Latest / C Tolle Run / 453: Emily Mackay - I Feel So Free This Season
Transcript
- Carrie: Emily, welcome back to the show. It's been a few years. C Tolle Run: This episode is supported by Tailwind Nutrition. I was first introduced to Tailwind last year and I have enjoyed using it myself and recommending it to others ever since. I love a good sweat and in the summer. Emily Mackay: Yeah, it's been a while. I'm so happy to be back on. Carrie: I know. We were chatting just a little bit before you we well, we hit record. And it's a big week for you. This whole summer's huge, but let's talk about where you are right now and what you're kind of prepping for in September. C Tolle Run: I need tailwind. I need to make sure that I'm staying on top of my fueling and hydration. I want something that's easy on my stomach, gives me steady energy, and is an all-in-one fuel that combines calories, hydration, and electrolytes in one drink. I don't want to be searching for all the things. I need it all in one drink. So whether you run, cycle, ski, whatever, and if you're an athlete like me or have athletes in your family, you want to make sure that they can just focus on the miles ahead instead of worrying about their fueling plan. Cause I know Emily Mackay: Yeah, so right now I'm at my grandparents' lake house on Cuka Lake in upstate New York. It's one of the finger lakes. And I had my bridal shower last weekend, which was so much fun. ⁓ so many people put so much into it and it came together so nicely and I just felt so spoiled with ⁓ yeah, just so much love and I got to see so many family and friends and so it was really, really super special and C Tolle Run: That is one of the reasons why I love Tailwind. And guess what? Tailwind has made it really easy for our listeners. All you have to do is visit tailwindnutrition.com and use the code TOLLY20. That's T-O-L-L-E 20 for 20% off your order. That's TOLY20 for 20% off at tailwindnutrition.com. Emily Mackay: Then yeah, so this weekend's my bachelorette party, also here on Cuca Lake. So now we're gearing up for that. It's a big couple weeks before heading over to Europe for the rest of the season. Carrie: Yeah, it's so exciting. So you have quite a few friends out there as well that you went to college with, I'm assuming, that are coming to the Bachelorette party. C Tolle Run: Hey everyone, I'm Olympian Carrie Tullifson and welcome to the C Tally Run podcast. Today I can't wait to catch up with Emily Mackay. Emily is just one of those athletes that you can't help but root for. She is steady, she's consistent, and she's super talented her Olympic status, her two global medals, she's a pro runner for new balance and union athletics. She's the winner of two USA TF championships, and she did those both in 2026, indoors and outdoors. Emily Mackay: Yeah, so surprise so I'm only having my bridesmaids for my Bachelorette party. ⁓ we chose to keep it small and actually no one from my college team is in my bridal party. ⁓ but they were here this past weekend for my bridal shower, which was incredible. And so yeah, I have most people have to travel to get here. ⁓ well my cousin and my sister are in the area and then my best friend from Carrie: Okay. Okay. Yeah. Okay. C Tolle Run: And she's one of the fastest we've ever seen in US history. And I'm telling you, people, she's always in the conversation for the win. Emily. Emily Mackay: ⁓ elementary school. She's a travel nurse and I think she's doing a stint up in upstate New York right now so that she can be here for all of the wedding things. So she's currently in the area, but she's not always she's all over the place. Yeah. And then my other bridesmaid I have a bridesmaid flying from Flagstaff, Arizona, and a bridesmaid coming from Boston. So kind of all over the place. Yeah. C Tolle Run: Was last on CTR a few years ago in 2023. And at that time, she was the 100th female to break 430 for the mile. Now she's run 418 for the mile. She most recently won the 5,000 meters at the USATF Outdoor Championships in a sit-and-kick race. And we caught up on everything. Her move to Boulder, the 5,000 meters, the 1500 meters, what she's doing this summer, getting married in September, having a strong mentality now going in. Carrie: ⁓ perfect. That's cool. Mm. Ts so fun. Yeah, yeah. How far are you from Boston then? Right here, where you're at. Emily Mackay: here it's six hours. Yeah. It's pretty far. But when I lived in Boston I was making weekend trips here. It was long travel, but it was worth it. I was like, I can't I I need to go to the lake. Carrie: It's pretty far. Okay. C Tolle Run: to this season but also for 2027 and 2028. So much good stuff. So let's get after it. Carrie: Ha ha ha I love it. Tell me about this guy in your life real quick. Because you know what? We know so much about your running and we're gonna dive into the awesomeness that you are. But, you know, you posted I think it was a shakeout run before one of the I think it was before USA's or something, but I think it was him that was with you. Like, I gotta know, was he a runner? What what's up with this husband to be? Emily Mackay: Yeah. C Tolle Run: Thanks so much for joining me today on CTollyRun. My guest was Emily Mackay. You can find her on social media at Emily underscore Mac7. That's Emily underscore MAC7. Before we go, a big shout out to Rundot for supporting the show and to Andrew Harley and