Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 304. A Masterclass In Resilience: Skateboarder Mariah Duran On Following Your Gut In Difficult Moments & Olympic Dreams Turned Reality

Transcript

304. A Masterclass In Resilience: Skateboarder Mariah Duran On Following Your Gut In Difficult Moments & Olympic Dreams Turned Reality · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Just try stuff without really worrying about failure. It's weird
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: because skateboarding doesn't really feel like failure, just feels like
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: trying and trying until you land it. I guess that's,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: you know, the definition of resilience.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: What's going on, Emily A body here.
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: You are listening to episode three hundred and four of Hurdle,
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: a wellness focused podcast where I talk to inspirational people
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: about everything from their highest ties and toughest moments to
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: essential tips on how to live a healthier, happier, more
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: motivated life. We all go through our fair share of hurdles.
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: My goal through these discussions is to empower you to
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: better navigate yours and move with intention so that you
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: can stride towards your own big potential and of course
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: have some fun along the way. I am excited to
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: bring you this conversation today.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: It's with Maria Durant.
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: She's a pro skateboarder, one of the best in the game.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: We had the opportunity to sit down when we are.
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: Both in Paris earlier this year, a celebration put on
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: by her sponsor at Adidas, who linked us up to
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: really get.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Down to it.
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: In today's episode, Mariah talks about how she got into boarding,
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: why she fell in love with this sport over the
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: other ones that she was involved in, plus what her
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: why is what keeps her getting up. Skateboarding can be
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: a gnarly sport with lots of room for falls and spills.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: But this woman is unshakeable.
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: Mariah also opens up about her hopes for this year's
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: Olympic Games and speaking on that, how she made the
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: conscious choice to take some time off after the Tokyo
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: Olympics to reconnect with her love for sports and what
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: that time off really taught her. Mariah is twenty seven,
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: and I am absolutely blown away by her perspective, her tenacity,
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: her optimism for not just her sport, but all that
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: life has to offer her. You will be hard pressed
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: to walk away from listening to this episode without a
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: lot of motivation to go after your next big goal.
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: Make sure you're following along with the show over on
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: social It's at Hurdle podcast. I myself am over at
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: Emily a body and with that, let's get to it.
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: Let's get to hurdling. Today, I'm sitting down with Mariah Duran.
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: She is an Olympic skateboarder. How are we doing today?
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: Doing great? We're in Paris.
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: Can't complain, can't complain? This is wild. This is not
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: your first trip to Paris, No, it's not. How does
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: it feel to be back here?
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: It feels really good.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: I feel like coming back and like actually exploring is
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: like really nice. Last time it was kind of just
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: like for like a small contest, so just at the
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: skate park and that was pretty much it.
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: I know, right now, you're working to solidify your trip
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: back here this summer. So does being here cultivate a
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: little bit more excitement than the last time?
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: Oh for sure.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: I mean you've already seen like posters of Paris Olympics everywhere,
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: like when you leave the airport, they're.
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: Hyping it up.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: And yeah, I just I don't know, it's really cool
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: because I'm like, okay, I could, you know, I work
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: really hard, like do the plan, then I'll be able
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: to come back.
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: This is the second ever appearance of skateboarding in the Games.
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: Talk to me a little bit about how it felt
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: when your sport was inaugurally brought into the mix in
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: twenty twenty.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I feel like the first time it was in
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: the Olympics. It was kind of crazy because like in
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: twenty eighteen, it was kind of like in the air,
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: they're like, hey, yeah, like it's going to be in
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: the Olympics and like us like competing, and we're like, okay,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: so how is that really going to work? And then
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: twenty nineteen it started like they started lining up contests
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: and it kind of was just like a treadmill of
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: contest to guess qualify for the Olympics. And then twenty
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: twenty happened and it was like postponed, so and it
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: was like super interesting because I was like the first
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: time ever and it was our first time ever too,
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: like there was no right or wrong way for skateboarding.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: Then yeah, twenty twenty one got to skate in it.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: But yeah, I would say it's like it's pretty crazy
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: kind of thinking that it's already that time again.
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we'll circle back on a little bit more surrounding
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: the particulars of your experience the last go around. But
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: I love the wording that you used the treadmill of
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: events getting you.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: Into that first time.
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: Talk to us a little bit about how it works
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: for those that may not know why it is important
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: to participate in the quote unquote treadmill of events to
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: get you to where you want to be.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so I think like the first time around, it
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: was kind of like there was like a bunch of contests,
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: so they were still ORGANI the points system, so basically
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: you have to accumulate points and then if you're like
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: top three in your country and like top twenty.
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: In the world, then you would go to the Olympics.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: So based on that, like you want to skate like
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: every contest so that you can accumulate points, because sometimes
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: it does come down to like the small points where
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: you're like that makes the call, you know. I think
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: this time around they were more organized for sure, because
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: I think like second go around is always going to
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: be better. And we just had like, instead of like
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: twelve contests in twenty nineteen, there was.
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: Like four or five, you know, so that was a
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: big difference.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: It wasn't like super treadmill, but it was it was
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: definitely like consistently like yearly, you know, when you would
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: just like clock out of the contest and clock back in.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: So yeah, I think, and then we have two left
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: right now for Paris.
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: When you talk about the discrepancies between the two do
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: you have a preference on a plethora of events and
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: more opportunities to get points, or less events and less
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: opportunities to get points.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: It's so weird because I've only had the first one yet.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: I guess like maybe the third time around, maybe in LA.
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: Will kind of know which one is, maybe we would prefer.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: But as of right now, you kind of just adjust
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: with it and go with it.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: So I know that growing up in New Mexico you
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: played a variety of sports, and in fact, your mom's
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: role when you picked up skateboarding was that you could
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: skate as long as you did other sports as well. Yes,
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: so tell me a little bit about what it was
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: about skateboarding from the get go that really intrigued you
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: and brought you in.
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: I would say probably like my older brother kind of
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: picked it up.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: But I mean I was in sports like since I
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: could like walk, I was like playing soccer. I was
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: like playing softball, baseball. If my brother did baseball, I
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: did baseball, transitioned into softball, and then in like high
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: school I was doing like basketball, I was like skating
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: on the side. I picked up skating when I was
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: like ten, And I think, like, what really made me
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: interested was like there was no specific goal, like you're
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: always working to get new tricks, Like I feel like
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: it was something that was never gonna Like you pick
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: up like a basketball and you could probably figure out
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: how to do a layup pretty fast, but like you
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: pick up a board and you try to like allie
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: or like kickflip, you're gonna be there for a while,
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: you know. So it's like I think that was what
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: intrigued me the most, was like it was always progression.
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: Always progression, but a lot of I'll use air quotes
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: around this failure involved as well, right going after something
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: and going after something was resilience something that you saw
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: modeled for you from a young age or was this
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: something that you really just kind of built up over time?
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: For sure, Like you learn that like resilience right away,
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: Like you learn that you're gonna fall and it's your
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: choice to get back up. I know a lot of
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: people who picked up skating and they had the one
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: slam and they're like, yeah, it wasn't for me, And
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: then people who are still in skating like got up
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: from that fall and kept going. I feel like it
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: kind of like skateboarding kind of chooses a specific type
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: of person who's down for that, and your intro that
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: almost immediately, like right away if you're in or out.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: If you're in or out.
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: For you, you probably had a lot of those gnarly
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: falls very early on. I mean, it's not an easy
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: thing to get used to. So what was it about
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: that discomfort that intrigued you?
