Latest / Mind Over Mountain / Olympic Cross-Country Skier Julia Kern on Falling Short and Moving Forward

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Olympic Cross-Country Skier Julia Kern on Falling Short and Moving Forward · Mind Over Mountain

0:10
Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, Welcome to mind over Mountain with me Cheryl Strade.
0:13
Speaker 1: This week, my guest is Olympian cross country skier Julia Kern.
0:18
Speaker 1: In our conversation, we talk about her thrilling moments at
0:21
Speaker 1: the Olympics, the joy of skiing, and also about the
0:25
Speaker 1: importance of rest, recovery and gratitude for everything on the journey.
0:30
Speaker 1: Julia also helps me answer a letter from somebody who
0:34
Speaker 1: writes about her broken heart. Let's listen to our conversation.
0:38
Speaker 1: Julia Kerrn, Welcome to mind over Mountain.
0:41
Speaker 2: Thanks for having me, so great to be here.
0:44
Speaker 1: Well, I'm really excited to talk to you, you know,
0:46
Speaker 1: especially I think because you are like fresh, you know,
0:50
Speaker 1: fairly fresh off the fabulous, you know, Olympics in Milan,
0:54
Speaker 1: Kurtina and there is you know, I was looking at
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Speaker 1: your Instagram and it just seems like in every picture
1:00
Speaker 1: you just exude like joy and celebration and triumph, and
1:05
Speaker 1: you know, I wanted to start there with that experience.
1:09
Speaker 1: Can you tell us about what happened at the Olympics
1:13
Speaker 1: for you? What was that experience?
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Speaker 2: Like? Yeah, of course, I mean I think we were
1:17
Speaker 2: all really excited to be in Italy, such a great place,
1:22
Speaker 2: a lot of sunshine, good vibes, good culture. Our families
1:25
Speaker 2: were there. I had family and friends there, so it
1:28
Speaker 2: was Yeah, it was really special to have so many
1:31
Speaker 2: fans in such a more normal place where we race
1:35
Speaker 2: every year. And so, yeah, the Olympics are an emotional
1:40
Speaker 2: roller coaster. You know, I'm a very smiley, happy person,
1:43
Speaker 2: and there are many highlights and also a lot of challenges.
1:47
Speaker 2: You know, this is like a childhood dream coming to
1:50
Speaker 2: Fruition and it's all this that you've built up in
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Speaker 2: your head. And for me, that big highlight was the
1:56
Speaker 2: Olympic sprint Day. I made it all the way through
1:59
Speaker 2: the qualifying quarterfinals, semifinals, all the way to the finals
2:03
Speaker 2: to play six and that was really really exciting, with
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Speaker 2: my teammate bet Ogden also earning a silver medal to
2:11
Speaker 2: end the day. So I would say that was definitely
2:13
Speaker 2: the biggest highlight of the Olympics for me.
2:16
Speaker 1: You know, I feel like too, I just you know,
2:19
Speaker 1: seeing your celebrations and celebrating with you, and I just
2:23
Speaker 1: felt like the vibe of like the the US women's
2:26
Speaker 1: ski team, Olympic ski team, like it just is like
2:30
Speaker 1: it's a sense that it's like a lot of love
2:33
Speaker 1: and good energy. Is that? Am I reading that right?
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Speaker 2: Definitely? I mean, even though we're in an individual sport
2:39
Speaker 2: or the anyone's victory or success is the team's success,
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Speaker 2: and it goes beyond just cross country skiing. When we
2:47
Speaker 2: weren't racing, we were watching women's alpine. We're really close
2:50
Speaker 2: with that team and when we get to overlap, they've
2:53
Speaker 2: come and cheered us on actually at that venue on
2:55
Speaker 2: a World Cup circuit, So it's really cool. There's like
2:58
Speaker 2: the sense of greater team pride for anyone from the
3:02
Speaker 2: US racing and yeah, the women are following each other.
3:05
Speaker 2: It's really cool.
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Speaker 1: I think that. I love that. I mean I love
3:08
Speaker 1: that about any sport, but somehow it it comes together
3:12
Speaker 1: the Olympics, the kind of bringing together of like super
3:17
Speaker 1: super like fierce competition, you know, like want of those
3:21
Speaker 1: medals or wanting to obviously do as well as you can.
3:25
Speaker 1: But also I love the way that the athletes champion
3:29
Speaker 1: and each other across disciplines and across sports, and also
3:33
Speaker 1: within it, you know, you see competitors actually rooting each
3:36
Speaker 1: other on, which is really beautiful to see.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's you know, everyone shares and how
3:43
Speaker 2: much they've been through to get there, and there's this
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Speaker 2: sense of yeah, like sharing that journey in a different
3:50
Speaker 2: way and knowing how hard it is to get there,
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Speaker 2: and so we really try to celebrate one another.
3:56
Speaker 1: I'm curious now, of course, this is your second Olympics.
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Speaker 1: You're in Beijing in twenty twenty two, and I want
4:02
Speaker 1: to go back, you know, before that. I think a
4:05
Speaker 1: lot of a lot of athletes and even frankly non athletes,
4:09
Speaker 1: you know, have like this when they're kids. There's like
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Speaker 1: this Olympic dream, you know, and obviously when to actually
4:16
Speaker 1: make that happen is very very different than just happened
4:19
Speaker 1: to dream, right, There's there's a lot of miles you
4:22
Speaker 1: have to cover literally in the case of a cross
4:25
Speaker 1: country scare, before you can make that come true. How
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Speaker 1: is it that you came to cross country skiing and
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Speaker 1: ended up a champion?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's a great question. I think people
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Speaker 2: see those those short moments in time, but those Olympic
4:42
Speaker 2: dreams are in the making, not just in that year,
4:44
Speaker 2: not even within four years. It can be your whole
4:48
Speaker 2: whole career leading up. But for me, it all started
4:51
Speaker 2: with my family. My family is originally from Germany, and
4:54
Speaker 2: over Christmas we would all see as a family and
4:57
Speaker 2: in Germany and ski to a hut and you'd have
4:59
Speaker 2: soup and lunch and then you would have hot cocoa
5:02
Speaker 2: and then you keep skiing. So it is this like
5:04
Speaker 2: family outing where you just were moving through nature and
5:08
Speaker 2: then having some good food and hanging out. Like it
5:11
Speaker 2: was pretty casual and adventurous. My grandparents would bribe me
5:15
Speaker 2: with gummy bears to the next intersection when I was
5:17
Speaker 2: tired and didn't want to keep going, you know. And yeah,
5:22
Speaker 2: it was really for me social. Then as a kid,
5:24
Speaker 2: I loved just hanging out with my friends. I was
5:26
Speaker 2: very competitive racing them playing games. We had to get
5:30
Speaker 2: really creative. I grew up on a golf course. It's
5:33
Speaker 2: like the Western ski track, and it's they have snowmaking
5:35
Speaker 2: and lights and so you're doing a lot of circles
5:38
Speaker 2: to ski, and so you have to be really creative.
5:40
Speaker 2: So like one day, my coach had a speed gun
5:43
Speaker 2: and like a speed trap and we were trying to
5:45
Speaker 2: see who could clock the fastest time and kind of
5:47
Speaker 2: challenging on a really flat trail. Actually, so yeah, for me,
5:52
Speaker 2: it was like a lot of that and I was
5:54
Speaker 2: also into you know, basketball, soccer, track and field, running, swimming.
5:58
Speaker 2: I love to do just all the sports. And in
6:00
Speaker 2: high school, I made my first international trip without really
6:04
Speaker 2: realizing it, and that's kind of when the tides turned
6:06
Speaker 2: to focusing on skiing and really investing in that sport.
