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#HURDLEMOMENT: The New York City Marathon, A Recap · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

0:00
Speaker 1: It was sitting and doing the work. Over these last
0:05
Speaker 1: few years, I'm learning how to accept things how they
0:08
Speaker 1: are and like go of the things that I can't
0:10
Speaker 1: control and understand that all I can do is the
0:13
Speaker 1: best I can with what I have, instead of being
0:16
Speaker 1: angry about my circumstance. Implementing all of these lessons into
0:21
Speaker 1: my day to day on the regular is what empowered
0:24
Speaker 1: me to get through the New York City Marathon on Sunday,
0:27
Speaker 1: hard stop period. Wasting my energy in these miles on
0:32
Speaker 1: the things that I could not change was not going
0:36
Speaker 1: to serve me. And if there's one thing you take
0:38
Speaker 1: from this recap, I hope that it is that you
0:41
Speaker 1: too can harness your own power to go after what
0:44
Speaker 1: you want and sometimes the outcome may not be as
0:48
Speaker 1: you envisioned, but no matter what the journey is, you
0:51
Speaker 1: have the opportunity to learn from it. Hey everyone, Emily
1:09
Speaker 1: A Badi here coming to you live from the AG Studio.
1:13
Speaker 1: You are listening to another installment of Hurdle Moment from
1:17
Speaker 1: Hurdle Today's episode one. I know you have been anxiously
1:23
Speaker 1: waiting for my New York City Marathon recap. Obviously, if
1:28
Speaker 1: you can't tell how wonderful. My voice sounds right now.
1:32
Speaker 1: I definitely had myself a fun time both on the
1:36
Speaker 1: course and after running the course. But I am happy
1:41
Speaker 1: that I've finally had some time now recording this on Tuesday.
1:45
Speaker 1: Marathon was on Sunday to think about what happened out
1:49
Speaker 1: there and to reflect on how it has all gone
1:54
Speaker 1: for me, not just the marathon and forest. And I
1:56
Speaker 1: think that's important to reiterate, is that Sunday was, you know,
2:00
Speaker 1: the culmination of I guess this year, you know, almost
2:04
Speaker 1: twenty weeks of training with an injury smack dab toward
2:09
Speaker 1: the end of it, but also of course my journey
2:12
Speaker 1: with running.
2:13
Speaker 2: Now, if you're new to the show, you're.
2:14
Speaker 1: New a new hurdler, welcome, I'm happy to have you,
2:18
Speaker 1: but make sure to get some more context, maybe head
2:21
Speaker 1: on over to episode one to hear about my journey,
2:25
Speaker 1: which involved a pretty sizable weight loss in college, and
2:30
Speaker 1: that weight loss those efforts.
2:33
Speaker 2: Led me to running anyway.
2:36
Speaker 1: New York City Marathon quick stats twenty six point two
2:39
Speaker 1: miles through all five boroughs of New York City, and
2:46
Speaker 1: this go around, I ran the race in three hours,
2:51
Speaker 1: forty two minutes and fifty three seconds that averages out
2:56
Speaker 1: to be an eight thirty one average pace, and it
3:00
Speaker 1: is a New York City Marathon course PR for me,
3:05
Speaker 1: not an.
3:06
Speaker 2: Overall marathon PR.
3:08
Speaker 1: My marathon PR as it stands, is my virtual New
3:10
Speaker 1: York last year, which was three twenty three fifty six
3:14
Speaker 1: my IRL PR three twenty eighth A in Chicago twenty nineteen.
3:22
Speaker 1: So today I'm going to go through what happened, give
3:25
Speaker 1: you the blade by play. As usual with these, I
3:28
Speaker 1: tend to kind of just give it to you straight.
3:31
Speaker 1: These episodes aren't heavily edited because I want you to
3:34
Speaker 1: know what I was going through and where my head
3:37
Speaker 1: was at going into during, etc. So make sure you're
3:42
Speaker 1: following along with me over on social media. I'm over
3:45
Speaker 1: at Emily a Body, and of course over at Hurdle Podcast.
3:49
Speaker 2: Some really exciting stuff happening here on the feed.
3:51
Speaker 1: Not just today but this week, with an episode from
3:55
Speaker 1: Selene Flanagan that went live yesterday, as well as some
4:00
Speaker 1: really exciting big guests in the weeks to come. So
4:07
Speaker 1: I won't keep you waiting anymore. With that, Let's get
4:10
Speaker 1: to Hurdling. I was thinking about where I wanted to
4:21
Speaker 1: start today's recap, and I think I want to start
4:29
Speaker 1: with the moment that I decided that I was actually
4:33
Speaker 1: going to run New York.
