Latest / Clydesdale Media Podcast / Laura Farley Redman | The Athletes of the Legends Master's CrossFit Games

Transcript

Laura Farley Redman | The Athletes of the Legends Master's CrossFit Games · Clydesdale Media Podcast

• 0:10
  I was born to kill it.
• 0:13
  I was meant to win.
• 0:15
  I am down and willing so I
• 0:16
  will find a way.
• 0:17
  It took a minute and I
• 0:18
  didn't have to ride away.
• 0:20
  When it get hot in the kitchen,
• 0:21
  you decide to stay.
• 0:23
  That's how a winner's made.
• 0:24
  Stick a fork in
• 0:32
  What is going on, everybody?
• 0:34
  Welcome to the Clydesdale Media Podcast.
• 0:37
  My name is Scott Switzer.
• 0:38
  I'm the Clydesdale.
• 0:39
  We are here featuring the
• 0:41
  athletes of the 2024
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  Legends Masters CrossFit Games.
• 0:46
  And I'm so pumped to have
• 0:47
  with me Laura Redman.
• 0:49
  So happy to be here.
• 0:52
  Yeah,
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  so I've been doing some research on you.
• 0:56
  And you were a runner for a
• 1:00
  very long time.
• 1:02
  Yeah, I ran in college.
• 1:04
  I ran for Purdue.
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  I ran track and field and
• 1:07
  cross country and decided
• 1:09
  that wasn't enough.
• 1:11
  And after college, I ran,
• 1:12
  you could call it
• 1:14
  semi-professionally for Brooks.
• 1:17
  I ran the mile a little bit
• 1:19
  post-collegiately and then
• 1:20
  also ran the marathon.
• 1:23
  And I ran at the Olympic trials in 2012.
• 1:28
  wow so it's it's what's wild
• 1:31
  to me is I'm I'm just
• 1:33
  starting the profiles of
• 1:34
  all the athletes that are
• 1:36
  that are competing at the
• 1:37
  crossfit games so many of
• 1:40
  you guys have had like
• 1:41
  really cool life
• 1:42
  experiences like last night
• 1:45
  I talked to lacy trulove
• 1:47
  who competed at the olympic
• 1:49
  trials and diving
• 1:51
  Oh, that's awesome.
• 1:53
  I've been listening to a lot
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  of the interviews, too,
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  and love learning about the athletes.
• 1:59
  But yeah,
• 2:00
  it's so cool that we can have
• 2:01
  such varied backgrounds.
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  So awesome.
• 2:06
  So have you always been an Indiana girl?
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  Yeah.
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  Yes.
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  And you just stay close to
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  home for college?
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  Mm hmm.
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  Yeah, not too far at Purdue,
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  and then moved back home.
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  I mean, back home meaning Indy area,
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  and I'm still in Indy today,
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  so must not be too bad.
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  So what's funny is my
• 2:28
  background is swimming,
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  and I was just over in
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  Indianapolis for the
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  swimming Olympic trials.
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  Yeah.
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  Which was such a cool event.
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  I wish I could have made it down there.
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  I heard it was amazing.
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  To build three pools in
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  Lucas Oil Stadium on a football field.
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  Right.
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  Did you see the time lapse
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  of it that they had?
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  That was really cool, too.
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  What was wild to me is that
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  you're walking into a football stadium,
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  but it smells like a swimming.
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  Right.
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  Right.
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  Yeah.
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  Which was very bizarre, but so cool.
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  And such a cool experience
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  to get to watch that.
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  How long were you in Indy for the trials?
• 3:14
  We did the first weekend.
• 3:15
  Okay.
• 3:16
  Nice.
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  Yeah.
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  So I got to see Katie
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  Ledecky completely
• 3:19
  dominated the 1500 yesterday and
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  which was one of my events in college.
• 3:27
  Awesome.
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  Where did you swim?
• 3:30
  I swam at Ohio State.
• 3:31
  Oh, the Ohio State.
• 3:33
  Yeah, as a walk-on.
• 3:34
  Nice.
• 3:36
  It wasn't my dream.
• 3:38
  My dream was actually to go Division II,
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  but I wasn't good enough to
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  get on the Division II team
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  I wanted to be on.
• 3:43
  Oh, really?
• 3:44
  Yeah.
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  So I walked on at Ohio State,
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  which is bizarre just to... Right.
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  Right.
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  You wouldn't normally be
• 3:50
  saying that for most sports
• 3:53
  or situations.
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  I grew up in such a small
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  town that Ohio State was so
• 3:57
  overwhelming to me.
