Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 293. Betting On Yourself: Recapping the Tokyo Marathon & Running The 6 World Marathon Majors

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293. Betting On Yourself: Recapping the Tokyo Marathon & Running The 6 World Marathon Majors · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

0:00
Speaker 1: I have never ever in my life regretted betting on myself.
0:05
Speaker 1: Hard stop period, full send. Hey everyone, Emily Abadi. Here
0:25
Speaker 1: you are listening to episode two hundred and ninety three
0:29
Speaker 1: of Hurdle, a wellness focused podcast where I talk to
0:32
Speaker 1: inspirational people about everything from their highest highs and toughest
0:36
Speaker 1: moments to essential tips on how to live a healthier, happier,
0:41
Speaker 1: more motivated life. We all go through our fair share
0:45
Speaker 1: of hurdles. My goal through these discussions is to empower
0:48
Speaker 1: you to better navigate yours and move with intention so
0:51
Speaker 1: that you can stride towards your own big potential and
0:54
Speaker 1: of course have some fun along the way.
0:59
Speaker 2: Wow, the episode is here.
1:02
Speaker 1: Candidly, I have been procrastinating recording this episode because I
1:07
Speaker 1: guess part of me feels like once I record it,
1:10
Speaker 1: it's really done. Last week, on March third, twenty twenty four,
1:16
Speaker 1: I ran the Tokyo Marathon, and by completing this race,
1:22
Speaker 1: I checked off my coveted sixth star, finishing the Abbot
1:27
Speaker 1: World Marathon majors. For those that don't know, this includes
1:32
Speaker 1: New York, Chicago, Boston, Berlin, London, and Tokyo.
1:38
Speaker 2: I've done them all.
1:39
Speaker 1: I never aspired to do them all, but here we are,
1:44
Speaker 1: age thirty five, a Marathon Majors finisher. Now, if you've
1:49
Speaker 1: been listening to the show for some time, you know
1:51
Speaker 1: that after every major marathon, I do a solo episode
1:55
Speaker 1: recapping my experience, and this episode is going to be
1:59
Speaker 1: a bit of a joint recap. I'm going to of
2:01
Speaker 1: course talk about my experience in Tokyo and all of
2:05
Speaker 1: the feelings that went hand in hand with this insane day,
2:10
Speaker 1: but also talk a bit about what I've learned finishing
2:14
Speaker 1: all six of the World Marathon Majors. Or some background
2:18
Speaker 1: for you. I started running back in two thousand and eight.
2:23
Speaker 1: I ran my first major, the New York City Marathon,
2:27
Speaker 1: back in twenty fourteen, just one year after my first marathon,
2:31
Speaker 1: which was in Hartford. Needless to say, I have grown
2:36
Speaker 1: so much since crossing the first finish line of my
2:40
Speaker 1: first marathon, and this week has been really absorbing this
2:46
Speaker 1: entire journey. It's not easy to process the emotions that
2:49
Speaker 1: go hand in hand with not just a nine year journey. Candidly,
2:53
Speaker 1: this is something that I've been working towards since I
2:58
Speaker 1: decided that I.
2:59
Speaker 2: Was worthy of my own investment.
3:01
Speaker 1: Since I ran down the three flights of stairs from
3:05
Speaker 1: my freshman dorm room back in two thousand and seven
3:09
Speaker 1: and knew that I wanted to make sustainable changes within
3:13
Speaker 1: my life to live a healthier, happier life, exactly what
3:18
Speaker 1: I aim to help others do every single week that
3:22
Speaker 1: I put out a podcast episode. I won't recap that
3:26
Speaker 1: entire process on today's episode. If you want to hear
3:28
Speaker 1: more about my overall health and wellness journey, which resulted
3:32
Speaker 1: in a dramatic weight loss back in college, you can
3:35
Speaker 1: tune into episode one of the show. I'll link that
3:39
Speaker 1: in the show notes. Alas I digress. In this episode,
3:43
Speaker 1: I'm going to break down Tokyo. I'm going to talk
3:45
Speaker 1: about the lessons I learned both in training for this
3:48
Speaker 1: race and in training for the last thirteen marathons that
3:52
Speaker 1: I have run, and cap it off with answering the
3:56
Speaker 1: question that you know I'm getting right now, let's next?
4:01
Speaker 1: Don't you love that? Can't we just soak this in
4:03
Speaker 1: for a second? Trust me, I'm the kind of person
4:06
Speaker 1: that's definitely already thinking about what's next, So I'm not
4:09
Speaker 1: faulting you at all for asking. Plus, I'm going to
4:12
Speaker 1: make sure I answer some of the listener questions that
4:14
Speaker 1: have come my way. If you have any other questions
4:17
Speaker 1: for me about marathoning or anything else, you can always
4:20
Speaker 1: feel free to leave me a voice message. The link
4:22
Speaker 1: to do that is in the show notes. Make sure
4:26
Speaker 1: you're following along with Hurdle over on social It's at
4:29
Speaker 1: hurdle Podcast, I myself am over at Emily a Body
4:32
Speaker 1: and more on this and so much other goodness in
4:35
Speaker 1: the weekly newsletter. It lands every single Friday directly in
4:39
Speaker 1: your inbox with a lot of the motivation inspiration you
4:42
Speaker 1: love from the show, plus so many extra goodies. The
4:46
Speaker 1: link to subscribe to that, which is absolutely free, is
4:49
Speaker 1: also in the show notes.
4:51
Speaker 2: And with that, let's get to it. Let's get to hurdling.
5:00
Speaker 1: It feels like just yesterday that I click submit on
5:03
Speaker 1: the registration form for my first marathon. Like I said
5:07
Speaker 1: in the intro, I ran my first marathon in Hartford, Connecticut,
5:12
Speaker 1: back in twenty thirteen, and it's really bizarre to look
5:20
Speaker 1: back on that single decision and how that really impacted
5:27
Speaker 1: and changed the course of my entire life. For me,
5:31
Speaker 1: running has taught me so much, which I'll go into
5:35
Speaker 1: in just a bit. But I can say with confidence now,
5:41
Speaker 1: ten years after I ran my first marathon, that training
5:49
Speaker 1: for and completing these races has, without a doubt made
5:54
Speaker 1: me a better person wholeheartedly. Like I said in the intro,
6:00
Speaker 1: I'm going to divide this up in a way that
6:03
Speaker 1: really gives you a full understanding of both Tokyo and
6:08
Speaker 1: then my feelings of really the last ten years of marathoning.
6:14
Speaker 2: And so let's start with Tokyo.
6:17
Speaker 1: As always with these marathon recaps, I really talk freely,
6:20
Speaker 1: so be patient with me as I get into the
6:24
Speaker 1: bulk of this. So where to begin with the Tokyo Marathon.
6:28
Speaker 1: This race has been on my radar for some time.
