Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 254. Nell Rojas, Runner

Transcript

254. Nell Rojas, Runner · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

0:00
Speaker 1: Do it your own way. Everyone's different, and I think
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Speaker 1: I'm very different. Don't compare yourself. Do it the way
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Speaker 1: that works for you.
0:21
Speaker 2: Hey, everybody, Emily Evadi here.
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Speaker 3: You are listening to episode two hundred and fifty four
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Speaker 3: of Hurdle, a wellness focused podcast. Reconnect with everyone from
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Speaker 3: your favorite athletes to top experts and industry CEOs about
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Speaker 3: their highest ties, toughest moments, and everything in between. We
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Speaker 3: all go through hurdles in life, and my goal through
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Speaker 3: these discussions is to empower you to better navigate yours
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Speaker 3: and move with intention so that you can stride towards
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Speaker 3: your own big potential and of course have some fun
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Speaker 3: along the way. For today's episode, I am chatting with
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Speaker 3: mel Rojas. She is a pro runner. A very well
1:01
Speaker 3: timed episode if you ask me. Considering Global Running Day
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Speaker 3: is this coming Wednesday, June seventh. In honor of Global
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Speaker 3: Running Day, I am going to be hosting a live
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Speaker 3: podcast with my girl, Jess Woods at Nike's New York headquarters.
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Speaker 2: Nell is also a Nike.
1:20
Speaker 3: Athlete, and Jess and I are going to be answering
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Speaker 3: all of your running questions, So submit one by clicking
1:26
Speaker 3: the link in the show notes that says, leave me
1:29
Speaker 3: a voice message or shoot me an email over at
1:32
Speaker 3: Hello at Hurdle dot us that episode will be dropping soon.
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Speaker 2: Anyway, Back to my girl Nell.
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Speaker 3: In today's episode, we chat about her love of sport
1:43
Speaker 3: from a young age. She talks about growing up in
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Speaker 3: Boulder and how the local run community really inspired her
1:52
Speaker 3: to get more involved with the sport. She shares about
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Speaker 3: her big goals, her dreams to make a US Olympic team.
2:00
Speaker 3: He also talks to us about dabbling in triathlon and
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Speaker 3: what it was like for her to win Grandma's marathon
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Speaker 3: back in twenty nineteen. Nell also talks to me about
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Speaker 3: her coaching business and how entrepreneurship and building that has
2:15
Speaker 3: brought her so much joy. Really loved this conversation and
2:20
Speaker 3: have to thank the team at Garmin for connecting us.
2:24
Speaker 3: It is no secret Garmin is the running smartwatch that
2:28
Speaker 3: I have been using for a long time now, and
2:31
Speaker 3: the company in fact is celebrating this year twenty years
2:35
Speaker 3: of Forerunner. Now to celebrate Garment's put select Forerunner watches
2:40
Speaker 3: on sale on their site.
2:42
Speaker 2: Have to tell you guys about it, so head.
2:44
Speaker 3: On over to Garman dot com to check them out today.
2:48
Speaker 3: Make sure, if you're not yet doing so, you are
2:50
Speaker 3: following along with Hurdle over on social that is at
2:53
Speaker 3: Hurdle Podcast. I myself am over at Emily a Body.
2:57
Speaker 3: As you know, the weekly Hurdle newsletter c out every
3:00
Speaker 3: single Friday, bringing you a lot of the same motivation
3:03
Speaker 3: and inspiration you love from the show directly into your inbox.
3:07
Speaker 3: I shared a very special newsletter last Friday, thirty five
3:11
Speaker 3: the Lessons I've learned in thirty five years, a little
3:14
Speaker 3: reflection in honor of my birthday. I'd love for you
3:18
Speaker 3: to read it. I'd love for you to be subscribed.
3:20
Speaker 3: It's free again. The link to do that is in
3:23
Speaker 3: the show notes. And with that, let's get to it.
3:27
Speaker 3: Let's get to hurtling.
3:42
Speaker 2: Today.
3:42
Speaker 3: I am sitting down with Nell Rojas. She is a
3:45
Speaker 3: professional runner. How are you doing today now? I'm good, yeah, yeah,
3:51
Speaker 3: I don't want to blow up your spot. But you're
3:53
Speaker 3: doing a full gel manicure removal at the moment.
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Speaker 1: Yes. I've never had fake nails before. I have them
4:01
Speaker 1: for some reason now and they are really they just
4:07
Speaker 1: make everything harder. So I'm trying to get them off, but.
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Speaker 2: I get it.
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Speaker 3: Weightlifting with long nails can be challenging and that's for sure.
4:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, well I went. I also went. I went bouldering
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Speaker 1: the other day and that was like a disaster.
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Speaker 2: No, you actually cannot boulder with long nails.
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Speaker 1: You can't do it.
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Speaker 2: It's not possible. It's not possible.
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Speaker 3: I'm sure if you look at any professional climber's hands,
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Speaker 3: like it's short, there's grit in there and it's just
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Speaker 3: a badge of honor exactly.
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Speaker 2: Yeah.
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Speaker 3: Well, I'm amped to be chatting with you today and
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Speaker 3: I'm excited because this conversation is coming out around Global
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Speaker 3: Running Day to kick things off. If you had to
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Speaker 3: describe your relationship with running, how would you do that?
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Speaker 1: Oh? Man, running is such you know, we talk about
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Speaker 1: this sometimes where it's just it's like, you know, it's
5:00
Speaker 1: just like running. It's just like putting one foot in
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Speaker 1: front of the other. But it becomes so much more
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Speaker 1: when it turns into like a community and a way
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Speaker 1: to do good for others and a way to like
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Speaker 1: be fulfilled and find inspiration and motivation in this life,
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Speaker 1: and a way to get through hard things. And you know,
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Speaker 1: something that hopefully if we're lucky, is like always there
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Speaker 1: for us as long as as long as it can be,
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Speaker 1: you know.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure.
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Speaker 3: And do you remember how old you were when running
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Speaker 3: became more than just a form of physical activity for you?
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Speaker 1: I would say from day one. I mean I was
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Speaker 1: born into like a running family, and before I was
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Speaker 1: a runner, I was a runner. Like before I was
5:51
Speaker 1: a runner, running was really really important to me. And
5:55
Speaker 1: you know, it's kind of like part of our blood.
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Speaker 1: You know. My dad worked for Nike, He ran for Nike.
6:00
Speaker 1: He was a running coach growing up, So like I knew,
6:03
Speaker 1: you know, I knew it involved community very early on
6:06
Speaker 1: because that was like, you know, all these people in
6:09
Speaker 1: our house because like the office was in the house
6:13
Speaker 1: as well. So you know, like I got to really
6:16
Speaker 1: socialize through running and meet people through running, important people
6:19
Speaker 1: in my life, and so I think it brought me
6:23
Speaker 1: a lot more than just the physical aspects, like very
6:26
Speaker 1: very early on.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, And you mentioned your father coaching still coaching with you.
6:34
Speaker 3: How does that impact your relationship and would you say
6:38
Speaker 3: it's for the best.
6:41
Speaker 1: You know, Yeah, it's hard because I would say my
6:45
Speaker 1: dad and I, I mean, I'm very lucky of have
6:49
Speaker 1: great parents. I always have, but we do have a
6:55
Speaker 1: very strong coach athlete relationship, and I think that's kind
6:59
Speaker 1: of how we communicate. And I think that that's how
7:03
Speaker 1: we connect and share our feelings and talk about things.
7:08
Speaker 1: And it is a lot of times it's hard to
7:11
Speaker 1: get away from running and it's hard to connect at
7:14
Speaker 1: like a personal more personal level, just because like that's
7:19
Speaker 1: what we've done for so long. But I think it
7:23
Speaker 1: is a different form of talking and like being able
7:27
Speaker 1: to express our love and problems and support.
7:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, how does that make you feel?
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Speaker 1: I mean, I feel very lucky. I feel like extremely
7:36
Speaker 1: lucky that I get to go do this whole journey
7:39
Speaker 1: with my dad. I think it's hard sometimes not to
7:42
Speaker 1: take for granted how much cares and believes and I
7:46
Speaker 1: have no doubt like he has my best interest, you know,
7:50
Speaker 1: that's the first thing in his mind is what is
7:52
Speaker 1: best for me, what is best for my well being,
7:55
Speaker 1: And so I think I take for granted, like, you know,
7:57
Speaker 1: I don't have to worry about that, I don't have
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Speaker 1: to worry about how much my coach cares or how
8:03
Speaker 1: much attention I'm getting. It's just like constantly there.
8:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's interesting that sentiment. I don't have to worry
8:11
Speaker 3: about whether my coach cares, knowing that he cares, knowing that,
8:15
Speaker 3: without a doubt, this person wants what's best for you,
8:18
Speaker 3: which is certainly something that other athletes have to navigate
8:23
Speaker 3: and handle as their careers.
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Speaker 2: Ebb and Flow Hm exactly.
8:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, So for you, from a young age, you said
8:30
Speaker 3: that running was heavily involved in your life, and not
8:33
Speaker 3: just as a physical activity but as a way of community.
8:37
Speaker 3: Where did you find your first communities within running?
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Speaker 1: Like I remember, I mean a lot of people might
8:43
Speaker 1: know the Bolder Boulder, a big ten k in Boulder,
8:46
Speaker 1: like I think at some point is like the biggest
8:48
Speaker 1: ten k in the US. It might still be, but
8:50
Speaker 1: just like you know, having barbecues around there and like
8:56
Speaker 1: you know, getting to meet these like elite level runners
8:59
Speaker 1: and connecting through like you know, run groups and my
9:04
Speaker 1: dad's like athletes. That was like really fun to me
9:08
Speaker 1: is just to be around those people. And then I'd say,
9:11
Speaker 1: you know, like I started running when I was in
9:14
Speaker 1: like not seriously, but when I was in middle school.
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Speaker 1: You know, I started running track and you know it
9:19
Speaker 1: was like a four or five week season or something,
9:22
Speaker 1: and then we had like training groups for the Boulder Boulder,
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Speaker 1: and I think that was like my spot where I
9:27
Speaker 1: was like very comfortable and I was good at it,
9:30
Speaker 1: so people looked up to me, and so it was
9:32
Speaker 1: very easy to be myself. So I think, like, you know,
9:35
Speaker 1: i'd say middle school was like where I found my group.
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Speaker 3: What about that community made you feel more at ease?
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Speaker 1: I would say, because I was I was confident, you know.
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Speaker 1: It brought me confidence to be, you know, one of
9:50
Speaker 1: the best runners in the group. And I think when
9:52
Speaker 1: you do have that confidence, you exude it and people
9:56
Speaker 1: look up to you, and then you're more naturally who
10:00
Speaker 1: you are. You know, so no matter like who was there,
10:04
Speaker 1: you know, runners are obviously like always super goofy, and
10:06
Speaker 1: it's a great place to meet people who you would
10:09
Speaker 1: never meet otherwise. But yeah, you kind of like go
10:14
Speaker 1: beyond your social your normal social groups.
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Speaker 3: And yeah, and you know what I'm hearing you say
10:19
Speaker 3: is like that mutual love for one thing enabled you
10:22
Speaker 3: to become closer to people that you may not have
10:26
Speaker 3: been close to before. And that's what's so beautiful and
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Speaker 3: awesome about community within running, Like it doesn't matter if
10:32
Speaker 3: you're a back of the pack sixteen minute seventeen minute
10:37
Speaker 3: mile runner or someone like you that is blazing ahead
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Speaker 3: of the crowd. What matters is that we all have
10:43
Speaker 3: this opportunity to come together and unify through this thing
10:47
Speaker 3: that we all love. So you then go on to
10:51
Speaker 3: college and you dive in to running. How does that
10:55
Speaker 3: feel for you?
10:58
Speaker 1: Well, I walked on too NAU, which was like a
11:03
Speaker 1: really big running school. You know, they won nationals a
11:06
Speaker 1: couple times and had a great girls program at the time.
11:10
Speaker 1: But you know, for me walking on, there was no pressure,
11:14
Speaker 1: no one expected anything out of me. I was doing
11:18
Speaker 1: it because I wanted to continue running. Once again, like
11:21
Speaker 1: you go before school starts and you have this set
11:25
Speaker 1: group of friends already that you all connect because you're
11:29
Speaker 1: all you know, you're all out there doing hard things
11:33
Speaker 1: and you're all in the van afterwards and you feel
11:36
Speaker 1: fulfilled and you have all those great hormones going on,
11:39
Speaker 1: so you get to connect with them deeper. And so,
11:43
Speaker 1: you know, running to me in college was I never
11:47
Speaker 1: had like a thought. It wasn't like I really like
11:50
Speaker 1: I did want to be good, but it wasn't all.
11:53
Speaker 1: It wasn't like it is now, Like it wasn't like
11:55
Speaker 1: all consuming for me, Like I had other interests. I
11:59
Speaker 1: you know, I was really social so I wanted to
12:02
Speaker 1: kind of go out and meet people, and I wanted
12:05
Speaker 1: to you know, travel when I should be training. And so,
12:09
Speaker 1: you know, I would say in college like I wasn't.
12:12
Speaker 1: I wasn't like this is going to be like my future.
12:14
Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, I'm running because like it's cool,
12:16
Speaker 1: it's fun, but you know what, I'm also going to
12:19
Speaker 1: be like this like totally like normal human being.
12:22
Speaker 3: Right, And being a normal human being for you, did
12:25
Speaker 3: it involve being active? In fact, some people don't know
12:28
Speaker 3: that being active for you for a long time also
12:32
Speaker 3: included other modalities.
12:33
Speaker 2: You dabbled for a while in triathlon.
12:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean after college I was like, oh
12:38
Speaker 1: my gosh, I don't want to run another step in
12:39
Speaker 1: my life. I was. I was burnt out after college
12:42
Speaker 1: for a number of reasons, and I think half the
12:45
Speaker 1: reason is because I was like just like burning, you know, burning,
12:50
Speaker 1: how do you say at the candle? At both ends,
12:53
Speaker 1: I was like, you know, like very social, you know,
12:56
Speaker 1: part of like trying to like have fun and party
12:59
Speaker 1: sometimes like kids do. And then I was also trying
13:02
Speaker 1: to compete, but I was also like trying to do
13:05
Speaker 1: well in school, and I was just like tired by
13:07
Speaker 1: the end of it. But after college, my dad was like, hey,
13:10
Speaker 1: I think you'd be good at trathlons if you want
13:12
Speaker 1: to like give it a try. And I was like, heck, yeah,
13:15
Speaker 1: that would be awesome. And so I fell in love
13:17
Speaker 1: immediately with training for triathlons. And yeah, I remember just
13:22
Speaker 1: like going to sleep, just like itching to get up,
13:25
Speaker 1: get the wheels on the ground, and get my ride in.
13:28
Speaker 1: So that was a really fun experience.
13:31
Speaker 3: What was your favorite part about the triathlon.
13:35
Speaker 1: I think it's just like how much you get to train,
13:37
Speaker 1: like you just like especially when you're young, like I,
13:40
Speaker 1: you know, I worked at Boulder Running Company part time,
13:42
Speaker 1: and I think I was coaching a little bit and
13:45
Speaker 1: doing some like swim coaching and swim lessons and piecing
13:49
Speaker 1: it together. But you know, at the time, like I
13:51
Speaker 1: just wanted to like work hard towards something. I wanted
13:55
Speaker 1: to get my pro card, and you just get to
13:58
Speaker 1: do that with triathlon, get to like train all day
14:01
Speaker 1: and it's like it's okay.
