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#HURDLEMOMENT: 8 Life Lessons I Learned Running 8 Marathons · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

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  Speaker 1: When I stopped believing the story that I was telling
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  Speaker 1: myself and started to realize what was really happening in
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  Speaker 1: front of my eyes, what I was really capable of.
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  Speaker 1: That's when all of the doors open. That's when I
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  Speaker 1: embraced my full potential. Believing in yourself. There is nothing better.
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  Speaker 1: Hey Hurdlari's Emily a Body popping into your feed with
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  Speaker 1: another installment of Hurdle Moment from Hurdle, a wellness focused
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  Speaker 1: podcast where I sit down with inspiring individuals to talk
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  Speaker 1: about everything from their greatest wins to how they've gotten
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  Speaker 1: through some of life's toughest moments. I have some newbies
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  Speaker 1: to the show this week, so just a recap. On Mondays,
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  Speaker 1: typically I'm sitting down with a guest, I'm bringing you
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  Speaker 1: their stories, and on Wednesday, I bring you Hurdle Moment. Now,
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  Speaker 1: Hurdle Moment is where things get a little bit more granular.
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  Speaker 1: These are quick hitting episodes where I'm talking to you
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  Speaker 1: about things that are resonating with me. Maybe it's questions
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  Speaker 1: that are coming through my Instagram dms and you can
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  Speaker 1: always reach out to me. It's at Emily a Body
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  Speaker 1: or at Hurdle Podcast. I'm checking in on both, or
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  Speaker 1: maybe the topic is something I'm dealing with as an
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  Speaker 1: entrepreneur or just a woman living in New York City
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  Speaker 1: trying to figure it all out. Today, I'm bringing you
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  Speaker 1: eight life lessons I've learned from running eight marathons, and
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  Speaker 1: now these can definitely be applicable to both runners and
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  Speaker 1: non runners. You don't need to be lacing up every
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  Speaker 1: day and log in all those miles to benefit from
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  Speaker 1: the knowledge and worth that I have gained from the
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  Speaker 1: last seven years. My first marathon back on October twelfth,
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  Speaker 1: twenty thirteen, in hard For Connecticut. I am certainly a
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  Speaker 1: different person from that first race, and I can honestly
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  Speaker 1: say that running has made me a better person. It's
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  Speaker 1: helped me come into my own It's taught me so
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  Speaker 1: many lessons, and eight of those well, I'm excited to
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  Speaker 1: bring you them in today's episode. Before I get to it,
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  Speaker 1: a quick shout out to my sponsor at Beam. Beam
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  Speaker 1: CBD salve. I have been relying on this salve lately.
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  Speaker 1: Total understatement. My hip is acting up a little bit.
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  Speaker 1: I'm sending so many good vibes and positive affirmations that
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  Speaker 1: everything is totally fine. But for me, I come back
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  Speaker 1: in from the run, I rub some of the salve
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  Speaker 1: on my hip, on my lower back, and it feels
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  Speaker 1: so good. You gotta try it for yourself. Head on
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  Speaker 1: over to BEAMTLC dot com and use the code Hurdle
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  Speaker 1: at check out for fifteen percent off your purchase. Again,
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  Speaker 1: head on over to bemtlc dot com use the code
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  Speaker 1: Hurdle at checkout for fifteen percent off your order today.
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  Speaker 1: With that, let's get to hurdling. Running has changed my
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  Speaker 1: life forever. I know that you learn a lot of
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  Speaker 1: lessons as your coming of age and god living in
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  Speaker 1: New York City, I feel like every day is a
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  Speaker 1: school day. But I've had so many important realizations and
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  Speaker 1: moments on the run. For me, running is my release.
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  Speaker 1: I've been doing it since about two thousand and seven.
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  Speaker 1: And if you were to ask that girl back then,
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  Speaker 1: if she'd be where she is now with this sport,
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  Speaker 1: there's no way she would have believed you. I've now
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  Speaker 1: done way too many half marathons to count a slew
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  Speaker 1: of marathons totally. At eight ran two in one week.
