Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / Finding The Fun: Jess McClain On Her American Record At The 2026 Boston Marathon, Incremental Gains & The Future Of Women’s Distance Running

Transcript

Finding The Fun: Jess McClain On Her American Record At The 2026 Boston Marathon, Incremental Gains & The Future Of Women’s Distance Running · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I think it's being okay where you're at and like
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: doing the most that you can day to day, week
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: to week to just be one percent better incrementally and
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: not put so much pressure on like the big dream.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: Hey, hey, Emily Abadi, here you are listening to another
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: episode of Hurdle, a podcast featuring the mindset, secrets, and
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: true stories of the most inspiring women in sports and wellness,
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: empowering you to.
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: Live a healthier, happier, more motivated.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Life and of course, conquer your own hurdles. Today, I
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: am sitting down with the ever incredible Jess McLain. Fresh
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: off a monumental performance as the top American finisher at
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: the twenty twenty six Boston Marathon, Jess joins me in
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: London to unfact what it takes stay composed when everything
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: goes off script. As a professional runner for Brooks, Jess
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: has become a master of the pivot, showing us all
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: how to handle high stakes friction with absolute grace. In
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: this episode, we dive deep into the recent whirlwind of
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: what's been going on in her career, including navigating the unforeseen,
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: reflecting on the chaos, and being directed the wrong way
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: during the half Marathon Championships, and how she maintained the
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: mindset that she could handle it the Boston breakthrough, breaking
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: down her sub two twenty one two twenty forty nine
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: to be specific performance at Boston, from her strategy for
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: the hills to the mid race mishap with her fueling
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: bottle at thirty k, the mental gymnastics of elite erasing
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: why just decided to stop playing the what if game,
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: and how she shifted her focus to finding the joy
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: in the dark moments of the last ten k, and
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: of course reframing the hurdles, moving past the frustration of
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: the twenty twenty four Olympic Trials to enter a new
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: era of confidence and finding the fun in professional sports.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: I love always the opportunity to sit down with Jess,
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: and like I said at the end of today's episode,
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: I genuinely feel lucky to be a woman working in
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: sports at a time when Jess is on the come up.
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: She is crushing. I am on team McLean and I.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: Am so excited to keep cheering her on as she
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: continues to better her best. Make sure you're following along
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: with Hurdle over on social It's over at Hurdle Podcast
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: You can also check out iHeart Woman's Sports over at
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: Iheartwomen's Sports and Me over at Emily Abody. Listen to
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: Hurdle with Emily A Body on the iHeartRadio app, Apple
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: And with that, let's get to it. Let's get to
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: hurdling today.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: I am sitting down with Jess McLean. She recently came
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: in top American at the Boston Marathon twenty twenty six.
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: Professional runner for Brooks. Jess, welcome back to Hurtle. How
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: are we?
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Oh so good? Thank you for having me. Thanks for
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: I mean, we're doing this in London.
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: We're doing this in London.
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: So cool.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: I was like, so what, we could have done it
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: in Boston, but why not go to London?
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: Mix it up a little bit. We're here for the
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: weekend with Brooks.
• 3:24
  Speaker 4: It's going to be so fun.
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: It's going to be so fun. How are you feeling
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: right now?
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: Well?
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: Sorry, sorry, let's level set. How are you doing really?
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: I'm great? This is so fun.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: I feel like it hasn't quite hit me yet because
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: I'm like lacking in the sleep department and have just
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: been like, you know, bus train, another club, another pub,
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: a plight. No, but it's been so fun. It's been
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: a whirlwind. I yeah, I'm very excited to be here
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: with Brooks and like celebrate with everybody in London. I
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: you know, after the race, you kind of get like
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: ushered off to do a million different things, and my
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: body was kind of like revolting in the moment. I
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: was going like hypothermic and my legs were freaking out.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: So I feel like I had to go straight into
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: the med tent and like kind of chill for a
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: second and then had.
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: To do all the drug testing medical stuff.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: And then by the time I got out of you know,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: just like the processing and press stuff, it was like
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: two thirty and saw my family and then had to
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: go to the next the next fun thing. So I
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: feel like I got on the plane and I think
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: it kind of like hit me on the plane to London.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: I just kind of sat there and like my my
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: thoughts and feels for a little bit, and it was
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: it was a nice time to process.
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: But yeah, everything's been awesome, no complaints.
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: Thoughts and feels for Thowtome feels.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: Let's just make sure that we reiterate exactly how fast
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: we were moving on marathon Monday at a time of
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: two twenty forty nine. Yeah, yeah, I guess so average
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: pace for the person that's not good at math.
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: I think it's like five twenty three just today.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: I don't even know if I could sprint at a
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: five twenty three. That is good phenomenon, just as.
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: Like you could when We'll give you a few more
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: of these times.
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: Just for context. If this doesn't make the clips.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: Just and I are sipping on bubbles because I thought
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: it was appropriate.
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: That we some prosecco for her today.
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: Okay, so you just kind of gave us a quick
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: rundown of the shenanigans that happened after you crossed the
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: finish line. But before we talk about where we are now,
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: we've got to really unpack this race a bit, because
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: what a special opportunity it is for us to be
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: here together to do that. You went into Monday feeling
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: really confident.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I Yeah, I was pretty confident. Training
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: had gone really well. I think last year's race gave
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: me a lot of confidence as well, And it wasn't
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: like I was going into this last weekend at Boston
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: trying to like recreate or replicate the weekend I had
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: last year. Although I would have been happy with Top American,
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: I think across the American field, everybody wasn't like the
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: top American spot wasn't what everybody was talking about. It
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: was like how many Americans going to get close to
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: the podium on the podium, which is a really cool
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: It was cool to be a part of like an
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: era of running in the Boston field where everybody was
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: thinking bigger than just top American. So that gave me
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: confidence too, because I'm like, everybody's here to like rip it.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: The weather's great, we had a tailwind, but at the
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: same time that makes you, you know, you get like
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: the jitters because you're like, what does that mean?
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: Like are we full sending from the start?
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: In the minute my head started spiraling and training and
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: stuff like how is this race going to go out?
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: Like are we covering moves in the first like six
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: to ten miles. I just kind of stopped doing the
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: what if game and I just tried to frame it like,
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: however it goes like we're We're just going to roll
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: with it.
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: So I think that mentality and training really helped.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: And then just the consistent block and having workouts that
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: I did last year that went super well. This year
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: that just didn't feel like I think last year I
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: was still so new to marathoning that like marathon workouts
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: were still daunting, and this year it was like, oh,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: you know, we'll take a rep by rep and I
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: got it, and it just it was cool to see
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: the evolution of just like the mental side of this block.
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: So yeah, felt confident. Body was like ready to ready
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: to roll.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: I got to Boston feeling really good, and the taper
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: was making me psycho.
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: So everything was tracking in the right.