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: I guess it was just like the reward of getting
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: past that. I feel like it is something powerful about
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: like falling really hard and then having to go back
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: and do it again. I feel like that was the
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: reward that everybody seeks as like oh yeah, like I
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: slammed really hard, I rolled my ankle, like did this,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: But then you go back and you nail that trick
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: and then it's all worth it, like you forget all
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: of the stuff that you had to go through and
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: then you move on to.
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: The next trick.
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: How would you say that that mentality applies broadly within
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: your life?
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: Then I would say I'm less scared to try stuff
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: because like skateboarding is pretty pretty hard, like right away,
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: like you fall right away, so it's very like a
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: physical thing. Like so when I do stuff like in life,
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: I'm not really that scared to fail because it's not
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: like I'm gonna wreck or like sack or rail or something,
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: you know, like it's not going to be very physical.
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: It's more of like it builds.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Like mental strength to just try stuff without really worrying
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: about failure. And it's weird because skateboarding doesn't really feel
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: like failure. It just feels like trying and trying until
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: you land it, you know. And I guess that's you know,
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: I guess the definition of resilience.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, for sure.
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: And so for you, when was that moment that you
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: started to realize that you were really good at skateboarding
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: and maybe your mom was a little bit less, like, Okay,
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: you got to go to softball practice, you can stick
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: with the board.
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: Yeah. I think it kind of came to me.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: I had a conversation with my mom when I was
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: like in junior year of high school. I was playing
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: softball or yeah, I was like softball and then I
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: was also doing basketball. But I kind of was just like,
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: I'm really intrigued with skateboarding and I've been doing it
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: on the side. There's a few moments, like one was
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: like when I kind of landed my first sponsor. It
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: was this very small shop and it was like probably
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: around like sixth grade, and they gave me free boards
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: and my mom was kind of like, okay, so my
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: daughter's kind of good, like she's getting free boards. That
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: was like one moment and then the next like moment
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: where I was like I want to do this full
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: time was like junior year of high school and I
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: was like, hey, like I really want to to do this,
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: Like I've been in sports, like, but I really just
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: want to do skating for my senior year and see
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: where that takes me and kind of just rolled the dice,
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: but also put myself out there and you know, sent
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: out footage to people like in California, did my best
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: to do that, and then got invited to X Games
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: as an alternate, and after that my mom was kind
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: of like, okay, so there's kind of a root, like
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: a route that you could take, you know, like we didn't.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: There wasn't a specific route, but getting invited to X
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: Games definitely helped that conversation go a little bit better.
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: And something to be so proud of, right because you
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: came in and it's all self taught. I feel like
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: skateboarding is a little bit different in that way, and
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: that so many of the other sports that are in
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: the Olympics are either rooted in team or sports that
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: you really practice like on large scale with a lot
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: of other individuals, and for you to do so much
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: of this grunt work on your own, yeah, it definitely
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: takes a lot of tenacity as well.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess, like it wasn't super structured in like
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: a sport aspect. It was more of just I really
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: love to do it and I wanted to figure it out.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: So I kind of just it seemed like it was grountwork,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: but for me, I was just in the moment just
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: figuring it out, you know. And then now like skating
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: in the contest, now I was like, wow, I'm like
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: really glad like I stuck with it, you know, because
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: a lot of that did pay off, even like bigger
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: than I thought.
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: I guess.
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, for sure, I don't think that when
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: you were like a pre teen picking up a board,
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: you were like, one day, I'm going to bring this
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: all the way, yeah to the Olympics.
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely not that was definitely not in one.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: See, definitely not so sticking with it.
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: I think that's a really special topic that I'd love
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: to dive in with you because, as we touched on
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: at the beginning, so many falls over and over, some
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: things that people would call failures, but you're just looking
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: at it as an opportunity to continually improve. For someone
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: listening to this that feels like and whatever their skill is,
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: whatever their craft is, they're continually tripping, falling, landing on
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: their knees getting a little bloody. What advice do you
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: have to like harness that inner grit and keep showing
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: up when it gets hard.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: I guess it's kind of just like you just stay
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: on the ride and then it's like a roller coaster.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: You know you're gonna have like ups and downs, but
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: I feel like the main thing is if you stay
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: on the ride, you'll be able to get something out
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: of it, whatever that is, because I feel like skateboarding
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: or whatever, any sport I feel like brings out the
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: best in the individual, But it's about like what they
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: give and put in to like really discover that.
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: I forget what the meme is, but there's like this
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: meme and it's like what could have happened if you
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: just started? And then like what happened because you didn't
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: and it's like one long bar and like there's nothing there, right,
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: And so so many times it's like what happened?
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: What's the worst thing that can happen if you start?
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: And oftentimes like the worst thing that could happen is
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: like maybe you just stay right where you are, But
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: at least you had the tenacity to try to begin,
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: whereas if you do absolutely nothing, then you don't even
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: know where it could go from there. And again for
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: you that I'm just going to stick with this not
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: only landed you your first sponsors, but then now has
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: us having this conversation sitting here in Paris. For you
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: get talking about going to the X Games for the
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: first time, what was it like as you started to
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: gain notoriety within your sport.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: It was definitely like interesting, like kind of when I
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: started putting myself in positions of people who were great
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: in like skateboarding, I felt like it was really awesome,
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: like intro to be like alternative X Games because it
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: was like if someone gets hurt, then you're in. But
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: like I got to skate the practices with everybody who
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: was in, so I got to be around the environment,
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: around people who I was like I looked at YouTube
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: videos of this person.
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: You know.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: I guess just being like in like miracle territory kind
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: of just allowed me to find myself and really put
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: more into it.
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: For someone who doesn't know what miracle territory is, elaborate.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: I mean it could, it could be a lot of things.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: For me, it was mainly just being around people who
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: were great or people who I looked up to, putting
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: myself in a position maybe if I was uncomfortable putting
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: like traveling to a destination where skateboarding was big, you know,
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: rubbing shoulders with people who I looked up to, asking
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: questions with people who are really good at skating at
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: the skatepark, Like putting yourself in a position to try
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: to grow or get something from somebody so you can
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: learn to better yourself.
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: I feel like, Okay, so I'm sitting here silencing my
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: own imposter syndrome that is me. Like, I'm in awe
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: of the way that you talk about that, because I
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: think that it's super admirable to have the grit, to
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: have the determination to have self assurance to go out
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: there and do something uncomfortable, like being around the people
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: that you admire and It's not that I don't do
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: things like that. I do it too, but I think
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: that it can be challenging, especially when it involves going
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: after something really big that you.
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: Want for sure.
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Like it's difficult, right because you can even know
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: things to be true, like I can know that I
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: host a top one hundred health podcast, or you can
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: know that you are already an Olympian, but that doesn't
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: necessarily mean that it's the easiest thing to walk into
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: the room and say, like, I deserve to be standing
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: here for you. When you walk into these rooms, now,
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: do you feel like that sense of imposter syndrome is
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: squashed or do you still have that like that narrative
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: sometimes when you walk into rooms with other big name people.
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: I guess it's one of those things.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: I definitely feel impostia syndrome like here and there for sure,
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: but I also like recognize that everybody who've like been
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: around or looked up to are like human as well,
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: and they're probably dealing with the same things or have
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: dealt with it. So I kind of just figured that
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: it's I don't know, well, I still haven't passed your
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: syndrome for sure, but it's like I know how to
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: cope with it a little bit more. I know how
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: to bounce back. I know how to kind.
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: Of just appreciate the moment, you know.
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: Because it is crazy that I'm here in Paris right now,
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: you know, talking with you, and my skateboard brought that here,
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: you know.
