Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 247. Viola Cheptoo, Pro Runner

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247. Viola Cheptoo, Pro Runner · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Don't give up.
• 0:00
  Speaker 2: Your situation is never permanent as long as you keep
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: working and trusting on yourself.
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: Hey, everybody, Emily A Badi here. You are listening to
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  Speaker 3: episode two hundred and forty seven of Hurdle, a wellness
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  Speaker 3: focused podcast where I connect with everyone from your favorite
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  Speaker 3: athletes to top experts in industry CEOs about their highest highs,
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  Speaker 3: toughest moments, and everything in between. We all go through
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: hurdles in life, and my goal through these discussions is
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: to empower you to better navigate yours and move with
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: intention so that you can stride towards your own big
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: potential and of course have some fun along the way.
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: For today's episode, I am bringing you my conversation with
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  Speaker 3: Fiola chap two, a professional runner for Adidas, who is
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: if you're tuning in on Marathon Monday, perhaps running the
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: Boston Marathon as you listen to this. She talks to
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: us today about the ebb and flow of her love
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: for sport and running, originally motivated large in part by
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: her brother, fellow elite Bernard Like God. She talks about
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: what it was like to debut in New York and
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: come in second place, plus her big hopes for this
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: year's twenty six point two in Boston. However, a large
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: part of our conversation focuses on sensitive topics, including body
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: image struggles, what it was like to navigate bullying and
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: abuse from a young age, both at school and within
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: her home, as well as the tragedy surrounding the killing
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: of her dear friend and fellow runner, Agnes Tearup. Viola
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: has made it her mission to speak out about domestic
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: and gender based violence. As a result of the tragedy,
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: and through her work with a nonprofit, Tearup's Angels, founded
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: in Agnes's memory, that is exactly what she is doing now.
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  Speaker 3: Of course, there are links in the show notes that
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: lead you to information about how you can get involved
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: in Teurope's Angels. And also, I do want to note
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: that if you or someone you know is in an
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: unsafe situation, you are not alone. There are also links
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: in the show notes to resources surrounding bullying and abuse hotlines. Now,
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: like I said, although a lot of the topics in
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: today's episode are difficult, Viola's outlook is truly one of
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  Speaker 3: optimism and hope.
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  Speaker 4: I cannot stress that enough.
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  Speaker 3: I am so so happy that we were able to
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  Speaker 3: connect here in Boston, leaning up to such a big
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  Speaker 3: moment for her, I would share so much luck out
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  Speaker 3: there on the course. And I also do want to
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: make a point to thank her sponsor at Adidas for
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: connecting us and plug as a thank you. They're ATDI
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: Club membership. It's got a ton of benefits, including free
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: shipping and a fifteen percent of foucher. To learn more,
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: visit Adidas dot com slash Addie Club. Make sure you're
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: following along with Hurdle over on social It's at Hurdle Podcast.
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: I am over at Emily a body and with that,
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: let's get to it. Let's get to hurdling.
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: Today.
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: I'm sitting down with Viola Cheptu. She is a professional
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: runner for Adidas. How are you doing today?
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: I'm doing good. How are you?
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: I'm so good. I'm doing good.
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: But you are just days away from the Boston Marathon.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: How do we feel?
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: I feel good, excited and nervous at the same time. Yeah,
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: because this year we have a really strong feel. So
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: I'm just thinking about how the race is gonna go.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: But I'm trying to save a lot of energy by
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: not thinking too much about it.
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: Well, isn't that funny?
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  Speaker 3: Though we don't talk about that often about how much
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: the mental stress can really also weigh on your body.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it does.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: It takes away all the energy that I need to
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: prepare myself for the day of the race. So I'm
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: just trying to chill forget about the race for a
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: minute until Sunday, probably even when we start the what
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: do we call the technical meeting and stuff like that.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: Then I can start focusing fully on the following day.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, wow, the following day. And so what marathon number
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  Speaker 3: is this for you?
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: This is going to be number four?
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  Speaker 4: Number four? Yes? Do you?
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  Speaker 3: And I mean to kind of sum it up for
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: those that might not be familiar with you. You had, you
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: really came on and had like an explosive marathon debut.
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: Talk to me about what your expectations are when it
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: comes to Marathon Monday.
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  Speaker 2: For Marathon Monday, I am hoping to be back on
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  Speaker 2: the podium, God willing winning. That would be really a
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  Speaker 2: dream come true because I started my debut with second
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  Speaker 2: place in New York and after that, I had COVID
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: last year before this event, so I wasn't ready. My
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: body wasn't picking the way I liked. But this year
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  Speaker 2: I'm in good shape. But I'm hoping that you know,
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  Speaker 2: race day is just going to be a good day.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, just hoping race day is going to be good day.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, another quick little marathon to add to the mixt
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  Speaker 3: which is it's so funny thinking about in retrospect because
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: you didn't grow up and were thinking to yourself, you
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  Speaker 3: know what, I want to be a marathon runner.
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  Speaker 1: No.
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  Speaker 2: I didn't even think that running was a thing for
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: me until my brother started running and we would watch
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  Speaker 2: him on TV running the World Championships and the Olympics,
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  Speaker 2: and to me, I just wanted to be seen on
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  Speaker 2: the TV and probably some day represent Kenya.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: And once I did that, I didn't think I would
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  Speaker 2: run marathon. I just thought maybe I would retire as
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: a professional athlete in track and field.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: And then marathon happened.
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the marathon, It just happened for me. So you're
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: one of ten, right, yes, one of ten? Your brother
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: Bernard a big name in the running world. Was it
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: weird for you to make the decision to go all
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: in knowing just how much of a name he had
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: made for himself.
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  Speaker 2: It was not breaking I had I had had the
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: precious sece college because my brother had a big name
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  Speaker 2: already by the time I was running in college, and
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: every time I was introduced as Bernard Lagat's sister. And
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: when I transitioned to marathon, I just decided, Okay, my
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: brother was notn in track and that's where a lot
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: of pressure was coming from, and I want to run marathon.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: For me, I just want to run as viola And
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: that's why we just went with viola chipto and people
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: were like, who is that?
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: And it's still me.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: I'm still the stuff to Bernat and it was really
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: really nice, especially having the support of my brother, knowing
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: that you know what he has done in track and field.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: If I would do half of what.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: He has done, it would be a great career for me.
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  Speaker 2: But that turned out to be really a surprise and
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: a good surprise when I ran the marathon.
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  Speaker 3: And when you got started in sport, you didn't necessarily
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: get started with running.
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  Speaker 2: Oh No, running was just a thing that we do
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: during games in school. Around four pm. We would be
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: done with classes and teachers are like, okay, we're just
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: gonna go for a run and then start just different
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  Speaker 2: other games that we could do, and then I started
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: getting bullied. In high school. I would just runt truck
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: because I wanted to get out of campus because I
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: was in a boarding school and I wanted to just
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: get out of school. So I durined cross country. I
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: would join basketball, hockey, anything to get me out of campus.
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  Speaker 2: And then I just got I went to track and
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  Speaker 2: field and people are like, ah, you are so skinny,
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  Speaker 2: and it's a track and field and cross country is
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: the event for not the cool kids, probably somebody who
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: don't really want to associate with. And then I tried
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: basketball and I wore the basketball shoots and I would
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: look funny. They would say, oh, your legs looks like
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  Speaker 2: flamingo legs, like those kind of jokes. And then I
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: was like, okay, I'll try field hockey. And then they
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: would say, oh, your legs look like the hoky sticks.
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  Speaker 2: And I was like, this is not okay. And I
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: transferred schools from that bullet and I went to another
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: school where I was embraced as a basketball player, because
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: I just thought, I don't want to continue getting skinny
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  Speaker 2: from running, so I want to do something different. So
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: I did basketball, surprisingly, and I was really good at it,
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: and then I graduated from high school and my brother said,
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  Speaker 2: I really want you to come to us to continue
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  Speaker 2: with your studies in college, and you will get full scholarship.
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  Speaker 2: If you want, you can start training and then you
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: can come to America. And of course I would not
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  Speaker 2: say no to my brother. I respect him so much,
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: and I told him, yes, I'll train. I trained, second
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: guessing myself if I really wanted to do that. And
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: I remember around that time, I decided to take a
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: test the aisles to go to Australia because I had
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: a cousin there. I didn't want anything to do with running.
