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Sarah Kirby, Central Methodist University · The Red Banner Race Report

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to the Red Banner Race Report Podcast.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Marin, and today's guest is Sarah Kirby of Central Methodist University.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Sarah was recently named the Heart of America Conference Women's Cross Country Runner of the Week for two straight weeks, winning the honor back-to-back.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: At the Great River Open 4K on September 4th, Sarah won the race in 1539, then followed up that performance with a sixth-place finish at the Larry Young Institutional on September 11th in 1935.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: After a serious auto accident, Sarah had to overcome major physical injuries and obstacles, but chose to face her challenges with a positive, no excuses mindset.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Sarah has seen immediate improvement in her cross-country performances as a senior and has more big goals in mind for the rest of the season.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: She's a perfect example of how transforming your attitude can have a direct impact on your results.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Red Banner Race Report Podcast, Sarah Kirby.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's been a couple of big weeks for you.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: You've had some pretty big accolades and achievements.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: So lots of exciting stuff to chat about.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: But we're gonna back up before we get into that, and we're going to find out your origin story.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: So, how did you first get involved in running?
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: What brought you to cross country and track and field?
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: And what influences played a role?
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I always like to uh tell people I've been running since I was born because um basically my dad, he his name is Joe Kirby.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: He um is a running legend.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he ran for Nebraska, um, Corn Huskers.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: He is in the Hall of Fame and all that, all that good stuff, all his great accolades.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: But um, so I kind of took after him and didn't really have a choice, but I did have a choice.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um and just started running.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I followed after my sister, she followed after him.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: So it's kind of just all we all did it and we all enjoy it and we all still do it together.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: He is my biking long running, he bikes beside me since he's too old to run now, and he'll say, um he bikes beside me, and my sister sometimes joins still, but I'm faster than her now, of course.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: So that's that's always good to look at.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so just you know, family.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's exciting that you get to share that with your family.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's cool.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's it's interesting, it's really competitive.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's really competitive in the household.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so you know, I I'm guessing maybe you're the fastest right now.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Am I correct?
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, without a doubt.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, the gauntlet has been thrown.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, without a doubt, yeah.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's okay.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: Well, my sister still has faster times than me when she was in her prime, but I'm working on that.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Well, like you mentioned, um, you're working on it, and it's been a pretty great start to your season.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: So, as I said at the beginning, you've had some big accolades in the last few weeks.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: You were named the Heart of America Women's Cross Country Runner of the Week for two back-to-back weeks.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then if we look at, you know, a couple years ago, you were running like around the 21-minute mark, and now you're comfortably running, you know, on the track sub-19.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: You're you're getting into the low mid-19s and cross-country.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: So, what has shifted in your training or your recovery, or maybe your mindset, or a combination of all of those things to kind of make that big jump into seeing these good improvements?
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um it was definitely more of a mindset shift.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: So I would say about two years ago, I was told I broke my neck in a severe car accident and I was told I was never gonna run again.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I've actually been advised not to do cross-country and track for the fact if I fall, I could be paralyzed and all, you know, all those ifs and buts.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: So it came to the mindset of I don't want to live in the life of those ands, ifs or buts.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: I want to do something I love, and I didn't.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and back in 2024, when I was running the 21 minutes, didn't run for two years, and I was just getting my feet underneath.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: Every race was kind of just scary.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: I was kind of going in with a scared mindset.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: And then last year it shifted of this is where I want to be, and this is where I'm supposed to be.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: I meant to be on this course.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: I meant to have fun and enjoy my life, and my past of my car accident isn't gonna haunt me.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna haunt it.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: I love that mindset.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: So let's chat about that for a minute.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: What was your recovery like after your accident?
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, did you have to wear a halo?
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Were you in a brace?
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know, what did that look like recovery-wise to get back to running?
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I bursted my C7, which basically means that your sp your spine is like pressing against your spinal cord.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like so it was almost, they said it was like less than a centimeter away from bursting into my spinal cord.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: And then I fractured my C5.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: So they of course they took out the C7 and did a reconstruction.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: So I lived for six months with so it was like three months with a neck brace for that C5 because they refused to remove it.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: And then I finally said I cannot live with the C5, it was causing too much pain.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: I could go on maybe a 10-minute run and I would be in bed for two weeks straight, not being able to get out of bed, even go to class was hard.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: Sitting in those classes were hard.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: And so they removed it and it was just instant turnaround.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: It was an instant, oh, I can get out of bed and I don't have to feel pain anymore.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: I can get out of bed and I can run.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: I started running after they took out my C5, I think, four weeks later.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: It was a quick turnaround after that.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so that clearly was playing a role in your recovery.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Gosh, that sounds very painful because neck pain is excruciating.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I still live with neck pain, but I it's it's a part of the life now.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: So are there any special things that you have to do to kind of recover that might be different than a typical runner just because of your medical background and the residual things that are still in your neck, you know, having your vertebrae reconstructed?