14:05
Speaker 3: What was your quote unquote weakest part.
14:09
Speaker 1: Oh, swimming, for sure, Like yeah, that was I mean
14:13
Speaker 1: I could swim in the pool, but once you got
14:14
Speaker 1: me out in open water, it was like, I had
14:17
Speaker 1: never swam in my life.
14:19
Speaker 2: Do you coach triathletes these days as well as runners?
14:23
Speaker 1: I have a couple.
14:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, I try.
14:25
Speaker 1: I tried not to, but then like inevitably some of
14:28
Speaker 1: my runners will be like, hey, I signed up for
14:30
Speaker 1: Traslon and I'm like, oh, okay, here we go. So
14:34
Speaker 1: I just yeah, I do, and it's okay. But it's
14:38
Speaker 1: a lot more involved than run coaching.
14:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, and so we'll talk a lot about your coaching
14:43
Speaker 3: in a bit. But for those that are listening to
14:46
Speaker 3: this and do have an itch to compete in triathlon, firstly,
14:52
Speaker 3: what would you advise someone to ask themselves if they
14:57
Speaker 3: have the itch?
14:58
Speaker 1: First well, I mean first and foremost, it's going to
15:04
Speaker 1: take a toll on your relationship. You have a family,
15:08
Speaker 1: or you're in a relationship, Like I think like the
15:12
Speaker 1: first thing to do would like make sure you have support,
15:15
Speaker 1: make sure you know what that looked like, and make
15:19
Speaker 1: sure like it's going to fit in with however you
15:22
Speaker 1: want your life to shape up regarding those types of things,
15:27
Speaker 1: because that's like, you know, being in Boulder, which there's
15:30
Speaker 1: tons of tra athletes here. I've coached many triathletes and
15:33
Speaker 1: I've been one myself, and yeah, that's like the number
15:36
Speaker 1: one thing I would say. It would be like, sit down,
15:38
Speaker 1: have a long conversation with your partner and yourself and so, yeah.
15:43
Speaker 2: Did you feel like you had to navigate some of
15:45
Speaker 2: that back in your day?
15:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, I still have to navigate it just being a runner,
15:50
Speaker 1: just having a single sport. But no, I wasn't in
15:53
Speaker 1: a I wasn't really in a you know, serious relationship
15:57
Speaker 1: at that point. I was just like so young, So no,
15:59
Speaker 1: I did not have to. But I just now that
16:02
Speaker 1: I'm older, you know, if you're like an older you know,
16:06
Speaker 1: I'm thirty five, but if you're not in your twenties, yeah, you're.
16:11
Speaker 3: Like, Okay, let me think back to my relationship history
16:14
Speaker 3: and see where I was at this point.
16:17
Speaker 2: If I ruined it.
16:20
Speaker 1: I definitely ruined all of them.
16:22
Speaker 2: So okay, So that's so interesting.
16:24
Speaker 3: That's your first tip, because then, like I'm sure, logistically speaking,
16:28
Speaker 3: there are so many other things that would come into
16:31
Speaker 3: mind the fact that triathlon can be extremely expensive depending
16:35
Speaker 3: on where you're doing it and what equipment you may
16:37
Speaker 3: or may not have just yet. Also access if you're
16:40
Speaker 3: not living in the place that's on the water, Like
16:43
Speaker 3: do you have access to a pool?
16:44
Speaker 2: Like there's just so much to consider.
16:46
Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, And I think you know, for me, I
16:51
Speaker 1: am very lucky and I'm very fortunate, and I've always
16:54
Speaker 1: had a lot of support, not really like I haven't
16:58
Speaker 1: had like financial support. I think that's important in triathlon,
17:01
Speaker 1: but I am I will I will admit that I
17:04
Speaker 1: am lucky with being in Boulder and having access to stuff.
17:08
Speaker 1: But I also think like, if you want to do
17:11
Speaker 1: them bad enough, you can figure out a way to
17:13
Speaker 1: get a bike. You can invest if it's that important
17:17
Speaker 1: to you.
17:17
Speaker 3: But you do break out of triathlon and you lean
17:21
Speaker 3: back into running, did you feel like you just had
17:23
Speaker 3: kind of like enough of a break that you are
17:25
Speaker 3: ready to dedicate to one modality.
17:28
Speaker 1: No, Well, I wasn't really leaning back into running. I
17:32
Speaker 1: mean i'd always yes, I getting back in triathlon was amazing,
17:38
Speaker 1: and then I needed to make money and like move
17:42
Speaker 1: out of my mom's basement. I was like totally ready
17:44
Speaker 1: for that. I was in my upper twenties and I
17:46
Speaker 1: was like, Okay, I cannot do this anymore. I quit
17:51
Speaker 1: basically sports and I really focused on building my Like
17:55
Speaker 1: I owned a gym for a while. I focus on
17:58
Speaker 1: building my coaching career. Meanwhile, I've always run, like I
18:02
Speaker 1: love running, It's just like who I am. And you know,
18:06
Speaker 1: my dad always has practices and Boulder, so i'd go
18:09
Speaker 1: to I probably went twice a week, you know, consistently forever,
18:13
Speaker 1: just because like it's like, all right, this is what
18:15
Speaker 1: we do. You know. I didn't really train for anything
18:18
Speaker 1: big but like maybe local five k's and so basically
18:25
Speaker 1: I was just continuing doing that and then happened to
18:30
Speaker 1: do really well in a marathon and that's when I
18:34
Speaker 1: really like, that's when I really started training. Like before that,
18:37
Speaker 1: you know, I was like looking back my training logs,
18:40
Speaker 1: I ran like, you know, maybe sixty miles a week.
18:43
Speaker 1: I probably missed a couple runs every week. It was
18:47
Speaker 1: just like a fun thing.
18:49
Speaker 3: And when you ran, cim, did you go into that
18:51
Speaker 3: with any actual expectation.
18:53
Speaker 1: There was no expectation. I mean, I was like people
18:56
Speaker 1: started asking me because I like, I don't know, oh yeah,
19:00
Speaker 1: I ran like a half marathon and did okay in it.
19:02
Speaker 1: So people started asking me, like, oh, are you going
19:04
Speaker 1: for the Olympic Trials standard qualifying standard? And so I
19:08
Speaker 1: had to like look up what that was and then
19:10
Speaker 1: it was like it was two thirty seven was the
19:12
Speaker 1: beast standard at the time, and I was like, yeah,
19:14
Speaker 1: I could probably do that. So I at that point
19:17
Speaker 1: was like, yes, I am going for this Olympic qualifying standard,
19:21
Speaker 1: and I just like was like sure, like because it
19:24
Speaker 1: fits where I am. Yes, and then I ran the
19:26
Speaker 1: A standard, which was well, I ran two thirty one.
19:29
Speaker 1: I think the A standard was two thirty two. And
19:32
Speaker 1: then I was like, okay, I'm ready to start training again.
19:36
Speaker 3: And then I'm like, okay, I'm actually excelling at this thing.
19:39
Speaker 3: Yeah you did you would you say that? You?
19:41
Speaker 1: Like?
19:42
Speaker 3: I feel always as though runners have maybe like two
19:45
Speaker 3: or three goals. There's the goal that you will tell
19:48
Speaker 3: a lot of people. Then there's the goal that you'll
19:50
Speaker 3: only tell like your close people, your close circle, and
19:53
Speaker 3: there's the goal that you really don't share with anyone.
19:56
Speaker 3: So did you even surpass the goal that you didn't
19:59
Speaker 3: share with anyone?
20:00
Speaker 1: I honestly did not have a goal that I didn't
20:03
Speaker 1: share with anyone.
20:04
Speaker 2: Yeah.
