Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 374. The Runner Behind ‘Runher’: Ashley Mateo Talks Creating a Women’s Running Magazine, Lessons From Injury & The Perks Of Getting Uncomfortable

Transcript

374. The Runner Behind ‘Runher’: Ashley Mateo Talks Creating a Women’s Running Magazine, Lessons From Injury & The Perks Of Getting Uncomfortable · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

0:00
Speaker 1: I kept kind of waiting for it, and then I
0:02
Speaker 1: was like, well, if nobody else is going to do it,
0:05
Speaker 1: I'm going to do it.
0:20
Speaker 2: Hey, everybody, Emilyavadi here.
0:23
Speaker 3: You are listening to episode three hundred and seventy four
0:26
Speaker 3: of Hurdle a While on this focus podcast, where I
0:28
Speaker 3: talk to inspirational people about everything from their highest ties
0:31
Speaker 3: and toughest.
0:32
Speaker 2: Moments to essential tips.
0:34
Speaker 3: On how to live a healthier, happier, more motivated life.
0:37
Speaker 3: We all go through our fair share of hurdles. My
0:40
Speaker 3: goal through these discussions is to empower you to better
0:43
Speaker 3: navigate yours and move with intention so that you can
0:46
Speaker 3: stride towards your own big potential and of course have
0:50
Speaker 3: some fun along the way. She is back in Brooklyn. Baby,
0:54
Speaker 3: I'm back with a special Wednesday release of the show
0:58
Speaker 3: featuring a conversation with my good friend, editor in chief
1:01
Speaker 3: of the new Runner magazine, Ashley Matteo. Ashley and I
1:06
Speaker 3: have been running in the same circles for years now,
1:09
Speaker 3: both coming up in media together here in New York.
1:12
Speaker 3: Now based in Colorado, Ashley is the founder behind the
1:16
Speaker 3: magazine dedicated to all things women's running, and that is
1:21
Speaker 3: called Runner.
1:22
Speaker 2: R un h E.
1:24
Speaker 3: R Today, we're talking about where the idea came from
1:27
Speaker 3: and how she decided it was finally time to step
1:30
Speaker 3: outside of her comfort zone and create a new magazine
1:34
Speaker 3: from scratch. We discussed her media background, the issues, if
1:39
Speaker 3: you will, that are going on within the space today,
1:41
Speaker 3: and rap about her personal running journey. She's run seventeen marathons,
1:46
Speaker 3: She's dealt with her fair share of injuries, and we
1:49
Speaker 3: talk about how persevering through those hurdles has made her
1:54
Speaker 3: more resilient today. Of note, the inaugural issue of Runner
1:59
Speaker 3: is currently on its way to mailboxes around the globe. However,
2:04
Speaker 3: if you want to get in on the action, it
2:07
Speaker 3: is not too late. The link to get your first
2:10
Speaker 3: copy and sign up for a subscription is in the
2:14
Speaker 3: show notes. Make sure you're following along with Hurdle over
2:17
Speaker 3: on social It's at Hurdle Podcast. I'm over at Emily
2:20
Speaker 3: a Body and with that, let's get to it. Let's
2:22
Speaker 3: get it to hurdling. Today, I am sitting down with
2:32
Speaker 3: Ashley Matteo. She is the editor in chief of Runner magazine. Ashley,
2:37
Speaker 3: Welcome to Hurdle.
2:38
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for having me. It's great to
2:40
Speaker 1: be here.
2:40
Speaker 2: It's great to see you.
2:41
Speaker 3: I'm so happy to be here with you today, and
2:44
Speaker 3: I'm you know, what's so crazy? I was thinking about
2:47
Speaker 3: not only how long we've known each other, but I
2:49
Speaker 3: remember when we met. You told me that you started
2:53
Speaker 3: out thinking that you were going to be a music journalist.
2:56
Speaker 2: How the tides have changed.
2:57
Speaker 1: Uh, you know they have and they haven't. Because I
3:02
Speaker 1: was reminiscing, I actually found the magazine I made in
3:05
Speaker 1: eighth grade that started me on this career path. And
3:10
Speaker 1: I made a magazine, you know, that was how my
3:14
Speaker 1: journalism career started. And yes, the focus was music. Back then,
3:17
Speaker 1: I was obsessed with Blinkwin eighty two, and so the
3:20
Speaker 1: entire magazine was focused on the band. But here we are,
3:23
Speaker 1: you know, I'm not going to say how many years
3:25
Speaker 1: later and I am making a.
3:26
Speaker 2: Magazine, making a magazine.
3:28
Speaker 3: Don't pretend that your obsession with like emo music is gone.
3:32
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, no, that's not gone at all. It's just expanded.
3:36
Speaker 1: It's all the music that I listened to when I'm
3:38
Speaker 1: running marathons.
3:39
Speaker 3: Morphed a little bit, so obviously I mentioned runner. Why
3:42
Speaker 3: don't you tell us a little bit about what it
3:45
Speaker 3: was that inspired you to create a magazine focused on
3:50
Speaker 3: woman's running.
3:52
Speaker 1: You have to look at the media landscape right now, right,
3:54
Speaker 1: I mean we both come from a journalism background from
3:57
Speaker 1: print magazines, and for the course of my career, print
4:01
Speaker 1: magazines have really changed. I mean, traditional publishing is not
4:06
Speaker 1: what it was when I decided I wanted to be
4:08
Speaker 1: a magazine editor, however many years ago that was and
4:14
Speaker 1: in that pivoting, it's kind of brought me further and
4:18
Speaker 1: further away from what I loved about journalism, which was
4:21
Speaker 1: telling real stories, like really diving into a topic, almost
4:25
Speaker 1: getting a little bit obsessed about a topic, and sharing
4:28
Speaker 1: that topic with people who either also appreciate it or
4:32
Speaker 1: have never heard about it before and are open to
4:34
Speaker 1: learning about it. And so I have felt myself being
4:39
Speaker 1: frustrated by the traditional publishing industry over the past couple
4:43
Speaker 1: of years. And I think there's a lot of opportunity
4:46
Speaker 1: to really prioritize that kind of storytelling without the traditional
4:51
Speaker 1: print model. So when I thought about what I wanted
4:57
Speaker 1: out of my career, I kept coming back to print.
5:01
Speaker 1: I kept seeing what other publications and other brands were
5:06
Speaker 1: doing in that print space outside of the typical you know,
5:10
Speaker 1: the hearst and the condeingnasts of the world, and I
5:13
Speaker 1: just I thought there was an opportunity for a print
5:16
Speaker 1: publication about women's running. There is no other publication at
5:19
Speaker 1: this point about women's running, at least not beyond uh
5:24
Speaker 1: the newsletter form, and women are driving this running boom.
5:28
Speaker 1: We deserve a publication. And I kept kind of waiting
5:32
Speaker 1: for it, and then I was like, well, if nobody
5:35
Speaker 1: else is going to do it, I'm going to do it.
5:38
Speaker 1: And here we are.
5:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, let's talk about that. If nobody else is going
5:41
Speaker 3: to do it, I'm going to do it because a
5:43
Speaker 3: lot of people will have maybe those preceding thoughts that
5:46
Speaker 3: you just outline, like I wish that this was a thing,
5:49
Speaker 3: but don't have the inclination to be like, I'm going
5:52
Speaker 3: to be the one that does the thing.
5:55
Speaker 2: Did that scare you ash?
5:57
Speaker 1: Yes, Oh my god, yes, I mean that's I think
6:00
Speaker 1: that's why it took me so long to do it.
6:03
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people that I know in
6:06
Speaker 1: the running industry would tell you, I've been talking about
6:09
Speaker 1: this for a while, wouldn't this be a cool idea?
6:11
Speaker 1: Somebody should do this? And I know how much work
6:16
Speaker 1: print is, I know how much work owning a business is,
6:19
Speaker 1: and I don't think I was really ready to take
6:23
Speaker 1: that on at a certain point, but I eventually got
6:27
Speaker 1: to a point with my career where I was just
6:29
Speaker 1: so frustrated with the opportunities that were available that it
6:35
Speaker 1: finally felt like making those opportunities was worth the stress
6:41
Speaker 1: and fear that would come with it. And I don't know,
6:46
Speaker 1: I mean, if you know exactly what you're getting into,
6:48
Speaker 1: I don't think you'll do it a lot of the time.
6:50
Speaker 1: And I didn't know one hundred percent what this would
6:53
Speaker 1: entail and how hard certain parts of it would be.
6:56
Speaker 1: But I am so proud of what we've made that
7:02
Speaker 1: it was worth all of that. I mean, fear isn't
7:06
Speaker 1: quite the right word, but just it was a lot
7:08
Speaker 1: of stress, but I think good stress.
