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GOING FOR IT: Marathoner Fiona O'Keeffe Shares What It Was Like To Win The Olympic Trials & How She Finds Peace Amidst The Pressure · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

0:00
Speaker 1: If I can walk away from that race knowing that
0:03
Speaker 1: I gave it everything that I had on the day,
0:05
Speaker 1: I feel like that's all you can ever ask, Especially
0:08
Speaker 1: in the marathon, there are so many factors that you
0:12
Speaker 1: know can be out of your control.
0:28
Speaker 2: What shaken Hurdler's Emily Abadi.
0:30
Speaker 3: Here, you are listening to our third episode in this
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Speaker 3: week's limited series called going for It Unhurdle. It's a
0:38
Speaker 3: monumental time for a woman in sport, as more and
0:41
Speaker 3: more eyes are rightfully paying attention to her in pursuit
0:45
Speaker 3: of what lights her on fire. Leading up to Paris,
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Speaker 3: I'm bringing conversations to the forefront from women who will
0:51
Speaker 3: be involved in this year's games, from athletes and journalists
0:55
Speaker 3: to even your favorite peloton instructor. For today's a conversation,
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Speaker 3: and I am chatting with Fiona O'Keefe. She is a
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Speaker 3: pro runner for Puma, and on February third, twenty twenty four,
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Speaker 3: O'Keefe punched her ticket to Paris by winning the marathon
1:11
Speaker 3: at Trials in Orlando in two hours, twenty two minutes
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Speaker 3: and ten seconds. In today's conversation, she talks to me
1:19
Speaker 3: about what's been going on since then, it's kind of
1:22
Speaker 3: fun because the marathon trials happened so much earlier than
1:25
Speaker 3: a lot of the other sports, So for Fiona, she's
1:29
Speaker 3: had plenty of time to regroup and really get her
1:32
Speaker 3: game face right for what's coming down the pipe. We
1:35
Speaker 3: talk about how it felt to have so many eyes
1:37
Speaker 3: on her after her big win and what helps her
1:40
Speaker 3: stay grounded amidst the chaos and the uncontrollable. Make sure
1:46
Speaker 3: you're following along with Hurdle over on social It's at
1:48
Speaker 3: Hurdle Podcast. I am over at Emily a body and
1:52
Speaker 3: with that, let's get to it.
1:54
Speaker 2: Let's get to hurdling. Today.
2:00
Speaker 3: I'm sitting down with Fiona O'Keefe. She is a pro athlete,
2:04
Speaker 3: a long distance runner. She'll be towing the line for
2:07
Speaker 3: the US in Paris in the marathon.
2:09
Speaker 2: How are we doing today?
2:11
Speaker 1: Pretty good? Yeah, a bit of a long travel day yesterday,
2:15
Speaker 1: but yeah, yeah, feeling good today.
2:17
Speaker 3: I cannot even fathom what your schedule must be like
2:22
Speaker 3: right now, because of course you have all of the
2:24
Speaker 3: things that you are prioritizing to gear up for the Olympics,
2:30
Speaker 3: but then you've got other commitments.
2:32
Speaker 2: Talk to us a little bit about what that's like
2:33
Speaker 2: at the moment.
2:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, it's definitely been like a bit of a
2:37
Speaker 1: balancing kind of just trying to go with it and
2:41
Speaker 1: try to have some fun with it too. Think back
2:44
Speaker 1: to like the college days when my schedule was super packed.
2:47
Speaker 1: I was fine then, so trying to just channel college me.
2:52
Speaker 3: Which probably had a little bit more energy than the
2:55
Speaker 3: current you, as I can speak for myself.
2:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, Oh my gosh.
3:02
Speaker 3: So yeah, let's just start here with a crazy year,
3:07
Speaker 3: to say the least for you gearing up for this
3:10
Speaker 3: major moment. What has the last two three months been
3:16
Speaker 3: like for you since winning the Olympic Trials and punching
3:20
Speaker 3: your ticket.
3:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's definitely been a whirlwind. I mean it's been
3:24
Speaker 1: it's been fun, but I've been yeah, all over the place,
3:28
Speaker 1: a lot more media stuff, which has been like a
3:31
Speaker 1: new experience for me. But yeah, it's been cool to
3:36
Speaker 1: just like connect with more people, connect with the other
3:39
Speaker 1: women on the team, and yeah, just try to go
3:43
Speaker 1: with it and fill that momentum building towards this summer.
3:46
Speaker 2: How does it actually feel for you?
3:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it definitely was super surreal at first.
3:52
Speaker 1: It's still like, oh my gosh, this is really happening.
3:55
Speaker 1: But yeah, I guess it's it's been long enough now
3:57
Speaker 1: that it sunk in more. It's like we are going
3:59
Speaker 1: to I go run that race in Paris. I've been
4:02
Speaker 1: able to go see the course, which has been helpful,
4:05
Speaker 1: But yeah, it's it's still like very exciting for sure.
4:09
Speaker 3: With all the increase in media attention. Do you feel
4:14
Speaker 3: at peace with it now? Does it still feel a
4:16
Speaker 3: little bit unsettling? How does that feel for you?
4:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's definitely been an adjustment. I probably tend to
4:22
Speaker 1: be more of like a quiet, introverted person, so I
4:26
Speaker 1: wouldn't say, like this spolight is something that I seek
4:29
Speaker 1: out very much. But I guess I try to think
4:32
Speaker 1: about like people that I looked up to when I
4:34
Speaker 1: was coming along in this sport, and it always meant
4:37
Speaker 1: a lot to me to be able to hear their stories.
4:39
Speaker 1: So I'm hoping that, you know, just by being open
4:43
Speaker 1: and sharing when I can, that that's helpful to someone
4:46
Speaker 1: else in their own running journey or life in general.
4:50
Speaker 2: Certainly.
4:51
Speaker 3: I mean, there's so much to relate to when someone
4:55
Speaker 3: can open up and share a bit about their journey.
4:58
Speaker 3: I know for you, you debuted in half marathon, in
5:01
Speaker 3: Houston in twenty twenty two, running what was at that
5:04
Speaker 3: time the fastest debut by an American woman in one
5:07
Speaker 3: oh seven forty two. It's not all that surprising that
5:11
Speaker 3: history then kind of repeated itself when you came out
5:15
Speaker 3: guns blaring at the trials, when you came out and
5:20
Speaker 3: kind of shocked everyone at the marathon trials, did you
5:24
Speaker 3: feel like you knew that you were entirely capable of
5:27
Speaker 3: doing what you just did.
5:29
Speaker 1: I mean, I think I definitely like would have been
5:31
Speaker 1: in trouble if I'd been in that race and thought
5:34
Speaker 1: I had zero chance of making the team. So I
5:38
Speaker 1: had to get myself to the starting line with like
5:41
Speaker 1: that sense of belief that I could at least make
5:43
Speaker 1: the team. That being said, the race did exceed my
5:47
Speaker 1: own expectations as well, so you know, I guess it's
5:50
Speaker 1: a little of both. Like, definitely, I probably expected more
5:55
Speaker 1: of myself than a lot of other people did coming in,
5:58
Speaker 1: But at the same time, I had a pretty open mind,
6:02
Speaker 1: so I wasn't sure like what a good outcome on
6:06
Speaker 1: the day would even mean.