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it kind.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: Of just seems like, oh, like it's so many dots
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: had to connect in order for this moment to happen.
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: But also like in the moments of.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: Connecting those dots, I was pretty you know, intent with
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: what I wanted and this is what it got me.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: Let's talk about the dots.
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: What would you say are the biggest dots, so to speak,
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: that have contributed to your success within skateboarding.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: I guess the biggest thing for me, I guess when
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: the dots have connected. I guess it was because I
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: trusted my inner voice of like what I needed to do,
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: Like if I needed to go to California for a
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: month and try to skate and try to make something.
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: Happen, then I would do that.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: If that was like still keeping a part time job
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: before I could sign like with Adidas to you know,
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: skate for a living, I feel like it was just
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: connecting the dots kind of just always came from my
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: inner voice, trusting that idea of like, Okay, so this
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: is what you want, and you know, it's like it's
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: like an intuition thing, like you kind of just know
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: in the moment when an opportunity comes, you know if
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: it's like if it's a good one, if it's going
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: to get you to your goal, or you know, if
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: like you're going to pass on it. You know. I
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: just feel like being pretty present allows the dots to
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: connect naturally.
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: To be honest, that idea of presence is really valuable,
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: and I also believe that that is something that many
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: people struggle with, especially in today's culture where ninety nine
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: point nine percent of people are connected to a device
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: that connects them with other people in their left hand.
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, how do you cultivate presents?
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: I mean, for me personally, like being present looks like
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: I mean I have like a like an alarm for
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: like Instagram, Like I have a set it so I
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: don't scroll for too long, but also kind of just
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: like doing like some meditation and stuff on the side
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: to really bring me to the moment. Your breath will
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: always take you to the moment. Especially I kind of
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: dove more into that when I was competing, because I
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: feel like emotions are so heightened when you're like having
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: to perform and you're nervous and you have imposture syndrome
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: or life is happening or all this stuff, and you
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: really just have to narrow it down to just skateboarding,
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: you know, kind of simplify it because I feel like
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of noise outside. So it's like the
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: more like the less noise you have, like the more
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: present you could be, I guess.
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, And by being more present, what I'm hearing you
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: say is it helps you cope with both the nerves
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: but also the aspect of fear that comes with what
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: you're doing.
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: Let's talk a little bit about.
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: Fear and how you've learned to befriend it because you
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: have to befriend it when you're doing the crazy kind
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: of stuff that you're doing out there.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I would have to say fear is different every
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: single time for me. Yeah, like I mean if like
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: I mean, because I really enjoy skateboarding and I really
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: enjoy pushing myself and seeing what I could get out
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: of it, So I'm constantly faced with like fear of
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: of course falling and everything like that. But I guess
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: you learn to be more comfortable with that feeling and
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: you kind of just try it, you know, and if
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: it works out, it works out.
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: Majority of the time it does work out.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: Like it's it's pretty crazy because I'll be doing super
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: crazy tricks who I'm terrified, Like I'll be jumping down
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: twelve stairs, like grinding down the rails, and like in
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: my head, I'm like, oh, I'm gonna like miss or
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna hit the rail or all this stuff. But
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: then I like calm down and I try it and
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: I'm completely fine. But it's not necessarily calmed down. It's
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: more so adrenaline. But like once you try it, you
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: kind of start to trust yourself, you know. Yeah, it's
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: kind of weird because like I'll be pretty dialed in
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: skating like twelve stair rails and stuff, and then I'll
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: just go down the street to skate coffee and hit
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: a crack.
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: And just be smoked. Like, Yes, when you lets your
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: guard down, you have.
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: Like this whole other language and listening to this that's
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: like not familiar with skate, which is probably like eighty five.
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: To ninety percent of the listeners.
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: Means fall down really hard, fall down.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: Really hard, and we what was the coffee reference there?
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: Yeah, your wills just hit a crack and you just slam.
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: And just slam. Yeah, you don't want to do that.
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: You also don't want to You also don't want to
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: fall skating over twelve stairs either.
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah, it's so weird.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: I feel like skateboarding is kind of when you let
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: your guard down, Like accidents and freak accidents do happen,
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: but it's kind of just you know, like not as
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: often as you would probably think.
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: Off of the board, would you say that letting your
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: guard down has paid off?
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: I would say so, I feel like off the board,
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: I don't. I don't know, like I would say, like
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: having my guard down, I guess kind of helps.
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: I don't know.
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: I feel like for me, as someone who also is
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: a higher achiever in a different way, keeping my guard
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: up is me like protecting myself. But I reckon denies
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: that there can be benefits to me taking my guard down,
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: letting my guard down around people, and being okay with
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: getting a little bit vulnerable, Because when I get vulnerable,
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: oftentimes that's when I learn the most about myself and
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: then I can use those lessons just like we're talking
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: about about failure and fear and whatnot to get me
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: to that next place. But it's hard, right, I feel
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: like it's super hard to let your guard down.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: I feel like it is hard to let your guard down,
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: but I feel like naturally it's gonna happen. It's just
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: like sometimes you have no choice in your guys let
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: down and you're vulnerable, or you have like a breakdown
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: and you kind of learn a lot about yourself in
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: those moments. I've learned to appreciate those moments more and
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: kind of welcome them a little bit more because I
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: feel like if I always keep my guard up all
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: the time, I feel like it will just build into
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: something that it's not and I might be getting further
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: away from where I'm trying to go. Whereas like if
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: I just let out how I feel about something, kind
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: of get over it and work through it and be human, like,
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: I'll be able to just move on and be like
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: more free.
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: I know in your time skating, there was a time
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: where you were asking yourself, is this still for me?
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: Should I be keeping my guard up? Tell us a
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: little bit about that.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: I guess like you're I mean, sometimes like when you
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: have a really bad injury, you're kind of you're you
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: sit with yourself and you're like, okay, like do I
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: want to keep doing this? Is this worth it? And
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: it's kind of it's good to have those conversations with yourself.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: I feel like for me, it's mainly like being pretty
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: hard on myself, like I really want to like keep
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: going and all this stuff. But as soon as i
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: take the pressure off of it, as soon as I'm like, oh,
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: like I don't need to skate this contest if I'm
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: not feeling it, if I'm not mentally there, as soon
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: as I take my guard down, I'm like, I feel
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: so much more free to actually just go skate, like
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: and skate the contest and be myself, which is like
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: something that I've learned to kind of cope with in general,
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: like just knowing that, hey, if I'm like worked up
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: or overwhelmed, I kind of just sit with myself, have
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: a conversation and give myself a choice, because sometimes like
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: I'll be hard on myself.
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: There's no choice.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: I gotta like do this, you know, yeah, and it's good.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: But also, like you need to have those other times
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: to balance it out.
• 23:06
  Speaker 4: I feel like, yeah, for sure.
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: So within your timeline of skating, when was the most
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: recent time that you were having that difficult conversation with
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: yourself that you were like, I don't know if this
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: is for me right now.
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it was.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: Actually it was pretty crazy because it was in It
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: was last year at X Games Ventura. So I skated
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: the contest, so there was the contest and then there
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: was the best Trick event.
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: Skated the contest.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: I made it to finals, but I was like just
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: going I just mentally just kind of going through it.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: You know. I really wanted to put in but like
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: couldn't put my run together. And sat with myself that
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: night and was like, I don't know if I'm gonna
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: skate the Best trick tomorrow. And I had like my
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: family over and I kind of just had a conversation,
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: like a like a real conversation, like I don't know
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: if I'm gonna skate, like because I'm pretty mentally drained.
