Episode 33: Interview with Kayla Bruzdzinski
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Find someone that inspires you, whether or not you have a running Instagram or a regular Instagram or a Facebook, whatever you have. I mean, find someone that inspires you and have fun with it. Welcome to Chasing Life Podcast, where we talk about fitness, running, career, and life tips to inspire you to live your best life. I'm your host, Sarah Kane, and I hope you enjoy today's episode.

On today's episode of Chasing Life, my guest is Kayla Brudzinski. For Kayla, running has always been a part of her life and has become more of a passion as she's gotten older. She went from a girl who used to think running a marathon was crazy to recently qualifying for Boston. She

She's an early riser to get her miles in around her full-time job as a veterinary technician. And whether it's running with her dogs or out adventuring on a pathway solo, she always tries to make the most of each run. She's always up for a challenge and has learned that confidence doesn't always come easy. And since working with a running coach and getting older, it's become second nature to believe in herself.

Originally from Colorado, she now lives in Virginia with her husband and dogs. During our conversation, we talk about her running journey, her most memorable races, her Boston qualifying journey, her experience working with a coach, what a typical week of training looks like, and of course, what chasing life means to her. I hope you enjoy our conversation.

Welcome, Kayla. I'm excited to have you on Chasing Life podcast. I'm so honored. Thanks for having me. This is great. So why don't you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself, how long you've been running, what got you into running, that sort of stuff. Oh, man. So I guess, I mean, running has always been a little bit a part of my life. I mean, dating all the way back to like elementary school, there was like...

my elementary school teacher got me hooked into running. We did like a little mile stuff in like fourth and fifth grade, like a mile run, and then all the way up to like track in middle school. And then cross country, I was introduced to cross country in high school and it kind of even grew from there. And it's just been, I feel like it's always been a little bit of a passion. I did play soccer a lot. That was kind of another passion for me. But once I found cross country, that's kind of...

where I feel my passion fully took off. But it's been a whole life journey, I feel. Now, what did you like about cross country? Oh, I mean, I guess kind of big comparison to like, I mean, what drew me more is like there was like always like the politics and soccer in high school where it's just like,

I've never been like girls are just can be so catty sometimes so I'm like I love the dynamics of like obviously guys and girls on like cross country and track which is kind of like it seems just more to flow more and just be more fun and compared to track I love cross country more just kind of going out on trails and adventuring more than just circling is my just at least for me like I just think that's what really drew me it was just like the trails and adventuring around and just kind of like the

the team camaraderie and everything with like the guys and the girls and it was just I don't know it was a close call with everybody it was great now I feel like trail runs now is like the grown-up version of cross country are you still doing trail runs oh well yes I mean not as much to compare it I mean there's trails where I live but they're like all like more like bike and pedestrian type trails I mean yes they're trails but like growing

coming from Colorado, I mean, I know definitely when I say trail, like is it really a trail though here? Because trail and like gravel climbing mountains or like weaving in and out. So I mean, compared to like my half marathon I did this weekend, like that was the most intense, like awesome trail run that I've done in like a couple years. So why don't you tell us about your half marathon? You've been training for that. How did the race go yesterday? So funny story. So my coach and I were like searching for a

to do after my 10k I did a couple months ago just to kind of throw some races in there just to train for something and we picked this one mainly because of the date and like it was a live event so we're like cool looks like a cool area I've never ran in this area before it looks beautiful I looked up the area I was like awesome get there it was raining no big deal it wasn't too cold but I'm like doing a little warm-up on like

the street and it's like, oh, this is going to be a trail run, not a road race. What is this? So like it starts and it's just instantly like weaving through trees, tree stumps, and there's mud puddles climbing, not like major climbing, but there's definitely some hills and like, but like the mud puddles and the dirt and it's like, all right, well, who cares? This is a full trail run. It's going to be great. But

i went out in the hopes of i was training for like a 650 pace trying to hold trying to get that sub 30 half marathon haven't hit it yet that instantly went out the window um i was up there with the with one of the second place guys he was just chatting with him for a little bit he's like which pace are you trying to keep my toilet but i'm like i don't think it's gonna happen

