Kamal Datta (00:00.142) You know, so I'll run 25 miles and then the next day and run 27 miles all on trail. Of course, the pace is slower. So my comfortable pace on road is like 838, 40. So a good heart rate. So 830, 40 in the trails, can be 930 to 1030, depending on running in the elevation. But as we know, as runners, hill work is speed work in disguise. When I was focusing on trying to run a BQ, I was constantly getting injured. because I was doing speed work and repeats and beating my body up in a different way with my ultras and trail running, I'm putting in, I think the max is usually 75 to 78 miles a week. So averaging 50 to 70 miles a week when I'm training for a marathon, it's a lot less. But again, back trails, I don't do speed work. Welcome, Crystal. Great to have you on the spot. Thanks for having me. Great. Let's start with a quick introduction, if you to share a little bit about your background. Oh, gosh. I started as a marathon runner back in, oh, gosh, what year was that? 2013. And since that time, I have progressed into ultra running and more dipping my toe back into the road marathon circuit, running Boston this past year. because I qualified for the first time in my lifetime. So had to go back and go back to Boston as a qualified runner. But yeah, my journey really now is focused on ultras and trail running, but was excited to be back on the road experiencing Boston and back in that. It's such a different environment. it's. That is true. Was that your East 2025 or your first Boston? No, I ran. Boston in 2015, I was gifted a bib from one of the marathon bombing victims. used to be a Watertown police officer. Oh, okay. Thanks for your service. It was only a couple of years. I had since left the police department, but they had Jeff Bauman, who lost his legs at the finish line, had gifted a couple of the bibs to my former colleagues. Kamal Datta (02:22.574) and they didn't want them to go to waste. they had said, reached out to me they're like, you're the only crazy human that we know can run 26 miles in a short notice. And I said, actually I'm already training for another marathon. I had run the Paris marathon and then eight days later ran Boston. yeah. Cause Paris is also a spring marathon too. Right. That's true. Yeah. So since 2015, that was a long journey. to qualify for Boston and you ran this year's Boston as a qualified or BQ runner. Take us to the journey. I think it was interesting, some bumps in the road as well, right? Yeah. yes. So when I started my marathon journey, of course, I think most runners want to achieve Boston qualifying times to get in. without having to raise money for charity, which is also a great cause, but a full-time job. So I would tow the line, multiple marathons, and my training would go well, and I'd show up to the race and blow up. Like, you know, fail, fail, fail, fail. And what I mean by failure, it was more like the internal battles. I would go out too fast, you know, not execute my splits properly. But as a novice runner, there's a lot to learn. in those journeys. And sometimes naturally people just have the flow of running for 26 miles with that even flow and they know how to execute others like myself, struggled a bit mentally, towing the line going, know I'm in fitness, or maybe I've trained too hard in the last few months of my training, my heart rate might've been too high, coming into the race maybe a bit more fatigued. And again, a novice runner may not know those types of you know, things leading up to putting in that 26.2 effort, because it is a long time to run. It's a long distance and so many things can go wrong. So I ended up kind of, I don't want to say falling out of love with running, but the battle internally, you know, I was just like, why am going to put this time in and fail again and again and again? So I was in that negative head space and I was like, I'll try something different. So I signed up for the Vermont 50-Miler. Kamal Datta (04:44.238) And in 2014, so that's September 2014, I ran my first ultra, a 50 miler. And I found the love of running again, because with trail running, you have to train on trails. So it gets out of the monotony of running on roads, know, dodging traffic, the overstimulation, and then getting on trail and then putting in the longer efforts, the longer miles, it just builds a different mentality, mental strength. So going into Big Sur last year, so 2024, I signed up for the lottery at Big Sur, just threw my hat in the ring. I have never run Big Sur before and it looked beautiful in Mount Nesk and there's 1800 feet, about 1800 feet of elevation. And I said, you know, I'll put my toe in for that, got in. And my best friend and I went out to California to run and I didn't look at my watch. I told the line. didn't look at my watch and I ran a Boston qualifying time without even knowing because the effort, now that I run a hundred milers, know, 50 milers, like 50 Ks, the effort and the mentality of the mental tough and fortitude in your brain, just became a lot simpler for me to digest and put myself in that pain cave that everybody loves to talk about. But I actually figured it out. And it took a long time and a lot of other things in my