to Sarah Bernie, the amazing producers behind Try Dot, Rundot, and CTollyrun. Also, Emily Mackay: Yeah. ⁓ his name's Grayson. I met him at Binghamton University. He was on the cross country and track and field team with me there. And funny enough, we well, we grew up maybe like 10 or 15 minutes away from each other. like 15 minutes away from Binghamton and 15 minutes away from each other. And we went to neighboring high schools and we both ran in high school. So we knew who each other were, but we never talked until so I went for my freshman year, I went to Oregon. Carrie: Okay. C Tolle Run: Thanks to Tailwind for supporting this episode. And if you want to try it out, head on over to TailwindNutrition.com for 20% off your order and just use the code TOLLY20 T-O-L-L 20. If you're a fan of the pod, we'd love to hear from you. Visit ctalirun.com slash review and leave us a review there. And also you can check us out at YouTube, Facebook, X, and Instagram at Ctolerun or at Carrie Tullifson. And you can also head on over to our website, ctalirun.com. Thank you so much for joining me today. And don't forget to get after it. Carrie: Uh-huh. Emily Mackay: University and then I transferred to Binghamton and we were in the same friend group there, so we were friends for a couple of years before we started dating. So that's how we met. Yeah. Carrie: That's so cute. So is he still running quite a bit or is he just trying to chase you and keep up with you a little bit? Emily Mackay: Yeah, pretty much. He does a lot of my doubles with me, which is awesome. It's so nice to have his company. And then whenever I'm home and I don't have teammates to run with, he will do some of my longer runs with me as well. So he's funny. He's like, Okay, I gotta start getting fit, so if we're about to go home for Christmas or like right now I'm home for two weeks, he's like, Okay, time to get fit 'cause I'm gonna have to run with you more. Yeah. He's really supportive. Carrie: Mm. Nice. Yeah. Hmm. Yeah. ⁓ that's so sweet. I love that. You know, my husband used to Yeah, my husband used to try to run with me a little bit too when we when I first started and it is really nice when they can do that. ⁓ you have all this fun going on on the track and things like that, but I gotta know like what is it like having such an important event coming up while you're still trying to be one hundred percent focused on being a world class athlete? Like, where do you find the joy? What are you doing outside of running that Kinda is fun right now. This is like once in a lifetime opportunity, hopefully, of walking down the aisle. So what are you finding your fun in? Emily Mackay: Right. Absolutely. wedding planning is taking up a lot of my time and we're trying to keep it fun. It's stressful. It is hard balancing planning a wedding on top of also trying to take a step forward in my career, which I think I have been able to do so far this year and I hope to continue to do for the rest of the season. but yeah it's it's definitely tricky balancing these two things and ⁓ a lot goes into it. I've had a lot of support and a lot of help with the wedding planning, thank goodness, and it's been hard. Carrie: Yeah. Yeah. Nice. Emily Mackay: So in these two weeks I've had to squeeze in ⁓ hair trial, makeup trial, my dress alterations, engagement photos. We finally just got those done. ⁓ so not super traditional getting the engagement photos two months before the wedding, but Carrie: ⁓ Yeah. Emily Mackay: We're we're doing what we can here. So ⁓ and then yes, and then bridal shower and bachelorette all in the span of two weeks. So we're kind of we're cramming a lot of wedding planning into a short period of time and I'm also very type B, so that doesn't help. I'm definitely just Carrie: Yeah. ⁓ yeah. Emily Mackay: It will get planned. I just keep telling everyone, don't worry, there's going to be a wedding. It's going to be planned. We just sent out our wedding invitations a few days ago. And the wedding's in two months. So we sent out save the dates. So I'm like, everyone knows when it is. And people who are coming are gonna come. But I have gotten a few texts like, hey, just am I still invited? I'm like, yes, I promise I haven't sent out the invitations yet. You're not uninvited. So sorry. But it's coming together. Carrie: Love it. There you go. Yep. Hey to each their own. To each their own. I love that. We had, I don't know if I've told this on the podcast before, but I was doing a runner's world cover shoot ⁓ in Boulder and where you live and train now. And ⁓ my I had Charlie come out with me. We got married five months after I he had proposed. And so we planned it fast because it was either before the Olympics or after the Olympics. And so we did it the summer before the Olympics in 2004. And Emily Mackay: Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ wow. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Carrie: I we went out to Boulder for this photo shoot and we took our engagement photos there. We were like, can he just suit up? I mean, everyone knows me as this runner. We'll put him in an Adidas outfit. And that was our engagement photo. Yeah. Well, you know, you just do what you gotta do. Yeah, yeah. Emily Mackay: Wait, that's incredible. That's actually iconic. I love that. That's so fun. It's like you gotta do what you can. Yep. And five months, ⁓ my goodness. Carrie: Plus, I had a very small contract back in the day. Like we were living off of hardly anything. That was how big the c contracts were. So we were like free photo. Okay, here we go. Yeah, exactly. It was super fun. Hey, speaking of Boulder, it it's interesting how everybody. Emily Mackay: Free photo shoot, let's go. That's awesome. Yeah. And isn't it so interesting? ⁓ yeah. Speaking of boulder. Carrie: like has their own way of doing things. And I think that n no way is the perfect way. Every it's whatever is your way is the perfect way. Emily Mackay: Right, exactly. What's most important is just two people who love each other getting married. It's a very special thing, so yeah. Carrie: Yeah, for sure. Well let's talk a little bit about Boulder because this year has been the lights out. You've been running really, really well. But there's been change. And so how long have you been in Boulder and with Pete Julian and Union Athletics? Like tell us how that all kind of worked out. Has it been a year now? Emily Mackay: Thank you. Yes, it's been just over a year, maybe a year and a couple months at this point. 'Cause I think I moved out there ⁓ my goodness, beginning of June or beginning of July, I don't remember. But last year. Last summer. Yeah. So but it's been going great. Yeah, I think it it's been a very positive change. and I love living at altitude. ⁓ I am starting to kind of notice the effects of it of living at altitude versus only doing camps there. And yeah, it's something that I had always wanted to do in my running career, so I figured what better time than, you know, a few years out from LA twenty eight. I think it felt like a good time to make a change and yeah, it's just been going great so far. Carrie: There's been a lot of change in the track world specifically. I think partly because what you said, like this year is an off year, sort of, ⁓ where we don't have a world champs or an Olympic year. And it it does seem maybe either babies happen, for sure weddings happen, and then ⁓ you know, maybe a change of scenery, change of coaching, things like that. Emily Mackay: Yeah. Weddings. Yeah, no, totally. It was ⁓ planning my wedding this year was by design for sure. ⁓ we and having my like bridal shower and bachelorette these two weeks. Because there's not a lot of racing going on right now. with the Commonwealth Games and the European championships are this coming weekend, I think. but either way, so there's not a lot of racing going on right now, so and it's an off year, so I figured I needed to take Carrie: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yep. Emily Mackay: I needed to treat it as an off year and I think it's a perfect time to plan a wedding and still be really focused on and running in my career and all of that. But it's now's the time to have these other things going on as well. I think it works out really well. And it was also a really good time to make a change last year. So yeah. Carrie: Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ what has changed? What's different about this training? What's I mean, ⁓ you said you're at altitude ⁓ for the most of the year, but is there a big change physically in the training or is it maybe just mentality is different? What what do you find different, Emily? Emily Mackay: Yeah. A little bit of both. I think we're incorporating a lot more speed work into my training, which has been helping a lot, I think, with yeah, just having like extra gears in the last lap that I didn't have before. And yeah, I I don't to be honest, my training's very similar but it is different and it is hard to say. I think it might just be a little bit more it's very individualized to me and what I need and Carrie: Mm-hmm. Emily Mackay: And ⁓ kind of around my strengths and weaknesses and just figuring out very specifically what works for me and because I feel like I was able to get super fit on in my last training situation on Team New Balance Boston and that's what I needed right out of college was to just get I needed to get fitter to be able to ⁓ really compete and hold my own even at the US level and so once I made that huge jump in my fitness I was Carrie: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Emily Mackay: Like, okay, now I think I need to start getting into a little bit more of the details. And so that's something we've been focusing a lot on is just figuring out specifics, like what works for me pre-race, and just getting really ⁓ a little bit more I guess nitpicky and specific with training, fueling, mostly on race day. race day fueling, hydration, those kinds of things, and speed work and Carrie: Yeah. Okay. Emily Mackay: My mileage is maybe a little bit more consistently higher because before I was running eighty mile weeks, but then once we got into the summer, my mileage, especially when ra when I'm racing and all of that, would ⁓ tank. Carrie: Okay. Emily Mackay: pretty hard and I would be running only maybe fifty or fifty five miles a week and so this year we've been ⁓ making sure to keep the volume up a little to help me get through a season. So this is the first time that I've made it knock on wood. Because we haven't made it to September yet, but we've made it to August and I'm still feeling very healthy and strong and Carrie: Hmm. Yeah. Emily Mackay: like I've been able to maintain my fitness very well and in the past I feel like I've had I've been able