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Headfirst into Fear with Olympian Skeleton Racer Mystique Ro · Mind Over Mountain

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, Welcome to mind Over Mountain with me Cheryl Strade.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: This week my guest is Olympian and skeleton racer Mistikroe,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: who competed recently in Mulatto Cortina. She talks to me
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: about how it is she finds calm even at the
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: highest speeds, and about her work increasing access and diversity
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: in the sledding sports. She also helps me answer a
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: dear Sugar letter from a bride to be. Let's listen
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: to our conversation, Miss Deekro. Welcome to mind over Mountain.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: All right, thank you for having me. This is awesome
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: to be here.
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  Speaker 3: Oh I'm thrilled to talk to you.
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  Speaker 1: I watched you in the Olympics recently, in the Mulatto
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Cortina Games, of course, you were part of the US
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  Speaker 1: Olympic team, and you competed in both individual skeleton and
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  Speaker 1: the new debut mixed team skeleton, of course, and I
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  Speaker 1: went back and watched those videos again of you, of
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  Speaker 1: you sliding down that scary ice track.
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  Speaker 3: I wanted to just begin by.
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  Speaker 1: Asking you if you could please take us inside yourself,
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  Speaker 1: your mind, and your body as you do that what
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  Speaker 1: looks to most normal people as.
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  Speaker 3: Like a very scary thing.
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  Speaker 1: And I asked this because I think skeleton is a
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  Speaker 1: really kind of unique in this way where if we
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: watch a runner, like I can be like, yeah, I
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  Speaker 1: know what it feels like to run, like I know
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  Speaker 1: what that action is, or or playing basketball or you know,
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  Speaker 1: fill in the blank. But with these sled sports, and
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  Speaker 1: I think especially with skeleton, it starts off looking like
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  Speaker 1: you're about to do a sprint. Down your crouch down there,
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  Speaker 1: you start up as a sprint, and then you dive
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  Speaker 1: onto this tiny little sled and off you go. And
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  Speaker 1: then it just looks like you're sliding. But I know
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: there's so much happening inside your mind and body. So
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: could you, dear mystique, take us inside that like a race,
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  Speaker 1: a slide, I don't know what is the word for.
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  Speaker 2: It runs, that's actually what we call it. So okay,
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  Speaker 2: I got enough. Yeah, like that, you're pretty spot on
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  Speaker 2: for the observation, and I highly recommend people try it
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  Speaker 2: if you would like. We have two locations like Plascid
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: or Park City. But the main thing is it's it
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  Speaker 2: looks chaotic, but for me specifically, it's probably when things
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  Speaker 2: go right, it's probably the most calm like I'm feeling.
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  Speaker 2: So I when I approach like a race, like, I'm
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: I did more warm up, but do you everything like?
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  Speaker 2: Because my background is track and field, so I did
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: my sprint warm up, my dribble series, all that stuff.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: They kind of get their reaction and the quick fast
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: switch muscle is ready to go, and so obviously the
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: speed suit is. It takes a minute sometimes to put
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: it on because it's pretty skin tight and you want
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: to get your mobility to situated, and it is cold,
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: so I keep my clothes on as long as possible.
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  Speaker 2: My coat stays on, the pants stay on, and there's
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: a countdown my coach goes through, and generally speaking, my
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: mind's pretty blank. Like I I'm usually pretty kind of
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: swaying a little bit. Everyone's different than the line, but
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  Speaker 2: for me, I'm very calm. I'm not thinking about any
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: thing specifically, and the only thing I'm really tuned into
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  Speaker 2: is my coach doing a countdown for me. So as
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  Speaker 2: it works down the clock before my run, I start
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  Speaker 2: stripping off different piece of clothing and then when it's
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: finally time to go, I get the announcement. Track is
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  Speaker 2: clear for Scalp Star from the Steak there's a beep,
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  Speaker 2: my coach hands and the sled, So again my brain's
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: not really thinking anything. I'm just going through the motions
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  Speaker 2: of like the motor pattern. Once my foot gets in
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  Speaker 2: the block and I hit my foot in the ice,
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  Speaker 2: I do my breathing like I didn't track my breasts
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  Speaker 2: to relax everything, and then I caught will wind up,
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  Speaker 2: I back up and then I push, So the push
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  Speaker 2: is five seconds of pure explosivity. So again my mind's
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  Speaker 2: not really thinking that much, but it's just like push push, push, push, push,
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  Speaker 2: and then it finally gets the point where you're gonna
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  Speaker 2: either fall or you're gonna dis get on the sled,
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  Speaker 2: so you'll load. The second my chest hits the sled,
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  Speaker 2: I have to slow everything down. My heart rate, my
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  Speaker 2: breathing has to be more controlled. So it's more of
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  Speaker 2: going into the autopilot feeling. Because all throughout training I'm
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  Speaker 2: thinking about all these different things, and working for the race,
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  Speaker 2: everything gets hopefully simplified. So when I'm on the sled,
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  Speaker 2: I'm thinking, I'm looking through with my brows because this
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  Speaker 2: muscles get really tired over time. I try to relax
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  Speaker 2: as much as possible, and I'm just going through the rhythm.
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  Speaker 2: So every track I associate with the rhythm of some
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  Speaker 2: kind and so that's kind of like my my metronome sorts.
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  Speaker 2: I kind of think of the rhythm of it, and
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  Speaker 2: breathing is my steering, soell breathing up. So everything's all fluidity.
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  Speaker 2: So it's kind of like think of like a shark
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  Speaker 2: when they're swimming. It's very chill and it's not a
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  Speaker 2: lot of movement unless they have like a mistake or
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  Speaker 2: a mistake they're trying to chair and make a quick turn.
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  Speaker 2: So I try to keep everything very low, heart rate,
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  Speaker 2: very calm, very cool, collected, which is funny because there's
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  Speaker 2: some spots where you see a skidding and it's like, Okay,
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  Speaker 2: if I freak out, it's gonna be bad, So I
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  Speaker 2: gotta just let it run. So let it happen and
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  Speaker 2: it'll straighten out. So it's kind of this balancing act
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  Speaker 2: of rob riding your natural instincts to your natural inclination
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  Speaker 2: to overcorrect or change something because you're going over mile
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  Speaker 2: of ice eighty plus miles an hour and you only
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  Speaker 2: have like these runners who are slightly boded. It's like
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  Speaker 2: this much contact on the eye, so you have to
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  Speaker 2: really commit to it, and you have to just accept it.
