runDallas Marathon Champion Erin Woodward Shares Her Path from College Track to Marathon Success

Chris Detzel (00:00)
Alright, welcome to another DFW running talk. I'm Chris Detzel and today we have special guest Aaron Woodward. Aaron, how are you?

Erin (00:10)
I'm good, how are you doing Chris?

Chris Detzel (00:12)
I'm doing well, but I am so excited to talk to you today. And why? Because you won the women's Run Dallas Marathon. You won it. How does that feel?

Erin (00:21)
Yep, yep, it's kind of surreal. It's still kind of surreal. It doesn't really feel real, but the more I talk about it, the more real it becomes.

Chris Detzel (00:28)
Well, it's real. It's in the books. So that's pretty exciting. Well, tell me a little bit about that. Like, you know, I was reading or saw on your Insta or somewhere that this was your only second marathon in 11 months. Is that right?

Erin (00:45)
Yes, my first one was Houston back in January 2024. right at 11 months. Yeah, I was a lot flatter than Dallas.

Chris Detzel (00:51)
Great marathon.

So let's back up and we're going to talk about Run Dallas plenty, but how did you get into running, you know, and then what made you decide to do a marathon? And let's get to know you a little bit, Aaron.

Erin (01:07)
Well, I started running in eighth grade. I was a soccer player. My whole dream, yes. My dream was to be a collegiate soccer player. And then injuries came and I was basically told, don't play soccer anymore. And luckily a few of my best friends had started running cross country in seventh grade. So in eighth grade I kind of joined and I have never stopped. Yeah, it's been a while.

Chris Detzel (01:11)
OK, that helps.

OK.

Okay, well, it's like you've been running for a while now.

Erin (01:36)
I don't even know how many years that's been, but I have focused a lot on the shorter stuff when I was younger and then now two marathons under my belt.

Chris Detzel (01:47)
Well, you're also, are you a trail runner too?

Erin (01:49)
Yes, kind of, yes. I did my first trail race in 2023. And then I did one about a month, I think it was right at a month before the Dallas Marathon. It's the same race, it's Dirt Circus and Bentonville. And I had a blast and yes, I definitely do think I have a bit of the trail bug. I've been exploring with that a little bit. Yeah.

Chris Detzel (02:03)
Really?

Yeah.

It's actually a lot of fun. think you dive in and trail running is... mean, road racing is fun too, but nothing like the trails. It's a different culture, different atmosphere. Did you see Rob Goyen out there? Okay. Okay, yeah. Yeah, we know each other. He was on this podcast actually. Okay. It's funny. He's got a great personality. He actually has more downloads than anybody right now. So, you know...

Erin (02:24)
Yes, yes, I've been close with Rob for about a year now. Yeah, saw that actually.

really, that's awesome.

Chris Detzel (02:43)
Which yeah, I mean he was just very well known in the trail community for years, especially in Texas. you know anyways enough about that. so you did a little bit of running obviously in high school and middle school I guess. And then did you start running you know half marathons or what you said? Did you run in college you said OK?

Erin (02:49)
Yep.

Yes, yes. So I went to University of Central Arkansas, which is a smaller Division 1 school, about 45 minutes from where I grew up. So I still got kind of be close to home, but I kind of focused mostly on mile. I did some steeplechase and then I also did cross country. So up to the 5k, but I always tell people it's funny that I run marathons now because my coach tried to put me into a 10k once and I said I quit too long. So yeah.

Chris Detzel (03:28)
That's too many miles.

Erin (03:30)
So after college, I kind of tell people I burned out a little bit in college. Just felt like, yeah, yeah, lot going on in life. so towards the end of my collegiate career, I started to kind of pick up pace, get quicker. And I was like, I'm not done with this yet. So I just kind of kept running and I've never stopped.

Chris Detzel (03:36)
Yeah, we've been doing a lot, you know.

So did you do some half marathons before the marathons and all that stuff?

Erin (03:57)
Yes, I did my first half, let me think, it was maybe 2021. I think that was probably my first Yes, yeah. So I've done probably like four or five halves at this point and some I've just been kind of for training purposes but I've done a few halves but yeah now on to the fulls as well.

