Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 298. Embracing The Pivot: Dominique Scott On Running Her Own Race & The Bravery Of Trying Something New

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298. Embracing The Pivot: Dominique Scott On Running Her Own Race & The Bravery Of Trying Something New · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You know, nothing comes easy in life, but it can
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: be worth it, like working hard towards a goal that
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: you've set for yourself can be very fulfilling.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: What's going on, everyone, Emilia body here. You are listening
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: to episode two hundred and ninety eight of Hurdle, a
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  Speaker 2: wellness focused podcast where I talk to inspirational people about
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: everything from their highest ties and toughest moments to essential
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: tips on how to live a healthier, happier, more motivated life.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: We all go through our fair share of hurdles. My
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: goal through these discussions is to empower you to better
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: navigate yours and move with intention so that you can
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: stride towards your own big potential and of course have
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: some fun along the way. For today's episode, I am
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  Speaker 2: chatting the ever lovely Dominique Scott.
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  Speaker 3: She is a pro runner.
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  Speaker 2: With Adidas and she, like many, are towing the line
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  Speaker 2: up in Boston today on Marathon Monday. This episode going
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: live on April fifteenth, twenty twenty four. Dom and I
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: get into so much goodness in this episode today, including
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: not so surprisingly, what it was like training for her
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  Speaker 2: first ever Boston. The South Africa native moved to this
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  Speaker 2: country to run at the University of Arkansas, where she
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  Speaker 2: was a five time NCAA champion, twelve time All American,
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  Speaker 2: and ten time SEC champion. Not all that long after graduating,
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  Speaker 2: she moved to Boulder with her husband and now she's
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  Speaker 2: training with Team Boss, which as many of you know,
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  Speaker 2: includes some stellar woman like Emma Covern, Gory McGhee, Aisha pratt, Leir,
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: Emma Bates, and so many more. Dom offers up so
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: many of her best tips in today's episode, how to
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: get out of your comfort zone, how to pursue your
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  Speaker 2: passions when the road to your passions is loaded with hurdles,
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  Speaker 2: and what's exciting her right now? I know I'm excited
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  Speaker 2: to watch her do her thing today in Boston. And
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  Speaker 2: on that note, a big part of what I admire
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  Speaker 2: and love about Dom is that she is really doing
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  Speaker 2: something different right now. She was excelling for a long
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  Speaker 2: long time on the track, and not all that long
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  Speaker 2: ago took to the roads. Boston is only her third
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  Speaker 2: ever marathon, and I love to see an athlete trying
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  Speaker 2: something new and chasing her big potential. Even after going
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: to the Olympics twice on behalf of her home country
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  Speaker 2: South Africa, make sure if you're not yet following along
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: with Hurdle, you do so over on social It's at
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: Hurdle Podcast. I am at Emily a body and subscribe
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: to the weekly Hurdle newsletter. While you're clicking tap in
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: doing all the things in there, you get a lot
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: of the same motivation and inspiration you love about the show,
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: absolutely free in your inbox every single Friday. Last little note,
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: if you are in Boston, don't forget that the bandit
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: running pop up there, sponsor of the show is open
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: at one nineteen Newberry today and tomorrow. Monday's hours are
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: one to five pm and Tuesday is ten to five pm.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: Snag a post race portrait if you ran, and otherwise
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: join me over there for some good vibes.
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: And with that, let's get to it. Let's get to
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  Speaker 3: hurdling today.
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  Speaker 2: I'm sitting down with Dominique Scott. She's a pro runner
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  Speaker 2: for Adidas. She's also in a limp the End two timer.
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  Speaker 2: How we do it today, dom.
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  Speaker 1: Hi, Emily, I'm doing well. Thanks thanks for having me
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  Speaker 1: on the show.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks for making the time to go on the show.
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  Speaker 2: You obviously have nothing going on right now. Eure up
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  Speaker 2: for your third ever marathon, the Boston Marathon. We're recording
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  Speaker 2: this just shy of two weeks out. How are you
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  Speaker 2: feeling Give us the lowdown.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm feeling good. I mean, I'm obviously nervous. Boston
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  Speaker 1: is not only twenty six point two miles, but it
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  Speaker 1: also obviously has the monster heels in it, and you know,
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  Speaker 1: people have told me how hard it is, so I'm
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  Speaker 1: pretty nervous that I'm also confident in my training that
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  Speaker 1: I've put in the past couple months.
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  Speaker 4: So I'm kind of.
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  Speaker 1: Feeling like the work is in the barn and now
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  Speaker 1: I just got to try and bubble wrap myself and
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  Speaker 1: keep myself healthy for the next two weeks and then
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  Speaker 1: run as hard as I can.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, run as hard as you can.
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  Speaker 2: It's interesting, right, you get to this point where you
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  Speaker 2: have all of these inevitable and on understandable nerves, but
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  Speaker 2: you do have to trust in the training. What is
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  Speaker 2: it that helps you get to that point, that helps
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  Speaker 2: you calm the nerves and focus on the fact that
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  Speaker 2: you have done so much work up until this point.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, honestly, that's like, that's an interesting question. It's a
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  Speaker 1: good question for me. Now I am thirty one years old,
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  Speaker 1: and I've been running professionally for Adidas for I think
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  Speaker 1: it's like eight years now, and then before that, obviously
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  Speaker 1: ran in college and high school. And I'm just trying
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  Speaker 1: to tell myself that I've put in a lot of
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  Speaker 1: miles in my legs and my feet over the past
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  Speaker 1: you know, decade or two, and you know, just I've
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  Speaker 1: showed up for practice and given my all all of
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  Speaker 1: those years, and all of that work has to kind
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  Speaker 1: of result to something. So just yeah, I'm not really
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  Speaker 1: answering your question, but you just you just got to
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  Speaker 1: kind of have faith that you've done the best that
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  Speaker 1: you could, you know, with what you were given.
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  Speaker 2: Definitely, and it doesn't help that you've got some stellar
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  Speaker 2: teammates to train with. Talk to us a little bit
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  Speaker 2: about your decision to get on the good team with
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  Speaker 2: Team Bond.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, Joe Bosshart has actually been coaching me
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  Speaker 1: for six years. I was one of the first girls
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  Speaker 1: to join the group, and at the time, I was
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  Speaker 1: still training with my college coach, Lance Harder back in Arkansas,
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  Speaker 1: and I just knew I needed a change that I
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  Speaker 1: couldn't keep training in college like environment settings and try
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  Speaker 1: and trying to compete against the best athletes in the world.
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  Speaker 1: So I knew I needed a change, and Joe reached
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  Speaker 1: out to me and was, you know, willing and wanting
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  Speaker 1: to help me and try to make me the best
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  Speaker 1: runner I could be. So he started coaching me in
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  Speaker 1: twenty eighteen, and then the team has just changed so
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  Speaker 1: much since then. And yeah, we've been really lucky to
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  Speaker 1: have both Emma Bates and Scott Fobele join our team
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  Speaker 1: since then.
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  Speaker 4: And you know, they're both very experienced.