20:05
Speaker 1: My dad has always done a really good job of
20:07
Speaker 1: being really patient, and I just remember going into that race,
20:10
Speaker 1: he could just kept telling me like, this doesn't have
20:13
Speaker 1: to be outstanding. You just have to like, let's let's
20:17
Speaker 1: jog it. Let's see like if you even like it,
20:22
Speaker 1: Let's see like how you do. And then that way
20:25
Speaker 1: we can like go from there and like keep getting
20:27
Speaker 1: faster if you want. And so going into that, I
20:30
Speaker 1: was like, yeah, okay, I'll just like I'll just like
20:33
Speaker 1: you know, start easy, feel good. And so I didn't
20:36
Speaker 1: have I don't remember having expectations really, so I think
20:42
Speaker 1: that really helps.
20:44
Speaker 2: I think it helps too.
20:45
Speaker 3: I think that so often, you know, like we are
20:47
Speaker 3: plagued by the never ending scroll and we are made
20:51
Speaker 3: to feel like we have to do X or y,
20:54
Speaker 3: or we should be here or there, and the reality
20:57
Speaker 3: is is that in your first race, whether it's a mile,
21:01
Speaker 3: a four hundred, a half marathon, America, whatever, the best
21:05
Speaker 3: thing that you can do for yourself is just have
21:06
Speaker 3: a goal to finish and have fun.
21:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, exactly. And like with my athletes, I just
21:14
Speaker 1: like I tell them, like, look like it's better not
21:18
Speaker 1: to like like if you blow this out of the water,
21:22
Speaker 1: then like the next race you might not hit that again,
21:26
Speaker 1: and then like mentally you're gonna be like just it's
21:28
Speaker 1: gonna be harder. So if you like start appropriately and
21:32
Speaker 1: just like get faster and faster and faster, Like that's
21:35
Speaker 1: just like, in my mind, the best way you can
21:38
Speaker 1: do it.
21:38
Speaker 2: Yeah.
21:39
Speaker 3: So to give some context for those that may not
21:42
Speaker 3: be super familiar with your running journey, you said that
21:45
Speaker 3: was a two thirty one Grandma's two twenty eight oh six,
21:49
Speaker 3: So we're talking a five forty mile for twenty six
21:53
Speaker 3: point two miles. That's beautiful. Thank you, You're you're welcome.
22:01
Speaker 3: So when you ran Grandma's, now we're like in a
22:04
Speaker 3: different place, right because you clearly went back to your
22:07
Speaker 3: dad and you were like okay, like that was fun,
22:10
Speaker 3: Let's see what else we can do.
22:12
Speaker 1: Yeah. I went back to my dad. I apologized for
22:16
Speaker 1: because I remember before the race, I was like I
22:18
Speaker 1: don't like everyone was like like talking about how tired
22:21
Speaker 1: their legs were like the week before, and I was
22:24
Speaker 1: like I don't feel that at all, and I was
22:27
Speaker 1: just like Dad, I was like so mad. I was like,
22:28
Speaker 1: we didn't do enough. I didn't I don't even I
22:31
Speaker 1: didn't run enough. We didn't, you know, And he was
22:33
Speaker 1: like it's okay, it's okay. And then afterwards I was like, okay,
22:36
Speaker 1: I trust you, like I'll do whatever you say.
22:41
Speaker 2: So, going into Grandma's, how did you feel?
22:44
Speaker 1: I was excited going into Grandma's. I knew I was
22:46
Speaker 1: like fitter. I felt like I was really training harder,
22:51
Speaker 1: and I didn't expect to win Grandma's. I don't know,
22:55
Speaker 1: like I do trust my dad and he know, he
22:58
Speaker 1: was like, yeah, you'll do He'll do very well. Like
23:00
Speaker 1: just like go and have a good race and you'll
23:02
Speaker 1: do very well winning. It was kind of like even
23:06
Speaker 1: more got the ball rolling for my future career.
23:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, so that was my next question is then at
23:12
Speaker 3: this point, do you realize that, Okay, it's time to
23:16
Speaker 3: think about how and in what capacity I want to
23:19
Speaker 3: integrate this into my life.
23:21
Speaker 1: Yeah exactly, it's like okay, like we can be pretty
23:25
Speaker 1: serious about this. You still don't know, like I still
23:29
Speaker 1: had no idea that I was like that. It was
23:33
Speaker 1: like what so that race was. The next race was
23:35
Speaker 1: the Olympic Trials, and I just you know, I knew
23:39
Speaker 1: I qualified whatever. But the Olympic Trials was bizarre because
23:44
Speaker 1: they had like four girls, like maybe like four or
23:48
Speaker 1: five girls that were like announced and like on like
23:52
Speaker 1: the very for the first line, like the start of it.
23:56
Speaker 1: And I was one of them, and I was like,
23:57
Speaker 1: this is so weird. Like I didn't even like I
24:01
Speaker 1: didn't even mean to make this like it was just
24:04
Speaker 1: like that was like. And then racing that race, there
24:07
Speaker 1: was like thirteen girls in the front pack and they
24:10
Speaker 1: were like, you know, the most famous runners who you know,
24:14
Speaker 1: I had never competed against, and was just like in
24:17
Speaker 1: awe that I was running around them and I was
24:19
Speaker 1: like this is crazy.
24:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is mind blowing.
24:24
Speaker 3: So when you did realize that you were going to
24:27
Speaker 3: start really focusing on making this more of a career,
24:31
Speaker 3: what actually had to change or shift in your life?
24:35
Speaker 1: So I mean that's like basically I'm still going through
24:38
Speaker 1: that and it's really really, really really hard. And I
24:43
Speaker 1: think a lot of these runners, you know, they get
24:46
Speaker 1: to cause like most of them have just been professional
24:49
Speaker 1: runners since college. Most of the girls that I run against,
24:52
Speaker 1: like they graduated college and they're like, Okay, I'm I'm
24:55
Speaker 1: gonna go prop, you know, or like maybe they had
24:58
Speaker 1: little stint and then they got sponsored and then they
25:02
Speaker 1: they've set their life up like basically a training camp.
25:06
Speaker 1: You know. I've set my life up very very differently,
25:09
Speaker 1: Like I have a big coaching company, I had a
25:13
Speaker 1: gym at the time. I you know, I surround myself
25:16
Speaker 1: with non athletes who like to go out and drink
25:20
Speaker 1: and you know, they like to like have hobbies and
25:23
Speaker 1: do things. And I live in my hometown, you know,
25:26
Speaker 1: close to my family and friends from high school, you know.
25:29
Speaker 1: So for me, it's been like a four year process
25:35
Speaker 1: of slowly learning not to work so hard, not to
25:39
Speaker 1: hustle so hard building my coaching business, which like hustled
25:43
Speaker 1: so hard, and that's ingrained in you when you're like, oh, man,
25:47
Speaker 1: like I need to wake up and do what I
25:49
Speaker 1: can to like grow make money and like make sure
25:52
Speaker 1: I'm okay. So it's been like a process and I
25:55
Speaker 1: still like have to like tell myself back off, you know,
25:58
Speaker 1: if you really want if I really want to be successful,
26:01
Speaker 1: I have to be the fastest runner I have to be.
26:03
Speaker 1: And to do that, it does not mean working when
26:07
Speaker 1: I'm not running. It means like coming home from a run,
26:10
Speaker 1: like making sure I get a good meal, in making
26:12
Speaker 1: sure I like rest and chill, and like my stress
26:14
Speaker 1: level is very low, and like it's been a process
26:18
Speaker 1: letting my friends know I am not going to go out.
26:22
Speaker 1: I can't go to that concert. Or like I can't
26:25
Speaker 1: like go do things with you all the time, like
26:28
Speaker 1: I have to chill and so like I'm still learning
26:31
Speaker 1: that every day, and I'm still learning how to say no,
26:33
Speaker 1: which is hard.