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  Speaker 2: A lot of sliding issues acceptance, honestly, and that's kind
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  Speaker 2: of once you once you accept that, and that's how
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  Speaker 2: it is. It's a lot smader if you don't fight
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  Speaker 2: the sled. It's actually really nice ride.
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  Speaker 1: It's really fascinating to me to listen to you describe it,
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  Speaker 1: because it is obviously it sounds like you've had to
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  Speaker 1: do a lot of obviously physical physical training, you know,
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  Speaker 1: strength and speed on all those things, but so much
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  Speaker 1: mental work because as you know, this process you describe
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  Speaker 1: is like kind of giving over to what the body
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  Speaker 1: already knows, like you know, keeping your nervous system calm, letting,
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  Speaker 1: letting that that the training that you've sort of those motions,
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  Speaker 1: like letting them come to their own naturally rather than
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  Speaker 1: overthinking it.
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  Speaker 3: Have you like, what have you done.
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  Speaker 1: In terms of formal kind of I guess it almost
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  Speaker 1: sounds like mindfulness training or mental training? Do you do
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  Speaker 1: you go through a whole core in order to get
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  Speaker 1: to the level that you have in skeleton to do this,
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  Speaker 1: have achieved this kind of mental control?
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  Speaker 2: It's it's varied over the years, Like when I first
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: started out like MA get track and field. Most tracks
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  Speaker 2: are the same shape, say you know dimensions. Some might
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  Speaker 2: marry a little bit, but it is what it is.
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  Speaker 2: Every track we go to is different, and so with
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: that there's different complication of different technicalities you have to learn.
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  Speaker 2: So every week we are resetting to kind of acclimate
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  Speaker 2: to the new track we're at. So over time, what
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  Speaker 2: I've found is like my normal go to is very
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  Speaker 2: flowy stuff, so I try not to get wound up.
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  Speaker 2: I don't listen to very loud, chaotic music, like my
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: teammates in the weight room might listen to something that's
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: really harsh or very choppy feeling, and for me, I
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: listen to classical music. I listened to like Josh Grobitz
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  Speaker 2: leading on something that's very more melodic and smooth. And
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: then when it comes to actual sliding and training, like
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: my recall or my mind runs that I do, which
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: is when we're visualizing the track, it's much softer. So
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  Speaker 2: I actually found I have ay successful season. A couple
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: of years ago, my teammate and I who travel together,
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  Speaker 2: we watched Avatar Last Airbender, and a lot of it
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  Speaker 2: is martial arts. So the learning how to kind of
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  Speaker 2: like when we unplugged from sliding, kind of like we're
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  Speaker 2: kind of all on compass thinking about fluidity all the time.
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  Speaker 2: And there was one year I was actually on the
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  Speaker 2: lower circuit development. I was doing a lot of taichi.
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  Speaker 2: So honestly, a lot of it is martial arts or
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  Speaker 2: that type of meditative thinking to kind of help keep
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  Speaker 2: things from getting too wound up very quickly. Because again
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  Speaker 2: we're going eighty plus miles an hour. I don't need
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  Speaker 2: to help it go faster. I just need to help,
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  Speaker 2: like I need to breathe with it. So learning how
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: to do less has been very important for us.
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  Speaker 3: That's so interesting.
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  Speaker 1: You know, I'm struck by you saying you feel incredibly
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  Speaker 1: calm when you're going that fast. But of course I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to guess when you first, like like when you
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  Speaker 1: were first like me, where you're just outside of the
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  Speaker 1: sport and watching somebody else do it.
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  Speaker 3: My reaction is that looks scary? What about you? Did
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  Speaker 3: it look story to you at first? Uh?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, So actually when I first heard about the sport,
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  Speaker 2: and actually, like, because no one really knows how do
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  Speaker 2: you trap for skeleton or BOPSA. You just see it
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  Speaker 2: on TV, And that's kind of it. So I happened
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: to get on the inside at one point and I
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: tried out did a combine and I was looking at
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  Speaker 2: Bob sled specifically because I was like you just try
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  Speaker 2: Skeleton'm like, no, not a chance, not going to do that.
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  Speaker 2: And then they're like, well give it, just think about it,
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  Speaker 2: and I was like sure. And then I come up
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  Speaker 2: to like Plasa to do like the rookie training on
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  Speaker 2: camp and I push bus sleds. But it wasn't un
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: till November that year, which was like November twenty seventeen,
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  Speaker 2: I actually got on a sled and I went down
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  Speaker 2: at like the halfway and I was like, absolutely, I'm
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  Speaker 2: not doing this. This is this is insane. Yeah, it
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  Speaker 2: looks as chaotic, it feels just like that, and it's
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: there's like no rhyme or reason. I guess that's not
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: really good selling point, like yeah, you'll feel great, Like no,
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  Speaker 2: because you don't really know what you're doing. There's nothing
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  Speaker 2: to compare it to. So I'm doing a really bad
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  Speaker 2: job sound the sport. But it's it's really challenging to
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  Speaker 2: like learn how to let go of control because in
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: track I know how to strategize a forage meter, you know,
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  Speaker 2: whether I execute it's different, you know, but on a
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: skeleton sledge, yeah, it's physics, it's ice, cove fish, and
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: it's like it's texture. There's all these things that you
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  Speaker 2: don't know about in the beginning because you're so new,
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: but all it's an effect. And then it's cold. I
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: don't like the cold. And actually I have like a
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: thing I call it umlerged ice, like my and my
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: skin touches something cold, I'll break out in kives. So
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  Speaker 2: it's like a lot of things that weren't lining up,
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: and it just like, yeah, try skeleton come back. And
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  Speaker 2: I was like, ah, it's just a really tough thing
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  Speaker 2: to like wrap your head around. But it's like it
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: doesn't feel safe at all because you don't know what
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: you're doing and you can't see anything of its going
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: so fast for your eyes, that's only forty miles an hour.
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  Speaker 2: So a lot of it was just like, Okay, I
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: can't bring my preconceived thoughts from what I know sport
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  Speaker 2: into this. I've been can be completely open, open minded
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: and't accept that it's gonna hurt for a little bitcause
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: you're gonna ping pong until it slows down for you.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: So that's kind of where visualization really came into play, and.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: I should say for listeners who aren't literate. And in
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: the sled sports there's essentially bob sled, luge, and skeleton,
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  Speaker 1: and could you just briefly explain that the difference between
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: these three.