6:07
Speaker 3: How do you encourage or foster that sense of self
6:12
Speaker 3: belief when you do have such lofty and great goals.
6:18
Speaker 1: I guess I'd just like to think about my goals
6:20
Speaker 1: in training, like when I'm doing a hard workout or
6:25
Speaker 1: just you know, doing the little things, kind of bringing
6:29
Speaker 1: it back to that big goal and using that like
6:32
Speaker 1: as a sense of motivation and excitement.
6:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's super challenging too, because I feel like as
6:39
Speaker 3: soon as you say the word Olympics, it feels like
6:43
Speaker 3: it takes on a new level of what the hell
6:48
Speaker 3: are we doing here?
6:50
Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, totally. Yeah. For me, it helped to like
6:53
Speaker 1: also sometimes just reduce it down to like, Okay, it
6:57
Speaker 1: is the Olympic Trials, but it's also just a race,
6:59
Speaker 1: and I do know how to race. I love to race,
7:02
Speaker 1: I love to compete. To just bringing it back to
7:04
Speaker 1: like the simplest version of what it was.
7:07
Speaker 3: And I appreciate that you, in that explanation are talking
7:11
Speaker 3: about what you know to be true. You're like, I
7:14
Speaker 3: am a good competitor, I am good at racing. Like
7:17
Speaker 3: you're going back to all of the facts and then
7:19
Speaker 3: using those facts to inform what you do next, because
7:23
Speaker 3: sometimes our thoughts just feel entirely overwhelming, which is understandable,
7:28
Speaker 3: but to use that tactic it definitely paid off for you.
7:32
Speaker 1: M Yeah, yeah, totally. I guess like going back to
7:37
Speaker 1: what you do believe sometimes is like I guess, a
7:39
Speaker 1: building block to the next thing, because maybe it wouldn't
7:42
Speaker 1: have worked for me to tell myself like I am
7:45
Speaker 1: an Olympian, you know, because that wasn't true yet, and
7:50
Speaker 1: maybe it would be harder to believe that. I just
7:53
Speaker 1: started with you know, what is in my control and
7:56
Speaker 1: what can I do?
7:57
Speaker 2: Yeah?
7:57
Speaker 3: And I think that you have to know how how
8:00
Speaker 3: you respond to different types of self talk, like I'll
8:03
Speaker 3: never forget when Dez came on the show and she
8:06
Speaker 3: talked about all of the years that she was chasing
8:09
Speaker 3: being a Boston Marathon winner. She always talked about saying
8:13
Speaker 3: things like I am a Boston Marathon champion and asking
8:16
Speaker 3: herself like what would a Boston Marathon champion eat?
8:19
Speaker 2: How would a Boston Marathon champion sleep?
8:21
Speaker 3: Like that self talk worked for Dez and you know
8:25
Speaker 3: paid off. But for you to have that grasp on
8:28
Speaker 3: this idea like Okay, what is actually true and what
8:32
Speaker 3: feels good for me? And it's okay if what feels
8:34
Speaker 3: good for you doesn't feel good for everybody else, right, yeah, totally, yeah,
8:39
Speaker 3: So for you give us some insight then into your background,
8:42
Speaker 3: because people here and it's kind of like the Sidle
8:45
Speaker 3: story of twenty twenty, right when Mollie showed up and
8:48
Speaker 3: ran her first marathon and makes the Olympic team, and
8:50
Speaker 3: they jokingly were like, Barista does amazing things. You also
8:55
Speaker 3: debuted in the marathon at the trials. What made that
8:59
Speaker 3: an attract opportunity for you? What was it about the
9:02
Speaker 3: marathon that you thought to yourself, this is where I
9:05
Speaker 3: want to punch my ticket, this is where I want
9:06
Speaker 3: to put my efforts.
9:07
Speaker 1: Definitely seeing Molly's story was like a big inspiration because
9:12
Speaker 1: I think pretty similar age and yeah, both of us debuted,
9:16
Speaker 1: both us running for Puma, so I guess a lot
9:19
Speaker 1: of parallels there. But for me, I guess the marathon
9:23
Speaker 1: itself was like where I thought, like my natural strengths
9:27
Speaker 1: as a runner kind of lie probably physically and mentally.
9:32
Speaker 1: And I'd had like a lot of coaches over the
9:34
Speaker 1: years just kind of gently appointing me in the direction
9:38
Speaker 1: of the longer distances, so I knew that it was
9:41
Speaker 1: something that I wanted to do eventually, and then with
9:44
Speaker 1: the trials, I thought I could give myself a shot
9:48
Speaker 1: on the roads and then if that didn't work out,
9:50
Speaker 1: I'd turn around and come back to the track. And honestly,
9:54
Speaker 1: like I had no idea how it was going to go.
9:57
Speaker 1: I just was really excited about like seeing that whole
10:00
Speaker 1: journey up to the Trials.
10:02
Speaker 3: For sure, And it's even outstanding when you take a
10:06
Speaker 3: look at the timing. Now. Granted, where you ran in
10:10
Speaker 3: Orlando entirely different than the course that was in Atlanta,
10:13
Speaker 3: but Molly's time at the Trials to twenty seven thirty one,
10:16
Speaker 3: your time at the Trials to twenty two ten. That's
10:20
Speaker 3: a major timing difference and also probably speaks to both
10:25
Speaker 3: where we're at right now within women's running, but also
10:28
Speaker 3: the available technology too.
10:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, totally. The shoes have come a long way.
10:33
Speaker 1: The course in Orlando was pretty much pancake flat though,
10:37
Speaker 1: and I know Atlanta was like pretty challenging. So I'm
10:41
Speaker 1: not sure we can really make that comparison.
10:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, wildly different, wildly different.
10:46
Speaker 3: But for you give us like a generalization or talk
10:50
Speaker 3: a little bit about how running makes you feel period.
10:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, in general, I feel like running has
10:58
Speaker 1: always just s been like a place where I can
11:01
Speaker 1: go that it helps me feel like way more centered
11:04
Speaker 1: and just like peaceful. I'm running alone, it's a good
11:08
Speaker 1: time to just like sort out my thought. But then
11:11
Speaker 1: you know, you can also have like a social run
11:14
Speaker 1: with friends, so it's just like a good outlet in
11:17
Speaker 1: so many ways. And then you know, hard workouts and
11:20
Speaker 1: stuff are always a great opportunity to just challenge myself
11:23
Speaker 1: and kind of show myself that I can push through
11:28
Speaker 1: something difficult and deal with a challenge.
11:31
Speaker 3: When did you first get a sense that you were
11:34
Speaker 3: going to be someone that excelled at running beyond that
11:38
Speaker 3: general level of enjoyment.
11:41
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess I've always been pretty competitive with it.
11:44
Speaker 1: So like I remember in like middle school track, just
11:49
Speaker 1: like I would get really excited about like competing with people,
11:57
Speaker 1: and oftentimes if I did it when I was pretty upset, oh.
12:04
Speaker 2: Little Fiona.
