The Unexpected Champion: Shantel Cloud's Running Story of Persistence and Potential

DFW Running Talk - Shantel Cloud
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Chris Detzel: [00:00:00] Welcome to DFW running talk. I'm Chris Detzel. So let's get started.

Chris: All

Chris Detzel: right. Thank you everyone for tuning in to another DFW running talk. I'm Chris Detzel. And today I have a special guest, Shantel Cloud. Shantel, how are you?

Shantel Cloud: I'm good. How are you?

Chris Detzel: Doing well. Wow. It's been a long time since we've talked. ~ ~Yeah.

Shantel Cloud: A few years since the DRC days have passed, a few things have happened.

Yeah,

Chris Detzel: Let's dive deep into that. Years ago, you and I used to run together to some degree at a Dallas running club and it's a lot of fun and you build a lot of really good relationships and you've always been a very good runner. I've always, respected, just how you've got better over time.

So it's really been fun to watch your journey and we'll talk a little bit about that today. How about that? Yeah,

Shantel Cloud: Thank you. I appreciate that.

Chris Detzel: Yeah,

Shantel Cloud: If you want me to start from the very beginning, yeah, let's do it.

Chris Detzel: Why don't you tell us a little bit about your [00:01:00] journey, why you started running and let's go from there.

Is that fair?

Shantel Cloud: Yeah, that's good. I first started running all the way back in middle school. My dad was a really he was a really talented runner when he was young and I think that was just my way to bond with him. Yeah. We want to do things that make our parents proud, but also just draws us closer to them.

So I started running, even though I really did not love it, but it just came natural to me. So I never really applied myself. I just showed up for races and did what my dad told me to. I just didn't love it.

Chris Detzel: As hard as a kid,

Shantel Cloud: it is in Like when it's your parents love and they want you to do so well in it Like I think he saw my potential but I just didn't care enough at the time.

So and that's through middle school

Chris Detzel: and high school or yeah

Shantel Cloud: middle school high school I did track and cross country and albuquerque is a really big running town where I grew up And so I had all [00:02:00] these things at my fingertips, that really probably could have set me up well for running when I was young.

There's so many professional runners that train there and my coach in high school was a professional runner and I just didn't take advantage of any of it.

Chris Detzel: Hey, like you were just getting an average runner or were you a little bit above average or? Yeah, I

Shantel Cloud: mean, I was good enough. I feel like I was above average for skipping practice.

All the time.

Chris Detzel: Was it three miles that you ran in cross country in high school, or was it two then? Yeah. No,

Shantel Cloud: it was three. Okay. I don't know if it's different in every state, but in New Mexico, it was three. And, I'm a little

Chris Detzel: older than you. So whenever I was in high school, the guys was three miles and the girls was two.

So they changed that over time.

Shantel Cloud: Yeah. When I was running, it was three and three. We did the same thing, Albuquerque was hard because we have that mountain there. And so they'd have courses. It was like legit cross country. You'd run up the mountain and. Yeah, it was [00:03:00] brutal.

Chris Detzel: It's great training now when you look back, I'm sure.

Shantel Cloud: It is, for sure. Cause I didn't even know people ran on the road. I was like, what is this road running?

Chris Detzel: It's way easier.

Shantel Cloud: I need to be on a trail. It's this isn't real running.

Chris Detzel: So you did a lot of trail then. Obviously in New Mexico.

Shantel Cloud: Yeah, Albuquerque just has them everywhere. I was so lucky to grow up around that.

Yeah. So it's,

Chris Detzel: it's really cool. I love the trails, even today, my wife and I get to sometimes go to different countries and stuff and not just run the trails, but hike them and things, it's been a lot of fun and

Shantel Cloud: I still love running trails. It's still, it's a little different here. I get lost easier here cause you can't see where you're going, but but yeah, then I didn't run in college at all.

I just was meandering through life. And then. When I was in college, I remember signing up for this what was it? It was a running class. I'm like, really? You can take a running class? Right up my alley. Yeah. I remember that morning I went to the class and then [00:04:00] I was so excited to tell my dad about it.