running journey for me personally to get to a Boston qualifying time, to put myself in that position of pain. Because running a Boston qualifying time, I'm in my 40s, even that is still a fast time in my opinion. And it's something that you have to mentally be able to push through or train to. Again, some people are more natural in that pace. others like myself have to work for it. Interesting. Did you went into Big Sur that this would be all I'll put in effort to do a BQ? No, no, I'm just going to run and mentally said to myself, make sure you look around. cause so often in road marathons, I think when you're running at a faster pace, you can't really, you're not sighted, but the Kamal Datta (07:08.236) views at Big Sur are hard to ignore. And if you're ignoring the views or the experience, you're doing it wrong, especially at Big Sur, because it's just the mountains kiss the ocean. It is just a beautiful course. There's a pianoist on the course playing music. I'm like, wow. So I mentally went to that race and was, you know, if I had, you know, I wasn't not trying to run. a BQ, but it wasn't my focus. I was like, let's enjoy this. I haven't run a road marathon in such a long time. Let's, you total line, push my body, see what I can do. And I purposely did not look at my watch because I didn't want to be focusing on, well, now I'm off pace or I'm going too fast. ran by feel and by what my heart rate was feeling. Again, now that I'm more of a seasoned runner, I can evaluate my heart rate. without even looking at my watch. can guesstimate where my range is. I'm pushing too hard. I'm not pushing hard enough. know, hills, my, you know, lay back off the hill a little bit and then try to increase as you go up. Like those are the things I was mentally telling myself without looking at the data. No, that makes total sense. So before you picked up Ultra or the trail running Crystal, How many attempts you had for a big you or Boston? I was running four marathons a year. Oh, OK. You know, and again, I, you know, running longer distances now, it takes a toll. trying to run fast marathons four times a year and a non elite runner again, that's why I think mentally I was like, I, I am pushing myself and for me personally, pushing myself in an area where I am. setting myself up for failure, trying to like, I didn't be cute and immediately looking for another race, even two, three weeks later. And again, it was more for me backing away from the mental challenge of I have to do this. So it started becoming like, yeah, we have goals, but it started becoming more like a burden or job. it was, and that's why I say when I fell out of road running, Kamal Datta (09:26.766) Like I fell out of love with it. I'm like, I am, I am doing something wrong and nobody wants to fail repeatedly. Failure is part of the journey. I mean, we all fail and that's how you learn, but the repetitive failure, it was almost like I was just setting myself up repeatedly multiple times a year for that failure. And it just doesn't feel good. Yeah. Yeah. Now, since you've done both sides and I think your story is a testimony of that, you know, trail running actually helped you. to easily go through the big queue in Big Sur last year. I'll be curious if you had to compare those two kinds of running. Because I think they're both running, but there are some subtle differences, kind of where you plan for it, you train for it, or kind of preparedness you have to have those to run trail run versus a road race is still different. What's your experience like? So for Ultras, so I ran a hundred miler two weeks before Boston. Oh, wow. Okay. And so I ran Umstead 100. It's not technical. And I think there's, I could, I could be misquoting about 9,000 feet of gain elevation. It's in a state park. So there's no like rocks roots, like, you know, technical crazy. It's more just focus on run, running and run. And with a lot of ultras, there's my running mentor, Sean Daler, always put in my head with ultras. There are two people that run hills and ultras, elites and idiots. And I am not either of those. So for example, when I ran the Vermont 100 last summer, that has about 17,000 feet of gain elevation. You're hiking, but you're hiking with a purpose. So in the differences in my training, I do double back-to-back long runs on the weekends. So I'll run 25 miles and then the next day I run 27 miles all on trail. Of course, the pace is slower. So my comfortable pace on road is like 838.40. So a good heart rate. So 838.40 in the trails, it can be 930 to 1030, depending on running in the elevation. But as we know as runners, hill work is speed work in disguise. Kamal Datta (11:49.356) So with trail running and training for ultras, I don't do speed work. Sometimes I'll naturally run a tempo. Again, being that I have more time as a runner, like even more capability of feeling my heart rate without looking, I'll kind of put in little workouts just naturally. Sometimes I run faster because I'm stressed out at work or you're just having a bad day and so you end up running faster or the weather is crappy. And so you run faster. You're like, this rain's terrible. It's freezing. your body wants to run an eight minute