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: Yes, so bobsled is the one most people know from
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: the movie Cool Runnings sably before man. So prehistorically it
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: was the disciplines of two men, two women or four men,
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: and recently for the Beijing Olympics T point twenty two,
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: they added manobob for women to add another discipline form
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: to have another metal opportunity. Luge is the discipline where
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: they go feet first. They actually are the fastest sliding sport,
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: and they go from either singles or doubles, and both
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: genders have doubles or singles. And then for skeleton, skeleton
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: is the head first discipline. So I call it like
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: the human penguin. And essentially we are probably the slowest
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: and now we go pretty fast, but the the deem
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: slowest and our runners are a little bit different. So
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: because of this nature of the sled set up, or
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: I think we have a round runner so versus Lucius Kouffin.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: So we're slower, but we have we're head first. Louse
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: is fastest in their feet first, and then bob'sid is
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: like the big vehicle sport. So we all use the
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: same track nowadays. Back in like the nineteen hundreds, there
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: was different tracks for luge Bob soa was different, skeleton
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: and cruster were different things. So to make these moreconomical
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: across the globe, we all use the same track nowadays.
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  Speaker 1: You know, to me, instinctually your saying skeleton goes the slowest,
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  Speaker 1: but it seems the scariest, And I think it's about
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: physical vulnerability because not only are you head first, which
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: immediately like I think most of us are, like if
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: something scary is ahead, we'd rather put our foot out
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: to it rather than our head, but you know also
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: face down, like it just seems like a very kind
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: of vulnerable position. How did you come into even these tryouts?
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: I think I read somewhere that the amazing Alana Meyers
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: Taylor was sort of influential in getting you involved in
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: the sport.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I heard the sport. I heard about sport
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: in like twenty ten when Steve Holcombe was sliding and
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: I was like, oh, it's cool, and I kind of
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: didn't think about it since then I was, you know,
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: and I might have been like a sophomore in high school.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: So it wasn't until college, which is much years later,
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: and she reached out to like she said an email
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: blasted recruitment coaches across the country and say, hey, look
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: for athletes. And so my coach happened to get an
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: email from her or somehow connected, and I was actually
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: sleeping on my teammates couch who my coach was asking
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: you should go try out because she was like a
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: NCAA champion and I was not. I was just kind
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: of bumming it for just a little bit. So I
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: just happened to tack long and that's how I got connected.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: And so from there as I mentioned like, yeah, Bob,
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: soa that sounds cool, you know, like why not? And
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: skeleton passed? Not no, not a chance, not a chance,
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: And they kind of like allowed me to think that.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: But when I showed up, they saw myce my height
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: and they were like, you might want to try skeleton.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: I was like, I mean I could try it. So
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: I pushed a bobsa pretty decent but it's a mass
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: sport and a lot of the girls were a bit bigger,
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: at least at the time of my recruitment, so skeleton
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: and I was like, I'll give it a shot. And
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: the only reason I think this worked out was because
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: at that time of my life I was like, just
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: try everything. If something comes up an opportunity to say, yes,
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: give it a shot. It doesn't work out, move on.
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: And I survived my first run on the track from
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: the halfway point, and all the while like, uh, I
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: think I might have bumped into Alana like once that summer,
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: and so I was like, okay, so this is and
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: I was just Starshuk and it was just like a
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: good one on a deep dive and so like it was.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: It took me years before I could talk to her
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: like on a normal, like one on one basis. But
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: I was seeing all these Olympians at the training center
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: and I was okay, like you know what separates us
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: from them? So and then at the point it was
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: a lot of it was just knowledge like how do
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: you slide? How do you put a sled? So from
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: there it was just like do I want to do this?
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: And this again? This is kind of like ignorance is bliss,
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: Like you don't know really what's involved at first, like
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: financially or logistically, I'm like, I'm young enough, let's let's
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: go to a shot. So it's kind of how it happened.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: And occasionally, when I finally did work up the courage
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: talk to Alana, use her as like kind of like
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: a mentor and consult with her about different things that
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: I was not sure about. But yeah, I was a
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: interesting origin story. I wasn't even the intended recruitment. I
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: just happened. I just happened to be there at the
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: right time.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: But you did you know from those early days of
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: being intimidated to talk to a lot of and who
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: wouldn't be She's I mean, she's amazing, right, Yeah, But
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: then you ended up going to the Olympics with her
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: and there you are teammates together.
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: What did that What was that like for you? How?
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: What did the Olympics mean to you? What did it
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: feel like?
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah? So for me, I think it was a unique
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: position where when I first came out of the sport,
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: it was the Seasons twenty seventeen eighteen, so going into
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: Korea Olympics, so I've actually been a part of the
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: team for two Olympics as as a development a thing just
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: watching how it happened. So I learned a lot. I
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: learned what not to do, what to do who have
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: leaned into how to navigate these spaces and consistently through
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: it all. But Alana, and Alana is a very seasoned athlete,
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: you know, as a you know, a woman of color,
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: an athlete of color, and just a decorator athlete in
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: the field. So a lot of the mentorship that I
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: leaned on was from her, just because she had the
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: unique perspective that I needed that was actually geared towards,
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: you know, my path, and so through all this stuff,
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: she's had like an instrumental influence on my career as
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: far as like me venturing out to char different things
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: actually get on the map. And so finally, after like
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: a very arduous season, you know, I qualified and I'm
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: there and so my races is my like just taking
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: it all in, just racing from the individual the debut
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: event of the mixed relay and just being there, you know,
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: and just being there with Kelly Curtis, who is now
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: a two time Olympian and first Olympian as a mother.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: It's just a lot of history was being had this Olympics,
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: and it was just cool, Yeah be there and simply
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: for a loan, and I'll tell a quick story, like
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: I was at the finished stock waiting for her, and
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: they were lovely, the last five athletes, I think for
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: monopab and I'm probably where I'm not supposed to be,
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: but I'm there because I'm I'm chairing and I'm recording
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: and I'm just like just being really supportive. And then
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: she comes down. She's in second at the time time
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: or sitting in first waiting for the Germans to come down.
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: And then I'm recording the live reaction and then as
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: everything's screaming, celebrating, it's really fast turnaround to get from
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: the finish the camera to the podium and then I'm
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: being handed a child. I got Nico in my hands.
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: I was like, oh, hi, Nica, and I'm gonna sign
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: sign with them, and like I got to carry them.
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: So we're running around and like, you know, I'm in
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: the family area. I'm not family, but I'm over here,
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: you know, so just just being in proximity and like
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: Nick her husband, like they oh my god, thank you
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: so much. Like they trust me with their kids, and
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: so it's anything that I could have gotten to help
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: them over the seasons, Like I've like I'm playing with
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: the kids or wrestling, we're you know, dancing whatever, but
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: it helps them, you know, at least go get a
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: meal to eat. So I think it's just we've built
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: a really cool bons like going from being intimidated now
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: I'm like playing with their kids, and so that's been
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: a really cool experience just you know, to develop and
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: like yeah, we're we just be showing you know, mom,
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: just want to go metal Nico's over here tonight. We're
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: just celebrating. It's just like it's just really cool.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: It's so inspiring, Mistie, because I think, I mean, I
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: know what you mean about how important and powerful it
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: is for you.
