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Episode 4. Genevieve Henderson

E4 · The WILD Onez Podcast

50 Plays1 month ago

In this episode, we sit down with a dear friend who spent most of her life as a dedicated soccer athlete before finding herself drawn into the wild world of endurance sports. From the rugged challenge of Colorado’s iconic 4 Pass Loop to triathlon racing and to the salty, scenic adventure of Swimrun Orcas Island, her journey is anything but ordinary.

We talk about what it’s really like to step into endurance sports later in life — the excitement, the doubts, the physical grind, and the emotional breakthroughs. She shares the highs that keep her coming back for more and the lows that tested her confidence, along with how community, curiosity, and grit helped shape her path.

Beyond the races and miles, this conversation is about friendship, kindness, and showing up for yourself in new ways. Honest, inspiring, and full of heart, were so exited to share the journey.

🎧 Tune in for stories, laughter, and a reminder that endurance isn’t just about distance — it’s about who you become along the way.

Transcript

Intro

Introduction and Host's Apology

00:09:39

Viv

Welcome, welcome, welcome. I'm so excited to have you. i know Sarah and I are like, we're planning our list and we're like, oh my God, we got to have Jen on.

00:09:53

Genevieve Henderson

so excited i i was so pumped when i saw you guys and i also was thinking about it i was i was looking back through a text and you had texted me about podcast stuff and i never respond. Well, I said, all I'm getting off a flight.

00:10:04

Genevieve Henderson

I'll send you a voice note. And I never did. So I just want to get on here and apologize for that. But you guys did it without any of my advice. And I really appreciate you guys for giving me some grace on that one.

00:10:16

Viv

Oh my gosh. We'll still take the advice. It's the never ending journey of podcasting.

00:10:20

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah, I'm so excited for you guys. This is going to be such a fun experience for you guys to do together too, which is that's such a cool thing to do and stay connected.

00:10:31

Viv

I know it's, I, I mean, we've known each other probably almost as long as we've known you. Did I meet?

00:10:37

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:10:37

Viv

I don't know if we met you at Orange Street or it was Traverse.

00:10:41

Genevieve Henderson

I think I met you at, I met Sarah Traverse, but I think I met you at Orange Theory when I was leaving. Yeah.

00:10:47

Viv

Okay, yeah, because I know we all kind of followed everybody to Traverse.

00:10:51

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:10:52

Viv

And Jen used to kick our butts at like 5.15 in the morning and we would constantly go back for more.

00:11:00

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah, I know. we Why do we do that? Yeah.

00:11:03

WILD ONEZ

I don't know.

00:11:04

Viv

I do fun, baby. it's but it's just It's just how we do it.

00:11:07

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

Guest's Podcast and Athlete Post-Sport Journey

00:11:20

Genevieve Henderson

Yep.

00:11:23

Genevieve Henderson

I

00:11:25

Viv

Can you tell us a little bit about it

00:11:27

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah, so I have a podcast called What the Hell Do I Do Now? It's a podcast about athletes, collegiate professional athletes who've retired from sport and what they're up to and what their experience was like leaving, maybe why they left, why they retired, medical stuff, forced out of it just kind of. all the different pieces and parts of that and then kind of how they got to where they're at.

00:11:50

Genevieve Henderson

So I started it honestly in 2020, 2019 as a way to start to gather information for a PhD, which I am not in.

00:12:09

Genevieve Henderson

Coming up on, i want to say like high eighty s So almost in the ninety s of episodes recorded, which is so exciting. And it's, yeah, it's definitely grown with me throughout with some ebbs and flows.

00:12:17

Viv

<unk> amazing.

00:12:23

Genevieve Henderson

So super fun and excited for you guys.

00:12:28

Viv

We we strive to get to the 80s and 90s.

00:12:31

Viv

We're slowly climbing that ladder right now.

00:12:33

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah, yeah.

00:12:35

WILD ONEZ

Yeah, welcome to episode four,

00:12:37

Genevieve Henderson

Woo, episode four.

00:12:41

Viv

Only 80 go.

00:12:44

Genevieve Henderson

Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Yep.

00:12:45

WILD ONEZ

Yeah, I am so excited to see where

Podcasting as a Creative and Vulnerable Outlet

00:12:48

WILD ONEZ

things go. What is one of the biggest takeaways that you have had since you started your pod to being on episode like 90 now?

00:12:57

Genevieve Henderson

Oh my gosh.

00:12:58

Genevieve Henderson

Man, patience is a massive one. I think... A big one that I was just thinking about this and reflecting on this. I've definitely had multiple seasons of life living through the podcast. And so it's been fun to see. I started doing throwback episodes where we posted on like reels and stuff. And it's so funny to like see myself five years ago, just kind of like stepping into this blind. So it's I think just patience and it's been such a labor of love and a big learning experience outlet for creativity. So definitely. And it's also very scary. I want to give you guys kudos. It's like so scary and vulnerable to make a podcast and scary to be like, you know, putting your experiences out there. So it's a fun way to challenge that.

00:13:53

Viv

it's Yeah, we've we've definitely found, like, obviously the reminiscing piece of it. And, like'm like, oh, yeah, remember the time when this happened or this one? And it's been cool to see that.

00:14:04

Viv

So it's it that's a really good takeaway that I think Sarah and I will definitely learn as the podcast growing goes on.

Guest's Athletic Background and College Soccer

00:14:13

Genevieve Henderson

yeah Yeah.

00:14:14

Genevieve Henderson

It's fun.

00:14:15

Viv

you yourself are an athlete, too, kind of grown grown up in the whole athletic field, too. How old were you when you started soccer?

00:14:26

Genevieve Henderson

I was four, maybe three or four. Yeah. It was right when I moved. My parents moved from Virginia to Florida and my dad, I think didn't know what to do with me and threw me into soccer.

00:14:39

Viv

like, you can walk, kick a ball. Here you go.

00:14:40

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah, i was like, let's go. yeah yeah, it was fun. And I definitely, it started playing soccer and then fell in love with it. But I wasn't very competitive until really high school. i like didn't make varsity until 10th or 11th grade. Like I really didn't.

00:15:00

Genevieve Henderson

didn't make a I was on a travel team, but it was like not great. And actually the only reason I got on the travel team was because I needed a goalkeeper. And I was like, yep, I am five, four, and i would love to try it as long as I can be on this team and I can stay on it. And so luckily I stepped in and that's kind of where things like really took off and then got really involved in cross country as well, which just like helped with conditioning and then fell in love with lacrosse. I like,

00:15:29

Genevieve Henderson

love lacrosse so much but I was just yeah i started super late and then also my dad was a rower so I like tried that out for a little bit loved it but like hated it because I was sore all the time and you like can't stop at all

00:15:31

Viv

I didn't think I knew that.

00:15:46

Genevieve Henderson

Whereas like on the field, he can kind of stop. So, and I was playing in goal. So it was like, I was just standing all day. So yeah I, growing up, I didn't realize like how many sports I was just in but pretty much was always a two, like two sport athlete per season. Cause we always had soccer and then I was in some other sports. So very active growing up.

00:16:09

Genevieve Henderson

Very active.

00:16:12

Viv

Yeah, I did a little little bit of everything for sure.

00:16:15

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. Yeah.

00:16:17

Viv

i Soccer, obviously the top favorite. Did you have any other favorites that you really liked? No.

00:16:22

Genevieve Henderson

Soccer loved. i loved lacrosse. I wish I would have played volleyball. I feel like it was just always like fun and dynamic.

00:16:27

Viv

Okay.

00:16:30

Genevieve Henderson

And I was always jealous of the volleyball girls when I was in college, like being inside or they'd go out to like play sand volleyball. And it'd be like, you know, really cold and windy and we're going out to the field but grass is definitely always greener because i I've heard many stories about like sand when it's like bad sand courts and whatever it might be and you guys are so lucky to be outside all the time so yeah I think lacrosse I loved and I wish I would have played earlier but I also wish I played volleyball at some point in my life yeah

00:16:45

WILD ONEZ

Thank you.

00:17:04

Viv

Those are really fun. i I was a volleyball girly for like a small second and like I look back and You remember like those really baggy gym shorts and those really oversized like just basketball jerseys?

00:17:16

WILD ONEZ

Mm-hmm.

00:17:16

Genevieve Henderson

Yes.

00:17:18

Viv

That's what they stuck us in. Like I recently found a photo, which is funny that you like bringing this up because recently found a photo of like the oversized knee pads, oversized pants, the whole – I like – like, wow, I don't know who let us out like this, but this is not conducive to volleyball.

00:17:30

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:17:32

Viv

And I understand why as the uniforms are like they are now.

00:17:32

Genevieve Henderson

No.

00:17:34

Viv

Yeah.

00:17:35

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. Yeah. Like makes no sense. I know we had that for PE e in school and it was like, how are we supposed to do anything in this? Like, everyone's just swimming in their outfits.

00:17:45

Genevieve Henderson

We're like, okay, whatever. But, I know it's funny.

00:17:47

WILD ONEZ

I remember those days.

00:17:48

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:17:50

Viv

So fun. We love PE, eat man.

00:17:51

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:17:53

Viv

was I taught us how to mindfully move our bodies.

00:17:53

Genevieve Henderson

I know, it's so good. but

00:17:57

Viv

Look at us now.

00:17:58

Genevieve Henderson

Truly. Look at us now. know.

00:18:02

WILD ONEZ

So what kept you moving and kept you active throughout like college and into like your adult life?

00:18:10

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:18:10

WILD ONEZ

Yeah.

00:18:12

Genevieve Henderson

Through college, I played soccer and that was definitely a full-time job and I loved it so much. I like really gravitated towards...

00:18:22

Genevieve Henderson

the fitness side of it, I think it was definitely a sense of control. And I like always having to feel like I needed to prove myself, which is definitely a topic in therapy now for myself, but the kind of, I don't know who instilled it, but it was one of my coaches did, but he was like, you need to show up and you need to control everything you possibly can, which is your fitness and your attitude.

00:18:27

Viv

Thank you.

00:18:44

Genevieve Henderson

And so that was kind of what I stepped in with. And just being like terrified and not knowing to what to expect. And every single year I feel like even if I, even up until I was a senior, I was like, oh gosh, what, what's it going to bring? even though I knew exactly what it was going to bring. so yeah, I think during college I was able to really depend on fitness and I, i really enjoyed it and did well in it.

00:19:08

Genevieve Henderson

And then after college, I got into running, got into like boxing, which was a random one and got really into Orange Theory, which I was kind of into throughout college, just in the off season and the summers. It was a fun way to move my body and not be like on a field, especially when we weren't forced or like mandated to be at practice. so I got really into Orange Theory and that kind of like kicked off my love for fitness post-graduation.