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  Speaker 2: And then I went to embassy and I was praying,
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  Speaker 2: I don't want to get a visa. I don't want
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: to go to America to run. I want to go
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: to Australia. And I got the visa. I was one
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  Speaker 2: of the probably few people that day that was given
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  Speaker 2: the visa.
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  Speaker 1: And here I am running.
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  Speaker 3: Oh my god, it's such a you know, like, let's
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: just upbout a career, a life in like three minutes.
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  Speaker 3: It's interesting to me when you say that you transferred
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: schools because of bullying. How old were you when you
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: did that?
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  Speaker 2: Probably fourteen fifteen.
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: Wow, yeah, okay, And what was that like for you?
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: It was difficult because I felt like I didn't have friends,
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: and everywhere I went I was conscious of how I looked.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: I would want to wear long skirts in school because
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: we were skirts in Kenya, and long socks. I didn't
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: want to wear short socks because it exporsed my legs.
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: And then that was something that I was always conscious
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: about until I came to America when I ran in
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: cross country and everybody's like, I really want to have.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: Legs like yours.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: You're so skinny and you ran fast, and everybody admired
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: the way I looked, and I was like, for the
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: first time, people really admire who I am and I
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: embraced that and it was really really nice because also
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: from running, I got a community. I got friends who
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: became like my family, and that changed the way I
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: looked at my self. And now I'm like, Okay, if
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: this skinny less can get me where I am, second
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: place or a podium finish in marathon, I'll take it.
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: These days, there's so many different opinions and thoughts about
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: you know, body size, what's right, quote, what's wrong, how
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: you should feel, how you should look, like and so
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: to hear you say, like, I so desperately wanted to
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: be bigger.
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's really eye.
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: Opening, right because I don't think that often we have
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: that conversation.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And that's the funny thing. In Africa, the bigger
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: the better, even even with dating life, like men like
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: bigger women. And when I came to America, guys are
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: like hmmm, and I'm like, I never get that back
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: home because I'm the skinniest.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: It was really funny.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: Probably the culture because big is associated with wealth and
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: you can.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: Take care of yourself. You get food, and.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: For the skinner people, you probably don't have enough food
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: to eat. That's what is associated with But that has
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: changed because now a lot of people are into fitness.
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: They realized that getting big is not healthy, especially when
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: you get to your thirties and forties where you're not
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: going to.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: Lose the weight.
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: Then you start having hype attension and stuff like that diabetes.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: So when you were consciously trying to build muscle and
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: put on weight, what was that like for you?
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: Oh?
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: It was constant pain because I don't even eat much myself.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: I'm not a good eater, and that's what I've had
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: to work on, especially during marathon training, and it was
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: constant reminded that I have to eat, I have to
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: eat funny stuff like fried food, and I wasn't gaining
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: any weight, so I just realized it was my jeenes.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: Also because my grandmother was just as skinny as I
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: am for the rest of her life until she lived
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: to one hundred and ten. And I'm like, Okay, if
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: I look like my grandma and I leave one hundred
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: and ten, why not. So I'm embracing that. But before that,
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: it was difficult forcing myself to eat all the time
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: and just being conscious of what I wear, how I looked.
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, And I mean it's funny, You're like, I
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: needed to eat fried foods. Obviously that's not healthy. So
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: these days, and not to jump around too much, but
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: you obviously need to do a fair amount of strength
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: training and also be really cognizant of what you're putting
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: into your body to perform at the level that you perform.
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: Can you talk a little bit about that.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: When I was running track, I did a lot of
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: gym and that included a lot of weightlifting, But when
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: I moved to marathon, it's more of just strength and
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: mobility for us to make sure that we are moving right.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: Muscles are intact and they are strong and not a.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: Lot of weight.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: So I do a lot of core exercises, just mobility stuff,
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: and that has really helped. And then also with the food,
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: people say, I don't know if it's I think. When
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: I came to America, I realized a lot of people questions,
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: especially with food. In Africa, we don't have enough food,
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: so you eat as much as you can whenever you
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: get food. And here running marathon, I have to eat clean,
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: a lot of proteins to help with muscle build and
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: then also a lot of carbohydrates to produce the sugar
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: that I need when I run and the energy. And
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: then I have to remember about hydration and also stretching
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: and make sure that I am getting enough sleep. So
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: all those things combined has really helped me to become
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: the athlete that I am. And I didn't think of
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: that before that because I was just eating anything.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: I was eating.
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: Fries and then I'll go to grilled cheese and then
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: other things that were not good for me. But now
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: I can eat couple hydrates like bread ord meal, and
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: I also choose the healthy corbohydrates that I know will
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: produce the energy that I need, Drinking enough water, hydrating electrolytes.
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: Yeah, all the stuff.
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: And when you talk about it like that, it's like,
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: no wonder that this is your full time job, right,
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: because there are so many aspects that go into you
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: taking care of your body and giving it what it
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: needs so that I can perform at this high level.
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: Sometimes I think when someone who may be listening to
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: this is that it's easy to be like, well, why
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: am I not performing to this level or getting to
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: where I want to be? And it's like, well, sometimes
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: the people that you're looking at and admiring, that's literally
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: their full time job, like you know, every day and
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: every day runner like me, isn't you know, it doesn't
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: have the capacity with everything else that I'm doing to
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: often prioritize some of the things that you prioritize, but that's,
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: you know, what you do for a living.
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot goes really into it. I didn't think
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: about sleeping as a major contributor to my success. And
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: every time I'm done with running, I would go straight home, hydrate, shower,
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: and eat right away. The lat the first forty minutes
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: is very crucial with reconstructing muscle that has been toned
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: from training. So I have to eat good food and
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: then sleep. So I take at least an hour or
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: two nap and then I would wake up and then
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: hydrate the whole day and stretch. So that's why it's
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: a full time job totally. Yeah, and I can't. And
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: then with running also, it's a mental game, so you
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: don't have time to stress about a lot of things.
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: So I take myself out of the stressful situations so
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: that I would just be resting in my house and
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: doing things that I enjoy instead of being in a
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: place that could contribute to stress.
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: When you say that you've started to rethink the way
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: that you sleep, So what's different now than maybe what
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: used to.
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: Be for you?
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: Well, I used to sleep around one or two am,
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: watching movies and just sitting there eating chips on my bed.
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: That that had to stop. I sleep nine latest ten
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: on weekends when I don't have training, and that's only Sundays,
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: and I would slip late only on Saturdays because Sunday
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: is my day off. But then on Sunday I have
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: to sleep by nine nine thirty latest ten because the
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: next morning, I wake up early, and then also on Sunday,
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: I have to think about the rest of the week, hydrating,
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: eating enough again, back to routine. So I really don't
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: have a lot of time. And back home, I have
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: a lot of friends, and my friends complain about not
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: going out and you know, spending a lot of time
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: for them because it's a full time job and I
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: have to be cautious of that all the time. I
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: also think about not catching a cold, especially during serious
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: training the last one month to marathons, I think about
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: catching a cold or anything because I don't want to
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: be in medication that would put my body back to
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: square one and start over again.
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: There's a lot of opportunity cost, you know, there's a
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: lot of sacrifices that you make to go after these goals.
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's something that a lot of people also
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: don't think about, you saying like, I need to be
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: careful about the situations that I'm putting myself in. Knowing
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: how it felt for you to run after having COVID
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: and like hating that and not wanting to do that again.
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: Oh no, it was terrible when I had COVID. I
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: couldn't go out and whenever I had the opportunity to
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: go for a run, my body did not feel the same,
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: and I feel I questioned myself if I wanted to
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: run that season, to run the marathon last year, but
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: I just had to force myself to do to go
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: out there and run, because I wasn't just going to
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: sit and wait for the body to respond as long
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: as I was on that clear to start training, I
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: had to go all out and I don't want to
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: get to that point again where I am forcing myself
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: to start training instead of enjoying it.
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: If you're not enjoying the journey, then what's the point
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: of the destination. And you know, it's so clear that
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: you have so much passion for what you do that
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: the whole thing seems to be worth it for you.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I really enjoy running. All my siblings were runners,
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: including my parents, And looking back to the days when
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: I was being bullied and giving up on running, I
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: really regretted. I wish I had somebody to speak to
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: about because in Africa, nobody talks about bullying. We really don't,
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: and that is something that more younger parents now. A
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: study that conversation with their kids about bullying and how
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: to overcome or how to defend yourself. But back then
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: I didn't have I couldn't go home and tell my
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: mom or I'm bullied for running because I'm a skinner girl.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: Mom wouldn't even understand what that is, and so it
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: was different. But now now it's a different thing, and
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: it's really really nice to be where I am. Yeah,
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: and I'm enjoying what I'm doing now.
