Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 271. Alicia Monson, Pro Runner & American Record Holder

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271. Alicia Monson, Pro Runner & American Record Holder · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

0:00
Speaker 1: I have to take a step back sometime and be like,
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Speaker 1: all right, I earned this, Like I have worked really hard,
0:04
Speaker 1: and I'm going to keep working really hard because it
0:06
Speaker 1: can go away. But I'm going to work hard to
0:08
Speaker 1: make sure that I do what I want to do.
0:25
Speaker 2: Hello, Hello, Emily Abadi. Here.
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Speaker 3: You are listening to episode two hundred and seventy one
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Speaker 3: of Hurdle, a wellness focused podcast where I connect with
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Speaker 3: everyone from your favorite athletes to top experts and industry
0:37
Speaker 3: CEOs about their highest highs, toughest moments, and.
0:41
Speaker 2: Everything in between.
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Speaker 3: We all go through hurdles in life, and my goal
0:45
Speaker 3: through these discussions is to empower you to better navigate
0:48
Speaker 3: yours and move with intention so that you can stride
0:52
Speaker 3: towards your own big potential and of course have some
0:56
Speaker 3: fun along the way. For today's episode seventy one, I
1:01
Speaker 3: am chatting with Alisha Monson. She is the American record
1:05
Speaker 3: holder in the five and ten k. She's also a
1:08
Speaker 3: member OFAC that stands for On Athletics Club. I have
1:15
Speaker 3: had the fortune of watching Alisha run at both of
1:19
Speaker 3: the past World Athletic Championships for track and field, and Wow,
1:24
Speaker 3: this woman leaves it all on the track. For today's episode,
1:29
Speaker 3: Alicia talks to me about her choice to leave basketball
1:34
Speaker 3: and embrace a track and field full time after excelling
1:39
Speaker 3: in it in high school. We also chat about some
1:42
Speaker 3: of her other hobbies and interests, the things that she
1:46
Speaker 3: indulges in when she is not lacing up her sneakers,
1:50
Speaker 3: how she really feels about being a pro runner, living
1:54
Speaker 3: a life where she is traveling for such a large
1:57
Speaker 3: part of the year, often in countries abroad, living and training,
2:02
Speaker 3: and how it feels for her to embrace a certain
2:05
Speaker 3: amount of opportunity costs that goes hand in hand with
2:09
Speaker 3: choosing this lifestyle. I really love the conversation we have
2:13
Speaker 3: about visualization and how that visualization work helps Alicia when
2:18
Speaker 3: the run really starts to feel super, super challenging, and
2:24
Speaker 3: she gives us some insight into what it was like
2:27
Speaker 3: for her during these big moments breaking these American records,
2:31
Speaker 3: and the foundation that laid the opportunity for her to
2:35
Speaker 3: do that.
2:36
Speaker 2: I really enjoyed this conversation.
2:38
Speaker 3: Like I said, we had it not all that long ago,
2:40
Speaker 3: just after I had the opportunity to spend some time
2:43
Speaker 3: with my friends at on during World Athletic Championships, I
2:47
Speaker 3: think what's really exciting right now is that these American records,
2:51
Speaker 3: especially in the track and field space within running, they
2:55
Speaker 3: are being broken left and right. I get chills watching
2:58
Speaker 3: people go after big potential, and it makes me giddy
3:03
Speaker 3: to have the opportunity to interview them right after they do.
3:07
Speaker 2: So.
3:07
Speaker 3: Make sure, if you are not doing so already, you're
3:11
Speaker 3: following along with Hurdle over on social media. It is
3:14
Speaker 3: at Hurdle Podcast. I myself am over at Emily Abadi.
3:19
Speaker 3: It's also New York City Marathon week. If you're listening
3:21
Speaker 3: to this in real time, which means we've got a
3:24
Speaker 3: lot of events going on. I'm gonna have some information
3:27
Speaker 3: in the show notes so that you can stay in
3:29
Speaker 3: the loop about all of this week's events, where you
3:32
Speaker 3: can catch me, and even more importantly, you can get
3:37
Speaker 3: together with each other.
3:38
Speaker 2: That's right. This a Friday at Athleta.
3:41
Speaker 3: In Flat Iron at eight thirty am, I'm hosting a
3:44
Speaker 3: hurdler huddle. It's an opportunity for us to hang out,
3:46
Speaker 3: grab some coffee, eat some bagels, and soak up all
3:49
Speaker 3: of that goodness in community. Don't need to be lacing
3:52
Speaker 3: up for the marathon this weekend to join. The RSVP
3:55
Speaker 3: link is in the show notes. With that, let's get
3:58
Speaker 3: to hurdling.
4:04
Speaker 2: Today.
4:05
Speaker 3: I am sitting down with Alisia Munson. She is an
4:08
Speaker 3: Olympian pro runner. How you doing today?
4:11
Speaker 1: Pretty good? I'm hanging out in Wisconsin actually, so just
4:15
Speaker 1: just relaxing with my family.
4:19
Speaker 2: That's the sentence.
4:19
Speaker 3: You haven't been able to say much over the last
4:22
Speaker 3: handful of months. How does it feel to be back stateside?
4:26
Speaker 2: Oh?
4:27
Speaker 1: Good? Yeah, I mean it's been such a crazy year
4:29
Speaker 1: and busy traveling here and there. So just to be
4:32
Speaker 1: able to relax and unwine for a little bit for
4:35
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks before the next season is just
4:38
Speaker 1: super nice.
4:39
Speaker 3: A couple of weeks downtime is at a premium for you.
4:44
Speaker 3: It's funny, right because I think it was your last
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Speaker 3: Instagram post that you put up saying like, maybe you'll get.
4:49
Speaker 2: Some non running content from me.
4:51
Speaker 3: So I really want to start us off there and
4:54
Speaker 3: get a little intel into who Alisha is outside of
4:59
Speaker 3: being an American record holder. What are you doing these days?
5:02
Speaker 3: Who are you beyond Alicia the Runner?
5:06
Speaker 1: Oh? Well, Actually, the past couple of weeks I spent
5:08
Speaker 1: a lot of time doing house and yard work because
5:11
Speaker 1: I moved into a house in April and basically didn't
5:16
Speaker 1: have any time during the season to like hang things
5:19
Speaker 1: on the walls and do anything outside of that. So
5:23
Speaker 1: I spent a lot of time like hanging stuff up, decorating,
5:27
Speaker 1: changing shower heads like stuff like that. And yeah, got
5:32
Speaker 1: the chance to go up into the mountains a little bit,
5:34
Speaker 1: so that was that was super nice.
5:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, wow, changing shower heads.
5:38
Speaker 3: So what you're saying is home improvement is on your
5:40
Speaker 3: short list these days?
5:41
Speaker 1: Yeah? These days. I mean I've never really done it before,
5:44
Speaker 1: so I'm learning a lot. But I even bought a
5:46
Speaker 1: weed whacker or I don't know. My boyfriend was like,
5:49
Speaker 1: you call it that, but we'd trimmer I guess, I
5:51
Speaker 1: don't know. So that was like some big life moves
5:57
Speaker 1: right there. So I'll be in my yard if anyone
6:00
Speaker 1: is to find me.
6:03
Speaker 2: I absolutely love it. I absolutely love it.
6:05
Speaker 3: And then beyond obviously what you're talking about here with
6:08
Speaker 3: the house, getting up to go into the mountains when
6:09
Speaker 3: you're not running, how else do you enjoy to spend
6:12
Speaker 3: your time.
6:13
Speaker 1: I spend a lot of time with my dog. I have,
6:15
Speaker 1: like he's like a thirty pound cattle dog Corgi Border
6:20
Speaker 1: Collie mix, and so he's a lot of energy, but
6:23
Speaker 1: also had broken his foot this summer, like while I
6:27
Speaker 1: was at Worlds, and so this like break has been
6:31
Speaker 1: part of just like spending a lot of time with
6:33
Speaker 1: him and him just kind of like coming back into
6:35
Speaker 1: normal activity. So yeah, I mean he usually sends me
6:40
Speaker 1: on super long walks when he's not broken, but it's
6:44
Speaker 1: spent a lot of time just like hanging out on
6:46
Speaker 1: the couch with him.