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: And then they were like it's all good, like just
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: you don't have to.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: And then once I slept on it and took the
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: pressure off, I was like I woke up so rejuvenated
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: of like, oh, like I have a choice, and like
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: I want to do this now. And then it was
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: so crazy because then I ended up taking the gold
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: medal and the best trick for that, and it was
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: just so crazy because it was like it felt like
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: such a low, but when I let myself go, I
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: was able to actually see what I could do.
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: You know, it was crazy really walk in and embrace
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: all of your own potential. Yeah, and there's so many
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: parallels to be drawn there, but truly what happened for
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: you was that you admitted to yourself how you felt
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: and were honest about where you were at. And sometimes
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: when you kind of lie to yourself or you can't
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: get to that place where you're admitting what's really going on,
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: then nothing else can happen. Yeah, you have to be
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: honest with yourself before you can make any sort of
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: change or any sort of legitimate decision moving forward, or
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: the decision that you make if you're not being honest
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: with yourself probably isn't one that's going to be authentic to.
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: Who you are, what you want to be, where you
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: want to go.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's going to be very like force full. It's
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: like it's not going to flow as much as if
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: you would have just had the conversation with with yourself
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: and like let it go, yeah, and then naturally choose
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: it and even.
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: If it's a hard truth, right, because that was a
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: hard truth for you, sure, like, oh, this isn't feeling good. Yeah,
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: when you wanted it to feel good. You wanted to
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: show up the next day, and like who doesn't want
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: to win a gold Yeah? Yeah, you know, but in
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: that moment the night before, you were like, yeah, this
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: isn't working for me right now? Yeah, And to wake up,
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: did it feel like something was lifted off of your shoulders?
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: It just felt like more free, Like I was able
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: to just be more forgiving with myself. And I was like,
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: you know, I'm just gonna go out there and skate,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: and if I land my trick, I land my trick.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: If not, like I'm gonna be okay with it. And like,
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: once I trusted that, like I was able to just
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: like do me out there. Basically it was just like
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: it wasn't force full. It was like just in the
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: best mindset and with the best intent, even if I
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: didn't like get a gold medal, or even if I
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: didn't even meddle, like I would have been okay with it,
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: but at least I like have the conversation because I
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: feel like sometimes us competitors are people who like to
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: like really push themselves really try to just be like no,
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: like I gotta be a hundred, I gotta like, you know,
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: I need, I need to want this. But sometimes you
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: have to like let it go in order to like
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: really kind of want it.
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: You know, Perfection isn't relatable like vulnerability is relatable. And
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: even when it's just you being vulnerable with yourself, it's like, oh,
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: like I got you. It's like giving yourself like a
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: little bit of a hut, yeah for sure, and then
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: showing up and being like okay, like you and me
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: self self, we're gonna do this together.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we're gonna go out there and crush it.
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: So after that X Games win, then how did you
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: feel after the win?
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: It was crazy because I felt like I felt like
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: I was gonna feel the same way regardless if I
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: won the medal or not. I felt like I had
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: a conversation with myself and was like I'm gonna feel
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna validate myself regardless With the metal or not,
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: you know, and like, of course the medal is great,
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: but I also didn't want to like identify with that
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: because if I do that, then that's gonna put more
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: pressure on like the next one, and if I don't
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: do good on that, I'm.
• 26:55
  Speaker 4: Gonna be like heartbroken, you know.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: So I felt like I kind of was just like
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: kept it pretty neutral, like of course, like yeah, I
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: have like a photo, like did a post, but also
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: just like just got back to skating like just freely.
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, what's your relationship like with yourself?
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: My relationship with myself, I don't know. I guess I
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: like figure it out every time. I feel like, as
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: of right now, I feel like I'm learning to be
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: more forgiving and learning to be.
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: More in the moment.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: But that was because I wasn't being forgiving and being
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: in them. I was like overwhelmed and stuff like that.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: I feel like it was a learned thing because anybody
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: can be like, yeah, like I'm super I'm not.
• 27:34
  Speaker 4: I used to be really hard on myself, but.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: Now I'm not.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: But but everybody who's hard on themselves doesn't want to
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: like sit with themselves and like have a conversation, you know.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: For me, I feel like I'm more open to like
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: adversity because I know it's you know it's gonna happen.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: But I feel like, I guess I'm just more comfortable
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: to like stay on the ride. Yeah, yeah, whatever that
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: looks like. Yeah, whether it's scary up down, like, I
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: feel like I'm comfortable to just stay on the ride
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: and just know that things are going to happen.
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: Taking a break from today's episode to give some love
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: to my partner at AG one. Morning routines are critical
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: to me, and one of the most important parts of
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: this routine is drinking my AG one. I drink it
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: right after I work out, and it makes me feel
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: like I'm ready to take on the day. It's an
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: integral piece to my morning puzzle. It makes me feel
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: like I'm doing something good for my body and that
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: I'm supporting my recovery.
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: AG One's a.
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: Foundational nutrition supplement that delivers daily nutrients and gut health support,
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: and it's backed by multiple research studies so that you
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: can really trust what you're putting in your body. Ag
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: one has been third party tested on that note for
• 28:50
  Speaker 3: safety for years, and it's trusted by experts and medical professionals.
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: Like giving you one less thing to research.
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: I know it. Life is hectic as it is.
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: And speaking of research, they're posting results online from their
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: studies and it's so interesting to see how many of
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: the study participants have had the same feelings of energy
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: and focus and supported digestion that I've had using AG one.
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: Let me give you a quick example.
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: For instance, at thirty days of taking AG one, eighty
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: percent of people in a research study notice less gas
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: and bloating, and ninety seven percent of people in the
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: study feltmore energy.
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: That is what I'm talking about. If there's one product
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: I trust to support.
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: My whole body health, it's AG one, and that's why
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: I've partnered with them for so long. It's easy and
• 29:41
  Speaker 3: satisfying to start your journey with AG one. Try AG
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: one and get a free one year supply of vitamin
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: D three, K two, and five free AG one travel
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: packs with your first purchase at drinkag one dot com
• 29:57
  Speaker 3: slash hurdle. Again, that's Drink eight g number one dot
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: com slash hurdle. Go ahead, check it out. I keep
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: going back to the fact that this is such an
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: individual sport and so to have the reason I ask
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: what's your relationship like with yourself is because right now
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: you're spending a lot of time with yourself.
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, right, so there are gonna be.
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: Days, especially because it's scientifically proven that eighty percent of
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: our thoughts every day are negative, which is a frightening statistic.
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: But when you're having all those negative thoughts, it's got
• 30:37
  Speaker 3: to take a really strong person to be in your position,
• 30:40
  Speaker 3: gearing up for the things that you know that you
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: want to do. You have to have a strong why here,
• 30:45
  Speaker 3: because if you're spending so much time with self and
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: working on your relationship with self and having this strong why,
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: that's going to be the thing that propels you toward
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: where you want to go. So talk to me about
• 30:55
  Speaker 3: what your why is within skateboarding. What keeps you showing
• 30:59
  Speaker 3: up up after the falls, on the days where you're like, oh,
• 31:03
  Speaker 3: I don't want to do this shit, it's raining outside,
• 31:06
  Speaker 3: I don't know where the right place is for us
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: to pop up and skate what's your why?
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: I would say, the reason like the times when I
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: like don't want to do it, I would say my
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: why is just I don't know, it's weird because I
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: feel like the more you like put yourself in a
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: position to unlock something, it's more worth it. Like I
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: feel like, for me, like I am excited to meet
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: my future self, like whether that's in like a month
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: or after the Olympics, because I know that I'm gonna
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: grow regardless of like where where it's at. So I
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: feel like whenever I don't want to do something, I
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: kind of just you know, I I'm like, okay, Like
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: that's normal. Everybody doesn't want to like jump down twelve
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: stairs all the time. It's totally fine. But I feel
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: like just the idea of reaching a potential that I
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: like can see in my mind keeps me kind of going.
