And I

almost felt like I needed a catalyst to like get myself out of kind of like this tech industry and like me feeling kind of like meh about it.

Yeah.

And so that winter is like when I applied for schools.

And my intention was that I'm like, I'm only going to go to go get my MBA if I can get it mostly financed with like scholarships.

Because if anyone's looked up price tags for MBA programs, like full time, oh my gosh, they're so expensive.

And like, frankly, I didn't think that an MBA was going to be like, a massive catalyst for me to like make more money in my career it was mostly like i viewed it as like a great experience to learn and grow and like help me long term but um yeah i applied to a lot of different schools and um i just felt like dartmouth tuck was like a really good fit for me because not only was it an amazing top program but um I think it was probably what pushed me over the edge was like where it's located in the woods in New Hampshire is like quite optimal for like running.

nutrition,

Uh, I mean, I'm always a big Sara fan, so...

I mean, I personally don't know much about Sara other than I've seen her race here a few times.

I think something that stood out to me watching a bit of the race is, like, how aggressive Naomi was racing.

If you saw her on, like, some of the, the top, um, aid stations, like, she was aggressively running uphill and downhill.

And so to see, like, Sara keep contact for most of the race, like, obviously at the end it faded a little bit, um, but you know, when she, when Naomi's gonna lean to, like, do this again hopefully and as she continues to, like, learn in this distance, it's gonna be s- cool to see her, like, ma- manage that effort, like, over this course and this distance, and she's just gonna crush it.

Do you need to leave right now? Do you wanna talk about the penalties real quick before you take off? 'Cause-

I mean, yeah, happy to share that.

Um, and then I have to bounce.

Ugh.

So it really has just, like, not been optimal for performance.

And so being able to finally feel like I can extract all of my fitness and see that in, in a well-executed race feels just so satisfying for me.

That's, like, the personal...

And then I would say professionally, you know, Western States is the equivalent of, you know, any marquee championship race in any other sport.

It is like, in at least North America, it is, like, the most watched and the most meaningful race.

And to podium there means so much.

Oof

... you surprised yourself and, like, how you feel confidence-wise launching into the 2026 season with this as a data point.

So I just started running again around, like, Christmas timeframe, so it's, like, pretty recent.

And a lot of my training to date has just been, like, building back volume.

And in my training block most recently, I just started augmenting, like, actual workouts maybe, like, a month, month and a half ago.

So, like, I feel like my higher level fitness is, like, still being developed since surgery.

And so for me, I think, like, today was all about just, like, I wanna, like, have a, a long run and, like, test the body, but also, like, I need, like, more, like, higher interval or, like, higher effort-

Mr. Montgomery.

Uh, also gonna be at Gorge, 50K.

... sort of coming to a conclusion soon.

Yeah.

Uh, one more term at Dartmouth, and then get to have my MBA, uh, graduate June 7th, right before States, which is cool.

Um, then I need to figure out, like, where I'm living and all that.

But, uh, yeah, I think I'm just, like, really excited to, like, enter, like, the industry on, like, the professional front, and I think I have a lot of, like, hats in the kitchen right now on that front.

Like, one is, like, playing around with, like, the agent side, so I'm doing that on the side and exploring if that's something I want to do, which has been fun.

Mm.

Um, so yeah, exploring that.