And I went and called him and I was like, you'll never believe that I'm going to get a grade for just running. And anyways, he was really excited for me and everything. And then that evening I got a phone call that my dad had passed away. I feel like that really changed the course of everything for me, and for a few years.

Just sent me in a spiral, as you can imagine, a college student, I was not stable at all. That sounds like it was

Chris Detzel: really unexpected.

Shantel Cloud: Oh my goodness, it was so unexpected. Because you just had a

Chris Detzel: conversation with him, and told him, and then he dodged it, right? That

Shantel Cloud: morning, I told him about this running class, and then that evening is when I got the phone call.

Okay. I know. So it was very sudden. He'd had a heart attack and it was just completely unexpected. So anyways, as a 19 year old, as you can imagine, it just sent me in this like spiral. And so I really didn't run for many years after that. But I feel like that's really what got me back into running was Just being able to feel close to him again [00:05:00] and like even in hard parts and braces now, you know There's plenty in a marathon I just start thinking about him and how proud he would be and you know Just I don't know.

It just gives you that bonding again, even though he's not physically here anymore

Chris Detzel: So just that memory and the closest memory you've had just from middle school, high school on, that's what he loved and wanted you to do, exactly. Yeah. Makes complete sense to me.

And

Shantel Cloud: I can remember him telling me in like high school that he had run a marathon and I was like, Oh, that's so crazy. I can't believe you'd ever do that. This has just sounded so far, and here I am,

Chris Detzel: yeah. So you take a few years off college, whatever you graduate, I assume, and then you start picking up running again, just to be close were you just doing races or were you just thinking, yeah, let's do some running or.

Shantel Cloud: Yeah. I still ran a little bit in college, just, to move and then when I moved out, I was like, yeah, let's do some running.

Chris Detzel: To get through the classes.[00:06:00]

Okay. Yeah. So what year was that? I started DRC like 2014 I think.

Shantel Cloud: I think I moved here in 2011. Okay. So it was right then

Chris Detzel: before me. Yeah. And so you stayed in there a few years then?

Shantel Cloud: Yeah, I was there for a few years. At first I was just, an attendee and then eventually I was on the board for a couple years.

I don't think I really added much value 'cause I was like 20. Three 24, I just had no clue anything that I was doing.

Chris Detzel: It's probably a good learning experience, right? When you look back,

Shantel Cloud: it was great. I loved it and just the people I got to meet, I still keep in touch with a lot of them. And then eventually I moved on to doing some of the pace leading in the training groups.

So that was super fun. And I think

Chris Detzel: that I did that too. And that taught me a ton, just really

Shantel Cloud: did.

Chris Detzel: You start focusing in a little bit more than just yourself, and you really start [00:07:00] or how I saw it is you really start thinking about the group and then looking at their times and them accomplishing different things.

So that was fun.

Shantel Cloud: Yeah, it was multifaceted because not only did you get to, get you to training in. Yeah, but you're also like helping other people accomplish their goals and just making friendships throughout the whole process because you know running 20 miles together Got to talk about a lot of things

Chris Detzel: You know running 20 miles period it's hard to do by yourself all the time You know,

Shantel Cloud: and

Chris Detzel: having that group and team community to run with and just call somebody.

Hey, I've got 20 miles tomorrow or in a few days, want to run with me and stuff like that. All those relationships you building.

Shantel Cloud: Yeah, no, it was great. And I can't remember exactly how many years I did it, but it was. Probably four or five. And then we moved out to grapevine and again before we go to grapevine

Chris Detzel: You know this I think that there's probably a little bit more, you know Did you run marathons like before that or when was your first?

Shantel Cloud: Sorry, i'd always done like 5ks and maybe in [00:08:00] 10k here and there Yeah, and then when I started with drc is when I started thinking like oh You Like, I think I might be capable of doing a marathon and I had done a half I'd done a half that I didn't train for, and it was awful.

I remember my very first half that I did I was in college and I didn't take water at a single water stop.