to peek for USA's but then kind of was like petering off is that the right word? Petering off after that. Like not really just having a hard time holding my fitness for I guess various reasons. It was a little bit mental burnout and then also a little bit, I think, physically just I don't know if my body was strong enough to Carrie: Yeah. Okay. Sure. Emily Mackay: just keep training at that intensity all summer long. But so that's what we're figuring out right now. Is how to make it through to September. Yes. Carrie: Mm. Yeah, you're figuring things out and it You look so good. I know you're gonna do that. And I think too with wedding planning and all that fun, like it is actually so much like joy in your life that that too just gives you a little extra pep in your step. Like it's such a fun thing to plan. I remember my when we were planning our wedding, I was super injured coming into it, but the last few weeks things started to change and I was also so focused when I was on the elliptical or whatever I was doing because I had something else to think about. Emily Mackay: Yes. Carrie: and to kind of let my mind wander with, you know, how much shrimp I was getting or whatever else we were getting. So it it is really fun. ⁓ do you t do you and your future husband plan to move together to Boulder or will you be living apart? How will that work? Emily Mackay: Yeah. So true. ⁓ we'll be living together in Boulder. So we're living together in Boulder right now. He moved out several months after me. So I moved there last summer, like I said, June or July, I don't remember. And then he moved there in November. So we were apart for several months before he finally was able to make the move out to Boulder. But we have been together and yeah, so we'll be living together in Boulder. Yeah. Carrie: Nice. Okay. Mm-hmm. ⁓ nice. Yeah. Okay. So nice. Well, let's talk about 2026, lady. Two USA TF championships, indoors and outdoors. And just, I mean, it was just so much fun to watch you race. I loved watching you race indoors, but then outdoors, it just seems like you're a different person. Like we all know that you're always, and I said this in the in the open of the show, like you are in every conversation before every race. Like we know that you're there. But now it's like, who can beat this woman? The way that you ran that 5,000 meters the day after placing third at the 1500 and just to see how controlled you were, even with like less than 150 meters to go, you were mouthing to Coach Julian or whoever it was on the outside, like, time to go. I'm like, yeah, it's time to go, Emily. There's hardly anything left. There's no more time to wait. So I mean, you're just in control right now, and it's so fun. Emily Mackay: Thank you. Yeah, I've been enjoying it. Enjoying the fitness is like and I it like you said earlier, I am just so happy outside of running right now too and I think that it makes a huge difference. just being happy and and loving running and training and then also just loving my life outside of it and I think it's just I feel so free this season. and I've never really I guess felt like my identity was tied to running, but it's like this year I especially don't. I just feel so fulfilled in my life outside of it and it's just such a freeing feeling and to be able to be really focused but also know it's like I have so many other important things in my life outside of running so it's been such a good balance but yeah that was the last like 150 meters of that 5k was so much fun and I've had so many people come up to me and ask like what did you say to Pete with 150 to go I was like I was asking his permission Carrie: Nice. Yeah. ⁓ my gosh. Emily Mackay: To kick I was. Carrie: I know, I saw it. I was like, did she just ask, like, can I go? Is it time or whatever you said? I loved it. Emily Mackay: Because I realized with about a mile to go probably, I was like, crap. Pete and I never talked about the plan past this point. I don't know what am I supposed to do? ⁓ like obviously I felt confident in figuring it out on my own, but we had a very specific plan heading into the 1500-meter final, which was to wait until the last 100 meters. So I was like, am I supposed to do that again? Or can I go sooner? Or just whatever I feel like doing. So I was like, okay, I'll just hang out and then I'll try to ask him on the turn. Because usually he's talking to me and telling me what to do, and either I wasn't hearing him or he was just leaving it up to me. ⁓ I'm not sure. Carrie: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Okay. Huh. Yeah. Yeah. Emily Mackay: But I was like, please tell me if I should go or not. I didn't say it out loud, but I was like, do I go? What did he do? Nothing. I still didn't hear him say anything. And then I didn't see him for about a half an hour after the race because ⁓ my teammate Acer was racing the men's 5K, which I think was right after my race. So I didn't see him. We didn't even get to celebrate until 30 minutes later, but it was really special. Carrie: And what did he do when you said that? Yeah, did he like ⁓ Yeah. That's so Acer was just on the show. He cause he won Grandma's Marathon. And he was one of my counselors at my camp, Emily. Like, and he's from Minnesota. He's just such a great guy, isn't he? ⁓ Emily Mackay: Yeah. Yeah. No he is. He's so much fun to have around. Yeah. Yeah, he's a great teammate. We we