[00:00:00] Walter: The hearts of gold podcast is brought to you by the grow and share network produced by off the Walter media.
[00:00:11] Sheryl: Welcome to hearts of gold today. We have Kaylee with us. Hi, Kaylee.
[00:00:16] Kaylee: Hi, my name is Kaylee. I’m so glad to be talking to you all today. Thank you for having me on the show.
[00:00:21] Sheryl: I am so glad that you have the time to speak with us.
[00:00:24] Thank you for joining us.
[00:00:25] Kaylee: Yeah, again, thank you so much for having me on. I’m excited to talk to you.
[00:00:29] Sheryl: Can you tell us about your Girl Scout Gold Award project?
[00:00:32] Kaylee: I started Girl Scouts a little backstory whenever I was in kindergarten. And just as I went through, I knew that I wanted to get my gold award just because one, I enjoyed Girl Scouts and I thought if I get my bronze and silver award, I might as well get my gold award.
[00:00:47] So whenever I finally got to that point, Point I had no clue what to do. I had some thoughts, maybe doing something with mental health awareness because my sister struggled a lot with that. Maybe do something about bullying in school. I really had no idea. And then one day I was out running on the trails.
[00:01:05] A local trail called the John P. Saylor trail in Gletsen State Forest. And I run there a lot. And every time I run there, my feet get soaked and muddy and it’s just not good. And I thought, Huh, why don’t I do this for my golden Lord? So I built wooden bridges and we put them out. It was over a hundred feet.
[00:01:24] a hundred feet of wooden bridges. So now that when I go out, but most importantly, when everyone else goes out, they get to experience the trail and they don’t have to worry about that. They can just go enjoy nature without worrying about getting their feet soaking wet.
[00:01:39] Sheryl: What challenges did you face in working to build these bridges?
[00:01:43] Kaylee: Getting the bridges to the area because we couldn’t build them on the trail because we didn’t have the equipment. We needed saws and everything. So we built them at 1 of my friend’s house who actually has equipment and let us use it. And then we had to transport them and the DCNR helped us get them there.
[00:02:06] They found a way to drive them in and then just placing them was pretty difficult. We kind of had to improvise as we went because we didn’t have enough cinder blocks because the mud was deeper than we thought. So we had to start carrying in just like walking in the woods and finding big rocks. So just kind of improvising as we went and really figuring out how to make sure they were sturdy so they would last for years.
[00:02:29] Sheryl: What conversations did you have in order to get permission to place those bridges in the state park? I
[00:02:35] Kaylee: had to talk to the district forester. His name was Bob and he was really really helpful with helping me Figure out how the heck are we gonna get these bridges down there? How the heck do we even go about this and just like how do I meet their regulations and make sure I’m not you know, hindering any type of wildlife or any type of plants or anything that were out there because the goal was to put them in with as little disruption to nature as possible.
[00:03:04] So he was really helpful with that aspect of it. Who else was on your team and how did they help you? I’m in a local group of friends that we like to do all kinds of outdoor things and so I asked any of them if they wanted to help and I had about 10 people help. They helped me build the bridges so it was way more efficient than just having like me and my mom trying to build 100 feet of bridges.
[00:03:28] So they all helped us put together. We split into little teams. Some people cut the pieces of wood. Some of us were using the nail. Guns and like the hammers to actually put them together. Some of us were just moving the pieces all around. So actually building it, we all just split into different teams.
[00:03:47] And then again, they came out another day to help me put them in place. And again, we just kind of had to split up into teams. Like we’ll start on this end. We’ll start putting the cinder blocks in and start placing the bridges while you guys start putting the nails in. And it was definitely a team effort because you know what a bridge looks like.
[00:04:07] These things were long and they were heavy. So you had to have at least pretty much four people to carry one of them. So it was a team effort. I could not have done it without everyone that came out to help.
[00:04:19] Sheryl: How did you build your leadership skills as you went through the project?
[00:04:23] Kaylee: It was definitely difficult to manage so many moving parts, getting everyone together at the same day at the same time is one thing.
[00:04:32] And then getting there and saying, okay, guys, what we’re doing is potentially dangerous. We’re working with big pieces of wood. We’re working with saws. We’re working with hammers. Like we like to joke around and have fun, but we have to be serious whenever we’re working with these tools and everything. So making sure that I had.