And I mean, it was a blast. I mean, I kind of just gave up like, had fun with it more than anything. I'm like, this is a trail race. It's beautiful. It's along the lake, covered in mud. Who cares? This is going to be a blast. So it kind of, I just had fun with it. And it's, I ended up,

being first female pretty much the whole entire race like a mile in I was first female the whole race and then maintained third place overall. I'm like I was surprised shocked in general I was like all right well this is cool. Was not anticipating that so that's icing on the cake even though I was like don't be down on yourself that I didn't get a pace I had a blast. It was great.

I don't know how I would have reacted to show up for race that it wasn't the route that I was expecting, but it sounds like you made the best of it. And are you going to take the training that you've been doing and sign up for a road race in the near future? What are your current race plans?

Well, it's funny. She texted me after the race just being like, so what happened? Then I kind of went in the hole. It was like, oh, it was a trail race. And she's like, oh, OK. So that's what happened. And she actually said, so what are we thinking? Do we want to do a road race or what? What do we think? And I'm like, well, I'm like, I'll see what I can find. I'm like, we want to think we're going to right now. I think I'm just going to work on some.

Jessica Cameron: a little bit of lower, a little bit lower mileage, and just kind of do some speed stuff and see where it takes me. I don't have anything on the books other than training for Boston here in the next couple of months or anything like that. But

We'll see. I may end up, I'll probably end up signing for a half marathon this summer, but nothing yet. So speaking of Boston, congratulations to you for qualifying last year and then being selected to run this fall. So can you tell us about your journey? Cause you qualified for Boston during the pandemic. Can you tell us kind of about that whole experience?

Oh man. So I feel like it's such a journey. I mean, to jump back a tiny bit, like out of high school cross country, I kind of was like, you don't really get over like three miles really in cross country. And then I'm like, sign up for my first 10 K sign up for my first half marathon. Then I was like, I'll never do a full marathon. Those people are crazy. And then little that I found a running group and I was like, they're like, sign up for your first marathon.

all right, I'm in. And then what was that, 2011? I think it was when I ran my very first marathon, just no idea what to expect. Trained for it,

my age group at that time, 12 time qualifying was three 35 before it dropped to three 30. And I ran a three 35 Oh six. My first marathon and like my friends that I ran with, that was just like, you know, you're only like, you were like six seconds off. I'm like, I had no idea. I was just running. And I,

felt fine first marathon luck I guess and then I feel like after that what have I read 13 marathons now

after this last one and I feel like it's just been a constant just like I've been on the edge of like I ran a 338 a couple years later at Colorado Marathon and then a bunch in between that were just like disasters where like I just like just wheels fell off like I had a lot of back of just stomach issues and stuff with like either it's my training or my fueling just never really worked out for me and then

gradually, I mean, working towards getting a coach this past year in 2020, I started working with Amber, who I actually have known since I first started. She, her and I trained for my first marathon ever together. I've known her since then through the running group in Colorado. And she became my coach. And it's like, I feel like it just became a whole different journey. Like I was running on my own here. And then

I got her as my coach and she just kind of took the reins and like I took my took the backseat of like my training plan and kind of just gave her all the trust and I was accepted into Chicago for 2020. First one of the world majors I was really excited. I'm like sweet just like the rest of us with 2020 excited for everything.

races kept getting canceled, kept getting canceled. And her and I were like nonstop determined. I think I signed up for four different marathons in the fall after Chicago got canceled and Marine Corps, I was gonna do in the 50K, but within the 50K, if you're marathon time qualifying,

within the marathon of that 50k if you hit Boston or if you hit a BQ within that it still counts apparently good to know I was like I good to know like I had no idea like don't quote me on that maybe I read something and the internet could have made that up but

But so between that getting canceled, Chicago getting canceled, I had like four different marathons and I was like, okay, I'm gonna just, I signed up for Richmond, I signed up for Delaware. And then I found actually Amber found the Harrisburg marathon and I just signed up for it. I'm like, well, we'll see which one happens. And Harrisburg happened and never been that area. It was awesome. Very well done. It was like over two days.

