Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 233. Chris Bennett, Nike Running Global Head Coach

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233. Chris Bennett, Nike Running Global Head Coach · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It's okay if you're struggling, or it's okay if you're different,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: or it's okay to try your best, it's okay to
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: take a break, and we can feel like it's not
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: or it's scary, and sometimes you just need someone to
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: be like I just need to remind you of something
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: you already know.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: What is going on. Everyone, Emily A body here.
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  Speaker 3: You are listening to episode two hundred and thirty three
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: of Hurdle, a wellness focus podcast. Reconnect with everyone from
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  Speaker 3: your favorite athletes to top experts and industry CEOs about
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: their highest highs, toughest moments, and everything in between. We
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: all go through hurdles in life, and my goal through
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  Speaker 3: these discussions is to empower you to better navigate yours
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  Speaker 3: and move with intention so that you can stride towards
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  Speaker 3: your own big potential and of course have some fun
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  Speaker 3: along the way. Today's episode two thirty three, I am
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: chatting with coach Chris Bennett.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: He is Nike Running's global.
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: Head coach, a favorite past guest of the show, and
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: I cannot be more elated to have him back in
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: the hot seat. We had the opportunity to recently sit
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: down over at Nike Global HQ on one of his
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: favorite weekends of the year, and that would be NIKEE
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: Cross Nationals NOW. For those of you who are unfamiliar
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: with n XN, which is Nike Cross Nationals, let me
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: give you the deats. Essentially, NxN started seventeen years ago
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: to find the best high school cross country runners in
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: the nation, put them on the same starting line, and
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: let them test their limits. Now today an XN is
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: grown to inspire nearly goodness twenty thousand athletes. This was
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: my second trip out to Oregon for NxN, and both
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: times I one hundred percent stood next to the finish
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: line crying like a baby. And that's because it is
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: just so beyond inspiring to see the future of sport
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: chasing after their big potential. You all know about how
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: I feel about empowering women in sport, and these young
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: women come together from all around the country and support
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: one another and lift each other up and chase after
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  Speaker 3: their big goals, and.
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  Speaker 2: It is just on inspiring.
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  Speaker 3: Not to mention it is just really awesome to see
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  Speaker 3: a brand like Nike getting behind these young talented athletes.
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  Speaker 3: I feel like I've been a part of so many
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  Speaker 3: conversations lately talking about how we can uplift women in
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  Speaker 3: sport and find equality and sport and a big part
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  Speaker 3: of that is investing in sport right And so for Nike,
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: you to invest in bringing goodness like creativity, innovation and
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  Speaker 3: again dollars to running for these young athletes is just
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  Speaker 3: really really great. Okay, okay, Off of my soapbox, Let's
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: talk about Coach Bennett. So excited, like I said, to
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: have him back on the show today. We're catching up
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: about everything. We're talking about what's been going on since
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: we last connected for last years turning the page series.
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: Coach is telling me why n XN means so much
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: to him personally. This year, two of his daughters have
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: the privilege of racing. He's also talking to me about
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: how running really shifted over the pandemic and what he
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: is seeing in terms of trends when it comes to
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: what athletes are asking him for, what support they are
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: truly looking for. Of course, as always with Coach Bennett,
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: it is about running. It's not about running, which means
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: that there's a lot of inspiring tidbits whether or not
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: you identify as a runner. Coach Bennett has got you
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: covered to motivate you toward whatever it is that is
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  Speaker 3: on your radar.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: I do have to give credit where credit is due.
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  Speaker 3: A Coach Bennett has helped me lace up and get
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  Speaker 3: outside via the Nike Run Club app. So many amazing,
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: understatement audio guided runs in there to help you get started,
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: no matter where you are on your journey, different lengths
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: too important to note. Definitely check it out. Make sure
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: you're following along with Hurdle on Socialists over at Hurdle Podcast.
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: I am over at Emily Avadi. I am so happy
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: to bring you this content. With that, let's get to
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: one of my favorite conversations of twenty twenty two.
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  Speaker 2: Let's get to hurdling today.
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  Speaker 3: I am sitting down with coach Chris Bennett. I always
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: feel compelled to use your first name because, like, you
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: are a real person, and i'd like to think so.
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: You know, so many people just call you coach b
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: Coach Bennett. But I believe in the episode title from
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: Round one, I did use Chris Bennett.
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  Speaker 2: I don't even know if it led with coach. I
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: wanted to humanize you.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: I appreciate that it's weird. Honestly, it's weird. Hearing my
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: first name. So actually it's nice. I enjoy it. I
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: enjoy hearing it sometimes.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: I enjoy hearing it sometimes. How you doing today, I'm great.
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  Speaker 4: I'm happy to be here.
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  Speaker 1: So thanks for happening. Thanks for happening. No, thanks for
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: having me. You see, I'm already I'm too excited. I
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: can't even speak. This is going to be great editing
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: for you.
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  Speaker 2: I guess at one point or another, I did happen
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  Speaker 2: and I'm still happening.
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  Speaker 4: Yes, I'm with Yes, You're always happening.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: Always happening.
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  Speaker 3: We are sitting here at Nike Global HQ with a
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: pretty dope view at the moment in the Serena building.
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  Speaker 4: Yes it is.
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  Speaker 1: It's wildly impressive and it never gets less impressive, which
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: is pretty cool because I've been up here a few
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: times and I'm still noticing things for the first time.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: Well, your desk is in this building.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: It is, which just tells you how impressive it is.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm not bored with where I work, which is
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  Speaker 1: pretty wild. Not many people can say that.
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  Speaker 3: And we are sitting here big weekend. It's a big
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: weekend because it is NxN weekend. For those that don't
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  Speaker 3: know why don't you fill us in on what NxN is.
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  Speaker 4: Well, first of all, how do you not know? Okay?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, so your life is about to get a
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: lot better finding out that NxN is happening this weekend.
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  Speaker 1: So Nike Cross National started in two thousand and four,
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  Speaker 1: and the twenty two best boys teams and the twenty
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  Speaker 1: two best girls teams and the forty five best individuals
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  Speaker 1: on the girls in the boys side get to come
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  Speaker 1: out to Portland and take a starting line to see
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  Speaker 1: who actually is the best team on the girl's side
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  Speaker 1: and the boy side, and who is the best cross
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  Speaker 1: country runner on the girls in the boys side. And
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: as a former cross country runner in high school before
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  Speaker 1: there was an NxN, every year ended basically at your
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: state championship. But you had this conversation of what if
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: what if I was from New Jersey, what if we
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  Speaker 1: got to race the teams from Illinois that we heard
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  Speaker 1: about that were so good, or Texas or California. But
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  Speaker 1: there was no opportunity, there was no meet, so it
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  Speaker 1: just it ended. It ended as just a dream and
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: a conversation that you would have on a long run
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  Speaker 1: every year, are we better than them? And then in
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: two thousand and four Nike started. It was called Nike
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  Speaker 1: Team Nationals at the time. Since then, there has been
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  Speaker 1: an answer to those hypothetical questions. They're no longer hypothetical.
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  Speaker 1: It's it's decided in Portland in December, and that is
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: happening this weekend. I think it's the coolest thing we
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: do by far. I'm biased. It doesn't mean I'm wrong, though,
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: but that's what's happening this weekend. And I know that's
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: a long answer, but I really want my answer to
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: be even longer, so I'm going to self at it
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  Speaker 1: and stop talking.
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  Speaker 2: So the forty five individuals.
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  Speaker 3: You can be an individual that comes to NxN but
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  Speaker 3: your team might not come.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, So the forty five individuals are picked basically at
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: the there's an NXR Nike Cross Regionals. There's eight of them,
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  Speaker 1: and then there's the state of California because their state
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  Speaker 1: meet is very late, so it's pulled from their state meet.
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  Speaker 1: So the top two teams at each regional automatically get in,
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  Speaker 1: and then the top five individuals at each regional that
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  Speaker 1: did not qualify in a team.