6:33
Speaker 1: It's the farthest race to get to out of all
6:36
Speaker 1: the world marathon majors, so it didn't surprise me that
6:40
Speaker 1: it was the last one that I would check off
6:44
Speaker 1: first and foremost. I'll answer a popular question, how did
6:47
Speaker 1: you get into the Tokyo Marathon. I got a bib
6:50
Speaker 1: for the Tokyo Marathon from the marathon's key sponsor, A
6:53
Speaker 1: six And the way that this works is there are
6:56
Speaker 1: a plethora of sponsors for any major marathon. Usually there
7:00
Speaker 1: is one token athletic sponsor for Tokyo, it's A six
7:03
Speaker 1: for Boston, it's Adidas for New York, it's New Balance,
7:06
Speaker 1: so on and so forth. Each company gets a handful
7:09
Speaker 1: of bibs that they can hand out at their discretion,
7:13
Speaker 1: and there are only so many. So it meant the
7:16
Speaker 1: world to me that the amazing, wonderful people that I
7:20
Speaker 1: work with regularly at A six knew how much of
7:23
Speaker 1: a bucket list item this was for me and gave
7:27
Speaker 1: me one of their allocated bibs. With this said, although
7:31
Speaker 1: I do contract work with A six regularly, I am
7:34
Speaker 1: in no way a regularly paid A six ambassador or
7:39
Speaker 1: on their payroll. In addition, when I was in Tokyo,
7:43
Speaker 1: I learned about a program that Abbott has now that
7:46
Speaker 1: they have a lottery, you can enter if you have
7:50
Speaker 1: a certain amount of stars to gain access to one
7:55
Speaker 1: of the marathons that you have yet to complete. Tokyo
7:57
Speaker 1: and Boston are the two marathon majors that you us
8:00
Speaker 1: have five stars already to enter the lottery, and then London, Berlin, Chicago,
8:06
Speaker 1: and New York. You can enter the lottery to get
8:09
Speaker 1: a spot if you have upward of three stars. So
8:12
Speaker 1: if you've checked off three of the six races from
8:16
Speaker 1: the list. More information on that I'll link in the
8:19
Speaker 1: show notes. But I thought that this was a really
8:21
Speaker 1: interesting lottery that I had no idea was in existence
8:24
Speaker 1: until I was in Tokyo. I started training for the
8:28
Speaker 1: Tokyo Marathon with a knee injury. So last year, as
8:33
Speaker 1: I geared up for the Berlin Marathon, I was working
8:37
Speaker 1: with a bit of planter fasciitis. I was able to
8:40
Speaker 1: get to the starting line of that race really healthy
8:43
Speaker 1: and in a really good spot. And then after completing Berlin,
8:46
Speaker 1: I ran an ultra marathon, and as a result of
8:49
Speaker 1: doing that ultra marathon, which was a non sanctioned run
8:54
Speaker 1: around the perimeter of Manhattan, I developed some knee tendon itis,
8:59
Speaker 1: and titis joined me on this training journey toward Tokyo,
9:04
Speaker 1: and I would say that until the last month or
9:07
Speaker 1: so of training was something that definitely impacted me on
9:12
Speaker 1: the regular. Sitting here today as I record this, my
9:14
Speaker 1: knee tendonitis is not bothering me whatsoever.
9:17
Speaker 2: I ran four miles this morning. I'm feeling really solid.
9:20
Speaker 1: So for that I am really grateful and candidly this
9:25
Speaker 1: is the thing that was my goal the entire time,
9:28
Speaker 1: so let's talk about that. Let's talk about goals for me.
9:32
Speaker 1: Over the last handful of years, I have dealt with
9:34
Speaker 1: injuries while completing all three of the international marathon majors London, Berlin,
9:40
Speaker 1: and then training for Tokyo. My rule of thumb wall
9:44
Speaker 1: training is that if there is something that is bothering
9:48
Speaker 1: me and it gets worse while I run, then the
9:52
Speaker 1: run needs to stop. There is one thing to have
9:55
Speaker 1: a pain threshold, a pain tolerance, and there's another thing
9:58
Speaker 1: to be exercising in such a way that you are
10:03
Speaker 1: doing more damage to the body that you.
10:05
Speaker 2: Use that supports you in every single way.
10:08
Speaker 1: And so my goal coming into this training cycle with
10:12
Speaker 1: a nagging knee situation was that I just wanted to finish.
10:16
Speaker 1: And from the get go, candibly I thought that this
10:21
Speaker 1: would be an entire run walk marathon, that maybe I
10:25
Speaker 1: would be running for five minutes, walking for two minutes,
10:29
Speaker 1: running for five minutes, walking for two minutes. And as
10:31
Speaker 1: time went on and I went to regular physical therapy,
10:35
Speaker 1: and toward the beginning of this training cycle, which for
10:37
Speaker 1: me lasted about fourteen weeks, was logging a good chunk
10:41
Speaker 1: of cardio on my peloton and with cycling the knee
10:46
Speaker 1: started to get better and I wasn't experiencing regular pain
10:49
Speaker 1: when I was running slowly. Over time, as the weeks
10:53
Speaker 1: went on, I began to gain confidence that maybe this
10:57
Speaker 1: wouldn't be a run walk marathon. Not to say that
11:00
Speaker 1: there's anything wrong with that, but I just really managed
11:04
Speaker 1: my expectations and trusted my body and was honest with myself.
11:10
Speaker 1: Earlier today, I answered an email from one of the
11:13
Speaker 1: ladies that's running on the hurdler team for LA Marathon.
11:18
Speaker 1: She's been dealing with her own set of injuries, and
11:21
Speaker 1: I was really honest with her. She's experiencing some discomfort
11:25
Speaker 1: right now, and I said, one of the biggest lessons
11:28
Speaker 1: I have learned in all of these years of marathoning
11:31
Speaker 1: is that we only have one body, and no short
11:34
Speaker 1: term goal is worth doing something to yourself that could
11:38
Speaker 1: result in lasting damage. And so I was, like I said,
11:43
Speaker 1: very realistic about what was within my control, what was
11:46
Speaker 1: within my bandwidth to do during this fourteen week training cycle.
11:51
Speaker 1: Also with that said, I have never traveled far Aka
11:57
Speaker 1: to one of the international marathon majors for a and
12:00
Speaker 1: had an expectation to really do something wild. And I
12:05
Speaker 1: say wild in the sense that I've never traveled to
12:08
Speaker 1: an international race expecting some sort of personal best. Not
12:12
Speaker 1: that it couldn't have been a nice thing, but I
12:16
Speaker 1: know myself and I am the kind of person that
12:18
Speaker 1: runs because it gives me joy. I run because it
12:21
Speaker 1: makes me feel powerful and confident, and to put that
12:24
Speaker 1: kind of expectation on myself when there are so many
12:26
Speaker 1: things that go hand in hand with traveling for an
12:29
Speaker 1: international marathon, like loss of sleep and wanting to explore
12:33
Speaker 1: and do other things while you're in this faraway place.
12:36
Speaker 1: For me, I've always had a different definition understanding of success,
12:42
Speaker 1: keeping these things into account again, managing my expectations and
12:46
Speaker 1: knowing what it is that I personally want, rather than
12:49
Speaker 1: comparing myself to other individuals. So the goal one finish
12:55
Speaker 1: and to have fun. Overall, the training block went pretty well.
13:00
Speaker 1: Like I said, I was able to get to Tokyo
13:04
Speaker 1: with little to no pain compared to where I started.
13:07
Speaker 1: I also really felt toward the end of my training
13:10
Speaker 1: block that I was getting into a flow state with
13:13
Speaker 1: my running that even as someone who has been doing
13:17
Speaker 1: this for such a long time, it is rare that
13:20
Speaker 1: I go out in log miles and before I know
13:23
Speaker 1: it the miles are done, every run feels like an effort,
13:27
Speaker 1: every run doesn't just click by. But over the last month,
13:31
Speaker 1: I've had a few of these runs, and so I
13:33
Speaker 1: felt really content with this journey, most notably my final
13:38
Speaker 1: long run, a twenty miler that I did on a
13:41
Speaker 1: rainy day. I finished it feeling like I was moving slow,
13:46
Speaker 1: and ultimately was moving faster than I felt, which made
13:50
Speaker 1: me feel confident overall. Logistically speaking, the most amount of
13:55
Speaker 1: miles I ran in one week was forty one. When
13:59
Speaker 1: I started did my training, I was closer to thirteen,
14:03
Speaker 1: so that gives you a holistic picture of the journey.