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  Speaker 1: Very good marathon is and last year they both had
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  Speaker 1: a lot of success in Boston. So actually, right before
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  Speaker 1: you and I jumped on this call, I was texting
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  Speaker 1: with Scott Farbele asking him some timeline questions for Boston morning.
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  Speaker 1: We have to get on a bus pretty early and
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  Speaker 1: bust out to the start, so I was just asking
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  Speaker 1: him some logistics questions.
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  Speaker 4: So I am.
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  Speaker 1: I do feel very lucky, very blessed that I have
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  Speaker 1: such amazing athletes to train with, to ask questions to
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  Speaker 1: learn from, especially with starting the marathon. That is, it's
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  Speaker 1: not just like another event in track and field. It
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  Speaker 1: honestly feels like a whole new sport. There's so much
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  Speaker 1: to learn, so much experience to be gained, so much
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  Speaker 1: trial and error with training, with fueling, pre race fueling,
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  Speaker 1: in race fueling. So yeah, very luck to have Emma
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  Speaker 1: and Scott to learn from.
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  Speaker 2: What was the root of your decision to pivot into
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  Speaker 2: the marathon.
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  Speaker 1: I think it's been a long time coming, to be honest,
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  Speaker 1: I've always been pretty good at long runs. In college,
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  Speaker 1: our long runs would kind of roll out of bed
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  Speaker 1: on a Saturday morning and do a long run, and
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  Speaker 1: the long run was probably only up to twelve or
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  Speaker 1: thirteen miles, but they always came really easily for me.
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  Speaker 1: It was, you know, the one session of the week
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  Speaker 1: that I really wasn't worried about. I wasn't nervous. I could,
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  Speaker 1: like I said, we're all out of bed and just
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  Speaker 1: go and run a thirteen mile run at a pretty
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  Speaker 1: quick pace. And then when I moved out to Boulder
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  Speaker 1: and Joe started coaching me, obviously we're at altitude here,
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  Speaker 1: and even so the long runs were something that I
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  Speaker 1: was pretty easily able to do, and Joe was pretty
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  Speaker 1: surprised by that. So we just kind of always had
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  Speaker 1: like the marathon in the back of our heads as
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  Speaker 1: an option for one day in the future. I will
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  Speaker 1: also throw out that my parents, both my mom and
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  Speaker 1: my dad have run many ultra marathons. I grew up
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  Speaker 1: in Cape Town, South Africa. The ultra marathon scene.
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  Speaker 4: Is really big there.
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  Speaker 1: They have the Comrades Marathon and the Two Oceans Marathon
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  Speaker 1: both ultras, and my parents have run many of those.
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  Speaker 1: My mom did pretty well back in her day as well.
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  Speaker 1: So I guess I've just always I've had like, you know,
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  Speaker 1: knowing that like my parents had done what they've done,
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  Speaker 1: and then you know, being like enjoying long runs and
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  Speaker 1: finding them not the most stressful workout of the week.
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  Speaker 1: I just always had in the back of my head
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  Speaker 1: that I feel like I need to try the marathon.
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  Speaker 1: And yeah, after the Tokyo Olympics, I started adding some
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  Speaker 1: half marathons to my racing schedules and I really enjoyed
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  Speaker 1: those and enjoyed racing on the roads. So then last
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  Speaker 1: year at twenty twenty three, we kind of felt like
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  Speaker 1: it was the time to start jumping into the marathon.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. Wow, so much to unpack here, so much for
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  Speaker 3: the phrase.
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  Speaker 2: I felt like it wasn't that hard to roll out
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  Speaker 2: of bed and tackle a long run. So many people
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  Speaker 2: listening to this think to themselves, wow, I wish that
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  Speaker 2: I could feel that way. Ever, for those that would
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  Speaker 2: like to befriend longer miles, you know, whether for some
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  Speaker 2: maybe that's starting at a five k, building up to six,
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  Speaker 2: getting to half marathon, marathon beyond, what would you say
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  Speaker 2: are some of the things that you do to make
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  Speaker 2: that process easier to make the long run come the
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  Speaker 2: weekend work for you?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, there are lots of little things you can do.
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  Speaker 1: I would say one is fueling the day before, you know.
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  Speaker 1: I think carbon loading kind of seems like such an
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  Speaker 1: outdated term, but making sure you're fueled before a long
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  Speaker 1: run really is very important. There's only so much fuel
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  Speaker 1: that you can have the morning before a run and
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: while you're running. But the day before, if you're able to,
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  Speaker 1: you know, have three good meals, have some snacks during
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  Speaker 1: between those meals, you're going to be fueled a lot
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  Speaker 1: better and feeling a lot better on that run the
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  Speaker 1: next day. And then yeah, making sure you have a
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  Speaker 1: good breakfast, making sure you have some fuel to take
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  Speaker 1: during the run, whether that's gels or some type of
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: carb drink. I think that makes a huge difference. I
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  Speaker 1: can share that even our the girls that train with
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  Speaker 1: Team Boss and our coach by Joe, even the girls
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  Speaker 1: that are not running the marathon right now that still
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: the track stars. They're even taking fuel during their long
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  Speaker 1: runs now because we've realized how important it is not
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: only for during the run, but also for recovery post run.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: If you're getting in carbs during the run, you're finishing
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  Speaker 1: your long run not nearly as depleted as if you hadn't,
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: and so then they just recover a lot quicker. So yeah,
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: so fueling is a huge, a huge thing pre fueling
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: and during fueling, and then also pacing yourself correctly. I mean,
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: if you start a long run too fast, it's going
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  Speaker 1: to be a very long day. So I always like
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: to build into my long runs, start a little bit slower,
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  Speaker 1: let your body warm up, and kind of progress as
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: you feel good.
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, this is a great tip.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: Obviously, Fueling super clutch, and I love to hear about that.
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  Speaker 2: It's a conversation amongst all of you. It's indicative that
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: not only you're looking out for one another, but also
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: there's some accountability there and then in turn also showing
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: up for one another to get these runs done. Probably
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: another really big piece to the puzzle when it comes
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  Speaker 2: to doing them successfully is having a buddy and accountability
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  Speaker 2: partner to hit those miles with.
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: Sure, yeah, for sure. I mean to be honest, Emma
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: Bates and myself haven't done actually any workouts together this build.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: But even knowing that we're both out on the roads
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: at the same time simultaneously just doing different workouts, doing
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: workouts that we need to be better runners, has helped.
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  Speaker 1: It's like you know that someone else is out there
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: suffering with you, even if they're not running next to you.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: And then I will say, my team is so good
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: about supporting each other in other ways. So often the
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: girls will come drive by me and you know, be
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: honking and playing music for me because they've already finished
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: their session, but my session slightly longer. But yeah, having
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: an accountability buddy is a huge help as well.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: Are you a big sleep lady? Do you really focus
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: on your sleep?
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  Speaker 4: I do.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: I would say I'm pretty lucky. I'm a good sleeper,
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: but yeah, sleep is so important. I mean, sleep, my
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: coach has always preached, is the number one form of recovery.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not great at sleeping before races, and it's really hard.