mile today. But with my trail running, which I think you're hitting a good point, when I was focusing on trying to run a BQ, I was constantly getting injured because I was doing speed work and repeats and beating my body up in a different way with my ultras and trail running. I'm putting in, I think the max is usually 75 to 78 miles a week. So averaging, you know, 50 to 70 miles a week when I'm training for a marathon, it's a lot less. But again, back trails, I don't do speed work. I don't. I've the miles in. again, back to the miles and the time and running, you know, hundred milers at, you know, 19 and 20 hours at a stint when I'm towing the line and putting the pressure on myself to run a shorter distance. Literally, the mantra in my head is it's only going to be three hours and change. Just run. Like it's really this, and I always preface to my running friends, I'm like, I'm not trying to sound arrogant, but in my brain where I have run such, you know, almost four marathons at once, like it's just this, it's just that, and you compartmentalize those miles that you're in. And I think a lot of runners do that in a race, like I'm in this mile, I'm in this moment, reach, reach, reach, reach, reach. And you'd be surprised running. Umstead 100 took me 19 hours and 35 minutes. It's my personal best. Oh, wow. But it goes by so fast, even though it hurts so bad. Yeah, it goes by so fast. And people are like, do you listen to music? You know, how do you keep yourself entertained, occupied? I'm like, I'm running 100 miles. There's plenty to keep me entertained. Yeah, you have to find something. Yeah. Yeah. To keep you entertained there. Kamal Datta (14:11.439) That was something. You hit a good point. It reminds me, I had a conversation with, I think, Shandra, therefore, of Train S1 from London, I think. And he's the founder of that company. And one of the things that he said, Kamal, you can run a marathon, train with the longest run at 16 miles, and I can prove you with data. Again, it customizes with your own body that you can actually achieve that. But he said it's possible. You don't have to kill yourself. And his point was, most of the injury happens on the speed workouts or the heel workouts people do go fast. It's like his goal is to run injury free. think it's time primary driving factor. And he was a physician in my background when he started that one. And that reminds me, I think you mentioned that most of the times you're going hard and hard on the track running or in heel workout and you get the injuries. It's not the long runs that you pretty much, cause you are running in a normal pace. I pulled my calf, I tore my calf and because for me, I'm a runner that runs with my calves versus my glutes. So I was very prone to those types of injuries. So, you know, I have the speed I'm, I'm vertically challenged. So I'm only five foot two. So I'm naturally built to sprint, but you know, when I do it, my body is like, I don't think so. Cool. So Welcome to your race day experience. You qualified for Boston running Big Sur last year, and then you ran Boston as a qualified this year. How was the race day experience? I'm sure it must have felt special. it was very special. So I'm part of the New Bedford track team. So, Bub, we don't have a luxury bus. We rented a school bus, but... We went together, I drove up with my friends, which is very different experience from 2015. My old captain drove me to the start line on a police cruiser, so that was quite a bit different. Yeah, yeah. It was a very different experience. So, know, 2025, I take the school bus up from the New Bedford area, and then I was with my friends, and we sat in the bus, which was nice, instead of having to sit in the open field at the village. Kamal Datta (16:30.99) And it has plenty of porta potties over with the buses and we have our bags, our food. So it's a very relaxing experience when you get to do a bus that way and you have shelter. The weather was actually pretty perfect this year, but we know Boston, can be 100 degrees, it can be 30 degrees. So having the shelter was nice and your friends to hang out with and chat with and keep the nerves down. And now again, back to being an ultra runner. I don't get, I get, everyone gets a little bit nervous, but my race day jitters, maybe again, not to sound arrogant, but I'm like, I know in my brain now I'm like, I can do this. If everything goes well, I can complete the distance. Like that's not the challenge. The challenge like how is your day going to go? So like the unknowns I think are what kind of, you know, make me a little bit nervous, but I don't really get like the race day, like complete meltdown jitters anymore, which is nice. And then, you know, walking again, I didn't walk through the village the last time I ran Boston. I was like, when my friends are like, this is a long walk. And I'm like, joking. I'm like, we're still walking. You know, we're still walking. We're still walking. We're still walking. And one of my friends, I was in the blue wave. So I think I was wave, I was Corral two and other friends were six and four. So, you know, I was giving them hugs as they're peeling off and and now I go up to my Corral. And