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  Speaker 4: They qualify. So it's a way for.
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  Speaker 1: You if your team was not able to qualify, but
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  Speaker 1: you were one of the best individuals. You get to
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: come and then you represent the region. So if you're watching,
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  Speaker 1: you'll see that there's twenty two teams on the girls side,
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  Speaker 1: and then there are a number of regions. There's a
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  Speaker 1: California region, a Northwest region, a Southeast so on and
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  Speaker 1: so forth to make up the forty five individuals. So
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  Speaker 1: even the individuals that show up, they're basically on. They
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: become a part of their regional team of individuals. So
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  Speaker 1: it's a lot of fun to see them actually get
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  Speaker 1: together and have that pride of representing their region.
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  Speaker 2: Your excitement is contagious.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, well, it's awesome. It's awesome.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I'm excited to be here with you this weekend.
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  Speaker 3: I came here for the first time to see NxN.
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: I believe it's twenty nineteen, about four or three. I've
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: lost all track of time, yes, and we'll talk about
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: that a little bit. But I mean, I've been here before,
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  Speaker 3: and I just remember being so moved, having not really
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: participated in team sports in high school extensively, to come
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: here and see how impactful it is, especially for the
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: young woman. I mean, I'm just it's like tugs at
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: the heartstrings, tears the whole nine.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, it is.
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  Speaker 1: I've yet to meet someone who has attended NxN as
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: a fan, or as a participant or as a coach
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  Speaker 1: that hasn't left changed. I mean like and it sounds
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: like a little cheesy, but it's real. I mean people
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: walk out and they are just blown away. And I
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: think part of it, to your point, is the age
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: group that you're watching. Yeah, I mean fourteen to eighteen
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: is a treacherous age. They've got a lot thrown at them.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: I mean as adults, I think we think we've got
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: a lot thrown at us. Well, they've got a lot
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: more than we've got. And to see what they're doing,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: not just on race day, but then you have time
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: as you're walking back to the car, I hope to
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: think about what it took for them to get here. Yeah,
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: and you see what it that basically they're they're digging deep,
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: but they're going past what it means to do something
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: for themselves. I mean the efforts they're giving surpass what
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: you would do for yourself. And you can tell it's
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: they're doing it for their team and that that is
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: what is so utterly powerful. It is what they are
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: willing to do for each other and the joy they have,
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: you know, battling and struggling and breaking through for each other.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: That's I think it's impossible to walk away and not
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: realize like, Okay, there's there's there's a lot of good
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: stuff happening in this world, and you you can. And
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: that's I think the power of sports. If you leave
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: the great part about sport at the court or the course,
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: or the trail or the pitch, then then the sport
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: is not achieving what it's supposed to. It should It
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: should bleed into the rest of your day and the
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: rest of your life. And I think that's one of
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: the cool things about an extent, Nobody who has been
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: a part of it leaves and doesn't bring it into
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: the rest of their day.
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I mean to an extent, if we try
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: for this to maybe like the marathon. For someone who's
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: never seen a cross country meet of any sort, you
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: go to a marathon, and so often you know, when
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: you're walking down the street when it's all said and done,
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: if you're spectating, you're hearing people say, wow, I'm either
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: like I'm going to do that next year or like
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: how motivating was that? And we hear year after year,
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: you know, especially during fall season when marathons are at
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: their height. It's like an opportunity for us to all
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: come together and lift one another up, support one another,
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: and do it in a way that it's like all
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: of these people, all these different backgrounds, you know, genders,
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: whatever however you identify in each and every way, it's
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: like an opportunity for us all to come together.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, and it doesn't. And that's the thing that is
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: really to me, is really powerful. It's not that you
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: walk away from something like watching a marathon or nixend
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: and you go for a run like you just you
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: you're just a better person.
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: So that may be.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: I mean, like for me, it's like I go home
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: and I'll probably do the dishes because I'm like, you
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: know what, the dish is need to be done, and
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: the kitchen's going to look better if I do the dishes.
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: So I'm gonna do the damn dishes. And it's because
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: of what I saw at NxN that the sink is clean.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: I'm sure that Tammy appreciates that.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: She does appreciate it, you know, and I think that's
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: why she's like, yes, we're going to NxN every single year.
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: That's the one time the kitchen is cleaned.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: But the it does translate to so many different things.
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: It's it's hard.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: To see how you know, these athletes will run for
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: each other and not hopefully become a better teammate to
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: the people in your life. And you don't have to
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: share a jersey to be a teammate. It could be
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: your family, it could be you know, your friends. We
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: have lots of different teams that we you know, quote
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: unquote run for. That's I think the magic of these events,
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: just like the.
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: Marathon, totally, totally and for you, I mean, aside from
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: the fact that your wife lets you come here so
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: that you go home and clean the kitchen, you also
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: have your daughters running this year.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: How does that feel for you?
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean the nice thing is is my wife
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: is just as big a fanatic about an XN as
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: I am, so that that helps a lot. And yeah,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: So my daughter Maggie is a senior and my daughter
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: Emma is a sophomore, and they will be racing for
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: what will be known as the Portland team, which is
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: Jesuit High School yeah, so that's I haven't processed that.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: I won't really be able to process it until tomorrow.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: But in twenty nineteen, the last time you were here,
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: my son Jack, who was a junior, and my daughter Maggie,
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: who was a freshman, ran and I have coach teams
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: at ennixn and that I was unprepared for that because
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: I had seen it as a coach, I had understood
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: what it meant as an athlete, but as a parent,
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: it was it was different. And it wasn't even the race.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: The race was probably the least memorable part for me,
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: and they ran great, But it was that wasn't It
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: was the little things I was seeing. It was, you know,
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: the magic of being announced and running down the straightway
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: with their team, dropping them off at the hotel as
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: they walk in and see the banners and these other
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: great teams and just it was a mixture of I think,
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: awe and excitement and pride that I could tell, which
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: is really what you want your kids to experience in life.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: So those are the moments to me, and they were
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: the same ones that when I brought teams here stick
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: out the races. I have a grand total of maybe
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: like six minutes of race, memories of having you know,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: coached five teams, being here and attended a ton of these.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: I don't remember the races very much, but I can
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: tell you a ton of little moments before and after
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: the race that stick with me that are probably the
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: most powerful parts.
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: Anyway, what does unprepared mean to you?
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: For this first?
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: Well, for the fact that you said you came in unprepared, right,
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: you came in unprepared as a parent to see them
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: kind of take in those moments.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: So what does unprepared mean?
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: Well, I think unprepared ment for how much it was
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: it was going to move me. I get overly emotional
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: at these things anyway. I'm a very cheesy person, so
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: I was it happened when I was coaching kids like
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: that was really powerful.
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: And I think I have.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: A very good ability to step back sometimes in the
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: moment and kind of just understand how big a deal
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: this is, which I'm very thankful for, because I think
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: too often people experience really great moments and it takes
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: them time to understand that, so they have to look
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: back from a distance. I can kind of understand in
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: the moment like this is this is really cool?
