Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 136. Marielle Hall, Olympic Runner

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136. Marielle Hall, Olympic Runner · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

0:00
Speaker 1: If you're not misstepping, you're probably not asking enough of yourself.
0:03
Speaker 1: You're probably not putting yourself into challenging spaces that will
0:07
Speaker 1: get you, know that second win.
0:10
Speaker 2: That that next level out of you.
0:12
Speaker 1: So it's just at this point, I'm like, I look
0:14
Speaker 1: for the ups and downs because that means that I'm
0:16
Speaker 1: in the right place.
0:32
Speaker 3: Hey everyone, Emily A Badi here bringing you Episode one
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Speaker 3: thirty six of Hurdle, a wellness focused podcast where I
0:39
Speaker 3: sit down with inspiring individuals to talk about everything from
0:43
Speaker 3: their big wins to how they've gotten through some of
0:45
Speaker 3: life's toughest moments. On the show, you can expect vulnerability, motivation,
0:51
Speaker 3: and candid discussions with everyone from top athletes to aspiring
0:55
Speaker 3: entrepreneurs on what it really takes to follow your passions.
0:59
Speaker 3: My mission is simple to inspire you to be your
1:02
Speaker 3: best self, move with intention, and have some fun along
1:07
Speaker 3: the way. For today's episode, I am chatting with Mary L. Hall.
1:12
Speaker 3: She's an Olympic runner training with the Barronman Track Club
1:16
Speaker 3: and such a light we it's crazy. We had this
1:19
Speaker 3: conversation on Thursday of last week. This episode is launching
1:23
Speaker 3: on November ninth, twenty twenty, and Man.
1:27
Speaker 4: So much has happened in just such a short amount
1:32
Speaker 4: of time. We chat about her East Coast upbringing and
1:36
Speaker 4: running and college at Texas, her path to the twenty
1:40
Speaker 4: sixteen Olympic Games, and how she feels about the pushback.
1:43
Speaker 5: Of the upcoming Olympics.
1:46
Speaker 3: She chats with me about what it was like training
1:48
Speaker 3: solo over on the East Coast and then moving over
1:51
Speaker 3: to train with the Barronman Track Club in twenty seventeen.
1:55
Speaker 5: We swap stories.
1:56
Speaker 3: About handling the coronavirus pandemic, living alone, and talk about
2:01
Speaker 3: the things that excite us right now, the silver linings
2:06
Speaker 3: of twenty twenty, and.
2:07
Speaker 5: Just so much more.
2:09
Speaker 3: Before we get into the swing of things, I do
2:12
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3:37
Speaker 5: As always, if you have yet to follow along with
3:39
Speaker 5: Hurdle on social media, I would love for you to
3:42
Speaker 5: do that.
3:42
Speaker 3: I am over at Hurdle Podcast and over of course
3:45
Speaker 3: at emily a Body. Make sure you're subscribed to the
3:48
Speaker 3: weekly Hurdle newsletter, and I'd love for you to join
3:52
Speaker 3: in on the Hurdler's book Club upcoming on December ninth.
3:57
Speaker 3: This month, we're reading I thought it was just Me,
3:59
Speaker 3: But it isn't by Renee Brown and I would love
4:02
Speaker 3: for you to join us. Then, last little call out here,
4:04
Speaker 3: over one hundred people joined the Secret Hurdler's Facebook group
4:09
Speaker 3: last week. I'd love to see that number continue on
4:11
Speaker 3: the apps. So details on that show notes as well.
4:14
Speaker 3: And with that, let's get to hurtling.
4:24
Speaker 5: Today.
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Speaker 3: I am sitting down with maryel Hall. She is a
4:29
Speaker 3: runner and olympian. How you doing.
4:32
Speaker 1: I'm good, Yeah, just came off of a rainy workout
4:36
Speaker 1: day in Portland, so glad to be indoors warm talking
4:40
Speaker 1: with you.
4:41
Speaker 3: Are we on that transitionary period where Portland starts to
4:44
Speaker 3: get into the gloom rain situation?
4:47
Speaker 1: Now, yes, this is where if you were visiting to
4:50
Speaker 1: decide if you wanted to move here or not, you
4:52
Speaker 1: would decide, not like you have to come a few
4:56
Speaker 1: weeks earlier or of you know, in the spring summertime.
5:01
Speaker 1: These few weeks, I think it's not the best of Uh,
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Speaker 1: it's not what the city has to offer.
5:07
Speaker 2: I would say, it's.
5:08
Speaker 3: Not what the city has to offer. Where were you
5:10
Speaker 3: before you lived in Portland?
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Speaker 2: So I grew up in New Jersey.
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Speaker 1: I was trading out of Philadelphia for the lat for
5:18
Speaker 1: I guess three years prior to coming out here.
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Speaker 2: And joining the team and.
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Speaker 3: Joining the team, and the team that you talk about
5:27
Speaker 3: is the Barrenman Track Club.
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Speaker 5: How has that been for you.
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Speaker 2: It's been good.
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Speaker 1: It's been challenging, it's been rewarding, it's been exciting, it's
5:37
Speaker 1: been confusing. It's been all the things that any good
5:40
Speaker 1: thing will give you.
5:41
Speaker 5: So I love that perspective.
5:43
Speaker 3: It's been all of the things that any good thing
5:45
Speaker 3: will give you, because I mean, if something's just giving
5:48
Speaker 3: you all of the goodness, then you're probably not going
5:50
Speaker 3: to be able to get as diverse or maybe as
5:53
Speaker 3: enriched of an experience.
5:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.
5:56
Speaker 1: You know, I think, you know, sometimes get frustrated with
5:59
Speaker 1: the up and downs, but at the end of the day,
6:01
Speaker 1: that's kind of what that's the point of it. It
6:04
Speaker 1: is to have those varying points and be able to
6:07
Speaker 1: feel those out and challenge yourself.
6:09
Speaker 2: So it's been good.
6:11
Speaker 3: Yes, it has been good. I will affirm this to myself.
6:14
Speaker 3: You mentioned being outside of New Jersey and training in Philadelphia.
6:18
Speaker 3: Talk to me about your life growing up. Have you
6:20
Speaker 3: always been an active person?
6:22
Speaker 1: Yes, I would say that I got introduced to a
6:26
Speaker 1: multitude of sports and just activities out the gate. I
6:32
Speaker 1: was very fortunate to just have parents that kind of
6:35
Speaker 1: threw it at the wall, see if it sticks, you know,
6:38
Speaker 1: get as many experiences as possible. That's kind of what
6:41
Speaker 1: I remember from my childhood and growing up. And yeah,
6:44
Speaker 1: running was the one thing I felt like that I
6:46
Speaker 1: chose for myself.
6:47
Speaker 2: It stuck. I wanted to be out there.
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Speaker 1: You know, my parents signed me up, but I was
6:51
Speaker 1: the one that was kind of like, I'm ready to
6:54
Speaker 1: keep coming back.
6:55
Speaker 5: How old were you when you started running?
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Speaker 2: I was around ten.
6:59
Speaker 3: Ten And when you started running at ten, what did
7:02
Speaker 3: that look like?
7:03
Speaker 2: It looked like not anything close to what I'm doing now.
7:06
Speaker 2: You know.
7:06
Speaker 1: I did long jump, I did hurdles, I did sprints.
7:10
Speaker 1: It was more it was definitely more free flowing. It
7:14
Speaker 1: wasn't as structured. But I definitely think I put a
7:19
Speaker 1: pretty serious attitude around running early on. But my early
7:24
Speaker 1: experience was definitely very playful and just an emphasis on
7:29
Speaker 1: trying every event. And you know, I was fortunate to
7:33
Speaker 1: be a part of a lot of really great track clubs,
7:36
Speaker 1: made a lot of close friends that I still have
7:38
Speaker 1: to this day.
7:39
Speaker 2: So yeah, it was fun.
7:41
Speaker 3: Would you say that running for you was an outlet
7:44
Speaker 3: from a young age I mean a lot of people
7:46
Speaker 3: lean into sport because not only do they find it fun,
7:49
Speaker 3: but also because you know, just tough, tough things that
7:54
Speaker 3: go hand in hand with coming of age.
7:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it was. I think it was just
8:01
Speaker 2: something that allowed me to find my groove.