it was quite organized. I didn't have to use the porta potties on the way to the race start, but it looked like that was, I mean, busy, but it looked like it was well organized. And then the Corral system itself, way better experience than London, because I ran London six days later. Oh, you did? Oh, awesome. OK. Yeah. So I had a busy April. But yeah. Running London six days later and experiencing, you know, having the most starters and finishers of a marathon in the world, because we made Guinness Book of World Records. Yeah. Now, like reflecting on London and Boston experience, London really needs to fix some things. But Boston is just it was a seamless experience. You know, once the the gun is sounded, I was able to, you know, it's congested. You know, the first, you know, Kamal Datta (18:52.91) two miles or so, but then I was able to run my own pace. Not really a lot of dodging and weaving, just more like looking down, making sure you're not falling over train tracks or potholes. I did see a few people fall because of road hazards. But no, it's such a great, smooth experience. feel like Boston has it. Boston and I think even New York, would say, I've ran New York some years ago, that they have their systems ironed out. very precisely and allows each runner's, know, corral and wave to run appropriately, which is nice because a lot of people are trying to qualify again for Boston at Boston, which luckily I was able to accomplish. I was stopped two weeks after running a hundred and I got a PR by like a minutes. wow. That's awesome. What time is the start? Start was at, so by the time you reached the village and your start, what was the gap was a couple of hours or minutes? when I got into the corral first, it was like... Get out of the bus versus and then it started. I would say it was less than, I think it was less than like 20 minutes. I would say like, because once I got in my corral, I think I was standing there for less than 10 minutes. It was not a long time. Yeah. On a side note, I did actually catch and disqualified two runners because there was a runner in my queue that was bib-mealing. Oh really? That's a whole nother topic, but yeah. I had to look through 700 pictures, but I found them and they got disqualified because he turned sideways and I was like, because I'm only five foot two and the gentleman was like six feet. And I was like, you're wearing two bib numbers. And he pretended not to speak English and ran away. I see. But yeah, no, I caught him. and him and his wife got disqualified. He passed the bib off at the 30K mark and she ran 30K into the finish. no. I remember I talked to Dave, actually, of the Epic Libre of Boston and also Frankie Louise of Miami on the same topic on my other discussion on the pod. And there is this whole effort actually goes in for the same purpose. you know, I think there is a terminology I think Frankie used. Kamal Datta (21:16.698) to catch and I talked to the Martin photos president to, he was telling him, can you catch when you're taking all the photographs? But it's so many runners and then the support is lot going on that it's tough. Yeah, kudos to you that you're able to do that. It took me two weeks, but I found them and they did it. They actually cheated in Berlin to get the qualifying time for his wife. So I've emailed. Everybody I am in and they did disqualify them, but I haven't heard back. emailed the BAA. I emailed Berlin. I emailed Abbott. I emailed the Marathon Investigator, but I did find them. So hopefully they're barred from cheating again. So it's just, mean, people work so hard for charity. yes. to take such to take numbers from runners that are trying so hard for such a small selected pool, especially Boston. It's just, I don't know. It's just so unethical. I mean, take your example. You, 2015 to 10 years, you waited to go as a Boston Coyote Fire and ran. And yeah, I hear you completely hear you. Kamal Datta (22:25.71) Now you ran the Boston and I think you did ultra the upstate hundred and you said London right after. And since you are in the Boston area, I'll be curious your training because it's kind of different than other parts of the country training in the winter and stuff. You have to do a lot of planning your mercy of the weather to walk us a little bit of the training part of it. Oh, yeah. So I run outside every day I run. So there is no treadmill work for me. If it's pouring rain, if it's snowing, if it's sleeting, if it's icy, I'm outside. Trails, have apparatuses for my shoes. I have YAT tracks. I have more intense spikes for the ice. But yes, I will not run on a treadmill. Yeah, I know it's a love-hate relationship with the runners and the treadmills. Okay. But for example, this past weekend, I ran an 88K in Vermont. about it was like 54 miles trail. In 90, no, I'm exaggerating, probably 80 % of the trail was mud up to my shins, knees, like ankles. So, you know, have I ever run a mud race like that before? No, but I've run in the rain, I've run with wet feet, and I ran all day in mud. Yeah. So I'm like, so why I say that is like you never know what race day is going to bring. a lot of people that are like, you know, for some medical reasons, people like