• 3:58
  Well, yeah.
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  Yeah, it is.
• 4:00
  It's huge.
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  Yeah.
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  like 62,000 students or something.
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  My hometown only had 10,000 people.
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  Oh yeah.
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  Then that's a huge change.
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  Yeah.
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  It's crazy.
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  But, um, but not enough about me.
• 4:15
  So, so you,
• 4:17
  did you run in high school or
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  before that?
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  Um,
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  I would say like my success in running
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  came later in high school.
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  Um,
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  I tried to play volleyball
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  and got cut and then got into running.
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  And then I got more serious
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  about it my senior year and
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  really fell in love with it.
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  And then in college,
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  we had a lot of coaching changes.
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  I had injuries.
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  So I never...
• 4:47
  I think a lot of athletes
• 4:48
  leave from running,
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  leave burnt out from college.
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  And I was, like, just getting started.
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  Like, I didn't want to stop.
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  I wanted to get more mileage.
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  I wanted to compete at a bigger stage.
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  And I had just an awesome
• 5:04
  opportunity with Brooks.
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  It's also how I met my
• 5:08
  husband and how we
• 5:09
  connected because he was on the team.
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  So we trained together and
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  it's weird to think that I
• 5:18
  ran post-collegiately from 2007 to 2012,
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  which is only, you know, five years.
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  And I've been doing CrossFit
• 5:28
  twice that amount of time.
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  It's just really an odd
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  thing to think about back
• 5:34
  on because running seems
• 5:35
  like another lifetime.
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  So you cut out just briefly
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  when you talked about your
• 5:40
  husband and what he does.
• 5:42
  Yeah.
• 5:42
  Did and how you kind of connected.
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  What was that again?
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  So Brooks, like the running shoe,
• 5:49
  they created a team.
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  We were semi-professionals
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  out of Bloomington and they had all these,
• 5:55
  like they had guys on the team,
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  but they also wanted
• 5:58
  females for us to get sponsorship.
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  So they built the team with
• 6:02
  a handful of ladies, a handful of guys,
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  and he was on the team as well.
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  And, and he, we had the same coach,
• 6:10
  we kind of knew each other
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  through running and we
• 6:14
  trained together here in Indy and,
• 6:17
  you know, started dating and we were,
• 6:20
  you know, married a few years after that.
• 6:23
  So most people think of
• 6:24
  running as this like bit of
• 6:26
  solitude where you kind of
• 6:27
  get to get out there on your own.
• 6:29
  And here you start dating
• 6:30
  one of the other runners.
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  Yeah.
• 6:34
  Was it less solitude or did
• 6:36
  you still have your like alone moments?
• 6:39
  Well, I mean, we had so in running world,
• 6:43
  like the Sunday long run is
• 6:45
  like a big part of our
• 6:47
  training where we spend, you know,
• 6:49
  two to three hours doing this long run.
• 6:51
  And the group was primarily guys.
• 6:54
  So I feel like my strides in
• 6:56
  running were made through practice.
• 6:59
  with him because it was
• 7:01
  super uncomfortable for me
• 7:04
  and doing these long runs
• 7:05
  because you want to connect and talk.
• 7:08
  I would say like the solitude in running.
• 7:11
  I came later when I was
• 7:13
  training for the marathon.
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  I was putting a lot more
• 7:17
  miles in by myself at that time,
• 7:19
  which I think is truly important too,
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  because I,
• 7:23
  When in any sport,
• 7:25
  you have to be able to push
• 7:27
  through that point of pain
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  and know how to handle those thoughts.
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  You can only do that if you're,
• 7:35
  you've gone through it alone, you know?
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  So how do you get from cross
• 7:41
  country and track and
• 7:43
  college to the Olympic trials?
• 7:45
  Like what is the,
• 7:47
  what was it a goal you had?
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  And then you start to strive for it.
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  And do you have to go to
• 7:51
  certain meets to qualify?
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  So there's a standard that
• 7:58
  you have to hit to run in
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  the Olympic trials.
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  I knew what the standard was.
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  And I was like, I think I can do that.
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  I had to callous my body
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  over years to get to
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  running 100 miles a week,
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  which is what I was averaging.
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  um when I went to the trials
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  um so I knew I needed to
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  run about like 613 pace
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  which is a two I think it's
• 8:26
  like a 246 marathon and I
• 8:29
  knew if I could just if you
• 8:31
  can get through the
• 8:32
  training you can pretty
• 8:33
  much physically take your
• 8:34
  body there you just know
• 8:36
  and then know the day of like you
• 8:38
  the haze in the barn, like I got this.
