Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / The Pursuit of Purpose: Gabby Thomas On How To Block Out External Critics, Curate Your Internal Dialogue & Define Success On Your Own Terms

Transcript

The Pursuit of Purpose: Gabby Thomas On How To Block Out External Critics, Curate Your Internal Dialogue & Define Success On Your Own Terms · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You have to be comfortable with not knowing what the
• 0:01
  Speaker 1: outcome is going to be.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: You can't go into it thinking, oh, you know, I
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: might not be good enough, so it's not worth it. Right,
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: the juice isn't worth this squeece. You can't go into
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: it with that mindset.
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: What's going on? Everyone? Happy New Year.
• 0:27
  Speaker 4: You are kicking off twenty twenty six with Hurdle, a
• 0:31
  Speaker 4: podcast featuring the mindset, secrets, and true stories of the
• 0:34
  Speaker 4: most inspiring women in sports and wellness, empowering you to
• 0:37
  Speaker 4: live a healthier, happier, more motivated life and of course,
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: conquer your own hurdles.
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: Today's guest is the one the.
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: Only three time Olympic gold medalist and world class sprinter,
• 0:50
  Speaker 4: Gabby Thomas. Since her breakup performance in Tokyo, Gabby's become
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: one of the most recognizable faces in track and field.
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: But what makes her truly remarkable and why she's topped
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: My Dream Guest list for so long is the intentionality
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: she brings to her life both on and off the track.
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: In today's conversation, Gabby opens up about the hurdle moments
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: that defined her recent season, including a challenging achilles injury
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: that forced her to make the difficult decision to withdraw
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: from the World Championships. We also chat about her holistic identity,
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: how she balances being an elite athlete with her passion
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: for public health and her work in volunteer clinics, the
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: power of boundaries, and why she's learned that's saying no
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: and protecting her piece is essential for long term success.
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: Mental performance, the specific visualization and breathwork she uses to
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: manifest her wins long before she.
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: Ever hits the starting blocks, and so much more. Whether
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: she is discussing.
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: The intensity of the Olympic call room or what she's
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: learned about building her own personal brand, Gabby's perspective on
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: resilience and self worth it's something that every single hurdler
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: needs to hear. Again, Gaby's been on the top of
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: my dream guest list for so long. I'm so happy
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: that we were able to connect irl here in New
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: York when she was recently in the city, and I
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: could not be more writing this high going into the
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: new year.
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: Make sure you are following along with Hurdle over on
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: social Let's over at Hurdle Podcast.
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: You can check out iHeart Woman's Sports over at iHeart
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: women's sports and me over at Emily a Body. Listen
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: to hurdle with Emily a Body on the iHeartRadio app,
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last little
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: bit of housekeeping hosting a virtual goal setting workshop tomorrow night.
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: If you're listening to this in real time Wednesday, January seventh,
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: I would love for you to join us. To sign up,
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: click on over to register.
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: In the show notes. As a note, I am.
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: A certified professional coach, which you can like into a
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: life coach.
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: Fun fact for those of you that may not know
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: that about me.
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: And so, in addition to loving all things a woman's
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: sports and wellness, I also peek out over the opportunity
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: to help you chase your big potential. Hence a little
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: beginning of the year goal setting workshop Again. The link
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: to register for tomorrow night's goal setting workshop at seven
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: pm Eastern is in the show notes. With that, let's
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: get to it, let's get It's a hurdling today, I
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: am sitting down with Gabby Thomas. She is a two
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: time Olympian. She's got three gold medals. She's got some
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: other medals too. She is a pro runner for New
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: Balance Gabby Thomas, Welcome to Hurdle.
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: How are you.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: Thank you thanks for having me. I am happy to
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: be here.
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: I am so happy that you're here.
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: This has been like I was trying to think about
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: the first time before you and I actually knew each other.
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: I think I messaged you in like August of twenty
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: twenty one. Yeah, at some point, and I was like, Gabby,
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: let's make this happen, like sweetie, I am busy.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: Oh my back in the Tokyo days, Oh my god,
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: oh Mike, I was.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: It's so funny because it's like I I did want
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: to talk and because I had so much to say,
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: especially on Hurdle podcast.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: But that was such an overwhelming time for me.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: And when I even look back on like the post
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: Tokyo experience, like way different from post Paris. Yeah, I
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: was in such a dark place, like I felt like
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: I was catapulted.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: Into this world so suddenly. Yeah, and I just did
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: not know how to handle it.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: So thank you for having great being patient and then
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: here we are what for years.
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: Lays later patients patients works to be clear.
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: Also, I am so impressed by you because I've heard
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: you say that the medal that you got in those
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: Olympics is actually your favorite and it's a bronze?
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, why is that that's my favorite metal? That's my baby.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: I mean, that was my first Olympic medal. That was
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: my first medal on honestly any world stage at this level.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: So it just it meant so much to me. Like
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: I never would have imagined that I would be an
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: Olympian in the sport of track and field. It was
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: not something that was like on my vision board growing up.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: It just I fell in love with the sport of
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: track and field and I kept working at it, and
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: then I found myself at the Olympic Trials with the
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: shot at making the team, and I found myself at
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: the Olympics, and then I found myself a medalist, and
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: I was like, oh, I'll just never forget that moment
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: of realizing that I was an Olympic medalist and I'll
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: never take that for granted.
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: Someone hears you say it wasn't on my vision board
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: and I found myself at the trials, and they're like,
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: how does someone just find themselves at the trials? Obviously
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: hard work goes into that, and that you had been
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: putting in while you were at Harvard. But I think
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: what the everyday person doesn't understand is truly anyone can
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: train to qualify to Okay Olympic trials.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: Yes, I say that all the time.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: Give us some like you introduced me as a professional runner, right,
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: And I think that is it's so funny to hear
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: that term because technically, like anyone can be a professional runner.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: I guess it is defined by getting paid. But if
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: you are someone who just likes to run and you
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: want to go for it, and you have the stream
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: of making a USA team, you can train, and you
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: can enter and meet, you can meet the qualifying standard
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: and show up and try, and then if you go,
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: when you win a little bit of prize money, suddenly
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: you are a professional runner. But I think there's this
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: idea that as professional athletes or professional track runners, we
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: have you know, this setup in this official league and
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: all of this stuff. I train at a local high
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: school like or a local park, you know, in Austin, Texas.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: We don't have an Olympic training center. We don't have
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: you know, this insane setup. It's really just a humble situation.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: We go, we show up every day, we train together.
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: We choose to train together. We don't have teams or
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: a league currently, and we just make it happen.
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: Is she foreshadowing currently we don't have teams or a
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: league currently, which is just it's so cool. And I
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: also believe that it showcases your really beautiful sense of
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: relentless self belief because you have to show up day
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: in and day out and put in that work just
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: like you did at the beginning.
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: You're still doing it now. Yeah.
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think what like really sets athletes that at
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: my level apart when I think about my other you know,
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: Olympic medalist colleagues, we all are not afraid to put
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: ourselves out there.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: You have to be.
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: Comfortable with not knowing what the outcome is going to be.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: Like you, you can't go into it thinking, oh, you know,
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: I might not be good enough, so it's not worth it, right,
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: the juice isn't worth this squaze. You can't go into
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: it with that mindset. It has to be Okay, I
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: actually might not make this team. I actually I might
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: lose this race, but I'm still going to put everything
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: I have into this day in and day out. Because
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: you're right, we show up every day at this high
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: school track, not knowing if we're gonna have success that season,
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: if we're gonna have success that year.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: We have a bunch of young girls who come in.
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: They got doate college, they want to go pro, they
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: want to sign a contract, and they want to make
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: a team. They don't know if that's going to happen,
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: but they still show up every single day for hours
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: and even off the track. They're putting in the work right,
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: they're getting their rest, they're getting their recovery, they're sleeping
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: while they're not They're saying no to friends and family
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: outings all the time, and you have to do all
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: of those little things just for a chance, just to
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: have a chance at being successful and maybe making it.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: And that's what it is.
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: Are you saying that literally anyone could show up.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah to the practice that literally and do.
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: So that's the next question is like, what's the most
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: bizarre thing that's happened at a practice for you? Oh
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: my gosh, you just fans come and watch like how that.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: That definitely has happened. I wouldn't say no one has
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: ever crossed a line that I've been uncomfortable with, but
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: definitely we were. We don't train at the park quite
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: as often. But we you know, we have a public
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: park that we train at, and yeah, anyone can show up,
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: and people do show up and they'll say, hey, it's
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: Gobby Thomas training here, and they'll come chat for a bit,
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: take a picture, and it's it's cool, right because it's
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: you know, it's part of the community. And yeah, but
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: if it ever gets crazy, obviously we'd have to do something.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: But yeah, very relaxed.
