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Guest(s): Rachel Sinders @rachelmichellerunning and my 8yo daughter, Sydney

Show Notes:

JULY CATCHING UP WITH COACH We recap our 4th of July races and I interview my daughter, Sydney, about her first 5K!

The first Wednesday of every month this year (today is an exception) I'm going to bring you a conversation between me and my running coach, ⁠⁠Rachel Sinders,⁠⁠ of ⁠⁠Rachel Michelle Running.⁠⁠

We'll talk about my training and running journey while celebrating other members of Team RMR. You don't have to work with Rachel to enjoy these conversations, but if you're looking for a running coach - look no further!

Thank you, Rachel, for supporting me and my podcast.

Previous Guests Mentioned

• ⁠Mary Pittman⁠ - Episode 10
• ⁠Alex Baker⁠ - Episode 6
• ⁠Trena Roudebush⁠ - Episode 31
• ⁠Gordon Strain⁠ - Episode 43
• ⁠Jordan Huffman⁠ - Episode 80
• ⁠Lisa Hurst⁠ - Episode 95
• ⁠Lindsey Hein⁠ - Episode 100

Sponsor Details

• ⁠Goodr⁠ - Use ALLYB for $10 off your first order
• ⁠HUUG⁠ - Use ALLYB for 15% off, combinable with their Buy 3, Get 1 Free offer

Other Links

• Want to be a movie extra in the Little 500 film? ⁠Sign up here⁠
• Follow me on Instagram ⁠@allytbrett_runs⁠
• ⁠Subscribe to Finish Lines & Milestones weekly newsletter⁠

This is a ⁠SandyBoy Productions⁠ podcast.

Episode Transcript

Catching Up With Coach: July

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

 

Ally Brettnacher: Well, I can cut it.

I can cut it so it says, "Yep, I love you the most. Bye."

Sydney Brettnacher: Don't you dare cut it out though

 

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, and every runner has a story. Join me each week as I share these stories and we celebrate finish lines and milestones together. Speaking of milestones, the day that this episode comes out, July 10th, 2026, is my 40th birthday.

Huge milestone birthday. I will be celebrating with a group run with ladies that I see almost every week on Friday mornings, So if you want to see what kind of shenanigans we get up to, you can follow me on Instagram. I'm allytbrett_runs.

That's A-L-L-Y-T, Brett, B-R-E-T-T, underscore runs, and see some the content that is [00:01:00] sure to be fun in this episode. Catching Up With Coach is a series with my coach, Rachel Cinders of Rachel Michelle Running.

The idea behind this was to give everybody an idea of what it's like working with a coach, to get an inside look at our relationship, how we talk about races, whether it's prepping or recapping, talking about training. So in this episode in particular, we talk about just the blur that was the month of June and learning how to give yourself grace when things are busy and you can't necessarily get every single run in.

We talk about our Fourth of July races, heat-adjusted training, And then as a very special treat, you heard at the intro just a few moments ago, my daughter Sydney, who is eight, almost nine, joins us to talk about her very first 5K, which ended up being a little bit more than a 5K, but she had fun.

And so I ask her a few questions about what that was like. She got to run with my dad, who is 70. It was so cute. So really excited for you to, to meet Sydney. And next week, next Friday, I will be gone, and I didn't [00:02:00] prepare enough in advance to have all these episodes scheduled out. So forgive me as I adjust and pivot a little bit from my norm for these next couple of weeks.

I perhaps will take next July off just to give myself a breather. Or maybe by then I'll know how to record and, and have everything lined up in advance. Probably not. So next Friday will probably be a rerun episode, and then your regular programming will return when I'm back to business on July 24th.

So I just had an amazing interview today with Kelvin Hwang, who is one of the founders of Three Run Seven, a run club here locally. So I loved getting a chance to meet him, hear more about their club. So stay tuned for that coming later this month, and you're not gonna wanna miss the rerun episode that's next Friday either.

So without further ado, here is my episode with Rachel and Sydney, which is brought to you by Goodr and Hug. More on them in just a bit

Rachel: Okay.

Ally: How was your Fourth of July?

Rachel: It was really good. we were just around here, but we had a blast,

Ally: Good

Rachel: just hanging out. We did the [00:03:00] parade, in Carmel, which we had to laugh 'cause we set up our chairs, like, six days in advance, and some people, some people had already set them up two weeks in advance. I'm not even kidding. I drive p- on Carmel Drive all the time, and I saw them out so early.

So anyway, the parade, which is like, it's funny because we've done it so many years, but it's not really, like, spectacular, you know? It's just...

Ally: go when I was a little kid,

Rachel: Yeah. yeah, and then we just hung out at some friends' house, so it was good

Ally: It's the most Carmel thing ever to be able to leave your chairs for two weeks without anybody stealing

Rachel: Yep, Like, you can literally drive along Carmel Drive and Range Line and it's just a line of chairs. But no one steals. Mm-hmm

Ally: Yeah, that's good. Okay. Yeah,

Rachel: So it was fun. It was a good day. The rain was kind of a bummer. I don't know if you had rain up north, but we got some rain on the 4th, so that kind of put a bummer on some of our pool party plans.

Ally: gonna say a damper.

Rachel: A damper, it did.

Ally: on our plans. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we got some storms,

Rachel: but [00:04:00] then it was a break, and then we had bought a bunch of fireworks, so we just did our own fireworks at home.

I don't love it, but Justin and the kids do, so I just don't like fireworks that well.

Ally: the, the anxiety that that

Rachel: Yes. Yes, yes

Ally: I have, I have some stories for this episode that I will

Rachel: Okay. All right. okay. let's roll it back to your race day or June.

Ally: I'm trying to remember what had happened. So last time we talked it was right after the full

Rachel: Boom, boom. So we've had the whole month of June, which was, I don't know, a blur in many ways.

Ally: Yeah. Yeah

Rachel: You know, kids are home, it's balancing lots of schedules, and trying to get the workouts in when we can.

I'm trying to think about what you've been up to. You were at the lake a couple times in there.

Ally: I had a couple weeks at the lake, which did make it a lot trickier to stay consistent with my workouts.

Rachel: Mm-hmm

Ally: so I just tried to give myself as much grace as I could to be like, "You know what? If I don't run

Rachel: Yeah,

Ally: I'm

Rachel: it's okay

Ally: [00:05:00] day. We're swimming. It's fine." And so there was definitely some of that happening.

and I'm still my Fullmo recap. I swear I'm gonna finish it. It's so close, and I've... It's so much. It's mostly for myself, but also, like, it's a lot to

Rachel: I am just impressed that, I've forgotten a lot of things. Like, I don't have, I don't have a good memory. Like, I would forget, so

Ally: Yeah. No, there's gonna be plenty I'll forget that hopefully then people will be like, "Hey, fill in the gaps for me, please." Yes. Yeah, so June was just a blur. Uh, I think my longest run was probably eight miles, I would think. I think. Maybe I did a 10. I can't r- I can't remember. So it's been pretty easy month.

Rachel: which is like perfect for where you are right now. post full mo recovery and just kind of maintaining and like working on a little speed in there when you can. But eight miles, I feel like that's a happy place to be for a long run at this phase.

Ally: And that's what we will be running when this episode comes out

Rachel: Eight miles? On Friday?

Ally: Yeah.

Rachel: Okay. I won't be [00:06:00] there.

Ally: my

Rachel: Okay, I haven't looked at it. I know. I'm missing your birthday. I'm be in Denver. I'm really sorry. I know. this is my third year in a row doing it. So my running coach lives out there, and she hosts a big group of us every year for like a running retreat.

But we've all gotten to know each other quite well, so it's mostly just hanging out and running. And there's some like info sessions in there, but mostly it's just

Ally: Perfect. That's

Rachel: relax. Yeah. One thing I'm super excited about is on Thursday when we get there, we're doing with Precision Hydration, which you might be familiar with the brand.

I use their...

Ally: tried

Rachel: Okay, I like their, um, carb-sodium mix. I drink that a lot. we're going to their location they have for a sweat test. And it doesn't actually-- Yeah, it doesn't even involve exercise. They put this like electrode on your arm, and somehow it can mimic the sweat glands to produce how you sweat and like the sodium content.