• 8:40
  So it wasn't always a dream of mine.
• 8:45
  It kind of just became an opportunity.
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  And like, once I set my mind to it,
• 8:51
  there's no way it wasn't going to happen.
• 8:54
  That's a novel concept to me
• 8:56
  because as a swimmer,
• 8:59
  the only end result to be
• 9:01
  the best is the Olympics.
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  Like from the age of five,
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  you want to be the best.
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  It ends with the Olympics.
• 9:09
  Right.
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  So for you to like late in life, just go,
• 9:13
  you know what the heck,
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  we'll give this a try.
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  It's just a very bizarre concept to me.
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  It kind of is.
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  Especially because like you
• 9:20
  think of the marathon of like, I mean,
• 9:24
  There's not too many you can do.
• 9:26
  It's not like you can go to
• 9:27
  race after race.
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  I was a miler and tried to
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  qualify for the trials and
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  US championships multiple
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  times and failing.
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  So that was always my goal,
• 9:43
  meaning after college.
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  But I think that I saw that
• 9:48
  the trials standard was very attainable.
• 9:52
  And I was like,
• 9:54
  I'm going to do it.
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  So I saw your time.
• 9:58
  I think you posted on your
• 10:00
  CrossFit profile that you hit was 241.05.
• 10:04
  I ran 241 at the trials.
• 10:07
  Yes.
• 10:09
  Is that your best marathon
• 10:11
  or did you run faster?
• 10:13
  Yeah, I mean,
• 10:14
  I pretty that was my last
• 10:17
  marathon that I ever ran.
• 10:19
  And I was super proud of it.
• 10:22
  I wanted to go sub 240.
• 10:23
  And the plan was to run the
• 10:27
  trial or I'm sorry,
• 10:28
  the plan was to run another
• 10:29
  marathon in Chicago that year.
• 10:32
  But when it came down to time to train,
• 10:35
  I my heart wasn't in it.
• 10:37
  I knew.
• 10:37
  I knew.
• 10:41
  I couldn't put my body
• 10:42
  through it if my mind and
• 10:44
  my heart wasn't in it.
• 10:45
  So I was like,
• 10:46
  I'm going to go check out CrossFit.
• 10:51
  So that's when you found
• 10:53
  CrossFit was you were just done.
• 10:55
  It sounds like Forrest Gump.
• 11:00
  Right.
• 11:00
  And he kept running.
• 11:02
  And one day he goes, you know what?
• 11:04
  I was done.
• 11:05
  Well, I mean,
• 11:06
  the truth is my husband had
• 11:08
  already started CrossFit.
• 11:10
  for about a year and he
• 11:12
  absolutely loved it.
• 11:14
  And I did not understand it at all.
• 11:16
  Like,
• 11:17
  I remember going to watch and being like,
• 11:20
  why are you guys like
• 11:21
  stopping in the middle of a workout?
• 11:23
  That makes no sense to me
• 11:25
  because like a runner,
• 11:26
  we don't stop in the middle of our race.
• 11:28
  But he's like, you know,
• 11:30
  you should try out a class.
• 11:31
  And I was like, sure,
• 11:33
  I can't do an air squat, but let's try.
• 11:35
  So
• 11:40
  So many questions.
• 11:43
  So your running career
• 11:44
  starts late in your high school.
• 11:46
  Your marathon career starts
• 11:48
  late after college.
• 11:50
  Now you go into CrossFit and
• 11:53
  you're humbled again, right?
• 11:55
  To start from scratch.
• 11:56
  Yeah.
• 11:57
  Yeah.
• 11:58
  I mean,
• 11:58
  I think I was 28 or 29 when I
• 11:59
  started CrossFit.
• 12:05
  So, so what is that?
• 12:07
  Are,
• 12:07
  are you just used to starting from
• 12:09
  scratch on things or was it,
• 12:12
  was it humbling to you?
• 12:14
  Oh, it's, yeah, it's always humbling.
• 12:16
  But I think that's, I,
• 12:18
  I love the challenge of
• 12:19
  that and sort of being like
• 12:22
  not having that expectation
• 12:25
  and being an underdog.
• 12:26
  And I think that kind of motivates me.
• 12:30
  Do you think that CrossFit
• 12:31
  gave you something for the
• 12:33
  first time that you couldn't master?
• 12:36
  Because there are so many elements,
• 12:38
  you're always working on something.
• 12:41
  I think that's why myself
• 12:45
  and masters continue to do it.
• 12:50
  Sometimes people in the gym ask me that,
• 12:52
  and it's like, well,
• 12:53
  I'm not going to stop.