And I felt like with that, I was so determined because I have like my fitness level. I've never felt so like ready to run a marathon. Like I felt like I'm like, I got this. Like I've never felt so ready. And on hitting hitting that BQ officially was just like icing on the cake.

of it kind of to rewind a tiny bit i did two virtual marathons or 50k and marathon throughout 2020 and also be cute on both of those for the first time those being unofficial and then to get the official one in november was just like i've done it solo and now i did it in a in-person race and it was just

oh it's like the greatest feeling congratulations i remember seeing your post about that and just how happy i was for you to see it all kind of come together and you crushed your boston qualifying time you got like what like a 15 minute grace period yeah it was 12 and a half minutes yeah two and a half minutes yeah i trained i was training for a 310 and it was what my coach had me going for

And I was just like, obviously I got 317 and I'm like, which I'm completely ecstatic about. Like I'm completely fine for him. Like maybe 310 will be a future goal. Yeah. Keep setting those incremental milestones. Do you feel like having a coach was instrumental and kind of tipping you over to reaching those goals? I do. I do. Moving here to Virginia from Colorado, going from having a run group to

running solo completely all the time not even like this is all pre-pandemic like i mean i did i didn't have any running buddies like i'd run completely by myself that's what got me to create my running instagram to kind of have that community and then being like

and like I followed like random running plans. I think, I know you've talked about when on your, for you, when you did your Marine Corps that the run coach, that's like, yeah, run coach. I mean, I followed their plan for a little while, like their plans and stuff. And I mean, it's great. Loved it. And then, but I just felt like I, I was there, but like, yeah, no, I feel like getting with a coach and just like entrusting in her. And she just, I feel like she completely just like

blossomed me into like what she said she said it was always there she she just kind of unlocked the potential that was always there and i'm just like she gave me the confidence to really just switch it up getting a coach is something i've been thinking about for my pursuit and a boston qualifying time and i heard something today i started listening to a champion's mind which is a sports psychology book and um one of the pieces in there was to never be too prideful to get a coach

Because as we all know, like professional athletes, they all have coaches. They don't do things alone. You know, I just have to remind myself that it takes that component. Yes, you can get training plans online. Yes, there's lots of apps that you can give you training plans. But at least with the run coach, what I've...

realize is that it only makes a training plan based on what your current fitness level is, not where you want to go. And so if you want to kind of increase your fitness, you either have to pay for a plan that's specific to you or to help you grow incrementally to, or to hire a coach. And so I think that's probably the next step for me. So I love hearing your perspective about that. I feel like you putting it, just kind of like putting that in your own

like arms to be like, no, it's not, I'm not, it's not downstepping or anything. It's to help you get to that fitness level beyond of what you can do. Cause I know you ran a three, what? 341 you said for yours. And that was your virtual one, right? Yeah. It's crazy how like virtually, like we're all just like running all these like PRs and everything like that. And I think just like

the way my coach put it too is just like imagine with a live race she said the same to me like what you did by yourself imagine with like a live race what you could do it's just like they're kind of like that extra cheerleader like that also will be like tough when they need to be i would i would recommend it to me it's been a whole change a game changer for sure yeah thank you for that perspective so because you've been running so long besides boston what's been one of your most memorable racing experiences

man, I mean, I was like, when you asked me that, I was like, I was making notes of like all my top running moments that I could think of throughout the years. But I'm like, obviously, I mean, number one is qualifying for Boston officially for the real, but other ones, I mean, the Disney, running Disney is like a

I would say I'm going to do it every year that I can. And it's the Dopey Challenge is amazing. It's so much fun. So can you tell anyone who isn't familiar with the Dopey Challenge what that is? Yeah, so the Dopey Challenge is, so it's Disney's Marathon Weekend that happens in January.