7:10
Speaker 3: A lot of stress, a lot of unknown and to
7:14
Speaker 3: so many again, this idea of starting something from scratch
7:18
Speaker 3: is so overwhelming. As you can certainly co sign for you,
7:22
Speaker 3: Ash tell us a little bit foundationally about what it
7:27
Speaker 3: takes to create a publication from scratch.
7:30
Speaker 1: Oh my god, so much, so so much. I mean,
7:34
Speaker 1: I think if if you look back at traditional publishing again,
7:38
Speaker 1: this is the space that I grew up in right,
7:40
Speaker 1: I grew up in companies that did a lot of
7:47
Speaker 1: this for you, if that makes sense. So when I
7:49
Speaker 1: worked at Self magazine, and that was my first job
7:51
Speaker 1: out of college, I was an editorial assistant. We had
7:53
Speaker 1: entire departments that did certain jobs. We had a photo department,
7:58
Speaker 1: we had a creative director, had a fact checking department.
8:01
Speaker 1: I mean remember that, we had a managing editor that
8:05
Speaker 1: kept everything on track. We had editors in different apartments
8:08
Speaker 1: with directors above them, and everybody had specific roles. I
8:13
Speaker 1: had none of that with this. We had four people
8:15
Speaker 1: on our team. We have me, a publisher, a managing editor,
8:20
Speaker 1: and a designer. The four of us did everything. And
8:23
Speaker 1: so when I say everything, I mean that means fact checking,
8:26
Speaker 1: that means legal, that means all the design, it means
8:29
Speaker 1: all the advertising. So there were days when I was
8:31
Speaker 1: doing eight different jobs at once, and that kind of
8:35
Speaker 1: multitasking is really difficult. It makes everything a lot harder. Obviously,
8:41
Speaker 1: we also had freelancers too. I did not write the
8:43
Speaker 1: whole magazine, so we had writers, but really the four
8:47
Speaker 1: of us were wearing, you know, eight different hats on
8:51
Speaker 1: any given day. And there was also a lot of
8:53
Speaker 1: learning on the fly. You know, I've never worked with
8:55
Speaker 1: a printer directly before, because, as I mentioned, those big
8:58
Speaker 1: companies do that for you. I had to build our website.
9:01
Speaker 1: I've been working on our social media plan, our marketing,
9:05
Speaker 1: and so it's really fun and it's really fulfilling, but
9:10
Speaker 1: at the same time, it is really scary, and you
9:14
Speaker 1: just you don't want to mess up. I mean, these
9:15
Speaker 1: are all full time jobs that people hold, and I'm
9:19
Speaker 1: very nervous about messing something up in one of those
9:23
Speaker 1: roles that is not my natural role. But I think
9:27
Speaker 1: it's one of those things that people will recognize that
9:30
Speaker 1: we are building something new from scratch, and hopefully there
9:33
Speaker 1: will be a little bit of grace if there are mistakes.
9:36
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean, I feel like I'm going to
9:39
Speaker 1: be an expert in a lot of different things after
9:42
Speaker 1: a couple issues.
9:43
Speaker 3: I think what's really fun, regardless of whether you work
9:47
Speaker 3: for yourself or you work for a bigger company, is
9:52
Speaker 3: getting to a point in your career and that path
9:56
Speaker 3: where you recognize the value and benefit to continually learning
10:03
Speaker 3: from others. You said it, you've been a journalist for
10:07
Speaker 3: your entire career since graduating, right, You've been around the
10:11
Speaker 3: block now and you've found a new way to learn
10:16
Speaker 3: that excites you, that fulfills you, and that is something
10:21
Speaker 3: to be really proud of. To your point about well,
10:23
Speaker 3: I hope that everyone has some grace with us as
10:26
Speaker 3: this is the first time. That's what you need to
10:29
Speaker 3: know for you, right, you need to know and have
10:32
Speaker 3: that same grace with yourself because there's going to be critics.
10:36
Speaker 1: Of course, there are going to be critics. And I
10:38
Speaker 1: don't even mind the critics. It's the little things that
10:40
Speaker 1: I know I'll beat myself up about. You know, we
10:42
Speaker 1: just proved the first the first hard copy of the magazine,
10:45
Speaker 1: and you know it's the little typos or the grammatical
10:48
Speaker 1: errors that honestly, most people probably wouldn't even notice. But
10:52
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's your baby. I want it to
10:54
Speaker 1: be perfect. And so I feel like we have put
10:57
Speaker 1: a lot of pressure on ourselves to make sure that
10:59
Speaker 1: we are hopefully delivering the best possible product that we
11:05
Speaker 1: can within our capabilities. Like I said, there are only
11:08
Speaker 1: four of us. You know, it's a lot to ask
11:10
Speaker 1: of four people. But I think people are gonna be
11:13
Speaker 1: really excited about the final product.
11:16
Speaker 3: You said that you're doing, you know, on any given
11:18
Speaker 3: day seven to eight jobs, what would you say your
11:21
Speaker 3: favorite job has been in the creation of this product.
11:26
Speaker 1: Oh, that's a good question. It's been really nice to
11:29
Speaker 1: put the editor back on I have spent the last
11:35
Speaker 1: I went freelance in twenty seventeen, and so I've really
11:38
Speaker 1: been writing I would say ninety percent of the time
11:44
Speaker 1: over those years, and so it's nice to step away
11:49
Speaker 1: from the writing and work with other writers to decide
11:54
Speaker 1: what stories make the most sense, how we bring those
11:56
Speaker 1: stories to life, how we make a diverse line that
12:00
Speaker 1: really represents kind of all sides and categories within the
12:04
Speaker 1: women's running space. And so that felt really fulfilling to me.
12:09
Speaker 1: In this issue. I still wrote stories, I still want
12:12
Speaker 1: to write more stories, but it was just nice to
12:15
Speaker 1: take a step back and get to work on the
12:18
Speaker 1: bigger picture as opposed to just my one or two stories.
12:21
Speaker 3: So I want to give some more context and shed
12:24
Speaker 3: some light on why you are such a great person
12:30
Speaker 3: to be creating this publication. I know we talked about
12:34
Speaker 3: how from the get go you started your career at
12:38
Speaker 3: Self magazine, But what is it about women's sports and
12:41
Speaker 3: specifically women's running that aligns with your skill set to
12:45
Speaker 3: make this partnership marriage publication such a perfect avenue for you.
12:52
Speaker 1: I don't know if I'm the perfect person. I'm just
12:54
Speaker 1: the person who decided to do it at this point.
12:58
Speaker 1: I think there are a lot of really incredible people
13:00
Speaker 1: in the women's running space right now. I like to
13:05
Speaker 1: think that I know a lot of them, and so
13:09
Speaker 1: I look at my job as providing a platform to
13:14
Speaker 1: the women in this space. And I think given my career,
13:19
Speaker 1: I have worked at self, I've worked at Shape, I've
13:22
Speaker 1: written for Runners World and Women's Running and Outside and
13:25
Speaker 1: literally any publication that covers health and fitness. So I
13:29
Speaker 1: have a lot of connections within this industry, and I
13:32
Speaker 1: think I've been able to use those connections to get
13:35
Speaker 1: people to believe in and invest in a project like this.
13:39
Speaker 1: I mean, and I'm not just talking about writers. We're
13:40
Speaker 1: going to have a lot of writers whose bylines you
13:43
Speaker 1: recognize in the first issue you included, And that was
13:47
Speaker 1: one part that I think was really important. I really
13:49
Speaker 1: wanted to have credible voices within the space, you know,
13:55
Speaker 1: I didn't want to start totally from scratch with unknowns.
13:58
Speaker 1: I wanted to bring in the people that that I
14:00
Speaker 1: really admire and respect. While also bringing in new writers,
14:03
Speaker 1: of course, but I think having those connections with writers
14:07
Speaker 1: who were just as excited about this as I was
14:10
Speaker 1: was really great. But then also the partners who came on,
14:13
Speaker 1: the advertising partners. You know, I know a lot of
14:16
Speaker 1: people in this industry, and I've covered different brands and
14:21
Speaker 1: different capacities over the past decade. But getting somebody to
14:25
Speaker 1: come on and invest in a project like this that
14:27
Speaker 1: is totally unknown, you know, we don't have the same
14:32
Speaker 1: kind of numbers to prove proof of concept beyond the
14:35
Speaker 1: kickstarter at this point. So those conversations were that was
14:40
Speaker 1: probably the scariest part. I think getting people to invest
14:44
Speaker 1: in something that I think is a good idea but
14:46
Speaker 1: don't have proof that it's a good idea yet. And
14:49
Speaker 1: so I think the fact that I was able to
14:52
Speaker 1: get those partners on board, and partners I'm really excited
14:55
Speaker 1: about and really proud of, goes to show kind of
14:58
Speaker 1: the depth of experience and connection I have within the industry,
15:02
Speaker 1: and hopefully I was able to use that in a
15:04
Speaker 1: way that's going to really just set this up to
15:07
Speaker 1: be a huge success, not just on the page, but
15:10
Speaker 1: eventually off the page for sure.