12:07
Speaker 1: So I don't know, I guess like I've always had
12:09
Speaker 1: that competitive aspect to it, and I've always just wanted
12:13
Speaker 1: to like see what I'm capable of in the sport
12:16
Speaker 1: and see where it could take me. And I guess
12:19
Speaker 1: I just didn't really have expectations there. But I also
12:22
Speaker 1: wasn't placing limits on.
12:24
Speaker 3: It, right, And so when you went to run at Stanford.
12:28
Speaker 3: Did you think to yourself, this is certainly what I
12:30
Speaker 3: want to lean into or were you thinking this is
12:33
Speaker 3: just a hobby that will accompany my studies.
12:37
Speaker 2: Where were you?
12:38
Speaker 1: Yeah? I was definitely like taking it pretty seriously, and
12:42
Speaker 1: part of the big job of Stanford was all the
12:45
Speaker 1: teammates there and kind of the history of distance running
12:49
Speaker 1: at that school. I was really excited to be around
12:52
Speaker 1: other women who I knew were better than me and
12:55
Speaker 1: would make me better, So I was, Yeah, I was
12:58
Speaker 1: definitely taking itbiously. I took school pretty seriously too, but yeah,
13:04
Speaker 1: having a lot of fun with it and being really
13:06
Speaker 1: excited to be part of that team and see what
13:08
Speaker 1: we could do as a team too.
13:10
Speaker 3: I always think that that's some of the best advice,
13:13
Speaker 3: like seek to be around people that are better from
13:16
Speaker 3: you or that you know that you can learn from,
13:19
Speaker 3: and so from a young age, having that perspective and
13:22
Speaker 3: knowing what could happen for you if you opened yourself
13:25
Speaker 3: up to not being the best on the squad, not
13:28
Speaker 3: being the best on the team, that's pretty wise.
13:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I think it was really really valuable,
13:36
Speaker 1: and I did learn so much from the older girls
13:39
Speaker 1: on the team. But also my classmates, and I think
13:42
Speaker 1: just being excited to show up and get better every
13:46
Speaker 1: day and kind of put the ego aside and be like, okay, well,
13:50
Speaker 1: like if these middle distance girls drop me in the
13:53
Speaker 1: shorter reps, that's that's great. Like I'm getting better and
13:57
Speaker 1: you know, maybe I'll be pushing the longer stuff. So yeah,
14:02
Speaker 1: just like helping each other with our different strengths was really.
14:05
Speaker 2: Valuable for you.
14:06
Speaker 3: I know, not all that long ago, you talked a
14:09
Speaker 3: little bit on social about how you give back to
14:12
Speaker 3: your mental health. When we're talking about this build up,
14:16
Speaker 3: bring me back to college and talk us through how
14:21
Speaker 3: it felt for you to balance your mental health during
14:26
Speaker 3: a time where people didn't talk as openly about it,
14:29
Speaker 3: and how you navigated that with sport, with your academics
14:35
Speaker 3: and so on.
14:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's a good point. I do feel like
14:39
Speaker 1: the conversation has really opened up over the past couple
14:43
Speaker 1: years around mental health. So while I was at Stanford,
14:47
Speaker 1: I guess it was kind of a matter of prioritizing
14:51
Speaker 1: what was really important to me. And there can be
14:54
Speaker 1: a lot of academic pressure there. There's less probably in
14:58
Speaker 1: what I was studying, which is in ronmental science, So
15:02
Speaker 1: I guess it was just choosing like, Okay, what really
15:05
Speaker 1: matters to me is running well my teammates and friendships
15:12
Speaker 1: and then doing what I can in the classroom. But
15:16
Speaker 1: especially like towards the end of my time there, I
15:20
Speaker 1: started just giving myself permission to do a good job
15:23
Speaker 1: in school, but not to force the best grade possible
15:27
Speaker 1: all the time if that meant sacrificing sleep or being
15:31
Speaker 1: super stressed out or that kind of thing.
15:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that again, that prioritization isn't easy, and I'm.
15:38
Speaker 2: Sure it took a bit of trial and error.
15:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure, I do think again, the
15:44
Speaker 1: team was huge there, just having other people to bounce
15:49
Speaker 1: things off of and talk with, Like Alice Cranny is
15:53
Speaker 1: a couple of years above me in school, and I
15:55
Speaker 1: feel like she was a really good role model in
15:57
Speaker 1: being open about, you know, how she's doing and asking
16:02
Speaker 1: us all was checking in on us about how we
16:05
Speaker 1: were handling things. So it was just really helpful to
16:09
Speaker 1: be surrounded by people that really cared.
16:11
Speaker 3: You mentioned the buzzword sleep. I'm sure it's changed a
16:15
Speaker 3: little bit since college now, but talk to me about
16:18
Speaker 3: both how sleep pays a big part in your overall
16:22
Speaker 3: recovery and maybe a little bit about the other things
16:24
Speaker 3: that you start to prioritize more and more as you
16:27
Speaker 3: progressed as a professional.
16:30
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, I mean sleep is definitely huge for me.
16:33
Speaker 1: I feel like it just helps the physical recovery, but
16:37
Speaker 1: also really affects like I'm feeling mentally, So I really
16:41
Speaker 1: shoot for like nine hours and then something that I
16:44
Speaker 1: do now that I didn't do in college is a
16:46
Speaker 1: lot of times, especially during like an altitude camp, also
16:49
Speaker 1: take a nap, so that's usually like under an hour,
16:52
Speaker 1: but it does really help, like get out the door
16:55
Speaker 1: for that second round.
16:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, wow, nine hours?
16:59
Speaker 3: And how do you you set boundaries around that nine
17:01
Speaker 3: hours to make it a non negotiable, Like are there
17:03
Speaker 3: days that are more difficult than others to make sure
17:06
Speaker 3: that you're getting that in.
17:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I guess like travel sometimes sometimes it just
17:11
Speaker 1: doesn't happen, So it's like being a little bit flexible
17:14
Speaker 1: with it too, like trying to just do the best
17:17
Speaker 1: that I can. But for me, like setting boundaries with
17:21
Speaker 1: the phone really helps, Like if I shut off my
17:25
Speaker 1: phone at a specific time and then just go read
17:28
Speaker 1: until I'm tired, that usually helps, like unwind the brain,
17:31
Speaker 1: even if it's been kind of a chaotic day.
17:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've become someone that like puts my phone to bed.
17:37
Speaker 3: This is like a silly ritual that I have, but
17:40
Speaker 3: I literally leave it on one of those charging pads
17:43
Speaker 3: that's too far from my bed to reach. And it
17:47
Speaker 3: is one of the best things that I've done for myself.
17:50
Speaker 3: And it does definitely take some getting used to. And
17:54
Speaker 3: also you have to make the conscious choice that the
17:58
Speaker 3: first thing I'm not going to do in the morning
18:00
Speaker 3: is get up out of my bed and grab my phone.
18:02
Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, And you know, I
18:05
Speaker 1: think it's okay to have some days where that happens,
18:08
Speaker 1: but ideally, like it's not the first thing you're going to.
18:12
Speaker 3: You talked a little bit about how visualization and like
18:16
Speaker 3: thinking about what it will be like if like a
18:19
Speaker 3: best case scenario comes true for you has been helpful.