I was so dehydrated by the end of the race. And was like cramping and I was like, what is happening to me? I don't know what I did. And then obviously now I'm like, oh my goodness, I can't believe I didn't drink any water for 13 miles. You just learn more every single one of these races that you do.

So yeah, when I joined DRC is when I thought I could probably do a marathon And so I started training for Dallas as my first one ~ ~But again, I had no clue what I was doing. I didn't foam roll. I didn't stretch. I didn't do anything Yeah, so I just like I think I was about to do a 17 [00:09:00] mile run in my leg just Like my hip area and it's still like the area that I struggle with the most it just was so tight And I couldn't run

Chris Detzel: like that like during the run or just the beginning you couldn't do it.

Shantel Cloud: Yeah the beginning I just had to call it. And so You know, I ended up not doing That race because I really wanted to qualify for boston. It was a big goal For me, I wanted to qualify on my first marathon. So

Chris Detzel: you're like, forget this marathon then.

Shantel Cloud: It's we're going to go to a different one.

And so in the spring is, I signed up for that mountains to beach one out in California, which I still, I just love that race. And that was your first, that was, that ended up being my first and, come to find out if you foam roll and stretch, you can run. Your hips don't hurt as much. Yeah, so that was my very first one.

Did you qualify? I did not. Oh,

Chris Detzel: okay.

Shantel Cloud: I I ended up hitting a wall pretty hard at mile [00:10:00] 20. And I just I gave in to the urge to walk and you just can't recover after that.

Chris Detzel: That's right. And I think that's a good lesson, Chantel, is a lot of people, no matter how good they are, you obviously have a ton of talent.

And I think a lot of us knew this. People just get better over time, but sometimes your first marathon is just run that first marathon, don't have these huge kind of expectations because you've never done it before. You don't know what it's like to hit mile 20 and then hit a wall.

It's my thing because I've seen so many people in DRC yeah, I'm going to run my first marathon and I'm going to qualify for Boston. It's maybe, you have talent and things. I was like, but let's just run that first marathon, let's enjoy it because you don't know, what it's like to and sometimes it would take people five to seven years because your body's got to get used to some of that stuff.

Right.

Shantel Cloud: Yeah, for sure. And I think it's okay to have big goals but maybe have a B goal, just in case. Especially for your first marathon, you [00:11:00] know, it's hard to dream big sometimes with marathons. It's scary to put yourself out there, even if you don't get that goal, like you're still finishing the race, which obviously was the ultimate goal.

Chris Detzel: No, good point. I'm not saying don't have that goal, there's, you just don't know what's gonna happen in your first marathon. Yeah, I

Shantel Cloud: mean, I can tell you every single marathon that I've done, my body recovers quicker. And I think it's just the way that we adapt to each of these races.

Cause that first one, it took me a long time to recover from it.

Chris: Where now

Shantel Cloud: it's like a couple of days, even after, like a huge PR race, it's still just a couple of days. And that's if you're doing everything. The right way, which I wasn't at the time.

Chris Detzel: What is the right as you went through that first marathon, you know What did you learn and what do you think differently and how'd you adjust?

Shantel Cloud: Yeah, I think I just like I set that big goal And so I think I went out too fast and even if you go out, 10 seconds per mile too fast Like it [00:12:00] can come back and bite you hard at the very end And so I think that's, I just didn't know about negative splitting.

Chris: Yeah,

Shantel Cloud: that's really what you want to do.

And so in that first one I was like Oh, I need to like bank as much time as I can. So when i'm tired at the end, I can you know relax a little bit and that is not what happened

Chris Detzel: Does that is that real Is baking time a real thing? Especially in a marathon or longer? Is that

Shantel Cloud: It never works for me.

I don't know if other people are able to manage that, but it has never worked for me. I'd do much better if I am conservative at the beginning and, put it in a different gear towards the end.

Chris Detzel: Completely makes sense to me.

Shantel Cloud: Yeah, so but yeah, you did

Chris Detzel: this first marathon and you learned some things what was next?