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: I Mean a lot of people help.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: Us along the way, and they can be very different
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: from us sometimes and they can give us the thing
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: we need. But it really does help when we see
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: somebody who we have something in common with and they
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: can sort of help us see that there is a path.
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: And Alana was clearly that too. I'm curious if you
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: have a sense of yourself now being that two younger
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: athletes of color.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been interesting because like early when it came
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: in like twenty seventeen eighteen season, I think they did
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: a commercial they Tinos did some type of commercial paying
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: homage to the Netta Flowers which was Alana's you know,
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: like north Star, and then Alana was the connecting point
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: for a lot of athletes into there. So Alana's had
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: a huge impact. And so there's so many women of
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: color now that are on like filling the roster, and
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: then we have like a wider bandwidth of who we
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: connect to and so me civically, I'm unique because I'm
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: in skeleton, not bob sled, and so uh, it's it's
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: been really interesting. It's like getting perspective for myself and
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: another athlete who you know, might be trying to come
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: up and like, hey, what is it, what is it like?
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: And then you start with initial like yeah, like it's
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: a you travel a lot, Like no, no, no, what's
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: it like for you? I'm like, oh, okay. So that's
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: when we kind of these honest conversations because at the
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: end of the day, it is a very unique niche
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: sport that has very unique challenges to most of the
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: people in the demographic that I'm kind of similar to,
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: Like track and fiel is pretty open, it's in the South,
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: it's warm, it's accessible. Wonder sports in general are not
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: the most accessible and they're very expensive. And so there's
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: been those challenges of the years where people have said
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: things that are very you know, off color or just
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: rude and implying a lot of things and so not
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: tiptonge around this conversation like hey, like this might happen,
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: and I'll give you heads up, this is who said it,
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: you know, So just being honest because like most of
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: the time, we're all adults, and so it's like I
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: like people to be in the sport because they want
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: to and not going blind, but they also dided to know,
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: like this is what's going to happen, this what could happen.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: And I think for the most part we've trended in
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: a right direction. But it didn't. It wasn't always that way.
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: It was very challenging the bidding for me. And that
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: was only nine years ago. So the athletes are coming
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: in now. I think we do have a nice community
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: where we are honors with each other and provide opportunities
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: or just like hey, like this isn't this marketing thing
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: did work for food, but maybe work out for you.
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: So trying to keep athletes in the sport as long
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: as possible by offering support and solutions for being able
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: to stick around as long as possible, because a lot
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: of it is money based, so one opportunities to rise.
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: We do share with each other a lot. And then
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: when there are opportunities to speak to certain athletes, when
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: groups come in, like they usually grab tate towards me
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: certain ones, and so then I or I seek them
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: out because I can see them that they're kind of
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: like uncomfortable, and so bridging that gap so there's no there.
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: We don't feel out of place necessarily because I was
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: never an ice board Like I watched Shannye Davis speed
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: skating and I thought that was closing, but there was
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: no speedkating track around me, so I couldn't do it.
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: So I would just rollerblade in the cold sack of
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: my neighborhood. And that was my experience. But when you
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: finally get to see these venues in person, and it's
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: like overwhelming, like, oh my gosh, this is cool, but
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: I don't see anyone that looks like me or my head,
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: my background. That's a huge bridge to gap, you know.
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: So if athletes are present and actually have this communicate,
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: like can talk and share their experiences, it helps bridge
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: those gaps and then that kind of opens up the
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: room for diversity or just interest for the fan base.
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: So that's been a really cool experience for me, especially
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: since i work at the track as a tour guide,
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: so I'm able to see and kind of have those
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: conversations with people who have those questions.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: What is your background? You grew up You grew up
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: in Virginia, is that right?
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so the DMV. So I'm actually from California, so
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: that's my first four years. But then my dad, being
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: a marine, moved to the East coast, so we would
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: bounce between Maryland Virginia. And then I'm one of eleven,
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: so this is the big piece here. So I moved
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: to Charlotte to get away because I'm wanted my own room,
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: and that's when I went to college. So for the
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: most part, I've been in a relatively warm climate just
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: for my entire life, track and field, soccer, softball. So
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: to do the complete jump to winter sport was a
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: massive change for me.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: Do you do you feel like that that that in
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: any way sort of contributed to your like who you
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: are today in terms of an as as an athlete.
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so in the breakdown eleven kids, I have an
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: older half brother and then I'm a twin. But so
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: there's eight boys and three girls. So for me, I'm
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: the second oldest. But for all in times of purposes,
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: I was like the captain. If you also like I
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: under the parents, I was in charge, so I covered
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: the team. I am the captain of the team, so
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: I'm doing a lot of the parenting why parents are absent,
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: So I was in charge of a lot of that
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: stuff logistically, So that would be like the elder sister role.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: And so for me in sport, you know, I wasn't
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: always necessary the oldest, but I kind of would see
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: things differently from a madeagerial perspective, I guess, and so
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: then from that standpoint, I was able to kind of
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: be like the team mom. So I was always in
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: that role my entire career whenever I did stuff, and
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: so especially in college because now I have literally a
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: team full of women and like, so I'm checking in
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: with them and not like any I'm not again, I'm
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: not the most talented athlete. I'm not the most decorated athlete,
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: but you know, I did the multi so I'm kind
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: of I can understand people's perspective because I've did a
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: little bit of everything. So people felt comfortable enough to
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: come to me. So I was like the team mom
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: in that role, and so when it came to skeleton,
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: it just seamless same thing. And and then originally, like
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: when I first started out, I'm brand new, so I'm
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: very observant, just kind of watching how things work. But
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: as the athletes came up from under me and getting
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: into the sport and trying to learn stuff, I became
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: a point of contact or at least like a consultant.
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: So and then I eventually I was able to find things.
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: So then it's like, hey, can you have me find
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: this piece of equipment. I'm like, yeah, sure, and then
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: it'd be easy for me. So it kind of just
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: was something that just was a role that I was
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: I was given from a long time ago, and it's
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: just kind of stuck. So I've always been that.
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: Right, you know, how to be a caretaker and a leader. Yes, yeah,
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: all of that.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: I mean even when you said before, right, before you begin,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: you like rock to you sway to calm yourself, which
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: is a very I mean, the image that came to
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: mind is as you probably well know, like that's how
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: you soothe like a baby, right, yeah, that's a very
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: like physic Like we just innately know that this calms us,
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: you know.