Chris Detzel (04:04)
huh. After COVID. Basically. Ish.

Okay. Yep.

We obviously have a lot of talent, so when you're in college, I mean super fast, think you said you ran 247, is that right? In the run Dallas?

Erin (04:22)
Thank

It was right under, was like $2.4650.

Chris Detzel (04:32)
Yeah. OK. I'm sorry. 246.51. Perfect. So did you run three miles in college, or is it four? What's the college run? it's a 5K.

Erin (04:46)
Yeah, so 5K, pretty consistently. And then 6K was our championship distance for conference, regionals and everything. Not individually, but my senior year we did win the Southland Conference Championship for cross country. And that was really awesome. I got to be captain of the team that year and I got to be our first girl in. So that was really exciting. That's probably the cherry on top of the college career.

Chris Detzel (04:54)
you ever win or you know.

Yeah, yeah, I mean nothing like doing that, you know at the end of college, you know. But you have your doctorate degrees, alright?

Erin (05:16)
Absolutely.

I do. I do have my doctorate physical therapy. Thank you. I appreciate it.

Chris Detzel (05:24)
Yeah, wow, that's impressive. So you you're working with athletes and things like that. Is it you know when they're injured or is it? Because you're also a coach too. I mean, is that.

Erin (05:35)
Yeah, so this year actually Me and two of my partners we created gray matter human performance We saw a need in the kind of the athlete sphere But just in general health care that you know You you need one thing to get a one doctor and then they refer you to another and then you bounce back and forth and no one knows the full story so we wanted to create a kind of a forum a place where people could come and they can get full access to

Chris Detzel (05:44)
Saw it.

Erin (06:04)
healthcare and also just like bettering themselves as an athlete. We like to say everyone's an athlete. So yeah, we have, we offer coaching, which I'm one of our coaches, physical therapy, we personal training, nutrition science, all that good stuff. And so yeah, I get the honor of being physical therapist and coach for a lot of people. It's been fun.

Chris Detzel (06:26)
That's great. And is it something that you do both online and face to face or is it just? OK.

Erin (06:31)
Yes, yes. So we're based out of Northwest Arkansas, especially like technology nowadays, you can do a lot virtually. It's been fun to explore with that as well.

Chris Detzel (06:40)
great. I mean, great background and you know, it I'm sure it helps that you're also an athlete, you know, like, my wife is always like, you know, if I went to a physical therapist or coach or something like that, I want somebody that's done there, been there, done that, you know, and that's really great. You have the background, but you also have, you know, credentials, you know, so that's pretty cool. And hey, you know, not and I look,

Erin (06:47)
Hmm

Thank you. Thank you, appreciate it.

Chris Detzel (07:09)
I must have stalked your profile, but I want to be halfway. I see that you're about to get married in a few months. Is that right?

Erin (07:15)
I am, I am, about four months from now. Thank you!

Chris Detzel (07:18)
Okay, well, that's awesome. That's awesome. I've been married for a long time, so it's a great adventure. Now you get to spend it with the person you love for long time. Is he a runner or?

Erin (07:30)
He is not. Actually on our very first date he asked me if I expected him to run with me and I said no, he doesn't have to as long as he supports and he said we have a deal so.

Chris Detzel (07:41)
There's nothing like my wife's run Boston 11 times and she's about to go to London for the first time. She's done some other world majors and things. And nothing like being the support person. I run, but I do a lot of supporting. I think that's important.

Erin (07:54)
Yeah

Absolutely. He's definitely my number one cheerleader. But it's been fun to kind of teach him some of the running rules. He played college football, so he has a very different athletic background. So it's been fun to teach him little bit of endurance sports. Yeah.

Chris Detzel (08:04)
awesome.

the next.

Yeah, yeah. That's pretty cool, though. I love it. mean, at least he has a sports-minded kind of thinking. I believe or not, I think that's important. Because you're going to spend a lot of time training and have somebody understand that. Now, let's talk about that. You ran some half marathons. How did you do in your half marathons? Have you raced them? is it more, what's your kind of thought around the halves?

Erin (08:18)
Absolutely.