14:07
Speaker 1: Never did I in that increase, ever, exceed adding more
14:12
Speaker 1: than roughly ten percent of overall mileage week over week.
14:17
Speaker 1: So that would mean that if I was running twenty
14:19
Speaker 1: miles one week, the following week, I wouldn't be running
14:22
Speaker 1: more than twenty.
14:23
Speaker 2: Two miles total.
14:25
Speaker 1: And the goal by implementing that strategy is to not
14:29
Speaker 1: overdo it, not putting too much stress on your body,
14:32
Speaker 1: allowing it to adapt to the training load. And that
14:35
Speaker 1: approach is something that I can say with complete confidence
14:39
Speaker 1: is one that has worked for me to navigate the
14:42
Speaker 1: injuries that I have experienced over the last few years,
14:45
Speaker 1: and I did this training everywhere. That feels like the
14:49
Speaker 1: biggest understatement. I have had a crazy Q one with
14:54
Speaker 1: a lot of work commitments that required me to be
14:58
Speaker 1: traveling and on and everywhere, from San Francisco to Orlando.
15:03
Speaker 1: It's been a lot, and I have still made it
15:07
Speaker 1: a priority to show up and get the work done.
15:09
Speaker 1: I made it happen to do it all. And you'll
15:13
Speaker 1: hear me reflect on this when I talk about how
15:15
Speaker 1: I feel about the marathon, and just a little bit
15:18
Speaker 1: an example of me doing it all. Before I went
15:21
Speaker 1: to Orlando, I ran. I think that was like a
15:25
Speaker 1: sixteen seventeen eighteen mile run. Then I got home, showered,
15:30
Speaker 1: and got to the airport. I was in my apartment
15:32
Speaker 1: for a total of twenty minutes between finishing the run
15:34
Speaker 1: and leaving to go to the airport.
15:36
Speaker 2: And I made it.
15:37
Speaker 1: Happen because this is what I decided that I want
15:40
Speaker 1: for myself, not just to prep for the marathon, but
15:43
Speaker 1: also be able to perform at a high level for
15:46
Speaker 1: the obligations that go hand in hand with my job.
15:49
Speaker 1: Don't ever tell me that I don't like a challenge. Okay,
15:54
Speaker 1: getting to Tokyo. I went to Singapore before I went
15:57
Speaker 1: to Tokyo. I made the decision to do this knowing
16:00
Speaker 1: that I was already going to be on that side
16:02
Speaker 1: of the world. I've always wanted to go to Singapore,
16:04
Speaker 1: and so it felt like a no brainer, knowing that
16:07
Speaker 1: the two destinations were shy of a six hour flight
16:11
Speaker 1: from one another. Also, going back to the ultimate goal
16:15
Speaker 1: for the Tokyo Marathon was simply to finish and have
16:17
Speaker 1: a good time, so I didn't think twice about adding
16:21
Speaker 1: on this additional travel beforehand. I also have a stance
16:25
Speaker 1: on traveling for a marathon like this, especially when there's
16:28
Speaker 1: a big time zone change. You either get there let's say,
16:31
Speaker 1: a week before, or the mindset is get there within
16:35
Speaker 1: forty eight hours so that your body isn't drastically suffering.
16:39
Speaker 2: Yet.
16:39
Speaker 1: For me, by the time the marathon came around, I
16:42
Speaker 1: had already been essentially in this time zone, give or
16:46
Speaker 1: take one hour, for the better part of seven days,
16:49
Speaker 1: so I felt really adjusted by marathon weekend. The flight
16:55
Speaker 1: to Tokyo from Singapore was relatively easy.
16:58
Speaker 2: I napped for three.
16:59
Speaker 1: Hours and then thankfully I was sleeping throughout the entire
17:04
Speaker 1: night In the two to three days leading up to
17:08
Speaker 1: the marathon, so I logged some really great shut eye.
17:12
Speaker 1: A note on that, oftentimes people say the most important
17:15
Speaker 1: night of sleep is the night two nights before the
17:17
Speaker 1: marathon or two nights before your race, knowing that the
17:20
Speaker 1: night before you're gonna have all these nerves and by
17:22
Speaker 1: that time the hey is in the barn anyway, so
17:24
Speaker 1: I was really happy when I believe I got something
17:27
Speaker 1: like eight hours of sleep at least on the Friday
17:30
Speaker 1: night before the Sunday marathon. Let's give some context about Tokyo.
17:36
Speaker 1: Tokyo itself massive city. I can only describe traveling throughout
17:41
Speaker 1: Japan as otherworldly. It was absolutely stunning. Everyone there is
17:47
Speaker 1: so incredibly kind. Despite me not speaking their language, there
17:52
Speaker 1: was so much Google Translate going on. I felt entirely
17:55
Speaker 1: safe everywhere I went in that city, and I was
17:59
Speaker 1: with some other individuals who also were running with a
18:02
Speaker 1: six So it was really nice, despite traveling there on
18:06
Speaker 1: my own, to have a group of people that were
18:09
Speaker 1: all there excited and amped for the marathon. I also
18:12
Speaker 1: knew a handful of other people. I felt like such
18:15
Speaker 1: a large crop of the New York running community descended
18:19
Speaker 1: upon Tokyo for this major moment. So many people excited
18:23
Speaker 1: to finally check this race off their bucket list as well.
18:26
Speaker 1: I believe there were almost twenty people from my run
18:30
Speaker 1: club in Tokyo, so shout out to OMRC old Man
18:34
Speaker 1: Run Club. It was really fun to see so many
18:37
Speaker 1: familiar faces out on the course. Race prep, I was
18:42
Speaker 1: eating a lot of rice and fresh fish throughout the
18:46
Speaker 1: week leading up. I don't have a super sensitive stomach,
18:48
Speaker 1: so I wasn't that concerned about traveling and not being
18:51
Speaker 1: in my normal element for the days leading up to
18:55
Speaker 1: the marathon.
18:56
Speaker 2: I knew that I wanted to have my go.
18:58
Speaker 1: To before the race, which is pizza or pasta the
19:01
Speaker 1: night before and then the morning of the marathon a
19:05
Speaker 1: peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and I was able to
19:07
Speaker 1: do just that. We a bunch of us grabbed pizza
19:10
Speaker 1: the night before at this really excellent spot in Tokyo,
19:12
Speaker 1: and then the morning of the race, I was up
19:15
Speaker 1: at something like four thirty. I was just so excited,
19:17
Speaker 1: even though I didn't really need to be awake until
19:19
Speaker 1: six thirty. I went down to the breakfast at my hotel,
19:22
Speaker 1: grabbed these massive pieces of white bread and jelly from
19:27
Speaker 1: the breakfast BFFET and then went upstairs where I brought
19:30
Speaker 1: my own travel sized peanut butters.
19:33
Speaker 2: And made my PB and jay and ate that.
19:35
Speaker 1: Up there, I sat around and journaled and did some
19:39
Speaker 1: work because I had plenty of time to try to
19:42
Speaker 1: calm my nerves before getting all of my clothes on
19:45
Speaker 1: and heading outside.
19:46
Speaker 2: And luckily I stayed at a hotel.
