Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 335. TURNING THE PAGE: Heptathlete Taliyah Brooks Talks The Power Of The Reframe, Using Faith To Fuel Her Fire & Her First Olympics

Transcript

335. TURNING THE PAGE: Heptathlete Taliyah Brooks Talks The Power Of The Reframe, Using Faith To Fuel Her Fire & Her First Olympics · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: If you have faith the size of a mustard seed,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: which is tiny, you can tell a mountain to move
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: from here to there, and it's going to move.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Hey everyone, Installment three of Hurdles Turning the Page series
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: where I catch up with some of my favorite people
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: to talk about the year that was and the next
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: three sixty five. For those of you that may be
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: new to Hurdle checking in for your first episode today,
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: or if you just need a little refresher, Hurdles and
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Well on this focus podcast, where I talk to inspirational
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: people about everything from their highest ties and toughest moments
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: to essential tips on how to live a healthier, happier,
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: more motivated life. We all go through our fair share
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: of hurdles, and my goal through these discussions is to
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: empower you to better navigate yours and move with intention
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: so that you can stride towards your own big potential
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: and of course have some fun along the way. In
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: the spirit of New Year reintroductions again, my name is
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: Emily Body. I am your host, the creator of this
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: lovely little podcast.
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: I live in Brooklyn.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: I'm a career journalist with a vested interest and health
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: and wellness and tomorrow's installment of Turning the Page, I'm
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: going to give you a little bit more insight about myself,
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: so stay tuned for that if you need to get
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: caught up to speed when I debrief on Mine twenty
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: twenty four. With that said, today's podcast, I'm chatting with
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: the One, the Only, Taliah Brooks. She is an ASEX
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: sponsored athlete, a heptathlete, and an Olympian. Talia competed in
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: her first Games this past summer in Paris and talks
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: about how.
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: Vindicating that experience was, what it was like.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: For her to accomplish a life long dream, especially after not.
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: Making it to the Olympics back in twenty twenty one.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: You can tell from the way that Taliah talks about
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: sport that she is so dialed in on her craft.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: You know, she says something really interesting in that she
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: feels like she's only just getting to a place where
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: she's stringing together really good quality heptathlons, which, for background,
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: the heptathlon consists of seven different events, so naturally, no
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: one's going to be absolutely stellar at each and every
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: single one, but Talia has worked her butt off. She's
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: working hard, she's dialed in on great coaching, great technique,
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: and she finally feels as a pro athlete that she's
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: getting all of her ducks in a row, just like
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: with Nikki and Robin the episodes from the past two days.
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: In this series, Talia talks.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: To me about what she loved about twenty twenty four,
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: which she's looking forward to in twenty twenty five, what
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: she's going to start, stop and keep doing in the
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: new year, and so much more. A huge thank you
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: to A six for sponsoring this week of content. They
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: also happen to sponsor Taliah sol Out of Love in
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: the Family.
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: There, you know the drill.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: Make sure if you have not yet subscribed to the
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: weekly Hurdle newsletter, do that.
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: It's free.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: The link is in the show notes and follow along
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: with Hurdle on social It's over at Hurdle Podcast and
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: I am over at Emily Avandi with that.
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: Let's get to it. Let's get to hurdling today. I
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: am sitting down with Taliah Brooks.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: She is an Olympic heptaphle and a pro athlete for
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: A six.
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: How are we doing today?
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: I'm doing well. I'm excited to be here, you know,
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: ready to get into the holidays. But I'm doing good.
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: I'm doing good.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: That's what we want to hear, especially at the end
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: of a year, one that has.
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: Been a pretty big year for you.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: Wouldn't you say it's been a crazy year obviously, like
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: a lot of dreams were accomplished, but overall a very
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: exhausting year, like in the best.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: Way, an exhausting year, one that a lot of dreams
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: were accomplished. Would you say that the dreams that you
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: accomplished this year, one of the main ones obviously going
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: to compete in the Olympics, were these dreams that you
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: always had?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think so.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: I think growing up, like you watched the Olympics, I
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: would say that I had more of a dream going
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: to the Olympics than I did like running professional track,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: because growing up those were two different things in my mind.
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  Speaker 4: I don't know why.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: Maybe it's because we didn't grow up watching professional track.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: You just don't see it on TV very much, but
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: you see the Olympics. So yeah, I think that was
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: definitely a dream come true.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: And did you know at the time that you would
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: seek to go to the Olympics per track, because I
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: know in your upbringing it you played a little bit
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: of basketball.
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: I did play basketball.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: I think when I imagined myself at the Olympics, it
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: was for track, which is odd because I didn't want
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: to run track. But again, like I think at the
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: time when when I was when I would watch a
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: bunch of Olympic sports, it would always be track, gymnastics.
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: But obviously I'm a little too big for gymnastics or tall.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: I should say, I didn't see a lot of Olympic
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: women's basketball, so I think.
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: My brain was skewed in that way.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: I think I wanted to play basketball, but if I
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: ran in the if I did the Olympics, it was
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: always going to be for track.
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: Always going to be with track.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: And that's funny, Like you said that you envisioned this
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: for yourself despite not really being a runner. How does
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: someone that, in their words, wasn't really a runner become
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: not only a pretty great runner, but then an Olympia.
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: My dad always said that, like track and field was
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: my gift, and I think I just didn't want to
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: accept it because I've always ran track. I've run track
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: since I was about five years old. The only years
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: I haven't ran track was if I was majorly injured.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Like I've had surgeons and whatnot.
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: So I've always ran track.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: I think I just didn't want to accept the fact
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: that that's what I was really good at and I
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: wanted to do something else.
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, how did track?
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: As you were getting more involved and spending more time
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: on the track, how did it make you feel?
