought about like starting a podcast. and it took another two years to do it. but like that was kind of the, the beginnings of it.

And, years ago I read this book [01:23:00] by Amby Burfoot, called The First Ladies of Running, and it came out in 2016. I probably read it, somewhere around there, maybe 2018 or so. but it's about like. All the women who kind of paved the way for, for running neither. So, obviously, you know, Catherine, Katherine Switzer's in there, and Cheryl Bridges and Jacqueline Hansen and all of, all of these, these people who, you know, were, were pioneers in, in women's running.

And so that was the first time that I really thought about, you know, what happened before me, not just, you know, what's going on in running now, but, but how'd we get here? Yeah. So that was kind of the, the beginning of my interest in running history. and then over time the two kind of went together and I'm like, you know what?

I'm gonna start a podcast. There are a lot of podcasts where people talk about who is doing awesome stuff on the road, on the track, on the cross country course today. I'm gonna do something different and we're gonna talk about who used to do it and, [01:24:00] you know, yeah. Who, who paved the way. And that's when this podcast, came about.

And, I launched it in July and it's, it's been awesome. I've had some really cool, cool guests on it. Yeah. You

Ally Brettnacher: have.

Hillary Burgess: yeah, I have some, some more cool ones coming up. and I try to do, you know, everything from, from track? you know, I had Olympic gold medalist, in the, in the 100, the four by 100 at Calvin Smith.

all the way up to, I had the, the winner of the, the very first Badlands Ultra Marathon. And, uh. Wow. Yeah. And, and it was actually a woman, Eleanor Robinson, which was actually really cool. Actually, that surprises me.

Ally Brettnacher: I was like, oh, I'm assuming it's like an old, older guy. Yeah, it was actually a, a woman, woman.

She won it

Hillary Burgess: outright. There were only five finishers that year. Um, I think it was 80, 83 or 87. I would have to look. It was in the eighties.

Ally Brettnacher: yeah,

Hillary Burgess: but she won outright and so I had her on there. and then a lot of, you know, Olympians and, and just successful pro runners and, [01:25:00] and just hearing what things were like.

When they got started and, and how things have changed and, and what was significant in, in their personal running history and, all of, all of that. And then not every episode has interviews. I have, I, I do episodes also, where there's no one left to talk to. Like, my, my episode, uh, that I put out last week was about the very first, Olympic protest, political protest.

So,

There was a 1906 Olympics, which also like surprise, cause it's an off year. It was the only time they ever did that. 'cause they're like, oh, it'll be the 10 year anniversary of the first one. Let's do this. And then they did. And they're like, no, this is too much. So they didn't do it again.

But 1906 Olympics. And, at the time, Ireland was under British rule and there was this long jumper who was Irish and he was promised that he could compete for Ireland. And he gets to the Olympics. They're like, so you're actually competing for Britain? and he went on to win, one gold, one silver.

And then during [01:26:00] the medal ceremony he shimmied his way up the flag pole to replace the union jack with the, Irish, flag. And so that was like the very first political protest. So, you know, obviously this guy died in the fifties. Like, like it, you know, he was, he was an Olympic medalist in 1906.

Like, there is not Right. Anybody alive. It's not

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Hillary Burgess: was, you know, part this. Yeah. And so, so I'll do episodes like that where it's like, that's cool, you know, I'm not, I don't have a guest. It's just like telling a story. 'cause it's interesting and, and,

Ally Brettnacher: right.

Hillary Burgess: And so that's, yeah, that's, that's, that's it in, in a nutshell.

I'm, I'm actually, I'm trying to do one coming up soon that's a little bit different where it's like, just like the history of running shoes, so not a specific, so that event that Yeah. Right. But it's more like, here's how it's evolved over time and I wanna do one with fueling. Like, there's just so many things like that, like watches, like the technology.

Yeah. Watches would be great. Like

Ally Brettnacher: music Yeah. Is so funny to think about. Like, yeah. I used [01:27:00] to try to try to run with like a, my cd like dis man or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. That's really cool. I love the unique aspect that you're tackling. Yeah. Just like the more historical approach. 'cause there are a million Yeah.