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Yeah, I also really appreciate you saying we show
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: up and we put everything into it, right, But the
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: thing is is that you have this really impressive capacity
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: to put quote unquote everything into it and still have
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: so many other interests and pursuits beyond track and field.
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: Before we started recording, you were saying, and we'll get
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: into this, but it's kind of been a little bit
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: of a gift to take a step back from track
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: this year, to have more time to invest in both
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: your excitement around public health and then obviously your relationships.
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: And so the question is how do you do both
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: and what is it about you that you believe empowers
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: and makes you good at executing in that way?
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's because the way that I got
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: to this level is by doing everything that I loved.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: It's how I got here.
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: When I started running, I was in high school and
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: I wasn't a track you know, specialist. I did tons
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: of sports and academics were my priority. And then when
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: I got to Harvard, obviously there are just so many
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: opportunities and so many things that you can explore. I
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: was doing different clubs, like women in business, I was,
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: I had my.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: Pre med major.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: I had all of these different people that different types
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: of people and relationships that I was building, and so
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: so many different opportunities and dreams and aspirations that I
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: could have pursued. I felt like the world was my oyster,
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: and track and field is one of them. It's something
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: that I truly loved and enjoyed doing. I loved spending
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: my time there, I loved getting better. And what really
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: set me apart, I think at that time, was not
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: being too goal oriented and not over identifying with my sport.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: And it works for some people. I will say that
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: some people really really specialize from a young age and
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: they just are all in on track and field, and
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: some of them are pros now some of them aren't,
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: and some of them are. But for me, It was
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: not over identifying with the sport. It was a very
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: healthy relationship. And the whole point for me was just
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: becoming a better athlete and seeing what I could do
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: and taking it day by day. And I think I'm
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: also just I'm someone who I like the lifestyle. I
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: love the routine of it. And that's half the battle.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: You have to really you have to want that. You
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: can't just want Olympic medals. You can't just want to
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: be a professional runner, right. You have to want that
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: lifestyle and all that comes with it. And it's so
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: easy to look at us and say, oh, well I
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: want to do that, Like I want that, But I
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: don't think about that every day. I don't think about
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: the medals. I don't think about making the team. I
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: think about what am I going to do today that
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: will set me up right? How many hours of sleep
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: did I get last night? What am I going to
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: eat to feel my body? How am I going to feel,
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: you know, rested and recovered? How am I going to
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: feel holistically like I'm being a better athlete?
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: And I just I like that. Yeah, I love it,
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: you know. So that's that's really what goes into it.
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: And yeah, what I'm hearing you say, is that the
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: lifestyle actually puts you in a better place for all
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: the other things that excite you beyond excelling within your sport.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: Exactly, It's true.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: And I even when hearing that, like the idea of
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: getting medals doesn't excite me, Like it's really it's fun wild,
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: It's really fun. And I look, I love the external validation.
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: I love it.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, keep calling me a medalist. It's awesome.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: Like I love I love that people are so supportive
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: of what I do and they're so proud of me,
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: and it's so great. But when I really think about
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: my career, you know, retrospectively, and as I move forward,
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: I get excited about going to the track every day
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: with my coach and my teammates. Like, I love my life.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: I love being in Austin, Texas. I love waking up
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: and training every day. I love learning from a mistake
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: that I made the week prior. I love not being
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: able to do a rap or getting the time that
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: I want and then a few weeks later getting to
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: do it. I just that's what I love about it.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: And like going to metal ceremonies, I like, I don't
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: like that that's not fun for me. It's not a
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: joy and it's not and I'm also it was like
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: I'm also a naturally introverted person, so like being the
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: center of attention is just like.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, not my jam.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: So if I could, like I don't know, go run
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: and win the races and you know, have my medals
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: like privately sent to me, that'd be great and like
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: no one really has to know about it.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: But yeah, it's like I don't know.
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: That can't be like my goal not my goal understandable
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: and being an introvert. Let's go back to after the
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: Tokyo Games, because you're saying it was equally wow, I
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: can't believe I hear and holy, oh my god, everyone
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: wants something from me.
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: How do I navigate this?
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: Talk to me about the onboarding of learning how to navigate?
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: Oh my god. I wish Tokyo. I wish there was
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: some type of onboarding. I wish there was some type
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: of something where you know what you're getting into. That's
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: what shocked me the most. You just don't know what
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: you're getting into. And when I made the team, that
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: was really exciting. I had done something. I think I
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: shocked myself and I shocked the world like I had
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: run the second fastest time since flow jo at that time,
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: and suddenly was a gold medal favorite, and.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: Everybody was watching me.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: The whole country was watching and it was so much
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: fun because everybody was really supportive. It was a weird
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: Olympics because nobody was there. And I think in retrospect
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: for me, that actually worked out in my favor because
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure how I would have been able to
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: handle all of the media and all of the people
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: and everyone wanting me. So I look back on that
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: and I think, Okay, that was like kind of a
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: good little ease into like Olympic life. But then when
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: I came back, like suddenly I didn't know what to do.
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: We don't get media training, We don't get any type
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: of training. You hire your own team, like you hire
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: your own agents, your own publicist and all of that.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: But that's, you know, that's up to us to there's
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: no one holding your hand and saying this is what
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: you need to do, this is who you have to
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: have around you. And I'm grateful that I did have
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: a really good college coach mentor who you know. He
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: set me up as best he could for that time,
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: and that kept me a little bit sane.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: But you don't know what you're getting into. Yeah, I
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: had to learn as I went.
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: And in acquiring all of those pieces to the puzzle,
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: so to speak, how did you know what to look for?
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: Trial and error? Yeah, trial and error. Truly. A lot
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: of the people who are with me then are not
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: with me now. A lot of them are.
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: But it really just you live and you learn, and
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: you fail and you try again, and that's really what
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: it is. And that's why I look at a lot
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: of athletes and track athletes now and I really just
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: I feel for every one of them. I'm like, we
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: are all just truly winging it in an amateur sport.
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: And when the Olympics comes around, everyone's watching us and
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: watching what we say and what we do, and I
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: think they really do expect that there is a whole
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: team behind every athlete, like telling us what to do
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: and that there's a rule book and that we should
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: be media trained or that we should know how to
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: manage our careers and our social media and all that,
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: but like we don't, like it's just a bunch of
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: kids who worked hard and are talented and are figuring
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: it out and you're just kind of thrust it into
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: the limelight.
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: So still figuring it out.
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: And you've clearly hit a bit of a stride with
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: this in that you now two Olympics down, paris very
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: different than Tokyo. Oh yeah, you are in this place
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: now where you've got not only new balance as a sponsor,
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: but so many of these fruitful relationships, speaking opportunities like
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: Gabby Thomas is everywhere. How does Gabby Thomas feel about
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: being everywhere?
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: Now?
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: It's been a great opportunity. I'll start there.
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: I've been so grateful because you're right, I have incredible
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: sponsors and partnerships, and I have the luxury of being
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: able to partner with brands and companies that I truly
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: believe in that are authentic to me, and we work
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: together and there's such good partnerships, and that's something that's
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: really special in sports and to be a public figure.
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: It's also like it's a second job. No one tells
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: you that either you figure it out. It's just that's
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: probably the theme of this. You just have to figure
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: it out. I have running, and that takes up a
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: huge chunk of my life, a huge chunk of my day,
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: and that's the reason why I have my partnerships, right,
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: and that's you have to focus on that.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: But at the same time, you have to be a
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: good partner.
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: So a lot of my life is, you know, finding partnership,
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: setting myself up so that I can find them and
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: navigate those relationships, and also showing up for them. So
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: it's you know, traveling, making appearances, and it's just managing
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: that brand portfolio. So very time consuming. Second job. I
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: love it, I love it, but it's definitely managing. Both
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: jobs can be stressful at times, yeah, right, because you
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: want to capitalize on the opportunity that you have. Right
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: by running fast, I have given myself great opportunities and
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: I can do so much like a Vogue cover, right,
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: like just really really fun thing sports illustrated, but also
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: remembering that people want me to do that stuff because
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: I'm fast. Yeah, And you can't be fast if you're
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: not on the track every single day doing what you're
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: supposed to be doing. Yeah, So it's really it's tough,
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: and track is one of those sports where it's cutthroat
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: and it's physical, like you have to be on the track,
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: you have to be there. There is no taking days
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: off and getting back to it and getting away with
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: it because you have teammates who can cover for you,
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: and your team can cover for you. Or there's no like, oh,
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: I already know how to dribble, so like you no
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: like it. You have to be fit, and you can't
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: take days off because you're risking like drop in performance
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: and you're risking injuries. So it's track is a tough one.