It is.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

I've raced, I would say about two of them kind of raced, had a good taper and peaked for those. And then if the others have been pretty much training. So I, my first half was wonderful. It was a small local one in Conway, Arkansas, which is where I went, which is where University of Central Arkansas is. So that's also where I did my doctorate.

Chris Detzel (08:52)
OK.

Okay.

Erin (09:04)
And I had so much fun and I was like, my goodness, am I gonna start doing halves and full marathons eventually? So I really have loved them. most recent, I've done I think two halves this year. One I had the flu the week of, so it was miserable. And then the last one I did, I guess back in October kind of for some training.

Chris Detzel (09:24)
her.

I'm curious what's your best time because you did win the marathon so we already know the time there.

Erin (09:33)
116.58 right now for the high.

Chris Detzel (09:37)
Okay. Yeah, you would have got close this time like at Run Dallas because I think it was 115. So it's impressive, very impressive. And so you did your halves and then what made you decide, okay, I'm going to go do my full marathon? You know, this is...

Erin (09:44)
Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.

think it was just inevitable at some point that I was going to do a full. Also, I think that the marathons are a really wonderful opportunity to travel, meet people. And also, I I had to cross it off the bucket list because when people are like, you're a runner, they're always asking about marathon. And so I was like, I think it's time I do one. So that's what Houston back in January was to kind of get my feet wet with it.

Chris Detzel (10:19)
think Houston's a great marathon, half marathon, it's flat. And generally, not always. The weather is really good. I ran the half as well in Houston this last year, or back in January. So talk about, as you kind of started running the full, talk about the training plan for Houston. But then as you kind of ran that one, tell me how you did and felt and things like that. And then how did you prepare the next one?

Erin (10:20)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Hmm

Mm-hmm.

Chris Detzel (10:47)
You know, is it like hugely different that kind of stuff?

Erin (10:50)
Yeah, so leading up to Houston, I had just graduated with my doctorate. I had moved about three hours away from where I was living. So I had a lot of factors changing in my life. I was also working a full-time position as a physical therapist at a different outpatient clinic. And my training definitely suffered just from all of that going on in life. I definitely did not hit the mileage I wanted to.

But I mean, my experience at Houston was wonderful and obviously good enough to do it again. But Houston, everyone said, you know, watch out for mile 20s where you'll hit that wall. And man, I hit that wall. It took me out hard and all my family and friends said that my little tracker just looked like it stopped. It felt like it stopped.

Chris Detzel (11:34)
Wow.

Yeah.

I've seen it a hundred times, know, as you know a lot of people Just don't understand until they they run it right like and you know My wife has run it run several marathons and you can tell like she'll be killing it the first 16 18 20 miles and every now and then you know, she just hits the wall and you're like, my god You know now she's at she was hitting seven tens and now she's at nine tens. What's going on?

Erin (11:51)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yep, yep. It happened hard.

Chris Detzel (12:10)
Or 1010, you know? So did you, when you look back at that, you think, you know, obviously you mentioned some things were factors like getting your doctorate and moving and stuff like that and the miles, it, did you find that, it was the miles that were, it was the problem or was it, you know, nutrition or what would you?

Erin (12:29)
Definitely a little bit of everything. I would say the biggest factors were the lack of miles and my nutrition. I hadn't played around enough with it. My coach and I were really trying to figure it out kind of more sporadically and we didn't have enough time to kind of dedicate to dialing that in. I also have gastroparesis, which is a fancy way of saying that my digestive system takes a really long time to get anything done. And so it's definitely

kind of been a big op school in figuring out my nutrition which also did play a role in Dallas as well so

Chris Detzel (13:07)
Yeah, so that's something, especially with the long, I assume with the longer runs like a marathon versus a half marathon, it's probably a little bit more difficult to kind of figure that out, is that right?

Erin (13:18)
Definitely. I can kind of make it through in some of shorter races and it won't have as much of an effect. yeah, once you hit 26 miles, there's a lot of time for those factors to kind of play a big role.

Chris Detzel (13:30)
When you're going fast too, mean, anytime you're speeding across the road for a long period of time like that, it's going to affect you one way or another. then especially with what you have. So what would you change? Like, obviously you probably ran some more miles and things like that.