were able to do a workout together, I think it was like about a week or ten days out from USA's. We our workout somehow crossed over and it was so much fun ripping two hundreds together. ⁓ my goodness. Yeah, it was fun. Carrie: Yeah, yeah, love that guy. ⁓ cool. Yeah, I love that. I love that you can work out with him as well. ⁓ so let me let me just like I wanna hear a little bit more about this plan. Like the 1500, you have Nikki Hilts, Addy Wiley right there with you, and actually quite a few people in that last hundred meters. How in the world do you keep your cool when you're going up against Addy Wiley and Nikki Hilts to say, I'm gonna wait till a hundred meters to go with those two that can kick like that. And I know you can kick, but that is a that's not far out. Emily Mackay: I know. Yeah. I know, I know. It was super nerve wracking and definitely out of my comfort zone, which was by design, we wanted to try something new. And I was like, Pete, this plan terrifies me. He's like, I know. It's supposed to. And I was like, everyone's gonna be there. I think it's gonna be very tactical. Like I don't even think it's just gonna be Nikki and Addy. I think there's gonna be a lot of other women there still in the conversation too. even until at least two hundred meters to go and so ⁓ definitely nerve wracking because I feel like Carrie: Okay. Mm-hmm. Emily Mackay: definitely most comfortable going around four hundred out. ⁓ so yeah, that was just our plan was to try something new and get out of the comfort zone and and just see what happens. And I think with it being an off year we're like, this is a risky decision, but if we're going to try it now's the time. And so yeah, so we did. And I think that I'm I'm glad we did it. I'm glad we did it. Carrie: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Even though you were beat and you were third, I think that there is something about learning how to race against an Addy Wiley who isn't afraid to take it a little early. And then a Nikki Hilts, who definitely can take it, but also is known for their kick. Like that's something that Nikki Emily Mackay: Yes. Yes. Yeah. Carrie: knows how to really like time things personally. ⁓ And so it's it was cool to see you go for And I think that it's just a few more races where you can kind of dictate everyone in the world where off of your own kick. Emily Mackay: Yes. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, I mean that was the point of doing it was to gain a little bit of more confidence in my kick. So that, because you never know how a race is gonna go and there might be a situation where it's me and a few others with a hundred meters to go and now I feel like after having this experience I will feel more comfortable and confident in the situation. and Now I know. So it was just a kind of about finding out what would happen. And so now I know that I can hang with these women when there's a hundred meters to go. And that was just k that was kind of the point of it. Yeah. Because yeah, Nikki's got an incredible kick and I think yeah, it was just it was just fun to try something different. Carrie: Yeah. Goodness. Yeah. So let's talk about kind of there had to have been some disappointment. You know, n all of us hate getting beat. So how do you come back less than 24 hours later, right? Wasn't it 24 hours later that the 5,000 final was? Emily Mackay: Yeah, I think just under yeah. Just under twenty four hours later. Carrie: Yeah. S so I'm assuming you go into drug testing after the fifteen hundred or didn't you get drug tested after? Emily Mackay: No, I did not. So I was able yeah, no. Carrie: You did it. Okay. So where do you go after that? Like what do you do? How do you like regroup real quick? Emily Mackay: Right. ⁓ well I had a chat with my coach and I said, Well now I definitely want to race the five K tomorrow. ⁓ because before it was always the plan to do it, but he he and I were both saying, Okay, if it's very hot and humid and depending on how the fifteen goes we might we might not do it. just because he's like, there's no sense in going out there and getting heat stroke, ⁓ in the five K. So and then it ended up the weather ended up being actually beautiful, I thought. But so and then after the disappointment of coming third in the fifteen, I was like, I have another shot at a US title. I really wanted to walk away from the US championship with another US title, my first outdoor US title. And so I was like, okay, I've got another shot. I just need to I went through media directly into my cooldown, got some treatment. Carrie: Yep. Yeah. Emily Mackay: And just I was very proud of how I was able to mentally refocus for the next day and just kind of take that as fuel to the fire. And I was honestly just so excited, especially because both the prelim and the final in the 1500 were so tactical. I felt like there's a really good chance I have my legs tomorrow and I think I can still compete very well because it is a different situation. This pass indoors, I tried to come back and race the 15 after that. Carrie: Hm. Emily Mackay: Barn burner of a 3K that Ellie and I had run the day before. ⁓ she made it so fast, so I just absolutely did not have my legs the next day because I had to PR by five seconds in the 3K the day before. So yeah, it was a different situation and yeah, I was able to get some treatment and yeah, I was though