6:11
Speaker 1: You mean your first international trips as an athlete, I mean,
6:13
Speaker 1: aside from those trips to Germany, Yeah, yeah, but was
6:17
Speaker 1: that and it was an international trip as a cross
6:20
Speaker 1: country skier. I mean, I guess what I'm curious about
6:24
Speaker 1: is like, how you know, at what point you were
6:27
Speaker 1: so athletic you did all these things. At what point
6:29
Speaker 1: were you like, I think that cross country skiing is
6:32
Speaker 1: my thing, and did you have to do that at
6:33
Speaker 1: a certain point say like I'm going to focus just
6:35
Speaker 1: on this sport.
6:37
Speaker 2: Yeah. I vividly remember it was my freshman year of
6:40
Speaker 2: high school. I had a shoulder injury, and so I
6:43
Speaker 2: was really focused on basketball. I wanted to play college basketball,
6:47
Speaker 2: just like my older sister my mom played professionally, Like
6:49
Speaker 2: that's what I really wanted to do. And I had
6:51
Speaker 2: a shoulder injury and a basketball practice I was just
6:54
Speaker 2: sidelined and I went to ski practice and my coach
6:57
Speaker 2: was like, Okay, you just gotta go ski without polls,
7:00
Speaker 2: try to keep up. And I was like, oh, this
7:02
Speaker 2: is a creative solution. And you know, I enjoy running
7:06
Speaker 2: and instead of running for punishment, it was Oh, these
7:08
Speaker 2: people want to go run in the mountains with me,
7:10
Speaker 2: go for a hike. And so I really realized that
7:13
Speaker 2: like my community and values was in skiing. Actually, like
7:16
Speaker 2: the community was so tight knit. We had parents volunteer
7:20
Speaker 2: waxing for us. They had food tables laid out after
7:23
Speaker 2: the race, we had like this amazing food spread. It
7:25
Speaker 2: was just this very bought in community event. And then
7:29
Speaker 2: I made this U eighteen trip at the age of
7:32
Speaker 2: fourteen without really knowing what it was. And I went
7:35
Speaker 2: on this trip to Estonia. I was like, wow, I
7:38
Speaker 2: get a skierce internationally. This is so cool. I had
7:42
Speaker 2: no idea I was doing. I was a nervous wreck.
7:44
Speaker 2: All of the girls were like seventeen or eighteen, and
7:47
Speaker 2: I just was so much younger. But I came from
7:50
Speaker 2: that trip so excited to be like, oh, this is
7:52
Speaker 2: something I'm good at and I really enjoy working hard
7:56
Speaker 2: at with people, and I get to be outside, which
7:59
Speaker 2: is really cool.
8:00
Speaker 1: What distances were you always a sprint a sprint skier
8:04
Speaker 1: or have you do you do any long distance skiing?
8:07
Speaker 1: Back in the day, I.
8:09
Speaker 2: Did everything, and I've always done everything. Sprinting has been
8:12
Speaker 2: come easier to me. I would say that's where I
8:15
Speaker 2: really broke through on the World Cup. But when you're younger,
8:18
Speaker 2: you really you do it all and you have to
8:19
Speaker 2: be able to do it all. And so that was
8:21
Speaker 2: really fun because you weren't put into a box at
8:24
Speaker 2: a young age, and at that age you don't really
8:26
Speaker 2: know yet what you're good.
8:27
Speaker 1: At, right, and so you just were like, just put
8:30
Speaker 1: me in, coach, I'll do.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, I'll do it any race I could get,
8:35
Speaker 2: I would do. I mean in eighth grade, before there
8:37
Speaker 2: was much racing, I was doing the weekly like night
8:40
Speaker 2: series in Boston. It's like what they call a lot
8:43
Speaker 2: of master blasters, so older people who like to still
8:46
Speaker 2: ski race and I was this like little kid just
8:49
Speaker 2: trying to throw down with these older men just for
8:52
Speaker 2: any kind of race.
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Speaker 1: I'm afraid to ask how old you have to be
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Speaker 1: to be considered a master blaster? What's old in your sport?
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Speaker 2: Juliah, Well, you know you peek into your thirties, Like yeah,
9:05
Speaker 2: you know, early thirties. People retire anywhere in their mid
9:09
Speaker 2: to late thirties or anywhere in their thirties really, but
9:12
Speaker 2: you become a master at the age of thirty. Oh,
9:16
Speaker 2: real master category. But a master blaster is someone who
9:19
Speaker 2: you know, like still like loves to race and train
9:21
Speaker 2: in all things Nordic skiing, and so it's often like
9:25
Speaker 2: retired athletes who just are really young. How about it?
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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, do you I mean, do you experience skiing
9:33
Speaker 1: that way? I mean, is does it feel to you
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Speaker 1: like this, you know, professional pursuit that you do because
9:41
Speaker 1: you have this competitive spirit and you have a goal.
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Speaker 1: Or is it an activity that you genuinely just love
9:47
Speaker 1: that fills your heart, that you'll do all the days
9:49
Speaker 1: of your life if you can.
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Speaker 2: I think when you when it becomes your profession, it
9:54
Speaker 2: shifts a little bit. I think there's elements of both.
9:56
Speaker 2: I think sometimes when you're in the thick of it,
9:59
Speaker 2: it's the every day grind. It can be challenging, can
10:03
Speaker 2: be really hard. You're working towards these big goals. Your
10:05
Speaker 2: body maybe isn't doing what it wants to. But I
10:08
Speaker 2: think long term it's going to be a lifelong sport,
10:11
Speaker 2: maybe not like every single day, but I do think
10:13
Speaker 2: what's so cool about cross country skiing is like my
10:16
Speaker 2: grandma still can do it. It's easy on the body,
10:19
Speaker 2: like it's a great workout in the winter, where other
10:22
Speaker 2: activities are cold, are not that fun. It's pretty accessible.
10:26
Speaker 2: So I think it's something that I'm going to do
10:28
Speaker 2: life long. But I also think, like when you make
10:31
Speaker 2: your passion your job, Yeah, it's a it's a challenging relationship.
10:35
Speaker 2: At times you give a lot, but it also takes
10:37
Speaker 2: a lot, you know.
10:39
Speaker 1: For sure, And you've had your your your moments of
10:43
Speaker 1: times that it that it took exactly a big price
10:47
Speaker 1: from you, right, injuries, times that you've you know, you've
10:50
Speaker 1: talked about that, you've had ups and downs emotionally in
10:53
Speaker 1: the sport. What what have been some of those lowest
10:57
Speaker 1: moments in your career.
10:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the injuries have been really my biggest
11:02
Speaker 2: challenge but also like my biggest highlights. So this past year,
11:08
Speaker 2: I had been dealing with chronic back pain for six years.
11:11
Speaker 2: I couldn't figure it out. It was getting a lot worse,
11:14
Speaker 2: and before last year I wasn't sure, Like I don't
11:17
Speaker 2: know if I can keep living this way, Like is
11:19
Speaker 2: skiing really worth it to be in pain all the time?
11:22
Speaker 2: And I finally kept pushing through with doctors, found a
11:26
Speaker 2: new answer, committed to a lot of physical therapy this
11:29
Speaker 2: summer and fall, and finally figured it out. And you know,
11:33
Speaker 2: I'm not one hundred percent better, but so much better.
11:35
Speaker 2: At the beginning of the season, I was like, doesn't
11:37
Speaker 2: matter my results right now, I'm just so proud and
11:40
Speaker 2: excited that I can ski pain free and just like
11:44
Speaker 2: live every day, sit down with my friends and not
11:47
Speaker 2: think about my back. And oh my gosh. Sometimes you'd
11:50
Speaker 2: you know, you watch on TV and you see all
11:52
Speaker 2: these like highlights of races, and I was like stoked
11:55
Speaker 2: out of my mind in December racing being like a
11:58
Speaker 2: year ago I was at this venue at World Championships
12:01
Speaker 2: and I was so much pain and here I am
12:03
Speaker 2: racing with no pain, and that in itself is a gift.