00:19:39

Genevieve Henderson

and then I moved to Colorado and I feel like I moved out here and everyone was super fit. I started coaching at like a university and then I was coaching club two, two club teams that were under 12s.

00:19:43

WILD ONEZ

It

00:19:52

Genevieve Henderson

So they were like 10, 11, 12 ish. And these girls were, yep.

00:19:56

Viv

You did that at the same time?

00:19:58

Genevieve Henderson

yeah

00:19:58

Viv

Okay. who

00:19:59

Genevieve Henderson

I was working so much. I was basically a grad assistant in Metropolitan State University of Denver, Metro, MSU Denver, whatever you want to call it. And then I was coaching two club teams and then like nannying.

00:20:13

Genevieve Henderson

I was doing it at all because I didn't.

00:20:14

Viv

Like everything.

00:20:16

WILD ONEZ

Hello.

00:20:16

Genevieve Henderson

was needed money. And the club team, the girls were like, so fit. They're like 10, 11, 12 years old. And I get texts from parents like, hey, we're going rock climbing this evening, won't make it to practice.

00:20:29

Viv

Thank you.

00:20:30

Genevieve Henderson

Hey, you know, one of the girls now is like on the Olympic, like youth team for skiing. It's it was insane. Like the girls were athletes, they were animals.

00:20:40

Genevieve Henderson

And it was cool to see them be involved in the sport so young and so early. And so that kind of got my, you know, brain moving. I'm like, man, these girls are rock climbing and they're doing all these really cool activities and competing at really high levels in it outside of just soccer. Soccer was like something they kind of did on the side. And so i feel like that launched my curiosity into playing outdoor sports in Colorado.

Life in Colorado and Fitness Coaching

00:21:26

Genevieve Henderson

At first, I think forced in and like strongly encouraged by some of the other coaches,

00:21:32

Viv

loving loving Lovingly forced is what we like to call call that.

00:21:33

WILD ONEZ

Can you do it?

00:21:34

Genevieve Henderson

limit Lovingly forced.

00:21:36

Viv

Yeah.

00:21:37

Genevieve Henderson

Yes.

00:21:38

Viv

We've all been lovingly forced at that

00:21:38

Genevieve Henderson

And then, yeah, levelingly forced, like shamed into running too far. And then, yes, running way more.

00:21:47

Viv

gym. Yeah, was like running way more than on a soccer field. Yeah.

00:21:51

Genevieve Henderson

I, yeah. And fell in love with it, met a ton of people and luckily have been like involved in it Kind of definitely taken a step back. I didn't compete at all in anything this year.

00:22:04

Genevieve Henderson

Maybe, it'll yeah, this last year.

00:22:04

Viv

Last year?

00:22:06

Genevieve Henderson

What? Yeah, I'm like, wait second.

00:22:06

WILD ONEZ

We can't now.

00:22:06

Viv

The whole, yeah, I was like, well what what year are we in again?

00:22:09

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. 2025, I was like, mainly for the sake of my relationship because my partner was like, bitch, can I curse on here?

00:22:17

Viv

Yeah, you can curse.

00:22:18

Genevieve Henderson

Okay, cool.

00:22:18

Viv

I mean, yeah, it's, it's, we're, we're, we're,

00:22:22

Genevieve Henderson

He was like, bitch, you got a chill.

00:22:23

WILD ONEZ

we can't know

00:22:24

Viv

but

00:22:24

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. Woo. He was like, you got a chill. Like, this you're doing you're doing a lot. You're doing the most right now. And so it was a nice, I feel like my fiance very much balances me where I take on so many things and he's like, wow, you got a lot of stuff on your plate over there.

00:22:42

Genevieve Henderson

And so it's been really nice.

00:22:44

Viv

just I should have a few things on your list going on.

00:22:47

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. Yeah. So it's been super nice, but yeah, it's been a fun transition. And I always thought when soccer ended, that was going to be the end of sports and and for me and like competing and so it's been a cool way to see to get involved in something else that is a little bit lower pressure that is still as enjoyable and you can like get better at so yeah it's been fun

00:23:14

Viv

Yeah, you've signed up for your fair share of, like, amazing trail. Again, lovingly forced by by our Traverse community.

00:23:20

Genevieve Henderson

lovingly forced yes yes yeah

00:23:24

Viv

I mean, we even got you in a swim run.

00:23:28

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:23:28

Viv

how was doing that? Because i feel like what that was outside of your comfort zone, too.

00:23:30

Genevieve Henderson

Oh my God. was so, so outside of it.

00:23:33

Viv

kind of

00:23:37

Genevieve Henderson

And i love swim run for people who love it. I think it is so amazing. If I could take the swim out of it and just be trail running, I would do it every single day.

00:23:48

Genevieve Henderson

I was thinking about when you, when you asked what sports or I wish I had done was swimming. I i like, Wish I would have been involved in swimming in where I'm from.

00:23:55

Viv

Yeah.

00:23:58

Genevieve Henderson

They had, i don't know how I remember this, but they had this thing called the river rats. And I think it was through one of like the local yacht clubs, which was really common to have a yacht club in Florida, whatever.

00:24:09

Viv

Yeah.

00:24:10

Genevieve Henderson

not out here, but that was like super normal in Florida. And it was just like a local club. I never joined. i don't, I wish I did because the swim run was so fucking hard.

00:24:21

Genevieve Henderson

And i kept getting, i was going to be tethered to one of the traverse coaches and one of our friends, Katie Baldwin, but she broke her toe the week before.

00:24:30

Viv

Oh, that's already...

00:24:32

WILD ONEZ

Oh, that's right.

00:24:33

Genevieve Henderson

She was like, Jen, I don't know how I'm going to be. i don't know. Like, I don't want to hold you back. And I really wish we were tethered because she would have just pulled me along in the swim.

00:24:45

Genevieve Henderson

And I, one was so hard. I remember the one I did was Orca's Island, which was the first one you guys did too, I think.

00:24:52

WILD ONEZ

We had white caps.

00:24:52

Viv

Yeah. We had white caps that year.

00:24:54

Genevieve Henderson

It was awful.

00:24:55

Viv

It was so windy.

00:24:55

WILD ONEZ

No doubt.

00:24:55

Genevieve Henderson

was

00:24:56

Viv

I remember like, I don't know if you remember this, but I remember us meeting at one of the swims and it was the island.

00:25:01

Genevieve Henderson

Yep, on the island. It was on the fucking island. I ran to you guys, I ran to Josh and Timmy, and I look at Timmy, I've never seen him look like this before. He looked like he had seen a ghost, and he was like, I just had like five panic attacks, I couldn't see anything.

00:25:14

Genevieve Henderson

Josh forgot his fucking things, paddles.

00:25:17

Viv

Oh, yeah, he had no paddles at all. He was like, I'm going cold turkey without the paddles.

00:25:20

Genevieve Henderson

I, yeah.

00:25:22

Viv

And I was like, this is our first time doing this. I don't even know if that's good. I don't know if it's bad.

00:25:26

Genevieve Henderson

No, yeah.

00:25:26

Viv

like you might You might die. You might survive. I don't know.

00:25:29

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah, yeah, that was such an awful, it was like such an amazing race, but such like an awful, not experience, but I had so many, just like, I don't know like, I had to like, really look at myself.

00:25:29

Viv

oh

00:25:30

WILD ONEZ

Yeah.

00:25:34

Viv

Yeah.

00:25:44

Genevieve Henderson

And I think it helped that there was just no way. to get back unless I finish the race. Like that's truly probably the only reason I finished. I got lost a lot of times. I ran into this like hiker.

00:25:55

Genevieve Henderson

At one point I was alone. I was out of water and I came running around and I was like, Oh my God, I'm so happy to see you. Do you have any any extra water? And she gave me all her water. Like it was such an experience that

00:26:06

Viv

Oh, wow. Yeah.

00:26:08

Genevieve Henderson

I've never had, I kept running into these guys who I think it was like their first swim run. And I would, I would fly past them on the run, but they would always pass me on the swim. And I was always like, so happy to see them.

00:26:18

Genevieve Henderson

And they were kind of bitchy. I will say, I was like, boys, we're all together on this.

00:26:22

Viv

You're like, are you not happy to see me? We're all struggling together.

00:26:24

Genevieve Henderson

Like I'm crying and you guys are like 60.

00:26:24

Viv

Here we go.

00:26:26

Genevieve Henderson

So could you be a little nicer right now? Man. But yeah, that swim run was such a cool experience. And I feel like I'll try anything once.

00:26:37

Genevieve Henderson

And that was a really fun way to be with a ton of people that we all knew.

00:26:38

Viv

Yeah.

00:26:43

Genevieve Henderson

Like how cool is it to have like, there's probably like 30 on this site.

00:26:47

WILD ONEZ

Yeah.

00:26:47

Viv

There's a ton of us.

00:26:47

WILD ONEZ

and

00:26:48

Genevieve Henderson

tiny island in off the coast of Washington like that's so cool and it was just a fun experience I didn't I DNF'd I like totally missed the cutoff I was running up and they were packing up the table at before the last swim and it was like the strongest current of my life and I remember swimming and I was like okay just get to that tree and I would look up and I was like further away from the tree and I was like I'm

00:26:50

Viv

Yeah.

00:26:53

Viv

Yeah.

00:27:11

Viv

You're like, that tree moved.

00:27:12

WILD ONEZ

That's fine. The wind was so bad. you were like swimming backwards when you were trying to swim forwards.

00:27:16

Genevieve Henderson

It was so bad. Yeah.

00:27:20

Viv

Yeah. No, i think we I think we doubled all of our swims that year on that lake.

00:27:20

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. It was so.

00:27:24

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:27:24

WILD ONEZ

Yeah.

00:27:25

Viv

Like, we had to. Like, there was no way we just, like, swam, like, 200 meters.

00:27:26

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:27:29

Genevieve Henderson

No, no.

00:27:29

Viv

Beautiful.

00:27:30

Genevieve Henderson

But the run was amazing.

00:27:30

WILD ONEZ

Yeah.

00:27:31

Genevieve Henderson

Trail run. It was beautiful.

00:27:32

Viv

Beautiful.

00:27:34

Genevieve Henderson

Water was like fine.

00:27:34

WILD ONEZ

yet

00:27:35

Genevieve Henderson

It was, it was like great outside of swimming. And i think it's such a cool sport.

00:27:42

WILD ONEZ

What a way to jump into swim run, though, too. It's not like you signed up for the experience or sprint race.

00:27:44

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:27:47

Viv

And you did a long course too, right?

00:27:50

Genevieve Henderson

I did the long course. Yes, I did the long course and it was really hard, but I will never forget.

Challenging Swim Run and New Perspectives

00:27:56

Genevieve Henderson

i remember, oh my God, I'll like, I kind of tear up thinking about this.