• 31:54
  Speaker 4: And it doesn't have to be like doing the craziest tricks.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: It's more of just not listening to the negative thoughts,
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: Like it's as big as that.
• 32:01
  Speaker 4: It's like just being like all right, you.
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: Know what, Like.
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: People can like doubt me or whatever, and I can
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: even doubt myself, but if I pushed through it, like
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna be so much better and so much stronger
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: whatever that looks like, even if it's just like getting
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: over that fear.
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, oh one hundred percent.
• 32:18
  Speaker 3: And so getting over that fear has certainly taken on
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: many different shapes, sizes, looks over the last you know,
• 32:27
  Speaker 3: decade plus of skating. Chat with me a little bit
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: about how it felt when you started to get more
• 32:37
  Speaker 3: and more sponsors. I know, you landed Adidas in twenty
• 32:41
  Speaker 3: eighteen and then Mountain Dew in twenty nineteen, so those
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: are two huge companies. Yeah, and we talked already about
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: you know, how it felt when you realize like, oh,
• 32:51
  Speaker 3: I'm kind of good at this, but when other people,
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: specifically like very large brands take notice and believe in
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: you and back you, that's got to be a whole
• 33:00
  Speaker 3: other thing.
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean that definitely. It definitely helps helps the
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: case too. But it's kind of also like, you know,
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: like what kind of got me here is gonna keep
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: me here? So I kind of just go with the
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: mentality of like it's just skating at the end of
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: the day, and try not to take it so serious.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: Of course, like you know, having tent, but like having
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: support from like big brands and stuff kind of allows
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: you to, I guess, just really experienced and discover a
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: new side of yourself. I guess like when I started
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: skating full time, I figured out that like I kind
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: of like structure. I kind of like to go to
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: the gym and kind of like work out, try to
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: build my legs to be stronger. I kind of like
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: to stretch after I'm done skating. You know, like you
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: kind of discover new things about it, and especially when
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: you start competing, it's so rapid. It's like everything's times ten,
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: Like your emotions are times ten, the environment's times ten.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: So then you kind of just discover more stuff about
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: yourself and you're like allowed to. I guess like having
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: these big sponsors just kind of help helped me just
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: I don't know, I guess discover more stuff about myself.
• 34:03
  Speaker 3: What I'm hearing you say also is that the backing
• 34:06
  Speaker 3: of the sponsors enabled you to have a little bit
• 34:09
  Speaker 3: more freedom and find some more air.
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: Right for sure? Okay for sure.
• 34:13
  Speaker 3: So for someone who doesn't know when you get a sponsorship,
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: like what does that do for you?
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: It kind of I mean, speaking from my experience, when
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: I was able to get sponsored by Adidas, I was
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: able to quit my part time job working at pizza spot.
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: Wait, I want to hear about that. I think what
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: they were really cool.
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: I think what we need to know is like give
• 34:39
  Speaker 3: me a snapshot of what a day looked like when
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: you were still working at pizza spot and you were
• 34:43
  Speaker 3: trying to find the time to skate.
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was, uh so, it was like it was
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: kind of crazy. I feel like when I was just
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: working in skating, I did like a semester of college,
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: and I just remember like going to school using their
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: Wi Fi to look up videos because I didn't have
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: life at my house, and then you know, going to
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: work right after, and I remember like using my scholarship
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: but I got from college to pay my way to
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: a contest, and then I kind of just realized, like
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: I need to do this like full time, but there
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: was like no route. This is like in twenty sixteen,
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: twenty seventeen, like a day to day would literally be
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: like I would go to the skate park where if
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: I'm not in school, I'll go to the skate park,
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: and then I would end it around two thirty, rinse off,
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: and then go into work at like three, and then
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: like work at night, like the night shift, and then
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: rinse and repeat.
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: And then taking a thought or look at it now
• 35:40
  Speaker 3: if I know right now again we're traveling, but like
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: if you have to think of a normal day, Because
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: you just said that you like weight training, you like
• 35:46
  Speaker 3: stretching after your skating, so like, what does training look
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: like for you these days?
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: For me, it's definitely like I definitely like to probably
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: be up, but like depending like if I have a workout,
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: it would probably be like no thirty to like ten
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: thirty workout and then go back like rintse off and
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: then by like two two thirty, I probably just go skate,
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: whether it's street skating right at a skate park that's
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: kind of like what it looks like. But and then
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: like on the days because I only I like only
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: train off the board like two days a week because
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: skating is so physical that, like you like I kind
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: of just leave the rest of the days for skating.
• 36:22
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and especially.
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: Now with contests, I kind of just do weekdays targeted
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: towards getting ready for contests, and then Saturday Sunday just
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: free skate. Like just if I want to be creative,
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: if I want to go skate downtown, like just kind
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: of let myself breathe a little bit. That's kind of
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: just been my routine lately.
• 36:38
  Speaker 3: How do you think that creativity plays into what you're doing?
• 36:42
  Speaker 4: I feel like it balances it out.
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: I feel like it takes less stress off of contests
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: and it just allows me just to skate, like just
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: to be free and have no pressure.
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 36:53
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I feel like you need a balance for sure.
• 36:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think that balance is like a hard
• 36:57
  Speaker 3: thing to find, especially when you have goal. Sometimes you
• 37:01
  Speaker 3: question the balance or like the routine that you've put together. Yeah,
• 37:05
  Speaker 3: what's your relationship then with balance?
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: I guess you I kind of learn it along the way,
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: Like if something's not working, then I try to figure
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: out what's wrong, and then I try to balance it
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: out so I can avoid that situation. But I feel
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: like I'm constantly learning, like what it's like to fully
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: balance stuff, you know, because I feel like it's just
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: constantly different.
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it is totally different.
• 37:27
  Speaker 3: So as you make your way toward the summer games,
• 37:32
  Speaker 3: talk to me a little bit about, you know, what
• 37:35
  Speaker 3: has been the biggest victory so far for you on
• 37:39
  Speaker 3: this journey and maybe the most difficult part of the
• 37:41
  Speaker 3: journey thus far.
• 37:42
  Speaker 4: It's weird.
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: I feel like it'd be the same answer. I feel
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: like it would be staying on the ride. Yeah, I
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: feel like it's been the best thing that I've done,
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: But it's also been the most difficult thing. Yeah, is
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: like staying on the ride because I feel like everything's
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: just kind of moving very fast.
• 37:58
  Speaker 4: But also it's like, yeah, you know, like it's good
• 38:00
  Speaker 4: when it's good.
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: It's good when you're competing and you're doing good, but
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: it's also really hard when you're like not doing the
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: performance you want to be doing. But I also feel like, yeah,
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: just like staying on the ride has been like hard
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: but also good for me.
• 38:13
  Speaker 3: How do you pick yourself back up when you're not
• 38:17
  Speaker 3: performing how you want to?
• 38:19
  Speaker 4: I kind of just I let myself have a moment.
• 38:21
  Speaker 4: I let myself be bummed.
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: I let myself, you know, but I like kind of
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: give myself maybe like twenty four hours and then after that,
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: like all right, just go back and just keep it
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: simple and go skate. You know. I try to, and
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: but I do allow myself to kind of have moments
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: when I'm like, you know, in a hard time.
• 38:41
  Speaker 4: I'm going to tell you a story really quick.
