Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 95. Natasha Hastings, Sprinter & 2x Olympic Gold Medalist

Transcript

95. Natasha Hastings, Sprinter & 2x Olympic Gold Medalist · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

0:00
Speaker 1: The second I think something negative, I change it to
0:03
Speaker 1: a positive. But then also I practice something that I
0:07
Speaker 1: call my ims and it literally just I'm beautiful, I'm smart,
0:12
Speaker 1: I'm powerful, I'm a champion. And some of those things
0:16
Speaker 1: are things that I may not even believe yet, but
0:19
Speaker 1: I'm going to keep saying it until I believe it.
0:35
Speaker 2: Hey, Hurdler's Emily a body Here.
0:37
Speaker 3: You are listening to episode ninety five of Hurdle, a
0:41
Speaker 3: wellness focused podcast where I sit down with inspiring individuals
0:45
Speaker 3: to talk about everything from their big wines to how
0:47
Speaker 3: they've gotten through some of life's toughest moments. On the show,
0:52
Speaker 3: you can expect vulnerability, motivation, and candid discussions with everyone
0:56
Speaker 3: from top athletes to aspiring entrepreneurs on what it it
1:00
Speaker 3: really takes to follow your passions.
1:02
Speaker 2: My mission is simple.
1:04
Speaker 3: To inspire you to be your best self, move with intention,
1:08
Speaker 3: and have some fun along the way. Today, I am
1:11
Speaker 3: so elated to bring you my conversation with the four
1:15
Speaker 3: hundred meter diva herself, Natasha Hastings. This woman's a powerhouse.
1:20
Speaker 3: She is an all star track athlete. She's also a
1:24
Speaker 3: new mom and I was actually able to sit down
1:26
Speaker 3: not just with her, but also little baby Liam at
1:30
Speaker 3: the under Armor Human Performance Summit back in January. To
1:34
Speaker 3: say Liam is a well behaved baby would be the biggest.
1:37
Speaker 2: Understatement of the century.
1:39
Speaker 3: He was perfect during our entire interview, but you might
1:42
Speaker 3: hear him chime in once or twice, which I wouldn't
1:45
Speaker 3: have it any other way. In today's episode, Natasha tells
1:49
Speaker 3: me about her background and we have this really special
1:51
Speaker 3: dialogue surrounding self worth and mindfulness. Natasha talks to me
1:55
Speaker 3: about some of the difficult moments in her career where
1:58
Speaker 3: she realized that there was a negative die dialogue that
2:00
Speaker 3: she needed to shift so that she could really realize
2:03
Speaker 3: her full potential and potential she's got. Natasha's a two
2:08
Speaker 3: time Olympian. She's also a two time Olympic medalist, and
2:10
Speaker 3: in our conversation, she talks to me about her goal
2:13
Speaker 3: of getting back to the Olympic stage this year. She
2:16
Speaker 3: just has an amazing attitude. It's so empowering and there
2:19
Speaker 3: are so many takeaways from this episode.
2:21
Speaker 2: That I know that you all are going to love.
2:24
Speaker 3: Now, before I get into today's episode, a quick shout
2:26
Speaker 3: out to my sponsor at Daily Harvest. I have been
2:29
Speaker 3: waking up craving the Daily Harvest Mint Cacao shake, and
2:32
Speaker 3: it's part of my morning routine that I really look
2:35
Speaker 3: forward to. I toss the pre make frozen ingredients into
2:38
Speaker 3: the blunder, add vital proteins, collagen, and some almond milk,
2:41
Speaker 3: and that's it.
2:42
Speaker 2: I feel like I just.
2:43
Speaker 3: Walked out of a smoothie shop, but without having to
2:45
Speaker 3: pay like fourteen dollars and.
2:47
Speaker 2: Having so much regret.
2:49
Speaker 3: If mint cacal isn't your thing, that's okay, because Daily
2:52
Speaker 3: Harvest offers more than sixty five different options, including other smoothies,
2:57
Speaker 3: hearty soups, Harvest bowls, and over night oats. Go to
3:01
Speaker 3: Dailyharvest dot com and enter the promo code hurdle two
3:04
Speaker 3: five to get twenty five dollars off your first box. Again,
3:08
Speaker 3: that's promo code Hurdle two five for twenty five dollars
3:12
Speaker 3: off your first box at Dailyharvest dot com.
3:15
Speaker 2: Again, that's Dailyharvest dot com.
3:17
Speaker 3: I also want to take a second to thank my sponsor, Athleticgreens,
3:21
Speaker 3: another staple part of my morning routine that makes me
3:25
Speaker 3: just feel like me. With the antioxidant equivalent of twelve
3:28
Speaker 3: servings of fruits and vegetables, as well as adaptagens, probiotics, probotics,
3:32
Speaker 3: and superfoods. Athleticgreens makes me feel energized and ready to
3:36
Speaker 3: get a jumpstart on whatever is on in my morning
3:39
Speaker 3: to do list, and trust me, lately it feels like
3:42
Speaker 3: it never ends now real talk. I have always been
3:45
Speaker 3: super hesitant on supplements just because I feel like there's
3:48
Speaker 3: so much unknown. But what's great about Athleticgreens is that
3:51
Speaker 3: they are NSF certified an accolade, which is super hard
3:56
Speaker 3: to get and essentially means that there's nothing in there
3:58
Speaker 3: beyond what the label said. You don't have to worry
4:01
Speaker 3: about it.
4:01
Speaker 2: It's safe.
4:02
Speaker 3: That's why I put my trust in Athletic Greens, and
4:05
Speaker 3: that's why they're a regular part of my routine. They
4:07
Speaker 3: are offering hurdle listeners, an awesome deal that you've got
4:10
Speaker 3: to get in on. It's twenty travel packs a seventy
4:13
Speaker 3: nine dollars value absolutely free with your first purchase. Head
4:17
Speaker 3: on over to Athleticgreens dot com slash hurdle again, that's
4:21
Speaker 3: Athleticgreens dot Com slash hurdle to get yours today, No
4:26
Speaker 3: code necessary. One last thing here before we get into it.
4:29
Speaker 3: Thanks so much to Help magazine for featuring Hurdle and
4:32
Speaker 3: your March issue. A follower just send it to me
4:35
Speaker 3: on Instagram and I totally geeked out. Fun fact, the
4:38
Speaker 3: podcast's first ever mentioned was actually also in Help back
4:42
Speaker 3: in April twenty eighteen, and it is surreal to think
4:47
Speaker 3: about how much has changed since I bought that magazine
4:50
Speaker 3: in the middle of Grand Central and I was on
4:52
Speaker 3: my way to teach a spin class and ah, I
4:56
Speaker 3: just feel super grateful.
4:58
Speaker 2: So I'd love it if you listen to Hurdle on
5:00
Speaker 2: the regular.
5:00
Speaker 3: If you like the podcast, do me a huge favor
5:03
Speaker 3: and show your support by heading on into the iTunes
5:07
Speaker 3: store and reading and reviewing the show.
5:09
Speaker 2: Also, while you're.
5:10
Speaker 3: At it, click the share button and send the podcast
5:13
Speaker 3: episode today to a friend who you feel could use
5:16
Speaker 3: just a little bit extra motivation.
5:18
Speaker 2: All of this growth it's because of you.
5:20
Speaker 3: It's because of your enthusiasm, and I am so thankful
5:23
Speaker 3: for every bit of it. At Hurdle podcast, at Emily
5:27
Speaker 3: a Body on Instagram and Twitter, And as always, if
5:29
Speaker 3: you have a Hurdle moment of your own to share
5:31
Speaker 3: you just want to say hi, you can always reach
5:34
Speaker 3: me over email. It's Emily at hurdle dot us. And
5:37
Speaker 3: with that, let's get to hurdling.