[00:04:53] People who knew what they were doing in each group. For example, Bill, he was, he’s really good at working with saws. We were at his house. So I just just like, okay, can you do this and help Owen with this as well? And make sure no one dies. So just kind of not putting off my responsibility. But kind of taking me being in charge and helping other people be in charge to make sure it all got done safely and correctly, because we’re putting all this time and effort and money in.
[00:05:23] We don’t want it to just, those bridges to be there for two years and then they fall apart.
[00:05:28] Sheryl: What challenges did you face and how did you overcome
[00:05:32] Kaylee: them? At first I was really worried about finding money because I was, I was scared. I have anxiety and I was scared to like, go ask businesses for money to sponsor the project.
[00:05:45] So really kind of overcoming that, I wrote up a letter, like a professional letter to give to companies and just talking to the people, I definitely had to overcome just that kind of anxiety of asking people for money. And I had to realize. I’m not asking them to give me money. I’m asking them to sponsor this project that is going to help a lot of people.
[00:06:07] So it’s not like I’m being selfish for myself. I’m trying to do it to make the world a better place. So just kind of overcoming that anxiety was a little difficult. Do you have any special memories from your project? My friend Hillary and I, we were carrying this giant rock together to put over in the mud to raise it up so we could set it on for the bridge and I was carrying it and I stepped in the mud and I just fell right over.
[00:06:34] I, I was covered in mud. I was like soaked and covered in mud. That’s just what I remember. It was, it was definitely kind of funny.
[00:06:42] Sheryl: What did you learn about the Gold Award process itself that could be helpful for future Gold Award Girl Scouts?
[00:06:48] Kaylee: Don’t go into the project thinking you’re going to get it done in a week.
[00:06:52] The Gold Award is something that takes a long, long time. And it’s something where you might start it and then you might have to take five months off because of you’re waiting on a response from someone else. You’re waiting for permission. You’re waiting for sponsors, or you’re in high school and your life gets so crazy that you can’t think about doing the gold award.
[00:07:17] So start it early and time management is really important. And if you don’t have time management, you will learn it during your goal to work because 80 hours is a lot of hours to accumulate. So just being aware that it’s not a project that you’re going to get done a weekend.
[00:07:34] Sheryl: What skills do you think improved for you the most during the Gold Award project?
[00:07:40] Kaylee: Definitely my leadership skills just from managing so many people and honestly my building skills. I didn’t, I’m not, I don’t know a lot about woodworking. So, Bill helped me learn a lot about that while building this. He kind of helped me. He’s honorary Girl Scout, we always say, because we really helped each other out.
[00:08:02] And he was so great in helping me. So, I learned a lot about woodworking and more about how that works. And kind of my anxiety, like I was talking about talking to people and having the courage to stand up and lead a group whenever I needed to.
[00:08:17] Sheryl: You mentioned the project was prompted because you run on those trails.
[00:08:22] Why do you run on those trails?
[00:08:24] Kaylee: I just love running. I love running. I run road. I run trail wherever I can get outside and it’s. Maybe 10 minutes from my house. So it’s really nice to just drive out there and go for a nice run.
[00:08:37] Sheryl: I think that you need to self promote yourself a little bit more. Can you share when you say that you like to run what that really means?
[00:08:47] Kaylee: I’m an ultramarathon runner so ultramarathons is anything from a 50k generally which is 31 miles and up. I really really enjoy the long distance running 100 miles even 200 miles sometimes so I like to push myself in that aspect.
[00:09:06] Sheryl: And if I did my research correctly, you were 14 when you did your first ultra.
[00:09:12] And last summer, when you were 18, you had a pretty special thing happen to you and what was that?
[00:09:20] Kaylee: When I was 14, I did run my first ultra marathon. I ran my first 50K and 50 miler. And then last year, after a lot more racing between the ages of 14 and 18, a lot of training, a lot of hard work, I was selected to run Badwater 135, which is the world’s toughest foot race.
[00:09:39] And I was the youngest person to ever complete it at age 18. So that was one of the greatest experiences in my entire life. It was just. I was so honored to be selected out of one, one of 100 athletes from around the world to get to run.
[00:09:57] Sheryl: Can you tell us a little bit more about what makes Badwater such a difficult ultra marathon?
[00:10:04] Kaylee: Badwater is a 135 mile foot race that starts in Badwater Basin. Bob Holder Basin is the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere, and it just so happens to be located in Death Valley, California, which is the hottest place in the world. And the race takes place in July, which is the hottest month. So, really, the heat is such a big factor because it’s kind of dangerous to be out there.
