In Conversation with Cynthia Carson, Women’s Winner of the 2026 Hellenic Mountain Race

Note: The Mountain Races podcast is produced for the ear and designed to be heard. If you are able, we strongly encourage you to listen to the audio, which includes emotion and emphasis that’s not on the page. This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and is kept as close to verbatim as possible.

Mel Webb: So why don’t we start at the very beginning, all the way back to Agios Athanasios and the first day, and how things transpired then, ’cause I know it quickly… I shouldn’t say quickly spiraled, but let’s just start there.

Cynthia Carson: Yeah, the start was super cool. I mean, I had gone and done a little bit of riding on that first climb a couple days before the race, so I knew that it was going to be challenging, and also it went up to elevation, so I was very smart. I kept within my ability, actually wanted to negative split it so that I would not blow myself up too early while watching everyone else go quite hard. And there was also hiking into the snow. So I started out, like, very smart, and the very… You know, the first day I felt great. I was really on it. I felt my legs had a lot to give, and the whole day was just super good.

And then we were starting to, you know, darkness comes, and we’re starting to get close to this hike-a-bike section, and I started to feel kind of sour, just, like, having a hard time. Every time I ate, I would feel sick. Anytime I drank water, I would feel sick. And I thought, well, you know, maybe it’s just, like, the time of day. So I sort of stopped eating as often. And we got to the hike-a-bike section, which was something that was said to be hard, and I knew that it was new. It was different than the previous hike-a-bike. Same mountain, we approached it from the backside, and there was apparently a trail, but I’m not telling… there was no trail. I didn’t find any trail in there. I saw a lot of these signs that indicated there was a trail. They’re this red sign with an E…

Mel Webb: The Epirus Trail.

Cynthia Carson: The Epirus Trail was something that you were following up the side of this mountain, and I’m actually kind of grateful that it was dark, because if it was daytime and I could see where we were going, I might have just stopped.

But I continued trudging forward feeling crappy, continued to feel worse. I started the hike-a-bike at 11:00 PM. I entered into it, and as I was hiking, I just continued to feel worse and worse. And I’d take, you know, five steps, and my heart rate would be jacked up super high, and I’d be out of breath, and I’d have to sit. I’d literally put my bike down on the ground, and I’d have to sit sometimes for, like, five minutes before I could get up and move again. It took me, like, 30 minutes to walk 1K, and it continued that way for the whole time. And there’s parts where the hiking wasn’t as hard, but then there’s parts where you’re pushing the bike, not necessarily forward, but it felt like above you. It was so steep in some sections.

And I just felt like crap the whole time. And as I was getting higher and higher, I felt worse and worse, and then I started throwing up. So I had to deal with that while trying to move forward, ’cause I knew that if I stopped where I was, it wasn’t gonna help. I wasn’t gonna miraculously get better from whatever I was dealing with.

Then there was a checkpoint at some point. After that nine kilometers, I was gonna get to a checkpoint, so hopefully I could sleep and figure out what was going on with my stomach. And I don’t know what place I was in ’cause I didn’t look at the tracker, but I know what place I was in when I got to the checkpoint, and I probably lost, like, 20 places. I think 20 people passed me on the climb. And at one point, I was sitting on the snow very close to the top, but throwing up the last… like, there was nothing except bile coming out at this point. And a rider and Justyna passed me, and Justyna’s like, “Are you okay? Are you okay?” I’m like, “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just white as a ghost over here just trying not to throw up or trying not to gag.” You know, just dealing with that process where your stomach just, like, keeps going and there’s nothing.

And then I finally crest at the top and get to go down this, what’s called the best single track in Greece, which was super fun. And because I wasn’t exerting any effort, I was able to do most of it. And there were some sections where we were having to walk. It was just too steep, or there was something sketchy. But I have never been so happy to see a checkpoint in my whole life. Arriving to checkpoint one, and I felt as if I had been to battle and back. And the sun, of course, at this point is, like, almost rising. That was probably… honestly, I’ve said it, and I’ll say it, I think it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. I think there’s nothing more challenging, no ultra, no riding, no climb, no nothing that I’ve ever done that’s had me in the hurt locker so bad than being sick on this 9K climb of hiking. It wasn’t even hiking. It was, like, pushbike. It’s insane.