19:48
Speaker 1: It was called the Kyo Plaza k Eio Plaza Hotel,
19:52
Speaker 1: and it was truly on top of my corral. I
19:56
Speaker 1: was in my corral from the moment I left my
19:59
Speaker 1: hotel with in four minutes, not even so I didn't
20:03
Speaker 1: have to be in my corral until I believe eight
20:06
Speaker 1: forty five am was the cutoff. I literally walked outside
20:10
Speaker 1: at eight thirty seven am, and I was running by
20:13
Speaker 1: nine to ten am Tokyo time. That's a really interesting
20:17
Speaker 1: snippet because it's so different at so many other majors.
20:21
Speaker 1: I mean, in New York you have to be at
20:23
Speaker 1: a bus at something like five am and then you
20:25
Speaker 1: don't run until after nine am, so dramatically different, and
20:30
Speaker 1: all the same rules still come into play. However, so
20:32
Speaker 1: that means that in New York you're bringing the food
20:35
Speaker 1: that you want to eat before the marathon with you
20:37
Speaker 1: to the starting area, and not eating until ninety minutes before.
20:42
Speaker 1: I was able to do all of the eating that
20:44
Speaker 1: I wanted to do before I even left my hotel room,
20:47
Speaker 1: which definitely, definitely was a nice way to start the day.
20:52
Speaker 1: What I wore for the marathon, I wore, and I'll
20:54
Speaker 1: be as specific as possible. Working from a feed up,
20:58
Speaker 1: I decided to wear the A six super Blast.
21:01
Speaker 2: Candidly, this was a slightly last minute change for me.
21:04
Speaker 1: I was planning to wear the A six Nimbus, but
21:07
Speaker 1: had so many people around me who had worn the
21:09
Speaker 1: super Blast for a marathon. It's lighter than the Nimbus,
21:12
Speaker 1: and I decided yolo candidly, my feet hurt no matter
21:18
Speaker 1: what happens by the end of the marathon. I kind
21:20
Speaker 1: of was just like, I've run sixteen to eighteen miles
21:22
Speaker 1: in the Superblast before. That's kind of the distance barometer
21:26
Speaker 1: that I have for a shoe. I know I could
21:28
Speaker 1: feel comfortable running twenty six point two in I grabbed
21:31
Speaker 1: a new pair at the expo that I loved. I
21:34
Speaker 1: ran in them the two days before the race and
21:37
Speaker 1: went for it. Is this advice that I would give
21:40
Speaker 1: to totally new marathoners. Absolutely not. But I felt really
21:44
Speaker 1: at peace and confident in my decision. The socks I
21:48
Speaker 1: went with Bandit socks thanks to Tim and Nick, the
21:52
Speaker 1: co founder's of Bandit, who gifted me with them in
21:56
Speaker 1: the days leading up to the race. And then shorts.
21:59
Speaker 1: I wore a pair of Lululemon Invigorate six in shorts.
22:02
Speaker 1: They were maybe two or three years old. They were
22:05
Speaker 1: some of my favorites that I don't make them anymore.
22:07
Speaker 1: An alternative that I recommend to people who like a
22:10
Speaker 1: six inch short that Lululemon cells now is the Wonder
22:14
Speaker 1: Train short with pockets, also six inch in seam. A
22:18
Speaker 1: tank I wore a discontinued tank top from Lululemon that
22:21
Speaker 1: has the words another Hurdle Conquered on the back. I
22:24
Speaker 1: then wore District Vision sunglasses and for the hat, I
22:29
Speaker 1: wore one that was given to me by my run club.
22:32
Speaker 2: I wore my hair in braids.
22:34
Speaker 1: I also used a new anti chaf cream called Salty Breeches,
22:39
Speaker 1: and I layered that with my go.
22:41
Speaker 2: To try slide.
22:43
Speaker 1: I was so determined not to chafe in this race
22:46
Speaker 1: because I had such gnarrowly chafing in Berlin, and I
22:50
Speaker 1: am happy to report that I didn't even chafe a
22:52
Speaker 1: little bit, which felt absolutely miraculous considering how hot it
22:57
Speaker 1: was during the run. Now we'll get to the run.
23:01
Speaker 1: So I get outside to the corral. It's literally eight
23:05
Speaker 1: forty five. We're slowly moving in the corral, getting to
23:08
Speaker 1: where we need to be. It is a blink of
23:10
Speaker 1: an eye before the confetti goes off and the race begins.
23:14
Speaker 1: And within the first five minutes of the race, people
23:16
Speaker 1: are already yelling my name that are in the corrals
23:19
Speaker 1: around me. This is how many Americans, it feels like,
23:22
Speaker 1: are running this marathon, and my name it's not on me,
23:26
Speaker 1: Like individuals are seeing another hurdle conquered on my back
23:30
Speaker 1: and I'm hearing.
23:31
Speaker 2: Like let's go. Emily like yeah.
23:34
Speaker 1: And it was just the boost I needed, because, as
23:37
Speaker 1: with everyone, my nerves are like they're there, and we're
23:40
Speaker 1: starting this run and I'm like, oh my god, we're
23:42
Speaker 1: about to go for twenty six miles, and so it
23:44
Speaker 1: was very welcome. So if you're listening to this and
23:46
Speaker 1: you yelled for me, I thank you sincerely. There was
23:50
Speaker 1: a lot of talk before the marathon that this was.
23:53
Speaker 1: Slash is a very quiet course, and I would co
23:57
Speaker 1: sign that compared to being in Chicago, New York, Boston,
24:01
Speaker 1: the crowds are very tame, and every so often I
24:05
Speaker 1: would come up on a group of like Americans, like
24:09
Speaker 1: people that are there supporting people from the US, and
24:12
Speaker 1: they were so much louder than all of the other
24:14
Speaker 1: individuals that.
24:15
Speaker 2: Were there cheering.
24:17
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say that there was necessarily any lull in
24:20
Speaker 1: the crowds at any point specifically, but they were just
24:23
Speaker 1: quieter crowds. So it was really a different type of marathon,
24:28
Speaker 1: an opportunity to be much more within And I feel
24:32
Speaker 1: as though my head was so all over the place
24:35
Speaker 1: that as much as I was looking around and soaking
24:38
Speaker 1: in my surroundings, I couldn't even really be fully present
24:43
Speaker 1: because I was so overwhelmed by the activity at hand,
24:47
Speaker 1: by the fact that I was finishing such a major journey.
24:51
Speaker 1: But the marathon itself was entirely flat. I would say
24:56
Speaker 1: it's the flattest major by far. The thing that many
24:59
Speaker 1: told about is a hassle, which is the hairpin turns
25:03
Speaker 1: that you get. I think there are four or five
25:05
Speaker 1: total out and back stretches on this marathon, which meant
25:08
Speaker 1: that you would be making a turn and you'd be
25:11
Speaker 1: running one way and people that were ahead of you
25:13
Speaker 1: would be running on the other side of the street
25:15
Speaker 1: coming back, and you didn't know how long each of
25:18
Speaker 1: these stretches went for. I remember specifically that the last
25:22
Speaker 1: stretch you made a turn, and I think at that point,
25:25
Speaker 1: when you make the turn, you have something like seven
25:28
Speaker 1: miles left. But as you make your way across the street,
25:32
Speaker 1: you see a sign that says one kilometer to go.