6:47
Speaker 3: What's the dog's name, Bert and whirred, Oh my god,
6:51
Speaker 3: first of all?
6:51
Speaker 2: Bert? Yeah, and where does Burt go when you're traveling
6:54
Speaker 2: the world?
6:55
Speaker 1: Uh so, Well, so my boyfriend is often at home
6:59
Speaker 1: with him because he works from home, so he's staying
7:01
Speaker 1: uh there while I'm traveling. But if he if my
7:03
Speaker 1: boyfriend is also traveling, like we've got some friends who
7:07
Speaker 1: will watch him. Or he had a rover who he
7:12
Speaker 1: loved to go to because they had like open space farm,
7:16
Speaker 1: and so he basically like went to his cattle dog roots.
7:19
Speaker 1: But unfortunately they're no longer in the rover business, so
7:23
Speaker 1: we're in the market for a new rover.
7:26
Speaker 2: So if anybody is interested on Instagram, let me know
7:33
Speaker 2: you You too can spend.
7:34
Speaker 3: Time with Bert Well, bring us then back into the
7:39
Speaker 3: fact that you have been on the road so much.
7:41
Speaker 3: You've had such an outstanding year, shattering both the ten
7:45
Speaker 3: k American record and the five k woman's American record.
7:49
Speaker 3: How does that make you feel when I simply just
7:51
Speaker 3: say that back to you.
7:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's kind of weird, Like it doesn't really seem
7:56
Speaker 1: like me, just because it's been such a journey of progress.
8:02
Speaker 1: So it's kind of like I see people who break
8:04
Speaker 1: American records and they seem really cool, and I'm just like, oh, wow,
8:07
Speaker 1: I did that. But yeah, I mean it's been cool.
8:10
Speaker 1: Like just having the team behind me, the OEC and
8:13
Speaker 1: being able to like see what they do and be
8:15
Speaker 1: inspired by that has been really cool. And being able
8:18
Speaker 1: to compete for the US is always a dream for
8:21
Speaker 1: elite athletes, so having the chance to do that again
8:24
Speaker 1: was a great experience for me. And just yeah, kind
8:27
Speaker 1: of a crazy year. But honestly, I feel like I
8:30
Speaker 1: haven't really sat back to like think about it all really.
8:33
Speaker 2: Yeah.
8:33
Speaker 3: I mean, now that we're here, I might as well
8:36
Speaker 3: use the chance to think about it all.
8:37
Speaker 1: Right.
8:38
Speaker 3: When the year started off for you with that ten
8:42
Speaker 3: k and breaking that ten k.
8:44
Speaker 2: I mean, that was the first time that you had
8:45
Speaker 2: done something like that.
8:47
Speaker 3: So put me in your shoes in this moment, and
8:52
Speaker 3: let's talk a little bit about the feelings that go
8:54
Speaker 3: hand in hand with doing something like that.
8:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was. It kind of all started like last fall.
9:00
Speaker 1: So first I had broken the three k record at
9:02
Speaker 1: mill Rose and so Daithan last fall had been like,
9:06
Speaker 1: all right, let's look at what your races are going
9:09
Speaker 1: to be like in the winter, and he was like,
9:10
Speaker 1: I think I want you to go break the three
9:12
Speaker 1: k indoor record and then go break the ten k record.
9:15
Speaker 1: I was like, all right, that's like it's a big ask,
9:19
Speaker 1: but okay. And so it was kind of like it's
9:22
Speaker 1: one thing to say it and another thing to do it.
9:24
Speaker 1: And so it had been a lot of training of
9:26
Speaker 1: just visualizing that in practice and coming out every workout
9:31
Speaker 1: and having kind of like a purpose I think was
9:34
Speaker 1: really helpful to me of being like, all right, this
9:37
Speaker 1: work I was going to help with my strength, this
9:40
Speaker 1: work I was going to help with my speed and
9:41
Speaker 1: ultimately getting ready to break the American record, and which
9:46
Speaker 1: the American records are kind of a stepping stone to
9:48
Speaker 1: be like I can compete on the world level. So yeah,
9:52
Speaker 1: like the ten k record is like I knew it
9:56
Speaker 1: would be really difficult staying on pace for thirty minutes
9:59
Speaker 1: and there's no one to hould me accountable aside from
10:03
Speaker 1: Alish behind me and the clock. So yeah, it was
10:06
Speaker 1: I mean it was sweet. I was a perfect atmosphere,
10:09
Speaker 1: like the weather was perfect. It was just like a
10:13
Speaker 1: good night for it. And Dathan was like running back
10:16
Speaker 1: and forth like every two under meters giving me splits
10:19
Speaker 1: because they were going to have light pacers, which is
10:22
Speaker 1: usually really helpful for people going for records, but unfortunately
10:25
Speaker 1: the lights did not come in on time and so
10:29
Speaker 1: we basically had to go fully off of like two
10:31
Speaker 1: hundred meters splits. So luckily people were giving me splits
10:34
Speaker 1: like every like whatever. The four hundred was every two
10:38
Speaker 1: under meters, so I was just like basically doing math
10:41
Speaker 1: in my head the whole time. I just like trying
10:44
Speaker 1: to stay on to that pace, and you know, I
10:46
Speaker 1: had Jasette, my teammate, pacing me for the first five k,
10:49
Speaker 1: which was awesome, Like it's so selfless to do something
10:53
Speaker 1: where you know, she ran like a fifteen oh eight
10:57
Speaker 1: five k and like she could race that herself, like
11:01
Speaker 1: she could be running a really fast it takes someone
11:04
Speaker 1: who is at that level to pace that. So yeah,
11:07
Speaker 1: kind of just keeping myself accountable during the race and
11:11
Speaker 1: trying to really do what I've said I was going
11:12
Speaker 1: to do. So it was really rewarding in the end.
11:15
Speaker 2: You mentioned two things that struck me.
11:17
Speaker 3: The first thing is like, it was the perfect conditions
11:20
Speaker 3: and it's as though you can do so much and
11:23
Speaker 3: you can only control the controllables. But when you show
11:27
Speaker 3: up and it's like the universe also shows up for you.
11:31
Speaker 3: Is this like really soul bursting moment where you're like, wow,
11:35
Speaker 3: I must have been a good person recently.
11:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, just you know, we were visualizing, we said it's
11:42
Speaker 1: going to happen.
11:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.
11:45
Speaker 3: And that's the other thing that really struck me that
11:47
Speaker 3: you said is that you were visualizing that day and
11:50
Speaker 3: how it was going to feel in practice. Can you
11:53
Speaker 3: share a little bit about the specifics on that for you,
11:57
Speaker 3: what that visualization kind of looks like in practice?
12:01
Speaker 1: Yeah. I would say I visualize most during workouts, especially
12:06
Speaker 1: when it gets really hard, because a race is going
12:08
Speaker 1: to get really hard at some point, and do you
12:11
Speaker 1: have to be prepared to know how you're going to
12:13
Speaker 1: react to that, and you've thought about it before, so
12:16
Speaker 1: I'd say, I like, think about this is halfway through
12:19
Speaker 1: a race, this is how I'm going to feel. But
12:21
Speaker 1: that's okay because I need to push through it and
12:23
Speaker 1: do what I came to do. And then, you know,
12:26
Speaker 1: even like finishing a race, like I'm not necessarily competing
12:30
Speaker 1: during a workout, I'm like not out here to crush, like,
12:34
Speaker 1: but it's really thinking of being like, this is how
12:37
Speaker 1: I want to think with two hundred meters to go.
12:39
Speaker 1: This is you know, how I should be feeling. And
12:42
Speaker 1: just like people have mantras and stuff, but really it's
12:45
Speaker 1: hard to come prepared with a mantra in a race,
12:47
Speaker 1: and then the race starts and everything goes crazy and
12:51
Speaker 1: like maybe you just end up thinking, like, for some reason,
12:53
Speaker 1: the same word over and over again and it doesn't
12:55
Speaker 1: really make sense. But having that kind of like rhythm,
12:58
Speaker 1: I think really helps me because the ten k is
13:00
Speaker 1: like really a rhythm race. It's so long, so yeah,
13:04
Speaker 1: kind of just a lot of mental practice.
13:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of mental gymnastics.
13:10
Speaker 3: It's funny what you're saying about the idea of like
13:13
Speaker 3: you can have a mandra but it might not actually
13:15
Speaker 3: serve you in that moment on that day. It's going
13:18
Speaker 3: based on feel and what feels right in that moment exactly. Yeah,
13:23
Speaker 3: And so for you, this isn't the first time that
13:27
Speaker 3: you have had to do these visualization exercises. You've had
13:31
Speaker 3: to prep for something like this. You've been running so
13:33
Speaker 3: well for some time now. I want to go back
13:36
Speaker 3: to high school. I had to laugh at that New
13:40
Speaker 3: York Times article when they talked a lot about your
13:42
Speaker 3: theater background. Did you expect, knowing at that point how
13:47
Speaker 3: much track had meant to you, that this is something
13:50
Speaker 3: that you would be pursuing for many, many years to
13:54
Speaker 3: come probotubly not.
13:55
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean I didn't really grow up being like
13:59
Speaker 1: a track person. I kind of I was in like
14:03
Speaker 1: a million different extracurriculars and I was in choir and band,
14:08
Speaker 1: so running was just like one of the things I did.
14:10
Speaker 1: And basketball is honestly like kind of my main sport
14:13
Speaker 1: growing up, and so it is kind of crazy. Actually,
14:16
Speaker 1: now you know, eight ten years down the line that
14:20
Speaker 1: I'm like a professional runner and running on the world level.
14:23
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's kind of cool. It was kind of
14:25
Speaker 1: weird with the New York Times article like that just
14:27
Speaker 1: kind of came up and I was like, oh, I guess, yeah,
14:30
Speaker 1: that is interesting that I was like in musicals. I
14:33
Speaker 1: guess that's maybe not normal. But it's just like, I
14:37
Speaker 1: don't know, I like musicals.
14:38
Speaker 3: So you're like, man, I have so much regrid about
14:42
Speaker 3: bringing this up one interview, and now it's something that
14:45
Speaker 3: people bring up to me all of the time.
14:48
Speaker 1: No. No, it's kind of funny because it's like I really,
14:50
Speaker 1: I like honestly listened to musicals, like the soundtracks from musicals,
14:55
Speaker 1: like and it is kind of just part of who
14:57
Speaker 1: I was growing up, and so it's just kind of
15:00
Speaker 1: of an interesting thing that I never really thought of
15:02
Speaker 1: being unique. But yeah, it's fun.
15:06
Speaker 3: I think it's really valuable and like awesome brothers to
15:08
Speaker 3: have the opportunity to learn those things about.
15:10
Speaker 1: You, right, Yeah. And it's like, you know, at the
15:13
Speaker 1: end of the day, running is what I do and
15:15
Speaker 1: I really love it. I think about it a lot.
15:17
Speaker 1: But it's also not like the end all be all.
15:19
Speaker 1: I'm like, if you know, you have to come into
15:23
Speaker 1: whatever you do, whatever your field of workers, and be like,
15:26
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, if I never did
15:27
Speaker 1: this again, like I would still have other things to
15:30
Speaker 1: fall back on and have family and friends around, and
15:34
Speaker 1: so yeah, I mean musicals is one of those things
15:37
Speaker 1: that just.
15:37
Speaker 4: Like, you know, it's funnyway I don't think so, but
15:43
Speaker 4: I'll still be like listening to the Frozen soundtrack, like,
15:46
Speaker 4: no matter where I am.
15:49
Speaker 2: Is that one of your favorite is what's a go to?
15:52
Speaker 1: Yeah? I like Frozen as far as like actual musicals go,
15:56
Speaker 1: Like Wicked is a really good one. I actually like
15:59
Speaker 1: saw that one person. And also I'm like from I'm
16:03
Speaker 1: from Wisconsin, but it's just outside of the Minneapolis area.
16:06
Speaker 1: So I grew up going to a lot of musicals
16:09
Speaker 1: in Minneapolis, so that was like part of that is
16:12
Speaker 1: just where I'm from. So yeah, it's kind of a
16:14
Speaker 1: cool area.
16:17
Speaker 2: I love it.
16:18
Speaker 3: I love it, and I also appreciate Like as I
16:21
Speaker 3: sit here and I live in Brooklyn, New York, and
16:23
Speaker 3: I'm like on the cusp of like tons of theater,
16:26
Speaker 3: all I'm thinking about is like how we get you
16:28
Speaker 3: here to like hang out of Broadway.
16:30
Speaker 2: For forties during your break.
16:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, also we're talking about breaking these American records, but
16:36
Speaker 3: we also had such a major highlight for you, which
16:38
Speaker 3: I'm sure, which was going to the twenty twenty slash
16:42
Speaker 3: twenty twenty one Olympic game. Talk to me first about
16:45
Speaker 3: qualifying for those Olympic Games, because that in itself was
16:49
Speaker 3: an extreme event for you.
16:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was kind of crazy, but yeah, I kind
16:53
Speaker 1: of went into the trials like I was definitely an underdog.
16:58
Speaker 1: I wasn't expected to make the team, but I knew
17:00
Speaker 1: that I had come in with a lot of great
17:02
Speaker 1: training over the year and I could make the team.
17:04
Speaker 1: And I did make the team, but with heat stroke
17:07
Speaker 1: and I ended up having to go to the hospital afterwards,
17:10
Speaker 1: and then you know, luckily it was fine. Was able
17:12
Speaker 1: to go and compete at the Olympics, and which was
17:16
Speaker 1: a great experience, but it was a lot of I
17:20
Speaker 1: was definitely a bit anxious about going to Tokyo with
17:23
Speaker 1: it being also like ninety degrees there after the Trials experience,
17:29
Speaker 1: but we did a lot of like heat training beforehand,
17:32
Speaker 1: so that we heat and humidity training beforehand, so that
17:34
Speaker 1: I came prepared and we weren't concerned about my safety anymore.
17:39
Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean, great experience. Also kind of very
17:42
Speaker 1: different with COVID, people couldn't spectate basically only like workers
17:47
Speaker 1: or volunteers for the Olympics could go into the stadium
17:50
Speaker 1: to spectate, So definitely a different experience with it being
17:53
Speaker 1: like silent while you're running a ten k. But yeah,
17:56
Speaker 1: I mean that was my first like major international experience.
18:00
Speaker 3: It was pretty sweet, pretty sweet, and definitely different. I
18:03
Speaker 3: can't even imagine what's going through your head when it's
18:08
Speaker 3: completely silent and you're out there for thirty minutes on
18:11
Speaker 3: the track.
18:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, a little bit weird, because I mean the stadium
18:15
Speaker 1: was incredible, Like, I'm really Worlds is back there in
18:20
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five, so I'm really excited to go back
18:23
Speaker 1: there and see that stadium filled because it really was
18:25
Speaker 1: like they did such a good job organizing it and
18:28
Speaker 1: it was a sweet stadium. But then at the end
18:31
Speaker 1: of the day, it's like, it doesn't really feel like
18:32
Speaker 1: this is the Olympics because we're we're just like running
18:36
Speaker 1: in silence right now. But at the end of the day,
18:38
Speaker 1: they did what they had to do and race that.
18:42
Speaker 2: Show up, race and do what you have to do.
18:44
Speaker 3: What would you say was the best part of that
18:46
Speaker 3: experience aside from getting to compete.
18:49
Speaker 1: Honestly, as far as experiencing Tokyo I really enjoyed the
18:56
Speaker 1: bus rides just because we couldn't actually go to Tokyo.
