Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 126. Allyson Felix, Sprinter & 6x Olympic Gold Medalist

Transcript

126. Allyson Felix, Sprinter & 6x Olympic Gold Medalist · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Embrace this moment, like this moment where you feel like
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: this is a failure. Look at what you can learn
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: from this, Like take out the positives, because I think
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: every defeat, every failure, every missed mark, whatever that looks
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: like in your life, there is a lesson to be
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: learned and there's something to take out of that that
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  Speaker 1: can prepare you for something later.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Like Hey, Hurdlers, Emily Abodi here bringing you Episode one
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: twenty six of Hurdle a Wellness, a focused podcast where
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  Speaker 2: I sit down with inspiring individuals to talk about everything
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: up from their big wins to how they've conquered life's
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: toughest moments. On the show, you can expect vulnerability, motivation,
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: and candid discussions with everyone from top athletes to aspiring
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: entrepreneurs and what it really takes to follow your passions.
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: My mission is simple.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: To inspire you to be your best self, move with intention,
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: and have some fun along the way. I'm not even
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: going to bury the lead here. I am amped because
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: this week I am talking to one of the best.
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: Allison Felix.
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  Speaker 2: She is the most decorated female track athlete in Olympic history,
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  Speaker 2: a nine time medallist, including six golds and has been
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  Speaker 2: competing since around age eighteen.
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  Speaker 3: In short, she is a force.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: This has been an interview that I've been after forever,
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: and a huge, huge thanks to my friends at Athleta
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: for lining it up with the release of her first
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: ever line with the company.
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: More on that in just a second. In the meantime,
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: let me rap a little bit about Allison. I clearly
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: have a girl crush on this woman. She is a
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  Speaker 3: rock star.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: In today's episode, we talk about what it was like
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: for her to find success at a really young age,
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: and I found it so so interesting that our definitions
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  Speaker 2: of success definitely definitely differed. We chatted about how she
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  Speaker 2: got over the mental hurdles that came with falling just
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  Speaker 2: short of her goals early on, and what it felt
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  Speaker 2: like when she felt as though she realized her full potential.
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  Speaker 2: Alison is amped up for the projected twenty twenty one
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  Speaker 2: Olympic Games, but of course we chat about what it
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: was like for her to deal with the announcement that
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: they would be postponed, as well as the other things
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: that are going on in her life being a new mom.
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  Speaker 3: We touched on her New York Times abed last.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: Year chatting about her experience with Nike and pregnancy, and
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  Speaker 2: of course what I found super interesting was how she
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  Speaker 2: has had to modify her training because of the pandemic
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  Speaker 2: and the shift.
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  Speaker 3: Of the Olympic year and all that stuff. Again, super
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  Speaker 3: amped on this convo.
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  Speaker 2: I know it's one that y'all are going to love
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  Speaker 2: and a huge, huge, I can't say this enough.
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: Thank you to Athleta.
• 3:04
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• 3:09
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• 3:11
  Speaker 2: The legend high neck bra is staple now in the rotation,
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: and I'm really digging the look of these like track
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: pants that look like nineties wind pants that make me
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: feel so much cooler than I really am. Before we
• 3:27
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  Speaker 2: at about eight hundred and fifty reviews in the iTunes store.
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  Speaker 3: This is what I'm talking about.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: We have a couple weeks left in the month and
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  Speaker 2: I am shooting for that one thousand mark. So if
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  Speaker 2: the iTunes store by clicking the link with the description
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  Speaker 2: of this episode and leave a rating and review of
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  Speaker 2: the pod. As always, take a screen grab as you're listening,
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  Speaker 2: a body as well. If you have a Hurdle moment
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• 6:02
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• 6:18
  Speaker 3: And that's it. With that, let's get to hurdling.
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  Speaker 2: Today. I am sitting down with Alison Felix. She needs
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  Speaker 2: no introduction, but I'm gonna offer up a little something anyway.
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  Speaker 2: Six time Olympic gold medalist, the most decorated track and
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  Speaker 2: field Olympian in history. Alison, how you doing today?
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  Speaker 1: I'm good? How are you? Thank you for having me.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, I'm so good. I've been looking forward to this
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  Speaker 2: conversation since I would say before the pod launched, so
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  Speaker 2: I've been looking forward to this conversation for a solid.
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  Speaker 1: Two and a half years. Well, I'm so happy to
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  Speaker 1: be having it with you.
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  Speaker 2: I am selfishly going to start us off with a
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: question on how to deal and what I mean is,
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: right now, I'm talking to you from New York. It
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: is hot and a lot of the people that are
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: listening to this podcast are having those days where they're
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: getting out there and they're lacing up and they feel
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: as though it is just not possible to get the
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  Speaker 2: run done. So what do you do, Alison Felix when
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: you have these kind of days?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, I'm definitely having those days as well, and
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  Speaker 1: I think I am definitely trying to be kind to
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  Speaker 1: myself because that is life. Like, you know, we are
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  Speaker 1: going to have those days. There's no escaping that.
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  Speaker 3: I think.
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  Speaker 1: I'm just trying to stay motivated through that. And it's
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  Speaker 1: looking like, you know, making goals and like breaking those
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  Speaker 1: down into like a week. Sometimes it's a daily goal,
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  Speaker 1: like you know, how am I going to get through
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  Speaker 1: this day? What are the little like things I can
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  Speaker 1: check off my list? And just continuing to do that.
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  Speaker 1: And one thing I love to do is with my workouts,
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  Speaker 1: I write everything down and so I look back at
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  Speaker 1: that into me. That gives me confidence and I think
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  Speaker 1: that that can be applied to like other areas of
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  Speaker 1: life as well. Just like jotting down and looking back
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  Speaker 1: and seeing like how far you've come, like really does
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  Speaker 1: something at least for me.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, And I mean you've certainly come a long way.
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  Speaker 2: There's so much to get to in today's episode, but
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  Speaker 2: what I would love to start off with for real,
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  Speaker 2: now is bringing it back to growing up. Talk to
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  Speaker 2: me about growing up in California and were you always
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  Speaker 2: always an active lady?
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  Speaker 1: So I grew up in the heart of la And yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I would say that I was pretty active, you know.
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  Speaker 1: I my parents definitely had me like growing up in
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  Speaker 1: the community like super active, super involved. Grew up in
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  Speaker 1: my neighborhood. Was always either playing basketball, riding my bike,
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  Speaker 1: just you know, doing a lot of different things. And
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  Speaker 1: I had a really great childhood, a great family, and
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  Speaker 1: I think that was really the foundation that taught me,
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  Speaker 1: you know, to work hard and you know, to value
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  Speaker 1: myself and really pushed me off when I later, you know,
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  Speaker 1: later in life, found actually what was my passion and
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  Speaker 1: you know, what I wanted to do with my life.