Mel Webb: I mean, that is a big statement to say that’s maybe the hardest thing you’ve ever done in your life, but was there any kind of reward to it, I guess, other than the checkpoint at the bottom?

Cynthia Carson: I just wanted to be at the checkpoint, and the checkpoint was the reward, I guess. You know, the food. There was soup, so I got to drink some broth, and I started the first tally of my milk count as well, so I had a glass of milk and then another glass of milk and then some yogurt. Just the yogurt really, and the milk helped settle my stomach, so I was drinking a lot of milk and eating a lot of yogurt. And it seems like everybody has those things. Even if it’s not on a menu, you just ask for some milk, and they’re like, “Sure.”

Mel Webb: Most ingredients that are pretty basic like that they’ll have. Did you feel like the alarm bells were going off for you that… or did you feel mentally kind of panicked or worried to have something like this happen so early on in the race, and then to have to figure out how to recalibrate before you’re not even a quarter of the way?

Cynthia Carson: I can’t believe I was just calculating it out. I was 220K into the race. I still had 700K to go. I was like, “Oh, my gosh, what am I gonna do? This is… I’m in a bad spot.” But I just felt like I could get through it eventually. I wouldn’t have given up. I mean, I would’ve stayed at that checkpoint until I felt like I could move again.

And that’s the cool thing about ultras is that you kind of are going to somewhere that’s far away from where you normally are, and you paid a lot of money to be there, and you’re supposed to be having this great experience, and if for some reason you don’t have a good experience, it seems silly to just say, “Okay, I’m gonna stop now,” when there’s so much time until the cutoff. You could really… I could have stayed there for two or three days. And somebody else stayed at checkpoint two for quite a long time to try and recoup and restart. And so, in my mind, there was no question I would finish. I just didn’t know when that was.

And once I started feeling better, I was able to eat after about a couple… I was able to eat at that checkpoint, but I found that then I was only able to eat while I was sitting. I couldn’t really eat while riding for at least the first two days, so there was a lot of time I just, like, wasn’t eating anything. But unlike maybe racing Atlas or some other races, you could get a lot of prepared food, and it didn’t take very long either, so I was just eating huge meals. I was eating maybe 2 to 3,000 calories every time I sat down, and that would hold me over. I would ride for, like, five or six hours without eating anything, and then I would eat a little bit at a time, and then eventually I would get to the next place where I would take in a bunch of calories again. But to answer your question, there was no question about whether I was gonna finish. It was just when.

Mel Webb: Fair enough. I mean, I think that’s a cool lesson for a lot of people to hear. I think it’s really easy, especially when things go wrong so early on, to think that that’s your race done. And of course, some people might not have the time to the cutoff, but if you have the space and time, it’s always worth resting and seeing what happens rather than making a decision straight away, because things can always change, right?

Cynthia Carson: Always change. And especially being at a checkpoint, there’s such a nice feeling of, like, camaraderie that other people are experiencing things that are tough, too, and everyone else had to do that hike-a-bike. Sure, they didn’t feel like they were gonna throw up. Maybe sometimes they did feel like they were gonna throw up. But it was nice to be around other people, and I’m not always super excited about having to go to these checkpoints. They take time. But then every time I get there, there are people there, and there is a morale boost, for sure.

And I did stay there, I slept there, but just the feeling of, like, having conversation with other riders, hearing that they were dealing with things as well, is always a good reminder that I’m not alone in this. Even though I am quite alone out there, I still have fellow racers that are also experiencing the works.

Mel Webb: Everybody is going through something, and whether it shows visibly or not, nobody is having an easy ride out there, and that’s, you know, not necessarily why people do it. When did you start to actually feel better? Because it sounds like you were just eating, stopped for most of the race, but when did you really feel like that turning point was for you?

Cynthia Carson: I almost forget everything. That’s what happens after ultras. I tried to take notes about it, but honestly, I think it took about 48 hours. I think the day that I was rolling into checkpoint two, around the middle of the day, I started feeling really back to myself again, and I could ride hard. I could ride strong.

And it was a bummer that the day before that we had that big storm, because it meant I had to stop earlier in the day, but in the end I think it was fine ’cause it meant that I was able to rest and stop for a good amount of time. I think at the second place I slept for six hours—which is quite a long time. The storm came in. The food took a while. Just all of the things that happen when you go to a hotel. They wanna check you into the room first, and then eventually you make it down for the food, and the food takes forever, and you’ve used half the time of what you’re gonna be there for not sleeping. But time off the bike is still rest and recovery, so that’s something I’ve found—even if you’re not sleeping, you’re still giving your tendons and your muscles a break, and even your brain a break as well, and your eyes as well. All of those things get taxed while riding.