Erin (13:50)
Yeah, so definitely increased mileage. It was my highest volume train block on paper. I I felt it, but I had a lot of fun with it. So I enjoyed we did a lot of three hour long runs leading up. I probably did like eight to 10 of those. Yeah. So that definitely helped to kind of helped my body get that tolerance to that many miles and that much time on my feet.

Chris Detzel (14:06)
Yes.

Erin (14:17)
And then I played around a lot with nutrition. So did a lot more, kind of just general day to day nutrition. So measuring macros, things like that, as well as playing around with different gels and fueling during the runs.

Chris Detzel (14:33)
When you think about like the amount of miles, so you don't really look at the amount of miles, you just look at mostly hours on your feet or how does that work?

Erin (14:42)
For my coach and I have kind of determined that time on feet and just going for hours, especially on those long runs can be really helpful for me. have a hard time going slow enough sometimes, which I think can be kind of a... Yep, yep. And coming out of college, everything was just going fast all the time. so time on feet helps.

Chris Detzel (14:57)
Mm-hmm. When you're young, you know, and you know, that's just kind of, you learn.

Yeah, yeah, it's a different mindset.

Erin (15:08)
slow down because I can keep going faster but I'm just gonna have to keep going so it kind of helps me have a little bit more self-control.

Chris Detzel (15:13)
I that.

Can you talk a little bit about, I wanna dive deeper into kind of the training because, you know, a lot of people are like, she's just got a lot of talent and she's just super fast. Well, you might have a lot of talent, but you have to hone in on that talent and you have to do the right things like training, right? And eating, right? And all of those things. And so I'm trying to understand kind of the amount of work and effort that you put into this training, you know, that when you say, okay, I was running three.

Erin (15:21)
Mm-hmm.

Chris Detzel (15:45)
three hours. Well, for you, that's probably almost a marathon, right? Like it's probably 20 something miles, you know, every single time you do it eight or 10 times, you know what I mean? And then the speed stuff that you had to work.

Erin (15:48)
Mm-hmm.

So I did also, we implemented double thresholds a lot throughout this training block, which we, tried before, but I wasn't able to kind of tolerate and get all the end with my full-time job. So now that I'm kind of my own boss, I'm able to move around my training, which I love. It definitely helps. So my weeks are laid out pretty similarly throughout the block. We just change mostly the speed aspect.

Chris Detzel (16:15)
That helps.

Erin (16:27)
So we kind of worked backwards. So we started with a lot of anaerobic capacity work, short and fast. And then we started getting into VO2 max work, lactate threshold, which is probably my least favorite, just because holding on to that lactate threshold pace is really hard. And my coach put those doubles on us and the afternoons always fell right about August, I guess it was, so nice and hot.

But yeah, it was definitely.

Chris Detzel (16:57)
Yeah, well, that's good. I tell you what, heat training, it prepared you well for Sunday, you know, I think.

Erin (17:03)
Yes, I had no clue. Obviously, we don't know what December is going to look like in Texas. So it was really just a gamble. But definitely needed that heat training because that I think if someone told me it was 98 % humidity while we were running, you could feel it for sure.

Chris Detzel (17:09)
Yeah, that's

was. Yep. I mean, I just paced to 150 and you know, usually it's pretty easy run, I felt it, you know? And so how do you think about like when you kind of your nutrition, what does that look like during, let's say the race? What do do?

Erin (17:39)
So my plan did not go as planned for say Dallas.

Chris Detzel (17:44)
Hmm.

Well, let's go back then. Let's talk about run Dallas. So you get ready to run it. How are you feeling before the race? By the way, did you think you had a chance to win it? Where was your mindset and all that kind of stuff? I'm curious.

Erin (18:03)
So going into the weekend, I knew that my training block had gone as well as it came often considering. knew this was probably the fittest I've ever been. I was very excited, but that also, I think that made me more nervous because I had these higher expectations of myself. But then I got into Dallas on Friday and just the excitement, my training partners were there, my family was there, I lots of friends in town and then

Chris Detzel (18:09)
pretty well. OK.