15:12
Speaker 3: Now you know, a thing or two about putting yourself
15:15
Speaker 3: out there. Specifically, when we talk about it in the
15:17
Speaker 3: context of you as an athlete, I know you grew
15:21
Speaker 3: up as a gymnast and then later in life came
15:24
Speaker 3: to running. Why would you say that being a runner,
15:28
Speaker 3: how would you say that your running has provided you
15:31
Speaker 3: with the framework to take risks and do hard things
15:35
Speaker 3: like creating this magazine from scratch.
15:39
Speaker 1: I mean, running is a hard thing, Like I don't
15:42
Speaker 1: think there's anything about running that's easy, even on the
15:46
Speaker 1: easy days. I think you have to make a choice
15:49
Speaker 1: every day to do it and put yourself in a
15:51
Speaker 1: position where you are doing something that is harder than
15:54
Speaker 1: just existing. And so in my journey through running, I
16:00
Speaker 1: mean I've done a lot of hard things. I've run
16:02
Speaker 1: seventeen marathons, Like, you don't do that if you're not
16:06
Speaker 1: comfortable with being uncomfortable, And it's been a journey in
16:09
Speaker 1: learning how to embrace that discomfort. I don't think I'm
16:14
Speaker 1: one hundred percent there, you know, It's like you're still
16:17
Speaker 1: always going to hit that wall at some point. But
16:19
Speaker 1: I do think that the mental or psychological evolution I've
16:25
Speaker 1: had through running has really helped me deal with more
16:29
Speaker 1: difficult things in my life, whether those are personal things
16:32
Speaker 1: or professional things. I just I think knowing that I
16:36
Speaker 1: can push myself through those really uncomfortable physical moments has
16:39
Speaker 1: made you know, some other things just seem not so bad.
16:43
Speaker 2: Yeah.
16:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, I know just from our relationship that this year,
16:49
Speaker 3: especially the top of this year, certainly presented some challenges that,
16:53
Speaker 3: although we've both experienced in the past, we're a little
16:56
Speaker 3: bit louder than usual. Give us some context on how
16:59
Speaker 3: the landscape of media provided a few hurdles for you
17:04
Speaker 3: leading into the Top of twenty twenty.
17:06
Speaker 1: Five this year. Given a lot of external factors in
17:11
Speaker 1: the world which we won't go into, the media industry
17:14
Speaker 1: is kind of harder than ever, and I think a
17:17
Speaker 1: lot of publications I've written for over the years have
17:22
Speaker 1: really focused on certain strategies that I totally understand but
17:27
Speaker 1: just aren't the most fulfilling to participate in. I mean,
17:32
Speaker 1: I love writing service stories where runners will google a
17:35
Speaker 1: topic and you know, I help write an answer to
17:37
Speaker 1: that for runners world or outside, or whoever it is.
17:41
Speaker 1: But I found that those kind of stories were taking
17:45
Speaker 1: up one hundred percent of my time and I missed
17:47
Speaker 1: the real storytelling and by real. I just mean that
17:50
Speaker 1: deeper reported really like delving into an issue, whether it's
17:55
Speaker 1: whether it's an issue or just uncovering somebody's story, or
17:59
Speaker 1: looking at a side of the industry that somebody hasn't
18:01
Speaker 1: really thought about, and really like starting a deeper conversation.
18:06
Speaker 1: There just isn't a lot of space for that kind
18:08
Speaker 1: of storytelling in traditional media right now.
18:11
Speaker 3: And provide some insight on why that is so, Why
18:14
Speaker 3: have traditional publication straight away from more of the storytelling?
18:19
Speaker 1: Okay, when you think about traditional publishing, a lot of
18:22
Speaker 1: the websites that you visit are making their money off
18:25
Speaker 1: of affiliate dollars or advertising, which is driven by clicks,
18:30
Speaker 1: and so that's why you're seeing these like I'm going
18:35
Speaker 1: to say engagement baiting. They're not all engagement baiting, but
18:38
Speaker 1: it's the kind of language we've become accustomed to on
18:41
Speaker 1: social media. They want your click, they want you to
18:43
Speaker 1: look at their products, they want you to buy those
18:45
Speaker 1: products because this is how these companies stay in business.
18:48
Speaker 1: There is nothing wrong with that. I one hundred percent
18:51
Speaker 1: support SEO strategies. I one hundred percent support eCOM strategies.
18:55
Speaker 1: But I just think that there's also space for storytelling,
18:59
Speaker 1: and I think that has gotten a little bit lost
19:03
Speaker 1: in recent years in media. I mean, my whole journalism
19:08
Speaker 1: career has been defined by pivoting, and I think anybody
19:10
Speaker 1: who graduated in the late two thousands, early twenty tens
19:16
Speaker 1: can relate. We pivoted to video, we pivoted to social,
19:19
Speaker 1: we pivoted to eCOM, we pivoted back to video, and again,
19:23
Speaker 1: there's nothing wrong with any of those things. I just
19:26
Speaker 1: think sometimes the media industry has gone a little too
19:29
Speaker 1: deep on one strategy at a time without leaving room
19:33
Speaker 1: for what we all got into journalism to do, which
19:36
Speaker 1: is tell stories. And so I hope that Runner can
19:40
Speaker 1: coexist with all these other outlets. I think we are
19:43
Speaker 1: just doing something a little bit different, and we have
19:46
Speaker 1: different goals. I mean, we're not going to scale the
19:48
Speaker 1: way some of these traditional publishing sites or social media
19:51
Speaker 1: properties have scaled. That's not our goal. We want to
19:54
Speaker 1: build a really deeply engaged community. It may be smaller,
19:58
Speaker 1: but I think we're going to serve them in a
20:00
Speaker 1: different way.
20:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's really beautiful.
20:02
Speaker 3: I do want to go back and double click a
20:04
Speaker 3: little bit more on your running journey. I loved how
20:07
Speaker 3: you said that I keep doing this and showing up
20:11
Speaker 3: because clearly I am okay with getting uncomfortable. Talk to
20:16
Speaker 3: me about maybe that first time that you realized, Hey,
20:22
Speaker 3: I really like this unsettled, challenging feeling that this sport
20:27
Speaker 3: gives me.
20:29
Speaker 1: I mean, I think it was my first big race,
20:32
Speaker 1: which was a half iron Man, which I signed up
20:36
Speaker 1: for because I am competitive, and I got the email
20:41
Speaker 1: while I was working at Shape and I deleted it
20:42
Speaker 1: because I was like, that's dumb, who does that? And
20:45
Speaker 1: a coworker was like, I got that email too. I
20:47
Speaker 1: think I'm going to do it, And I was like, well,
20:48
Speaker 1: if you're going to do it, then I can do it.
20:51
Speaker 1: And I feel like that just kind of defines my
20:53
Speaker 1: whole approach to any kind of physical thing. I have
20:59
Speaker 1: a lot of competition in me. In more recent years,
21:05
Speaker 1: I think I have redirected that competition back towards myself.
21:08
Speaker 1: I'm only competing against myself as opposed to the coworker
21:11
Speaker 1: or other people within the industry. But that has been,
21:14
Speaker 1: you know, a back and forth. I think we all
21:16
Speaker 1: play the comparison game in running. But anyway, back to
21:18
Speaker 1: that first race, I did this iron Man, this half
21:20
Speaker 1: iron Man, I thought I was going to drown in
21:22
Speaker 1: the swim. I absolutely hated it. It was awful. The
21:26
Speaker 1: bike I grew up cycling, my dad's a big cyclist.
21:29
Speaker 1: I thought that was going to be a piece of cake.
21:30
Speaker 1: I was so bored, and the running is what's stuck.
21:32
Speaker 1: I did the run at the end and I was like, Oh, this,
21:34
Speaker 1: this feels manageable. I could keep doing this. But when
21:38
Speaker 1: I finished that race, I came through the finish line,
21:40
Speaker 1: I met my parents and I said, I think I
21:42
Speaker 1: could do that better. And here we are. You know,
21:46
Speaker 1: I did my first marathon I think around six months later,
21:50
Speaker 1: and it was the same kind of feeling. I was like, oh,
21:52
Speaker 1: this I really like, but I think I could do
21:55
Speaker 1: it better. And we have now done it seventeen times
21:58
Speaker 1: and we at it. It's not a linear journey.
22:02
Speaker 2: It's definitely not a linear journey.
22:04
Speaker 3: I want to double click on this aspect of competition,
22:07
Speaker 3: because I find that to be something that so many
22:10
Speaker 3: people can both really relate to and also find challenging.