25:34
Speaker 1: So it's so frustrating because those people right there are
25:37
Speaker 1: about to finish and you still have a considerable amount
25:40
Speaker 1: of distance to cover. But I digress. The out and
25:43
Speaker 1: backs were horrible. I think it just it sucks because
25:48
Speaker 1: they go on for so long, and you just keep
25:51
Speaker 1: thinking to yourself, like I want to be on the
25:53
Speaker 1: other side of the street. At least that's what I
25:55
Speaker 1: was thinking, and so it made the kilometers click by
26:00
Speaker 1: rather slowly. I was running really swiftly for the first
26:06
Speaker 1: sixteen miles. I was running way faster than I anticipated,
26:10
Speaker 1: but I felt really good, and so I was just
26:13
Speaker 1: rolling with it candidly. It wasn't until I decided that
26:16
Speaker 1: I was going to pee. At mile seventeen that things
26:20
Speaker 1: really started to not go as I'd hoped. You know,
26:24
Speaker 1: I'm clicking along and I'm starting to think these things
26:26
Speaker 1: like am I going to randomly sub for this marathon
26:29
Speaker 1: which wasn't the goal at all? And I'm getting a
26:31
Speaker 1: little excited. And then I decided that I need to
26:34
Speaker 1: use the bathroom. I've never ever done that over the
26:37
Speaker 1: course of the other twelve marathons I had run. But
26:40
Speaker 1: someone I knew from my run club ran up to
26:42
Speaker 1: me and we were talking on the course as we
26:44
Speaker 1: were chugging along, and she said, I just used the bathroom,
26:48
Speaker 1: and I'm like, damn it, Like I'm just gonna do it.
26:50
Speaker 2: Why not?
26:51
Speaker 1: And so the bathrooms, unlike other marathons, are a little
26:54
Speaker 1: bit off the course. In this marathon, it wasn't far.
26:57
Speaker 1: It was probably like, I don't know, maybe one hundred meters.
27:01
Speaker 1: I made a turn in one hundred meters and used
27:04
Speaker 1: the bathroom and got back on the course, and it
27:06
Speaker 1: probably only took me like a minute or two. But
27:08
Speaker 1: by the time I got back, I just couldn't click
27:11
Speaker 1: it back together again. And this is where from a
27:15
Speaker 1: pacing strategy like everything kind of went away. I was
27:20
Speaker 1: consistently running some point, and I know this is a
27:22
Speaker 1: wide ratio, but between like eight twenty and nine minute
27:25
Speaker 1: pace for a long time, and then after the bathroom
27:28
Speaker 1: it was something like nine thirty nine forty, and then
27:30
Speaker 1: it was ten ten twenty five, and the last seven
27:33
Speaker 1: miles or so were all between I want to say,
27:36
Speaker 1: like ten minutes and eleven twenty five, and it was frustrating.
27:42
Speaker 1: I think a lot about responsible vulnerability and how I
27:46
Speaker 1: can be as authentic and honest as possible, and right now,
27:53
Speaker 1: responsible vulnerability means for me to say that it was
27:58
Speaker 1: frustrating for me to hit the wall, and there were
28:01
Speaker 1: moments in that seven mile stretch where I was upset.
28:05
Speaker 1: I was frustrated because I was comparing in that moment
28:10
Speaker 1: myself to a past version of myself. And it wasn't
28:14
Speaker 1: until I could zoom out after the marathon was done,
28:18
Speaker 1: not even just like on the day that the marathon
28:21
Speaker 1: was but even up until this point and running yesterday,
28:24
Speaker 1: like I had to zoom out to get to a
28:26
Speaker 1: place to be really proud of what I did, because
28:29
Speaker 1: in the moment, as I was trudging through those last
28:32
Speaker 1: seven miles and literally constantly just telling myself forward is
28:36
Speaker 1: a pace. Forward is a pace. Forward is a pace,
28:39
Speaker 1: over and over and over. I was having a rough go.
28:44
Speaker 1: I was having a rough go because I started to
28:47
Speaker 1: get down on myself a little bit. I started to
28:49
Speaker 1: be like, you went out too fast, you did X,
28:51
Speaker 1: you did why? And I realized in this moment, as
28:53
Speaker 1: I was reminding myself that forward is a pace, that
28:56
Speaker 1: getting down on myself wasn't the energy that I wanted
28:59
Speaker 1: to attract back to me. What I wanted to do
29:02
Speaker 1: was be proud of this accomplishment. What I wanted to
29:04
Speaker 1: do was be proud of myself was to recognize that
29:07
Speaker 1: I was doing such a hard thing. And not only
29:10
Speaker 1: was I doing such a hard thing on that day,
29:12
Speaker 1: I had done this hard thing twelve times before this moment,
29:17
Speaker 1: and knowing that such a small percentage of the population
29:21
Speaker 1: even braves the opportunity to toe the starting line for
29:25
Speaker 1: one marathon. Nevertheless, thirteen I know now that although all
29:31
Speaker 1: the feelings I was having during that tough seven mile
29:34
Speaker 1: stretch are entirely valid, that I can say with firm
29:37
Speaker 1: confidence that I am so much better for it, and
29:40
Speaker 1: that I did an amazing, amazing thing taking a break
29:49
Speaker 1: from today's recap to talk to you about my sponsor
29:54
Speaker 1: at Bandit Running. I mentioned in the recap that I
29:57
Speaker 1: wore some Bandit running socks for this marathon, and ever
30:02
Speaker 1: since Bandit came on the scene, they have been an
30:05
Speaker 1: integral part of my race day strategy.
30:09
Speaker 2: If you're a longtime hurdler, you already know Bandit's a
30:12
Speaker 2: part of my regular outfit rotation.
30:15
Speaker 1: And if you're not familiar with Bandit, well, they're a
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30:19
Speaker 1: highest quality, most stylish performance and lifestyle running gear you
30:24
Speaker 1: can find anywhere. They just released their brand new spring
30:27
Speaker 1: collection last week and it is insane. There's a ton
30:30
Speaker 1: of new pieces, beautiful spring color ways, and the highlight
30:33
Speaker 1: for me are two of their new fabrics. First, their
30:37
Speaker 1: ribbed compression. It comes in brass crops and five inch
30:40
Speaker 1: and seven inch bottoms, and I won't lie now that
30:43
Speaker 1: the weather is finally warming up in New York, I
30:45
Speaker 1: ran in the five inch shorts earlier today and they
30:49
Speaker 1: felt like a dream. The second material I talked about
30:53
Speaker 1: their new cool slick shorts. They're fully perforated, super light
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Speaker 1: and airy and breatheable and no matter how much you sweat,
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Speaker 1: but they stay dry. I don't know how it works,
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Speaker 1: dot com. Pooh okay, I needed that. So yes, the
31:45
Speaker 1: last seven miles were hard. The kilometers felt like they
31:49
Speaker 1: were taking away at a snail's pace, and candidly, during
31:52
Speaker 1: that time, I was having a very hard time breathing.
31:57
Speaker 2: I wanted to breathe in really deep, like and I
32:03
Speaker 2: was physically.
32:03
Speaker 1: Incapable of doing that, and that I was really getting
32:09
Speaker 1: in my head about that. I was really frustrated about that.
32:11
Speaker 1: My legs felt like lead, but nevertheless, I persisted because
32:15
Speaker 1: I knew that.
32:16
Speaker 2: I was capable.
32:18
Speaker 1: When I finally finished, I was so overwhelmed with emotion
32:22
Speaker 1: because of all of the reasons I just shared this
32:24
Speaker 1: wasn't just one marathon. This was such a long journey
32:28
Speaker 1: that truly started back in two two thousand and eight,
32:32
Speaker 1: and so to be fourteen years in the making.
32:37
Speaker 2: I was an.