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  Speaker 1: These early morning marathons. You have to get up so early,
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: and you try to get to bed early, but then
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: you're just like kind of tossing and turning and you're
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: waiting for your alarm clock to go off. So I
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: haven't quite nailed down the night before a sleep routine,
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: but on an average day, when I get to sleep
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: in my own bed here and Boulder, I'm a pretty
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: good sleeper. And yeah, definitely sleep is vital. It's key
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: to performance, for sure.
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: So when you say you're a good sleeper, define what
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: good sleeper means to you.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: I just I feel like it means like I'm getting
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: into bed and like, twenty minutes later, I'm asleep. I
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: usually do have to get up a couple of times
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: during the night to go to the bathroom, which like
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: isn't the greatest thing, but I think it just means
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: I'm really hydrated, and then I'm able to sleep until
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: my alarm goes off. I just know that other girls,
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: you know, maybe they have too much on their mind,
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: so they're looking at their phones and then they get
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: into that weird cycle of you know, you're looking at
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: blue light and you're not able to fall asleep. And
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: yeah like stuff like that. But I'm a pretty solid sleeper,
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: Like I'll pass out at night and sleep solidly and
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: wake up feeling refreshed.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: I have the same habits. I appreciate you. I would
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: also like to think I'm a good sleeper. And there
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: are a few things that have changed the game for me.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: One blackout curtains yet out and out. Two I don't
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: keep my phone within reach of my bed, like I
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: have to get out of bed to get to my phone.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah that's really smart.
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I have.
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: I guess like those things I don't even think about anymore.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: I have blackout curtains, and I guess it's a little
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: bit dorky, But I sleep with an imask on, which
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: is kind of funny sleeping next to my husband. But
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: just like having you know, no light coming in definitely helps.
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: And I feel like once I put my imask on
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: at night, it kind of almost like sets the tone
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: of like I'm going to bed now, like we're not
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: doing anything else. And I also there are like a
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: few other things like I don't allow myself to scroll
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: at nights. I really try not to go on social media,
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: Like once I decide that I'm going upstairs and going
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: to bed, because I do feel like that can just
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: maybe not even like keeping you awake, but you can
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: just waste so much time squirlling for like thirty minutes
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: before you actually decide to put down your phone. So
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: that's another one for me that seems to help.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I also feel like in the scroll, it's not
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: so much about the fact that it's wasting time for me,
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: it's about what might get triggered in my brain an
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: act of scrolling, like seeing something that makes me feel
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: some kind of way. It could literally be anything, And
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: then I'm in my bed laying there and thinking about
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: something for half hour an hour, when otherwise I would
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: have just peacefully drifted off to sleep. Why do that
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: to myself? Why disturb my peace?
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: It's a very good point for sure.
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  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: The other thing that you talked about was growing up
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: with two extremely successful athletes as parents. Tell me a
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: little bit about what that taught you from a young age.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I would be honored to hear you phrase
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  Speaker 1: it that way. My dad wasn't really a successful but
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: he did he did complete like he's completed so many
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: marathons and so many ultra marathons, which I guess is
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: very impressive. I would say my parents.
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: Taught me.
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  Speaker 1: Discipline. They taught me just like what good work ethic is.
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  Speaker 1: They showed me, you know, what it means to set
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: goals and then work towards them. Like I feel like
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: they silently showed me like so many valuable skills growing up,
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: Like I really you know, it wasn't like they were
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: having to say anything or asked me to like watch
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: them or anything, but just through their examples, I learned
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: so much about how you can, you know, achieve success. Yeah.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: I mean, my mom was a school teacher and she
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: used to wake up early in the mornings, you know,
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: like four am or something and go get her running
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: done in the dark. By this time, my dad was
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: really just running socially, so he would just get his
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: runs in on the weekends with groups or after work
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: in the evenings with local running groups. But my mom
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: was still you know, trying to be competitive, so she
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: was getting her workouts done before going to school and
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: doing a full day of teaching. And I mean that's
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: just so impressive, like even thinking about that now as
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: a thirty one year old, like I get to, you know,
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: wake up at seven am and eat my breakfast and
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: then go do my workouts and like perfect conditions around
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: nine am, and then come home and eat and nap
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: and do my double My mom was trying to do
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: all of that with a full time job. So yeah,
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: they both they both definitely taught me that you know,
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: nothing comes easy in life, but you know that it
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: can be worth it, Like working hard towards a goal
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: that you've set for yourself can be very fulfilling.
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And there's just so much research these days about
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: the rate of life which women drop out of sport
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: and activity, and a lot of that is rooted in
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: the fact that we as women are pressured to be
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: either caretakers within the family or fulfill certain roles or
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: look a certain way. And so to hear you know
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: that at that time it probably felt like she was
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: making a sacrifice to be away from her family to
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: prioritize her own health and wellbeing, but still had the
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: understanding that it was so good for her. And to
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: then now you reflect on that time and say, she.
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: Was really impressive.
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: To me, it was really impressive to see that she
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: was able to make it all happen and to make
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: that time for herself.
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: I'm sure she'd love to hear that.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, for sure, Yeah, it is. It is crazy
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: to think about. I mean I feel like, yeah, with
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: women in sport, you know, it's just not as not
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: as flashy, it's not as cool. There's not as much
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: money or support for females in sport. It is a
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: hard choice to try and make it a career. And yeah,
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: it's cool to see so many companies now backing, you know,
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: women in sport and trying to keep the numbers up
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: of females competing in sport.
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: Definitely, And so did you think when you came to
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: the United States for college that you would take this
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: beyond the collegiate level.
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: It was definitely a dream growing up in Cape Town.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: I would say the number one dream when I was
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: like middle school, junior, high age, I had the dream
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: of earning a scholarship to come and run and study
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: in the US. That was because my dad's brother, my uncle,
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: and his family had immigrated a few years prior to
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: North Carolina for my uncle's job, and we had come
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: to visit them, and I was like only twelve years old,
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: but my uncle drove me around to universities in the area.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: We went to Duke in North Carolina State and Chapel Hill,
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: North Carolina, and they showed me just like the amazing
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: facilities that these universities had, nothing like what was offered
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: in South Africa. And you know, they told me like,
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: if if you've become a top sports athlete, that you
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: can get a scholarship to come over here. So that
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: was my dream since I was like twelve years old.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: And then I would say the other dream was to
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: represent South Africa at the Olympic Games. I didn't know
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: really what professional running looked like. I knew about the
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: diamond leagues, and I thought it would be really cool
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: to compete at diamond leagues. But I never never would
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: have dreamed of running for Adidas for eight years like that.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: This has just been beyond my wildest expectations and I
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: feel so lucky that I get to do what I
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: love for a living.
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: Two questions.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: One, how was it for you emotionally to move so
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: far away from your friends and family while also putting
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: in all of these hours of work being an athlete
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: on the collegiate level.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: It was very hard, you know, I can barely remember
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: it now, is such a long time ago. But there
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: are a couple of stories that like stand out in
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: my memory. One was I had actually already begun chatting
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: to mine now husband, Cameron. I'd met him on my
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: recruiting trip to Arkansas and him and I were chatting
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: via Facebook, that was the platform back in the day.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: And three days before I was meant to get on
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: the plane to fly to the States, I had all
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: my bags packed and you know, everything was like laying
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: out in my bedroom and you know, this is the
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: dream I'd had since I was twelve. I was eighteen
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: at the time, and I decided there was no way
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: I could go. There was no way I could get
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: on this plane by myself, fly across the world to
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: go to university where I knew almost no one except
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: the people I'd met on my recruiting trip, and you know,
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: try make this happen. And I sent Cameron a message
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: and I was like, no, I'm not coming.