I was disappointed because like you said, I don't like getting beat. Nobody likes getting beat. ⁓ nobody likes coming in third, you know, especially when yeah. Carrie: Mm-hmm. It's so fun. Yeah. Emily Mackay: It's like the title in the fifteen hundred, something I've been after for a few years now and something I I do believe I'm capable of and so but I was still so proud of having tried something different and proud of the way that I had run because I could feel that it was one of my fastest closes ever. And it might actually I have to fact check this, but I think it is my the fastest I've ever closed, the last one hundred of a fifteen. So there's a lot of positive there's a lot of little wins, even though I Carrie: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. For sure. Sure. Emily Mackay: came in third in a lot of positive takeaways from that race. I learned a lot and I got a step closer to where I want to be. So yeah. It's like as long as there's improvement, I'm able to I think have a pretty good perspective and just be proud of the way I ran and it's that's all I ask of myself is that I show up and I give my best on the day and so I did that and I was able to walk away proud even though I had ⁓ fallen across the line and come in third place. Carrie: Exactly. I love that. Emily Mackay: Yeah. Yeah. Carrie: Haha Well, I mean, talk about growth right there. You go into the 5k and you really did run. It looked like on the outside. I don't know what the whole strategy was. You'll have to let me know, but it looked like You were just in it to win it, right? Like you were gonna follow Parker. Parker Valby went for it. She set the pace. She went pretty hard. Shelby Hoolahan took it the last little bit. And then here comes Emily Mackay just grinding it out. Everyone knew that your legs were tired. Everyone knew that mentally I assumed you were a little bit tired because it was a lot. That's a lot of racing that you had done against world class athletes, not just the best in the US. They are world class. So ⁓ tell us a little bit about the I know you Emily Mackay: Yes. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yes. Carrie: You said you didn't really have a s the chat with Pete before, but what were you thinking about when you really kinda wanted to go and how you were able to mentally kinda hold back and not take the lead when you were feeling pretty dang good? Emily Mackay: Right, I think I had no idea how I was going to feel. I was like, I hope I feel good. I felt good on my warm-up, but the race is a completely different scenario. It's like I you can feel good on a warm-up and then still not have your legs in the race. So I was like, I think I'm gonna find out during the race whether or not it's going to be a good day. Whether I'm gonna have my legs and yeah, feel good throughout the race and Pete told me going into it, the only plan was really he said, You're gonna hate your life, but you've gotta be tough. He said, You've gotta be tough. You've gotta hang in there. It's gonna be really hard because I mean we figured Parker was going to make it a fast race. ⁓ knowing Parker and I remember thinking also during the race how incredibly strong she is to be able to do that. To push from the front and make it an honest 5K race is it's just incredible. Carrie: That's brilliant. Yep. Yeah. Emily Mackay: And not not many people can do that. So very impressive. We were counting on, we were like, she's probably that's probably how the race is gonna run. And so I need to be able to hang in there. And then Pete said, if you can make it to 3K, I like your chances. And so I was like, okay, I just need to make it to 3K and take it one lap at a time. And I remember during the race just thinking, I'm kind of waiting for it to start hurting. Because it can happen so quick in a 5K where you go from feeling absolutely fine to not. And so I was just like, okay. Carrie: Mm. Emily Mackay: Okay, I feel good, I feel good. Trying not to think about how much I had left. And I kept trying to trick myself too. Don't think about how far you've already run. Pretend like it's the first two laps. You still feel good. You still feel the same way that you felt the first two laps. So I just kept tricking my brain and walking myself through it. There's so much time to think during a 5K. ⁓ my goodness. Carrie: Mm, so much time. Emily Mackay: Especially when I was just like we were all there wasn't too much moving around going on. I was on the rail in I think fourth or fifth place and just ⁓ we were just clicking off the laps and Yeah, as they were going by, I remember also thinking with with three K into it, I was like, Indoors we would be done. This is a this is a different beast than the three K. We've got two more K to go here. And so yeah, and just waiting for it to kinda wind up and I think Parker didn't feel her best, I don't think, on the day. She said that yeah, she was just yeah. Carrie: Mm-hmm. Emily Mackay: Nor I thought that she was gonna pick it up and yes, exactly, and yeah. So we ended up just running a pretty steady pace all the way up until I'm not sure when we started to pick it up, maybe eight hundred to go. And then definitely with four hundred to go, so yeah. But it was great. There there was no really race plan other than be tough. Carrie: Little laugh. Mm-hmm. Yep. It Yeah, I love that. Like you are going to hate yourself for a