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: How does it feel for you to be someone at
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: the forefront of the conversation and starting to be a
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: voice for those who maybe don't feel like they had
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: one themselves.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: It's been really great, and I think I started developing
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: the courage to speak, especially when I started talking about
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: gender based violence, and that is when Agnes passed. To me,
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: it wasn't natural for me to just get up and
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: speak about this because that's something that nobody talks about
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: in my country. Nobody acknowledges that it's happening. Yet it
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: has taken so many lives. Until Agnes died, and I
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: was speaking out of anger and a lot of frustration,
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: not knowing how can a twenty five year old die
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: from gender based violence, from domestic violence?
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: How did all of us not see what was happening
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: in her life.
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: How did we just ignore the science if there were any.
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: And from that day on, I said, I'm just going
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: to speak about everything that affects us, especially women and girls,
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: and I'm not going to shy away from it. If
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: it's bullying, if it is menstrual periods, if it is
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: gender based violence, domestic violence, all that I'm in and
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: now I run running for all those women who can
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: do it for themselves. I know they are women that
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: have been bullied about the way they look and how
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: they you know, especially the skinner girls or the bigger girls.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: People talk about body image all the time and that
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: plays a lot, especially with mental health, and a lot
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: of women suffer, and I'm one of them. I never
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: talked about me being bullied until when Agnes passed. I
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: was like, I'm not going to keep anything from my life.
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: I'm going to talk about bullying so that if somebody
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: can relate to it, they can speak out too and
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: seek help. If it's the best violence. I'm going to
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: speak about my own experience from my home, my sisters,
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: my mom, and also my friends, and that way they
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: can come out and speak about it.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: And get help.
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, it's so beautiful that you are using
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: your voice. Often we hear this phrase, and it's commonly
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: spoken about on the show, and sometimes in order to
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: be her, you need to see her. And now women,
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: especially in your country where this dialogue isn't as open,
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: are seeing you and then women that you surround yourself
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: with speaking about these issues, and they themselves can then
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: get to a place where they can say, you know what,
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: I've been affected by this as well. Now, for those
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: who may not be familiar with Agnes's story, I'd love
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: it if you could shed some light on it.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: Okay, So, Agnes was a world cross country champion, She
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: was an Olympian. She was a world record holder in
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: the tententy twenty twenty one before she was murdered by
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: her husband. She was a twenty five year old. She
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: was a lovely woman. She smiled, she loved her friends
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: and family, and her life came to a tragic end
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: in twenty twenty one October. We went to Adidas for
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: the A D zero event in September together and she
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: ran the ten thousand, and I ran the half marathon
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: and on that day she came in at night I
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: think two days before the race, she was coming from
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: another race. She arrived at night, and Agnes was always quiet.
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: She just smiled. She didn't say much, but something had
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: changed in her, and everybody keeps saying the same thing.
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: I had not seen her because I was in the
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: US for quite some time. And then when I went
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: back home, we met together and she came in having
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: her earphone headphones, and she was happy. She was just
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: singing to her music. And then she saw me and
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: she said, hey, have yallah, how are you.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: She came and hugged me.
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: Like Agnes was more quiet, you'd be the one approaching
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: her and then she would open up, smile, talk to
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: you about just running.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: And she was really happy that day.
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: And the day of that event, I was really excited
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: because I was one of many people who just sat
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: and were expecting something great, but we didn't think about.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: A world record.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: And when she realized that she was going to break
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: the world record, the whole stadium was going crazy. I
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: was one of the people who were running down the
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: stairs heading to the finish, just wanting to hug her.
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: And by the time I got there, there were just
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: so many people and we were just jumping and being
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: happy for her, and then we went back home. We
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: flew back home together and when we got to the airport,
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: my husband came to pick me up and he was late,
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: and then my husband said, hey, Agnes, do you need
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: a ride? And she said, no, somebody's coming for me.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: And that was the last time. If I knew Agnes
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: had been abused from the time she was at the Olympics,
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: sent threatening messages about her life being taken away. When
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: she got home, I might have said something. I don't
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: know if it would have changed the situation, but I
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: think I would feel better knowing that I'll probably say something.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: That could have changed her life.
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: But we went back home and a few weeks later
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: I got the news. I was somewhere back in the
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: village and I got a text message from a friend saying, Viola,
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: what is happening in the ten?
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: And I was like, I don't know, what do you mean.
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: What's happening in the ten? And she's like, really, something
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: bad is happening. Can you check your phone? And he
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: sent me a message on what'sapp with the picture of
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: Agnes holding the flag, so I was like, of course
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: that's Agnes. She broke the wild record and he's like, no,
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: did you read what is there? And I said no.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: I went back and read and I was like, no,
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: there's no way. This is not the Agness. I know
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: she's healthy and on the picture he didn't say what
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: had happened to her. It just said she was found diseased.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: And I called him back and I said, I don't
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: think this is the right Agnes. This has to be
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: like some crazy stuff, somebody's writing something stupid.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: I came with her. She was healthy.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: There's no way she fell on her rund and just
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: died like that or had a heart attack like.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: She's she's young.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: And I called my cousins and friends in a ten
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: and they said, yes, the police are here. And it
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: was the worst time of my life. I was in
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: denial for quite some time until I went to the
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: more the day of her awake and I viewed her
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: body and it changed my life forever. I can't believe
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: a twenty five you being killed by someone you trusted,
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: who portrayed you, who used you. And that's what I realized.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: He used her for quite some time. He took advantage
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: of her innocence when she was young, separated her from
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: her family and friends, took advantage of her finances and
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: her career for his own benefits, and eventually took her life.
• 24:30
  Speaker 4: Just terrible, Yeah, awful. Thank you for sharing that.
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: It's my hurt when you say, like, if I had known,
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: I would have done something right, And that goes back
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: to you now wanting to speak up and wanting to
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: cultivate conversation so that there can be more awareness and
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: in other situations maybe someone would step up and say
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: this is happening to me, But know that you did
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: the best you could with what you had, right, Like
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: you didn't know.
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you didn't know.
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: Now for me, I didn't even know what violent gender
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: based violence was or domestic violence until I came to
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: America to school and I would hear people saying, oh,
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: they called police on him. He had been taken away,
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: And I was like, what do you mean, Oh, he
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: wanted to beat her up Back home, somebody would beat you.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: You called police and they're like, we don't.
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: Have a gas.
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: Can you send us some money for us to come there.
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: When are you calling police to and sending money at
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: the same time to seek help? And that's what discourages
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: a lot of women because also when the perpetrators are
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: taken to police stations, they don't even get arrested.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: They don't even stay there for a night.
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: They're being sent home and asked to go to the
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: local counselors or people that could talk to them about
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: their domestic issues. And that always leads to reconciliation instead
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: of separating people and creating an opportunity for them to
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: refresh their minds and think is this the right thing
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: that I want to do or should I just move on?
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: And women often don't get that opportunity because they go
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: back to their families and they're told to go back
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: for their kids, go.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: Fix yourself, cook early, clean.
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: Don't create opportunities for him to be upset, that is
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: what it is.
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: Don't create opportunities for him to be upset. I roll, yeah,
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: And it's you know, it really does, at least for myself,
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: and I'm sure for some people listening right now reminds
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: us about some of the privilege that we have here
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: in the States, knowing that you could call nine on
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: one and like that wouldn't be an issue.
• 26:32
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: It's so eye opening to hear and heartbreaking to hear
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: about how that happens.
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: Yeah, in Kenya.
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's terrible.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: I wish we had the same situation here that we
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: have here in America, where one call would mean that
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: police is coming and you're sure you're going to get
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: the help you need. It doesn't quite often what happened
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: back home. We've had several times that we have taken
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: victims of gender based violence to police stations and the
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: same thing happens the following day, or go talk about
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: it with your husband and probably family members and a
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: local church leader or somebody, and it often leads back
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: to reconscoliation instead of walking away from a violent situation.
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, dangerous situation. So in Agnes's memory, you have come
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: together with other women to create tear Ups Angels. Can
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: you talk to us a little bit about what that is?