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  Speaker 2: And when you first found what you wanted to do
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  Speaker 2: with your life, which I'm assuming is running unless did
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  Speaker 2: you have any moments before you got to this point
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  Speaker 2: that you said to yourself, I want to be I
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  Speaker 2: don't know, a teacher.
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  Speaker 1: You actually hit it right right there. I did want
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  Speaker 1: to be a teacher. I actually my mom she was
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  Speaker 1: a third grade teacher, and so I grew up in
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  Speaker 1: her classroom and I just knew that's what I wanted
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  Speaker 1: to do, and I did. I studied elementary education at
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  Speaker 1: USC and I still have a love for children, but
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  Speaker 1: I did think that I was going to end up
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  Speaker 1: in a classroom, you know, teaching kids.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, So growing up you were super active. What
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  Speaker 2: would you say was one of your earliest memories that
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  Speaker 2: involved sport.
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  Speaker 1: It would have to do with my brother. Like, our
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  Speaker 1: family's pretty competitive, and growing up with my brother, he
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  Speaker 1: never took it easy on me, and so we did
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  Speaker 1: a lot in the backyard. We had a basketball hoop
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  Speaker 1: and we would play basketball. We would have like backyard races,
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  Speaker 1: like whatever he was into. You could pretty much find
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  Speaker 1: me like tagging along not too far behind. And so
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  Speaker 1: I guess the earliest memories I have was like losing
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  Speaker 1: to him in every single sport. And I guess that's
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  Speaker 1: why it ended up working out later on for me.
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  Speaker 2: I would say, so, so in high school, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: you're already excelling with running. Talk to me about what
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  Speaker 2: it was like even from a young age to find
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  Speaker 2: that success. I mean, did you have the butterflies and
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  Speaker 2: the nerves that come hand in hand with being a
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  Speaker 2: high school athlete?
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  Speaker 1: Totally? You know it was a bit of a whirlwind.
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  Speaker 1: I came out from basketball season, and I was at
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: a new high school, and so I really was trying
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  Speaker 1: to meet new people and that's what brought me to
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  Speaker 1: track and field. And I did and I found my
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: group of people, and I think that's the thing that really,
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  Speaker 1: you know, really got me into track. And then I
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: quickly saw that I had a lot of potential. And
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  Speaker 1: then things just really took off, and you know it started,
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  Speaker 1: success started, but also like you know, having to make
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: a bigger commitment and dedicate myself and kind of learning
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  Speaker 1: all those things that really, you know, give you the foundation.
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  Speaker 2: It wasn't just like light success. I mean at seventeen,
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  Speaker 2: you're already doing some insane things. I mean, do you
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  Speaker 2: have a point where you start to realize just how
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: much potential that you really have.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: I think it was my junior year in high school
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  Speaker 1: that's really when things started to sink in for me.
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  Speaker 1: I started I coach did a really great job of
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: just like exposing me and getting me in some races
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  Speaker 1: with some professionals, and I think that's when I realized, like, Wow,
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  Speaker 1: this could actually be a career. And I think because
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: I started in track, much later than you know, most
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  Speaker 1: Olympians do. I had no idea that like, you could
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  Speaker 1: do this for a living, that you you know, really
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: the ins and outs of the Olympics and all of that.
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  Speaker 1: So that's really was a turning point for me.
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  Speaker 2: A turning point. Okay, so you realize that you have
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: a future in this and what happens at eighteen, So.
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  Speaker 1: That is when my Olympic dreams were realized. And so
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  Speaker 1: I went pro straight from high school and I still
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: attended USC as a normal college student, and so it
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: was a lot. It was a lot to handle. I
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: was doing that, I was having my first professional season,
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  Speaker 1: and that's the year, it was two thousand and four
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  Speaker 1: that I made my first Olympic team, and so kind
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  Speaker 1: of gave me that fire, you know, going to the
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: Olympics as a teenager and open my eyes. It was
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: a bit overwhelming, but it also just ignited that fire that, wow,
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  Speaker 1: this has given me a taste of, you know, of
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: the Olympics, and I need to commit myself if I
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: really want to be successful on this level.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: What was it like to do college and be a
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: pro athlete at the same time.
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  Speaker 1: It was really hard. I mean, I think I imagined
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: it being like high school, you know, like of course
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: you go to class, like you balance everything, and so
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: I was super naive going into it. And then I realized, Okay,
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: I'm at USC, like I'm traveling the world. I'm all,
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: I'm overseas and I'm having to like take finals, and
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: you know, professors are not that understanding because I don't compete,
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: you know, collegiately, I don't compete for USC, and so
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: I was like really trying to do this all on
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: my own. So I will definitely say the first couple
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: of years of you know, being a young woman in college,
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: I was really trying to navigate and like figure this
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: all out. And at the same time, I felt like
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: I was missing out on that like traditional college experience.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: And it was a rocky road, you know, starting out
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: until I really got my groove.
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: At that time. It wasn't like you were waking up
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: in the morning and checking your phone and looking at
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: social media. So when you were walking around campus, do
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: you did you get the sense that people knew who
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: you were, Like, did you have kind of a persona
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: around campus?
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: I think everybody kind of knew my situation a bit
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: and knew who I was, but at the same time,
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: you know we're talking la like football rules, you've got
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: you know, the height of USC football and just LA
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: in general. You know. It was very celebrity driven, and
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: so I felt like I was I went a little
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: under the radar, but it was this just really cool
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: environment as well. You know, so I was trying to
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: like figure out my way, like where I fit in
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: all of this.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: Talk to me about going to the Olympics for the
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: first time.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: Oh, it was amazing. You know again, I was eighteen
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: years old, and so it was like my first competition,
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: like big time competition overseas, and I just was taking
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: everything in.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: I walked opening ceremonies, I lived in the Olympic village,
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: you know, just was meeting like people that had looked
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: up to It was just a really really incredible experience.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: And then the competition, to me, that was really what
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: started to drive me, you know, later on, but it
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: gave me that taste of you know, you're really going
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: to have to sacrifice and work hard to have success
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: on this biggest stage.
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: You go from silver at Summer two thousand and four
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: to then gold at the World Championships in two thousand
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: and five, that first gold medal. Talk to me about that.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: It was amazing. You know, I felt, although I was
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: able to put things in perspective later on about two thousand,
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: I was really disappointed. You know. Obviously everyone wants to
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: run for gold, and so to have to come back
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: the next year and to get that, you know, that
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: first individual gold medal was so special, and I just
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: I knew that I needed to still continue on that
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: path and just you know, continue to dedicate myself to
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: to improve my gut.