[00:07:00] Yeah. So I'm excited 'cause then they can give you a personalized plan of like how much per hour you're losing and what they would recommend for, refueling that and stuff. So I'm excited about that.

Ally: really cool. Well, I can't wait to hear about

Rachel: I know. So next month I'll have to share. But I'm bummed to miss your birthday run

Ally: That's all right. It'll be fun.

Rachel: Yeah, well

Ally: mostly disappointed you won't be able to go down the slides

Rachel: I, we're gonna do that again, please.

Ally: Yeah.

Rachel: I'm, I was actually really sad. I'm like, "You're gonna be making these videos and I'm not gonna be in it now."

Ally: Yeah, you're not gonna be there to see how ridiculous it

Rachel: Uh-huh

Ally: wait. Yeah, in fact, we have, my, nieces and nephew... Actually, all my nieces and nephews are in town right now,

Rachel: Okay

Ally: older ones, I had told them about this park, and I was like, "Actually, I don't really wanna take them there 'cause I wanna go there for the first time with my friends."

Rachel: 'Cause we need the first time, like, on video footage with the group. Yeah.

Ally: time. Yeah, and so f- last month, I made you watch the Boston Cop Slide

Rachel: Yeah. Yeah.

Ally: So for anybody listening who does not know, [00:08:00] just Google Boston Cop Slide, and then you can go to my Instagram and see the videos of this Carmel slide that looks even bigger.

Rachel: It does. It's so f- it's gonna be so fast

Ally: Yeah, I'm surprised. I haven't seen any videos yet. I'm surprised it hasn't showed up in my

Rachel: I haven't either. I just saw people that went to the grand opening, the c- ribbon cutting, whatever, last week. But no, I haven't seen much of it

Ally: It better be officially open

Rachel: I think so.

Ally: Oh,

Rachel: I think so. I haven't ran past it. I haven't ran down there since,

Ally: Yeah.

So that'll be fun. so speaking of, working on some speed, I usually try to insert some of that speed into my 4th of July race.

Rachel: Yeah

Ally: I go, for people who are Indiana-based may be familiar with where I go. I go to Lake Wawasee, which is in Syracuse, Indiana, and it's about two and a half hours, two hours and 15 minutes from my house. And, uh, it's the largest freshwater lake in Indiana.

Rachel: Oh, I didn't know that fact.

Ally: Yeah, and we've been going there forever.

Rachel: Mm-hmm

Ally: so they have a 4th of July race. I've done it I don't know how [00:09:00] many times. I used to do it just, like, completely for fun. it would be the kickoff of my marathon training

Rachel: Mm-hmm.

Ally: I would run home from the eight-mile race, and that would be, like, 12 miles. That was my usual shtick. So I wouldn't ever race it, really I had no idea that there was awards or there was awards ceremony. I had no clue. I wasn't paying attention at all. Didn't even really know that existed for small races. And so it was three years ago, I think, I finally figured it out thanks to some people who are our neighbors up at the lake.

They were like, "Oh, well, we're gonna stay for the awards." And I was like, " Oh, okay." at that time I had gotten faster, and so I was like, "Well, I'll stay." And, and turns out I won an age group award, and it was the most ridiculous stuff you could ever imagine. I won the... Th- that was the year of the popsicle float and the pirate booty boat that was

Rachel: Okay.

Ally: So anyway, so bottom line is every year now, like the last three years I've gotten an award, and so this year going in it's like, "Well, I gotta run fast 'cause I gotta get an

Rachel: Mm-hmm. Such motivation. Uh-huh

Ally: Yeah. And they have a three [00:10:00] mile, like a little over three miles, and they have an eight mile. So and then before I go into all the race stuff, what set the stage for the one you did?

Rachel: So it's in Carmel, which this is the second year that they've now had it at Clay Terr- starting and finishing at Clay Terrace. Previously it was at the high school. So last year was this new route. I, this was my eighth time consecutive doing it. Before that I've done it, we did it pre-kids even. I've done it multiple times pushing a stroller.

Then there were some years in there when we went to Michigan for the Fourth of July, so I missed it. So since 2018 I've done it every year. Not, there was no 2020 race, but every year. And I used to be much more competitive. I went back and looked at my like previous times and it was like very humbling to see what I used to be capable of when I got the age group awards.

Ally: Yeah,

Rachel: it's all just about, I mean, I race but like I'm not crazy fast anymore. but [00:11:00] it's fun.

Ally: right now,

Rachel: Yeah. It was, it's fun. It's just, it's what I do on the Fourth of July. Like I love a holiday that involves a race. So

Ally: Yes. Yeah

Rachel: I show up. It's four and a half miles, so kind of an odd distance.

Ally: Right, ours are too.

Rachel: yeah, it's like why,

Ally: and

Rachel: why four?

But any- four and a half. Um, it's great. It's a lot of,

Ally: four

Rachel: it's a lot... Four for the Fourth, right?

Ally: Yeah

Rachel: lot of local people. Not a huge race, but just a lot of familiar faces and just good vibes. Everyone's in red, white, and blue and it's a fun...

Ally: wear?

Rachel: I did blue tank, red shorts, white sports bra. Yeah,

Ally: Nice

Rachel: And I have s- uh, Fourth of July Goodr sunglasses that come out

Ally: Oh,

Rachel: for this occasion.

so yeah, it was great. It was fun. immediately after I have to like race home to shower to get to the parade, so I didn't stick around for too long, but it's a fun one to be a part of if you're, if you're here for the Fourth.

Ally: Mm-hmm. [00:12:00] Nice. I love a holiday race where you can, like, dress up. I don't do the Drum- Drumstick Dash

Rachel: Mm-hmm

Ally: I haven't for a long time. but I do this 4th of July race, and I bought, last year I bought Chikn Legs, which is a, a apparel brand. They're r- well known for their shorts that have these

Rachel: Mm-hmm

Ally: So I bought a Chikn Legs set, which is this matching sports bra and shorts that are American flag. And so I wore that last year for the first time. Usually I don't like wearing the Chikn Legs shorts for anything over four miles 'cause my legs will chafe, but they didn't,

Rachel: Good.

Ally: was

Rachel: Yeah

Ally: and then I had, uh, of course now I'm into these, tattoos, the temporary tattoos,

Rachel: yes. I saw that

Ally: So I had a huge, like, arm eagle, and I had, like, some sort of ... I don't even know what the heck the design was on my leg, but it had a eagle and some sort of like wooden thing. I don't know. But it was comical. And then I had, of course, glitter freckles, and I had glitter in my hair, and, uh, I had some aviator American flag sunglasses I bought at Meijer.

I, I don't have the gooder ones,

Rachel: Mm-hmm.

Ally: So I was like, "I hope these don't drive me

Rachel: [00:13:00] Yeah, like fall off or something. Who was the friend that you were with that did tattoos with you?

Ally: So that is, Mark, oh my gosh, I don't know how to say his last name. So on Instagram, he's daddy did you

Rachel: Okay. Okay. Yes, I've seen him.

Ally: town

Rachel: Okay

Ally: he was like 30 minutes away, and he's done the race before.

I think it's been a while though, 'cause I've known him now for s- several years and, um, so he was, he was gonna be there. I'm like, "Okay, which one do you want, Mark? I'm gonna bring you one, and you're gonna put it on." And he was a good sport. So he was there running with his son, Derek. And then my dad ran with Sydney, my eight-year-old, soon to be nine-year-old, and it was her very first race that was over a mile.

So we've done the Monumental

Rachel: Mm-hmm.

Ally: She's done, I think Other Mile or, like, the Rookie Run, but she's never done a

Rachel: So wait, did she do the 3.8 distance? Three... 3.3,

Ally: She did the 3.3, which

Rachel: okay

Ally: being 3.5, which is another story.

Rachel: I, I saw that. Okay, so that's a, that's a big jump for her from, like, a one mile to a

[00:14:00] over three. Mm-hmm

Ally: you know, I was like, especially with the heat, she's prone to, not doing well in the heat. She faints, and so I was like, "Well, we'll just see how it goes." And I knew my dad is 70 years old, and so he was like, "Well, this'll be great 'cause we can

Rachel: Mm-hmm.

Ally: and just take our time.