26:40
Speaker 3: Taking a break from today's episode to give some love
26:43
Speaker 3: to my sponsors. Of course, we've got to start with Garman.
26:47
Speaker 3: As I mentioned before, Garment is celebrating twenty years of Forerunner.
26:50
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27:35
Speaker 2: I've been a Garmin girly for a really long time now.
27:38
Speaker 3: I cannot imagine tackling my regular workouts without it again.
27:43
Speaker 3: Head on over to Garmin dot com to check out
27:46
Speaker 3: the entire lineup today. Also got to give some love
27:50
Speaker 3: to my friends at Open. For those of you that
27:54
Speaker 3: may not follow along with me on Instagram, then you
27:56
Speaker 3: may not know just how obsessed I am with Open
28:00
Speaker 3: as a part of my morning routine.
28:02
Speaker 2: Open is a mindfulness studio.
28:03
Speaker 3: It's a space to become alive through breathwork, meditation, movement,
28:08
Speaker 3: and sound. The Open method is rooted in the science
28:11
Speaker 3: of transforming the brain and training the body for longevity
28:15
Speaker 3: and as the creators of breath and sound with an
28:17
Speaker 3: app that's sweeping the wall in this industry, Opens proving
28:21
Speaker 3: what they set out to do to make the benefit
28:24
Speaker 3: of the present moment accessible to all. I start every
28:29
Speaker 3: morning with my Open app. I do a three to
28:32
Speaker 3: five minute breathwork routine and it helps me just come
28:36
Speaker 3: back into my body and prepare myself emotionally and mentally
28:40
Speaker 3: to take on.
28:41
Speaker 2: Whatever the day is going to throw my way.
28:44
Speaker 3: Of course, the app offers so much more than just breathwork.
28:48
Speaker 3: They've got meditation and movement classes as well, and you
28:52
Speaker 3: can practice with your friends when they do live classes.
28:56
Speaker 3: That enable you to also chat live with your instructor.
29:02
Speaker 3: Truly love this platform and has transformed the way I
29:05
Speaker 3: think about mindfulness, and I know that you are going
29:08
Speaker 3: to love it too. Practice on the Open app or
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Speaker 3: in person at the La Studio. We're both head on
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29:35
Speaker 2: It's a frequent listener question that comes in.
29:38
Speaker 3: It's like, my friends don't understand why this is important
29:41
Speaker 3: to me. I'm having a hard time navigating their feedback.
29:45
Speaker 3: What do you tell? What do you suggest that I do?
29:49
Speaker 3: What would you suggest that they do?
29:52
Speaker 1: Like for me, I have to like be like, okay,
29:55
Speaker 1: what is important to me? How do I prioritize those things?
30:00
Speaker 1: People who like are going to be there for you
30:02
Speaker 1: and love you. You know they'll be They'll still be
30:05
Speaker 1: there even though like you might not be able to
30:08
Speaker 1: do those things. So I think it's just like saying,
30:10
Speaker 1: like the hard nos It's not easy. I mean, there's
30:14
Speaker 1: no good answer to that question. You just have to
30:16
Speaker 1: do the hard things and you have to have the
30:18
Speaker 1: conversations with people, and you have to make like you
30:21
Speaker 1: have to make constant, really hard decisions because this world
30:25
Speaker 1: isn't set up for people to excel at hard things.
30:30
Speaker 1: It's really set up for like the like mediocre and everything.
30:36
Speaker 1: That's what like our every day draws us too, unless
30:40
Speaker 1: you really set yourself up well for not that. Does
30:43
Speaker 1: that make sense?
30:43
Speaker 2: Yeah? No, I mean I get it.
30:45
Speaker 3: Hard things are hard for a reason, right, Like the
30:47
Speaker 3: things that we're going after goals, we set them and
30:51
Speaker 3: it's not as though we set a goal and then
30:54
Speaker 3: we expect within four seconds to achieve it. Right, We
30:57
Speaker 3: set a goal and we go after that thing because
30:59
Speaker 3: it's challenging. Because that challenge itself, the journey is or
31:03
Speaker 3: should be at least something that brings you fulfillment, something
31:06
Speaker 3: that brings you joy, Which leads me into the question, then,
31:10
Speaker 3: knowing that you are constantly in pursuit of hard things,
31:14
Speaker 3: what is your why?
31:16
Speaker 2: What keeps you going? Now?
31:18
Speaker 1: I think my why has like definitely like ebbed and
31:22
Speaker 1: flowed throughout my running life. You know. I think it
31:27
Speaker 1: started because, like I said before, like it really gave
31:31
Speaker 1: me confidence and it gave me like a family and
31:34
Speaker 1: a place that I felt like I belonged. So that
31:38
Speaker 1: was like early on in my running career. And then
31:42
Speaker 1: like for a while when you're like not happy with it,
31:45
Speaker 1: and like that happens, like it was because like I
31:47
Speaker 1: was just you know, like it was just like what
31:50
Speaker 1: I did. And then it turns into like something you know,
31:53
Speaker 1: that I'm super passionate about and like I wake up
31:57
Speaker 1: every day motivated and it makes me feel good, which
32:01
Speaker 1: is really important obviously, and then it turns into something
32:05
Speaker 1: now where I get to use my platform to help others,
32:10
Speaker 1: you know. So that's a really big reason. Another reason is, like,
32:15
Speaker 1: you know, there's nothing more. You know, I'm lucky to
32:20
Speaker 1: be driven and to like have a huge goal and
32:23
Speaker 1: to be able to work towards it, and that just
32:25
Speaker 1: keeps you away from the It's just it just keeps
32:31
Speaker 1: you happy.
32:34
Speaker 3: Well because you enjoy the process, right, because if you
32:37
Speaker 3: didn't then going after this goal, would it make you
32:40
Speaker 3: feel happy?
32:41
Speaker 1: No? No? I mean, yeah, you have to have other
32:45
Speaker 1: things in place and to be to do it healthily
32:49
Speaker 1: and happily.
32:50
Speaker 2: But so what does success look like for you right now? Then?
32:54
Speaker 1: Showing up to these races and being able to be
32:57
Speaker 1: competitive with the best female run in the US showing
33:01
Speaker 1: up to the Olympic Trials in February and being able
33:04
Speaker 1: to like have a shot at making the team and
33:07
Speaker 1: being able to like put one hundred percent in.
33:10
Speaker 3: So when you think of that goal, for instance, going
33:14
Speaker 3: to the Olympic Trials, coming out as a member of
33:16
Speaker 3: Team USA and you work backward, what does that mean
33:20
Speaker 3: that you are doing now to go after that big goal.
33:25
Speaker 1: It means it means that I'm taking care of like
33:28
Speaker 1: every aspect of my life. It means like I am
33:32
Speaker 1: confident enough in myself that I can let like a
33:37
Speaker 1: money go, like you know, like things like say no
33:41
Speaker 1: to like money opportunities, being confident that, like you know what,
33:45
Speaker 1: like I will this, this is going to be the
33:48
Speaker 1: best thing for me financially and everything we in the future,
33:54
Speaker 1: and making sure like I take care of myself. That
33:58
Speaker 1: for me, that's that's my that's my crux. Is like
34:02
Speaker 1: making sure I get enough sleep and making sure like
34:04
Speaker 1: I take the time to like eat very well, and
34:07
Speaker 1: like letting go of, you know, letting go of some
34:10
Speaker 1: things like I was just watching the Wu Tang Show
34:15
Speaker 1: last night and it's really good, Well, the first season's good.
34:18
Speaker 1: And then it's bad. But you know, like Rizza, who's
34:22
Speaker 1: like the leader of the Wu Tang clan, he like
34:24
Speaker 1: his like wife just left him and he's like, you know,
34:28
Speaker 1: like when you sacrifice great things, that means one thing,
34:31
Speaker 1: and that means you have to make it worth it.