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: Reaction wasn't to think that you might have been disappointed
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: with that silver.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, as a like looking back, you know,
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: as a teenager, I just I wanted to do so well.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: Like you know, I had a lot of critique making
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: that decision to go from high school as a professional,
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: and so you know, there was a lot writing on it,
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: and so I was I was really disappointed. But I
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: credit my family. They like my mom was like quickly, like,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: you know, you're eighteen years old, this is an amazing blessing,
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: Like you need to be grateful. And then you know,
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: obviously I was able to see from that perspective, but
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: the initial feeling was definitely disappointment.
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and at such a young age, I think that.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: And now, I mean you've been doing this for a
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: minute now and you've probably had the opportunity, which I
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: would love to ask you about to work with some
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: great sports psychologists. But at the time, like you're still
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: coming into your own as a woman, so all of
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: the pressures that go hand in hand with not just
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: performing on an international stage, but then also again like
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: handling your school work, handling college. It's a lot.
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: It was.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: It was a lot. Yeah, It's like there's just so
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: much to try to figure out, and you know, having
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: no experience at that point and track is a bit isolating,
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: you know, you're trying to figure out things. I was training,
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: it was just me and my coach, and so there
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: was so much, so many things that were completely new
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: to me, and it definitely, you know, it took time
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: to figure out like what's going to work for me
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: and how can I be successful in this? And so
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: I always tell you know, young women who are thinking about,
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: you know, making that move, that you really have to
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: have a support system because if it were not for
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: the people I had around me, there's no way I
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: could have I could have figured it out and could
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: have been successful in.
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: That, and of course you'd continue on your career. It's
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: not like that that two thousand and four Summer Olympics
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: was the only silver medal and you actually dealt with
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: that again at your next Olympics in two thousand and eight.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: I did, and the devastation was like a whole different level.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: And you know, in two thousand and eight, you know,
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: and now I have just I've just graduated from USC
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: right when I was going to the Olympics, and I was,
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: you know, now there are responsibilities, you know, there are
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: sponsors that expect you to win. I was. I had
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: success in the years between. I you know, I was
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: the favorite, and so to have to get another silver
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: medal to the exact same person, I was just inconsolable.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: And you know, it really made me question a lot
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: of the things because I felt like I had done
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: all of the right things, and you know, I felt
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: like there was no movement and no progress, and so
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: it was it was definitely a really challenging time for me.
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: Two questions for follow up. First of all, are you
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: and Veronica Campbell friendly?
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: Yes, we are friendly. I you know, it's funny looking
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: back like, you know, we competed it against each other
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: so much, but I loved it because I knew that,
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: like when we lined up against each other, like she
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: was going to bring the best out of me and
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: I had to come with it. And I think you
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: need somebody like that to challenge yourself, you know, like
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: just throughout life, like you know, you need someone to
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: push you to be your best. And so she was
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: a huge motivation for me. But yes, we're friendly.
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: I love that. And I think that also kind of
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: goes on the vibe of like learning from these failures,
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: so to speak, and not as much from our successes.
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: It's like the hard stuff and these hurdle moments, as
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: I love to call that, these are the you know,
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: the moments of adversity that really give us an opportunity
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: to grow.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: Oh completely, I completely agree with that. I look at
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: two thousand and eight, I look at that devastation that
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: second Silver Metal as a defining moment in my career
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: because to me, that was the turning point. Like I
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: in the moment, I couldn't see it, but it was
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: really everything to me. It made me look at how
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: I was doing everything, you know, my dedication and how
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: important this was to me, and just looking back, like
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: I possibly wasn't ready to have that level of success
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: right there, but I think that moment prepared me for
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: everything later on.
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: How do you pull yourself out of that devastation and
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: how do you move forward? Talk to me about what
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: the weeks and months after that hardship were like for you.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: It definitely took time. Like that night, I remember going
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: back to my room in the Olympic village and just
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: being out of it and you know, not really wanting
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: to be around anyone, and my phone kept going off
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: and it was my coach's wife, Jackie joined a kursy,
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: and she just kept texting me, kept checking in with
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: me and just you know, making sure that I was good.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: And I think it was just leaning on those people
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: who could see the bigger picture, because at that point
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: I couldn't. And so the fact that they believed in
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: me and that they were pushing me to still continue
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: on it was everything And it helped me out of
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: that funk and just helped me see that like this
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: could still come together. So it definitely took, you know,
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: time to get back to a place where I was
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: excited and motivated and ready to go back to work,
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: but I think sometimes you need that, you need to
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: step away for a second and get refreshed. And then
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: we started to look at everything that we're doing, like
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: how can we get better in every single area? And
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: that was really really helpful as well. But I think
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: the one if I could credit one thing, it would
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: be my support system. So my mentor, Jackie, Jackie, Johanna Kersey,
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: you know, Bobby, my coach, my family, and just leaning
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: on all of them.
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: Talk to me about the granular because I'm super interested
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: from your side of things you talked about like really
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: analyzing your performance. What are the things that you really
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: start to pick apart?
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: Well, after that second Silver Metal, I looked at everything.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: So I looked at the way I was training. I
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: looked at from the aspect of like I need to
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: get really fast, like I need to go back to
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: like like a lot of ballistic sprint work. I looked
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: at my weight program, How what was I doing? Like
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: was I doing the right things, the right system? Was
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: it the right philosophy? Started working with someone different. I
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: started taking my nutrition seriously, and that's something that I
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: hadn't even explored, you know, being you know a teenager
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: early twenties, like I did, I was getting away with
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: things that just you know, weren't right health wise, and
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: so I looked at that just technique. We tried to
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: just like break down everything that we were doing and
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: see if we could do it in a better way.
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: You know, I'm going to dig into you about the
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: health wise things as the teenager that you needed to tweak.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, I was just like I would break it
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: down as like not having to, you know, really worry
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: about anything because I was running so much that that
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: was kind of like the saving grace. But what I
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: didn't understand is that, like you know, the fuel that
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: you put into your body, a lot of that has
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: to do with your recovery and how you feel. And
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: that was the biggest thing that I really learned in
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: those moments and felt like I could improve.
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: What kind of recovery. I mean, I'm sure obviously with
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: all of the technology that's available these days, certainly changed
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: a lot, but what kind of recovery are you prioritizing
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: the most in your regular routine right now?
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: Definitely just pure rest, like understanding that like my rest
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: is just as important as as the intense work that
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: I'm doing, and especially like now that my life is
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: crazy and I'm a mother and you know, days are busy,
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: like my sleep is really important, and making sure that
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: I'm getting enough and what that looks like and taking
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: time like just mentally for myself to give myself that
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: break is huge. And then I am you know, seeing
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: chiropractor massage therapists pretty much on a weekly basis. I
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: do that ice bass and then all the little things,
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: you know, foam rolling and massage gun like, you know,
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: all the little, the little tedious.