It's no big deal." And so that's what they did. He said that they walked, maybe four or five times, but that Sydney never complained that she had a great time. So I was really proud. and now for the, the story about the distances. So this race has been going on for, it'll be 50 years next

Rachel: Oh, wow

Ally: And so they've never, to my knowledge, had any issues with the race, which is pretty amazing. aside probably from COVID. But they, unfortunately we had these huge storms which caused all kinds of other problems, but for the race it blew a tree down in the middle of the course, a huge tree that took a power line with it. so there was no moving that, and there was no, like, going anywhere close to that. and so the way that the course is, it's like, almost like the eight mile almost looks like an eight. Like, there's a little loop, and then there's a bigger loop that

Rachel: Okay

Ally: [00:15:00] eight miles. So you do the three-mile route, and then you keep going through the finish and do another

Rachel: Okay

Ally: that includes a little bit of the three-mile route again. And so, get up to the start line, and they're like, the race director makes an announcement. He just says, "Hey, guys, um, we've got a tree down with a power line. We can't, we're not gonna go near it. So here's what we're gonna do." He said, "We're gonna do an out and back. So for the three miles you're gonna go out, you know, mi- a little over a mile and a half, and you're gonna come back.

And then for the eight miles you're gonna do that, you're gonna go out, back, out,

Rachel: Oh, you had to do it twice then. Okay

Ally: So we'd had to do it twice, and it ended up being great because it was Sydney's first 5K, and I got to see her twice as a

Rachel: Yeah, that's so fun.

Ally: I wouldn't have gotten to see her at

Rachel: Mm-hmm

Ally: So that ended up being kind of a silver lining to that issue. but it did suck because the road that we go out on is k- a little bit hilly, and so we had to do that, like, four times.

Rachel: Mm-hmm. I noticed you had some, some decent elevation game on your race

Ally: was, that was brutal. yeah. I, I also got to see, um... [00:16:00] Gosh, I forget Reed's last name. Reed. Uh, Reed and then, um, Boyd. Boyd does New Shoe Day. I don't know his last name

Rachel: Okay

Ally: there are a few more people, like, every year as my community grows

Rachel: Mm-hmm

Ally: more people in the running community, then I know more people. And so I saw Lisa Hirst, who's been on my podcast before. I saw Jordan Huffman's sister.

Her whole family does it,

Rachel: Okay.

Ally: is in Germany. She's a

Rachel: Oh, yeah. 'Cause I think her, her husband is abroad right now. Mm-hmm

Ally: so we saw her family. Her sister Jill said hi, and so we

Rachel: Yeah

Ally: dad is amazing. Done all these maratha- So our dads

Rachel: Yeah, he's a nice guy for sure

Ally: yeah. But overall, the race was really good for me considering how hot it

Rachel: Yeah, you did a excellent. You f- you finished so strong. Like

Ally: Oh,

Rachel: s-

Ally: me tell you about that.

Rachel: okay

Ally: there was... So the other benefit of out and back is you can count the number of women in front of you,

Rachel: Mm-hmm

Ally: like, "Okay, I'm counting." And I swear to God, I counted only t- like, I counted three women. And so I'm like, "If I can catch that third woman, I can be third place [00:17:00] overall for women in the 8-mile." But then come time for the awards and, like, the results, I- that's not the case. And so what's weird is, like, some people drop down, and so I'm just, like, wondering if it was entirely accurate, 'cause I'm like, I mean, I wasn't that delirious. I swore I counted three women. And so I busted my ass to catch that third woman, 'cause I was like, "You know what?

I'm here to go fast. I'm just gonna see if I can do

Rachel: Yeah

Ally: caught her right before the finish. Like, we're talking, we had one, like maybe 100 or

Rachel: Oh my gosh. Too bad we don't have that on video footage.

Ally: Well, we do

Rachel: Okay. You need to share it

Ally: came out. I know, I will. I just have so much video,

Rachel: Uh-huh

Ally: and content that I just get overwhelmed, and I'm like, "Ugh, I need to share all

Rachel: Yeah

Ally: but yeah, so my family came out, Zach, my sister, and the cousins that weren't running came out. so they all high-fived me, and I, sadly, I was running so fast that I just, like, didn't pay attention to who I high-fived, and I guess I missed Sloane's hand,

Rachel: Oh.

Ally: and she was so

Rachel: Oh.

Ally: And [00:18:00] I felt really bad 'cause I was like, "Well, I have to high-five them because they're out

Rachel: Yeah, but you're like delirious at the end of a race and it's, you know. Mm-hmm.

Ally: passed her, like, right at the end. 'cause that could've been the difference between me getting first or second in my age group. I thought it was the difference between podium at, or not, which it ended up not being. But,

Rachel: So what, what were you overall then for female? Like-

Ally: female? Oh, I actually don't know.

Rachel: Okay. So I wonder how that...

Ally: f- fifth or something, but I, I'm really suspicious of it. And then girl, Danielle, who I ended up meeting who was friends with Reid, she, beat me and she's in my age group. And then, I was trying to look up how old she was, but I didn't figure it out.

But I was... She's a 3:15 marathoner. That's how competitive I am. I looked it up. I was like, " Who's this, who's this girl?" She was very fast and did very well, so,

Rachel: that has to make you feel better. She's a 3:15 marathoner and you're competitive with her, so. But that you were...

Ally: Well, no, she kicked my

Rachel: Okay.

Ally: even... She wasn't...

Rachel: Okay

Ally: Anyway, so that was a lot. yeah, the, the, uh, prizes this year, the [00:19:00] prize that I got, which I need to share about more, was I got another sparkly Starbucks tumbler.

Rachel: Okay.

Ally: I also got a candle.

Rachel: Oh

Ally: can't remember the scent off the top of my head. And then my dad won his age group as a 70-year-old,

Rachel: Oh, that's fun

Ally: he got a medal, ' cause when you win your age group you

Rachel: Oh, you get a medal. Okay

Ally: rubbed that in my

Rachel: I'm sure. Yeah, yeah.

Ally: like, "Gah." He's like, "Well, I w-" you know. And then he won, like, a bucket of sand toys and he got a tumbler as well. was something else, I forget, but it was just so funny. And then, uh, Lisa Hurst, she was the, grand master champion for

Rachel: Oh, wow

Ally: and so she got a big basket of stuff and, like, would've been in a photo for the newspaper, but she had to go do a parade,

Rachel: Okay

Ally: or other.

So, so funny. I mean, it was

Rachel: Yeah. A small town race is so fun. And it's just so funny too that you can show up race morning and they're like, "Hey, we have to change the course," and stuff. You know, think about a big race, that would be a whole mess, you know?

Ally: were, I was walking around chatting with people, 'cause they delayed it for 10

Rachel: Mm-hmm

Ally: a result as well. And so I was [00:20:00] walking around just chatting with, a few other people, and it was like they didn't at first in the announcements, they didn't say, "So the eight mile is actually gonna be shorter." just said, "You're gonna go out and back, out and back." And so I was like, "Well, so are we running 6.6 miles? What are... I mean, are you gonna keep us going and then turn arou-

Rachel: Mm-hmm

Ally: And so then they finally when they, right before we started they're like, "And so you're gonna be running, like, 6.5 miles today."

And I was like, "Okay, well, that's good to know so I can go

Rachel: Yeah. Yeah

Ally: ' cause I'm not running as far." So that's,

Rachel: So it ended up being seven, right?

Ally: But it ended up being seven,

Rachel: Yeah, I saw

Ally: then the three... So Sydney, instead of running like a 5K ran 3.5 miles, so

Rachel: Oh my gosh

Ally: course. I mean, it was just kind of a, a cluster.

And then, I know I've been talking a ton, but,

Rachel: Hey, that's what this is for

Ally: But we also, so that night was the fireworks, okay? So there was a huge storm, and so much wind. Like, to the point where we were outside and it, like, blew over a wine glass, like, off of

Rachel: Oh, wow.

Ally: like, shattered

Rachel: Mm-hmm

Ally: like, so gusty. so I guess it, got one of the fireworks barges.

They set off the fireworks from in the middle of the lake. And so this year was the biggest [00:21:00] year. They spent a half a million dollars on their fireworks display. And one of the barges came loose as a result of the storm. but they don't tell y- we didn't know that until we got out there on a boat with all these little kids at 10:30 PM at

Rachel: Mm-hmm

Ally: Meanwhile, there's a house on fire right behind our condo building. Humongous house fire.