while out there. Emily Mackay: Yeah. I was like I know I'm gonna question like why did I do this? Why why am I doing this to myself? No. Carrie: Yes. Mm. There is something about the 5k. Like sometimes it just clicks and it's like, how did that go by so fast? But it's also one of those times where or one of those races where you definitely think and you don't like want to think. Cause then it's like, ⁓ I got a long ways to go. Yeah. Emily Mackay: Yes. Exactly. It's like you hope you feel good. If you don't, it's gonna be a long five thousand meters. But when you feel good, it's so much fun. Yeah. Yeah. Carrie: Yes, I know. It is. It is really fun. I love that you said, I think it was a quote that you said, I keep proving to myself how mentally tough and resilient I can be. That was after the 5k. And that to me is super powerful. Do you remember saying that? Emily Mackay: I do, yeah. yeah, it's just I think in this sport is it's so it is so mental. And I just one of my favorite things that I remind myself before a race is no matter how I'm feeling, no matter what mental space I'm in, I know I can get it done. ⁓ because I've done it before. I've I've gone into races very anxious, I've gone into races very calm, I've gone in emotional, and I've gone in very grounded. And somehow when the gun goes off I'm always able to get it done. And so I find a lot of like peace and calm in knowing that. And yeah, I just I don't know, like I feel like it does take a lot mentally and physically to to be out here and do what we do and I think just sh showing resilience, ⁓ ⁓ To myself and to others. I hope that it's like inspiring and for like you know young ones who look up to us professional runners to see us like getting back up and and trying again and and just to keep showing up because ⁓ one thing I've been thinking about a lot lately too is just like if you just keep showing up it's gonna happen. It's gonna everything's gonna come together and we're gonna have days like that 5k for me where everything the stars align, everything clicks, you feel And you get it done and ⁓ and it when it that does happen it's so special so Carrie: It's so good to hear you say that. The the women's fifteen hundred in the US and around the world, but in the US right now is I don't know. I think I think that's really where it seems like everyone in all the distance events have really up their game because of what's going on in the fifteen hundred. It just seems like even the eight hundred, everybody is watching how consistent you all are. And you have run so fast. Three fifty five for fifteen hundred meters. I mean, is that do you think you're your event. You're so good at eight hundred meters. You're s phenomenal at five thousand meters. Great at three thousand meters, but the fifteen hundred, what do you think? Emily Mackay: Thank you. Yeah, I do think the fifteen hundred is my event. It's tricky because I would have never thought that my first two titles would come in the three K indoors and then the five K outdoors. I always imagined and envisioned ⁓ winning my first US title in the fifteen hundred. because I had thought that that's my best event. ⁓ And I still do. I I just think there's just so much depth all across the board right now in the eight fifteen and five K ⁓ at the US level and in the world level. And another thing I wanted to say earlier is I am just so thankful that we have the world class talent in the US to compete against on a regular basis. So we're super lucky to ⁓ yeah, have each other and I think we're really Carrie: Yeah. I know. Yeah. Emily Mackay: pushing each other to that next level so that we can show up to these world championships and be competitive as a country. And so yeah I feel like we're pretty spoiled here in the US, ⁓ yeah, just with having such incredible talent across the board. So it's just we make it tough for each other, to win these US titles and it that's a beautiful thing. Yeah. Yeah. Carrie: Yeah you do. I know. It really is. ⁓ tell me a little bit about the rest of the season. I know you said you're gonna be going over to Europe. ⁓ what is what does it look like? You know, are you w what distances will you be running? Are you gonna be ⁓ shutting it down, getting to the going to the roads before the wedding? What do you what do you have planned? Emily Mackay: ⁓ so I'm heading over to Saint Maritz on August tenth. And so I'll be there based and I'm racing Celestia Diamond League. I think that's August 21st. And then I think I'm in a pretty good position to make both the Diamond League final and the World Ultimate Championships, hopefully. So I'm hoping those will be my last three races of the season, all 1500s, and then I'll be shutting it down after that. Coming back home to upstate New York and I'll have I think ten days to get ready. Carrie: Okay. Emily Mackay: before the wedding to get my myself together. Yeah. It's so much to look forward to this summer. Yeah. Carrie: it's so fun. You got it you got it together. It is. Everything is exciting and I think the cool thing too is, I mean, you can just go out there and race right now. There isn't really you know, you don't have necessarily these big Olympic medals or big world championship medals to go and chase Ultimate Game. Super cool and it's gonna be a new event. So but what is it that you kind of is there a carrot right now that you're chasing? Is it a time? Is it