I mean as you remember,

Shantel Cloud: yeah, it's so hard to remember each race But because we're not gonna go through

Chris Detzel: every single race, but just as the I

Shantel Cloud: think I did dallas that fall no, I did not do Dallas at fault. So I didn't qualify at that [00:13:00] first one. And I came back the next year and did the same amounts to be trace again, and I did qualify on my second try.

So then after I qualified, I went and ran Boston, which was huge. It was just a lifelong goal at that point for me to run Boston. And my mom came and my husband came. And my sister in law came. We all shared one brim together because it's so expensive. It

Chris: is.

Shantel Cloud: This is back in 2015 is when I ran it.

And it was it was an awesome race. It was misty and cold. And I don't know, you just never know what weather you're going to get for Boston. I feel and so it wasn't like a great spectating year, but it was a great running year.

Chris Detzel: That's really what matters. Yes, yeah, the running. ~ ~And how'd you do in Boston?

Shantel Cloud: I did good. I ended up setting a PR in Boston.

Chris Detzel: Wow.

Shantel Cloud: Which, it ended up, it was a 317 was my PR for the longest time. I feel like I made huge jumps initially [00:14:00] and then I was stuck at 315 to 317 for years.

Chris Detzel: It's funny because you PR'd at Boston, and that's not, I've seen people PR, but it's not an easy course at all.

I know it's technically a net downhill, but it's not an easy course from, what I've seen for most people.

Shantel Cloud: Yeah, I think I benefited from the course, honestly, because at the beginning it's so crowded with everybody. And so it slows you down makes you a little more conservative when you're like jammed in there with everybody.

And I knew that Mile 20 and Heartbreak Hill were coming. And so after that, I felt like I could just go.

Chris: Yeah,

Shantel Cloud: because it had cleared out a little bit by then, so it doesn't ever feel like

Chris Detzel: it's like clear. But yeah, you're right.

Shantel Cloud: Yes,

Chris Detzel: you go to these big races like Boston or Chicago or whatever, it's just, it's crazy.

Shantel Cloud: I know it is.

Chris Detzel: Hey, by the way, the only reason I know is just I watch my wife from these. Yeah, I don't really

Shantel Cloud: know. She has done Boston so many times. It's [00:15:00] impressive.

Chris Detzel: Yeah. So you, you get some PRs and things are for Boston and things. I want to fast forward. Fast forward. So you get married and then you have three kids.

You do, you have twins, right? ~ ~And so let's fast forward to there and then just that mentality. Because now it feels like you're a better runner now. I'm not saying the work that you've had to put in and things like that. I want to hear about some of that stuff,

Shantel Cloud: yeah. So really it's not that much of a fast forward.

Cause I had my first daughter in 2016. And so after her, I'd been stuck at three 15 or three 17 and then I had her and I got back into running shape and then I ran Dallas and ran a three 15. And then I had twins ~ ~and to get back into running shape. And after I had the twins, I went and had PT.

For like pelvic floor stuff which I feel like every woman should do after having a child because our bodies go through this like huge trauma, someone breaks their finger and they go to PT. I'm like, [00:16:00] why aren't they sending ladies to PT, after having children? So anyways, I feel like that alone set me up to be successful after kids.

Really?

Chris Detzel: Okay. Yeah,

Shantel Cloud: just re strengthening everything, making sure all the muscles are triggering, and just working together, cause if you have just one muscle that's, that has most of the load that it's not supposed to have, then you're gonna get injured. I feel like PT was huge for me after having the twins.

And then I came back and ran another 315 at the Mesa Marathon. Stuck

Chris: there, huh?

Shantel Cloud: I was just, I don't know if I was necessarily stuck or if I had plateaued. But I think just like the roller coaster of having kids and like getting back into it every time that seemed to be i'm sure It myself too,

Chris Detzel: but you know that I think that's fun You did have kids and you know I really love the story of you going to be pt and i've not heard A lot of women doing that right?