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: It's a tough one to say the least.
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: You mentioned the I words, So we're going to talk
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: about it. Injury. Gabby.
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: It's been a year for you navigating your achilles. Where
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: were you when you came to terms with Okay, something
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: really abnormal is happening here.
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: I was definitely on the track we where I was
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: doing a track workout. We were using the ten eighty
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: like overspeed machine that everyone's using now, and I did
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: a rep and I mean I when I tell you,
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: I took a step and I pushed out and it
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: hurt so bad.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: I was not sure if I had ruptured it or something.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: I something. It just terrified me.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: And you know, my teammate Ta Jones, who ran so
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: fast at the beginning of the season, she broke the
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: American record in the hundred hurdles, but then Beside broke
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: it even more in that same race. But she ruptured
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: hers very shortly after that, and we had been training
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: together and we both had these like Achilles pain, like
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: achilles pendonitis basically for the entire season, and I just
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: my mind immediately went to her, and I'm thinking, oh
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: my gosh, I was just so scared, and then took
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: that training session off. But every subsequent session it's just
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: in the back of my head that each step could
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: be a rupture or leading towards that. And the thing
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: about rupturing the Achilles is you just you don't know.
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: You don't know if it's going to happen or not.
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: There's no way to know. When she ruptured hers, I mean,
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: they looked at it, they looked at imaging. There was
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: no indication that it was going to other than chronic inflammation,
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: and it just happened. So I have that in the
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: back of my mind. But I also have trials coming up,
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: and I had a great season so far. It was
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: one of my best seasons to date. When you look
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: back on the times I was running at what point
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: in the season I was running very fast, and I
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: was looking very good. So I thought, well, I've put
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: in all of this work all season. I am, you know,
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: the raining Olympic gold medalists. People want to see me run,
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: and this is my job, right My job is to run,
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: and my partners expect me to run.
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: The fans expect me to run.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: The whole track community expects me to run, and I
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: expect myself to run. I mean, when you are doing
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: something every single day and working so hard, literally putting
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: bloodspot and tears on the track every single day, you
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: want something to show for that.
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: So you know, I was like, We're going to go
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: to trials and we're just gonna see what happens. And
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: my goal coming out of the US Trials this past
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: season was to make the World's team. I wanted to
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: give myself an opportunity to go compete at Worlds and
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: like we were talking about before, make it then and
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: see see if I can feel better, see if we
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: can throw everything at it and just get there. And
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: I did ultimately make the team by a margin, and
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: just pure like willpower, pure like just gotta get on
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: that Tokyo team. I remember it being so close and
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: it was I think a tie between me and Britney
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: Brown over who was going, and I may have won
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: by a thousand seve a second, maybe a photo finish,
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: basically a tie race. But I made the team, and
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: I remember the cameras being on me, and it was
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: it felt like an eternity, like waiting to see if
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: I had made that Tokyo team. I was laying there
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: on the track and I remember everyone like watching my
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: face and I was like, oh, I have to look
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: like I really really want to go, right. I remember
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: thinking like being so indifferent because I was in so
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: much pain, and I was like, am I going to
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: be able to go compete?
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: Should I go compete? Do I want to go compete?
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: Not feeling like Gabby Thomas And that was all going
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: through my head. But I couldn't, like, I couldn't look
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: like that. I had to look like, oh my gosh,
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: I'm so excited to be going to Tokyo, like because
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: that's my job and I should be and like everyone
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: expects Gabby Thomas to want to go do that, but
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: that just wasn't the case. That wasn't the case, and
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: I they you know, I didn't feel the relief that
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: everyone wanted me to feel. It almost was like, oh,
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: I wish it was just over. Yeah, Like I, you know,
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: I wish that I didn't have this choice to make
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: now because I didn't know what choice to make, and
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: so I went back to Austin and went back to training, and.
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: You know, I just I knew, Yeah, the journey is
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: such an important part, especially in your line of work,
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: because if you aren't enjoying the journey, then those twenty
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: somethings seconds on the track, they aren't going to make
• 23:38
  Speaker 4: up for it. And when you got to the point
• 23:42
  Speaker 4: where not only you knew inside, but then you knew
• 23:45
  Speaker 4: you had to tell everyone talk to me about how
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: you felt after. You know the citious mag Instagram host
• 23:55
  Speaker 4: ghost Live that says injured.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Out out.
• 24:02
  Speaker 4: I don't remember exactly what the big bold words that
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: used are, but they've used some funny ones this year.
• 24:08
  Speaker 4: And when it happens and it's in the world, how
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: does that make you feel?
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: Oh?
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: I remember when I made the decision. I had spoken
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: to my partner's new balance being one of them who
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: was obviously just so supportive with it, and then my
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: track agent, Mark Wetmore and my coach when I when
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: I came to the final decision, I felt really good.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: I felt just relief.
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: And so that's how I knew I could rest easy
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: knowing that I made the right call for me when
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: it went live to the world. I mean, I had
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: gotten to a point where, thankfully, I wasn't worried about
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: what anyone was going to think about it. Didn't care
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: because I knew that I was doing what was right
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: for me. I think, like we were talking about before,
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: I was more so worried about this expectation that everyone
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: had in me, Like everyone expected me to feel so
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: just heartbroken and so sad and so like, oh my god,
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: I can't believe you're going to the World Championship track
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: and Field, Like how could you not be going?
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: This is the biggest deal. Like that was everyone else's reaction.
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: Like, oh my, gosh, poor Gabby, Oh my, like how
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: is is she gonna be okay?
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: And the truth is like, yes, I was more than okay.
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: And it's because I don't tie so much of my
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: identity into track and field, and I understand from other
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: people's perspective why that would be their reaction, because to them,
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: my identity is track and field, Like Gabby Thomas is
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: track and field, and as it should be because that's
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: how sports work and that's why people love sports, and
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: you know they're so invested. But for me it's gabby,
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: like as an own person, that's that's not who I am.
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: So missing World Championships because I needed to was It's
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: like it's a natural thing. Yeah, just like every day
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: people miss work if they feel sick, or they miss
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: out on certain things because they just they can't make it.
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: That that is my equivalent, and it is disappointing because
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: I worked hard all year and you want to show that.
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: But it's also track and field, and I have a
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: full life ahead of me. I have a full Olympic
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: cycle ahead of me that I really want to feel
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: healthy for and feel good about.
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: So no, I was just relieved.
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah, relief.
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: It's so impressive to be able to say I am
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: a whole person without this, and it's completely understandable that
• 26:39
  Speaker 4: without it things do feel some kind of way. Before
• 26:43
  Speaker 4: we started recording, you mentioned that you did feel like
• 26:47
  Speaker 4: you had some other opportunities this year to step into
• 26:51
  Speaker 4: because you did take a step back from the track.
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: Talk to me a little bit about that.
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So I mean I with a decision to withdraw
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: from Worlds that maybe like a week before I was
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: supposed to go, so I had already completed so much
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: of the season. But what was really nice was just
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: the reset that I've had. I mean that was I
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: don't know how many months ago now like maybe three
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: months ago.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: And since then, I.
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: Mean, I have poured so much of my time and
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: like friends and family, and that's something I did not
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: realize these last couple of years that I have just
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: not been able to do. You have to be so
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: selfish to compete at this level and say no to
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: almost everything.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: God, it's so sad.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: To think about, but I just I constantly have I
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: think this feeling of like guilt over me how little
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: I am or have been pouring into those relationships, like
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: my friendships, like showing up to weddings, like showing up
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: to birthday events, girls trips, showing up to family gatherings,
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: being able to spend extended time, and like things giving
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: our Christmas with family and just all of these small
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: things that add up over the course of years. Because
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: I am so I'm just I was so invested and
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: dialed into track and training, and I'm like No, I
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: can't miss these training days.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: I have to be here.
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: I can't travel because travel is such a big stressor.
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: And this off season that I've had these last few months,
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: I've spent so much of it making up for that
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: lost time, and I've just realized like how much like
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: I've missed, And not that I have any regrets, but
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: I've realized exactly what it took, right, like what the
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: cost of those metals were. And I think I'm really
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: excited about this season of my life before we enter
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: this you know, twenty seven twenty eight cycle of like
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: how much of myself I can just get back, Yeah,
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: of like diving into those relationships and even with my partnerships,
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: like diving even a little bit deeper into that and
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: figuring out what we can build together. Like one of
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: the partnerships I'm really excited about is with Better Way
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: BABS in Health, which is a blood diagnostic partnership that
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: I'm doing that brings diagnostic testing to communities.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: It actually bring like physically brings it.
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: And it's one of those things that I'm really passionate
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: about because it's solving health and equity issues and it's
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: going to be such a meaningful partnership, and I have
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: so much more time now to dive into that and
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: give my thoughts and actually be in the community with it.