5:45
Speaker 2: Today.
5:45
Speaker 3: I'm sitting down with Natasha Hastings. Good morning, good morning.
5:50
Speaker 3: How are you today?
5:51
Speaker 1: Good?
5:52
Speaker 3: I'm excellent. I feel like we need to tell the
5:55
Speaker 3: people at home about my extra special guest on the podcast.
5:59
Speaker 2: Liam. Probably not gonna say.
6:01
Speaker 1: Much, I gonna say anything. Good morning.
6:04
Speaker 2: Oh, we've got a deep breath coming from baby Liam.
6:07
Speaker 2: How old is Liam? Now?
6:08
Speaker 1: He's five months?
6:09
Speaker 2: Five months? Yeah, he is a stud.
6:11
Speaker 1: Thank you.
6:12
Speaker 3: I saw him yesterday wearing the cutest little under armor polo.
6:16
Speaker 3: Now we are in a cable knit sweater. I also
6:19
Speaker 3: don't know if I've ever seen such a well bad baby.
6:22
Speaker 2: He's just staring at me right now. Good morning. Not
6:26
Speaker 2: going to say good morning, No, not today. It's cool.
6:30
Speaker 3: For those of you that don't know Natasha, she's a
6:33
Speaker 3: gold medalist both the two thousand and eight twenty sixteen
6:36
Speaker 3: Olympics the four by four hundred meter relay. Were you
6:40
Speaker 3: always in to running fast?
6:43
Speaker 1: Yeah? So I feel like I've been running for my
6:48
Speaker 1: entire life. I've been running as long as I can remember.
6:50
Speaker 1: Both of my parents ran track. They actually came to
6:52
Speaker 1: the States on athletic scholarships, so it was just always around.
6:58
Speaker 1: I remember my father was a coach at their alma mata,
7:04
Speaker 1: and I used to go to practice with him and
7:06
Speaker 1: try to raise the guys. And I was like five
7:09
Speaker 1: or six, so yeah, I've been running in circles for
7:12
Speaker 1: a very long time.
7:13
Speaker 2: For a very long time.
7:14
Speaker 3: I mean five or six is a pretty young age
7:16
Speaker 3: to really kick it off. Yeah, so you were running,
7:19
Speaker 3: I mean through elementary school, and then once you got
7:21
Speaker 3: to junior high it was like, I'm going to join
7:24
Speaker 3: the track team.
7:25
Speaker 1: So I actually joined the track team when I was nine,
7:28
Speaker 1: so it was like fourth or fifth grade. And the
7:32
Speaker 1: way that happened, my mom used to take me to
7:34
Speaker 1: attract meet in New York called the Kogate Women's Games.
7:37
Speaker 1: It's a meat still going on. I think they just
7:39
Speaker 1: had their fiftieth anniversary. But my club coach basically discovered
7:43
Speaker 1: me there and I joined the team. It was probably
7:48
Speaker 1: like a November or December, and he coached me straight
7:51
Speaker 1: through high school. So I officially joined a.
7:55
Speaker 3: Team when I was nine, nine going on ten, And
7:58
Speaker 3: I mean when you're nine, your view what being part
8:00
Speaker 3: of a team is so much different than say, when
8:02
Speaker 3: you're you know, in your teens and beyond that, Yeah,
8:06
Speaker 3: the competition aspect is the same. Obviously you're moving fast,
8:09
Speaker 3: you're working for something. When you're nine, it's like it's
8:12
Speaker 3: fun of games, right, Yeah.
8:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was definitely. I feel like I've been getting
8:16
Speaker 1: that question a lot this weekend about like when did
8:21
Speaker 1: I realize I was fast and this and that. When
8:23
Speaker 1: I was nine, it was just that like, I was fast,
8:25
Speaker 1: I was winning, I was having fun. When I got
8:28
Speaker 1: to high school it became a little bit more serious,
8:30
Speaker 1: and then when I got to college, it got way
8:32
Speaker 1: more serious, and then it got really serious.
8:35
Speaker 2: And that's really serious.
8:37
Speaker 3: And we're traveling the world for the Olympics, So talk
8:39
Speaker 3: to me about what it was like growing up with
8:42
Speaker 3: sports being such an integrated part of your every day,
8:45
Speaker 3: being on the track team, also balancing school.
8:47
Speaker 2: Were you into school?
8:49
Speaker 3: So?
8:50
Speaker 1: Oddly enough, track was the thing that taught me discipline
8:55
Speaker 1: and got me on the straight and narrow. Before track,
8:59
Speaker 1: I was sort of an average student. And my mom
9:03
Speaker 1: when I joined the team and she realized like, okay,
9:06
Speaker 1: you enjoy this, and it was like, okay, then you
9:08
Speaker 1: need to make sure that your grades are up and
9:10
Speaker 1: so it was a thing where I actually took my
9:12
Speaker 1: competitive edge from the track into the classroom. So joining
9:17
Speaker 1: the track team is actually what made me become a
9:20
Speaker 1: straight A student. Up until then, I was just kind
9:23
Speaker 1: of like just doing enough to get by student. I
9:28
Speaker 1: remember even I was kind of a I was a
9:32
Speaker 1: Catholic schoolgirl brat.
9:34
Speaker 2: Oh what's that even mean?
9:35
Speaker 1: And I was just I was. I was active, and
9:41
Speaker 1: my track coaches were they were like disciplinarians, and it
9:46
Speaker 1: was so I do remember very vividly that like track
9:50
Speaker 1: was the thing that kind of like I gained some focus.
9:53
Speaker 3: What is life like outside of track for you then,
9:56
Speaker 3: because obviously that's given you like that discipline and you're
9:58
Speaker 3: focused in school and you getting these a's, But are
10:01
Speaker 3: you having much of a social life growing up?
10:04
Speaker 2: Are you enjoying yourself? What's that like?
10:06
Speaker 1: I mean, I had friends, and most of my friends
10:09
Speaker 1: were from the track team, but I wasn't really getting
10:12
Speaker 1: into what the average fifteen and sixteen year old was doing.
10:16
Speaker 1: I can't say that, like not that I didn't go
10:20
Speaker 1: to the movies or I didn't go to the mall,
10:22
Speaker 1: but it wasn't Track was definitely my focus. I mean
10:25
Speaker 1: I remember my senior prom. Everyone was going to the
10:28
Speaker 1: after party and I went home because I had City
10:31
Speaker 1: Champs the next day. Don't feel sorry for me. I
10:33
Speaker 1: don't feel like I missed out on anything. Yeah, because
10:37
Speaker 1: while I wasn't doing some of those things, by the
10:40
Speaker 1: time I graduated high school, I'd already been to Italy
10:43
Speaker 1: for World Juniors.
10:44
Speaker 2: Totally different experience.
10:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, And did you know that you wanted to go
10:50
Speaker 3: to USC or how did that connect came out? So?
10:53
Speaker 1: I USC South Carolina. Let's be clear, the original USC
10:58
Speaker 1: established eighteen oh one. And my college coach, he hates
11:02
Speaker 1: to hear this sometimes because I played hard to get
11:04
Speaker 1: and he had to recruit me like every other school did.
11:08
Speaker 1: But I think I knew I wanted to go to
11:10
Speaker 1: South Carolina as early as my freshman or sophomore year
11:12
Speaker 1: of high school. A lot because of my event being
11:16
Speaker 1: a quarter miler, South Carolina was just like a quarter
11:18
Speaker 1: mileer powerhouse, and a lot of great quarter milers went
11:23
Speaker 1: to South Carolina. So yeah, I knew pretty early on
11:28
Speaker 1: that I wanted to go to Carolina.