4:35
Speaker 2: So I started.
4:35
Speaker 1: Training for the London Marathon about twenty weeks ago, and
4:43
Speaker 1: I knew going into the London Marathon that because of
4:47
Speaker 1: what was going on in our world with the COVID pandemic,
4:51
Speaker 1: that I would hopefully get to toe the line, but
4:55
Speaker 1: there could be things out of my control which prevented
4:58
Speaker 1: me from getting to London and running the marathon that
5:01
Speaker 1: I was so excited about knowing that I decided that
5:06
Speaker 1: I would accept a bib. I was offered a BIB
5:09
Speaker 1: from Strava, one of the big sponsors for the New
5:12
Speaker 1: York City Marathon, and I would accept that bib just
5:16
Speaker 1: in case I couldn't get to London, also knowing that
5:20
Speaker 1: with the races being slated for about a month apart,
5:24
Speaker 1: I would have enough time after London to get my
5:27
Speaker 1: legs back under me. I've run a couple of marathons
5:31
Speaker 1: in a short time span before, and so I knew
5:35
Speaker 1: or I had a lot of confidence anyway, that it
5:37
Speaker 1: would not be an issue. Fast forward, Training's going really well,
5:42
Speaker 1: and after my longest run in the London Marathon, build up.
5:47
Speaker 1: As I spoke about here on the show in depth,
5:51
Speaker 1: I developed an injury. I'll link to that episode where
5:55
Speaker 1: I kind of talk about that in the show notes. Again,
5:57
Speaker 1: if you're new to the feet, my injury, as I
6:02
Speaker 1: talked about that day, is kind of a hip strain.
6:05
Speaker 1: But to be a little bit more specific, what we
6:08
Speaker 1: think it could have been was something like a strange
6:10
Speaker 1: so as now that's like a very deep muscle and
6:15
Speaker 1: one that I knew would be a difficult situation to navigate,
6:22
Speaker 1: but also a long time. It would take a long
6:25
Speaker 1: time to heal. And so with about what would have
6:29
Speaker 1: been a month until the London Marathon, I started to
6:33
Speaker 1: see different experts, and because running at that time caused
6:38
Speaker 1: me pain, I made the decision to withdraw from the
6:42
Speaker 1: London Marathon with hopes to still to the line in
6:46
Speaker 1: New York. Long story short, I travel to Europe, I
6:52
Speaker 1: don't run a marathon. I start to get in some
6:59
Speaker 1: distance with out pain on I would say around October
7:04
Speaker 1: seventh or eighth.
7:05
Speaker 2: I remember before heading out to Europe.
7:08
Speaker 1: On September twenty eighth, it was a Saturday, and I
7:13
Speaker 1: went for a four point one two mile run and
7:17
Speaker 1: labeled it on strava long run. I then remember getting
7:23
Speaker 1: to Milan and wanting to shake off, like my legs
7:25
Speaker 1: from the plane, and I went out on what I
7:27
Speaker 1: thought would be a similar four mile loop but ended
7:30
Speaker 1: up being a five mile loop, and instantly thinking, okay,
7:34
Speaker 1: that was a little too much. I think I pushed
7:36
Speaker 1: it a little too far. I need to reel it
7:38
Speaker 1: back in. Anyway, fast forward. I ultimately get to a
7:42
Speaker 1: place where I can run pain free and confidently for
7:46
Speaker 1: two quote unquote long runs before making the decision that yes,
7:51
Speaker 1: I was going to show up in New York. The
7:53
Speaker 1: first long run was about fourteen miles on October sixteenth,
7:57
Speaker 1: and then I did one that was almost nineteen miles
8:00
Speaker 1: on October twenty third, So I had some good mileage
8:03
Speaker 1: under my belt that made me feel confident in terms
8:06
Speaker 1: of the injury that I would be in a good
8:07
Speaker 1: place to show up on last Sunday, November seventh. With
8:12
Speaker 1: that said, this is the first ever training program that
8:16
Speaker 1: has been interrupted for me by a legitimate injury. I've
8:21
Speaker 1: never had a build up where I've had to be
8:24
Speaker 1: strategic about choosing activity versus completely sitting out, and I
8:30
Speaker 1: recognized going into this marathon that it could be a
8:34
Speaker 1: little bit different than what I had experienced before. With
8:37
Speaker 1: that said, I was really hopeful, Like I feel as
8:42
Speaker 1: though what I've learned in running my last two marathons,
8:46
Speaker 1: which completely exceeded my expectations, is that hope is the
8:50
Speaker 1: most beautiful thing that we have, especially when it comes
8:53
Speaker 1: to running. To go out there and be inspired and
8:57
Speaker 1: excited and wowed by your own potential is just such
9:01
Speaker 1: an unbelievable opportunity. And so going into this Sunday, I
9:09
Speaker 1: was so lit by my own fire, by my own potential,
9:15
Speaker 1: by what could be like this arc of coming back
9:19
Speaker 1: from injury, knowing that no matter how I showed up
9:22
Speaker 1: on Sunday, like the arc was gonna be the same.