• 12:55
  There's always something to work on.
• 12:57
  There's always something to get better at.
• 13:00
  And as you get older,
• 13:02
  I'm sure like the other
• 13:03
  masters will agree with this.
• 13:04
  It's kind of like, well, I mean,
• 13:07
  I might not see these PRs, you know,
• 13:10
  like I was before,
• 13:12
  but there's something else that might,
• 13:17
  that you might notice that
• 13:18
  feels better or that like
• 13:20
  you've improved on.
• 13:22
  Yeah.
• 13:23
  Yeah.
• 13:23
  I started in 2011.
• 13:24
  PRs are like,
• 13:27
  Right.
• 13:28
  Non-existent at this point.
• 13:30
  Right.
• 13:32
  But, but you're like,
• 13:34
  I think we look at PRs as
• 13:36
  an individual movement,
• 13:37
  but you can get overall
• 13:39
  fitness better and do
• 13:41
  better in a workout than
• 13:42
  you would have a year ago.
• 13:45
  Right.
• 13:45
  Right.
• 13:46
  Absolutely.
• 13:47
  Like the movement might feel better.
• 13:48
  You might feel more confident.
• 13:49
  You're able to do, you know,
• 13:52
  this weight in a workout comfortably or,
• 13:55
  or, you know, uh,
• 13:56
  handstand pushups or ring
• 13:57
  muscles or whatever it may be.
• 13:59
  Just gaining efficiency.
• 14:00
  So you're not as tired through workout.
• 14:03
  Yeah.
• 14:05
  Um,
• 14:06
  Yeah.
• 14:07
  It's such a cool thing.
• 14:09
  I wish it existed when I
• 14:10
  retired from swimming
• 14:11
  because I think I'd be in a
• 14:13
  different place in life today if it was.
• 14:17
  But you're kind of OG.
• 14:19
  You've been doing this since 2013.
• 14:20
  Yeah.
• 14:21
  Yeah.
• 14:24
  Back when our team went to
• 14:26
  regionals in Columbus.
• 14:28
  Yeah.
• 14:31
  And we used to say that the
• 14:33
  athletes were in the back
• 14:34
  smoking cigs and like eating snacks.
• 14:37
  Like it was just so different.
• 14:41
  Like they used to have like
• 14:43
  strawberries and like snacks out for us.
• 14:48
  It was just a different time.
• 14:50
  It was fun.
• 14:52
  Yeah.
• 14:52
  I was volunteering during those times.
• 14:54
  And if you went back into
• 14:55
  the volunteer area,
• 14:57
  there were like bowls of M
• 14:58
  and M's dried mangoes and some nuts.
• 15:03
  Yeah.
• 15:04
  Yeah.
• 15:05
  Crazy.
• 15:06
  Yeah.
• 15:08
  I love it.
• 15:08
  I'm so thankful for those experiences.
• 15:13
  And it's, you know,
• 15:15
  I talked to some of the
• 15:15
  younger and newer athletes
• 15:17
  in our gym and it's weird that like,
• 15:19
  they don't,
• 15:20
  they don't have any idea
• 15:21
  what it was like before
• 15:25
  everything changed and went
• 15:26
  to semifinals and, and all of that.
• 15:30
  Regionals were the best.
• 15:31
  Yeah.
• 15:33
  I, you and I were in the same region.
• 15:35
  So like I was a volunteer.
• 15:37
  I was very familiar with three Kings.
• 15:39
  Yeah.
• 15:40
  We're,
• 15:41
  we're always top 10 teams during
• 15:43
  regionals in a very stacked,
• 15:46
  stacked central region.
• 15:48
  Yeah, been around for a long time.
• 15:50
  Lots of teams, lots of individuals.
• 15:53
  And it's a great, it's a great gym.
• 15:56
  Yeah.
• 15:57
  And you've done it through semifinals,
• 16:00
  even the last three years?
• 16:03
  No.
• 16:05
  You're an alternate.
• 16:07
  Yeah, we were.
• 16:09
  So 2019 was weird, right?
• 16:12
  And in 2020, I had a kid that year.
• 16:17
  And then 21,
• 16:18
  we were supposed to have a team.
• 16:20
  It didn't work out.
• 16:23
  And then,
• 16:24
  so I'd just been focusing on
• 16:25
  masters the last couple of years.
• 16:27
  And then last year I was
• 16:30
  like the oldest in the age group.
• 16:33
  So I did my best.
• 16:35
  And then this year I had the
• 16:36
  opportunity to go on a team,
• 16:38
  which I said I would never do again.