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: Where do you think that ability comes from.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: I honestly, I think it's it's probably a lot of
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: reading and being kind of a movie fan and enjoying
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: just powerful things like I'm like I said, I'm cheesy,
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: like I have. I I want to be moved and
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: I want to be inspired and I want to be motivated.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: I want to read too lyrics too much. So I
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: think I'm always looking for those things. I think it's
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: nothing more than just that is just on the lookout
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: to be inspired. So when I see these things, and
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: for instance, if you go to really any cross country meet,
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: it is to your point. So it's a true team sport.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: A lot of times people focus on the race, what
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: happens between the starting line and the finish line. There
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: are incredibly beautiful things happening before and after. I mean,
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: stick around for five minutes before and you'll see all
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: the athletes do their strides and then they come together
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: as a team of seven. They put their arms around
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: each other and you don't know what they're saying. But
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: I've been in the huddle. I know what they're saying.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: They're basically telling each other that they can do this.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: They're looking at each other they're making eye contact, and
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: usually the huddle breaks at them telling each other that
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: they love each other like that is incredibly badass. And
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: if you're on a sideline and you see huddle after
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: huddle after huddle, and you realize all these kids are
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: saying that to each other, and then you think about
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: what happened well before this starting line, that they're at
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: the Friday nights, that they were doing strides in the
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: parking lot during the summer, when friends were out the
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: Saturday mornings, they were waking up really early when friends
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: were sleeping in because they met with each other, and
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: all of this leads to them having this huddle that
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: we're here and we're going to do it for each other,
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: because that's what it comes down to, which is it's
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: going to be hard. There's going to be a moment
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: of doubt, and the way that we're going to get
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: through that is if we decide we're not doing this
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: for ourselves, we're doing it for each other, We're doing
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: it for the team. That's five minutes before the race
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: is even started. Yeah, and then at the end you
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: see that these moments where they cross the finish line
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: and it's cornage, they are on the ground. But what's
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: beautiful is they're all picking each other up, They're hugging
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: each other like. It's about five minutes of pure beauty.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: And if you hang out there and you're not looking
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: at the stupid clock but you're watching this, it's impossible
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: not to leave and say, Wow, I'm glad I hung
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: out and watched that. And I was told on this
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: podcast that this was going to happen, but I was
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: unprepared for the beauty I saw.
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: You know, wouldn't it be a I'm thinking about this
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: in context of like the individual, right, and like, what
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: a beautiful thing that at that age, like such an
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: important age, although all of them important in their own right,
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: to have so many people that say I love you
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: and I support you.
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: But what if we were.
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: To go into some of our biggest life hurdles or
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: our biggest life moments and say that to ourselves? Right,
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: so often we talk and we hear about that negative
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: self talk. But if we were to tow the starting
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: line of our own race, whether it be an actual
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: running race or perhaps a big job interview or something,
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: and go into that moment and say something like I
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: love you, like I'm so proud of you for showing
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: up here today. And regardless of how it goes, if
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: at the end of it then you say you did
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: the best you could with what you had, and like
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: be proud of that. And again, it's so difficult sometimes
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: in those high stress moments to greet yourself with like
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: grace and love. But if we were to pony up
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: and do it that way, like, how much better would
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: we be?
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: Absolutely? I mean that's why.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: You know, if what you're learning and improving at doesn't
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: get taken off the course, then there's a missed opportunity.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's the thing where I was mentioning like this,
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: this is the memory bank stuff, and it's hopefully pulled
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: out at that moment where you are being a terrible
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: teammate to yourself. But hopefully this is where this sixteen
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: year old on Saturday, ten twenty years from now or
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: ten or twenty hours from now, who is going through
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: a struggle realizes, you know, I have to support myself
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: the way that I support my teammates and the way
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: my teammates support me. And if you can do that,
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: then then that's why this the five k race. Like again,
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: not to get overly cheesy, but there's stuff written all
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: over the walls here Nike, and I'm one of the
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: people who actually, you know, I get into it. I
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: believe it, Like that's why there is no finish line
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: like this is this is why those moments need to
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: extend well beyond the fully automatic time that you got.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: So if that lesson ends at eighteen minutes and thirty
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: seven seconds, it wasn't a very good lesson. The lesson
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: needs to go well beyond the stop of the clock.
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: So I love this language of being your own teammate, Like, yes,
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: so beautiful in life to find those people that you
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: can truly call teammates, supporters, people that truly stand for you.
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: But thinking about that, thinking about that lesson, of the
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: importance of being your own teammate, of being your own
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: biggest hype man, that's some good stuff.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: Oh it's massive, and we all, we all at some
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: point there's less opportunities to be surrounded by a team
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: like we had when we were sixteen, or if you're
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: lucky to run in college, or if you're on a
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: club team or you're part of a crew, like that's great,
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: and you have to you have to, you know, hunt
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: out those tribes for yourself. But the reality is you
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: get to a certain point and whether it's the opportunities
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: or you believe the opportunities or less, there isn't that
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: team aspect where you have someone who is there who
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: feels like it is a part of their job as
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: your teammate to boost you up when you're starting to slip,
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: to carry you when you can't go on, and the
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: you know, kind of the contract is is I'll do
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: the same for you. But if you don't have teammates
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: surrounding you, then hopefully the lesson is is that like,
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: I can do this for myself if I need to,
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: which is that that's powerful. We need to be reminded
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: of that because even when you're on a great team,
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: we can still be shitty teammates to each other.
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: Right, So that's not going to change.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: It's just do you have enough leadership in that team
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: and power in that team to then write the ship.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: And that's the same whether you're talking about yourself as
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: a teammate or you're talking about a team full of
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: different individuals.
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: So yeah, super.
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: Important, super important, you know.
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: Reminiscent here this conversation talking about teammates and supporting yourself.
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: Bring it back to maybe the last time we spoke,
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: which was during the pandemic, your first time on the show.
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: During that time when so many of us were really
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: learning how to be our own teammate, right like, put
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: in situations that we had really never been in before,
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: tested in a way that we had never been tested before.
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: Catch us up a little bit on some highlights, like
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: what's Coach B been up to, what's he been working
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: on in the last couple of years.
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: This is going to sound boring, but more of the same.
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: I mean that's the for me.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: The biggest change that occurred for my job in COVID
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: was I think that it was more not so much accessible.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: I think it was people were more open to what
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: was really being said. I mean, if you get rid
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: of all of the races in the world, suddenly the
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: only purpose for running can no longer be I want
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: to run my fastest five k or I want to
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: do a marathon.
• 23:12
  Speaker 4: And when the.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: Entire globe is dealing with an incredible amount of stress
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: and fear, suddenly going for a run to try to
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: get faster seems a little silly, or maybe it's at
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: least it's not at the top of the list anymore.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: So some of the conversations that I had been having
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: for a couple of years, I think just resonated a
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: little more. And really, at the end of the day,
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: it's just giving yourself more excuses to go for a run.
• 23:45
  Speaker 4: But for me it was just I think a lot
• 23:47
  Speaker 4: of people.
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: Allowed themselves to go for runs for more reasons and
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: as a result, you know, I think we might have
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: hinted at this last time, but now we can actually
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: look back a little bit and actually confirm it. There
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: have been a number of running revolutions. There's been a
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: number of running booms. Most of them have focused on performance.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: Most of them have whether it was the first one,
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: which was going from you know, no such thing as
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: really communal jogging or community jogging. It was if you're
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: going to run, then you're on a literally on a team,
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: And that was the first running boom that we can
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: actually go out and we can get fitter, okay, And
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: that led to another running boom, which was racing and
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: now suddenly everyone wanted to race. And then there was
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: another running boom of the marathon in the early eighties,
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: where everyone suddenly wanted to do a marathon. So all
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: these booms have really just been about literally just the
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: running aspect of it. I'm running to get physically fitter,
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: or I'm running to get faster and I want to compete.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: This was the first time that there was literally a
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: boom based on all the other shit that you get
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: out of running, like, which is massive and from a
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: coaching perspective, that's the stuff that there is no you know,
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: date of expiration for that, Like if you're only running
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: to get faster, like I got a news flash, like
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: at some point, like it's not going to be able
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: to be about just that, which means you're not going
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: to have the excuse, the motivation to go for a
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: run because you're like, I'm never going to run another
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: five k faster than I did.
• 25:21
  Speaker 4: Okay, well now what Well if.
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: That's all you want, there isn't anything left for you
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: in the sport, which is really sad. But if you're
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: going out there because you're saying, you know, I need
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: to know I accomplished something today, or I need to
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: do with some stress, or I want to explore a
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: part of my neighborhood, or it's my opportunity to be
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: outside and be around people, because there was a period
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: where running was an excuse to be around people because
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: you couldn't be around people inside.