11:31
Speaker 3: So what's your quarter mile pr? Forty nine eighty four
11:35
Speaker 3: forty nine eighty four and how long in your career
11:39
Speaker 3: did it take for you to get to that point?
11:41
Speaker 1: So I actually ran that my junior year of college,
11:45
Speaker 1: so I was twenty one, twenty two, twenty one, and
11:49
Speaker 1: then I've equaled it a few times throughout my career.
11:52
Speaker 3: Equaled it, like right on the money.
11:55
Speaker 1: Equal It isn't that kind of crazy thing. It's insane.
11:58
Speaker 1: I'm like, can I just can I eighty three something?
12:01
Speaker 1: But can I do some exact same thing?
12:03
Speaker 2: All right?
12:03
Speaker 3: So then talk to me a little bit about what
12:05
Speaker 3: life's like in college with all the I mean, being
12:08
Speaker 3: a college athlete is a hurdle within itself.
12:12
Speaker 1: I actually had a lot of fun income. Yeah, but
12:16
Speaker 1: it's the thing that I tell people, like especially when
12:19
Speaker 1: I talk to young girls, that I think I had
12:21
Speaker 1: a lot of fun because I was also in the
12:23
Speaker 1: honors college at South Carolina. But I got great grades
12:28
Speaker 1: in school as well. So I you know, you hear
12:31
Speaker 1: them talk about time management and almost shove it down
12:34
Speaker 1: your throat, you know, your senior year of high school,
12:36
Speaker 1: freshman year, I made sure that my work was done.
12:39
Speaker 1: I trained hard, and then I was able to have
12:42
Speaker 1: a blast after that. And then just knowing that I
12:45
Speaker 1: had done my work, I was able to have even
12:48
Speaker 1: more fun. So I was at all the parties. I
12:52
Speaker 1: was that girl.
12:53
Speaker 2: But you never felt like any of that kind of
12:54
Speaker 2: got in the way.
12:55
Speaker 1: No, because, like I said, it was after Like I mean,
12:59
Speaker 1: I remember coming back from track meets and we got
13:01
Speaker 1: back early enough that we could go to the party. Yeah,
13:05
Speaker 1: So I mean it was after the track meet. It
13:07
Speaker 1: was you know, but yeah, I just made sure that
13:10
Speaker 1: my work was done. Training was you know. I mean,
13:14
Speaker 1: there was no way around training, and I was able
13:18
Speaker 1: to maximize that social life in college.
13:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I feel like something that's interesting about being
13:23
Speaker 3: a college athlete and definitely something you'll be able to
13:26
Speaker 3: speak to is at this point in your life, a
13:28
Speaker 3: lot of women are coming into their own you know,
13:31
Speaker 3: you're learning about like your wants and your needs and
13:34
Speaker 3: gaining an appreciation for your body. Right at this time,
13:37
Speaker 3: like what is your self image?
13:39
Speaker 1: Like I think my self image was pretty it was
13:44
Speaker 1: good at that point. So I studied exercise science in college.
13:48
Speaker 1: It was a way for me to sort of study
13:51
Speaker 1: what I love obviously, training and learning about the body
13:54
Speaker 1: and this and that. But it was also at the
13:57
Speaker 1: same time in college and we're hearing a lot of
13:59
Speaker 1: this converse. Now, there were conversations on the team about
14:02
Speaker 1: our weight and you know, the things that we were eating.
14:05
Speaker 1: And I think having the exercise science background and understanding
14:12
Speaker 1: how the female's body, the female body should function and
14:16
Speaker 1: we shouldn't be less than a certain body fat percentage
14:19
Speaker 1: and that sort of thing, it helped because I did
14:24
Speaker 1: see teammates kind of do some extreme things to lose
14:28
Speaker 1: weight or be fit. Fit was the word that our
14:31
Speaker 1: coaches would use sometimes, but I always had my studies
14:36
Speaker 1: to fall back on. That was kind of like, you're crazy,
14:40
Speaker 1: like you want me to lose ten pounds where how
14:43
Speaker 1: So I think I was able to manage that and
14:47
Speaker 1: kind of put it in perspective. Interestingly enough, though, when
14:50
Speaker 1: I left college and became a pro, and it was
14:54
Speaker 1: obviously a lot more pressure at that point, things kind
14:57
Speaker 1: of changed a little bit, But through college I was
15:00
Speaker 1: able to manage it fairly well.
15:02
Speaker 3: So let's talk about then the transition to pro because
15:06
Speaker 3: obviously you're excelling at this crazy level in college. You
15:10
Speaker 3: are amazing. What would you say was one of your
15:14
Speaker 3: biggest accomplishments while you were in your college years?
15:18
Speaker 1: Uh, definitely setting the collegiate records. I did the collegiate
15:22
Speaker 1: record in the four hundred in indoors and outdoors. So
15:25
Speaker 1: and then of course I won nationals as well, so
15:28
Speaker 1: those two things.
15:29
Speaker 2: Would top the least.
15:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, all right, so we win nationals and we're set
15:33
Speaker 3: up for like we're set up. You're doing it at
15:37
Speaker 3: this point? Where does life take you then? From when
15:39
Speaker 3: you're graduating USA?
15:41
Speaker 1: So I actually turned professional after my junior year of college.
15:44
Speaker 1: So I actually I did graduate, but I went back
15:49
Speaker 1: to graduate after the two thousand and eight Actually I
15:53
Speaker 1: went back after the two thousand and nine World Championships. Yeah,
15:56
Speaker 1: I started my professional career after my junior year. The
15:59
Speaker 1: Olympic season in two thousand and eight was my first
16:01
Speaker 1: professional season.
16:02
Speaker 3: When you realize that you're going to the Olympics, describe
16:07
Speaker 3: that feeling to me.
16:08
Speaker 1: It's actually bittersweet. Why is that? Because So I made
16:13
Speaker 1: it in the relay, I placed sixth at the trials,
16:17
Speaker 1: top three goes in the individual four hundred and in track,
16:21
Speaker 1: everyone wants to make the individual. So it was cool.
16:24
Speaker 1: I was twenty two and I made my first Olympic team.
16:26
Speaker 1: How many twenty two year olds are on the Olympic team?
16:29
Speaker 1: How many people period are on the Olympic team. But
16:32
Speaker 1: then there was also that disappointment of not making it
16:34
Speaker 1: in the individual.
16:36
Speaker 3: Great perspective twenty two going to the Olympics, you know,
16:39
Speaker 3: all of the women that you're running with. Are you
16:43
Speaker 3: excited about the people that you're running with? Are you nervous?
16:45
Speaker 3: Does it make you?
16:46
Speaker 2: I don't know.
16:47
Speaker 1: I feel like definitely nervous, And especially at that point,
16:51
Speaker 1: I didn't have a grasp on Number One. That transitioned
16:54
Speaker 1: from collegiate to pro was one that I just was
16:57
Speaker 1: not prepared for in any sense, and I would say
17:02
Speaker 1: more mentally physically my physical abilities. Definitely I was ready
17:07
Speaker 1: to be there. But it's a whole nother ballgame competing
17:10
Speaker 1: professionally than it is collegiately, and there's no there's no manual.
17:17
Speaker 1: You just kind of have to figure it out. So
17:21
Speaker 1: that took some years actually to come into my own
17:24
Speaker 1: and it took some years before you know, I started,
17:29
Speaker 1: I would say successfully making the transition. I had some
17:32
Speaker 1: tough growing years my first few years as a pro
17:36
Speaker 1: making that transition, and you know, understanding the differences in
17:42
Speaker 1: competing as a pro versus a collegiate.