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: So like it's these little things where I feel like
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: again back to this being a whole person, I can
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: really be like a whole Gabby and fulfill myself in
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: that way. And I've already started feeling that just in
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: these few months of just resting, you know, being away
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: from the track for a little.
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: Bit and doing the Girls' nights.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: Yes, and doing the girls nights. Oh yeah.
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: I just you don't realize it when you're in it,
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: or at least I didn't, I think, because I just
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: loved it so much. But yeah, as you look back,
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: it's like, oys, that's how I got here, right, I mean,
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: you just have to do that. You have to do
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: that hard stuff that a lot of people aren't willing
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: to do, and you know, nor should they, right, But totally.
• 29:57
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you mentioned a lot of life to live before
• 30:00
  Speaker 4: that twenty seven twenty eight season really comes around wedding
• 30:03
  Speaker 4: being one of those things.
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: Next year in twenty six.
• 30:06
  Speaker 4: Something that really impresses me is that this has all
• 30:11
  Speaker 4: taken so much of yourself and you've been able to
• 30:15
  Speaker 4: build this like really meaningful and strong relationship with your partner, Spencer.
• 30:21
  Speaker 4: Why do you think those two things were able to
• 30:26
  Speaker 4: go in tandem.
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: I am amazed by that.
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean it doesn't work a lot of
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: the time. Yeah's for sure. Spencer is such an incredible partner.
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: He is I mean, that's what he's a partner. He
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: is so supportive, He is my rock. He's there. He
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: does not let like any type of ego get in
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: the way. He also inspires me in his own way.
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: He loves life so much, and like having that around
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: me when I'm so dialed in, when I'm so like
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: in this competitive mode, when I'm just constantly like feeling
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: like stress or just so diligent, having just something to
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: kind of counter that a little bit and a reminder
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: that I am a person, like a whole person, like
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: you keep saying, and this reminder that it's okay to
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: just love life, to be around friends and family that
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: is so big for him, like community and friends and family.
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: Having that is really really important. It's just one of
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: those things that it keeps you, like I said, from
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: just over identifying with track. It's very grounding and being
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: grounded is so important at this level. It is so
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: important being grounded with your relationships, being grounded with your
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: your training, just all of it. Just making sure that
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: you just remember what's important. Yeah, and he does such
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: a great job with that for me, He's been able
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: to bring you back down to earth a little bit.
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, oh yeah, definitely.
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: I mean when we're like at these meats and overseas
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: and ah, it's so easy to just get roped up
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: in it and like you have to come back to
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: the room and.
• 32:15
  Speaker 3: Just yeah, relax.
• 32:17
  Speaker 4: I want to double click on you were talking about
• 32:20
  Speaker 4: the partnership that you have being able to bring this
• 32:24
  Speaker 4: blood testing into maybe areas that it wouldn't be there otherwise.
• 32:27
  Speaker 4: I know this is a huge component of your interests
• 32:32
  Speaker 4: working within public health. What do you see your future
• 32:36
  Speaker 4: looking like when it comes to involving that.
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: I think more or less things like this partnerships where
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: I can really make a difference and use my platform
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: to help doing a lot of activations in the community
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: raising awareness. This partnership is really really cool. It's something
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: that's it's so innovative and it's so simple. Blood testing
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: it can be really intimidating for people, and I know
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: from experience just working in the volunteer clinic in downtown
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: Austin what that's like, like getting patients to actively like
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: go get their blood tested because we didn't do it
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: in clinic, it was just a volunteer clinic. It takes time,
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: time that they don't have energy, and people.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: Are scared, but yeah, this cleans up. So just projects
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: like this.
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: I'm also partnering with Eli Lilly, which is another one,
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: and being in their think tank and thinking what can
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: they actually do. I mean, a huge corporation like Eli
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: Lilly cares about what they can do and I'm a
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: voice that they value. So being able to leverage my
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: platform and be in those rooms makes a big difference.
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: But also just being in the community. That's why I
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: love the clinic so much. I'm like, when you actually
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: are there and you see the problems in real life
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: and you're talking to real humans and you see the
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: impact that you can make on their lives at the
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: individual level.
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's what I love.
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: So I can see myself running a nonprofit, being in
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: a nonprofit, yeah, because that's what's really fulfilling, Like seeing
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: the actual change in the communities at that level, it.
• 34:00
  Speaker 3: Would be so easy for you to do none of this.
• 34:03
  Speaker 4: Like I sit here and I'm listening to you and
• 34:06
  Speaker 4: you're talking about making the time to go to the clinic,
• 34:08
  Speaker 4: and then you're traveling and you're speaking and you're running,
• 34:10
  Speaker 4: and it's like, it would be so easy just to
• 34:12
  Speaker 4: be in one lane. Yeah, And it is so impressive
• 34:18
  Speaker 4: to see you say.
• 34:20
  Speaker 3: But I know that this lane also brings me joy.
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: It does, And you know what, I think it's so
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: easy to reflect on seasons after the fact, but this
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: last season, like coming off of my Olympic gold medals
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: and how preoccupied I was with that metal, Like that
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: metal really became like my world and my identifier and
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: I didn't want it to, but it was inevitable. And
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: I think about what that did to me, Like on
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: the track, I look back and I think how intense
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: I was, like how intense my life was, and when
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: I was on the track, I was trying to overcompensate
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: for having spent so much time away like promoting this
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: metal and where my headspace was, and I, you know,
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: I have to think that that is a contributor to
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: why my season wasn't, you know, as successful as I
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: would have wanted it to be. Then I put that
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: in air quotes because you know, success is whatever. It's interpretive, right,
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: And I'll look back and I'm sure I'll appreciate this
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: season of life. But I mean that's where I was
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: when you have I mean, I typically am a runner
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: that I love being there. I'm there because it's a
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: choice and I'm loving running and I'm training and you're
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: going to get better that way. But when you're like
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: a runner because you have to be there, and you're
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: getting through the workouts because you have to, and you're
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: telling yourself you just have to do it, and you're
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: stressed and you're courticils high, like you're not going to
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: get better.
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: It's the journey.
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: You're talking to the journey, and your brain's not going
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: to be able to decipher if you're stressed from a
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: workout or if you're stressed from life. Your brain's just
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: like you're stressed right now and you're trying to push
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: through it in training. And that was me all year. Yeah,
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: And obviously that will have mental, emotional and physical repercussions.
• 35:53
  Speaker 4: And it did You mentioned even before saying like travel
• 35:56
  Speaker 4: as a stressor, you would know a lot about stress.
• 35:59
  Speaker 4: Being in real biology major in college, how would you
• 36:03
  Speaker 4: say that the awareness that you have over your own
• 36:08
  Speaker 4: physiology and your own just mental game has helped you
• 36:13
  Speaker 4: in a way that maybe other athletes don't.
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: Expl Oh my gosh so much. I really think, like,
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: am I cheating?
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: I know?
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: I know, right, Like I'm like, oh, I have such
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: an appreciation for it.
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: I think because of my background in neuro and just
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: in college, the coach that I had was he was
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: very into like neuro and psychology in the intersection of
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: that with sports, and first and foremost, like, my appreciation
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: for rest and sleep cannot be understated truly, and it
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: is a difference maker for me.
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: I truly believe that.
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: I think sleep is like the biggest performance enhancer like
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: you can have. And also like regulating your stress at
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: a holistic level, like your lifestyle has to be conducive
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: to running. You have to be able to to just
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: feel calm at the end of the day when it's
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: all said and done, like your life cannot be stressing about.
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: And that's part of why having a great partner is
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: so important, like someone who is grounding you, making sure
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: that when all said and done, like you are feeling
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: good and ready for practice. I mean that's the key
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: for it. And also just on the track, how do
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: you regulate your stress levels? For me, I do a
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: lot of breathwork, like breathing meditation. I do it during
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: warm ups, I do it when I wake up in
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: the morning. I do it for pre me for a competition,
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: and it just it really works for me.
• 37:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 37:37
  Speaker 4: On that note, how would you say that your understanding
• 37:41
  Speaker 4: of neuroplasticity influences how you visualize because that visualization component
• 37:48
  Speaker 4: is such a massive part of the success that you
• 37:51
  Speaker 4: see on the truck.
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's so big.
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: I mean when you're visualizing, you're actually creating these neural pathways,
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: like your brain cannot fully understand when you're visualizing something
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: versus it actually happening, Like those synaptic connections are still happening.
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: And I also think to that point, the visualization is
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: more about if you're emotionally invested, right, If you're emotionally
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: invested and you can get really specific in your head.