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: I can't do this.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: It's too scary, it's too big. And Cameron was destraught,
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: he was so upset. I didn't know this, but he
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: told me at a later date. But at the same time,
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: I sat down with my mom in Cape Town and
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: I told her mom, I can't go, like, this is
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: way too scary. I'm way too nervous. Like I you know,
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: I was everything I knew. I was like saying goodbye
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: to to go somewhere where you know, I knew nothing.
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: I didn't know how anything worked. I didn't know what
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: the SEC was or regionals or you know. Everything was
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: just going to be so new to me. And my
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: mom said, she said, Dom, you owe it to yourself
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: to give yourself like to take this opportunity. She was like,
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: you worked so hard to earn the scholarship for like
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: five years.
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: You did it. You owe yourself this.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: So I got on the plane really scared, very nervous.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: But what my mom said meant so much to me.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: And also thinking back to it, I know how hard
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: it must have been for her to tell me that,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: because I'm sure she would have loved me just to
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: go to university down the road in Cape Town and
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: you know, stay her little girl just a few minutes away.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: That she was so unselfish to encourage me to, you know,
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: get on that plane and live out my dream.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: What was it like when you told your now husband
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: that you were going to get on the plane.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: I don't really remember that, but I'm sure he was
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: very relieved because he will tell the story that he
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: had got his car detailed and it was like or clean,
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: and he'd put a new stereo into his car. So
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: when I and I guess he was like busy, like
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: cleaning the car when I sent him this message, So
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: he was like so upset, and you know he was.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: I think he felt like he'd cleaned this car and
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: he was getting it all shiny for this girl that
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: he was gonna, you know, meet for the second time.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: And so I'm sure he was just very relieved when
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: I told him that I was going to be coming.
• 25:07
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• 29:05
  Speaker 2: to what happens in making that Olympic team, put us
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: in your shoes, talk to us about the process that
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: went into making your first Olympic team.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: The first team was honestly the easiest. I was actually
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: still in college. I was a senior at the University
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: of Arkansas, and I qualified in the ten thousand and
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: I think my first ten k of the season at
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: the Stanford Invites or the Paydon Jordan invite one of
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: the meets at Stanford and yeah, I'd run about twenty
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: seconds quicker than the standard. So then I made the
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: decision to fly back to South Africa a few weeks
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: later to run the South African Championships. I needed to
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: be present at the championships in place top three in
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: order to then be selected, so I did that. I
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: guess the hardest part was that I missed like ten
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: days of school work that I needed to catch up on.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: But of course coach Harder at the university was super
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: supportive of it, and then I was able to just
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: focus on my finishing out my NCAA season well. And
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: then in August went to Rio. So that was honestly
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: the easiest team to make, just because everything was like
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: pretty straightforward and I had the support of the university.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: It was the Tokyo Olympics because of COVID. That was
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: the trick you on had. I think I qualified for
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: the five thousand the year before, and then I was
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: still wanting to qualify for the ten thousand, but I
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: got a stress reaction coming into twenty twenty one, my
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: first bone injury. But I knew that I really wanted
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: to qualify for that ten k, so I didn't have
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: too much time. The hard thing about the ten thousand
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: meters on the track is we don't have many opportunities
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: to race them. It's not like the fifteen hundred or
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: the eight hundred, where you can find a pretty high
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: caliber race every other weekend. The ten k, you know,
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: there's really only one or two shots during the year.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: So I trained through my injury, I crossed, trained through
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: my injury, got myself healthy, and yeah, trained my butt off,
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: and then in June flew over to Europe and ran
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: a ten k and was able to snag the qualifier there,
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: And obviously at some point I'd gone to South Africa
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: to run the championships. But yeah, it kind of feels
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: like they've they've got harder.
• 31:27
  Speaker 4: To make every time.
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: And whether that's been because World Athletics makes the qualifying
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: times harder or just yeah, having something as crazy as
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: COVID thrown in there. But yeah, the first one, the
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: first one was the easiest.
• 31:41
  Speaker 3: Again, another domb quote here, wasn't that hard to make?
• 31:45
  Speaker 4: Yeah?
• 31:48
  Speaker 3: I love it.
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: But you know what I think shows the humanity in
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: all of this is you, at the beginning of our
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: conversation talking about how the marathon has been so challenging
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: and kind of in.
• 32:00
  Speaker 3: A way different muscles for you to flex.
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: Right, So it's like you were really good at the
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: ten k and are really good at the ten k.
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: You're still running ten k's, but really good at the
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: ten k, and then decided, Hey, I'm going to go
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: out and try something new. And I think that that's
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: really beautiful, right. It allows you to expand and learn
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: and keep on learning as you continue to evolve, not
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: just as an athlete but as a woman.
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's been cool. Yeah, I think it's the
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: beginning of the call. I was saying how humbling the
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: experience has been transitioning to the marathon, because, like I said,
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: my coach and you know, a couple friends had really
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: thought that I would kind of jump right in and
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: be competitive off the bat, and I haven't run poorly.
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: I just haven't run quite as quick yet as we
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: thought I might. I ran to twenty nine to nineteen
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: in London, which was obviously a fine debut. It was
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: a very hard race, being a woman's own race. So
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: I ran the second half of the race totally, so
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: load didn't see another Runner, and then Chicago I ran
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: to twenty seven thirty when we thought once again that
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: i'd run a bit quicker. So yeah, it's just been
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: a humbling experience. But I do know that that Adidas
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: wants me on the roads, and I want to be
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: on the roads too, And you know, the marathon is
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: obviously the key event on the roads. It's also where
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: the money is on the road, so it's definitely the
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: most incentivized race. Yeah, it's but it's a hard long day. Yeah,
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: two and a half hours, twenty six point two miles,
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: Like that's no joke.
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: Oh man, a hard long day again. Another really great
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: quote from Don as I did hear a you know,
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: average four hour marathon.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, honestly, that was something I thought after my first marathon.
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: I was like, I don't care how fast or slow
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: you run the marathon. If you have done a marri
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: whether you hoped or crawled across that finish line, I
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: am an Oh, I am so impressed because the marathon
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: is a brutal event. Like, you know, it is so long,
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: so much can happen over twenty six point two miles.
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: So yeah, I'm I'm a fan of anyone who's completed
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: a marathon anyone.
• 34:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, trust me, I totally agree.
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: I think no matter how long it takes you, the
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: fact that you showed up at all says something. Considering
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: that less than one percent of the global population wants
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: to do the same.
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and honestly that less than well that other ninety
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: nine percent, they're smart because the parathon is crazy.
• 34:40
  Speaker 3: We're just lunatics. That's exactly what we are.
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: Well knowing also that being an Olympian was your goal
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: and you've done it twice. Now after these trips to
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: the Olympics, do you have those post Olympics blues that
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: people talk about?