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, no, I don't do a lot of things to recover um with my neck, especially.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: I try to just leave it alone.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I try not to mess with it.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: I like to just leave it alone.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: I'm very heavy on it.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like the ATs, like I I don't like being I don't like my neck being touched that much, but when it comes down to it, I'll I'll let 'em.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: But it's just leave it alone and I'll let God take it.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: And hopefully, hopefully I'll make out I'll make it to tomorrow.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm assuming you don't go to a chiropractor.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yes, that's I've I actually have friends that are trying to be chiropractors and they're like, Can I practice on you?
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, No.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, probably not.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: You um no, thank you.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: So uh I like I do massages um because I can they can do my shoulders because I since with my neck injury, I use my shoulders a lot more than a normal person would to hold up my head.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: And so getting my shoulders loosened up helps a lot too.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm sure.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: So did they reconstruct your vertebrae with bone from another part of your body, like your leg?
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, no, they did it with cages.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: So it's in a new um Japanese um research, and they did it with cages.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: So I have two cages stacked on top of each other.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: I call them grenades because they kind of look like grenades.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: And and just some screws, and they put them in there and they just I don't have the bone.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: They just did that.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have to carry special medical documentation to go through an airport scanner?
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um funny story, I have not flown yet.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: Since broken neck.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: I have not traveled, I've been just so busy with running and all that, I have not had time to travel on a plane.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: But we went to a track meet and they were doing um, me and my parents just went to a track meet and they were like scanning us like with a wand.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, this is my perfect time.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: There's no line behind me.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: Let's see if it works.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Can you put it over my neck?
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: And they did, and it just was like going crazy.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, okay, maybe we need to get that together and get documentation.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: I well, I ask because when my brother was a freshman at Indiana Wesleyan University where he attended, he was tackled from behind by a friend, just kind of like joking around, and he slipped on some ice and fell backwards and he broke and fractured two of his vertebrae.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: I think it was C4, C5, I could be wrong.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: And he had to have reconstructive surgery as well.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so they took bone from his hip and then used two titanium screws on either side to secure that as like the new vertebrae.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then when he was flying, he had a card that he would have to show because as soon as, but and that was before you know the full body scanners that we have now.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: It was the old school, like kind of x-ray looking thing, or they would just have you walk through the metal detector.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: But um, he would have to give that to you know, whatever security agent to say, yes, there's supposed to be metal in my body, and it's not like me carrying a bomb onto a plane or something.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm um coming um in November.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: I probably need to get one before November, so so you must be planning on flying to nationals, huh?
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: Of course.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Of course.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we'll we'll skip to that question then.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: What are your big goals for cross country and maybe even into track?
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, cross country.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, well, I plan on being top 50.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: That is the plan, the reachable goal, top 50.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, you always have to set a goal above that too to look at would be an all-American.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um and for track, I think my goals um um to make it to nationals.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: I think qualifying, hitting a qualifying time would be my main goal.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and also, of course, always a goal in the back of my head beating my sister's times because I'm so competitive with her.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: I want I want at the end of this, I want to be saying, yeah, I was faster than my sister in college, and she went to a D1 school and I was in AIA.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: So, what is the time to beat, if you don't mind me asking?
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think it's like a 1748.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's pretty quick.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: So but I know I'm faster than her.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like you said, it's that's a mindset shift.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, when you won this Great River Open 4K, which I think is really interesting because you don't often get to race a 4K.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then you, you know, you finish really well at the Larry Young invitational.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: So talk us through those two races.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Did you feel like something great was gonna happen?
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, did you plan on winning, or did it just kind of happen and you're like, I'm gonna roll with it?
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so if we look at my PRs from cross country compared to um track, I am before I started before Larry Young, it was um 20 minutes, so my track was in 1830.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I just was kind of going into the unknown.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what can I do?
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: So um Culver Stockton, I think that's just a hard one because it was a 4K.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: I've never done a 4K.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: I know it's mainly I know I told me and Coach Kenny had a conversation about how it's for the mid-distance kids.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I was just going out there and I had a plan, and then I had a plan to go behind the Culver Stockton girl, I think Delaney is her name, and I and I I just kind of took off straight from the gun and uh there was no one to be seen.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't it wasn't in the plan, but it just worked out that way.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: So when you realized you were leading and winning, did you feel a little nervous or was it exciting?