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: Okay?
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: So, after Agnes passed, we promised that we were going
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: to continue to remember her and to also help other
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: victims of gender based violence, and that's why we started
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: a foundation or an organization called Tei Rops Angels. So
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: we basically go around to school's, churches and around the
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: community to speak about what gender based violence is. Because
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: first of all, we have to introduce everybody to what
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: it is. Nobody knows that they're in it until we
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: talk about what it looks like, what that is, and
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: so we do that, and then we also offer any
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: kind of support let's say legal. We have a lawyer,
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: we have counseling for victims, We have a counselor a
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: psychologist that we call whenever we need them to help somebody.
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: And then we we've spoken to some police officers who
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: are willing to work with us whenever we have a
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: victim and we need them to speak with That still
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: needs a lot of work to happen because more most
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: of the time we go there and we deal with
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: a lot of men at the police station, and when
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: it comes to women, they are still naive to the idea,
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: to the fact that it is a dangerous situation, and
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: most of the time they're like, why can't you go
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: talk about this back home? Are you sure you want
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: to do this? So that's how it always goes, but
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: we do our best at Trops Angels. You want to
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: make sure that gender based violence is being eradicated in Kenya,
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: and we're really happy because when we started, we got
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: a lot of challenges, especially from men and people who
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: thought that we were there to separate people from If
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: you're unhappy with your husband, you just wake up and
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: pack yourself and leave because Srops Angels is going to
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: be there to support you. That was not the fact,
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: and everybody thought we were just they had to break families,
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: which was terrible for us to realize that. Okay, instead
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: of all of us coming together because we realized this
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: is a pandemic, it has gone down to a twenty
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: five year old Agnes, a world champion.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: She had her life.
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: It's not like somebody who was just out there and
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: not taking care of herself. She was doing everything right.
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: And so it's been great that we now have the
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: support of the community. Whenever we have these seminars that
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: we go around to camps and schools and churches, we've
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: received really, we've had good reception.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: From even men.
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: Men are asking women to walk away from situations like that.
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: But it didn't happen overnight. We have had to do
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: a lot of convincing and telling them come sit in
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: our sessions, come here what we talk about. It's not
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: just about men women, it's also about men because everybody
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: can be a victim of gender past violence, and that
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: is where we got this sup knowing that it wasn't
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: just a one sided thing, but as we are advocating
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: for a lot of women because they got affected to early,
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: especially from the sexual assault from my younger age to
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: an older age where it's physical and then leading to
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: death for a lot of them.
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: Taking a break from today's episode to give some love
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• 31:36
  Speaker 3: It's truly remarkable the work that you're doing. And I
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: think what you're talking about here with men getting involved
• 31:42
  Speaker 3: is just the importance of allyship right. And earlier this
• 31:46
  Speaker 3: year I led a couple of different conversations on runner
• 31:49
  Speaker 3: safety and allyship is just so critical for us to
• 31:54
  Speaker 3: feel safe, regardless of gender, right, for there to be
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: a mutual understanding of what an experience can be like
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: for one individual versus another individual. And then knowing that
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: you can then move forward having that education, because I'm
• 32:11
  Speaker 3: sure there are so many men who maybe don't understand
• 32:15
  Speaker 3: just how bad it is for the women that you're
• 32:19
  Speaker 3: working with, So to hear their stories it helps them
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: and then they can maybe do something with that education.
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: Hopefully do something with that education.
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, So it's been good because also when we
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: speak about that, we tell them, imagine if this was
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: your daughter, this is happening to them, somebody is maybe
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: sexually assaulting them at a younger age when she's going
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: to school, she comes back, you have no idea, and
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: then you find out when they have mental problems at
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: their older age and they are now able to express themselves,
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: or they go to a council and you find out,
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: what would you do? You want that to happen? And
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: then it became an eye open up for them. And
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: then also we put them in situations where we tell them.
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: We've also had men who complain about this that we
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: know friends who are men that have been killed by
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: their spouses. Don't you think this is happening to all
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: of us. It's not just men, And that's why we
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: want you to come on board with us to work
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: this journey to make sure that it doesn't happened to anybody.
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: It doesn't matter if it's a woman or men.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: We will have to work together.
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: The reason why we have so many women joining us
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: is because they are affected and they're willing to speak.
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: But men they're still closing in issues for themselves. They're
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: not speaking out, and so we told them, once you
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: speak out about these issues and come on board with us,
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: I think we are going to end this. And it's
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: been really nice and for us. The first event that
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: we had for all mothers We went to a school
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: called Camrige in it In and we invited women just
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: from a local school and we didn't know how many
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: people are going to show up. We were thinking if
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: we get fifty two hundred would be so happy, because
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: that was the turnout for most of our events, around
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: fifty sixty.
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: And we had.
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: Around five hundred women show up. Yes, we were just shocked.
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: We showed up and we thought, oh, we were going
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: to provide lunch for all these women and around that
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: time we didn't have enough money. We were just calling
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: women to speak and we were like, oh, no, we
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: now have five hundred women around lunchtime, what are we
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: going to do? But it was super nice that at
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: the end of the event, everybody was happy. Women were
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: talking about how they feel relieved because we invited somebody
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: from a local hospital that deals with gender based violence,
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: especially sexual assault with the young kids, especially girls, and
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: she spoke with the moms about the importance of taking
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: being careful about who you leave your children with because predators.
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: Can be anybody. It can be a dad, cousin. And
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: when they.
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: Left, women are like, oh, we feel like a weight
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: had been lifted over our shoulders. And I feel happy,
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: and they were asking for phone numbers so they could
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: call us. That was the moment when we just all
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: of us were just like, is this really happening? These
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: women are trusting us, somebody is trusting us with their stories,
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: They're willing to speak with us about this, And after
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: that it just became course coming in. We've had victims
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: as young as seventeen sixteen, and it's been depressing some
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: of the days for us. But I think since we
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: have each other and we decided that this journey is
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: going to be difficult and we embrace it as we go,
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: it has been really really nice to just know that
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: people are willing to join us and work with us,
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: and also have victims come.
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: To speak with us.
• 35:25
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's been really nice.
• 35:28
  Speaker 3: When you started speaking about your personal experiences, despite knowing
• 35:35
  Speaker 3: that it was something that you wanted to do, was
• 35:38
  Speaker 3: it challenging?
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: It was difficult because, especially from my family, no one
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: has talked about it. No one has asked our dad
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: why he treated us the way he did from a
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: younger age when you were kids to my adults. When
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: I was in high school and abuse was still continuing,
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: especially with my mom, we had never approached that topic
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: with him, and nobody has ever done that for me.
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: I decided when I started dating my husband, he's a
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: good man. He's really really nice. So I decided, I'm
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: not going to continue with the anger that I have
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: from my experience from my mom's situation taking it to
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: my own relationship. I think the reason why some of
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: my sisters hasn't stayed in their relationship is also from
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: the anger from what happened to my mom at home
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: and then having their own experiences in their own relationships.
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: It just leads to damaged relationships. So I said, I
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: have found a good man and I want to be
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: there forever with him, and I have to forgive my
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: dad in order for me to love this man, because
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: I didn't love men at that point.
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: I really didn't.
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: I thought the man, yeah, the only man I loved
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: of my brothers, that's it.
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And that changed.
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: And from my forgiveness for my dad, I really didn't
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: even seek any explanation from him. I decided to let
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: him go and move on, and that helped me to
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: be able to speak about it without any shame, knowing
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: that I forgive him. If you ever have to ask
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: me why I speak about this, I'll be able to
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: stand up and tell him this is what happened. And
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: since I didn't get any explanation from you, I decided
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: for it to be a lesson for other people and
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: also for my own self.
• 37:20
  Speaker 3: Moving forward, So you're saying that your father abused your
• 37:23
  Speaker 3: mother when you were growing.
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: Up, Yeah, yeah, even ask the kids.
• 37:26
  Speaker 4: Yeah yeah. And so you were witnessed to that as well.
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: I did. Growing up.
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: That was the everyday thing. Yeah, violence was drinking, beating
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: my mom and all my siblings, including myself. There were
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: days that you would go sleep at my sister's house
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: we ran away from home.
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: Mom would go.