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: Have you had that?
• 34:58
  Speaker 4: Yeah?
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: Unfortunately, Yeah, I definitely did. I think I don't know
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: if I like calling it the post Olympic blues. I
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: think it can be spun positively. It was a weird
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: realization for me going to the Olympics, as I think
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: I was twenty four twenty four year old in twenty sixteen,
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: having come off the high of just graduating and signing
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: a professional contract with Adidas. I think where it comes
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: from is no one just goes to the Olympics. Everyone
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: has such a long, hard journey with usually lots of
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: sacrifices made to get there, and when you get to
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: the Olympics, it's very special, it's very cool. But at
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: the end of the day, it is just another race
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: or you know, competition, depending on what sport you're in.
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: It's not really going to change change your world. You know,
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: you're the same people are still going to love you,
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: the same people are still going to support you. You
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: might gain a few fans along the way, or a
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: couple more sponsorships or something like that, but at the
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: end of the day, it's it's just another race. And
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: I think that can be viewed negatively because you can
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: get there, you can run the race and kind of realize, wow,
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: that was not really life changing like I thought it
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: would be. Or you can go, you can race and
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: you can be like, cool, it's just another race, Like
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: there isn't I shouldn't be putting extra pressure on myself.
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: I shouldn't be building this event up to be something
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: bigger than it is. At the end of the day,
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: it's just another ten twenty five laps around the track,
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: you know, against the best runners in the world.
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: Just another twenty five I think also there is some
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: humanity that comes to the event and by viewing it
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: the way that you just described, you have the opportunity
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: to also in that moment come back to calm exactly
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: the event within itself. Of course, the Olympics is this
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: awesome thing. There's a reason why so many individuals are
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: excited to compete there, same ver World Championships or insert
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: other big race here.
• 37:16
  Speaker 3: But at the end of the day, by viewing it
• 37:18
  Speaker 3: in this way, it.
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: Helps you the athlete, take back some of the control
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: that might feel otherwise lost.
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly exactly. It's like it brings it. It brings
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: it down a little bit. It like doesn't put it
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: on a pedestal as much anymore.
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: When you finish a big event, whether it is the
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: Olympics or the Boston Marathon, are there certain things that
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: you look forward to, maybe only if for a little
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: while or whatever the case may be, get back into
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: your routine or focus on before you really get back
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: into the swing of heavy training.
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, to be honest, post big races is weird. I
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: think my husband like he doesn't even want to be
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: around me after a big race because it is I
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: kind of feel lost. You know. I really like being
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: in a routine. I'm a homebody. I like, you know,
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: being in my home doing my training, coming home, eating well, napping.
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: Like I love the routine of being a professional distance athlete.
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: So when I finished a big race and I have
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: a week or two of no running, I feel weird.
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: I'm sure a lot of other listeners feel the same way.
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: It's like I feel like, yeah, I just I feel
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: like I'm not myself without running. But it obviously is
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: also so important to have that time to reset, to
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: allow your body to recover, and especially after the marathon,
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: it's so needed. But I think that I try to
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: I'm not very good at it, but I try to
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: do things that I wouldn't normally do during season, So
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: like our accompany my husband to the golf course and
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: ride along in his cart as he plays eighteen holes
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: or something like that, something where usually I'd be like,
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: I need to be at home with my feed up,
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: or you know, whether it's going out to dinner and
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: not looking at the time and allowing myself to stay
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: out slightly later than normal, or usually after a big race,
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: we'll fly back to Arkansas to visit Cameron's family. You know,
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: something that I don't get to do while I'm in
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: a heavy training block. So yeah, so they definitely are
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: things that I do. Sometimes we schedule a vacation usually
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: like once a year, Cam and I try to go
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: on vacation that I obviously look forwards too. But yeah,
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: the feeling of like not having a purpose in my day,
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: a purpose of training hard and trying to make myself
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: a better runner, like, that's not a feeling that I
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: really enjoy.
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, understandable. I think a lot of us kind of
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: tiptoe on this line of so many different ways that
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: we identify, right, So if you were to tell me
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: that over the course of three weeks month that I
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: wouldn't be interviewing anyone or talking to anyone, I would
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: feel a little bit shook because this is something that
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: I love to do and it's a big part of
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: how I identify and as a journalist, as a podcaster,
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: it's just a big part of my day to day.
• 40:13
  Speaker 3: So I hear you on that for sure.
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: Now, something I want to chat about a little bit
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: would be the opportunity to form these relationships with the
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: other women on Team Boss. I loved what you wrote
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: over on your Instagram after Corey McGee got married, saying
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: that you never would have expected to be at her
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: wedding ten years later after you guys were rivals in college.
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: Talk to me a little bit about how it feels
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: for you to have this supportive group of women in Boulder.
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, Corey. Corey and I have known each other
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: for a long time. Obviously, Florida and Arkansas both very
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: big SEC track teams, and she was I think a
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: year two ahead of me in school, so we kind
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: of we overlapped for a few years, but not our
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: full like four or five years. But definitely when I
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: was a freshman in Arkansas, I got taught that Corey McGee,
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: Jen Lacause Mandy Perkins, who are her two very good
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: friends and were two of her bridesmaids. They were the enemies,
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: man like, we wanted to beat them. So now training
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: with Corey on a day to day basis and being
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: friends with Mandy and Jen is definitely pretty funny. And
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: I never never in a million years would have thought that, yeah,
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: I would be going to Corey McGee's wedding, So that's
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: pretty funny. But yeah, I feel it's being a professional
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: runner is such a gift. Like obviously I know that
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: if you were to ask almost any college athlete if
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: they could, you know, if they wanted to go pro,
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: if they had the opportunity to go pro. I know
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: they would say yes, it is such a gift. But
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: I think professional running, being a professional athlete is glamorized.
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: I think, you know, it looks a lot prettier, a
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: lot shinier than it actually is. It's a really hard
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: job to be competing for your livelihood, for your work
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: to be on display all the time. It's pretty hard.
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: And to be able to go through the highs and
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: lows with other like minded athletes, I just feel very lucky.
• 42:31
  Speaker 4: I think it would be so.
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: Much harder, so much lonelier, and yeah, not enjoyable if
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: I was doing this by myself. So yeah, I feel
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: very lucky to have the girls on team Boss to
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: go through this journey with.
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: Talk to me a little bit about maybe the other
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: side of the coin. Is it difficult at times to
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: be doing the same events, like I know you mentioned
• 42:55
  Speaker 2: obviously Bates and you both towing the line in Boston,
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: you haven't had the opportunity to train together.
• 43:01
  Speaker 3: Is that an exciting thing for you? Is it motivating
• 43:04
  Speaker 3: for you?
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: Are there moments of competition and falling into the comparison trap.
• 43:09
  Speaker 3: Where do you sit within that?
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I think Joe has done a pretty
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: good job of one making sure we have athletes that
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: you know, aren't only competitors, but they can also be
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: good teammates and training partners. But I also think he's
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: done a good job of making sure we have that
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: we don't have like five US fifteen hundred meter runners
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: all going for three spots, if that makes sense. You know,
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: we have obviously, Ayisha represents Jamaica, I represent South Africa.