9:24
Speaker 1: Right could showing up and finding myself a new marathon
9:29
Speaker 1: pr a sub three twenty three fifty six moment in
9:32
Speaker 1: New York City wouldn't like it would have been phenomenal,
9:36
Speaker 1: But I tried to maintain perspective going into it of
9:41
Speaker 1: what I was coming in with. So with that said,
9:44
Speaker 1: let's fast forward straight to New York City Marathon morning.
9:47
Speaker 1: It's Sunday, It's three thirty in the morning. I am
9:49
Speaker 1: awake because the clocks fell back and my nerves totally
9:52
Speaker 1: have the best of me, and I have my entire
9:55
Speaker 1: plan written down, everything I need to make sure that
9:57
Speaker 1: I do before I leave, everything that should be in
9:59
Speaker 1: my go everything set aside, including my food and my
10:03
Speaker 1: outfit and my throwaway clothes and everything that I could need.
10:07
Speaker 1: My girlfriend picks me up in uber at four fifty
10:10
Speaker 1: five to head to Bryant Park.
10:12
Speaker 2: Heads up, you do not need to bank in.
10:15
Speaker 1: Thirty to forty minutes for a commute to Brian Park
10:17
Speaker 1: at five am, but we did, and so at five
10:20
Speaker 1: point fifteen we decided to wait before getting on the
10:23
Speaker 1: bus that would take us to Staten Island, just somewhere
10:26
Speaker 1: that would have a little bit more breathing room, i e.
10:28
Speaker 1: The steps at Bryant Park. We finally got on the
10:32
Speaker 1: bus around five forty five. We headed to Staten Island
10:36
Speaker 1: and for the next few hours I was able to
10:39
Speaker 1: hang around with my teammates, shout out old Man Run
10:42
Speaker 1: Club and just kind of kick back, try to chill
10:47
Speaker 1: as much as possible and prep for what was on deck.
10:52
Speaker 1: My start time was ten fifty five and at ten
10:55
Speaker 1: fifty five on the dot we were off. So going
11:00
Speaker 1: into this race, my goal was to find flow, and
11:04
Speaker 1: I talk about this in my Chicago Marathon recap, and
11:07
Speaker 1: if you didn't listen to that one, I'll linked in
11:09
Speaker 1: the show notes here. But the Chicago Marathon for me
11:11
Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen was the definition of flow. I never
11:15
Speaker 1: felt like I was working too hard. In fact, that
11:19
Speaker 1: pace that I ran that day of seven fifty seven
11:23
Speaker 1: average overall, that felt miraculous and for the most part,
11:28
Speaker 1: effortless and super comfortable for me. Whereas from the get
11:33
Speaker 1: go in New York when I started running, my first
11:36
Speaker 1: mile was a seven to fifty five, which felt okay
11:38
Speaker 1: but difficult because we were going up the hill of
11:41
Speaker 1: the Arizona. I then proceed to run the next six
11:46
Speaker 1: miles sub eight minutes, one of which was at a
11:49
Speaker 1: seven fifteen. I am like cruising, but comparatively, when I
11:54
Speaker 1: think about how I felt for the first eight miles
11:57
Speaker 1: of this marathon compared to Chicago, they didn't feel effortless,
12:02
Speaker 1: and in fact, I definitely felt like I was working
12:06
Speaker 1: a little bit harder. By mile eight and nine, I
12:09
Speaker 1: am cruising through Williamsburg. Things are starting to already feel
12:13
Speaker 1: a little bit hard, and I get a super massive,
12:16
Speaker 1: beautiful boost of energy. Running across Bedford. I see Willie Valderrama.
12:23
Speaker 1: He was on the show last week, right by mccarren Park,
12:27
Speaker 1: which really makes me just like the most excited, because
12:30
Speaker 1: even at this point I'm starting to dig in to
12:33
Speaker 1: my mental toolbox of you get to do this. At
12:37
Speaker 1: mile seven and eight, like that is just not where
12:41
Speaker 1: I expected to be, and I was thinking about him
12:45
Speaker 1: and his story and how he would have killed to
12:49
Speaker 1: feel how I felt in that moment when he was
12:53
Speaker 1: incapable of walking back in April.