• 16:40
  But it was, I'm so thankful I did.
• 16:44
  It was so fun.
• 16:47
  And I kind of just had the motto of like,
• 16:49
  I might not get this opportunity again.
• 16:51
  And it was the right people.
• 16:55
  And it was really fun.
• 16:57
  So did you compete at the Syndicate Crown?
• 17:00
  I did.
• 17:00
  Yeah.
• 17:03
  Being 40 and competing against the elites.
• 17:09
  Yeah.
• 17:09
  Was it just a soak it in moment?
• 17:11
  Yeah.
• 17:12
  Oh, yeah.
• 17:14
  It definitely was,
• 17:15
  especially since it had been a while.
• 17:17
  It had been since 2018,
• 17:20
  since I'd been to a regional or semifinal,
• 17:23
  and I thought that that
• 17:25
  would be my last time, and
• 17:27
  We really wanted to make the
• 17:28
  games that year.
• 17:29
  There was a lot of pressure.
• 17:30
  I think we finished seventh
• 17:32
  in a super tough regional.
• 17:34
  But this year,
• 17:35
  it was so much more enjoyable.
• 17:39
  There was no pressure.
• 17:41
  We still finished, I mean, 17th.
• 17:46
  And we were just right in
• 17:47
  the middle of the pack.
• 17:49
  But it was also like looking around like,
• 17:52
  oh, my gosh,
• 17:53
  these people are half my age.
• 17:54
  Yeah.
• 17:57
  But also Deanna Posey was on
• 18:00
  one of the Mayhem teams and
• 18:01
  she's in the older age group than me.
• 18:03
  So I was like, if this badass is doing it,
• 18:05
  so can I. But also if like
• 18:09
  any of those youngins were complaining,
• 18:11
  I was kind of like,
• 18:12
  you have no idea like how
• 18:15
  bad I'm hurting.
• 18:20
  How much help do you think that was,
• 18:22
  though,
• 18:23
  to go through a competition weekend with,
• 18:25
  what, five events?
• 18:28
  Yeah.
• 18:28
  In a certain amount of time.
• 18:29
  Yeah.
• 18:30
  And now you're going to have
• 18:31
  to do it again as an individual.
• 18:34
  It'll be like four days with
• 18:37
  maybe a few more events.
• 18:38
  Just the recovery, the pace,
• 18:40
  does that help you out?
• 18:42
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 18:43
  I think just because it'd
• 18:46
  been so long since I'd been
• 18:47
  on a stage like that,
• 18:49
  I wanted to have that experience.
• 18:52
  It gives me confidence.
• 18:54
  Physically, I know I can recover,
• 18:56
  but also just being out on
• 18:59
  the floor in front of a judge and like,
• 19:01
  how do you respond in that
• 19:03
  in that situation?
• 19:04
  So I didn't look at it as like, oh,
• 19:09
  I'm not focusing on myself.
• 19:12
  meaning for the games or my training,
• 19:14
  because honestly,
• 19:15
  when I got back from semifinals,
• 19:18
  I felt so motivated to,
• 19:20
  to train for the games for masters.
• 19:24
  So I'm in awe of all of you.
• 19:26
  I had Haley Queller on this morning.
• 19:29
  She's a doctor and mother of four.
• 19:31
  You're a traveling nurse and
• 19:33
  a mother of two.
• 19:35
  Like you,
• 19:37
  I can't even imagine the
• 19:38
  stresses and the time
• 19:40
  constraints behind that and
• 19:42
  still have time to train.
• 19:45
  Yeah.
• 19:45
  And I'm going to correct you
• 19:47
  just because this past year
• 19:50
  I transitioned into a new role.
• 19:52
  So I'm not in nursing anymore.
• 19:54
  I'm in medical device.
• 19:58
  So I'm still in the
• 19:59
  operating room and I'm
• 20:00
  still in the medical field.
• 20:02
  But I think transitioning
• 20:05
  out of nursing has
• 20:06
  contributed to my success
• 20:09
  exponentially because I'm
• 20:11
  not on my feet all day long.
• 20:13
  I'm able to recover.
• 20:16
  My stress level is lower.
• 20:18
  But it's a lot of work and
• 20:21
  managing the schedule of
• 20:23
  work and working out and my
• 20:26
  family and trying to keep
• 20:27
  them as number one.
• 20:30
  I mean,
• 20:30
  I don't know if I'm doing a good
• 20:33
  job at all because every
• 20:34
  day is kind of chaos,
• 20:35
  but I'm trying my best.