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: I think track is one of those things where like
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: you get out of it what you put in. Like,
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: it's not a team sport, so you have to show
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: up every day, you have to do the work, and
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: if you don't, it shows. Unfortunately, sometimes you do do
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: the work and it doesn't show, so that can be,
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: you know, disappointing. But I think for the most part,
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: track gives what you put into it, and I think
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: that can be one of the most rewarding things versus
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: like a team sport. It's not just you, Like you
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: could lose a game because of someone else per se,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: or you know, you could win a game and you
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: have no part in that at all. You were on
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: the bench cheering for everybody else that won the game.
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  Speaker 1: So I think that can be the rewarding thing and
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  Speaker 1: track so and that aspect, like it makes me feel
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  Speaker 1: good that I'm putting in some work and I'm getting something.
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: Out of it. I can see results. Yeah, but I'm
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: not getting results. You know, I could kind of send
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: you in the opposite direction.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: Of course, And to your credit, you do an event
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: that has so many different components, many of which may
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: feel good and some of which may not feel as good.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: So talk to me about what it's been like for
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: you putting in the work, specifically this year in the
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: build up to the Olympics.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think this year was really important just for me,
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: obviously it being an Olympic year, but the last time around,
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: obviously my team knew what it felt like not to
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: make the team, and so coming into this year we
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: I guess, really the preparation started in twenty twenty three,
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: but coming into twenty twenty four, we knew what changes
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: we needed to make. I had to get a new
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: throws coach because my last throwst coach had moved schools,
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: and so Coach Johnson, who is my main coach, he
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: made a very meticulous decision, I guess, and he told
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: me who the throws coach was going to be.
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: He was like, we're going with TJ. It's not an option.
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: You need to call him and so I got introduced
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: to TJ. Crator.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: He became my throws coach and we work virtually, which
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: is different. That's different for me, but that was one
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  Speaker 1: of the big changes that we had to make because
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: a lot of the other events I'm really good at,
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: but then the throws kind of hinder me. So I
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: think bringing him on was really like a I'll say
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: a life changing decision, because if you look at my
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: results from the trials, the events that I'm good in,
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: I did not do good in those events, like I
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: got a pr off of pring in the shot put,
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: the javelin in the eight hundred and obviously he has
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: to do two out of those three events. So I
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: think right now in my career, I'm still trying to
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: put the entire thing together. I don't think I've put
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: together an entire head yet. So when I do, I
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: think it'll be a very special number and it would
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: be a special moment for me and my team. But
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: we worked really hard, like from the nutritionists I work
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: with the nutritionists in Ireland. To name his name is
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: Lee Compton to coach Johnson, TJ. My throws coach coach.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: Compton my high junt coach like it was really a
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: team effort, literally a team effort. Like all of my
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: training partners throughout the year, we were just encouraging each other.
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: They would like pace.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: Me in some of my workouts. My weight coach, he
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: would pace me in my eight hundred workouts. So I
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: definitely couldn't have done it without the people around me.
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: It's so interesting to hear someone who is one of
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: the top female heptathletes in the United States say I
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: have yet to really put together a heptathlon, right, And
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: I think that there's a lot to take away from
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: that in that there are always going to be so
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: many things going on. And I'm clearly not just talking
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: about b on the track or at the field, right.
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: Life has so much going on at any given moment,
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: and we're the some of the best that we can
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: do with what we have.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: Right, Absolutely, like sometimes you just have to show up,
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: and you showing up, you might not be one hundred percent,
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: you might be sixty five percent, but you got to
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: give one hundred percent of the sixty five that you
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: do have, and like you said, you just have to
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: go with it, especially at.
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: Like an Olympic trials.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: I came in one hundred percent, and then it just
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: slowly started like dwindling, not slowly quickly started dwindling away
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: throughout all of the events. But you know, I just
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: had to keep going. And it was hard, but you
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: just have to. You just have to strap up and go.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: The thing is, though, is that you have the mindset
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: that you have to keep going right. You have the
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: understanding that this is important to me, and so because
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: you know that, that is why you persist. Some folks
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: show up to challenge and maybe something doesn't go as
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: they'd and so they fall back. But that is not
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: an option for you. How did you adopt that mindset?
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: How did you get to a place where you know
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: that it's okay. If all that you have, the best
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: that you have on that given day is sixty five percent,
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: then you're going to go up there and give sixty
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: five percent.
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: Where does that mentality come from?
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: I think probably just how I grew up. My parents
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: were really hard on us in a good way. We
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: come from like a very supportive family, but like we
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: didn't have much at all.
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: There was five kids in our household.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: My parents told us, like, we really want you all
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: to go to college, Like college is a requirement, even
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: though like I don't think anyone at that point had
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: graduated from my in my family from college. So they
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: were just like, y'all need a better life than what
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: we have, and we think that that means y'all going
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: to college. So we had to do sports, we had
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: to run track. That's what my dad kind of deemed
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: is like or ticket to get a free education. And
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: he would always tell us growing up, like this is
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: a no option. This is a no option household, like
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: you don't have an option. And so I think just
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: as I got older, I was able to use that,
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: like in situations where it wasn't ideal, like, well, I
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: don't have an option. And again, just back to twenty
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: twenty one, like I knew what it felt like not
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: to make the team despite those circumstances, like.
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: I still just didn't make the team, and that's what
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: it is.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: And so this time around, it's like, well, no, that's
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: not an option, Like we just have to keep going.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: And I think having the support system that I do have,
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: I'm not gonna say it makes it easy to keep going,
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: but they are one of the reasons that I keep going,
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: Like I mean, I have sponsors that truly believe in me.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: A six has believed in me from day one, and
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: even when I've had years where I didn't perform as
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: well or they knew like I needed a break, they
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: allowed me to have that break so that I could
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: come back even better. Same thing with my family, Like
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: they're super supportive. They will in their last time to
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: come watch me run and like I'm grateful for that.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: And so for me, it's like, well, everybody's pouring into me.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: These people really believe in me, and so the least
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: I could do is show up even if it's hard.