17:45
Speaker 2: Talk to me a little bit about that mental side.
17:47
Speaker 1: So a lot of it was in how I was
17:49
Speaker 1: speaking to myself, and you know, I was I was
17:52
Speaker 1: doing the work. I was always a hard worker, but
17:55
Speaker 1: I was sort of beating myself before the gun even
17:58
Speaker 1: went off. Like it was a lot of negative thoughts
18:02
Speaker 1: and you know how painful the four hundred is, and man,
18:06
Speaker 1: it's gonna hurt, and I'm gonna die coming home. Just
18:10
Speaker 1: just terrible thoughts. And then also the pressure of having
18:14
Speaker 1: left college, you know, collegiate record holder. I was like
18:17
Speaker 1: number two or three in the world, and so there's
18:21
Speaker 1: this expectation of now being a great quarter miler and
18:23
Speaker 1: I wasn't living up to that. So there was like
18:25
Speaker 1: all of these things, all of this pressure on my shoulders.
18:29
Speaker 1: It took getting some help from a sports psychologist for
18:32
Speaker 1: me to really kind of, I could guess, get a grasp.
18:36
Speaker 1: That took a while, and it wasn't until after not
18:39
Speaker 1: making the twenty twelve team that I actually was like, Okay,
18:44
Speaker 1: maybe I need some help in this area.
18:47
Speaker 3: Do you remember any specific takeaways from the like your
18:50
Speaker 3: first interactions with someone to talk about how you were
18:53
Speaker 3: feeling in that inner dialogue that maybe now you share
18:56
Speaker 3: with others, especially I mean, you talk to young women
19:00
Speaker 3: all the time.
19:00
Speaker 1: So I'll say it started with a conversation that I
19:03
Speaker 1: had with my mom after the twenty twelve trials. She
19:07
Speaker 1: basically said, you know, I look at you out there
19:09
Speaker 1: on the track, and it's like I can see you know,
19:11
Speaker 1: your mom can see things that no one else can see.
19:15
Speaker 1: She said it flat out, like I can see that
19:17
Speaker 1: you don't even believe that you belong where you are,
19:21
Speaker 1: and I want you to know that you do. She
19:23
Speaker 1: happened to be sitting next to a gentleman at the
19:26
Speaker 1: trials who turned out to be a sports psychologist, and
19:28
Speaker 1: he offered to work with me.
19:30
Speaker 3: Wow, I just got chills, Like that's like such a
19:32
Speaker 3: fake moment.
19:34
Speaker 1: And so he and I started working together shortly after
19:37
Speaker 1: the twenty twelve trials, and it started simply with that,
19:41
Speaker 1: you know, what are your thoughts when you're standing on
19:43
Speaker 1: the line. And I told him like, these are the
19:46
Speaker 1: things that I'm thinking about, and he was like floored,
19:48
Speaker 1: like every single thing out of my mouth was negative,
19:53
Speaker 1: and so it was literally just taking those negative thoughts
19:57
Speaker 1: and changing them into positive thoughts. You know, sometimes I
20:01
Speaker 1: always say this quote and by now I should know
20:04
Speaker 1: who said the quote, but I don't know, be careful
20:06
Speaker 1: how you speak to yourself because you might be listening.
20:10
Speaker 1: If I took anything away from that relationship, with that
20:13
Speaker 1: working relationship with my sports psych it was that that, like,
20:17
Speaker 1: you have to speak positive things over yourself and over
20:20
Speaker 1: your life.
20:21
Speaker 3: It's true because every single day, like we are the
20:23
Speaker 3: person that talks to ourselves the most during any given day.
20:27
Speaker 3: Which it sounds silly because they're just thoughts, but those
20:30
Speaker 3: thoughts determine how powerful everything that you do with everyone
20:33
Speaker 3: around you. Talk to me about twenty twelve, Yeah.
20:36
Speaker 1: Twenty twelve was definitely a year of shift from everything.
20:41
Speaker 1: Twenty twelve was the year that I moved to Texas.
20:45
Speaker 1: So actually the day after Christmas twenty eleven, I left
20:49
Speaker 1: South Carolina and moved to Texas. And I made the
20:54
Speaker 1: move as sort of an all or nothing move. I
20:58
Speaker 1: was after college actually went to Florida for a year.
21:02
Speaker 1: I left Florida, went to California for a year, then
21:05
Speaker 1: I went back to South Carolina to finish my degree.
21:06
Speaker 1: I ended up staying there for a couple of years. Obviously,
21:10
Speaker 1: none of those coaching situations worked, and so Texas came
21:15
Speaker 1: about and it was like, Okay, if I move here,
21:18
Speaker 1: this has to work. If not, I'm done. Done with track.
21:23
Speaker 1: That is. The twenty twelve trials were that summer, of course,
21:26
Speaker 1: and I placed seventh, so I was just one spot
21:29
Speaker 1: out of even making the relay. And so this time around,
21:34
Speaker 1: you know, it wasn't I didn't make the team altogether.
21:38
Speaker 1: You know, it wasn't oh, I didn't make the individual,
21:41
Speaker 1: but I'm on the relay. I wasn't even on the
21:42
Speaker 1: relay this time. So this was like rock bottom. So
21:48
Speaker 1: I remember walking not speaking to anyone. I was livid,
21:52
Speaker 1: and I literally walked from the stadium back to my hotel,
21:56
Speaker 1: probably a couple miles away, and I took probably close
22:01
Speaker 1: to a week to kind of process things, and like
22:05
Speaker 1: I had it made up in my mind that I
22:08
Speaker 1: think I'm done with track. I think I'm going to
22:10
Speaker 1: go back to school. Between my coaches and my family,
22:13
Speaker 1: they all kind of slowly won by one were like,
22:15
Speaker 1: you know, I think you should rethink this. You're still young,
22:18
Speaker 1: you have some left in the tank. And then that
22:21
Speaker 1: was when I had that conversation with my mom and
22:23
Speaker 1: started working with the sports psych So it was a
22:27
Speaker 1: year of disappointment, a year of hitting rock bottom. But
22:32
Speaker 1: I think it was also a year that kind of
22:36
Speaker 1: forced me to, I guess, get to know myself and
22:39
Speaker 1: readjust some things that I believe the changes definitely enhanced
22:50
Speaker 1: my performance, but it also enhanced my personal life because
22:55
Speaker 1: it opened my eyes to how I was viewing myself
22:58
Speaker 1: and the things that I was even believing I was
23:02
Speaker 1: worthy of.
23:03
Speaker 3: So during this time when you're struggling with your relationship,
23:07
Speaker 3: both with yourself and also with the sport of running,
23:10
Speaker 3: do you lean into running or do you kind of
23:14
Speaker 3: find other things as an outlet to help you cope
23:17
Speaker 3: with all of these feelings and these emotions that you're
23:19
Speaker 3: struggling with.
23:21
Speaker 1: I think at that point I started leaning somewhat into
23:25
Speaker 1: other things, other things being my friends, being more intentional about,
23:29
Speaker 1: you know, having meaningful relationships. I mean, I think for
23:33
Speaker 1: as long as I can remember, I surround myself with
23:37
Speaker 1: like minded or like goal people. Spending time with people
23:41
Speaker 1: that were headed in a positive direction in their life
23:45
Speaker 1: or working on positive things. I think was definitely important.