22:14
Speaker 3: You said that now you're really looking to yourself as
22:18
Speaker 3: your own competition rather than looking at those around you
22:22
Speaker 3: and framing it in that way. How have you successfully
22:25
Speaker 3: done that for yourself and what tools or tricks have
22:28
Speaker 3: you implemented into your ecosystem that enable and empower you
22:33
Speaker 3: to really keep the blinders on and focus on your
22:36
Speaker 3: own journey.
22:38
Speaker 1: Well, I think it is a journey. It's definitely a
22:41
Speaker 1: work in progress. I think it's probably something you can
22:44
Speaker 1: relate to too. We are surrounded by a lot of
22:47
Speaker 1: people who do the same things that we do in
22:50
Speaker 1: terms of physical activity, the same races, the same kind
22:53
Speaker 1: of training, similar time goals, and I think for a
22:56
Speaker 1: long time I would compare myself to those people. I
23:02
Speaker 1: wasn't necessarily competing against them, but oh, if somebody is
23:05
Speaker 1: doing this, I should be doing this. If somebody's training
23:08
Speaker 1: like this, that's how I should be training, or why
23:10
Speaker 1: is my training not delivering the same result? And I
23:15
Speaker 1: think a lot of that comes with living our lives
23:17
Speaker 1: very online, and it's a necessary part of the job
23:21
Speaker 1: right at this point. You kind of can't be a
23:26
Speaker 1: writer or a creator without having some kind of public
23:30
Speaker 1: facing brand. It helps you get work, it helps you
23:34
Speaker 1: be more recognizable with in the industry, it opens up doors,
23:38
Speaker 1: and so that is just a necessary part of the
23:40
Speaker 1: job at this point. That was not a part of
23:42
Speaker 1: the job when I first started, and so I think
23:44
Speaker 1: it took me some time to learn how to navigate
23:48
Speaker 1: that very public facing side of this job. And I
23:54
Speaker 1: really I would say over time, that's been my biggest
23:56
Speaker 1: hurdle in running, trying to separate running for me and
23:59
Speaker 1: running for my job. And the best way that I've
24:03
Speaker 1: found is by just setting boundaries. I mean, and that's
24:06
Speaker 1: a result of therapy. Those those boundaries don't just apply
24:09
Speaker 1: to you know, running in social media, but some things
24:13
Speaker 1: are just for me. I don't share my pace on Instagram.
24:17
Speaker 1: I mean, you can obviously find it if you go
24:18
Speaker 1: on Strava, but for me, not sharing it on Instagram
24:21
Speaker 1: helps me not look at what other people are posting.
24:24
Speaker 1: I don't share goal races on Instagram. I just if
24:28
Speaker 1: it's a goal race, it's my own. I keep that
24:31
Speaker 1: to myself and I'll share it afterwards. I think just
24:35
Speaker 1: separating some of the things that I do for me
24:38
Speaker 1: from the work side of my life has really helped
24:42
Speaker 1: just embrace like a better attitude about those things. I'm
24:46
Speaker 1: not thinking about how am I going to spend this
24:48
Speaker 1: on Instagram, you know, in the middle of a marathon,
24:51
Speaker 1: I'm just thinking about like, how are you going to
24:52
Speaker 1: get through this next mile, which like it's such it's
24:55
Speaker 1: such a weird thing to be running at like mile
24:56
Speaker 1: eighteen and being like, oh god, I'm not going to
24:58
Speaker 1: hit my goal. Like one am the to tell people
25:00
Speaker 1: nobody actually cares. I care, because I've put it out
25:04
Speaker 1: there in the world. I know nobody else actually cares.
25:07
Speaker 1: But if I'm thinking about it, that's a problem. And
25:09
Speaker 1: so by removing that as an even possibility, it's helped
25:15
Speaker 1: me kind of just keep certain things about running to myself.
25:20
Speaker 2: Put me in your shoes.
25:21
Speaker 3: The last time that you felt like you were psychologically
25:26
Speaker 3: thinking in that performative way, when was that, And in
25:30
Speaker 3: that moment did you realize that, Okay, I've got to
25:33
Speaker 3: make a change.
25:34
Speaker 1: It was probably before I ran the Saint George Marathon
25:37
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three. I can't actually remember the exact
25:42
Speaker 1: moment that made me decide not to share that I
25:46
Speaker 1: was running Saint George, But afterwards I realized, I want
25:50
Speaker 1: to do this for me. I want this race to
25:52
Speaker 1: be about me and my friends who came to support me,
25:55
Speaker 1: and an experience that I'm having in real time as
25:57
Speaker 1: opposed to something i'm doing to share with some larger community.
26:05
Speaker 1: I don't even know really what the motivations were in sharing.
26:10
Speaker 1: It's not like, oh, I'm going to do this marathon
26:12
Speaker 1: so I can grow my followers, Like that's not the motivation.
26:14
Speaker 1: But I think at this point, we're just so conditioned
26:16
Speaker 1: to share so much of our lives with strangers that
26:20
Speaker 1: I was just doing it kind of unconsciously. And before
26:24
Speaker 1: the Saint George Marathon, I thought, what if I just
26:27
Speaker 1: like didn't tell anybody about this, what if I just
26:29
Speaker 1: like did it for myself, And then in the race,
26:32
Speaker 1: I don't have to think about anybody else. The only
26:34
Speaker 1: person that I need to be thinking about is myself.
26:37
Speaker 1: And that I mean, that's exactly what happened. I got
26:39
Speaker 1: to the point in the race where I was like, well,
26:42
Speaker 1: this is hard. I don't know why you ever try running,
26:44
Speaker 1: you know, harder than whatever pace, Like maybe you're just
26:46
Speaker 1: meant to go at this slower pace. And then I
26:48
Speaker 1: was like, you know, we're going to just shuffle our thoughts,
26:52
Speaker 1: pick the next thought, and keep going. And so I
26:55
Speaker 1: literally instead of thinking about like anything to do with
26:59
Speaker 1: the race itself or what I was feeling or anything,
27:03
Speaker 1: I was just like I am in a beautiful place.
27:05
Speaker 1: Look at where I am. This is so beautiful right now.
27:07
Speaker 1: How lucky am I to be in this place? And
27:10
Speaker 1: by kind of short circuiting those thoughts, I ended up
27:13
Speaker 1: having just such a better race experience.
27:16
Speaker 3: The short circuiting of those thoughts and this idea that
27:20
Speaker 3: you have the opportunity to short circuit your thoughts at
27:23
Speaker 3: any time is also something that A is very commendable,
27:26
Speaker 3: but B takes practice and takes work. I know that
27:30
Speaker 3: that can be even more challenging when you're dealing with
27:35
Speaker 3: something that feels bigger than you you personally, just like
27:38
Speaker 3: all of us have navigated your fair share of injuries.
27:41
Speaker 3: I know that a specific injury has been plaguing you
27:45
Speaker 3: over the last couple of years. Now, talk to me
27:48
Speaker 3: about what you've learned about yourself through navigating injury over
27:53
Speaker 3: the last few years and what you've been dealing with.
27:55
Speaker 1: It's funny, this is actually the first real injury, and
27:59
Speaker 1: I put injury in because it doesn't feel like a
28:02
Speaker 1: typical injury, although it is something that has been impacting
28:05
Speaker 1: me for over a year now, so I guess it
28:07
Speaker 1: is an injury, and it's a tough injury. Because I
28:09
Speaker 1: can still run through it, and I've still even pr
28:13
Speaker 1: with it. It just feels awful. And so basically, it's
28:18
Speaker 1: a diaphragm oblique side situation that affects my breathing when
28:23
Speaker 1: I run. So when I hit race pace, it just
28:25
Speaker 1: becomes deeply uncomfortable. And I think there is always a
28:30
Speaker 1: certain level of discomfort that comes with racing, but this
28:33
Speaker 1: is a different kind of discomfort. This is the kind
28:35
Speaker 1: that you don't run through that it kind of stops
28:37
Speaker 1: you in your tracks. And I think in dealing with
28:40
Speaker 1: it, it's forced me to take a little bit of a
28:45
Speaker 1: step back and look at some of the things that
28:48
Speaker 1: I was lucky enough to not really have to pay
28:49
Speaker 1: attention to for a long time, the basics of running,
28:52
Speaker 1: how I hold my body, how I breathe when I run.
28:55
Speaker 1: I've started working with pets for the first time specific
28:59
Speaker 1: to Meviously, I interview peetees all the time and would
29:02
Speaker 1: highly recommend that everybody connect with one, but it was
29:04
Speaker 1: really interesting to just start working with some different pets
29:08
Speaker 1: one on one and learn about my body in a
29:11
Speaker 1: way that I really hadn't thought about before. And you know,
29:15
Speaker 1: not just on the run, but I you know, was
29:17
Speaker 1: encouraged to get a standing desk and change my position
29:20
Speaker 1: throughout the day and get a computer monitor, and just
29:23
Speaker 1: things that reminded me, Oh, it's not just about what
29:26
Speaker 1: we do on the run. It's there's everything else in
29:29
Speaker 1: your life comes into play here, including like how you
29:32
Speaker 1: hold your body when you're stressed and how you breathe
29:34
Speaker 1: when you're running and understress. So it's it's made me
29:39
Speaker 1: confront some things that I probably should have dealt with
29:41
Speaker 1: a while ago. And it's also really helped me realize
29:47
Speaker 1: that like running through pain and discomfort is not always
29:52
Speaker 1: like a flex you know, it is not an injury
29:56
Speaker 1: in the sense that like it's not a stress fracture.