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: Direction, tracking in the right direction.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: You said something that I wanted to double click on it,
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: and that is the what if game. I was able
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: to stop playing that, which is something that so many
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: people here and they're like, but how right. Yeah, So,
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: what have you done that's enabled you to get to
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: this place where you can focus on what is and
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: trust the training and stop questioning the things that are
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: beyond your control.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: I think it's taking the things I knew I could
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: improve on in the last year or so and just
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: working on those really well, and then those giving me
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: more confidence. So like, for example, last year, I think
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: we went out pretty slow. I think our first mount
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: was like five point forty four or something, okay, and uh,
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: you know, then it kind of cut down a little bit,
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: and then I think a lot of the leaders dropped,
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: Like I think we had like a five h seven
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: in the first six miles, and I think that kind
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: of it didn't freak me out, but I was like,
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: holy crap. I wasn't expecting like, you know, a near
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: ten minute kate, a ten k pace smile the first
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: six miles like that felt. I just remember that being like,
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: oh my god moment last year. But I in the
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: last year just worked on like a ton of pace changing,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: like within workouts and then a lot more downhill running.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: I do remember last year like once I crested Heartbreak,
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: I felt really good. But even the last set of
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: downhills in the last ten k like got to my
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: quads pretty much instantly. And this year, I just I
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: worked on so many of the things that I think
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: last year I just needed I was, I just needed
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: to improve upon.
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: So like that gave me a lot of confidence.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but you still play that game in your head,
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: like I the American field was so strong, so you
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: kind of like replay Orlando in your mind and you know,
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: lining up against m and Dakota and Annie and and
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: you're just like, okay, is it going to go out
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: the same as last year? Like well, I be like
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: Annie's such as strong second half of the race runner,
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: and I knew that if I was with her, I'm like,
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: I got whatever Annie does, like I have to match
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: it because she's just so freaking good and she runs
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: with so much like confidence and she's so aggressive, which
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: I emulate. Like last year, I was like, oh my god,
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: she just took off like there was like a big
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: move and Annie went with the leading pack, and in
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: my mind, I'm like, I just I'm not there yet
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: in a marathon.
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: So it was cool again to see the evolution.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: And I think I think about that, like how far
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: I've come, all the work I've done. I kind of
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: work on that mentality throughout the year, like not really
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: thinking about what everybody else is doing, and I think
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: that so that gives me the confidence the minute I
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: start doing the what if thing, I'm like, you know, okay, we're.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: Good, right, staying in your own lane, yeah, which is
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: just such a valuable perspective. Right, It's so challenging, especially
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: when you know four feet from you at all times.
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: There's a device that you can pick up and play
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: the comparison game with, right, and so to be able
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: to focus on what you can control, do the things
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: that are within your power to better your best.
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: And I also I really appreciate what you were.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: Saying about identifying what you labeled as weaknesses and working
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: on that, because that, within itself is a really special
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: skill for so many It's well, I don't want to
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: admit to myself what's going on here. But until you
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: can admit and be upfront with yourself about perhaps what
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: the shortcomings are, you can't do anything about them until
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: you recognize what they are. I also want to bring
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: this to what you had said about how you were
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: happy that you were the person that got led the
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: wrong way in that marathon, yes, in the half marathon Championships,
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: because it was like you said, and I quote, well
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: I can handle this, yeah, and what a perspective.
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: I feel like it's also just on brand for me
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: at this point. It's like you can't get anything easy.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: Not that I want it easy, but I feel like Atlanta,
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: it was like another moment like Orlando, walking away and forth,
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: you know, fifteen seconds off the Olympic team. I think
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: anybody would assume that the person in that position would
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: be like pretty not upset, but just like thinking more
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: about that than like, holy shit, I just came in
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: forth at the Olympic trials. And for me, I looked
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: at that day and that was like such a in
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: my mind. I look at it with like ninety five
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: percent happiness and like the five percent like oh if
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: I just knew, you know, like what could have happened
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: if I knew I.
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: Was that close?
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, a few miles out. But no, I think that
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: that race gave me a lot of perspective. I was
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: just so grateful and so excited. And I feel like
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: every race like that is more of like a momentum
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: builder instead of something that detracts from like the progress
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: I'm making.
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: But I with that, Lana, Yeah, I think it just.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: I mean I was more I was just like annoyed
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: that it happened, because I'm like, we were all just
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: like running, we were grinding, and it was going you
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: know pretty well for me in the last like miles,
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: so I was just starting to let myself like vision
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: breaking the tape and all this stuff, and so that frustrating,
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: but I walked away from Atlanta being like, yeah, I'm
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: glad it happened to me. We can handle it. Took
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: a few days to just like deal with it, and
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: then it was just kind of back.
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: To the routine.
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: For those that are listening to the pod right now
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: and aren't avid fans of women's distance running, you may
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: not be in the loop that Jess was directed the
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: wrong way during this race in Atlanta, which determines which
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: women were going to the World Championships and so to
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: have this experience and then for there to be so
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: much feedback, yes, un solicited, Yes, lots of feedback on
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: what should have happened, you know, calls that were needed
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: to be made by USATF on what they wanted to
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: do with the circumstance.
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: There's a lot of uproar over that.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: And it is commendable that you can navigate a situation
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: like that during an intense build for what is this
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: marathon and still stay on track, have your mind in
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: a good place to show up and race in Boston, Like, yeah,
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: I just there were so many unnecessary things that were
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: thrown in your path, and you really did handle it
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: with so much Grace.
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: Oh, thanks Emily.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: I think people were asking like, oh, how much fuel
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: is this adding to the fire, you know, like in
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: the last month, And it honestly wasn't like maybe it
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: was something I would think about, like the last reup
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: of a workout when I needed the extra omph or motivation,
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: but I honestly didn't think much about it until there
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: were a few things I was thinking about in the
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: last like ten k of Boston.
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: Tell us that were just helping, just like Atlanta.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: For sure, I think there were questions around, like, you know,
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: you kind of I try not to like read a
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: ton of things on the internet and all this stuff,
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: but you know, I thought about the whole Paris debacle
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: was also something that was frustrating for a lot of
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: people involved.
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: Like I flew to the Olympics.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: There was an athlete that you know, was going through
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: some super untimely like you know, injury stuff. So I
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: basically was given a choice to go to to Paris
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: to be there as the alternate, and I, you know,
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: I got on the plane you have to didn't end
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: up racing, which is totally fine, but then there were
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: questions like, oh, Jess wouldn't have even like been ready
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: to handle it anyways, Like there were those kind of comments,
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: so I feel like I kind of stored those in
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: the bank a little bit, but like didn't. I haven't
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: really used them as motivation until it was really weird,
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: Like in that last ten k of Boston, I was
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: just thinking of that some personal stuff, and it was
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: just like every mile I just felt like I was
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: cranking more and more and then just soaking in the
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: crowds and it was just like so so much fun,
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: so much fun.
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: But yeah, Atlanta gave.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: Me some motivation in the last few miles of Boston,
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: for sure. And then I had a mishap with my
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: bottle at like thirty k I went to go grab
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: my freaking bottle.
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: And I dropped this of like, of course this happened
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: to you.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: But it was such a weird, like I I, Well,
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: the funny thing is that if you see any photos
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: from the finish line, I had an extra gel in
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: my pants the whole time, so I honestly could have
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: left it. But I had some like mix in my
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: bottle too, and that was kind of going down a
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: little bit easier than the actual gels at some station,
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: so I it was like such an instinct to like
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: turn around and grab it.
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: Like I didn't even think.