a lot of my running friends have is it Reynard's, the like you get cold hands. Like I understand medically why it's necessary to run on treadmills. But race day may not be perfect. It might be 95 with 110 percent humidity. Yeah. pouring when I ran my first hundred, which was I'm stead as well. There it was sleeting it. There was thunderstorms right overhead. There was a tornado warning. So you can't there's race day is not going to be perfect. get a perfect race day. Boston and London this year were a bit warm, but they were perfect. So it wasn't raining. wasn't snowing, you know, all those things. But you never know what race day is going to bring. So for me, Kamal Datta (24:42.57) It's always outside. You should see the looks I get. I run regularly in my neighborhood down the street. It's a mile around, like kind of giant cul-de-sac. one year, the year it snowed like right around the Super Bowl, that was a couple of years ago, I ran 18 loops around that neighborhood. Right? I had my gear on. I literally saw people come out of their houses, like their driveways weren't clear. And then, you know, by the time I'm done running for hours, everyone is like, they're like, how many more loops are you going to run? Yeah, And coincidentally, I'm like, that's where I run to be safe. And coincidentally, in 2020, that's where I got hit by a car. Oh, really? On the same, on my loop? Yeah, I got hit by a car from behind because the woman was looking at her phone. I it against traffic. It was, yeah. Oh, you're with the traffic. You're running on the same. Okay. I see. No, against traffic. She came, you know, across the street and hit me because she was looking down and she crossed over the lane and hit me for. Oh my goodness. Why is there a car behind me? You should be over there. So yeah. I hope it does not sound serious. Yeah. Just some tissue damage, but we were fine. It took, it took six months to recover, but I still ran. It's fine. Cool. One of the things I love to chat, Crystal, and I think you alluded in different parts of the conversation, something about your support system. So you're running for 10 plus years, and I'm sure you build a support system around you, because I think you just said you did another 88 mile or trail run to any do a lot of trail runs and ultras. How does your support system looks like? And I'll be curious if I'm to share it with someone who's want to go in your path or try out, how does it think about building a support system around them? So luckily my husband is very supportive of my race. mean, racing, he gets a bit exhausted. I have a 13 year old son who he's actually now running with our high school, middle school. was together and small. So my son's able to participate. Kamal Datta (27:07.566) in cross-country indoor track and track. And he's been doing that on his own. So I think I'm already leading by example. That's awesome. I I'm waiting for my son to pick up one of the days. He's going win, but yeah, hopefully he'll He won't run with me. I'm like, let's go for like a two mile run. No, he's a teenager. So we'll get through that. My husband's also athletic. He's a mountain bike rider. does Jiu-Jitsu. My son also does Jiu-Jitsu. But yeah, so leading by example, I have a good support system with my husband and son now just so used to like, mom's going for a run for the next five hours. I'll be back. And so that is not unusual. It does take a toll on me and trying to coordinate my life because I also work full time. it is a lot to balance. But for me personally, I need that. And then come to race day. For me as a so for my 50 my 54 mile run this past weekend I Have a bunch of friends at that race and you come through headquarters on You pass through it a few times so I was able to my gear in the back of my car Okay, just pop it open fill up my water. Yeah, my fuel Talk to my friends and then leave so that race is structured Very supportive, it's a very supportive, it's called Infinitus, it's very supportive race. But for like my 100 milers, rule of thumb, I never have my husband crew me because, and I love him dearly and some people do, some people have their partners as their crew chief and coordinators and that works for them. It just, I know myself and my family, I'm like that won't work for me. I need. because my husband is not so much a runner. He's a sprinter. He'll go for like, you a 5K run, but he's not a long distance runner. So I need someone and people around me when I'm doing hundreds that can empathize when they need to, and then also lay the hammer down when they need to. And if my husband was laying the hammer down and I met him while we eat something, their names is full blown domestic. I hear you. Kamal Datta (29:22.606) I currently, the last 200s I've run, so I'm stead at this year and Vermont 100 last year, I used the same crew chief, my friend, Cib Gibson and a pacer, my pacer twice, Gwen Taradash. She's my young chicken. She's in her twenties. I'm in my forties. I'm like close to her mom's age, but she's such an old soul and she is so good and kind. So the team of them where Gwen is like the good cop and Kim can be the bad cop and it's really great. So especially at Umstead, wanted to a sub 20 and I was running too fast the first few loops, cause it's a 12 and a half mile loop course. And Kim's like, when are you going to start to slow down? And I was like, ah! The other way around. Okay. I'm running this race the wrong way. I should have run slower to run faster. But again, execution sometimes doesn't always go well. And she just looks at me and she's like, you're not going to break sub 20. She's like, get your act together. So she knows when to like lay into me. And by the way, I did break sub 20, but she was trying to 19, You did 19. 