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, And that's so impressive, right.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: You said that the family the sports system is one
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: of the things that keeps you going. Is there a
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: certain dialogue that you have with yourself in difficult moments,
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: in the moments where it could be easy just to
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: ditch out that helps you continue to show up.
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: I kind of speak rough with myself.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie like I'm one of those people
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: like I'll go in the mirror and i might cry.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: I am a crier, but at the end of the day,
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: like it's a really hard like I'm just in the mirror,
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: Like you're not no pump ain't no punk, Like, let's
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: go out there, let's get it together.
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: You got it. And again, just like remembering where I
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: came from.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: I think after the Olympics, I would go back home
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: the Witchita Falls and go and talk to Like I
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: went to some of the high.
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: Schools, elementary schools, middle schools.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: And like just seeing the kids and how ecstatic they
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: were to see me and like to know someone from
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: their town that went to the Olympics. Like, I think
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: it just reminded me like, this is where I come from,
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: and there's people like watching you that have these same
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: dreams and it might not be to like run track
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: in the Olympics, but to go off and do these
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: amazing things and they're looking at you like as the example.
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: And so I think, really in.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: The last like four months i post Paris, that is
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: something that has like really just been heavy on my
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: heart that all these people are watching me, all these
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: kids are watching me, especially just from the small town
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: I'm from, and like I want to keep going for them.
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and like what an awesome opportunity it is for
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: you to be a role model for these young kids.
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: Knowing that there were people as you came up that
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: you look to as well. Now I want to circle
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: back really on the year and do a little bit
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: of reflecting on twenty twenty four. Before we get there, though,
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: I want to know, honestly, how is Talia doing now.
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: I think right now I'm doing good. I'm doing good.
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: Right now, I think training's going well.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: I feel like I'm in a good place, like mentally, emotionally, physically,
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: like outside of track.
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: So right now I'm doing good.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: But I think I have definitely had my moments like
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: before Paris, after Paris, where it was a little bit
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: I was a little bit more down in the dumps,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: but right now I'm doing I'm doing well. I will
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: say it was annoying, which I didn't really take it
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: out on people because I understood everybody wants to know
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: how the Olympics were. But after I came back from Paris,
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: I hated when people would ask me how was the Olympics.
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: I hated it. I didn't want to answer that question.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: And then the second question I used to hate was
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: like random people that didn't know me, was did you
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: get a medal? And when you say no, and they're like,
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: oh yeah. So for a few months, like after Paris,
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: I was kind of like down in the dumps, and
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: I would I did not like talking about it. Yeah,
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: but now I'm doing better.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: I'm good, And that not liking to talk about it
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: is because you wanted a different outcome.
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I definitely wanted a different outcome. I was disappointed
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: in the eleventh place finish. But I think after a
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: few weeks, maybe a month or so, like I kind
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: of reframed my thinking and it would help some people.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: They would ask if I got a meddle, I'm like no,
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: and they'd be like oh. And then some people would
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: be like, no, I didn't get meddle. I got eleventh,
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: and they're like, but.
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: You're eleventh best in the world, Like that's still freaking cool.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: And I think after a while that's how I kind
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: of reframed my thinking, Like I got.
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: Eleven, that's pretty good.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: And if I was doing anything else, if I was
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: a teacher or a doctor, to be the eleventh best
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: teach fifth grade teacher in the world would be crazy.
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: Or if I was on an NFL team, I would
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: be starting.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: I would be starting on an NFL team, And so
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: in my mind, I'm like, that's still freaking good.
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: I don't care what everybody else has to say.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and listen, hey all, that's understandable, right, It's so understandable,
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: especially when you're getting the same questions over and over
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: to be like, y'all, can we stop with this already?
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: Like can we take a beat? But to have that
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: high level of awareness that you have the opportunity to
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: exercise this reframe and then to wholeheartedly get to a
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: place eventually that you're like, damn, like that's actually pretty dope.
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: That's impressive.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think it definitely took like some
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: learning and growing just throughout previous years, and it did
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: take me a while to get there, but I did
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: get there quicker than I think I would have like
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: years before. And again, when people would ask I wouldn't
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: take it out on them. I would tell them how
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: my experience would go or how my experience was.
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: But on the inside, I was just like, I don't
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: want to be talking about.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: This, but they may never have the chance to ask
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: someone else in person, like how their Olympic experience was,
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: and I'm aware of that.
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: So I would answer the questions and I would talk
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: to them. I just dreaded it on the inside.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: That's also pretty awesome to say within itself the fact that, yeah,
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: I recognize that I am one of a very small
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: population of humans that will ever do something like this.
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: And I think of like Lebron James when we were
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: in Paris on the boat, and I've heard people say this,
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: like about Lebron and some other like super famous people.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: Lebron took pictures with everybody. And mind you, we're all
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: Olympic athletes, but everybody wants to take a picture with
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: Lebron And he stood there, took a picture, smiled, talked
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: with everybody that wants to talk with him.
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: And in my mind, I'm like, well, if Lebron James
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: can do it, I can do it.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: Like he made sure that your experience with him was
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: a good one, because again, like I may never meet
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: Lebron James again, but I have a very good, like happy,
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: really cool memory a moment with him, And so I
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: guess that's kind of something that I took from him
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: at the Olympics, Like I would want people to feel
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: that way when they talk about me.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: Is the memory in the moment bigger than like a
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: selfie and being like holy shit, I'm right next to Lebron.