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: So like let's go back to my Paris race for example,
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: when I imagined winning that gold medal, I was very
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: emotionally invested and I knew what the track looked like
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: I knew who my competitors were, So I had this
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: very specific image in my head that I could repeat
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: over and over and over again that I was very
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: passionate about. And it's the quality of that visualization that
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: I think helped so much. It's not just about repeating
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: it to yourself over and over again and not really
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: believing it or being into it. It's about actually giving
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: your brain those reps, because, like I said, your brain
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: is not going It cannot fully understand that it's not happening.
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: All it knows is that it's learning something over and
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: over again. Of course, actually doing it helps more. But
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: once you've or once you've made those synaptic connections in
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: your brain, actually doing it becomes so much easier.
• 39:09
  Speaker 4: Yeah, And what I'm hearing you say is that the specificity,
• 39:13
  Speaker 4: the specificity specificity makes a really big difference. So you're
• 39:18
  Speaker 4: not only thinking, Okay, I know that the track is purple.
• 39:22
  Speaker 4: You're thinking, I know who's going to be on my left,
• 39:24
  Speaker 4: and I know who's going to be on that right,
• 39:26
  Speaker 4: and I know what spikes I'm going to be wearing,
• 39:27
  Speaker 4: and I know that's sure it I'm going to be wearing.
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: You're imagining every line, like every cue that I'll take
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: on the track, I'm going to get to this point
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: in the track, and I'm going to do this. You're
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: thinking of all those little things over and over again,
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: like it's an exercise.
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and it is.
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: And that's how it was a really powerful visualization tool.
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: I also did the you know, of course, you're writing
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: it down over and over again, but I think that
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: really really trains like the emotional part of it too, Yeah,
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: Like you get really deep into it. And when I
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: wrote it down over and over and over again, I
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: was so emotional and so passionate about it, and then
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: the actual visualization became even more powerful and star and.
• 40:00
  Speaker 4: When you're on the track, you're not even thinking about
• 40:04
  Speaker 4: what you're doing, Yeah, because you've spent so much time
• 40:08
  Speaker 4: visualizing and practicing so that when you get there you
• 40:11
  Speaker 4: can turn off.
• 40:12
  Speaker 3: Is that right?
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: Exactly exactly? And that's that's the beauty of neuroplasticity. And
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: and of course muscle memory is like we train so
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: much for that moment that it just it has to
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: be there, and you have to be able to enter
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: that flow state. You have to be able to not
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: worry about what you're going to do, you just you
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: just do it.
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: You've trained your your mind to do it. The brain,
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: the nervous system is just so powerful. It's it's a
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: beautiful thing.
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: But if you can figure out how to train it
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: to your advantage, you definitely have a lug up.
• 40:41
  Speaker 3: Isn't it wild though?
• 40:42
  Speaker 4: Because everyone asks like, what are you thinking on the
• 40:44
  Speaker 4: starting box?
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean they do ask that a lot. So
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: for me, bring me through. I'm ready before I get there.
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: You know, there's so many like intense moments. You're in
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: the call room, and the call room is like, yo,
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: can we talk about the clicks? The call room is
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: like the most intense place. It's it's like my personal hell.
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: Like you're in a enclosed environment with all of your competitors.
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, like all of them. You're like literally like shoulders
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: to shoulder with them.
• 41:09
  Speaker 4: And for those that don't know, so the call room
• 41:11
  Speaker 4: is essentially a holding pen.
• 41:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 41:12
  Speaker 4: They put the athletes in before they go out onto
• 41:14
  Speaker 4: the truck. Yes, so this is your personal this.
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: Is and of course it is right and like you
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: might even be friends with these people, but you're like,
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: if you're trying to win an important race, like the Olympics.
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: You don't want to just be like talking and hanging
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: out with them like I was in the call room
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: just shoulder to shoulder with Julian Alfred. We're just sitting
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: there and it's between the two of us for that
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: metal And a lot of people will use it as
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: a time to get really amped up, like there's some
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: athletes who are like shouting, yelling, some are doing warm ups.
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: I use it as a time to be really meditative,
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: and I'm like doing the breath work and I'm I'm
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: calling calming my nervous system. And then you they tell
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: you to get up, you start walking out to the track.
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: I'm still kind of in that calming mode. It's not
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: until I think I actually set my blocks, come back
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: and stand behind them that I am like getting myself
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: a little more amped up. I just like it's a
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: preservation of energy thing. But the first thing I think
• 42:08
  Speaker 2: about is one queue. I think about one queue that
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: I'm going to focus on, and depending on where I
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: am in my season, what I've been doing, well, that's
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: what I choose. Sometimes it's push really hard to that
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: point on the track, and at Paris Olympics, that's what
• 42:21
  Speaker 2: it was I had visualized over and over again this
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: certain mark on the track. It was about twenty meters out,
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: and I imagined over and over again, how hard I'm
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: going to push to that point? Because I knew who
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: my competitors, and I knew they had really good starts
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: and they were powerful runners. They were more like one
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: hundred two hundred people and less two hundred four hundred people.
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: So that was it.
• 42:42
  Speaker 2: But then when I get in the block, I'm not
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: thinking that. When I'm in the block, all I'm thinking
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: is react to the gun, and I've already told myself
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: what I'm going to do, so that's yeah, you know,
• 42:51
  Speaker 2: that's all you focus on, and then from there just
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: flow state and run do it you know how to
• 42:55
  Speaker 2: do and compete.
• 43:14
  Speaker 4: We talked earlier about how it felt for you to
• 43:18
  Speaker 4: manage maybe the expectations of others. How have you been
• 43:22
  Speaker 4: able to really claim the joy that is in your
• 43:27
  Speaker 4: process in getting maybe a bronze or a silver when
• 43:31
  Speaker 4: others expected you to get gold. How have you been
• 43:34
  Speaker 4: able to really claim your joy as your own and
• 43:38
  Speaker 4: step forward in your own path instead of being so
• 43:40
  Speaker 4: worried about what everybody else has going on.
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: That's such a good question. I think for me, it
• 43:45
  Speaker 2: comes down to being innately adaptable, like being okay with
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: whatever this track and field career throws at me. I'm
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: okay with it, like the Sun's going to come up
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: tomorrow and I'm going to continue to do what I
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: love and it's going to be fine. And that that
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: is truly the root of it. When I think about Tokyo. Yeah,
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: and everyone wanted me to win gold, or they expected
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: me to win gold, and I came out with the bronze.
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: I was just happy to get bronze.
• 44:18
  Speaker 2: I said, I that's what I accomplished something, and I
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: was so happy with it. And with our relay we
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: got silver. I'm sure a lot of people expected the
• 44:26
  Speaker 2: four by one to get gold. Accept you accept the
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: outcome and you move forward and you you hopefully just
• 44:36
  Speaker 2: do better or not, and that's okay. But as long
• 44:39
  Speaker 2: as you are becoming a better athlete, as long as
• 44:41
  Speaker 2: you're having fun with it, that's that's it. But it's
• 44:45
  Speaker 2: like we were talking about before, like if if you're
• 44:51
  Speaker 2: so focused on the outcome and what everybody else wants.
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: You're in for a really long career. You're just in
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: for a really long, hard career.
• 45:05
  Speaker 3: What does Gabby want now?
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: Of course you want to say, you know, you want
• 45:10
  Speaker 2: more metals. I will say this, I really really do
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: want to be a.
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: Part of the LA twenty eighteen.
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: And that might be the first time that I have
• 45:24
  Speaker 2: actually wanted something that I can't fully control, right, Like,
• 45:28
  Speaker 2: I really do want to be a part of that.
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: So I'm going to have to manage that dream and
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: expectation to keep that in bay and remember like what
• 45:36
  Speaker 2: I've been doing to get myself to this point, which
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: is not focusing on that. I can't focus on being
• 45:42
  Speaker 2: on the Olympic team because that's out of my control.
• 45:44
  Speaker 2: I don't know what my other competitors are going to do.
• 45:46
  Speaker 2: I don't know if they're all going to run world records,
• 45:48
  Speaker 2: that Olympic trials that to year.
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: I don't know. So what I want.
• 45:54
  Speaker 4: When you think about being happy, and you like close
• 45:57
  Speaker 4: your eyes and you're like thinking about, like, what is
• 45:59
  Speaker 4: my happiest life look like in the next two years,
• 46:04
  Speaker 4: what comes to the forefront of.
• 46:05
  Speaker 2: That, Well, forefront becomes my wedding in my marriage. I'm
• 46:10
  Speaker 2: so excited about that. I think about being on the
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: track every day with my friends and my teammates whom
• 46:18
  Speaker 2: I love and making memories. We're in the trenches together
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: and we have so much fun every day at practice,
• 46:23
  Speaker 2: and those relationships, I mean, I really really treasure it's
• 46:26
  Speaker 2: like spending time with them and my coach. I think
• 46:29
  Speaker 2: about so many things that I conquer on the track.