8:03
Speaker 1: And I don't think I really found my groove elsewhere,
8:06
Speaker 1: you know, I was.
8:08
Speaker 2: I grew up with an older sister. She's four years
8:10
Speaker 2: older than me.
8:11
Speaker 1: So anyone who has a sibling with that probably you're
8:15
Speaker 1: growing up in middle school. High school years were awkward,
8:18
Speaker 1: you're fighting, You're not really finding like the friendship and
8:23
Speaker 1: the communication sisterhood that you have when you get older
8:27
Speaker 1: that I have now.
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Speaker 2: So I think growing up I was just kind of
8:31
Speaker 2: all over the place.
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Speaker 1: I had a ton of interests, I had a ton
8:34
Speaker 1: of energy, and running was kind of just this one
8:41
Speaker 1: solid constant, and I think with having a little bit scatterbrain,
8:46
Speaker 1: I was really grateful to have something that I felt
8:49
Speaker 1: passionate about, but that also kind of helped slow slow
8:54
Speaker 1: me down a little bit.
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Speaker 5: Outside of running.
8:56
Speaker 3: Did you have a lot of other activities that you
8:58
Speaker 3: were involved in or was this like this was your
9:01
Speaker 3: one and go.
9:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I did a ton of I did.
9:05
Speaker 2: I dance, I did.
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Speaker 1: Ballet, tap and jazz growing up. I played the violin,
9:10
Speaker 1: I you know, I did soccer.
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Speaker 2: I did a lot of different things.
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Speaker 1: Running wasn't the only thing that was fulfilling or kind
9:21
Speaker 1: of on the schedule for me growing up. But again
9:24
Speaker 1: I just recall it as the thing that stuck, you know,
9:27
Speaker 1: like I went to karate class for a day because
9:30
Speaker 1: my neighbor was going. I did all these things that
9:33
Speaker 1: were so scattered and just were kind of little teasers
9:36
Speaker 1: to see, am I interested?
9:38
Speaker 2: Do I like this?
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Speaker 1: And none of those things affirmed me in the way
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Speaker 1: running running did.
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Speaker 2: So I think that's what.
9:46
Speaker 1: Allowed me to recognize what like passion was and what
9:50
Speaker 1: drive was early on. Was I experimented with all these
9:53
Speaker 1: different other things that I was like, No, that's not
9:55
Speaker 1: the feeling or that doesn't challenge me in the right way.
9:59
Speaker 2: Yeah.
10:00
Speaker 3: Love what you said about the word affirmed me, and
10:02
Speaker 3: it begs the question did you feel always affirmed in
10:06
Speaker 3: running or even to this day when you weren't coming
10:11
Speaker 3: out on top or necessarily winning, like, just did the
10:13
Speaker 3: experience make you feel really validated or was that something
10:17
Speaker 3: that kind of comes with with performance and time on
10:21
Speaker 3: your feet.
10:22
Speaker 2: So to speak. Yeah, that's such a good question because.
10:27
Speaker 1: I think I definitely had success early on, but I
10:31
Speaker 1: was also really challenged early on, and you know, I
10:35
Speaker 1: didn't win every race. I wasn't always the fastest or
10:38
Speaker 1: the best, but I think I really did love and
10:41
Speaker 1: appreciate the challenge, and even to this day, where you know,
10:44
Speaker 1: you all have those we all have those days of
10:46
Speaker 1: why am I doing this?
10:48
Speaker 2: I'm miserable, this.
10:49
Speaker 1: Is too hard, I'm not good enough, blah blah blah,
10:52
Speaker 1: But I still come around to really loving the challenge
10:56
Speaker 1: and how it makes me extend myself and just really
11:02
Speaker 1: try and be a detailed and disciplined person. I'm so
11:06
Speaker 1: grateful that running has given that to me.
11:08
Speaker 3: Like it's so many messages from the hurdle community about
11:12
Speaker 3: talking to individuals who may not have had such a
11:15
Speaker 3: clear cut path or may not have you know, started
11:20
Speaker 3: off in their journey in their sport or in their
11:22
Speaker 3: career and immediately thrive. For those individuals that may not
11:26
Speaker 3: succeed at first or really do find it hard to
11:30
Speaker 3: stick with something, what piece of advice do you have
11:33
Speaker 3: for them.
11:37
Speaker 1: I'm the best piece of advice that I've gotten recently is.
11:42
Speaker 2: Like all of the.
11:45
Speaker 1: Tumultuous times, all of the hard things that make you
11:48
Speaker 1: question yourself, and all of those things are you know,
11:52
Speaker 1: the ride that's literally the most exciting part. So you
11:56
Speaker 1: any year or any accomplishment that I look back on
11:59
Speaker 1: always more proud of how I attack the training, the
12:03
Speaker 1: build up, my mentality leading up to this one event.
12:06
Speaker 1: It's never the event that I really am filled with
12:11
Speaker 1: joy and excitement, and just like community, what I look
12:16
Speaker 1: back on on every year is the things I shared
12:20
Speaker 1: with other people, how I like rallied back from something,
12:24
Speaker 1: my mentality. Those are the things that I key into
12:27
Speaker 1: and that excite me and make me want to go
12:30
Speaker 1: for another challenge and new challenge. So there is you know,
12:34
Speaker 1: I don't think there's any perfect build up year. There's
12:38
Speaker 1: no succession that you're going to get that will will
12:44
Speaker 1: lead you to the outcome that doesn't have any rocks
12:47
Speaker 1: in the road or any missteps.
12:50
Speaker 2: That's the whole point.
12:51
Speaker 1: Like, if you're not misstepping, you're probably not asking enough
12:54
Speaker 1: of yourself. You're probably not putting yourself into challenging spaces
12:58
Speaker 1: that will get you, know, that second win.
13:01
Speaker 2: That that next level out of you.
13:03
Speaker 1: So it's just at this point, I'm like, I look
13:05
Speaker 1: for the ups and downs because that means that I'm
13:08
Speaker 1: in the right place.
13:10
Speaker 5: I love that feedback. I love that takeaway.
13:12
Speaker 3: So then, I mean, you said, thriving at the sport
13:15
Speaker 3: from a young age, where do your successes in high
13:19
Speaker 3: school take you? Yeah?
13:21
Speaker 2: After high school?
13:22
Speaker 1: Again, ILL key in important parts of my journey, which
13:26
Speaker 1: I feel like are important part of any journey is
13:28
Speaker 1: having good mentors spaces that help you rethink what you
13:32
Speaker 1: can do, who you can be. I was fortunate to
13:34
Speaker 1: have a really great college coach who was instrumental in
13:38
Speaker 1: making me believe that I could run at a collegiate
13:40
Speaker 1: level and you know, extend my career beyond high school.
13:45
Speaker 1: I went to the University of Texas, which isn't necessarily
13:50
Speaker 1: known as a distance program, but I was really enthralled
13:54
Speaker 1: by all of the incredible women that made up not
13:56
Speaker 1: only the coaching staff, but also the alone night charts
14:01
Speaker 1: or some of the greatest female athletes a part of
14:03
Speaker 1: USA Track and Field. So I was drawn to that.
14:07
Speaker 1: And yeah, I spent four years in Austin, Texas, which
14:12
Speaker 1: I loved. It was again a very challenging situation away
14:16
Speaker 1: from you know, very far away from the East Coast.
14:20
Speaker 1: I'd never lived anywhere, been around anyone but people from
14:24
Speaker 1: the East Coast, So it was a whole new lesson
14:27
Speaker 1: culturally and also just physically challenging, academically challenging.
14:32
Speaker 3: I've got to ask you about the cultural takeaways, Like
14:35
Speaker 3: what do you mean culturally, because I mean, I'm also
14:38
Speaker 3: from the East Coast.
14:39
Speaker 5: I grew up in Connecticut.
14:40
Speaker 3: Originally I live in New York, So I feel this,
14:43
Speaker 3: but I'm interested kind of what you what you mean
14:46
Speaker 3: by that.
14:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was just the student body. I think it
14:52
Speaker 1: was different. It was different religiously. It was different in
14:57
Speaker 1: just like colloquial sayings, pace, pace of life, right like
15:02
Speaker 1: I was really I felt like I was the person
15:06
Speaker 1: that was always talking too fast or you know not.