• 19:16
  Speaker 4: Yeah, like.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Like sometimes that's people's first question is like, did
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: you read Lebron?
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: And I'm like, actually, I tit.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: Actually I got pictures and videos and Steph Curry took
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: my picture. I tell people that story too, like I
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: didn't take a picture with Steph. I don't know what
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: I was thinking. However, he did take my picture in
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: front of the Eiffel Tower.
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: So I'm proud about that.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: And that's a photo you're going to have for the
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: rest of your life. I absolutely love that. When we
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: look back on the last twelve months. If you had
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: to put a word to twenty twenty four, what's your
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: word for the year.
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: I'd say relentless.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: So I think even when things were going wrong, like
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: I still pushed through and again it was like not
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: take taking things. There was no option, like I'm not
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: accepting no. And even throughout the year, like in hard
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: workouts and stuff, my coach would remind me of that,
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: like if something's not going right and it comes down
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: to this eight hundred, you gotta run, or it always
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: comes down to the eight hundred, so you got to run,
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: Like we don't have an option. And I think in
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: the end, it did come down to the eight hundred,
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: not surprising because he said that all year, but we
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: were able to come out with the outcome that we wanted,
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: and I just think it's a testament to the work
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: that was put in all season.
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: It could be easy after hearing that your word is relentless,
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: to ask you about what went wrong, But in the
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: spirit of the reframe, I'd rather ask you what went
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: right this year.
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: I think my.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: Throws went really right this year. I got a PR
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: in both of them. The shot put fourteen twenty three
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: at Olympic Trials, which is like crazy.
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: I know people's mouths probably dropped.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: My mouth dropped when the ball flew past the fourteen
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: meter line and I could see space in between where
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: it landed and fourteen meters and then obviously also the javelin.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: Javelin is my worst event, and everybody knows that, and
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: specifically at Olympic Trials in the warm up.
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: It's funny.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: I don't know why, but like three people have brought
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: this up this week. We were talking about the javelin
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: at Olympic Trials, and in the warm ups I was
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: throwing like trash. They were going so short. My first
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: two throws awful. Wasn't gonna make a team with those
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: those throws, and then on the last one, I just
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: launched that thing and it was like a three meter pr.
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: My eight hundred.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: I've always had like a mental battle with the eight hundred.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: Where I've trained, I will train really well at practice,
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: but then I get to the track meet and it
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: looks like I don't train for the eight hundred, and
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: it's actually quite embarrassing for myself and for Koshanson because
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: I know he's probably having to defend hisself. I'm having
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: to tell my parents like dead, I swear I trained
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: for eight hundred. I don't know what's going on. I
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: just get really freaked out. And this year, like mentally,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: I didn't get freaked out in any of the eight hundreds.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: It was something that worked really hard in like my
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: sports psychtherapist.
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: And so that also went right for me.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: And again those are my three like week events, and
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: they all got drastically better this year.
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: Two things to double click on. One.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: I love the reframe the power of what happens when
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: you get to a place with anything in your life
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: when you can say I am not my thoughts and
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: for a while as you said, with the eight hundred,
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: you believed I am not.
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: Going to execute all the eight hundred.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: I'm not good at this right And when you were
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: able to realize that that's just a thought and that
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: you can change that thought.
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: You then had a different outcome. How did that feel
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: for you?
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: Oh?
• 23:06
  Speaker 4: That was real. That was amazing.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: Like my very first heptathlon of the year was in Italy,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: was at Multistars, and I was going to win the
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: heptathlon going into the eight hundred, like oring anything crazy,
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: and that one was kind of like, Okay, let's see
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: where we're at. But even in those types of truck meets,
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: I still freak out. I'll be in the back like
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: hyper ventilating, and I ran a pr it was fine.
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: And then my next one was Olympic trials, and up
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: until Olympic Trials, anytime, like even dating back to college,
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: if I had to run the eight hundred and like
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: something was on the line, I never achieved the thing,
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: like not once never uh, And I mean I knew that,
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: but after I threw the javelin getting ready for the
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: eight hundred, usually I am like, I'm not.
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: Going to be able to do it, how fast? Is
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: she gonna run? I don't know what I'm doing.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: But that never crossed my mind at all. And we
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: had a few hours between Javelin and eight hundred. So
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: I went back to the hotel, took a shower, I
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: laid in my room in silence, which is odd. I
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: didn't watch TV, I didn't listen to music or anything,
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: but I was just like calm. It was the comments
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: I've ever been. I never had any doubting thoughts. Yeah,
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: so that to me was like crazy. And back to
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: my supporting family. They know I don't like to be bothered.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: I can be real, like leave me alone on meet days.
• 24:25
  Speaker 4: And in between the Javelin and the eight hundred they
• 24:27
  Speaker 4: came and I found this card. The other day.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: They brought a card and like a power raid and
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: maybe like a mug to my hotel room and they
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: just set it outside. They didn't bother me, and they
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: text and was like we left something for you, and
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: they left me like a super encouraging card. And so
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: I think that also just reassured me that, like, you
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: got it. And I was already having those those positive thoughts,
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: but that was just.
• 24:52
  Speaker 4: Like all right, I really got it. Because they think
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: I got it too, and then the same thing in
• 24:56
  Speaker 4: the Olympics. Like I think some placement was on the
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: line at the Olympics.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: I think I did move down after the eight hundred,
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: but I was I didn't.
• 25:06
  Speaker 4: I was not nervous going into the eight hundred in Paris.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: It was more so like I was battling an injury
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: and I just want to finish strong, and nothing had
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: gone right that entire track of me. I didn't do
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: anything well. And I remember walking down the tunnel of
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: Coach Johnson. We were holding hands because me and Coach
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: Johnson are really tight. We were holding hands and He's
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: just like, you know, it's the last event. Just go
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: out there and do a run that you can be
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: proud of, and like you're at the freaking Olympics, Like,
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: just just do a.