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: About it, but I felt like Atlanta gave me the
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: confidence that, like, okay, I ran like a half mile
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: off course and felt pretty good if that race, so
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: I can take like ten seconds and like get my
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: bottle down, and just gradually I knew the hills were
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: coming too, So that gave me a little I feel
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: so good on the uphills right now that I knew
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: I could probably attach myself back to the pack. So
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: I just I don't know. I feel like all the
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: weird things just gave me, oddly enough some extra confidence
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: throughout the race, which is cool.
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: It's cool to look.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: At things that maybe are kind of like full of
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: friction and like all this weird, all these weird vibes
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: that you know when they first unfold and then you
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: reflect and you're kind of able to use them as
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: like a springboard a little bit.
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: I actually really appreciate that along your journey you like
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: to share tidbits about where your head is at, and
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: I always love the things that you're sharing on social media.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: It is very clear that you prioritize the mental training
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: just as much as you do put in the reps
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: on the trails, on the road and all of the
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: places you're running around in Arizona.
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: Ye, what do you think that has done for you?
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: And is this something that is more new to you
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: putting in this much time thinking about the mental side
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: of things.
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think yeah.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: A lot of people have asked like, oh, how did
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: you get to the point where you It's not that
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: I care less, Like, if anything, I care more than
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: I did before.
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: But I think I'm just holding things.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: I'm gripping things a little less tightly so that I
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: can enjoy what comes with the whole process. And I
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: think that's been a huge part of it, is just
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: enjoying the journey and then when I get to racing,
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: like truly making it the best part. Like I think
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: I used to dread racing, honestly, and maybe I was
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: just unprepared and injured quite frequently in my first stint
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: as a pro, So racing became this. You know, I
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: was doing it few and far between, and every time
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: I raced, I had to hit a time or I
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: had to qualify for you know, ussays, and it just
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: became this, like I don't know, it just wasn't fun,
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: and I think now I'm like, how do I how
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: do I keep it fun? A lot of it was
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: honestly like hitting ground zero, rock bottom and rebuilding. And
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: then when I rebuilt, like have the right people in
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: my corner, and I was very like thoughtful and diligent
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: with how I was going to do that. And I
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: honestly never thought I would be signing another pro contract,
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: Like I did not go into Orlando thinking how can
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: I get you know, how can I get a sponsor
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: out of this? It was like, oh no, this will
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: be a great way to end my running career and
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: move on with life. And I had the whole family
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: there and I'm like, this is it, Like this is
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: the last turra. I finally made it to a Trials healthy,
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: and then when I crossed the finish line, I honestly
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: was super emotional because I was like, I don't want
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: to stop, like this fe like the beginning. So that
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: was super cool and I tried to just keep that
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: mentality this whole time. Like Connor when we got to Orlando,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: that was his first he's my husband, his first experience
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: like in the pro running world, and he was like
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: this is he's like this is freaking nuts.
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: He's like nobody.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: He's like, I think we're the only ones having He's like,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: we're having the most fun in Orlando right now, and
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: I'm like we are.
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: Like that just felt to see his perspective.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: Like on it being removed was really healthy because I'm like,
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: that's all I wanted, Like my whole career is just
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: like have so much fun, and that's that's the vibe
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: I want to carry through this, like and even reflecting
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: on Boston, he he was like, what was your favorite
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: point of the weekend, like outside of the race, And
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: a lot of it was just like dinners with my
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: family were so fun. We went to Kntessa and Salty Girl,
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: which are like two of my favorite restaurants, and honestly,
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: all the like engagements and hanging out with people racing,
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: you know, was so fun. And his most favorite like
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: part of the whole trip was the night before the
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: race dinner with like the other athletes. So we sat
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: with Clayton and Ashley his wife. We sat with Dakota
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: and Montana and Annie and Amanda, and that was like
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: his favorite moment from the whole weekend. He's like, it
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: was just so cool to be around a table where
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: like you guys are all competitors, but like we were
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: like peeing our pants laughing, yeah, for two hours, just
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: like chatting and having so much fun. And I'm like,
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: this is all I wanted, Like in my career. Sounds
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: really weird.
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: No, it doesn't sound weird.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: So I think very roundabout answer to your question about
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: the mentality of it. But a lot of it is
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: just like when I feel myself spiraling or like falling
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: into old habits, at least from the mental side, I
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: just remind myself, like, hey, we're having so much fun
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: doing this, and obviously like health and all of that
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: is at top of mind, Like the longer I stay healthy,
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: the more confident I am, and kind of putting up
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: the blinders to what other people are doing and reminding
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: myself that, like, hey, I don't need two workouts a week.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: I don't need to run one hundred to one hundred
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: and twenty plus miles a week. Like we're okay and
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: we're good where we're at, which develops over time.
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: The thing about finding the fun is, and I wonder
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: if you can relate to this for me, I found
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: the fun when I stopped putting arbitrary limits on my
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: own potential, especially within running. It got really fun for
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: me when I stopped labeling myself as like I at
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: one point never thought that I could run fast enough
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: to qualify for Boston.
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: I was just like, I'm not a Boston Marathon qualifier,
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: which was fine.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: I had no aspirations to do it, Like I loved
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: running at that time, just like I love running now.
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: But what how was that I stopped saying this is
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: what I'm not, yeah, and I just allowed myself to
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: be whatever it was that felt right in that moment.
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: And so to hear you say I allowed myself just
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: to go for it and to shoot big and see
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: what happened, that gives me chills because it's so exciting
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: to watch someone say why not me? Yeah?
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: I think I one hundred percent like feel what you're saying.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: I in my first stint as a pro, I basically
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: was like, if I do not become a World team
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: member or an Olympian. Basically, my career since I was
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: like twelve, was like it was like purposeless, which is crazy.
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: To you know, like to think about it that way.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: So but then that like kind of what you were saying,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: like it it just adds so much pressure to like
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: the every day and I it's not that I let
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: it go, like of course I want to make an
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: Olympic team, and of course you know I wanted to
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: be a World team member.
• 21:59
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: I think it's a lot of just being okay where
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: you're at, you know, and like doing the most that
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: you can day to day, week to week to just
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: be one percent better, like incrementally, and not put so
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: much pressure on like that the big the big dream.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: It's like everybody, all of us who lined up in Boston,
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: It's like we all know what we want to do
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: on March whatever, twenty twenty eight. Like that's it's pretty
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: unspoken and known. So I'm not somebody that needs to
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: like write on my mirror every day like Olympic Team
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty eight, Like I want that so bad, But
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: I also I want to get to that day and
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: be like, literally, whatever happens, I'm going to be.
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: So happy with like the last four years.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: Like I want to be able to look back to
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: that Dan Orlando and be like I'm the same girl,
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: but you know, but better and all these and I've
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: grown and all this stuff, but like I want to
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: have the same amount of joy that I had on
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: that day and then I'll be I'll be good. But
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: of course it's like I want to make that team
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: so freaking bad, but I've also gotten four so many times.