• 25:49
  Speaker 4: Think about that, like.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's no expiration date for that. It doesn't matter
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: if you're fifteen, twenty five, sixty five or one hundred
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: and five. Like going out to relieve some stress, you
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: can always do that, yeah, which means you can always
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: come back a little bit better as long as you're
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: not measuring it just on Am I getting faster?
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: Am I going further?
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: And I think, to me, that's that's been what I've
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: been up to because more and more people have realized
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: that more and more people are going after it. And
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: this is the cool part when you are during a
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: phase in your life where it is one of the
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: top reasons is to get faster. If you include these
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: other reasons as potential excuses to go for a run,
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: you're going to have better runs. You're going to get faster.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: So running to go out and relieve stress will make
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: you a better runner. There is a there's nothing you're
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: going to lose by expanding the reasons why you go
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: for a run and making it about more than just
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: the you know, the pace, the distance and all that stuff.
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: So it's made it's made my life a little bit easier,
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: which is nice.
• 26:53
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: I mean it also probably has really shaped the way
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: that you think about and create content for an right,
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: because now these people that were maybe sipping the kool
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: aid before but are now like full on, like drinking
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: it by the gallon, are coming to you and saying
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: exactly what it is that they want and what they
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: need to continue in their pursuit of run with that
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: diverse list of reasons as to why they're getting out
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: there and lacing up in the first place.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and to that point, I asked, I don't have
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: to explain why certain runs are needed, you know, like
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: the back in like twenty seventeen, it was one of
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: the first runs was that don't want to run run
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: And it was like, do you do we really need it?
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: Don't want to run run? I'm like, yeah, cause most
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: people's runs or don't want to run runs. But you
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: can take that out to something like the thank you run,
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: which was what is that about?
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: Last?
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: But it was because this is a really good thing
• 27:50
  Speaker 4: to talk about.
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: So we just had our fifth kind of thank you run,
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: which is like thirty minute thank yous, but those are
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: the types of runs that are also the ones.
• 28:00
  Speaker 4: That get done over and over and over again.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: And I think it's also because we're human beings and
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: we all go through a lot of stuff and this
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: is a roller coaster of ups and downs. Yeah, and
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: it doesn't always mean that they're you know, substantial downs
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: or incredible highs, but it is rolling.
• 28:20
  Speaker 4: But it's also good good lessons.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: I mean, as a former teacher, I mean, you know,
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: a lot of teaching is repetition because the best lessons often,
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: you know, you need to remind people of. So those
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: are the types of things I mean, And you're right,
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: I mean, over just the past couple of months, I mean,
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: one of the biggest runs we've ever had was it
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: came out just a few months ago called It's Okay
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: five K, which is really just me coming in thirty
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: times over the course of this five K telling you
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: like it's it's okay if you're struggling, or it's okay
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: if you're different, or it's okay to try your best,
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: it's okay to take a break. You know, I think
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: we forget sometimes, like all that seems really obvious, doesn't it.
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: So it's so interesting to hear you say that sometimes
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: the biggest lessons that we learn are worth repeating, like
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: we need them repeat it.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because those are the ones that are so obvious
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: you eventually take them for granted, and those are the
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: ones that you just overlook. So I mean, like, there
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: isn't one thing in the It's ok five K that
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: I think if I were to write down, you'd be like,
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: that's that's interesting.
• 29:20
  Speaker 4: I never thought about that. Of course, it's okay to
• 29:22
  Speaker 4: be different.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: But we can forget that and we can feel like
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: it's not or it scary, and sometimes you just need
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: someone to be like, I just need to remind you
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: of something you already know, And sometimes that's the epiphany.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: It's just it's just relearning something that you once knew
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: and have since kind of parked somewhere back in your
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: mind and hidden under a lot of garbage.
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah, a lot of garbage. You know, as a coach,
• 29:46
  Speaker 3: not just over on Nike Run Club, but then also
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: you mentioned bringing a slew of teams here to NxN.
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: You know, you have certainly been a role model for
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: so for so many, So how does it feel for
• 30:00
  Speaker 3: you to be a role model and to tag on
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: to that what would you say or who would you
• 30:07
  Speaker 3: say have been some of yours?
• 30:10
  Speaker 4: That's a good question.
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: I don't know if I've ever that's, you know, not
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: to jump on what we were just talking about. That
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: seems like that would be an obvious question for me
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: to get asked, and I don't think I've ever been
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: asked that question.
• 30:21
  Speaker 4: So cheers to you. Wows there we go? Right?
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I since I taught and coached in high school,
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: I didn't look at it really as being a role model.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: I looked at it really as part of the job description,
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: like if you are if you are in a position,
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: and a lot of times you get put in a position,
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: whether you're a teacher or a coach, whether you deserve
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: it or not. You're in a position of leadership. You're
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: in a position of authority. You have an element of
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: power over the individuals that you're been tasked with with
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: taken care of. You're a caretaker, so to me, you know,
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: it might not be written in the job description, but
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: I don't know if anyone really has a job description
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: where most of what you're tasked with is actually written
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: into the job description. So I don't think there's when
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: I became a teacher or a coach. One of them said,
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: role model.
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: Can you imagine if it was like you must be
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: role model material.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's but I don't know how you could take
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: that role and not assume that you are going to
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: inspire the people in your charge to either do the right.
• 31:28
  Speaker 4: Thing or the wrong thing.
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: Definitely, And I don't think you can ask people to
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: do things when you're in a position of authority or
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: leadership and then not hold yourself to the same standard.
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: So to me, it was it was just again, I
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: think I had the luxury because I was I was
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: working with kids that the obligation that you have to
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: them is it's I don't understand how anyone could not
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: realize the incredible power they have over these end of
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: and you can really screw things up. And then on
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: top of that, it goes so far beyond practice. So
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: you know, it's one thing to say like, well, for
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: two hours, I'm going to make you a better runner
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: and a better teammate, and we're going to you know,
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: focus on this, but you'd have to be lying to
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: yourself to not understand that whatever happens after in practice
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: extends itself outside of practice. And leads right into the
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: next practice. So whatever you're doing a practice, the assumption
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: should be that they're leaving better in some way. But
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: that means, you know, you have to hold yourself to
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: a certain standard where everyone's leaving better for having been
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: with you. And the ultimate standard I think if a
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: coach is is everyone who leaves should need you less.
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: If your team is relying on you more and more
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: and more the more they work with you, I think
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: you're a pretty crappy coach. I mean, by the end,
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: they shouldn't really need you at all. It should really
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: just be you're there to kind of again reaffirm lessons.
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: They already know you can be someone there for them
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: to lean on ask for advice. But so to me,
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: like that's that was a role model. I don't know
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: if I ever used that term, which is so weird
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: that you're asking this, but yeah, that's one hundred percent.
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: I just assumed that if I was going to coach
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: and I was going to teach, that I absolutely had
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: to be a role model one hundred percent. I was
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: lucky because I was I was fourth out of five kids,
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: so I had an older sister and three older brothers
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: or two older brothers, I'm sorry, a younger brother also,
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: and whether they realize whether a sibling realizes it or not,
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: too you look up to them totally, not just physically
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: like you look up to them, so how they carry
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: themselves is really important. So I lucked out there my parents.
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: I think most parents realize that their role models, so
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: I looked up to them. So I mean just the
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: people that you're around a lot. And then I had
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: a few teachers that stood out more than some others.
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: But I always kind of held the teachers to a standard,
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: whether they know it or not, and more often than
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: not they upheld it. But on the flip side, I
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: also learned when you have good role models, you can
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: have people in that exact same position that could be
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: really bad ones. So sometimes like really good lessons also
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: tell you not just what to do, they should tell
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: you what not to do. And also really crappy lessons
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: don't just teach you what not to do, they teach
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: you what to do. So by having a really good teacher,
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: I knew what a good teacher now does and what
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: a good teacher does not do. And I've had bad
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: teachers that bereat kids and make them feel stupid and
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: as a result, I knew that's what not to do.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: That doesn't lead to better performance. That just leads to
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: a kid who's scared to raise their hand, which is
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: the opposite of what you want.