12:06
Speaker 2: And so perspective is really everything. And you know, I've
12:10
Speaker 2: I've had that throughout my career, a lot of injuries
12:12
Speaker 2: and I went from this high of a sixth place
12:15
Speaker 2: at the Olympics to struggling with my lungs ever since.
12:18
Speaker 2: I had to sit out a lot of the rest
12:20
Speaker 2: of the season with this mystery cough, and it was
12:23
Speaker 2: a it was a really hard come down from that
12:25
Speaker 2: high to being like, Wow, I just raced so well
12:29
Speaker 2: and now I can't stop coughing and I don't know
12:31
Speaker 2: why and I'm sitting out a lot of races.
12:34
Speaker 1: Did you ever figure that out? I mean, what it's
12:37
Speaker 1: just an affection that doesn't going away kind of deal
12:39
Speaker 1: or is it something?
12:40
Speaker 2: Yeah? I mean they think it's like I had some
12:43
Speaker 2: sort of respiratory virus that was asymptomatic and you know,
12:47
Speaker 2: pushing our body racing really hard. Not knowing I had
12:50
Speaker 2: something like that with sensitive lungs is their best guess.
12:55
Speaker 2: And those things can take a really long time, and
12:57
Speaker 2: what we do to our lungs, we put a lot
12:59
Speaker 2: of strain on them, so they're very precious. So I
13:03
Speaker 2: just needed some time and rest. And I'm starting to
13:05
Speaker 2: feel better now.
13:14
Speaker 1: When you were living with that chronic pain, and I'm
13:17
Speaker 1: so glad it's gone now because, as you well know,
13:21
Speaker 1: that's not just a physical experience. It actually becomes a deeply,
13:23
Speaker 1: profoundly psychologically painful experience right to every day be waking
13:28
Speaker 1: up in pain, did you compete and train through the pain? Like,
13:36
Speaker 1: what's your approach to that. If it really hurts you
13:38
Speaker 1: say no, I need a break, I'm not going to
13:40
Speaker 1: do it, or are you like this is my work,
13:43
Speaker 1: it's my profession. I'm going to push through.
13:46
Speaker 2: I've learned that you have to respect the body. You know,
13:49
Speaker 2: there's certain signs that your body tells you that you
13:52
Speaker 2: don't push through. And I always depended on my doctors
13:55
Speaker 2: to say, you know, you're okay to train through this,
13:58
Speaker 2: or you're not. And there was a bit of both.
14:02
Speaker 2: There was a time when I couldn't do anything to
14:04
Speaker 2: before two years ago. In the fall, I could barely train.
14:07
Speaker 2: All I could do was stationary bike and swim leading
14:10
Speaker 2: into the whole season, and I got to a place
14:13
Speaker 2: where I was medically cleared to race but still in pain.
14:16
Speaker 2: And yeah, it was just really bizarre because I raced
14:20
Speaker 2: really well, but I was in constant pain. And it
14:24
Speaker 2: just was so emotional this year going back to that
14:26
Speaker 2: place where I had really good, great results the year before,
14:30
Speaker 2: but so much pain too. Okay, maybe I'm not at
14:33
Speaker 2: my best right now, but I'm just like crying tears
14:36
Speaker 2: of joy just because I'm able to tuck through the
14:39
Speaker 2: stadium and not think about my back. And I think
14:42
Speaker 2: that's what's so hard about the body is what can
14:44
Speaker 2: you push through? What can you not? I've I'm always
14:47
Speaker 2: you proponent of like your long term health is never
14:50
Speaker 2: worth it, like to sacrifice that for a result. And
14:53
Speaker 2: so that makes it really hard because the competitor you
14:56
Speaker 2: wants to be the best, but you also have to
14:58
Speaker 2: think about the long game, like got to take care
15:00
Speaker 2: of my body so I can play the long game.
15:04
Speaker 1: And that means rest. It means the opposite of training.
15:08
Speaker 1: Like you know, I think so often we talk about
15:14
Speaker 1: self care and you know, resting and you know, all
15:17
Speaker 1: like the you know, gentleness with ourselves, but so many
15:20
Speaker 1: of us, I know I'm among this group, it's like, well,
15:23
Speaker 1: what does that even really mean? Like how do I
15:25
Speaker 1: do that? How do I do that when everything I
15:29
Speaker 1: want to do or all of my intentions kind of
15:32
Speaker 1: depend on me not resting, like me working and pushing
15:35
Speaker 1: through and moving forward. And so many of those like
15:38
Speaker 1: self help anthems are like, you know, kind of mind
15:40
Speaker 1: over mountain, right, you know, it's like you've got to
15:42
Speaker 1: push through. So how what have you learned about resting?
15:46
Speaker 1: And recovery and gentleness and retreating.
15:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think resting sometimes is harder than pushing through, which, yeah,
15:55
Speaker 2: is ironic, but when you're you're yeah, you're wired to
15:58
Speaker 2: just keep going. Actually doing nothing is harder. But I've
16:03
Speaker 2: found that, Yeah, finding ways to recover the body and mind,
16:08
Speaker 2: like recovery can look very different for each person. And
16:11
Speaker 2: for me, I went to college for a lot of
16:14
Speaker 2: years because I was struggling with injuries, and I was like,
16:17
Speaker 2: I want to feel like I'm furthering my brain and
16:20
Speaker 2: doing something else while I'm working through this. The last
16:24
Speaker 2: two years with the injuries I've dealt with, it's been
16:27
Speaker 2: finding ways to like improve myself that maybe aren't as physical, Okay,
16:30
Speaker 2: mental training, meditating, leaning into my social network, being a
16:35
Speaker 2: little bit more social and spending more time doing that,
16:38
Speaker 2: or you know, finding activities that don't require physical activities
16:43
Speaker 2: like game nights and other things that really bring me
16:47
Speaker 2: joy and happiness and like the mental stability when it
16:51
Speaker 2: gets really frustrating and hard when I can't do what
16:54
Speaker 2: I love. It's especially hard because a lot of my
16:56
Speaker 2: social activities are built in with right, Like I loved
16:59
Speaker 2: to mount bike, so I'm like, oh, This is a
17:01
Speaker 2: great way to hang out with my non skier friends.
17:03
Speaker 2: But I think they're like, yeah, it's a creative challenge
17:06
Speaker 2: of what can I still do that brings me a
17:08
Speaker 2: lot of joy and what fills my cup besides just
17:12
Speaker 2: exercise because in life, you're not always going to be exercising, right,
17:15
Speaker 2: There's going to be injuries, illness, whatever it is. You
17:18
Speaker 2: need to have something else, and so it's a great
17:21
Speaker 2: way to learn about, like myself, of what I can do.
17:25
Speaker 2: And for me, a lot of it's been cooking. I
17:27
Speaker 2: like grow a garden and get really creative with my
17:30
Speaker 2: cooking projects and turning into art and so that's been
17:33
Speaker 2: something really fun I do with my boyfriend now and
17:36
Speaker 2: I can always do that no matter what state I'm in,
17:39
Speaker 2: and especially because I travel, it's so nice to have
17:41
Speaker 2: a kitchen. It's just such a relief and really.
17:45
Speaker 1: Like cooking becomes a luxury instead of eating out. Where
17:48
Speaker 1: do you live, yeah, and where's your garden?
17:52
Speaker 2: I live near Brillington, Vermont, and yeah, we have a
17:56
Speaker 2: little a little We built two raised beds last year
17:59
Speaker 2: and now we have our starters all growing with grow
18:02
Speaker 2: lamps downstairs and just seeing what we can grow.
18:06
Speaker 1: That is such a beautiful part of the world. And
18:07
Speaker 1: I think you you went to Middlebury College, is that correct?