Maybe it happens a lot I don't know, but I like that advice and people do get stuck [00:17:00] at certain

Chris: Times,

Chris Detzel: Because then, but then there's the breakthrough in general, if you're consistent and you're focused and it sounds like that now you have somebody helping you train and things like that, you can break through and we'll hear about that in a minute, right?

Yes.

Shantel Cloud: Yeah. And really I feel like having kids set me up for just the breakthrough that you were talking about. Cause there's just something about, like the early years with twins. infant twins and a two year old at home that like, it just tested me mentally. I had to set like mini goals every day, make it until my husband comes home.

And then until tomorrow where like the two year old will go to school and I can just have the twins. Running is that too. It's like, all right, just make it to mile 18. All right, just make it to mile 19. It's like setting tiny goals that are attainable. Okay. ~ ~By the way, you're a

Chris Detzel: working mom too, right?

Shantel Cloud: No, I do not.

Chris Detzel: Okay.

Shantel Cloud: Yeah, I know. The second we had twins, it was all hands on deck. [00:18:00] Got it. We don't have family that lives nearby, so it

Chris Detzel: was just all us. That'd be really

Shantel Cloud: difficult. ~ ~But yeah, after, ~ ~I'm trying to remember exactly when it was. I just felt like I was at a plateau. And I don't know if you want to get into the coaching and the breakthrough.

Chris Detzel: Let's do it.

Shantel Cloud: Okay. The, whenever USATF had that half marathon championship at Caltown I think it was just a year and a half ago, close to two years ago now. We were there cheering and we were watching all the elite athletes, just fly by us. And I recognized one of them. And so I was like cheering for him and I was like, go Shadrach.

And of course, like he's running in a place that he doesn't really know anybody. And he's who knows my name? And he turns around and it's me. And we had run together in high school. And he had a very successful running career. He'd been a professional runner for, I don't know, 10 to 20 years, somewhere in that range.

And so I had kept up with his running career and everything. And I knew he had started coaching, [00:19:00] but I thought it was just. Elite people. I didn't know if he was taking just, hobby marathoners, I guess is what I am. Kind

Chris Detzel: of hobby, but you do it a lot. So

Shantel Cloud: I really feel like it was just fate that, cause I wasn't really looking for a running coach.

I just, Been satisfied with staying at 315 forever. And so really you're really

Chris Detzel: just satisfied with it Or you're just like I

Shantel Cloud: just wasn't getting any better on my own and so I wasn't sure if I really wanted or needed a coach, but when I saw him and Knew that he was coaching and he offered to coach me then I was like let's do it.

Let's see where this goes

Chris Detzel: Would you have a conversation with him during, when you were at CalTown or are you just later talking to him? No, I reached out to him

Shantel Cloud: after the race. Cause like he, we had seen each other at CalTown and so it just sparked up a conversation after the race.

And yeah I've been using him for about a year and a half now. And that very first marathon that I did with him was Mounds [00:20:00] to Beach again. I think I've done it three times. I just love that race. That's awesome. And. He took me down to a 306 right away. So

Chris Detzel: let's back up. Let's, so what kind of things did you change because of him?

Like before, during that training cycle?

Shantel Cloud: Really, I think it was just someone else giving me paces that I didn't think I was capable of. So it's

Chris Detzel: right here. Yeah.

Shantel Cloud: Yeah.

Chris Detzel: Love that.

Shantel Cloud: He gives me some pretty unattainable track paces, and I can't hit him a lot of times, but just the fact that I'm going faster than I would normally push myself.

The speed is what really, I

Chris Detzel: think is the key. It sounds like some of the speed work is really what helped.

Shantel Cloud: Yeah, it helped immensely. And, just knowing that somebody's watching, and you don't want to let them down, or, Peer pressure's

Chris Detzel: always, can be a good thing,

Shantel Cloud: yeah I felt like he had faith in me to take me on, and so I didn't want to let him down.

Chris Detzel: I love that. All right. So [00:21:00] you go to mountains to beach and you run a 306 yeah, you just, you must have put it in another gear and was like, I'm going to do this, and just let it go.