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: The rest are American. But we a lot of us
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: represent different brands, so we're not really competing for our
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: brands dollars. We're also competing in a lot of different events.
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: They obviously are times where we overlap with races like
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: Bates and I obviously both ran Chicago, We're both running Boston.
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: And I've been on the track, you know, competing with
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: some of the girls in the past. But for me,
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: I've almost felt lucky that I have someone to warm
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: up with, I have someone that I know has gone
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: through the training with me. I've never really viewed it
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: too much as a negative, you know, I think the
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: girls that are competing for the US spots. It's a
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: slightly different for them, but I think for the most part,
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: everyone just sees it as an advantage, like we get
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: to help each other be the best athletes we can be,
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: and you know, if Danny is helping Corey be the
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: best runner she can be, Corey's also helping Danny, and
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: then on the day they just, you know, have to
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: try and beat each other to make that team.
• 44:48
  Speaker 3: But do the best you can with what you have.
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, I think we know like we're better off
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: for it, if that makes sense.
• 44:54
  Speaker 2: No, it totally makes sense. Beyond the team though. Do
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: you find that you ever fall into that comparison trap?
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: Do you ever have difficulty with that?
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah? I can share that I have really tried to
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: be off Instagram for the past almost two months now.
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: I've just been going on Instagram to post my stuff
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: and then I get off there. Even though I really
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: enjoy Instagram, I really enjoy making reels. I find it
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: really fun, but I know that there's this whole other
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: side that Instagram definitely affects, like my mental psyche. When
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: I'm seeing athletes results, I'm seeing their training and then
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: comparing myself to that and you know, wondering if I'm
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: training hard enough, if I'm fit enough, if I'm doing enough.
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: And yeah, it can be hard because, like I said,
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: we're all you know, there's only so much marketing dollars
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: that these brands have and they have to choose where
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: they're going to put it, whether it's you know you
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: or someone else, and it is it's easy. It's hard
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: not to compare yourself to other athletes, for sure.
• 45:59
  Speaker 3: Who is domb outside of being a runner?
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: Wow, that's a good question. I feel like I need
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: someone else to answer that.
• 46:10
  Speaker 3: That's so interesting that you said that.
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I feel like, well, I feel like my husband
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: or my sister would almost need to answer that, because one,
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: I feel like I'm the runner, you know, so much
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: of the time. And I would like to say that
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: I'm a pretty positive, bubbly, fun person.
• 46:28
  Speaker 4: I'm pretty girly.
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: Like I said, I'm a homebody, so I definitely like
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: being at home. I have a dog, Bailey. I adopted
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: her when I was only a sophomore in college, so
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: she's eleven years old now and she's you know, been
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: in my life pretty much since I was in the US.
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: So being around her is definitely important to me, and
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: I love being around her. I know, my teammates kind
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: of sometimes tease me that I'm like so close to
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: my husband, but my husband is definitely my best friend
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: and I love spending time with him. Yeah, I would say,
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: I'm I'm like pretty much like a girly girl. I
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: love rom coms, reading rom coms, watching rom coms. That's like,
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: that's kind of me. That's like yeah, and I think
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: you know, I've been chasing running and all the running
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: goal since you know, I was like twelve years old.
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: I've always been super sporty, so it's hard to take
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: myself out of running or away from running. But yeah,
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: I think, yeah, that's that's.
• 47:33
  Speaker 3: Kind of me, a woman that loves her dog and
• 47:37
  Speaker 3: loves rom coms. You know this question is coming.
• 47:40
  Speaker 2: Then if you had to give me like top two
• 47:42
  Speaker 2: to three rom coms, what are we going with?
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: Ooh? I like, I mean, honestly, I like anything except
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: for maybe like the super corny ones, because then sometimes
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: I'm even like closing my eyes. But something like the
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: getting Sarah Marshall, you know, that's like obviously such a
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: good one, all the Nicholas sparks ones like I think
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: it's called your choice or my choice something like that,
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: or even the Notebook, you know, all those like just
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: happy ending, good love stories. It's so typical that you
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: can guess what's gonna happen in the end.
• 48:19
  Speaker 4: But that's my type of movie.
• 48:21
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna go and say that my top three are
• 48:25
  Speaker 2: probably tendings to heart about you.
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: Oh that's a great one.
• 48:29
  Speaker 3: Pretty woman nice, might be clueless. Oh it's fun. That's fun,
• 48:36
  Speaker 3: little mixed up over here.
• 48:38
  Speaker 4: I like that.
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: I'll have to think about mine. Maybe I'll like post
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: them on my Instagram story or something, because I think.
• 48:44
  Speaker 3: I force you to get back on social media. But
• 48:46
  Speaker 3: I think, you know, like I said, I.
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: Don't know, I've been posting and then I just get off.
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: It's like I have obviously some ads that I need
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: to do, or if I get really good workout content,
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: I'll post it. But it's just it's not going onto
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: social media squirreling for thirty minutes and seeing what you
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: know everyone else is doing in their training build for
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: Boston Marathon. It's that type of thing.
• 49:10
  Speaker 2: Totally, so beyond what's going on right now. Clearly we're
• 49:15
  Speaker 2: in an Olympic year. How are you feeling about Paris?
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: This year is a little bit weird for me because
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: I transitioned to the marathon last year. I'm not and
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: I don't actually have the A standard for Paris. I'm
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: not sure if I'm gonna get to go. I could
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: go back to the ten K, I could go back
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: to the track after Boston. I'm honestly just not sure
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: if I want to. There's an A and a B
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: standard for the marathon. The A standard is two twenty
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: six fifty. The B standard is two twenty nine thirty.
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: So I got that B standard in my debut in
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: London Chicago. I thought I would run the A standard.
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: I was about forty seconds shy of. However, you can
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: still get in based off rankings. I thought my rankings
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: would get me into the Olympics. So I chose to
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: run Boston this spring. You know, you have to make
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: these decisions months out. So I made this decision about
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: November last year ready, and since then, three South Africans
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: have run the standard, and Boston is not a legal
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: course where I can run, like get a faster time
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: than my Chicago time. So right now I'm actually sitting
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: out of the Olympics for the South African squad. Yeah,
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: so I'm not really sure. I'm not really sure what
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: to think. I Yeah, like I said, I could still
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: try run another fast marathon, that's pretty unlikely after Boston.
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: I think I'm, you know, just going to do Boston
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: and put all my eggs into that basket and then, Yeah,
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: like I said, I could also go back to the track.
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: But my heart's kind of on the roads now. So yeah,
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: I think I might just be focusing on the roads
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: and it might not lead me to Paris. But I
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: also kind of feel like the World Majors are such
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: a big stage that, you know, if I have to
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: miss Paris this time around, I've already got to Olympics
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: in my bag, and I'll just go and run some
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: world mages and get some experience and maybe some prize money.
• 51:24
  Speaker 2: Maybe some prize money. I'm hearing a lot of growth here.
• 51:28
  Speaker 2: It sounds in the way that you speak about it
• 51:31
  Speaker 2: like you're very at peace with whatever happens next.