15:09
Speaker 1: I just feel like it slowed me down again in
15:12
Speaker 1: the best possible way. People were It felt very centered
15:16
Speaker 1: around more centered around like community building, and it was
15:21
Speaker 1: there's a there's a different history to the South, like
15:24
Speaker 1: I am a black woman. It's it also confronts race differently.
15:28
Speaker 1: So that was an experience that I hadn't really dug
15:32
Speaker 1: too deep into during my growing up and in my
15:36
Speaker 1: years in high school. So yeah, there's there's some like
15:42
Speaker 1: easier things, you know, like this person we're opening doors
15:47
Speaker 1: and making eye contact, the grocery store tellers want to
15:50
Speaker 1: talk instead of just like you know, keep it moving.
15:53
Speaker 1: Little things like that. And then there's you know, bigger
15:56
Speaker 1: pictures painted about you know, how we socialize and what
16:03
Speaker 1: traditions different places hold.
16:06
Speaker 2: So it was a cluster of a lot of different things,
16:10
Speaker 2: but in the best way possible.
16:12
Speaker 3: Again, Yeah, yeah, And I mean you brought up race,
16:15
Speaker 3: and I would be remiss if I didn't highlight the
16:17
Speaker 3: writing that you've been doing recently. Your two items for
16:21
Speaker 3: Runners World, they're both like just so well written. And
16:24
Speaker 3: thank you so much for putting that perspective out there.
16:27
Speaker 2: Oh no, yeah, thank you for reading.
16:29
Speaker 1: And grateful for runners World or too runners World for
16:33
Speaker 1: allowing me, Yeah, just some space to obviously talk about
16:37
Speaker 1: things that are very personal to me and touch that
16:41
Speaker 1: it can make other people feel things within their own experience.
16:45
Speaker 3: Of course, for anyone who may not have had the
16:48
Speaker 3: opportunity to read these yet. And I'll make sure that
16:51
Speaker 3: I put the links to both articles in the show notes.
16:54
Speaker 3: What would you say if you had to summarize, was
16:57
Speaker 3: like your goal of opening up over them.
17:03
Speaker 2: Mostly just holding myself more accountable.
17:05
Speaker 1: I think I have a lot of internal dialogue with
17:08
Speaker 1: myself or you know, maybe with my sister or my parents,
17:13
Speaker 1: some of my friends, and I feel like I was
17:15
Speaker 1: getting to a point where I was just courting feelings
17:19
Speaker 1: and things that should I should feel comfortable verbalizing, and
17:25
Speaker 1: obviously in the time that we're living in need to
17:27
Speaker 1: be verbalized. So yeah, that was really the main motivation
17:32
Speaker 1: is I think you can only complain about your situation
17:36
Speaker 1: for so long before you do something about it. And
17:40
Speaker 1: I think I was just getting into a pattern of
17:44
Speaker 1: complaining and just holding maybe too many cards close to
17:49
Speaker 1: my chest and in a way that wasn't helpful to
17:51
Speaker 1: me or anyone's growth around me.
17:54
Speaker 3: What an interesting phrase, I was hoarding my feelings.
17:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, that sounds maybe more dramatic than intended, but.
18:02
Speaker 5: It makes me really think.
18:03
Speaker 3: I mean, how often probably not just relevant of course
18:07
Speaker 3: to the topics at hand and talking about racism, but
18:10
Speaker 3: also just like in a day to day as well,
18:13
Speaker 3: dealing with so many things that we each internalize and
18:16
Speaker 3: hold close to the chest because we might be scared
18:19
Speaker 3: of letting them out into the world.
18:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. I think I was just I feel very
18:28
Speaker 1: like receptive again, like I'm on a team right now.
18:31
Speaker 1: I've grown up on teams and working with people around people,
18:35
Speaker 1: I feel like I enjoy collaborative work. And sometimes when
18:39
Speaker 1: that happens, you dance a little bit too much around
18:43
Speaker 1: people and yourself. And I think I had gotten to
18:46
Speaker 1: a point where maybe I was just trying to abide
18:52
Speaker 1: by what I felt like was appropriate for my situations
18:56
Speaker 1: instead of really just listening to what was appropriate for
18:59
Speaker 1: me and my growth and hoping that that would help
19:06
Speaker 1: other people.
19:06
Speaker 3: And I can tell you that I'm positive that you
19:09
Speaker 3: opening up definitely is helping other people. So let's bring
19:13
Speaker 3: it back to you in college. When was it in
19:16
Speaker 3: college that you truly started to understand just how much
19:20
Speaker 3: potential you really had?
19:21
Speaker 5: Do you remember?
19:25
Speaker 1: I mean, I think the what I remember most about
19:30
Speaker 1: college is that there were always people around me that
19:34
Speaker 1: were very supportive of where they thought I could go
19:38
Speaker 1: and be like athletic achievements that they thought I could attain.
19:42
Speaker 1: But it wasn't until really my senior year that I
19:46
Speaker 1: personally decided that I could do those things. And that
19:50
Speaker 1: has been a pattern in my entire career from when
19:53
Speaker 1: I was little to now, it's mostly been a personal decision.
19:57
Speaker 1: For when I decide that I believe and what I
20:00
Speaker 1: can do and I, you know, affirm what I want
20:04
Speaker 1: out of a situation, that that's when things start happening.
20:07
Speaker 1: And you know, no sooner or no later, it just
20:11
Speaker 1: there a lot of you know, any anything you're trying
20:15
Speaker 1: to do, it really has to be intrinsic to you
20:20
Speaker 1: and not really what other people support. Of course helps,
20:24
Speaker 1: and you need people, but I mostly learned that when
20:30
Speaker 1: I make the decision to believe or trust it myself
20:34
Speaker 1: or something, that's when it starts to work in my favor.
20:39
Speaker 5: Yeah.
20:39
Speaker 3: Do you remember a time in college when maybe that
20:42
Speaker 3: self belief wasn't fully there?
20:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean all college, even I just think the
20:50
Speaker 1: I I remember feeling like in college that like the
20:53
Speaker 1: bar kept getting raised before I could catch up to it. Like,
20:57
Speaker 1: you know, I would be feeling like I was in
21:00
Speaker 1: good place competitively or running time, so I felt like
21:02
Speaker 1: we're good. But you know, those those feelings of accomplishments
21:07
Speaker 1: were kind of stripped away when I saw what was
21:09
Speaker 1: happening on a national level, or you know, maybe even
21:12
Speaker 1: some people in my conference that were running really fast,
21:15
Speaker 1: and I think I just felt like, oh, you know,
21:17
Speaker 1: I missed that step, so I'm going to how am
21:20
Speaker 1: I going to get to you know, step three? If
21:23
Speaker 1: I'm everyone's on step three, I'm on step one. Like
21:27
Speaker 1: they're going to just keep moving forward and you know,
21:29
Speaker 1: I'm always going to be playing catch up. And I
21:32
Speaker 1: remember having that feeling of not being able to catch up,
21:35
Speaker 1: and I finally just was like, okay, I can have
21:40
Speaker 1: You know, some people take the stairs one by one,
21:43
Speaker 1: some people jump for at a time, and you just
21:48
Speaker 1: have to be you know, you had to have a
21:50
Speaker 1: little bit of faith in yourself or a lot of
21:51
Speaker 1: bit of faith in yourself that you know, you're going
21:53
Speaker 1: to take the stairs a different way there you may
21:56
Speaker 1: take the elevator right, Like just kind of staying committed
21:59
Speaker 1: to the work and just continuing to ask for the
22:03
Speaker 1: things that I felt like I was capable of and
22:05
Speaker 1: not try and dwindle them down to you know where
22:09
Speaker 1: I was in that exact moment, but continuing we just
22:12
Speaker 1: like have really good vision in myself that that really
22:17
Speaker 1: was what helped me just change my frame of thinking,
22:21
Speaker 1: was like I don't have to go one by one
22:23
Speaker 1: I can, I can do something different, I can get
22:26
Speaker 1: there in a different way.
22:27
Speaker 3: And I mean, despite feeling like you were constantly in
22:30
Speaker 3: this game of catchup, you had your fair share of
22:34
Speaker 3: successes in college, various different first place titles here for you.
22:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like it's the best game, but also an
22:42
Speaker 1: unfortunate game, right, Like always wanting more is what gets
22:45
Speaker 1: you up, what keeps you moving, And I am beyond
22:49
Speaker 1: grateful to have something that gets me up in the
22:51
Speaker 1: morning that you know, keeps me, keeps me focused, keeps
22:56
Speaker 1: me disciplined, like keeps me asking questions, keeps me learning.
23:00
Speaker 2: Like I love that I have something like that, But it.
23:02
Speaker 1: Also is double edged sword, where you know, you do
23:06
Speaker 1: have to really learn how to celebrate your successes, which
23:09
Speaker 1: I don't think I was very good at. It's still
23:12
Speaker 1: really hard because success is all relative, you know, Like
23:16
Speaker 1: I have this painting of what I want to be
23:21
Speaker 1: my version of success in my mind, and if it
23:22
Speaker 1: doesn't happen like that, you know, you can be a
23:27
Speaker 1: little bit finicky, you can be unreasonable, but I I've
23:33
Speaker 1: learned that. It's just like I I just have to
23:36
Speaker 1: tell myself I'm going to get there wherever there is,
23:39
Speaker 1: and I just kind of just keep plugging away and
23:44
Speaker 1: you know, learn to find like joy and any successes
23:48
Speaker 1: on the way along the way. It sounds so corny,
23:50
Speaker 1: and I'm not even going to pretend like I'm good
23:52
Speaker 1: at good at doing it, Like I'm not all in all,
23:56
Speaker 1: Like i want to really enjoy what I'm doing. I
23:59
Speaker 1: want to being here and be present in that. So
24:04
Speaker 1: I'll play the little games with myself to get there
24:07
Speaker 1: for sure.
24:08
Speaker 3: And I mean, so you had your you had some
24:10
Speaker 3: great success in college, and then in the fall after
24:14
Speaker 3: your senior year, you move back to Philadelphia, right, yes, yep.
24:20
Speaker 3: Talk to me about that move and where you were at, Like,
24:24
Speaker 3: were you ready to take on this sport full time?
24:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, it came as a I don't want to say
24:29
Speaker 1: it came out as a surprise, because running professionally after
24:32
Speaker 1: college was a desire of mine. Like, but I also
24:38
Speaker 1: had created this secondary option for myself. I applied for
24:43
Speaker 1: Teach for America and I was you know, I was
24:46
Speaker 1: going to be teaching a I already was stationed to
24:51
Speaker 1: be there to teach, like signed up for my like
24:56
Speaker 1: training program over the summer. That was kind of my
25:00
Speaker 1: backup plan, but was becoming more of my full time plan,
25:05
Speaker 1: and so it was I think that that was kind
25:09
Speaker 1: of lingering in the back of my mind, but as
25:12
Speaker 1: long as the opportunity to run Prevent presented itself, that
25:17
Speaker 1: that was what I was going to do. So I
25:18
Speaker 1: felt ready for the transition. Of course, being ready for
25:22
Speaker 1: something doesn't make it easy or doesn't actually mean you
25:26
Speaker 1: were ready for it. I move, you know, essentially back
25:29
Speaker 1: home and was training with my high school coach and
25:33
Speaker 1: just some people that I had been that I had known,
25:36
Speaker 1: you know, since high school. So it was nice to
25:39
Speaker 1: be in familiar territory while I was kind of pursuing
25:43
Speaker 1: this unknown But it was really difficult. It's hard to
25:46
Speaker 1: be a profession. There's no like real blueprint in professional
25:51
Speaker 1: running the same way that there is in you know,
25:53
Speaker 1: maybe if you get drafted to a.
25:55
Speaker 2: Team or you know, you join a league or something.
26:00
Speaker 1: Running is very individualized in that way, so it can
26:03
Speaker 1: be you're really.
26:05
Speaker 2: Setting your own routine and your own.
26:07
Speaker 1: Structure, and that was a little bit challenging coming out
26:10
Speaker 1: of the collegiate system, just because you know, everything is
26:14
Speaker 1: you're told what time you be at practice, what time
26:16
Speaker 1: you're at weights. You know, these are the three places
26:19
Speaker 1: you go to eat. It just kind of simplifies things
26:23
Speaker 1: a lot. And being professional obviously you have a lot
26:28
Speaker 1: more freedom to individualize and tailor your schedule and your training,
26:32
Speaker 1: but that also makes you open up a bunch of
26:35
Speaker 1: tabs of like should I do this or that or
26:38
Speaker 1: try this, and that can be a little bit difficult
26:41
Speaker 1: when you just have to learn how to get back
26:43
Speaker 1: to simplicity after you know, getting to the buffet of
26:48
Speaker 1: post collegiate running, professional running, and then like learning how
26:54
Speaker 1: you simplify it.
26:55
Speaker 5: You mentioned Teach for America. What made you not go
26:58
Speaker 5: that route?
27:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, mostly just things kind of quickly having this opportunity
27:07
Speaker 1: to run professionally. It really kind of came together at
27:11
Speaker 1: the very last my you know, my last race in
27:14
Speaker 1: college and then the US Championships a few weeks later.
27:20
Speaker 1: That was kind of cemented that I was going to
27:21
Speaker 1: be able to have a contract and train and train
27:25
Speaker 1: full time. So you know, I defer. I remember I
27:29
Speaker 1: deferred my slot and Teach for America. You're allowed to
27:32
Speaker 1: deffer it for a year, and I just was saying, like,
27:35
Speaker 1: I'm going to be trying to train for these World
27:38
Speaker 1: Championships in the Olympics and it was valid enough reason
27:44
Speaker 1: to delay my entry. If so, I was like, I'm
27:47
Speaker 1: I kind of still had that during my first year,
27:51
Speaker 1: which I think helped me just be like, I can
27:55
Speaker 1: still do something else, Like you're still doing this for fun,
27:59
Speaker 1: even though you know it's a job. Now, you can
28:01
Speaker 1: still do other things if you if you hate it
28:05
Speaker 1: or if it doesn't work out. But I really kind
28:09
Speaker 1: of just immersed myself in it. And then now it's
28:13
Speaker 1: it is, you know very much where I want to
28:17
Speaker 1: be full time and if teaching will still be there,
28:21
Speaker 1: if if I needed to be, so that that's something
28:25
Speaker 1: that I, yeah, I can still do.
28:28
Speaker 3: You moved to Philadelphia in twenty fourteen, and then come
28:32
Speaker 3: two thousand and sixteen, you head on over to a
28:37
Speaker 3: very important moment for yourself. The let's start with the
28:40
Speaker 3: track and field trials. So talk to me about the
28:43
Speaker 3: track and field trials and how it was for you
28:46
Speaker 3: to make your first Olympic team.
28:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was super exciting.
28:51
Speaker 1: Again, I'll lament that was most exciting because at the
28:55
Speaker 1: time I was, you know, my coaches first Olympian. I
29:00
Speaker 1: qualified with a really close friend and teammate, and that
29:04
Speaker 1: was the first time I think my whole family was
29:06
Speaker 1: at one of my races, so you know, the day,
29:10
Speaker 1: the day's events are kind of abiva blur, and you know,
29:14
Speaker 1: the race was very hard. It was my second ten k,
29:18
Speaker 1: and it very dramatically from my first. My first one
29:22
Speaker 1: felt you know, comfortable and and it was kind of
29:25
Speaker 1: the conditions and the pacing were all very smooth and agreeable,
29:29
Speaker 1: and you know, the trials for for my second attempt
29:34
Speaker 1: at the distance was it was hot. They changed the
29:37
Speaker 1: time of the race to the morning because it was
29:40
Speaker 1: going to be so hot. So that just kind of,
29:43
Speaker 1: I remember, threw things off a little bit mentally, was
29:46
Speaker 1: you know, preparing to be for a night race versus
29:50
Speaker 1: waking up super early.
29:52
Speaker 2: But yeah, it was it was crazy.