Rachel: Oh my gosh.

Ally: I'll have to show you

Rachel: That's awful

Ally: Yeah, it was awful. So my Aunt Lisa is, like, a super sleuth, so she gets her scanner app on her phone and she's listening. And she's like, "Oh yeah, house fire. they've called other towns' fire departments for backup." and so then after we realized that's going on, I mean, and you were just, you could see the flames. You could see the glow of the

Rachel: Oh my gosh

Ally: of the lake. It was so crazy, and it scared the kids a little bit.

Rachel: Yeah

Ally: and then we found out via Facebook that the fireworks were gonna be delayed at least an hour. And so we weren't sure why. They didn't say why. They just said, "We're on a delay." And so we're like, "Well, we're gonna go home. We have all these little kids." they, uh, did a really horrible job of communicating. They just didn't communicate,

Rachel: Mm-hmm

Ally: and the fireworks didn't end up going off till 1:00 AM. [00:22:00] And

Rachel: Oh my gosh. Did you stay up for it?

Ally: we all f- I mean, I, no, I fell asleep with Sloane, like on the couch. We were just kinda waiting after midnight to see,

Rachel: Mm-hmm

Ally: they go off, like, we're just gonna go out and watch them. But didn't, so we gave up and then went to bed. And Zach kinda kept an e- eye out, and he w- ended up going out. But they only shot off a half of them.

Rachel: So then what are they gonna do? Like,

Ally: That was it

Rachel: save them? Can you? I don't know.

Ally: I don't, I don't even know. But it

Rachel: Gosh.

Ally: mad.

Rachel: because that's ex-

Ally: mad because of, you know, the situation. There's things you can't control.

Rachel: But like communicate it better

Ally: they communicated so poorly. the email they sent afterwards, they took no accountability.

Rachel: Oh gosh, yeah. That's not a good look. Uh-huh

Ally: just disappointing. So that was a bummer because last year I missed the fireworks at the lake, and my kids have never seen fireworks like that, so I was so excited for them to see it. Their minds were blown over the fireworks that people were just doing on the shore, so was fine.

But

Rachel: Yeah, but that's disappointing when you had your heart set on that, and [00:23:00] unfortunate. So was everyone okay with the fire? There was no one in the house

Ally: Yeah, it was, it was a house that's for sale,

Rachel: Oh gosh, that's a mess. That's

Ally: under investigation too, like is there foul play? Like, but thankfully that meant nobody was

Rachel: Yeah

Ally: I guess there was another fire too somewhere, but not, maybe not as big. But the, so the f- so that's why we thought the fireworks were being delayed because the fire department wasn't on

Rachel: Mm-hmm.

Ally: at this fire. So that makes sense, right? You can't shoot off a half a million dollars worth of fireworks when you have

Rachel: yeah.

Ally: or, like, people to help

Rachel: Mm-hmm

Ally: wrong. it was crazy. Crazy.

Rachel: that's too bad.

Ally: Who woulda thought?

Rachel: Yeah, yeah, the fireworks here went on as planned, I guess. It was just so on and off rainy, so that's when we were like, "You know what? We've gone to the Carmel ones many, many times," and then

Ally: Yeah

Rachel: ultimately decided to do our own at home, and it was great ' cause I didn't have to leave my house and sit in traffic and you know all that.

Ally: Yeah.

Rachel: So it was a good Fourth

Ally: of doing our, of doing our own fireworks, my dad [00:24:00] set next door neighbor's lot. There wasn't a house there yet. But, um, he set it on fire and I'll never forget that. We had to go out with milk jugs.

Rachel: Oh my gosh

the one saving grace we had here was that it had rained you know, during the afternoon on the 4th. So when we were doing our fireworks, I felt totally fine, like the grass is wet, we'll be okay. But we had some of these like spinny ones, and you weren't sure which direction they were gonna shoot up and spin.

So we did the first one in the backyard, and it got way too close to our house. So then we started going out, like we live at the corner of a intersection, so we went out in the middle of the street and did the rest of them. Yeah, and had some friends over, and we had lots of sparklers, and it was a good 4th.

I always enjoy the 4th so much

Ally: there is just something special about the 4th

Rachel: Mm-hmm.

Ally: the lake does what's called the flotilla. It's basically a boat parade, so people all, like, decorate their boats, and they go by. And we decorated our pier, like at the

Rachel: Oh, that's fun.

Ally: com- the condo community decorated the

Rachel: Mm-hmm

Ally: We all, like, tried to hold up fabric to make an American flag. I have no idea[00:25:00]

Rachel: How it looks? Yeah, yeah

Ally: but yeah, it wa- it was fun

Rachel: Yeah, it's always just like a, the middle of summer, fun celebration to me

Ally: Yeah, and the weather was, I mean, outside of the rain and storm stuff, it was so hot and it was just

Rachel: Mm-hmm.

Ally: kinda what you want

Rachel: Yeah,

Ally: Fourth, so

Rachel: you do. You wanna be in the pool or in water of some sort outside and yeah. Yeah, so

Ally: fact we went up two days earlier than we had planned going. We ended up going up, or maybe even three, we went up Sunday night, so we stayed for the whole entire week, versus we were planning on going like Wednesday, but... that was really nice.

Rachel: Cool. And now,

Ally: And I, yeah.

Rachel: now,

Ally: group award,

Rachel: yeah, I mean, that was, that was great. That was a great race that you had, and just I didn't look at it compared to last year's time. Well, there was a mile shorter, but, like, overall pace, I didn't look at it. But I thought so, just given your last mile being 7:20 or something crazy, that I figured it had to be faster.

So, hey, the training's working, and you're doing great.

Ally: Right? And in the heat,

Rachel: [00:26:00] Yeah. It was, it was pretty hot. Hot and humid

Ally: Yeah, so I, I even carried a handheld because I was like, okay, they

Rachel: I did too, yeah

Ally: you know, it's at the end... It would've been okay probably 'cause it was at the end of the out and back, out and

Rachel: Mm-hmm. No, I, I never have carried water for this four-and-a-half mile race before, but I did this year just because it was so hot and just I put electrolytes in it, too, 'cause I was-- I figured I would need something. So that, that brings me to a, a coaching point here to talk about

Ally: Hmm.

Rachel: expectations and adjustments in the heat.

' Cause this last week especially in Indiana, I think all over kind of the Midwest, we were under this, like, heat dome I think they called it. I like to pay attention to the weather. So, I got so many comments about, like, " This was really hard," blah, blah, blah, and I'm just like, "Yes, we have to adjust here."

Like, you don't have to prove yourself and try.

Ally: Yeah

Rachel: I, I

mean, I use VDOT for training and, you know, you're given that pace [00:27:00] range. But it's not, it's not set in stone. Like, people, we need to-- I always say for an easy run, like, worry more about your effort level or your heart rate. If you're trying to do an easy run and you see your heart rate, which, which happened to me last week.

My heart rate was, like, 170 on an easy run, and I was running with Jill and I was like, "We need to walk." this is not the intent of what we should be doing here. It's supposed to be an easy run. You're running at a relaxed pace. So walking breaks are okay. it's-- You have to give yourself that grace because You could give yourself down into, like, a deep hole of over-training if you don't make these adjustments.

I have other calculators online that I've looked at, too, that, like, really look at the dew point is the, a big factor there when you're looking at adjustments, 'cause that's like how thick the air is with moisture. but yeah, just be careful, people. Now is not the time to prove anything.

Ally: Yeah. Well, and I talked to... Last week I talked to Mary Pittman and Trina Roudebush about [00:28:00] doing Relay

Rachel: And I listened to that the other day on my run, which that was a great episode.

Ally: had some hot

Rachel: Mm-hmm

Ally: so yeah, Mary had talked about how Christy, her coach,

Rachel: Mm-hmm.

Ally: "Hey, like, these are the signs, like, to

Rachel: it's like if you have chills, if you finish your run and you have no appetite for hours, that means your body is working so hard to cool itself off that it's not feeling hungry. Like, " Hello, you did too much," or you're, you're peeing yellow, just anything. Which we all know, but when you're sometimes when you're out on the run, you're just like, " Oh, I wanna stay in this pace range 'cause that's what makes me feel better about myself."