12:57
Speaker 2: I digress. I see Willie. I keep going.
13:01
Speaker 1: I run into a friend of mine right before heading
13:06
Speaker 1: toward the Pulaski Bridge at the halfway point. This is
13:10
Speaker 1: around mile eleven or twelve, and I'm running with him,
13:14
Speaker 1: and I say to him, I already feel at mile
13:17
Speaker 1: twelve like I've run twenty miles, Like that's how my
13:20
Speaker 1: legs felt, my quads felt heavy, and I just kept
13:24
Speaker 1: going along.
13:25
Speaker 2: And here is certainly.
13:27
Speaker 1: Where my pace starts to slow down, from sub eights
13:31
Speaker 1: to around for the next five or six miles, ranging
13:34
Speaker 1: between like eight fifteen and nine minutes, a little bit
13:39
Speaker 1: all over the place in there, but mostly around eight thirty.
13:41
Speaker 1: Just giving some context, I get over the Queensboro and
13:46
Speaker 1: I just keep thinking, like, you've got to hold this together,
13:48
Speaker 1: because this is where you're about to see all of
13:50
Speaker 1: these people that are so so amped for you, like
13:52
Speaker 1: both of my parents on the Upper east Side.
13:55
Speaker 2: My entire run club has a cheer section up there.
13:58
Speaker 1: Eventually, I knew I was going to get to see
14:00
Speaker 1: friends up in Harlem and then on Fifth Avenue, and
14:03
Speaker 1: so I was about to be surrounded by so many
14:06
Speaker 1: people that I love, and I just wanted to continue
14:10
Speaker 1: to do.
14:10
Speaker 2: Good for them, if that makes sense.
14:13
Speaker 1: But I am slugging up First Avenue and it is
14:17
Speaker 1: like in me and every person I see they give
14:21
Speaker 1: me like that necessary boost of energy to keep going
14:25
Speaker 1: until I get to the next person. And the cheers
14:28
Speaker 1: are coming from everywhere. There are so many people that
14:30
Speaker 1: both I know along the course and that I don't
14:33
Speaker 1: actually know. Many of you may even be listening to
14:35
Speaker 1: this podcast that we're just yelling my name, and every
14:39
Speaker 1: single person that yelled my name, I would just point
14:41
Speaker 1: at that and point at them. I'm at this point. Okay,
14:45
Speaker 1: So we're at sixteen seventeen eighteen. Back at mile twelve
14:49
Speaker 1: thirteen when I was with my friend I said to him,
14:51
Speaker 1: my name for this marathon is like on my bib
14:54
Speaker 1: in a very small way, like I did not put
14:56
Speaker 1: it across my chest like I've done in marathon's past.
14:59
Speaker 1: And I said to him, it's like, I don't think
15:01
Speaker 1: this many people.
15:01
Speaker 2: Know who I am. My ego is not that big.
15:04
Speaker 1: And I keep hearing Emily Emily like cheering for me,
15:08
Speaker 1: and it's blowing my mind because again, like they must
15:11
Speaker 1: have really good eyesight. I'm thinking to myself. I asked
15:13
Speaker 1: my friend, is there another Emily anywhere around me that
15:16
Speaker 1: you see? Because I feel like there's got to be
15:19
Speaker 1: someone with my name on their shirt. He doesn't see them.
15:23
Speaker 1: It's not until mile twenty one, when I'm circling Marcus
15:26
Speaker 1: Garvey Park that I realize the woman that's running in
15:29
Speaker 1: front of me. The back of her shirt says it's
15:33
Speaker 1: my birthday. Her name is Emily, and Emily had probably
15:38
Speaker 1: been running with me. I'm not even exaggerating for the
15:40
Speaker 1: better part of like a half marathon at that point.
15:42
Speaker 1: And I run up behind her and I tap her
15:46
Speaker 1: on the back back and I give her a fist
15:48
Speaker 1: bump and I say, em I was like, happy birthday,
15:51
Speaker 1: And by the way. Thank you for running with me
15:54
Speaker 1: this whole time without knowing it. You are seriously a
15:57
Speaker 1: thing that has helped me push forward when my legs
15:59
Speaker 1: just like awful. And she looks at me and she
16:02
Speaker 1: looks like a little like thrown off that I came
16:04
Speaker 1: up to her, which is like understandable.
16:05
Speaker 2: We're running a marathon.