29:55
Speaker 1: I remember, like I had been to Eugene before, a
29:57
Speaker 1: lot of our collegiate championships are there, US trials are
30:00
Speaker 1: there in other during other years, but you know, the
30:05
Speaker 1: Hayward Field really does transform during the Olympic trials and
30:09
Speaker 1: I'd never been doing trials before, so I remember definitely
30:13
Speaker 1: feeling a little bit starstruck going the night before to
30:18
Speaker 1: like get my bib and seeing all these tents things
30:21
Speaker 1: blow up, and yeah, it just was. It felt like
30:26
Speaker 1: a very amplified moment, and I was a little bit
30:29
Speaker 1: I remember being a little bit shocked by that. I
30:32
Speaker 1: got a little bit nervous, but you know, mostly very excited.
30:43
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Speaker 5: Let's get back to it.
33:49
Speaker 3: Talk to me about the time period between the trials
33:53
Speaker 3: and going to the Olympics. What do you remember about
33:57
Speaker 3: that build up?
33:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, so, I mean we were just back in Philly.
34:03
Speaker 1: We didn't do like any training camps beforehand, just because
34:05
Speaker 1: the weather and the time was going to be pretty
34:09
Speaker 1: similar to East Coast, and then the humidity and whether
34:13
Speaker 1: we were experiencing there or we're guessing would be pretty
34:16
Speaker 1: similar to Rio. So yeah, again, I remember just being
34:23
Speaker 1: having a community rally around you, like I had a
34:25
Speaker 1: ton of guys that were were helping me pace through
34:30
Speaker 1: things or just like keep me company on runs, and
34:35
Speaker 1: it was it was just fun. We trained at Sheeltenham
34:40
Speaker 1: Middle School this is and I remember like the kids
34:44
Speaker 1: and the teachers and everyone being really excited that, you know,
34:48
Speaker 1: like we had spent all year training.
34:50
Speaker 2: There and you know, we were getting ready for our
34:52
Speaker 2: build up.
34:52
Speaker 1: And it did definitely feel like the community really rallied
34:56
Speaker 1: around the work that we had put in all year,
34:59
Speaker 1: that they had seen us in all year, and and
35:03
Speaker 1: and was like, you know, every practice kind of felt
35:05
Speaker 1: like a mini send off.
35:07
Speaker 2: So that was fun.
35:08
Speaker 1: And yeah, it's a little bit surreal because you have
35:11
Speaker 1: to spend a little bit of time coming down from
35:13
Speaker 1: the high and then get back into preparation again. So yeah,
35:18
Speaker 1: that was I remember being a little bit challenging, but
35:22
Speaker 1: I'm hopeful to get another attempt at it, so you know,
35:26
Speaker 1: I'm prepared on how to refocus again.
35:29
Speaker 3: Was just simply being there absolutely surreal. Like when you
35:35
Speaker 3: arrived in Rio, did you ever expect or envision this
35:38
Speaker 3: for yourself when you were younger?
35:41
Speaker 1: I think like when I was younger, it felt much
35:45
Speaker 1: more of like a vivid dream or aspiration that I
35:49
Speaker 1: wanted for myself.
35:50
Speaker 2: You know.
35:50
Speaker 1: I remember I like wrote in some journal that I
35:53
Speaker 1: that I wanted to go to the Olympics because I
35:54
Speaker 1: wanted to be a part of a.
35:55
Speaker 2: Team and I wanted to run on all the relays.
35:59
Speaker 1: So so it was definitely something that was I feel
36:02
Speaker 1: like embedded in me when I was younger, But as
36:05
Speaker 1: I got older, you know, you like s thinks that
36:09
Speaker 1: you have to have all these quote unquote like rational thoughts,
36:13
Speaker 1: but it's just put into perspective.
36:15
Speaker 2: When I got older, that it was, you know, was a.
36:18
Speaker 1: Little bit more than just the desire and in a dream,
36:21
Speaker 1: there's a ton of work behind it that had to
36:23
Speaker 1: happen for something like that to maticulate. So I think
36:27
Speaker 1: as I got older, maybe I separated myself a little
36:30
Speaker 1: bit from that dream just because you know, maybe I
36:34
Speaker 1: was just nervous about it not happening. So you just
36:39
Speaker 1: kind of let go a little bit and hope to
36:42
Speaker 1: take a little bit of the pressure off yourself. Yeah,
36:45
Speaker 1: I felt like as soon as I turned professional, it
36:47
Speaker 1: was like even in twenty twelve, I remember like our
36:51
Speaker 1: cross country team went to Houston to watch the marathon trials.
36:56
Speaker 1: So I feel like I go was getting a little
36:58
Speaker 1: sprinkles here or there, Like I watched it twenty twelve
37:00
Speaker 1: trials in the Olympics, and I was just you know,
37:05
Speaker 1: so long as I was also running, I think that
37:08
Speaker 1: that was always something in my mind that I wanted
37:12
Speaker 1: to do.
37:13
Speaker 5: Talk to me about injury.
37:15
Speaker 3: How has that been something that you have navigated throughout
37:18
Speaker 3: your professional career.
37:20
Speaker 1: So I've been pretty fortunate not to experience really any
37:24
Speaker 1: injuries of like huge magnitude that's made me take an
37:28
Speaker 1: extended period of time off or you know. I think
37:32
Speaker 1: the biggest trouble that I've had in physically is I
37:38
Speaker 1: meant I don't necessarily have like the bone break or
37:44
Speaker 1: fracture or or those sorts of hard lines. I think
37:48
Speaker 1: I can sometimes dig myself into holes and you know,
37:52
Speaker 1: I won't have any physical scar from it, but it
37:57
Speaker 1: is I think I've had trouble learning or trying to
38:02
Speaker 1: figure out where my where my line is, where I'm
38:06
Speaker 1: what I've gone too far. So that's really been the
38:10
Speaker 1: biggest challenge compared in in in the training space for
38:14
Speaker 1: me is figuring out what what is enough and what
38:18
Speaker 1: is how I can structure my training in a way
38:21
Speaker 1: so that I'm not just getting so fatigued because you know,
38:25
Speaker 1: my just personally for me, my body won't show those
38:29
Speaker 1: fatigues in in the way of you know, an injury.
38:34
Speaker 3: Whether it's an injury or just something someone might be
38:36
Speaker 3: going through in their personal life. So often we have
38:39
Speaker 3: these hurdles, as we love to call them, that that
38:42
Speaker 3: pop up when.
38:43
Speaker 5: We least expect it.
38:44
Speaker 3: For someone that might be struggling with UH with an injury,
38:48
Speaker 3: what would you advise or what would you what piece
38:51
Speaker 3: of advice would you offer them to stay positive if
38:56
Speaker 3: possible when they might not be able to perform, how
38:59
Speaker 3: they win that they could.
39:01
Speaker 1: I think it's all really just trying to restructure it
39:04
Speaker 1: as the challenge that you that you wanted.
39:09
Speaker 2: You know, I feel like I.
39:10
Speaker 1: Tie and tell myself a lot of times and workouts
39:12
Speaker 1: where a normally tired or I'm just not feeling great,
39:15
Speaker 1: I'm like this this is it, Like this is the
39:17
Speaker 1: feeling that you've been trying to mimic so that when
39:21
Speaker 1: race day comes, when you're in a tight position or space,
39:24
Speaker 1: that you have the tools to navigate it. So, you know,
39:27
Speaker 1: injury or you know, the hurdle.
39:30
Speaker 2: That's that's not what you want.
39:31
Speaker 1: That's not what you plan for, but getting it can
39:34
Speaker 1: be a gift, and that you're just adding to your
39:36
Speaker 1: tool belt and how you can how you can respond. Really,
39:41
Speaker 1: that's what it comes down to, is you know what
39:44
Speaker 1: we trained so hard for is is being able to
39:46
Speaker 1: have a response to you know what the challenge is.
39:50
Speaker 3: Definitely, and you mentioned the difficulties that came hand in
39:54
Speaker 3: hand with not necessarily waking up every day and being
39:57
Speaker 3: told exactly what to do and being part of a team.
40:01
Speaker 3: In twenty seventeen, though you make a shift and become
40:06
Speaker 3: part of a team again.
40:07
Speaker 5: Talk to me about that.
40:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean a lot of it was that I
40:12
Speaker 1: wanted to be in.
40:16
Speaker 2: A more distance oriented group.
40:18
Speaker 1: I was training predominantly with a lot of really incredible
40:23
Speaker 1: middle distance mostly eight hundred meter athletes, and I was
40:27
Speaker 1: trying to find my niche in some of the longer events.