Yeah.

Erin (18:30)
going to the expo, talking with other athletes, going to shakeout runs. I think it, I mean, the nerves were definitely still there, but I think it just got me so excited and reminded me like, this is why we all do what we do. No one's going to just go run 26 miles if it wasn't for the community around it. So I started getting very excited. And then my coach was actually at cross country nationals with our senior high team. And so he called me on a Saturday afternoon.

Chris Detzel (18:41)
Yeah.

That's right.

Erin (19:00)
And we kind of talked through a few things and then he's like, I think you have a chance to win it. And that was the first time I was like, okay, yeah. He loves to like throw out those lofty goals. His name is Sean Weirich. He's based out of Northwest Arkansas here, which is partly why I moved here. yes. So he's a goalkeeper. He owns Arkansas Track Club. And so we have...

Chris Detzel (19:08)
No pressure.

Who's your coach? Okay.

really? Because you're coach? Wow. You're pretty serious.

Erin (19:27)
little kids at like age six and seven now and then we have all the way up to our elite team. And so between him and training partners in the area, I knew it was going to be a good move to come up here. Yeah.

Chris Detzel (19:40)
I love that. That's cool. Anyways, let's go back to the. I'm just curious because kept talking about your coach, so let's say his name, you know.

Erin (19:45)
So yeah, he kind of told me basically, I think you have a chance to win. And he also told me that the pace I was aiming for was too slow and I needed to go faster. And so I was wanting to stay around 6'20 a little bit longer than I did. And he was like, I think you should see more 6'10s. And I was like, okay. And one thing about him is he's almost always right, which he's gonna love hearing that.

Chris Detzel (19:57)
What were you aiming for?

Okay.

Yeah.

You have to listen to podcasts.

Erin (20:15)
I definitely, yeah, I definitely had a problem with putting myself in the position to win and believing myself in taking that chance because I think I do have that fear of failure, which is what I think those nerves were coming into the weekend. But man, that start line was so hype. It was just incredible. I think I genuinely, all my nerves went away at that point, which

Normally the nerves go away during the race for me, but I would say that start line was so exciting that all my nerves went away and I just was ready to run.

Chris Detzel (20:52)
Did you... is that the biggest race you've ever ran? or if you run bigger races? Well, Houston, I guess you ran,

Erin (20:58)
Houston and then I did the Austin half like maybe two years ago so but it's still I still do feel like I'm new to some of these bigger races.

Chris Detzel (21:01)
Okay, yeah.

Yeah, well, mean, you won Run Dallas. I mean, you won the whole thing. I mean, women's. So that was pretty impressive. So as you're kind of going through the run, like how you fill in throughout, you mentioned you had some potential gut issues or whatever, but can you walk us through some of that? And then kind of the crowd and things like that, because I think Dallas has done personally, but way better over the last several years just in

Erin (21:16)
Thank you.

Chris Detzel (21:37)
crowd support and just everything else.

Erin (21:40)
Yeah, so first few miles, I mean, you're supposed to be comfortable. You're just supposed to enjoy it, get out, kind of shake off any of those nerves that might be there. And I'd say the first maybe like 10 miles, I was chatting with people. I was hitting all the signs. The little kids are like hit for a power up. I was having so much fun. Actually ended up chatting with a guy who's from Northwest Arkansas as well in the middle of race. We just met.

I know, I was like, this is a small world. I was with one of my training partners, Abigail, for a little while as well, so that was fun. And then I guess when the half and full split started getting a little more lonely, but I was always, I could always see people, so that was a big blessing. And then I came through the half, still feeling great. I think I came through at maybe like 1.22.

Chris Detzel (22:39)
OK, yeah, wow.

Erin (22:39)
So I was feeling great in there. I was pretty lonesome, but there was a group, I think it was three guys. They were quite a ways in front of me, but just enough where I could keep an eye on them. And I was just like, don't lose them. Yes, just don't let them get out of your sight. And so all the way around the lake kind of hung there and a little bit of no man's land, but it wasn't too bad because even around the lake, there were some people out there.

Chris Detzel (22:52)
Yeah. Stay with them.