just to keep racing hard? What is it? Emily Mackay: Yeah. Yeah. Just to keep racing hard. I think my main goal for this year was to get as much experience racing world class. Carrie: Nice. Emily Mackay: ⁓ fields as possible and so just to be in the Diamond League circuit, to be ⁓ racing these people that I'm gonna be racing these next couple of years at ⁓ worlds in Beijing and then in LA twenty twenty eight, hopefully, hopefully. ⁓ because it's never a given to make these teams because of the depth that we were talking about in the US but just Carrie: Mm-hmm. Yeah. So cool. Emily Mackay: getting as much experience as possible so that ⁓ hopefully when I make these teams I'm able to show up and and really and show out. So just getting that experience tactically and yeah it it helps having ⁓ more opportunities because it helps to put a little bit less weight on each one and it takes the pressure off a little bit and ⁓ yeah, it just keeps it I think it is more fun racing more and that's something that I've never raced this much as I have this summer and that's by design also. My coach and I decided we're like we just want to race as much as possible and get the experience and ⁓ especially with international travel too. There's just so many things that we're trying to experience and get good at ⁓ before these next two years and so that's what this year is kind of all about. Yeah. Carrie: Mm-hmm. Smart. I love that. I love it. Well, before I let you go, we gotta do rapid fire, because you know it's one of my favorite things to do. So we're gonna do the rapid fire brought to you by Run Dot. ⁓ you ready? Emily Mackay: Yes, let's do it. Carrie: Okay. Fifteen hundred or five K. Emily Mackay: Fifteen hundred Carrie: I knew it. Rockies or Appalachian Mountains. Emily Mackay: Rockies. Carrie: Okay, people from home might not love that. Mile repeats or long tempos. Emily Mackay: mile repeats, for sure. Carrie: Okay. ⁓ reality T V documentaries. Emily Mackay: Reality TV. Carrie: Trashy reality T V? Okay. Emily Mackay: Yeah. Kinda both. All all genres of reality TV. Carrie: I see it. I love it. Okay, visualize or just wing it. Emily Mackay: Visualize for sure. Lots of that. Carrie: Mm, I love it. Okay. Push the pace or sit and kick? Emily Mackay: Sit and kick now. I go back and forth. I go back and forth. Carrie: You can do either one though. That's what's so cool. Yeah, it's good. It's good you could do that. Yeah, I love it. Okay. What's more stressful? Planning a wedding or trying to win USA's? Emily Mackay: ⁓ my goodness. Probably planning a wedding because it's been going on for so long. It's more long-term stress. Carrie: Yeah. I love it. Okay. Have bicarb pre lay pre race or P V and J? Emily Mackay: P B and J. Carrie: Do you ha do you use bicarb though? Emily Mackay: I do not. I used to. And when I was using it, I liked it. I genuinely I was like, mm, tasty snack. Unpopular opinion. Most people d don't enjoy their pre race bicarb, but I did. But yeah, they don't take it anymore. Mm-hmm. Yeah. ⁓ I'm just not convinced that it works for me physiologically. ⁓ yeah, I think Carrie: You d Re Huh, but now you've done away with it. How come? Okay. Emily Mackay: I don't know. My coach and I just decided that I mean all my PRs are from without taking bicarb and yeah. I don't know. I'm just not convinced it it does it it does it for me. Carrie: Uh-huh. Okay. I love that. I love that because Yeah, I think that's good to hear because you know some especially for the younger kids that are listening, you know, they don't they don't know what to do and some people just write it off if they aren't using everything. Yeah, exactly. Okay, last one. Emily Mackay: Yeah. It might not work for everyone. Yeah. 'Cause my coach was saying ⁓ okay, what's the last one? Carrie: Now more world medals or set an American record? Emily Mackay: World medals for sure. Both both for sure. Both. Carrie: You could say both. Okay. Okay. I love it. Let's go back to what does your coach say about bicarb? Emily Mackay: ⁓ he just said, that I might have like a talent, you know, like a I don't know, biological talent of buffering lactic acid is one of the things that one of my maybe we're just speculating here, it's like maybe I'm good at doing that, so maybe bicarb doesn't work as well for me or messes up. He said it might mess with my given talent or given whatever of being able to buffer lactic acid. Carrie: ⁓ yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Physiological yeah, yeah. Interesting. Emily Mackay: Mm. Mm-hmm. So I don't know. And it's like with everything, right? Not everything is for everyone. Not everything works the same way for ev because we're all different. So I don't know. I don't know. But that's just a theory. Carrie: Exactly. Huh. Well, I can't. I c I love the theories. I love how you and Pete are working together and I'm so excited to celebrate love this September with you. Emily Mackay: Thank you. Yes. I can't wait. It's feeling more real now for sure. Yeah. Carrie: Yeah. Yeah. Well, congrats on everything, Emily. You deserve it all and thank you for taking some time during this really exciting week for you. Emily Mackay: Thank you. Thank you, of course. That was fun. And I love the rapid fire yeah, the rapid fire questions were so good. Yeah. Really good ones. Yeah. Carrie: Mm-hmm. Keep getting after it. Me too. Ha ha! They're my fave. They're my fave.