18:12
Speaker 2: I went to Dartmouth, so also not far away from
18:14
Speaker 2: where I am.
18:14
Speaker 1: Oh you went to Dartmouth. Oh okay, yeah, yeah. So
18:17
Speaker 1: when you say that you went to college as part
18:19
Speaker 1: of this kind of resting peroy, were you not competing
18:23
Speaker 1: during those years or I mean, did you actually take
18:26
Speaker 1: a break while you were in college from skiing?
18:29
Speaker 2: No? I So that was in my earlier career where
18:32
Speaker 2: I came in with not a lot of training volume
18:35
Speaker 2: just from the program like I had done, and you
18:38
Speaker 2: you know, you don't try to increase by too much.
18:40
Speaker 2: And my whole career I've struggled with injuries. Like this
18:43
Speaker 2: package is just one example. But I really wanted to
18:47
Speaker 2: do college as well and have something else going on, right,
18:50
Speaker 2: and like the beauty of college too was you know,
18:53
Speaker 2: when I was tired of classes and homework, the highlight
18:55
Speaker 2: of my day was getting to go train, and vice versa.
18:58
Speaker 2: I got to go train, and then I was more
19:00
Speaker 2: motivated to do my schoolwork. Now when I'm full time
19:02
Speaker 2: just professionally skiing, it's like you don't have as much
19:06
Speaker 2: of that excitement of get me out of the house,
19:09
Speaker 2: and so I work through a lot of injuries at
19:11
Speaker 2: the time, but it worked really well because I just
19:13
Speaker 2: wasn't training as much and so I had more time
19:15
Speaker 2: for school.
19:17
Speaker 1: And I'm always curious when people mention meditation, which is
19:21
Speaker 1: I'll just admit right now, like I seem I think
19:24
Speaker 1: maybe I don't. I think I seem to people like
19:27
Speaker 1: the kind of person who like meditates every day, and
19:30
Speaker 1: I kind of, you know, that's right, And my husband
19:33
Speaker 1: does it every day, so I always feel like I'm
19:34
Speaker 1: kind of grandfathered in, like he meditates her day. So
19:37
Speaker 1: it's like, get I get to also claim that I
19:39
Speaker 1: somehow I am an incredibly you know, mindful meditator person.
19:42
Speaker 1: But I aspire to that. And here's my problem, Julia,
19:45
Speaker 1: is that, like I understand the value of it, but
19:50
Speaker 1: it's so hard for me, Like if the whole point
19:52
Speaker 1: is for me to turn my mind off, I'm just
19:54
Speaker 1: think it's I'm like, but my mind wants to do
19:57
Speaker 1: it so much. And so I think what I do
20:00
Speaker 1: is a walk in meditation. I walk every day and
20:03
Speaker 1: I do let my mind wander, and that feels meditative
20:06
Speaker 1: to me. What is do you have a meditation practice
20:10
Speaker 1: or if not a daily one like that you call
20:14
Speaker 1: upon when needed. Would you describe it to me?
20:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I definitely resonate with you. I think like
20:20
Speaker 2: through motion, that's like how I naturally like to meditate,
20:25
Speaker 2: And honestly, my daily training is a great way to
20:27
Speaker 2: do that. But when I can't do that, I do
20:30
Speaker 2: guided meditation because it helps me focus in more and
20:33
Speaker 2: clear out the noise. But the thing this year that
20:36
Speaker 2: I started doing that I really enjoyed was journaling, which
20:40
Speaker 2: in my mind is also kind of meditative. And my
20:43
Speaker 2: friend actually gifted me this journal where it broke it
20:45
Speaker 2: down with like some goals for the day, like what
20:50
Speaker 2: you're going to try to accomplish, what your intentions are.
20:53
Speaker 2: At the end of the day, you reflect again on
20:56
Speaker 2: what brought you nourishment, what brought you connection, and like
20:59
Speaker 2: your high light. And I really enjoyed the process of
21:03
Speaker 2: self reflection every day and seeing like finding things to
21:07
Speaker 2: be grateful for and actually acknowledging those things. I think
21:11
Speaker 2: when you're really struggling, it's actually quite easy to find
21:14
Speaker 2: things you're grateful for every single day, and it's just
21:17
Speaker 2: a great reminder that even if things feel really tough,
21:20
Speaker 2: there's actually a lot of good around you, and it's
21:23
Speaker 2: a great way to like close out the day. And
21:26
Speaker 2: I really enjoyed that process in that way. That was
21:29
Speaker 2: a bit meditative for me. And then the other thing
21:32
Speaker 2: is just like visualization. Maybe this is more sports specific,
21:36
Speaker 2: but like visualizing race scenarios, visualizing race courses. I was
21:41
Speaker 2: drawing them out in my notebook, having colors and all
21:45
Speaker 2: this stuff. So just finding ways to like mentally train
21:48
Speaker 2: and engage my brain even if physically I can't always
21:51
Speaker 2: be doing that.
21:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's a huge I mean, I want to
21:54
Speaker 1: say first obviously as a writer, that is it. For me,
21:58
Speaker 1: It's always an active meditation because it requires you to visit,
22:03
Speaker 1: I think, the deepest voices within yourself, which which are
22:05
Speaker 1: ultimately the truest ones and the most loving ones, and
22:09
Speaker 1: the ones that remember, even on the hardest days, that
22:12
Speaker 1: we have beauty and that there are things to be
22:14
Speaker 1: grateful for. And I think that that probably contributes enormously
22:20
Speaker 1: to your success as an athlete. Because you know, one
22:24
Speaker 1: thing I always wonder whenever i'm you know, witness, you know,
22:28
Speaker 1: to to somebody competing in an event, is I'm always mindful,
22:32
Speaker 1: like they have to do something incredibly physically difficult, right,
22:36
Speaker 1: they either have to endure or be strong or fast
22:39
Speaker 1: or agile or all of the above, and usually all
22:42
Speaker 1: of the above. And at the same time, they have
22:45
Speaker 1: to have that kind of mental that mental equanimity or
22:51
Speaker 1: calm that they're able to like not get all up
22:54
Speaker 1: here in their head about it, because as you well know,
22:57
Speaker 1: you can. You can train for a long time for
22:59
Speaker 1: something that the last just a few minutes, and it's like,
23:02
Speaker 1: if you mess it up mentally, the whole thing is gone.
23:05
Speaker 1: And so how is it that you prepare? You know,
23:09
Speaker 1: how do you get your mind ready to do what
23:13
Speaker 1: your body knows how to do?
23:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's that's it's huge, because yeah, you
23:18
Speaker 2: can be as physically ready as you want. If you're
23:20
Speaker 2: mentally not ready, it's it's over in an instant and
23:24
Speaker 2: you can't you can't go back. I've found the most
23:28
Speaker 2: helpful is making a plan ahead of time. So I
23:31
Speaker 2: draw out these courses, I draw out what I want
23:34
Speaker 2: to think about in these specific sections of the course,
23:37
Speaker 2: so like mental cues and reminders. So if my mind
23:40
Speaker 2: starts to drift on this hill and is like, oh,
23:42
Speaker 2: I'm I'm really tired, or I'm starting to slip, or
23:45
Speaker 2: I'm breathing way too hard, or you know, any of
23:48
Speaker 2: the negative talk of oh I'm not fit enough, I'm
23:51
Speaker 2: not doing well. All this I have something to bring
23:53
Speaker 2: back to. Of this is how on a ski, the
23:55
Speaker 2: section doesn't matter how I'm feeling. I have like a
23:58
Speaker 2: mental cue to bring my focus back, which is a
24:01
Speaker 2: lot of mindfulness too. Of you know, you can have
24:04
Speaker 2: all these thoughts. Thoughts aren't bad, they're coming at you,
24:06
Speaker 2: but how do you refocus your attention back to what
24:09
Speaker 2: you can control and what you can do. And so
24:11
Speaker 2: a lot of my preparation is that. And then of course,
24:14
Speaker 2: you know, practicing the course, going through the motions, talking
24:19
Speaker 2: to my coaches, like all of those aspects are really important.