Yeah, that's always when it gets a little bit kind of, you know, it's just not always easy to get to. And so it always kind of dies down there.

Erin (23:14)
And so I would say about mile 15 is where it starts getting, you know, your brain's kind of tired at that point. You're starting to, that fatigue starting to kind of kick in, but I still was able, I was still feeling pretty good. And in my gels, my goal is every 10 K. So I had taken one at 10 and 20 and then.

Chris Detzel (23:37)
What gel do you use? Anything.

Erin (23:38)
I alternate. I really like Precision, Fuel. I like their caffeinated ones because I have a caffeine addiction. And then I also alternate with the Martin 100s.

Chris Detzel (23:43)
Okay.

Yeah, I use those as well. Do you drink coffee before the race, I assume? Yeah, I do too.

Erin (23:57)
I do. I have to have my morning coffee. I think it's like a ritual at this point. Get kind of my brain turned on for the day.

Chris Detzel (24:08)
But I assume you get up a couple hours early to go through a whole ritual of breakfast and coffee and all these things, you know? So, yeah.

Erin (24:13)
Yeah, Yep, I get up about three hours. got up about three hours before the race. Had a few sips of coffee and then I always attempt breakfast, but it's hard at that point. So I think I had half a bagel with some cream cheese and then I had like a package of oatmeal.

Chris Detzel (24:34)
Okay, well, I mean, and I assume you guys stayed in Dallas, you know, obviously you don't want to.

Erin (24:38)
Yes, yeah we stayed right downtown so we could just walk over. I try to make everything as easy as possible and my family helps me with that. So we are all about making race morning super seamless and trying to take away any outside variables.

Chris Detzel (24:54)
100%. Yeah. Well, I like that. And did you know anybody from Run Dallas, like Logan Sherman or any of the people there? just, how awesome is that?

Erin (25:04)
really didn't know anyone. So me and I have three training partners, one she ran the half and then the three of us ran the full. And then I also had a few friends from the area who came down. So I actually, I don't know, lived in Dallas for about three months for a PT school clinical. So I at least know the area. So it's kind of fun to go on a run on the Katy trail, which is where I ran all the time for those three months.

Chris Detzel (25:22)
Okay. Yeah.

That's pretty cool. Do you think you'll do Dallas again?

Erin (25:35)
Definitely. The crowd was amazing. Honestly, the whole way, the lake got a little sparse, but there were always people. Everyone was so excited and it just, I think I smiled the first like 10 miles of the race. I was not smiling at the end, but I was smiling at beginning. And I love that. It makes such a difference, especially at the beginning. The first half, I don't want to think about running. I just need to get the job done.

Chris Detzel (25:44)
Yeah.

That's awesome. I love that. Yeah.

Erin (26:03)
because my brain can really take over. So if I'm interacting with the crowd, reading the funny signs, all that kind of stuff, it makes it a lot easier to let that happen, get through.

Chris Detzel (26:12)
It does. Yeah, yeah. I think, you know, some of the signs, I won't say them, I was like, okay, you know, don't trust certain things, you know. But so, and I agree with that, especially after you're running a little longer, but you know, you had some of those signs in the beginning, I'm like, can, know, but so what's, so, so, right. You ran,

Erin (26:20)
There's some comical ones.

Thank

Chris Detzel (26:40)
246 something 50 something at 51 right and Was that was that kind of your goal or did you surpass that goal or what what what you're thinking there?

Erin (26:51)
So I ran a 246.22 in Houston.

Chris Detzel (26:56)
I thought you said you got sick and everything else. But no. What? my gosh.

Erin (27:05)
apparently very consistent with my 246s so far.

Chris Detzel (27:09)
so I my gosh, like I think you're gonna get way faster that next time what is next? I mean, how do you not like think about it like Houston last year or back in January was a great day for a run I don't know. I'm sure you remember it and you said you were having issues So, you know, I can't imagine if you didn't have issues what you might have done That that day on in Houston, but then Dallas yes, or Sunday was tough conditions, you know so I mean it wasn't like

Erin (27:14)
Thank you.

It was. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yes, it was.