Shantel Cloud: I think he had pushed me so hard in training and it wasn't, I wasn't running any more miles than I'd already been running. It was still like mid fifties every week. ~ ~But just faster paces, like the quality was better and, easy days were still super easy. That never changed, but just the days that we're doing workouts were much harder.

And so honestly, I feel like the three Oh six was just a huge surprise to me. Like it was a true breakthrough because I remember calling him after that race, just in shock that I could run that. Yeah. So I think my goal was just to go under three 10.

Chris Detzel: Good job.

Shantel Cloud: It was crazy. I did not, having a coach has been amazing.

Having somebody believe in something that you can do that you don't think is possible is just amazing.

Chris Detzel: That's interesting. I love that. One is you must have respected him a lot, to, and then him [00:22:00] knowing your potential and then you actually blowing out your potential in a lot of ways.

Yeah. We'll go into it more to even say, show you even killed it, even as a recent, but so I want to go back to a recent race you had back in February, Caltown. So I always think that, these local races are always fun. And especially you, I think you got second place overall in the marathon in Caltown.

Or was it?

Shantel Cloud: So I broke the tape because I was the first to cross the line, but Elizabeth Northern, she was pacing the 310 group and she, I think she ran a 308, but they had her in corral too. So technically I was the overall winner, but if you look at chip time, then her time was faster.

Chris Detzel: Got it. So who won?

Shantel Cloud: I get the title, okay, good.

Chris Detzel: No I wasn't, I saw that too. And I was like, cause I thought you won it. And then as a matter of fact, right before this, I looked and I was like, wait, that's somebody else's name. What I don't, [00:23:00] did I miss something? So that makes more sense.

Shantel Cloud: Yes. Yeah, no I broke the tape.

So I got the overall title, but for some reason they had three 10s starting in The second corral

Chris Detzel: got it. So so so you actually hit a 3 11, right? Is that right?

Shantel Cloud: Yeah, that I mean that race was so hot

Chris Detzel: Yeah, it was. Yeah, it was.

Shantel Cloud: And I like honestly, I was disappointed in my time because i've still been working with my coach I don't feel like you should have

Chris Detzel: been but anyways

Shantel Cloud: But I knew I was in better shape than what my time would suggest You But, I, it was so hot that I went pretty conservative and I'm glad I did because it paid off.

I just feel

Chris Detzel: You can't really race against time necessarily with Dallas potential heat and especially humidity. If you have 80 humidity and it's 70 degrees or whatever, there's just got to be realistic, you know That's just I think that's of course it's not your best or your potential best [00:24:00] But that's what the day gives you, right?

You still want I

Shantel Cloud: think I think that's yeah But I embraced it, it's this is what i've been given So let's just don't kill yourself and die at the end because that's just the worst feeling So I had friends that came and cheered and surprised me and I know it was amazing.

It's they met me on the course with some frozen towels and it was just such a hot day, but it was crazy because that morning my son, he's he's six now, but he was five at the time and he was like, mommy, there's no in between with five year olds. It's very black and white.

And he was like, are you going to win tomorrow? I was like, no, I'm not going to win. But like a top five would be great. I feel like I'm in top five shape. And during the race I was in like third for a lot of it. I was like, Oh my goodness, this would be amazing because they never get to come to my races.

I'm [00:25:00] usually out of town for them. So my family was there and he's that would be so cool if I got, third place with my kids watching me finish this thing. And so it just kept me going. And I just kept pushing on. And then eventually people were like, Oh, you're in second place. I'm like, what?

Chris Detzel: You don't remember seeing the first, or you don't remember passing them?

Shantel Cloud: I don't know. Maybe it was somebody that was in the half and they just thought that she was but eventually she wasn't

Chris Detzel: in this, she wasn't, there was nobody there to pass because they were in the house. That makes sense.

Shantel Cloud: Yeah. I never passed anybody between someone saying that I was third and second.

