Adventures with Syd

A Mile a Day — 2025

2025 was the year I learned consistency—something I’ve always struggled with.

The trail gave me some of the most beautiful seasons of my life, but it also left me with a really warped relationship with health and fitness. Going from completing the Triple Crown, where movement was my entire day, to living a “normal” life with work, schedules, and responsibilities felt disorienting. I didn’t know what fitness looked like anymore without hours to dedicate to it.

I overcomplicated everything. I told myself I didn’t have enough time, yet somehow did nothing with the time I did have. So I’d just… stop.

In October 2024, I decided to try something different: one mile a day. Ten minutes, max. No excuses, no overthinking.

Some days it was easy. Other days it was pure Type 2 fun—pouring rain, single-digit temps, brutal humidity, way too early or way too late, exhausted, not feeling good. But I showed up. 361 days this year, 540 total miles.

There were 4 days I didn’t. I was genuinely sick, and for once, I chose my health without guilt—and came back when I could.

So to my December 31, 2024 self: thank you for saying yes. For giving yourself grace. For showing up in the suck. For redefining what “enough” looks like.

Your December 31, 2025 self is really proud of you.

Thankful a storm outside Franklin, NC forced Ringer and I to have to share a shuttle into town. 4 1/2 years later I’m thankful for these friends for life. The best end to our road trip visiting my Missouri ride or dies.

Still pinching myself to see if this weekend was real! Can’t believe I got to see these two! Let’s not wait 3 years before we do it again…my rummy skills were getting rusty! Brooke, I hope your back doesn’t hurt too bad from carrying the cards since Duck wasn’t here to take the L for us haha!

Trail Magic 2024

Got to sprinkle magic on almost 40 of this year’s epic class of thru hikers over the last couple months! It’s always a fun time being out on trail flipping grilled cheese and pancakes or chucking Gatorade and ice cream sandwiches at hikers on the hottest day of summer! Big shoutout to my gals and out crushing the trail! And of course who I’ve got to now see on all three legs of her triple crown!

Throw back to a rainy AT Trail Days a couple weeks ago! Love my trail fam!

10/10 would drive 4800+ miles across the country again to visit the homies!

It’s official! I have so many words I could use to describe the 5 1/2 days I spent on the Ozark Trail but I don’t think it would do it justice. The trail was truly beautiful, it challenged me unlike anything I’ve ever done before, and while I left with the most blisters I’ve ever had in my life I was really proud of what I had accomplished despite how hard it was at times and having to push through pain at the end. Thanks for all the support and encouragement throughout my attempt! And I couldn’t conclude without a mega shout out to .gb.hampton! A legend of a trail friend, outstanding hype man, and supplier of the iconic . Thanks for the shuttle, subs, and for giving me this crazy idea to try and FKT this thing in the first place! For now I’m ready to chill for a bit, finish my road trip, trail magic the AT class of 2024, day hike a bit and enjoy a summer at home in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

Unofficial Ozark Trail Women’s Unsupported FKT
230mi
5days 13hr 53min

Loading…Ozark Trail FKT Attempt

Starting around 7am CT today!

a trip to the blue ridge parkway today made my mountain-loving heart happy

I had the best welcome home squad! Love these people!

2663.1mi

There was a chill in the air, I was tired, and my gear was covered in condensation, but today I didn’t care cause we were getting off trail. We only had a 9 mile dirt road walk back to where we got dropped off yesterday. We were on a roll and I guess wanted to be done so bad that we knocked out 4 miles in our first hour. I honestly didn’t think we were going that fast. We still had two miles left when we spotted our parents parked on the dirt road. The cars started getting closer and closer until the only things that separated us from them was our lovely lake. The water had definitely gone down a bit so we initially tried to keep our feet dry but we quickly realized it wasn’t going to work so we trudged the rest of the way through the water.

We finally reached the paparazzi…I mean the parents. We spent the next hour or so hanging out having a desert picnic. We plopped ourselves on the tailgate and Duck’s mom made us some killer sandwiches. We all sat around joking around and reminiscing about the trail before we had a last photo shoot.

It’s crazy to think it’s over. The CDT was one crazy adventure and I’m thankful for the opportunity to have done it. I don’t think it’s set in yet and I don’t know if it will. I do know thru hiking changed my life. I learned so many things about myself and life and met so many incredible people. Through it all I was overwhelmed by all the support and encouragement I received from friends, family, and complete strangers. While thru hiking is going to go on the back burner for awhile, I do know that the trail will always be a big part of my life.

Until the next adventure…