A note from Freetrail: You know Ellie Pell from the Freetrail Fam Pod, but did you know she has an insatiable need to get to know you, and I mean REALLY get to know you? Like, what’s your favorite kind of cheese? “You Made it Weird” is Ellie’s brainchild because while she loves that these athletes are mega-talented she also wants to know what ELSE IS THERE?! Look for You Made it Weird every Friday.
You Made it Weird With Jaycie Thomsen
Jaycie Thomsen wants to see your face… Yes, your face! She is one of the five people in the world who hates working from home. I am another one of the five so where are our other three pals at? She also has other controversial opinions like considering protein powder a food (come on girl your great-grandmother must be going BERSERK in her grave! Didn’t y’all eat raw fish or something?) and sprinting off the line of her first 50km race. Can’t get enough of her questionable takes? Jaycie has much more to offer than that so get to know her in her Freetrail debut!
Find Jaycie on Instagram, Strava, and Ultrasignup.
Who are you and what do you do?
Howdy, y’all! My name is Jaycie Thomsen and I am a descendent of the Berserker Viking clan. I’d like to think the teeny bit left in my genes makes me amped to do hard things. But fear not, I promise I’m very friendly.
I’m a Minnesota native and recent Boulder transplant. My big girl day job is at Environmental Initiative, a Minnesota-based environmental NGO, where I work as a senior partnership manager. We organize and facilitate multi-stakeholder coalitions, primarily focused on regenerative agriculture. My dream is to have a small hobby farm with ducks, chickens, goats, a horse, and a cow, and of course veggies. It’d also be pretty rad to be a personal chef. Maybe some day.
When I’m not running or staring at a computer screen, I’m in the kitchen chef’ing up random things, trying to read more than the first 25 pages of a book, listening to a plethora of podcasts, basking in the sunshine, or cleaning up after myself wondering how I made such a mess.
Do any of your group chats have names? If so, what are you willing to share? How did they get that name? What is a major topic of discussion in them?
Weenies. This is a Group Chat with my besties from high school cross country. I’m pretty sure we called ourselves the weenies because one of my friends had a dachshund (aka a weiner dog). The name is the most exciting thing about the message; lots of back and forth about adulting life.
If you could change one thing about your favorite social media platform, what would it be?
I wish you could connect Strava and Spotify to share your workout tunes of choice.
What is a book of fiction that you really enjoyed, for no other reason than you liked it?
Like I mentioned earlier, I struggle to make it past the first 25 pages of a book. I think Harry Potter might be the last fiction book I made it all the way through, albeit for the fifth time.
What is one song you’ve been listening to on repeat recently?
The Otter by Caamp – such a lovely song to listen to with the windows rolled down.
What is one trend that started in 2020 that you love?
Working from home; being able to roll in from a run and not shower or put on normal-people clothes is extremely convenient.
What is one trend that started in 2020 that you hate?
Working from home; I spend 40 hr/week sitting in the corner of my living room, staring at a screen or talking to people on a screen. Not exactly what I imagined doing as a child.
What are the last three emojis you used?
🤠🤍🤩
What is the last thing you bought online?
Goodies from The Feed hehe.
What is your most controversial food opinion?
Protein powder can go in almost anything.
What three videos are at the top of your YouTube recommended homepage?
Yoga with Adriene: Bedtime Yoga; The Philharmonik, 2024 Tiny Desk Contest Winner: Tiny Desk Concert; some random tiny home build video.
Which Allie is your favorite?
I don’t know if I have an answer to this…
What argument in mass media do you not understand or think is a worthless issue?
TBH [To Be Honest], I steer clear of mass media, 95% of it is worthless.
When you go home for the holidays, what is the food or tradition that it wouldn’t be the holidays without?
Homemade Lefse, butter, and brown sugar with a side of pickled herring.
When I say in-seam you say…?
High rise.
When has your ego caused you to do something you sort of regret but also would describe as wild and worth it?
Generally, I don’t really believe in regrets; every good and bad decision is an opportunity to learn. Maybe jumping off of a bridge into a lake channel with my friends when I was 15 into a lake that was closed for contamination (unknown to us), then proceeding to lie to the cops that we didn’t jump even though we were soaking wet. Spoiler, we got away with it.
What was your worst running fuel decision? What was the surprising best?
Worst – Not fueling. Best – Swedish Fish.
What is your death row meal?
Anything from Chef Daniel del Prado; he is the culinary mastermind behind twelve unique concept restaurants in Minneapolis from Argentinian-Italian (Martina) to Japanese-Italian (Sanjusan) to Oaxacan Mexican (Colita). When he moved to the United States, he cut his teeth in Vail, Colorado before moving to Minneapolis to start building his restaurant dynasty. Seriously, if you’re in Minneapolis, check any of his restaurants out.
Out and back or looped course? Why?
Point to point.
Barkley or 24H track race? Why?
Barkley; it’s weird for weird’s sake, with so many uncontrollables. Gotta keep it interesting.
What is one thing that absolutely scares you? Why?
Not meeting the expectations I put on myself. I’ve come a long way in managing my own expectations, to see “failure” as a learning opportunity and only trying to control the things I can control. But man, is it really hard to pour your whole self into going after big, scary goals and be confronted with the fact that you might not meet them.
What is a time you felt you didn’t measure up? How did you get through that?
Pretty much my whole life. Kidding, but not kidding. During my entire college running career I had major imposter syndrome and let the limits I put on myself define my reality. I think just living through it and coming out the other side made me realize how much my self-talk and relationship with myself was holding me back. One of the best things in my life is having a consistent meditation and gratitude practice to be in the right relationship with my thoughts.
Who is another runner that flies under the radar that we should all get to know?
Sophie Anders is so freaking funny, and also very speedy.