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: So yeah, I mean there's a difference between knowing and
• 34:49
  Speaker 3: executing though, right Like, you may know, but if you
• 34:53
  Speaker 3: look at your moral compass and your values and how
• 34:57
  Speaker 3: you want to execute, that is kind of where that
• 35:01
  Speaker 3: power lies. Also, I've really been thinking about what you
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: just said two minutes ago, saying that a good coach
• 35:08
  Speaker 3: or maybe a good leader, the people that they work
• 35:10
  Speaker 3: with over.
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: Time need them less.
• 35:12
  Speaker 3: Yes, And I'm thinking about that in context to maybe
• 35:16
  Speaker 3: like bring it to adulthood and mentors. I don't know
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: if maybe it's just the shift in the language where
• 35:23
  Speaker 3: it's you don't need them, so to speak, because you
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: start to create and pave your own way. But I
• 35:30
  Speaker 3: do believe that you still desire that connection because this
• 35:33
  Speaker 3: person so truly inspires you to step into the beauty
• 35:37
  Speaker 3: that is your best self.
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: Oh.
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, I think it's just the I mean you just
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: described it. I think what happens is the relationship changes
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: where I mean, like honestly if you're if you're a
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: teacher or you're a coach, the goal really should be
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: not only do they need you less and less, but
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: they're better at whatever you're coaching them or teaching them
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: to do than you are. I mean, it really is like,
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: as a visual you should be thinking, I'm handing the
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: baton off to you, and they're going to be things
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: that I can't achieve that you can. I mean that
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: is so there's a level of humility there as well.
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: But also that doesn't mean that the relationship has to
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: stay the same because as you become equals or as
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: you actually become like the assistant coach to you know,
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: your athlete, it doesn't mean that you can't offer incredible things.
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: And like I said, sometimes you shift from Like when
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: I was coaching high school, I spent way more time
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: with the freshmen than I did the seniors. But what
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: I was giving the seniors was different than what I
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: was giving the freshmen. I was giving the freshmen kind
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: of like this is how to run the right way,
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: this is I want you to fall in love with
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: the sport. For the seniors, it was navigating some maybe
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: some things outside of the sport. It was showing them
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: that what it means to now be a leader to
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: other kids on the team. So it's just what you're
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: teaching is different. And then eventually it just you become equals,
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: and you become colleagues, and you can become friends. But
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: that's down the road, and it doesn't mean you have
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: anything less to offer, just means what you're offering is different.
• 37:01
  Speaker 4: Hands all.
• 37:06
  Speaker 3: Taking a break from today's episode to give some love
• 37:09
  Speaker 3: to my sponsors.
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: First up, let's talk about Open.
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  Speaker 3: I myself wake up every day, grab min espresso, and
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  Speaker 2: Let's take a class together.
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  Speaker 3: Open is given hurdle listeners thirty days free when you
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  Speaker 3: slash Hurdle. Let me know what y'all think and I'll
• 38:50
  Speaker 3: see you in class. Also have to give some love
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• 39:58
  Speaker 3: Again that is go welldr dot com slash hurdle. Use
• 40:02
  Speaker 3: hurdle at checkout for free shipping. I mean so many
• 40:12
  Speaker 3: metaphors in here. Obviously, as always, it's about running, it's
• 40:15
  Speaker 3: not about running. You also use the phrase here past
• 40:18
  Speaker 3: the baton appropriate for a question that I want to
• 40:21
  Speaker 3: ask you about kind of where we're heading, right. I mean,
• 40:25
  Speaker 3: we think about what running looks like now, and you
• 40:27
  Speaker 3: described this most recent running boom being so beautiful and
• 40:31
  Speaker 3: that it's about so many other things aside from what
• 40:33
  Speaker 3: we quote unquote used to worry about, right, So, knowing
• 40:38
  Speaker 3: that where do you believe or what are your hopes
• 40:41
  Speaker 3: for maybe the next fifty in terms of running, well.
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: I think one of the things that I've noticed just
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: in the last let's say ten years, and I think
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: that gives you kind of a clue to where maybe
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: the next ten years are going. Then you can kind
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: of expand from there, and I'll just use an example
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: of n ex and then you can kind of expand
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: it out, because I think anytime you see certain things occurring,
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: especially in sport, there's obviously more to the story than
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: just a simplistic explanation of it. So I'll start with
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: a simple aspect. If you were to look at the
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: girls race this year, there are a dozen teams that
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: would have been good enough to win ten years ago. Okay,
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: so the depth is mind blowing right now. So if
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: you were to get out of a time machine from
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: like twenty twelve to twenty twenty two, you'd show up
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two and just your mind would be
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: blown of just just how many great runners there are
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: and how many good teams there are. So what that
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: means is that there's a lot more great running happening
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: out there in the country, which if you just go
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: to a track meet or a cross country meet, you
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: can tell there's a lot more kids coming out for
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: the sport, which means there's probably a lot more opportunities.
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: I mean, cross country is one of the few sports
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: that has a team sports that has continued to grow
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: year after year after year after You're same thing with
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: indoor track. Outdoor track is the highest participatory sport in
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: all of high school when you put in boys and
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: girls track and field. So to me, what I'm seeing
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: is that more kids are taking the opportunity to give
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: this sport a shot for a lot of different reasons,
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: and I think part of it is because there's more
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: opportunities at the middle school level. I think there's more
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: opportunities to compete at different levels. I think there's better
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: coaching now, So I think there's a progression because what
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: that means, though, is that there were less opportunities. There
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: wasn't as good coaching, There weren't as many excuses to
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: go for a run, there weren't as many starting lines
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: available for everyone. So I think that to me is
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: probably the most exciting aspect because it doesn't matter if
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: you're going for like a run in Central Park, it
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: doesn't matter if you're at Annex N, it doesn't matter
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: where you're going for a run. There are more people running.
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: It looks different, it sounds different, and as a result,
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: more people are running and the running is getting better.
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: So to me, just like to make this about running
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: and not about running. The best way to get better
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: at running is to diversify your training. Okay, don't run
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: five k every day at the same pace, at the
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: same time, on the same course. Mix things up. Do
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: speed runs, do long runs, do fart lick, run in
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: neighborhoods you've never been in, run with people, run alone,
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: run in the morning, run at night. Mix up your pace,
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: mix up the terrain, you know, have some fun racing.
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: Like that's how you get better at running. It's also
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: how you keep running exciting and not going stale. It's
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: the same thing with the people on a starting line, Like,
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: diversify the people doing the sport, and you're going.
• 43:41
  Speaker 4: To have a better sport.
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: If it's the same group at the same time, running
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: the same way, talking the same way, sounding the same way, like,
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: the sport will go stale. And I think right now
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of excitement around this sport because there
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: are more starting lines opening up. I think what needs
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: to happen is that just needs to be amplified. I
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: think it's exciting and it's a challenge. It's a challenge
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: to say, yes, things are diversifying in the sport of running,
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: but now not to just put the car in neutral.
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: This is where you put your pedal down and you say, Okay,
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: let's open up as many opportunities, as many starting lines
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: for as many people as possible, because this is a really,
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: really great sport for everyone to be a part of.
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: Okay, so I have to challenge you real quick, Okay. Running.
• 44:31
  Speaker 3: USA's twenty twenty National Runner Survey found that only three
• 44:34
  Speaker 3: percent of all US runners are black. Yeah, how do
• 44:38
  Speaker 3: we include and open up more starting lines for not
• 44:44
  Speaker 3: only people of color, but maybe LGBTQ, et cetera, marginalized
• 44:49
  Speaker 3: groups that have a vested interests perhaps in sport, but
• 44:52
  Speaker 3: maybe haven't found their comfortability in it just yet.