every year their run weekend is a 5k on thursday a 10k on friday a half on saturday and the full marathon on sunday and each um distance so it's pretty much let's see like the 5k and the 10k are ran through epcox that's where it kind of ends and begins all the races and then as you get going further the half marathon you go through magic kingdom and then back

the marathon you get to run through all of the parks. So it's kind of a little too and you're there and before all the parks are opening and stuff so it's kind of like you're you get like the behind the scenes of like go behind the scenes of the whole park and everything and it totals to be so running the 5k 10k half and full all back to back on that same weekend is a total of 48.6 miles in four days and

And you get six medals and like six t-shirts. All the shirts.

and the medals it's great yeah i haven't run any disney races yet but i've put it on my bucket list to someday run a disney race so the six medals get one for each race and there's two separate challenges that happen that week and there's the goofy challenge also so that's if you run the half marathon on saturday and the full marathon on saturday or sunday you get the goofy challenge medal and then if you do all four days then you get the dopey challenge medal

And my favorite moments of just like on that Sunday, I'm like having like a blast, like somehow I'm like still not, I'm not dead. But after running all those previous days and I'm just like on the most past one, I like, I rocked my medals around like the Magic Kingdom Park, just like all these medals, like my neck is just like, it's all heavy. I'm like, I want pictures of the castle. Give me pictures.

You earned them, so you better show them off. Yeah, all the bragging rights. I'm wearing all of these all day. Did you wear them on the plane ride home too? That's actually funny. The plane ride home is my bag. When we were checking our bags, my bag was overweight limit. And I'm like, oh, gosh. And I'm like, well, probably my eight pounds worth of medals in the suitcase.

So I ended up just putting all my, I wore my dopey one on the plane, like that's one, just like the main one. And then I took all my other ones in my carry-on. So my suitcase wasn't over because you still got to buy some swag, even though you get all the swag. Right. Of course. Yeah.

Yeah, that sounds really fun that you're like, well, I can't put it on my bag, so I'm just going to wear these. I'm just going to wear all these through security. It's fine. And those medals are, I've seen, they're like huge. They're like the size of your face, aren't they? Oh, yeah. I like have like, my dad has built me like all these like metal hangings for like my halls. And I have like a specific Disney one that I have. And I'm all like, he's like, we're going to reinforce this wall because all these...

Make sure that hits a stud and anchored in there. Yeah. One of the other questions I wanted to ask you was if you have any advice for either beginner runners or runners that want to kind of take their running up to the next level, we've already talked about a coach. Do you have any other insights that you might want to share? If it's not a coach or anything, I feel just like one thing would be just to have fun with it because

because I used to just like always like beat myself up so much and get so stuck on like times and everything like that. Yeah. I mean, obviously like times and stuff are important for like, for, yeah, if you want to get a BQ work towards that, like obviously you need a time for that, but it's also like to have, make sure you're having fun with it. So if you're not having fun with it, then there's, there's no point. Always have fun with getting like new gear too, like getting new outfits and shoes and stuff. I feel like that's always like a fun plus like

like my husband's brother's girlfriend, she's just gone into like running a little bit more. She's doing like couch to 5k. She's been asking me a lot of like what kind of shoes or like what kind of gear do you wear? Like and I've kind of been telling her like different like little things for holding her phone and just kind of different shoes to wear and different tank tops or anything that I like and she just is looking up to me for like a little bit of inspiration. So I feel like

Find someone that inspires you, whether or not you have a running Instagram or a regular Instagram or a Facebook, whatever you have. I mean, find someone that inspires you and have fun with it. That's great advice. Thank you for sharing that. I think that's really important. And I also feel like, well, since the pandemic started, I feel like a lot of runners, because we didn't have that rate, that live race to work toward, it gave us a chance to kind of reflect on why are we running in the first place and,

It kind of gave us an opportunity to just run for fun and kind of just take a step back and say, well, my races are delayed or I'm not working to erase right now, but I still want to run. And this is why I run because it's fun or I enjoy being outside or enjoy just kind of moving my body in that way. And yes, working toward a goal is fun too, but just having that opportunity to reflect on.

that underlying reason. I think that's really important. So thank you for that. Can you share what your typical training week looks like? How many days you run? What your cross training looks like? How do you balance those types of things? Oh yeah, that's fun because my work schedule is wild. I mean, I work like 40 hours a week as a veterinary technician and I normally have to be at work at like 7 a.m. I have a lot of early wake-up calls. So like my alarm...