Like it's, it's just, it's not worth it. You know, I'm guilty of it too. But yeah,

Ally: Yeah. It takes practice, I think, to

Rachel: mm-hmm

Ally: ignore it and just be like, "I'm just gonna go

Rachel: Mm-hmm.

Ally: of the mornings at the lake, I don't remember which day it was, I ran four miles was an easy... It was supposed to be an easy run, and it felt like I was running in an oven.

And granted, I ran at, like, 10:00 AM 'cause that's when I could get it

Rachel: Yeah

Ally: it was just [00:29:00] gonna be miserable. And so I'm like, "I am not even gonna look at my watch. I am just gonna go out

Rachel: Mm-hmm.

Ally: body.

Rachel: Yeah

Ally: We'll see how far..." I thought about going six miles, and then I was like, at, when I was at two miles I was like, "Absolutely

Rachel: Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's not worth it 'cause then it... I mean, I know it affects me if I do too much the rest of the day. I'm feeling, like, so run down. I mean, that's not a good sign. That's not what we're going for here. So just be smart. The PRs come in the fall when it's cool. It's, you know, we don't have to prove anything right now

Ally: yeah. my gosh, I also found out, so my sister and brother-in-law are in town. running eastern states

Ally Brettnacher: quick break in the show. This week's episode is brought to you by Goodr, makers of active eyewear for anyone. Rachel actually mentioned her Fourth of July Goodrs earlier in the episode, which I'm jealous that she has. I do not own those, because if I did, obviously those are the ones I would've worn.

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Ally: my gosh, I also found out, so my sister and brother-in-law are in town. running eastern states

Rachel: Oh, I've never heard of that. Is it, is it the equivalent of Western states but in the East? What? Is it

Ally: And I thought, " Oh, I've never heard of that."

Rachel: Is it like a harder one to qualify? Is it easier to get into maybe 'cause it's more, it's not as well known?

Ally: It's not as, like, big of a... Like, not, I mean, not that it's not a big deal, but it's

Rachel: Mm-hmm.

Ally: prominent,

Rachel: Okay

Ally: or prestigious. You

Rachel: Mm-hmm. You have to earn those tickets. Yeah

Ally: tickets and get your name, yada, yada. And so yeah, he told... He's doing it in August.

It's in August. Um, I think 18th or 8th. and he's not using a crew.

Rachel: Wow.

Ally: I know.

Rachel: I would be... Yeah. Get, get some people out there to support you

Ally: Yeah, he said that he would come on my podcast after,

Rachel: How many...

Ally: to come on my podcast

Rachel: Is it 100 miles also?

Ally: Yeah.

Rachel: Whoa. Has he done this before?

Ally: No, he's done 50 milers multiple times.

Rachel: Okay

Ally: and they live in [00:33:00] DC, so yeah.

So anyway, stay tuned for my report back on that, and if I can actually get him to come on my

Rachel: Yeah, we need to hear about it

Ally: I was like, "What's your next race, Tyler?" Like, we always talk about

Rachel: Mm-hmm

Ally: uh, he's like, "Oh, I'm doing Eastern States." And I was like, "What, what?" I'd never heard of

Rachel: Yeah.

Ally: So

Rachel: Well, cool. Now I'm gonna pay attention to that.

Ally: Right.

Rachel: Mm-hmm.

Ally: never heard of it. That's so weird to me,

Rachel: Mm-hmm.

Ally: fair enough

Rachel: Yeah, so this weekend is the eight-hour endurance relay in Indy at Butler. Yeah, this is on, it's on Saturday, which unfortunately I'm gonna be gone for. but I hope it's a good day for everyone. It's such a fun, it's a such a fun vibe being there.

I'm gonna...

Ally: was this

Rachel: Mm-hmm.

Ally: I knew it was coming up, but I just haven't been paying

Rachel: Yeah, well, 'cause your, your mind is on vacation.

Ally: Heck yeah it is.

Rachel: So you leave Saturday

Ally: We leave Saturday. I think our first flight is at like 3:45

Rachel: Okay. .

Ally: So

Rachel: so should we get to the birthday topic?

Ally: Yeah,

Rachel: The big 40

Ally: the big 40, so this is coming out on a normal podcast [00:34:00] episode schedule because basically I just realized I probably should've, and maybe I'll do this next summer, just take July

Rachel: Mm-hmm

Ally: and, I've never done that before in the three years I've been doing this. And so last week doing the special episode was different, because I moved two interviews so that we could go to the lake early.

Rachel: Mm-hmm.

Ally: I thought, you know what? For this Friday, instead of trying to find the time to have an interview and, like, really quickly, I'll just do, we'll do this with this coming out anyway to catch up for July.

And then it happens to be that my 40th birthday is on July 10th, the day this will drop. And it's a big milestone for

Rachel: It is. I feel like you're excited about it though. Are you feeling like

Ally: I don't really care that it's f- I mean, like, I don't have any or necessarily any negative feelings about

Rachel: Mm-hmm. I don't think you should. I think

Ally: right

Rachel: it's just, I mean, a number. I think the 40s are great. I'm 43 now, and that doesn't even seem old. You know when you're young, like 40 was like so old. It's not. Like, look at us. We're [00:35:00] like living our best lives and running and having fun and,

Ally: I feel like I'm 25. I mean, like, not physically, but, like, in my head, I

Rachel: Yeah, yeah. No, I agree. I agree.

Ally: Yeah.

Rachel: So f-

Ally: dad's 40th was... I remember the theme of it was over the hill.

Rachel: that's what they said back then. Uh-huh

Ally: yeah, over the hill. Like, you're old, you're,

Rachel: Yeah. But it's...

Ally: being that age

Rachel: It is. It's, it is so funny to think about because I don't feel like I'm, like, on the downhill right now.

Ally: much left to

Rachel: uh-huh, exactly.

Ally: Yeah

Rachel: So Friday will be your birthday, and there'll be a run, a group run.

Ally: Yep,

Rachel: then what else?

Ally: I should say we, a lot of times do a group run. So we're gonna do the run, we're gonna go on the slides. That's gonna be super

Rachel: Yep

Ally: Eileen was asking me questions, so she, I think she's making me something really nice, so

Rachel: Hmm.

Ally: publicly thank her

Rachel: Okay

Ally: then, afterwards, Jeanette from Sweat House got me set up with a suite for a session there, which is contrast therapies.

They do a s- you do a hot sauna, a shower that's vitamin C to kinda help regulate your [00:36:00] temperature, and then you go in the cold plunge. And I'm bringing my friend Kate, who is, like, my childhood friend. She just turned 40 on June 28th, so it's like

Rachel: Aw.

Ally: joint birthday thing,

Rachel: Yeah

Ally: we're gonna walk right across the street to Cake Bake.

Rachel: Oh, that's so fun

Ally: So I'm really excited. And so I've got a little day, and then my mom, is gonna make dinner, I think, on Friday night. And

Rachel: Okay

Ally: so I almost was like, "I don't know if I wanna do dinner. I just need to have all my

Rachel: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Ally: time on

Rachel: In the morning, yeah

Ally: some, some final things together. Yeah

Rachel: It's so fun. It's gonna be a fun day.

Ally: fun. Such a fun day and such ... My husband and I both, have July birthdays. His birthday's today as we record this,

Rachel: Oh, I did not know that.

Ally: he's out golfing

Rachel: Okay

Ally: and then we're gonna do Taco Tuesday at El Rodeo where they put a sombrero on you and sing. and so it's kind of for his 40th, which was now two years ago, and then, our 10-year wedding anniversary was also two years ago, so we needed to

Rachel: Yeah, you are overdue

Ally: it ... We were well overdue. And the time, like, [00:37:00] just having some quality time to spend together, you know, we've been, we've been through a lot this year, and I am so ready for it. So we're going to Santorini, Greece. there on the island. That's all we're doing. we're scuba diving one

Rachel: Okay

Ally: We're renting ATVs one day. We're doing, like, a private sunset catamaran. and then we've got a dinner, a sunset dinner. So, like, in this part of the world, sunsets are, like, one of the most famous things, so I'm forward to, to that. And then I'm gonna bring I'm not gonna bring my running shoes. I got these, Teva sandals that you can run in,

Rachel: Okay

Ally: and so I think I'm just gonna bring those because if I do any running, I don't, just don't know how far it's really gonna

Rachel: Mm-hmm. Or like,

Ally: is

Rachel: or like what the terrain is gonna be like even, like, yeah

Ally: have, I know they have a gym there. Ooh, maybe so I will bring ... I don't know. I'm trying to decide. I just, Shoes take up so much space, damn

Rachel: They do. And are you trying to just do a carry-on?