23:48
Speaker 1: Because I talk about sport being in a place of
23:53
Speaker 1: outlet for me, but there is also a fine line
23:57
Speaker 1: of sport is actually work too, So sometimes I actually
24:01
Speaker 1: need an outlet from it as well. So I think
24:06
Speaker 1: that's where a lot of the four hundred meter diva
24:09
Speaker 1: thing comes into play. And like me doing my hair
24:12
Speaker 1: and makeup, particularly for my competitions, I call it a
24:15
Speaker 1: positive distraction. It's something that I do leading up to
24:19
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't just wear makeup to compete, but
24:22
Speaker 1: in those moments, it's a you know, a few minutes
24:26
Speaker 1: away from this big thing that I'm getting ready to do,
24:29
Speaker 1: gives me something to do with my hands and just
24:32
Speaker 1: kind of something that makes me feel good.
24:35
Speaker 2: Talk to me about the four hundred meter diva thing.
24:38
Speaker 1: So that kind of started with my freshman year of
24:43
Speaker 1: high school of college. Sorry. We were going to pen relays,
24:48
Speaker 1: and being from New York, I've run pen relays all
24:52
Speaker 1: through high school. And then so my coach asked me
24:56
Speaker 1: to do an interview. You know, there's media going into
24:59
Speaker 1: certain me. So the journalist asked me what made me
25:05
Speaker 1: choose South Carolina, and so I talked about the history
25:07
Speaker 1: of Corner Milers, and then I also said, and you know,
25:09
Speaker 1: the girls they're really pretty, and I mean, I guess,
25:12
Speaker 1: for lack of a better word, they're just divas. So
25:15
Speaker 1: when we went to Philly for pen relays. The headline
25:18
Speaker 1: of the story was the Gamecock Divas return to pen Relays.
25:23
Speaker 1: He our coach, Coach Fried took it and ran with it,
25:27
Speaker 1: like he had outfits made up with Gamecock divas on them.
25:30
Speaker 1: And they may still to this day call themselves the
25:33
Speaker 1: Gamecock Divas, all right, And so from there, four hundredmin
25:36
Speaker 1: a diva came out of that.
25:37
Speaker 2: I love it.
25:39
Speaker 3: And it seems like, I mean, you like to embody
25:41
Speaker 3: it now. It's also helps amp you up for what
25:44
Speaker 3: you're about to take on. Yeah, would you say it?
25:46
Speaker 2: Would you agree?
25:47
Speaker 1: For sure? I mean, and while it amps me up,
25:50
Speaker 1: I also I tell people, because you know, I went
25:54
Speaker 1: through the well you're not if you would spend less
25:57
Speaker 1: time focusing on hair and makeup and you would perform better.
26:01
Speaker 1: And I was like, oh, well, if fifteen minutes is
26:04
Speaker 1: the reason why you know I had a bad race
26:08
Speaker 1: versus all the hours that I've put in, then you
26:11
Speaker 1: know I have a lot bigger issue than that. Also,
26:15
Speaker 1: I just feel like if I were working at nine
26:17
Speaker 1: to five, you know, there's a part to play. There
26:21
Speaker 1: is a dress code for you know, going to work
26:24
Speaker 1: every day. My job requires me to be on TV.
26:26
Speaker 1: So if I want to look good, what is wrong
26:29
Speaker 1: with me dressing the part and looking appropriate? And it's
26:32
Speaker 1: it's you know, it's really your damned if you do,
26:34
Speaker 1: damned if you don't, because I look at you know
26:37
Speaker 1: how Gabby Douglass was treated in the Olympics, and it
26:41
Speaker 1: was like there she was focused on her craft and
26:47
Speaker 1: focused on going there and winning these medals. And she
26:49
Speaker 1: went there and performed amazingly, and people were talking more
26:53
Speaker 1: about her hair than about her performance. So it's one
26:56
Speaker 1: of those things that people just want to talk and
27:00
Speaker 1: you know, at the end of the day, you just
27:01
Speaker 1: have to do what makes you happy and screw the haters.
27:04
Speaker 2: Screw the haters.
27:05
Speaker 3: Talk to me a little bit more about the challenges
27:08
Speaker 3: that go hand in hand with being pro. I mean,
27:11
Speaker 3: you dealt with an over came twenty twelve, but then
27:14
Speaker 3: as you're getting back into the swing of things, are
27:16
Speaker 3: you feeling more pressure than ever to perform after having
27:20
Speaker 3: a difficult year.
27:21
Speaker 1: At that point, I had gotten to a point where
27:23
Speaker 1: I was like, well, everyone's counting me out anyway, So
27:27
Speaker 1: it was like, there's no way I can get any
27:31
Speaker 1: worse as well, you know, So it was just like,
27:35
Speaker 1: just focus on you. But then there's also I think
27:38
Speaker 1: a level of emotional maturity too, where I have to
27:42
Speaker 1: focus on the things that I have control over. You
27:44
Speaker 1: know what I don't have control over. It just is
27:47
Speaker 1: I was about twenty six twenty seven, so at that
27:51
Speaker 1: point i'd kind of brush that off. But I think
27:55
Speaker 1: as I worked through my self worth and the way
27:59
Speaker 1: that I viewed myself in the way that I talked
28:01
Speaker 1: to myself, it became more important how I feel about
28:05
Speaker 1: myself and not so much what the expectation of the
28:09
Speaker 1: world is.
28:15
Speaker 3: Taking a break from today's episode to give a shout out.
28:18
Speaker 2: To Daily Harvest.
28:19
Speaker 3: One of the things I am personally working on is
28:22
Speaker 3: spending less money on takeout and in the process being
28:25
Speaker 3: cleaner with my diet, and that is where Daily Harvest
28:29
Speaker 3: comes in. They deliver thoughtfully sourced, chef crafted food right
28:33
Speaker 3: to my apartment, and bonus for someone that feels like
28:36
Speaker 3: there just aren't enough hours in the day, everything that
28:39
Speaker 3: they deliver can be made in five minutes or less.
28:42
Speaker 2: Yesterday it was blistering cold.
28:44
Speaker 3: Outside and I so enjoyed heating up the cauliflower and
28:48
Speaker 3: leak soup.
28:49
Speaker 2: It tasted so delicious.
28:51
Speaker 3: I've paired it with a slice of Dave's Killer Bread
28:53
Speaker 3: and it was the perfect.
28:55
Speaker 2: Meal to warm me right up.
28:56
Speaker 3: Head on over to Dailyharvest dot com and enter the
28:59
Speaker 3: promo code Hurdle two five to get twenty five dollars
29:02
Speaker 3: off your first box. Again, that's promo code hurdle two
29:06
Speaker 3: five for twenty five dollars off your first box at
29:09
Speaker 3: Dailyharvest dot com. Again, that's Dailyharvest dot com. What are
29:20
Speaker 3: some examples of the types of things you start to
29:24
Speaker 3: say to yourself versus where you came from with such
29:28
Speaker 3: such a negative space, How is that dialogue changing for
29:31
Speaker 3: you at this point?
29:32
Speaker 1: So it's first like the second I think something negative,
29:36
Speaker 1: I'd change it to positive. But then also I practice
29:41
Speaker 1: something that I call my ims, and it literally just
29:44
Speaker 1: I'm beautiful, I'm smart, I'm powerful, I'm a champion. And
29:50
Speaker 1: some of those things are things that I may not
29:52
Speaker 1: even believe yet, but I'm gonna keep saying it until
29:55
Speaker 1: I believe it. There are times that I've had them
29:57
Speaker 1: written on my mirror. I'd say them in the mo
30:00
Speaker 1: morning when I wake up, I say them sometimes that
30:02
Speaker 1: if I'm having trouble falling asleep, I say them until
30:05
Speaker 1: I fall asleep. I may even do it while I'm
30:08
Speaker 1: getting a massage. It's just I guess it's a form
30:11
Speaker 1: of meditation, affirming myself, you know, training myself to think
30:16
Speaker 1: and speak positively over myself.
