09/07/2026
That New Haven magic!!! ✨🥹
1:22:26 over 20k, a 22” neg split, and just seconds off my PR from last year...but that wasn’t even the point today.
That’s what makes running so special. At surface level, my time looks the same. But over the past 365 days, there have been so many ups & down that a single time on the clock doesn’t care about.
Last year, the 20k should probably have been my last race of 2025. Instead, I kept going—mostly because I do that annoying thing of digging my heels in when things get tough instead of taking a step back and asking for help. Last year marked one of the lowest points of my entire life, something I don’t say lightly.
A friend asked earlier this year, “how were you able to turn things around?” And I told her that if I didn’t, I wasn’t sure I was going to exist. I’ve always been an advocate for ending the stigma around mental health, but after hitting rock bottom, it has a new meaning for me these days.
I’ve spent this year building up my mind first…body second. Dealing with low ferritin this spring was a HUGE blow; but it made sense after literally dragging myself through the mud at the end of 2025.
After getting my ferritin back up, I had the stark realization that I needed to make a change with training. So, in early June, mario fraioli and I chatted about bringing intensity WAY down and bringing mileage up. I’ve always prided myself on being a low-mileage runner…but I told him I wanted to see what would happen if I could stack weeks upon weeks of 50-55 MPW.
Spoiler: it fu***ng worked. This past summer, I stacked the most consistency and mileage of maybe my entire running career. I haven’t talked about it on here because, quite frankly, I knew I just needed to put my head down and cut the performative s**t.
So today wasn’t about the clock. It was about proving to myself that the quiet work adds up; that showing up for my mind first, then my body, is what actually got me back here.
To anyone digging their heels in right now instead of asking for help: I see you. Please reach out to someone. The turnaround is possible, even when you can’t feel it yet. 🫶🏻
Onward. ✨