16:07
Speaker 1: And she says, can I tell you something funny? And
16:10
Speaker 1: I'm like, sure, what's up? And she's like, so I
16:12
Speaker 1: know who you are actually because I listened to your
16:14
Speaker 1: podcast on so many of my long runs.
16:18
Speaker 2: I can't I can't even believe that she said that
16:22
Speaker 2: to me.
16:22
Speaker 1: I literally lost my shit and it was just so
16:25
Speaker 1: funny because I needed her for those twelve miles, just
16:30
Speaker 1: like maybe at times when she was training for this race,
16:33
Speaker 1: like she needed me. Taking a break from today's recap
16:42
Speaker 1: to give some love to two sponsors that I would
16:46
Speaker 1: have been absolutely lost in this training cycle without. First up,
16:52
Speaker 1: hyper Ice, the maker of recovery and performance tech. That's
16:56
Speaker 1: important and in my eyes, absolutely necessary. Now, there are
17:02
Speaker 1: so many great products to love from the hyper Ice portfolio,
17:07
Speaker 1: but my biggest love over the last twenty weeks my
17:12
Speaker 1: Norma dec two point oh boots. Now, there is nothing better.
17:17
Speaker 1: I mean it, absolutely nothing better than snuggling up in
17:20
Speaker 1: them on the couch after a good run. They are
17:23
Speaker 1: my on call personal messuse that's here to help me
17:28
Speaker 1: in my post workout recovery to navigate sore muscles and
17:31
Speaker 1: reduce pain. I snuggle up with mine on the couch
17:35
Speaker 1: with a good movie, a great meal, and I'm good
17:38
Speaker 1: to go for at least an hour. Something else in
17:42
Speaker 1: my toolbox my Hypervolt two point. Oh let me tell you.
17:46
Speaker 1: I used it this morning on these post marathon legs,
17:50
Speaker 1: and oh man, it was everything I needed. I know
17:54
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17:58
Speaker 1: attachment heads, one for every nook and cranny. It's the
18:01
Speaker 1: perfect way to accelerate my pre run warmups and right
18:05
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18:10
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18:14
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18:17
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18:18
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18:22
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18:27
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18:30
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18:34
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18:46
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18:47
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18:49
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18:53
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18:56
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19:00
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19:04
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19:10
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19:11
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19:16
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19:21
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19:24
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19:27
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19:31
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20:16
Speaker 1: so that was just such a really serendipitous and God
20:20
Speaker 1: given moment I felt. And so we continued on up
20:23
Speaker 1: Fifth Avenue. I go to run by the Nike cheer
20:27
Speaker 1: station at twenty one, which gives me this really beautiful
20:28
Speaker 1: boost of energy, and then it is onward. For the
20:33
Speaker 1: last five miles. They were really hard. They were really
20:38
Speaker 1: really hard, and it's been I don't know how to
20:41
Speaker 1: say this. I definitely hit the wall in this marathon,
20:43
Speaker 1: but it felt differently than maybe.
20:45
Speaker 2: When I'd hit the wall before.
20:48
Speaker 1: I think when I've hit the wall before, I just
20:50
Speaker 1: felt totally exhausted, but this time, like I just felt
20:54
Speaker 1: super depleted in my quads. And I looked at videos
20:58
Speaker 1: of me running where I felt like I was moving
21:01
Speaker 1: and I looked better than I felt, but I just
21:04
Speaker 1: felt like an absolute snail. And so I'm heading up
21:08
Speaker 1: the Fifth Avenue Hill. I see so many great people
21:10
Speaker 1: in these moments. I see just Sims and the entire
21:12
Speaker 1: Peloton crew. Then one of my dear dear friends, Karen
21:16
Speaker 1: and her husband like run up on both sides of
21:18
Speaker 1: me and like run with me for a block, and
21:20
Speaker 1: that made me super emotional. Then I ran by my mom.
21:23
Speaker 1: Then I turned into the park and I see my
21:25
Speaker 1: friends from Brooklyn Track Club and like it was just
21:28
Speaker 1: like bam bam, bam bam, really overwhelming because again at
21:31
Speaker 1: this point, like I'm just not feeling my best and
21:34
Speaker 1: I'm seeing all these people and like the strong Emily
21:37
Speaker 1: just wants to stay really strong and wants to look
21:39
Speaker 1: really good, but on the inside is just continuously going
21:45
Speaker 1: back to you get to do this, you get to
21:47
Speaker 1: do this, you get to do this, one step at
21:49
Speaker 1: a time, one step at a time. And even when
21:51
Speaker 1: I felt like I was crawling, I was in this
21:54
Speaker 1: mental place where I thought at some points like maybe
21:57
Speaker 1: I should just try to speed walk a little bit
21:59
Speaker 1: in this moment, and I would try to slid it
22:01
Speaker 1: into a speedwalk, but like it didn't happen, Like my
22:03
Speaker 1: body wasn't letting me just stop running, If that makes
22:08
Speaker 1: any sense anyway long at the end of the story
22:12
Speaker 1: really is that I make my way to the finish.