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: Well, I think it goes to supporting them where they are.
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: I mean, because this is the thing, and if you
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: want to run, you have to be comfortable.
• 45:05
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: It's no different than if it's cold out and you
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: don't have the right gear, You're not going to go
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: for a run. If it's dark and you don't feel
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: safe you're not going to go for a run. So
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: if you don't feel comfortable as who you are, we're
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: not talking about weather now, which can be fixed with
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: a jacket, and we're not talking about the lighting, which
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: can be fixed by the time of the day or
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: a light bulb. We're talking about who you personally are.
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: If you don't feel safe for whatever reason going for
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: a run, you're not going to run. But the way
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: you make that feel that person feel safe is you
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: don't say we want you to come here with these
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: people over there.
• 45:41
  Speaker 4: You do all the work.
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: It's how do we make it as easy as possible
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: for someone to go for a run, feel comfortable, and
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: end it saying I felt good, I want to do
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: that again. But this is where I think the sport
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: as a whole has screwed up for fifty years. It's
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: not about gear getting someone to run, that's not the answer.
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: It's about getting someone to want to run again, which
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: means that run has to be a good run. And
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: you can only have a good run if you end
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: it wanting to run again, which means you have to
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: feel comfortable about who you are. If every time you
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: show up for a run and you have to pretend
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: you're something you're not. If every time you go for
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: a run and you don't feel comfortable, If every time
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: you go for a run and feel I can't be
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: who I truly am, you're not going to come back
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: for a run.
• 46:28
  Speaker 4: I mean, this is the other.
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: Thing that I'll say, because I think this is super
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: important and I've said this before, but I think for
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: right now, the moment is a good one to say.
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: You should end a run closer to who you fully are.
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: Every single run should end that way. It doesn't mean
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: every run is going to feel good physically, like I
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: felt great and I got a runner's high, you know,
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: which I think I've had like twice in my life.
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: I think, and I'm probably am lying about that, but
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: you should end it feeling closer to who you feel
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: you were meant to be. That will never happen if
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: the entire time you're on a run, you're pretending you're
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: something you're.
• 47:02
  Speaker 2: Not, or you're like concerned for your safety.
• 47:04
  Speaker 3: I mean, heck, this is like such a such a
• 47:07
  Speaker 3: topic right now, especially like with women in sport. We
• 47:09
  Speaker 3: have a huge conversation about it in New York recently,
• 47:12
  Speaker 3: and it's it's challenging right now to go out there
• 47:15
  Speaker 3: and feel like the whole time you're not like kind
• 47:18
  Speaker 3: of looking over.
• 47:18
  Speaker 2: Your shoulder a little bit.
• 47:19
  Speaker 3: But I totally hear you in this, like getting to
• 47:22
  Speaker 3: the end of the run and feeling just like so
• 47:25
  Speaker 3: much more even more, just like a little bit more
• 47:28
  Speaker 3: whole than you did when you started that.
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: I mean, that is the definition of recovery is to
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: take back something that was lost or stolen. Most of
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: your running should be recovery runs.
• 47:38
  Speaker 4: You should be doing.
• 47:39
  Speaker 2: Something that was lost or stolen. So like, okay, so
• 47:43
  Speaker 2: expand that out.
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: I mean that is to me, that is the true
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: definition of a recovery run, that by the end of it,
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: you have brought something back that was yours.
• 47:50
  Speaker 2: And we're not even talking about like just like muscles.
• 47:53
  Speaker 4: Oh no, no, no, I'm talking about the opposite.
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm talking about totally different like this, I'm not
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: about anything physical right now. The the you will not
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: get pure the most benefit out of a recovery run
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: if you think it's just recovering from a hard effort
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: or an anticipation of a next hard effort. A recovery
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: run is about taking back what was lost your soul
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: and during the day to make you more holy you
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: then you can get into the physical aspects. But if
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: you're not starting with that, then you're not really achieving
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: the purpose of a recovery run.
• 48:23
  Speaker 4: But if you're already starting a.
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: Run having to slice off a part of your identity,
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: then the run isn't going to bring that back. So
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: you never want to end the run with less. You
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: always want to end the run with more of the
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: good stuff.
• 48:38
  Speaker 4: But in order to.
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: Do that, to your point, yeah, you have to feel comfortable.
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: You have to feel safe. You can't recover when you're tense,
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: when you're anxious, when you're stressed, or when you're lying
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: to yourself for other people, which is not how it's
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: supposed to be, and that is super important.
• 48:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah, if you're a Miss Globe head coach Nike running,
• 49:02
  Speaker 3: how would you say we're talking about accessibility here? So
• 49:05
  Speaker 3: how would you say that Nike is making sport accessible
• 49:09
  Speaker 3: for every athlete right and using that innovation then to
• 49:13
  Speaker 3: grow community when it comes to running, well.
• 49:16
  Speaker 4: I think some of it is.
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: I mean, education gets a bad rap as a word
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: and everyone thinks it's so boring.
• 49:21
  Speaker 3: You know, you can't get a teacher sitting done with
• 49:23
  Speaker 3: me and telling me that education.
• 49:25
  Speaker 4: It's not boring, it's awesome.
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: It's awesome, you know, because I mean, basically, education is
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: just code for sharing you know, wisdom or insights or
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: learned experiences and all that. So I mean, I'll tell
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: you some of the things that I mean I've personally
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: been very proud to be a part of. We've worked
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: over the last two years to put out a lot
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: of runs on running during, before, during, and after pregnancy.
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: I think we have about ten runs. Some of it
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: is running during the first trimester or running during the
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: third trimester and beyond. Some of it is pregnancies and
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: long runs and pregnancies and speed runs, because these are
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: the things that I get asked a lot, like, Okay,
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: I'm pregnant, Can I still run?
• 50:09
  Speaker 4: Can I still do speed runs? Can I do long runs?
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: And as you can tell, a lot of it is
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: not anything more than just I don't know, which is
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: huge and this is a great starting point with running.
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: Most people hate running or don't think that running is
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: for them because they don't know how to run, or
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: they don't feel like they have an invitation to join.
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: So part of it is inviting people to join, which
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: is huge, and telling them that, by the way, they
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: never needed the invite, you know, like they've always had it,
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: like they have a place on the starting line already booked.
• 50:40
  Speaker 4: It's there.
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: But the other part, a lot of is education and
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: then some of it is just the opportunity. So if
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: you look at the NTC, which is kind of our
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: sister app with NRC, there are adaptive.
• 50:50
  Speaker 2: Workouts in there stands for Nike Training Club, Niggie Training Club.
• 50:53
  Speaker 4: There you go.
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: So, I mean, but those are the types of things
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: that you know, after they're in there, you think, how
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: how have they not always been in there. It's the
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: same thing of how does everyone not know whether or
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: not they can run when they're pregnant. It's because obviously
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: the information's not out there, So part of is getting
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: the information out there. It's the same thing as if
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: you're at a track and you're standing at a starting
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: line and saying, where is everybody? And you realize, well,
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: did you invite anyone? No?
• 51:17
  Speaker 4: So you can sit around and you can wait for
• 51:19
  Speaker 4: people to figure out that they can show up at
• 51:21
  Speaker 4: a starting line, or you can get off your ass
• 51:23
  Speaker 4: and you can start inviting people and then you can say,
• 51:25
  Speaker 4: well what happened, Well, they showed up and then went
• 51:27
  Speaker 4: for a run and they hated it. Well, whose fault
• 51:30
  Speaker 4: is that?
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: Well, if you know how to run, then part of
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: your obligation is to share the wisdom.
• 51:35
  Speaker 4: I mean that's you know.
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: I mean you walk around about every if you have
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: a body, you're an athlete. I love the line, but
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: everyone can be a teacher. All it is is sharing information.