Chris Detzel (27:39)
walk in the park, I'm not necessarily surprised. Well, I'm surprised that you didn't get a PR because of what you said you did, but now telling me the times, okay, well, you're going to get way faster than that. That's great.

Erin (27:49)
Thank you. I definitely, guess like my goal would have been to PR in Dallas, but especially talking with some of the other elites there and people who have run it before, it wasn't and figuring out the weather, I didn't think it was necessarily going to be like perfect conditions for PR. And I think that also

being competitive and just seeing once my coach was like, I think you can win. was like, okay. I wanted that to be more my goal. So I definitely have higher goals than a 246, but for now I'm very, very happy with how it went.

Chris Detzel (28:27)
thousand percent.

Yeah, because you're close to that elite level. I mean, in some marathons, you would be considered elite. I Houston, maybe getting there, right? And I think you have the ability, it sounds. Like, I mean, it's your second marathon. I I've seen so many marathoners. I've been running for 12, 13, 14 years, and I've been part of some running clubs. And it's fun to watch people, and it takes time to really progress.

Erin (28:34)
Yes.

Yeah

Thank you.

Chris Detzel (29:00)
And just think, I mean, you've been running a long time. So there's that. And you have a coach. But you've been running marathons for very short time. A year from now, you're going to progress even more. Well, you don't have to thank me. mean, it's just the reality if you keep doing it. I mean, that's just, and it sounds like you're extremely competitive. And that'd be exciting. I'll be watching you for sure. What's next for you?

Erin (29:10)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

You know, honestly, I am not quite sure. I think my wedding is kind of throwing a wrench in our spring plans, I'll probably, the tentative plan is to switch to a little bit more track-focused this spring. I'm on a little break right now and I'm not gonna complain about that, but yes, will, the overall plan is to get back on the track. I feel like I have some unfinished business with Steeplechase.

Chris Detzel (29:31)
Yeah.

OK.

okay. Tell me more about that.

Erin (29:59)
I really want to do that. We don't do steeple in high school here in Arkansas unless you're with glove and I wasn't. I just ran for my school and so I started steepling in college. But between a fractured tibia and a lot of other things, had a partially ruptured Achilles, a lot of things in college, I ended up only steepling maybe

like five times in races. And then my senior year or my super senior year, cause COVID gave me that red shirt. So my fifth year I had outdoor track again. So I got to steeple and I had a very good race returning to steeple. And then it came to championships and I finished, but just barely because I was having some medical issues with my

gastroparesis diagnosis and everything. So I definitely want to get back to that. And my coach agrees. We definitely think there's some unfinished business this evening.

Chris Detzel (31:10)
Tell me, what the Staple Race stuff? What is that? You're out on the track and you're, it?

Erin (31:14)
Yes, so a three kilometer race there are 35 barriers seven of which are there are the water barriers Yeah, when people always ask me like what's steeplechase? I'm like you've probably seen the fail videos on Instagram reels Where everyone falls into the water and I was like It is so much fun. it it keeps your brain

Chris Detzel (31:26)
wow.

Yeah. That sounds fun though.

Erin (31:41)
Like you have to be so focused the whole time and keeps you from almost getting that monotonous like on the back. You always have think about just getting up and over those barriers.

Chris Detzel (31:47)
Yeah, because you know.

Wow, like they have like people like our age to do that stuff. mean, is that just something that you just get into and then start kicking everybody's butt at it? I mean, what's the...

Erin (32:03)
Yeah, it's so much fun. It is sometimes hard to find track meets that have people, because not all tracks are built with the water pit, because it is a newer event. It's only been run in the Olympics for the past few Olympics. It's not even that old. So it is sometimes harder to find access to a track that has that. But yeah, so I'll just enter into some open track races.

Chris Detzel (32:12)
Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen one with the water.

Okay.

Erin (32:30)
Sometimes we'll go to some invites and just kind of get in there and see what I can do with the steeplechase.

Chris Detzel (32:36)
Yeah, you have high hopes. mean, you have good chances to win them, I'm sure of that. But even higher hopes, maybe get into the Olympics or something.