00:28:01

Genevieve Henderson

The last piece of this, I'm like, I finally get out of that lake and I'm like, thank God. And I start running and I start hearing people cheering and like people clapping. And i remember making this like a couple turns. And then I start seeing through the trees and I saw everyone.

00:28:20

Genevieve Henderson

And then i see I see Katie because she had run up and met me. And then I also see Rob at the very end. And Katie, I just hear Katie, here she comes. And then I see everyone.

00:28:32

Genevieve Henderson

And I'm like, at this point now I'm sobbing because I'm like, I'm not going to die. Like, I'm not...

00:28:37

Viv

Like, I could have finished this.

00:28:38

WILD ONEZ

Oh.

00:28:39

Genevieve Henderson

I'm not going to be sleeping out here. This is so exciting. And I see, i like eye contact with Rob and he was like, I'm so proud of you. And that was the moment where i'm like, okay, I can DNF and I can be like, I was the last person on the course and I can still really be like, have pride in what I've done. Other people have pride in what I've done. And I think that reshaped my experience of in competition and success for myself. And yeah, that was such a brutal and pivotal race in in just point in my life where I'm like, oh, it the competition is not the competition. It's not about like winning shit and being the fittest or the best or whatever it might be. That is great to be winning stuff, but that's not what it was about.

00:29:31

Viv

No, I think that's what swimrun is. Swimrun is hard. But I think we have like more options now, like with Attila Europe buying Odyssey, because we have the experience level, we have a short course and a long course.

00:29:34

Genevieve Henderson

It's so hard.

00:29:45

Viv

And the fact that like we had so many people just jump head in and just be like, all right, we're going to do this. And like the fact that you never gave up, like, yeah, of course, like the only way you're going to find your way back is to finish, especially on Orca's Island.

00:29:57

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:29:59

Viv

Beautiful, gorgeous, but definitely, like, you're like, I have to finish this, otherwise it's not going to, I'm not going to survive.

00:30:00

Genevieve Henderson

Beautiful.

00:30:06

Viv

And.

00:30:07

Genevieve Henderson

No, I literally was like, and one of the kayakers, he was, they were so sweet, all the volunteers. He was like, I do you want to like hold on to my kayak. I'll just like paddle us out. And I was like, no, because this is the last one.

00:30:20

Viv

to finish.

00:30:21

Genevieve Henderson

And I have to finish this. Like, please don't touch me.

00:30:23

WILD ONEZ

You made it this far.

00:30:24

Genevieve Henderson

But like, stay close, please.

00:30:26

WILD ONEZ

Yes.

00:30:28

Viv

I think I was like a couple the same car.

00:30:29

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:30:30

Viv

My dad had I call the Kermit, Kermit the frog moment where he just sat on the small Island and he was like, I'm cold. And like, kind of like, just like, I don't know if I want to finish this.

00:30:41

Viv

And again, the kayak or the volunteers that year, like they were, I think our Knights in shining armor being like, you can do this.

00:30:46

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. Truly.

00:30:49

Viv

Do you need me to save you Like, what do you need?

00:30:49

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. Yeah.

00:30:52

Viv

You're like, I don't know what I need, but thank you.

00:30:52

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:30:53

WILD ONEZ

Uh-huh. hu

00:30:54

Genevieve Henderson

They were, they were so nice and they were so helpful. And I think also being volunteers, it was one of those where you're like, they're just out here because they love cheering people on and they love this, you know, trail and Orcas Island. I think it was, it's just such a fun place.

00:31:12

Genevieve Henderson

I don't know. It's a fun race, but I won't be doing it again.

00:31:16

WILD ONEZ

hey We will be going back again in the future and it'll look a little bit different than that time.

00:31:17

Genevieve Henderson

yes Yes.

00:31:19

Viv

yeah

00:31:22

WILD ONEZ

Thankfully, we had no idea what we were getting into.

00:31:23

Genevieve Henderson

Yes. Yeah.

00:31:26

Viv

No, I think just jumping in, we're like, uh, so I a paddle spot.

00:31:26

WILD ONEZ

and

00:31:31

WILD ONEZ

Yeah, we know.

00:31:31

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:31:32

WILD ONEZ

I don't think any of us really knew what we were doing. We were like, we've swam a little bit. We've ran a little bit. OK, let's just put the two together and then try to do this endurance race.

00:31:41

Genevieve Henderson

How hard could it be?

00:31:42

WILD ONEZ

Right. Yeah. Wild. Well, before swim run, before your like first endurance swim run race, like bring us back to where long races, endurance sports, all of that started for you.

00:32:00

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah, I think, i think, well, one, doing cross country, I felt like I was always kind of unassuming. And I think I just thought that about myself, where I didn't really take cross country that seriously. But then I did.

00:32:15

Genevieve Henderson

pretty well at it and really enjoyed the running piece. And so then going into college, it was one of those, like, I just was able to stay fit. Then moving out to Colorado, my first, like, long running experience, we did four-pass loop, and I did it with a group of traverse

Trail Run Adventure and Personal Growth

00:32:34

Genevieve Henderson

people.

00:32:34

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah, it was so much fun, and I didn't know what that was.

00:32:35

WILD ONEZ

Yeah.

00:32:37

Viv

Awesome. so

00:32:38

Genevieve Henderson

I was, like, so naive. I had no gear.

00:32:42

WILD ONEZ

Uh-huh.

00:32:44

Genevieve Henderson

One of my like old athletic trainers passed me down. i still have it. A camelback that she had won at a trail race. It was like 10 years old. It's disgusting. I went the day before I went and bought a bladder for it. Like I thought the bladder came with it. I had no clue what I was getting into. I also went and bought trail shoes and then we drove down to Crested Butte and I was like, everyone seemed a little bit nervous. So I'm like, okay, like, all right. Like, what are we doing?

00:33:13

Genevieve Henderson

And KP, one of the guys who kind of set it up, I think he handed me a walkie talkie and I was like, oh shit. Okay. This

00:33:22

Viv

Oh, this is serious. We need we need a walkie-talkie.

00:33:25

Genevieve Henderson

don't work. Like, and I remember he had sent me the course map and he's like, you need to memorize this just in case you get lost. And I was like, okay, like relax.

00:33:32

Viv

yeah like Whatever. Okay, cool.

00:33:34

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:33:34

WILD ONEZ

It's so rugged back there.

00:33:34

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. was so wrecked. And we got out and it's pitch black. And there was a storm that was supposed to roll in. And so I remember we did like a safety brief before we left. And they were they were like, we're going to do this. There's probably 12 to 15 of us.

00:33:53

Genevieve Henderson

They're like, we're going to do this. The boys went ahead of us. I was kind of in the middle pack and there was a pack behind us and at some point Rob got split up so then he ended up joining us he had like run into a bear twice which was yeah so I'll start us off we basically get to Crested Butte we stay the night at this Airbnb we wake up at like 2 a.m.

00:34:07

Viv

I'm sorry, what

00:34:13

WILD ONEZ

Thank you.

00:34:15

Genevieve Henderson

of course drive to the trailhead park and we all take off around I think like probably three-ish headlamps we start running and there was this very clear like division. I also didn't know anyone, Rob and KP and Jeff and Billy. So like I knew half, not even half the group and the boys take off, they're flying.

00:34:36

Genevieve Henderson

I kind of fall in line with, a couple of people, a couple of the girls that, become really good friends with some of them. And we start running, we go over the first pass and I was like, Oh shit. Like this is, this is really, really hard.

00:34:54

Genevieve Henderson

And we have three more passes.

00:34:54

WILD ONEZ

Yeah.

00:34:55

Viv

We're

00:34:56

WILD ONEZ

Oh my goodness.

00:34:56

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah, we have three more passes. Yeah. And so now we're running and luckily the sun comes up after the first pass. So it's like when the sun is down, when it's dark, it like doesn't count.

00:35:07

Genevieve Henderson

You know, you get to the once the sun comes up, you're like, oh, OK, like we're we're we're a few hours in and we're doing this.

00:35:11

Viv

moving, we're grooving.

00:35:13

WILD ONEZ

Yeah.

00:35:13

Genevieve Henderson

So we get through the second pass and now we start like running past people's tents and we're like running past people and people are like, holy shit, you guys are running this? Like we're hiking this in four days and we were like, now I'm like, oh, this is like cool.

00:35:27

Genevieve Henderson

So then we're running, we're running. We, the second pass, Buckskin Pass is where my soul left me and it was like one of the hardest things. I just remember, i feel like my blood sugar dropped really low and I was just like,

00:35:44

Genevieve Henderson

not feeling well. and, but it's at the point, just like the race I was talking talking about before, you have to go the same distance back now. And so I'm like, well, I don't really have an option.

00:35:53

WILD ONEZ

Yeah.

00:35:56

Genevieve Henderson

I just told everyone, i was like, I will meet you at the top. Just like, no one talked to me. Nobody look at me. Like, don't fucking talk to me. I just like put my head down. a lot of cuss words came out. I don't think I brought,

00:36:09

Genevieve Henderson

hiking, trekking poles, which was my first mistake. Now with like years kind of under my belt, no trekking poles. So that was unfortunate. So I'm just like kind of grinding along. Once I got to the top of the second pass, I was like, I feel so good and I can do this. And we also started to see clouds rolling. So it was kind of one of those where we were like, we got a little clip on our step.

00:36:29

WILD ONEZ

Yeah, that'll get the adrenaline going.

00:36:31

Viv

Okay, just slightly scary.

00:36:32

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. So we start, we start moving up. The third pass and we run into Rob. Rob is crying and he was, I've never seen him cry other than this. He is stopping. He was like, I'm sorry, you guys. I ran into a bear and I thought it was a deer. So I kind of stopped and was staring at it. And then it stood up and it was a bear and then it made eye contact with me. And so then I started running as fast as I could. And he said the bear ran ran next to him.

00:37:01

Genevieve Henderson

And then it kind of veered off and he he said he ran all the way up, buckskin pass. Like he just kept fucking running and luckily ran into a couple people and he was like, holy shit, I just saw bear.

00:37:09

WILD ONEZ

Thank you.

00:37:12

Genevieve Henderson

Oh my God, I'm so glad you guys are here. Holy shit, holy shit. And he was by himself at this point. And then as he was telling them, he looked over and the bear was there again

00:37:16

Viv

Yeah.

00:37:22

Genevieve Henderson

which is funny because he's okay, but like so scary. And he was like, fuck this. So then he just kept running up this third pass, which we ran into him on.

00:37:33

Genevieve Henderson

And he stayed with us pretty much the whole time after that. And it was just such a cool experience. By the time we got to the fourth pass, it was like, okay, I'm like good to be done with this. And I remember on our way down, kind of got lost and we all are out of water.