19:00
Speaker 1: We were like in the Olympic village or at the
19:03
Speaker 1: track stadiums, but just being able to see it, Like,
19:06
Speaker 1: you know, I was very early on in my professional
19:09
Speaker 1: career at that point, we hadn't traveled much because of Tokyo,
19:12
Speaker 1: and so just being able to go international and Tokyo
19:16
Speaker 1: is like a totally different experience than I've ever been to,
19:20
Speaker 1: and so just being able to see that and be
19:22
Speaker 1: really excited to go back there again. And also like
19:25
Speaker 1: the Olympic village itself is kind of crazy because it's
19:28
Speaker 1: almost like it almost feels like a summer camp for
19:33
Speaker 1: like the most talented athletes in the world. Like it's
19:37
Speaker 1: kind of it's like, oh, I'm just like on an
19:40
Speaker 1: elevator with a person who just won a gold medal yesterday, Like, hey,
19:43
Speaker 1: what's up? People from all walks of life, all different countries.
19:48
Speaker 1: Then we're all here to like compete at the highest
19:50
Speaker 1: level of our sport. Yeah, it was cool to just
19:53
Speaker 1: kind of those I had never experienced anything like it.
19:56
Speaker 3: Is there anyone that you saw in the Olympic Village
19:59
Speaker 3: that you totally geek doubt over.
20:01
Speaker 1: I mean most of the I wouldn't say, like any
20:04
Speaker 1: of the track people. I do that because I like
20:08
Speaker 1: see them at track meets and stuff like that, and
20:10
Speaker 1: like they're obviously incredible and I look up to them,
20:14
Speaker 1: but it's not really like I it'd be kind of
20:18
Speaker 1: weird if I went up and like asked for their
20:19
Speaker 1: autograph or something. But it is cool, Like I don't
20:24
Speaker 1: know if we had like I think baseball and like
20:27
Speaker 1: volleyball were kind of there at the same time as us,
20:30
Speaker 1: and so that was really cool to see. But I
20:32
Speaker 1: was I was kind of hoping to see like some
20:34
Speaker 1: NBA players, but I think they don't really stay in
20:37
Speaker 1: the village. Maybe maybe in Paris I'll see them.
20:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I mean, speaking of Paris, that's something obviously
20:44
Speaker 3: you said getting back to training in a couple of
20:46
Speaker 3: weeks that you are gearing up for. When you think
20:49
Speaker 3: about going to a quote unquote more normal Olympics, what
20:53
Speaker 3: comes to mind for you.
20:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's gonna be pretty crazy actually, like they,
20:58
Speaker 1: I mean, Paris itself such a busy city and so
21:03
Speaker 1: I think it's going to be really exciting just to
21:05
Speaker 1: see what they do. For the Olympics, just like you know,
21:09
Speaker 1: there's already billboards going up. And definitely I was in
21:12
Speaker 1: Paris for the Diamond League earlier this summer and they're
21:15
Speaker 1: already kind of preparing for next year. So I think
21:18
Speaker 1: it's going to be really exciting, and you know, obviously
21:21
Speaker 1: hopefully getting my getting my way there and earning my
21:24
Speaker 1: spot on the Olympic team again would be really amazing.
21:27
Speaker 1: So yeah, I also I hope to go to the
21:29
Speaker 1: opening ceremonies this time because for Tokyo you could only
21:35
Speaker 1: go ten days before your sports started, and that was
21:39
Speaker 1: the track was at the end. So I was able
21:41
Speaker 1: to go to the closing ceremonies, but it was too
21:43
Speaker 1: soon to go to the opening ceremonies. So I'm hoping
21:47
Speaker 1: to go there this time around and see the torch split,
21:51
Speaker 1: and so yeah, it would be pretty sweet.
21:53
Speaker 3: You are twenty five, You've been traveling the world running,
21:58
Speaker 3: which is such for many a career that they could
22:01
Speaker 3: only dream of.
22:02
Speaker 2: I know, we joked a.
22:03
Speaker 3: Little bit about having a backup plan, but do you
22:06
Speaker 3: ever have a moment where you're like, Wow, this is
22:08
Speaker 3: truly what I get to do for work.
22:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's pretty amazing. Like I would never have thought
22:14
Speaker 1: that I would be just like, ugh, yeah, I'm going
22:16
Speaker 1: back to St. St. Marit's for the month, like going
22:20
Speaker 1: back to Switzerland. Yeah, I like. I mean, I had
22:24
Speaker 1: the opportunity to travel to France, like to Paris basically
22:28
Speaker 1: in high school for our language program, and that was
22:31
Speaker 1: like my first time really going anywhere outside of the US,
22:35
Speaker 1: and it kind of seemed like that would be it.
22:38
Speaker 1: And so it's pretty crazy, like several years down the
22:41
Speaker 1: line that I regularly travel over to Europe and I
22:46
Speaker 1: get to go lots of different places for running. So
22:48
Speaker 1: it's pretty much a dream job.
22:51
Speaker 2: A dream job.
22:52
Speaker 3: But at the same time, there is you know, a
22:54
Speaker 3: lot of let's call it instability that goes hand in
22:58
Speaker 3: hand with being a little bit all over the place.
23:01
Speaker 2: How does that make you feel?
23:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's definitely. You know, when you're traveling for months
23:06
Speaker 1: out of the year, it's like, oh, I just want
23:08
Speaker 1: to go home and see my boyfriend and my dog,
23:12
Speaker 1: and so you do miss home a little bit, but
23:14
Speaker 1: being able to like find a routine that works for
23:17
Speaker 1: you like this this year, I knew I was going
23:20
Speaker 1: to be in Europe for an extended amount of time
23:23
Speaker 1: over the summer with before Worlds and Afterworlds. So my
23:27
Speaker 1: boyfriend came, like he I raced in London and then
23:31
Speaker 1: I was going to train in Saint Maritz and so
23:33
Speaker 1: he came to stay with me for like ten days
23:36
Speaker 1: in Saint Maritz. So kind of like being able to
23:39
Speaker 1: figure out a way to make things seem like the
23:43
Speaker 1: most homey and like it's important to be happy while
23:46
Speaker 1: you're training, Like that's how you race well is being happy.
23:48
Speaker 1: So being able to find the ways that make you
23:51
Speaker 1: happy and accepting the part of the job where you
23:53
Speaker 1: have to travel a lot, but also being like, all right,
23:55
Speaker 1: what can I do to come to this race feeling
23:58
Speaker 1: like my cup is full?
23:59
Speaker 3: Aside from being able to integrate obviously your partner sometimes
24:03
Speaker 3: into the routine, what else would you say makes you
24:06
Speaker 3: happy when you have this instability?
24:09
Speaker 1: Definitely the team, Like we travel as a team a lot.
24:12
Speaker 1: If I were an individual pro, I think it definitely
24:16
Speaker 1: would not go as well for me, just because I
24:19
Speaker 1: come from like a background of really enjoying team sports
24:22
Speaker 1: and having like that camaraderie around me, so you know,
24:27
Speaker 1: we go to training camps together and we hang out together.
24:30
Speaker 1: Start it would be definitely tiring if you're starting every
24:34
Speaker 1: run two runs a day, not training with anyone, and
24:37
Speaker 1: so it really just holds you aconnable of coming to
24:40
Speaker 1: every training session feeling like you want to work hard
24:43
Speaker 1: and you want to enjoy your company. So definitely the
24:46
Speaker 1: team and also just like having familiar places to train at,
24:52
Speaker 1: because like at first when we started going to Saint Maritz,
24:55
Speaker 1: I would say we either go to Saint Maritz or
24:57
Speaker 1: Luvin usually as training camps for your apprasis and having
25:02
Speaker 1: that familiarity of knowing where to get groceries and where
25:05
Speaker 1: to find bananas in the grocery stores like something that's nice,
25:09
Speaker 1: I guess. So yeah, I'd say finding both like familiarity
25:13
Speaker 1: in your regular routine and then just having people around you.
25:17
Speaker 3: Wow, you know you just said, like I have some
25:19
Speaker 3: familiarity with Saint Maritz and that's like a normal sentence,
25:23
Speaker 3: kind of crazy. It's awesome though, It's awesome, and it's
25:25
Speaker 3: something to be proud of, Like you've worked very hard
25:28
Speaker 3: to be in this spot and be on this team
25:30
Speaker 3: and get to this place where you have that familiarity.
25:32
Speaker 3: So it's like, as much as we're addressing the fact
25:35
Speaker 3: that there is instability there is just so much beauty
25:38
Speaker 3: and excitement that comes hand in hand with what you're
25:40
Speaker 3: getting to do.
25:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, and you know, it always progresses, and it's
25:47
Speaker 1: kind of crazy where I've come since high school. But yeah,
25:50
Speaker 1: it's definitely like I have to take a step back
25:52
Speaker 1: sometimes and be like, all right, I earned this, Like
25:54
Speaker 1: I have worked really hard, and I'm going to keep
25:56
Speaker 1: working really hard because it can go away, but I'm
25:59
Speaker 1: going to work hard to make sure that I do
26:01
Speaker 1: what I want to do.
26:06
Speaker 3: Taking a break from today's episode to give some love
26:10
Speaker 3: to my sponsor at Elements. Can I tell you I
26:13
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26:17
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26:22
Speaker 3: the time you listen to this, I ran the perimeter
26:26
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26:28
Speaker 3: first ever ultra marathon and in the process, I believe
26:33
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26:41
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26:50
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26:54
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26:58
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27:13
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27:22
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Speaker 3: sample back today. When I travel, which is a considerable amount,
28:03
Speaker 3: I always get messages about this routine that you're talking
28:06
Speaker 3: about about how I managed to stay motivated even when
28:09
Speaker 3: I'm in different time zones and dealing with jet lag
28:11
Speaker 3: and the food is all over the place. What other
28:14
Speaker 3: things do you do to make sure that you're on
28:16
Speaker 3: top of the routine that you know makes you feel
28:19
Speaker 3: so good.
28:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, I definitely try to get onto whatever time zone
28:23
Speaker 1: I'm on, especially if the race is like a week out,
28:28
Speaker 1: like usually if we're going to race flying over to
28:30
Speaker 1: Europe and I race in two days, I just get
28:32
Speaker 1: as much sleep as possible, like don't care about what
28:36
Speaker 1: I wake up at twelve and I just go for
28:40
Speaker 1: my run. But if the race, if I'm like getting
28:43
Speaker 1: onto the Europe schedule, I try to sleep on the
28:46
Speaker 1: plane then don't go to sleep at all the day
28:49
Speaker 1: that I get into Europe so that I can try
28:51
Speaker 1: and sleep at a normal Europe nighttime. And just like
28:55
Speaker 1: eating familiar foods, like I eat oatmeal most days for breakfast,
28:59
Speaker 1: so I usually get oatmeal and have my coffee, and
29:04
Speaker 1: you know, being able to adapt while also trying to
29:08
Speaker 1: do things that are familiar to you, Like it's important
29:10
Speaker 1: to experience other cultures and see like what they do
29:14
Speaker 1: and eat their foods, but at the same time being
29:17
Speaker 1: able to be like, all right, maybe I shouldn't experiment
29:20
Speaker 1: with something the day before race, and kind of knowing
29:23
Speaker 1: that there's a time and place for everything, because you
29:26
Speaker 1: have to be able to hold yourself accountable for like
29:30
Speaker 1: I need to take a step back and lay down
29:34
Speaker 1: and recover, and also wanting to explore a city, so
29:39
Speaker 1: being able to kind of like compartmentalize and pick out
29:42
Speaker 1: times that are best to do things that you want
29:44
Speaker 1: to do.
29:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you said the words sleep and recover. Would
29:48
Speaker 3: you say that your appreciation for recovery has become greater
29:54
Speaker 3: as you are progressing in the sport or have you
29:57
Speaker 3: always had an understanding of of what your body needs
30:01
Speaker 3: to perform at its best.
30:02
Speaker 1: I definitely have improved my ability to take a step
30:06
Speaker 1: back and recover as I've progressed through this sport, Like
30:10
Speaker 1: I don't know when I look back of when I
30:12
Speaker 1: first started with the sport, Like in high school, I
30:14
Speaker 1: you know, probably definitely did not get enough sleep. Same
30:18
Speaker 1: thing like early in college, I did not get enough sleep,
30:21
Speaker 1: and that really like wears down on you. You can't get
30:25
Speaker 1: as much high quality training in if you're not sleeping enough,
30:27
Speaker 1: like I always try to get at least nine hours
30:29
Speaker 1: of sleep, and if you're just if you're not even
30:33
Speaker 1: a highly trained athlete, you need sleep, Like that's what
30:37
Speaker 1: you need to survive and recover and feel good every
30:41
Speaker 1: single day, So yeah, definitely like that, and then also
30:45
Speaker 1: being able to take my naps like I pretty much
30:49
Speaker 1: when I'm in full training, I often am running twice
30:52
Speaker 1: a day, and especially if I'm running twice a day,
30:54
Speaker 1: I try to take some sort of nap in between.
30:57
Speaker 1: It's not necessarily like falling asleep, but it's just like
31:00
Speaker 1: laying in bed and being able to like shut my
31:02
Speaker 1: brain off a little bit, because if you're just going, going, going,
31:06
Speaker 1: you're not going to recover. So yeah, I've definitely I've
31:09
Speaker 1: definitely learned a lot over the years, and that kind
31:13
Speaker 1: of comes from being like, all right, I got injured,
31:16
Speaker 1: so I need to like assess what I need to
31:19
Speaker 1: do to be better, and part of that is recovering,
31:21
Speaker 1: part of that is fueling, and just kind of being
31:23
Speaker 1: able to, like I don't know, figure out the whole circle.
31:27
Speaker 3: And I think it's challenging as well being a young
31:30
Speaker 3: woman in sport because there are so many people that
31:33
Speaker 3: have opinions on how you should look, or what you
31:37
Speaker 3: should be doing, or how you should be recovering, and
31:40
Speaker 3: so do you feel like you ever have to kind
31:44
Speaker 3: of put your own blinders on and not deal with
31:47
Speaker 3: any of that external feedback, yeah.
31:50
Speaker 1: A little bit. And I think I've learned more to
31:53
Speaker 1: put the blinders on the farther I've gotten in sport.
31:57
Speaker 1: So I feel like it's definitely like high school and
32:00
Speaker 1: college young women are more vulnerable to like the external
32:04
Speaker 1: forces of oh, this is what you should look like,
32:06
Speaker 1: this is what you should be eating, whatever your peers
32:10
Speaker 1: are doing. And for me, it's just like I just
32:12
Speaker 1: I just know that my body feels best when I'm
32:15
Speaker 1: fueling it. My body feels best when I'm taking a
32:18
Speaker 1: nap and taking the time to you know, cool it
32:21
Speaker 1: down a little bit. Knowing that I need to be strong,
32:24
Speaker 1: I need to be lifting weights in order to continue
32:27
Speaker 1: to be better, like if I hadn't, Like I'm lucky
32:30
Speaker 1: that I started lifting weights in high school because of basketball,
32:34
Speaker 1: and so that's just been like a part of my
32:36
Speaker 1: life and I think it's really helped me to be
32:39
Speaker 1: able to take it to the next level during sport,
32:42
Speaker 1: just because you have to be able to stay healthy,
32:45
Speaker 1: like you're going to get injured, but consistently healthy for
32:48
Speaker 1: like a number of years. Because if I hadn't done that,
32:52
Speaker 1: then I want to be here. So definitely just like
32:55
Speaker 1: a learning process.
32:57
Speaker 3: Talk to me about injury and what your history with
33:00
Speaker 3: the injury has been, Like, how have those hurdles helped
33:04
Speaker 3: you gain a better understanding of the athlete that you
33:06
Speaker 3: are now.
33:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's definitely like anytime you get injured, maybe it's
33:11
Speaker 1: a little injury, a big injury, you learn more about
33:14
Speaker 1: how what you need to do in order to not
33:16
Speaker 1: see that again. And like I'd say, my first major
33:19
Speaker 1: injury was a long time ago, but it was a
33:22
Speaker 1: big deal at the time. Was I tore my acl
33:25
Speaker 1: and meniscus my senior year of high school. And that
33:29
Speaker 1: was like the first time that I ever had like
33:32
Speaker 1: a long term comeback to running, and I learned a
33:36
Speaker 1: lot of like rehab drills that I still do to
33:40
Speaker 1: this day, like doing like mini band warm up exercises
33:43
Speaker 1: before you run, Like that was the first time I
33:45
Speaker 1: had ever done that, and it was like a lifelong
33:47
Speaker 1: lesson for me. So that's kind of an important thing,
33:51
Speaker 1: and I think it made me realize, like, oh, you know,
33:54
Speaker 1: I need to make sure to do the strengthening to
33:56
Speaker 1: not get reinjured. And then like in college, I had
34:00
Speaker 1: some injuries that took me out of sport just because
34:03
Speaker 1: of like they were all connective tissue injuries. Like I
34:06
Speaker 1: had a bad achilles one year, I had a bad
34:08
Speaker 1: plan to fascia one year, and so kind of just
34:12
Speaker 1: like you know, being able to look at things and
34:15
Speaker 1: be like, all right, part of this is like what
34:17
Speaker 1: I was doing. A part of it is that I
34:19
Speaker 1: need to take a step back and realize, like I'm
34:23
Speaker 1: trying to be a student athlete. I'm trying to excel
34:25
Speaker 1: in academics and in sports, and it's really hard. So
34:30
Speaker 1: you know, I definitely didn't take for granted the fact
34:33
Speaker 1: that like it was a great opportunity, but you also
34:36
Speaker 1: need to like learn a lot from it. So yeah,
34:38
Speaker 1: being able to like handle things on my plate, and
34:41
Speaker 1: like as I continued in college, I think I got
34:44
Speaker 1: a lot better by realizing, like I can't give one
34:47
Speaker 1: hundred percent and every single thing that I do, like
34:49
Speaker 1: I only have so much energy. And so part of
34:52
Speaker 1: that was being like, all right, I need to be
34:54
Speaker 1: like do I need to get like one hundred and
34:57
Speaker 1: two percent of this class? No, I do not need
35:00
Speaker 1: to like try to try to be a four point zero.
35:02
Speaker 1: I can be a three point eight. And obviously people
35:05
Speaker 1: have different priorities and that's okay, But Yeah, once mine
35:08
Speaker 1: became running, I think I definitely like learned more about
35:11
Speaker 1: what I needed to do to get to that top level.
35:14
Speaker 3: Yeah, and when you have an understanding of what your
35:17
Speaker 3: priorities are, then you are less slightly likely to guilt
35:21
Speaker 3: or shame yourself or should yourself about the things that
35:24
Speaker 3: you realize just aren't at the top of that list anymore.
35:28
Speaker 1: Right, You make time for the things that you want
35:30
Speaker 1: to do and the people that you want to be with.
35:32
Speaker 1: And so I think that's part of like just knowing like, hey,
35:35
Speaker 1: I didn't want to go to that, so I'm not
35:37
Speaker 1: even going to think twice about it. I can control
35:40
Speaker 1: whatever I can control.
35:42
Speaker 2: Yeah.
35:42
Speaker 3: On that note, the people that you want to be with,
35:44
Speaker 3: I'm sure that can be a bit challenging as we
35:47
Speaker 3: have been this through line talking about the travel and
35:50
Speaker 3: being quote unquote a little bit all over the place.
35:53
Speaker 2: How does that make you feel when you are on
35:55
Speaker 2: the move.
35:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's kind of hard to old friends' weddings come up,
36:00
Speaker 1: and like my family has that. I always miss my
36:03
Speaker 1: family's squashed drootle every year.
36:06
Speaker 2: Elaborate what is it?
36:08
Speaker 1: So? My family has this like annual event, annual event
36:12
Speaker 1: called noodle and strudle, and there's an old family recipe
36:17
Speaker 1: of squashed stroudle. It's like a I think, like a
36:19
Speaker 1: German recipe, and my grandma always makes it, and then
36:23
Speaker 1: my and my aunt always makes homemade noodles for chicken
36:26
Speaker 1: noodle soup. So it's it's just like a nice ball gathering.
36:29
Speaker 1: But unfortunately I'm never in the Midwest at that time,
36:34
Speaker 1: so I like in since college and moving out to Colorado,
36:39
Speaker 1: I often will like make myself a squash stroudle from
36:42
Speaker 1: my grandma's recipe at home and they'll like send pictures.
36:45
Speaker 1: So yeah, part of that is just like taking the
36:47
Speaker 1: time to like try to be involved from afar because
36:50
Speaker 1: it's kind of hard to be everywhere at once.
36:52
Speaker 2: Yeah.
36:52
Speaker 3: I love hearing though how you get to participate in
36:55
Speaker 3: this tradition in your own way, and also what you're
36:58
Speaker 3: really doing is perfecting this to be at a young
37:00
Speaker 3: age so that you can continue to get tips as
37:03
Speaker 3: you get older.
37:05
Speaker 1: True, yeah, I'll be I definitely have like experimented with
37:09
Speaker 1: different folding ways and like I put a whole wheat
37:12
Speaker 1: flower in a one time and it turned out horribly,
37:15
Speaker 1: So I'm you know.
37:16
Speaker 2: I was gonna say there's no way that was the move.
37:19
Speaker 1: Yeah.
37:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, though, to go back to the injury stuff, you
37:23
Speaker 3: really did get to a place where you understand the
37:27
Speaker 3: importance of the small steps that help and contribute up
37:31
Speaker 3: to the bigger picture. I think a lot of people,
37:34
Speaker 3: you know, when we're injured, we do focus on these things.
37:36
Speaker 3: You said the word mini band, and I had like
37:38
Speaker 3: a shiver down my spine because I feel like I
37:41
Speaker 3: think about a mini band, and I think about all
37:43
Speaker 3: the rehab that I've been doing over the past year,
37:46
Speaker 3: myself navigating planter fasciitis. Where do you find the diligence
37:51
Speaker 3: to stick with it when you aren't dealing, you know,
37:54
Speaker 3: in the heat, in the prime of an injury cycle.
37:59
Speaker 1: I think part of it is that I feel like
38:02
Speaker 1: I'm most motivated to do all of the little things
38:06
Speaker 1: when I have like something to look forward to. So
38:08
Speaker 1: like if I I think it was kind of difficult
38:12
Speaker 1: for me after like the ten K this year, I
38:15
Speaker 1: went for three months without racing, and I feel like
38:18
Speaker 1: it took me a little bit once I started racing,
38:20
Speaker 1: which for me, three months was a long time, Like
38:22
Speaker 1: that was the longest I've ever gone without racing, So
38:26
Speaker 1: for me, it was kind of difficult, like to get
38:28
Speaker 1: back into it and kind of like didn't necessarily get
38:32
Speaker 1: my butt kicked because I still ran very well in Paris,
38:34
Speaker 1: which was my first race back, but I wasn't where
38:37
Speaker 1: I wanted to be and where I knew I should be.
38:39
Speaker 1: So having like kind of checkpoints, I would say, is
38:44
Speaker 1: like important. So like having a race or having like
38:49
Speaker 1: this goal that you're working towards, I think is what
38:52
Speaker 1: holds me kind of the best of being like there's
38:55
Speaker 1: a point to what I'm doing, and you know, every
38:58
Speaker 1: now and then, you just need that that little thing
39:01
Speaker 1: to be like, all right, I gotta start doing this,
39:03
Speaker 1: I gotta be more on top of this. I mean,
39:04
Speaker 1: I think probably having goals, even if you're not racing
39:07
Speaker 1: or whatever, it's probably important.
39:10
Speaker 3: What would you say that success looks like to you?
39:15
Speaker 1: I would say finishing this sport and feeling like I
39:21
Speaker 1: gave it everything I had, Like you know, I don't
39:24
Speaker 1: think there's necessarily like a set goal of like I
39:28
Speaker 1: need to win this many races, I need to set
39:33
Speaker 1: this many records, like whatever those like points are are
39:39
Speaker 1: gonna happen if I feel like I really put myself
39:43
Speaker 1: into the sport, and I really came out of it
39:45
Speaker 1: being like, yeah, that was a good time, Like I
39:48
Speaker 1: did what I could, and you know, I have these
39:52
Speaker 1: things to say for it. So I wouldn't say, like
39:55
Speaker 1: I have my goals, like I would like to win
39:57
Speaker 1: a medal on the world stage, I would like to
40:00
Speaker 1: you break thirty minutes in the ten k. But those
40:03
Speaker 1: things are only going to come if I like really
40:05
Speaker 1: put myself into sport and like learn from my teammates
40:08
Speaker 1: and really like appreciate what they're doing because those people
40:12
Speaker 1: are going to push me forward.