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: I'm not scared to get forth.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: Like I'm just like I'm game for whatever happens, and
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: I think I'm gonna spend the next you know, just
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: under two years like trying to really get stronger on
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: that mental like the mental side of it, and not
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: put so much pressure on the Olympic team because it's
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: just like if you get down to the statistics of it,
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: it's like I'm already at the whatever top percent of
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: the sport being a pro athlete, and then in that
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: subset like being a world team member and an Olympian
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: is such a small subset and it's just like I
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: have to be proud of like how far I've come,
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: and you have to celebrate that. I think I spend
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: so much time like being so upset with you know,
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: not like blowing a pr out of the water by
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: like thirty seconds in a ten k or blah blah
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: blah blah blah. But like I'm at the point of
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: my career where I've celebrated like every little win, like
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: in practice or in you know, especially in racing, Like
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: I will never not celebrate a personal best.
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: Again, like you have to.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I loved like seeing Dakota across the finish line.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: You know, she set a personal best by like I
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: think around twenty seconds or maybe a little bit under that.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: And like, I know Dakota a lot better now after
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: spending time with her, and I know I know what
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: she probably wanted more than that.
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: I liked to her yesterday she said she wanted more.
• 24:13
  Speaker 4: You want a way more.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: But I also love that her first instinct was like
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: to celebrate that pr like you have to, And I
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: just I'm glad that that's a part of like the
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: messaging now it's like celebrating that the big and the
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: I mean, she's she made the Olympic team and now
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: she's you know, you always want more.
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: It's a yes, and it's yes, and it's like, yeah,
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: you can celebrate that twenty second pr like you can
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: celebrate running the fastest time on the Boston Marathon course
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: by an American ever, chattering that really and you can
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: still want more.
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: Out of yourself.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: Well, it's funny you say that because one of my
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: first it was such an interesting like point of reflection
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: after the race. Like one of my first things I
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: said out loud and like to myself was like.
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: How do I run faster than that? Like?
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: Holy shit, Like I didn't know how fast I was running,
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: or like what the times were?
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: How do you not know? Sorry?
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: Are you not like keeping tabs on what's going on
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: when you're in it?
• 25:09
  Speaker 4: No, I'm not. I'm like I checked my watch.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: I think I looked at my watch a few times
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: in the first ten miles just to be like, okay,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: we're running like five eighteens five, but we're feeling good,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: like just to check in.
• 25:18
  Speaker 4: And then you see the big clock at halfway it
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: was like.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: Seventy one something, so I'm like, okay, we're running right
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: around you know what I ended up finishing last year,
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: And I'm like, I feel good.
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: After that point, I did not check my watch one time.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: Wow, just ran off feel and I think when I
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: crossed the finish line, I'm like, I actually I felt
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: so strong in the last ten k that I know
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: there's more, there's more left. But it was interesting to
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: have a thought that was like, how do I like
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: top that? And then Connor was so fun. We were
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: you know, we had like four beers last night and
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: we were just like debriefing. Honestly, best way to like
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: debrief from a big weekend is like sitting in a
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: London pub, like watching soccer and debriefing over like pints
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: of beer. But he was just like like, oh my god,
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: you have so much like like this. You have to
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: sit in this moment and enjoy it. But he's like,
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: you have so much shit left to do. He's like
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: You're just not done yet. And it's cool to be
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: pulled out of that because I think the comparison game
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: with others is like tough, but I think the comparison
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: game with yourself is an even harder one to play.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: So I I left Boston like I really soaked it in,
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: and I think I enjoyed, you know, like the accomplishment
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: of like first American and all this stuff. But I'm like,
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: holy crap, I was so close to the podium, but
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: I want that, like so bad.
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: To have you heard from Laine no No.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: I was like actually thinking I should dm R and
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: be like I never thought our names would be shared
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: in the same sense together, Like you know, it's like she's.
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: A goose bowler. I have like literal goosebumpers right now.
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: That's just so special, right yeah, because you grew up
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: watching her.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: Oh my god, yeah, and I watched her freaking New
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: York win and yeah, like just crazy, Like it's all
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: it's all very cool, And it was very cool to
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: like have have like people that were like on my
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: club team growing up and you know, on my like
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: Xavier High high school team and like just people from
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: like the stages of my career reach out and be
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: like so happy you're still doing this and like so
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: cool to you know, cheer you on.
• 27:16
  Speaker 4: I'm like, holy crap, that's like that's crazy.
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: It's also so cool that you have a partner that
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: sees your greatness. It is, and not just within romantic relationships,
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: but just in the relationships.
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: That we have in our life.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: What a beautiful opportunity to just surround yourself with people
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: that not only recognize that you are great, but know
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: there's more, because that then instills that faith within yourself.
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: Again.
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: You are so strong willed and strong minded and really
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: confident in what you bring to the table, but then
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: to look to your left and your right and see
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: people that see that in you.
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: It's so special.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: It's very cool. I think, Yeah, Connor is somebody that
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: it's so funny because he's like, do I need to
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: listen to these podcasts? Like he's not listened to one podcast.
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: So one right, he's probably listening through the wall right
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: now ol our roommates.
• 28:07
  Speaker 4: It's got the cup up to the wall. Uh No.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: But he he's somebody that just makes it so fun,
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: so much fun, and he's like done hard things. He
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: started his own business, and it was very cool to
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: like cheer him on throughout that. He's like three years
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: in and that's been a really cool journey to be
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: on together.
• 28:25
  Speaker 4: And I feel like we're such good teammates.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: And he, you know, he has a business to run,
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: so you think when we're in Boston and here he's
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: like on the phone and like needs to work.
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: But he's somebody that's like, no, I'm not. I'm of
• 28:38
  Speaker 4: course I'm going to London with you.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: He's like, this is how cool is it that, Like
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: you're at the point in your career now where you
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: get to to travel to different cities, see the world,
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: and like Brooks includes you in such amazing special weekends
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: like this, like how fortunate are we? And that's kind
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: of how we look at it is more from like
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: an abundance mindset, and he even last night he's like, look,
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: there's gonna be it's kind of crazy. Like looking back
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: in my last two years, there's a very few amount
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: of races that I'm unhappy with how they went, not
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: even unhappy, like, oh I knew I could have done
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: X Y Z. And he's like, at some point, you're
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: gonna have a race where you just like shit the
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: bed and it doesn't go well, and it's like, that's
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: it's gonna be okay, Like we're he's just riding the
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: waves with me, and it's cool to have somebody that's
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: so supportive of like the big moments, but he is.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: He's there for the moments where I'm like, you know
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: that nobody else really sees or hears about, and he
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: gets me through those. So I think it's it's so
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: important to pick people, I mean, obviously who are like
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: in your support crew, but like ultimately the person that
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: you decide to share your life with that they're your
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: like biggest teammate cheerleader there to pick you up when
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: you're down, and he's been that person and it's so
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: cool to share this with with him. And he's such
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: he's such like a fun person to have at the table,
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: like at the dinner before, you know, the night of
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: the Boston Marathon, just like has people in side stitches.
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: You know, I try to you can't tame Connor and
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: like he's just gonna see what he's gonna say, and
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: it's like take it or leave it. But most people
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: take it and they love it. So it's been Yeah,
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: it's been really fun.
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: It's been really fun.
• 30:10
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: What was the last moment that isn't something that you
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: shared that was difficult on this.
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: Journey for you?
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and like the So I had a sacral stress
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: fracture in twenty twenty two. I was supposed to run
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: the US Half Marathon Champs and at CIM, and I
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: think that would have gone better than Orlando.