22:15
Speaker 1: I see my family, uh turning in to Central Park South.
22:20
Speaker 1: Right after I turn out of the park, I make
22:23
Speaker 1: my way across Central Park South. I feel like Central
22:25
Speaker 1: Park's South crowd is kind of letting me down. I
22:27
Speaker 1: look to them and I like raise my arm for
22:29
Speaker 1: some more noise a video which someone sends me on Instagram.
22:34
Speaker 1: And I get to the finish and I do it.
22:35
Speaker 1: And you know, right before the finish, I thought that
22:37
Speaker 1: I was still going to be able to finish in
22:39
Speaker 1: a like a three thirty something time. I ended up finishing,
22:43
Speaker 1: like I said at the top of this episode, three
22:45
Speaker 1: forty two fifty three eight thirty one piece overall. And
22:50
Speaker 1: that's kind of, like I guess, the play by play
22:53
Speaker 1: of the race. So now you're probably wondering how I
22:57
Speaker 1: feel about it. I feel so fucking proud of myself.
23:03
Speaker 1: I'm gonna mark this episode as explicit because I feel
23:05
Speaker 1: like I'm about to start swearing a lot. I'm so
23:07
Speaker 1: proud of myself because, like I said, my legs just
23:10
Speaker 1: started not to feel good at ten or eleven, and
23:15
Speaker 1: I was chasing happiness. And I knew in that moment
23:20
Speaker 1: that if I didn't shift my attitude and get some
23:23
Speaker 1: perspective on what I was doing, then if this is
23:28
Speaker 1: going on at mile ten, how was I going to
23:30
Speaker 1: stay in the game for another sixteen miles two hours?
23:35
Speaker 1: There was just absolutely no way. So I went to
23:40
Speaker 1: those two mantras, I get to do this and one
23:44
Speaker 1: step at a time. And it's just so applicable to life,
23:47
Speaker 1: because there is so much hardshit that we all deal
23:50
Speaker 1: with on a regular basis, and sometimes when you look
23:53
Speaker 1: at that bigger picture, just it's so overwhelming that we
23:56
Speaker 1: don't even know where to start. And I didn't want
24:00
Speaker 1: to continue on ten, ten point five, eleven, eleven point
24:04
Speaker 1: five thinking about how intimidated I was to get through
24:07
Speaker 1: the next sixteen miles. I knew that I needed to
24:10
Speaker 1: break it up into small, little doables, and so I found.
24:15
Speaker 2: My gratitude and I just kept moving.
24:20
Speaker 1: I felt like finding Nemo, and in these miles I
24:24
Speaker 1: tried to focus as much as I could as being
24:27
Speaker 1: really present and like soaking up what was happening around me.
24:32
Speaker 1: This is the first marathon I have ever run without music.
24:37
Speaker 1: Do I wonder, like scientifically speaking, if that had an
24:39
Speaker 1: impact on what happened out there, maybe, But I think
24:42
Speaker 1: that the cheers probably had the same effect on me
24:44
Speaker 1: when it comes to getting that hype up from a
24:47
Speaker 1: playlist versus hearing so many people I didn't even know
24:51
Speaker 1: cheering for me or like I said, maybe cheering for
24:54
Speaker 1: the other Emily. But so many hurdlers on the course,
24:57
Speaker 1: such a great energy, and I was so appreciative for
25:01
Speaker 1: all of these people for showing up that if you
25:03
Speaker 1: yelled my name like I wanted to hear it because
25:05
Speaker 1: I wanted to acknowledge you.
25:07
Speaker 2: I wrote about this a little bit on Instagram.
25:08
Speaker 1: But the training for a marathon, like I said, I
25:11
Speaker 1: started training for my first marathon of the year about
25:13
Speaker 1: twenty weeks ago this injury popped up. I've been doing
25:16
Speaker 1: this for a long time. That's just the physical part
25:18
Speaker 1: of things. The mental training for a marathon is something
25:22
Speaker 1: that happens all of the time, whether you are in
25:26
Speaker 1: season or out of season. This is work that I
25:30
Speaker 1: have been putting in for a really, really long time.