[00:10:32] So that’s why you need a crew to make sure you’re safe and you’re not dehydrated, you’re not at risk of a heat stroke or anything like that. So it’s really the heat that makes it so difficult, and the fact that it’s 135 miles, so. Once you get going from Badwater Basin and you run through Delaware Alley, you traverse three mountain ranges and you end at Whitney Portal, which is the trailhead to Mount Whitney, which is the highest point in the lower 48.
[00:11:02] So you go through from the lowest point to basically the highest point in the hottest place in the world.
[00:11:09] Sheryl: You mentioned that you had your crew that assisted you over this 135 mile race. Why is the crew so important to you during the race?
[00:11:21] Kaylee: So at Badwater, there are no aid stations at general races, even like a 5k, you know, there’s an aid station that’ll give you water.
[00:11:28] They’ll give you food, whatever you could need. That doesn’t exist at Badwater. Your crew is your aid station. Your crew is your lifeline. They drive every mile and a half to three miles, whatever you need at the time. And they provide you with food, water, Ice, electrolytes, whatever you would possibly need, your crew will have it for you.
[00:11:51] If you don’t have a crew, it’s highly unlikely that you could ever run that distance there, but for this race you are required to have a crew just for the safety aspect, and you need water. To run in the hottest place in the world. And that’s the only way you can get it.
[00:12:08] Sheryl: And I’ll circle back. There are only a hundred people in this race.
[00:12:13] So that is another reason why the crew, why there aren’t aid stations and the crew is so, so vital. Can you tell us about the time limits and what your time was for this race?
[00:12:27] Kaylee: The cutoff for the race is 48 hours, so you have 48 hours to do that 135 miles. There’s cutoffs throughout the race, for example, at Stovepipe Wells, or not Stovepipe miles in, there’s like a, you have to be there by 10 o’clock in the morning.
[00:12:45] So that’s like a strict cutoff. If you aren’t there, you are disqualified. You have to take the DNF and you have to get off the course. So there’s a couple other cutoffs throughout the race that you have to meet or else you cannot continue. So it was really stressful. Like just knowing in my head. Oh my goodness, I have to be here at all costs or else I’m not going to be able to finish the race.
[00:13:08] So you have to meet those kind of costs. And then I ended up finishing the race in 40 hours, six minutes and 43 seconds, I believe. So I had about eight hours to spare, which is a lot. It feels really good in a race. Whenever, whenever you get to the checkpoint, that’s 13 miles from the finish. And I realized I had so much time left.
[00:13:30] I was just like, wow, I’m really going to do this. Like it was just amazing.
[00:13:36] Sheryl: Can you tell us about the experience of being out there in that heat for so long overnight? All the things.
[00:13:46] Kaylee: If you ever tried to pull an all nighter, you know, you get really tired and delirious to try doing 2 of those in a row while you’re also running.
[00:13:54] It is not easy. I thankfully didn’t have any hallucinations of the race, but I know some people do actually hallucinate. They’ll start seeing things. I didn’t thankfully, but I was so, so, so tired the 2nd night. I had 1, 20 minute nap planned for 90 miles in. I took that nap and then I planned on just pushing it out to the finish, but between mile 90 and 120, it was dark.
[00:14:25] It was night. And I had to take two, one 10 minute nap and two five minute naps, I believe, just because I was tired. Swerving all over the road. I would have been like a drunk driver, but I was walking and I just thought this isn’t safe because if I take a step off the side of the road and roll my ankle, I could ruin my race and I would rather sleep for five minutes then not finish the race.
[00:14:48] So I just took a quick break whenever I needed sleep deprivation. Was rough and also the heat. I’m from Georgetown, Pennsylvania. It does not get very hot around here. Maybe 75 degrees on a hot day with humidity. So, going out there, I had some pretty bad heat rash on my legs, which didn’t really blister up only a couple places, but it was painful just from the.
[00:15:16] Sun hitting the asphalt and then that coughing back up onto your legs the way Earth likes. You can’t really imagine it, but. It’s hot. It’s very hot. And also just from being so dry, I actually had like three bloody nose as well, I was out there. I remember running at one point I was running with my friend Keith, who also ran it.
[00:15:36] And I was like, Oh, I’m a bloody nose, but I was like two miles away from my crew. And I said, there’s a random crew along the side of the road for Charles Zuckerman. And I was like, do you think their crew would give me a napkin? And one of the girls heard me and was like, you’re a runner. What do you need?
[00:15:54] And so then she ended up giving it to me, but there’s so many things that are just unexpected out there that you kind of just have to adapt and go along with because quitting isn’t. And often you just have to adapt and keep moving forward.