• 30:31
  Speaker 4: Like I was really fit and ended up breaking my.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: Back on like the tenth mile of my last twenty
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: mile long run two weeks before.
• 30:38
  Speaker 4: And yeah, I was a complete.
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: Shit show after that. I mean I basically was like
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: why am I even doing this? You know, like I
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: took time away. That was like my first proper marathon build,
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: and I get like the most hurt you can get,
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: and it was just such a low because I was
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: so excited and you know, all the things, and he
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: I mean it was basically like I could barely walk.
• 31:01
  Speaker 4: It was such a bad break in my back.
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: And I was on crutches for about like eight weeks
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: and didn't run for twelve weeks, didn't even like work
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: out for twelve weeks. And he's the one you basically
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: was like, all right, let's let's rebuild and let's get
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: it going again. And yeah, and then you know, the
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: whole Orlando build happened and ram masa marathon and that
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: was super fun. But that was a pretty low moment
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: about four years ago. Now holy crap, Yeah, a lot
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: of time has past. But yeah, then there's moments just
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: like I'm trying to think of a race where you know,
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: I was like eh, or even not in a race though,
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: like we're just like, oh, yeah, there's plenty of live stuff.
• 31:36
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: I think that's one thing that is interesting as you
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: get older, just like things are hard, you know, like
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: life's hard, and relationships you grow and or you grow
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: apart and things are Yeah, there's just a lot of
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: interesting things to navigate as you get older. And I
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: think that's the Running is the thing that's like the
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: constant right now, which I'm not used to.
• 31:58
  Speaker 4: It used to be like running, put me in the
• 32:00
  Speaker 4: therapy chair, you know.
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and now other things are you know what I
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: kind of need help with. So yeah, it's been it's
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: been a really good life and year and many years
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: like on the track and on the roads. But yeah,
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: but life is just it's just tough to navigate, Like
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: you have all these crossroads like what do I want
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: to do with my career and you know, after running,
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: like who do I want to be?
• 32:21
  Speaker 4: And what do I want to do? And do I
• 32:23
  Speaker 4: want kids? And do blah blah blah.
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: Like you and I have talked about the whole egg
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: freezing thing have that was an interesting thing to navigate.
• 32:28
  Speaker 4: Life is just crazy. But running is kind of where
• 32:31
  Speaker 4: I like work through east of it.
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: You don't have to answer this, but do you know
• 32:35
  Speaker 3: if you definitely want kids?
• 32:37
  Speaker 4: Oh no, we have no idea.
• 32:38
  Speaker 3: I don't know if I want kids either. I mean,
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: you have the partner part of this equation that I
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: don't have to.
• 32:43
  Speaker 4: You don't even need that. Now, you don't even need that.
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: You don't even need that.
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: But it's I think it was really interesting to go
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: through the egg freezing process and not know, yeah, if
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: I was going to do anything with it or not.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: No, it's weird to like go through that, put your
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: body through it, and then just have things sit on ice,
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: like literally for as long as you.
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: I have this thought the other day, I was like,
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: I haven't talked to anyone about my eggs since I
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: froze them.
• 33:03
  Speaker 3: I'm like, where are they? Are they okay?
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, like you just go no crazy practice and then
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: you're like, oh, well, I just dropped all this money.
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: Like I hope they're fine. I hope they're protected literally
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: chilling and good and good and protected.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: No. It's such an And I love seeing the support
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: for like moms in sport and women who do have
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: families like that. We've come so far on that front,
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: but I've had a lot of friends outside of the
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: running world and in the running world haven who've gone
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: through like fertility treatments and IVF, and I feel like
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: there's a huge gap in support for that and after
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: going through just like one round of that process. I'm
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: like I could not imagine going through years of it
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: and hopefully, like I don't even know what that will
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: look like, you know, when I cross the finish line
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty eight. But going through the motions of
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: like resigning my Brooks contract, like like knowing I'm all
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: in for twenty twenty eight World team in twenty twenty
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: nine like that, and then freezing my eggs.
• 34:01
  Speaker 4: I feel like that just gave me so much relief, just.
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: Like doing doing something tangible to like set myself up
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: for like if that is a yes down the road.
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: But man Connor and I, yeah, we just don't know,
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: Like we're having so fun, just grinding, and I think
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: I looked at it from like a selfish perspective, like, oh,
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: we just love our life and like love being able
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: to rip a London trip like last minute with Brooks
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: and and you know, just to do the little things
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: where you're just like, oh, yeah, let's do this, let's
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: go there. And it scares us to have like that
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: right now, we look at what we're doing is like freedom,
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: like to have that kind of stripped away, but it's
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: a total reshift.
• 34:37
  Speaker 4: Like our friends with kids.
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: We love on their kids so much, like I love
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: being aunt Jess and my friend's kids are all I'm like,
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: they're all cool. And I'm not just saying that because I'm,
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: you know, their best friend or their friend. So we're
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: just having fun vibing being where we're at, and we're
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: going to figure it out. But yeah, you have things
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: like your parents are getting older and you see them
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: being grandparents with like you know, and you're like, oh,
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: that would be cool, but that's not the right reason
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: to like start a family. So we're trying to figure
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: out our why around it. Like when we ask our friends,
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: like why did you decide to have kids? The answers
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: are kind of interesting, but you can tell they've they've
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: done it for the right reasons, and we just like
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: don't know our reasons why we would yet.
• 35:16
  Speaker 4: I think we're trying to figure that out. Yeah, which
• 35:18
  Speaker 4: is normal, I think totally.
• 35:19
  Speaker 3: I don't know, it's definitely normal.
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: I think they're i mean normalized not knowing all of
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: the answers, right. I think that that is the thing.
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: And I actually really appreciate that you're asking these questions
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: of your community because so many people get on the
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: train because they feel like they're supposed to and to
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: be in this place where you're asking yourself like as
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: well these really important questions.
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: I think it's a really it's something that more people
• 35:45
  Speaker 3: need to hear about.
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, because these days it's almost like if you are
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: in a place where you're not sure if you want kids,
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: or even if you're decided that you don't want kids,
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: that is kind of bizarre. It's like, oh, what do
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: you mean you don't naturally know that you definitely want children.
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: But like how much of you thought, Like how you've
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: probably thought about this for years?
• 36:06
  Speaker 4: Right?
• 36:06
  Speaker 3: Oh?
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: For sure, Like I've thought about it since like honestly
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: after we got married, Like I was like, oh, you know,
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: the running isn't really what it is anymore, and blah
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: blah blah, Like I guess we'll just have kids like that, Right,
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: That was kind of the mentality, And that was I mean,
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: it's our five year wedding anniversary this year.
• 36:20
  Speaker 4: That was like five years ago.
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: That I was thinking that way, And dude, how crazy
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: is it that how much can change in five years?
• 36:25
  Speaker 4: So I know it's crazy.
• 36:26
  Speaker 3: Everything is just wild.
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you just ran the fastest American time at Boston
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: Marathon and five years ago if you told yourself that,
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: it would have been like.
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: Absolutely not, like yeah, I'm going to watch and like
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: I'm going to watch.
• 36:39
  Speaker 4: I want to see it in person. Yeah.