I would say Mondays and Tuesdays is set for like four and I'll like lay in bed for a good like 30 minutes, try to get myself out of bed. And then I like to be out the door and running. I would stay by like 515, 520 to try to get anywhere from like a six to eight mile run in when I'm full training before I have to leave for work around. Like luckily I don't live far from. So it's like 20 minutes to get to work. So if I'm back by like 640, honestly, 635, I'm good. I just kind of

I just change at work and I'm good to go because luckily we have a shower at work and I can kind of just get ready to work. I put scrubs on. The animals don't care if my hair is a mess or anything.

I don't wake up as early. I would say it's more of a five o'clock wake up call. That's normally my speed workout days. Sometimes on the track or sometimes just on the trail, the distance can vary. Could be like mile repeats or 400s or anything, variety of that. Thursdays are normally, right now are my rest days, but I've actually taken to right

riding the bike. We got a Peloton this year, which I'm obsessed with. So I ride the bike and do kind of like a, like ride the bike for 30 minutes and then do like some little weightlifting and some like either bar Pilates tossed into it and some stretching. Then Friday's another easy day, but luckily I'm off on Friday so I can kind of sleep in, which sleeping in when you have dogs that want to wake up is like maybe 630. Right.

The dogs were like, we're going for a run. So I try to take them with me on Fridays and then toss in a little bit of some strength stuff as well. Nothing like either. I really like bar and Pilates and I've been doing some more upper body stuff for a couple of days.

Saturdays are my long run days that I, my coach tosses in like a workout with my long run. So it can vary depending on what I'm training for vary the distance but it normally has like some speed work tossed in with it like a warm-up then the workout like a one to two mile warm-up then the workout and then like a one mile ish to two mile cool down. And then Sundays are

my rest days as well unless i'm building mileage then it kind of varies this half marathon training cycle i ended up doing um keeping my thursdays as rest days slash riding the bike and then running on sunday so i actually was working out seven days a week i guess during that training so thinking about it but

wasn't running every day. So I would say I run six days a week, five to six days a week. Yeah. Okay. Increasing my days of running is also something I've been considering. I've

I feel like I kind of have found my sweet spot at four days, but I also have the more I've kind of looked into, you know, trying to take my training to the next level. I'm thinking like, okay, if I bummed out to five days, then it spreads out the same mileage. And so it's like lower mileage days. And also with recovering from tendonitis,

I remember when I was training for my marathon, I had like a 13 mile run on a Tuesday because, you know, say I'm spreading out 40 miles over four days. But if I was spreading that over five days, then, you know, the daily mileage would be a little bit lower. So I'm wondering if that might be the route I have to take too. But all that to say is like everyone's body is different, but to also kind of try different plans and see what works for you too. So, yeah, I think

like to add to that when I was like doing my own training plan I kind of

I had in the mindset that I'm like, I need to, because like going off of like different like runners that you see of like people who are like professional athletes who don't have a day job, like they're running is their career, but you do have a day job, like running like the 80 plus miles a week. And I was in the mindset of like, like I need to run all the miles in the world and go get me my Boston Ball if my time is miles in the world. And I was just feeling dead. Like I was exhausted. And then like...

when I started working with my coach and stuff, it kind of like dropped down. Like my mileage was never super crazy high. I'm trying to think of like what, like the average. I don't, I don't think, I think 70 might be high. I don't think I even touched that. I think it was lower than that.

and might even be in the sixties. I, my brain's not thinking about how many miles I'm running in those weeks, but it's just, I mean, higher mileage works great for some people. Some people, like it didn't work great for me, like with the lower mileage and the working in my Speedworks, how I was being worked in, like, I mean, that changed it for me and five days a week works great.