29:58
Speaker 1: I don't I don't have a torn any but you
30:03
Speaker 1: have to listen to your body and I acknowledge when
30:06
Speaker 1: the discomfort is taking away the joy of running. And
30:09
Speaker 1: I think that's been the biggest problem for me with
30:12
Speaker 1: this injury. Like I said, I've still prred with this
30:16
Speaker 1: going on. You know, it's happened. You know you were
30:17
Speaker 1: there at Terry Blossom. I still ran faster than I
30:20
Speaker 1: ever have, but I was miserable for you know, five
30:24
Speaker 1: miles of that race because I was so angry at
30:27
Speaker 1: my body and the fact that something was happening that
30:29
Speaker 1: was outside of my control. And so it's helped me
30:34
Speaker 1: kind of step back a little bit to be like,
30:35
Speaker 1: why are you doing this? Do you want to do this?
30:38
Speaker 1: Are you ready to do this? Is it going to
30:41
Speaker 1: be worth it if you don't feel good during it?
30:45
Speaker 1: And so I have said no to certain things this
30:47
Speaker 1: year because it isn't worth it to me to be
30:50
Speaker 1: in that situation where I know this is most likely
30:53
Speaker 1: going to happen and I don't have the mental well
31:00
Speaker 1: at this point to pull from to be angry about
31:04
Speaker 1: it in the middle of the race.
31:11
Speaker 3: Taking a break to talk to you about my long
31:14
Speaker 3: term partner at ag One.
31:17
Speaker 2: I've talked about this recently.
31:18
Speaker 3: Ag One released their next generation, the same single scoop
31:23
Speaker 3: once a Day, but now with more vitamins, minerals, and
31:26
Speaker 3: upgraded pro biotics. Plus it's clinically backed by four human
31:30
Speaker 3: clinical trials. They have seriously gone the distance to raise
31:34
Speaker 3: the standard in supplement testing. But it gets even better
31:39
Speaker 3: because there are also three new flavors. We've got Tropical
31:44
Speaker 3: it tastes sweet, vibrant and bright like papaya, and passion
31:48
Speaker 3: fruit for people who like a louder flavor citrus, which
31:51
Speaker 3: is sweet and tangy and taste like orange and lemon,
31:54
Speaker 3: and berry that's subtly sweet and taste like strawberries and
31:58
Speaker 3: blueberries and raspberry. From what I've heard, the berry is
32:02
Speaker 3: the fan favorite. I myself am team Citrus anyway. I
32:07
Speaker 3: am always drinking my ag one first thing in the morning.
32:09
Speaker 2: But when I tell you, I.
32:11
Speaker 3: Am zeroed in, dialed in on my supplement game right now.
32:17
Speaker 3: I just got back from Tokyo for the World Athletics Championships,
32:20
Speaker 3: and I am focused on not making my sleep schedule
32:24
Speaker 3: under control, but really just doing everything I can to
32:29
Speaker 3: take care of my body right now, and ag one
32:33
Speaker 3: is a huge part of that. The upgraded ag one
32:37
Speaker 3: next Jen also has B complex, vitamin E, magnesium, and selenium,
32:42
Speaker 3: so much goodness to help me feel the best in
32:46
Speaker 3: my body now.
32:47
Speaker 2: Of course, I've had a deal for you.
32:49
Speaker 3: If you head on over to drinkag one dot com
32:52
Speaker 3: slash Kurdle, you can get five free at travel packs
32:55
Speaker 3: plus a year's supply of vitamin D three K two
32:58
Speaker 3: for free with your purchase. Again, head on over to
33:02
Speaker 3: drink ag one drink ag number one dot com slash
33:07
Speaker 3: hurdle to get your free travel packs, a Vitamin D
33:10
Speaker 3: three K two and welcome kid with your purchase. I
33:22
Speaker 3: don't think that there's anything wrong with that though, and
33:25
Speaker 3: I think it's such a beautiful moment. Like we talked
33:29
Speaker 3: about reclaiming running for you and doing these races and
33:32
Speaker 3: keeping them for yourself. And so what is happening now
33:36
Speaker 3: with this injury lbit being quite frustrating, is that you
33:40
Speaker 3: are coming back to yourself and you're asking yourself, if
33:44
Speaker 3: this journey isn't enjoyable, then no amount of prs are
33:50
Speaker 3: going to make the journey worthwhile. And so if you
33:54
Speaker 3: ask me, like, why is this happening right now? I
33:58
Speaker 3: would argue that it gave you an opportunity to explore
34:03
Speaker 3: things outside of yourself.
34:05
Speaker 2: I e. Now what you're doing with runner.
34:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know it's funny. I was dead set on
34:11
Speaker 1: running a marathon this fall. I had all the plans
34:14
Speaker 1: in place, I was training, and I just I had
34:19
Speaker 1: this realization a couple weeks ago where I was like,
34:22
Speaker 1: I don't want to do this. I don't want to
34:24
Speaker 1: do it, not because I can't. You know, I could
34:27
Speaker 1: definitely still run twenty six point two miles right now,
34:31
Speaker 1: but if I did, I know it wouldn't be in
34:33
Speaker 1: the way that I want to run it right now.
34:36
Speaker 1: And that's not just because of the injury. I actually,
34:38
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know what would happen with the
34:40
Speaker 1: injury at this point, but it was more the idea
34:44
Speaker 1: that stress is stress, right, and even good stress is stress.
34:48
Speaker 1: Your body can't tell the difference. This is something I've
34:50
Speaker 1: talked about a million times on social media. I've written
34:52
Speaker 1: multiple articles about it. Good stress is still stress, And
34:55
Speaker 1: I think I came to the realization that this fall,
34:58
Speaker 1: my marathon is Runner, bringing Runner into the world, and
35:02
Speaker 1: I didn't want to take away from that experience, which
35:05
Speaker 1: I'm really really excited about by adding another really stressful
35:09
Speaker 1: physical experience on top of that. That might not go
35:13
Speaker 1: the way that I want it to because I'm just
35:14
Speaker 1: not in the headspace for that right now, and then
35:17
Speaker 1: that would take away from the excitement around Runner. So
35:21
Speaker 1: Runner is my marathon this fall.
35:23
Speaker 2: Runner is my marathon this fall for sure.
35:25
Speaker 3: And also of note, I mean, you're a twice certified
35:28
Speaker 3: run coach as well. I know recently someone reached out
35:32
Speaker 3: to me and they were asking me about my experience
35:35
Speaker 3: pulling out if I had ever pulled out from a race.
35:38
Speaker 3: I myself have pulled out previously because of an injury,
35:41
Speaker 3: and I knew that I would only make it worse
35:44
Speaker 3: by towing a starting line at that particular time. You're
35:47
Speaker 3: speaking to something that I think is a really helpful conversation,
35:50
Speaker 3: which is, if your head's just not in it.
35:53
Speaker 2: The question that.
35:54
Speaker 3: Was in my DMS is is it okay? You're the
35:57
Speaker 3: only one that gets to make that decision, right right?
36:00
Speaker 1: No, I think it's so okay. I think I think
36:03
Speaker 1: more people should think about that and have that conversation
36:07
Speaker 1: with themselves because I think, you know, I've run a
36:10
Speaker 1: lot of marathons. I love running the marathon. I really
36:14
Speaker 1: enjoy pushing myself kind of past that limit and finding
36:18
Speaker 1: where that limit is. But I have run marathons where
36:21
Speaker 1: I've not been mentally in it, and that is so unfun. Like,
36:26
Speaker 1: I don't want to do that again, because if you're
36:28
Speaker 1: committing yourself to running twenty six point two miles, especially
36:30
Speaker 1: if you have a goal in mind and you are
36:33
Speaker 1: just not mentally ready to fight for that, you're then
36:38
Speaker 1: stuck running twenty six point two miles. Yeah, without that motivation.
36:43
Speaker 1: And I don't know. I just I think that at
36:47
Speaker 1: this point in my life, if I'm going to run
36:50
Speaker 1: a marathon, I want to be fully invested in that
36:52
Speaker 1: marathon and do the best that I can, unless, of course,
36:57
Speaker 1: it's a race for fun, I'm pacing a friend or
36:59
Speaker 1: something like that. That is obviously a totally different approach
37:01
Speaker 1: to a race. But I approached this fall thinking I
37:04
Speaker 1: am going to go for a big goal, and then
37:07
Speaker 1: I got to this ball and I was like, I
37:09
Speaker 1: don't want.