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: No, it's crazy and it's so fun to be here now,
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: and yeah, to look back at the journey is like
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: very cool, and beyond it was so many like awesome people,
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: like the Brooks team is kick ass. My teammates are
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: amazing and yeah, and everybody in my camp's awesome. But yeah,
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: to be like full circle back in the saddle would
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: Brooks is like very cool.
• 37:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's super cool.
• 37:02
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: I do want to talk a little bit about the
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: mental gymnastics that happens during the hard parts of the marathon,
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: especially in a marathon like Boston because of those repetitive
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: hills and it just feels like it's never going to stop.
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: I love what you said about you had these targeted
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: thoughts in the last ten k of the race, But
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: where do you typically go when the effort gets really
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: hard and knowing that it's going to get hard?
• 37:27
  Speaker 3: Is that helpful for you?
• 37:29
  Speaker 4: Yeah?
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: This race was really interesting because I didn't have many
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: dark moments. I think last year I had a few
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: where I was like, where did they say the med
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: tens were again? Like I was like I was going
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: to the well a few times in the race last year.
• 37:42
  Speaker 3: What was the difference.
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: I don't know, Like maybe I mean training, obviously I
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: had another year, just very like I knew I wanted
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: to come back to Boston, so I'm like, how do
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: how do I really tailor my training and like the
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: mental side of it too to running well on this
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: course this year, but I think, gosh.
• 38:02
  Speaker 4: I don't know.
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: I think mentally I'm stronger, but I would say a
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: lot of it was like just.
• 38:07
  Speaker 4: Get to heartbreak.
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: My plan for the race was like get to sixteen
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: miles feeling like I did the least, like we coasted,
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: not coasted that's very much the wrong word, but like
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: autopilot kind of like just shut it off and tuck
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: in and like don't really be a factor yet. I
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: did find myself leading a few times, which was very fun.
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: But yeah, I got to sixteen and then I was
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: like excited for it. I'm like, give me the hills,
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: Like I have trained so much on hills that I
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: literally love running up hill, which is psycho. I got
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: to sixteen, and it was like my plan was like
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: push sixteen to twenty and then it's like whatever you
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: have left, like just rip it. And I think I
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: just executed really well and I just had confidence in
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: like how I was executing throughout the first sixteen that
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: it was kind of like a crescendo moment and I
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: really was like like I was planning to like High
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: five and Wellesley and like, but I was just so
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: locked in that I like kind of just ran through
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: and I was like, oh shit, I just totally missed.
• 39:04
  Speaker 4: Like this screen tunnel was so loud.
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: But I that was a good indicator of like I
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: was just really kind of on autopilot.
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: And when you're on autopilot, what's going through your mind?
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: That's I get asked this question. This would be such
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: a good question to ask, Like the whole field literally nothing,
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: which is crazy. Yeah, like you just kind of zone out.
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: You're just like in that flow state where you're just
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: staring at the back in front of you and you
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: know you're grabbing bottles, which is an interesting dynamic. You know,
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: every five k like everybody is such different tactics going
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: into the bottle station, Like these African athletes were, you know,
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: because I was pretty much with them the whole time.
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: They a lot of them would like inject pace and
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: like speed up into them, and then they'd kind of
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: like cut in early, which I thought was interesting because
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: there was one woman I was running with. I can't
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: remember who it was, but her bottle was like I
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: was table eight and she was maybe like five or four,
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: so she'd like get in line early and then like
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: stay along the tab and I'd be like, dude, i
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: gotta get my ball.
• 40:02
  Speaker 4: I'm like I'm going over. I'm like coming over merging
• 40:05
  Speaker 4: and there's yeah.
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: And then some of the Americans, you know, with like
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: get in, get out, very diligent, like grab the bottle,
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: get to the outside, like sip and toss.
• 40:13
  Speaker 4: So that's like an interest.
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: You're kind of like checking those off throughout the first
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: like twenty to thirty k you're like, get my bottles,
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: get the fuel. So that makes it go by faster.
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: But Boston there's not many turns, so you're just like
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: you're just you're just going and you're locked in and yeah,
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: so it's you know, it was interesting going from like
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: Atlanta to Boston where it's like we only have five
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: turns on this course, and I know the right on
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: here for left on Boilston.
• 40:38
  Speaker 4: The other three I couldn't tell you, but yeah, I think.
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: The flow state, like that's your ideal marathon when you're
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: locked in, a lot of my friends or my parents'
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: friends and my family.
• 40:49
  Speaker 4: Were like, what do you think about?
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: And I'm like, if you're having a good day, it's
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: honestly nothing until like the last few miles where you're
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: thinking about anything that gives you, like the last dumph,
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: you know.
• 41:13
  Speaker 3: You know, it's funny.
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: I'm thinking back to what we were saying just before
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: about how five years ago you never could have imagined this.
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: And when I say that back to you, what emotions
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: come up?
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: I man, I'm like a crier and like I'm pretty emo,
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: which I was last year. I feel like I was
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: like every time I thought about the race and the bill,
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: and I would just like, it's so emotional about it,
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: and I think I'm I'm at the point where like
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: I kind of in the back of my mind have
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: visualized that race like so many not like Boston twenty
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: twenty six, like that exact moment, but I think I
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: just knew I had something like that in me to
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: where I crossed the line and I wasn't like I
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: was kind of like what just happened, But it was
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: like the reaction was like how do I top that?
• 42:03
  Speaker 4: Like immediately, Like that was.
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: A very interesting point for me to like get to
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: is like hitting a goal or just like a general
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: like outcome that I've wanted for so long, but knowing
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: I have more in the tank.
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: It's so interesting hearing you oscillate between the sentences I
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: know I'm a crier and then you saying I know
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: I had more on the tank, Like you went from
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: a place of feeling to a place of logistics very quickly.
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Like last year, I mean I think I bawled
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: my eyes out like more than my like Connor and
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: I cried more than our wedding day, like when I
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: crossed the finish line last year, and this year it
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: was like, well Connor was friggin racing behind me, so
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: that was super fun and different this year, And yeah,
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: I just crossed and I was like hell yeah, but like, okay,
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: I want more than that, which was a very it's
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: just a very thing interesting thing to unpack, and I'm
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: still kind of unpacking that Yeah. I think I'm just
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: like so proud of like, which sounds so weird to say,
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: but just like doing it my way and being validated,
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: you know, Like it's not that I needed it to
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: like feel happy, but it's I just feel like, Okay,
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: I've put like my health in my like the fun meter.
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: I want to be so high, like I've put that,
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: you know, kind of on the front burner, and I
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: just it feels good to be like my way is
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: the best way for me, instead of trying to fit
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: myself into so many different molds that I've tried to
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: do for so long, I was just trying to be
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: a chameleon and coachable and a yes girl and do
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: things you know that would like help me keep a
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: contract or like blah blah blah blah blah. And now
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: I feel like I've been myself and people are accepting
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: of that and excited, you know, to be on this
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: journey with me. And I think that's like the biggest
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: takeaway is like just being super grateful for that.
• 43:43
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 43:45
  Speaker 2: When you think about the next two years, aside from
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: the destination goal of making that twenty eight team, we
• 43:54
  Speaker 2: talked about twenty twenty nine. Yeah, what else excites you?
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: Because as we're talking about keeping the joy.