32:38
Speaker 1: Am just so proud of myself, and so I went
32:43
Speaker 1: toward where all the signs told me to go, and
32:45
Speaker 1: I got my medal, and then I went where other
32:48
Speaker 1: signs told me to go and got my six star medal,
32:52
Speaker 1: and I just was so grateful and overwhelmed by how
32:56
Speaker 1: happy all of the volunteers were for everyone that was
32:59
Speaker 1: finisheds like, everyone was absolutely so stellar and kind, applauding
33:04
Speaker 1: for everyone. They wanted to film you and take your
33:07
Speaker 1: photos relentlessly, and I'm so happy that I have these
33:10
Speaker 1: marathon memories. It feels as though this was the happiest
33:16
Speaker 1: group of individuals I have ever seen in the finish area.
33:20
Speaker 1: After the marathon, I had fries and beers with some friends,
33:25
Speaker 1: and then ultimately ended up meeting with friends from New
33:28
Speaker 1: York and went out and had such a nice time
33:31
Speaker 1: celebrating my accomplishment with people that are close to my heart,
33:35
Speaker 1: and I feel so lucky again that we were all
33:37
Speaker 1: in the same place accomplishing this amazing thing together. I
33:43
Speaker 1: went to Kyoto after Tokyo the next day and had
33:47
Speaker 1: two nights there alone to really soak in this accomplishment.
33:50
Speaker 1: I do wish that I spent more time in Kyoto.
33:53
Speaker 1: It was absolutely breathtaking and I cannot wait to get back.
33:56
Speaker 1: Also shout out to the property that I stayed at
33:59
Speaker 1: in Kyoto, which was called Sowaka Soowoka, absolutely stunning and
34:05
Speaker 1: authentic Japanese riocon. I cannot recommend it enough. How my
34:11
Speaker 1: body felt in those days. The day after the marathon,
34:14
Speaker 1: I felt pretty normal. I was going downstairs completely normal.
34:17
Speaker 1: I think this is a testament to how well I trained. Also,
34:22
Speaker 1: I finished the marathon. I don't think I said this
34:24
Speaker 1: in four hours and sixteen minutes. That's something around a
34:27
Speaker 1: nine to forty five pace, I think. And so because
34:30
Speaker 1: I wasn't overly pushing myself in terms of what my
34:34
Speaker 1: body is really capable of, I think that that was
34:38
Speaker 1: the thing that worked in my favor for my recovery.
34:41
Speaker 1: I got a massage two days after the marathon, and
34:45
Speaker 1: I also used my Norma Tech Go sleeves which I
34:49
Speaker 1: brought with me. You can get a discount on Normatech
34:51
Speaker 1: using the code Hurdle one five I'm going to link
34:54
Speaker 1: the boots that I used in the show notes. But yeah,
34:57
Speaker 1: so I believe that the massage and actively recovering walking
35:01
Speaker 1: around a good amount that helped my legs. By the
35:05
Speaker 1: time that Wednesday came around in Kyoto, before I left
35:09
Speaker 1: to travel back to Tokyo and fly back home, I
35:11
Speaker 1: did go on a shakeout run and that felt totally fine.
35:15
Speaker 1: I was able to manage five just super easy miles
35:18
Speaker 1: site seeing around Kyoto, and yeah, it felt great. Since then,
35:23
Speaker 1: I have gone on two more runs. I did a
35:25
Speaker 1: five k on Saturday and four miles on Sunday and
35:28
Speaker 1: can report that both of those felt great. And this
35:32
Speaker 1: is really what has helped me put Tokyo in perspective.
35:36
Speaker 1: I wanted to do it all period. I mean, I
35:40
Speaker 1: wanted to work at a high capacity. I wanted to
35:44
Speaker 1: function at a high capacity. I wanted to also train
35:47
Speaker 1: for this marathon, and I did all of that candidly.
35:52
Speaker 1: I really wanted to work at a higher capacity than
35:55
Speaker 1: I wanted to run.
35:56
Speaker 2: I wanted to run for me.
35:58
Speaker 1: I wanted to run for clarity, wanted to run for
36:00
Speaker 1: enjoyment and to be able to perform in a way
36:03
Speaker 1: that got me to my goal, which was to finish
36:05
Speaker 1: the marathon. I wasn't trying to run a certain time
36:09
Speaker 1: in this marathon. I wasn't trying to do I don't
36:12
Speaker 1: want to say I wasn't trying to do anything extraordinary,
36:14
Speaker 1: because simply finishing a marathon, in my eyes, is extraordinary.
36:18
Speaker 1: But I wasn't trying to go and outrun a previous
36:21
Speaker 1: performance that I've had, or be a previous version of myself.
36:25
Speaker 1: With that said, I think it's hard to get out
36:27
Speaker 1: there and not compare yourself to a past version of yourself.
36:30
Speaker 2: I am a different person.
36:31
Speaker 1: Now than when I ran a three twenty eighth eight
36:34
Speaker 1: in Chicago or a virtual New York marathon in three
36:37
Speaker 1: twenty three fifty six, completely different, with completely different things
36:41
Speaker 1: going on in my life. But when I was out
36:44
Speaker 1: there and I maybe thought to myself, like, oh, are
36:47
Speaker 1: you going to run a sub for today? I got
36:50
Speaker 1: a little bit down when that started to slip away
36:52
Speaker 1: from me, understandably so and so in the week since
36:56
Speaker 1: the marathon, now exactly I can say with confidence that
37:00
Speaker 1: I did exactly what I was meant to do, and
37:02
Speaker 1: I accomplished my goal, and for that I am so happy.
37:07
Speaker 1: I'm so proud, and I have so much appreciation now
37:12
Speaker 1: for the effort that it took to do all of
37:15
Speaker 1: these things simultaneously, to get up at four am and
37:18
Speaker 1: go out and run the eighteen miles before going to
37:21
Speaker 1: San Francisco to give a keynote, to make it to
37:24
Speaker 1: the Olympic Marathon trials without sacrificing the training that I
37:28
Speaker 1: had to do in order to make this work trip happen.
37:31
Speaker 1: There are so many things that I have done, so
37:33
Speaker 1: much opportunity costs that went hand in hand with this marathon,
37:36
Speaker 1: and I did exactly what I set out to do,
37:39
Speaker 1: and for that I am stoked. I wanted to come
37:43
Speaker 1: home and be able to move my body how I
37:45
Speaker 1: wanted to move my body, and I can say with
37:48
Speaker 1: extreme confidence that is exactly what I've done.
37:51
Speaker 2: Now I am thinking about what's next.
37:54
Speaker 1: And what excites me, which I'll talk about soon, not
37:56
Speaker 1: just yet, and it does make me feel really content
37:59
Speaker 1: and crowd that I am in the position to do
38:02
Speaker 1: just that, that I don't have any injuries or nagging
38:05
Speaker 1: considerations that I need to prioritize in order.
38:09
Speaker 2: To make these decisions.
38:11
Speaker 1: And so now the lessons the things that I'm thinking
38:17
Speaker 1: about when I reflect on the six World Marathon Majors,
38:22
Speaker 1: there are two key takeaways. The first one is that
38:26
Speaker 1: you are entirely capable. Before I ran a marathon, I
38:31
Speaker 1: wasn't entirely sure that I could run a marathon, but
38:34
Speaker 1: something inside of me decided.
38:37
Speaker 2: That it was worth trying.
38:39
Speaker 1: And how often is it that we are the only
38:43
Speaker 1: thing standing in our own way, That our inhibitions, that
38:46
Speaker 1: our reservations, are the things that prevent us from chasing
38:49
Speaker 1: our own potential.
38:51
Speaker 2: And so one.
38:52
Speaker 1: Day I allowed myself to say maybe I can, and
38:56
Speaker 1: that maybe I can empowered the first training journey, which
39:01
Speaker 1: then fueled the fire for twelve more to this date.