Or anything like that. Yeah. Well, thank you for sharing that. I hope that our listeners found that helpful just to hear different perspectives. Cause I always find it interesting to hear like what everyone else is doing too. And it also kind of gives you ideas of like, okay, well maybe this is how I can grow or develop myself as a runner too. So, so thank you for that. Anything you want to ask me or any other final thoughts that you have? Do you have any races in the books for you that are, you have coming up?

Are you doing Marine Corps this fall? Did you defer to this year? I did defer, but I am not going to run a marathon this year. I'll probably do it next year. And then my also plan is to run my Boston qualifying time next year too. Like I don't want to kind of push myself too soon to get back into marathon training this year. So on my radar is

Potentially my qualifying race will be Memorial Day weekend next year. So like a year from now is kind of in my mind. I'm like, okay, well, I kind of have this summer. And then I figured it'd be really good timing too. I've never trained for a spring marathon. I've always had fall marathons. And so like training during the summer heat for marathons was tough. So I'm thinking, well, I think I'd rather run train like long runs in the winter than have

having to deal with humidity in the summer. So I'm kind of excited to see like the difference of training for a marathon in a different time period of the year too. And plus my, it's kind of my backup. I'll try in the spring. And if I don't hit it, then I have still the fall to try to get a qualifying race before the Boston cycle ends. So yeah, one step at a time, but hopefully someday I'll be at that Boston start line. Right. Don't ever give up hope.

I mean, I had no idea that I was even there and then I just start ticking away and they got it. And it's just, I'm still living on like cloud nine. I'm just like, is it really? Yeah. Just like, I'm very grateful. And I feel so heartbroken for all the other ones, like the runners who didn't get in and I'm just...

I'm like ecstatic at the same time. I just feel like, I mean, I feel their pain. I mean, but it's just sorry for everybody who did it. And it's don't stop fighting though. I mean, I know they got there once. I mean, if everyone, you can get there again. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's a great message. And

I think with running too, with chasing those goals is it's tough to be defeated or to have days where it doesn't go how you want, but it also kind of, to me anyway, when I haven't reached a goal right away, it's given me more reason to fight harder for it. And then when I do get it, it's even sweeter. Like it sucks to wait, but it's, it's also kind of makes it a little bit more worthwhile. Exactly. It's just like that pain for a little bit.

Like, then once you hit that goal, it's just like the feeling that you have of like, I can last this little bit longer in this race and be tired as I'll get out because I'll be there at that time that I want to. You think so? Once at a time. Exactly. Yeah, that's what I remind myself a lot. Definitely. The last question I have, what does chasing life mean to you?

that's a good question. Let's see. I feel like chasing life to me means kind of just nonstop growing and kind of enjoying each day as it is kind of you create your own happiness and you create your own journey in it, whether that be running or

whatever activity you're into. I just feel like it's a nonstop journey of being happy with yourself and happy with what you have in your life, no matter what that is. And it's just a constant growing. I feel like it's a very broad question and it's a broad answer, I guess. But it's just a constant growing and enjoying it all.

Thank you. Yeah, I love that. I love kind of hearing just different perspectives from everyone. So any last thoughts that you want to share, whether it's running related, what keeps you running, anything like that, anything motivational? Like what keeps me running or like enjoying it is just, again, I mean, I've kind of already said it's just having fun with it. Cause I mean, I

I mean, I can be my own worst enemy. I used to be my own worst enemy of just like beating myself up of not doing well in previous marathons or previous races or anything like that. I just feel like enjoying the journey is just really, I'm just having fun with it. Like,

as I get older, I'm just having fun with it. And you're crushing it too. Thank you so much for sharing your running journey and your insights. And I'm excited to follow you along and cheer you on as you train for Boston later this year. Thank you so much for having me. I'm super honored and excited. This was, this was great. It's awesome.

Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed today's episode, please share it on social media. Tag me at Sarah Chasing Life or at Chasing Life Podcast. If you haven't already, please be sure to subscribe and rate this podcast. That helps me to reach more listeners.