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: To her family, and then a few days later she's
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: back after being bidden to a point where she can't
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: get up the following day. And it was terrible because
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: that still continues. Women go back to their families and
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: they're told to go back for the kids or go
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: fix yourself, like I told you, And that continued to
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: a point where my dad stopped the abuse. And honestly,
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: if you were to ask me if he's the same
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: guy from growing up and now it's like two different.
• 38:12
  Speaker 4: People, what do you think that is?
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: I don't know if at some point he regretted what
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: he did to all of us because regardless, we loved him.
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: When we were going through all that back home, Mom
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: would always tell us, do not touch your dad. If
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: he's beating me, don't hit him, don't push him. If
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: you can stand in between us just to protect me,
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: that's fine, but don't hit, don't do anything. And we
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: were so angry because at some point you want to
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: do something. You know as a child, you just want
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: to protect your mom, and by protecting your mom, you're
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: probably hitting your dad or pushing him. And Mom insisted
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: on loving and forgiving. She's a religious mother. She has
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: prayed for all of us since when we were young.
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: She prayed about her situations. I know it wasn't easy
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: for her, and that's how I think I got my
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: forgiveness from because my mom insisted on forgiving and moving on.
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: And I think that changed my dad because regardless of
• 39:09
  Speaker 2: everything that we went through, we never neglected him, We
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: supported him. My siblings have always helped my dad and
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: they've never known. None of my siblings, the ten of us,
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: I've never disrespected him, regardless of anything that happened to us.
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: So I think he just realized that you made a
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: mistake and.
• 39:27
  Speaker 3: He wanted to turn It's challenging, right, it's heartbreaking to
• 39:34
  Speaker 3: hear that you went through that. It's really beautiful that
• 39:38
  Speaker 3: you have this level of awareness of what works for you.
• 39:43
  Speaker 3: You know what your boundaries need to be, having been
• 39:47
  Speaker 3: able to reflect on that situation, and.
• 39:51
  Speaker 4: You know what you want going forward.
• 39:54
  Speaker 3: And to hear you speak about the forgiveness that you
• 39:58
  Speaker 3: needed to find to build your own happiness with your husband.
• 40:03
  Speaker 3: You deserve that, you know like you deserve that happiness
• 40:08
  Speaker 3: with him, and so to not only find that forgiveness,
• 40:11
  Speaker 3: which I'm sure is a forever work in the progress,
• 40:14
  Speaker 3: but then be able to turn that pain into passion
• 40:18
  Speaker 3: with what you're doing with tear Ups Angels, it's really special.
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it hasn't been easy to get where I am.
• 40:28
  Speaker 4: I can't even imagine.
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: And I know some of my siblings probably still have
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: a hard time with what happened to us when you
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: are young. We speak about that sometimes, and for them,
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: I don't know. Sometimes they tell me you're just crazy,
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: You're someone who just wants reconsciliation and happiness and it's
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: not easy, And I tell them I had to find
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: that deep within me, and for some reason, even when
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: I was a young girl, I was always optimistic. I
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: always looked at a bright future.
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: Even when they were no science. Yeah, we were very poor.
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: We went to neighbors for food, for clothes. When you
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: were going somewhere to a wedding or something, you would
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: borrow shoes from neighbors. And it wasn't easy with not
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: having any no sign of success. But I think for
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: us we got a glimpse of what the future could
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: be when my brother started running and starting supporting our family,
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: and I think for all of us running. For my
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: older siblings, probably running was a way out of poverty
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: and a way to support the younger siblings. And then
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: for me it was just I want to give back.
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: I want to change something in my community. I don't
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: know why I had these things in my head. Even
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: growing up, I just saw myself having money and helping
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: poor people. And then now it has done to something else.
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: Talking about genderbest violence, something that I didn't know about
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: growing up because it was so normal and it's still
• 41:52
  Speaker 2: normalized now and.
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: That's why it's tough.
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: But we are also embracing the journey that we in
• 42:00
  Speaker 2: and just yeah.
• 42:02
  Speaker 3: It's so special also to hear you talk about your
• 42:05
  Speaker 3: excitement to be able to do some good with your platform.
• 42:08
  Speaker 3: It's not just running for your personal accomplishment, it's running
• 42:12
  Speaker 3: for what you can do with that accomplishment. That makes
• 42:16
  Speaker 3: what you're doing just so awesome now as you are
• 42:22
  Speaker 3: able to build on your success. How does it feel
• 42:27
  Speaker 3: now thinking about that younger version of yourself and executing
• 42:31
  Speaker 3: on some of the things that you had so badly
• 42:34
  Speaker 3: wanted for such a long time.
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: It's so real, it's like a dream. Sometimes I just
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: have to pinch myself. If this is the life that
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: an I envision as a young girl with nothing, and
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: now I'm here, I just feel so blessed, and really
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: it's good to be able to witness this while I'm
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: still alive, and to see that my dreams came true
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: and I'm able to give back to my community. I'm
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: able to touch lives through my career. I'm able to inspire
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: younger girls, even from really vulnerable backgrounds, to know that
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: there's light at the end. You just have to focus.
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: You just have to trust yourself and just pick up
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: when you have issues. That way, there's always somebody ready
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: to help, even if it's not deerps and just if
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: you're unable to speak with us, there's always somebody out there.
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: But I would love for girls and women to be
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: able to speak with us, because we're really passionate about
• 43:29
  Speaker 2: helping and making sure that we create an environment where
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: our girls are thriving and not surviving.
• 43:35
  Speaker 3: For anyone who may be struggling with bullying similar to
• 43:40
  Speaker 3: what you had experienced, what would you tell that to
• 43:44
  Speaker 3: navigate that.
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: Oh, whatever you're getting bullied for, there's a blessing out
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: of it. Don't let anybody put you down. For me,
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: I didn't see the blessing in my body the way
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: I'm built until when I started making money from running,
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: when I ran the World Championship, when I ran the
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: Olympics and now major marathons. This has been a blessing
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: in disguise, and this was something that somebody was trying
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: to take away from me so much. Don't let somebody
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: take away something that you know it's going to be
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: good for you in the future. It doesn't matter what
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: it is. It could be just the way you look.
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: Somebody don't like you, but there's something deep within you
• 44:18
  Speaker 2: that is being subsided by the bullying.
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: Don't let that happen.
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: Just let your light shine, don't let somebody dim your light. Yeah,
• 44:26
  Speaker 2: focus on the positive. I know it's hard, especially as
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: a teenager, to see the sign of anything changing in
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: the future, but I promise you things change.
• 44:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 44:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, speaking of things changing, I do you want to
• 44:37
  Speaker 3: go back to your running story, and you mentioned getting
• 44:40
  Speaker 3: that visa. I know now you're in a DIDA sponsored athlete,
• 44:43
  Speaker 3: So give us some insight into that journey.
• 44:46
  Speaker 2: Oh. So when I got the visa to come to
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: study in the US, it was a four year scholarship
• 44:51
  Speaker 2: and I went to a small college in Arizona, Central
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: Arizona College, and then I transferred to Florida State. And
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: then when I graduated from Florida State, I had no
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: idea at that point. Also, though I told you earlier,
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: the pressure from me being my brother, Bernard Lagad's sister.
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: There was so much pressure for me to perform. And
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: that pressure also led me to dislike running because it
• 45:15
  Speaker 2: became almost like a full time job and I wasn't
• 45:18
  Speaker 2: ready as a college athlete. I had to start learning
• 45:22
  Speaker 2: how to balance college and running and just you know,
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: being a teenager, just enjoying my life, and that was
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: really hard. And when I went to Florida State. First
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: of all, when I was at the junior college in
• 45:35
  Speaker 2: Central Arizona College, that's where I got embraced by my
• 45:39
  Speaker 2: teammates about how skinny I am, how fast I am,
• 45:42
  Speaker 2: and I started loving running, and my grades were really high.
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: In college. I was scoring.
• 45:47
  Speaker 2: I was an honer student from the beginning, and I
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: was doing really good. And then I went to Florida
• 45:52
  Speaker 2: State and the pressure started because it was a four
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: year college. It's not the same as a junior college.
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: And there I did not like running that much until
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: my senior year. Why because my coach was too I
• 46:05
  Speaker 2: would say, I don't know if I said too strict.
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: By the time I graduated, I told myself, I don't
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: want to run. And then the last day before I left,
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: I went and said thank you to her for bringing
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: me to Florida State and for giving me the education
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: that I needed for me to continue, let's say, going
• 46:22
  Speaker 2: into masters if I needed to, and for the scholarship.