39:05
Speaker 1: It was that relentless self belief that at first admittedly
39:09
Speaker 1: waivered just a little bit. The doubt was there, but
39:14
Speaker 1: I didn't let that doubt hold me back, And by
39:17
Speaker 1: making the conscious choice to believe in myself, I opened
39:22
Speaker 1: up a world of my own potential. And it only
39:26
Speaker 1: takes that one time. Really, That's what I've really learned
39:30
Speaker 1: in this is that there is just one instance where
39:34
Speaker 1: you have the opportunity to see what happens when you
39:37
Speaker 1: choose relentless self belief. And then by doing that that
39:41
Speaker 1: one time that unlocks this treasure trove of what is
39:46
Speaker 1: possible for you. For me, yes, I chose relentless self
39:51
Speaker 1: belief when I signed up for my first marathon. But
39:54
Speaker 1: it really started for me spring semester of my freshman
39:58
Speaker 1: year of college when I I told myself that I
40:01
Speaker 1: was worthy of my own investment. By taking on the
40:04
Speaker 1: challenge of investing in my own personal health and wellbeing
40:07
Speaker 1: and ultimately going on this journey that dramatically transformed my mental,
40:12
Speaker 1: my physical, my emotional health. I learned how valuable it
40:16
Speaker 1: was to choose me, and I will never regret choosing me.
40:23
Speaker 1: I try to not regard a lot of things in
40:24
Speaker 1: my life, but I would be remiss if I didn't
40:27
Speaker 1: say that at thirty five, there are certainly decisions that
40:29
Speaker 1: I've made that I'm not the most amped on. I
40:32
Speaker 1: have never ever in my life regretted betting on myself
40:37
Speaker 1: hard stop, period, full send. That doesn't mean that it
40:42
Speaker 1: always comes naturally. That doesn't mean that every single day
40:45
Speaker 1: when I wake up in my head, I'm like, you.
40:48
Speaker 2: Have totally got this. It's kind of the same thing
40:51
Speaker 2: with body positivity. Right.
40:52
Speaker 1: I'm at this place in my life where I am
40:55
Speaker 1: so grateful for my body.
40:57
Speaker 2: That is the biggest understatement.
40:58
Speaker 1: My body has empowered me to do things that I
41:01
Speaker 1: never even dreamed that I could be capable of doing.
41:04
Speaker 1: But that doesn't mean that I don't wake up from
41:07
Speaker 1: time to time and look in the mirror and wish
41:09
Speaker 1: something might look a little bit different than it does
41:12
Speaker 1: right now. And that's okay. That is life, that is
41:15
Speaker 1: being human. Yet despite these moments of self doubt, or
41:19
Speaker 1: despite feeling a little bit from time to time, I
41:23
Speaker 1: have the overall understanding and appreciation for everything that it
41:27
Speaker 1: is that I have. And now with these thirteen marathons
41:31
Speaker 1: behind me, these six World marathons behind me, I have
41:34
Speaker 1: a complete understanding of what I am capable of when
41:37
Speaker 1: I set my mind to something. My other major takeaway
41:43
Speaker 1: from six World Marathon majors is that comparison is the
41:48
Speaker 1: thief of joy, not just of others, but also of self.
41:55
Speaker 1: I am in such a different place now than when
41:59
Speaker 1: I started. I believe I've said that already in this episode.
42:03
Speaker 1: And I'm sitting next to six posters that I got
42:08
Speaker 1: stamped at a Tracksmith pop up after six different marathons,
42:14
Speaker 1: and each of them have a different time. The fastest
42:17
Speaker 1: time three twenty three fifty six, the slowest time for
42:22
Speaker 1: sixteen the marathon I just ran. Yet when I look
42:27
Speaker 1: at that wall, I don't necessarily see the times. What
42:32
Speaker 1: I see is the evolution of myself and how much
42:37
Speaker 1: has happened for me over the course of time that
42:40
Speaker 1: it took me to complete this major accomplishment. What I've
42:45
Speaker 1: learned is that comparing myself to the version of myself
42:50
Speaker 1: from a different era, from a different time that was
42:52
Speaker 1: navigating different circumstances, it doesn't do me any good. Why
42:57
Speaker 1: am I going to pass judgment on where I am
43:00
Speaker 1: i am when I could focus on where I'm going?
43:03
Speaker 1: Why rob myself of the joy of a certain accomplishment
43:07
Speaker 1: just because it doesn't look like an accomplishment previous. I
43:11
Speaker 1: am so much more than a set of numbers, and
43:15
Speaker 1: whatever number comes from an opportunity like this is not
43:19
Speaker 1: necessarily reflective of who it is that I am, but
43:22
Speaker 1: rather just what happened on one specific day. And that
43:27
Speaker 1: is why the journey is the destination, not the finish line.
43:32
Speaker 1: Don't get me wrong. The finish lines are special, right.
43:36
Speaker 1: You work hard to get to that finish line. But
43:39
Speaker 1: if you are not soaking in the beauty of the journey.
43:42
Speaker 1: If you are not enjoying yourself on the way to
43:45
Speaker 1: whatever it is that your mountain top is, then truly
43:48
Speaker 1: you are missing the point.
43:51
Speaker 2: Anything can happen. I'll say that again.
43:54
Speaker 1: Anything can happen, and so whether it's a marathon, or promotion,
44:01
Speaker 1: or a first date or a big holiday with family,
44:06
Speaker 1: whatever the big occasion may be, understand that anything can
44:10
Speaker 1: happen in that one day, on that one hour, in
44:13
Speaker 1: that one moment, and it might not be as you
44:16
Speaker 1: had hoped, but you have the choice to allow yourself
44:21
Speaker 1: to be human. We are all doing our best, and
44:27
Speaker 1: in respect to the marathon, it's a hard thing. Even
44:31
Speaker 1: the best of the best folks, the people that compete
44:34
Speaker 1: at the highest level of this sport, have bad days.
44:38
Speaker 1: And anyone who makes you feel or question whether or
44:42
Speaker 1: not they two have them as well, they are doing
44:45
Speaker 1: you a disservice. Bad moments, bad minutes, bad weeks, bad months.
44:50
Speaker 1: They are totally normal, and they happen, and sometimes they
44:56
Speaker 1: happen in a moment or a month, or a week
44:59
Speaker 1: or a time or a marathon where you wish as
45:01
Speaker 1: though they would not. But it is as some would say,
45:06
Speaker 1: so it goes, and it's up to each and every
45:09
Speaker 1: one of us to choose how we move forward from
45:12
Speaker 1: a difficult moment, a difficult minute, a difficult week, a
45:17
Speaker 1: difficult marathon. My six star journey, my journey as a whole,
45:22
Speaker 1: has taught me that there is so much beauty in
45:26
Speaker 1: the hurdles. That I have the opportunity each and every
45:30
Speaker 1: day to decide what happens next, to decide and choose
45:34
Speaker 1: how it is that I react to my thoughts, knowing
45:37
Speaker 1: that I am not my thoughts, knowing that I do
45:41
Speaker 1: have a choice. There are going to be easy days
45:45
Speaker 1: and hard days. There are going to be days that
45:47
Speaker 1: feel as though you can conquer the world and others
45:50
Speaker 1: where you feel as though you can't even get out
45:52
Speaker 1: of bed. But what's important is the net of this.
45:55
Speaker 1: What's important is how you show up after your bad
46:00
Speaker 1: days and if you choose to learn from them. Each
46:04
Speaker 1: day is an opportunity, But we learn from the hard ones.
46:07
Speaker 2: We learn from the.