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  Speaker 1: I've done Boston, New York, Chicago, Dublin, and Hartford, and
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  Speaker 1: every single marathon brings with it a special experience. If
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  Speaker 1: you're new to the pod and you haven't listened to
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  Speaker 1: my Chicago marathon recap, I highly suggest you check it
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  Speaker 1: out because to say that that race specifically left a
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  Speaker 1: major impact on me, well that's a total understatement. So
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to get into it. Eight life lessons I've
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  Speaker 1: learned from running eight marathon. The first one, Starting is
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  Speaker 1: the hardest part. When something is unfamiliar, it's scary, right,
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  Speaker 1: It's scary to try something new for so many people,
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  Speaker 1: even if you're a person that wakes up every day
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  Speaker 1: and tackles a run. Signing up for that first marathon
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  Speaker 1: feels like you've committed to climb Mount Everest. But once
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  Speaker 1: you do it, once you click that register button, it
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  Speaker 1: becomes real. Well that's when the training begins. That's when
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  Speaker 1: you start thinking, Okay, what am I going to wear
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  Speaker 1: on race day? Months and months in advance. It can
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  Speaker 1: be a little unnerving to shift your routine to accept
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  Speaker 1: the opportunity cost that comes hand in hand with getting
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  Speaker 1: out there. Just last week I read a study that,
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  Speaker 1: on average, researchers have found that it takes sixty six
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  Speaker 1: days to develop and stick with a habit. So yeah,
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  Speaker 1: when things are unfamiliar at the beginning, they can be
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  Speaker 1: a little bit frustrating. But once you commit yourself to it,
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  Speaker 1: once you get in the groove, you realize just how
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  Speaker 1: capable you are at going after what it is that
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  Speaker 1: you want. Lesson number one, starting is the hardest part.
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  Speaker 1: Lesson number two, A goal without a plan is just
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  Speaker 1: a wish Listen, very few individuals can show up on
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  Speaker 1: marathon day without training for the marathon and excel in
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  Speaker 1: the marathon. That is just a recipe for injury, and
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  Speaker 1: based on your goal, it's a recipe for disappointment. Training
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  Speaker 1: for a marathon has taught me the value of committing
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  Speaker 1: to something and sticking to a plan, and with the
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  Speaker 1: right plan, by taking the right course of action, you
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  Speaker 1: are capable of getting your desired outcome. I've been able
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  Speaker 1: to apply this in a lot of different aspects of
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  Speaker 1: my life. For example, I had the goal to go
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  Speaker 1: back to Italy this year. For me, that meant that
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  Speaker 1: I was going to have to save money to go
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  Speaker 1: on this trip. I didn't want to make an excuse
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  Speaker 1: once twenty twenty came around as to why I wasn't
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  Speaker 1: buying the plane ticket and making the jump. Now, logistically
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  Speaker 1: I still have some figuring out to do. But in
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  Speaker 1: order to go after this goal, I made a plan,
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  Speaker 1: and that plan was to set aside about one hundred
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  Speaker 1: and fifty dollars a month for all of twenty nineteen,
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  Speaker 1: so that when the new year came around, I was
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  Speaker 1: ready to commit. Sure at first, again, making that plan
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  Speaker 1: can feel a little bit daunting. If you don't lay
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  Speaker 1: the framework, if you don't put in the work up front,
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  Speaker 1: then you run the risk of not achieving your goals.