• 46:31
  Speaker 2: Track and field is so beautiful because it is such
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: a vulnerable sport and you put yourself out there on
• 46:39
  Speaker 2: the track and you fail over and over again, and
• 46:41
  Speaker 2: you overcome that and you get better every day, and
• 46:45
  Speaker 2: it's so objective. You can truly see it over the
• 46:47
  Speaker 2: course of a season, over the course of days, weeks, months, years,
• 46:50
  Speaker 2: and I just I'm in love with that. And I
• 46:54
  Speaker 2: used to not care about it when I was younger,
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: and I was like, oh my god, track is so hard.
• 46:57
  Speaker 2: But now I've really come to appreciate that so much.
• 47:02
  Speaker 2: I want to learn more about the sport. I want
• 47:04
  Speaker 2: to learn more about how I can get better, all
• 47:07
  Speaker 2: of the small little details about training. I just want
• 47:12
  Speaker 2: to be such a master of the sport, and I
• 47:15
  Speaker 2: want to continue to see what I can do to
• 47:17
  Speaker 2: make an impact off the track. Like I'm really excited
• 47:20
  Speaker 2: about that. I'm kind of a vet in the sport.
• 47:23
  Speaker 2: Now I'm twenty nine, which is not old at all,
• 47:25
  Speaker 2: but in track and field, I mean everyone calls me
• 47:27
  Speaker 2: like elder gappy. Now, oh my gosh, I know I
• 47:30
  Speaker 2: just turned twenty nine. I'm like, oh my gosh. Even
• 47:33
  Speaker 2: just thinking ahead about like how I can impact people
• 47:36
  Speaker 2: off the track too, and how I can mentor like
• 47:38
  Speaker 2: the athletes, the young girls who are coming up now,
• 47:41
  Speaker 2: and just create like this blueprint for them, like creating
• 47:45
  Speaker 2: a career. We go into the sport, like we talked
• 47:48
  Speaker 2: about at the beginning of the podcast, like not knowing
• 47:50
  Speaker 2: what we're getting into. You're just on the track. People
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: are telling you go run, go run, go run fast.
• 47:55
  Speaker 2: If you don't run fast, you're done. If you do
• 47:57
  Speaker 2: run faster, that's all you hear. It's about, Okay, how
• 48:02
  Speaker 2: can we change that. It's about running fast, of course,
• 48:04
  Speaker 2: It's about being a great athlete, of course, but it's
• 48:07
  Speaker 2: about capitalizing on opportunities, creating your own business, your own brand,
• 48:10
  Speaker 2: leaving the sport better than you found it. I'm really
• 48:13
  Speaker 2: excited to see what I can do with that too.
• 48:16
  Speaker 4: So special to say I am down to be the blueprint,
• 48:21
  Speaker 4: Like I am down to do the work and delay
• 48:23
  Speaker 4: the foundation so that when the next generation of athletes
• 48:27
  Speaker 4: get into this place, they have an idea of maybe
• 48:31
  Speaker 4: what it could look.
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: Yes, what it could and what it should look like.
• 48:34
  Speaker 2: And we are business owners at the end of the day,
• 48:36
  Speaker 2: athletes are We own our own business. We are running it.
• 48:39
  Speaker 2: A lot of times people get it twisted, but that's
• 48:42
  Speaker 2: what it is. And now we have such an opportunity,
• 48:44
  Speaker 2: and we have so many other athletes, especially female athletes
• 48:47
  Speaker 2: to look up to, who are doing that currently in
• 48:49
  Speaker 2: their own sports. We see them everywhere, especially with the
• 48:52
  Speaker 2: rise of social media. Like, the possibilities are endless. Now
• 48:56
  Speaker 2: you can do so much with your career and you
• 49:01
  Speaker 2: don't have to just kind of be pigeonholed and made
• 49:04
  Speaker 2: to feel like if you're not winning every single race,
• 49:07
  Speaker 2: like you're worthless, because that's that's just what we're told,
• 49:11
  Speaker 2: you know it is.
• 49:12
  Speaker 4: It's what we're told. So yeah, it's wild to say.
• 49:15
  Speaker 4: You know, I'm twenty nine now, Yeah, birthday cake of choice,
• 49:18
  Speaker 4: chocolate period. Yeah, I'm a chocolate girl.
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: I love it.
• 49:23
  Speaker 4: I know that when your birthday just passed at the
• 49:25
  Speaker 4: top of December, you shared a photo of you running again.
• 49:29
  Speaker 3: Does that excite you to be able to bring this back.
• 49:32
  Speaker 4: And I think it was like, wasn't it like you
• 49:35
  Speaker 4: were doing a stride or something.
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that was my birth Yeah.
• 49:39
  Speaker 4: I'm like, I'm an avid follower of Dabby Thomas and
• 49:43
  Speaker 4: it's like you're like, hey, I'm still here.
• 49:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm still running on I think it's really I
• 49:48
  Speaker 2: was really happy to take a little bit of a
• 49:49
  Speaker 2: social media break. I will say I was having a
• 49:51
  Speaker 2: lot of fun on it for a while, but oh
• 49:54
  Speaker 2: my gosh, you don't realize how much it.
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: Creeps in on your life. Dude. It's crazy. We can
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: talk about that forever.
• 50:00
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I had a nice break and where and
• 50:02
  Speaker 2: now I'm just even still kind of like post and go,
• 50:05
  Speaker 2: which is it's just reminding you know, I'm still here.
• 50:07
  Speaker 2: It's all good, you know, keeping And I have actually
• 50:10
  Speaker 2: really loved being on Strava.
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: Not gonna lie. I'm on like my Strava game now,
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: so hopefully.
• 50:15
  Speaker 3: Well that's because you're running more than a mile.
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: Well I cut that out.
• 50:19
  Speaker 3: That was like, You're like, that was just like I
• 50:21
  Speaker 3: was dabbling.
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I was like dabbling a little bit.
• 50:23
  Speaker 3: I just wanted to see out.
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: Okay, two miles. It once crazy world, that was I
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: have to go run a mile. Actually right after this,
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: I'll let you know how.
• 50:32
  Speaker 3: It's just a mile. She's just.
• 50:35
  Speaker 2: Heart is already getting up thinking about it. But yeah, no,
• 50:38
  Speaker 2: it's I Yeah, I'm back in the training mode.
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: It's fun. Yeah posting about it.
• 50:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 50:44
  Speaker 4: You mentioned being a business owner, each individual athlete really
• 50:48
  Speaker 4: controlling that. You yourself very involved in athlos as an athlete
• 50:53
  Speaker 4: part owner right now. How has it felt for you
• 50:56
  Speaker 4: to really dive into that side of yourself something that
• 51:01
  Speaker 4: I'm sure when you started in this industry you never
• 51:04
  Speaker 4: expected to be part owner of not only an event,
• 51:08
  Speaker 4: but soon to be a league.
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, it is. It's surreal.
• 51:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's surreal, and I'm so inspired by everyone who
• 51:16
  Speaker 2: has done it before me. I'm inspired by even the
• 51:19
  Speaker 2: ladies that I work with, Tara and Shakerri and working
• 51:21
  Speaker 2: with Alexis. It's just it's so special and we have
• 51:26
  Speaker 2: a clear path forward. The sport is in such a
• 51:31
  Speaker 2: good place right now, and I really think it will
• 51:34
  Speaker 2: be successful and make a difference and give people in
• 51:38
  Speaker 2: our sport something.
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: To look forward to.
• 51:40
  Speaker 2: I like going back to how I got my start
• 51:45
  Speaker 2: in track and field. I remember even being in college
• 51:47
  Speaker 2: at Harvard and people asking about would you run after
• 51:50
  Speaker 2: college and my response was, you can't be a professional athlete,
• 51:53
  Speaker 2: Like you can't do it.
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: There's no money.
• 51:54
  Speaker 2: You might get twenty thousand dollars a year like that
• 51:56
  Speaker 2: would be max And I was like, that's ridiculous, Like
• 51:58
  Speaker 2: I'm not doing that, And I just I didn't see it.