Mel Webb: Especially something like this, where you have no flat miles really, where you have the opportunity to zone out and just kinda tap away. It’s a race where you’re very engaged almost all the time.

Cynthia Carson: The hardest part about it, I think, is, your brain doesn’t get a break, but your feet, holy moly—just descending is super tough on your feet because you’re going down. Your hands, you’re taking all of that fatigue. And then going up again too, you’re putting power into your feet. So man, my feet just took a beating from all of that descending, never really getting a rest. I would take my feet out of the shoes just to, like, get a little bit of air on them when it was pavement or it was flat for the, you know, half-second that it was flat and pavement for.

Mel Webb: Even though it’s 50/50 road and gravel, the time does not shake out to be 50% as such.

Cynthia Carson: And it doesn’t feel like it either. You’re out there like, “Where’s the pavement? Can I get some pavement, please? Just a little bit.” And when you get a pavement climb, it’s so nice. Like, I’m over here, I wanna ride off-road ultras. That’s what I wanna do. I’ve done my TCRs, the pavement, and I’m over it. I want the off-road. But then when you’re doing it, you’re like, “Can I just have a little bit of pavement? Just a little break. Just one climb that I can just, like, pedal the same cadence, and I don’t have to avoid mud or rocks or anything. Just one.”

Mel Webb: Yeah, it’s funny how the things that you go into a race wanting, and then it’s really challenging—just the constant tension between those two things. I wonder, did you find it hard to prioritize self-care when there’s still very much a race happening around you? Everyone’s doing their own thing, but you really have to let go of the race to do that, and I wonder if you found that hard.

Cynthia Carson: I think that I spend too much time on self-care in general. I probably spend more time organizing my bag than most people as well. I just want it to be perfect. And I think it helps me race better. Having those self-care moments—I am getting better. I put sunscreen on the bike now. Typically, I brush my teeth while I’m riding the bike. I try and take my jacket on and off while I’m riding my bike. So I do try to limit the amount of time I’m doing those items off the bike.

But I don’t think I could give up those unless there was a really, really tight race situation. And I have in the past, but it’s a long year. I’m trying to do all four of these races, and if I don’t take care of myself, then I’m just not gonna make it to the next one or the last one. So I am gonna stop at the hotel, and I am gonna wash my bibs so that when I ride the next day, I have dry bibs to start with. And I am gonna dry my bibs in the towel so that they do dry, and I am gonna use Neosporin on my saddle sores and whatever, all of the above. I’m gonna wash my skin and my face every time I stop at a water fountain because that keeps me clean and makes me feel better. So self-care for me is very important, and sure, I probably should spend less time focusing on it, but it’s what keeps you going.

Mel Webb: Maybe. I think it sounds like it’s a pretty critical component to your success, and you can see the benefits of doing it, so it’s not necessarily as much of a challenge to prioritize it because you know what it’s gonna give you, even if it means you’re slower on some other things. And that’s a hard thing for some people to let go of and kind of wrap their head around, but it’s cool to hear that you’ve kind of figured that out.

Cynthia Carson: Yeah, definitely learning. Every time I learn, okay, I probably don’t need to spend as much time doing that, or I could spend more time doing this. And I would love to be able to spend time stretching in the night before I go to bed, and some days there’s a time where I lay in the bed and I do it, or I’m waiting for food, and I stretch a little bit. But most of the time I just don’t have time to do that, and that’s just one of the things on the self-care list that I’m just not gonna do this time. But I’m definitely gonna wash my face or take a shower if possible.

Lessons from Atlas, and Gear Choices

Mel Webb: I wonder, is there anything you learned from Atlas in February that you knew you wanted to change or carry over to this particular event?

Cynthia Carson: God, I don’t even remember Atlas. Yes, I’m sure there is. I would say that I definitely learned that I could get solid rest and take care of myself while sleeping outside with a bivy. That was something I have done before, but wouldn’t say that I had really mastered that process. And for example, I have these little small sheets that are soap when you add water to them. So I will use a little bit of that and clean myself before I sleep so that I’m not getting in a sleeping bag with bacteria and making my saddle sores worse. So I’m definitely finding little ways to make the bivy experience—one, like I said, I can actually sleep, but then all the other self-care items.