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: So it's it's fascinating.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: But you know, one part of this podcast, you talking
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: about all your siblings, brings to mind a dear Sugar
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: letter I received, So one part of this podcast is
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: me getting you to help me answer. So can I
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: read you the letter that we're going to tell you
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: this week? Yes, okay, you got to help me on this,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: Dear Sugar. I'm the second oldest of five sisters, and
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: I'm having trouble figuring out how to deal with some
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: tense family dynamics that have come up as I plan
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: my wedding. My fiance and I got engaged a couple
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: of months ago and immediately began planning a wedding for
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: early next year. I love all of my sisters very much,
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: but I'm closest to my older sister. Our closeness is
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: probably due to a couple of things. We're only eighteen
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: months apart, and our other sisters are four or five
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: and seven years younger than me, respectively. Of all of
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: our sisters, my older sister and I have the most
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: in common in terms of shared interests, activities, and career paths.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: We were even roommates for a couple of years in college.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: I knew even before I got engaged that I would
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: want her to be my maid of honor. I've already
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: asked her, and of course she said yes. The problem
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: is that my parents expect me to ask my three
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: younger sisters to be my bridesmaids. When I told them
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: my plan was to ask my two best friends to
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: be my bridesmaids instead of my sisters, they got quite
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: upset about it, especially my mom. I'm the first of
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: all of us to get married, and my parents told
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: me that they believe that it should be automatic that
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: all of my sisters are in my wedding party, no
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: questions asked. I disagree with them, but to be clear,
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: it's not that i'd leave my younger sisters out of
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: my wedding. I'd like them to read something as part
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: of the ceremony, and that would be very meaningful to me.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: But I I want my two best friends to be
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: my bridesmaids alongside my older sister. Am I being a
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: bridezilla by believing I get to make this decision for myself.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: My parents tried to convince me to have six bridesmaids
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: so I could have all four of my sisters and
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: my two friends in the wedding party. But my fiance
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: is an only child and he doesn't want to have
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: to pick six friends just so his side is even
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: with my side. I'd appreciate your advice about this, Sugar.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: I love my big, unwieldy family, and all of my
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: sisters are extremely important to me. I don't want to
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: hurt or offend anyone, but I also don't want to
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: be forced to alter my wedding just to please my parents.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: As for my younger sisters, they don't seem to care
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: one way.
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: Or the other if they're bridesmaids.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: They know that no matter what, they'll be an important
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: part of my big day.
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: What do you think?
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: Do I have the four sister wedding party of my parents'
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: dreams to keep the family peace, or do I put
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: my foot down and do what feels right to me? Signed,
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: Big Family Bride Okay, stequ what.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: You think, ooh, I'm signed with the bride in this
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: one that you feel it's it's it's challenging for sure,
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: but like I mean, if if you do it right,
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: you get one wedding right, and that's right. It's it's
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: tough because it's like like if the sisters were really
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: worked up about it, that that's kind of I think
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: it sway a little bit, but they don't. They're just
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: there at a party. They just want to celebrate. But
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: also on the on the groom side, like I simpath
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: I I don't got a lot of friends. I would
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: be asking you so like now I got to find
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: five more six people. That's that's a lot.
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it is.
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: I guess it's like it's weird that the mom is
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: so or the parents, both of them are so invested
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: in it being like a whole family thing, right, because yeah,
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: I think we didn't get the perspective of the older sister,
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: which I think is interesting. But like obviously I think
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: the mom has the most way on prussing, like you know,
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: she wants it, but right, I think it's I don't know,
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: like I'm not really big fan of when when parents
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: overly like assume a rule, especially when it comes to
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: like because it's already very stressful. It's always it's like,
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: you know, yeah, so it's just that's adding more emotions
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: to something that's really tricky already. But I'm gonna side
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: with the bride in this one. It's your day, yeah,
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: you know, it's their day.
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, and I completely agree.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: And to me, I feel like at core, like whenever
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: I get any letter, I'm always like, Okay, the situation
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: is sort of up here. That was just described to
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: us about all these siblings and the expectations of the
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: parents and the wedding, and weddings already heighten things anyway.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: But at core, this is ultimately about a couple of things,
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: and they are first boundaries, like setting a boundary and
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: also teaching your parents, which I think every every adult
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: has to at some point kind of teach their parents
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: like Okay, you know, now I'm in charge of my
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: life and you aren't in charge of my life, you know,
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: and that can be painful, you know, for both sides,
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: so to say, respectfully and lovingly, I think Big family,
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: Bride to your parents, like I understand you have a
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: vision of this day, and it's different from mine and
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: my fiances. And now I'm at the time of my
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: life where I have to make decisions with my partner
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: and I am totally you know, going to involve all
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: of my beloved sisters in the wedding, So rest assured,
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: nobody's going to be left out. But I'm going to
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: have to disappoint you. And you know, sometimes when we
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: set a boundary, we do have to disappoint people. And
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: that's okay because it teaches them that you are in
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: charge of your life. Right, I'm curious, is it that
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: ever has anything like this in your I mean big family,
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: Like have you ever had? I mean, you can't always
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: include like eleven people and everything, right, Like I know you,
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: I'm going to assume you love them all, but do
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: this dynamic? She is like, listen, I'm just closer to
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: my oldest sister.
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: Has that come up in your life?
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah? I think a unique way, like I call litin litters,
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: so like there's eleven total, but we were kind of
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: grouped together. So like the ones that are like the
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: nineties kids and then like the early two thousands and
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: like the little mid like the teens, so they kind
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: of grew up in different you know ROMs because the
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: nineties kids are like the last millennials and then it's
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: like the early gen z ers and the agency, so
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: we grew up differently, and so our exposure to different things.
