![]() It was there that she began to emerge from her cocoon. The move to Winter Park had been impulsive, and so was the move to Boulder two years later. She worked summers as a rafting guide and got interested in ultra running, first as a bucket list item, then as a hobby. In Winter Park she worked as a ski instructor and got certified to be a backcountry ski guide. It’s gotten less and less so, which I think is really healthy, but I’ve always needed my time by myself.” I’ve always been someone who has isolated myself. I was a philosophy major, super introspective, thought I needed to go through all these changes to get to know myself. “I wanted to go somewhere where I didn’t know anyone and figure things out. So much has happened, accompanied by so much personal growth, since Bradley moved to Winter Park in 2013 after graduating from the University of California at Santa Barbara. All I could think about was the itchiness.” Moving to the mountains But man, the car ride home, it was terrible. “Luckily I didn’t react until the next morning, or maybe I did but I didn’t realize because I was running so hard. That, she figured out later with great discomfort. While squatting in the woods on a potty break during the race, Bradley didn’t realize there was poison oak in the spot she picked. Boulet, a former marathoner who ran at the 2008 Olympics, was only eight minutes behind at mile 78 but Bradley extended her lead to 18 minutes, finishing in 19 hours, 31 minutes, 30 seconds.Īn unwelcome souvenir of the race made the 17-hour drive back to Boulder a lot less pleasant than it should have been. She spent the rest of the race passing others, including ultra heroes Magdalena Boulet (the 2015 winner) and Kaci Lickteig (2016), taking the women’s lead at around 65 miles. With those obstacles behind and 75 miles in front of her, Bradley made a vow to herself: No more getting passed. Once I got past that, everyone else was kind of falling apart in front of me because they tried to push that section.” It was super frustrating, but it probably was great for me because it slowed me down. “I had to get on my hands and knees and dig for it. “I looked down and my shoe was so deep I couldn’t see it,” she said. Twice the mud sucked a shoe off her foot. “There’s so much out there, and I just need some time to absorb what happened and the opportunities and navigate through that.”īelow the snowfields were long stretches of steep mud slopes strewn with downed trees that had to be hurdled. “I have a lot of things on my radar, but it’s going to take some time to narrow in,” she said. She may do a little substitute teaching in the future, but mostly she will run, and get to enjoy the fruits of being paid to run. Now sponsors are lining up because of her Western States win. Through him she slowly opened herself up to the local ultra community while working as a kindergarten teacher. ![]() Two years ago Bradley found a boyfriend in ultra runner Ryan Lassen - she didn’t date in high school or college - and moved to Boulder where he lived. I’m realizing now that your self-worth lies in your relationships and how you treat people.” I was trying to figure out where my self-worth lied. “I think that’s some of the reason I was kind of in my own head before. She has made progress, and that’s a good thing because suddenly she is a star in a sport that was only a hobby for her until a few months ago. The metamorphosis imagery is apt, because the moment marked another stage in the transformation of a deeply introspective woman who moved from California to Winter Park four years ago to discover herself, to isolate in a place where she could contemplate her tendency to isolate from people. The only moment that felt real was running around that track.” And still, that finish, that Western States win, does not feel real. “I had this focus and almost armor on, all day, and felt like that just dissolved right off me, and for the first time I was able to absorb the day. “It truly felt like I was shedding a layer of skin,” said Bradley, a relative unknown in the sport before this year. Digital Replica Edition Home Page Close MenuīOULDER - As Cat Bradley covered the final few hundred yards of the renowned Western States 100-mile endurance run across California’s Sierra Range two weeks ago to capture her first big win in the sport, the finish on a high school track felt like a metamorphosis.
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