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: It's sharing it and that is the key. The keyword
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: is sharing because when you share, there's no expectation of
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: getting something in return. And I think as a runner,
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: if you love this sport, part of the obligation is
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: to give back to it, which is to get more
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: people to a starting line. So I think that's part
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: of it. And also I think the messaging which I'm
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: really proud of and r C. I think if I
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: were to leave Nike today, that would be what I'm
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: most proud of. Is from day one, I was like,
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: this is going to be human. It's going to be empathetic,
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: and it's going to be open, and it's not going
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: to be about the type of shoe you're in. It's
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: not going to be about where you're running. It's not
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: going to be about your pace. It's not going to
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: be about how fast you are. It's going to lead
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: with that human element of it. And I think that's
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: always an open invitation when you start with that, because
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: it's not how fast or how far we're going, it's
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: just have you struggled? Everyone can say yes to that.
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: You know, do you want to feel successful? Everyone wants
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: to Are you a little nervous?
• 52:45
  Speaker 4: Okay?
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: We share that, And I think that's kind of the
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: thing that we have to remember. There's room on the
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: starting line for everybody. But I think it starts with
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: at least letting people know that, because most people are
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: not on the starting line and they don't know.
• 52:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, have you struggled? In question obviously relevant to the
• 53:02
  Speaker 3: podcast you're on right now. We're recording this tail end
• 53:06
  Speaker 3: of twenty twenty two, kind of for lack of a
• 53:10
  Speaker 3: better designation, maybe our first what feels like, I want
• 53:13
  Speaker 3: to say the term post pandemic year, even though we're
• 53:16
  Speaker 3: still in it. When we think about struggle, when we
• 53:19
  Speaker 3: think about hurdles, and you think about the past year,
• 53:21
  Speaker 3: what would you say your perhaps biggest struggle has been
• 53:25
  Speaker 3: and maybe the hurdle that really feels like you've conquered.
• 53:30
  Speaker 4: Well, that's a good question. You really you're packing them
• 53:33
  Speaker 4: in here at the end.
• 53:33
  Speaker 2: I'm here for you.
• 53:34
  Speaker 4: That's a good one.
• 53:35
  Speaker 2: I'm winding. I always wind on strung.
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: No, I would say it's been being okay with admitting
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: how tired I am. Yeah, I would say, what often
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: happens and it makes sense. I mean, when we'll get
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: rid of the waiver of we know we're still in
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: the pandemic, but to your point, the things are opening up.
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: People are traveling, people are going to races, they're coming together.
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: I think what happens sometimes is when you've been like
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: clenching for a really, really really long time, and you're
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: really tight and you're kind of in a ball, and
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: then finally you relax. Relaxing the tension doesn't mean you're relaxed,
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: And a lot of times what happens is once you
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: finally relax that tension that you've been holding in, that's
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: when you finally.
• 54:20
  Speaker 4: Realize you're exhausted.
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: And I don't think any of us have really given
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: ourselves the grace to just admit I know we're on
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: the other side, but now I can finally admit I'm
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: really tired.
• 54:31
  Speaker 4: I think we got to.
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: A point where we were okay with admitting I'm scared,
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: I'm stressed, but it's really exhausting to be scared. It's
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: really exhausting to be stressed. And I think the next
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: thing I think we all have to be okay with
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: admitting is I am really tired and we're not at
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: our best room. We're tired, and I think until we
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: give ourselves the ability to recover from that, we're not
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: going to recover.
• 54:55
  Speaker 4: So for me, it's been a little bit on and
• 54:58
  Speaker 4: off of.
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: Just realizing that it's not that I don't have anything
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: to write, or I don't have anything to say, or that,
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: you know.
• 55:07
  Speaker 4: Gosh, I'm not inspired to go to work today. I'm
• 55:10
  Speaker 4: just tired.
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: And a lot of times we can blame all these
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: other things, like why have I lost inspiration? Why am
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: I not motivated? Why am I not doing good work?
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: And it's you're tired. It doesn't mean you're bad at
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: your job. It doesn't mean you're a bad runner, it
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: doesn't mean you're a bad partner. You're tired, and it's
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: just like anything else. I mean, you'd think runners, we
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: would figure this out because after a hard workout, what's the.
• 55:31
  Speaker 4: Number one thing to do? Recover?
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: And we just went through a really hard workout that
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: lasted a couple of years and we still haven't recovered.
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: So I would say one of my goals, oddly enough,
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: is I would hope twenty twenty three gets us further
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: and further away from all of the hardest parts of
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: the past few years. But I would say that the
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: best work and the best efforts I'm going to be
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: able to give are going to be effort and work
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: towards recovering.
• 56:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, when someone tells you that like I'm tired, they're
• 56:07
  Speaker 3: out the admission. They admit it, right, what happens after
• 56:10
  Speaker 3: they admit it, Like, how how do you move forward?
• 56:12
  Speaker 4: Then?
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: Well, I think you celebrate the work they're going to
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: do to recover because I think we we do not
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: equate them equally, and we should. So we look at
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: like if you're gonna if you're gonna do something hard,
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: that's bad ass. Recovery is like a sign of weakness,
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: and it's like not recovery is like I think that
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: what I think if people realize that, like not everything's
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: about running, but we're going to make it about running
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: right here. Great running is dependent on great recovery, and
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: if you want consistently good running, you have to consistently recover.
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: So I think some of it is being like a
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: champion for recovery, making recovery bad ass, making people know
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: that they can be just as passionate about recovering as
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: they can about building up fatigue, because that's all we do.
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: No one says like, I got ten hours of sleep
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: and someone's like, good for you. People are like, I
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: work ninety hour weeks, You're a badass. Well what if
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: somebody works their ass off and never gets told they
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: need to recover. I'll tell you what, They're not going
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: to be able to work their ass off for very long.
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: I don't think that's impressive. I don't think you working
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: hard for a week and crashing is impressive. I think
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: you can be way more intelligent about it and probably
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: work really well all year round with great recovery. So
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: if you want to showboat that you get four hours
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: of sleep as opposed to spacing out the work over
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: a period of time and getting eight hours of sleep,
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm in the eight hour camp because
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: I want to see you back here, and because I
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: know what happens, I know what happens for me personally.
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: I know what happens from working with athletes, I know
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: what happens with working at Nike. When people work too
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: hard for too long, they don't last. And what you
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: want to do is you want to last. This isn't
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: about today, this is about a lifetime. So if you
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: are putting yourself out there and you're being to do
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: a lot of work, understand that the best way to
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: take advantage of the work you did is to recover
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: with just as much passion and focus as you did
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: working to accomplish all those things. And then, just in general,
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: I think we need to, like I said, I think
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: we need to be calling each other out in a
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: good way about recovering like badasses. It's not just about
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: running or working like a badass.
• 58:23
  Speaker 4: Recover like a badass.
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: You know when someone comes into work and they're ready
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: to rock, Yeah, they're inspiring and it is a halo
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: effect on everyone else. You also know when someone's dragging
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: and refuses to recover. Yeah, you know where it ends.
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: It doesn't end with them doing great work, It ends
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: with them missing work. Badass recovery badass recovery. Let's go
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: for it twenty twenty three. That's what it's all about.
• 58:48
  Speaker 3: Final two questions, all right, Usually I ask someone how
• 58:53
  Speaker 3: they feel when they look in the mirror, what they
• 58:55
  Speaker 3: see looking back at them.
• 58:57
  Speaker 2: I've asked you that question before, so I'm not going
• 58:59
  Speaker 2: to do it today.
• 59:00
  Speaker 3: But what I am going to ask you, as a
• 59:03
  Speaker 3: dad and a coach, Yep, when your two daughters look
• 59:07
  Speaker 3: in the mirror tomorrow morning, before they head out and
• 59:11
  Speaker 3: run N XN, what do you want them to see
• 59:15
  Speaker 3: looking back at them.
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: I want them to be proud of themselves before the
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: before the race. I want them to be as proud
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: of them as I am of them.
• 59:27
  Speaker 4: I want you know what I mean.