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: Like I didn't have a cell phone, right my siblings
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: younger ones do, so we we bond differently. So I'm
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: closer with a little older one just because we have
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: shared experiences. And I think what was challenging for me
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: is like, again, there wasn't that time where all eleven
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: oways we're in the same house, old the same time,
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: because obviously it's a huge age gap, but there was
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: times where there's football practice over here and there's gymnastics
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: over here. Someone's gonna miss something, and so it's like
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: there's times where I've had awards ceremonies for like our
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: team was undefeated in soccer or some event and maybe
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: trying and fill it and we were trying to do
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: team photos and my dad misread an email We're going
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: to football practice and there's no football practice. So not
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: only did we not got football practice, but I didn't
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: go too like the image pictures for my team. So
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: there's always gonna be this disconnect where it's like you know,
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: something's got to give or you know, but hopefully you know, yeah,
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: communications clear across the board, but you have to understand
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: that at some point there has to be a line
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: has to be drawn, and it's like, hey, like we
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: need to make sure we practice certain things and whatever
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: is more important this situation or you know, and and
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: the thing in this case with this is a this
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: is a huge like segment of your like I don't know,
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: like life moment, and yeah, it's a big it's it
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: is huge. Yeah, And so like for the for the
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: bride like not to be like a rite down, like
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: there's always something that could potentially happen on the wedding day,
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: you know, whether you know, and you obviously don't any
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: even have like you don't want to carry more stuff
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: into that as far as like the preparation because now,
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: like you don't want to feel like you're tiptoeing around
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: someone or you're trying to figure out how to manage
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: feelings or keep the peace because you want to be
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: happy to celebrate something that this is huge, And so
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: I think I agree, like there's a point where at
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: some point you have to have this conversations then hopefully
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: it's civil enough where it's like, hey, we can agree
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: to disagree about this this choice, but at the end
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: of the day, I have the final say. And so
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: I think that's the thing, is like that moment where
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: parents have to realize their kids are also adults and
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: they have to surrender some of that you know, control
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: back or that those choices, and it's challenging for sure
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: for parents.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: How have your parents been how have they responded to
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: your career and you know, have they been supportive of
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: your journey as an athlete all along the way? Were
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: they were they encouraging of that when you were a child,
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: for sport.
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: Has always been something I've been doing, so I think
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: early on they realized that that's something I needed to do,
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: so I bounced between gymnastics, softball, soccer. So I think
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: they've been very supportive of that coming up. And I
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: think actually I got into track because my dad told
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: me my running form was terrible and I was very
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: offended by that, but I was, Okay, let's go to
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: this track camp and so I went.
• 32:21
  Speaker 3: On the kay.
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: I don't know it like I was to think was
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: like it wasn't like I ran like a robot or anything.
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: It could be my you know, like I don't know,
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: like you know, you don't have like the strengthening in
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: the core to keep everything more linear. I don't know
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: if my eggs, my legs are turning out a little
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: bit or just I don't know. It could have just
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: been the form was bad. But he just said, like
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: it looks bad because I did soccer. So I was like,
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: I don't know if it's because like I dribbled a
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: ball or something. So he never clarified that, which almost
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: kind of rubbed me the wrong way. But yeah, so
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: that kind of put me into a track camp at
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: the local high school and I participated and they're like, oh,
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: you're kind of quick. I was like, okay, whatever, you know,
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: that's what you want to be as a kid. So
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: eventually I did track and that's kind of what got
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: me in there. So then that's when I had to
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: like learn about decisions. So up to this point, I
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: was doing banned. I was just being different club stuff
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: and because of the scheduling, like you can't do it all.
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: So that's my dad had that conversation like if you're
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: gonna do something you got to commit to it, and
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: I really didn't want to do that. I was like,
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: I want to do everything, but that's stu when I
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: started reading different books and like I read up on
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: like Michael Phelps I think at the time, and just
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: or there was a book on something about, you know,
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: focusing on your energy and certain things. So I committed
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: to track and field and eventually that's what got me
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: a scholarship to go to college. And so from there,
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: if you're gonna go to college, you gotta paid for
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: I'm like, well, I don't have thirty thousand dollars laying around,
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: so let's go to get a scholarship. So they've been
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: very supportive in the sense of how it's allowed me
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: to be able to have opportunities I wouldn't have otherwise had.
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: And so when it comes to skeleton, I didn't tell
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: how much it cost because that was going to be
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: a lot of the different conversation, but just what's involved.
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: That's like you're traveling a lot, and I was away
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: for college, and so that the logistics wasn't the problem,
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: but it was more of are you happy doing the
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: sport you like it? Because there's a lot of the
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: stuff that I talked I talked a lot about was
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: just happening. Like there's racial things, there's opportunities, there's just politics.
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: There's a lot of things be going on. So my
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: mom's actually been a really big role in, like she'll
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: listen to me. She's like, that doesn't make any sense.
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: I was like, I didn't think so either. So she's
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: got to be my little consultant from the outside. But
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: she doesn't actually watch me sly because it it terrifies her. So,
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: oh there's stuff on, she's absolutely mortified. She's just like
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: because I came back one time and I was my
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: arm was covered in bruises, and she's like, oh my god,
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: what happened. I was like, I just I missed the exit.
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: She's like, what does that mean. I'm like, don't worry
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: about it, because you don't want to hear what happened,
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: because like I could give a whole detailed things. She
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: don't want to hear that. So actually, when I post
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: up on social media, she's on a two week lag,
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: so she doesn't actually see it. She's not really She
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: started to understand Instagram a little bit more, but she's like,
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: oh my god, what this happened. I was like, that
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: was tweeks ago, my mom, I'm over here now, so
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: you know, so I kind of keep it and I
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: don't really get too much into it. And actually it
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: wasn't until the Olympics. Actually they had a watch party
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: at the local bar and she actually watched me go
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: in real time. She's never done that. She just she
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: just stressed, wow, And I think she had like some
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: liquid courage to help watch because it was just like
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: it was just chaotic, just because the commentator's talking Nazi
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: as you're going, you make mistakes again more animated. Everyone's
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: screaming and shouting. So she's getting like her nerves or flooding,
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: and she's like, I gotta take a nap. That was
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: too much. I was like, it was actually a good run. Mom,
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: there's only a minute, but you know, it's just been
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: it's been fun just kind of seeing the evolution of
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: little Sneak doing gymnastics and now she's an Olympian, So
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: it was a huge moment of like coming from a
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: circle likes you just thought about it one moment as
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: a kid, and now she's actually on TV for the world.
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: So she's been really supportive with that, which is really cool.
• 35:47
  Speaker 3: It's astonished. I mean, I'm sure they're both incredibly proud
• 35:50
  Speaker 3: of you.
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: But what about you?
• 35:52
  Speaker 3: What is what is your highest triumph to date? What
• 35:56
  Speaker 3: is your proudest moment?
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: And it you know, whether in the sport or in
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: your life, if you you know what comes to mind
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: when I ask you that question your proudest moment.
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: It's cliche, but like the journey coming up is there's
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: been a lot of things that negated or told me
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: I shouldn't be here. Financially was the big one. But
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: in the beginning of my career, actually I'm trying to remember,
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: there was a motivational speech clip from TD Jake's Bishop T. D. Jakes,
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: and it was don't let money me the reason why
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: you don't follow your dreams. And I was like, well,
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: I'm kind of broke, broke, like classically broke, and so
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: I was like, how do you make this work?