• 25:33
  Speaker 4: Run that you can be proud of.
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: Finish this thing out like you've already achieved a dream
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: that you've that you've wanted.
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: It doesn't matter the place.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: So I think even in Paris, like I didn't have
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: those nerves.
• 25:45
  Speaker 4: It was more just like.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna do something I can be proud of, and
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna fight y'all in this eight hundred
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: and try to run the best that I can and
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: finish it out.
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: So yeah, eight hundred.
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: I definitely won the mental battle this year.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: We love to hear that, and I'm also hearing you
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: say that there was a lot of power in getting
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: outside of your comfort zone with allowing people to show
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: up for you, right, and that you're the kind of
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: person that typically likes to just be on your own,
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: navigate your thoughts, get your mind right. But in the
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: ways that people wanted to show up for you, you found
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: a balance that enabled that to happen and also empowered
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: you to keep your peace.
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: And there's a lesson to be learned in that as well.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, like when you have the right people around you,
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: they can really like uplift you and encourage you. And
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: like you said, I could be the type of person
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: that's like, leave me alone, I'm by myself, I'm solow,
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: I don't need y'all, but really, like you do need
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: those people around you. And even there's been years like
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: it's the same people that I have around me, but
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: I just kind of keep them at a distance. And
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: everyone that was that's in my life, especially this year,
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: like showed up for me, my friends, like some of
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: my best friend I remember last year trials for Budapest,
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: one of my best friends called and she was just like,
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: I want to pray.
• 27:07
  Speaker 4: For you if you need anything, like just stuff like that.
• 27:10
  Speaker 4: We're like yeah.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: The people around me constantly showed up and I let them,
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: And I think that was the difference is that I
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: let them. I didn't try to pick them out or
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: keep them at a distance because I was.
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: Just trying to, like focal sook stuff.
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: Taking a little break from Jaday's episode to give some
• 27:31
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• 27:36
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• 28:45
  Speaker 2: thing that I wanted to ask you about is it's
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: it's quite interesting and also understandable that when I say
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: what went well, what worked in twenty twenty four, you
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: immediately go and tell me about all of these track events, right,
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: But if you have to take a step back and
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: look at to lee beyond the athlete, what else would
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: you say went well in twenty twenty four?
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: I think just believing in myself like as a person
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: and getting some maybe self confidence. I don't necessarily want
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: to say self worth, because I don't think I did
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: not have that, but just building on that and understanding
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: that like I'm a good person, I have a lot
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: to offer outside of track. So even if track does
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: not go well, like I'm still a good person. I
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: still have a lot to offer. And I think sometimes
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: when track's not going wrong, you don't have that, then
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: tracks all you have to like lean on, so then
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: you don't know what to do. And so I think
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: the more that I built myself up outside of the track,
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: it showed up on the track for me, and it
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: makes it makes what's happening on the track like less pressure,
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: I guess, because you know that you're fine either way.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: And I would also say that throughout the past like
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: two three years, I've really built up like my spiritual
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: found and that has helped me a lot on and
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: off the track.
• 30:04
  Speaker 4: But I definitely think that that starts off of the track.
• 30:07
  Speaker 3: How has that helped you?
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: It just gives me confidence that, like the results don't matter.
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: I mean, obviously we want really good results, like we
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: work hard to have good results, but at the end
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: of the day, like are we doing this for results?
• 30:21
  Speaker 4: Are we doing this for something else?
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: Are we doing this to make a difference in someone
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: else's life or to change someone else's life? And I
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: think once I kind of accepted that and knew that,
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: then it's like, hey, I'm here, I am gonna work hard.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: Hopefully I get the results I want, but if I don't,
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: I know that there's still.
• 30:38
  Speaker 4: Like a lasting impact in another way.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: And I felt that even after, like Paris, I got eleventh.
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: I hated that I got eleventh. I've already said that
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: I didn't like talking about it, But there's like hundreds
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: of kids in my hometown that's freaking out that I
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: got eleven, and it's like, oh, okay, like we're still
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: doing something really good.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: I think for so many, specifically with it and athletics,
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: the ultimate goal is candidly, really just chasing the best
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: version of yourself and seeing the boundaries as they exist
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: and what can be pushed within your own potential, and
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: so in understanding that and getting to a place where
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: you realize that the journey actually is this destination that
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: makes whatever happens in moments like the Olympics or other
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: you know, high stakes occurrences feel a little bit more.
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: I don't know they're all going to be important, but
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: it just helps put it in perspective.
• 31:38
  Speaker 4: It does. It definitely puts it in perspective.
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: Do you also know that there's a lot of people
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: that would not literally die, but like die to be
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: in the position that you are in. Yeah, and so
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: again like you do have to put in the work.
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: It's hard work every single day. I'm not going to
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: sit here and say that it's not. But also the
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: results like that's not the last say yeah, and again
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: once you have when you have those supporting people around you,
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: like it just makes it that much more fun and
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: they kind of, you know, make the experience like worthwhile.
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, resilience In twenty twenty four, what would you say,
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: is something new that you learned in the past year.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: So I would write in my journal before all of
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: the track meets, like a scripture or some notes, all
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: these things that I would just kind of look at
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: it throughout the meats, And one of the ones that
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: kept writing was like, if you have faith the size
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: of a mustard seed, which is tiny, you can tell
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: a mountain to move from here to there, and it's
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: going to move and throughout the year. And it's just
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: basically saying that you have to have like blind faith
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: and that you can do anything if you truly have
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: faith in it. And I think that this year that
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: is something that I learned, is that when you have
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: like real faith in something, it can happen. And I
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: feel like that even just about the trials in general,
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: like the people on the inside.
