 It's mind-boggling when you try to wrap your mind around the fact that we started in California and ended on the Las Vegas Strip I think that was just really amazing It's Baker to Vegas. It's 120 miles It's a relay race and we start just outside of Baker, California And we run through the Mojave Desert up through the mountains in Nevada Back down to the Las Vegas Strip and then we end at the Rio Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip You can't really prep for a run through the desert with 115 degree heat index It's really just for lack of a better word crazy So to kind of have grown up hearing about Death Valley and knowing the climate it was and then being like well I just ran through that The March Service had been doing this race for a long time and at some point They wanted to break off and make it a female only team and not because we didn't want to be with the guys But more so because we wanted to have an opportunity to get all the females together Which is really hard for for our agency because there's a very drastic difference in How many males are our two females in our in our agency because there are aspects of the agency and Aspects of being a female in law enforcement just in general where it can feel kind of lonely So to be able to speak to people who've been in the agency for 10 15 25 years and be like hey, you're not the only one you're not alone We all wear the same star at the end of the day and we are all capable and More than capable. I'm very strong independent fierce women. So I just felt surrounded by fierceness So for us it's not really about the actual race itself The race is what brings us together the race is what allows us to Come together as a team and that's sort of the glue that holds the camaraderie together But for for me and I think for most of the girls This is really about bringing together a network of women who are really strong and powerful and motivated and giving them an opportunity to Number one reflect on what we do as an agency to network with each other and really meet Because we wouldn't have ever had an opportunity to do this in any other means and then honor our fallen and I and I mean that in that You know, we all come together to remember those that we've lost And unfortunately this last year we lost quite a few You never shake that feeling when you're at the starting line and they're about to either start the timer or Hit hit the gun. It's just a thrill that I get out of it I'm from South Texas where it's triple digit weather almost all year round had never seen snow since I moved to the DMV So everyone thought oh, she's got this in the bag like six. You're gonna be fine But I really it I wasn't because nobody in South Texas runs midday for fun You know, we get up early in the morning and say before dawn or you know once the sun goes down It was so hot The heat was radiating up from the pavement There was a point at I heard another racer and their follow team saying there was so many people falling out of this race Because it was so hot and so strenuous on the people running it. I Wouldn't call it nervous, but kind of just like that little bit of like anxiety before like a big event Like waiting to run, but there's so many people there from all different agencies and then my entire team was there So I had my co-workers and all the ladies I had just met who are also involved in the team waiting with me to start running and then When I finally caught the baton and took off for my own 6.1 miles through the desert everyone was there cheering me on and it was it was really cool to be like Hey, I know it's hot and I know you're in the middle of the desert But there's people right behind you cheering you on the whole way If you can imagine running through a desert and up a mountain I'm starting here and you go all the way up here And you just see for miles in the distance the hill that you have to go up a little a little daunting for sure But I just got to keep pushing through that's just something that in our agency in our Job you have to do because you got to you got to push forward no matter what comes whatever obstacles you face You just got to keep moving Our team team too was just so it was full of amazing females and even our support crew Anything we asked for anything we needed they had it they did no questions asked so I just felt very Very like catered to like okay They're here for me because I'm the one putting in the work right now, so let's do this knowing we were there to honor so many people and Getting to meet the female deputies who knew them personally and hear Personal stories about the people we were honoring. Yeah, it was a hot Six miles through the desert, but knowing that we did that for that reason made it really great experience I think for me as we're crossing the finish line in that sense of accomplishment is Yeah, it's pretty powerful These girls have done a lot and this race was Particularly challenging this year for the girls who had not had an opportunity to run these legs before they kind of left in Not recognizing how challenging it was going to be and just killed it And what would you tell these these young deputies? Going forward Yeah, I think moving forward, you know all of my teammates are my family And so I I hope that I get to see them next year and I hope that They serve as an inspiration for other women in the agency to become be a part of something that is as powerful as this I think the message that I'd like to see moving forward for this team is that We as women can really empower other women just by having these connections and these relationships, right? So we can we can light each other's fires and and still burn