I don't even know how many other trans athletes have completed a 200 mile race. I just hope that all of the current discussion around sports doesn't discourage people from being open.

There's a lot of things that have become less taboo, especially with elite athletes who are very open about their sexuality. I just hope to see that continue with trans and nonbinary identities because I still think that many trans athletes don't feel comfortable identifying themselves. And it makes it hard to then hold that space in sports and have that community when you don't know who each other is.

Even with me, I thought about wearing one of Schuyler Bailar's "Trans athletes belong in sports" shirts when I went to check into the race, but decided not to because I didn't want to get into an argument with people before I even started the race.

I think it would have been fine realistically. But those insecurities really keep the community from coming together and from being visible and it's real -- it's a safety thing.

Similar to how Nike and Runner's World are starting to celebrate gay and lesbian athletes, I want to see the rest of us be able to come out of the woodwork because we're here, we're putting in the work, and we're competing – just maybe not on a very visible level.

[As told to @Ragi Gupta — continued]