25:35
Speaker 1: And if you were to ask me if I would
25:38
Speaker 1: have been able to handle this not as expected or
25:41
Speaker 1: hope situation the way that I navigated it on Sunday
25:46
Speaker 1: three four, five years ago.
25:48
Speaker 2: I don't really know. I don't really know.
25:50
Speaker 1: If I could have because it was sitting and doing
25:55
Speaker 1: the work. Over these last few years, I'm learning how
25:58
Speaker 1: to accept things how they are and like go of
26:01
Speaker 1: the things that I can't control and understand that all
26:04
Speaker 1: I can do is the best I can with what
26:07
Speaker 1: I have, instead of being angry about my circumstance. Implementing
26:11
Speaker 1: all of these lessons into my day to day on
26:14
Speaker 1: the regular is what empowered me to get through the
26:17
Speaker 1: New York City Marathon on Sunday, hard stop period. Wasting
26:22
Speaker 1: my energy in these miles on the things that I
26:26
Speaker 1: could not change was not going to serve me. And
26:29
Speaker 1: if there's one thing you take from this recap, I
26:32
Speaker 1: hope that it is that you too can harness your
26:35
Speaker 1: own power to go after what you want and sometimes
26:38
Speaker 1: the outcome may not be as you envisioned, but no
26:41
Speaker 1: matter what the journey is, you have the opportunity.
26:44
Speaker 2: To learn from it.
26:46
Speaker 1: Now I say this recognizing that it doesn't. This doesn't
26:51
Speaker 1: mean that I hadn't hoped for a different outcome on Sunday,
26:55
Speaker 1: but realistically, with what I went through over the last
26:59
Speaker 1: twenty weeks. I am so damn grateful. I'm so damn
27:05
Speaker 1: grateful that I was able to run this marathon. I
27:07
Speaker 1: am so damn grateful for this place that I live in,
27:09
Speaker 1: for the people that are here, for my running community,
27:12
Speaker 1: for the community of podcast listeners that lifted me up
27:16
Speaker 1: literally through every single burrow, from the moment that I
27:19
Speaker 1: was taking photos with hurdlers on Staten Island to seeing
27:22
Speaker 1: you all cheering in.
27:23
Speaker 2: Central Park in mile twenty five.
27:25
Speaker 1: Like of course, I've sat here and wondered what I
27:27
Speaker 1: could have done differently or what quote unquote went wrong,
27:31
Speaker 1: But in the grand scheme of things, focusing on those
27:34
Speaker 1: things isn't going to serve me. I think that reflection
27:37
Speaker 1: is important. I would be remiss if I didn't admit that.
27:40
Speaker 1: I certainly have taken a closer look at some of
27:42
Speaker 1: the whoop data that I had in the days leading
27:44
Speaker 1: up to the marathon to try to learn a little
27:46
Speaker 1: bit about my body. And I'm also going to be
27:48
Speaker 1: doing an inside tracker test to see if something's going
27:51
Speaker 1: on with my blood work as well. I think all
27:54
Speaker 1: these insights are going to be helpful for me in
27:56
Speaker 1: my life. But at the end of the day. I
27:58
Speaker 1: went out there on Sunday and I had a hell
28:00
Speaker 1: of a time and I put down a New York
28:03
Speaker 1: City marathon course record for me, which is something I'm
28:05
Speaker 1: really proud of. And on my way that day, there
28:08
Speaker 1: were just so many things I thought about to find
28:11
Speaker 1: that gratitude.
28:12
Speaker 2: Right. I kept coming back to the people that would
28:15
Speaker 2: kill for.
28:16
Speaker 1: My worst day and a former version of myself that
28:20
Speaker 1: would have killed for this day, right, I thought. When
28:24
Speaker 1: Shelene and I were talking, I thought a lot about this.
28:26
Speaker 1: She was mentioning how so many girls they drop out
28:30
Speaker 1: of sport at a higher rate than young boys do.
28:34
Speaker 1: And because of the system that was in place at
28:38
Speaker 1: my high school, I didn't make my JV volleyball team
28:41
Speaker 1: because I couldn't run a mile in under ten minutes.
28:43
Speaker 1: Tell me why that is like the most applicable thing
28:47
Speaker 1: for playing volleyball. They completely dissuaded me from showing up
28:52
Speaker 1: and participating. And after that I gained a ton of
28:55
Speaker 1: weight and I lost a lot of self confidence.
28:57
Speaker 2: And that Emily back.