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: Love that cool.
• 38:43
  Speaker 3: So I used to be the fitness editor at Self
• 38:47
  Speaker 3: magazine and for the Olympics issue. When I was working there,
• 38:50
  Speaker 3: this is the twenty sixteen Games, I interviewed a actual hurdler.
• 38:55
  Speaker 3: Her name's don Harper Nelson and she competed in Beijing
• 39:00
  Speaker 3: and famously tripped over the hurdle in her heat and
• 39:04
  Speaker 3: like completely wiped out and was so devastated over it,
• 39:07
  Speaker 3: like as you can imagine, like you gear up for
• 39:10
  Speaker 3: this one day, ye so sad. And she had the
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: decision in that moment she was either going to go
• 39:17
  Speaker 3: to they make you go through this media line like
• 39:19
  Speaker 3: before you leave the stadium when you're in track and field,
• 39:23
  Speaker 3: and she was like, oh hell no, like I'm not
• 39:25
  Speaker 3: going to the media line, and she literally jumped one
• 39:28
  Speaker 3: fence and then she was waiting to jump the se
• 39:30
  Speaker 3: like she was about to jump the second fence so
• 39:32
  Speaker 3: that she could get out of the stadium. When it
• 39:34
  Speaker 3: hit her, she was like, I have two choices right now.
• 39:37
  Speaker 3: I can jump the second fence and make this decision
• 39:40
  Speaker 3: that I'm not going to face what just happened, or
• 39:43
  Speaker 3: I can turn around jump the fence I just jumped
• 39:46
  Speaker 3: over and go face the media line and understand that
• 39:50
  Speaker 3: this one bad moment doesn't need to make a bad day.
• 39:53
  Speaker 3: And that mental muscle, that mental fortitude, that strain, that resilience,
• 40:01
  Speaker 3: that's not something that just happens in a second. You
• 40:04
  Speaker 3: don't develop that in a second. Your resilience builds just
• 40:08
  Speaker 3: like a muscle, you have to give it something to
• 40:10
  Speaker 3: push up against. And it was that extremely difficult hurdle
• 40:13
  Speaker 3: moment as we call them on the show that she
• 40:16
  Speaker 3: went to talk to the media and she had to
• 40:18
  Speaker 3: chat about what happened that forever made her a better person.
• 40:22
  Speaker 3: So for you, as you're going through these difficult you know, tricks,
• 40:27
  Speaker 3: you're sometimes nailing them, sometimes not on the ride, so
• 40:31
  Speaker 3: to speak, you're learning, like, all right, this is all
• 40:34
  Speaker 3: happening for me. It might not feel good all the time,
• 40:37
  Speaker 3: but at least I have the mental fortitude and the
• 40:41
  Speaker 3: understanding that it's going to help me get to where
• 40:43
  Speaker 3: I want to be, even if where you want to
• 40:46
  Speaker 3: be technically isn't on the podium at the Olympic Games.
• 40:49
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah, that's crazy.
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's so crazy when you say that, because
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: I feel like I've not that intensive a moment, But
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: I definitely understand like what it kind of like when
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: you have to make a choice and whether you like
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: want that to validate you or you already can validate
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: yourself and like like not make it a bad day.
• 41:07
  Speaker 4: It was just a bad moment.
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And I kind.
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: Of like really respect that for sure, because I feel
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: like skateboarding is pretty similar in the aspect of like
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: sometimes like you'll do like an embarrassing slam, like a
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: really hard slam, like and I feel like it's up
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: to you. It's always like up to you at the
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: end of the day to either let that validate you
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: or if you keep pushing you know. So, Yeah, that's
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: such a crazy story. Yeah, it's pretty amazing, honestly.
• 41:34
  Speaker 3: I mean it's definitely inspiring, and it's been something that
• 41:36
  Speaker 3: I think about every time that I get a know,
• 41:39
  Speaker 3: and it's comical because I'm sure you have experienced this
• 41:42
  Speaker 3: in your own way. But I would say my days
• 41:46
  Speaker 3: are often like seventy five percent no and then twenty
• 41:49
  Speaker 3: five percent yes. And I've gotten so good for the
• 41:52
  Speaker 3: most part at handling no. It doesn't mean that they
• 41:55
  Speaker 3: all feel great, but it means that if I got
• 41:59
  Speaker 3: all yeses, would not be as tenacious or resilient or
• 42:02
  Speaker 3: even proud of the things that I do accomplish because
• 42:06
  Speaker 3: I it was too easy.
• 42:08
  Speaker 2: I like the work, I like the grind.
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, that's definitely like skating like learning my
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: first kickflip took me like years. I had to like
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: watch my brother, he such a fast learner, learned it
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: with him like a week and I'm literally in the
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: front yard just going. And then like finally after like
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: a year figuring it out. Like, once you land that one,
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: it's just so like groundbreaking for yourself. You're like, wow, okay,
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: like I can actually do this, you know, but it
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: just cancels out all the nose totally.
• 42:35
  Speaker 3: It reminds me of the first time I ever did
• 42:37
  Speaker 3: a pull up and it took me like so, I mean,
• 42:40
  Speaker 3: I don't think I could do it now.
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: This is like eight years ago.
• 42:43
  Speaker 3: I was in a CrossFit phase and I did the
• 42:45
  Speaker 3: pull up and I'm so proud of it, But it
• 42:47
  Speaker 3: had taken me so long to get to that one point.
• 42:49
  Speaker 3: And then once you get it, you all of a
• 42:51
  Speaker 3: sudden have this muscle memory that you couldn't figure out
• 42:54
  Speaker 3: for so long to nail that one thing.
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's kind of powerful, you know. That's why
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: you keep going back for it.
• 43:01
  Speaker 3: Entirely true. So tell me a little bit. There's two
• 43:04
  Speaker 3: things I want to touch on. The first thing was
• 43:06
  Speaker 3: you said you were sending tapes to California. Talk to
• 43:09
  Speaker 3: me a little bit about why like filming and like
• 43:13
  Speaker 3: capturing content is such a big part of your sport.
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: I just feel like at the time, the only outlet
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: to find girl skaters was through like YouTube, So like
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: I would watch like Girls Skate Network, which was like
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: this YouTube. I would have like the girl skatings in
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: California and they would all be skating together and that
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: was kind of like my I guess, like I would
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: get inspiration from those. So for me, like it was
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: more of like I would go out with my friends
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: and like I would skate with my brothers at the
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: time too. We all like kind of started at the
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: same time. We would have like a person with a camera.
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: We would film like little videos I guess sponsor me
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: tapes is what they're called. And uh, we would kind
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: of just send them out, like I would just send
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: them to like the email Girls Skating Nowork. Didn't think
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: they were going to respond or anything, but yeah, definitely
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: they got back, which was crazy, and they were like, yeah,
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: like you seem like like at a good level, like
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: why don't you come check out this like contest And
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: at the time they had like exposure and like this
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: contest called Wheels of Fortune, and that was when like
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: that was like miracle territory for me because I was
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: like the girls that I would watch on YouTube would
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: be there, so I got to be like.
• 44:22
  Speaker 4: Rubbed shoulders with them.
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: At the time, I wasn't expecting, like, you know, like
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: anything from it. I just wanted to be in that
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: environment and see what would happen.
• 44:31
  Speaker 3: I'm obsessed with this phrase miracle territory. I feel like
• 44:35
  Speaker 3: it's like literally the like the goal, the goal is
• 44:39
  Speaker 3: to put yourself in miracle territory and understand that anything
• 44:43
  Speaker 3: that happens there like it's a dope ass place to be.