30:19
Speaker 3: So we're in a more positive state of mind and
30:23
Speaker 3: things are starting to go well because we're gearing up
30:26
Speaker 3: for twenty sixteen. Talk to me about the road to
30:28
Speaker 3: twenty sixteen, because the conversation points must be working a
30:31
Speaker 3: little bit. Yeah.
30:33
Speaker 1: So, I mean from twelve to sixteen was like a
30:36
Speaker 1: slow grind back. I won't say to the top, but
30:41
Speaker 1: to perform me well, I guess to the top.
30:43
Speaker 2: I was gonna say, come on, don't give yourself a
30:45
Speaker 2: little bit about it.
30:46
Speaker 1: Yes, it was just a slow, steady grind of improvement
30:50
Speaker 1: over the years. I went from twenty twelve not making
30:53
Speaker 1: the team. Twenty thirteen I was national champ, went to
30:58
Speaker 1: the World Champs. In my scout. Fifteen was another World
31:03
Speaker 1: championship year, not so great. I placed second at Nationals,
31:07
Speaker 1: but I didn't make the finals at World Champs. Sixteen
31:10
Speaker 1: was like, okay, we're back here at the trials. I'm
31:12
Speaker 1: thirty years old again. People are counting me out because
31:15
Speaker 1: I'm now thirty years old.
31:17
Speaker 2: Isn't that insane?
31:18
Speaker 1: Yeah? But and it's even more insane because it's a
31:22
Speaker 1: conversation that has had about women but not for men.
31:28
Speaker 1: And you know, we start getting that question about retirement
31:31
Speaker 1: and I'm like, but my counterparts over there is thirty five,
31:34
Speaker 1: and you're not asking him when he's retiring. Twenty sixteen
31:38
Speaker 1: was another like it was just a challenging year in
31:41
Speaker 1: the sense that I went into the year thinking it
31:44
Speaker 1: was it was my year of redemption in the sense of,
31:47
Speaker 1: you know, obviously not having made it in twenty twelve,
31:50
Speaker 1: twenty fifteen was an okay year, and then about a
31:54
Speaker 1: month before the trials, I get a tweak in my hamstring,
31:58
Speaker 1: so then it becomes okay, let's maintain and not make
32:04
Speaker 1: this injury any worse. And then it was literally like
32:08
Speaker 1: I get to the trials and it's like round by round.
32:10
Speaker 1: The first round, I could still feel my hamstring and
32:14
Speaker 1: I'm like, man, I'm unsure. But you know, at this point,
32:17
Speaker 1: I'm working with my therapist and we're still working on,
32:21
Speaker 1: you know, the positive affirmations, focusing on the things that
32:24
Speaker 1: I have control over. It was a literal round by round,
32:28
Speaker 1: and I get to the final and I just decide
32:31
Speaker 1: there's no point in taking anything home. I gotta leave
32:34
Speaker 1: it all here. So I don't remember anything about the race.
32:37
Speaker 1: I just remember.
32:38
Speaker 2: Hitting I'm really getting him now, all right.
32:43
Speaker 1: I just remember hitting the ground after the race, because
32:46
Speaker 1: I had literally run until the wheels fell off, Like
32:50
Speaker 1: I ran to the point where my legs were like
32:52
Speaker 1: I have nothing left, and I literally fell to the ground.
32:57
Speaker 4: I wish this was ideo podcast. I know, Hi, I
33:02
Speaker 4: can't wait till you speak real words. You were my
33:04
Speaker 4: youngest guests ever. Oh my god, he's.
33:08
Speaker 2: Like a namord.
33:11
Speaker 1: I remember I was working with I told Bolden at
33:15
Speaker 1: the time, and he said to me after the race,
33:17
Speaker 1: he said, why did you dive for the finish line?
33:19
Speaker 1: You were on the team and I said, I did
33:21
Speaker 1: not dive for anything like that was literally my legs
33:26
Speaker 1: that were like we have nothing left were done and
33:28
Speaker 1: I fell to the ground and everyone else knew I
33:32
Speaker 1: made the team. And I remember laying there on the
33:34
Speaker 1: ground waiting looking up at the scoreboard, waiting for my
33:37
Speaker 1: name to pop up because I literally blacked out. I
33:40
Speaker 1: didn't know what happened in the race where I was nothing.
33:44
Speaker 1: So when the three popped up next to my name,
33:47
Speaker 1: it was like I think I remember yelling like because
33:53
Speaker 1: it was just like all of this pent up emotion
33:56
Speaker 1: that finally it was like I'd been through all of
33:58
Speaker 1: this to get here to this moment and finally, and
34:02
Speaker 1: but there's there's that feeling, but then there's also the
34:07
Speaker 1: feeling of it's not over, like I still had to
34:09
Speaker 1: go to Rio. All of these exciting emotions, but also
34:14
Speaker 1: knowing that the road was still long.
34:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's interesting because it's like it's you work so
34:20
Speaker 3: hard to get to this moment where you are going
34:24
Speaker 3: to the Olympics, and for that to kind of be
34:27
Speaker 3: like your first thought like did you feel like you
34:30
Speaker 3: took enough time to celebrate even the accomplishment, which was
34:34
Speaker 3: getting back into getting back to where you had wanted
34:37
Speaker 3: to be.
34:38
Speaker 1: No, and we never do. Even after winning the Olympics,
34:42
Speaker 1: it's like onto the next So it does become like,
34:44
Speaker 1: you know, you have your media tour and you're doing
34:46
Speaker 1: all of this stuff, but then you've got coach, like,
34:48
Speaker 1: all right, training starts in six weeks. There's no time
34:52
Speaker 1: to kind of take.
34:55
Speaker 3: It in when you reflect on that period or like
34:57
Speaker 3: other similar occasions in your life where like really big
35:01
Speaker 3: exciting things happen. Do you find a theme in that
35:04
Speaker 3: that you don't take the time to celebrate, like this thing.
35:08
Speaker 1: Absolutely all the time. And actually, I don't know if
35:11
Speaker 1: I can bring this up or how much you've shared.
35:15
Speaker 1: But when we did the panel yesterday with Teddy and
35:18
Speaker 1: I was listening to him and I was like, you know,
35:21
Speaker 1: he's this the winningest judo fighter, but he's like, man,
35:26
Speaker 1: I just want one more gold medal. I just want
35:28
Speaker 1: one more And I heard it in his voice where
35:31
Speaker 1: it's like and it's not a bad thing, but it's
35:34
Speaker 1: a thing where you know, we always say if I
35:36
Speaker 1: just get this one thing, when I just achieved this
35:39
Speaker 1: one thing, when I just do this thing, then I'll
35:41
Speaker 1: be happy no, cause you're going to get there and
35:44
Speaker 1: then it's going to be like, Okay, I did it,
35:45
Speaker 1: Now on to the next. And it's this thing that
35:49
Speaker 1: as athletes, I think especially, we kind of we fall
35:52
Speaker 1: into that where it's like Okay, yeah, I need to
35:55
Speaker 1: get this medal, I need to get on this team.
35:57
Speaker 1: But as soon as you do that, then it's like okay,
35:59
Speaker 1: now that I have that have to go on to doing.
36:01
Speaker 3: This what feels like the most critical aspect of your training.
36:06
Speaker 3: Is it the physical? Is it the mental? Like where
36:09
Speaker 3: are you at during this cycle?