• 52:03
  Speaker 2: You know, people the athletes would run at the Olympics,
• 52:06
  Speaker 2: and that's all I would see of them, And I
• 52:09
  Speaker 2: knew who Alison Felix was, I knew who Sonya Richards was,
• 52:12
  Speaker 2: crimely to Jetter, but I just had this understanding that
• 52:15
  Speaker 2: you know, they were just different, right, they were just
• 52:17
  Speaker 2: like those were the Olympic stars. And there's no place
• 52:20
  Speaker 2: for professional track runners to have a career, and athlos
• 52:24
  Speaker 2: will really really change that you don't have. I want
• 52:27
  Speaker 2: it to be a situation where you don't have to
• 52:30
  Speaker 2: be this avid like person in the track and field
• 52:34
  Speaker 2: world to understand that there is a career in track
• 52:36
  Speaker 2: and field and you can be a professional runner. Because
• 52:39
  Speaker 2: running is also just one of the most successible sports
• 52:41
  Speaker 2: out there. It provides so many opportunities for people who
• 52:44
  Speaker 2: otherwise would not have opportunities to get scholarship. It's not
• 52:47
  Speaker 2: an expensive sport to get into. So it's so important
• 52:49
  Speaker 2: that there is a path forward for people who want
• 52:52
  Speaker 2: to run and athlos is that like they'll see it.
• 52:56
  Speaker 2: It's in your face. You can you can do it.
• 52:58
  Speaker 2: You see us doing it. We're doing it, we're successful,
• 53:01
  Speaker 2: we're having a good time. And that's what it is.
• 53:04
  Speaker 2: And that makes me so happy. Like if I were
• 53:06
  Speaker 2: getting into track and field and I saw that, I
• 53:09
  Speaker 2: would aspire to be that, especially as a little girl.
• 53:12
  Speaker 2: I don't know, Like I like little boys. They have
• 53:14
  Speaker 2: that they all of them. They want to grow up
• 53:17
  Speaker 2: in the NFL or be in the NBA or in
• 53:19
  Speaker 2: the MLB, and that's what that's that's normal and I
• 53:22
  Speaker 2: want that to be normal for girls too, because sports
• 53:24
  Speaker 2: are so powerful and they're so good for us.
• 53:27
  Speaker 4: Sports really help contribute to the person that you've become.
• 53:31
  Speaker 4: And so on that note, what would you say has
• 53:34
  Speaker 4: been the most crucial transferable skill that you've gained from
• 53:39
  Speaker 4: this hyper focused, goal oriented world.
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: Resilience of elite track resilience. Yeah, resilience.
• 53:47
  Speaker 2: It's it's incredible to be able to fall and get
• 53:49
  Speaker 2: back up again. Like no pun intended is just invaluable.
• 53:56
  Speaker 2: Like to be able to put yourself out there vulnerable,
• 54:01
  Speaker 2: try fail and come back and do it again and
• 54:04
  Speaker 2: do it better is transferable to anything in life. The
• 54:10
  Speaker 2: most successful people are able to do that. Not letting
• 54:12
  Speaker 2: your ego get in the way, not letting it get
• 54:14
  Speaker 2: you down for too long, just accepting that that is
• 54:16
  Speaker 2: part of a process and part of a journey is
• 54:18
  Speaker 2: so important.
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: And you learn that so early from sports, so early.
• 54:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it sets you up for life and at
• 54:25
  Speaker 2: our level at this scale, like being able to fail
• 54:28
  Speaker 2: in front of the entire world, being able to fail
• 54:31
  Speaker 2: in front of millions of people, Like I can do anything.
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: I can do anything.
• 54:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Like I just got my ass kicked in London
• 54:38
  Speaker 2: in front of sixty thousand people. I can do anything now,
• 54:40
  Speaker 2: Like nothing will get me down or stop me.
• 54:43
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 54:43
  Speaker 4: Do you say that you are more resilient than some
• 54:47
  Speaker 4: of your competitions and that's what helps you come back
• 54:53
  Speaker 4: and be so good?
• 54:53
  Speaker 2: I do.
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: I definitely think so.
• 54:55
  Speaker 2: I mean, there are probably some people who are a
• 54:57
  Speaker 2: little more resilient than me totally, but I'm definitely like
• 55:01
  Speaker 2: top point one percent for sure. There's nothing there's nothing
• 55:05
  Speaker 2: that could happen to me in the sport where I'm
• 55:06
  Speaker 2: not going to come back and be okay, like I'll.
• 55:08
  Speaker 3: Be back, I'll be back, to be back. That was like,
• 55:12
  Speaker 3: I have a message for you. I'll be back. Yes,
• 55:15
  Speaker 3: I will be back, but she'll be back as a missus.
• 55:17
  Speaker 4: Yes, yes, looking forward, We've talked about so many sponsors
• 55:23
  Speaker 4: that are in the mix. I'd be super curious to
• 55:25
  Speaker 4: hear a little bit about where you were when you
• 55:30
  Speaker 4: first decided that you were going to be a new
• 55:32
  Speaker 4: balance athlete.
• 55:33
  Speaker 2: Oh, I was still in college and I was I
• 55:35
  Speaker 2: was such a baby. I did not know about how
• 55:39
  Speaker 2: this track stuff work. I did not know that you
• 55:41
  Speaker 2: could sign a professional contract. So when I was a
• 55:44
  Speaker 2: junior in college, I ran really fast, I won NCAA's,
• 55:47
  Speaker 2: I had this great season, but I would just head
• 55:49
  Speaker 2: down focused, didn't go to parties, didn't do stuff. Truthfully,
• 55:54
  Speaker 2: I was going through like a really bad breakup and
• 55:56
  Speaker 2: I was like I don't want to do anything anymore.
• 55:58
  Speaker 2: So I was like just all in on track and
• 56:00
  Speaker 2: I just had this amazing breakout year.
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: And thank you, man, I know, thank you, yeah, thank you.
• 56:08
  Speaker 2: And I guess all these agents were like reaching out
• 56:11
  Speaker 2: to my college coach and I was like, oh, what
• 56:14
  Speaker 2: you can That's when I realized. I was like, you
• 56:15
  Speaker 2: can actually run professionally and make money. This is I
• 56:19
  Speaker 2: couldn't believe it. Yeah, And so I had a couple
• 56:21
  Speaker 2: of offers, and I was so close to signing with
• 56:26
  Speaker 2: the Didos actually because my agent had a relationship with
• 56:29
  Speaker 2: that guy. And then he left for a trip I
• 56:31
  Speaker 2: think to South Africa, and when he came back, New
• 56:34
  Speaker 2: Balance had swooped in and made an offer, and I
• 56:37
  Speaker 2: was so excited because it was just a perfect fit.
• 56:41
  Speaker 2: I was wearing New Balance all through college. I am
• 56:43
  Speaker 2: a Massachusetts native. I was going to say Boston. It
• 56:45
  Speaker 2: was Yeah, it was perfect. And moreover, I love just
• 56:49
  Speaker 2: how they do partnerships. It is a family company and
• 56:53
  Speaker 2: all of their partnerships are based on their own values.
• 56:56
  Speaker 2: They partner with people who they genuinely believe in. Like
• 56:59
  Speaker 2: it's not just a transactional agreement where you know, you
• 57:02
  Speaker 2: go run fast and we pay you. It's like a no,
• 57:05
  Speaker 2: we are partners and we stand for the same thing.
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: And I just really love it.
• 57:10
  Speaker 2: And I am inspired by the other athletes that they
• 57:12
  Speaker 2: signed to, Like, you know, they have Sydney. They have
• 57:14
  Speaker 2: they have Trayvon Vernon, they have Cocoa Goff, Josh Allen,
• 57:17
  Speaker 2: like this, this great roster of athletes who are truly
• 57:20
  Speaker 2: good people, like good humans in their sport and outside
• 57:23
  Speaker 2: of their sport, and that mattered a lot to me.
• 57:26
  Speaker 2: So it was truly a no brainer. Yeah, it was
• 57:28
  Speaker 2: a no brainer. It just was such a perfect fit.
• 57:31
  Speaker 2: And I'm so grateful. I'm just so grateful that that's
• 57:34
  Speaker 2: how it played out. They've been such an incredible partner
• 57:36
  Speaker 2: throughout my entire career. I just can't even imagine it
• 57:40
  Speaker 2: any other way.
• 57:41
  Speaker 4: And it's so special because even going back to before
• 57:43
  Speaker 4: when you were like I wasn't sure what I was
• 57:46
  Speaker 4: going to do with worlds like I had a gut feeling,
• 57:48
  Speaker 4: and you said that, they called and they said you
• 57:50
  Speaker 4: need to do what's good for you.
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly.
• 57:52
  Speaker 2: That was the first and foremost what was most important.
• 57:55
  Speaker 2: And you were not just a metal count to them, right,
• 57:57
  Speaker 2: We're actual people, were actual partners, and they look headed
• 58:00
  Speaker 2: our just who we are at our What are your
• 58:03
  Speaker 2: long term goals? You know, what does Gabby want? Gabby
• 58:06
  Speaker 2: wants to be in the LA Olympics. So how can
• 58:07
  Speaker 2: we support her there. Yeah, you don't have to run
• 58:09
  Speaker 2: at World Championships, right, and that's what it is. Or
• 58:11
  Speaker 2: just you're a person. We don't want you running through pain.