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I it was exciting, but I knew in the back of my head going into that meet that I was coming home with the win.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: There was no other way to do it.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: I was coming home with the win.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: I told Coach Kenny that I that I was coming home with the win that day.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: There was no ands, ifs or buts about it.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, see?
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's all about that mindset.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: Telling yourself you can do it, and a lot of times the body will follow.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you spent the beginning of your career at William Woods.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: So how did you decide to transfer and come to CMU?
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: And what do you love about your new team?
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um the transfer, uh we um me and my mom called it a new season of my life.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: I won't really needed one.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I was a very negative runner and I became a more positive runner.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: So I wanted that new that new season of me being a positive runner with a new like a new coach and new team.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I think, you know, coming to CMU, I always tell people, um, and I told Coach Kenny when he was recruiting me that um I would sit at the other side of the track and just watch CMU just be such a happy team.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: Just they I remember it was I think the four by four.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: They did like a tunnel and they were just cheering each other on, and it was just an environment and a culture I really wanted to be a part of, and I loved watching it.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I they just were always so excited for one another.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: And now that I'm in that culture, I I see it and I feel it every day.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um they are very warm, welcoming to me, and you know, sometimes I get to do my I get to do my own thing a lot of times, and and we always come back together, and it's just always just a celebration to be with each other every day and just excitement.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you want a team culture that's positive and encouraging for sure.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: Well, what are you studying?
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: What's your major, and what do you want to do once you graduate?
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm studying special education.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: So I want to teach special ed education in high school because I love um teaching job skills and life skills.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, bless your heart.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: That is a very special place to be in a classroom.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I just retired from elementary education after 25 years in June.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that special ed teachers have hearts of gold, and we need more people in that realm.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: So best of luck to you, and I'm sure that you will be a positive influence there, just like you are on the cross country course.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: So, what do you like to do in your spare time?
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: What are your interests, your hobbies?
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: What are you doing when you're not running or not studying?
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, when I'm not running or studying, I like I'm always with my friends, and when we're always together, we're always dancing because we like to say we like to dance it out no matter if it's a good day or a bad day.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: Dancing always brings a happy happy smile to our face.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: So we love to dance it out.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: So we're always dancing.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: We can be in the middle of Walmart, we can be in the middle of the grocery like a random grocery store, and we'll just be dancing to a song we hear, we like it, and we're gonna dance.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm sure you spread a little joy to people that get to witness that too.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: I hope they get I hope they get a giggle out of it because we're having fun.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and if you're not afraid to look a little silly, then hey, do your thing.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: I know I can't dance, so I know I look a little silly.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I can't either, but like in my classroom, I would always, you know, do wiggle breaks with my students.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like, who cares?
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's us, we're just having fun.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: And there's always those couple of kids who are really self-conscious and they don't want to get out of their seat.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: And after a while, they're like, you know what?
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: Let's just have some fun.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, make it fun.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, this is a question I love to ask of all my guests, and I think it reveals an interesting side to everyone's unique personality, and that is let's say you can pick anyone you want from any time in history.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: It could be somebody, somebody that's living, someone that is, you know, from the past and history that's passed away.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: It could be somebody from now, and you could pick them and you could take them anywhere in the world to go for a run.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: So who would you choose to run with and where would you choose to go?
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, um, I think no, I know I would choose my dad in his prime because he would I just listen to his stories all the time.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just it's incredible to what he was doing and what you know his the how much fun he was having.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I just wish I could, you know, be kind of be a fly on the wall, but if I had to run with anyone, it would be him in his prime.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: And honestly, I think uh kind of generic, but I think I would say the Katie Trail.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: I know I run there all the time, but it's just it's where he grew up running, it's where I grew up running.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: So him and his prime on the Katie Trail, I think would just be memorable.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: That is a great answer.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think anyone's ever said one of their parents as a runner, so that's definitely the first and a very special moment if you could do it.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: What are you?
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um too bad we don't have time machines to take us back.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Sarah, you've got a great mindset.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: I can just feel the positive vibes coming off you.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I can see why you've had such a great improvement so quickly this season, and you're obviously not done yet.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: You've got some big goals you're hoping to meet.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: So it'll be exciting to watch maybe get the third conference honor again.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: I hope so.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I wasn't even planning on the one or two, and uh, if I got the third, that'd be three for three.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: We uh we have quite a bit of season left to go, so who knows?
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: It could be the three-peat, four-peat, we'll see.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: But uh, you're not done yet, and you've overcome a lot of really big hurdles, and it's exciting to see what's next for you.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you so much for coming on and sharing your story.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for having me.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for tuning in to the Red Banner Race Report.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: I can't wait to feature more cross-country and track and field athletes from the NAIA.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: So stay tuned because it just might be you.
• 17:23
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• 17:27
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• 17:35
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• 17:38
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