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's been kind of a transformative year transitioning to
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: the marathon, and I think just getting another year older.
• 51:44
  Speaker 4: Definitely.
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: My husband's helped a lot with it because I obviously
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: have had my moments of sadness about possibly not being
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: at the Paris Olympics and knowing that it was really
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: because I decided to times my distance by four the
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: year before the fix. And you know, I think my
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: progression in the marathon is still being fine. Like my
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: coach Joe, I asked them after Chicago, should I just
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: quit with the marathon, Like, should I just go back
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: to the track, And he was like, dumb, You're in
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: two twenty seven and your second marathon ever, like at
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: a world major. He's like, if we could get two
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: minutes better every time we ran a marathon like that
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: would be amazing. I think it's just hard when I'm
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: comparing myself against the best marathons in the world. Obviously,
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: it then doesn't seem like, you know, to twenty seven
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: is that good?
• 52:35
  Speaker 4: But I do have.
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: Faith that there is still a lot of room for
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: improvement in the marathon and that I'm on the right path.
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: And yeah, my husband likes to remind me, you've been
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: to two Olympics, Like, is a third one really going
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: to make that a good of a difference, you know?
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: And yeah, the marathon is just like a whole new
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: ball game. And I've definitely felt very taken care of
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: and looked after at these World Majores London and Chicago,
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: and I know Boston will be no different. And to
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: be honest, going to the Olympics, like there's a lot
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: of stuff you got to do for yourself. Like a
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: lot of times you're coming out of pocket for a
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: lot of things, you know, maybe like your pre camp,
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: getting over to Paris.
• 53:16
  Speaker 4: Stuff like that.
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: You're staying in a village, you're sleeping, you know, sharing
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: a room, you're sleeping on a tiny little bed or
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: you know, like tokyo, a cardboard bed that isn't very comfortable.
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: You're not able to eat the food you usually eat
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: before races. You're you know, eating in a cafeteria. So
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: it's obviously an amazing experience representing your country and competing
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: at the Olympics, the world's biggest stage, but it's not
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: an easy place to perform well. And I think, you know,
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: I've done it twice. If I had the opportunity to
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: go to Paris, would I take it?
• 53:50
  Speaker 4: Absolutely?
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: But you know it, maybe it's not the worst thing
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: in the world to you know, not be given that
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: opportunity this year, and you know, rather go and run
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: another fast marathon in the.
• 54:01
  Speaker 2: Fall, and all of the other opportunities you've never had
• 54:06
  Speaker 2: that you're embarking on right now are here to teach
• 54:09
  Speaker 2: you something else, to instill new lessons within you. And
• 54:14
  Speaker 2: it's not to say that. Who knows, Maybe Dom has
• 54:17
  Speaker 2: teammates to cheer on in there.
• 54:20
  Speaker 4: For sure, I'm sure I will.
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: I definitely will have teammates, Team Boss teammates, Adida's teammates,
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: South African teammates. I'll have lots of people to come
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: cheer and get excited for. I Also, every summer for
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: the past decade I've been competing and you know, traveling
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: around the world. It might be a nice change to
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: you know, have a little bit of a downtime this summer.
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: I mean, all this being said, I would way rather
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: be in Paris. But yeah, I think as I'm getting older,
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: I'm just realizing that I don't know, there's not any
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: one way forwards, and the Olympics isn't everything.
• 54:53
  Speaker 4: It's obviously very cool.
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: But they I do still feel in my gut like
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: there are going to be some good races and good
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: opportunities for me in the marathon and Paris might just
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: not be part of that story.
• 55:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I hear you. It's interesting though.
• 55:08
  Speaker 2: I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if, come gosh, May June,
• 55:13
  Speaker 2: we're seeing you trying to tackle some track workouts.
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: No, I wouldn't be surprised either. I would. I'm sure.
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: I'm sure it's at the back of Joe's mind.
• 55:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: If I could run, you know, anything close to what
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: I did like a year ago, I would be fine,
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: And I could go to Paris in the ten k
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: it's just more Yeah, if I want to do that,
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: and if Adidas wants me to do that too.
• 55:35
  Speaker 3: A little combo decision making to me.
• 55:37
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 55:38
  Speaker 2: Right now, we've talked a little bit about social media.
• 55:41
  Speaker 2: Someone goes to your Instagram page, they see this bubbly,
• 55:45
  Speaker 2: happy woman, a professional runner for Adidas. You got something
• 55:48
  Speaker 2: like sixty thousand followers over there. But when you look
• 55:52
  Speaker 2: in the mirror, what is it that you see looking
• 55:55
  Speaker 2: back at you.
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: Dom Ooh, Honestly, it depends what day it is, which
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: is which is sad? To be honest, like, there are
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: some days that I look in the mirror and I
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: see a very hard worker and someone who has been
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: dedicated to being the best runner they can be for
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: you know, a very long period of time. And then
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: there are other days that I look in the mirror
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: and you know, I'm sad. I'm sad that I don't
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: know that I'm not faster, that I'm not you know,
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: I haven't run as many records as I would like.
• 56:27
  Speaker 4: I think, you know, going.
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: Back to what I said earlier, our job is is hard,
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: and we're always comparing ourselves and always you know, looking
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: at those time bonuses or the records that we haven't
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: got yet and feeling like we're somewhat of a failure
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: or not good enough. And yeah, so I feel I
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: feel like it kind of flip flops, and it would
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: be it would be disingenuine to say that, you know,
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: I look in the mirror and every day I see
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: you know, a positive, a positive of happy person.
• 57:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and that is so relatable. I always come back
• 57:05
  Speaker 2: to this thought that vulnerability is relatable.
• 57:09
  Speaker 3: Perfection is not.
• 57:10
  Speaker 2: And so to be projecting in such a certain way,
• 57:13
  Speaker 2: not only if you're projecting that image of perfection, is
• 57:17
  Speaker 2: that not serving you, but it's not really creating a
• 57:20
  Speaker 2: pathway for anyone to have authentic and progressive conversations with
• 57:24
  Speaker 2: you either.
• 57:25
  Speaker 4: Right, Yeah, for sure.
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: And I think that's where social media can be tricky
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: because I don't want to be going on social media
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: and posting the bad stuff, right, and no one wants
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: to see or hear that. Like I could be sharing
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: about how last week I got a toe blister and
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: then it got infected and I had to go on antibiotics,
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: and then I got a cold from going to Corey's
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: wedding and it was like a horrible week to have
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: three weeks out from the Boston Marathon. But no one
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: wants to hear about that, you know, so you don't
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: post that, you don't share it, but then you're only
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: sharing the highlights and that's hard for people to digest too,
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: because it's not real life.
• 58:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I hear you. I hear you.
• 58:03
  Speaker 2: I think there's somewhat of a balance to be had,
• 58:06
  Speaker 2: but finding that balance certainly takes time and it's definitely
• 58:09
  Speaker 2: definitely different for everyone personally.
• 58:12
  Speaker 3: I would love to hear about your toe blisters.
• 58:14
  Speaker 4: Tom, Oh my goodness, No, it wasn't very fun. It
• 58:17
  Speaker 4: was so stupid. I couldn't believe.