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: Things these days. How I mean, how long were you
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: out of what would have otherwise been your quote unquote
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: normal routine or your normal recovery routine at least with
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: everything that was going on this year.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: I would say about three months. And I had to
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: rely on myself more than I ever thought was possible
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: and just you know, really get down to like the
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: basics and like figure out, like, okay, what things can
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: I do myself? You know, like I'm not And it
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: was definitely a really serious thing because I was still
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: training at an intense level and so I needed to
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: take more rest days because I knew I wasn't getting
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: adjustments like I you know I was relying on myself
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: for all of those things.
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I can't even imagine like going from a place
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: where you have someone else helping you with like massage
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: and adjustments on the regular and then you're like, Okay,
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: I'm going to still try to do this while running
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: around my neighborhood and just hope for the best.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's a very scary thing. But you know,
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: the one thing I will say is like, listen to
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: your body. I think that's the biggest thing, is like
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: who knows your body better than yourself? And you really
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: have to back off when you need to. And I
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: think that was also something that really helped.
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: So let's rewind it back again closer to twenty ten,
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: twenty eleven. Aside from getting through that hurdle moment and
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: dealing with the silvers from the Olympics before, what other
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: difficulties would you say that you're facing in your sport.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: Definitely went through a period where I was really, I
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: guess frustrated with the state of there was a you know,
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: we went through Balco and we went through just like
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: all of this. I was very naive, I guess coming
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: into the spot of the of the involvement that drugs
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: had in it, and I think my eyes, like I
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: totally looked up to Mary Jones. She was, you know,
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: an idol of mine, and so, you know, to that
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: was my first kind of experience on the professional scene
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: was seeing that all fall apart, and I had a
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: hard time with that, you know it kind of it
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: just kind of left me feeling some type of way
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: about where things were and what I thought things were.
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: And so that kind of continued, and there were frustrations, like,
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: you know, just of thinking, am I is this a
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: level playing field? Like is you know I'm here working
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: as hard as I can and doing things the right way?
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: Does that matter? Like is that going to pay off?
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: And so a lot of those thoughts.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: It's so interesting to me because I think what probably
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: must have been frustrating for you was just not fully
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: understanding how much of this was actually happening around you exactly.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: I mean, you you know, you watch sports on TV
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: and you picture it to be one way, and then
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: when you enter it at a very young age and
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: kind of all those walls are you know, fall down
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: and you actually see what's happening and how rampant it is.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: Was just you know, it was a lot to deal
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: with at a young age and to figure out, you know,
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: like how do I fit in all this? And you know,
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: can I be successful on all this? Like will I
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: ever you know, be on top? Like? Is that something?
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: I think that's something that concerned me.
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: It's so interesting to hear someone that's so successful, both
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: back then in their sport and now in their sport
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: ask themselves if they would ever be on top at
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: that time? What would you say were your biggest goals
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: as an athlete?
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: Definitely, you know at that time, I always, you know,
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: would define success as far as winning gold medals at
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: the Olympics, and so I think that was, you know,
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: that was my biggest goal, was simply that to be
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: able to perform on the biggest stage and to walk
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: away with gold medals.
• 28:41
  Speaker 3: Walk away with gold medals.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: But obviously, I mean that's only happening once every four years.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: So in the interim, what is it that keeps you going?
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: And are you waking up every single day? And I
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: always reflect on this conversation I had with Des Linden
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: where she talked to me about leading up to the
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: Boston Marathon and for literally the nine months leading up
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: to the Boston Marathon, she woke up every single day
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: and she said to herself, I'm going to sleep, I'm
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: going to eat, and I'm going to live my life
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: like a Boston Marathon champion. Would you say that you
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: had the same mentality but over a four year cycle
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: for the Olympics.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: I think that's a good way to explain it. It's
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: always in the back of your head, and it's always
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: what everything is for, you know, every workout, every thing
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: that you have to decline, every you know, birthday, celebration,
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: family event that you miss. It's all because that is
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: the goal and that's what you're working towards. And yeah,
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: definitely goes in those four year swings, which makes it
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: even harder because it's just like this constant thing that
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: you are pushing for.
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: How is it possible in that event, then to feel
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: as though you have any sort of balance between your
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: personal life and your professional life. Would you say that
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: during this time and the height of your career that
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: you had the opportunity to have a personal life.
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: I would say it probably wasn't a healthy balance. Looking
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: back at it, it was kind of out of whack,
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: you know. I definitely tried, you know, I try. I
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: think there was a lot of figuring out like what
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: works and what doesn't. But again you go back to
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: like the Olympics as my goal, and I have to
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: make all these sacrifices, and so I think I made
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: a lot of sacrifices in those areas. I had people
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: in my life who were very understanding of what I
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: was doing. And I think a lot of being an
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: athlete at this level is a lot of being selfish,
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: you know, a lot of putting yourself before some real
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: life stuff, and that's just the way that it goes,
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: I think. But you know, I wish that there could
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: be a better balance of those things. And I think,
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: you know, the more experience you have, you figure it
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: out much better. But those early years was it was hard.
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: You know, you definitely have those growing moments.
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: So you go in to your third Olympics and where
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: is your head at when it comes to this point,
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: because now, like you are beyond established in your sport.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: I would say going into the third Olympics, I had
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: an unusual sense of calm. I had now done everything,
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: you know, like I talked about kind of reinventing the
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: wheel in two thousand and eight, Yeah, two thousand and eight.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: Coming off of that and then going into twelve, I
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: just was I was at peace with that, you know
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: that if this is for me, it's going to be
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: for me. I've worked as hard as I can, I've
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: done everything in every area as far as training, and
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: I just felt really confident in that and being okay,
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: like if this wasn't going to work out, then you know,
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: then this just wasn't for me.
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: I think you've always as an athlete, I mean, and
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: obviously it's very different for me sitting here on the
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: couch getting hyped up watching you run in circles. But
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: I think as a and athlete, you've just always exuded
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: the sense of calm. And I think that's something that
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: a lot of us struggle to find when we're meeting
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: really big challenge, right, It's like how do you get
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: to this place of calm? So I'll ask you, aside
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: from the confidence that you have in your performance, what
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: do you do to get back to calm?
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: It really goes back to that like training journal that
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: I keep and I log every single workout, and to me,
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: confidence is in preparation. And so by going back and
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: like knowing that I'm training as hard as I can
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: and looking back through those days where you know it's
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: just grueling and I'm still pushing myself through it. It
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: just gives me that extra sense of confidence and that
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: I'm prepared for the biggest moments and to be able
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: to go into it knowing that there's not a single
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: thing that I could have done differently. I think it
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: does bring me to that place of okay, like now
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: it's time to show the world what I've been working on,
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: and it's you know, it's time to the work is
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: already done, like you know, that's the performance part, but
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: the hard part has been at training, like you know,
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: when no one is out there and you're just like
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: struggling through it yourself.