00:37:52

Genevieve Henderson

like everyone's at their, you know, we've been running now for like 10 hours. And that's when I remember being like looking at Rob and I was like, I'm going to start running because I have to be done with this. And he was like, sounds good. See you at the end. And me and Andrea Gableman, she was like, all right, let's go. And then we both just kind of took off. And luckily,

00:38:17

WILD ONEZ

Were you on the uphill or the downhill part of this last pass?

00:38:17

Viv

OK.

00:38:20

Genevieve Henderson

This last pass, we were on the downhill.

00:38:22

WILD ONEZ

Okay.

00:38:22

Genevieve Henderson

Yep. It was like, it was kind of like a lollipop.

00:38:23

Viv

Nice.

00:38:25

Genevieve Henderson

So you go out like three miles, I think, and then around and then back out three miles.

00:38:31

WILD ONEZ

Got it. Okay.

00:38:33

Genevieve Henderson

It was super flat, the last piece. And I just remember like running as fast as I could. I just kept telling myself if the faster you run, the faster you'll be done. And then you can like have pizza and sit.

00:38:44

Viv

Amazing.

00:38:44

Genevieve Henderson

And I remember seeing, hearing And i started crying and then just like started smiling and running.

00:38:50

WILD ONEZ

Aww.

00:38:52

Genevieve Henderson

And it was such a cool experience. Overshadowed, I think there was a couple of people out on the trail who got lost and there's someone out there who's pregnant.

00:39:02

Genevieve Henderson

And so it was like, I just found out she was pregnant. It was very scary. Like we could not make contact with them.

00:39:09

Viv

What?

00:39:10

Genevieve Henderson

Luckily they ended up finishing four pass loop. And so then it felt like, we were able to like kind of breathe, but it was really gnarly. And we also ran into a couple of Traverse members just out there, which was one of those fun serendipitous moments who they weren't with us. We just were running and we're like, Oh my God, we know you. But yeah, it's a, that kind of solidified my love for being outside. Well, I'm really dark.

00:39:36

Genevieve Henderson

Let me turn on my light.

00:39:38

WILD ONEZ

4-pass loop is no joke.

00:39:40

Genevieve Henderson

No, it's no joke. I did it three weeks later, actually. But I did it backpacking.

00:39:46

WILD ONEZ

Okay.

00:39:46

Viv

Okay, I was like, you ran it again? oh God bless.

00:39:49

Genevieve Henderson

I would run it. i would run it over backpacking it. I don't like backpacking, actually.

00:39:53

Viv

Okay.

00:39:53

Genevieve Henderson

I hate it.

00:39:54

WILD ONEZ

heavy. i can't hear it.

00:39:55

Genevieve Henderson

It's so heavy.

00:39:56

WILD ONEZ

Yeah.

00:39:57

Genevieve Henderson

I'm like, I'd rather go camping or I want to trail run. Like, I i don't want to combine it. Yeah.

00:40:04

WILD ONEZ

That's fair.

00:40:05

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah, but I think we went, the only time I've been backpacking, which is like not fair, is we did four pass loop with some of my girlfriends and we got up the first pass. We started Aspen side. So like we got up Buckskin pass, whereas before we'd started Chris to beat side.

00:40:22

Genevieve Henderson

And once again, let me remind you, I left my soul on that pass. And once again, left it once we, second time i around, I was like, I hate this pass and got up to the top.

00:40:34

Genevieve Henderson

It starts, it starts raining on our way up, which whatever, fine. Then it starts hailing and sleeting.

00:40:41

Viv

move

00:40:42

Genevieve Henderson

And we're like, okay, like, this isn't fun. And then we get to the top and it's, yeah, we get to top, it's dumping snow.

00:40:46

Viv

faster move faster

00:40:51

Genevieve Henderson

And we're like, okay, like we can't see the trail.

00:40:52

Genevieve Henderson

And we're like, fuck. Okay.

00:40:55

Genevieve Henderson

So luckily we we kind of like make our way down the trail. We were able to Once we kind of started to descend, it started raining again. So we're like, if we can see the trail. And we just set up camp.

00:41:06

Genevieve Henderson

the There's four of us. And the girl I was staying with forgot to bring tarp for the tent. And we didn't have a sleeping pad, but and it was dumping. So we woke up just like in a puddle.

00:41:20

Genevieve Henderson

And it also was because we were supposed to do two passes that day.

00:41:24

Genevieve Henderson

So it was like, you know, we got the first pass done at like 11am. And then we had to like set up camp because it was raining so hard.

00:41:30

Viv

sorry.

00:41:32

Genevieve Henderson

We just stayed in our tent all day and night woke up to like, I don't know, like half a foot of snow. And we were like, shit.

00:41:43

Genevieve Henderson

And August. and And know, and

00:41:47

WILD ONEZ

Whoa.

00:41:51

Genevieve Henderson

Flight for Life had already been sent out. We had heard twice, picked up two different groups that night. And because we woke up to these guys running past our campsite, one guy had a tent on, he was wearing it.

00:41:58

WILD ONEZ

Thank you.

00:42:07

Genevieve Henderson

And the other guy had... like, a tarp on, and we were like, you guys good? And they were like, we're fucking pissed off, like, we're not stopping, and we're like, okay, and they're like, don't, I wouldn't go ahead any further, trail's completely covered, Flight for Life's already come out, like, don't do it, and so we just turned around and went back.

00:42:26

Genevieve Henderson

It was a wild experience, so yeah, it was really scary.

00:42:29

Viv

That's insane.

00:42:31

Genevieve Henderson

Four Pass Loop is beautiful, and it, I don't know, it's just, like, I think it's people, I kind of look at it like casually and the mountains are just like not a casual place.

00:42:45

Genevieve Henderson

So.

00:42:45

WILD ONEZ

You definitely have to be prepared for something like that. So when I did four pass loop, we started in the maroon bell side and probably it was like two or three o'clock in the morning when we started.

00:42:52

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:42:55

WILD ONEZ

So completely dark. So hiking along, we missed maroon bells because it was pitch black.

00:42:57

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:43:01

WILD ONEZ

And we finished like 16 hours, 17 hours later.

00:43:02

Genevieve Henderson

Yep.

00:43:07

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:43:07

WILD ONEZ

verse, the altitude, like four past lupus, no joke.

00:43:09

Genevieve Henderson

It's insane.

00:43:11

WILD ONEZ

No joke at all.

00:43:11

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:43:12

WILD ONEZ

And so we finished in the dark as well.

00:43:13

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:43:14

WILD ONEZ

And so, yeah, I definitely, like i to this day, I still have not seen maroon bells in the It was dark.

00:43:15

Genevieve Henderson

Yep.

00:43:20

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. Yeah. Yep. feel that. Yeah. We started in the dark on Marine Bells and we, we could see it after we passed it. We like looked back we're oh, it's so cool.

00:43:30

WILD ONEZ

o

00:43:31

Genevieve Henderson

It's crazy.

00:43:31

WILD ONEZ

That's cool.

00:43:32

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. Yeah. Start in the dark.

00:43:33

Viv

Thank you.

00:43:33

Genevieve Henderson

We finished, yeah, right around the evening. It was, it's a really pretty trail. And I think that's what kind of jumped or led me into loving. It's like the seriousness that you have to take, and the preparedness.

00:43:47

Genevieve Henderson

I think it kind of levels you up where you're like, you do have to take this seriously. There is a little competitive edge of like, how quickly can I get this done? But then also, it's fun.

00:43:58

WILD ONEZ

How can I survive?

00:43:58

Genevieve Henderson

and Like you're just like running around. Yeah.

00:44:01

WILD ONEZ

Yeah.

00:44:01

Genevieve Henderson

It feels very like, o

00:44:03

WILD ONEZ

Well, and if shit hits the fan, like you have to have a plan B, C, D, and, you know, contingency plans to get yourself home because it's the mountains and they don't care who you are.

00:44:08

Genevieve Henderson

yeah, yeah, yeah, truly.

00:44:10

Viv

The whole alphabet, yeah.

00:44:18

Genevieve Henderson

they don't give a shit. Yeah, it's, it was so pretty and so much fun and so humbling. And I liked, I hadn't felt like that. in a long time and I was so sore and it was one of just those like cool experiences where you're like oh my god we did that in a day yeah yeah

00:44:34

WILD ONEZ

in a day.

00:44:35

Viv

And that day.

00:44:36

WILD ONEZ

Wild. Yeah, that traverse crew, all of you guys actually inspired me to go out and do that with a couple friends. I think it was like a year later, like the summer after or something like that.

00:44:44

Genevieve Henderson

yeah

00:44:47

WILD ONEZ

And that was my second longest run that I had ever done because the first, yeah, the first longest was a marathon that I completed and in Wisconsin. It's flat.

00:44:58

Viv

Oh, that's right.

00:44:58

WILD ONEZ

And then, yeah the second, exactly.

00:44:58

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:44:59

Viv

Yeah. you're like Throw some hills in there. You know what? Screw it. Put a mountain there.

00:45:04

WILD ONEZ

It's only like two more miles. Like what kind of difference is that going to be?

00:45:06

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:45:08

WILD ONEZ

I've already done a marathon. Like

00:45:09

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:45:10

Viv

so more much of a difference.

00:45:11

Genevieve Henderson

It's nothing.

00:45:12

WILD ONEZ

it was hard.

00:45:13

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. Yeah. It's so much harder.

00:45:16

WILD ONEZ

I was wrong. Mm hmm.

00:45:19

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. Yeah, it was fun. And I feel very fortunate, the timing, because Traverse, the the speed at which it grew pretty much after that kind of timeframe, because that was probably 2021, it we haven't been able to do it again because there's just so many people and safety wise, like that is a really rugged thing to do.

00:45:37

Viv

Yeah.

00:45:38

WILD ONEZ

Yeah. Yeah.

00:45:42

Genevieve Henderson

And, so I feel very grateful that I got like invited to do it and got, was able to finish it and,

00:45:42

WILD ONEZ

yeah

00:45:48

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah, it's just such a cool experience to like, either do it or like be inspired to do it and have people around you that you're like, hey, do you guys want to do this with me? It's such a unique, it feels very like uniquely Colorado slash like, out West experience.

00:46:05

Viv

It's definitely on my list because I was a, I'm border-raised Colorado.

00:46:06

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:46:09

Viv

So I moved to New York in like my teenage years. So I never really got to do like all the 14ers and all the things that are like, people are like, oh, you're from Colorado?

00:46:16

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:46:17

Viv

You haven't done this? and I was like, well, I still had to have my parents drop me off at school. Like I still live there.