• 33:00
  Speaker 4: Know how trials were falling apart. I think people on
• 33:03
  Speaker 4: the outside don't.
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: And I don't tell people what I write in my journal,
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: So this is kind of a crazy story. That was
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: one of my things that I wrote my journal, And
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: throughout the track meet, Coach Johnson kept saying that scripture
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: to me, and I'm like, okay, okay, Coach Johnson, I
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: don't know how you know to say that to me.
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: And like even throughout like I, things were not going right,
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: and I would.
• 33:26
  Speaker 4: Just be like, Lord, please give me just what I need,
• 33:29
  Speaker 4: not a lot, just what I need.
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: And in some of those events, I would literally get
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: like just enough, like I still had to do the work,
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: but I would get just enough to go on to
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: the next event and still be in like the position
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: that I needed to be in. And so that's definitely
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: something that I learned that I didn't have, like in
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: previous years.
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: For someone that hears about how faith has empowered you
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: to continue on in difficult moments, and maybe they too
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: can relate to that, but then they have a moment
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: where they feel.
• 33:59
  Speaker 3: Like the faith.
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: It wasn't enough and they didn't get the outcome that
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: they were after, something that you certainly have been through yourself.
• 34:08
  Speaker 3: How does that not shake your faith?
• 34:13
  Speaker 4: Oh? It does, it does.
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: I know some people will be like, you just got
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: to keep going, which you do have to keep going,
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: but it does shake your faith because then you're wondering, like, well,
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: what do I do? What did I do wrong? I
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: did have faith and I did not get that outcome.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: And I think that it's just like creating they call
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: it endurance, but like creating a storm, endurance for you.
• 34:36
  Speaker 4: For later down the road.
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: And just because you have faith and something doesn't mean
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: again that you're going to get that specific outcome, but
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: you will in another area or you may, you may
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: in that area. Like in twenty twenty one, I was
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: kind of doing the same thing. I did not get
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: the outcome that I wanted, but I think it changed
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: me as a person and prepared me for twenty twenty four. Right,
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: I did want it in twenty twenty one, Like I
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: got the outcome I wanted three years later, and I'm
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: a better person, Like for it, I feel more prepared,
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: I feel more mature, like spiritually, spiritually physically, emotionally, and
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: I just didn't have those things in twenty twenty one,
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: so it just wasn't on my timing.
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: I guess this goes back to, though, like being able
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: to have that zoom out to look at what you've
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: done and understanding that faith really is knowing that there
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: are things that are happening for you even if it's
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: not what you originally set out to do.
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, absolutely, because again, sometimes it's not what you
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: want to do, but it's like what's what is best?
• 35:44
  Speaker 4: And then sometimes I.
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, like when things are just if I'm not getting
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: exactly what I want, I know that that's not necessarily
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: the end of that.
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they might show itself in a different way. I
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: have goosebumps. Okay, start and keep. This is my favorite
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: exercise to do with folks when I take a look
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: back at the past year. Right now, you have an
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: opportunity to leave something behind in twenty twenty four. Something
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: you want to stop doing going into twenty twenty five.
• 36:16
  Speaker 3: What is it?
• 36:17
  Speaker 4: I want to stop doubting myself.
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: Sometimes I think I don't belong in the spaces that
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: I'm in, and I think it hinders me. I'm like, uh,
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: I don't think I could actually get a metal or
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: I don't think I'm good at the javelin, Like I
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: want to just stop doubting myself.
• 36:31
  Speaker 3: How does one do that? Telia?
• 36:32
  Speaker 4: I think it starts at practice, like reframing.
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: If I know that I'm not good in javelin, and
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: my coach tells me this all the time, Like I
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: come into javelin practice with like an attitude already like oh,
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: I'm not.
• 36:43
  Speaker 4: Good at this, it's just gonna let's just let's just
• 36:46
  Speaker 4: get the bare minimum.
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: And I think I have to kind of start from
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: the bottom with some of those things like fake it
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: till you make it.
• 36:53
  Speaker 4: No, I can't tow the javelin. I'm really good at this.
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: I know what I'm doing, and I think eventually it
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: will start to click for.
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: Me, and that relentless self belief is gonna be the
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: thing that gets you to where you want to be.
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: It's highly doubtful that javelin or not. If you go
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: into a situation and you don't have the confidence or
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: self belief that you can achieve act or why you're
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: not gonna achieve it hard Stile, So you've.
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: Already set yourself up FA failure before you've even done anything,
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: before you open your mouth, and that you know that
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: doesn't even have to do with track. It can be
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: with a regular job or yeah, meeting, you gotta fake it, zone,
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: make it act like you're the president or whatever you
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: have to do until you become that thing.
• 37:34
  Speaker 4: And I think eventually you will.
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: All right, stop self doubt in twenty twenty five. Keep
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: what are we going to keep doing in that twenty
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: twenty five Something that's working for you right now?
• 37:46
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: I like to give myself, like small rewards or big rewards.
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: I like rewarding myself for doing things that I feel
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: like I did well. So I'm going to keep doing that,
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: whether it's like at the end of the week, get
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: in some ice cream, or like I get appeal are
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: in the hip and I buy a purse or something.
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: But I think that kind of keeps me going, and
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: it's like checking off small goals that helps me get
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: to the big one.
• 38:10
  Speaker 4: So I'm gonna keep doing that.
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: I love that, keep rewarding yourself, And I love what
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: you made sure to mention, which is small things are
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: also worthy of recognition. I mean, maybe not at every
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: small win, You're gonna buy yourself a nice bag. But
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: it is important to say, hey, I see you. You're
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: putting in the work and this might not be a
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: gold medal right now, but you showed up to practice
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: every day this week, or you actually drink the amount
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: of water you were supposed to drink every day this week,
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: right And.