And at Atlas I learned also that typically if it’s below 7C, I probably can’t sleep outside with my setup. I mean, I could, but I don’t want to, I guess, is really the… I’d rather sleep inside. And I have the right sleeping bag, I have the right sleeping pad, I have a down jacket and all of that kind of stuff, but I just know that if it’s colder than that, I probably won’t get as good sleep. I’ll just continue to wake up and be cold. So knowing that for future is just something I’ll take into account when trying to find a spot that is good for bivy sleeping.

Mel Webb: That kind of raises some questions for me on how you’ll approach Silk Road, but that’s something that I think we should just wait and see how that unfolds, and I’m sure there’s little things that you’re maybe changing or thinking about in how you’re approaching the course. But all these little insights you learn are so interesting, and ultimately things can change all the time. Another kind of carryover from Atlas—did you change anything about your gear or your setup for this one from that race?

Cynthia Carson: Yeah, actually, I carried less. One, I didn’t use a dynamo wheel set. This time I used a regular wheel set because I was like, I’m doing so much climbing, I’m really not gonna get that much charge out of a dynamo running. It’s more drag, and I have a good light and batteries and externals and everything, and my cycling computer lasts a long time. So I feel like I have enough battery. I mean, things are just getting better these days compared to what they used to be as well. So no dynamo.

I didn’t use aerobars either, and I’m not really an aerobar fan. I’m not often resorting to them, especially in a gravel race—a gravel ultra, I would prefer not to use them. For something like Atlas or Silk and probably Taurus, I would use them because maybe there’s more time where you just have flat or pavement or something. But with Hellenic, I just didn’t want the weight, and I also didn’t want them to be in the way with any of the hiking that we were gonna be doing.

And I also went from a full frame bag on my hardtail to using two bottles with a half bag on the top.

Cynthia Carson: And I used a lighter sleeping bag, a not as wintery sleeping bag, which was fine for the one time I slept outside. So aside from those things, I didn’t actually really carry less stuff. I carried about the same amount of stuff that I did at Atlas, just kind of a different configuration. I also only used one feed bag at Hellenic; at Atlas I used two, just because you need more ability to carry water.

Cynthia Carson: And I went with the two bottles instead of the frame bag because I wanted to have a gel concentrate in one of the bottles, so I did that, and then one of them was just for water. And that was… those were the major changes. I mean, I felt like actually it was a lot of changes, but they were things that… When I got back, I didn’t ride my bike almost at all between Atlas and Hellenic. I was training for the Torca and just not really on that bike much. And so they were kind of last-minute decisions, but I felt like I went out and did a 10-hour ride and had the whole setup, and everything felt really good, and I was like, “Yeah, I think this is what I’ll do for Hellenic.”

Mel Webb: Awesome. It’s cool to hear all the little tweaks, and no doubt you’ll do some similar tweaking for Silk Road. Will you ride the same bike though, is the big question.

Cynthia Carson: No. No. New bike. The bike shop’s got all my parts, and they’re building up a full suspension that I’ll race at both Silk and also Taurus, because I just feel like, knowing Nelson, there’s gonna be some whack stuff in Taurus, so I’d rather… I’ll be used to it after Silk, and I’ll probably start riding the full suspension more often. The hardtail was more of just, like, well, I wanted something light for Hellenic, and also for Atlas, I didn’t feel like it was necessary to have a full suspension.

Mel Webb: I think we’re seeing more and more that especially for things that are longer, even if it’s not necessarily a, quote, mountain bike race, just having something that prioritizes comfort over a bike that’s gonna beat you up a little bit more is maybe the thing that will give folks a bit more longevity, comfort, and you’re finishing the race less beat up. You could certainly do Silk Road on a gravel bike. People have done it, but you end up beat up, far more beat up than necessary, and the full suspension bike is the full other end of the spectrum, right?

Cynthia Carson: Yeah, and the hands and feet situation—I think people don’t talk about it enough, but the likelihood that you might lose some feeling in your hands or feet with some nerve damage is higher with a gravel bike and even with a hardtail. I experienced a little bit this year. I have had worse in the past. The first time I did Atlas, it was pretty bad. I had like six weeks of issues with my hands. Building up strength in your hands and lifting actually makes a huge difference, so if you’re dealing with that kind of thing, anyone listening, go to the gym. It makes a huge difference.