40:32
Speaker 1: So I wanted that challenge and that guidance. And I
40:35
Speaker 1: also didn't want to be afraid of people of you know,
40:39
Speaker 1: of getting dropped or having tough workouts, being in tough places.
40:44
Speaker 2: I wanted to, you know, think that for myself.
40:49
Speaker 1: I could learn to be in a place where you know,
40:53
Speaker 1: I may not be the best every day. I may
40:55
Speaker 1: not have the best days, but I could still be
40:57
Speaker 1: supportive of other people, and I could still be supportive
40:59
Speaker 1: of myself despite like different things happening around me. Like
41:03
Speaker 1: I wanted to challenge myself in that way because you know,
41:07
Speaker 1: I want to believe that I am a I'm supportive person,
41:12
Speaker 1: like I want everyone to win just as much as
41:14
Speaker 1: I want myself to win. And I wanted to be
41:17
Speaker 1: in that type of in that type of culture and environment.
41:20
Speaker 1: And I felt like Bowman was a really good opportunity
41:23
Speaker 1: to put myself in a place that I would that
41:26
Speaker 1: I would have to make adjustments to my frame of
41:29
Speaker 1: thinking and just adjustments to my training and hope that
41:35
Speaker 1: all of these changes that I was making would make me,
41:38
Speaker 1: you know, just a better athlete and hopefully person for sure.
41:41
Speaker 3: So talk to me about what your first impressions were
41:45
Speaker 3: of training with the track club.
41:48
Speaker 2: Hmmm, that's a good that's a good question.
41:52
Speaker 5: First, and not to throw anybody under the bus or anything.
41:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean previous guest Emily and fel I remember
42:00
Speaker 1: like going to one of our first practices and doing
42:04
Speaker 1: in the fall. We do a lot of base work,
42:06
Speaker 1: a lot of long repeats, and I remember like seeing
42:10
Speaker 1: Emily do you know, I don't remember what it was,
42:14
Speaker 1: but it was way further than anything i'd ever done
42:17
Speaker 1: in practice, way faster, and I just remember being like wow,
42:20
Speaker 1: you know, like that's that's it, Like that's what you
42:23
Speaker 1: have to get to and if you know, you're It
42:26
Speaker 1: was a good feeling to just be in a place
42:28
Speaker 1: where you're like, Okay, the work and the formula is set.
42:32
Speaker 1: You kind of just have to figure out how you
42:34
Speaker 1: can how you can get there. And yeah, I just
42:38
Speaker 1: remember being really impressed by everyone and just you know,
42:42
Speaker 1: besides all of the athletic achievements that you know, had
42:45
Speaker 1: already been accomplished and now we're obviously showing up day
42:48
Speaker 1: to day in practice, it was just really good energy
42:51
Speaker 1: and nice people, which I think there can be some
42:55
Speaker 1: misnomers about having a ton of talent in one place
42:58
Speaker 1: that can be caddy or you know, a tough working environment,
43:02
Speaker 1: but I felt the opposite, where it was all just
43:04
Speaker 1: really supportive, and you know, it made it challenged me
43:08
Speaker 1: to be like, okay, am I am I giving that
43:10
Speaker 1: support back, because you know, I definitely felt like people
43:14
Speaker 1: were constantly filling your cup and just like telling you
43:16
Speaker 1: that it was you know, it was hard, but you'll
43:18
Speaker 1: get there, and yeah, that's what I remember. It was
43:23
Speaker 1: just like you know, when you're no matter what, like
43:26
Speaker 1: you know, when you are around good people. And environment
43:30
Speaker 1: is definitely filled with a lot of good people.
43:33
Speaker 3: You talked earlier, we equipped a little bit about this
43:36
Speaker 3: concept of emotional hoarding and trying to get comfortable not
43:40
Speaker 3: just with yourself but those around you. When you finally
43:42
Speaker 3: were surrounded with so many like minded individuals and women,
43:47
Speaker 3: did you feel a little bit more at ease to
43:50
Speaker 3: to vocalize and talk about your shared experiences.
43:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, I it was definitely different because you know, and
43:59
Speaker 1: I was training before in Philly or even in college.
44:04
Speaker 1: It was there was still so many varying interests. You know,
44:07
Speaker 1: some people are only training part time, some people are
44:12
Speaker 1: you know, this is their full job. Some people are
44:16
Speaker 1: an environment of course, has a ton of different personalities
44:20
Speaker 1: and varying interests, but it felt like we're definitely united
44:24
Speaker 1: by you know, we were all.
44:26
Speaker 2: Under this, all working towards the same thing.
44:29
Speaker 1: Everyone's individual goals very a little bit, but it was
44:32
Speaker 1: like the type of excellence and that everyone was trying
44:38
Speaker 1: to work towards felt very grounding and similar. So that's
44:42
Speaker 1: just like a really powerful thing to be a part
44:44
Speaker 1: of is when everyone really.
44:48
Speaker 2: Is, you know.
44:49
Speaker 1: I think that's why we are able to respect each
44:51
Speaker 1: other so well and work so well together, is because
44:55
Speaker 1: there is that we all are rooted in the same
44:58
Speaker 1: principles of like one to get the most out of ourselves,
45:01
Speaker 1: finding our potential, like pushing the limits of the sport,
45:05
Speaker 1: and all of those principles I think are foundations for
45:09
Speaker 1: everyone in their training.
45:11
Speaker 2: So it's just cool to be unified by that.
45:13
Speaker 3: From a running perspective. And then we'll shift into probably
45:17
Speaker 3: a little bit more of the personal side. I'd love
45:20
Speaker 3: to hear about how this year has been for you
45:25
Speaker 3: and your training.
45:26
Speaker 1: It's been it's been tough, but I also have to
45:30
Speaker 1: give credit to this the team and just everyone really
45:36
Speaker 1: still did show up day to day the best that
45:38
Speaker 1: they could despite very circumstances. And this year was very
45:43
Speaker 1: hard for me just you know, being here. I think
45:48
Speaker 1: it was much of course, it was an isolating year
45:50
Speaker 1: I think for everyone, but I think it was it
45:53
Speaker 1: felt like kind of got hit with hit with a
45:56
Speaker 1: brick every few weeks there and then in the early
46:01
Speaker 1: spring and then like the thick of summer, so training
46:05
Speaker 1: was I wouldn't say that it was felt easy every
46:09
Speaker 1: day to get out there, but I also was really
46:12
Speaker 1: maintaining my routine of training really did help me like
46:17
Speaker 1: move the days, like just have some type of pace
46:20
Speaker 1: and rhythm to my life. So I you know, professional
46:28
Speaker 1: running is pretty simplistic anyway, like you do spend a
46:31
Speaker 1: lot of your time training and then basically quarantining in
46:36
Speaker 1: place more or less. I think what was more frightening
46:40
Speaker 1: about that time was seeing the restriction on other people
46:43
Speaker 1: and everything else, Like I think you're used to you
46:46
Speaker 1: being the only one or you're a little bubble being
46:49
Speaker 1: the only one, but when it kind of hits every corner,
46:53
Speaker 1: that was what challenged you know, why am I doing this?
46:57
Speaker 2: What's the purpose? What's this going to add up to?
47:01
Speaker 1: All of that and certain me surrounding is I think
47:05
Speaker 1: what made it more challenging. But I was super grateful
47:09
Speaker 1: to have some type of pattern, So I know that's
47:12
Speaker 1: probably like the hardest part about this time is the
47:15
Speaker 1: time just doesn't feel real.
47:18
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, totally.
47:19
Speaker 3: And I mean what you said about like feeling like
47:22
Speaker 3: you got like the brick thrown at you. I think
47:24
Speaker 3: that so many people can relate to. We started this
47:29
Speaker 3: question just talking about running, but now I mean, talk
47:33
Speaker 3: to me about how it's been for you personally.
47:38
Speaker 2: Hard I am.
47:40
Speaker 1: You know, I had a lot of family, Like my
47:41
Speaker 1: dad is a doctor, my mom works in in for
47:49
Speaker 1: Headstars and nonprofit that is servicing early childhood education in
47:55
Speaker 1: some more in need areas of New and in some
48:01
Speaker 1: regions outside of there. I have grandparents met you know,
48:07
Speaker 1: my grandma's in New York hadn't left her hasn't really
48:11
Speaker 1: left her apartment, and in quite some time. I have
48:13
Speaker 1: a lot of cousins and family and friends on the
48:16
Speaker 1: East Coast.