Running podcasts and so it's hard to find like kind of a spot where nobody's, you know, done it. And I think that that's a pretty unique take on. Running and it's really interesting.

Hillary Burgess: It's so funny, really interesting because, you know, Emily Feld was on, Lindsay Hines podcast, that we, we watched live, a week or two ago.

And a lot of, of the rhetoric around, Emily Feld recently is that, you know, she's still national champion on the track at 35, the ancient, ancient age of 35. And it was funny because I had her on yesterday and I was like, Hey, so great news. You are the youngest person who's ever come on my podcast.

Yay. You know, I had, I had recently had Hal Higden on who's 94. I'm like, look, so like, in comparison, I need to listen to

Ally Brettnacher: that one.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah. Like in comparison. Look, you [01:28:00] are 60 years younger than, than these people. So You are, you are a spring chicken. So it was, it was funny. Yes. So I'll have, I'll have people, who are, who are still competing.

I had Hillary Allen on, the Mountain Trail Runner, uh, so she's, she is in her late thirties. Like, you know, I'll, I'll have, uh, occasional people like that as well, just with interesting stories, mm-hmm. But the vast majority are people who have, retired and, you know, their, their heyday was, was 20, 30, 50, 70 years ago.

Yeah. Yeah. So it's a, it's a cool, it's, it's a cool thing. It's been, it's been a lot of fun.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. And I don't think we said the name yet, but today in Running History Yes. Is the name. Yes. So go listen to that. Yes, please. yeah, well, congratulations because Thank you. You know, launching a podcast like keeping up on a podcast, like it's, it's a lot of work.

And so the fact that you do that alongside the other things that you do. I'm in awe.

Hillary Burgess: I appreciate it. It's fun. It's fun. Like I, and, and you had asked me before, before we got [01:29:00] on here, you had asked me what I'm most proud of, my most proud moment or whatever. And, and I would say that it's not really a moment, it, it is that I've been able to hold on to my passion for running for so long.

Like, at, at no point have I ever gotten to the point where any of this feels like a chore or, you know, I have to do this like, burnout, anything like that. And, and so it's tiring, and, and like individual workouts, like sometimes I don't feel like doing them, or, you know, if I have to, to record, record something, you know, last minute or something like that, like mm-hmm.

Like, it's not that I enjoy every single part of it, but the overall, it's, it's fun and I, I, I genuinely, truly enjoy it.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. 26 years, man. Amazing. All right. I'm gonna ask you the end of the podcast questions now. All right. Let's do it. And my kid's gonna get off the bus in an hour, and then we're going right to, we're going right to Wicked.

She gets off that bus. We're going. I know. I'm so excited. Okay, so what is your favorite running mantra [01:30:00] and or song?

Hillary Burgess: So, mantra is keep moving forward. and I've used that one during a lot of races, um mm-hmm. But essentially, as long as you keep doing that, like you'll, you'll get to, you'll get to the finish line.

It might not be pretty, or fast or what you were hoping for, but as long as you keep moving forward. You'll, you'll progress. And I mean that, you know, there's so many tie-ins for just like life in general with that one. Right. Um, just keep, keep moving forward. And then my, my favorite running song is Centerfold by Jay Gilles Band.

Just 'cause it is a, it is a, a fun one.

Ally Brettnacher: I don't know if I know, do I, will I know it when I hear it? Well, I'm sure you will.

Hillary Burgess: Yeah. Okay. Yeah, you'll definitely recognize it. but that's on every single, playlist I've ever made. for, for anything or anytime. there's like collaborative playlists.

That's my, that's my contribution. It's, it's such, okay, good. Well I

Ally Brettnacher: usually add, I add people's songs to, there's a finish lines and milestones playlist, so I'll add it Yes to that playlist now. It'll be there. okay. And then your next finish line or [01:31:00] milestone.