24:22
Speaker 2: But I also think outside of the very technical ski stuff,
24:25
Speaker 2: it's do I feel grounded? Do I feel happy? Do
24:28
Speaker 2: I feel connected with the loved ones in my life?
24:33
Speaker 1: Happy?
24:33
Speaker 2: For me? Like a happy is here is a fast gear.
24:35
Speaker 2: And so when I'm not happy, if I don't feel
24:38
Speaker 2: like I'm staying connected with my friends and family at home,
24:41
Speaker 2: and I'm not having fun with it, it's a lot
24:44
Speaker 2: harder to enjoy the process and then just ski freely
24:48
Speaker 2: and so nourishing the other parts of my life and
24:50
Speaker 2: having go to things to do when I feel like
24:54
Speaker 2: I don't feel grounded before a race.
24:57
Speaker 1: Oh that's beautiful. Do you feel like I know you
25:00
Speaker 1: you have been an advocate and outspoken on mental wellness
25:04
Speaker 1: and mental health and this ski community. Do you feel
25:06
Speaker 1: like that the ski that the community really supports this
25:10
Speaker 1: kind of idea that about like nurturing, like the I
25:15
Speaker 1: think what you just said is so profound and it
25:18
Speaker 1: applies to really every sport that like, you can't really
25:21
Speaker 1: perform well if you aren't also nourishing the things that
25:24
Speaker 1: really matter in life, which are the connections and relationships
25:27
Speaker 1: we have.
25:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I think it's really challenging. I mean
25:31
Speaker 2: we're on the road for four and a half months,
25:33
Speaker 2: straight away from our family and friends, like living in
25:36
Speaker 2: a hotel room with a roommate, and so I'm not
25:39
Speaker 2: going to belittle how much of a challenge it is
25:41
Speaker 2: and I don't nail it all the time, and it's
25:43
Speaker 2: I think it's really hard, and there can be unhappy
25:46
Speaker 2: athletes who maybe perform fast, but I think they could
25:48
Speaker 2: be even better and being lonely at the top is
25:52
Speaker 2: not worth it and it's not fun. That's the other thing.
25:55
Speaker 2: Like you might build up this feeling of like, oh
25:59
Speaker 2: my god, I have all this success, it's going to
26:00
Speaker 2: feel so amazing, but if you're alone, it's it's going
26:03
Speaker 2: to feel like nothing. And the world moves on the
26:05
Speaker 2: next day. And so I think our team talks a
26:09
Speaker 2: lot about team culture and how we are almost like
26:11
Speaker 2: a family on the road, and how we can support
26:13
Speaker 2: one another because it is really hard. There's a lot
26:16
Speaker 2: of pressure. You're living and training together twenty four to seven.
26:19
Speaker 2: You don't have your like trusted family and friends around,
26:23
Speaker 2: and it's really hard to like mentally with draw and
26:27
Speaker 2: like just remember that you're a human. And for me,
26:30
Speaker 2: my outlet's been my photography. I when I'm really struggling,
26:33
Speaker 2: I'll just take my camera with me and just go
26:36
Speaker 2: for a walk or run in whatever little town or
26:39
Speaker 2: city or mountain I'm in. And it's again a way
26:42
Speaker 2: of expressing gratitude because I can just like enjoy where
26:46
Speaker 2: I am in the beauty around me, and it like
26:49
Speaker 2: recenters me back to oh, things aren't so bad as
26:52
Speaker 2: they see maybe, And there's a lot of beauty to
26:55
Speaker 2: appreciate here.
26:56
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, you speaking my language. So I mean we're
27:01
Speaker 1: talking about difficult things, and we both seemed to be
27:05
Speaker 1: like we're always reaching for the beauty and gratitude, and
27:08
Speaker 1: so I think that this is a great moment for
27:11
Speaker 1: me to read to you, this Dear Sugar letter actually
27:14
Speaker 1: about heartbreak that was sent to me. Can I read
27:17
Speaker 1: it to you?
27:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course I'd love to hear.
27:19
Speaker 1: It, Dear Sugar. About three years ago, I met a
27:23
Speaker 1: man in one of my college classes, and we hit
27:25
Speaker 1: it off immediately. In the beginning, we tried to keep
27:28
Speaker 1: it casual, but soon we found ourselves falling deeply in love.
27:32
Speaker 1: We had a really fun, loving relationship for two years.
27:36
Speaker 1: The only problem was we were always aware that it
27:38
Speaker 1: couldn't last because he's not from the United States, and
27:41
Speaker 1: we both knew that after college he'd been moving back
27:43
Speaker 1: to his home country and I couldn't go with him.
27:47
Speaker 1: With a lot of sadness but also love, we broke
27:49
Speaker 1: up about ten months ago after he graduated and returned home.
27:54
Speaker 1: We kept him close touch at first, but soon we
27:56
Speaker 1: decided to take a break from each other so we
27:58
Speaker 1: could both move on. Did I know how quickly moving
28:01
Speaker 1: on would happen for him. Last week, a mutual friend
28:04
Speaker 1: asked me if i'd heard the news about my ex,
28:07
Speaker 1: the news being that he was engaged to be married.
28:10
Speaker 1: He posted a picture on his Instagram for all to see.
28:13
Speaker 1: I was in shock. The pain I feel is crippling.
28:17
Speaker 1: I don't understand how he can so easily and quickly
28:20
Speaker 1: love someone else as deeply as he and I loved
28:22
Speaker 1: each other. It's like he replaced me without a second thought.
28:27
Speaker 1: This heartbreak is unlike anything I've ever felt, far worse
28:30
Speaker 1: than when we broke up, because at least then I
28:33
Speaker 1: didn't doubt he loved me. But now I don't know
28:36
Speaker 1: if his feelings were real, or how I'll ever be
28:39
Speaker 1: able to open my heart again and trust that I
28:41
Speaker 1: won't fall in love with someone only to be quickly replaced.
28:46
Speaker 1: My friends all say I need to let it go
28:48
Speaker 1: and start dating other people again, but I don't know
28:50
Speaker 1: how to move on when I feel so rejected. How
28:53
Speaker 1: do I get over this? How will I ever be
28:55
Speaker 1: able to believe in love again? Heartbroken? Okay, so this
29:01
Speaker 1: seems like you know, we haven't been talking about romantic
29:03
Speaker 1: heartbreak and love, but I think I think there's a
29:06
Speaker 1: lot of I think already some of the things we've
29:08
Speaker 1: discussed are going to end up being read it into
29:11
Speaker 1: the advice that we give heartbroken, Right, So I just
29:14
Speaker 1: went first your take on this letter and what you
29:16
Speaker 1: might have to offer for to this this letter writer.
29:21
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, I think love is such a strong
29:24
Speaker 2: emotion and feeling, and I think it can be so
29:28
Speaker 2: beautiful and so heartbreaking at the same time. And I
29:31
Speaker 2: experience that both in like relationships of all sorts of
29:36
Speaker 2: my life, but in skiing especially, it's like you give
29:38
Speaker 2: so much to this thing and sometimes it breaks your heart.
29:42
Speaker 2: And I think the hardest thing then is to get
29:46
Speaker 2: back out there and be like be vulnerable to heartbreak again.
29:51
Speaker 2: You don't know, though, will heartbreak come again? And I think, yeah,
29:55
Speaker 2: I think there's a lot of similarities in sport. And
29:59
Speaker 2: what I I've found too is that movement in nature
30:04
Speaker 2: can like really help me process things. And then also
30:08
Speaker 2: just seeing the other forms of love around you. You know,
30:11
Speaker 2: I think everyone heals and moves on at their own
30:14
Speaker 2: pace and that's okay, And love can also take so
30:18
Speaker 2: many different forms, and there's so much love out there
30:21
Speaker 2: to be had between friends and family, sports. There's just
30:26
Speaker 2: there's there's a lot out there, and I think heartbreak
30:30
Speaker 2: is really hard.