• 44:47
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 44:48
  Speaker 3: And on that note, women you admire skateboarding not a
• 44:53
  Speaker 3: super loaded with women's sport.
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: Yes or no?
• 44:57
  Speaker 4: No?
• 44:57
  Speaker 3: Okay, Now, how does it feel for you to be
• 45:00
  Speaker 3: excelling within a sport that's not conventionally for women.
• 45:06
  Speaker 4: I think it's pretty crazy.
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: I would have to give credit to like the top
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: women who came before me, because they I feel like
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: they opened the door and they kind of kept the
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: door open for skaters like me to actually have a
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: career in it because they just did it for no
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: check and like they just did it because they enjoyed
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: it and.
• 45:24
  Speaker 4: Everything like that. Not that I was doing it for a.
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: Check, but seeing like seeing them as role models kind
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: of inspired me to pick up a board and not
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: really expect to check, you know, and that kind of
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: just built the love for it. And yeah, I just
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: have to give shout out to like.
• 45:38
  Speaker 4: The women before me. I don't know, like the five
• 45:41
  Speaker 4: women before.
• 45:41
  Speaker 3: Me the way that you say so few and far between, right,
• 45:46
  Speaker 3: and so what would you say the most difficult part
• 45:49
  Speaker 3: is of being a pioneer and a pace center within skateboarding.
• 45:54
  Speaker 4: I guess I don't know.
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: I feel like every skater kind of goes to the
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: same difficulties. I guess, like for like females, I guess
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: it was just seeing representation of girls actually being accepted, actually.
• 46:05
  Speaker 4: Making a career out of it.
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: I guess just knowing that that could be a possibility,
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: Like you could just be doing this all your life
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: and maybe not be getting paid, so you should really
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: learn to love it or you know, move on. And
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: that kind of just developed me in a different way
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: for that I could just like really enjoy and love it.
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 46:23
  Speaker 3: What's wild is that there's such a movement happening right
• 46:27
  Speaker 3: now about women in sport.
• 46:31
  Speaker 2: It's about time.
• 46:32
  Speaker 3: But to see, you know, right now, you open your
• 46:36
  Speaker 3: social media feed and so many people are only for
• 46:39
  Speaker 3: the first time learning that WNBA draft players get paid
• 46:45
  Speaker 3: under eighty thousand dollars a year and NBA draft players
• 46:49
  Speaker 3: get a twenty one million dollar contract over four years.
• 46:52
  Speaker 3: Right crazy, And the dialogue over that is wild. It's
• 46:56
  Speaker 3: wild because a there's this whole camp of people who
• 46:58
  Speaker 3: had no idea, and then be there's this whole camp
• 47:01
  Speaker 3: of people that are like, well, well, then the WNBA
• 47:05
  Speaker 3: needs to make more money. So for you to be,
• 47:08
  Speaker 3: you know, someone who's such a prominent female figure in
• 47:12
  Speaker 3: your field, does it ever feel like a little bit
• 47:15
  Speaker 3: heavy to be in that position?
• 47:18
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I feel like it does.
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: But I also feel like if I wasn't meant to
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: do it, then I probably wouldn't be in this position.
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: So I feel like I've kind of just learned to
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: accept my role and whatever that is, Like there's no
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: specific role, but yeah, like I know people coming after me,
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: like people like the generation coming after me is going
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: to have their own responsibilities and own things to go through.
• 47:40
  Speaker 4: So it's just my job to guess, Yeah, stay on
• 47:44
  Speaker 4: the ride.
• 47:45
  Speaker 2: What excites you right now?
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: Probably the person I'll meet after the Olympics that excites
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: me a lot. I'm excited to meet my future self
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: because I feel like it's one of those things that
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: you never know what it's going to be like, and
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: I feel like I kind of just have confidence that.
• 48:03
  Speaker 4: Like when everybody asked you, like if.
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: You were ten years old, like what would you tell
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: yourself back then, Like, it's kind of like I kind
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: of flip it and just be like, I can't wait
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: to see myself in like five years and see where
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: what I've done, Because skateboarding in the Olympics was definitely
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: not in the conversation when I picked it up at
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: ten years old, you know, having a career in this
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: was definitely not in the conversation. So I'm kind of
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: just I don't know, I guess just excited for the future.
• 48:28
  Speaker 3: I would be remiss if we didn't touch on injury
• 48:31
  Speaker 3: at all in this conversation, because it's got to.
• 48:33
  Speaker 2: Be, yeah, such a part of what you do.
• 48:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, first of all, what would you say has been
• 48:42
  Speaker 3: the most difficult injury for you to overcome as a skateboarder?
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's gonna be. I mean, it's crazy because I
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: feel like there was a there was one injury where
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: I like cracked my tailbone skateboarding, and it was kind
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: of on a trick that was not as difficult, and
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: I feel like that was kind of hard for me
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: to grasp because it was such.
• 49:04
  Speaker 4: Like a easier trick.
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: I would say it was definitely hard coming back from
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: that one because it was kind of unfamiliar territory, like
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: not much you could do for your tawbone, just kind
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: of like wait it out. But because like when you skateboard,
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: you're gonna get shinners, you're gonna get bruises, and shinners
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: are when the board hits your shin, and uh.
• 49:21
  Speaker 2: You're already understanding when I was gonna ask.
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: That, Yeah, shinners are when the board hits your shin.
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: So those come with it. Ankle rolls come with it
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: a lot, so you kind of just accept those. Some
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: of them could be worse than others. I would say
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: my tailbone injury was pretty hard because you know, you
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: fall on your your butt like the whole time, you know,
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: and when you come back from an injury like that
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: and you kind of rely on falling to kind of
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: teach you. It was a little bit hard to I guess,
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: get back to like a flow where I had it.
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: But yeah, that was probably mainly like the only one
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: that was kind of like a little bit unfamiliar territory.
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: Everything else, Like I had a rolled ankle last year
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: pretty bad, but I wasn't worried because I knew I
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: could just I knew I've like been in that territory before,
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: so I knew like over time I would be able
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: to get back on my board. But it is a
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: scary feeling as like is my inkle gonna be able
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: to take the impact as it did? Is it gonna
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: be able to flick my board as easy? Because it's
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: such a different type of strength that an inkle has
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: to build. So I guess just kind of having faith
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: and like the muscle memory and just doing the groundwork
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: kind of just you just have to trust it.
• 50:28
  Speaker 3: How long were you down and out from the tailbone injury?
• 50:31
  Speaker 3: Tallbone injury.
• 50:32
  Speaker 4: I think it was like.
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: A stress fracture, So I think it was like three
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: weeks like and then it like the bone finally like
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: came together. But then like three weeks of just like
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: kind of building muscle around it again and then probably
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: like two months getting confidence back. Yeah, because like you
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: like when you think of like, oh I don't want
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: to fall on my butt, Like it's so like you
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: put so much energy into that you almost feel like
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: you're gonna fall on it every time.
• 50:56
  Speaker 2: Well, this goes back to our conversation about fear.
• 50:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah, right, in these moments, you had already for so
• 51:03
  Speaker 3: long overcome that fear, and we're willing to experience a
• 51:08
  Speaker 3: certain amount of discomfort, a certain amount of pain, and
• 51:11
  Speaker 3: then the way that you learned to cope with something
• 51:14
  Speaker 3: not going your way suddenly became something that you weren't
• 51:17
  Speaker 3: capable of doing anymore.
• 51:19
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah, super crazy.
• 51:21
  Speaker 3: You have to completely rethink it and redevelop that relationship.