• 38:40
  Speaker 3: Some of those things are challenging within itself.
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: Some they are, and I feel like when you don't
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: reward yourself, it can be hard to keep going because
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: it feels like you're just on this Ferris whell of
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: like NonStop. So I think, yeah, if I'm rewarding myself
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: or small and again, it don't have to be a bag,
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: but like I get some Anti's ice cream at the
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: end of the week because I hit all my times
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: throughout the week, or I made all my meetings on time,
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: or I got all my.
• 39:05
  Speaker 4: Whatever it is, you know.
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: I think small stuff like that just kind of keeps me,
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: like it makes me look forward to the next week,
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: and it makes me want to just like keep building.
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: Definitely, I need to know what the ice cream flavor
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: is you have a go to.
• 39:18
  Speaker 4: I'm playing Andy's Frozen Custard.
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: I'll just get a kid sized chocolate with cheesecake bites
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: on top.
• 39:24
  Speaker 3: Oh so good? All right?
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: And lastly, there start doing what are we going to
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: start doing in twenty twenty five that we're not doing
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: just yet?
• 39:34
  Speaker 4: You know.
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: I want to start being like more intentional about like
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: reaching out to my family members. I think sometimes I
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: get so busy, or the perception and it's something that
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: I've complained about, like to close people around me that's
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: not my family. I think the perception is that I'm
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: so busy that people don't want to bother me. That
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: sometimes like I lose contact or not really lose contact,
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: but there will go days like I haven't talked to
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: my mom on the actual phone, like we've texted, or
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: like I haven't talked to my dad, And that's something
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: that I want to be.
• 40:08
  Speaker 4: Like intentional about.
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: It's just I love reaching out to my family and
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: just you know, talking to them, letting them my love them.
• 40:15
  Speaker 4: I care about them, calling my grandfather like.
• 40:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I love that.
• 40:20
  Speaker 4: Like you could wake up tomorrow and life be different.
• 40:23
  Speaker 3: I know, life could be different.
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: I think that I can really relate to that idea
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: or that assumption that this person is busy. I am
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: pretty positive that's why, you know, my parents don't call
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: me as much as I wish that they'd call me.
• 40:38
  Speaker 3: And yeah, like I won't lie.
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: There's a lot going on, but it feels good to
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: feel the effort, right, and I think that energy meets
• 40:47
  Speaker 2: like energy. So that means that if they're making more
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: of an effort to reach out to me, I might
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: not be able to pick up the phone all the time,
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: but that means that I'm going to give that effort
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: right back, because it's a two way treat.
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and it doesn't have to be like a thirty
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: minute conversation, but just let me call and check in.
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: And sometimes it might feel like I don't say, like
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: it's not genuine, but it is genuine.
• 41:11
  Speaker 4: But you have to make I know myself.
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: So I have to make a checklist, like Okay, on
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: Tuesday at nine o'clock, I'm calling my dad. Yeah, and
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: for the next four tuesdays until it becomes like a
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: regular thing, you know, where it doesn't have to be
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: like a checklist, But that is something that I want to.
• 41:26
  Speaker 3: I love that.
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: I love that start getting more intentional about talking to family.
• 41:31
  Speaker 2: And then now reflecting on the year, what would you
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: say you are perhaps most proud of yourself for in
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty four.
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: Definitely making the Olympic team. I'm proud that, Like that
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: was just that was a really hard journey. So just
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: building on twenty twenty three, like overcoming what happened in
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty one and then like doing the thing.
• 41:54
  Speaker 4: I would say, I'm.
• 41:55
  Speaker 2: Proud when you reflect on what happened in twenty twenty
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: one and you and you reference overcoming that Hurtle moment.
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: What was the worst of that in that what was
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: the most difficult part of getting through the disappointment of
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: not getting to Tokyo.
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: I think it was like the aftermath, like and I
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: didn't really feel that until maybe almost two years later,
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: because I think, yeah, after twenty twenty one, there was
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: a lot of like self doubt on the track, off
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: the track, like I was unsure of everything. If you
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: asked me what I wanted to eat, it was like,
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: I don't know, because I was unsure if I couldn't
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: make the right decisions.
• 42:42
  Speaker 4: And I think that that took.
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: A really long time to overcome. And I think I
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: posted a reel on my Instagram a couple of years ago.
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: But Arkansas, like they did like a media day for
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: the pros where we could get pictures taken and stuff
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: in our uniform. And we had that, and then we
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: were going to have a truck meet like two days later,
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: and it was going to be the first teck meet
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: that I was running in since Olympic Trials. And I
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: was in shambles, like I was crying, I was I
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: did not want to run in the track meet, and
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: it was because I was scared to run in the
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: track meet, like just I mean, I had been training well.
• 43:17
  Speaker 4: I went through a period where I was like.
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: Hurt, overweight for myself for like track, I had gained
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: a bunch of weight, but all of that was kind
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: of like behind me. Like physically it's like, well, you're
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: prepared to run the track meet. I think mentally and emotionally,
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: I was still not over like what had happened in
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: tw twenty one. And it took a long time just
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: throughout the year to throughout twenty twenty three.
• 43:40
  Speaker 4: So that's two years later to gain that back.
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's so understandable too, Like the frustrations, the feelings
• 43:47
  Speaker 2: all of that going after something because you don't work
• 43:51
  Speaker 2: hard to not get the goal that you're after right,
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: that's not what the aim is, but to then be
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: able to get to this place where you can again
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: as we talked about before, or separate the difference between
• 44:05
  Speaker 2: fact and feeling right and be like no, like, I
• 44:08
  Speaker 2: do recognize that I've been putting in the work, and
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: I do recognize that I am capable of things, and
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: I know that this one thing that didn't go my way,
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: I have the opportunity not to let that one thing
• 44:18
  Speaker 2: define me, but rather than to learn from it.