So I don't know what happened, but I was in second for a lot of it and I was, Just blown away that I was in second place. 'cause I never thought that I would

Chris Detzel: be gotta keep you going though,

Shantel Cloud: yeah, for sure. I never thought that I would be at the top of a bigger hometown race.

Chris: Yeah.

Shantel Cloud: And then by like mile 25 I could see the lead girl with

Chris: Wow.

Shantel Cloud: Yeah. With [00:26:00] the Oh, that's so awesome. Motorcycle cop and yeah,

Chris: with the

Shantel Cloud: big bike and everything. Yeah, I felt my heart rate like immediately go up. I was like, Oh, no, just stay calm,

Chris Detzel: beat this woman.

Shantel Cloud: Yes, exactly. 25

Chris Detzel: You saw her and yeah, it was close

Shantel Cloud: to the end.

And so I don't think I passed her until 25 and a half.

Chris Detzel: Wow. But I'm sure that gave you some motivation, right? It

Shantel Cloud: did, for sure. And, I tapped into my old cross country days when you fake it till you make it. Like, when you're passing somebody, you act like you feel great.

Chris: Yeah.

Shantel Cloud: Just to make them feel worse. Dependentness. I love it. I could tell that she was dying. And, it was hot. I was dying, too. But I was faking it, and I passed her. Yeah. I got to run with the lead bike and the lead motorcycle cop and stuff for a little bit, which was really cool.

Chris Detzel: That's pretty cool.

Shantel Cloud: Yeah. Now,

Chris Detzel: is that the first race you, you've won races, but not anything like that, right?

Shantel Cloud: Yeah. I've never won something that big. So that was huge for [00:27:00] me. It was awesome. Especially coming down that like finishing shoot with my kids there, all cheering for me. And some of my friends were still there and they like ushered us into the elite tent and everything.

I just. I was like on top of the world. It was awesome.

Chris Detzel: Oh, wow. Wow. How fun is that? That's really cool. And your kids get to see you win and, win. Yeah,

Shantel Cloud: yeah. After he asked, are you gonna win? And now that's the question I get at every race I do. Are you gonna win? I'm like,

Chris Detzel: probably

Shantel Cloud: not.

Chris Detzel: It all, one, I think it all depends who shows up to is, it also depends on how you feel that day.

It's a lot of have the ability, obviously, to really potentially win almost any race that you run, especially in Dallas, Fort Worth, thank you. I appreciate that. So ~ ~that's great. And by the way I remember I saw that you won and I went to it. Oh my

Chris: God, she won this race. Oh my God, this is awesome.

Chris Detzel: Cause I knew you, and I thought that was really pretty special. And I've remembered that for a while [00:28:00] and it just to see I know it wasn't your best time, but still honed in that potential to actually make reality of, how good you really are, and so just recently though, you've tapped into another gear at CIM, tell me about this. This was a month ago or a few weeks ago. I don't remember.

Shantel Cloud: Yeah, it was just two weeks ago. ~ ~Yeah. So my kids are old enough now where they all are in school. This is my first my first half of a school year with all of them in school, full time.

That's great.

Chris Detzel: Now you get to really train.

Shantel Cloud: Yeah, and I think that's exactly what happened. I was able to really concentrate. I started working with a nutritionist, which I feel like was a big difference maker, too. Why didn't

Chris Detzel: you do this five years ago?

Shantel Cloud: I know! I'm like, why didn't I do this when I was younger?

Chris Detzel: Yeah.

Shantel Cloud: I felt like age was starting to catch up with me a little bit. I was like gaining a little weight and I'm like, why am I gaining weight when I'm still running so much? And again, I was just like content and I guess this is just [00:29:00] my life now. And I was like, you know what, let's give it a go.

Start thinking there. I know. How do you

Chris Detzel: think differently, I love

Shantel Cloud: it. And so I decided to hire a nutritionist, and I don't know if you've heard of NutraWorks? Yeah. They're local. But Maria at NutraWorks, she's been amazing. And again, just knowing that someone was like watching, cause I would track everything that I was eating.