[00:16:08] Sheryl: You say that you took a couple of five minute naps. How? I can imagine how quickly you could fall asleep, but how do you wake up from a five minute nap to get back on your feet and continue running?
[00:16:21] Kaylee: They had like a camp chair. So I would sit on the chair. They’d have the trunk open. I put my feet up in the trunk. I would run into run up to the car and say, four minute timer, wake me up in four minutes. Do not let me sleep a minute longer. So I literally sit there. I’d fall asleep so fast. And then I’d hear the timer go off and they’d say, it’s time to get up.
[00:16:42] And I’m like, you’re kidding me. That was not enough time. But I just knew, okay, that was enough. I need to get up now and I need to keep moving forward. It was just kind of mentally. I, I didn’t want to do it because I was so tired, but I knew I had to. And I knew, like I talked about before, all those things I had to adapt to ultra running.
[00:17:05] A hundred miles, anything can go wrong. Things are, you’re going to have lows. You’re going to have highs. You’re going to fluctuate between them. And I knew that running bad water was my dream. So dealing with every single low was a part of that dream. So I knew, okay, I don’t want to get up, but I have to get up.
[00:17:23] Sheryl: 8, 000 feet elevation gain. That’s a mile and a half up. How did that feel? Could you tell over the 135 miles where the, where the elevation game gain came in, what was the, how did that impact your running?
[00:17:40] Kaylee: There are three major climbs. So the first one was rough. It was, it’s a 17 mile climb, so it’s not super, super steep, but you are going up for 17 miles straight.
[00:17:53] And that took a lot more out of me than I was expecting. It was not an easy climb. And then the second climb was shorter but steeper and I actually went out to trade on the course. So I had done that section. So I knew what to expect. So that one wasn’t as bad. The last climb is at the end. It’s the final 13 miles, the climb from Lone Pine up to Whitney portal to the finish.
[00:18:17] And I knew that was one heck of a climb. I had been up to Whitney portal before I drove out there. I’d never run it. But it didn’t even feel like I was going uphill because I was so excited to get to the finish. It was like a breeze at that point. I was just so excited I was running on adrenaline.
[00:18:35] Sheryl: I’ve run a 50k. One. Never again.
[00:18:40] Kaylee: That’s amazing. That’s really, really amazing.
[00:18:44] Sheryl: It was, it was the way I celebrated my 50th birthday was to run the 50k. I am very curious though. I was able to train on the route. that I was going to do the race on because it was local to my home. Again, this race is across the country from where you are.
[00:19:03] How did you train, especially for those elevation gains? And, and you mentioned the heat a little bit ago, but how did you train for heat too?
[00:19:11] Kaylee: So, the elevation, I did a lot of races last year. I did a lot of ultras. I went a little crazy with the ultra game last year. So, I used a lot of races to train. For example, like Laurel Highlands, 70 miler, there’s a decent bit of elevation on that race World’s End, 100K, 150K.
[00:19:29] So, those races really helped me with my elevation training. And then As far as heat wise, I did a lot of sauna work. So there’s like a sauna at a local hotel actually. So I go there and do work, do work in the sauna. I actually just like kind of read books in there because it’s kind of small. Sometimes I hit some push ups and stuff if I’m feeling up to it.
[00:19:51] And I also run with tons of layers on. I got a sauna suit and it looks like aluminum foil, but that’s okay. As long as it keeps me hot. So I was able to do that. And about a month before the race, I believe I was able to go spend two weeks in North Carolina with my boyfriend. So it was hotter down there.
[00:20:13] And so I did training down there in the sauna suit. And the heat. So that was also really helpful.
[00:20:21] Sheryl: How does training and preparing and working with your team for your ultras compare to the work that you did on your gold award project with your team?
[00:20:32] Kaylee: You just need to learn to work together. Sometimes people there’s times when you need to be a leader and there’s times when you need to be a follower.
[00:20:41] So, identifying those situations is really important. So, I think that really came into play and communication, like I was talking about with the goal to word, you need to communicate. This is dangerous. Some of these tools are dangerous. I need you to be in charge of this part and manage this while I go over here and do this.
[00:21:01] It’s the same with racing. We’re out in the middle of the desert. If our lines get crossed, if I accidentally run past the crew, because the crew is asleep or something, they wouldn’t do that. But if something goes wrong, you’re out in the middle of the desert. It’s kind of the same thing, just communication and making sure everyone is on the same page is really, really important.
