In January 2023 I marked off a bucket list race, but it didn't come easy. Life was throwing a ton at me, I was using all efforts to get treatment for my heel pain, couldn't train, and my weight reached the highest ever. I figured my experience would prevail, but I was not prepared for technical terrain of this course which was gorgeous and difficult. As I narrowly made each aid station cutoff, my negative thoughts consumed me, and I almost dropped out, as I had to walk so much of the course. I kept pushing through and finished this race with only about 8 minutes left to spare. I am grateful to finish, and now look to a long recovery and rest period, before attempting another race.