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: Like, like I've said, I've been running for like two decades,
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: and three weeks before the Boston Marathon, I get, you know,
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: a blister infected.
• 58:27
  Speaker 4: It was very silly and stupid.
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: All that I would say is everyone keep your blisters
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: very clean and also don't run too hard on antibiotics
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: because that's not good for you either.
• 58:38
  Speaker 2: Elites, they're just like us. Well, as we wind down here, Dom,
• 58:43
  Speaker 2: I want to hear besides Boston, what are you excited
• 58:46
  Speaker 2: about right now?
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: Ooh, well, I don't have any other races on the
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: schedule as of right now. I would like to run
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: another marathon in the fall, maybe another fast one one.
• 58:59
  Speaker 4: Am I excited? But I don't know.
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: I just feel like, even though it's like already April,
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: I feel like there's so much time this year to
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: just grow and become better people.
• 59:11
  Speaker 4: And yeah, that's a really good question.
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: But I don't know. But I just feel optimistic that,
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: you know, there's there's a lot of goodness that's going
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: to happen in this next year. You know. I think
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: for US track and field athletes, the Olympic year is
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: always strange because most contracts come to an end at
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: the end of an Olympic cycle. So yeah, they can
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: just be a lot of change, whether it be you
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: know that the road of being a professional athlete comes
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: to an end, or you know your shoe company re
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: signs you or another shoe company signs you. But there's
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: I think it can be so daunting, but it can
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: also feel kind of exciting that like a new chapter
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: is around the corner. And I think that's kind of
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: how it feels to me right now.
• 59:58
  Speaker 3: New chapter on deck. I love this.
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 2: I would be remiss if I didn't ask you before
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 2: I let you go today.
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 3: There's two more questions.
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 2: The first question, if someone goes to your Instagram page
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 2: right now they see your cameo link, what's the wildest
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 2: cameo you've ever been asked for?
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, Okay, well this isn't a cameo, but
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: immediately where my brain went.
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 4: This is such a weird story.
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 1: But I lived in when I was still living in
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: Northwest Arkansas, I'm pretty sure I was out of college,
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: like first year out of college, and I went to
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: this furniture store and I was just browsing for my
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: husband and my home, and the lady working at the
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: store just like on the floor, she recognized me. In Arkansas,
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: is not a very big state, and the university gets
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: like a lot of support because we don't have any
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: pro teams in the state. So yeah, the Razorbacks are
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: like very well supported. So this lady recognized me, and
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: she was like, oh my goodness, my boyfriend. She's older
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: than me, right, not like college age. She's like, I'm probably,
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: you know, twenty four to twenty five. She's you know,
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: at least mid thirties. And she's like, oh my goodness,
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: my boyfriend. He's such a huge fan of yours. And
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: I left my number because she was gonna call me
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: back about a piece of furniture. She ends up calling
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: me like the next day. It's not about the furniture,
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: but it's that it's her boyfriend's birthday that they're going
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 1: out to Showgun, and she wanted to know if I
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 1: would show up at Showgun in my Razorback uniform and
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: bring cupcakes, which she leaves at the which she's planning
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: on leaving at the front desk of the restaurant at
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 1: the host stand, and I come up to their table
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: singing her boyfriend Happy birthday.
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 3: Oh my god, how weird.
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 4: Obviously I said no.
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: I was like, I'm really sorry, and I made up
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: some excuse that I was busy that night.
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 4: But that's definitely.
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: The weirdest thing that I've ever been asked to do. Honestly,
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: on cameo it's all pretty tame. It's usually you know,
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: someone is has got a promotion, congratulating them and someone's birthday,
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: someone's running a race like that type of stuff, And
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 1: I find the cameos pretty fun. But yeah, that request
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 1: was pretty wild.
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 3: That is absolutely wild. Will That's better than any wonky
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 3: cameo request.
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, Dom, Well, right now you have an
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 2: opportunity to give your younger self a piece of advice.
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 2: Let's go back to the Dom that was scared to
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 2: make that big jump moving over to the United States
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 2: to go to college on a scholarship and run right
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 2: now knowing what you know, what advice would you tell
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 2: yourself at that hurdle moment?
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 3: Oof?
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: H this is this is going to be a deep one.
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: So when I was a senior in high school, I
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: was running well. Obviously coaches in the US were starting
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: to look at me, but I was wondering how I
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 1: could get faster. So my dad found a nutritionist that
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: I could speak to and you know, give me some input.
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: And the nutritionist she was nutritionist, she wasn't a registered dietitian,
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 1: which now I know there's a big difference between and
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: she just gave me some very poor advice and I
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: lost a lot of body weight but also strength, and
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: my metabolism just got super duper slow. I also became anemic.
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 1: And because I lost so much weight that I got
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: picked up by a model agency, which at the time
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: seemed pretty cool, but it was not cool in the
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: long run. I yeah, got slower, I got weaker, and
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: it took my metabolism probably two years to get back
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: to what it was from just probably six months of
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: almost starving myself doing what I thought was correct, right
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 1: I was. I was following her eating plans, but as
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 1: a very type a athlete who you know, wanted to
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: be better, I was willing to do whatever that meant.
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 1: So you know, whether that meant following this eating plan
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: and eating less and eating less carbs, that's what I
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: was going to do. But it really backfired. And you know,
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: I learned the hard way that you can't mess with
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: your metabolism and there's no quick fix, there's no shortcuts
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: to running faster. So yeah, if I could talk to
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: my younger self, eighteen year old self, I would say,
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: don't starve yourself. Listen to your body. Your body is
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 1: very smart. It will tell you when you need feel
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: If it's craving something, it's because it needs that. And yeah,
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: be very careful about who you listened to with nutrition advice.
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 2: Wow, this is not the direction I thought it was
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 2: going to go, but I appreciate you for sharing that.
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah for sure.
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 4: For sure.
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah it's a little deep. I haven't shared that one before,
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 1: but yeah, definitely. Also like just watching some close friends
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: that are struggling with reds, like it's nothing you want
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: to mess with, especially as a female athlete. So yeah,
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: definitely any young girls listening to this, be very careful
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: who you listen to and get nutrition advice from.
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 3: Good tip.
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 2: Well, I appreciate you so much for your time, Dom,
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 2: I'm rooting for you, not just in Boston but beyond.
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much. For those that don't follow along
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 2: with you, just yet give us your info. How do
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 2: they keep up with you?
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 4: Yeah? For sure.
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 1: Well my instagram is Dom Scott run ESA say standing
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: for South Africa. That's really the platform that I use
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 1: the most. And then yeah, you can just support me racing. Yeah,
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: next race, Boston Marathon on the fifteenth, I think, yeah, Monday,
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 1: Patriots Day. And yeah, the support is always very much appreciated.
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 4: You know, it's it's.
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: A wild world out there now where you know, even
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 1: social media followers is makes a big difference to you know,
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: how much support you're getting from sponsors.
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 4: So yeah, all of it means a lot.
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 3: Follow along, follow along.
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 2: I'm over at hurdle podcasts and at Emily a Body
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 2: another hurdle concord.
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 3: Catch you guys next time.