• 51:24
  Speaker 4: Yeah, like trust, yeah, trust yourself again.
• 51:26
  Speaker 3: Which is hella difficult, hella difficult. And I mean that's
• 51:30
  Speaker 3: literally what happens in every awful thing that we go
• 51:32
  Speaker 3: through as humans. Like you go through a bad breakup
• 51:35
  Speaker 3: and then like you have no trust for anyone in
• 51:37
  Speaker 3: all of humanity, right yeah, Or you get let go
• 51:40
  Speaker 3: from a job and it has nothing to do with you,
• 51:42
  Speaker 3: but then all of a sudden, your entire sense of
• 51:44
  Speaker 3: self worth is like completely thrown out the window, and
• 51:46
  Speaker 3: they're gonna be all these different things that throw these
• 51:49
  Speaker 3: curveballs or appropriate these hurdles at you, and you have
• 51:53
  Speaker 3: to get to the point where you're like, okay, I
• 51:55
  Speaker 3: can try to get over it again, and that shit's
• 51:58
  Speaker 3: hell scary.
• 51:59
  Speaker 4: Feel.
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: It is definitely super scary, but it's even more rewarding
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: when you like keep going.
• 52:04
  Speaker 3: You know, definitely, someone comes to your Instagram page, they
• 52:08
  Speaker 3: see an Olympian, someone who's gearing up for round two.
• 52:13
  Speaker 3: When you look in the mirror, what is it that
• 52:15
  Speaker 3: you see looking back at you, Mariah.
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: I would see somebody who's just ready for the moment,
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: whatever that has to be, whether it's good moments or
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: bad moments. I would see somebody who's kind of ready
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: to take on whatever you have to do to make
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: it happen, to put yourself in a position, you know,
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: to potentially podium at the Olympics, but also be willing
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: to accept yourself if that isn't the case for you.
• 52:42
  Speaker 2: That wasn't the case for your last Olympics.
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: No, yeah, I would say that one definitely was a
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: little bit hard to come back from because it was
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: like the first time ever there was a lot of
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: noise coming into it, doing interviews, doing all this hype,
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: whereas like X games and stuff, it's kind of like,
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: you know, good weekend, you know, and then go back
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: to it. But I think after going through the first time,
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: understanding that, yeah, I guess, just understanding that I feel
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: valid on a board, whether it's in a contest, on
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: the podium or just out in the street or even
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: off my board. I guess just accepting myself for who
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: I am. I feel like that's gonna get me through
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: whatever I don't know, life has to throw out me
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: in the next few.
• 53:22
  Speaker 3: Months, totally like Mariah separate from Mariah the skateboarder. Yeah,
• 53:27
  Speaker 3: having your own sense of identity beyond sport, which is
• 53:29
  Speaker 3: a super hard thing to do, especially when your sport
• 53:32
  Speaker 3: is literally your career.
• 53:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah, still figuring it out. It's a learning process, but.
• 53:37
  Speaker 3: It's a learning process for all of us, truly, truly,
• 53:40
  Speaker 3: And so now, how will you handle the build up
• 53:45
  Speaker 3: to this year's Games knowing how the build up and
• 53:49
  Speaker 3: all that noise impacted you the last time around?
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: I guess, you know, going through the first time, whereas like, yeah,
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: of course you want to win gold meutal on the
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: Olympics and that scenario it didn't happen. But in between,
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: I got to drop video projects and I got to
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: take home a gold medal and X Games. Like knowing
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: that there's still a path for me in skateboarding, I
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: feel a little bit more comfortable kind of just approaching this,
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: you know, Olympics as just you know, I guess, just
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: being in the in the moment, appreciating like the next
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: two contests that are going to be like super big.
• 54:22
  Speaker 4: I guess, enjoying the scenery that.
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna be at because you know, it's kind of
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: a privilege to be in the situation I'm in, so
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: kind of just get the most out of it.
• 54:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I love that. A privilege to be in the
• 54:32
  Speaker 3: situation also a privilege. Even though at times there are
• 54:36
  Speaker 3: people that critique the concept of skateboarding being within the Olympics.
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: What do you say to that skateboarding is so big
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: that it's such a self like it's whatever you.
• 54:47
  Speaker 4: Want, Like, if you want to be an Olympian, you
• 54:50
  Speaker 4: go right ahead.
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: And be Olympian, you know, like you if you want
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: to be a street skater, you go ahead and do that.
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: If you want to just skate for fun with your
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: friends and just do that. Like it's not there's no structure,
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: there's no specific way to do it, there's.
• 55:03
  Speaker 4: No wrong way to do it. It's all about what
• 55:06
  Speaker 4: you want to do with it.
• 55:07
  Speaker 3: What do you hope for the next generation of young
• 55:13
  Speaker 3: women who are getting on their boards now.
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: I just I just hope that they, like, you know,
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: they do it for the right reasons. I hope that
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: because skateboarding is really hard, So I hope that they
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: really enjoy, you know, what they do, and like love
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: it because it's like you're gonna come into those moments
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: where you don't know if you want to keep going
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: or not. So I hope that they kind of can
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: build like the resilience and have like a good supporting
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: system around them to you know, really bring out the
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: best of who they are.
• 55:42
  Speaker 2: Who are you outside of skating?
• 55:44
  Speaker 4: I'm just existing. I don't know.
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: I'm just I don't. I don't it's weird. I guess
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: I'm just I don't know. Just the person you know
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: that just appreciates other people, other athletes, appreciates any other person.
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: I guess I'm just here just to bring the best
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: out of people.
• 56:01
  Speaker 4: Hopefully.
• 56:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I love that.
• 56:03
  Speaker 3: I'm so happy that we were able to do this
• 56:06
  Speaker 3: before I let you go, and you like already started
• 56:08
  Speaker 3: to answer this, So I seriously should just like hang
• 56:10
  Speaker 3: up my microphones and let you take my job. You know,
• 56:13
  Speaker 3: we talked about that difficult moment before the second competition
• 56:17
  Speaker 3: at the X Games where you thought about not showing
• 56:19
  Speaker 3: up the next day.
• 56:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we've talked about the tailbone injury.
• 56:22
  Speaker 3: You've had a lot of hurdles throughout your career, but
• 56:24
  Speaker 3: you've still shown up and proven resilient amidst them all.
• 56:28
  Speaker 3: If you at the opportunity right now to offer yourself
• 56:30
  Speaker 3: a piece of advice during one of those most difficult times,
• 56:35
  Speaker 3: what would you tell yourself.
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: I would tell myself that it's normal what I'm feeling,
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: because sometimes it could feel like you need to be
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: a hero or you need to be like, you know,
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: just as superhero or something. But I would probably just
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: comfort myself and be like, it's it's all good, Like
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: you'll be all right after this.
• 56:53
  Speaker 2: You'll be all right.
• 56:54
  Speaker 3: For those of the hurdlers listening to this that don't
• 56:56
  Speaker 3: follow you just yet, how do they keep up with you?
• 56:58
  Speaker 2: Give us your details?
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: Just Instagram Ride, Duran Underscore, Twitter Snapchat.
• 57:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been a minute. It's been a minute since
• 57:09
  Speaker 3: someone's plugged their snapchat on the show.
• 57:11
  Speaker 4: I kind of I kind of realized that.
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: I'm like, I don't even know if that's it's Pally,
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: it's Holly still there.
• 57:16
  Speaker 3: But I love that it's there. I'm over at Emily
• 57:20
  Speaker 3: a body at Hurdle Podcast. Another Hurdle conquered. Catch you
• 57:24
  Speaker 3: guys next time.