46:08
Speaker 1: Days where we are pushing up against something. I've said
46:11
Speaker 1: it before. How does a muscle strengthen it needs something
46:15
Speaker 1: to push up against. How does our will strengthen you
46:19
Speaker 1: need to give it something to push up against and
46:22
Speaker 1: running these six world marathon majors, completing thirteen marathons up
46:27
Speaker 1: until this point, I am so much better for it.
46:31
Speaker 1: Regardless of the outcome of any of them, it's irrelevant.
46:35
Speaker 1: What's relevant is that I did it. I did something
46:40
Speaker 1: I never ever thought that I could do, something that
46:42
Speaker 1: originally I didn't set out to do. And I did
46:46
Speaker 1: it by staying true to myself, by trusting the process,
46:51
Speaker 1: and by continually showing up on the good days, on
46:55
Speaker 1: the tough days, on the hard days when I wanted
46:58
Speaker 1: to when I didn't, and so on. So back to
47:02
Speaker 1: the note of comparison is the thief of joy. I
47:06
Speaker 1: have learned the importance of focusing on my own journey
47:10
Speaker 1: and keeping the blinders on. We have the opportunity to
47:13
Speaker 1: grow and learn together, yes, but don't let someone else's
47:18
Speaker 1: accomplishments make you feel as though what you are doing,
47:21
Speaker 1: the effort you are putting in that it's not good enough,
47:24
Speaker 1: because that's just not true. Whatever is happening for you
47:29
Speaker 1: in this minute, in this moment, during this week, during
47:32
Speaker 1: this month, allow it to happen for you. I may
47:36
Speaker 1: never run a marathon like I ran in twenty nineteen
47:40
Speaker 1: or twenty twenty, and at this point, when I'm honest
47:44
Speaker 1: with myself about what it is that I'm doing, why
47:47
Speaker 1: it is that I'm lacing up and getting out there,
47:50
Speaker 1: I am completely content with that. Sitting around and comparing
47:54
Speaker 1: myself at thirty five to a version of myself at
47:57
Speaker 1: thirty or thirty two, it is understandable. But upon zooming out,
48:04
Speaker 1: I understand that I don't have the same goals anymore,
48:07
Speaker 1: and that's entirely fine. I will not let comparison rob
48:12
Speaker 1: me of my joy period.
48:15
Speaker 2: Now. There are other.
48:17
Speaker 1: Takeaways that I'm not necessarily going to get into right now,
48:21
Speaker 1: but like I said, if you do have more listener
48:23
Speaker 1: questions or want to know anything else, I am an
48:25
Speaker 1: open book, so feel free to leave me a voice message,
48:28
Speaker 1: and if there's an issue with that, you can email
48:30
Speaker 1: us always with a voice note over to hello at
48:33
Speaker 1: Hurdle dot Us. Of course, before I let you go,
48:37
Speaker 1: I have to answer the inevitable question of what's next man?
48:44
Speaker 2: Right now?
48:45
Speaker 1: In terms of running, I mean, I'm signed up for
48:47
Speaker 1: a five k the weekend of Boston Marathon. I'm also
48:49
Speaker 1: signed up for the Mini ten k in New York
48:52
Speaker 1: in June I'm not trying to do anything crazy at
48:55
Speaker 1: either one of those except have a good time. And
48:59
Speaker 1: I would be remiss if I say that I may
49:01
Speaker 1: or may not have looked at triathlons the other day.
49:04
Speaker 1: But this really goes back into a conversation of where
49:07
Speaker 1: my priorities are right now.
49:10
Speaker 2: I mentioned the whole triathlon thing to.
49:12
Speaker 1: My physical therapist the other day, and he looked at
49:14
Speaker 1: me in this way, and he said something that really
49:17
Speaker 1: resonated with me, which was, you did something that so
49:21
Speaker 1: many people would be incapable of doing, which was trained
49:24
Speaker 1: for a marathon while prioritizing and excelling within your career
49:29
Speaker 1: in a way that required you to be out of
49:31
Speaker 1: a regular routine quite often doing the same while training
49:37
Speaker 1: for a triathlon, requiring a bike, needing to get into
49:40
Speaker 1: a pool, and swimming and running. I don't know necessarily
49:46
Speaker 1: if that would bring you the same amount of joy,
49:48
Speaker 1: because it is extremely difficult.
49:50
Speaker 2: And he has a point.
49:53
Speaker 1: I'm not going to sit here and tell you that
49:54
Speaker 1: I don't think that I could figure it out, but
49:58
Speaker 1: I think when I take a step back and I
50:00
Speaker 1: think about my priorities right now, I'm not entirely sure
50:04
Speaker 1: that I would feel okay showing up and just doing
50:07
Speaker 1: okay in a half iron Man. I want to show
50:10
Speaker 1: up if I'm going to do a half iron Man
50:12
Speaker 1: and crush it. So maybe I'm tabling this idea for
50:16
Speaker 1: just a little bit, but trust me, I have some
50:19
Speaker 1: big goals on the horizon, and candidly they have nothing
50:23
Speaker 1: to do with my athletic performance. I am so excited
50:27
Speaker 1: for what's ahead this year with hurdle and what I'm
50:30
Speaker 1: building and so much more to come on that. But
50:33
Speaker 1: I'm okay with embracing whatever it is that I'm doing
50:37
Speaker 1: with my body. With my athletics is a way for
50:39
Speaker 1: me to have fun, a way for me to enjoy,
50:42
Speaker 1: a way for me to try something new.
50:44
Speaker 2: I signed up for a gym today.
50:46
Speaker 1: I can't wait to get back to lifting barbells, to
50:49
Speaker 1: doing some Olympic lifting, and I'm just looking forward to
50:52
Speaker 1: finding the fun and focusing on me. I said it
50:57
Speaker 1: earlier in the episode, and I'll say it again right now.
51:00
Speaker 1: I have never ever regretted investing in myself. I know
51:06
Speaker 1: now more than ever that relentless self belief is truly
51:10
Speaker 1: a superpower, and that when I trust that I've got this,
51:14
Speaker 1: literally anything can be possible, especially when you've got a
51:20
Speaker 1: stellar team in your corner, and that is something I do.
51:24
Speaker 1: I'll finish off this episode today by thanking every single.
51:27
Speaker 2: One of you who have believed in me, who.
51:28
Speaker 1: Have messaged me, both people that I know irl, my
51:32
Speaker 1: family and my friends. I would be lost without you,
51:34
Speaker 1: the support of the different companies that have enabled me
51:38
Speaker 1: to chase my dreams over the last decade of marathoning,
51:41
Speaker 1: and of course the hurdlers, all of you. I Yeah,
51:50
Speaker 1: it is insane to me that there are individuals I
51:53
Speaker 1: have never met in my life who are in my
51:55
Speaker 1: corner and.
51:55
Speaker 2: Rooting for me all across the world.
51:59
Speaker 1: I hosted a hurdler meet up in Tokyo before the marathon,
52:03
Speaker 1: and a group of women assembled that I had never
52:05
Speaker 1: met in my life, and they all came together because
52:08
Speaker 1: one day I made the decision that I was going
52:10
Speaker 1: to start sharing some of myself with the world in
52:13
Speaker 1: a way that I didn't entirely know what the hell
52:16
Speaker 1: was going on. But they showed up, and I keep
52:19
Speaker 1: showing up, and I keep showing up because you keep
52:22
Speaker 1: showing up. So thank you for inspiring me to keep
52:28
Speaker 1: showing up to do good and to keep striving for more.
52:33
Speaker 2: Another hurdle conquered. Catch you guys next time.