• 20:39
  Yeah,
• 20:39
  I talked to Lacey last night was
• 20:42
  saying that when you're
• 20:45
  trying to balance everything,
• 20:47
  you always feel like you're
• 20:49
  mediocre at all of it.
• 20:51
  I agree with that.
• 20:53
  I think we're all like our worst critics.
• 20:56
  We're so hard on ourselves.
• 20:59
  You know,
• 20:59
  there's a little element of guilt,
• 21:03
  but we are also able to multitask.
• 21:07
  And, you know,
• 21:09
  it's okay to put a goal in
• 21:12
  front of you and do what
• 21:13
  you need to do to achieve it.
• 21:15
  Because, you know, life is short.
• 21:17
  And if you have an opportunity,
• 21:20
  you got to take advantage of it.
• 21:24
  the other thing I framed to
• 21:25
  them is that there's a bit
• 21:27
  of selfishness that has to
• 21:29
  happen for you to train for
• 21:31
  an event like this.
• 21:33
  And, and it was said that, that,
• 21:37
  that there's a guilty
• 21:39
  feeling that comes along
• 21:40
  with that and you have to
• 21:41
  forgive yourself.
• 21:43
  It's a season.
• 21:43
  Yeah.
• 21:44
  Just trying to accomplish
• 21:45
  this one thing and you can
• 21:48
  make up for it when this season's over.
• 21:53
  Yeah.
• 21:54
  Yes, you're right.
• 21:54
  I mean, it is,
• 21:55
  it is a season and you're like, um,
• 21:58
  you tell yourself I'm going
• 22:00
  to be more available, but.
• 22:03
  Isn't it also equally
• 22:04
  important to set the
• 22:06
  example to your kids?
• 22:07
  Like you should have goals
• 22:09
  and do what you need to do
• 22:11
  to accomplish them.
• 22:12
  And I'm super careful with my schedule,
• 22:17
  making sure that I'm not
• 22:20
  disrupting my kids or, you know,
• 22:23
  I'm able to get them from
• 22:24
  school and take them to
• 22:26
  where they need to be.
• 22:27
  But I think it's,
• 22:28
  You know,
• 22:29
  you got to set a good example for
• 22:32
  them too.
• 22:35
  Well, how old are your kids?
• 22:38
  Seven and five next week.
• 22:41
  Are they in activities of
• 22:42
  their own at this point?
• 22:44
  Yeah.
• 22:45
  One's swimming and the other is soccer.
• 22:48
  Nice.
• 22:49
  Yeah.
• 22:50
  Swimming is,
• 22:51
  I don't know how my parents did it.
• 22:54
  We're like just starting.
• 22:56
  So I'm sure it's going to be.
• 22:59
  Yeah.
• 23:01
  And I played a sport every season.
• 23:03
  So like, I still don't know how my,
• 23:05
  like my dad worked insane
• 23:07
  hours and still made it to every event.
• 23:09
  That's awesome.
• 23:11
  I mean, it's hard.
• 23:13
  It is.
• 23:15
  So when you stopped being a nurse,
• 23:19
  was it this decision wasn't
• 23:22
  solely based on your athletic career,
• 23:24
  right?
• 23:24
  It was more on life itself?
• 23:27
  No, correct.
• 23:29
  I think I've been a nurse,
• 23:31
  an OR nurse for 16 years.
• 23:33
  I did do,
• 23:33
  I was a travel nurse for a while too.
• 23:35
  I felt like I was trying to
• 23:38
  manipulate my schedule to
• 23:40
  like be able to be with my
• 23:41
  kids more and working out was at the very,
• 23:46
  very bottom of the list.
• 23:47
  It was...
• 23:50
  Just if you have time and
• 23:54
  the opportunity to take
• 23:56
  this position came about and I was like,
• 24:01
  this is going to provide
• 24:01
  the most flexibility for my
• 24:03
  family going forward.
• 24:07
  And the byproduct of that is
• 24:09
  that you are a better athlete today.
• 24:11
  Yes.
• 24:11
  Yes.
• 24:13
  Um,
• 24:14
  and is that why you think you saw the
• 24:15
  dramatic and the dramatic
• 24:18
  improvement like to make
• 24:19
  games or was it just turning 40?
• 24:21
  Both.
• 24:22
  Okay.
• 24:23
  Yeah, for sure.
• 24:24
  Perfect storm.
• 24:25
  Yeah.
• 24:28
  So who are you,
• 24:30
  who are you taking to
• 24:31
  Birmingham with you?
• 24:32
  I guess we'll take my husband.
• 24:36
  He's coming with me.