Erin (32:46)
So my coach, like I said earlier, he has always lofty goals for me. He wants our goal, which I agree, be trials for, he said it'd be wonderful if we could do trials for Marathon and for Steeple. So we'll see.

Chris Detzel (33:01)
I think both are doable for you. Wow. What did I miss during this conversation? Anything that I should have asked that I didn't?

Erin (33:02)
You

I don't know.

Chris Detzel (33:15)
I mean, we've only been talking 30 minutes, so I'm sure I missed a lot.

Erin (33:17)
Yeah. I guess the part where I did die in Dallas. That hill at, what is it, 18 and 19, that got me. That definitely killed my pace a little bit. But I recovered better than I did in Houston. I've been telling everybody that this would hurt and I did definitely hit that wall, but not as bad as I did in Houston. So to me, that was a big goal.

Chris Detzel (33:22)
What?

yeah.

Erin (33:45)
was just not let the miles catch up to me as much as they did in Houston. I also could not get my last gel down, so I didn't take any nutrition in after mile 18, which I definitely planned to take more. Yeah. Yeah, I was just like, I was like, there's no way anything is going down right now. So I was like, we're just gonna, yeah.

Chris Detzel (34:02)
Yeah, it's all dangerous, but I mean, it's hard to get it down like that sometimes, I guess.

Especially something sweet like a gel.

Erin (34:14)
I like, I just need to get into that finish line. So I think the end was all about survival and I had no clue where the second place female was. So I was just kind of telling myself, like, you cannot lose this now. You cannot give up now. So I just kept grinding.

Chris Detzel (34:33)
Well, I think the mental aspect of a marathon is real. it's not that, hey, if you're out of shape, you have to be in shape to run a marathon. But there's also that mental aspect, especially 18, I guess. mean, that'd be kind of tough to start dying. But certainly around that area, 18 to 22, you're just going to have to find something to give.

It's really awesome that you get to do it. One of the things I was going to tell you is if you start getting a trail running more, especially the longer distances, they have nice aid stations. It's not just full of gels and stuff like that. They'll have tacos or some breaded stuff or whatever.

Erin (35:03)
All right.

I do much better with food. I've actually been playing around with making my own gels, kind of changing the consistency. wasn't ready to... And I've tried, there's a brand that's like maple syrup based for those quick... They're actually better. Everyone always is like, it is better than you think because it's thinned down. Yeah.

Chris Detzel (35:32)
They have those honey gels that are supposedly decent, you know?

Yeah, cool.

I don't know, man. Take it and think, my god, I got syrup in my mouth.

Erin (35:51)
But I am playing around with that, so maybe by the next marathon I will have my homemade fueling.

Chris Detzel (35:57)
So sounds like that you're just going to do something. One, you're going to get married. So that's a big deal for the next few months. I mean, obviously, that takes time and effort. I'm sure you'll do some running, but you definitely need it for mental stability. You know what I mean? So you already know this. But you're going to do some steeple chasing type stuff and then kind of think about the marathon maybe after you get married. Where are you guys going for your honeymoon?

Erin (36:23)
We're going to Curacao. I know we're very excited. going for about 10 days. So the funny thing was when we were looking at resorts, the first thing I was looking at was the treadmill situation. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, there's gonna be, I can't help but run even taking like two weeks off right now. I'll still go on runs. just won't be training, just be running. But definitely time to sit down with coach kind of

Chris Detzel (36:27)
Wow, that's be fun.

Exactly, you should.

Erin (36:53)
figure out our 2025 plan and what that looks like going into thinking about trials in the next couple of years.

Chris Detzel (37:01)
Well, we'll have to talk before all of that again, because that's really exciting and big lofty goals. I love it. I'll be watching you for sure. I'm on your Instagram now and we had this great conversation. So thank you so much for coming on.

Erin (37:17)
It's been an honor. Thank you.

Chris Detzel (37:20)
Well, thank you everyone for coming to another DFW Running Talk. Please rate and review us. This episode will be out soon. So, Aaron, thank you so much and congratulations on your second marathon win in Dallas.

Erin (37:33)
Thank you so much, I appreciate it, Chris. Thank you too.

Chris Detzel (37:36)
Alright, take care.