And I knew she was watching when I was eating. It just I felt amazing on every workout. I feel like I recovered easier. Just being like very intentional with how I was feeling not just for races, but for training every

Chris Detzel: single day. Yeah. Yeah.

Shantel Cloud: And so I feel like that was probably the biggest difference on this race.

And then of course still working with my coach. So I feel like I have a whole team now for this hobby. I think that's

Chris Detzel: the way to do it. How do you continue to get better and better? And you added the coach, then you added the nutritionist and tell us what happened.

Shantel Cloud: Yeah. Training went awesome.

Of course, [00:30:00] yeah. I had to do all the recovery things now that I'm getting older, but I feel like I was very intentional with fueling and recovery and sleep. So all the things finally came together for me. And I truly did not believe that I could break three hours until maybe a week before the race.

Chris Detzel: Like you're thinking that before the race. Yeah, I was already

Shantel Cloud: looking at like my next goal race. Like maybe I do it in the next one. Maybe I just get closer to three on this one. Because there's something about running under a seven minute mile for that long that just, I was like, man, that seems so impossible to me.

Chris Detzel: There's that mental again though. You're playing mental games. It is.

Shantel Cloud: We all did that by

Chris Detzel: the way.

Shantel Cloud: Having my coach tell me like, you're ready was the. final thing I needed to hear to go for it. Because he's not a guy that would give you false hope. If he didn't think I was ready, he would have told me like, let's target a different race to do this at.[00:31:00]

And so I just, took a leap of faith and I feel like I still started the race conservatively. I started at, like seven minute miles just to see how my body was going to respond that day, cause you just never know. ~ ~Even as much work and the training as we put into it, you just don't know how your body's going to feel.

Sevens felt like jogging. So

Chris: that's awesome.

Shantel Cloud: Just, I started, picking it up a little at a time, started doing like six fifties here and there. And then by halfway I was like, I feel amazing. Let's keep chipping away. And I went down a little bit more to six 45s and six forties.

And just zone out the rest of the race. I don't remember seeing anybody I don't remember what the scenery looked like. I couldn't tell you a single thing about it except that I was just grinding, and so I ended up running a 2. 58.

Chris Detzel: Wow.

Shantel Cloud: Yeah.

Chris Detzel: Wow. That's amazing. Chinto, like where you've just this story just continue to get better.

Watch or [00:32:00] listening to this and just watching you over your running career and have known you like, you've just changed and I think you have to do that. You went from running just DRC, which was really good for you. But then, eventually you get a coach because you were stuck at that 315, how that actually, turned out and then get a nutritionist and you go to another, like you went from level to a better level, to a better level.

I love that and it's, and a lot of times that in runners, if they continue to do what you've done, right? You just learn and get better. And a lot of times, sometimes our own mental. Thinking gets in the way, which it's all of us, like none of us are going to be like elite runners per se, we could be good runners and, like for you, you're winning races and, you're, you've had a few babies and, you've had to go through all that, like you've had to go through life just like everybody else. And you continue to get better as you get older. How awesome is that?

Shantel Cloud: I know. It really is incredible. And I'm hoping that. My kids see me persevering through all this. That's really what I want to gain. Like times are great [00:33:00] and all, but I want my kids to like, see, Oh, mommy like has goals and she's attaining a lot of them. And so I don't know. I just, I feel like it's teaching them life lessons.

Cause it's definitely still teaching me life lessons. Every race, I feel like I just learned something more.

Chris Detzel: I'm sure that your kids, look, they're young, but they're already proud of you, and they probably want to be like mommy, and I think you're just teaching them the right things, yeah.

Chris: Yeah.

Chris Detzel: I think that's awesome. Chantel, that's all I have time for today, but this has been amazing. Thank you for coming on today.

Shantel Cloud: Oh, thank you. I appreciate you. It was so great talking to you.

Chris Detzel: Yeah, you too. And, thank you everyone for tuning in to another DFW Running Talk. I'm Chris Detzel.

And again, thank you, Chantel.

Shantel Cloud: Thanks. All right.