• 24:37
  I said he has to carry my bag.
• 24:40
  There you go.
• 24:41
  So he's your coach.
• 24:43
  Um, so no, he's not my coach.
• 24:46
  Um, during the year and all years past,
• 24:49
  I've always just done like a hodgepodge.
• 24:52
  I've always done, um, Invictus, uh,
• 24:57
  weightlifting.
• 24:57
  And then I'll just, for workouts,
• 24:59
  I'll just jump in with
• 24:59
  whoever's at our gym.
• 25:00
  We have like so many good people.
• 25:02
  Our classwork workouts are really good.
• 25:05
  I mean, um,
• 25:08
  And after semifinals for team this year,
• 25:12
  I was like,
• 25:12
  I want to get a coach to give
• 25:15
  me some structure instead
• 25:17
  of like just pulling some
• 25:19
  random stuff together.
• 25:20
  So Holden Rethwell is my
• 25:22
  coach from Invictus.
• 25:25
  Nice.
• 25:26
  He unfortunately will be at the teams.
• 25:30
  So I know what you want to say.
• 25:35
  Well, I actually,
• 25:35
  I did a show with a mother
• 25:37
  and daughter who both qualified.
• 25:39
  Oh, really?
• 25:40
  And that they can't be at
• 25:41
  each other's event.
• 25:44
  Oh, I mean, come on.
• 25:46
  I think I said enough in
• 25:47
  that episode that I don't
• 25:49
  need to say it again here.
• 25:50
  Okay.
• 25:50
  Okay.
• 25:52
  Yeah.
• 25:53
  One, why are we splitting up viewers?
• 25:56
  Why are we splitting up spectators?
• 25:58
  Right.
• 25:58
  Different locations.
• 26:00
  Right.
• 26:00
  Why not hold them together
• 26:02
  and only pay for one venue?
• 26:06
  And then,
• 26:07
  and have all the stream and
• 26:08
  everything at one place.
• 26:11
  Yeah.
• 26:12
  Yeah.
• 26:13
  I'm with you.
• 26:13
  That, that makes sense.
• 26:15
  I'm sure there was a lot
• 26:16
  more that went into it that I know about,
• 26:18
  you know?
• 26:20
  Yeah.
• 26:21
  I speak my mind too often.
• 26:23
  And then I X from like,
• 26:25
  so I had that episode and
• 26:27
  Joe reached out to me and like,
• 26:29
  do you need me to explain
• 26:30
  to you why they're in two
• 26:31
  different locations?
• 26:32
  And I'm like,
• 26:33
  I know you can't change it now.
• 26:34
  Right.
• 26:35
  But I do see the frustration.
• 26:37
  Right.
• 26:37
  With a lot of families.
• 26:40
  Yeah.
• 26:40
  So.
• 26:43
  So you're going to the games,
• 26:45
  your husband's going with you.
• 26:46
  And when I said coach,
• 26:47
  like if you get a coach to
• 26:49
  be able to go backstage with you,
• 26:50
  he'll be that guy.
• 26:52
  Yeah.
• 26:53
  Yeah.
• 26:55
  Basically your caddy for the weekend.
• 26:57
  No, that's mean.
• 26:57
  I shouldn't say that.
• 26:59
  He's much more supportive than that.
• 27:01
  He's, he's got my bag.
• 27:03
  He knows all about my training.
• 27:04
  So I say caddy because
• 27:06
  that's what Matt O'Keefe
• 27:07
  always called himself.
• 27:09
  We would go back with Matt Fraser.
• 27:11
  Okay.
• 27:12
  Yeah.
• 27:13
  Caddy.
• 27:14
  Yeah.
• 27:15
  That, you know, you give advice,
• 27:16
  but you're really just
• 27:18
  holding the bag and you know, so, uh,
• 27:23
  realistic expectations this year.
• 27:25
  Um, my goal is to be top 10.
• 27:32
  Yep.
• 27:33
  Throwing it out there.
• 27:34
  Nice.
• 27:34
  I love it.
• 27:36
  Um, I'm trying to look at you.
• 27:38
  So you finished 10th at semis.
• 27:40
  I did.
• 27:41
  That's,
• 27:41
  that is a very realistic expectation.
• 27:45
  Very realistic.
• 27:47
  Um,
• 27:49
  and it doesn't hurt that you got some
• 27:51
  race experience already this year.
• 27:53
  Yeah.
• 27:53
  So it's,
• 27:54
  it's not going to be your first
• 27:55
  time at a live comp going
• 27:57
  against head to head with other people.
• 27:58
  Right.