37:10
Speaker 3: Toah, I don't want to. But again, this is so
37:13
Speaker 3: much bigger than just sport.
37:15
Speaker 2: Right.
37:15
Speaker 3: We talked about how earlier you were saying that there
37:19
Speaker 3: were certain projects or articles or items that you were
37:22
Speaker 3: working on that just didn't really feel fulfilling for you.
37:24
Speaker 3: And so what I'm really hearing you say is that
37:27
Speaker 3: this is a lesson that just spans so many categories
37:30
Speaker 3: in life as a whole.
37:31
Speaker 1: Yeah. No, I think it's so important. And I think
37:34
Speaker 1: that's again where Runner was sort of born from. I
37:38
Speaker 1: love my job as a journalist. I don't want to
37:42
Speaker 1: change that job, you know. I have had many conversations
37:47
Speaker 1: about the longevity and the sustainability of a journalism career
37:51
Speaker 1: in this media landscape. And I think if you look
37:57
Speaker 1: at it from where I looked at it ten years ago,
37:59
Speaker 1: fifteen years ago, those jobs don't exist anymore. It's changed
38:04
Speaker 1: so much. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, but
38:06
Speaker 1: I think it's very hard in this media landscape to
38:10
Speaker 1: make a full time living as a writer. It really is.
38:12
Speaker 1: And I think any freelancer will agree with you on that,
38:16
Speaker 1: will agree with me. But that doesn't mean there isn't
38:20
Speaker 1: space for editorial and storytelling. We're seeing it in digital
38:24
Speaker 1: first outlets. We're seeing it in this boom of social
38:27
Speaker 1: media creators in the podcast world. I mean, there are
38:30
Speaker 1: so many other ways to tell stories. And I think
38:34
Speaker 1: coming back to this idea of an independent print magazine,
38:39
Speaker 1: I think people are ready for that, you know. I
38:42
Speaker 1: think they are tired of scrolling. It's always going to
38:46
Speaker 1: be a part of our lives, but I think people
38:48
Speaker 1: would welcome a break from that. I think these magazines
38:51
Speaker 1: are very different from your traditional newsstand publication that you're getting,
38:56
Speaker 1: you know, once a month or I mean, god, do
38:58
Speaker 1: you remember when they were weekly? These are more like
39:02
Speaker 1: luxury products, you know, It's something that you invest in
39:05
Speaker 1: because you are a part of that community. And I
39:08
Speaker 1: think people want to support things like that, and so,
39:13
Speaker 1: like I said before, I don't think it's going to
39:16
Speaker 1: be on the same scale as you know, a traditional
39:19
Speaker 1: monthly magazine. But that's okay, you don't need to be
39:23
Speaker 1: I think smaller publications can really thrive and be profitable
39:28
Speaker 1: because they have a really, really deeply engaged community and
39:31
Speaker 1: that's all you need.
39:33
Speaker 3: You've spoken so beautifully about so many of the challenges
39:36
Speaker 3: and hurdles that are associated with creating a product from scratch.
39:39
Speaker 3: It's also deeply important when you are building to make
39:43
Speaker 3: sure that you're surrounding yourself with the right people who
39:46
Speaker 3: give you this support. I can speak as someone who
39:49
Speaker 3: used to be like very dialed in on like I've
39:52
Speaker 3: got to do this on my own. I don't need you,
39:54
Speaker 3: Like I've got this. I used to really feel like that,
39:58
Speaker 3: and now I have integrated people into the bubble that
40:00
Speaker 3: helped me stay sane. And Okay, what's your experience been
40:04
Speaker 3: like with that as you've been getting this off the ground.
40:07
Speaker 1: Oh, this wouldn't be off the ground if I didn't
40:10
Speaker 1: have people helping me. Literally, there are not enough hours
40:13
Speaker 1: in the day. I mean, I probably would have had
40:15
Speaker 1: to start like a year in advance if I didn't
40:18
Speaker 1: have help. But even if I had started that early,
40:22
Speaker 1: something like this, you absolutely need help. You need other
40:25
Speaker 1: sets of eyes to be looking at the pages to
40:27
Speaker 1: catch errors that you missed. You need people to bounce
40:30
Speaker 1: ideas off of to make sure you have a diverse
40:33
Speaker 1: and balanced lineup in the magazine. I mean, this would
40:37
Speaker 1: not have happened without having a team of people, and
40:40
Speaker 1: I think that's what makes it so special. I mean,
40:43
Speaker 1: we are all women, we are all runners, and we
40:48
Speaker 1: have all been around this community for so long that
40:51
Speaker 1: we each sort of brought our own perspectives on the
40:57
Speaker 1: industry and the community to this project. And I think
41:01
Speaker 1: that it's better for it.
41:02
Speaker 3: Honestly, as someone who's great at pivoting, I'm going to
41:05
Speaker 3: pivot a little bit with you here. Tell me a
41:07
Speaker 3: little bit about where you stand, what your thoughts are,
41:10
Speaker 3: your excitement about the state of women's running and women's
41:13
Speaker 3: sports as a whole right now.
41:14
Speaker 1: I just think it's all so exciting. I mean, there's
41:17
Speaker 1: just such a groundswell of support around women's sports in general.
41:21
Speaker 1: And I'm not going to pretend that I know a
41:23
Speaker 1: ton about women's sports as a whole. I mean, I'm
41:26
Speaker 1: not the biggest sports fan in the world, but I'm
41:28
Speaker 1: a huge women's running fan and a huge running fan,
41:31
Speaker 1: and the fact that women are driving this boom is
41:35
Speaker 1: just wild to me. I want to make sure that
41:38
Speaker 1: women's running is included in that. And I think that
41:40
Speaker 1: there are two sides of it, right Like there's the sport,
41:43
Speaker 1: which is the results and the events and the real
41:46
Speaker 1: time kind of race coverage. But then there's also sport
41:49
Speaker 1: which is like wellness and health and the community that's
41:52
Speaker 1: driving running, which, like when you look at running, running
41:56
Speaker 1: is the biggest participatory sport out there and make up
42:00
Speaker 1: the majority of runners right now. So the fact that
42:03
Speaker 1: we're still approaching this sport from kind of a male
42:06
Speaker 1: first lens feels outdated to me. And so I want
42:12
Speaker 1: women's voices to be elevated and amplified, and I want
42:15
Speaker 1: women to have a space within the running community that
42:18
Speaker 1: is truly just theirs. I'm not saying that other places
42:21
Speaker 1: aren't covering women's running, because there are places that do
42:23
Speaker 1: a great job, but there are very very few that
42:27
Speaker 1: are dedicated just to covering women's running and going beyond
42:33
Speaker 1: just the race side of the sport into what makes
42:37
Speaker 1: these runners so compelling and who's doing what within the industry,
42:40
Speaker 1: And so I think there is a lot of room
42:44
Speaker 1: to continue elevating these voices and amplifying the women who
42:48
Speaker 1: are doing really incredible things within the community. And I
42:52
Speaker 1: hope that Runner becomes a space where that is just
42:57
Speaker 1: it's just part of the DNA of our men.
43:01
Speaker 3: As a coach and a veteran journalist, what would you
43:04
Speaker 3: attribute the majority of the running boom being women to?
43:10
Speaker 3: What do you think is the reason why women are
43:13
Speaker 3: gravitating towards this sport specifically?
43:18
Speaker 1: I think there are two pieces of it. I think
43:19
Speaker 1: it's empowerment. I think it's the feeling of strength and
43:24
Speaker 1: freedom that you get from it. And I think it's
43:26
Speaker 1: the community, the feeling of connection that you get from it.
43:28
Speaker 1: And I think that is true for women at any
43:32
Speaker 1: end of the spectrum, whether you are, you know, breaking
43:35
Speaker 1: records at the highest level of the sport, or you
43:39
Speaker 1: are showing up at a run club for the first
43:40
Speaker 1: time and you've never run more than a mile since
43:43
Speaker 1: pe class. I think that's kind of the beauty of it.
43:46
Speaker 1: There are so many women from different paths in life
43:51
Speaker 1: finding this sport and connecting with each other in a
43:54
Speaker 1: way that like maybe we didn't really have before. And
43:57
Speaker 1: I think it's also important that this comes at a
43:58
Speaker 1: time when like women rights are being threatened to a
44:01
Speaker 1: certain extent. Like, again, I don't want to go down
44:04
Speaker 1: that road, but I think having this place and this
44:08
Speaker 1: community where you can turn to to make you feel
44:11
Speaker 1: good physically and emotionally is just really really important right now.
44:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I love what you're pointing out about that
44:18
Speaker 3: you can be at any level. There is a lot
44:20
Speaker 3: of frustration that comes hand in hand with feeling as
44:23
Speaker 3: though maybe.
44:25
Speaker 2: You're not advanced enough to be part of a community.
44:28
Speaker 3: But we fall back on this concept that the community
44:31
Speaker 3: you're after is yours to build, right or yours to seek,
44:34
Speaker 3: And so there are so many different access points that
44:38
Speaker 3: people can get into running at and I would say
44:41
Speaker 3: that that's also something that attributes to the boom that
44:44
Speaker 3: we're seeing.
44:45
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely at this point in this running boom. If
44:49
Speaker 1: we look at everything that's happened since twenty nineteen, if
44:53
Speaker 1: you don't think there's a community for you, you're not
44:55
Speaker 1: looking hard enough. You know, there are so many run clubs,
44:58
Speaker 1: There are so many run stores that are welcoming people in.
45:02
Speaker 1: There are so many online communities where you can find
45:06
Speaker 1: a space. I mean that was part of what drew
45:08
Speaker 1: me in. When I did that Iron Man back in
45:10
Speaker 1: twenty fifteen. My friends thought I was insane. They were like,
45:13
Speaker 1: You've never done anything like this in your life, Like
45:15
Speaker 1: what we do not understand? And so I really I
45:18
Speaker 1: turned to social media and was asking questions and was
45:22
Speaker 1: sharing my experiences, and you know, people from like all
45:26
Speaker 1: corners of the world were offering tips and sharing advice
45:30
Speaker 1: with me on how to get through this iron Man journey.
45:33
Speaker 1: And I think that's only exploded since twenty fifteen. I mean,
45:38
Speaker 1: when I even look at New York, you know, I
45:39
Speaker 1: lived in New York until twenty nineteen, the run club
45:43
Speaker 1: scene there was so different. You know. It was either
45:46
Speaker 1: the massive Nike run clubs, which were like four hundred
45:48
Speaker 1: plus people and you never knew if you were going
45:50
Speaker 1: to see the same people when you went back, or
45:52
Speaker 1: the really small, you know, kind of intimidating I would say,
45:56
Speaker 1: like good runners who were like pay faster than me,
45:59
Speaker 1: and it's like that those are the only options you
46:03
Speaker 1: had and now when I go back to New York
46:04
Speaker 1: every year for the marathon, it's like, I mean, there
46:06
Speaker 1: are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of run clubs that
46:08
Speaker 1: are welcoming people of all different running backgrounds. Whether you're
46:12
Speaker 1: brand new or you're you know, an OTQ runner, Like
46:16
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter. There is a community for you. And
46:18
Speaker 1: I think that is just like so so important and
46:22
Speaker 1: I don't think that's going away anytime soon.
46:24
Speaker 3: What would you say, And there's so many ways that
46:28
Speaker 3: this answer could go, but what would you say that.
46:32
Speaker 2: Running's biggest gifts have been to you?
46:37
Speaker 1: Hmm, Well, I wouldn't have a career at this point
46:44
Speaker 1: if not for running. No, that's not true. I would
46:46
Speaker 1: have a career, but my career would look very very different.
46:49
Speaker 1: But I think more importantly community. I started running because
46:54
Speaker 1: I was in that stage of life where you know,
46:56
Speaker 1: I was going to boutique gym classes and I was
46:59
Speaker 1: doing the cycling and the lifting and just like not
47:02
Speaker 1: really meeting people, not connecting with people until I started running,
47:05
Speaker 1: And all of a sudden, it was like this whole
47:08
Speaker 1: world opened up to me in terms of both online
47:10
Speaker 1: and real life communities. And I don't know where I
47:16
Speaker 1: would be without those communities at this point, Like I
47:20
Speaker 1: moved to a different state, you know, that was because
47:23
Speaker 1: of running. And then mentally psychologically, I think what we
47:29
Speaker 1: talked about before, just the mental strength that you develop
47:32
Speaker 1: through running. If you really, you know, if you're committed
47:35
Speaker 1: to running and you're doing hard things like training for
47:37
Speaker 1: long distance races, like you have to be really mentally tough.
47:42
Speaker 1: And I think over the past decade, the mental toughness
47:47
Speaker 1: that I have developed through this sport has helped me
47:50
Speaker 1: in so many other aspects of my life. And you know,
47:53
Speaker 1: I've had to make some really hard decisions at certain points,
47:56
Speaker 1: and I think I was able to make them not
47:59
Speaker 1: just because of running, but because of some of the
48:01
Speaker 1: things that I learned on the run.
48:03
Speaker 3: I really appreciate what you said about if you're looking
48:07
Speaker 3: for a community and you feel like there's not one
48:08
Speaker 3: for you, that you're not looking hard enough. For someone
48:11
Speaker 3: who does feel really intimidated about just beginning on the run,
48:16
Speaker 3: what advice do you have to offer to them?
48:19
Speaker 1: You just have to do it. I know that sucks
48:22
Speaker 1: as advice. I know that is not necessarily what somebody
48:26
Speaker 1: wants to hear when they're scared of something. But it's
48:28
Speaker 1: what I have to tell myself. You just have to
48:30
Speaker 1: start doing it. And if you start doing it by yourself,
48:34
Speaker 1: you will eventually develop the confidence to show up at
48:36
Speaker 1: a group. If you just show up at a group,
48:39
Speaker 1: the people there are going to prove to you that
48:41
Speaker 1: there is no reason to be afraid. It's very hard
48:45
Speaker 1: to put yourself in a situation where you don't know
48:48
Speaker 1: somebody and you feel like you might be the slowest
48:50
Speaker 1: or the last. But like I promise that the majority
48:54
Speaker 1: of runners are not out to make you feel bad.
48:57
Speaker 1: I mean when I moved to Colorado, yes I was
48:59
Speaker 1: our be an experienced runner at that point, but I
49:02
Speaker 1: mean this was a whole different ballgame. The people who
49:04
Speaker 1: live in Colorado are next level intense And I was
49:07
Speaker 1: also learning to run an altitude while marathon training, and
49:10
Speaker 1: I remember showing up for, you know, one of my
49:13
Speaker 1: first run clubs, and I was so nervous about just
49:16
Speaker 1: getting dropped. I didn't know the route I was doing,
49:18
Speaker 1: like an eighteen mile run, and the one of the
49:21
Speaker 1: women who had founded the run club was like, I
49:23
Speaker 1: got you. I got two people ready to run with you.
49:24
Speaker 1: They're going to run your work out with you, and
49:26
Speaker 1: I was like, what, Like, I don't even know these people,
49:28
Speaker 1: and they did. And the workout did not go well
49:31
Speaker 1: by the way, Like I did not nail the workout.
49:33
Speaker 1: I definitely walked a lot. I think I stopped go
49:36
Speaker 1: to the bathroom at one point, and these two people
49:38
Speaker 1: stayed with me the whole time, just so that nobody
49:40
Speaker 1: would be left behind. I mean, it's not the run
49:42
Speaker 1: club that I run with is not a no drop group,
49:45
Speaker 1: but people don't get dropped, at least not in the
49:48
Speaker 1: slower pace groups. And so I think if you do
49:51
Speaker 1: your research and find a group that caters to the
49:54
Speaker 1: type of running that you think you're capable of, then
49:58
Speaker 1: you will be surprised by how we welcoming people are.
50:00
Speaker 1: Nobody's trying to make anybody feel bad, nobody's trying to
50:03
Speaker 1: make anybody feel less. Then you just have to show up.
50:06
Speaker 3: What would you say that success would feel like for
50:10
Speaker 3: you with Runner?
50:15
Speaker 1: With Runner, I think success for Runner would be really
50:24
Speaker 1: just creating that space for female runners. I want this
50:30
Speaker 1: to be a safe place that really recognizes all aspects
50:36
Speaker 1: of the running community. And when I think about success,
50:41
Speaker 1: that really means just showing up on the page in
50:45
Speaker 1: that way, but then bringing this brand to life off
50:49
Speaker 1: the page as well. I hope that we can get
50:51
Speaker 1: to a point where we are sort of a major
50:56
Speaker 1: player in the conversations around women's running. You know, we're
50:59
Speaker 1: showing up where runners are. And then at the end
51:03
Speaker 1: of the day, I hope that we are able to
51:07
Speaker 1: change some of the conversations around women's running and drive
51:11
Speaker 1: real change in areas of the sport, whether it's representation
51:16
Speaker 1: or you know, financial equality or I don't even know
51:20
Speaker 1: what that looks like yet, but I hope that we
51:23
Speaker 1: can get to a point where our stories are helping
51:26
Speaker 1: shape a new conversation around women's running within the broader
51:29
Speaker 1: running community.
51:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, and when you think about and this is a
51:34
Speaker 3: common thing that happens here. But I'm like, Okay, this
51:36
Speaker 3: is what it could look like. Right, what does it
51:39
Speaker 3: feel like?