34:33
Speaker 1: You have to win in the future. So like for me,
34:36
Speaker 1: I have to let go of like some relationships that
34:39
Speaker 1: I know aren't going to work. If I want to
34:42
Speaker 1: make the Olympic team, I know and I know are
34:44
Speaker 1: not going to work.
34:44
Speaker 3: So things like that, I would imagine that can be
34:48
Speaker 3: a little bit difficult.
34:50
Speaker 1: It's very hard. It's very hard, but it's okay.
34:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, in pursuit of what you're after, right
34:57
Speaker 3: and love pulling wisdom from the Wu Tang clan. Fun fact,
35:01
Speaker 3: I randomly interviewed Rizza for GQ a few years ago.
35:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, so.
35:09
Speaker 3: I know there's probably some really good gems back in
35:11
Speaker 3: that transcription. Now I'll find that. I'll find that and
35:16
Speaker 3: i'll send it to you. But it is true. And
35:18
Speaker 3: you mentioned taking care of yourself, which also can be
35:22
Speaker 3: such a process to learn exactly what it is you need.
35:26
Speaker 1: Right.
35:26
Speaker 3: You mentioned sleep, you mentioned food. You also mentioned minimizing stress,
35:31
Speaker 3: so there's lots of touch on here. When it comes
35:33
Speaker 3: to sleep, do you have like a Goldilocks amount that
35:35
Speaker 3: you were after?
35:37
Speaker 1: No, I mean I think like I think like minimum
35:40
Speaker 1: eight hours for me, Like sleep is like very elusive.
35:49
Speaker 1: So you know, if I get like six eight hours,
35:52
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm good.
35:55
Speaker 2: Yeah. Do you wear your garment to sleep?
35:57
Speaker 1: I really like the data and the information I get
36:00
Speaker 1: from it. I'm the kind of sleeper who I'm like,
36:03
Speaker 1: it needs to be like pitch black, quiet, cool, nothing
36:08
Speaker 1: touching me, Like I need to be in like this
36:11
Speaker 1: just like a very straight position. So I'm like very particular.
36:15
Speaker 1: So like if I'm really tired, I could wear my
36:17
Speaker 1: garment to sleep, and I'll be like, and I really
36:20
Speaker 1: appreciate the information. Sometimes I don't, I.
36:23
Speaker 2: Know, I feel that way too.
36:24
Speaker 3: Sometimes I'm like I want the data, but I also
36:27
Speaker 3: like don't want anything touching me whatsoever.
36:30
Speaker 2: It's a constant struggle. It's a constant struggle.
36:32
Speaker 3: But on the stressor's note, I actually think that that
36:35
Speaker 3: is the thing that we don't talk enough about, right
36:38
Speaker 3: because we don't realize how many things are in our
36:41
Speaker 3: day to day that we are dealing with. Whether it's relationships, emails, work,
36:46
Speaker 3: whatever that are adding to our stress load, which can
36:50
Speaker 3: negatively impact our body. Was there a point where you
36:53
Speaker 3: started to understand, maybe in a way that you didn't before,
36:57
Speaker 3: what some of those things were.
36:59
Speaker 1: Yes, And I don't know, I don't know what the
37:03
Speaker 1: I don't know what the point was. But I think
37:06
Speaker 1: when I when I started running like one hundred and
37:12
Speaker 1: fifteen miles a week, lifting, any type of stress would
37:17
Speaker 1: affect me so much. So this probably started like two
37:21
Speaker 1: years ago, and so it becomes really really apparent that
37:26
Speaker 1: like you can't there's no room for like there's no
37:29
Speaker 1: room for any more external stress because your body you're
37:32
Speaker 1: already putting so much stress on it physically, and like
37:36
Speaker 1: then you know with the races that are like the
37:39
Speaker 1: big ones can be a little bit stressful, you know
37:43
Speaker 1: you want training to go. Well, I think it was
37:46
Speaker 1: it just became clear like what stressed me out and
37:50
Speaker 1: that I couldn't have that in my life.
37:52
Speaker 2: How did you feel that? How did that impact you? Well?
37:55
Speaker 1: For me, everything goes straight to sleep and so I
37:59
Speaker 1: start losing and then I can't focus or during my
38:05
Speaker 1: workouts if I you know a lot of them, like
38:07
Speaker 1: you need to be pretty focused, and if you get
38:09
Speaker 1: a good amount of sleep, you don't I don't think
38:11
Speaker 1: you realize it quite as much because it's just because
38:14
Speaker 1: it comes more naturally. But once you start losing sleep
38:17
Speaker 1: and you're like, I cannot focus on this, and you
38:21
Speaker 1: can like you don't know whether those extra things like
38:24
Speaker 1: doing strength training, You're like, I don't know if this
38:27
Speaker 1: is benefiting me or hurting me more because I'm sleeping.
38:29
Speaker 1: And then you know the second you miss a mile
38:33
Speaker 1: or you miss a strength workout because of that, then
38:37
Speaker 1: that is like where you're like, Okay, this is like
38:39
Speaker 1: this is really affecting me.
38:41
Speaker 3: I also feel like oftentimes like that one missed thing
38:45
Speaker 3: has a tendency to spiral into a bunch of other things. Right,
38:48
Speaker 3: it's hard to press that reset button, so we allow
38:52
Speaker 3: that stress to not only maybe mess up the workout,
38:54
Speaker 3: but then that makes you on edge for your next
38:57
Speaker 3: interaction and then you're like, well, I don't actually want
38:59
Speaker 3: to leave my house to go do this pt work
39:02
Speaker 3: that I'm supposed to do, and it just adds into
39:04
Speaker 3: one thing and the next thing and the next thing.
39:06
Speaker 1: Absolutely yes, And that's the same with good things that
39:09
Speaker 1: happened too, is like you know you're on a roll
39:13
Speaker 1: and you're feeling good, and so you eat well and
39:15
Speaker 1: you don't miss things, and you know you're happier. So yes,
39:19
Speaker 1: I think it can go both ways. There can be
39:21
Speaker 1: like spirals both ways, and you need to make sure
39:23
Speaker 1: you're on like this positive upward spiral.
39:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's you know all, what they talk about
39:29
Speaker 3: when it comes to the power of habits, right, And
39:32
Speaker 3: that's why we have it stack. It's so that when
39:34
Speaker 3: you have this one good thing and encourages you to
39:37
Speaker 3: do all the other things that serve you both mentally, physically, emotionally,
39:42
Speaker 3: et cetera. Now a few times now and I'd love
39:45
Speaker 3: to talk a little bit about this. You've mentioned having
39:48
Speaker 3: to make smart choices when it comes to money, and
39:52
Speaker 3: as an entrepreneur, a female entrepreneur, I can really relate
39:55
Speaker 3: to this.
39:56
Speaker 2: You're also one of the only maybe runners of.
39:58
Speaker 3: Your caliber that, at least to my knowledge, is actively
40:03
Speaker 3: coaching other runners. Talk to us about your decision to
40:07
Speaker 3: still coach and why you do it.
40:09
Speaker 1: I think for me, like, first of all, I worked
40:12
Speaker 1: so hard to grow my business and so there's no
40:16
Speaker 1: way I'm going to let that go. I also think
40:18
Speaker 1: it gives me a peace of mind to have that
40:22
Speaker 1: when I'm done running, because obviously running isn't going to
40:24
Speaker 1: be forever. So I have like, you know a little
40:27
Speaker 1: bit more financial freedom. Like I am able to like
40:32
Speaker 1: not make decisions solely based off of money, so like
40:35
Speaker 1: not make like race decisions solely based off money, which
40:39
Speaker 1: I think allows you to like race better, race maybe
40:42
Speaker 1: less often, pick smarter races for your so you can
40:45
Speaker 1: be faster. I think it also coaching others allows me
40:49
Speaker 1: to you know, as a runner, as an athlete, professional athlete,
40:53
Speaker 1: you get so like single minded on yourself. And the
40:58
Speaker 1: smaller you get this, the more you think about just yourself,
41:02
Speaker 1: the more you like can't handle things, or the more
41:05
Speaker 1: you can get like anxiety easier you can get like
41:09
Speaker 1: you know, like really like cut up in things. But
41:12
Speaker 1: the second you like you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, I
41:15
Speaker 1: need to like take some steps back and look, I
41:18
Speaker 1: need to like help other people or like talk to
41:21
Speaker 1: other people or like have that broader outlook on life.