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: And she told me, Okay, yeah, I would love for
• 46:28
  Speaker 2: you to continue running, but I don't want to coach
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: professional athletes. College is already stressful for me. But I'll
• 46:34
  Speaker 2: refer you to a coach who's really really good. She's
• 46:37
  Speaker 2: a female, and I was like another female coach, So
• 46:39
  Speaker 2: I was like okay, So I went to So she
• 46:42
  Speaker 2: sent me to Colorado Springs and I was like that
• 46:44
  Speaker 2: works because I have a brother in Colorado Springs. And
• 46:48
  Speaker 2: I went there and I started volunteering at the Air
• 46:51
  Speaker 2: Force Academy as a volunteer coach, and that lady she
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: coached me, and at that point she's like, I'm going
• 46:58
  Speaker 2: to call someone who can if you just training stuff
• 47:01
  Speaker 2: and just get your schedule for the summer, if you're
• 47:04
  Speaker 2: able to make it to go to Europe, just go
• 47:06
  Speaker 2: have fun run this year and then we'll see what happens.
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: That was twenty thirteen.
• 47:11
  Speaker 2: And I went there, I trained, and then I remember
• 47:15
  Speaker 2: running my first professional event here in Boston New Balance
• 47:18
  Speaker 2: Indoor Games. So I came for the New Balance Indoor
• 47:21
  Speaker 2: Games and I was seconds out of college and I
• 47:26
  Speaker 2: was like, wow, I think I can actually continue running.
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: Now this is the thing that I might enjoy.
• 47:31
  Speaker 2: Now I don't have to.
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: Deal with school. I can travel. It also includes traveling.
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: This is awesome.
• 47:36
  Speaker 2: So I came to Boston and after being second The
• 47:40
  Speaker 2: guy that she had called was actually an agent and
• 47:43
  Speaker 2: he was based in Boston and he's the one that
• 47:45
  Speaker 2: got me into a race here. And before coming to Boston,
• 47:48
  Speaker 2: he had sent me a lot of nice Adidas clothes
• 47:50
  Speaker 2: from the previous season's full suitcase of clothes and shoes.
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: And I was like, oh, wow, these are nice people.
• 47:56
  Speaker 2: I think I like running. And I came here and
• 47:58
  Speaker 2: I ran and I was like, okay, let's go. Now
• 48:01
  Speaker 2: what do we do next season? I want to you
• 48:03
  Speaker 2: to go to Europe in the summer. I'll get your
• 48:05
  Speaker 2: race in Ostrava. You'll run that race, no pressure. I
• 48:09
  Speaker 2: went there and I think I was second or third
• 48:12
  Speaker 2: for my first professional race from running for twelve in
• 48:15
  Speaker 2: fifteen hundred in college running four zero five. Wow, And
• 48:19
  Speaker 2: I got a qualifying standard for World Championship in that event.
• 48:22
  Speaker 2: I signed my first contract in twenty thirteen with Adidas
• 48:25
  Speaker 2: and it was just super fun. I was so happy
• 48:29
  Speaker 2: I was back in running. And I didn't think I
• 48:31
  Speaker 2: would enjoy it after college, but I really started enjoying
• 48:35
  Speaker 2: running in twenty thirteen.
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and the years later, ten years later.
• 48:40
  Speaker 2: And then I went and then I went to I
• 48:43
  Speaker 2: remember also running in twenty fifteen, and I got the
• 48:47
  Speaker 2: qualifying standard for World Championship. And then I went to
• 48:49
  Speaker 2: Kenya and I was coming from Arizona sea level and
• 48:52
  Speaker 2: I'm going to high altitude seven thousand feet plus in Kenya.
• 48:56
  Speaker 2: And I remember just going for the trials and just
• 48:59
  Speaker 2: thinking it's no way I'm lining up against all these
• 49:01
  Speaker 2: good women and expecting to do anything good.
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: So I'll just go have fun.
• 49:06
  Speaker 2: And I remember that day I was fourth, and we
• 49:09
  Speaker 2: had a girl that was third or second, and she
• 49:12
  Speaker 2: had a wildcard in the five thousand, so she decided
• 49:14
  Speaker 2: to run the five thousand. So I was selected into
• 49:16
  Speaker 2: the team because I was number four. So that's how
• 49:19
  Speaker 2: I made my first World Championship team in twenty fifteen.
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 49:22
  Speaker 3: Man, And so what you're saying here, First of all,
• 49:25
  Speaker 3: we just need to like, I love the I don't
• 49:28
  Speaker 3: know how it's going to do. My expectations are low,
• 49:30
  Speaker 3: so I'm going to plan to have fun.
• 49:32
  Speaker 4: Like what amazing attitude. Yeah, that's so good.
• 49:35
  Speaker 3: And then I love also hearing this journey because you started,
• 49:39
  Speaker 3: you know, five thousand, three thousand, and now again we're
• 49:42
  Speaker 3: sitting here in Boston, Boston Marathon again.
• 49:44
  Speaker 4: Marathon is very different.
• 49:46
  Speaker 3: So ultimately, what made you decide that you wanted to
• 49:50
  Speaker 3: transition into the longer distances.
• 49:53
  Speaker 2: So after twenty sixteen Olympics, yeah, I decided I just
• 49:57
  Speaker 2: wanted to move up to five thousand because I I didn't
• 50:00
  Speaker 2: make the finals and I was really really disappointed. I
• 50:03
  Speaker 2: had trained so hard and I felt, maybe I don't
• 50:05
  Speaker 2: have the speed for fifteen hundred. Maybe if I can
• 50:08
  Speaker 2: move up to five thousand, I can hold the same
• 50:11
  Speaker 2: pace for quite some time. And just you know, end
• 50:13
  Speaker 2: up meddling in that event, and I started building up
• 50:16
  Speaker 2: the mileage and my body did not respond well. I
• 50:19
  Speaker 2: started having injuries and that put me out the whole
• 50:22
  Speaker 2: of twenty seventeen. I didn't make the World Championship and
• 50:25
  Speaker 2: twenty eighteen. So towards the end of twenty eighteen is
• 50:28
  Speaker 2: when I recovered from a back and a whole hamstring.
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: The whole right side was just messed up.
• 50:33
  Speaker 2: And I got back and that's when I was in
• 50:36
  Speaker 2: Kenya and I decided I wanted to train to start
• 50:38
  Speaker 2: my training in Kenya, being close to my parents, because
• 50:40
  Speaker 2: I was always like feeling down and people don't realize
• 50:45
  Speaker 2: athletes we take our running as everything in our lives.
• 50:49
  Speaker 2: We put everything on hold and put it first. And
• 50:52
  Speaker 2: at that point when I was running, I was feeling
• 50:54
  Speaker 2: really depressed. I was eating and I had gained so
• 50:57
  Speaker 2: much weight. Finally, yeah, finally, for the first time.
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: It didn't come that the right time. It came at
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: the wrong time because I really wanted to run.
• 51:07
  Speaker 2: But I think also the weight gain wasn't helping because
• 51:10
  Speaker 2: I wasn't even exercising. I wasn't doing any uh yeah,
• 51:15
  Speaker 2: exercises to help me build up the muscles that I
• 51:17
  Speaker 2: needed to build for me to get back to running.
• 51:19
  Speaker 3: That's understandable, though you're saying you prioritized it above all else.
• 51:23
  Speaker 3: Running was how you identified and then to go through
• 51:26
  Speaker 3: this injury where you can't do the thing that makes
• 51:28
  Speaker 3: you feel like you it's so understandable, Like you went
• 51:31
  Speaker 3: through that.
• 51:32
  Speaker 2: I was eating chips now every night, I was just
• 51:35
  Speaker 2: fries and all this stuff to make me feel good.
• 51:38
  Speaker 4: And isn't it funny. It's never like I was depressed.
• 51:41
  Speaker 4: So we need some bananas right now.
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: And it's funny.
• 51:44
  Speaker 2: And it wasn't really funny because so I have my
• 51:47
  Speaker 2: nieces and they are still young, and we went to
• 51:49
  Speaker 2: vacation in Mexico and I wore my bikini and she's like, Auntie, Lola,
• 51:54
  Speaker 2: are you pregnant? And I was like, oh, okay.
• 51:58
  Speaker 4: I mean I start calling you Lola.
