Welcome to the show, friends. It is great to have you here. The Well Mind Podcast is a space for meaningful conversations on wellness and mental health. I want to start by sharing a quote with you from a book that I just recently finished reading. “Does the destination matter? Or is it the path that we take? I declare that no accomplishment has substance nearly as great as the road used to achieve it. We are not creatures of destinations. It is the journey that shapes us. Our callused feet, our backs strong from carrying the weight of our travels, our eyes open with the fresh delight of experience lived.” This is from The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. I think that this is a beautiful way to introduce my guest for this episode. She is an ultra-endurance athlete and is all about the journey. She started her professional athletic career as a triathlete and has raced numerous times at the most elite levels of the sport, including the World championships in Kona, Hawaii. Over the past years she has shifted her focus to ultra-running and more specifically long distance trail events. She has completed some of the most challenging events here in the US and abroad, like the Bigfoot 200 - a 200 mile race through the remote Cascade mountains in the pacific northwest and the Marathon des Sables, a 6 stage, 256k race through the heart of the sahara desert. Recently Emily took on the Arrowhead 135. This is a unique event, even in the ultra running community, and we do discuss the specifics of this race in our conversation. But I will say that it is a epic race in northern Minnesota during the dead of winter in January where runners cover 135 miles in a point to point, nearly self-supported fashion. This was Emily’s first time running Arrowhead and she won. In our conversation, we explore everything that went into her physical and mental preparation for the race, her mindset, and her resilience to get this done. We chat about taking on big goals, facing fear and anxiety, and building confidence through sport and in life. I hope that this conversation is a source of inspiration for you as you take on big goals and persevere in the face of adversity in your own life. Here is my conversation with Emily in episode 41, The Journey.

Notes from Episode 41

Emily’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kratzemily/ 

Comma - coaching and consulting: https://www.commacc.net/ 

Arrowhead 135: https://arrowheadultra.com/ 

The Well Mind Podcast email: thewellmind@blc.edu