30:32
Speaker 1: It is, I mean everything you just said, I yeah,
30:36
Speaker 1: I put underlines under it all in stars next to
30:39
Speaker 1: it because I agree with you and I think too,
30:41
Speaker 1: like what we also, you know, this idea of rest
30:44
Speaker 1: and retreat and recovery, you know, you go into that
30:48
Speaker 1: when you're injured. And I think that that heartbroken is
30:52
Speaker 1: injured right now. And the reason that she's hurting now,
30:56
Speaker 1: you know, more now than she was when they broke up,
30:59
Speaker 1: is you know, my guess is because when they broke up,
31:01
Speaker 1: it was like, Okay, we still love each other. It's
31:03
Speaker 1: we're still kind of in this relationship, and so you know,
31:07
Speaker 1: heartbreak and it's really just been you know, it's the
31:10
Speaker 1: severance has just really taken place. So she's writing to
31:14
Speaker 1: us from this place of like the injury just occurred.
31:18
Speaker 1: The wound is absolutely gaping, you know, and gushing blood
31:22
Speaker 1: and you know all of the gory things right And
31:25
Speaker 1: what you and I both know, Julia, is that that
31:28
Speaker 1: that hurts, and like that hurts, and what you have
31:31
Speaker 1: to do, dear heart, is live through that survives that
31:36
Speaker 1: immediate pain and know that, as Julia said, there's other
31:41
Speaker 1: kinds of love that there's also ways that you can
31:45
Speaker 1: move in the direction of healing movement, getting outdoors. I mean,
31:50
Speaker 1: I don't know, Julia, if you know that, Like my
31:53
Speaker 1: advice would be go for a hike, you know, yeah exactly,
31:57
Speaker 1: and yours of gopher, get some skis on, you know,
31:59
Speaker 1: or whatever it is, fling your body out there into
32:03
Speaker 1: the natural places because there we feel connected, you know.
32:08
Speaker 1: Part of part of that is I think, and I
32:10
Speaker 1: wonder what your theory is. Is what I think is
32:12
Speaker 1: when we're in the natural world, we see that full cycle,
32:16
Speaker 1: you know, we see that there is loss and there
32:18
Speaker 1: is life, and we see there is you know, the
32:20
Speaker 1: time of like you know that things look dead and
32:24
Speaker 1: decayed and times where they're blooming and springing forth, and
32:27
Speaker 1: that you know reflects the truth of life.
32:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, I actually agree, and I think like right now
32:34
Speaker 2: is spring. I was on my run today and you know,
32:37
Speaker 2: things are starting to bud. You know, it's everything so
32:40
Speaker 2: gray and dead and muddy, and things are starting to
32:44
Speaker 2: bud and come up again. And I think being out
32:46
Speaker 2: in nature also just it makes you feel small, but
32:49
Speaker 2: like gives you a different perspective that I think can
32:52
Speaker 2: be really refreshing. Like I love feeling really small, or
32:56
Speaker 2: even when you're in a plane, you're like looking down,
32:58
Speaker 2: You're like, wow, world is really big. And I think
33:02
Speaker 2: shift in perspective has always helped me in a time
33:06
Speaker 2: of pain and in struggle.
33:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, what is the most broken hearted you've ever been?
33:22
Speaker 2: Oh, that's a great question.
33:27
Speaker 1: In any realm, sport life, love It's Oh.
33:30
Speaker 2: It looks so different. I mean I did go through
33:34
Speaker 2: in some ways. I feel like right now I'm mending.
33:38
Speaker 2: Even though my Olympics was I had a great sprint,
33:41
Speaker 2: the ups and downs that I talked about, I really
33:47
Speaker 2: was going for an Olympic medal in the team sprint
33:49
Speaker 2: and we fell short and I felt like we were
33:52
Speaker 2: expected to do so, and that all came with this
33:56
Speaker 2: lung situation and an elbow injury at the same time,
34:00
Speaker 2: and it was just like the end of the season
34:03
Speaker 2: unraveled in a way that I didn't expect. And I'm
34:07
Speaker 2: still like a little bit mourning the loss of that
34:09
Speaker 2: Olympic dream not coming true. And I think the pressure
34:14
Speaker 2: of expectations and just something that I really dreamed of
34:19
Speaker 2: that didn't happen, and It's been both sharp and really dull,
34:25
Speaker 2: and I'm still processing it, like I this time for
34:29
Speaker 2: me right now is the time of recovery, and I
34:33
Speaker 2: am feeling like I need more time than usual. Like
34:35
Speaker 2: normally we start May first and jump back into things,
34:38
Speaker 2: and this year I'm going to allow myself more time
34:41
Speaker 2: because I feel like I need it both mentally and physically.
34:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, because you felt real grief. I mean, you guys
34:48
Speaker 1: finished what was it fifth? I mean so like painfully
34:54
Speaker 1: just outside really of the battles. Have you healed that
34:57
Speaker 1: collectively with your teammates or do you feel like this
35:00
Speaker 1: is something that you've really been reckoning with on your own. Individually.
35:05
Speaker 2: I would say a little bit of both, but I
35:09
Speaker 2: think more individually because my team, my partner in that event,
35:12
Speaker 2: Jesse Diggins, has three Olympic medals. She's accomplished or four
35:18
Speaker 2: now four, so she's accomplished that before. At the same time,
35:23
Speaker 2: I think we both had really big dreams together. We
35:26
Speaker 2: wanted to do it for each other, and I think
35:28
Speaker 2: that's what makes it even more painful, is like you
35:30
Speaker 2: don't feel like you're just letting yourself down, but your
35:32
Speaker 2: teammate and at the same time, we had our men's
35:37
Speaker 2: team medal in that event for the first time ever,
35:40
Speaker 2: and so it was this huge range of emotions. I
35:43
Speaker 2: remember when they crossed the line, I was so excited
35:45
Speaker 2: and then I just started sobbing, and I was like,
35:47
Speaker 2: I don't even know if these are tiers of happiness
35:49
Speaker 2: or sadness, like seeing what I dreamt of happen right
35:52
Speaker 2: in front of me, being so excited for our team
35:56
Speaker 2: yet also so heartbroken. It was like the the Olympic
36:01
Speaker 2: spring out the weirdest blend of emotion that you like,
36:04
Speaker 2: even if you try to prepare for it, it just
36:06
Speaker 2: like hits you from the side when you least expect it.
36:10
Speaker 2: So I think it's felt like very much individual. I
36:15
Speaker 2: think because we had this team's success still and so
36:18
Speaker 2: there people are riding that high and like we were
36:22
Speaker 2: expected to do it, and it just like it didn't
36:25
Speaker 2: happen in this crazy dramatic way where like it happened
36:28
Speaker 2: right at the line. It was like this, It was
36:31
Speaker 2: very close, but not like you know, a millim like
36:34
Speaker 2: a second apart. And so yeah, I think it's it's
36:37
Speaker 2: been more of a solo reflection and what does this mean?
36:42
Speaker 2: And our Olympic medals really mean as much as they seem,
36:47
Speaker 2: And is that what motivates me? Or is that actually
36:50
Speaker 2: a lot of other things in sport that motivate me?
36:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, I bet it's the latter. But it's interesting because
36:56
Speaker 1: as you talk about this, I'm hearing like echo it
37:00
Speaker 1: was actually from a heartbroken letter which just like can
37:03
Speaker 1: I ever love? Like will I ever believe in love again?