28:59
Speaker 1: Then would have given her right leg if you were
29:03
Speaker 1: to tell her that she would have the opportunity and
29:05
Speaker 1: the endurance and the ability to go out there and
29:09
Speaker 1: run the New York City Marathon at all. Nevertheless, at
29:12
Speaker 1: an eight thirty overall pace, I continued on my way
29:16
Speaker 1: last Sunday for her and for all of the people
29:19
Speaker 1: that are made to feel like they just aren't good enough.
29:24
Speaker 2: Who I fucking love running.
29:26
Speaker 1: I love running because it's just a reminder of all
29:29
Speaker 1: the things that we are capable of, and there are
29:32
Speaker 1: going to be days that don't go as planned. And
29:34
Speaker 1: for me, maybe that was last Sunday. But the reality
29:38
Speaker 1: of it all is that I'm a firm believer. We
29:40
Speaker 1: learn more in these hurdles, in these difficult moments than
29:43
Speaker 1: maybe we learn on our best days, and all of
29:46
Speaker 1: these experiences, a culmination of them are what make me
29:49
Speaker 1: who I am, a more empathetic and better person, so
29:52
Speaker 1: that I can keep choosing to show up every day
29:55
Speaker 1: with gratitude and optimism to go after whatever the next
29:58
Speaker 1: big thing that I want really is. I will always
30:02
Speaker 1: look back when I stare at my Tracksmith Marathon boaster
30:07
Speaker 1: and look at that time and think about this race.
30:10
Speaker 1: I will think about how proud I am for how
30:12
Speaker 1: far I have come mentally, and how great it is
30:18
Speaker 1: that I get to do this. I don't know necessarily
30:22
Speaker 1: what's next. I mean, in terms of racing, I am
30:26
Speaker 1: definitely looking forward to taking on a fair amount of
30:30
Speaker 1: strength training, especially as it gets a little chillier out.
30:32
Speaker 1: I feel like this is the time of year that
30:34
Speaker 1: really accommodates that I have a hunch that twenty twenty
30:40
Speaker 1: two is the hear I may do some sort of
30:43
Speaker 1: an ultra and in the meantime, I'm just looking forward
30:48
Speaker 1: to being able to stand up without needing to use
30:50
Speaker 1: my arms and continuing to interact with all of you again,
30:56
Speaker 1: like the biggest freaking thank you I can give to
30:59
Speaker 1: you if you are out there on Sunday or if
31:01
Speaker 1: you were just in my DMS or your friends or
31:03
Speaker 1: my family and you're actually texting me and calling me, like,
31:06
Speaker 1: I feel so supported by this community. And I always
31:10
Speaker 1: talk about this with friends that can relate. But you know,
31:14
Speaker 1: I'm not married and I'm not engaged. I don't have
31:18
Speaker 1: a boyfriend, I don't have a baby, And it might
31:22
Speaker 1: sound silly, but like these moments for me, these marathons,
31:25
Speaker 1: like these are the things that I'm excited about right now,
31:28
Speaker 1: along with obviously my work and my job. And so
31:31
Speaker 1: when these moments happen and they're few and far between,
31:34
Speaker 1: but like they're a big deal to me. And to
31:38
Speaker 1: have people in my life that understand that and support
31:40
Speaker 1: me and show up for.
31:41
Speaker 2: Me, it's it's.
31:44
Speaker 1: So it's so special, It's truly so special, and it
31:48
Speaker 1: just makes me feel the luckiest.
31:51
Speaker 2: Make sure you're.
31:51
Speaker 1: Following along with hurdle Over on social media. I've heard
31:54
Speaker 1: a podcast I'm over at Emiabadi and hey, I asked
31:58
Speaker 1: this all the time, but if you have to do so,
32:01
Speaker 1: just take a few seconds to reate interview the show
32:04
Speaker 1: in Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. It
32:08
Speaker 1: makes a really big difference. It means the world to me,
32:12
Speaker 1: and it helps the show get, you know, the recognition
32:15
Speaker 1: and the visibility that I.
32:17
Speaker 2: Truly believe it deserves.
32:21
Speaker 1: The last takeaway I guess from this marathon really is
32:25
Speaker 1: that you know how unbelievably blessed I feel to have
32:30
Speaker 1: the opportunity to help so many of you go after
32:32
Speaker 1: the things that you want. And so thank you for
32:36
Speaker 1: letting me into your life, for empowering me to continue
32:41
Speaker 1: to have these important conversations and go after my big goals.
32:45
Speaker 1: Because as much as you tell me that I inspire you,
32:50
Speaker 1: you inspire me to be the best me possible.
32:55
Speaker 2: Another hurdle conquered. Catch you guys next time.