Ally: Oh, I will just do a

Rachel: Okay. Yeah. I mean, at least summer clothes are all, light and small and, you know, shorts and tanks and stuff and dresses. But yeah, [00:38:00] that's what I put on your training calendar. I'm like, there are no structured workouts here. Like, you are just gonna go... I am not...

No, I am not making you, like, do what you wanna do, 'cause I know you'll be, like, you're active, but you also need plenty of time to just relax. Yeah

Ally: So if anybody listening to this has some last-minute book recommendations. I know Jennifer Nye always has good book

Rachel: I can give you a whole bunch. I can give you a whole bunch to

Ally: Give me some, 'cause my plan is to load up my Kindle,

Rachel: Okay

Ally: then I'm gonna go off the grid. I'm not gonna have... I'm not gonna get on social media while

Rachel: Okay.

Ally: at

Rachel: I'll text, text you a long list 'cause I read all the time too

Ally: So I'm excited for that. yeah, I'm listening to The Calamity Club. It's

Rachel: I, I just got that on my Kindle to start tonight or tomorrow when I travel.

Ally: few chapters to get into, but, um, now I'm hooked. Like,

Rachel: Mm-hmm.

Ally: good. So yeah, I just need more books like that so I can just do a bunch of reading. I'll probably get some movies and shows to download too. but just gonna try to really

Rachel: Yeah.

Ally: on

Rachel: Unwind. Uh-huh.

Ally: and just unwind. Ugh,

Rachel: Mm-hmm

Ally: [00:39:00] eat so much food. I'm gonna eat so many olives. I love olives, so

Rachel: the best place to get 'em

Ally: Right, So hooray,

Rachel: fun. Mm-hmm

Ally: I know, it's weird because it's, like, such a big thing, and then you're like, "Okay."

Rachel: But then you just wake up and it's just another day, you know? Like,

Ally: another

Rachel: mm-hmm

Ally: like, man, yeah, I don't need any...

I, I... The trip is perfect,

Rachel: Yeah.

Ally: it'll be a great way to

Rachel: So the

Ally: Like, I was like, this is a big excuse, like, to get away and do

Rachel: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm

Ally: parents are watching the kids for the first half of the week, and then Zach's parents will watch them the second

Rachel: Okay

Ally: And then, yeah, so we ba- we're Saturday to Saturday, so

Rachel: So nice

Ally: Yeah. And then I don't have any... I don't even think I've registered for Fort Ben yet for in the fall,

Rachel: Okay. I've registered f- I registered for that and Monumental Half

Ally: Yeah. I'll probably do the half. I might do it... I think I said this, maybe even said it out loud in the last episode we had together, that I might do it with Alex Baker in Catch Up To

Rachel: Okay. Yep, I think he still has, I know he still has a few [00:40:00] spots

Ally: Yeah.

Rachel: available. I think he was just texting me right now actually

Ally: Mm-hmm.

Rachel: about something

Ally: Lindsay Hine, Lindsay Hine and I were texting too about, our live show. Oh, I just got a text from Alex Baker too.

That's

Rachel: I think he's working on things right now 'cause

Ally: probably. He's like, "I gotta text my people."

Rachel: uh-huh

Ally: Oh, and one more, one more thing too. This is kind of a random side note, but, a previous guest of mine, Gordon Strain,

Rachel: Yes, I saw this

Ally: making a movie with Anne Hathaway. oh my gosh. and it's about Little 500. So it's a huge Indiana thing.

Little 500 is a bike

Rachel: Mm-hmm

Ally: Indiana University, for people who don't know. And so they're making this movie about it that's been in the works for a long time. But he needs, like specifically is in need of young female cyclists who can pose as collegiate level cyclists, to be in, in the film. and so I'm trying to reach out to all my people and them. So I've already gotten a few,

Rachel: Okay. That's so cool

Ally: else who's interested in being a movie extra, they are Pegasus Pictures on, on Instagram, and you can go. [00:41:00] There's a link in the, in their bio. It's just bit.ly/little500extras I

Rachel: Okay.

Ally: So

Rachel: you, did you sign up to be an extra?

Ally: up. I'm s- I'm saying, like, sign me up for stuff. Like, I'll say a word if you want me to. I'll be a waitress. I'll, like, what do

Rachel: Oh, I think that'd be so fun. Yeah.

Ally: remember any of the Little 500s, but I never watched the race. I just got blackout

Rachel: Yeah, just you were there for the festivities. Uh-huh. Uh-huh

Ally: yeah. I went every year I was in college, and then I've been, after that too.

Rachel: Did you really? Wow.

Ally: oh yeah, love Little

Rachel: Okay.

Ally: the biggest party

Rachel: Yeah

Ally: even know that it was a race, and I've never been to the race, which is really sad now looking back. Like, now I'm into

Rachel: Yeah, you would enjoy it now

Ally: yeah, but at the time it was, that was not what it was about

Rachel: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Ally: Yeah. So good. Yeah. So

Rachel: fun, yeah. So yes, I will. It'll be great. I'm excited about it. It's just such good, like, running out there and trails just galore.

Ally: Right.

Rachel: it's the [00:42:00] best.

Ally: Absolutely the

Rachel: l- not hu- it's gonna be really hot, but at least not humid. So it should be fun.

Ally: Yeah.

Rachel: But you'll be having the best time.

Ally: I'll be having the best time.

Rachel: Mm-hmm

Ally: I will be sure to... I will capture so much of

Rachel: Yes. You'll, you'll bring us up to speed.

Ally: bring you up to speed when I'm

Rachel: Mm-hmm

Ally: yeah, it'll be hard for me not to like... It- it's just so fun to share and be like, you know.

Rachel: I know. But it does feel really good to not... Even this summer I've really been trying to like stay off of it and been pretty quiet. just

Ally: brick, I, it helps me at least, like, I'll get on, do what I wanna do, and then kinda just get

Rachel: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Ally: to minimize the time and just be present with the

Rachel: Yeah

Ally: this week when I have, you know, nieces and nephews around, and I don't get to see them much,

Rachel: Mm-hmm

Ally: it'll be good. But I gotta figure out how to go get my run in now. I have both my girls at home. They're plugged in, as I like

Rachel: Okay. Yes. Are you gonna

Ally: they've been watching their iPads this whole time, so now I'm like, well, I don't want them to sit there and watch their iPads for an hour while I

Rachel: Yeah

Ally: thought about doing it inside. But I [00:43:00] might go over to my parents', where the other girls are, the, my other niece and nephew are, and then maybe try to run. I might have to run outside. I don't know. It's gonna be bad. It's so

Rachel: Just take it easy. do a run walk if you have to.

Ally: Yeah, it'll be

Rachel: Yeah.

Ally: I'll just walk the recoveries

Rachel: Yeah. That's what I did this, I did this morning 'cause This is my third time now going to the track on a Tuesday for a run, or Monday, Tuesday. I don't know what days I've been doing it, but I did this morning. But I, I totally walked the recoveries

Ally: glad you mentioned that because I like to see that you're doing that

Rachel: Yeah, it feels good. I need to make... I like, I kinda needed to like do it on my own ag- like it had been like a year plus. So I was like, "I need to do this on my own." Like, I don't wanna t- tell anyone I'm doing it. Like, I just wanna, I need to know that I can do it, you know? So now that I have, I'm like, "Okay, I'm ready to like tell people, and maybe we could like

Ally: Yeah

Rachel: It's just the summer's so hard with like what time of day I'm able to go. Every week is different kind of. So,

Ally: the hard part.

Rachel: and you know, every... Yeah, [00:44:00] so

Ally: Yeah. Same thing with the long run kind of s- or the Friday runs

Rachel: Yes. I mean, I've been very hit or miss on that too. It's just every week is kind of up in the air as to what we have going on or if family's in town or whatnot, so

Ally: Yeah, that's cool. I ran two laps around a track yesterday just 'cause I ran home from my in-laws' house, and I had to fig- I had to try to make the mileage

Rachel: Okay.