• 36:33
  Speaker 3: And so like, actually, I know, don't you love the people?
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they they're broke, and they actually like it's just
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: that they don't let a drop from their savings account
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: or something.
• 36:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: I'm like, no, it's it's not like giving us funny
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: is Yeah, nothing's.
• 36:45
  Speaker 3: Here and so like, yeah, no money in my no
• 36:48
  Speaker 3: money at all.
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely not.
• 36:50
  Speaker 3: I know, I know.
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: It's it's tough. And what's funny is like the team
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: that actually travel with Dan, he is like Pom Broke
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: and like no, no, no, you have the money. You
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: just don't want to put it towards this yet because
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: you don't know if you like it. I don't got anything.
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: And it took him a while to understanding that because
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: like that was like our cultural differences because he doesn't
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: then like why would you say broke. I'm saying you
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: don't have any money, like because it's just broke, you broke.
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: So understanding like these different things and like pieces that
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: were like telling me I shouldn't be here, I couldn't
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: do the sport, and I made it. You know, I'm
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: here and like there's people who into my face like
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: you don't deserve to be here, and you know, like
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: they've since left the sport and you know, I qualify
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: for the games and there's points where I had a
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: massive allergic reaction and I was like taken out for
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: a little bit.
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: So these different things that are like along the way
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: ever been Like he's roadblocks, and I would have been
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: I would have been in my rights to like, hey,
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: I'm done, this is over, like, but I said, no matter,
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna figure this out. I wanted to be Olympian.
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: I'm like, you know, I originally attract pil was what
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: I thought, but the girls out theres are very fast,
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: and I was like, I don't have it like that.
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: So just being able to pivot with those like those
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: thought like you know, like, hey, let's maybe it's not
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: this way, so I'll me find another way. So making
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: the dream happen no matter what, it's been really crucial
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: to me. Like my whole journey is just it doesn't
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: have to be following the script. It doesn't have to
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: be exactly the way I planned or I envisioned it.
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: You know, you have to be adaptable. And I never
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: thought I would be throwing myself down a mountain. I'm
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: scared of roller coasters. I don't like, you know, like
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: so that, how do you mentally come up with like Okay,
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: head first on a mountain, eighty miles an hour, no
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: seatbelt of nothing, Yeah sure, you know, like yeah do that.
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: And it's like why would you do that? And my
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: mom asked me that all the time, it's like, trust me,
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: it's not as bad as it looks. But then I
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: hit something, she's like, it looks as bad as I'm like, okay,
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: that one hurt, But like most of the time it's
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: not like that. So it's just that as bad as
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: it looked, not probably worse actually, but it just it
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: just there's certain things that just like line up and
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: the like when it's when things go good, it's it's great,
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: it's amazing. And I think that's what we're chasing. It's
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: that feeling.
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: I love what you said about you know that it's
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: not about a moment, you know, because that that to
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: me like it, you know, the moment is like you're
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: standing on the podium or you get you have that
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: prize or that medal, or that you know you win
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: that that you know, run or race, But the deeper
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: truth is it is about that journey and it's it's
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: it's not a moment, it's day after day after day
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: showing up. And I love also what you said about
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: that the economic aspects of a sport like this, I
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: think almost any sport to reach the elite level, you
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: need a lot of money. But I think it's particularly
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: very much in these flooding sports. It's even more what
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: advice would you have to other people who like you
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: and I like, I too grew up poor. When I
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: when I said my family was broke or I was broke,
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: I didn't mean that metaphorically. I meant we actually have
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: zero dollars, and it's really important that we, you know,
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: show that path to other to other people behind us
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: who don't have that economic privilege that others do have.
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: What advice do you have for athletes who come from
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: backgrounds that aren't going to be like, yeah, you know,
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: here's all the family money that can support you along
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: the way.
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: I think for me it was find it if you
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: liked the sport, and accessibility out of seats to that
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: point is very difficult. Like there's only two locations you
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: can do this in the US, Park City or Lake Placid.
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: Both are relatively remote from the general population. So like
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: once people get there, then it's like hey, cool, Like
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: there's people who like really fall in love this sport,
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: but then they see the price tag up front, like
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: before you can actually race this, how much is gonna cost?
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: And it's massive, like invoice and so actually started a
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: nonprofit to like, hey, like, let's kind of let's cut
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: the initial, Like, let's find the equipment. Because the spikes
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: we have are three hundred and something dollars. You can't
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: go on Amazon to find them. You know, they are
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: from a guy in a warehouse in Germany that you
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: have to email and you have to meet them on
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: the right day otherwise you won't respond. The helmets are
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: imported from one guy or is main made by another guy,
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: So like you have to know the right people to
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: have these communications. So if you're a brand new like
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: if you wanted for the sport, you wouldn't have that contact.
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: I've been the sport long enough and I've talked enough
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: people and to find this information. So my presence here,
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: which I would say is part of the whole team.
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: Mom was like I found it. Just tell me what
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: you need and I'll get it and then we'll figure
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: it out. And so mitigating that initial like reason and
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: like why I can't do so because I don't have
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: a helmet. Here's a helmet, here's the spikes, you know.
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: So and the main thing when I talk to Ath
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: is like you need to know if you like it
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: first before you try to do this the TV stuff,
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: do this promo, make the merch, see if you like
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: the sport, because it's very different. It's an acquired taste.
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: It's not something you can really compare to anything else
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: you've ever done. And for the most part, you don't
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: really know what it's like until you actually go on tour.
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: So we can slide in the US all winter long,
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: but until you actually go to Europe, go to China,
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: go to Korea. At one point we went to Sochi
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: in Russia. Can't do that now. But like, you don't
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: really know what life is on tour like because your
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: work schedule changes. You know your time zones, your loved ones,
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: you're missing birthdays and holidays. So a lot of it
• 41:52
  Speaker 2: is just you need to know if you like the
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: sport first, so you need to get the exposure without
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: the pressure of investing so much upfront. So drop being
• 42:00
  Speaker 2: thousands of dollars on some helmet, spikes and a speed suit,
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: and they like, this isn't for me. Now you have
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: thousand dollars worth of gear that you can't just sell
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: anywhere because it's very unique to the sport, so you
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: have to resell it to someone else in the sport.
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: So it's like a lot of these things you're trying
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: to like miitg it, So if we want to try
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: to have the best retention possible making it accessible to people,
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: so finding people who are gonna be in your corner
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: or want to support are not threatened by your presence
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: of trying to join the sport.