[00:21:24] Sheryl: You mention that you used other ultras as part of your training for the Badwater race. How else do you Work your body, train your body, make it ready to go through such difficulties during that race.
[00:21:42] Kaylee: So I do tons of training, like just regular, I do easy runs, tempo runs, sparklets, speed work, hell repeats, all that fun stuff that if you’re a runner, you’ll know what I’m talking about.
[00:21:53] But outside of running, I do CrossFit, I go to CrossFit every single day. I think cross training is so important for runners because it’ll keep your muscles strong and your ligaments healthy. I think it just helps prevent injury. I’ve had, knock on wood, very minimal injuries since I started running, considering the volume that I’ve done.
[00:22:14] And I really credit a lot of that to the amount of training I do in CrossFit.
[00:22:19] Sheryl: When you say that you do CrossFit, you are all in with CrossFit. You’re actually Is the term coach?
[00:22:27] Kaylee: Yeah, I’m a trainer at my local gym. I went when I was 17 to get my CrossFit level one. So like, I went to get the certificate CrossFit level one trainer.
[00:22:39] And then I started coaching at my gym last year at the beginning of last year. So I’ve been coaching almost a year and a half now at my local gym. And I love it. I love helping other people with the sport that I love.
[00:22:52] Sheryl: What happens when a new member joins the CrossFit gym and you are their trainer and they are in an older age bracket than you?
[00:23:02] What is that interaction like?
[00:23:04] Kaylee: I’m pretty much the youngest person at our gym anyway. So with the members that are there, they’ve all kind of grown to respect me. A lot of them knew me from when I started and I was a 12 year old annoying child. But they kind of saw me grow up and just as I matured, they kind of learned to respect me and become friends with me, just like a normal adult interaction.
[00:23:27] So when new members come in, it’s just kind of a, like, yes, I’m young, but I also know what I’m doing. And I think it’s kind of evident. They realize that quickly, obviously. The owner of our gym wouldn’t let some kid be a coach if they didn’t know what they were doing and they couldn’t be trusted to teach the movement safely and help the members out whenever they needed.
[00:23:52] Sheryl: Are there other activities you’re involved in that impact your time frame? Because you seem to be a very busy person, even with athletics.
[00:24:01] Kaylee: In high school, I was On the soccer team, the track and field team, and the cross country team. And in college, I was on the track and cross country team, but I just recently decided to not do that anymore just because I really want to focus on my ultra training and not like the shorter distance stuff.
[00:24:22] What are you going to school for? What’s in your future? I am double majoring in biology and secondary education with a minor in chemistry and an ESL certification to teach, hopefully, teach high school biology and or chemistry.
[00:24:38] Sheryl: Do you have inspirational words for future Gold Award Girl Scouts? Don’t give up on Girl Scouts.
[00:24:44] Kaylee: I feel like even recently from when I realized it’s kind of dying out, all people know about Girl Scouts is that they sell cookies, which at least locally. That just kind of seems how it is, but Girl Scouts do a lot. They do so much community work to better themselves and their community. So it might seem daunting to think, Oh, I’m a senior and I’m still in Girl Scouts.
[00:25:06] That’s kind of lame, but don’t give up on it because it is. It’s really good. It’s a really good organization and getting your gold award is pretty cool, I think. And if that’s not enough, it looks good on college resumes and everything like that, but just stick with it.
[00:25:24] Sheryl: How do you make your s’mores?
[00:25:26] Kaylee: All right.
[00:25:26] You got to roast them and you got to get them golden brown. You can’t burn them. They have to be like golden brown and bubbly. And then you want to have three of the Hershey’s chocolate slices and your grub crackers.
[00:25:39] Sheryl: Thank you so much for joining me today.
[00:25:42] Kaylee: Thank you. I really enjoyed talking to you.
[00:25:43] Thank you for letting me share a little about my goal to work project and about my running and everything.
[00:25:49] Sheryl: It was all so interesting. I’m glad that you were able to spend some time with us. Yeah. Thank you so much. Make sure to click follow or subscribe. So you always know when new episodes are released.
[00:26:00] Power your passion and conquer your challenges.
[00:26:05] Walter: Thank you for listening. If you’d like to be on the show to share your story of how you earned your gold award, reach out and send an email to growandshare@outlook.Com. Be sure to catch up on our previous shows on any of your favorite podcasting platforms, as well as view the full video versions at youtube.com/SherylMRobinson.
[00:26:27] Thanks again for listening, and we’ll see you next time.