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: It's very funny you asked that because I think with David,
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: my coach, he's like, I just want you to do
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: what literally sounds the most fun to do. And like
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: early on this year that was running a like a
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: high school boys mile and he's like, do it, go
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: for it, like weird but okay, and it was so
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: much fun and doing like a local Masa ten k
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: instead of flying somewhere to do a big ten k.
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: Early on, I'm like, I just needed the local fun stuff.
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: So I'm going to really try to figure out, like
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: what sounds the most fun. I mean, obviously now it's
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: like do I want to run Chicago or New York
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: or like try for a really fast half like my
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: I know I have so much room left in the
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: half marathon like in Houston next year, and I just
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: need to sit and think about what sounds the most fun.
• 44:43
  Speaker 3: You know, it sounds fun. Just what you said you
• 44:46
  Speaker 3: like hills.
• 44:47
  Speaker 4: I do like hills.
• 44:48
  Speaker 3: Well.
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: Some have said that Sydney has the my elevation game
• 44:52
  Speaker 2: out of any world major marathon.
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: I know, I know I've heard that. Come on, hang
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: that's honestly, Sydney sounds fun too. Yeah, So I don't know.
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: I'm trying to figure that out. Like going back to
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: New York. I was so nervous my first New York.
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: So I'm like, that sounds fun to go back and
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: run on hills and and give that another fair shot.
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: Basically hear that we keep following in Chilene's footstuff, right,
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: that would.
• 45:17
  Speaker 4: Be sick.
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: Or do just like going to Chicago running flat on
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: a new course that I like, don't know, that sounds fun. Yeah,
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: I just need to figure that out. So I think
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: we'll take some time to do that.
• 45:29
  Speaker 4: We'll take some time, but I'll do whatever, you know.
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: Like Dez gave me such good advice when I was
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: figuring out my first marathon, like you know, major and
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: all this stuff. She's like, literally, do what's gonna help you,
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: like get out of bed excited in the morning. Because
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: I was in the thick of summer training. She's like,
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: what are you going to wake up like at four
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: four thirty in the morning excited about doing? And that's
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: advice that I've kind of kept, you know, pretty close
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: this whole time. Is like do what you're excited about
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: because it's you know, I did so many things in
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: the past where it's like, what's going to get me
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: a fast time or a qualify blah blah blah.
• 46:01
  Speaker 4: So yeah, we're gonna figure that out.
• 46:02
  Speaker 2: It's kind of monotonous, or it can be anyway in
• 46:05
  Speaker 2: that it's just all right, did this marathon gonna take
• 46:08
  Speaker 2: a second? Then gonna start training for something else, And
• 46:10
  Speaker 2: they're gonna start training for something else, like, yeah, you
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: know that you're about to hop back on the hamster wheel.
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: For people that have found themselves in similar situations, how
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: do you keep things interesting?
• 46:23
  Speaker 3: What keeps you?
• 46:26
  Speaker 2: I don't even want to say motivation because motivation often
• 46:28
  Speaker 2: follows action, right, So it's like, what is it that
• 46:32
  Speaker 2: keeps you in an action cycle when it does feel
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: so monotonous?
• 46:38
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I'm I'm somebody that's like I race.
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: I race pretty often, and I think racing like do
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: things out of your wheelhouse and out of your comfort zone.
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: And I've kind of like let the ego fall away,
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: Like especially on the track. It took me so much
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: to even get back on the track to train after
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: my time away from the sport, and now I look
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: at the track as kind of like not a full
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: means to an end, but I'm like it makes me
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: such a strong marathon or to like keep that speed,
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: so it it feels really fun to go run a
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: ten k knowing like I'm not gonna be as competitive
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: in the ten right now because I'm just more on
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: the marathon side, but like doing things that are a
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: little bit out of your comfort zone where you don't
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: have that barometer of like comparison to your past self
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: or something else local, like I as much as like
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: I'm a pro and I love the world majors, like
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: I love local road races like those give me so
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: much joy and so much fun. Like it's just so fun.
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: So like a foul myth sounds really fun this summer,
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: Like the road circuit sounds really fun to me.
• 47:37
  Speaker 4: So I'm like trying to figure that out.
• 47:38
  Speaker 2: Well, I was gonna ask, would you ever consider entering
• 47:40
  Speaker 2: the ten at like Nationals or pre or something like that.
• 47:44
  Speaker 4: Oh my god, a Diamond League. I don't.
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: For some reason, Diamond League sound crazy to me right now,
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: does not sound fun, not really, which sounds very weird
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: to say out loud on record, on the record.
• 47:56
  Speaker 3: Sorry, Diamond League.
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, for some reason, like that just doesn't bring me like, oh,
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: like I want to do that, but ussays, I'm I
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: don't know. I'm debating on that. That's hard because like
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: you want to be competitive at ussays, and like, will
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: I be like ten k, you know, sharp to get
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: top three? I'm like, there's only so many years I
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: can go and get friggin just dominated by Carissa and Taylor.
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: Does that sound fun in the last Like you basically
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: like have to get to you know, fifteen hundred to
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: go and then have a really good fifteen hundred in
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: you And I'm like, I don't.
• 48:28
  Speaker 4: Maybe I don't know.
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: So yeah, we're very annoying answer, but yeah, literally still
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: trying to figure out. I'm sure I'll get home and
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: like take a few days to unpack and stuff, and
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: then I'll get on the phone with David and we'll
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: figure out a game plan. But the road circuit actually
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: does sound really fun to me so before a long
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: time ago, and I just love fun. I loved it.
• 48:48
  Speaker 4: What sounds fun to be Kelly.
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: I know what sounds fun to me is to do
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: the mile the night before and then come back for
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: the road race.
• 48:56
  Speaker 3: It's a little bit of torture.
• 48:57
  Speaker 4: It's weird, but like fun.
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: It'd be fun to get a mile and race, you know,
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: I mean a ton of the best milers go there,
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: so I yeah, just trying to figure it out. But
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: I think a lot of it too, is like letting
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: the ego kind of fall away, because I mean there's
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: so many races where like I always want to run
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: really well in a half or you know, rod ten
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: or the marathon, but like it's good to do races
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: that keep it interesting and keep it fun and make
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: you like a little bit hungrier.
• 49:24
  Speaker 4: You can't be on all the time.
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: So I think it's also like let yourself come down
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: from you know, if you ran Boston or you're running
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: London or whatever, Like if the race goes really well,
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: enjoy that.
• 49:33
  Speaker 4: But also like you kind of like turn the page
• 49:37
  Speaker 4: in the chapter.
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: So I think that's an interesting reflection too of this
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: weekend is like I'm kind of I'm.
• 49:41
  Speaker 4: Ready to like turn the page on it.
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I'm gonna enjoy and like celebrate in London,
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: but I'm like so excited for what's next. And that's
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: crazy to have finished a marathon feeling that way. Like
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: I'm usually pretty like after Tokyo, I was like, I'm fuck,
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: I'm done.
• 49:54
  Speaker 4: For Like, I need time. I'm going to take the holidays.
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: I needed like four months to bounce back after Tokyo.
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: But I feel like I could. I could go run
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: London and have a really fun time doing like I
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: feel like I could do that, which is a very
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: cool place to be in. So we're gonna enjoy being
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: there and being here and yeah, see what's next. See
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: what's next?