41:26
Speaker 1: I think it just like helps everything so much because
41:29
Speaker 1: you're like, oh my god, I am taking myself way
41:31
Speaker 1: too seriously and you need to like just like chill
41:35
Speaker 1: out for a sec. So those are some of the
41:37
Speaker 1: reasons that I like, really appreciate that I still do coach.
41:42
Speaker 1: I love being part of the community in Boulder. There
41:44
Speaker 1: is a lot of fulfillment in helping others with their journey.
41:47
Speaker 3: Oh totally, I mean very relatable. Right, this opportunity to
41:51
Speaker 3: help and serve others. And again, as you mentioned, take
41:54
Speaker 3: some of that focus off you and yourself. At any moment, right,
42:00
Speaker 3: you gain more notoriety in your sport. How did it
42:04
Speaker 3: feel for you that there were more eyes on you.
42:07
Speaker 1: I think I've always been I would say, like a leader.
42:11
Speaker 1: I'm not like a loud I'm not like a common guys.
42:14
Speaker 1: I'm not like I want people like. I'm more of
42:16
Speaker 1: like a leader through actions, and so I've always really
42:22
Speaker 1: like being more of like a teacher through example. So
42:25
Speaker 1: for me, it's really it's exciting. And I you know,
42:30
Speaker 1: my brother asked me the other day, he was like, so,
42:36
Speaker 1: why do like all female runners like feel like they
42:39
Speaker 1: also need to be life coaches? But well, I was like, because,
42:46
Speaker 1: I mean, and I really had to think about and
42:49
Speaker 1: I think it's because, like you know, we're all doing
42:52
Speaker 1: hard things that scare us, and we all need someone
42:56
Speaker 1: to like look up to and kind of learn from.
42:59
Speaker 1: And I think it's just like it just like makes
43:02
Speaker 1: sense in running. So yeah, So.
43:06
Speaker 3: To wind it back to more people knowing who you are,
43:10
Speaker 3: you feel as though it's a good thing because it
43:13
Speaker 3: enables you to help more people.
43:15
Speaker 2: Did I get that right?
43:16
Speaker 1: Yes? Yeah, I like to reach people.
43:19
Speaker 3: That's admirable and very impressive having this opportunity to take
43:24
Speaker 3: this platform to do a good Would you say that
43:27
Speaker 3: there are challenges that go hand in hand with that
43:29
Speaker 3: as well?
43:31
Speaker 1: I mean yeah, absolutely, like you can always do more,
43:34
Speaker 1: like I'm always like it needs to do more, or
43:37
Speaker 1: like I'm not Yeah, I'm not doing enough. So there's
43:40
Speaker 1: that kind of like guilt that goes along with it.
43:43
Speaker 1: But I think I just have to understand, like you know,
43:45
Speaker 1: there is a time for everything, and like I'm doing
43:48
Speaker 1: the best I can do.
43:50
Speaker 3: You feel like you get a lot of unsolicited feedback.
43:54
Speaker 1: Unploicited feedback. Yes, that's funny. When I was in Kenya
43:59
Speaker 1: like a couple months ago anyways, I was like I
44:02
Speaker 1: can't take any more on suplicitive feedback, Like I just
44:05
Speaker 1: can't do it, Like I get so much every day
44:10
Speaker 1: and I don't know why people feel the need to
44:13
Speaker 1: tell me what is good for me, but it is
44:16
Speaker 1: kind of hard.
44:18
Speaker 3: How do you put the blinders on so that you
44:20
Speaker 3: can focus on yourself?
44:22
Speaker 1: I think, like you just learned through the years, you
44:24
Speaker 1: know what's best for you. As you get older, You're like,
44:27
Speaker 1: I don't really care what anyone else thinks or says
44:31
Speaker 1: to me because they don't know my story. They don't
44:33
Speaker 1: know what's going on behind the walls, like you know,
44:35
Speaker 1: unless it's like someone that I am like, you know,
44:38
Speaker 1: like I told my training partner the other day, I
44:40
Speaker 1: am only listening to Rick my dad and like doctor Moose,
44:45
Speaker 1: who's like really helped me with a lot of like
44:47
Speaker 1: my parasite issues. And I was like, and that's it.
44:50
Speaker 3: I was like, if any doctor Moose in Austin, Yeah, yeah, okay,
44:54
Speaker 3: I have heard about doctor Moose and I have been
44:59
Speaker 3: battling awful foot problems forever. This is not about me.
45:02
Speaker 3: But someone literally the other day said to me, I
45:05
Speaker 3: think you need to go see doctor Muse, who said that,
45:08
Speaker 3: yes you do, I mean another runner. But I was like, shoot,
45:12
Speaker 3: is this worth the trip to Austin to go see
45:14
Speaker 3: this miraculous doctor muse and also like how many people
45:18
Speaker 3: are named doctor Moose that has to be the same thing.
45:22
Speaker 1: And is you need like if you want to help,
45:26
Speaker 1: I mean like absolutely, it's worth it, like and I
45:28
Speaker 1: would say that to anyone, Like.
45:29
Speaker 3: So I want to He's so special. And you said
45:31
Speaker 3: he's been helping you with parasite issues.
45:34
Speaker 1: Yes, he basically has a method that he like talks
45:38
Speaker 1: to your body and is like okay, like what's going on,
45:42
Speaker 1: what do you need? And then like addresses addresses that
45:45
Speaker 1: and he does it with like I would say, it's
45:47
Speaker 1: like Eastern and Western medicine and things that like I
45:51
Speaker 1: don't know, like things I've never I've like had no
45:55
Speaker 1: answers for, like I've for years years, years years. I
45:59
Speaker 1: go and he's like oh yeah yeah, like he fixes
46:01
Speaker 1: in like five minutes, and I'm like, oh my gosh,
46:03
Speaker 1: like what so hard to explain, but like just is
46:09
Speaker 1: a great healer.
46:11
Speaker 2: And you had a parasite coming back from Kenya.
46:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, I had a parasite in and Amiba and it
46:17
Speaker 1: was like really really really bad, just like awful stomach
46:21
Speaker 1: issues awful. So I didn't like it can like my
46:24
Speaker 1: body wasn't accepting like any food or water for like
46:27
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks and then like I just was
46:30
Speaker 1: so sick and didn't have any energy and just like, yeah.
46:34
Speaker 2: Well are we on the other side of it.
46:37
Speaker 1: We're on the other side, yes, Louiah exactly.
46:42
Speaker 3: Stomach issues free. What excites you right now now?
46:46
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm I'm just like super excited to I'm
46:49
Speaker 1: excited for everything right now. I'm excited to train. I'm
46:51
Speaker 1: excited for the Olympic Trials in February. I'm excited to
46:55
Speaker 1: like really dial in and just like give it everything
46:58
Speaker 1: I have.
46:59
Speaker 2: What did giving it everything you have?
47:02
Speaker 1: Look like? For me? Like the running isn't like we've talked,
47:06
Speaker 1: like I feel like this is the theme of this
47:08
Speaker 1: podcast today, but like running is not the hard part
47:10
Speaker 1: of running. For me, it's dialing it in. It is
47:14
Speaker 1: like feeling good running because you ate while you slept well,
47:20
Speaker 1: your stress level is low. And so for me, it's
47:22
Speaker 1: putting myself in that position where things are taken care of.