18:23
Speaker 3: You also mentioned in your post talking about mental health
18:26
Speaker 3: that you journal regularly. Share with us a little bit
18:29
Speaker 3: about what your journaling practice looks like these days.
18:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would say on my journaling is fairly unstructured.
18:38
Speaker 1: I try to do it like most nights, just kind
18:41
Speaker 1: of a brain dum to get my thoughts down. But yeah,
18:45
Speaker 1: it's like a very random collection of thoughts to do, list, dreams,
18:52
Speaker 1: anything goes.
18:53
Speaker 2: Really, why do you think that that serves you?
18:56
Speaker 1: Sometimes the thoughts can start to get in a little
18:58
Speaker 1: bit of a spin cycle and really sifting through what's
19:03
Speaker 1: in there. A lot of the time, once you get
19:05
Speaker 1: it down on paper, you realize that there is like
19:09
Speaker 1: you actually do have more solutions than you might think.
19:14
Speaker 1: And once a negative thought is just like out of
19:17
Speaker 1: your head and on the page, it looks a lot
19:19
Speaker 1: more manageable than if it's just kind of playing in
19:21
Speaker 1: a loop in your mind.
19:23
Speaker 2: Oh it's so true.
19:25
Speaker 3: And I feel like I wish that I could tell
19:27
Speaker 3: younger Emily that journaling could have a benefit like this.
19:32
Speaker 3: Now it's a non negotiable in my schedule as well,
19:36
Speaker 3: except I'm a morning journaler instead of a night journaler.
19:39
Speaker 3: But I, oh my god, if younger Emily could have
19:43
Speaker 3: like stop spiraling just a little bit more, it might
19:46
Speaker 3: have been pretty self surveying.
19:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, totally. And then there's also I feel like the
19:51
Speaker 1: positive side of like journaling about like what it is
19:56
Speaker 1: that you want and you know, thinking about dreams and
20:02
Speaker 1: visualization and stuff like that, and putting that into words
20:05
Speaker 1: sometimes can be really helpful. I also like to make
20:09
Speaker 1: like vision boards or collages from time to time.
20:12
Speaker 2: Oh okay, talk to us about this. What does that
20:15
Speaker 2: look like for you?
20:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll get like a bunch of old magazines and
20:19
Speaker 1: just kind of go through them and cut out like
20:21
Speaker 1: words and images that inspire me. So it's not really
20:25
Speaker 1: like running specific, but I do feel like it helps
20:28
Speaker 1: me just kind of create like some sort of I
20:33
Speaker 1: don't know, visual of what I want. I guess.
20:37
Speaker 3: Yeah, if you had to reflect and think about like
20:39
Speaker 3: a thing or two that has been on a past
20:42
Speaker 3: vision board, hit us with it.
20:45
Speaker 1: I usually have like a lot of beautiful like outdoor
20:49
Speaker 1: spaces on them. But then my one of my more
20:54
Speaker 1: recent ones that I made going into the trial build
20:57
Speaker 1: up actually did have a good amount of like French
21:00
Speaker 1: and stuff on there, so you know what you will.
21:05
Speaker 3: Wow, I love that, And I love also the imagery
21:08
Speaker 3: or the visual of the outdoor spaces.
21:10
Speaker 2: What did those represent to you?
21:13
Speaker 1: Yeah? I was someone who just grew up spending a
21:16
Speaker 1: ton of time outdoors, and one of the things that
21:19
Speaker 1: I really love about running is the way that it
21:21
Speaker 1: just connects me to the natural world. And allows me to,
21:26
Speaker 1: you know, see beautiful parts of the country in the world,
21:29
Speaker 1: though the outdoors definitely like has always just felt more
21:34
Speaker 1: like home to me than being inside of a building.
21:40
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23:11
Speaker 2: Slash hurdle.
23:18
Speaker 3: What do you think right now are your biggest non negotiables?
23:22
Speaker 3: We talked about those nine hours of sleep, obviously important
23:25
Speaker 3: to your routine as you gear up for Paris, but
23:27
Speaker 3: beyond that, what are things right now in your life
23:30
Speaker 3: that feel super important to you for you to be
23:33
Speaker 3: your best?
23:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a good question. I guess seeing you out
23:37
Speaker 1: like priorities and trying to simplify things a little bit
23:42
Speaker 1: because it's felt like a little bit chaotic at times.
23:47
Speaker 1: So just making sure I'm straight with myself about what
23:50
Speaker 1: my priorities are and then making sure I'm taking care
23:56
Speaker 1: of the basics of like my physical self with sleep, neutral, hydration, pt,
24:02
Speaker 1: all that business.
24:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, that word priorities and being straight with what yours
24:08
Speaker 3: are for yourself. I feel like that piece of advice
24:10
Speaker 3: is so valuable because so often, especially I'm sure, in
24:14
Speaker 3: the whirlwind that is other people's opinions, media interviews, et cetera,
24:18
Speaker 3: a lot of people are insinuating or telling.
24:21
Speaker 2: You what you should be doing.
24:23
Speaker 3: So when you take the time to get clear about
24:26
Speaker 3: what's important to you, whether that be through journaling or
24:29
Speaker 3: conversations with people that you care about, that helps you
24:32
Speaker 3: get centered so that you can execute, because that's the
24:34
Speaker 3: most important part.
24:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely, Like I think, if you are trying to
24:40
Speaker 1: serve everyone's interests in the end, you're not going to
24:43
Speaker 1: meet their expectations and you're going to fall short of
24:46
Speaker 1: your own, which really like doesn't feel good if you're
24:50
Speaker 1: going out of your way, like extending yourself to to
24:54
Speaker 1: try to live up to like what you perceive as
24:58
Speaker 1: these external expectations. And then if that, you know, takes
25:02
Speaker 1: you away from what you know to be true and
25:06
Speaker 1: what really makes you feel connected to your own purpose,
25:10
Speaker 1: I feel like that's never a good path to go down.
25:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it's not. It's not.
25:16
Speaker 3: And to have that foresight and that approach is one
25:21
Speaker 3: that can only help you in this big of a year. Again,
25:26
Speaker 3: knowing that there is so much pressure, so many eyes,
25:31
Speaker 3: how do you give back to you?
25:33
Speaker 2: How do you handle that?
25:35
Speaker 3: As I'm sure it's been a learning process over the
25:38
Speaker 3: last few months.
25:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would say like I'm actively learning that right now. Yeah.
25:47
Speaker 1: I feel like one big thing for me is trying
25:50
Speaker 1: to just be more open with people in my life
25:53
Speaker 1: and talk about how I'm feeling more, even if it's
25:57
Speaker 1: not like all the time as positive as as I
26:00
Speaker 1: would like, or I feel like I should feel like, Oh,
26:03
Speaker 1: I should feel amazing, I'm going to the Olympic. But
26:05
Speaker 1: sometimes the pressure is there, and you know, I do
26:08
Speaker 1: have a sense of these external expectations. But yeah, just
26:14
Speaker 1: trying to not hold things quite so close to my
26:17
Speaker 1: chest and be a little more open and willing to
26:20
Speaker 1: talk about things has been helpful.
26:22
Speaker 3: It sounds helpful. It also sounds difficult to get there,
26:27
Speaker 3: right Yeah, definitely, because you don't always want to admit
26:32
Speaker 3: when you're not good or great, or that you don't
26:35
Speaker 3: have it all in the bag.