40:13
Speaker 3: That's a really beautiful perspective, understanding that there is so
40:17
Speaker 3: much benefit from team when it comes to our own
40:20
Speaker 3: individual successes. And that can be true within sport, of course,
40:24
Speaker 3: but also beyond sport. How often do we isolate ourselves
40:28
Speaker 3: going after a big goal because we feel like it
40:30
Speaker 3: needs to be head down focus, like it's all on me,
40:33
Speaker 3: and we lose sight of the fact that we each
40:36
Speaker 3: have to an extent a team around us that wants
40:38
Speaker 3: to support us because they care about.
40:40
Speaker 1: Us for sure. And I mean, people are going to
40:42
Speaker 1: remember you for the teammate that you were, and you know,
40:46
Speaker 1: whatever you did to help them, it's not necessarily like,
40:49
Speaker 1: oh yeah, there was Alicia, like over there, she's she's
40:52
Speaker 1: just running. But yeah, so I think it's definitely like
40:55
Speaker 1: the connections that you make and what you can do
40:57
Speaker 1: for others and what they can do for you, that
40:59
Speaker 1: really like makes it community.
41:01
Speaker 3: You do say, like, for as long as I am
41:03
Speaker 3: in this sport, do you have any concept or thought
41:06
Speaker 3: about what it is that you will do one day
41:09
Speaker 3: when you do maybe just in the racing capacity hang
41:13
Speaker 3: up your spikes.
41:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I think that's kind of continuously evolving.
41:18
Speaker 1: Like I went to school. I got a degree in
41:21
Speaker 1: dietetics with a business management minors certificate, and I had
41:26
Speaker 1: originally planned on being a registered dietitian and that is
41:30
Speaker 1: kind of changed. Like I don't necessarily think that I'll
41:36
Speaker 1: be in the clinical setting like I thought about going
41:39
Speaker 1: to PA school, but I kind of, you know, I'm
41:42
Speaker 1: kind of keeping my options open right now seeing what happens,
41:45
Speaker 1: just because you know, you're always learning more, you're always
41:49
Speaker 1: meeting new people, and I'm seeing, like, you know, what
41:52
Speaker 1: can be done for athletes in the sport and what
41:56
Speaker 1: can be done on the athlete connection with brand and
42:01
Speaker 1: so yeah, I mean that's kind of a to be determined,
42:04
Speaker 1: but you know, I'm always learning and it's always great
42:07
Speaker 1: to you know, meet new people and kind of see
42:09
Speaker 1: where your impact can be.
42:11
Speaker 3: And speaking of impact, so many people looking up to
42:14
Speaker 3: you as you continue to make such a big name
42:16
Speaker 3: for yourself within this sport. How does it feel for
42:19
Speaker 3: you when you kind of take a step back and
42:22
Speaker 3: realize that there are eyes on you, especially young women's
42:26
Speaker 3: eyes on you.
42:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's really cool because that's like a
42:30
Speaker 1: goal of mine is to continue to push forward, like
42:34
Speaker 1: distance running among women in the US, because I think
42:37
Speaker 1: we're kind of like have been on the ketchup, especially
42:41
Speaker 1: compared to men, compared to some places in the world.
42:44
Speaker 1: So that's like a big goal of mine is to
42:46
Speaker 1: just inspire like you know, high school, college young women,
42:50
Speaker 1: you know, even people going to run a marathon. I
42:53
Speaker 1: hope they see whatever I do and like be like
42:55
Speaker 1: all right, yeah, time to go train. But and part
42:58
Speaker 1: of that is just it brings the community together. Like
43:01
Speaker 1: the Amory Cross Country just had the Amory Invite in
43:05
Speaker 1: town yesterday and I unfortunately just missed it. I was
43:08
Speaker 1: still traveling, but just to see like being able to
43:12
Speaker 1: meet with the team when I come back here and
43:14
Speaker 1: to see how far it's come since I was in
43:17
Speaker 1: high school. It was really sweet and just you know,
43:20
Speaker 1: hopefully I get messages from people, I'm like, oh, that's
43:22
Speaker 1: really cool that because I never really thought of me
43:26
Speaker 1: being a role model or people looking at what I do,
43:29
Speaker 1: but it's obviously very important, and you know, part of
43:32
Speaker 1: that is being able to show that I'm more than
43:35
Speaker 1: running but also like really committed to what I do.
43:38
Speaker 3: Wow, how would you say it feels when you get
43:41
Speaker 3: those messages?
43:42
Speaker 1: It's pretty incredible that people like would think to reach
43:46
Speaker 1: out and say, hey, you inspired me to do this.
43:49
Speaker 1: But you know, it's really I would say, rewarding to
43:51
Speaker 1: be like, wow that I'm really glad that whatever I
43:54
Speaker 1: just did inspired you. So yeah, I mean, it's it's
43:57
Speaker 1: pretty sweet.
43:58
Speaker 3: Who was that person for you? Was there a certain
44:02
Speaker 3: individual or person that you look to with that same
44:06
Speaker 3: lens when you were coming up at the beginning of sport?
44:09
Speaker 1: See as far as running goes, I was never really
44:14
Speaker 1: a running nerd.
44:15
Speaker 2: Like, so you were a women's basketball nerd?
44:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, kind of, I mean, but unfortunately women's basketball is
44:20
Speaker 1: not very well covered. It's continuing to be better covered,
44:24
Speaker 1: but I grew up watching men on the TV. Right,
44:27
Speaker 1: I would say I grew up especially as far as
44:29
Speaker 1: women's sports go. Watching Olympic women's gymnastics was really great
44:34
Speaker 1: for me, just like I feel like I followed Shan
44:37
Speaker 1: Johnson and Gabby Douglas more than like any other women's sport.
44:43
Speaker 1: But yeah, so I would say, like, I think what's
44:48
Speaker 1: really cool now is that there are more present women's
44:51
Speaker 1: sports stars to follow, because hopefully younger women are seeing
44:56
Speaker 1: other women in sport and that's really cool. But I
44:59
Speaker 1: would say I mostly I grew up like watching football
45:03
Speaker 1: or like watching the NBA.
45:04
Speaker 3: It's really cool to see the evolution of that, and
45:06
Speaker 3: it's really exciting to understand now that like you have
45:10
Speaker 3: this seat at the table and know that you get
45:14
Speaker 3: to decide what you want to do with it, and
45:16
Speaker 3: that you are speaking about how you are going back
45:18
Speaker 3: to you know, your high school and talking to these
45:21
Speaker 3: girls and as much as it is special for them,
45:24
Speaker 3: like as it's clearly also really special for you.
45:27
Speaker 1: Yeah.
45:27
Speaker 3: We talked about how someone goes to your Instagram page
45:30
Speaker 3: and they see so many amazing skills of you crushing
45:35
Speaker 3: the run when you look at her, what is it
45:38
Speaker 3: that you see looking back at you.
45:42
Speaker 1: I'd say, I just see you know, I see myself
45:46
Speaker 1: and I part of that is like a really determined person.
45:50
Speaker 1: And part of that is like what I decide to
45:53
Speaker 1: do is running, but I think I've or to determined
45:56
Speaker 1: to do something else. I mean, not necessarily that I
45:59
Speaker 1: can do anything, but I could do whatever I seem
46:03
Speaker 1: to set my mind to. I think, so like part
46:05
Speaker 1: of that is just like the inner determination to like
46:09
Speaker 1: excel at what I'm doing. So yeah, I would say that,
46:13
Speaker 1: like I'm just you know, comfortable doing what I found
46:17
Speaker 1: for myself in my quarner of the world, and yeah,
46:19
Speaker 1: I'm happy with it.
46:20
Speaker 3: How would you say that running has shaped that I
46:23
Speaker 3: can do whatever I set my mind to perspective?