47:26
Speaker 1: Were less than a year out from the trials and
47:29
Speaker 1: like I just have to worry about running.
47:34
Speaker 2: That's it. Just running.
47:37
Speaker 3: Someone goes to your Instagram page, they see a professional runner.
47:41
Speaker 3: When you look in the mirror. What do you see
47:45
Speaker 3: looking back at you?
47:47
Speaker 1: That's an interesting question. I think it depends on the day.
47:51
Speaker 1: You know, Like some days i wake up and look
47:54
Speaker 1: in the mirror and I'm like, you know, I'm confident,
47:56
Speaker 1: and I'm like I'm here to you know, like get
48:00
Speaker 1: after it. I'm inspired. I'm I'm gonna like help my
48:04
Speaker 1: athletes today. So some days I see like a very
48:07
Speaker 1: confident individual that has like had a lot of success
48:11
Speaker 1: from working really hard and being really lucky and taking risks.
48:16
Speaker 1: And other days I wake up and I see like
48:19
Speaker 1: someone that's like more scared and like just like not worth,
48:23
Speaker 1: not worthy of where I'm at, or really like looking
48:26
Speaker 1: more for help. And I think it just depends on
48:28
Speaker 1: the day. You know, we're all humans and we all
48:30
Speaker 1: like some days we feel like the Hulk and other
48:33
Speaker 1: days that we're just like I don't know if I
48:35
Speaker 1: can do this. I think it depends.
48:37
Speaker 2: It can be both. What garment are you running with
48:40
Speaker 2: these days?
48:41
Speaker 1: I'm running with the nine sixty five, which is with
48:46
Speaker 1: the amold a molds. I can say it display and
48:50
Speaker 1: it is like the most amazing watch ever. Like you
48:54
Speaker 1: hear about people like being like, you know, like with cars.
48:57
Speaker 1: They're like, because I have a really like old bad car,
49:02
Speaker 1: you know, you talk to people, They're like, well, I
49:04
Speaker 1: want something that like makes me confident and like excited
49:07
Speaker 1: to like get into, you know, And I'm like, hey,
49:10
Speaker 1: I don't really relate to that, but like with this watch,
49:13
Speaker 1: it's just like so fun makes everything better and easier.
49:16
Speaker 1: And sometimes it'll like pop on and be like I
49:19
Speaker 1: love you or like like take a deep breath and
49:23
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh my gosh, thank yous, or like they'll
49:25
Speaker 1: tell me messages and like it's so random, and I
49:27
Speaker 1: don't really but I think it just is like has
49:30
Speaker 1: a lot of really cool features that are fun.
49:34
Speaker 3: I have an EPICX and I've never seen this before.
49:37
Speaker 3: I don't know why it happened, but the other morning
49:39
Speaker 3: I went to pick it up and it said good
49:41
Speaker 3: morning to me, and I was.
49:43
Speaker 1: Like, oh, yeah, yeah, like I know, I know. It's
49:49
Speaker 1: so amazing.
49:50
Speaker 2: I know, I know.
49:51
Speaker 3: Although I will say that the garment and I do
49:53
Speaker 3: get in a little bit of a fight whenever it
49:55
Speaker 3: tells me that my fitness is down.
49:57
Speaker 1: Yeah no, yeah, don't listen to it.
50:00
Speaker 2: It just has my best interest in mind.
50:03
Speaker 1: Exactly wants you to rest or work out more or
50:07
Speaker 1: work out.
50:08
Speaker 2: More good intention.
50:10
Speaker 3: Okay, now, well, I know you said you're preparing for
50:13
Speaker 3: the Olympic trials less than a year out. When you
50:16
Speaker 3: think about keeping your head right prioritizing running, have you
50:20
Speaker 3: had any conversations or gotten any advice that really helps
50:24
Speaker 3: you have your head on straight for this?
50:26
Speaker 1: Most of my favorite advice comes from my dad because
50:32
Speaker 1: he keeps me very like level headed, and you know,
50:35
Speaker 1: just continuing to have fun with it, like making sure
50:37
Speaker 1: I'm having fun. You just got to get there healthy
50:40
Speaker 1: and happy, and that'll give you the best shot. So
50:43
Speaker 1: that's like the number one.
50:44
Speaker 3: From what you've told us today, it sounds as though
50:48
Speaker 3: you've been able to be honest with yourself about when
50:51
Speaker 3: you've been happy within this sport and when you haven't.
50:55
Speaker 3: You know, like when it felt like it wasn't serving
50:57
Speaker 3: you around after the college time and you pivoted a
51:00
Speaker 3: little bit. It was such a gift for you to
51:03
Speaker 3: enable you to rediscover the joy that you felt for running.
51:06
Speaker 3: Would you say that there were other times that you
51:09
Speaker 3: were tempted to step away?
51:12
Speaker 1: Before twenty eighteen, when I did my first marathon, I
51:15
Speaker 1: was just running for fun. I was just running because
51:18
Speaker 1: I loved it. There was no pressure, I loved doing
51:21
Speaker 1: hard workouts, there was no like. It really kept me
51:26
Speaker 1: healthy and happy. And so it was really only the
51:29
Speaker 1: last five years that I've been running professionally or seriously,
51:33
Speaker 1: and no ever since then, I've been completely in love
51:37
Speaker 1: with it and it's every day I'm happy to go
51:40
Speaker 1: on a run. I love where it's brought me. And
51:43
Speaker 1: so I haven't had that luckily, and I think, you know,
51:46
Speaker 1: I think it's normal to have those periods. And if
51:49
Speaker 1: there's a time where it's like sustained and I'm like, oh,
51:52
Speaker 1: I'm just not happy doing this anymore, like that's the
51:55
Speaker 1: time to like maybe part with it. I don't see that.
51:59
Speaker 1: The elite runners around me, and the elite runners I know,
52:02
Speaker 1: we're all just like we just feel so lucky and
52:05
Speaker 1: like love what we do and so like, I can't
52:08
Speaker 1: imagine I can't imagine wanting to step away anytime in
52:12
Speaker 1: the near future.
52:13
Speaker 2: We love to hear it.
52:14
Speaker 3: We love to hear it all right right now, now
52:18
Speaker 3: you have an opportunity to offer yourself a piece of
52:21
Speaker 3: advice during that hurdle of deciding you're going to go
52:26
Speaker 3: full time with this thing you're going to make running
52:28
Speaker 3: your career.
52:29
Speaker 2: Knowing what you know now, what would you tell yourself?
52:33
Speaker 1: Then? I would say do it your own way. Everyone's different,
52:38
Speaker 1: and I think I'm very different. Don't compare yourself. Do
52:42
Speaker 1: it the way that works for you.
52:43
Speaker 2: Do it the way that works for you.
52:45
Speaker 3: I'm so happy that we're able to set us sense
52:47
Speaker 3: of time and catch up today. For the hurdlers that
52:50
Speaker 3: don't follow along with you just yet, how do they
52:53
Speaker 3: keep up with you on the socials?
52:54
Speaker 2: Where do they go?
52:56
Speaker 1: Well? Because I am not in my twenties anymore. I
52:59
Speaker 1: do not have a TikTok, but probably to get one
53:04
Speaker 1: because someone the other day I was like, you know
53:06
Speaker 1: that Instagram is like like for us as like Facebook
53:11
Speaker 1: for you guys, And I was like, oh no, Like
53:14
Speaker 1: that's so bad. I was like, oh awful. But Instagram
53:20
Speaker 1: at noll row host running my website is real host,
53:22
Speaker 1: running dot.
53:23
Speaker 2: Com, row house running dot com.
53:25
Speaker 3: I'm over at Emily Body and at Hurdle Podcast another
53:28
Speaker 3: Hurdle conquered.
53:30
Speaker 2: Catch you guys next time