• 33:19
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  Speaker 2: struggle with. Even tie it into the concept of technology
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• 35:25
  Speaker 2: out there and you move without your watch, is this
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: is this run actually counting doing anything for you? I'm
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: curious are you wearing technology or anything like that when
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: you're on the move.
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: For the most part, I'm not really you know, like
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: when I'm working out where I'm just like, you know,
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: doing my track workouts and ballistic speedwork. I might like
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: in the gym, I'll like have a heart rate monitor
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: on if I'm doing like a longer run, I might
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: like track that in some way. I like with my sleep,
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: like I've been kind of tracking that and with heart
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: rate levels and things like that. But for the most part,
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: I would say I think the most of my technology
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: comes in place for like recovery and just like seeing
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: my output and being able to manage that with some things.
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: I would be remiss if we didn't cover here the
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: kind of third times a charm come back for you
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: at the twenty twelve Olympics. Yes, talk to me about
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: all of that. It was.
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So I talked about like kind of that sense
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: of calm like going into it, and it was just
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: a really special time. You know. It was around the
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: two hundred and that finally came together. And to me
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: that was so special because of all it represented, you know,
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: the hardship and Athens and the growing pains and the
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: devastation in Beijing, and like, here was this moment not
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: just about myself, but my whole support system that has
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: been on this ride with me and pushed me, you know,
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: there on it with me, and you know, we found
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: success and then to go on and we broke the
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: world record in the four by one, which was just
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: incredible and something I never really even imagined. And then
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: we had a successful run in the four by four,
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: and I also competed in the hundred, which I never
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: could have. Like, I love the hundred, but it's not
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: my event. And so to think that I competed in
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: the Olympics and made the one hundred meter final, to me,
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: that's like still blows my mind. And it was just
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: a really successful games for me. And I felt like
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: I finally had, you know, stepped into a bit of
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: my potential.
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: Something we haven't touched on. Wow, I can't even like
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: move on because I'm so focused in my head about
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: what you said about finally stepping into your potential. I mean,
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: it's so interesting to me to hear you say that,
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: because you have been just like thriving on potential from
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: literally like sixteen seventeen years old. So to get to
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: this point now, three Olympics in, where you finally feel
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: like you're getting there, do you ever ask yourself if
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: you're being too hard on yourself?
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm Everyone who knows me knows that I will
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: always be hard on myself. It's just like who I am.
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: So I think I think in a different kind of
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: way because there definitely was success, you know, before then.
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: But I think, you know, just being able to finally
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: get that gold medal and all it meant to me.
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: But looking back, you know, I would definitely now define
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: success in a much different way, and I would just
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: define kind of the experience and the journey so differently.
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: I think I did focus too much on that end
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: goal of a gold medal, Like I totally miss the
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: magic like in between and that growth and stretching of
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: myself and all of that. Like, looking back, those were
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: the moments that it was all happening instead of you know,
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: crossing the line and you know, getting these three gold medals.
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: It didn't. I don't think it met the expectation that
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: I had built it up to. And looking back, I
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: know that's because of the journey and the special moments
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: that happened along the way.
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: Would you say after you finally got the taste of
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: that sweet gold medal in that event, that you were
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: able to start savoring the journey as you went on
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: to your next four year cycle completely.
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: I started to just look and experience my career in
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: a whole different way. It had completely different meaning. Once
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: I had that realization, it didn't happen like right away.
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: I think it took a moment to understand what was happening.
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: I think I felt a bit of confusion of like,
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: why did this moment not feel like what I imagined
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: it to be. So I did work to really understand
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: what that was, and then I started to just embrace
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: the journey and embrace those moments of failure and defeat
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: and figure out, you know, how do you learn how
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: do you become better? And at the heart of all
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: of that was that character and integrity has always been
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: super important to me, and that was kind of something
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: that even if I, you know, lost, those were two
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: things that has to be intact for me and and
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: and so yeah, I definitely approach things differently.
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: I'd imagine it was kind of unsettling and maybe even
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: a little bit scary to get to this big goal
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: and then not feel how you kind of thought that
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: it would feel.
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think that a lot of us, a
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: lot of people probably go through that, and I think
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: it takes time to like understand that what that is.
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: And I think in my situation, it was this long
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: time period of building up the end goal to be
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: the you know everything, instead of like understanding what a
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: process is and understanding like what growth looks like and
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: that it happens at hard moments and you know, celebrate
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: the victories along the way. And yeah, it's something that
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: I feel like you have to kind of experience and
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: learn from.
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: We haven't talked at all about the injuries that you
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: had dealt with up until this point and kind of
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: going on through your career, and then we'll transition you
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: know sooner to the now. I know, in twenty thirteen,
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: you dealt with a pretty nasty hamstring injury that lingered
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: around for a little while.
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and in my career, I haven't had like many injuries,
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: and so that happened at a World Championship and it
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: was really hard because I had never kind of been
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: in that situation where it was like, Okay, the World
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: Championship final and I go down with this injury. And
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: you know, injuries are hard for athletes, like you know,
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: your mind is telling you one thing and your body
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: is doing something completely different. And so just going through
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: the rehab process and having to go slow and just
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: having to be patient like all things that are not
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: fun and don't come natural, and just like kind of
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: sticking with it to continue to be able to do
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: you know what I love.
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: So I'm we don't need to recap every single little
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: thing that happens between two thousand and fourteen when you're
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: coming back from this injury and athletically at least until now.
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: But if you had to look back on that, I
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: would say four year period or so, what would be
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: your two biggest highlights?
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: Let's see, twenty fifteen was really special because I won
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: the World championship in the four hundred, an event that
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: I really don't care for that much. Doesn't come easy
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: for me, and so that was a big thing for me.
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: And then I would say, like in Rio, it was
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: all about overcoming adversity for me, Like I dealt with
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: a really serious injury right before Olympic trials and that
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: was kind of like the theme for me of that
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: twenty sixteen It was just a lot of you know,
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: personal hurdles and you know, just things not working out
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: how I wanted them to and figuring out a way
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: to just fight. I would say that like that I
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: learned what I that was strong and learned that I
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: could just keep going.
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: I love again, Like these themes that you're bringing up
• 43:06
  Speaker 2: talking about like learning about your own strength, were there
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: any difficulties. I Mean, you just cited a couple of
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: really big wins, but were there any difficulties amidst these
• 43:14
  Speaker 2: wins that reminded you of what your strength really meant? Uh?