37:05
Speaker 1: Like now you and I know the answer is absolutely yes,
37:09
Speaker 1: And yet you yourself, it sounds like you're a little
37:12
Speaker 1: bit on this journey of like essentially like you know,
37:16
Speaker 1: should I even dare to dream this again? You know,
37:18
Speaker 1: like how do I get back in? And is it
37:21
Speaker 1: worth it? Because of course the pain of then that
37:24
Speaker 1: dream not coming true is mighty and huge and real,
37:28
Speaker 1: and so it's like, but I, but I wonder how
37:31
Speaker 1: you're going to solve that for yourself as an athlete?
37:33
Speaker 1: You know what is next? What about you know? So
37:35
Speaker 1: you didn't meddle in that in that sport at this Olympics,
37:40
Speaker 1: there is another Olympics. Are you ready to think about
37:45
Speaker 1: ramping up for that? Is that something that is interesting
37:49
Speaker 1: or possible for you?
37:51
Speaker 2: It's definitely possible. I I'm looking at another four year cycle,
37:56
Speaker 2: but also four years. In some ways it feels really
37:58
Speaker 2: long and daunting, and sometimes in some ways it feels
38:01
Speaker 2: really short, and I think it's a year by year thing.
38:06
Speaker 2: But I do have a feeling I will come back
38:08
Speaker 2: around because in the end, I think the end result
38:11
Speaker 2: is not why I ski race. In similar to relationships,
38:15
Speaker 2: you know, it's not about knowing what happens in the end.
38:19
Speaker 2: It's the journey. It's growing together. You learn a lot
38:22
Speaker 2: about yourself in a relationship too, like through those ups
38:26
Speaker 2: and downs. And I've always been a really big proponent
38:29
Speaker 2: of the journey and really embracing all that comes with it.
38:33
Speaker 2: And yeah, heartbreak sucks, but I think daring to dream
38:39
Speaker 2: and daring to believe and daring to go for something
38:43
Speaker 2: that could be incredibly special is worth the risk that
38:47
Speaker 2: comes at the end. It may need some time to heal,
38:50
Speaker 2: like right now, I need time to process, but I
38:54
Speaker 2: think that processing also helps me grow as a human
38:57
Speaker 2: that I otherwise wouldn't. If you have this like fairy
38:59
Speaker 2: time ending every single.
39:01
Speaker 1: Time, absolutely, I couldn't agree with you more. And my
39:06
Speaker 1: mind goes to that word gratitude, and I think that
39:12
Speaker 1: what sometimes we forget you know when you're when you're
39:15
Speaker 1: doing your journal at the end of the day and
39:16
Speaker 1: you know, writing down what you're grateful for, or when
39:20
Speaker 1: you go around the table at Thanksgiving and say what
39:22
Speaker 1: you're grateful for. You know, most of us say the
39:24
Speaker 1: positive things, right, they say, you say the lucky things,
39:30
Speaker 1: the happy things, the fortunate things. But when you are
39:34
Speaker 1: truly I think telling the truth about life and about
39:39
Speaker 1: the journey or the most important experiences you've ever had
39:42
Speaker 1: that have made you the person you are, the gratitude
39:45
Speaker 1: inevitably includes very often the most tragic, difficult, painful things
39:52
Speaker 1: that we've lived through. Because having beauty and love and
39:55
Speaker 1: joy teaches us something magnificent, don't get me wrong. But
40:00
Speaker 1: enduring our suffering, enduring you know, learning how to heal
40:04
Speaker 1: our injuries, whether they be you know, emotional or physical,
40:09
Speaker 1: they also teach us something important too. And honestly, you know,
40:12
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, I'm as grateful for
40:13
Speaker 1: those things as I am for the beautiful things.
40:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, and without those those things, you don't have the beauty,
40:20
Speaker 2: you don't have those amazing that amazing day, or that
40:23
Speaker 2: amazing feeling without the adversity and the struggle. Otherwise everything
40:28
Speaker 2: would be pretty flat line and that would be a
40:30
Speaker 2: pretty boring way.
40:31
Speaker 1: To live, I think it would. So, yeah, Okay, we're
40:36
Speaker 1: like it's like we're getting deep with Julia Kern. I
40:38
Speaker 1: love this. We're like you're you're like you're a really
40:41
Speaker 1: good sugar. I mean, you know when I when I
40:46
Speaker 1: chose out that, I was like, well, this is about
40:49
Speaker 1: like romantic love. I don't know, but like I do
40:51
Speaker 1: think it's this is this is really honestly. One of
40:54
Speaker 1: the reasons I really love doing this podcast is because
40:57
Speaker 1: you cannot talk about sport without talking about the heart
41:01
Speaker 1: and the soul and the spirit and about life, right,
41:04
Speaker 1: because those things they both teach us. You know, sports
41:08
Speaker 1: teach us us something really big about life.
41:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think there's so many lessons in sport, and
41:15
Speaker 2: I think that's why when I, you know, see younger kids,
41:18
Speaker 2: I think, like, even if you don't love sports, I
41:21
Speaker 2: think there's just so many great lessons, like being on
41:24
Speaker 2: a team, working towards a goal. It's like a safe
41:27
Speaker 2: space too. I think as a kid to like learn
41:30
Speaker 2: and fail and it's okay if you fail. And I
41:34
Speaker 2: think that's what's so cool about sport is you can
41:36
Speaker 2: learn all these life lessons in a unique environment as
41:43
Speaker 2: you get older.
41:44
Speaker 1: So tell us, you know, we've got the insider here,
41:48
Speaker 1: you know, the inside you know scoop on cross country's game,
41:52
Speaker 1: like what is it? What don't like regular people who
41:56
Speaker 1: are outside the sport, like what don't we know? Like
41:58
Speaker 1: what are what give us? Some like you know what
42:03
Speaker 1: is misunderstood? Do you think about your sport?
42:08
Speaker 2: I think people assume it's so hard they're afraid to try.
42:13
Speaker 2: And I would say there is a bit of a
42:15
Speaker 2: steep learning curve in the sense that a lot of
42:17
Speaker 2: beginners I know are maybe discouraged the first few times
42:21
Speaker 2: because it feels really hard. But a lot of people
42:25
Speaker 2: I know recently who have like picked it up, they
42:28
Speaker 2: like really start to love it once they get the
42:30
Speaker 2: hang of it. And so it's something I think it's
42:32
Speaker 2: worth like committing to for a season and really sticking
42:35
Speaker 2: with it and see what you think. I think it's
42:37
Speaker 2: such a rewarding sport. You work hard on the uphills,
42:41
Speaker 2: you get to enjoy the downhills, and there's there's so
42:44
Speaker 2: many elements, like you know, you need to be powerful,
42:46
Speaker 2: you need to have speed, you need to have endurance,
42:50
Speaker 2: and you get to move through nature, whether it's through
42:52
Speaker 2: like the woods or golf course, and you don't have
42:56
Speaker 2: to do in our groom trail either. Like last week
42:58
Speaker 2: I was in Alaska and we were just like tromping
43:02
Speaker 2: through the woods and on a river like that was frozen, and.
43:05
Speaker 1: You're like, and I hope all the grizzly bears are
43:07
Speaker 1: actually still hibernating.
43:10
Speaker 2: Exactly, yes, And we brought we had our backpacks, we
43:13
Speaker 2: had a whole charcuterie packed, and we just plopped down
43:16
Speaker 2: in the middle of the trees and had a snack
43:19
Speaker 2: halfway through and skied back. So it can be this
43:22
Speaker 2: family outing. It doesn't need to be this structured, groomed area.
43:25
Speaker 2: Like you can go ski in a field, like there's
43:28
Speaker 2: actually so many ways you can do the sport, and
43:31
Speaker 2: I promise it is fun.
