Episode 60: It Never Always Gets Worse

Shea Aquilano and I met through our dads, which is pretty fitting considering it's Father's Day Weekend. This episode is going to blow your mind (neuroscience pun intended). 🧠 During this episode we talk about: How I creepily followed her to our interview Her first race was the Lucky Clover 4 miler in 2019 Her first ultra was a virtual race she planned herself and her family and friends helped crew How she ended up at Notre Dame and choosing neuroscience  Working with Matt Ebersole to go from 4 miles to a 50K 8 Hour Endurance that she WON her first time racing an organized ultra   Trail 50 miler at Falls 50 in Kentucky in the kind of mud that wants to suck your shoes off The cultural difference between the trail community and the road running community  What Shea likes to eat during ultra marathons and what it’s like being vegan as an ultra runner  How she trains for mountain ultras in flat Indiana  From 50 miles to 100K at Black Canyon Mindset - how she believes perception becomes your reality Running the Boston Marathon a week after qualifying for Worlds at the Lake Sonoma 50 miler  How a chat with some USATF representatives made her realize she could qualify for Worlds Qualifying for Team USA and going to Worlds  Out and back vs. Point to point  vs. looped races Eating pretzels during races 🥨 Not finishing and not starting races  Golden star tattoos she wears on her face - reminds her that races are more of a celebration of all of the work you’ve put in  What “accumulating miles for smiles” means to her  Being sponsored by Näak and hoping to be a sponsored athlete moving forward