26:37
Speaker 2: I know recently you were in New.
26:39
Speaker 3: York and you were going to run the ten k
26:41
Speaker 3: and you decided, I don't think this is best for
26:44
Speaker 3: my body right now. That's an example of you listening
26:46
Speaker 3: to your body and putting yourself first despite expectations.
26:50
Speaker 2: But how did that feel for you?
26:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it was like it was a tough
26:54
Speaker 1: call to make, especially just because I do love racing,
26:57
Speaker 1: like I would have loved to be out there. But
27:00
Speaker 1: I guess like it felt tough in the moment, but
27:03
Speaker 1: also like the right decision. So you know, when you
27:06
Speaker 1: make a decision that's like respecting yourself, it ends up
27:10
Speaker 1: feeling better after, I guess. And then the people in
27:14
Speaker 1: New York were all like super cool about it, very accommodating.
27:19
Speaker 1: So usually, like I find that people do respect it
27:24
Speaker 1: when you're making those calls that are right for you.
27:28
Speaker 2: Yeah.
27:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, because the last thing also that the people that
27:31
Speaker 3: care about you, the real ones, want for you to do,
27:36
Speaker 3: is do something that could jeopardize your body or be
27:42
Speaker 3: detrimental to your mental health, right, And I think so
27:45
Speaker 3: often so many of us act in this people pleasing way.
27:49
Speaker 3: You said the word should before, and in reality that
27:54
Speaker 3: word should isn't one that's going to help you exercise
27:57
Speaker 3: your boundaries.
27:59
Speaker 1: Right yeah.
28:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, So for you, now, what does the rest of
28:05
Speaker 3: the road look like? I know you're traveling right now,
28:07
Speaker 3: You're in Vancouver. Do you have any downtime? Is that
28:11
Speaker 3: even a word in your vocabulary? With what we've got
28:15
Speaker 3: going on here?
28:16
Speaker 1: Not too much downtime, No, But yeah, after this, I'll
28:22
Speaker 1: head to Eugene for team processing, so I'll probably get
28:26
Speaker 1: to watch a little bit of the trials too, which
28:28
Speaker 1: will be exciting, and then the plan is to go
28:31
Speaker 1: to Altitude after that and then over to Europe from there.
28:34
Speaker 3: What would you say is the event that you're most
28:38
Speaker 3: excited to spectate at the Trials?
28:40
Speaker 1: Well, I have some teammates running the fifteen and the
28:43
Speaker 1: five and the ten actually, so I'm really just excited
28:47
Speaker 1: to support them, hopefully, I hope I'll be there for
28:50
Speaker 1: their races.
28:52
Speaker 3: Do you feel any kind of way about the fact
28:54
Speaker 3: that you're not on the track.
28:56
Speaker 1: I got to do a little bit of track earlier
28:58
Speaker 1: this spring. I ran one track ten thousand and that
29:02
Speaker 1: was fun, so a little bit of a sense of fomo,
29:05
Speaker 1: But also I know I need to be focused on
29:09
Speaker 1: the longer stuff right now. So yeah, mixed emotions. I guess,
29:15
Speaker 1: mixed emotions.
29:16
Speaker 3: Okay, So what would you say excites you the most
29:20
Speaker 3: about the fact that you will be competing this summer?
29:24
Speaker 1: I guess just getting to have that experience on the
29:28
Speaker 1: world stage. Is really exciting to see how like all
29:34
Speaker 1: of us as a team can line up together and
29:37
Speaker 1: kind of execute on that stage. Because I'm really excited
29:41
Speaker 1: about the group that we're sending, I think a really
29:44
Speaker 1: strong team. And yeah, it's been a lot of fun,
29:46
Speaker 1: like getting to know Emily and Dakoto a little bit more,
29:50
Speaker 1: and yeah, I feel like they both have such good
29:53
Speaker 1: experience at the marathon that I honestly have so much
29:56
Speaker 1: to learn from both of them.
29:58
Speaker 3: You three a part of a team, and you're also competitors.
30:05
Speaker 2: For you you.
30:06
Speaker 3: Talked about the value of opening up about how you
30:10
Speaker 3: feel sharing those real sentiments. Do you feel comfortable opening
30:17
Speaker 3: up in that way with them? Do you feel as
30:20
Speaker 3: though that level of vulnerability has served you.
30:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess. I mean, like going to New York City,
30:27
Speaker 1: it was a small thing, but I did have to,
30:30
Speaker 1: you know, be there and be honest with them about
30:33
Speaker 1: you know, what's going on with my leg and everything,
30:37
Speaker 1: and you know, just taking a step back and not racing,
30:41
Speaker 1: and they were great. So I feel like sometimes it
30:44
Speaker 1: can feel scari or vulnerable to be a little bit
30:48
Speaker 1: more open, But in general, like the running community is great.
30:53
Speaker 1: Most people mean well and they're not going to use
30:57
Speaker 1: things against you, So I would rather be a little
31:00
Speaker 1: but like overly trusting of people in general, I would.
31:02
Speaker 2: Say, yeah, just believing in the good in humanity.
31:05
Speaker 3: You know, I agree with you about what you said
31:07
Speaker 3: about how awesome the team is for the women's marathon.
31:11
Speaker 3: I know there was some concern or just feelings or
31:14
Speaker 3: just like oh my heart when Kira didn't make the team,
31:18
Speaker 3: But overall, I do feel like there's so much goodness
31:21
Speaker 3: that comes from young women stepping up within sport and
31:25
Speaker 3: also the opportunity to bring about new fans as well.
31:29
Speaker 3: On that note of supporting women being excited about other women,
31:35
Speaker 3: do you have any athletes that you're following along with
31:39
Speaker 3: that inspire you motivate that you can't wait to see
31:42
Speaker 3: in Paris?
31:44
Speaker 1: Oh? I guess like as a as a Stanford alum,
31:49
Speaker 1: I'm very excited to see Katie Ldecki in the swimming events,
31:55
Speaker 1: and then in other sports. I definitely like always watch gymnastics,
32:02
Speaker 1: so it'll be fun to see whatever that team is,
32:05
Speaker 1: and then of course on the track, like always looking
32:10
Speaker 1: at the at the distance stuff. But yeah, there's there's
32:14
Speaker 1: so many people to look up to, so it'll be
32:17
Speaker 1: really fun to see what goes down.
32:20
Speaker 3: They say that you always remember your first your first
32:24
Speaker 3: marathon a bit more hectic than the usual person's first marathon.
32:28
Speaker 3: Do you remember the ins and outs of that race
32:31
Speaker 3: or is it just that is it all a blur?
32:34
Speaker 1: I'd say it's both, Like, I definitely do you remember it,
32:38
Speaker 1: But I've also like talked through it so many times
32:40
Speaker 1: that they say, you know, I think they say that
32:42
Speaker 1: each time you like revisit a memory, you change it
32:46
Speaker 1: a little bit. Oh, so I'm wondering if like my
32:49
Speaker 1: memory is fully I figured at this point, I feel
32:53
Speaker 1: like I've relived that race so many times.