Hillary Burgess: So, technically my next race is the San Antonio Half Marathon, in a couple weeks.

but I don't have any goals for that one. It'll be, counting rock and roll. It'll be my 11th time doing it. You know, it's, it's one, like I don't have any time goals. I just wanna run it like, it's just the, the one race that I don't wanna miss. Um mm-hmm. Because it's my, it's my city. and then I found out I'll be running the Austin half Marathon with Team Spy Belt I found out this week.

Oh. Um, oh, that's

Ally Brettnacher: awesome. So I love Spy Belt. They've been around for forever, and I just, I love that product.

Hillary Burgess: doing that. And then I have the London Marathon, in, in April. So I'm running that with, team Keep a child alive. So I'm, I'm in the middle of the, the fundraising portion for that.

Ally Brettnacher: Yes, you are.

And thank you for your donation also. Oh, ab absolutely. And when this, this will come out. So you'll still be in fundraising mode by the time this comes out. Yeah, I have a lot way to, because it's possible. This should come out before the end of the year, but so we'll be sure to post the links and have people support you there.

Awesome. I love [01:32:00] all the creative ways that you are fundraising. Thank you. I mean, clearly you are, uh, an expert at it now. I mean, you have to say that you are, 'cause like you've fundraised for four of the six major world majors. Yeah. And that is not a small feat, especially for Boston in such a short amount of time.

But yeah, the advent calendars that you just launched, that you put together, super cute.

Hillary Burgess: Thank you.

Ally Brettnacher: Um, the raffle idea, like all those things, I just find, I'm always so inspired by charity runners because they're not only doing the training to run a whole marathon, but it's like a side job. It's like another job to do all the things and get creative and, and fundraise.

So it's awesome.

Hillary Burgess: Awesome.

Ally Brettnacher: And then we got, we gotta get you back to Indy sometime.

Hillary Burgess: Yes, yes. Sometime. I would definitely like to do that. I'm sure I'll do some other races in between. and then I don't think I'm gonna run London for time, but I think I'm gonna run the Toronto marathon next, October.

and I'm gonna go for sub four.

Ally Brettnacher: There we go. That's so exciting. Yeah, we were in Toronto right before it hap, like right before the marathon for a fall break. Yeah. And I was [01:33:00] so bummed to not be able to like, just hang around and do that. Yeah. Because

Hillary Burgess: yeah, such a beautiful city. My best friend just had a baby, on Tuesday and um, she lives outside of Toronto and so I'm like, oh, well I'm gonna go, I'll run that one.

You know, excuse to come, come visit. Yep. See you see the baby. another place with beautiful fall weather and foliage and all that stuff. Yeah. So, and it's absolutely, it's a fast course too, so it would be a good one. but then. London's, like a lot of people PR in London, but it's also like a once in a lifetime kind of thing, so I don't wanna miss the sight and sounds and the photos and all that stuff.

Yeah. And like, I can go to Toronto anytime, like obviously I don't live there, but, you know, it's a, it's a quick flight to get there and mm-hmm. I've been to Toronto maybe 10 times, like, so I can always, you know, if, if I, if I go and I race hard and I don't make a single memory on the course, like it's okay.

Right. That's because I can do, it's, I can do it again. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Yes, yes. Totally. Oh, well Hilary, thank you so much for doing this. It was so fun getting a chance to [01:34:00] get to know you even better. and I know people are gonna love this, this conversation. I'm, I'm excited. There's so much more we can talk about too.

I know. I, so people just need to go follow you on Instagram because then they can like, see all of what you're about there too, because I just, I love everything about what you're doing.

Hillary Burgess: Thank

Ally Brettnacher: you so much. Thank you. Yes, absolutely. And thank you to everybody who has listened and happy running.

Hillary Burgess: Yay.

Ally Brettnacher: If you enjoyed this episode of Finish Lines and Milestones from Sandy Boy Productions, please share with a friend rate review. Again, that goes such a long way in helping to grow this show. Thank you again to Amaz Fit and Foot levelers for your sponsorship, and I will see you next week. Bye.