• 27:59
  Right.
• 27:59
  I think that, yeah,
• 28:00
  that will definitely help
• 28:01
  gives me the confidence.
• 28:03
  I'll feel, I'll feel ready.
• 28:08
  How excited are you?
• 28:09
  This is your first trip to the games.
• 28:11
  Yeah.
• 28:13
  Are you,
• 28:14
  are you excited that it's by
• 28:16
  itself or were,
• 28:18
  did you have your heart set
• 28:20
  on the big festival with
• 28:22
  the elites and everybody else?
• 28:27
  I mean, I,
• 28:27
  I kind of have mixed emotions about that,
• 28:31
  especially since I finished 10,
• 28:33
  since it used to be 10.
• 28:36
  I truly feel like I just
• 28:38
  want to go compete against
• 28:40
  the best in the world.
• 28:41
  I don't care where it is or who it's with.
• 28:47
  The goal is the same to go
• 28:49
  be with the best.
• 28:52
  I think that if enough
• 28:54
  people show up and enough people watch,
• 28:58
  this can be something super cool.
• 29:01
  Yeah, I agree with you.
• 29:03
  I know there's very mixed
• 29:04
  reviews from the athletes and thinking,
• 29:09
  are we an afterthought or whatever?
• 29:13
  But I think at the end of the day,
• 29:15
  if competing is what's important to you,
• 29:18
  we're not doing it to be stars.
• 29:22
  At least I'm not.
• 29:24
  We want to go compete and
• 29:25
  see who's the best.
• 29:28
  it's totally fine to give us our own venue,
• 29:31
  our own weekend.
• 29:33
  Our fans and friends and
• 29:34
  family are going to be the
• 29:36
  ones that go to watch us.
• 29:38
  So if it means taking 40 and
• 29:41
  growing it and have an awesome first year,
• 29:44
  then let's do it.
• 29:48
  So this is a little bit of
• 29:49
  just a riff on my part.
• 29:51
  And that is that
• 29:53
  We did some research and the
• 29:55
  athletes from 35 to 49
• 29:58
  collectively have almost 3
• 30:00
  million followers on Instagram.
• 30:06
  That is a lot.
• 30:08
  That's a lot of eyes.
• 30:11
  And if we get away from old
• 30:13
  school thinking and promote,
• 30:17
  there are fans of these
• 30:19
  athletes that want to see them.
• 30:24
  And maybe having your own
• 30:27
  show is going to be the best result.
• 30:30
  Yeah.
• 30:32
  And that's why like before
• 30:34
  the season ever started, I was,
• 30:37
  my focus was you guys.
• 30:40
  I wanted this to be a great
• 30:42
  year for you guys.
• 30:43
  And I wanted to put our
• 30:44
  whole heart and soul into
• 30:46
  this and highlight
• 30:47
  everything you guys have done.
• 30:49
  Well, I think that's totally awesome.
• 30:51
  You're growing the sport.
• 30:52
  You're helping us out,
• 30:55
  just showing your love for
• 30:57
  all of us and giving us the
• 30:59
  exposure that people want
• 31:03
  to see and learn about.
• 31:06
  The fact that this is a
• 31:08
  collective of men and women
• 31:10
  who work full-time jobs,
• 31:12
  this is a part-time thing for them,
• 31:14
  and they're doing amazing feats.
• 31:16
  Yeah.
• 31:17
  amazing feats and they have
• 31:19
  families they need to be with.
• 31:21
  Yeah.
• 31:22
  Balance all of that.
• 31:23
  They'll pull off the amazing things.
• 31:27
  Absolutely incredible.
• 31:28
  I mean,
• 31:30
  I think we deserve more respect
• 31:31
  than we get.
• 31:33
  I agree.
• 31:35
  And with that,
• 31:36
  I want to thank you so much
• 31:37
  for being on here.
• 31:37
  Thank you.
• 31:39
  Before we went on air,
• 31:40
  we'll be there in Birmingham,
• 31:43
  behind the scenes,
• 31:44
  chatting with you all and
• 31:46
  trying to collect all that
• 31:47
  into a documentary.
• 31:48
  Can't wait.
• 31:49
  So excited.
• 31:51
  So I cannot wait to meet you in person.
• 31:53
  Thank you for being on.
• 31:54
  Thank you for joining us today.
• 31:56
  And we will see everybody
• 31:57
  next time on the Clydesdale
• 32:00
  Media Podcast.
• 32:02
  And I've lost my mouth.
• 32:03
  There it is.
• 32:05
  Thank you everybody for being here.
• 32:06
  Bye guys.