But for the full suspension, I want that for all of the—what do they call those—washboards. I’m trying to save myself and my butt on all the washboards in Kurdistan.

Mel Webb: There is a lot of that, and I think the gym is such a good thing to hammer home. I did hear from so many people in recording the podcast, they said that they skipped all their upper body days and they regretted it. You will never, ever, ever regret going to the gym for your upper body day, but you’ll most certainly regret skipping it.

Cynthia Carson: Definitely. I mean, it takes you, like, 20 minutes twice a week to just do some upper body exercise. You can do ’em at home. Start doing pushups and make a huge difference, huge difference. And it was crazy that the pushing on the hike-a-bike section at the very beginning—like I said, hardest thing I’ve probably ever done—but then everything else was so much easier during the race. There was another section of hiking where you go across a river and you hike up, and I had been told that it was challenging. And maybe it took me, like, an hour and 10 minutes, but the whole time I was, like, waiting for it to get hard. And then I got to the top where there was, like, a normal road, and I was like, “Oh, it’s done. That was so much easier than the other hike-a-bike.” So I don’t know if I wanna say thank you, Nelson, for giving me something so hard that now everything else is easy, but definitely my arms got used to it after a while. And I also practice hiking with my bike. I’ve taken my bike out on trail and pushed it up, because the more you do it, the easier it is.

Highlights of the Route

Mel Webb: Yep, 100%. Well, I’ve loved kinda looking back on your race and what you’ve changed. I am curious about highlights from the route—let’s maybe say a highlight of the route and then also a highlight for you, any personal moment, realization, something like that.

Cynthia Carson: The route was just wild. It went from… it was all mountains, but the mountains were so different. You could have been in different places in the world. I’ve never been to Kyrgyzstan, but I can imagine that what people were saying about the section after CP2—the Pindus Mountains is very alpine, and that feeling of just being out there, it’s very much what the Rockies feel like and some of the areas around there. And then there was some closure and some trails and some greenery where you’re kind of hugged by the trees, and it all changes, and there’s just animals everywhere. I mean, frogs and turtles and all kinds of—

Mel Webb: Did you see a bear?

Cynthia Carson: I saw a baby bear. One of the riders I was near, he pointed it out. He was filming, so I kinda snuck up, and then the baby… he ran away. But I got to see him for a little bit. And then I saw a… what is it? A wolf? No. They’re, like, furry. Really furry. What is it?

Mel Webb: A fox?

Cynthia Carson: A fox. I saw a fox. It was very cute. It was, like, crossing a river, and because it was so loud at the river, it couldn’t hear me behind, and so I got to watch him, like, tip-tap his way across the river without getting wet. It was really cute. I filmed it too. I saw a lot of frogs. A lot, a lot of frogs, and heard a lot of coyotes. Many coyotes as well.

So the route was beautiful. At first I was like… I told my partner, Steven, “We definitely have to come back.” And then halfway through the race, I was like, “I don’t think I wanna do this again. You come back. I’ll volunteer.”

Mel Webb: I think you told me the same thing at CP2.

Cynthia Carson: And then by the end of the race, I was like, “Yeah, I’ll come back. I’d do it again.” I really enjoy climbing. I do. And so when you get into the zone—I think at the very beginning, there were 30 climbs over 300 meters, and there were 10 climbs over 1,300 meters or something. And when you hear that, you’re like, “Holy crap, that’s a lot.” But then you just slowly check them off one at a time.

And in terms of things that I personally had as highlights, or if I learned anything—I think I just realized that no ultra is easy, and no ultra you do is gonna be a clean run. You’re gonna have something. And if you do have a clean run, it’s very few and far between. And just learning that whatever happens, you’ve gotta figure out how to get through it. And the more stress you have about the actual incident or situation you’re experiencing, the more cortisol, the stress that you have floods your system, and the less you’re able to get past it without losing too much skin, basically.

So for me, I did a little bit extra riding. I ended up riding probably a total of 40 kilometers extra. 30 was 100% on me. I somehow managed, with my touch screen, to route to a waypoint that was past me, that I had already gone to. And I was coming to—I didn’t realize this, so I’m following the directions, and there’s supposed to be a restaurant in a town, and I get to the kilometer where the restaurant and the town are supposed to be, and there’s nothing there, and there’s nothing on the map, and there’s nothing anytime soon. And then I realize when I go to the map page, it says, like, route to bivy shelter, which was one of the waypoints that I had already passed. And so I realized I had gone an extra 15K and 500 meters in one direction the wrong way. So then I had to turn around and go back.