36:10
Speaker 1: Definitely the mental preparation was one that I was very
36:14
Speaker 1: keen on in from several aspects of you know, going
36:18
Speaker 1: back to you know, staying on the things that I
36:21
Speaker 1: had control over, but also being aware of where I
36:25
Speaker 1: was and what I was there to do. I was
36:28
Speaker 1: there on a mission. I was there to win some
36:32
Speaker 1: more medals, get on the podium, but also having the
36:36
Speaker 1: wherewithal that like I'm at the Olympics, I'm here with
36:39
Speaker 1: special friends, special training partners, my family was there, so
36:46
Speaker 1: you know, even taking the time to be intentional about
36:49
Speaker 1: having those moments was another thing that was important for
36:52
Speaker 1: me because I got to about twenty six twenty seven
36:56
Speaker 1: years old, and I took a look at my passport
37:00
Speaker 1: and saw all these great places that I've been to,
37:03
Speaker 1: and that's the memory that I have of the places
37:06
Speaker 1: that I've been to, was that simply I've been there.
37:08
Speaker 1: I have the stamps in my passport, So you know,
37:12
Speaker 1: I wanted to be intentional about being in Rio, being
37:15
Speaker 1: with loved ones while also being there for one of
37:19
Speaker 1: the greatest things in my life to compete in the Olympics.
37:22
Speaker 1: So it was more and that is a comparison that
37:26
Speaker 1: I like to make between sixteen and eight was I
37:32
Speaker 1: guess that lends to my emotional maturity in terms of,
37:36
Speaker 1: you know, what I was there for, and understanding the
37:43
Speaker 1: level of how many people go to the Olympics, you know,
37:47
Speaker 1: and just being in gratitude in that sense.
37:51
Speaker 2: I mean it worked.
37:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, the gratitude strategy seemed to work a lot
37:56
Speaker 3: more than less self defeatist strategy, right exactly. Gold being
38:01
Speaker 3: on the podium, I love like that. It's like an
38:04
Speaker 3: instant smile on your face. Yeah yeah, I mean it's
38:07
Speaker 3: something obviously no one will ever like. You'll never forget.
38:10
Speaker 1: That, never. And it's again comparing the two experiences. In
38:15
Speaker 1: two thousand and eight, I only ran the preliminary around
38:17
Speaker 1: of the four by four, so I was not on
38:18
Speaker 1: the podium. So I'm Olympic gold medalist two thousand and eight,
38:22
Speaker 1: but the experience was a lot different. And so being
38:27
Speaker 1: able to stand on the podium hearing the national anthem
38:30
Speaker 1: in my honor, or in myself and my teammates honor,
38:34
Speaker 1: being able to look out in the stands and see
38:36
Speaker 1: my mom and my grandparents and my brother and seeing
38:38
Speaker 1: how excited and proud they were of me. No, that's
38:43
Speaker 1: a moment that Yeah, I'm getting goosebumps thinking about it.
38:48
Speaker 1: Hopefully I lived out again this summer.
38:50
Speaker 2: Do you take the time to celebrate that moment?
38:55
Speaker 1: I wish I did. I wish I did. While I
38:59
Speaker 1: talk about, you know, having been in the moment there,
39:03
Speaker 1: things just went into I mean, the season wasn't over.
39:06
Speaker 1: I still had meets after the Olympics, and then once
39:10
Speaker 1: the meats were over, then there was you know, this
39:12
Speaker 1: appearance and that appearance, and so no, I didn't really.
39:17
Speaker 2: Do you think you'll learn come twenty twenty, I think so.
39:21
Speaker 1: I hope so. And especially now with my son, there
39:24
Speaker 1: are moments that I especially want to have with him.
39:27
Speaker 1: I'm hoping that I'll slow down and have those moments
39:31
Speaker 1: with him.
39:31
Speaker 3: All right, let's talk about your son for a beat then, Okay,
39:34
Speaker 3: five months old. It was, as you've spoken out about,
39:38
Speaker 3: like something that you weren't really ready for just yet.
39:42
Speaker 3: How do you feel now that you have him? And
39:46
Speaker 3: do you believe that it happened for a reason this way?
39:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was saying this morning, I was telling someone
39:56
Speaker 1: that I went through all of these emotions like why
40:01
Speaker 1: now I really want to be a mom, but just
40:04
Speaker 1: not right now? What does this mean for my training?
40:07
Speaker 1: I hated pregnancy. I was so tired, I had morning sickness.
40:11
Speaker 1: But when my son came, I'm thirty three, and I
40:15
Speaker 1: looked at him and I was like, man, why did
40:17
Speaker 1: I wait this long to have you? And even through
40:20
Speaker 1: like the hard days of him, like crying a lot,
40:23
Speaker 1: and I think he was a little bit collicky in
40:27
Speaker 1: his first month. I can't wait to have another one.
40:32
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's definitely done something to me, and I
40:39
Speaker 1: can attest to I was that girl that was like, yeah,
40:43
Speaker 1: I'm going to have kids, but my kids aren't going
40:45
Speaker 1: to run my life. I'm not going to be that mom.
40:48
Speaker 1: My kid's not going to watch TV. He's five months
40:50
Speaker 1: already watching TV. It keeps you quiet, all right? Go ahead.
40:53
Speaker 1: When women say motherhood does something to you, it really does.
40:57
Speaker 3: It really does. Talk to me about the hurdle of
40:59
Speaker 3: getting back into training. I mean, obviously five months old,
41:02
Speaker 3: it hasn't been that long, and you have a big
41:05
Speaker 3: year coming up.
41:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's something I'm still going through. So talk
41:10
Speaker 1: about just the only way is through.
41:13
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was.
41:14
Speaker 1: It was humbling. I mean, he was born a month early,
41:17
Speaker 1: and I found myself on the delivery table like, okay,
41:21
Speaker 1: he's here a month early. That means I get to
41:23
Speaker 1: start a month early.
41:25
Speaker 2: Isn't that crazy? That's where your head's at at this time.
41:27
Speaker 1: Where my head went, like and it all happened so fast.
41:31
Speaker 1: I wish we had time to talk about my birth story.
41:33
Speaker 1: Like I almost had him on the couch. I didn't
41:36
Speaker 1: even know I was in labor. Yeah, I was just like,
41:39
Speaker 1: can't wait to get back on the track. My doctor
41:41
Speaker 1: was like, you know, you were fit before your pregnancy,
41:43
Speaker 1: you were fit through your pregnancy, so I think you
41:46
Speaker 1: can start as soon as three weeks afterwards. I was
41:49
Speaker 1: ready to go. My coaches were like, uh no, you
41:53
Speaker 1: have to heal. And then so I started out walking
41:56
Speaker 1: and then I started jogging. And then when I finally
41:58
Speaker 1: got back to the track with my teammates, then it
42:01
Speaker 1: was humbling because it was like I was excited to walk,
42:04
Speaker 1: I was excited to jog. I could feel the difference.
42:07
Speaker 1: I could feel that like I had a long way
42:09
Speaker 1: to go, But getting back out there with my training
42:11
Speaker 1: partners was like, oh, you have a long way to go.
42:15
Speaker 1: And then there was the day that we had repeat
42:19
Speaker 1: five hundreds and I get to about four hundred and
42:22
Speaker 1: I start feeling this trickling feeling and I'm like, what
42:25
Speaker 1: the heck is this push through? And then finally I
42:28
Speaker 1: was like, no, I'm grown as hell. I'm not about
42:30
Speaker 1: to pee myself. And I was peeing myself. So there
42:36
Speaker 1: were all of these things that like, there's so many
42:39
Speaker 1: things that moms tell you, but there are so many
42:41
Speaker 1: things that they don't tell you.
42:43
Speaker 3: I see a tell all books like in Your Future Man.
