Meet Caterpy Athlete Tavi Wallace. This Winter season she stepped way outside of her comfort zone in pursuit of speed. Her goal was to get reacquainted with speed, winning was not even on the radar. Imagine her surprise when she learned she'd won the entire series! The race director scored runners by adding their times for each race together; Tavi's total time was 7 minutes faster than the second place runner! For middle distance running, this is a huge number!
Her usual game is the long slow burn of ultra running, so middle distance speed was somewhat foreign. "The stark difference between ultramarathons and short distance races is the inability to mentally zone out for a *single second.* In ultras, you’re in the woods alone for hours and the mind wanders (I love it!) In a 5k, if you think for a millisecond about anything other than the next footstep you’re taking, you get passed," says Tavi. She goes on to share that adding a combination of speed work and healthy eating habits, as well as having the support of friends and family made all the difference.
She is an advocate for eating disorder recovery (personal experience) and had people share their own eating disorder recovery journeys with her throughout this series.
Her hard work, and willingness to leap paid huge dividends, we're inspired by Tavi's story and proud to claim her as part of the Caterpy Family! Has Tavi inspired you? What sort of journey are you on? Tell us how you're stepping outside of your comfort zone.