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: Oh they call me Antilola.
• 52:02
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 52:02
  Speaker 2: So at that point I was like, I might need
• 52:04
  Speaker 2: to start running and just doing something to lose the
• 52:07
  Speaker 2: weight because it's not healthy. Yeah, and then I was
• 52:10
  Speaker 2: able to get back on. When I started running in Kenya,
• 52:14
  Speaker 2: i was close to home. I would see my parents
• 52:16
  Speaker 2: every weekend, and I think that helped to the stress
• 52:19
  Speaker 2: because my mum is a really positive energy person, so
• 52:22
  Speaker 2: whenever I'm with her, I feel calm and relaxed, and
• 52:25
  Speaker 2: whenever I also see how I want to do good
• 52:27
  Speaker 2: because she has gone through all this, So what excuse
• 52:30
  Speaker 2: do I have for not succeeding with the opportunities that
• 52:32
  Speaker 2: I have. So I'd go back running, and eventually just
• 52:35
  Speaker 2: running came back to me, and I think I was
• 52:38
  Speaker 2: planning on running a five thousand and then I was like,
• 52:43
  Speaker 2: we'll see, and my coel said, you go round the
• 52:45
  Speaker 2: ten thousand in Berlin ten k and we'll see what happens.
• 52:48
  Speaker 2: I won there and I won the ballin tenk from
• 52:52
  Speaker 2: fifteen hundred and he's like, see, I've always told you
• 52:54
  Speaker 2: you're not a Middle Eastern runner, you are a long
• 52:57
  Speaker 2: distant runner. And I said okay, yeah, yeah maybe. And
• 53:00
  Speaker 2: then I came back to the US and I ran
• 53:01
  Speaker 2: the ten thousand in Phoenix and I also want that
• 53:05
  Speaker 2: and I ran fast. I ran thirty I think fifty something,
• 53:08
  Speaker 2: and it was a surprise. I was like, how can
• 53:10
  Speaker 2: I run thirty minutes in ten thousand and then after that,
• 53:14
  Speaker 2: I went to Napoli right before COVID started in twenty twenty,
• 53:19
  Speaker 2: and I ran my first half marathon debut in sixty
• 53:23
  Speaker 2: six and I just kept surprising myself with a long
• 53:26
  Speaker 2: distance and I thought, okay, probably this is what I
• 53:29
  Speaker 2: have to do.
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: Run the ten thousand and a half.
• 53:32
  Speaker 2: And then in twenty twenty one, right after Agnes passed,
• 53:35
  Speaker 2: I was just preparing to pace London Marathon. So my
• 53:39
  Speaker 2: agent he told me, oh, you go paye London Marathon
• 53:42
  Speaker 2: and I said, okay, no problem.
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: I've ran one half marathon.
• 53:44
  Speaker 2: So I should be able to hold it to halfway,
• 53:46
  Speaker 2: so I'm fine. And then all of a sudden he said, well,
• 53:49
  Speaker 2: they're not getting back to me on time, and I
• 53:52
  Speaker 2: think New York would want you to debut instead of
• 53:54
  Speaker 2: next year, because we had planned to debut in twenty
• 53:56
  Speaker 2: twenty two. So he said, instead of debuting the following year,
• 54:00
  Speaker 2: why can't you go to New York. It's a slow race,
• 54:03
  Speaker 2: nobody will go fast, it's hilly. You can do it
• 54:05
  Speaker 2: like a long run. Just go have fun because the
• 54:07
  Speaker 2: race organizer would really want to have you there. And
• 54:10
  Speaker 2: I said okay, So I went and into New York.
• 54:13
  Speaker 2: No pressure, the way I went to Europe for my
• 54:15
  Speaker 2: first season in twenty thirteen.
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no pressure, just running.
• 54:18
  Speaker 2: I was hoping, Oh if I could be in the
• 54:20
  Speaker 2: top ten, that would be a dream come true for
• 54:22
  Speaker 2: my first major marathon.
• 54:24
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and you game in Socond.
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: I came in second.
• 54:27
  Speaker 3: You know, do you remember where you were when you
• 54:29
  Speaker 3: made the decision that you were going to run a
• 54:31
  Speaker 3: full marathon? Because I think that the funny thing here is,
• 54:33
  Speaker 3: I'm sure you're going to tell this story right now,
• 54:36
  Speaker 3: and it's going to be very relatable for anyone who's
• 54:39
  Speaker 3: ever been like, you know what I'm gonna do?
• 54:40
  Speaker 4: Think I'm gonna run a marathon?
• 54:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: God, yeah, yeah, I think it came.
• 54:44
  Speaker 2: It came to my mind, especially the last week before
• 54:47
  Speaker 2: going to New York, and I'm like, okay, I can't
• 54:50
  Speaker 2: even think about not finishing in case of anything, I
• 54:53
  Speaker 2: can't think of not running this. My agent has said
• 54:56
  Speaker 2: I have to run, and I have a little bit
• 54:58
  Speaker 2: of price many so this is a good thing for
• 55:00
  Speaker 2: me to focus on. At least I can get something
• 55:03
  Speaker 2: out of it, not come back after training for it
• 55:05
  Speaker 2: and not getting anything.
• 55:06
  Speaker 4: Els they're just like us.
• 55:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And it was just so funny because now I
• 55:10
  Speaker 2: went I went there and I'm like, Okay, if I
• 55:13
  Speaker 2: can be in the top ten, this is great. And
• 55:16
  Speaker 2: after that, I just kept thinking, I don't want to
• 55:18
  Speaker 2: run anything else. Yeah, marathon is fun. So I was
• 55:21
  Speaker 2: sold after New York. I think it was at Christmas
• 55:24
  Speaker 2: event because everything just aligned on that day and I
• 55:28
  Speaker 2: was second, and since then I've never expected anything.
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah that is below that.
• 55:34
  Speaker 2: And unfortunately marathon you cannot get the resource you want
• 55:37
  Speaker 2: all the time.
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: No, yeah, you hardly do.
• 55:41
  Speaker 4: So, Yeah, you know it's funny too.
• 55:42
  Speaker 3: I remember, I forget how many years ago this was,
• 55:45
  Speaker 3: but I was in like a circle of people chatting
• 55:47
  Speaker 3: and the question came up, like what's your favorite distance,
• 55:50
  Speaker 3: And the woman next to me said, my favorite distance
• 55:52
  Speaker 3: is to the marathon, and I forget if I had
• 55:54
  Speaker 3: run one at that time or not, but I remember
• 55:57
  Speaker 3: being like, you are crazy, like your favorite distance is
• 55:59
  Speaker 3: the Maria Marathon, and now, like a handful of years later,
• 56:02
  Speaker 3: I would say, also, my favorite distance is the marathon.
• 56:04
  Speaker 4: So hearing you say this, I'm.
• 56:06
  Speaker 3: Like, yep, yep, I'm there with you, and you know
• 56:08
  Speaker 3: it's crazy until you do it, and then you're like,
• 56:10
  Speaker 3: I guess I'm just a crazy kind of person.
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 56:12
  Speaker 2: I used to think my friends running the ten thousand
• 56:14
  Speaker 2: on the truck will crazy. I would be like, how
• 56:16
  Speaker 2: how do you go around twenty four laps on the truck?
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: Don't you go crazy? Running?
• 56:20
  Speaker 4: Yeah?
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: And now here I am. It's the same thing.
• 56:21
  Speaker 2: People are like, how how for the two kilometers you
• 56:24
  Speaker 2: must be crazy, and I'm like, yeah, yeah, this event
• 56:28
  Speaker 2: can make you crazy, Like you wake up and you
• 56:30
  Speaker 2: think about it every day and you don't want to
• 56:32
  Speaker 2: do anything else.
• 56:32
  Speaker 4: I love it. I love it.
• 56:33
  Speaker 3: We're starting to wind down here, but I'd be remiss
• 56:35
  Speaker 3: if we didn't talk just briefly about the mental side
• 56:38
  Speaker 3: of things. You mentioned that being a really big component
• 56:41
  Speaker 3: of your training, eliminating the stresses that don't serve you,
• 56:45
  Speaker 3: leading into difficult moments. Whether it's a training run or
• 56:48
  Speaker 3: obviously a marathon, how do you get your mind right?
• 56:52
  Speaker 4: What do you do?
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: Oh?