00:46:22

Genevieve Henderson

yes

00:46:23

Viv

So I wasn't like fully experiencing it. So like watching you guys do the four pass loop and like all the Colorado things now, i'm like, oh, I can't wait to get back and like do this.

00:46:26

Genevieve Henderson

Right.

00:46:33

Viv

So like, now as an adult, I'm, like, knocking things off of, like, my, like, Colorado, like, bucket list, like, all the 14ers and, like, like, kind of hopping in and, like, helping with these ultras and and wanting to, like, just dive into literally everything as an adult because I'm, like, I have adult money now.

00:46:34

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:46:47

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:46:52

Viv

I can do this.

00:46:53

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:46:53

Viv

Like, and I know, of like, what my of my body can do, but, like, I think it's just, like, finding that, like, peace, like, pushing you Do you have anything that, like, I mean, obviously you've like shown up to four pass loop with just a camelback and like,

Lessons from Unpreparedness in Major Events

00:47:10

Viv

and, and, and yeah, did you have snacks?

00:47:10

WILD ONEZ

Wait, did you have snacks?

00:47:10

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. I, I packed snacks. you know, i don't particularly remember.

00:47:14

Viv

What kind of snacks?

00:47:18

Genevieve Henderson

i do know I had, i think a Laura bar. i had a lot of gummy bears. I definitely did not pack enough snacks. Like, thank goodness I was with people. I mean, I ran out of snacks. Like i ate them all. I think I'm probably packed an Uncrustable, probably just one, like thinking back.

00:47:37

Genevieve Henderson

yeah it like I was so vastly unprepared and I'm very grateful that I was with like people who very experienced in the mountains but I'm pretty sure when I showed up they were like that's all you have I definitely brought a pop tart that was like my snack of choice always but yeah I just like I would do things so differently and I'm glad I didn't know what I was getting into

00:48:02

Viv

You're like, ignorance is bliss. We're good.

00:48:04

Genevieve Henderson

Truly, it is so blissful.

00:48:04

Viv

This is fine.

00:48:07

WILD ONEZ

that's how I feel about our first swim run honestly if I would have had known

00:48:13

Viv

There's a lot of things I don't think any of us would have signed up for if we all knew what was coming.

00:48:16

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. her

00:48:19

WILD ONEZ

yes

00:48:20

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:48:21

WILD ONEZ

what a wild ride

00:48:22

Genevieve Henderson

Truly.

00:48:23

Viv

my gosh, there's so much that can happen. I mean, literally with everything. i I mean, training for what we've trained for has been amazing and incredible. What keeps you going as your motivation?

00:48:43

Genevieve Henderson

I think I enjoy being outside. And i also think that one, I mean, i think one is the community. It's like easy to be excited about playing in mountains or like going on a really long run when you have people who are excited about it next to you or holding you accountable to do it. And then i think just being able to like play outside, I always feel better.

00:49:06

Genevieve Henderson

And so it's like, even though sometimes I don't want to go, i think that helps. and a little bit being like, yeah, I did that. Like I did this race or I did this like really hard thing. feel like it gives you some street cred, like no matter how long ago it was.

00:49:24

WILD ONEZ

Mm-hmm.

00:49:24

Genevieve Henderson

yeah. And you just meet people. Like I've made so many friends and whether it's like pacing someone in the mountains, whether it's like, uh, like an Ironman, like triathlon, or it's a long trail run. Like some of my very best friends I've met doing races either with them or doing them. Like Julie Rubenstein met her at four pass loop, literally did not know who she was. And she's one of my closest friends out here. Like, it's just cool to see how that evolves and who you get to do it with. So yeah, community movement, you get to be outside. It's so fun.

00:50:03

WILD ONEZ

Yeah, I think we feel the same way about that.

00:50:06

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:50:07

WILD ONEZ

It's like you always feel better after you're outside doing an activity.

00:50:07

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:50:11

WILD ONEZ

Like sometimes putting your shoes on and opening the door and leaving your house can truly be like the hardest aspect of training, adventuring, whatever it is, until you get out there and you're like a quarter mile in and you're like, oh, this is great.

00:50:26

WILD ONEZ

I'm so glad I left my house.

00:50:27

Genevieve Henderson

yeah yeah You're like, oh wait, I did really want to do this.

00:50:31

WILD ONEZ

Yeah, it's not weird.

00:50:32

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. Yeah, it fun. It is so weird. It's super I get like annoyed because with myself when I feel, i i feel this way about skiing. And I think it's also because the snow is so bad this year, but I'm like, I just don't want to go.

00:50:47

Genevieve Henderson

And then I get out there and I'm like this is so much fun. Except this year it's been not as much fun, a little rough, but it is, it's scary, but it's nice just being in the mountains.

00:50:53

WILD ONEZ

It's a little bit of ice and human slalom currently, but hopefully it will get better.

00:51:01

Genevieve Henderson

Like, even if it's for a few, just like a few runs going out and, and,

00:51:01

WILD ONEZ

afraid.

00:51:06

Genevieve Henderson

being outside or going on, even going on a walk, I think. And I tell people this just like, even in in therapy, when I'm working with clients, just give yourself five minutes. Like, okay. You say you want to write more. Okay. to Set a timer and do it for five minutes. And after five minutes, if you don't like it, then stop.

00:51:24

Genevieve Henderson

I say that with running, give yourself five to 10 minutes. If you're like, there's not a fucking chance. I want to continue to do this. Then don't. But think it is,

00:51:35

Genevieve Henderson

It's just hard to start and then it's fine.

00:51:40

Viv

Once you get out, the hardest part is starting.

00:51:40

WILD ONEZ

I don't get it.

00:51:43

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:51:45

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. Yeah. It sucks. Not always.

00:51:47

WILD ONEZ

It's so weird.

00:51:48

Genevieve Henderson

There's a few moments where I'm like, I'm so happy to be stepping outside and running. But a lot of times I'm like, I don't want to do this. And then I'm loving it.

00:51:56

WILD ONEZ

I know. like, I think that's me like maybe 25% of the time. The other 75% of the time is like, okay, Sarah, just get your shoes on and walk out the door and figure out the rest after you're out because don't need to plan anything.

00:52:03

Viv

Yeah.

00:52:09

Genevieve Henderson

Yes.

00:52:11

Genevieve Henderson

Yes.

00:52:12

Viv

It's a lot of talking to yourself.

00:52:14

WILD ONEZ

Just go because you're going to be so much happier once you get out the door.

00:52:18

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:52:19

Viv

You got to find that little inside cheerleader being like, all right, you can do this. We got this.

00:52:23

WILD ONEZ

Truthfully.

00:52:23

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:52:24

Viv

It's fine.

00:52:25

Genevieve Henderson

Yep.

00:52:25

Viv

Grab your pom-poms. We're doing this.

00:52:28

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. I think that's why signing up for races though is really helpful because it's that like excitement factor and that accountability of, okay,

00:52:31

Viv

Mm-hmm.

00:52:38

Genevieve Henderson

Yes, you can choose not to do this today. You might regret that if you don't. So it's definitely helpful. I think it holds me holds me and I'm sure other people accountable.

00:52:51

Genevieve Henderson

so it's not like slippery slope of not sending it for too many things, but signing up for things that are, you know, going to hold you accountable and get you into the community and get you in to maybe like a routine.

00:53:05

Viv

Oh, absolutely.

00:53:06

WILD ONEZ

yeah love that i think that's traverse definitely played a big role in that mindset for myself because signing up for classes at 5 15 a.m you're committed and if you decide to cancel then what it's like you're charged $10 to not go to a class.

00:53:27

WILD ONEZ

And right there is enough motivation to get out of bed when you want to hit snooze and go see your people, which is exactly where I met you and Viv.

00:53:28

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:53:33

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:53:37

WILD ONEZ

So it's, yeah, the community aspect and everything is, it's all worth it.

00:53:39

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:53:43

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. You've got some skin in the game when you're paying for a membership and then you cancel and you still get charged. Like, oh i know it is a motivator for sure.

00:53:49

Viv

Yeah, you're like, oh, okay. Gotta do that.

00:53:55

Viv

I'm remembering this out, but Jen, do you remember when Sarah would leave to go climb trees, but she would bring her bright neon gear?

00:54:02

WILD ONEZ

yeah

00:54:02

Genevieve Henderson

I do remember this. And Sarah, we have a tree next to our house that is growing like over our, swamp cooler. And we had our, we have a handyman. His name is Randy.

00:54:12

WILD ONEZ

h

00:54:13

Genevieve Henderson

i love him. He is truly my savior.

00:54:14

WILD ONEZ

Classic.

00:54:18

Genevieve Henderson

we, we Had him like up at our swamp cooler and I was kind of like, maybe he'll like trim some of these trees. And he was like, I'll never go up to that roof again. Like you need to be strapped in to get up there. And we had a guy come and trim the trees. He's like, oh, I won't go higher than this. Like, no.

00:54:33

Viv

Call Sarah.

00:54:33

Genevieve Henderson

And I was like, man, Sarah, Sarah would be able to do this.

00:54:37

WILD ONEZ

Yeah, definitely. Just throw whoop in there.

00:54:38

Viv

She'll come up from PV for you, Jen.

00:54:40

Genevieve Henderson

had you literally won a tree climbing contest.

00:54:44

WILD ONEZ

Yeah.

00:54:45

Viv

Yes.

00:54:45

Genevieve Henderson

Like the world series or something.

00:54:48

WILD ONEZ

and

00:54:48

Genevieve Henderson

Sarah, that was crazy.

00:54:49

Viv

We went to Europe for this.

00:54:50

Genevieve Henderson

Like, that was so cool.

00:54:53

WILD ONEZ

Yeah, the Rocky Mountain Chapter tree climbing competition I won and then got to go to Copenhagen, Denmark to compete in the international competition one year.

00:55:01

Viv

Just insane.

00:55:02

Genevieve Henderson

Oh my God.

00:55:02

Viv

that

00:55:03

WILD ONEZ

yeah

00:55:03

Genevieve Henderson

It's all flooding back to me. That was so cool. Sarah, that was so cool.

00:55:06

Viv

So I was like, I'm going to Europe to climb trees. And we're like, what?

00:55:10

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah, I was like, I remember being like, it's so Colorado is so fucking funny and cool because what do you mean like you're competing for the world championship this is so cool and it's such a great example of like you can come continue to compete outside of kind of like my typical what I thought was like typical competition and I think that's something you guys have done such a

00:55:16

WILD ONEZ

I can't.

00:55:33

Viv

Yeah.

00:55:36

Genevieve Henderson

fun thing is like you guys compete at a world level that like some of the top athletes you know couldn't compete at I don't it's just such a cool thing it's been such a nice experience to watch you guys compete so such a high performance level yeah tree climbing swim run I'm like geez Louise marathons hu trail running ultra marathons you guys are yeah you guys are

00:56:05

WILD ONEZ

law

00:56:05

Genevieve Henderson

doing it all.