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I would definitely go back, like even to the
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: four hundred in Rio, where I was competing for the
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: first time on the Olympic stage in that event and
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: I had I was not one hundred percent. I was
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: overcoming injury and I ended up giving getting a silver metal,
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: you know, in a really tight race. And just like
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: like you mentioned, like learning about the strength that I
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: had to not give up to continue to fight, like
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: in a situation that's not ideal, and just to you know,
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: to try to to be resilient, like not let that
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: one moment be defining, and just to be able to
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: push myself to continue on when everything else is telling
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: you not too.
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: We're going to transition a little bit in our conversation here,
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: but fast forward to twenty eighteen. You want to talk
• 44:05
  Speaker 2: about resiliency and pushing forward and having faith in this process.
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: I mean, that's exactly what you dealt with when you
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: were going through the birth of your daughter.
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that was a situation that again, you know, went
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: back to learning about myself and my strength. You know,
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: I gave birth to my daughter at thirty two weeks.
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: I had a severe case of preclaancia and a really
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: scary kind of traumatic situation and thank god we both
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: ended up making it and you know, are healthy. But
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: it was a really rocky road and we spent about
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: a month in the nick You with my daughter and
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: being an athlete and being someone who is like so
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: physically strong. It tested me in an emotional way that
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: I had never experienced before, and I don't think I
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: was prepared for that, and it really helped me see
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: life for what it was and put things in perspective.
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: And at that moment, you know, track was on the
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: back burner. It was all about my daughter, fighting, watching her,
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: being there for her, and just making sure that we
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: were okay, you know, everything that nothing had to do
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: with track, and so it was a really trying time
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: for my family.
• 45:23
  Speaker 2: Would you say, leaving the hospital with your daughter, was
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: that probably one of the most joyous moments for you
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: or would you reflect on that as being a really
• 45:35
  Speaker 2: scary moment for you?
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: I would say both kind of. I mean I had
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: always imagined, you know, you always think about yourself with
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: kids and what that looks like, and the way it
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: all started for me was nothing that I could have
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: dreamed of. You know, it was just so scary. It
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: was a lot of doubt, you know, would we be
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: leaving the hospital, like, you know, what challenges would we
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: continue to face? And so when we did leave the hospital,
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: I had an immense amount of gratitude because being in
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: the NICU and meeting so many mothers, there were so
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: many who didn't leave with their child, and you know,
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: it was it's heartbreaking and it's such a heavy thing,
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: and so I just felt so grateful to, you know,
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: walk out of there with my child. And yeah, it
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: didn't start the way that we would have hoped, but
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: I just was grateful that she made it and you know,
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: and that we were starting our journey from there. But
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: it was scary, you know, to take a baby that
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: small home and now that she's my responsibility. And I
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: had a lot of kind of struggles with that as well,
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: you know, moving from the hospital to home and what
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: life looked like.
• 46:44
  Speaker 2: How long after giving birth and taking this time with
• 46:49
  Speaker 2: your new family does it go until you start to
• 46:54
  Speaker 2: take the thoughts of track off the back burner.
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: I think once we got home, I started to let
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: my mind wonder again. I mean, it was it was
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: in the back of my head, even though I wasn't allowed,
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: I wasn't acting on it. And so you know, I
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: had an emergency sea section and I needed to let
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: my body heal. And what I expected to happen after
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: I gave birth and the reality of things were completely different.
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think I had looked at other you know,
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: athletes situations and kind of thought of like mapping myself out,
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: like Okay, well, so and so went back at four
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: weeks and you know it's going to be great. And
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: in my situation, it was like I was emotionally and
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: physically drained. I was recovering from the sea section. It
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: just it was really, really rough. And so I would
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: say like at maybe two or three months, I got
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: my first workout, which was a thirty minute walk on
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: the treadmill, and I was in tears at the end
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: of it because it was so hard and so humbling,
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: and I just never imagine myself being in this situation,
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: and so I was there was moments where I was
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: just questioning, like is this possible to come back from this?
• 48:12
  Speaker 2: And I think a lot of people have this self
• 48:15
  Speaker 2: doubt and this struggle, whether it's you know, coming back
• 48:19
  Speaker 2: after having a child or if it's coming back after injury.
• 48:22
  Speaker 2: As you know very well, it's this idea of self
• 48:25
  Speaker 2: doubt and questioning and wanting so badly to be at
• 48:30
  Speaker 2: a place where you once were. Did you battle a
• 48:33
  Speaker 2: lot of that self doubt going forward.
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: Oh definitely. Yeah, Like exactly what you're talking about is like,
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: you know what it felt like to you know, to
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: be there, you knew what success felt like, and to me,
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: I felt so far from it. Like everything was difficult.
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: It was difficult to jog, it was difficult to do drills,
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: and so in my mind I'm trying to grapple with
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: the idea of if these minor things are difficult. It
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: was a World championship year, like how do I get
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: to this place? And so I did. I It was
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: a lot, I would say, even all the way up
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: until like this year was dealing with those struggles.
• 49:13
  Speaker 2: Then you come out in such a big way to
• 49:15
  Speaker 2: talk not only about your pregnancy and how that affected
• 49:19
  Speaker 2: your career, but then to sign with Athleta, and I
• 49:23
  Speaker 2: would say that it was really interesting for me to
• 49:27
  Speaker 2: watch you kind of come into your own as someone
• 49:31
  Speaker 2: who really started to take ownership of their voice. Was
• 49:35
  Speaker 2: that intimidating completely?
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: I think, you know, my entire career, I felt like
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: I had to just be this runner, I had to
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: say the right things. I had to fit this image
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: and becoming a mother and what I went through with
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: my issues with Nike. I had to really like ask
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: myself what I believed in and making a decision for
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: that and making taking a step towards what I believed.
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: I didn't know at the time because it felt so risky.
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: I was walking away from Nike and there wasn't anything
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: else on the table at that time. You know, I
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: had been with them for so long. I had been
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: branded as such a Nike athlete. It was terrifying to
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: step away from that, but I deeply believe that it
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: was the right thing to do. And then, you know,
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: creating the partnership with Athleta, it was amazing because here
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: I am, I'm feeling seen and heard in that I
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: have a seat at the table and the mission is
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: really just so aligned with my heart and to empower
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: women and girls. I mean, that is what I'm all about,
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: and so I never could have seen it coming, but
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: it is absolutely where I was supposed to be.