48:17
Speaker 2: And then I think that was scary to just you know, be.
48:20
Speaker 1: Watching upticks from across the country and you know, not
48:25
Speaker 1: feeling my parents are you know, older of demogra you know,
48:29
Speaker 1: in a demographic that would have me worried.
48:33
Speaker 2: So so yeah, it was just confusing.
48:36
Speaker 1: I was definitely very worried about my family and just
48:42
Speaker 1: not just felt very disconnected. You know, I was not
48:47
Speaker 1: really have I loved all of the face times in
48:52
Speaker 1: the zooms, but you know they filled me for that moment,
48:55
Speaker 1: but it's like you're still have to end the call
48:58
Speaker 1: and you're just home in your apartment wondering, you know.
49:02
Speaker 2: What's going to come next.
49:04
Speaker 1: And I think that just brought up a lot of
49:05
Speaker 1: anxiety and was just really hard to watch things kind
49:10
Speaker 1: of unravel, felt like, just worried about the sustainability of
49:17
Speaker 1: businesses and families and health and all these all these
49:22
Speaker 1: moving parts. Really I think took a toll on just
49:27
Speaker 1: my ability to cope well with with what was going on.
49:33
Speaker 5: Yeah, I feel that. Do you live alone?
49:36
Speaker 3: Yeah I do too, and uh, not to uncover like
49:42
Speaker 3: your marital status, but more so just to sympathize with you,
49:47
Speaker 3: Like I totally I feel that. I mean, I live
49:50
Speaker 3: in New York and my family's in Connecticut. But even
49:53
Speaker 3: being you know, proximity wise closer, I still you know,
49:58
Speaker 3: didn't see my family for at least five months outside
50:04
Speaker 3: of like zoom happy hours and like zoom Shabbat services
50:09
Speaker 3: and zoom everything. I've never thought about ever zooming before
50:13
Speaker 3: in my life. Yes, And so I can, I mean,
50:16
Speaker 3: I can totally relate with you about just feeling at
50:18
Speaker 3: times super lonely and a little unsure.
50:23
Speaker 2: Mm hmm.
50:24
Speaker 3: Yeah.
50:24
Speaker 1: It was definitely a wild ride to be to live
50:29
Speaker 1: alone during this And I'm sure people will say the
50:31
Speaker 1: same thing about having multiple roommates or whatever the circumstances
50:36
Speaker 1: may be.
50:37
Speaker 2: But I just I think it's it's.
50:42
Speaker 1: Dangerous to be isolated with your thoughts during you know,
50:46
Speaker 1: a global pandemic, social unrest, and election, like all these
50:49
Speaker 1: moving parts coming up, and I just think I just
50:53
Speaker 1: had way too much time to my own thoughts, and
50:57
Speaker 1: that that was That was That was definitely a big
51:00
Speaker 1: challenge personally, which was trying was learning how to just
51:04
Speaker 1: kind of shut yourself up sometimes and just watch something
51:08
Speaker 1: or listen to something or you know, do some activity
51:13
Speaker 1: whatever it may be that can just kind of put
51:16
Speaker 1: you into that and out of this like Doom's day headspace.
51:21
Speaker 5: I know, the doomsday headspace.
51:23
Speaker 3: Well, so, I mean from a positive perspective, however, what
51:30
Speaker 3: good would you say has come from this year for you?
51:34
Speaker 1: Good I would I would say, is I'm just I'm
51:39
Speaker 1: doing my best to continue to just you know, pick
51:43
Speaker 1: up the phone and continue to hold onto these relationships
51:47
Speaker 1: that I feel like really got me through a tough
51:52
Speaker 1: time and to just nurture those things in my life
51:55
Speaker 1: because I know everyone I'm sure is probably a new
51:59
Speaker 1: found appreciation for family or friends that are become family,
52:03
Speaker 1: whatever it may be for you. But you know, I
52:06
Speaker 1: don't think I was the best person at always picking
52:08
Speaker 1: up the call or calling my grandparents or you know,
52:11
Speaker 1: setting aside time to check in on people as well
52:15
Speaker 1: as being open and then check on the So you
52:18
Speaker 1: know that that is the good piece is where I
52:21
Speaker 1: feel like, I just we've all gotten so creative in
52:25
Speaker 1: how we interact with one another. And then I just
52:29
Speaker 1: I think that's just been inspiring all in all, is
52:32
Speaker 1: that we have found a way to work through things
52:35
Speaker 1: and get get a little bit creative again.
52:39
Speaker 2: And I am grateful.
52:42
Speaker 1: And you know that that's been the positive outcome for
52:44
Speaker 1: me this year, is that it's just like you can
52:47
Speaker 1: make things happen no matter what, and you just have
52:51
Speaker 1: to kind of keep plugging away at it and keep
52:54
Speaker 1: the lines of communication open reach out to people. Yeah,
53:00
Speaker 1: that's been my big takeaway of the years. I'm not
53:04
Speaker 1: always the best person at like picking up the call or.
53:06
Speaker 2: Making the call, but I have newfound commitment to it.
53:13
Speaker 3: I like that positive progress, all forward progress is progress.
53:18
Speaker 5: Yeah.
53:20
Speaker 3: Obviously we're recording this during a crazy uncertain time right
53:25
Speaker 3: now for our country. This episode. It's going to be
53:28
Speaker 3: coming out on November ninth. We're recording it on November fifth,
53:33
Speaker 3: So much could.
53:34
Speaker 6: Happen now and then, which is just crazy, but but
53:39
Speaker 6: in I guess maybe a more general sense, how do
53:43
Speaker 6: you feel right now in this moment?
53:47
Speaker 1: I fluctuate between not like nauseus, worried, and just kind
53:56
Speaker 1: of fired up no matter what, like I think that they're.
54:01
Speaker 2: I'm I just have I.
54:04
Speaker 1: Want to be hopeful always, Like I think you really
54:08
Speaker 1: need to have discipline in being hopeful.
54:12
Speaker 2: It doesn't just come to you. You do have to
54:14
Speaker 2: work at it.
54:14
Speaker 1: And you know That's what I'm trying to switch my
54:17
Speaker 1: mindset to is, you know, like, no matter what, there
54:20
Speaker 1: were some great things, there were some really powerful outcomes
54:24
Speaker 1: from this election. And I feel like I've been really
54:27
Speaker 1: leaning into Stacy Abrams's story of you know, I felt
54:30
Speaker 1: like she had a really tough outcome in Georgia in
54:37
Speaker 1: two years ago and she's just like continued to rally
54:42
Speaker 1: and organize and speak on behalf of you know, everyone
54:46
Speaker 1: having their voice heard, and just her work in voter
54:51
Speaker 1: suppression and then what she's done to kind of rewrite
54:55
Speaker 1: I think a really tough time for her has been
54:59
Speaker 1: really inspirational for me personally. So I'm like, if she
55:02
Speaker 1: can get up and keep it moving and talk about
55:04
Speaker 1: how important it is that we all are engaged and participating,
55:09
Speaker 1: you know, I can, I too, can can find a
55:12
Speaker 1: way to no matter what, be dutiful in in my
55:18
Speaker 1: in my hopefulness and just really reach for reach for
55:23
Speaker 1: positives and like just gotta just gotta keep working.
55:28
Speaker 5: Just how to keep working?
55:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, And I mean I think it's been it's
55:34
Speaker 3: definitely been like an interesting, an interesting couple of weeks.
55:38
Speaker 3: I mean, I think a lot of people thought that
55:41
Speaker 3: things would be happening in one way or another way,
55:43
Speaker 3: and if anything, this is just another example of understanding
55:48
Speaker 3: that things might not always go as you thought or
55:51
Speaker 3: had hoped, but there's still always going to be a tomorrow,
55:54
Speaker 3: and it's up to us to figure out how to
55:56
Speaker 3: how to best push forward in these situations of both
56:00
Speaker 3: adversity and and things that maybe you couldn't truly have
56:04
Speaker 3: prepared for as you wish you could have.