32:57
Speaker 3: Do you enjoy reliving it or do you feel like
33:00
Speaker 3: that you're ready to stop?
33:03
Speaker 1: It was definitely like really fun at first, but at
33:06
Speaker 1: this point I feel like I do need to move on.
33:11
Speaker 3: You're like, I've graduated from this moment, so we all
33:13
Speaker 3: need to graduate from this moment.
33:15
Speaker 1: Yeah.
33:16
Speaker 3: What would you say has been the biggest hurdle or
33:19
Speaker 3: most difficult part about this build for you?
33:23
Speaker 1: Probably just dealing with that external noise a little bit
33:28
Speaker 1: and trying to to bring things back to like a
33:32
Speaker 1: simpler version of what they are, I guess, and this
33:36
Speaker 1: is only my second marathon that I'm getting ready for,
33:39
Speaker 1: so kind of, you know, balancing that expectation with still
33:42
Speaker 1: like feeling relatively young and inexperienced in this event.
33:47
Speaker 2: Success has so many definitions.
33:50
Speaker 3: If you had to define what success would feel like
33:55
Speaker 3: and look like for you in Paris, and those could
33:58
Speaker 3: be different things, what is it for you?
34:03
Speaker 1: I mean it's totally cliche, but if I can walk
34:06
Speaker 1: away from that race knowing that I gave it everything
34:09
Speaker 1: that I had on the day, I feel like that's
34:11
Speaker 1: all you can ever ask. Especially in the marathon, there
34:14
Speaker 1: are so many factors that you know can be out
34:18
Speaker 1: of your control. So I guess that's kind of what
34:20
Speaker 1: it would feel like. I would also like to feel
34:24
Speaker 1: like I executed a smart plan on that race course,
34:28
Speaker 1: because I think that could play a huge role in
34:30
Speaker 1: the outcome there. And then what it looks like. I mean,
34:34
Speaker 1: I hope that I'm not limiting myself and just going
34:40
Speaker 1: out there and competing with everyone I know that you
34:44
Speaker 1: know there's going to be I think the world record
34:47
Speaker 1: holder is in our race, and the Kenyan and Ethiopian
34:50
Speaker 1: teams are really strong. But I would love to place
34:54
Speaker 1: as high as I can. I think, you know, our
34:58
Speaker 1: team collectively could be pretty high up there.
35:02
Speaker 2: Yeah. I love that.
35:03
Speaker 3: And it's hard right when you're in this place where
35:07
Speaker 3: you're trying to accept the things that you cannot control,
35:11
Speaker 3: and the marathon is certainly an event where there are
35:15
Speaker 3: a lot of things that are quite unpredictable. What has
35:19
Speaker 3: your journey been like to getting to a place where
35:22
Speaker 3: you're a little bit better at accepting the uncontrollable.
35:26
Speaker 1: I think that talking to other women who've run the
35:30
Speaker 1: marathon before definitely helped me with that. Like my coach Amy,
35:35
Speaker 1: and then my coaches also trained like Rose Hervey and
35:39
Speaker 1: sarahvon So I spoke with them a good amount going
35:43
Speaker 1: into the trials and just hearing things that had gone awry,
35:47
Speaker 1: like whether it was in a build up or in
35:50
Speaker 1: a race, like Rose told me like, oh yeah, in Chicago,
35:52
Speaker 1: I missed like half my bottles because I like something
35:55
Speaker 1: went wrong with them or I don't remember exactly what
35:59
Speaker 1: it was, but anyway, just and she still ran like
36:02
Speaker 1: two twenty three, which was like a huge performance for her.
36:05
Speaker 1: So just hearing stories of people like, you know, having
36:10
Speaker 1: these great results even when it didn't look perfect to
36:14
Speaker 1: get there has been really reassuring.
36:16
Speaker 3: I guess in practice, I want to like break it
36:19
Speaker 3: down even more because I think so many people can
36:21
Speaker 3: relate to this, right And we're not just talking about
36:24
Speaker 3: running a marathon. We're talking about like sitting at your
36:27
Speaker 3: desk and you're in a meeting and like the zoom,
36:29
Speaker 3: something messes up, or I don't know, like you're walking
36:32
Speaker 3: down the stairs and you like snag your dress on
36:34
Speaker 3: something and it rips and you have to like change
36:36
Speaker 3: into a new dress that you didn't want to wear.
36:37
Speaker 2: Who knows.
36:38
Speaker 3: We every day go through things that are uncontrollable. I'm
36:43
Speaker 3: really curious about, like the mental pivot that happens for you.
36:48
Speaker 3: Do you flip a switch and start to focus or
36:51
Speaker 3: try to focus on the good in a moment where
36:54
Speaker 3: things are going wrong or what happens for you?
36:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess I try to take the focus away
37:01
Speaker 1: from the outcome and just focus on what I can
37:05
Speaker 1: do in that moment. So I guess, like in all workout,
37:10
Speaker 1: if it's like Okay, that split was really off, then
37:13
Speaker 1: it's like, Okay, I'm going to focus on my turnover
37:17
Speaker 1: and my breathing for the next rep and just see
37:21
Speaker 1: where that gets me, or just start telling myself, like
37:25
Speaker 1: trying to feed positive thoughts instead of getting thrown off
37:30
Speaker 1: by this one thing that's happened.
37:32
Speaker 2: Yeah.
37:33
Speaker 3: I love that concept of choosing smaller things to focus on,
37:38
Speaker 3: because that big idea whatever is going on can feel
37:41
Speaker 3: really overwhelming. It's the same with goal setting, right, Like
37:44
Speaker 3: if you break down your big goals into smaller, smart goals,
37:49
Speaker 3: then you can feel more momentum, feel more accomplished on
37:55
Speaker 3: the journey, because some of these journeys, some of these goals,
37:57
Speaker 3: whatever it is that you're going after, like give me
37:59
Speaker 3: a long process. So if you don't take the time
38:02
Speaker 3: to celebrate the small moments along the way or dial
38:05
Speaker 3: into the small things that are within your control, then
38:08
Speaker 3: of course the whole thing is going to feel really overwhelming.
38:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, definitely. And then like if you get to
38:13
Speaker 1: the end and you don't have the result that you
38:15
Speaker 1: have and all that you cared about was the outcome
38:18
Speaker 1: the whole time, then it's then it's really tough if
38:20
Speaker 1: it's if it's not up to your expectations. But if
38:23
Speaker 1: you were able to, you know, break things down, like
38:25
Speaker 1: you said, into more what I think of as like
38:28
Speaker 1: process goals and knowing that you know you kind of
38:33
Speaker 1: not sound corny, but like made yourself proud along the
38:35
Speaker 1: way and like all those little pocisions, then you know,
38:38
Speaker 1: whatever the result is going to be, at the end
38:40
Speaker 1: of the day, you can walk away and be okay
38:42
Speaker 1: with yourself because you know that you improved, even if
38:47
Speaker 1: the result on paper isn't exactly what you wanted.
38:50
Speaker 3: So what have the process goals been for you in
38:53
Speaker 3: this build up to arguably one of the biggest goals
38:57
Speaker 3: within sport.
38:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think it's just been like trying
39:02
Speaker 1: to get the routine down really well and try to
39:08
Speaker 1: be honestly more flexible has been a big thing for me,
39:13
Speaker 1: just with more of the travel and knowing that it
39:17
Speaker 1: has been like a long build up, so trying to
39:20
Speaker 1: just roll with it a little bit more and have
39:22
Speaker 1: a little bit more mental flexibility around training and workouts
39:28
Speaker 1: and that kind of thing, and just keep more perspective.
39:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, I know, for the everyday marathon or you know,
39:37
Speaker 3: the non elite, they will typically do something or we
39:41
Speaker 3: I associate with this person would typically do something like
39:45
Speaker 3: a fourteen sixteen, maybe even a twenty week cycle.
39:49
Speaker 2: Gearing up for a big race.
39:51
Speaker 3: Now you've had much longer than that since the trials
39:54
Speaker 3: leading in to when you will be racing in August.
39:57
Speaker 2: So what does the quote unquote cycle look like for you?
40:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, so by now we're kind of in the in
40:05
Speaker 1: the thinke of like the marathon specific stuff more so.
40:09
Speaker 1: But it has been kind of a build to get here,
40:12
Speaker 1: Like coming off of the trials, I did take a
40:15
Speaker 1: little downtime and then we kind of just got into
40:19
Speaker 1: very basic training. I had a little ten kid block
40:22
Speaker 1: in there, so it was just kind of trying to
40:24
Speaker 1: find ways to like chop it up and focus on
40:28
Speaker 1: some smaller stuff along the way. So it wasn't all
40:31
Speaker 1: just like okay, now we have it would have been
40:35
Speaker 1: what like five months from March. Now we have five
40:38
Speaker 1: months to get ready. Like that sounds kind of daunting.
40:41
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness.
40:43
Speaker 3: But again back to that breaking it up, right, taking
40:45
Speaker 3: that time off and then doing other smaller cycles leading
40:48
Speaker 3: up to this main chunk that you're in. I'm sure
40:50
Speaker 3: it helped make it feel a little bit less intimidating.
40:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, definitely, especially like coming from I still consider
40:59
Speaker 1: myself as like relatively new to the marathon, like coming
41:02
Speaker 1: from that track background, where you do have like more
41:05
Speaker 1: feedback along the way and you're never thinking in terms
41:08
Speaker 1: of like even a twelve week cycle on the track,
41:11
Speaker 1: things like come up much more quickly.
41:14
Speaker 2: Do you have a favorite workout?
41:16
Speaker 1: I really like long run workouts usually it just because like,
41:21
Speaker 1: if I'm going to be out there for that long,
41:23
Speaker 1: it's a lot more fun to get to run marathon pace.
41:27
Speaker 1: So we do one that's like a mix of tempo
41:31
Speaker 1: like around marathon pace and fartle like a little faster usually,
41:35
Speaker 1: So I like that one because you kind of go
41:37
Speaker 1: back and forth between the two, so you get to
41:39
Speaker 1: feel smooth and then it's hard and then you have
41:42
Speaker 1: to try to dial back in.
41:44
Speaker 3: You signed with Puma in twenty twenty one. Talk to
41:49
Speaker 3: us about how that felt at the time.
41:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean at the time, it was like kind
41:55
Speaker 1: of a crazy time in the world with COVID and everything.
41:59
Speaker 1: I was in school at New Mexico at the time,
42:02
Speaker 1: but I was finding that I was really just enjoying
42:05
Speaker 1: the running piece a little bit more than the school far.
42:08
Speaker 1: And then the coach there, Joe Franklin, kind of introduced
42:12
Speaker 1: me to a couple of different agents and I started
42:16
Speaker 1: having those conversations with different pro groups, and in December
42:20
Speaker 1: twenty twenty, I ran the Trials qualifying time in the
42:24
Speaker 1: track ten k. That was kind of what allowed me,
42:27
Speaker 1: I think, to really have the opportunity to be like, Okay,
42:31
Speaker 1: I don't have an NCAA title to my name, but
42:34
Speaker 1: I still think that I will have more opportunities at
42:38
Speaker 1: this next level. And then with the Pima group, it
42:41
Speaker 1: was like this exciting new thing that was happening out
42:44
Speaker 1: in North Carolina, and it was just really cool to
42:48
Speaker 1: me hearing the vision that Alistair and Amy had for
42:51
Speaker 1: the group, and my old coach from Stanford too, Chris Meltenberg,
42:56
Speaker 1: had been out in North Carolina for a few years
42:58
Speaker 1: and just had really great things to say about the
43:00
Speaker 1: area and the training there. So I felt like, Okay,
43:04
Speaker 1: like I have nothing to lose, I may as well
43:06
Speaker 1: go for it.
43:07
Speaker 3: Intimidating, exciting, scared share emotions that come hand in hand
43:12
Speaker 3: with signing your first professional contract.
43:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was definitely like a little bit intimidated. I
43:18
Speaker 1: had so many questions about the contract itself, and.
43:21
Speaker 2: I can't even imagine.
43:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, like you feel like you're signing your life
43:26
Speaker 1: away a little bit. But I did at the same time,
43:32
Speaker 1: trust the people that I was working with. My agent,
43:36
Speaker 1: Tom Ratcliffe is like a really good guy, and I
43:38
Speaker 1: knew he was looking out for me. So yeah, it
43:41
Speaker 1: was scary, but it was also exciting and it's kind
43:44
Speaker 1: of like, Okay, well, we'll see how this goes, you know, like, yeah,
43:49
Speaker 1: this is my shot and I wanted to take it.
43:52
Speaker 3: So And how has it felt to be a Puma
43:56
Speaker 3: athlete as you've now segued into this next major career milestone.
44:04
Speaker 3: Have the obligations shifted? Are you getting your own sneaker?
44:09
Speaker 2: Like Fiona?
44:12
Speaker 1: Well, I do feel like Puma does a really good
44:14
Speaker 1: job of like taking care of us and making sure
44:18
Speaker 1: that we feel supported. So they're a really great company
44:21
Speaker 1: to be with through this. I feel like just the
44:24
Speaker 1: more people that I've met who work with the company,
44:27
Speaker 1: whether they're in shoot, development, sports marketing, whatever, everyone is
44:30
Speaker 1: like really excited to work with them and connect with
44:34
Speaker 1: us as athletes, which I think is a little bit unusual.
44:38
Speaker 1: I think some companies there's a little bit more separation,
44:41
Speaker 1: but at Puma, it really does feel like everyone's part
44:44
Speaker 1: of this family. So yeah, I'm just really grateful for
44:47
Speaker 1: the support there.
44:49
Speaker 2: Who will be coming along with you to Paris.
44:53
Speaker 1: We'll have a pretty good group, I think with our team,
44:57
Speaker 1: because Pat Tiernan is running the marathon for Australia, and
45:01
Speaker 1: then we have a few other people who like are
45:04
Speaker 1: hoping to sneak in there for spot. Patrick Deaver, who
45:09
Speaker 1: runs for the UK, is like in a good position
45:11
Speaker 1: right now in the five K I think, so he
45:15
Speaker 1: has his championships soon. And then my coaches Alistair and
45:20
Speaker 1: Amy will be coming over, and then my parents and
45:23
Speaker 1: my sister and her boyfriend are.