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: Like it's it's weird to say this, but I would
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: love for them to look in the mirror and see
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: them the way I see them, because they're fucking rock stars,
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: you know, like flat out and they can hear Daddy
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: curse because they are. They're fucking rock stars. And I
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: want them to know that. And I think that's and
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna expand it out. I'm not limiting that to
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: my two girls on the line. Every girl on that
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: line needs to look at themselves and think that, because
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: the fact is they are. This isn't blowing smoke up
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: anybody's but you're rock stars. And you can go to
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: the regional meets and all those girls who took the
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: line there, they're freaking rock stars. Okay, it is. They're
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: not normal, and I mean that in the best possible sense.
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 1: They're not ordinary, okay, because not everyone has taken these
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: starting lines. I wish they would, but they're not. So
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: until that happens, they're extraordinary and if you marry the words,
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: it means extraordinary. But most of them probably don't look
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: at the mirror and think that. And part of it
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: is because the world they live in, where you're an athlete,
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: everyone's doing this. But if they could just take a
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: step back, and I have the luxury of doing that,
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: because I'm not them looking in the mirror, I'm looking
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: at them looking in the mirror.
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 4: I know not everyone does this.
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: I know that's extraordinary, and I just wish all of
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: these kids knew what they're doing and who they are
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: is extraordinary, because life's going to try to convince you
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: that you're not. But if you at least have these
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: moments where you can say I was in that moment.
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: That's all it takes to get you out of those holes,
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: which is super important. So that would be what I
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: would hope that they see what I see.
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 2: All Right, I love that extraordinary that's all we want
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 2: to be. Yeah, and you only need to be at once.
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 1: Well, and the cool thing is is again not to
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: get overly cheesy here, but I'm going to get a
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: lit over cheesy.
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 2: I'm down with it.
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 4: And again I'm a dictionary guy.
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: Okay, people should look up the definition of extraordinary. Simply
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: being who you are quantifies as extraordinary because you are
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: the only person like you. And I know that people
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: can hear that, and sometimes it's like on a post
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: with a cat, like going after a ball of yarn,
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: and it can seem very cheesy, but the.
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 4: Fact of the matter is it's legit.
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: There isn't anybody like you, and the more you try
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: to be like other people, the less extraordinary you become.
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: So don't be afraid of being yourself, because that is
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 1: literally how you become extraordinary. And if you don't agree
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 1: with me saying that, go to the dictionary and then
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 1: you can write websters and you can argue with them,
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: because that's the definition, y'all. Okay, be yourself, you're extraordinary.
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 2: Then it doesn't want you and his DMS arguing with him.
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 4: No, don't argue with me about the dictionary because I'm
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 4: gonna win. Okay. The dictionary is like my assistant coach,
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 4: So I love that. Don't bring that. Bring something else.
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 3: Rather than ask you about advice that you would have
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 3: offered to yourself. Like I usually close the end of
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 3: every podcast again tail end of the year here, So
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 3: we're gonna close it big. We're gonna think forward twenty
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 3: twenty three. You bring with you one word into the
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 3: new year. What is your word?
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 2: How are you shaping up twenty twenty three? Give it
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 2: to me?
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: Wow, that's another go one. These are the hard ones,
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: you know. It's like when people are like, what's your
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: favorite song? And you're like, can I give you four?
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 1: And they're like, no, you can't. You can give me one.
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: So I can carry one word. I know it definitely
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: is which dates me. But I have so many pockets.
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: I can bring more words into twenty twenty three, but
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: I will. I'll probably say joy. You know, I think
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: joy and I think joy takes I think I like
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: joy because there's a verb form to it, which is rejoice,
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: and I think that would probably be the combo that
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: I'll bring joy in. And I'm a verbs guy, so
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: I'll turn it into kind of an action and it'll
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 1: be rejoice, and that's I think I want to kind of.
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 1: I think it takes some guts to rejoice because I
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: think a lot of times you bring down the wattage
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: of your bulb based on the people around you because
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: you don't. It's like when you're on a plane and
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: you want to read, but the people next to you
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: are asleep, and you're like, I'm not going to turn
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: that light on, but now you're robbing yourself of reading,
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 1: and it's like, screw you turn the light on.
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 4: You can read. You know, you're on a plane.
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 1: And I think for me, that's like twenty twenty three
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: is like it's I think it's infectious to rejoice about things,
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: but I also think it's an opportunity maybe to let
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 1: people know what they're doing brings me joy, which in
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: turn hopefully brings them joy, and it's just like this
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: cascade effect. And then maybe I don't know, maybe instead
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: of it being like a thirty w year. It's like
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 1: a one hundred wat year from all of this.
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 4: I don't know, but that's what I'm going to say.
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: Joy with the verb form of choice, maybe as being
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 1: my action item.
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 2: Coach Bennett says, turn the light on.
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 4: Turn your light on, turn your light out, turn enough
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 4: lights on. Then we can all read. You know what
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 4: I mean.
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 2: So it's all good and you can be yo dictionary too.
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: Yes, that's right, bring your own dictionary. Look, it's a
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: great book. And not to end this on a dictionary note,
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: but the dictionary can be one of your great assistant coaches.
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 1: We use a lot of words, we don't really understand
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 1: the depth of what we're saying. There's a lot of
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 1: cool words out there. But it also gives a little
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: bit more meaning to what you're trying to say. So
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 1: get a dictionary, and a real one with like papers
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 1: and a cover and all that stuff.
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 4: Don't use your phone, you know what I mean.
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 1: And because it's also pompous, and anyone that sees you
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 1: with a dictionary, one they're gonna hate you, but two
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 1: they're going to also respect you, which is kind of cool.
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 1: It's this weird thing because who sits around reading a dictionary.
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 4: I mean, what a weird.
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 2: I'm so not even mad that we're ending here.
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't even know what I'm talking about at
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 4: this point.
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 3: So Bennett, how do the hurdlers, if they do not
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 3: yet follow you, keep up with you? How do they
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 3: follow along with you? Give us your details?
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm on Instagram, and if you're expecting like really
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 1: awesome pictures, they're The pictures are mediocre. But I write
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 1: a lot on Instagram. Yeah, I'm one of those people.
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 1: So if you're not a big you know, Instagram, you're
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: not going there for like some epic you know, tome,
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 1: then you don't follow me. But I'm on Instagram. That's
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 1: probably the main place I'm inside the NRC app, so
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: I will meet you at the starting line. All you
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: need to do is go to a guided run and
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 1: press start. And there are also there's a one minute run,
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 1: there's a one k run, there's a first run, there's
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 1: like we said, I don't want to run run, there's
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 1: a struggle run that just came out. Yeah, whatever whatever
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 1: you need. I mean, the runs are there for for
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: not anything more than just what the runner needs in
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: the moment. So if you're willing to meet me at
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: the starting line. I'll go for a run with you there.
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 1: But those are those are the main main places. And
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: I'm on hurdle, so I mean, like, you know, that's
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 1: you can meet me there too.
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 4: Just let you know. There was another one that we did,
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 4: so if you ever wanted to do this too, you're right.
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 2: This is Dan. If you want to get to know
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 2: Coach Bennett's wife.
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's Coach Bennett the Greater. That's Tammy.
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 2: So she's on hurdle too.
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 4: She was on the hurdle and she's a show up society.
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 1: So yeah, that's but give me a little time first
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 1: because when you go to her, you're not going to
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 1: come back to me, So just give me a little
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: bit of love first and then you can bail.
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 3: I'm over at Emily a Body and at Hurdle Podcast
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 3: Another Hurdle Conquered.
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: Yes, And let me just also tell you thank you
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 1: for what you do because it means a lot and
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 1: it inspires people, I think more than you probably know.
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 4: So keep doing what you're doing.
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 2: Moddelds Man. We all need them.
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 4: Not the job description, but it's part of the job.
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 2: Catch you guys next time.