Ally: And so I stopped at Sydney's school and, like, ran a couple laps around the track to get another half mile and then ran home from there.

It was funny. I was like, "Well, this works perfectly though."

Rachel: Yeah. Perfect way to add on a little extra. Okay.

Ally: All right. Well,

Rachel: Well, great. Yes.

Ally: fun to catch

Rachel: Yes

Ally: people enjoyed this conversation that was about running and then a bunch of other stuff

Rachel: Yeah, but just catching up here. That's what we do.

Ally: yeah.

Rachel: Mm-hmm.

Ally: for listening, and, and

Rachel: Yep

Ally: running.

Happy 40th to

Rachel: Yes. It's gonna be the best.

Ally: Oh, it's gonna be good. All

Rachel: Okay.

Ally: you. Bye.

Rachel: Bye-bye.

Ally Brettnacher: And for the second part of this episode, a very special interview with my eight-year-old daughter, Sydney. [00:45:00] Enjoy

Hi, Sydney Brettnacher.

Sydney Brettnacher: Hi.

Ally Brettnacher: How old are you?

Sydney Brettnacher: Eight.

Ally Brettnacher: Eight? When do you turn nine?

Sydney Brettnacher: July 31st.

Ally Brettnacher: Excellent. What grade are you going into?

Sydney Brettnacher: Third.

Ally Brettnacher: And on the Fourth of July this year, what was, what was special about this Fourth of July for you?

Sydney Brettnacher: Well, first I got to run my first 5K, and it was also my first run with Papa.

Ally Brettnacher: With Papa- Yeah ... who's my dad, who's been on- Mm-hmm ... this podcast before.

Sydney Brettnacher: Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: And he's 70 years old.

Sydney Brettnacher: Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: So he's a little older than you. A

Sydney Brettnacher: little.

Ally Brettnacher: A little. And so I also got to run the race too, but I ran the longer one.

Sydney Brettnacher: Which was supposed to be eight, but then it was six.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. It ended up being actually seven.

It was supposed to be six and... 6.6. So tell people what you felt, like, going to the race. Were you nervous? Were you excited?

Sydney Brettnacher: Well, at the start first I was nervous that I was gonna get, like, overheated or something.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Why were you nervous about that?

Sydney Brettnacher: Well, sometimes when I get too hot I can, like, pass out or something.

Ally Brettnacher: Yes.

Sydney Brettnacher: And that's [00:46:00] really scary.

Ally Brettnacher: It is.

Sydney Brettnacher: And, but I was also really excited because it was gonna be fun because it was my first 5K, so.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. And what did you do to prepare so that you wouldn't overheat? Do you remember what I kept telling you to do?

Sydney Brettnacher: Drink water.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. So that was good. Did you end up carrying that little water bottle with you?

I can't remember.

Sydney Brettnacher: Uh, yeah, and I drank the whole thing, like... I didn't drink the whole thing in the race, but, like, at the end, then I drank the last of it.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Well, what was so interesting about the race is that it ended up being different than... Like, we had a delay, remember?

Sydney Brettnacher: Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: What, what'd you think about that?

Sydney Brettnacher: I was like, it's like, kinda like, I just wanted to go, but then they said that there was a delay.

Ally Brettnacher: That's right. Yeah, they had a big tree fall in the middle of the road- ... and so they had to change the course, which meant we ran out and back. So we ran to a cone-

Sydney Brettnacher: Yeah ...

Ally Brettnacher: turned around, and came back, and you did that once with Papa.

Sydney Brettnacher: But you

Ally Brettnacher: did it twice. Then I did

Sydney Brettnacher: it twice, yeah. So we got to see you twice.

Ally Brettnacher: Which was actually- It was fun ... what I've told people is the best part because-

Sydney Brettnacher: Yeah ...

Ally Brettnacher: I wouldn't have gotten to see you otherwise. Mm-hmm.

Sydney Brettnacher: So- You wouldn't have just... You would just see me when we were [00:47:00] done.

Ally Brettnacher: Right. So I was really... You know, as disappointing as it is to have things change right before you start a race-

Sydney Brettnacher: Yeah

Ally Brettnacher: it was really nice 'cause I got to see you and Papa.

Sydney Brettnacher: Mm-hmm. We cheered for you. Also something that surprised me, we didn't think that really, like- they would cheer. our cousins- Oh, I know the rest of our family ... but

Ally Brettnacher: they did, yeah. They surprised us.

Sydney Brettnacher: Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, when I saw you- The second time

the second time, I yelled, I was like, "There's a surprise waiting for you," but I don't think you heard me.

Sydney Brettnacher: No,

Ally Brettnacher: I don't think- There was a truck that passed, like, right when I saw you, too, and so Papa was trying to make sure you didn't get hit by the truck.

Sydney Brettnacher: Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: That was important.

Sydney Brettnacher: Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, so ' cause I had seen them already- Mm-hmm

'cause I was going back again, and so they surprised me. All of the sudden I could hear- Yeah ... "Ally" and Aunt Casey.

Sydney Brettnacher: And I heard, I heard, "Sydney."

Ally Brettnacher: Yep, you did. Yeah. And Papa.

Sydney Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, and, your dad, my husband- Yeah ... Zach was there with Sloane- Mm-hmm ... your younger sister, and then Aunt Casey, who's my sister-

Sydney Brettnacher: Mm-hmm

Ally Brettnacher: had Bella and Eddie. Yeah. And so they all cheered for us.

Sydney Brettnacher: I know. That was so fun.

Ally Brettnacher: What did you think when you saw them?

Sydney Brettnacher: I was so surprised. Like, first when I heard [00:48:00] my name, I was like, "Okay, they're definitely there," because, I'm like, "Is there another Sydney?" I, I don't really know, but I thought that it was me, and then I saw them, and I was just so surprised.

Aw. And

Ally Brettnacher: then they did it. How'd that make

Sydney Brettnacher: you

Ally Brettnacher: feel?

Sydney Brettnacher: It made me feel really good, and then I beat Papa to the finish

Ally Brettnacher: line. You did beat Papa to the finish line. Oh, so good.

Sydney Brettnacher: Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: So how did you feel during the run? Like, what, how did, did you start off okay? Did it, how did it feel while you were

Sydney Brettnacher: running? Um, well, like, I sometimes I got a little tired and I, like, wanted to walk.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay.

Sydney Brettnacher: and sometimes I, like, felt good and I re- wanted to, like, run really fast. Like, at the end I, like, sprinted 'cause I wanted to save my energy 'cause I wanted to-

Ally Brettnacher: Be able to go fast?

Sydney Brettnacher: Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: That's great. That's a good job.

Sydney Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Papa said you never complained.

Sydney Brettnacher: Nope.

Ally Brettnacher: That's pretty great. ' Cause you had only run a mile.

Yeah. I mean, you play soccer, so you've probably run a lot, but-

Sydney Brettnacher: Mm-hmm ...

Ally Brettnacher: you've never done a 5K, and this race was actually 3.5 miles it ended up being, so it was more than a 5K.

Sydney Brettnacher: Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Which is pretty cool. [00:49:00]

Sydney Brettnacher: So I basically didn't do my first 5K. I did my first longer race.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, you

Sydney Brettnacher: did indeed. Like, my longest race was, it was longer than a 5K.

Right.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. So now when you do a 5K, it'll be short. You've already done that.

Sydney Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. So that was pretty cool.

Sydney Brettnacher: Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: And then I saw you when I finished.

Sydney Brettnacher: Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. And, uh, what did you guys do while you were waiting for me to finish?

Sydney Brettnacher: Well, first we were-- I was just waiting. Well, we went back to, wait with, you know, Aunt Casey- Mm-hmm ... So first we did some hugs because I was running fast, so I just got to give them high fives-

Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm ...

Sydney Brettnacher: like from the side. And then I also, so she poured a little bit more water in my water bottle 'cause it was-

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, that's nice.

Sydney Brettnacher: Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Sydney Brettnacher: And we also-- And we just waited around for you and just gave free high fives out to the rest of the runners.

Ally Brettnacher: That's nice. after you were done, how did it feel to cross the finish line? Did you feel, like, really tired? Did anything hurt? Or were you feeling okay?