• 50:14
  Speaker 2: A lot of eyes on you after the debacle in Atlanta. Yeah, my,
• 50:20
  Speaker 2: and then especially now with your success in Boston. What
• 50:24
  Speaker 2: is it that you want people to see when they
• 50:27
  Speaker 2: see Jess McLean.
• 50:29
  Speaker 4: Oh gosh.
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: I think of Emma Grace too, because she came back
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: and is just it's not that I don't feel like
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: both of us are running feeling like we have to
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: prove something. We're just running and racing like to the
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: best of our ability, knowing like where we're at. So
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: I just want to get my hats off to Emma
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: Grace because she's been she's honestly been giving me so
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: much motivation.
• 50:49
  Speaker 4: I'm like, all right, let's freaking go.
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: Let's like show, you know, show what the world kind
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: of missed out on in Atlanta, but no, I think
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: right now, I just want people to to look at
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: me and be like, oh my god, she's having so
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: much fun like outside of all this too, and can
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: still run really, really well. And I think my big
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: takeaway is like I wish I had somebody when I was,
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: you know, an up and coming pro or even a
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: collegiate to look at and be like, oh my gosh,
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: I can do all of the other things I love
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: in life and still run really well instead of like
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: I mean, I for so long wished I could have
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: been more robotic about it, like just a one track athlete,
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: and I tried to like become that and I just couldn't.
• 51:31
  Speaker 3: And what do you mean by more robotic about it?
• 51:34
  Speaker 2: Just like.
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: And I don't want this to sound bad, because I'm
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: like so, I for so long was so jealous of
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: my fellow like competitors and athletes that literally could just
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: run and just be so happy doing that, like just
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: very like so dialed that they eat like breathe sleep
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: running but then love the recovery, love like the norma
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: teching and the pete and the gym.
• 51:56
  Speaker 4: Like I don't. I don't go to the gym.
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: I don't lift, I don't do strength like I focus
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: on bread and butter. I'm like, I want to be
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: good at running and we're just gonna run. I do
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: like very minimal body weight exercises and stuff just to
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: like there's certain inefficiencies I have that I'm trying to better,
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: But I don't know. I think I just I just
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: want to have so much fun running and keep that
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: so fun and enjoy like going to friends' weddings and
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: the family milestones. And I want it to I want
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: it to be a career where I look back and
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: I'm just like, I had so much fun on the
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: journey and that when I look back, I want to
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: obviously think of days like you know, on the Boston
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: Marathon course on Monday, but I want to think about
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: all the in between times too.
• 52:41
  Speaker 4: And I think when you're.
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: You're you let yourself like, yeah, just enjoy the process,
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: which sounds so cliche, and lean into the other things
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: that make you you, Like, what are your interests and
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: like what brings you joy outside of running, because running
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: is not gonna go well all the time. And like
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: even your job, whatever it is that like supports your
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: life and whatever, Like, you're going to have moments where
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: it sucks and you should be able to tap into
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: other things and that's okay. So yeah, I'm just riding
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: that wave. I also know I'm not going to be
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: able to do this forever. And I'm somebody that's like,
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: this isn't a backup plan for when running doesn't go well.
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: It's like, what do I want to do after I'm
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: done running at this level? So I'm setting myself up
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: for that too, and success after sport, And I think
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: that's okay to think about. I spent so much time
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: like being told that you shouldn't do anything else and
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: you're just like having a backup plan for when running
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: doesn't go well and you're not dedicated enough.
• 53:32
  Speaker 4: And it's like that's so not true. Yeah you can.
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: You can plan for your future and whatever that looks like.
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: And yeah, still have a really kick ass fun time
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: running and training and racing at a really high level.
• 53:44
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 53:44
  Speaker 2: I was just listening to you talking and I had
• 53:47
  Speaker 2: this exact thought, which sounds so cheesy. The thought was
• 53:51
  Speaker 2: how lucky am I to be doing the work that
• 53:53
  Speaker 2: I do in the time.
• 53:55
  Speaker 3: Period that you're doing what you do?
• 53:57
  Speaker 4: Oh, like it.
• 53:59
  Speaker 3: You're like, oh my god, why did you say?
• 54:00
  Speaker 4: This is a nice thing about it? But like, I
• 54:02
  Speaker 4: feel so.
• 54:04
  Speaker 2: Lucky that I get to learn from you and I
• 54:09
  Speaker 2: get to listen to you, and I get to watch
• 54:11
  Speaker 2: you grow, because this is a story and a journey
• 54:17
  Speaker 2: that isn't very traditional in women's running, and so how
• 54:23
  Speaker 2: cool is it that we get to orbit this at
• 54:25
  Speaker 2: the same time.
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: Oh, you're the best. Oh that's really really cute and
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: nice of you to say cheers. And I look at
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: Alyssa like after the Olympics, like women's figure skating seems
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: so intense and honestly, her story I watched her skate
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: and I'm like, how how she looks skating is literally
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: how I feel running, Like.
• 54:42
  Speaker 3: I'm very similar stories her stepping away.
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: It's fun and like I wish I could rock a
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: sick haircut like that, but.
• 54:48
  Speaker 3: You rock a bob real well honestly, it was very.
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: Short few weeks ago, but I just I saw her
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: skate and I'm like, I that's how I want to
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: feel and like look running like to other like the
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: little girl the stands like I don't know, like I'm
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: not like forcing a smile the whole time. But there's
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: so many videos of the American women like throughout the course,
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: where like Dakota's literally like smiling ear to ear, Sarah,
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: I know, a freakin hurt locker and was still smiling
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: ear to ear.
• 55:14
  Speaker 4: And it's very cool.
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: To just to look at an American field that's so
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: strong and just be like, damn, they're having like a
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: really good time doing.
• 55:22
  Speaker 4: It, so I really good time, a very cool ara
• 55:24
  Speaker 4: to be in.
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: I looked at women's American marathoning for so long being
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: like how do I even like? I want to be
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: a part of that so bad, And it's very cool
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: to be in it now and in the era we're in,
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: but I know, like five ten years down the road,
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: it's going to be something even cooler and better. But
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: hopefully it's because we were all here doing what we're
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: doing and yeah that's it.
• 55:44
  Speaker 4: Yeah we'll see.
• 55:45
  Speaker 2: But Jess MacLean, everyone's keeping up with you, or at least
• 55:47
  Speaker 2: they're trying to. But if they're not, just yet on
• 55:49
  Speaker 2: social where do they find you?
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: I'm pretty much on Instagram just at just Ton, which
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: is the name on my passport, so I'm here under
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: the ton Ton name.
• 56:00
  Speaker 4: But yeah, single girl, and I'm just kidding.
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: Still McLean, but yeah, so just ton, I'm mostly on
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: in stuff, but yeah, send me a d M.
• 56:09
  Speaker 4: I love responding and yeah hearing.
• 56:11
  Speaker 2: Whatever it is up the People's Princess. I'm over at
• 56:14
  Speaker 2: Emily Body at Hurdle Podcast. Another hurdle a concord. Catch
• 56:18
  Speaker 2: you guys next time.
• 56:19
  Speaker 4: Bye, everybody,