• 42:23
  Speaker 3: Did you say you started a nonprofit.
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's called Product Push to Gold Fund, And
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: that took me forever to figure out the day because
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: it was specifically for bobs and a skeleton, and pushing
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: is one thing that separates us from loge bots of
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: skeleton pushes, well, bobs are pushed upright, skeleton pushes bent over.
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: So the nonprofit was designed to help athletes get equipment.
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: So because I had these contacts that I couldn't tell
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: you how I found them, but like people reach out
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: to me over the years and I've acquired pieces of equipment,
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: so like old spikes, helmets, speed suits, and for better
• 42:55
  Speaker 2: or for worse, depending on the condition, I'm able to
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: hand out stuff to people because they donated, or if
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: people don't funding to help get this equipment, then I can,
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: like you know, if someone's coming for the first time, like, hey,
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: I need spikes for this training camp. Cool, here's some
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: spikes to use for the training camp, and then I
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: get it back and then I kind of keep it
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: in the system for athletes to come through just to
• 43:14
  Speaker 2: kind of try the sport out. So it started out
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: with just trying to fill avoid because our federation was
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: able to source equipment for athletes in real time, and
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: that kind of created a barrier of entry and a
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: stressor for pilots that are trying to put a crew together.
• 43:29
  Speaker 2: For Bob said, because you have a four man team
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: has three athletes that have no spikes, and collective that's
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: over a thousand dollars worth of the gear, you know,
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: so hey, here's a hand me down or burn vest.
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: And then that was the big thing. Burn vest or
• 43:41
  Speaker 2: something that are made a kevlar but there is technically
• 43:44
  Speaker 2: a lifespan of it, but they're very hard to find
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: and they're expensive. So the cheapest thing to do is
• 43:51
  Speaker 2: to hand on a burn vest that's five years old,
• 43:53
  Speaker 2: that's been worn and tried and true because it's been
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: used because someone crashed and the problem is the integrity
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: gets lost over time. Helmets and burn best and spikes,
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: So we don't want to put athletes in a own
• 44:05
  Speaker 2: position because we don't have the right equipment for them
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: that's safe. So my big thing was trying to source
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: stuff that's safe for athletes to you so they can
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: they can try the sport and not have any like
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: overhanging thoughts of like maybe this is compromise. I don't
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: know if this actually feels right, and it's just like right,
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: let's strip away another variable and let's just try to
• 44:23
  Speaker 2: sport out. So that's kind of like where the.
• 44:26
  Speaker 3: Way around barrier too? Yeah, that is that's amazing. So
• 44:32
  Speaker 3: what is next for you?
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: You are you know, I imagine, I mean, what have
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: you been doing in a couple of months since the Olympics?
• 44:41
  Speaker 3: Have you been like just I know you're you're a
• 44:43
  Speaker 3: guide at Lake Placid?
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: But have you what about like just are you taking
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: some time away from from like you know, competing or
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: are you gearing up for the next thing?
• 44:53
  Speaker 3: What's what's next? What's happening now? And what's next?
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's funny because like actually maybe a week or
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: Soctor got back, someone asked me, Hey, how you feeling.
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: I was like, I'm fine, What do you mean? Like
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: how you feel the post Olympic blues, Like no, like
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: I didn't to me, like I didn't do well enough
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: status wise or was in the in the public eye
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: to be able to be like yeah, but I think what.
• 45:17
  Speaker 3: Else you did great?
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: Are you anything you got Okay, just for the record,
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: you did seventh and the mixed team skeleton okay, seventh.
• 45:26
  Speaker 3: Hey, there's a lot of lot. That's a lot.
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: And then in an individual skeleton you got fifteenth. What
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: are you talking about? You didn't do great, that's amazing.
• 45:35
  Speaker 2: Thank you. Uh yeah, I'm just say mist thank you. Yeah.
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: I think welcome myself to say thank you, thank you,
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: thank you when someone gives you.
• 45:45
  Speaker 3: Listen, it's true. It's true. So put that story in
• 45:48
  Speaker 3: your head and believe it.
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: Yes, you're right. So when I was asked that, I
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: didn't really associate the timeline with it. And so right
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: now we're in the strategy phase. We're trying to figure
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: out coaching, equipment, season planning. Because World Championship is in Norway,
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: which is my home track. I would do very well there.
• 46:11
  Speaker 2: So there's a lot of it's not placed it, but
• 46:14
  Speaker 2: I can feel the pressure coming. As far as invictation,
• 46:17
  Speaker 2: because this year a lot of athletes across the world
• 46:20
  Speaker 2: will be taking a year off, taking time off, or
• 46:22
  Speaker 2: you know, doing medical stuff, whatever that is, So we
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: don't really know what the roster will look like on
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: the lineup, so it's a great opportunity to try to
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: like hit the ground running for the squad and kind
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: of start off with some accolades. So that's kind of
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: what we're at right now. But prioritizing at this moment
• 46:40
  Speaker 2: the next two weeks is mystique unplugging from skeleton and
• 46:44
  Speaker 2: kind of just really find in that.
• 46:45
  Speaker 3: Space in the sun.
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: Yes, no ice, except that maybe some ice in your glass.
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: Maybe When when's the World Championship in Norway?
• 46:54
  Speaker 3: When is that?
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: It is the last two weeks of February seven all
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: kinds and Lula have a right so next year, yes, well,
• 47:04
  Speaker 2: I will be thinking of you and rooting you, rooting
• 47:08
  Speaker 2: for you from Afar.
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: And I just want to thank you so much for
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: taking the time to talk to me. I really enjoyed
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: our conversation, Mistique.
• 47:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you for having me. This is an amazing
• 47:19
  Speaker 2: conversation and it was different, which I like and I
• 47:21
  Speaker 2: appreciate it. So thank you for the questions.
• 47:23
  Speaker 3: You're awesome, thanks for listening.
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: If you'd like to write me a letter asking for advice,
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: please send it to me at Deardearsugar at gmail dot com.
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: And don't forget to rate, review and subscribe wherever you
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: get your podcasts, Happy trails and I'll see you next week.
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: Mine Over Mountain with Cheryl Strade is an iHeart women's
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: sports production produced by Britney Brown and Rodney Brown of
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: Barbara Jean Productions. Supervising producer is Kaylin West at Realme.
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: Associate producer Amaya Brathwaite. Our executive producers are Molly Barton,
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  Speaker 1: is composed by Gramoscope Music. Don't forget to rate, review
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  Speaker 1: and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, Happy trails, and
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: I'll see
• 48:09
  Speaker 2: You next week.