51:41
Speaker 1: Oh? It feels like an exhale. No, seriously, I remember
51:46
Speaker 1: when we last week sent the first issue to the printer,
51:51
Speaker 1: And that doesn't mean it's coming to your mailboxes, you know.
51:53
Speaker 1: As soon as we do that, it means, you know,
51:55
Speaker 1: we have finished every page of the magazine. We are
51:58
Speaker 1: sending it to the printer. We have like one more
52:00
Speaker 1: chance to kind of get it right. But it was
52:03
Speaker 1: in that moment that I just felt this like weight
52:05
Speaker 1: off my shoulders, Like I am so proud and excited
52:11
Speaker 1: about it, and it might not be perfect, but we've
52:14
Speaker 1: done the best that we can and now I can
52:16
Speaker 1: just like relax a little bit, and I just I
52:22
Speaker 1: don't know. I think it feels like something that has
52:28
Speaker 1: driven me practically manic at times, but also feels so
52:32
Speaker 1: fulfilling and so exciting that I like can't wait to
52:36
Speaker 1: do it again.
52:37
Speaker 2: I love to hear that. How do you celebrate yourself?
52:40
Speaker 3: Ash, You're like, that's funny.
52:43
Speaker 2: What's that?
52:44
Speaker 1: I ran ten miles down two thousand feet of elevation
52:48
Speaker 1: and destroyed my legs? That's how I celebrate No, that's
52:53
Speaker 1: literally what I did the next morning. How do I
52:55
Speaker 1: celebrate myself? I'm not very good at that, to be honest,
53:01
Speaker 1: I think that is an area that I could definitely improve.
53:06
Speaker 1: I celebrated this by just taking some time for some
53:10
Speaker 1: self care. I took a bath. You know. I love that.
53:14
Speaker 1: I would really like to celebrate this on a larger
53:17
Speaker 1: level with the running community. I think that's when the
53:19
Speaker 1: real celebration will happen, right, now it feels very like, well,
53:23
Speaker 1: it's off to the printer and you'll see it in
53:25
Speaker 1: your mailboxes in a couple of weeks. And so I
53:28
Speaker 1: think I will really feel like celebrating when I have
53:30
Speaker 1: it in my hands and when I see other people
53:34
Speaker 1: have it in their hands, and then I will feel
53:35
Speaker 1: like popping over a bottle of champagne. And I don't know,
53:39
Speaker 1: treating myself to something.
53:40
Speaker 2: Else and a full sugar coke.
53:44
Speaker 1: I don't need an excuse to treat myself to a
53:45
Speaker 1: full sugar.
53:47
Speaker 2: If anyone loves a full sugar coke, it's you.
53:51
Speaker 1: I do well.
53:52
Speaker 3: Right now, someone comes to your Instagram page, they see
53:55
Speaker 3: you the editor in chief of Runner. They go to
53:57
Speaker 3: your threads. You've got something like twenty four thousand people
53:59
Speaker 3: over there. But when you look in the mirror, Ashley,
54:02
Speaker 3: what is it that you see looking at you?
54:05
Speaker 1: Hmm? I see someone who's trying her best. I don't
54:09
Speaker 1: have it all figured out. I don't always get it right.
54:13
Speaker 1: But I think when I look at myself right now,
54:16
Speaker 1: I see somebody who has created a space that fits
54:20
Speaker 1: really well, and I'm really excited to see how I
54:24
Speaker 1: can expand that space.
54:25
Speaker 3: I think it's so beautiful that you have that level
54:29
Speaker 3: of recognition and appreciation for yourself. And I also I've
54:33
Speaker 3: been having these conversations lately about intentions, and it's almost
54:38
Speaker 3: like it starts with you when we talk about having
54:41
Speaker 3: good intentions, Like, if you can have good intentions for
54:44
Speaker 3: yourself and the work that you do, then you can
54:46
Speaker 3: look in the mirror confidently and be like, I am
54:48
Speaker 3: proud of who I am. And that also extends to
54:51
Speaker 3: your relationships with other people. There are going to be
54:55
Speaker 3: people in life that may not assume that you have
54:58
Speaker 3: the best intentions. Well, if they you and they know
55:00
Speaker 3: your heart and they still feel that way, they're probably
55:02
Speaker 3: not your people. Yeah, So to hear that you look
55:06
Speaker 3: in the mirror and you say, you know what, I'm
55:08
Speaker 3: really doing my best and like genuinely believing that it's
55:11
Speaker 3: something that's commendable.
55:13
Speaker 2: But it's also something that a lot of people struggle with.
55:15
Speaker 1: I mean, it's a work in progress for sure. If
55:17
Speaker 1: you had asked me that six months ago, I don't
55:20
Speaker 1: know if I would have said that answer. I think
55:24
Speaker 1: you know, you go through seasons where you sometimes feel
55:29
Speaker 1: good about yourself and sometimes you don't, and you could
55:32
Speaker 1: be trying your best in all aspects of your life
55:35
Speaker 1: and still not always feel great. And I've definitely had
55:38
Speaker 1: those times. I think there's been a real roller coaster
55:42
Speaker 1: emotionally at times. But I don't know. I think when
55:46
Speaker 1: you find something that feels good and feels like you're
55:51
Speaker 1: doing the right thing for you, it can change really quickly.
55:55
Speaker 1: And so I just when I look at Runner, I
55:58
Speaker 1: think this is what.
55:59
Speaker 3: Fits right now, hold on to the good right Yeah,
56:03
Speaker 3: well right now, Ash, you have an opportunity to offer
56:06
Speaker 3: yourself a piece of advice. I'm going to go back
56:08
Speaker 3: and talk a little bit about that roller coaster that
56:11
Speaker 3: is being your own boss, that is being a freelance journalist,
56:14
Speaker 3: that is struggling to land pitches and find money and
56:17
Speaker 3: asking yourself, what the hell am I doing here?
56:19
Speaker 2: Knowing what you know?
56:21
Speaker 1: Now?
56:21
Speaker 3: What advice would you give to yourself during these hurdle moments?
56:27
Speaker 1: Trust yourself. I think the nature of freelancing is kind
56:32
Speaker 1: of feast or famine, and so when you are in
56:35
Speaker 1: those famine periods, it's really hard to trust that it
56:39
Speaker 1: will work out. And I think for me it came
56:42
Speaker 1: down to trusting my resume and my portfolio and my
56:48
Speaker 1: connections and my belief in this idea. You know, it's
56:54
Speaker 1: it's really hard to take that leap of faith and
56:56
Speaker 1: know that you're going to have to put earning an
56:59
Speaker 1: income on the back burner for a little while in
57:02
Speaker 1: order to bring a project like this to life. But
57:06
Speaker 1: the way that I've gotten through it is really just
57:08
Speaker 1: trusting the process. I believe that this is a good idea.
57:10
Speaker 1: I believe that other people believe this is a good idea,
57:13
Speaker 1: and you know, we'll see.
57:15
Speaker 3: I would be remiss if I let you go today
57:17
Speaker 3: before I just at least get the backstory of where
57:20
Speaker 3: you were when you decided that the name was Runner.
57:23
Speaker 1: Oh God, that was like one of those ideas that
57:26
Speaker 1: just like came to me at night, like it just
57:28
Speaker 1: it truly just popped into my head and I was like, oh,
57:32
Speaker 1: if I start a magazine, that's the name, that's the name.
57:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, I love when it clicks like that.
57:40
Speaker 1: I know it was just one of them. I was like,
57:41
Speaker 1: I can't let this go. This is too good to
57:43
Speaker 1: pass up. So now I'm waiting for that inspiration to
57:46
Speaker 1: strike me. I need a shirt.
57:48
Speaker 2: Oh a shirt. We need a woman's slogan shirt.
57:50
Speaker 3: So if you're listening, to this and you have an
57:51
Speaker 3: idea for Ash, you can find her on the social
57:54
Speaker 3: which we're going to get to you.
57:55
Speaker 2: Ash. So happy that we had this conversation today. For
57:58
Speaker 2: those that.
57:58
Speaker 3: Aren't following along with you just yet, give us the info.
58:01
Speaker 3: Where do we find you and where do we find Runner?
58:03
Speaker 1: You can find me on all platforms at Ashley Matteo
58:07
Speaker 1: and same with Runner at Runner Mag. Find us on
58:11
Speaker 1: Instagram threads. We've got all the other platforms. We'll get
58:15
Speaker 1: to putting content up there eventually, and then runnermag dot
58:18
Speaker 1: com is where you can subscribe.
58:21
Speaker 2: So excited for you.
58:22
Speaker 3: I'm over at Emily Body and at Hurdle Podcast another
58:25
Speaker 3: Hurdle conquered.
58:26
Speaker 2: Catch you guys next time