46:26
Speaker 1: Definitely, just like the feedback for ward, I would say
46:29
Speaker 1: of like if I put the work in, like it's
46:31
Speaker 1: going to pay off, and that kind of takes place
46:34
Speaker 1: over like so many years. It's like every time I
46:36
Speaker 1: come to a new level of running, there's so many
46:39
Speaker 1: people who are better than me, and it takes multiple
46:43
Speaker 1: years of work in order to get to the place
46:45
Speaker 1: of being competitive with the people I want to be
46:47
Speaker 1: competitive with. Then I've seen that on the high school,
46:50
Speaker 1: the college, the US and the world level. I'm still
46:54
Speaker 1: working on it, so yeah, definitely just like being able
46:58
Speaker 1: to know that it can take years in what you
47:01
Speaker 1: choose to do to get better at it, but you
47:03
Speaker 1: will if you just keep working at it.
47:05
Speaker 2: I love that sentiment.
47:06
Speaker 3: I think that it can feel frustrating or daunting, especially
47:10
Speaker 3: when you're trying something new or you know, putting yourself
47:14
Speaker 3: into a different event, right, But to have that diligence
47:17
Speaker 3: and motivation to persist regardless, it's really admirable and it
47:21
Speaker 3: speaks a lot to your tenacity.
47:24
Speaker 1: Thank you. Yeah, I mean I yeah, I kind of
47:27
Speaker 1: just try to take one. My parents always like tell
47:30
Speaker 1: me to take one thing at a time, and I
47:32
Speaker 1: feel like I was probably just a lot to deal
47:34
Speaker 1: with as a kid and trying to go have different
47:37
Speaker 1: hobbies and stuff like that, and they're like one thing
47:39
Speaker 1: at a time. So I kind of tell myself that
47:41
Speaker 1: in training and be like, all right, this is what
47:43
Speaker 1: I'm doing today, what I'm doing tomorrow, and we're going
47:46
Speaker 1: to work at it.
47:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, one thing at a time. I like that approach,
47:49
Speaker 3: I really do. What else would you say, aside from
47:52
Speaker 3: Paris excites you right now?
47:54
Speaker 1: I'm just excited to Like, fall training is kind of
47:57
Speaker 1: my favorite, Like I just love getting it and the miles,
48:00
Speaker 1: the base, being able to go to like different trails
48:03
Speaker 1: to run on and get a workout in at Davidson
48:06
Speaker 1: Mason not just like because the track is exciting, but
48:10
Speaker 1: also it's nice to get away from it for a
48:13
Speaker 1: little bit. And also, you know, Helen and o'biri joined
48:16
Speaker 1: our team last year, went to win the Boston Marathon,
48:19
Speaker 1: and she's racing New York this year, and she's just
48:22
Speaker 1: like a really exciting person to learn from. She's I
48:26
Speaker 1: mean absolutely insane, Like I her, the amount of really
48:32
Speaker 1: fast things she does in one day of training is crazy,
48:35
Speaker 1: and it's even more crazy that she does it every
48:38
Speaker 1: single day, week after week. So I've been like definitely
48:41
Speaker 1: learning a lot from her, and I'm hoping to be
48:43
Speaker 1: able to like do more workouts. I did a lot
48:46
Speaker 1: of workouts with her before Boston this spring, and our
48:50
Speaker 1: schedules only sometimes line up, but I'm really excited to
48:52
Speaker 1: learn more from her and hopefully be able to train
48:55
Speaker 1: with her a little bit more this year. And yeah,
48:57
Speaker 1: I mean it's it's just fun to see what I
49:00
Speaker 1: everyone else is doing. And put myself in it.
49:03
Speaker 3: I love that energy that came into the conversation when
49:05
Speaker 3: you started talking about how fun it is to train
49:08
Speaker 3: with someone that you admire so much. Do you ever
49:11
Speaker 3: find yourself falling into the comparison trap, either with people
49:16
Speaker 3: on your team or just other women in the field.
49:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so. I think it's like you always
49:21
Speaker 1: feel like you should be training or racing as well
49:25
Speaker 1: as your competition, but sometimes you know your your path
49:30
Speaker 1: obviously is not linear, and you're you have certain things
49:33
Speaker 1: going on in your life or certain injuries that you
49:35
Speaker 1: have to take a step back and just look at
49:37
Speaker 1: where you're at. And so part of it is like
49:41
Speaker 1: it's important to be competitive because that's why elite athletes
49:45
Speaker 1: are who they are, but also being like a healthy
49:49
Speaker 1: amount where I want to see my teammates succeed and
49:53
Speaker 1: I want to help them get better, and that means
49:56
Speaker 1: we are competitive, but at the same time, it's not
49:58
Speaker 1: like a malicious competitive So yeah, I mean, it's it's
50:04
Speaker 1: a good thing to be competitive, It's just it shouldn't
50:06
Speaker 1: be the ENDLBL for sure.
50:08
Speaker 3: And of course we've mentioned a slew of times now
50:11
Speaker 3: oac On Athletics Club I've you remiss if we didn't
50:15
Speaker 3: talk about this before I Let You Go Today. Go
50:18
Speaker 3: to training sneakers. I'm a cloud Monster Girlli, but I'm
50:21
Speaker 3: not running anywhere near as fast as you, So what
50:24
Speaker 3: are your go to?
50:25
Speaker 1: So actually I love the cloud Monsters, I'd say I
50:27
Speaker 1: do like a lot of my like thick thick of
50:30
Speaker 1: the training and then but I also love the cloud
50:33
Speaker 1: Stratus for my easy runs as well. And then every
50:36
Speaker 1: workout are the echo Booms, which the cloud Echo Boom
50:41
Speaker 1: three is available for the market now like it used
50:44
Speaker 1: to be. We ran in them, but they weren't on
50:46
Speaker 1: the market, but they are on the market now and
50:48
Speaker 1: they're also.
50:50
Speaker 3: Now you can all feel like Alicia when you're doing
50:52
Speaker 3: your workouts exactly.
50:54
Speaker 1: Doesn't always feel good, but it'll work.
50:57
Speaker 2: We love it well.
50:58
Speaker 3: I'm so glad that we were able to and sometime
51:00
Speaker 3: amidst the crazy travel and the family time that you're
51:05
Speaker 3: finally getting some of to catch up for the show
51:07
Speaker 3: before I Let You Go Today, I close out every
51:09
Speaker 3: episode by asking my guests to talk to me about
51:13
Speaker 3: the advice that they'd offer their younger self at the
51:16
Speaker 3: beginning of their journey or during a certain hurdle moment
51:18
Speaker 3: for you. We talked a little bit about that injury
51:21
Speaker 3: cycle before and how it definitely set you back time
51:24
Speaker 3: and time again early on in your career. Knowing what
51:27
Speaker 3: you know now, what advice would you offer to your
51:30
Speaker 3: younger self?
51:31
Speaker 1: I would say the best advice would be to take
51:35
Speaker 1: a step back once in a while and look at
51:37
Speaker 1: where you're at and be able to think about what
51:42
Speaker 1: you need, because it's not always what everyone else needs.
51:45
Speaker 1: Think about what it is that you need, and being
51:47
Speaker 1: able to focus on keeping yourself healthy and recovered and
51:52
Speaker 1: well slept, if that's a word, and just like being
51:57
Speaker 1: able to prioritize like your own needs is is honestly
52:01
Speaker 1: one of the biggest lessons I've learned.
52:03
Speaker 2: I love it.
52:03
Speaker 3: Alicia Munson, how do the hurdlers follow along with you
52:06
Speaker 3: keep up with you if they don't yet already?
52:08
Speaker 2: Give us your details?
52:10
Speaker 1: So my Instagram is months and Alicia and I'm mainly
52:13
Speaker 1: on that. And then also our team photographer slash videographer
52:19
Speaker 1: I guess is Colin Wong and he's often posting little
52:23
Speaker 1: snippets of us, So if you want to see, like
52:25
Speaker 1: what our long run looks like on a day you'll
52:29
Speaker 1: be seeing a lot of us this fall with our
52:31
Speaker 1: fall training. Once the team's all back together.
52:33
Speaker 3: I'm over at Emily Body and at Hurdle Podcast. Another
52:36
Speaker 3: hurdle conquered. Catch you guys next time.