• 58:15
  Speaker 2: We don't want you to come out of this with
• 58:17
  Speaker 2: the ruptured achilles and being just heartbroken.
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: Like they don't want that.
• 58:21
  Speaker 4: So yeah, so we're back on the track now, we're
• 58:24
  Speaker 4: running or feeling good question mark.
• 58:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we feel good. We're pain free, which is the rest.
• 58:30
  Speaker 3: But you still have like the like, are you still
• 58:32
  Speaker 3: a little skittish about it?
• 58:33
  Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, I probably always will be, but to
• 58:36
  Speaker 2: an extent, I think all of us at this level
• 58:38
  Speaker 2: are a little skittish about injuries. Yeah, we've all been
• 58:40
  Speaker 2: through something or felt something because you're constantly pushing your
• 58:43
  Speaker 2: body like to an insane level. But no pain free
• 58:47
  Speaker 2: Ultimately achille that needs rest. There's no like working your
• 58:50
  Speaker 2: way through that type of injury. They're like, you can't
• 58:53
  Speaker 2: push your way through it. I just needed to sit
• 58:54
  Speaker 2: down and not run, And that's what I did.
• 58:57
  Speaker 4: For someone that may be dealing with their own sech
• 59:00
  Speaker 4: go of injury right now, what would you say is
• 59:02
  Speaker 4: the best advice you can offer to them about navigating
• 59:05
  Speaker 4: the frustrations that go hand in hand.
• 59:07
  Speaker 1: With that patience.
• 59:08
  Speaker 2: Patience, I mean, the worst thing about is an injury
• 59:11
  Speaker 2: is that you can't outwork it. And if you have
• 59:13
  Speaker 2: put yourself in a position to get an injury, I'm
• 59:15
  Speaker 2: sure you're just like a very hard working person, someone
• 59:18
  Speaker 2: who likes to push yourself, someone who likes to challenge yourself,
• 59:21
  Speaker 2: and that's that's that's a joy and how you get better.
• 59:25
  Speaker 2: But unfortunately sometimes you push it a little too far
• 59:28
  Speaker 2: and that's part of the journey. But it's about patience
• 59:30
  Speaker 2: and being kind to yourself. You cannot outwork an injury.
• 59:33
  Speaker 2: You have to just follow your protocol. It might be
• 59:36
  Speaker 2: rehab and maybe you are working hard at that or
• 59:38
  Speaker 2: maybe it's working hard to just resting.
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but it's about patience.
• 59:41
  Speaker 4: Was yours more rooted in rest or where they are
• 59:44
  Speaker 4: like cycles of different exercises.
• 59:47
  Speaker 3: That you're making yourself do a lot of rehabs.
• 59:49
  Speaker 2: So a lot of rehab is being done and still
• 59:51
  Speaker 2: incorporating it into my training.
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: But rest yeah, just like getting off of it.
• 59:56
  Speaker 2: I just had to do it, which is so hard
• 59:58
  Speaker 2: to do because like you know, I loverunning and I
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 2: got mine comes in yeah, right, TV, But yeah, it
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 2: was it was really just not running on it.
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 4: Someone comes to your Instagram page right now, they see
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 4: that not only do you have something over a million
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 4: people following you, but they see an Olympic gold medalist,
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 4: a pro runner again, a public health advocate. But when
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 4: you look in the mirror, Gabby, what is it that
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 4: you see looking back at you?
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 2: Honestly, I I still see like a young girl chasing
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 2: her dreams. Yeah, I feel like I'm still in the
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 2: middle of it. I'm still in the midst of it.
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 2: I'm living the dream and I'm still pushing myself and
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 2: challenging myself and figuring out just what I'm capable of,
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 2: like pushing my own limits. And I mean, that's what
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 2: I see. I'm just I'm still in that. I want
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 2: to look back on my career and even just my
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 2: life and be so proud. I want to one day
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 2: have a family and have kids, and I want them
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 2: to look at what I'm doing and what I've done
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 2: and be proud and feeling inspired. When I look at
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 2: my mom, that's what I think. I watched her chase
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 2: her dreams day after day, like in real time, and
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 2: that set the blueprint for me. That's why I am
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 2: the way I am and why I do what I do.
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 2: But that's what I see. I see someone who's just
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 2: inspired and motivated and hungry and I love it.
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 3: I love it. In order to be her, you need
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 3: to see her.
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 4: And you watched your mom work very hard to do
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 4: a number of different things. Now a professor herself, that's
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 4: really awesome to watch her step into this chapter right now.
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 2: It is so special to see I like just being
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 2: a single mom of twins and being a high school
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 2: a preschool teacher, then a high school teacher, then going
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 2: back to school. I remember being in classes with her,
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 2: not knowing what was going on, but you like when
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 2: you're a child, you pick up on things like you know,
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 2: I'm like, Okay, she's working like she's working hard and
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 2: she loves it. And to see it come to fruition
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 2: and even now she's continuing to just be such a
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 2: dominant force in her field.
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 3: It's so cool in Michigan, right, Yeah, she's at Michigan.
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 1: Now, Yeah, she's at Michigan. It's so cool.
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 2: She has a nonprofit Center for Measurement Justice, and she
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 2: works in the field of education and making it more
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 2: equitable she works with standardized testing and just measurement Justice,
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 2: which is basically kind of introducing anti racism into education,
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 2: and she loves it. She loves what she does, and
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 2: it's so cool to see that and to see how
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 2: hard she worked for that, and she didn't quit or
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 2: give up, and I saw the hardship of it. I
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 2: think that's also really important, is seeing how hard things
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 2: can be and being okay with that. And I was
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 2: comfortable seeing it because I grew up seeing it every
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 2: day and so I know, I know it's okay to
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 2: have hard days and just get back up and do it.
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 2: So maybe a lot of the resilience comes from that too.
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 2: But that's you know, that's what I want. I want
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 2: that for myself and want I want my future kids
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 2: to see that. I want even just young fans who
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 2: watched me to see that, Yeah, like it's okay to
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 2: have like this year's okay, Like we're gonna come bounce
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 2: back from the twenty twenty sixth season, and I am
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 2: more than okay. It's part of the process, it's part
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 2: of the journey for me, and I'll be back.
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 4: I'll be back, Gabby, before I let you go today,
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 4: right now, you have an opportunity to offer yourself a
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 4: piece of advice. Let's go back to when you were
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 4: dealing with becoming thrust into the public eye after Tokyo,
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 4: the hurdle moment that you said you were at a
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 4: really low point despite accomplishing such an exciting thing earning
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 4: that bronze that today is one of your most meaningful medals.
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 4: Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 4: to your younger self going through that hurdle moment.
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 2: Be comfortable setting boundaries. Be comfortable setting boundaries with other
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 2: people and just for yourself, like, have that commonfidence, don't
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 2: be afraid to hurt feelings, have people around you that
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 2: are good for you, and that's really it. I mean,
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 2: it is your life, especially in our sport. You know
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 2: you only have a certain amount of time. Just be
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 2: comfortable setting those boundaries and do what's best for you,
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 2: That's what I would say. Yeah, and just be confident in.
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 4: That boundary setting can be so difficult, and once you
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 4: do it and you have a genuine understanding of your intentions,
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 4: that's the most important part, because I think that oftentimes
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 4: that's the worry when it comes to saying this is
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 4: what I need. You don't want to be perceived in
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 4: such a way because you're trying to be strong with
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 4: your boundaries. But if you know your intention and the
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 4: people that no one love you know your intentions as well,
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 4: then fact only okay, things are.
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 3: Going to come.
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 2: Only thinks okay, things are going to happen exactly, and
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 2: people appreciate boundaries. I've also come to realize that, like,
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 2: I love being around people who have clear boundaries and
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 2: expectations and I know what to give them or like
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 2: how to approach them, right, I like that and people
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 2: appreciate that too.
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 1: So yeah, well I afraid to set those boundaries.
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 4: I'm happy that I respectries for four years and now
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 4: we're here exactly.
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: It's all love.
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 3: It's all love, Gabby Thomas.
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 4: Like I said, a million people already keeping up with
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 4: you on Instagram. But if they don't follow you, just
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 4: yet give us the info. Where do we find you?
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Gabby Thomas on Instagram. I'm on TikTok too. Sometimes
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 2: I dance It's Gabby Thomas and then occasionally I'm a
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 2: troll on Twitter.
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 4: I'm over at Hurdle podcast and at Emily Abadi.
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 3: Another hurdle conquered. Catch you guys next time.