19.35, but she was trying to like, yeah, she was trying to reposition. what I was doing and it ended up working because we were like seven and a half, no, five miles from finishing. And when my pacer was like, can I talk to you about your pace again? I was like, yeah, I was like, what? And so my friend back home in Plymouth was she's very analytical and she follows along. So she's like doing the numbers and texting them. And she's like, if she can maintain this, she has that. So Gwen's like, if you stop whining, and pick up your feet, you can break some 20s. So we did. pick back up time. Yeah. She's like, come on, you can do it. it really, for me, I need the Pacer. I need a crew chief. I do have friends. A couple of my friends, Tino and Ryan last year at the Vermont 100 ran solo. So they had drop bags. And that works for some runners. I need the human interaction. Kamal Datta (31:35.638) I like, especially at the hundred mile distance, you start doing like this hallucinating, like a hundred mile stare and your brain doesn't really work very well. So like just making sure other humans are knowing that you're safe and that you have the things that you need. More seasoned runners are more like, I find it's more men that tend to run unsupported. And maybe their brains just, it would be an interesting study if their brains are different than women, where women tend to be more empathetic. and need that human interaction. And for me, I definitely do. So huge support system. And this was actually a topic on, I think one of the trail running pages I'm on on Facebook about paying your cruise way. So I always pay for their flights, accommodations, food, parking at the airport. Like it is not cheap. I know. Yeah. Not cheap. But again, it's something that it's like, I always look at it. even like when I went to the Zion 100, I'm like, this is a beautiful place to be, but you're not on vacation, your job is me. So it's very important to have a supportive crew and to, know, if you can financially support them through your journey as well. Cause that's a lot to ask. yeah. And you need that too. I know it's obviously running an Altra is definitely not a hobby that It's a cheap hobby. definitely, it has this, you know, can go in an ultra or you call, make it an extravagant as you want, or versus keep it as shoestring as you want to, it's not, but even though that you can do in a shoestring budget as such. What's next for you, so I go back to the Vermont 50. We've been going for, since 2010, I think I've missed running a couple years, one because I got a new job in 15, but I had to be away for training. And then I ran Chicago Marathon in October of 18, so I didn't run then. But I've run, I think I've run it like eight, nine times. I tend to, I've run the 50 mile or twice there, but I usually stick to the 50K because it's kind of how I end my race year. this year, my race calendar was kind of Kamal Datta (33:55.886) crazy because I got into the Umstead 100-Miler on a whim. I threw my hat in the ring and got in on the second chance lottery. And then I knew I had qualified for Boston, so that was on the docket already. And then I got into London two months prior to London, so I wasn't expecting to get into London because I went through marathon tours and they had an extra. you did? Okay, okay. Yep. And they reached out. And I was like, I can't pass this opportunity up. I've been trying to get into London for like a decade. And then I had already signed up for the 88 K this past weekend in May. So it's just coincidental that everything for my race calendar was shoved into like a month and a half. And then I will finish my year with the Vermont 50 K. It's just a beautiful, fun race. It's beautiful in Vermont in the fall. And we have a lot of friends that go back because it's a mountain bike race as well. So it's a great race to attend and kind of just relax. And I don't normally have any goals going into that race. And subsequently, was it two years ago, I ended up winning the 50K female because the elite runners didn't show up. I'm not downplaying my victory. But when I was told I was first place female, like a female, I actually like cussed at the guy. I was like, what are you talking about? first place. Yeah, I was because there's usually a lot of elite runners that go to 50k and they can hammer the 50k out in like four and a half hours. So a lot I've not achieved that level of speed on the 50k on that course. So it's pretty impressive. So that's it's a fall race and it's in Vermont yet. I think you can enjoy quite a bit during the fall. Yeah. Have you got the world marathon majors bug yet or no? I think you