42:48
Speaker 1: So I mean, it's been a humbling journey, and I
42:51
Speaker 1: think being able to maintain a level of sense of
42:55
Speaker 1: humor about it too has been helpful because it's like, yeah,
43:00
Speaker 1: a thirty three year old grown ass woman beeing myself
43:02
Speaker 1: and I have no control over it, Like okay, but
43:08
Speaker 1: it's been a slow, steady grind there, you know. Just
43:11
Speaker 1: as recently as last week, I had a workout where
43:14
Speaker 1: I'm like, Okay, she's in there, she's coming there there.
43:18
Speaker 1: There was definitely, though, probably about a month and a
43:20
Speaker 1: half where I was like, oooh, I don't know what
43:23
Speaker 1: we signed up for, Like I knew it was gonna
43:26
Speaker 1: be hard.
43:26
Speaker 3: But man, oh man, would you say that being a
43:29
Speaker 3: mom has the potential to make you a better athlete?
43:33
Speaker 1: I think so. And I see it in the sense
43:36
Speaker 1: that it's already forced me to be way more intentional
43:40
Speaker 1: about my time. And you know, it's everything from it's
43:46
Speaker 1: great to get up in the morning and go to
43:48
Speaker 1: work because it's it's a space for me to be Natasha.
43:52
Speaker 1: It's a space for me to be, you know, not mom.
43:56
Speaker 1: But I have to be incredibly intentional about that time
44:01
Speaker 1: in terms of getting the job done in that time,
44:04
Speaker 1: because when that time is over, I'm like, all right, guys,
44:07
Speaker 1: I gotta go. I gotta get home to my kid,
44:08
Speaker 1: and I can't wait to get home to him. So
44:10
Speaker 1: it's made me focus in a way that time is
44:16
Speaker 1: definitely I mean, I live by the clock, but now
44:21
Speaker 1: it's like, you know, now I really have to get
44:24
Speaker 1: the job done within a certain time. And then also
44:28
Speaker 1: the way that I focus on my training. Where once
44:32
Speaker 1: upon a time I could just go out there and
44:34
Speaker 1: just Okay, this is what we're doing, go do it.
44:37
Speaker 1: That'd be that. Now it's kind of like, oh, I
44:39
Speaker 1: got to focus on this keegel and this smaller muscle
44:43
Speaker 1: that I didn't even know that I had that I've
44:45
Speaker 1: now lost to strengthen because I pushed the baby out.
44:49
Speaker 1: You know, I've found myself refocusing in those smaller areas
44:54
Speaker 1: that once upon a time I took advantage of.
44:56
Speaker 3: And I mean, I feel like it's got to be
44:58
Speaker 3: interesting now after having a baby. You talked about the
45:02
Speaker 3: pressures that go hand in hand with being a professional athlete,
45:05
Speaker 3: and I can't imagine that you can even allow them
45:10
Speaker 3: to come into your space the same way now because
45:12
Speaker 3: you're a different person than you were before you had
45:14
Speaker 3: a kid.
45:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, And you know, the it's this journey now is
45:19
Speaker 1: an interesting one because it's a very personal one in
45:22
Speaker 1: the sense that I want to prove to myself what
45:27
Speaker 1: I'm made of and prove to myself that, you know,
45:30
Speaker 1: I didn't let a circumstance just end things for me.
45:35
Speaker 1: I didn't let becoming a mom be the reason why
45:37
Speaker 1: I'd be like, Okay, I'm done. And I as much
45:41
Speaker 1: as it's a personal one for me, I hope that
45:45
Speaker 1: no matter the outcome, it's an example for other moms
45:48
Speaker 1: out there that regardless of what your walk of life is,
45:51
Speaker 1: regardless of what your career is there's a.
45:55
Speaker 2: Way a lot of people.
45:56
Speaker 3: They come to your Instagram page, they see a fabulous
46:00
Speaker 3: diva mom that is ready to, you know, take on
46:04
Speaker 3: a big o and big year. Here when you look
46:07
Speaker 3: in the mirror, what is it that you see looking
46:10
Speaker 3: back at you?
46:11
Speaker 1: I see someone that wants to be vulnerable, because when
46:16
Speaker 1: you say all of those things about my Instagram, that
46:22
Speaker 1: is something that I feel like. There's strength and vulnerability
46:26
Speaker 1: and I try my best to be honest. That's why
46:31
Speaker 1: I'm sharing that I peed myself. I haven't peed myself lately,
46:36
Speaker 1: but you know, I want people to know that it's
46:38
Speaker 1: not easy. And while I may put some makeup on
46:41
Speaker 1: and I may make it look easy, there is a
46:46
Speaker 1: struggle there is there. There are bad days. There are
46:49
Speaker 1: days that I question myself. There are days that I'm
46:52
Speaker 1: unsure I'm no different than any other woman, and you know,
46:56
Speaker 1: just going after your goals and your dreams. I see
47:00
Speaker 1: a vulnerable woman that is getting through her shit.
47:05
Speaker 2: What excites you right now?
47:09
Speaker 1: It excites me and scares me at the same time
47:11
Speaker 1: as the unknown. You know, the unknown is scary. But
47:16
Speaker 1: I'm just thinking about where my life is going and
47:21
Speaker 1: where my son's life is going at this point and
47:25
Speaker 1: just being able to see him grow into a respectable
47:30
Speaker 1: young man that respects women. Yeah, the unknown, the unknown.
47:34
Speaker 3: I also find that we can't close out this podcast
47:37
Speaker 3: without at least touching on your makeup line.
47:40
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah four jermina Diva dot com. Thank you
47:44
Speaker 1: for the plug.
47:45
Speaker 2: You're welcome.
47:47
Speaker 1: Yeah. We specialize right now in Matt lipsticks and eyelashes,
47:52
Speaker 1: but we are looking to expand, but for now, those
47:55
Speaker 1: are our special items. We got Mink lashes that you
47:58
Speaker 1: can wear up to twenty five times, and our Matt
48:02
Speaker 1: lipsticks last through all your coffee and your water all day.
48:06
Speaker 2: I love that the lipstick that your go to for
48:09
Speaker 2: track is called war Paint.
48:10
Speaker 1: Yep.
48:11
Speaker 2: It's perfect.
48:12
Speaker 1: Yep, it's per perfect.
48:14
Speaker 3: Final question, you have an opportunity right now to offer
48:19
Speaker 3: the Natasha in twenty twelve, who is like doubting everything,
48:25
Speaker 3: one piece of advice going through that hurdle moment. What
48:28
Speaker 3: is it that you tell her right now?
48:33
Speaker 1: Be careful how you're speaking to yourself. You have to
48:36
Speaker 1: love yourself before anyone else can love you. And that's
48:42
Speaker 1: that's not even about track, that's just life. It's just yourself.
48:46
Speaker 2: I love it. Thanks so much for sitting down with me.
48:48
Speaker 1: Thank you for having me.
48:50
Speaker 3: Please take a moment and leave a quick review by
48:52
Speaker 3: clicking the link with the description of this episode. We
48:54
Speaker 3: all face multiple hurdles in life. I want to hear
48:57
Speaker 3: about yours. Reach Out to me at Emily at hurdle
48:59
Speaker 3: dot us, connect with the podcast Instagram, Twitter at Hurdle Podcast. Natasha,
49:04
Speaker 3: where do they find you? How do they keep up
49:06
Speaker 3: with you? If they can even try?
49:08
Speaker 1: Everything is Natasha Hastings Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.
49:14
Speaker 3: There we go. That's the rundown. I am at Emily Abodi.
49:17
Speaker 3: Another hurdle conquered. Catch you guys next time.