00:56:07

WILD ONEZ

Thanks. We definitely just like to throw ourselves, you know, at things just like we did for our first swimmer.

00:56:12

Genevieve Henderson

love that.

00:56:14

WILD ONEZ

I always just bring it back to that because I truly didn't know what I was going to do.

00:56:16

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:56:17

Viv

Yeah. It's really like zero fucks to the wind.

00:56:21

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:56:21

Viv

And we're like, all right, we're going to do this. Like, Sarah was like, I'm going to – like, she signed up for high-low last year after not running it out of altitude.

00:56:25

WILD ONEZ

Ready or not? Ready not?

00:56:29

Viv

Like, all this stuff. She made it 50 –

00:56:30

WILD ONEZ

Moving.

00:56:31

Viv

She made it 50 miles into high-low, which is one of the most difficult. Like, it's up there. It's ranked gnarly.

00:56:36

Genevieve Henderson

That is a gnarly race.

00:56:38

WILD ONEZ

Yeah. Jen, you paced Rob for...

00:56:41

Genevieve Henderson

I paced Rob.

00:56:42

Viv

Yeah, you've been up there. You've seen it. It is it is not for the faint of heart.

00:56:44

Genevieve Henderson

It's, yeah.

00:56:46

Viv

Like, this race is, you you definitely, like, oh, it's insane.

00:56:49

Genevieve Henderson

And we saw, we saw you.

00:56:52

WILD ONEZ

Yeah.

00:56:52

Genevieve Henderson

and sir, we saw you.

00:56:54

WILD ONEZ

Uh-huh. I saw you guys at Monarch.

00:56:55

Genevieve Henderson

i was so out of it.

00:56:55

Viv

Mm-hmm.

00:56:56

WILD ONEZ

Yeah.

00:56:57

Genevieve Henderson

Yep, at Monarch. I remember that race, yeah, Rob switched into second gear on, or whatever gear.

00:56:58

WILD ONEZ

Uh-huh.

00:57:03

Genevieve Henderson

He switched into high gear. He was, like, cruising.

00:57:05

WILD ONEZ

You said he was like running up the the head wall or something.

00:57:07

Genevieve Henderson

At Monarch.

00:57:08

WILD ONEZ

Yeah. Oh

00:57:09

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. as we

00:57:10

Viv

What's wrong with him?

00:57:11

Genevieve Henderson

I know. As we passed people, I like couldn't keep up with him, and I was supposed to be pacing him. And as we passed people, people were like chirping at me like, oh, aren't you the pacer? I was like, fuck you. like You don't know this man.

00:57:23

Genevieve Henderson

He's psycho, and he's running, and he should be walking.

00:57:25

WILD ONEZ

large

00:57:27

Genevieve Henderson

God. i was I was like, oh, God.

00:57:29

Viv

like, f Rob, you're making me look bad as a baser. Come on, slow down.

00:57:32

Genevieve Henderson

Like, actually, I was like, you gotta stop. Like, you truly gotta stop. So yeah, that's a gnarly race.

00:57:36

WILD ONEZ

which Yeah,

00:57:38

Genevieve Henderson

It's a gnarly.

00:57:39

Viv

It's definitely one.

00:57:40

Genevieve Henderson

Pretty though.

00:57:41

Viv

I think, I mean, Jen, do you see yourself running more than 50 miles?

00:57:42

WILD ONEZ

gorgeous.

00:57:47

Genevieve Henderson

i do I really want to do the Highlands 100 miler.

00:57:51

Viv

Okay.

00:57:51

WILD ONEZ

Yes.

00:57:51

Genevieve Henderson

myler Yeah, I love the owners of that race who, yeah, i'm I'm obsessed with them.

00:57:51

Viv

Yeah.

00:57:55

WILD ONEZ

There are besties. We love them too.

00:57:58

Genevieve Henderson

Like, and I don't know them that well.

00:57:59

WILD ONEZ

yeah

00:58:00

Genevieve Henderson

I just know them through Rob. And i feel like every interaction I have, they're just always so nice and so prepared and so Incredible.

00:58:07

Viv

Yeah.

00:58:08

WILD ONEZ

They also have their shit together as race directors.

00:58:11

WILD ONEZ

They think about everything. My favorite thing about the Freestone Endurance series also, and this is incredible. This should be every single ultra marathon everywhere.

00:58:11

Viv

Like I only met them once and they're incredible.

00:58:23

WILD ONEZ

Half of their field for High Lonesome is designated for women and half of their field is designated for men.

00:58:28

Viv

Mm-hmm.

00:58:29

Genevieve Henderson

Wow.

00:58:31

WILD ONEZ

And then they have non-binary category as well.

00:58:34

Genevieve Henderson

Wow.

00:58:34

WILD ONEZ

And so like this race is super inclusive and like just top-notch human beings and the volunteers there are like truly incredible.

00:58:37

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:58:43

WILD ONEZ

like I've never experienced at any other race.

00:58:45

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

00:58:45

WILD ONEZ

So.

00:58:46

Genevieve Henderson

It was such a cool experience to see, like, stopping at each, because I took the the night shift, and I guess every time I've

00:58:53

WILD ONEZ

Mm-hmm.

00:58:55

Viv

Yeah. over it That's over monarch pass, right?

00:58:58

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah, every time I paced her up, he's like, you're doing nighttime.

00:58:58

WILD ONEZ

Like headwall, purgatory, yeah. Okay.

00:59:02

Genevieve Henderson

And I'm like, why? But it's really fun. And everyone's just so nice. It's super well marked. Like, not one time was I thinking, oh, did we go the wrong way? And i don't know, I just, it's such a cool. So that that's definitely like,

00:59:18

Genevieve Henderson

if I do a hundred, well, when I do a hundred, cause I'm definitely going to do one. I want to do Highlandsome and I'm like fairly familiar with the course, but yeah, it's such it's such a special place.

00:59:27

Viv

Yeah.

00:59:27

WILD ONEZ

is Well, you're anytime because we have some extra beds in our house for friends and friends.

00:59:30

Genevieve Henderson

I love just that area. i think.

00:59:33

Viv

It's so pretty.

00:59:34

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. So yeah, that, thank you. Woo.

00:59:42

Viv

Her guest room is quite comfy, let me tell you.

00:59:45

Genevieve Henderson

Perfect. Perfect. I will definitely hit you up. Yeah, I, Rob just sent out, he does like around this time, he sends out his, Hey everyone, I'm doing a race.

00:59:57

Genevieve Henderson

Would you guys want to pace me?

00:59:57

WILD ONEZ

Ooh. Yeah.

00:59:59

Genevieve Henderson

And i just got the text yesterday. So I'm prepping for, well, I haven't started prepping, but we'll be prepping for kind of pacing, little pacing segment in August.

01:00:09

Viv

go.

01:00:10

Genevieve Henderson

So yeah, I'm going to

01:00:11

WILD ONEZ

oop

01:00:12

Genevieve Henderson

get back on that kind of grind. Like I said, this past year i was competition free, which was helpful. I had some like weird health stuff too.

01:00:20

Viv

Mm-hmm.

01:00:22

Genevieve Henderson

So it was nice to just like get my nervous system and hormones back in check.

01:00:25

Viv

Yeah.

01:00:26

Genevieve Henderson

I'm excited to kind of step back into the space.

01:00:31

Viv

That's awesome. And I think, like, taking time off is also good. Like, whether it's forced or not, it kind of just, like, lets you step back and be like, okay, here's my big picture.

01:00:42

Viv

This is, like, something I want to work on or something I need to heal and and vice versa.

01:00:46

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

01:00:46

Viv

And I think you just come back with a greater appreciation and, like, just, oh, yeah, 100%.

01:00:50

WILD ONEZ

You get all this clarity.

01:00:50

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

01:00:51

WILD ONEZ

Yeah.

01:00:52

Viv

but her percent

01:00:54

WILD ONEZ

Mm-hmm.

01:00:54

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. That's something I too, I think I'm thinking back to how we started about what, what I've learned from pod, like making a podcast is

Taking Breaks and Reevaluating Passions

01:01:04

Genevieve Henderson

stepping away. Like I definitely stepped away from the podcast for almost a year at some point.

01:01:08

Genevieve Henderson

And it's kind of done the same with fitness where I've, I'm doing, like more yoga and more, a lot of Pilates and like, I'm hardly running and I'm doing some traverse classes, but like more strength based.

01:01:18

Viv

Thank

01:01:25

Genevieve Henderson

And it's been really nice. Whereas before it was just like, go, go, go constantly going.

01:01:29

WILD ONEZ

Mm-hmm.

01:01:30

Genevieve Henderson

And so, yeah, I think it's good to like step back from things that you loved or that you thought you loved and kind of reevaluate what they mean and why they're there. And if they should look different or if they,

01:01:42

Genevieve Henderson

you know, what, how you want them to be in your life. And i think endurance sports and just like fitness in general is, it's important to, I think it's important to constantly evaluate the things in your life, the people in your life, like how you're showing up.

01:01:56

Genevieve Henderson

And yeah, that's definitely what I've done with competing and I'm excited. I'm really excited. I feel like I'm like itching, you know, that feeling when you're like, I like want to train.

01:02:04

WILD ONEZ

Yes.

01:02:05

Genevieve Henderson

It's yeah, it's building.

01:02:06

WILD ONEZ

It feels good to be there though, especially after having a period of time that you're just like very stressed and really like, you know, underwater and training and knowing what that feels like taking a break and then to be really refreshed and able to have that excitement again.

01:02:09

Genevieve Henderson

It does.

01:02:15

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

01:02:20

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

01:02:24

WILD ONEZ

oh

01:02:24

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

01:02:25

WILD ONEZ

such a good feeling.

01:02:26

Genevieve Henderson

It's such a good feeling. Yeah, I'm excited. it's It's fun, and i think the ebbs and flows are important. Yeah.

01:02:34

WILD ONEZ

Yeah, absolutely.

01:02:36

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

01:02:36

WILD ONEZ

Yeah, and definitely have to, you know, take time to evaluate things. You only have so many hours in the day, like, what are you going prioritize? And every season's a little bit different.

01:02:47

WILD ONEZ

so

01:02:48

Genevieve Henderson

Truly.

01:02:48

Viv

I have no idea what life's going to throw at you for sure.

01:02:48

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. Yeah.

01:02:54

Viv

Like there's, it' it's endless.

01:02:54

Genevieve Henderson

I know.

01:02:56

Viv

You're like, Oh, here we go. This hurdle, this hurdle was bigger than the last one.

01:02:57

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. Yes.