56:08
Speaker 1: For sure, I think like the lesson is, you know,
56:10
Speaker 1: you always have to be on ready to pivot and
56:13
Speaker 1: ready to plan. Replan doesn't look like anything, how I
56:17
Speaker 1: personally thought it was going to look you know, maybe
56:19
Speaker 1: that that's different for other people, but I think the
56:24
Speaker 1: big difference for me is, you know, learning not to
56:27
Speaker 1: just sit in.
56:28
Speaker 2: This isn't what I thought it was going to be.
56:29
Speaker 1: Just having better reaction time, like failing faster, learning faster,
56:35
Speaker 1: just keeping it moving and yeah, just have to be
56:41
Speaker 1: ready to come up with a new strategy always, definitely.
56:45
Speaker 5: So tell me what excites you right now?
56:51
Speaker 2: Exciting news?
56:55
Speaker 1: Hmm, Well, I I really do feel very empowered and
57:05
Speaker 1: excited by just all of the like creative people right now.
57:11
Speaker 1: I think I look back on all of the you know,
57:13
Speaker 1: like random DJ sets and verses that artists did during quarantine.
57:18
Speaker 1: Like there's literally already a movie out about COVID on
57:23
Speaker 1: some Netflix, Hulu something. There's interviews happening, there's I just
57:28
Speaker 1: feel like there's a ton of ideas being in exchange
57:31
Speaker 1: right now.
57:31
Speaker 2: There's a ton of.
57:34
Speaker 1: Work being put out to help us navigate what is happening,
57:40
Speaker 1: and you know, not directly related to what's happening, but
57:42
Speaker 1: just who we are like as a nation and what
57:46
Speaker 1: are you know, who we are, what we are, what
57:50
Speaker 1: we have to say, what we care about I'm really
57:52
Speaker 1: excited even podcasts, Like, I'm just excited about all of
57:56
Speaker 1: this exchange, all these voices, new voices, voices like that's
58:01
Speaker 1: what really has been so inspiring to me during these times,
58:05
Speaker 1: and you know, it's like, really what gets me fired
58:07
Speaker 1: up is I feel like all of these things combined
58:11
Speaker 1: can really be instrumental in influencing how we, you know,
58:17
Speaker 1: go about treating one another, how we make laws, how
58:20
Speaker 1: we just govern and interact with other in general. I
58:27
Speaker 1: think they're going to be really influential in that. And
58:29
Speaker 1: I like the diversity and creativity in all those spaces.
58:32
Speaker 1: So that's kind of what I'm excited about. I think
58:35
Speaker 1: just people doing their thing really well.
58:37
Speaker 5: I guess kind of a creative exchange of ideas. I
58:40
Speaker 5: dig that.
58:41
Speaker 3: So, I mean, right now, if I was to open
58:44
Speaker 3: your Instagram, I would see a strong woman, female athlete
58:50
Speaker 3: runner that's got fourteen point one thousand followers. When you,
58:55
Speaker 3: Mary Elle, look in the mirror, what is it that
58:57
Speaker 3: you see looking back at you?
59:01
Speaker 1: I see a very curious person, fun and question mark
59:12
Speaker 1: question mark.
59:13
Speaker 2: I think I'm fun, but I think you're fun too.
59:17
Speaker 1: I'm someone who is just like hopeful that there's still
59:21
Speaker 1: more to go. Like, I like who I am, but
59:24
Speaker 1: I hope that I'm still growing and I'm excited. I'm
59:29
Speaker 1: definitely when I wake up, I'm excited. I don't know
59:31
Speaker 1: what's happening, but I'm excited to just continue to like
59:37
Speaker 1: have different versions of myself.
59:41
Speaker 3: Right now, you have an opportunity to give yourself a
59:45
Speaker 3: piece of advice. I'm going to bring it back to
59:48
Speaker 3: earlier this year. I mean, twenty twenty has been a
59:51
Speaker 3: hurdle for so many of us. You have an opportunity
59:54
Speaker 3: maybe to offer the maryel who is sitting at home alone,
1:00:00
Speaker 3: sure of what the hell is going on, a piece
1:00:02
Speaker 3: of advice back in April.
1:00:04
Speaker 5: What do you tell her?
1:00:07
Speaker 1: Oh man, that's that's good. If I can give myself
1:00:10
Speaker 1: a piece of advice in April, maybe just just pace yourself.
1:00:16
Speaker 1: I think I came out of the gates blazing when
1:00:21
Speaker 1: I heard the news of like we were going to
1:00:23
Speaker 1: have additional time. I think I just got really fixated
1:00:27
Speaker 1: on this idea of extra time and that I you know,
1:00:31
Speaker 1: if that meant that I had to go above and
1:00:33
Speaker 1: beyond what I was doing in my current time. So
1:00:38
Speaker 1: if I could go back, I would just say you
1:00:40
Speaker 1: know this had these have been extreme circumstances. I don't
1:00:44
Speaker 1: know if I can really qualify this year as extra.
1:00:47
Speaker 2: Time the like.
1:00:50
Speaker 1: So I would just tell myself to you know, continue
1:00:54
Speaker 1: to stay, stay in the lane that you're in, and
1:00:58
Speaker 1: pay yourself, be patient. You don't have to go like
1:01:06
Speaker 1: you don't have to change anything or you don't have
1:01:08
Speaker 1: to do more because I don't know, this isn't punishment,
1:01:11
Speaker 1: I guess just you know, continue to keep doing the
1:01:16
Speaker 1: things that you're doing, and yeah, always just have a
1:01:19
Speaker 1: little bit more patience.
1:01:22
Speaker 5: How do you feel about the Olympic pushback?
1:01:26
Speaker 1: It's still really wild to be in the next year
1:01:30
Speaker 1: of or like already kind of be almost in twenty
1:01:34
Speaker 1: twenty one, and then to kind of be in November
1:01:38
Speaker 1: what would have been after the Olympics. I think the
1:01:41
Speaker 1: whole big thing about sports again is like there is
1:01:44
Speaker 1: no extra time. You have to be ready when the
1:01:48
Speaker 1: date's set, and the date set you know, in stone always,
1:01:52
Speaker 1: So it's a little crazy. I have never had this,
1:01:58
Speaker 1: or you know, I know no one's ever had this,
1:02:00
Speaker 1: but I think it's been strange to kind of continue
1:02:07
Speaker 1: to play the well what if kind of game. So
1:02:11
Speaker 1: I've had to try and like just get out of
1:02:14
Speaker 1: that and really just accept like, Okay, it didn't happen.
1:02:19
Speaker 1: You got to kind of move on and figure out
1:02:22
Speaker 1: what the next next stage of things will be here. So, yeah,
1:02:27
Speaker 1: it's it's wild, I think, but it's been wild for everyone,
1:02:31
Speaker 1: and since this has been something that's hit everyone, I
1:02:34
Speaker 1: think you kind of can take yourself out of it
1:02:36
Speaker 1: a little bit and just say, you all, it is
1:02:38
Speaker 1: what it is.
1:02:40
Speaker 5: You can just do the best you can with what
1:02:43
Speaker 5: you have.
1:02:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure, thank you so much for talking to
1:02:47
Speaker 3: me today.
1:02:47
Speaker 5: I really really appreciate it.
1:02:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, of course, thank you.
1:02:51
Speaker 3: How do the hurdlers keep up with you? How do
1:02:53
Speaker 3: they follow along with you? Give me all the deats?
1:02:56
Speaker 2: How do they keep up with me?
1:02:58
Speaker 1: Probably just instagram my full name but an extra L
1:03:04
Speaker 1: on the end, and yeah, I mean you give a
1:03:08
Speaker 1: follow to the Bowman Track Club Bowerman TC on Instagram
1:03:12
Speaker 1: and Twitter. I will be training, appearing probably in that
1:03:18
Speaker 1: space in some capacity, and the Olympic Trials are set
1:03:22
Speaker 1: for June of twenty twenty one, So if there are
1:03:26
Speaker 1: any track fans or converted track fans, I would say,
1:03:29
Speaker 1: you know, mark that on your calendar.
1:03:32
Speaker 2: I think that's about it.
1:03:33
Speaker 5: That's it.
1:03:35
Speaker 3: I am at Emily Abadi at Hurdle Podcast, Another hurdle conquered.
1:03:40
Speaker 5: Catch you guys next time.