Sydney Brettnacher: Well, like, in the middle of it, I was thinking, like, if I... That I couldn't do it, so I felt so, like, [00:50:00] happy that I made it to the finish line, and I

Ally Brettnacher: didn't- Aw.

Sydney Brettnacher: And I was, like, a little tired, but at the same time, I still had a lot of energy.

Ally Brettnacher: That's good. I'm glad.

Sydney Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.

Ally Brettnacher: So proud of you for doing that.

Yeah. Then we waited around forever for the awards ceremony.

Sydney Brettnacher: I know. And then Papa, I didn't, not think Papa would get one, but he did.

Ally Brettnacher: He did. Well, he's 70, so he won his age group, which means- Yeah ... he got a medal.

Sydney Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.

Ally Brettnacher: And I didn't win my age group. I got second place, so I didn't get a medal.

And then you didn't even know about, really, the age group awards, but you're probably too young even to get an age group award. I don't even know.

Sydney Brettnacher: Well, there was some group, like, I can't really remember. Like, something to, like, it was 11 or 12 or something like that.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay, so maybe there was- Yeah ... an age group for you, but there's probably some kids who ran the whole time who have already done 5Ks, and so- Yeah

maybe some year, if you want to, you'll, you'll win, too. It was so fun- Yeah ...

Sydney Brettnacher: to,

Ally Brettnacher: to share that with you.

Sydney Brettnacher: Also, the prizes, they were really fun to, like, see when we were waiting.

Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.

Sydney Brettnacher: But it took so long for everyone- It took so long ... to, like, be done when we were waiting. [00:51:00] Yeah. And then one of your friends got it when she didn't even think she would.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Miss Lisa Hurst. Mm-hmm. She got that basket, and we saved it for her.

Sydney Brettnacher: Yeah. And

Ally Brettnacher: now it's at the lake still, and she hasn't picked it up, so we'll see. We might keep it forever.

Sydney Brettnacher: Yay.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. It was cool.

Sydney Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.

Ally Brettnacher: Well, what else do you wanna say? Anything else?

Sydney Brettnacher: Well, first of all, in one, in one part, I might have already told you, but, Papa, he had to go to the bathroom, so we went, like, to the clubhouse 'cause we were running by the golf course, and he just went in.

So, it was kinda like a water break for me. I was just waiting in the- Oh my

Ally Brettnacher: gosh.

Sydney Brettnacher: He

Ally Brettnacher: went to the clubhouse- ... about to go- ... of the golf

the golf course?

Sydney Brettnacher: course? And he just went to the- Oh,

Ally Brettnacher: Papa. Well, that's good he found a spot.

Sydney Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.

Ally Brettnacher: That's really funny.

Sydney Brettnacher: Yeah. And at the start, when we were trying to play music, the AirPod kept falling out 'cause it was way too

Ally Brettnacher: big for me.

Oh, yeah. So my dad... Yes. So he had this thing where, we used to do this when I was training with Papa, like, running long time. We would each put an AirPod in our, in our ears. That doesn't

Sydney Brettnacher: work with me, though.

Ally Brettnacher: But unfortunately, you have little ears, and he's got these big old [00:52:00] AirPods with, like, the big rubber thing on it- Yeah

and so it wouldn't fit. It wouldn't stay in your ear.

Sydney Brettnacher: And then it kept falling- So, yeah ... and

Ally Brettnacher: then we didn't play music. I was like, "Papa, I don't think this is gonna work because you're gonna lose your..." And then it fell

Sydney Brettnacher: out. Yeah.

I would've had to keep stopping from picking it up. Right Or I could have just like held it in my ear, but that would just be hard to like

Ally Brettnacher: run.

That would be hard

Sydney Brettnacher: to

Ally Brettnacher: do, for sure. Yeah. So do you think you'll do another 5K sometime?

Sydney Brettnacher: Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. You liked it?

Sydney Brettnacher: Probably. Mm-hmm.

Ally Brettnacher: Good. I'm glad.

Sydney Brettnacher: It would probably be fun to do a 5K with you, though.

Ally Brettnacher: Sure would.

Sydney Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.

Ally Brettnacher: Well, I'm signed up for one in August. It's after you go back to school. It's called That 5K, which is Tori's Hike for Another Tomorrow.

It's for one of my friends, her sister, and so I'm signed up for that. Last year I took your sister, I took Sloane, and I can't remember why I didn't take you. You were probably had something else going on, and, she ran like most of it, so I know you could do it for sure.

Sydney Brettnacher: Yeah, I should.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. So I'll bring you if you wanna do that.

Sydney Brettnacher: Did you like hold her the rest of the race, or did she just walk the rest? She,

Ally Brettnacher: no, she ran most of it, and I kept trying to get her to get back in the stroller, but she wouldn't.

Sydney Brettnacher: So you were just pushing stroller with no one in it. I'm just pushing

Ally Brettnacher: an empty stroller. Yep.

Sydney Brettnacher: And [00:53:00] everyone's like, "Huh?" Huh?

Ally Brettnacher: And then Sloane's just running along.

Yep. Yeah. So, well, I'm very proud of you. Thank you for coming on my podcast.

Sydney Brettnacher: Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: you'll come on again sometime.

Sydney Brettnacher: Probably.

Ally Brettnacher: After you do another race.

Sydney Brettnacher: Once I do my, like, first...

Ally Brettnacher: First fi- official 5K.

Sydney Brettnacher: Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. I'm so proud of you. You're such a good runner.

Sydney Brettnacher: Thank you.

Ally Brettnacher: And oh, we, what about the Rookie Run?

Remember that, too?

Sydney Brettnacher: Oh, yeah. The one where we, like the one mile race? Yeah,

Ally Brettnacher: it was downtown. Well, we had-

Sydney Brettnacher: Oh, yeah ...

Ally Brettnacher: you did actually three races this year because you did- Oh, yeah ... the Rookie Run, which was-

Sydney Brettnacher: Mm-hmm ...

Ally Brettnacher: by the Indy Mini. It was Mother's Day weekend. Yeah. And then you did the Monumental Mile, which we always do as a family.

Yeah. Yeah.

Sydney Brettnacher: Well, the Rookie Run, I was the first in, my age thing, so there was this one guy that said he was the last year's winner, and then I just sprinted in front of everyone.

Ally Brettnacher: You did. You crushed it.

Sydney Brettnacher: Yeah. You

Ally Brettnacher: were so fast. That was fun to watch.

Sydney Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Sydney Brettnacher: It was way longer than the littles.

They just had to go like ooh. Yeah. But

Ally Brettnacher: I had

Sydney Brettnacher: to

Ally Brettnacher: go

Sydney Brettnacher: ooh. Sloane didn't go very

Ally Brettnacher: far. Yeah. It was good. I'm so proud.

Sydney Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.

Ally Brettnacher: All right. Well-

Sydney Brettnacher: Yeah ...

Ally Brettnacher: thank you for coming on.

Sydney Brettnacher: You're welcome.

Ally Brettnacher: I love you so much.

Sydney Brettnacher: I love [00:54:00] you more.

Ally Brettnacher: Was this fun? No, you don't. Yeah.

Sydney Brettnacher: Yes, I do. I

Ally Brettnacher: love you more.

Sydney Brettnacher: No, I love you more.

Ally Brettnacher: Mm-mm. Yeah. Nope

Sydney Brettnacher: Yes

Ally Brettnacher: Well, I can cut it.

I can cut it so it says, "Yep, I love you the most. Bye."

Sydney Brettnacher: Don't you dare cut it out though

Ally Brettnacher: Thanks so much for listening. You know what? For my birthday, I would just love it if you would leave a rating or review for this podcast. Spotify, Apple, wherever you get your podcasts, leaving a rating and review helps others find the show, and that would be such a great way to celebrate my birthday, so thank you for that.

If you've already done that, please make sure you're also signed up for Finish Lines and Milestones emails. I do send those every Friday, and I try to make them something you'll actually wanna read. thank you again to our sponsors, Hug and Goodr.

I cannot wait to take some time off. I'm trying to go off the grid for this next week and I can't wait to fill you all in when I am back to my regular programming, My next regularly scheduled episode will be on July 24th.

Next Friday I'll probably run a rerun, as I said earlier. So thanks for being here. Have a great weekend, and good luck to everybody [00:55:00] who is doing 8 Hour All right. I think that's it. Bye.