said in the New York, Boston, Chicago, as well as London. And Berlin. Okay. I only have Tokyo left of the original six. family and I actually went to Africa last summer. And so I already know personally, I would not run a marathon in Africa. It's South Africa. We went to Tanzania. Different parts. Kamal Datta (36:17.166) Africa to me, I'm like, if you're going to go to Africa, I want to like enjoy the vacation and not throw a run in there. Cause for me personally, if I'm racing, it makes the vacation part quite, um, and then I'm actually going to Australia in 2027, but for, um, a personal vacation. So again, traveling that far on the world, maybe when I'm retired, but Tokyo I'm still questioning because my experience in London was quite overwhelming and it just reinforces that I am more trail runner. enjoy the trail running etiquette and you find that I actually made a comic, so I got hit in the face by a woman because she was taking a photo op. So she threw her arms out and smacked me across the face in London. And I posted about it on a Facebook page. Of course there was trolls, but my point of saying this is they were like, well you should expect that, you know? And I'm like, gosh, no, I don't want to be hitting the face while I'm running anything. So in Tokyo I hear is even more congested. And I just don't know if that's a right fit for me in this current state of my life. I'm like, I don't know if I'll wait a little bit to run Tokyo. but I feel very grateful that I got to run London because that was definitely on the list. and Boston as a qualifier, Chicago, Berlin, and, New York were also wonderful experiences. But so I'm like, I don't know. right now for me, I'm chasing a Western state century. okay. So my friend Sean, got to run last year and it took him nine years to get in. So, and with that, you have to run a qualifying hundred miler every year to put in for the lottery. Is there a time there too on the qualifying hundred mile run? So you just have to finish the race within the within the time that the race allots. Okay. Okay. And then, you know, of course, as you know, in the running circuit, Kamal Datta (38:34.926) You know, every year people are challenging themselves to greater distances. So every year there are more people putting in for those lotteries, Boston and Western States. All those types of things are still a factor and Western States. There's only, I think they only pull around 220 tickets and you have thousands of runners. So, okay. So like right now that's my focus. So I think I would like to go to Tokyo and run. The problem is, is I would like to take my son, but he has school. in March, so he doesn't have March break. So I think I'd feel guilty if my husband and I went to Tokyo without him. So there's a lot to consider there. Not the top of the list, but definitely I would, you now that I'm one short of the six originals, I'm like, you know, it's kind of something I'm like, I should do. Yeah, I did take my son off the school. My wife was not definitely happy. In 2022, I did the Tokyo. Yeah, that time. What was your experience? you have any? I didn't have, it was great. I it was just, I think they canceled or only the elites run the 2021. So 2022 is the first time still like COVID restrictions are there. So it was too much restrictions. So if you're looking for like what not to happen like in London, it's probably the right place that time. Cause still have the distance and people wearing mask at the start and then you can take it out, but you have to put it back on the finish line. But People are, and again, there is, everything is so well organized and goes everything on time. Things move pretty smooth. We stayed there for a week and covered quite aspects of Tokyo around Tokyo too. So my son had a ball and no scolds, just won. But I hear your point of combining and race because it's all revolves around how you blend things around. We happen to have friends there in Tokyo we can catch up. So it was great. And my wife has some colleagues. So it was good to catch up a lot of things. And pretty much every night we had dinner with somebody new. So it was a lot of fun. So if you can combine all these aspects, I think it can be a great experience too. Yeah. Yeah. I appreciate your feedback. And how old was your son when you took him? So it was 2022. He's a sixth grader now. So a third grader. and he really enjoyed it. Kamal Datta (40:56.687) Yeah, yeah, he had a lot of fun. mean, you know, if you are into Nintendo and also, you know, it's a haven for kids. Yeah, I covered the Disney world there too. Yeah, it was just a lot of fun. So combine a lot of activities for kids and for us as much as you can. Yeah, I like that feedback. Thank you. Yeah. Hopefully your son can enjoy it. think there a lot of things to do for everyone there in Tokyo, too. And then the food experience can be amazing if you are into food. I love food. Well, was great catching up with you, Crystal. Thanks for sharing your journey and story. And your story is very unique and glad to hear that you did BQ without realizing that you did BQ and actually enjoyed it. So thank you. Good to have you on the pod. Nice to meet you. Thank you for your time.