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  Speaker 1: We all have the opportunity to succeed, and with the
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  Speaker 1: right plan, you will life Lesson number three, you can't
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  Speaker 1: give up on the twenty second mile. God. I think
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  Speaker 1: about the marathons that I've hit the wall in, and
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  Speaker 1: to be completely transparent, that's probably seven of the eight
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  Speaker 1: of them in seven marathons. At some point between mile
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  Speaker 1: eighteen and twenty four, I got to a point where
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  Speaker 1: I felt as though I was gonna fall over. My
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  Speaker 1: body was aching, I was tired, and as motivating as
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  Speaker 1: the drake was that was coming through my headphones, it
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  Speaker 1: just felt as though I could not run another step. Now,
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  Speaker 1: I know what you're wondering, what happened in the eighth marathon. Well,
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  Speaker 1: I was saying this to someone the other day about
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  Speaker 1: my fueling strategy in Chicago, which I truly feel like
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  Speaker 1: last year in twenty nineteen was what helped me get
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  Speaker 1: through the marathon without hitting that often adored wall. Basically,
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  Speaker 1: my plan when I went into it was fuel every
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  Speaker 1: twenty minutes or so, and what ended up happening was
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  Speaker 1: probably something like that. But in the chaos of the day,
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  Speaker 1: I felt like there would be times where I would
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  Speaker 1: forget when the last time was that I had a
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  Speaker 1: gummy and I'm a big fan of the Gatorade Endurance
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  Speaker 1: choose myself. I felt like in retrospect, I was probably
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  Speaker 1: eating a majority of that marathon, and for me it worked.
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  Speaker 1: Everybody's different. For more information of how to fuel on
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  Speaker 1: race day, I'll put this in the show notes as well.
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  Speaker 1: You can check out the tips that come from Pelotons.
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  Speaker 1: Robin Arzon. We recorded a hurdle moment, specifically on best
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  Speaker 1: practice strategies for race day earlier last year. Anyway, when
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  Speaker 1: that twenty second mile hits, when you're late in the game,
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  Speaker 1: when you've put in so much work already and things
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  Speaker 1: feel frustrating and you're tired, it's so important to keep going.
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  Speaker 1: You didn't come that far to only come that far.
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  Speaker 1: That's one of my favorite sayings. There was probably a
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  Speaker 1: point in your journey when you wondered if getting to
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  Speaker 1: this point was even possible. But how special is it
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  Speaker 1: that you've gotten there at all? How awesome is it
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  Speaker 1: that you've gotten this far? You have the ability to
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  Speaker 1: finish the task no matter how hard it feels. You've
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  Speaker 1: just got to want it bad enough. Lesson number four.
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  Speaker 1: Running fast makes you fast. Okay, this one is pretty
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  Speaker 1: affable to running. But in my first six marathons or so,
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  Speaker 1: I followed a pretty basic training plan. It was the
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  Speaker 1: kind of plan where you knew exactly how far or
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  Speaker 1: for how much amount of time you were supposed to
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  Speaker 1: run during the week every day, with something like four miles,
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  Speaker 1: six miles, eight miles, four miles long run, something like that.
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  Speaker 1: But for the last two years, when I went to
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  Speaker 1: go tackle the marathon distance. The difference maker for me
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  Speaker 1: was adding in that interval speed work. As someone who
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  Speaker 1: didn't like the treadmill or wasn't used to incorporating this
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  Speaker 1: type of effort into my training, I definitely asked a
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  Speaker 1: lot of questions, but I found that when I asked
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  Speaker 1: more questions and I was willing to get outside of
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  Speaker 1: my comfort zone and add these speed intervals in, I
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  Speaker 1: saw the benefits pay off dramatically and how fast I
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  Speaker 1: was tackling even the easiest of miles. When I sat
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  Speaker 1: down with Chris and Leanne from the runners of NYC Podcasts,
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  Speaker 1: we all agreed on this that when we added speedwork
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  Speaker 1: into our routines, we got to a point where we
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  Speaker 1: understood our real potential. And that's something that's really special
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  Speaker 1: for me. Adding in speed work was the game change.