• 50:43
  Speaker 2: I want to touch on the Athleta partnership again in
• 50:46
  Speaker 2: just a second, but before I do, I think what
• 50:49
  Speaker 2: you said is really interesting about being scared to leave
• 50:52
  Speaker 2: what you once knew and this comfort zone. I mean, god,
• 50:56
  Speaker 2: how many of us can relate to that? Just being
• 50:59
  Speaker 2: so comfortable in something and staying with something because it's
• 51:03
  Speaker 2: what we know. But in this stepping aside, I mean,
• 51:07
  Speaker 2: what would you say were some of the biggest lessons
• 51:09
  Speaker 2: that you learned about yourself or just in general in
• 51:12
  Speaker 2: that process.
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: I learned that you do have to go with what
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: you believe you know, and I think it's so important
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: to hold people accountable for you know, what they market
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: and what they say, and you know, it's just you
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: have to be responsible in that way. And I totally
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: also learned about the power of the collective. And you know,
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: my teammates Kara Goucher and Alicia Montano, who spoke out
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: first about these issues that were happening, totally gave me courage.
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: And I think it's just learning to be more vulnerable
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: as well, because I knew what it felt like to
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: hear them, Like I literally could not sit by and
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: not share my story because I knew that it had power.
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: And I think that once we all, like, no matter
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: what the issue is, once you realize that you talk
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: at it, you're not alone. There's such power in that.
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: So I think that has also like pushed me forward
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: to continue speaking.
• 52:09
  Speaker 2: On December sixth of last year on Instagram, you wrote
• 52:13
  Speaker 2: that you sat down and discussed the future and so
• 52:15
  Speaker 2: many exciting things on the horizon with Athleta, and what
• 52:19
  Speaker 2: I loved what you had to say in this caption
• 52:21
  Speaker 2: was that you had a seat at the table, being
• 52:24
  Speaker 2: surrounded by female leadership, feeling heard, and for the first
• 52:27
  Speaker 2: time in your career, you felt valued beyond just running
• 52:31
  Speaker 2: fast on a track. Talk to me about that.
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, when we created the partnership with Athleta,
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: we really wanted to have a different model and a
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: different approach and to be able to celebrate an athlete holistically,
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: as a mother, as an activist, you know, as an athlete,
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: all of these things, because that is who I am.
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: And I think, you know that all sounds great, but
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: I wanted to see, like, is that really what's going
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: on here? And so to be able to sit down
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: with female leadership and to look around the table not
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: just talk about, you know, how I'm going to run fast,
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: but talk about, you know, the actual business that's taking
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: place for Athleta and how I'm a part of that,
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: and to actually take my ideas seriously. It is so
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: important in something that I had never experienced before.
• 53:22
  Speaker 2: So I remember like when this all was announced that summer,
• 53:26
  Speaker 2: thinking to myself like, this is a really interesting thing
• 53:28
  Speaker 2: as they had never sponsored an athlete before, and also
• 53:31
  Speaker 2: thinking about from a clothing perspective, like what it was
• 53:35
  Speaker 2: that they had to offer. I mean, I'm nowhere near
• 53:38
  Speaker 2: the kind of runner that you are, but I am
• 53:40
  Speaker 2: a runner and I love athletic clothing, but it's never
• 53:43
  Speaker 2: been my first pick for some of my run items
• 53:47
  Speaker 2: right off the bat. So I think what's really exciting
• 53:50
  Speaker 2: now is seeing the next phase of what you're doing
• 53:53
  Speaker 2: with them and the collection that you guys are about
• 53:56
  Speaker 2: to launch together.
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that was something that was really important for
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: me to bring to Athleta was this piece of that
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: I am a runner and that I think that we
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: can create something that meets the highest standard that is
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: influenced by, you know, my style and what works for me.
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: You know, I brought a lot of my track sense
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: to my signature line there and how I like pieces
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: to operate. I love layers. You know, when I'm warming up,
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: I like to be fully covered and I like to
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: continually strip down until I get to just that one
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: bare layer of feeling fast and feeling free, and so
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: I love that the pieces have all those thoughts in them,
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: that they're all about no distractions, you know, being able
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: to do your workout and not having anything bothering you.
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: And then also they're very practical because for me and
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: my life right now, when I leave the track, I'm
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: typically not going right home. I might have to you know,
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: run errands or pop in the grocery store. So I
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: love these layered pieces that can also do that with
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: really cute jackets and and T shirts, and there's love
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: notes throughout because I want women in girls, which is
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: also I love that this line is for girls as well.
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: I want them to feel confident and strong and empowered
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: when they put these pieces on.
• 55:14
  Speaker 2: I listened to an interview that you did. I think
• 55:17
  Speaker 2: it was from the espnW summit where you confess that
• 55:21
  Speaker 2: you have a room dedicated to sneakers and that you
• 55:25
  Speaker 2: probably have at least two hundred pairs. I live in
• 55:29
  Speaker 2: a New York City one bedroom. I probably have seventy
• 55:32
  Speaker 2: two pairs. I think I counted once somehow stacked in here.
• 55:36
  Speaker 2: I don't know if I'm allowed to ask you this,
• 55:40
  Speaker 2: but if you're going out for a run around the neighborhood,
• 55:43
  Speaker 2: I just am so curious about what sneakers you're putting on. Allison.
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: Well, right now, since I'm kind of like a free agent,
• 55:52
  Speaker 1: I've been wearing a little bit of everything. It's weird
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: because I've literally worn one brand well too. I was
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: with the Didas for the beginning of my career and
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: then moved to Nike, and so I've literally only kind
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: of worn those two shoes, but I have I'm in
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: the stage of kind of like trying a little bit
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: of everything. I've worn some Rebox, I've worn some new
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: Balanced shoes. I'm just kind of exploring because like I
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: don't even know I'm This is a whole new world
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: for me. So it's been interesting to kind of try
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: out different brands.
• 56:21
  Speaker 2: We're starting to wind down here. What I do want
• 56:23
  Speaker 2: to ask you is when people go to your Instagram,
• 56:26
  Speaker 2: they see a famous track athlete, they see a mother,
• 56:30
  Speaker 2: they're one of oh dear, so many seven hundred and
• 56:33
  Speaker 2: two thousand people that follow you. When you look in
• 56:37
  Speaker 2: the mirror, what is it that you see staring back
• 56:40
  Speaker 2: at you.
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: That is a really great question. I think I really
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: see like a woman who is still becoming, like who's
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: still working on herself who is growing and you know,
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: learning a lot, and you know, trying to be the
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: best version. But I I feel like I'm looking at
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: someone who's not complete. You know, there's still so much
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: left to do, and I'm still I think, I'm I'm
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: really just stepping into that right now. I'm still really
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: just embracing and owning that I have more to offer
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: than just you know, on the track, and I'm really
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: enjoying like this this phase of life of where I am.