And at first I was so mad ’cause at that point that was something I could’ve controlled. When my computer rerouted, I heard a sound. I saw a little green dot on my computer, and I thought, “Huh, I wonder if I just saved that location for some reason,” ’cause you can save locations while you’re riding past them. And I just thought, “Oh, it’s nothing.” And I should have checked it when it had happened. So anyway, I ended up riding an extra 30K. And then later on there was a reroute that I missed, and I ended up doing part of the reroute because of landslides. I got to a landslide and I was like, “Crap.” So then I turned around, and then I climbed back out of the place I had just descended.

And so I had a bunch of extra K ridden. And then, of course, like I mentioned earlier, I was sick, and just all these things happened. But instead of being mad about them, I was just like, “Well, I have to keep moving ’cause I’m not gonna get to the finish if I just stop and throw a fit.” Just one foot in front of the other. So for me, I think I learned you just gotta keep moving forward. And I guess that’s kind of the theme of everything I’ve learned in the last couple years—stuff’s gonna happen, and you gotta push forward because otherwise you’re not gonna get to where you wanna go.

Mel Webb: Yep. Keep calm and carry on. There’s a reason that phrase is so popular.

Cynthia Carson: Well, get some stickers and stick them on people’s bikes when they’re struggling—keep calm and carry on.

Mel Webb: Well, what an amazing performance. Congratulations again, and excited to see how you go in Kyrgyzstan in just a few months’ time, which is crazy.

Cynthia Carson: It’s coming up. It’s crazy, these races. I feel like I finish one, I go home, I recover, fix my bags, and clean my stuff, and then I blink, and it’s time to get ready for the next one. But it’s nice now. I know even though this upcoming race is much different from the last two, what I’m carrying and what I have on my bikes will still be pretty similar. So it’s less stress about trying to figure out what it is that I want to carry, and that in itself is just, like, freeing.

Mel Webb: I do wonder, now that we’re kind of at the halfway point in the season, but not necessarily at the halfway point in terms of days raced, how you feel about approaching all four in a year. Is it too much? Is it manageable? Maybe you don’t have an answer for that yet, and you need to see how you feel after Silk, but that’s something I am curious about.

Cynthia Carson: So far, it feels like the two that I’ve done have been quite manageable, and I even tried to do the Torca 560 in there. So, you know, 12 months is a long time in a year, and we’re starting in February. Next year, it’ll be March, I think, so having a date change will make it even tighter. I think the thing I worry about is just Turkey being very close to Silk, but what I’ve found is that I am recovering quickly if I do the right things and I take care of myself. So I’m hoping that after Silk, maybe it’ll be a longer recovery, but as long as I do the same things I have done.

But I do think it’s doable. It’s actually really nice because all of these races are races that I’ve wanted to do, but there’s always been like, “Well, I’m doing this,” or, “I’m doing that,” or, “It’s too close to this.” But because I’m doing all four, well, I just have to do them. There’s no like, “It doesn’t work on my schedule.” It’s like, it is my schedule, so that’s what it is. And it means that when you say yes to one thing, you say no to other things, so it means that, sure, I can’t do other things. But so far, it feels manageable. But again, this is my job. I do it as my full-time thing. So if you were to be working or have a family, I’m not sure how doable it would be. But at least Atlas and Hellenic together so far seem pretty doable for most folks, ’cause you only need a week off or two weeks off of work. I think with Silk you probably need three at least.

Mel Webb: Yep. Well, I won’t ask you to give away your recovery secrets. Unless you want to.

Cynthia Carson: You fly home, and then 10 minutes after you get home, walked and get a massage. That’s… no, I mean, that is what I did. But I don’t know, just regular old things like going for a walk and eating proper food, not sweets. That’s the struggle. That is the biggest struggle—not to eat sugar after these things. It’s like you become addicted to the sugar ’cause that’s all you ate for five days.

Mel Webb: Yep. Well, I think that’s a great place to leave it, and we’ll see you in a few months.

Cynthia Carson: See you soon. Thanks, Mel. Appreciate you.