01:02:59

Viv

What's going on? Like,

01:03:01

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. I thought we jumped over the hurdle already. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

01:03:07

WILD ONEZ

Yeah.

01:03:07

Genevieve Henderson

It's all fun.

01:03:07

WILD ONEZ

Yeah.

01:03:09

Genevieve Henderson

It all, it all comes back around. So it's been a fun experience to, this is definitely a slower season of life. But I feel like I'm, exiting, you know, getting off at this exit and about to get back on. I'm excited.

01:03:23

Viv

I'm excited.

01:03:23

WILD ONEZ

you know

01:03:24

Viv

We're excited for you. We're definitely, I mean, we're going we're going to follow along and and cheer you on.

01:03:26

Genevieve Henderson

bummed.

01:03:28

Viv

And I mean, after doing so many new things, do you have any advice for anybody who is looking to either get into crazy endurance stuff or even who is just like, I'm going to sign up for Yeah.

01:03:29

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

01:03:43

Genevieve Henderson

I think just do it like just sign up for something I think if it piques your interest there's a reason and ideally you know you either have a community that's pushed you there or you find a community along the way I think that's like a massive piece you really can't do it alone like you just can't between there's always going to be like race volunteers. There's always going to be people, whether it's your community or people from afar. So I think it's important to just sign up for it. Like, just try it.

01:04:13

Genevieve Henderson

You never know what you're going to like, just like swim run for you guys.

01:04:18

WILD ONEZ

It's so true.

01:04:19

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

01:04:19

WILD ONEZ

Just got to jump in. That's great advice.

01:04:21

Viv

yes

01:04:21

Genevieve Henderson

Just jump in. Like let's what's, what's worst that could happen besides like getting lost in a mountain or like, you know, there's a lot of bad things that could happen, but like,

01:04:22

Viv

of it

01:04:32

Viv

Don't think about that though.

01:04:33

Genevieve Henderson

Besides, don't think about that.

01:04:33

Viv

Don't think about that.

01:04:35

Genevieve Henderson

Besides those things, like, what's the worst that could happen? You love it Great. You hate it?

01:04:39

WILD ONEZ

Yeah.

01:04:39

Genevieve Henderson

Great. You don't have to do it again.

01:04:40

WILD ONEZ

Don't do it again.

01:04:41

Genevieve Henderson

Like, know, love it?

01:04:41

WILD ONEZ

Don't sign up. Yeah.

01:04:42

Viv

Rock it off the list. Little check mark next to it. Next.

01:04:44

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

01:04:45

WILD ONEZ

And then like, what did you learn along the way?

01:04:45

Genevieve Henderson

You're done. Yep.

01:04:47

WILD ONEZ

Because there's always great takeaways from things that you were like, oof, never again.

01:04:48

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

01:04:52

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. Yeah. Yes.

01:04:55

WILD ONEZ

but

01:04:56

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah, never again.

01:04:57

WILD ONEZ

if

01:04:57

Genevieve Henderson

I'm retired from that. always tell people, I'm like, yeah I retired from Iron Man. Like, I'm done. I'm like, I literally won't do it again.

01:05:06

Viv

That's totally fine.

01:05:06

Genevieve Henderson

i'm good. Yeah.

01:05:08

Viv

And you're good.

01:05:09

Genevieve Henderson

Not happening. I hate swimming. No offense. And I fucking hate biking. Like, I don't know. I'm good. I like, I love running.

01:05:17

Viv

Every experience teaches you something.

01:05:17

Genevieve Henderson

I'm good. Yeah.

01:05:19

WILD ONEZ

Exactly.

01:05:19

Genevieve Henderson

And i that's what I learned.

01:05:20

WILD ONEZ

za if

01:05:23

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. But next on the deck, it's definitely an ultra. I probably, I want to start it with a 50. 50. but my concern is that when I did an Ironman, I started with a half and the immediate first that I had after I crossed the finish line was like, I want to do a full and that is double of what I just did.

01:05:42

Genevieve Henderson

So I think I want to just launch right into the hundred because i don't want to cross the line of a 50 miler and be like, Oh my God, I have to that twice.

01:05:47

Viv

Yeah.

01:05:51

Genevieve Henderson

I'd rather, I think do a hundred and then do a 50 and be like, Oh my God.

01:05:55

WILD ONEZ

So to qualify for High Lonesome, come do the 50-50, which is two 30-mile days back-to-back.

01:05:55

Genevieve Henderson

Yes.

01:06:03

Viv

Oh yeah.

01:06:05

WILD ONEZ

But that's your qualifier, and that's here in the Valley as well.

01:06:05

Genevieve Henderson

Okay.

01:06:09

Genevieve Henderson

Okay.

01:06:09

WILD ONEZ

Put on by Freestone Endurance, and it's a great qualifier.

01:06:11

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. Perfect. Look at that.

01:06:14

WILD ONEZ

Yeah. 50 miles.

01:06:15

Genevieve Henderson

I know. I remember the Highlands and it's like, you have to like prove that either on like what Strava or you have to erase like a sanctioned race.

01:06:16

WILD ONEZ

So... so

01:06:23

Genevieve Henderson

Right.

01:06:24

WILD ONEZ

It's, I believe it's run sign up. So like your run sign up account.

01:06:28

Genevieve Henderson

Okay.

01:06:28

Viv

Oh yeah, okay.

01:06:29

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. So I guess maybe I will have to do a 50 at some point.

01:06:32

WILD ONEZ

Or two 30 mile days backed back to back.

01:06:34

Viv

We're two thirty s

01:06:34

Genevieve Henderson

Or 235. True.

01:06:36

Viv

And it's 30, so it's not 50, it's not half.

01:06:36

Genevieve Henderson

True.

01:06:39

WILD ONEZ

Yeah.

01:06:39

Genevieve Henderson

That's so true.

01:06:39

Viv

It says 60 at the end of the weekend.

01:06:42

Genevieve Henderson

Just 60 total.

01:06:43

WILD ONEZ

Yeah, it's fine.

01:06:43

Viv

Yeah.

01:06:44

Genevieve Henderson

I know.

01:06:44

WILD ONEZ

But it's the same day. So.

01:06:46

Genevieve Henderson

I got to give it some thought. That's a really good point. You do bring up a really good point. Yay.

01:06:51

WILD ONEZ

will be there this year. So.

01:06:52

Viv

Hey.

01:06:54

WILD ONEZ

okay

01:06:55

Genevieve Henderson

Oh, so fun.

01:06:55

Viv

Hi.

01:06:55

WILD ONEZ

Yeah. Awesome. Okay. So I think we have like one last question here that we try to ask all of our podcast guests. So as a female athlete, what barriers or misconceptions have you encountered in any endurance sports and how have you pushed past them if you've encountered?

01:07:19

Viv

I guess sports in general too, because you've done everything.

01:07:21

WILD ONEZ

Yeah. Yeah.

01:07:23

Genevieve Henderson

yeah I mean the first thing that comes to mind is like funding and accessibility I think that though is just like not necessarily endurance sports I think that was just professional sports in the U.S. like the women's soccer kind of realm growing up the women's pro league was folding like constantly. So I think that really shaped just my experience and it's really fun to see it now.

01:07:53

Genevieve Henderson

Like Denver just got a team and it's fun to see the, the growth of women's sports. I think in endurance sports, specifically in Colorado, something I noticed is i there is not a lot of women do sports.

01:08:10

Genevieve Henderson

Well, at least at first, like I feel like any trail run I was going on, it was with a lot of men, which is fine. So it's been really fun to see women grow in the sport. And four pass loop is the first time that I was like outside with women and like running with women because the boys like they fucking took off which is amazing for them and I'm so happy for them but like there's not a chance I'm gonna stay with them so it's been fun to see finding like community in women in endurance sports because I don't think that it's it's easy to like find men and train with them so it's fun when you find like like you guys have like found each other and been able to compete with each other so that's been something that's nice I don't know if it's like a

01:08:57

Genevieve Henderson

barrier, I guess it is barrier, at certain capacity, I interviewed a girl who, started an outdoor club, i actually met her mom on a plane, and it's, yeah, it's, let me just look up the name so i don't fuck it up, Backcountry Squatters, that's what it's called, yeah, Backcountry Squatters,

01:09:09

WILD ONEZ

Oh, tell us more.

01:09:11

Viv

Oh, that's wild.

01:09:21

Genevieve Henderson

I was like blanking on that for second. It's so cool. She started it. She skied Montana and she ran cross country. She grew up in Montana. She ran cross country. She's like, I love skiing. I don't want to keep running.

01:09:35

Genevieve Henderson

basically quit and then started at this club, put flyers all over the university.

01:09:40

Viv

Nope.

01:09:41

Genevieve Henderson

And this was her kind of thing. She's like, gosh, I love like outdoor, really cool sports like s skiing and mountain biking and skateboarding and things like that. But there's not that many women.

01:09:52

Genevieve Henderson

Like where are all the girls at? And so she put flyers all over campus. And I think it was something like outdoor club for girls and non-binary people. And,

01:10:04

Genevieve Henderson

she said she had like 150, 200 people show up. Nobody, not everybody fit in the, yeah, not everyone even fit in the classroom.

01:10:07

WILD ONEZ

That's incredible.

01:10:10

Viv

Oh gosh.

01:10:11

Genevieve Henderson

And so it started this really cool thing. And it's now there's chapters. It's kind of like a sorority or fraternity. Like there's chapters around the country and, you know, see you has a really big chapter and up in Boulder and they have like community leads and they go, you know, rock climbing and mountain biking.

01:10:31

Genevieve Henderson

And it's more so to just like, you don't have to be the best and it's really intimidating, I think, outdoor being outside. And so it's just this like creates a, wouldn't say like a lower barrier to entry for people because it's not scary.

01:10:41

Viv

Oh yeah.

01:10:48

Genevieve Henderson

Like you have people with you that are, you know, people who are from all different places who identify like all different. And, you know, there's, it seems to have been like a really,

01:11:01

Genevieve Henderson

infectious club yeah they have so many chapters backcountry squatters she is finishing her PhD in like environmental studies or something she's so fucking cool she's on the

01:11:05

WILD ONEZ

Mm-hmm.

Community and Women in Outdoor Sports

01:11:16

Viv

That's awesome.

01:11:16

Genevieve Henderson

kind of northeast now but yeah it was a really cool experience I think yeah that just that piece of like finding other women who enjoy doing what you do is fun and it's important

01:11:29

Viv

Wow. I love that. Did this episode drop already? Because it sounds familiar.

01:11:34

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah, it's with Andy Creel.

01:11:34

Viv

Okay.

01:11:35

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

01:11:36

Viv

Yes. Okay. I was like, this sounds so familiar.

01:11:37

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. Yeah.