• 56:53
  Speaker 2: Positive self talk For me, especially before coming to this event,
• 56:58
  Speaker 2: I think of the good long runs that I've had,
• 57:01
  Speaker 2: the challenging and the good ones. For example, I would
• 57:04
  Speaker 2: do a thirty eight kilometer run and then I go
• 57:07
  Speaker 2: there and I killed it despite how difficulty is this,
• 57:11
  Speaker 2: and I'm proud of myself for running the pace that
• 57:13
  Speaker 2: coach wanted me or even faster. I think about those.
• 57:16
  Speaker 2: I think about the workouts that I've had on the track.
• 57:19
  Speaker 2: Those I think about the hard things that I've gone
• 57:22
  Speaker 2: through before the race that turned out positive at the end,
• 57:25
  Speaker 2: and I focus on those. I don't think about the
• 57:28
  Speaker 2: day that I had my periods on the track and
• 57:30
  Speaker 2: my back was stiff and I couldn't move. I don't
• 57:33
  Speaker 2: think about those. So I tried to think about all
• 57:35
  Speaker 2: the positive things positive self talk. I also think about
• 57:40
  Speaker 2: something like New York, where I made the right moves
• 57:44
  Speaker 2: my first day in that marathon. I replayed that in
• 57:47
  Speaker 2: my head all the time because it was a positive event.
• 57:50
  Speaker 2: So everything positive, nothing negative towards the event and just
• 57:55
  Speaker 2: being mindful of.
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: What I do.
• 57:58
  Speaker 2: Let's say, how I eat, how I slip.
• 58:00
  Speaker 3: I love how you say. I reflect on all of
• 58:02
  Speaker 3: the positives and I don't focus on the negatives. But
• 58:05
  Speaker 3: you know that the hard days are what got you
• 58:07
  Speaker 3: to where you are now, and obviously that's relevant to
• 58:11
  Speaker 3: not just your hard days within running, but also all
• 58:14
  Speaker 3: of the hardships that we talked about leading up to
• 58:16
  Speaker 3: this point. Yeah, the tough moments have made you who
• 58:20
  Speaker 3: you are today, and that's certainly something to be proud of.
• 58:23
  Speaker 2: Yes, when I get to a race like today, I
• 58:26
  Speaker 2: just embrace everything, of course, like the challenges and the positives.
• 58:30
  Speaker 2: I know where I've come from, and that's why I
• 58:32
  Speaker 2: go into a race not wanting to give up at
• 58:35
  Speaker 2: any point whenever when it gets difficult. I know I've
• 58:38
  Speaker 2: faced difficult moments. I've had days where maybe I'm not
• 58:41
  Speaker 2: well and I'm pushing myself in training. So I'm just
• 58:45
  Speaker 2: taking that into a race.
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: Let's say, if.
• 58:48
  Speaker 2: I get to a spot where it's not feeling okay,
• 58:50
  Speaker 2: I just have to push through that because I know
• 58:53
  Speaker 2: there will be a breakthrough after so I go. I
• 58:55
  Speaker 2: replay that in my head a lot, and it has
• 58:58
  Speaker 2: really helped me in this marathon, especially last year in Boston.
• 59:01
  Speaker 2: I got to a point where I think I felt
• 59:03
  Speaker 2: maybe I wanted to stop because coming back from COVID,
• 59:06
  Speaker 2: I didn't think about all the effects that it had
• 59:09
  Speaker 2: in my body. That lasted for quite a while, and
• 59:11
  Speaker 2: I came here and I felt like I was forcing
• 59:14
  Speaker 2: myself from the first kilometer to the last one, and
• 59:17
  Speaker 2: I wanted to give up. But I thought of Okay,
• 59:19
  Speaker 2: I've had these things happen, I've had this that I'm
• 59:21
  Speaker 2: not okay, and I've pushed myself. So just one kilometer
• 59:24
  Speaker 2: at a time and then every five, every three, every two,
• 59:28
  Speaker 2: just like that to the end.
• 59:31
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
• 59:33
  Speaker 3: What aside from the marathon excites you right now?
• 59:38
  Speaker 2: M marathon, I think working with Tiers Angels, that's quite
• 59:46
  Speaker 2: exciting for me, especially to be able to give back
• 59:49
  Speaker 2: to my community and to help other women.
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: And what really makes me happy.
• 59:55
  Speaker 2: Is the fact that we've had a lot of support,
• 59:57
  Speaker 2: especially from a datas and I did a runners. They've
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 2: been a big community that has supported us. So those
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 2: are the things that I look forward to other than running,
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 2: just going out there knowing that I have people have
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 2: my back whenever I need them, and it's been really,
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 2: really amazing.
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 3: Right now, if someone was to go maybe to your
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 3: social media, they see this woman that is an elite runner.
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 3: You've come so far, You're doing this great work in
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 3: your community. But when you viola look in the mirror,
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 3: what is it that you see looking back at you.
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 2: I see a very proud woman that has come a
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 2: long way from very humble background to being a successful
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 2: athlete and to being able to stand in front of
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 2: people and have somebody listen to me. It's a proud moment,
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 2: and at the same time, I feel really blessed. And
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 2: I don't know if I would say I'm lucky, but
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 2: I'm lucky to be where I am, and I'm really grateful,
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 2: so I don't want to forget where I came from. Also,
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 2: time I look at myself in the mirror, I think
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 2: about how it could have been if I wasn't here,
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 2: and what it is for somebody who is still ware
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 2: I could have been.
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 4: It's really special.
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 3: And again I want to thank you for sharing your
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 3: story and you standing up for what you believe in
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 3: and for the good that you're doing. It really is
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 3: helping so many and even just sharing your voice today,
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 3: it's it's really special for us to hear other perspectives
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 3: and also like come back with it and again, as
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 3: you said, realize how fortunate and lucky and blessed we
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 3: are for what we have and the opportunity to do
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 3: good for others.
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 4: So thank you for that.
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 2: Thank you, And I just wanted to let everybody know
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 2: if you want to follow USS Angels, we are on
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 2: Instagram or angels and also you can follow us on
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 2: our website is linked on the bio there. Also, if
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 2: you want to support Teirops Angels, you want to send
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 2: us a comment with kind of support, even if it's
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 2: like somebody who to with let's say, counseling. We also
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 2: need training ourselves on how to handle victims of gender
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 2: based violence. We need to know how to approach the situations.
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 2: We take those as part of the contributions from the
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 2: community to us and we welcome them. So we would
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 2: be really really grateful if you visit our page and
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 2: just say something positive. It always encourages someone.
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 4: You're already you're doing my job for me.
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 3: We're getting to the part right now where I ask
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 3: you for all of the ways that we can follow
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 3: along with you. But before I do that, right now, Neola,
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 3: you have an opportunity to offer yourself a piece of
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 3: advice looking back on those hurdle moments of abuse and
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 3: frustration and difficulty knowing what you know now?
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 4: What would you tell your younger self.
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 2: Oh, that I'm proud of myself for not giving up
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 2: when I didn't see the light or any sign that
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 2: there would be anything positive coming out of my life.
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 2: A lot of my friends gave up, and they were
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 2: married young, they had kids at sixth grade, seventh grade,
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 2: and I just didn't give in to all the temptations
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 2: and allow the challenges that I was going through to
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 2: put me down. So I'll say you, I'm proud of myself,
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 2: and yeah, I would run the younger girls to also
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 2: not give up.
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: Don't give up.
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 2: Your situation is never permanent as long as you keep
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 2: working and trusting.
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 3: On yourself, trusting on yourself. All right, How do they
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 3: follow along with you? How do they keep up with you?
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 3: They know about t reps angels. Give us the lowdown.
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 2: V under school legit one for Instagram and Twitter is
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 2: v underschool legit, Facebook, viola lagat or viola Chipto Lagat.
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 2: I try to post as much as I can. I
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 2: love it and I appreciate everyone for supporting myself in
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 2: my running career. I've had a lot of following and
• 1:03:56
  Speaker 2: people who support me and cheer for me along the way.
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 2: Don't forget the cheer for us and pray for us.
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 2: On Monday, we are hoping for a good race. I
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 2: don't want to say much about it, but a really
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 2: really good day hopefully, So pray for us, cheer for us,
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 2: and support us.
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 4: You got it in your prayers.
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 3: I am over at Emily a Body and at Hurdle Podcast.
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 3: Another hurdle conquered. Catch you guys next time.