43:34
Speaker 1: Okay, I can't hear anything you just said about skiing
43:37
Speaker 1: because I'm thinking about charcuterie in Grizzly Country. I'm thinking
43:42
Speaker 1: that charcuterie in Christly Country salmon dip. That is like
43:46
Speaker 1: a really bad idea. It likes that not only like
43:50
Speaker 1: incredibly fragrant meats, but incredibly stinky teens. Jeesus, I mean
43:54
Speaker 1: if this doesn't smell good to a bear, I don't
43:56
Speaker 1: know what would. Okay, that was just like a bad idea,
44:00
Speaker 1: you know, but I'm I'm an advocate for clearly anyone
44:03
Speaker 1: who's read wild does. I'm an advocate for bad ideas
44:06
Speaker 1: in the wilderness. So you learn, you know, you learn.
44:09
Speaker 1: Also if you do end up getting eaten by a
44:10
Speaker 1: grizzly bear, that is a lesson learned.
44:13
Speaker 2: Right exactly.
44:14
Speaker 1: So yeah, well, so that that sounds great. So you
44:19
Speaker 1: were you were just skiing in Alaska for fun.
44:22
Speaker 2: I was at a bachelorette Actually it was. It was
44:24
Speaker 2: really fun. A bunch of former Nordics years, a bunch
44:27
Speaker 2: of brad women who, yeah, you just did all forms
44:30
Speaker 2: of skiing for five days and ate a lot of snacks.
44:33
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.
44:34
Speaker 1: So this is what the like the US ski team
44:36
Speaker 1: does when they get engaged. They go, like, they go
44:39
Speaker 1: skiing in Alaska for fun in the middle of winter. Yeah,
44:41
Speaker 1: I guess it's spring now. But that's wonderful. I love this.
44:45
Speaker 2: See.
44:45
Speaker 1: Okay, I asked you for like the inside scoop on
44:48
Speaker 1: like you know, cross country skiing, and you gave an answer.
44:51
Speaker 1: But then the real answer was Tarkouterie in Alaska with
44:53
Speaker 1: the Bachelorettes, you know, so yeah, yeah, I love that. Okay,
44:58
Speaker 1: So what's what's the next you know, what's the next
45:01
Speaker 1: mountain metaphorical or literal that you have to climb?
45:03
Speaker 2: Ahead, Julia, the next mountain. I am currently rehabbing a
45:08
Speaker 2: mystery elbow injury as well right now that I've had
45:10
Speaker 2: all seasons. So I am starting that this week and
45:18
Speaker 2: I'm really excited to hopefully figure that out because that's
45:21
Speaker 2: been a challenge this winter.
45:23
Speaker 1: What do you mean, messtery? You just it suddenly started hurting.
45:26
Speaker 1: You don't know why.
45:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it started right before the season, so I
45:29
Speaker 2: never had time to really deal with it and it
45:32
Speaker 2: was fine enough to race, but right you know, still hurts.
45:37
Speaker 2: So that was also like an underlying thing in the
45:40
Speaker 2: winter that maybe most people didn't know. But it's one
45:44
Speaker 2: of those things where like I don't have the answers,
45:46
Speaker 2: so I don't really know share and I'm okay enough
45:49
Speaker 2: to see race, So I'm yeah, I'm both motivated but
45:54
Speaker 2: also looking at a mountain of Okay. I just successfully
45:58
Speaker 2: put my heart and soul into this re have. I
46:00
Speaker 2: believed my back rehab was gonna work, and it worked,
46:03
Speaker 2: but it took a lot of mental energy to believe
46:05
Speaker 2: like this is this this time it's gonna work. And
46:08
Speaker 2: to go into another rehab not exactly sure what's what's
46:11
Speaker 2: wrong is a bit daunting. But I'm a little bit
46:15
Speaker 2: excited to be like, maybe I'm gonna go do some
46:17
Speaker 2: more running. I haven't been able to run much in
46:19
Speaker 2: recent years. Like see it as an opportunity to try
46:22
Speaker 2: a little bit of different modes in the early season. Yea,
46:26
Speaker 2: and yeah, I think just getting my mind back into
46:29
Speaker 2: a place where I'm really excited to train and have
46:32
Speaker 2: processed this past year that was had some of those
46:37
Speaker 2: Olympic highs, but also overall as a season was pretty
46:41
Speaker 2: challenging for me. And sometimes you don't know the answers
46:45
Speaker 2: and you want to find the answers. So I think
46:48
Speaker 2: I just have a lot more processing reflecting to do
46:52
Speaker 2: and before I'm ready to dive into the next the
46:57
Speaker 2: next year. And I'm also brainstorming some side projects outside
47:01
Speaker 2: of skiing that bring me joy and passion that I'm
47:06
Speaker 2: currently working on.
47:07
Speaker 1: Awesome, what like, what can you tell us or are they.
47:14
Speaker 2: Not a secret per se just an early idea? I
47:18
Speaker 2: really enjoy cooking, and I want to see like how
47:20
Speaker 2: I can implement that with the athlete perspective into some
47:26
Speaker 2: sort of cooking class or book or see where that
47:29
Speaker 2: can take me in my local community. And then the
47:32
Speaker 2: other thing is I'm getting more involved with Protector Winners
47:35
Speaker 2: and so just taking another step up in my involvement
47:39
Speaker 2: with that organization and learning more and being more engaged.
47:43
Speaker 1: Awesome. Well, I have I have a sort of food
47:46
Speaker 1: skiing idea for you that I think could be it's like,
47:50
Speaker 1: you know, Charcuterie for the trail or you know, like
47:53
Speaker 1: you outdoor outdoor Charcuteri flatter. Then also when feature like
48:00
Speaker 1: an adjacent compartment that had like bear spray, you know
48:03
Speaker 1: or something. Yeah, yeah, I don't know, that sounds good
48:06
Speaker 1: to me. Well, you know, one thing I do know
48:08
Speaker 1: is that you know you said you're seeking answers, and
48:12
Speaker 1: I think that that right there. I mean, you know,
48:16
Speaker 1: you ask the questions and seek and life reveals itself,
48:20
Speaker 1: and it certainly you know, that's always a mountain worth climbing.
48:25
Speaker 1: Like none of us know what's ahead. All we can
48:27
Speaker 1: do is step forward with an open heart. And Julia,
48:30
Speaker 1: it sounds like you're doing that already that you've been
48:32
Speaker 1: doing it all along. I have really enjoyed our conversation.
48:35
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for taking the time so talk
48:38
Speaker 1: to me today.
48:39
Speaker 2: Thank you for having me. This is so wonderful and
48:42
Speaker 2: I hope that you know the listeners can get something
48:46
Speaker 2: out of sport versus life. There's just so many parallels
48:49
Speaker 2: and a lot happening behind the scenes.
48:52
Speaker 1: I'm sure they will. Thank you for sharing your heart
48:54
Speaker 1: and your wise words with us, Julia, thanks so much
48:57
Speaker 1: for listening. If you'd like to write to me seeking advice,
49:00
Speaker 1: please send me an email at Deardearsugar at gmail dot com.
49:03
Speaker 1: And don't forget to rate, review and subscribe wherever you
49:06
Speaker 1: get your podcasts, Happy trails, and I'll see you next week.
49:11
Speaker 1: Minover Mountain with Cheryl Strade is an iHeart women's sports
49:14
Speaker 1: production produced by Britney Brown and Rodney Brown of Barbara
49:18
Speaker 1: Jean Productions. Supervising producer is Kaylin West at REALM. Associate
49:23
Speaker 1: producer Amaya Brathwaite. Our executive producers are Molly Barton, Jerry Carreta,
49:29
Speaker 1: Grace Views and Jesse Katz. Our theme song is composed
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Speaker 1: by Gramoscope Music. Don't forget to Rate, review, and subscribe
49:37
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. Happy Trails, and I'll see
49:41
Speaker 1: you next week.