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  Speaker 1: Seeing those quick splits convinced me that I could go
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  Speaker 1: after something that felt sort of crazy. Lesson number five,
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  Speaker 1: you have to stay focused on your journey. It is
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  Speaker 1: so easy for us to compare ourselves with other people,
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  Speaker 1: especially in this climate of constant social media and the
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  Speaker 1: highlight reel. Every day we are exposed to someone else's victories,
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  Speaker 1: which can sometimes make it feel like what we have
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  Speaker 1: going on just isn't enough. Well, I'm here to tell
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  Speaker 1: you that you are enough. And it's so critical that
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  Speaker 1: you focus on what's going on with you, that you
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  Speaker 1: stay in your lane. Christy Godso said something that really
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  Speaker 1: resonated with me when we recorded her Hurdle episode, and
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  Speaker 1: again i'll link that in the show notes, and that was,
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  Speaker 1: you must have something really dark inside of you if
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  Speaker 1: you can't cheer on other people, if seeing someone else's
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  Speaker 1: success makes you feel some kind of way. I believe
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: the exact quote was you want to be a star
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  Speaker 1: in the constellation of stars. You don't want to be
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  Speaker 1: a star on your own. And I think that wisdom
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  Speaker 1: is so valuable. When you stop comparing your progress to
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  Speaker 1: the progress of others, you can really soak it in.
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  Speaker 1: You can truly enjoy the experience. And when you focus
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  Speaker 1: on your journey, that's when you reap all of those
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  Speaker 1: benefits of the process. And the process well, that is
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  Speaker 1: the most important part, less than number six. Just show up.
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  Speaker 1: There are so many days, especially during a training cycle,
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  Speaker 1: when I would rather not lace up, so many instances
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  Speaker 1: when I would rather go to brunch or lay on
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  Speaker 1: the couch or god knows whatever else that isn't running.
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  Speaker 1: But some days, on the days where you don't want
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  Speaker 1: to do something, if you just show up, if you
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  Speaker 1: just put yourself in the right circumstance, if you just
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  Speaker 1: give it a shot, more often than not, I guarantee
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  Speaker 1: you you will always be proud that you made the effort.
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  Speaker 1: It's kind of like the idea of starting as the
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  Speaker 1: hardest part. Showing up sometimes feels like the hardest part.
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  Speaker 1: But when you do that for yourself, it is so
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  Speaker 1: so valuable. That's when we're reminded of the value of
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  Speaker 1: self work, the value of number one lesson number seven.
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  Speaker 1: It is so powerful what happens when you believe that
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  Speaker 1: you can. I grew up someone who didn't think that
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  Speaker 1: running was for her, and it's been something that's kind
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  Speaker 1: of stuck with me along this journey. When I stopped
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  Speaker 1: believing the story that I was telling myself and started
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  Speaker 1: to realize what was really happening in front of my eyes,
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  Speaker 1: what I was really capable of, that's when all of
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  Speaker 1: the doors open. That's when I embraced my full potential.
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  Speaker 1: Believing in yourself. There is nothing better, never in my
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  Speaker 1: wildest dreams did I ever think that I could do
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  Speaker 1: something like qualify for the Boston Marathon. There's gonna be
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  Speaker 1: a lot of scary things that happen when you're going
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  Speaker 1: after something that you want. When you believe in yourself
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  Speaker 1: and you shift the dialogue, the doors open for you
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  Speaker 1: like you never could have planned. It is so awesome
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  Speaker 1: to be your own hype man, to believe that you
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  Speaker 1: are capable and that you can do it. And last,
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  Speaker 1: but not least lesson number eight, the juice is worth
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  Speaker 1: the squeeze. You know, there are going to be a
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  Speaker 1: lot of people out there that have an opinion on
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  Speaker 1: what it is that you want to do. At the
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  Speaker 1: end of the day, when you decide what is important
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  Speaker 1: to you, that's all that matters. You will never regret
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  Speaker 1: going after what it is that you want, staying true
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  Speaker 1: to yourself and really going for it. It's the best feeling
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  Speaker 1: in the world. I'm interested to know. Maybe it's running marathons,
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  Speaker 1: maybe it's committing to another goal. What have you learned
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  Speaker 1: by checking off a major bucket list item in your life?
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  Speaker 1: Let me know by hitting me up on Instagram. It's
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: at Emily a Body and at Hurdle Podcast and keep
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: me posting on your progress with whatever's going on. I
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: love to hear from you guys on the regular. Also
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: feel free to reach out to me over email if
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: you have a hurdle moment of your own to share
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: you just want to say Hi. It's emilyat hurdle dot us.
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  Speaker 1: Another hurdle conquered. Catch you guys next time.