01:11:38

Viv

Is this like one that like we talked about?

01:11:39

Genevieve Henderson

yeah

01:11:40

Viv

Or yeah No, I do. I do remember that. Because like she was like, there's a gap here. Like, what can I do to, like, get this? And I think that that's, like, the point that we wanted with this podcast, too, is, like, nobody's – don't say nobody, but, like, very few people are talking about, hey, there are other women out here that want to do this stuff.

01:12:00

Viv

But it it can be intimidating to do it by yourself or, like, with one other person. like But getting together a group of people, a group of females, like-minded, like, whatever.

01:12:11

Viv

whatever it may be, like everybody has an interest and you don't know unless you talk about or reach out.

01:12:15

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

01:12:17

Viv

And so like, I mean, Andy did an incredible job with it. And like, that's our goal here is like talking to a lovely woman like you and and really trying to out, out pour that, that love of like, Hey, guess what? You're not alone. promise. promise.

01:12:32

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. Yeah. yeah It's really fun. And I do think Like you guys, y'all live so far away and you still are able to compete and be outside and do it together, but like in different locations and then sometimes in the same location. And it's fun. I think you can build community outside of the physical location you're in, especially when maybe it's a smaller community or it's a newer community or you're just getting to know people. Like I do think community can, it's nice when it's local, but it can be, you know, like,

01:13:05

Genevieve Henderson

stretch as far as different countries, and yeah, it's been, it's been cool to see, there's a couple, I feel like, groups that are doing really good work, and it's fun to have this conversation with you guys, I'm excited to see, like, the space that you guys continue to create, and the community you guys continue to create through this, because I do think it's important, and there's so much need for it, and I think on, like, any level, and every level, whether it's, like, boots on the ground or conversation or, you know, in whatever it might be, like whatever space, I think it's important to occupy it.

01:13:14

Viv

Thank you.

01:13:42

WILD ONEZ

Absolutely.

01:13:45

Viv

I think it's it echoes I think if one domino falls the rest kind of continue it's just it's just gotta find the cojones to do it and sometimes that's scary and

01:13:53

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

Balancing Commitments and Personal Growth

01:13:57

Viv

I mean you got or just sign up for four-pass loop not knowing what you're doing is also another way to do and just say yes

01:13:57

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

01:14:00

Genevieve Henderson

Yes. Yeah, just say yes. Yeah, I'm, like, unfortunately such a yes person. i like, I've been working on taking a breath and, like, not saying yes because it's – I've gotten to see some incredible things, and it also is, like, overwhelms a plate. So, yeah, but just say yes. Like, of course. Duh.

01:14:24

Genevieve Henderson

How else are you going to do four pass loop? Like, i can tell you, I'm definitely not doing that shit alone. Like, no chance.

01:14:29

WILD ONEZ

No way.

01:14:30

Genevieve Henderson

I would have never done that. Yeah,

01:14:32

Viv

After hearing your story and Sarah's story, no thank you. I'm going to take my exit, buddy.

01:14:36

Genevieve Henderson

no. Yeah, like, I'm good.

01:14:38

WILD ONEZ

I know.

01:14:39

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

01:14:42

WILD ONEZ

yeah that's awesome

01:14:46

Viv

Sarah, do you have anything else? this is like I don't want this conversation to end because we love talking to you, Jen. i mean from motivating us to literally 5.15 being like, you're here, you're awesome, and screaming in our face.

01:14:59

Viv

And we're like, yeah, we're pretty awesome. This is amazing. But like, truly, like, i Sarah and I have i've loved kind of growing through life with you kids. Like, we met you when you were, like, single and, like, doing crazy things.

01:15:11

Genevieve Henderson

I know.

01:15:12

Viv

And you're still doing crazy things.

01:15:13

Genevieve Henderson

like,

01:15:13

Viv

And it's incredible.

01:15:14

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah, it's so crazy. I know. I feel like I've, like, I've known you guys pretty much as long as I've been out in Colorado, which is so fun and crazy to think about, and I'm so excited for, you know, what the next, like, 5, 10, 15, 20 years hold, because I do think that's part of that community, right?

01:15:32

Genevieve Henderson

Like, Sarah, you've moved away, and Viv, you've moved away, and Viv, you were my landlord at one point. Just want to shout out.

01:15:37

Viv

Oh, my I nearly forgot about that.

01:15:38

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

01:15:39

WILD ONEZ

Yeah.

01:15:39

Genevieve Henderson

Shout out to Viv.

01:15:40

Viv

That was a chapter there.

01:15:42

Genevieve Henderson

And it's just been like such a fun experience to see everyone's growth and development. And like, I remember when you guys met, like I vividly remember it.

01:15:51

WILD ONEZ

yeah

01:15:54

Genevieve Henderson

And to see the friendship and like the sisterhood and just the experience that you guys have had, you guys have traveled the world together, traveled the country. So it's such a fun

Impact of Traverse and Community Success

01:16:04

Genevieve Henderson

experience. thing that, you know, being a part of Traverse, I think, has been really helpful and truly life-changing, and it's fun to see how that experience has shaped other people.

01:16:15

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah, i'm so I'm just so excited for to see where we all end up and what we end up doing.

01:16:20

WILD ONEZ

Right? Life is so crazy. It is incredible what five years can do.

01:16:23

Genevieve Henderson

It's so crazy.

01:16:25

WILD ONEZ

i was thinking about that timeline earlier and this podcast when you were saying like 2021 is kind of when you stepped into that role in Traverse. And I think that's when I stepped into Traverse in the first the first time as well.

01:16:38

WILD ONEZ

was Were you there during the fourbyf fourby forty eight the forty their first year

01:16:39

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

01:16:40

Viv

Yeah. Yep.

01:16:44

Genevieve Henderson

I was. Yeah, I started 2020. started cleaning, shout in coach in like, like, shadow in twenty tony and then became coachcha in like or like end of 2020 beginning of 2021 and I think the 4x4x48 was my first event I went to like I didn't compete I just went and like hung out I think I coached that day altitude I don't remember but I remember going and people were on air mattresses I was like what the hell is going on here yeah it's cool though it's so like yeah

01:17:03

WILD ONEZ

That's right.

01:17:13

WILD ONEZ

see I feel like I remember speaking there. Yeah.

01:17:18

Viv

as they do Yeah, least try at least try one class.

01:17:19

WILD ONEZ

Mm-hmm. Yeah. it's

01:17:24

WILD ONEZ

Yeah. Shout out to Traverse. If you're in the Denver area, check it out because it will change your life.

01:17:27

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah, for real. Yeah, like, just try it one time.

01:17:31

WILD ONEZ

Yeah.

01:17:32

Viv

I think the first class is still free. So go go try it.

01:17:35

Genevieve Henderson

it is so free.

01:17:35

WILD ONEZ

Thank you.

01:17:36

Genevieve Henderson

It is.

01:17:36

Viv

And the people that you meet, I mean, Sarah and I were talking about it too. Like, I mean, the people that are there now, there's very few like people that, like if I go back and take classes,

01:17:48

Viv

I'm not going to know who a good chunk, a majority of those people are. And I think, I think that's so special too, like of what KP and Jim have done. It's just grown the community and they're opening up another location.

01:18:00

Viv

Like they've grown the gym already on Broadway. Like it's just been incredible to see so much success in like six years and just seeing that absolutely explode.

01:18:08

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

01:18:09

Viv

And and what they've created is still very much special. And you might not see the same people at the like different community events that they hold, but, the the core of who the gym is is is very much I think still there like yeah every time I visit Colorado I try and slide into I'm like hey Ashley I'm in town can I come by and she's like oh absolutely

01:18:29

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

Challenges of Adjusting to Altitude

01:18:30

Genevieve Henderson

Yep. Yeah.

01:18:30

Viv

and it's just it's good to get my ass kicked at altitude every once a while very humbling from a C-level gal myself right now

01:18:31

WILD ONEZ

yeah

01:18:36

Genevieve Henderson

It is. It is humbling. I still feel like I'm, I'm like, yeah, I used to live in Florida. Like, I'm like still trying to come back from sea level. Oh my gosh.

01:18:48

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. I'm like, I've been here like six years, like seven years, I guess.

01:18:51

Viv

We're still day level.

01:18:52

Genevieve Henderson

Oh my gosh. I'm still, still sea level.

01:18:53

WILD ONEZ

Where's the oxygen? thousand feet now where's the oxygen

01:18:57

Genevieve Henderson

Truly. Truly.

01:18:58

Viv

Every time.

01:19:00

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

01:19:01

Viv

It always takes a day and you're like, I'm dying. It's fine. And then you're like, oh we're good.

01:19:04

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. Yeah.

01:19:06

Viv

I can breathe again.

01:19:08

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. It takes a while, but it's fine.

01:19:12

Viv

I love it.

Closing Gratitude and Future Excitement

01:19:14

Viv

Thank you so much for coming on our podcast, Jen. This has been

01:19:17

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

01:19:18

Viv

Probably one of my favorite times. I mean, i so I've been saying that about every single time we hop on a podcast. I'm like, this is my favorite.

01:19:23

Genevieve Henderson

Hey.

01:19:24

Viv

This is awesome.

01:19:25

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

01:19:25

Viv

really amazing.

01:19:26

Genevieve Henderson

Every time it will happen. I'm telling you, every time I get off a call, I'm like, that was so fun. though That was my favorite. And then every single time, it's the same.

01:19:34

WILD ONEZ

fifty

01:19:35

Genevieve Henderson

It's so much fun. I'm so excited. I really appreciate you guys having me on. And I can't wait to listen and see all the different experiences and all the different ladies that you have on and just hear people's, you know, experience with it.

01:19:47

Genevieve Henderson

I do think, i think there's like that common denominator of community, peace, being outside, peace, and just the kind of like playfulness and creativity you get to have when you go outside.

01:19:58

Genevieve Henderson

So.

01:19:59

WILD ONEZ

Yeah, absolutely.

01:20:00

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

01:20:01

WILD ONEZ

Well, it was so lovely to have you here and catch up. Oh my gosh, it's been so long

01:20:06

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. been so long.

01:20:09

WILD ONEZ

Yes.

01:20:11

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah. Well, I hope you guys, I wish you all the best. I can't wait to listen to all the episodes and yeah I love what you're doing. So thank you for doing this.

01:20:19

WILD ONEZ

Oh, thank you.

01:20:20

Viv

Thank you. Same here.

01:20:21

Genevieve Henderson

Yeah.

01:20:22

WILD ONEZ

thank you

01:20:23

Genevieve Henderson

Yay.

01:20:24

WILD ONEZ

Yay. Well, I think that's all for this week's episode. So we'll see you next time. And we love you all.

01:20:31

Genevieve Henderson

Woo. Yay.