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, absolutely, and that can be like easier said
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: than done, so.
• 44:26
  Speaker 3: One hundred percent.
• 44:27
  Speaker 4: It's just something that you have.
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: To like fill out for yourself, and you have really
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: high days, you'll have low days, but if you can
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: just try to like keep it there, then I think
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to say easier, but it's easier to put.
• 44:41
  Speaker 4: One foot in front of the other.
• 44:42
  Speaker 3: Definitely.
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: Now, what would you say you are most looking forward
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: to in twenty twenty five?
• 44:49
  Speaker 3: Till ya, I'm.
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: Most looking forward to like building on what I did
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: this year, Like this is the first year that I
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: am going to have the same throws coach like for
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: more than one year, and so I'm excited about that.
• 45:06
  Speaker 4: I'm excited that.
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: I'm excited that I feel excited to do the tathlot,
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: because usually I just don't feel that way.
• 45:12
  Speaker 4: It's like, oh God, I gotta.
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: Do this, And so I am excited to like build
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: on last year, and that's just different than how I
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: have felt like in year's past.
• 45:24
  Speaker 4: So I'm excited to do that.
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: I'm also excited to just get into more things like
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: off of the track I do. I like doing like podcasts,
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: and I do am seeing at the Razorback men's basketball games,
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: so I get dressed up like in my outfits. I
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: go out there and do that, and so I'm excited
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: to like do more of those things.
• 45:42
  Speaker 3: What is it about that that you love?
• 45:44
  Speaker 4: Everything?
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: For me is just like building, right, So I don't
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: want to do that for the rest of my life.
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: I want to go into broadcasting and like sideline reporting,
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: and I think doing that just helps me because I
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: don't have formal training. I didn't go to college for
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: broadcasting or anything, so it gives me. And the better
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: that I do they are, like the more confident that
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: I get that I can do.
• 46:04
  Speaker 3: The other thing got out and the reps, Yeah.
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: And I can I can get dressed up so it
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: gives me something, you know, I put on makeup, I
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: can my hair get dressed up, and it's just something
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: fun that I can do.
• 46:15
  Speaker 4: And when our basketball team's good, it's even better.
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: So we can turn on the hogs and like look
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: cute in the process and build a resume all at
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: the same time.
• 46:23
  Speaker 2: Oh my god, so many stones. I love that, Telia.
• 46:29
  Speaker 2: What do you see when you look in the mirror?
• 46:31
  Speaker 2: I mean, someone goes to your social media page, they
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: see someone with a bunch of followers, and you are
• 46:38
  Speaker 2: clearly an A six athlete and olympian now, But when
• 46:42
  Speaker 2: you look in the mirror, what is it that you
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: see looking back at you?
• 46:46
  Speaker 4: Uh?
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: I see someone that I've never actually said this out loud.
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: I think a few people have heard me say this,
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: but for the most part, like if people listen all
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: the way to this point, I never said this out loud,
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: But like I think now, like I see a girl
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: that came from like a really hard life, I guess,
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: and has completely like changed the trajectory of like where
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: I came from, like in which telf Falls.
• 47:19
  Speaker 4: I'm from Witchdolf Falls.
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: My parents like own this little store we used to
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: sleep in there because it was like warmer than sleeping
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: at home. And I know when people look at me,
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: like they don't see that, and a lot of people
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: don't know, like that's what I come from, Like I come.
• 47:33
  Speaker 4: From very very ghetto, very like no money.
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: We would go to track meets come back, all of
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: our stuff would be on the side of the road
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: because my parents didn't pay the rent. They decided to
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: take us to Junior Olympics. And so I'm about to
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: get emotional, But when I look in the mirror, like
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: I just see someone that overcame that, I see someone
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: that's like making my family proud because they sacrificed so
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: much for me to like be in this position and
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: to just say, like I ran in the Olympics, like
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: I can I do all of these things, Like I
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: would have never guessed that for myself, and so I'm
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: just really proud of that. I'm grateful for my family
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: in any way that like I can help my family
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: or the kids in witchdof falls, like I'm more than
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: happy to do that because without them.
• 48:21
  Speaker 4: Like I would not be here.
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: And it's just crazy, like I wake up still sometimes
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: like that's crazy, Like I live in the Olympics, like
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: y'all have no idea like what I came from, so
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: and I just never talk about.
• 48:34
  Speaker 4: That out loud.
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so yeah, I see someone that's like very proud
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: of that and humbled and just like looking to continue.
• 48:42
  Speaker 3: On, looking to continue on.
• 48:44
  Speaker 2: Thank you for sharing that, and truly it's something to
• 48:47
  Speaker 2: be really proud of. And I know that you are,
• 48:51
  Speaker 2: and I have absolutely no doubt that.
• 48:54
  Speaker 3: Your family is at all.
• 48:58
  Speaker 4: Thank you.
• 49:00
  Speaker 2: For those that don't follow along with you just yet,
• 49:04
  Speaker 2: where can they find you?
• 49:05
  Speaker 3: How can they keep up with you? Give us your details?
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: Mostly on Instagram, It's at Love Underscore, T Brooks, l
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: o v E Underscore, T b r o Oks. That's
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: where i like to do all my stuff at. But
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: I'm on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok I think all the
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: same name.
• 49:24
  Speaker 3: Well, cheers to a new year.
• 49:26
  Speaker 2: I'm over at Emily a Body and at Hurdle Podcast
• 49:28
  Speaker 2: Another Hurdle Conquered.
• 49:30
  Speaker 3: Catch you guys next time.