Support Kelsey in Puerto Vallarta
It’s 4am local time in Mascota, Mexico and Kelsey has just started the 152km Wixárika race at Puerto Vallarta by UTMB.
The best place to keep track of her progress is by visiting the event’s webpage. It’s possible that the race’s media team will post additional photos and videos on its Instagram page.
We also have a special request for this race:
Please consider sending Kelsey a short message of support in the “Kelsey’s Crew” Telegram group. Normally, Kelsey doesn’t check these during a big run, but she’s running this race without aid station crew, so she intends to draw on virtual cheers to keep her going.
A quick note for those who are used to following Kelsey’s Instagram for race updates — it won’t be active during the race because all of her usual crew members are watching from home.
This race is a surprise addition to Kelsey’s 2024 race calendar. In fact, she only signed up a week ago! Since making the decision to run, Kelsey has been working on understanding how to “be ready” to run 100 miles, without having trained specifically for this race. The word “trust” came up a lot: trust her training, trust herself, trust her experience, trust that feeling rested, recovered, and excited to run can take you a long way.
In 100 miles, everything is possible.
You might be wondering, why she chose this race. There are competitive reasons (the top 3 finishers in the women’s race get direct entry into next year’s UTMB and finishers of the women’s race who score above 600 can register for next year’s UTMB) and practical reasons (the race is in North America, making it much easier to get to than many other UTMB races), but more than that, it was just time for Kelsey to run again. She’ll be out there, “channeling ‘fun’ and reminding myself to enjoy the journey: river crossings, jungle trails, and finding strength inside to keep going when it feels hard.”
Looking back on the last couple of months, it’s obvious that she was on the lookout for another race to run before the end of 2024, but as opportunities came and went, it wasn’t always clear that she would find one. It took support from quite a few people, some who might not realize just how important their support was, to make this idea a reality — thank you to each of you.
Now, just because Kelsey’s regular crew isn’t with her at this race doesn’t mean that she’s on her own. She has been spending time with some trail running pals and, in typical Kelsey fashion, would like for you to cheer them on too. Here is a list of friends who are on course this weekend:
In the 100 mile (152km) race:
Reid Burrows, Alyssa Clark, and Gabriel DeRossi
In the 100 kilometre (95km) race:
Arden Young, Jason Schlarb
In the 50 kilometre race (49.4km):
Marc-Olivier Girouard
Alright, that’s it, that’s all. It’s time for the running and the “dot-watching” to begin (we call it dot watching, because we watch the little “Kelsey” dot on the map move around).
-Adam with input from Ralph (the dog), on Kelsey’s behalf, from Fredericton