45:25
Speaker 3: Also My gosh, so exciting. Y such a big moment
45:28
Speaker 3: for the whole family. Speaking of the family, what were
45:31
Speaker 3: their reactions like after the trials back in Orlando.
45:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, they were definitely pretty emotional. Yeah it was
45:41
Speaker 1: just my parents who came down there, but yeah, they
45:44
Speaker 1: were super excited. I think probably a little surprised, but yeah,
45:52
Speaker 1: yeah it was. It was so great to be able
45:54
Speaker 1: to see them at the finish line.
45:56
Speaker 2: Yeah.
45:57
Speaker 3: You know, it's really kind of crazy when you think
45:59
Speaker 3: about like how you have to manage your own goals
46:01
Speaker 3: and expectations, but then your parents, who like in most cases,
46:07
Speaker 3: have this idea that like, my child can do anything
46:12
Speaker 3: that they put their mind to, and then when it
46:14
Speaker 3: actually happens, they're like, wow, I did not right, Yeah.
46:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh my gosh.
46:22
Speaker 3: Well right now someone comes to your Instagram page, they
46:25
Speaker 3: see a woman that will be representing the US and
46:28
Speaker 3: the marathon, a pro athlete for Puma. When you look
46:31
Speaker 3: in the mirror, though, Fiona, what is it that you
46:34
Speaker 3: see looking back at you?
46:36
Speaker 1: I guess I just feel like a normal person in
46:40
Speaker 1: their twenties, you know, who's still figuring stuff out. Definitely
46:44
Speaker 1: like a lot of excitement, and I know that I
46:46
Speaker 1: have like really unique opportunities in front of me. But
46:50
Speaker 1: at the same time, I feel like, you know, maybe
46:53
Speaker 1: you look at someone with those credentials and you're like, oh,
46:55
Speaker 1: they must have it so together, and I don't.
46:58
Speaker 2: Alwa's fill out. I feel like I have it all together.
47:01
Speaker 1: Yeah.
47:02
Speaker 3: If anyone tells you that they have it all together,
47:04
Speaker 3: candidly Olympia, non Olympian, anyone, they're lying, Yeah, pre definitely lying.
47:11
Speaker 2: Favorite pump up song on your playlist.
47:15
Speaker 1: I got made fun of this actually a couple of
47:18
Speaker 1: years ago when I said it, but now it's kind
47:21
Speaker 1: of become a popular song on social media. I've noticed
47:24
Speaker 1: unwritten that used to be my pump up song, like
47:31
Speaker 1: it's fine.
47:32
Speaker 3: There's lyrics from unwritten in my high school yearbook next
47:36
Speaker 3: to my name. Oh nice, that was where I got
47:38
Speaker 3: my senior quote from so you and me?
47:40
Speaker 1: Yeah.
47:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, two BEA's in a pot same page.
47:43
Speaker 1: Amazing.
47:45
Speaker 3: If you had to pick a word to summarize this
47:47
Speaker 3: training block, could you?
47:49
Speaker 2: And what would it be?
47:52
Speaker 1: Multi dimensional? Oh?
47:55
Speaker 3: I like that expand Now that you've given me your word,
47:58
Speaker 3: you can expand on it.
47:59
Speaker 1: Okay, I guess it just feels like there's a lot
48:03
Speaker 1: of different angles to look at with this marathon. And yeah,
48:08
Speaker 1: it's like a little bit less straightforward than the lead
48:11
Speaker 1: up to the trials, I think. And yeah, just trying
48:15
Speaker 1: to like navigate the ebbs and flows.
48:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, entirely understandable.
48:20
Speaker 3: Right now, I have like an obsession lunch, which is
48:23
Speaker 3: that I make a wrap with hummus, grilled chicken, green beans,
48:28
Speaker 3: red peppers, and girled zucchini.
48:31
Speaker 2: Do you have any obsessive meals that sounds good?
48:36
Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, I mean I always like basically eat the
48:39
Speaker 1: same breakfast, which is like pretty boring. But I'll have
48:42
Speaker 1: like toast with peanut butter and banana and eat that
48:46
Speaker 1: like every single morning until I'm sick of it, So
48:48
Speaker 1: that's not very exciting.
48:50
Speaker 3: But I guess maybe that before or after you train
48:54
Speaker 3: before yeah, okay, and then what happens after.
48:57
Speaker 1: Ideally, like if for an altitude camp and with teammates
49:02
Speaker 1: and we go get brunch or coffee or both, that's
49:05
Speaker 1: the ideal outcome.
49:08
Speaker 2: That's the ideal outcome. Well, I'm so excited for you
49:11
Speaker 2: right now.
49:11
Speaker 3: Obviously so much amazingness ahead for you when you think
49:16
Speaker 3: about the after or maybe anything else besides the Olympics.
49:20
Speaker 2: What else is exciting you right now?
49:25
Speaker 1: I mean I am excited about, like I guess, just
49:28
Speaker 1: the way that this has kind of reconnected me to
49:31
Speaker 1: some of my high school and college teammates. So yeah,
49:36
Speaker 1: I guess I'm excited to hopefully like continue rekindling some
49:41
Speaker 1: of those friendships and hopefully like be able to go
49:43
Speaker 1: see some people in person after the Olympics.
49:47
Speaker 2: Are you a croissant person or a chocolate moods person?
49:51
Speaker 1: I guess it depends on the time of day. You know,
49:52
Speaker 1: in the morning, I'll come for a croissant. In the
49:54
Speaker 1: evening talk about.
49:56
Speaker 3: So Fiona's answer is I'm a both a yeah, yeah,
50:01
Speaker 3: finish us off today with a piece of advice. Say
50:04
Speaker 3: you're not you, Say you're someone looking in on your
50:08
Speaker 3: journey to the starting line come August. You have the
50:11
Speaker 3: opportunity right now to offer yourself a piece of advice
50:15
Speaker 3: to show up that day and do your best and
50:17
Speaker 3: follow through with that definition of success that you gave
50:20
Speaker 3: us before. What's the advice that you give yourself.
50:25
Speaker 1: I would tell myself just to try to tune into
50:29
Speaker 1: gratitude for getting to be on the starting line in
50:34
Speaker 1: Paris and just try to relax and enjoy it, because
50:38
Speaker 1: I do love to run, and I love to run hard.
50:40
Speaker 1: So I think just kind of taking a step back
50:43
Speaker 1: and letting myself take in that moment a little.
50:45
Speaker 3: Bit, showing up and getting to do what you love. Fiona,
50:49
Speaker 3: I'm so happy that we were able to get to
50:51
Speaker 3: do this. Thanks so much for your time. For those
50:53
Speaker 3: that don't follow along with you on social just yet,
50:56
Speaker 3: tell us how to do that?
50:57
Speaker 2: How do they keep up with you?
50:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm on Instagram. It's Fiona Underscore O'Keeffe. It's okay
51:04
Speaker 1: e e f f E. You know my last name's
51:06
Speaker 1: Pene in the butt.
51:07
Speaker 3: So I'm over at Hurdle Podcast at Emily Abadi, another
51:12
Speaker 3: hurdle conquered.
51:13
Speaker 2: Catch you guys next time.