• 57:22
  Speaker 2: This phase of life that we're in. Obviously, it's one
• 57:25
  Speaker 2: that you never could have prepared for or expected what
• 57:29
  Speaker 2: came with twenty twenty. Now that your four year rotation
• 57:33
  Speaker 2: has been pushed off a little bit, would you say
• 57:36
  Speaker 2: that makes you more excited or has it been a
• 57:40
  Speaker 2: really really difficult time for you.
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: It's been difficult. I mean I've definitely like had to
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: take time to grieve that process of that the Olympics
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: are I mean we train for just a very specific
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: time period, and so the fact that that is not
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: happening at that time, I had to grieve that, and
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: then I had to pick up the pieces and be
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: motivated and continue to push for that goal and for
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: that dream. And so now I would say I'm in
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: a good place, like I've been able to just consciously
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: make the decision to be positive and look at all
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: the things that I can be better at because I
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: have this extra time. And I think also being able
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: to be here with my family that's something I wouldn't
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: have had. You know, my travel would have been insane,
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: like I would have missed a lot of moments. And
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: so just really embracing all of that, all of this
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: extra time and just you know, in the midst of
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: a hectic and crazy and a world where people are
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: experiencing loss, to focus in and be grateful for all
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: that I have.
• 58:51
  Speaker 2: What would during this time a regular day of workouts
• 58:56
  Speaker 2: kind of look like for you.
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: So typically I am going I go to the track
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: in the morning, and I am there for you know,
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: two to three hours. I probably if I can, I
• 59:07
  Speaker 1: sneak home for a second and like grab a smoothie
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: and say hi to my daughter, and then I head
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: off to the gym and I'm there for another hour
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: and a half too, and then I come home and
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: I typically that's start the meetings and the zooms and
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: you know, all that good stuff. And then you know,
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: dinner and make dinner and spend time with my daughter
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: and prepare to do it all again. Get some recovery
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: in there and and all that good stuff.
• 59:35
  Speaker 2: What's in the smoothie, you know?
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: I it depends on what I have, But typically there's
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: spinach and kale and whatever fruit I have, and some
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: some yogurt and and a little bit of juice.
• 59:49
  Speaker 2: Do you have any protein in there?
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: I do? I do? It just kind of depends on
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: what part of my day I'm in and if it's
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: like if I'm still going to the gym, I'm I
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: wait until like afterwards to get that in. So it
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 1: just kind of it depends.
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 2: It depends what are you excited for right now, aside
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 2: from hopefully twenty twenty one Olympics.
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean obviously, like that's the biggest thing, but
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 1: I'm really, you know, obviously excited about the line and
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: that launching, and then just like really moving forward with
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 1: these causes that I'm passionate about, so, you know, maternal mortality,
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: like raising awareness for black women surrounding that women of
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: color just at being at risk, continuing to share that story.
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: I think that's really weighing on my heart. And then
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: just you know, the social climate of things right now
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: and just I don't know, I felt heavy with all
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 1: of this going on, but just really wanting to do
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 1: my part and use my voice. And I feel like
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: things feel different right now, so wanting to, you know,
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: do what I can to try to move towards change,
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: you know, whatever that looks like.
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 2: For those who may be listening that share this, want
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 2: to use their voice but feel scared to use their voice,
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 2: what is it that you would tell them?
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: I think it's a journey to find your voice, you know.
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: That's what I found. And I, like I said before,
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: I think for the majority of my career, I've been
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: struggling with this place of coming to a time when
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: it's time to talk, speak out on things other than
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: you know, running fast. And I think it's okay to
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: be on that journey. I think when you're on that journey,
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: it's good to educate yourself, to listen to others, to
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 1: hear other perspectives so that you're informed when you do
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: find it yourself. And so I think it's just really exploring,
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: you know, what that looks like. And I think that
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: we all can speak in our circles, you know, it
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: doesn't have to be this huge like broadcasted, you know,
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 1: produced thing. It can be conversations with your friends, like
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: that is your platform. And so I think it's not
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: always feeling like you have to start with this enormous thing,
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: but it's just you know, starting where you are.
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 2: You can put one last thing on Instagram. You have
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 2: one last chance to give a message to the world.
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 2: What do you think that you would want to leave there?
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: I think it's embraced the journey. You know, it's all
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 1: about like we're all on this our own unique journey,
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: and it's all about growth and you know what's important
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 1: to you and stretching yourself and to me, when you
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: embrace that, you learn so much about yourself and I
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: don't know, just that we're all working towards, you know,
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: being better versions of ourselfs.
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 2: Do you get kind of sentimental thinking that the next
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 2: Olympics will likely be your last Olympics?
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: I do, But at the same time, I feel like
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: I have like thoroughly enjoyed my athletic career and I
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: have so many things that I'm excited about in the
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: next phase that I think I'm just I have more
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 1: gratitude than anything and I think I'm ready, Like I
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: am totally ready to like tackle the next part of it.
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 1: But I'm sure that in the moment, it's going to
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: be a lot. And when I think, you know, it's
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: been so much of my life, so when I think about,
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: you know, waking up and not having an Olympics to
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: prepare for, it's probably going to be this like really
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 1: strange feeling. But I'm just trying to like embrace it all.
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: I mean, I got another year, so I guess I'm
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: just gonna, yeah, take it all in.
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 2: You have an opportunity, Alison, right now to offer yourself
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 2: a piece of advice going through one of your hurdle moments.
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna say maybe that second second place finish. You
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 2: have an opportunity to offer yourself a piece of advice
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 2: looking back on that. Now, what do you tell yourself?
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: I think I tell myself to embrace this moment, Like
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: this moment where you feel like this is a failure.
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: Look at what you can learn from this, Like take
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 1: out the positives, because I think every defeat, every failure,
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: every missed mark, whatever that looks like in your life,
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: there is a lesson to be learned and there's something
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: to take out of that that can prepare you for
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 1: something later. So feel all the feelings. That's perfectly fine,
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 1: but not to sit with it and to figure out
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 1: how you move forward with it.
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 2: Awesome. I'm so so grateful for this conversation and so
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 2: grateful for your time. Please take a moment and leave
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 2: a quick review of by clicking the link with the
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 2: description to this episode. We all face multiple hurdles in life.
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 2: I want to hear about yours. Reach Out to me
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 2: at Emily at Hurdle dot us, connect with the podcast Instagram, Twitter,
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 2: at Hurdle Podcast Alison. How do they keep up with you?
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 2: Give me the details.
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 1: Everyone can follow me on Instagram I am at AF
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 1: eighty five and on Twitter I'm just Alison Felix and
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: they can follow my journey and this quest to try
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 1: to make a fifth Olympic team.
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 2: I dig it. I am at emily a Badi at
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 2: Hurdle Podcast. Another hurdle Conquered. Catch you guys next time.