Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / #HURDLEMOMENT: Unpacking a Tough Year With Ali Feller, Host of the 'Ali on the Run' Show

Transcript

#HURDLEMOMENT: Unpacking a Tough Year With Ali Feller, Host of the 'Ali on the Run' Show · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: My hope is that when we get to the end
• 0:01
  Speaker 1: of twenty twenty one, we're not all saying can't wait
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: to flip the calendar. We're looking back and saying, like,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: what made this year awesome?
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: Instead of, Oh, let's get to twenty twenty two.
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: Hey, Hurdlers.
• 0:26
  Speaker 4: Emily ABOUDI here bringing you another installment of Hurdle Moment
• 0:31
  Speaker 4: from Hurdle. This week, I am chatting twenty twenty in
• 0:35
  Speaker 4: Review with the one, the Only, my good friend, fellow
• 0:39
  Speaker 4: podcaster host of the Ali on the Run show, Ali Feller.
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: I'll be honest, I was sitting here last week getting
• 0:48
  Speaker 4: tagged in so many of your wonderful Year in Review,
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: Spotify roundup posty things, and I love so so much
• 1:00
  Speaker 4: much that I get to create content in a world
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: where Ali Feller also creates content because on those posts,
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: her and I were sitting next to each other quite often.
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: So I decided why not bring you two of your
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: favorite podcasters in one place. And on today's episode, Ali
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: and I just kind of get into twenty twenty interview
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: how it's been for us, have an honest conversation opening
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: up about the lessons that we have learned, some of
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: our biggest takeaways and just catch up and enjoy the conversation. This,
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: of course, will be a theme over the next few
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: weeks here on Hurdle, talking about the year interview and
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: what we can look forward to in the new year.
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: I am curious about what it is that excites you
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: about twenty twenty one and what's to come, So make
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: sure to connect with the show at Hurdle podcast and
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: I am at Emily a body. If you have a
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: hurdle moment of your own, a share, or just want
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: to say hi, I'm always an email by It's Emily
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: at hurdle dot us.
• 2:02
  Speaker 5: And if you are.
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: Thinking about twenty twenty one and the things that you
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: want to accomplish, I got you. I have a goal
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: setting workshop, a goal setting hurdle session next week, and
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: I would love nothing more than for you to come
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: join me, to come hash out your crazy, big, exciting
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: dreams for.
• 2:21
  Speaker 5: The new year and beyond. The link to do that
• 2:23
  Speaker 5: is in the show notes.
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: Use the code podcast at checkout for five dollars off.
• 2:28
  Speaker 5: And with that, let's get to hurdling. Today. I am
• 2:37
  Speaker 5: sitting down with Ali Feller, host of the Ali on
• 2:40
  Speaker 5: the Run show and good friend of mine. How you
• 2:43
  Speaker 5: doing now?
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: I'm doing great? How are you doing?
• 2:45
  Speaker 5: I am doing well.
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: It's so it's actually ironic that well, I don't know
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: if ironic's the right word. But we had like our
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: own little catch up, and then the Spotify like year
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: end results like overtook our feed, and I was like
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: just seeing your face everywhere, and I was like, we
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: should just get on the mic together, you, me and
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: Dax Shepherd.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: We really should.
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: I'm surprised Dax didn't want to get in on this
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: with us tonight.
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: I should have held up his people. Yeah did he
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: not email you? What the hell?
• 3:16
  Speaker 5: Maybe maybe that one went to my spam boulder. I
• 3:18
  Speaker 5: get it. It's cool.
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: I basically asked Ali, out of the kindness of her heart,
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: if she would want to get together and rap a
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: little bit and chat about twenty twenty, because man, twenty
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: twenty has been a time.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: It's been a year and a half and three years
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: and twelve years.
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: Every day is a year, Yeah, every day is a year.
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: And I mean it's been so long since we've caught up,
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: like on the show Aspect.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: Okay, So when I was on Hurdle, which was like
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: two years ago, I had I was like, I don't know,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: I was like eight weeks postpartum, because I remember it
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: was like I had to find childcare to come to
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: your apartment from New Jersey and I remember just like freak,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: and I was like, I yeah, it was like I
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: think my one of my very first outings as a mom,
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: like work outings, work related things.
• 4:08
  Speaker 5: So you have like a small human.
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: Now I have like a whole little person.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: Now she's like my best She's not a baby, she's
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: just like my best little sidekick. And yeah, I mean,
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: I know we're gonna talk all things twenty twenty, but
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: I mean talk about a silver lining is that she's
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: at such a I hate to say she's at a
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: good age for all of this, but I don't have her.
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: You know, I'm not navigating remote learning. I'm not.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: She's not a newborn, so I'm not in like the
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: scary new phase.
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: It's very much.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: I feel just so unbelievably fortunate that she's in kind
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: of this sweet spot of being a sweet, innocent little
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: kid that I don't have to I don't have to
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: educate too much. I mostly she just hates to be
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: played with and fed and in a clean diaper and
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: then I.
• 4:52
  Speaker 5: Love I love the idea of a sidekick. I just
• 4:54
  Speaker 5: have a little sidekick.
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: She is.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, she's like my little buddy, and we just like
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: hang out and play together. I mean it's not all,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: you know, just hanging out and laughing. Obviously there are moments,
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: but I mean she's a she's a pretty cool kid,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: like I want to hang out with her.
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: So that's good.
• 5:09
  Speaker 5: Oh thank god. Oh man.
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: Well, yeah, it's been at least two years I think
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: since you've been on the show.
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: I was on your show like even before that.
• 5:19
  Speaker 5: So we're really, you know, kicking it back old school
• 5:22
  Speaker 5: and bringing it to the now. I'm excited to catch
• 5:25
  Speaker 5: up with you today.
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: I asked you to catch up under the premise of
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: recapping some of our biggest lessons that we've learned in
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: twenty twenty.
• 5:32
  Speaker 5: Before we get into the lessons, I think it would be.
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: Good for you to fill me in on how your
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: life just kind of like the basics shifted in twenty twenty.
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: The biggest thing is that I was living in Weehawk
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: in New Jersey and now I'm living with my parents, which,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: like we joke about, but I mean it was very.
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: Much a choice.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: It wasn't like we didn't like get evicted and have
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: to live with my parents. Back in March, which was
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: like fresh off being at the Olympic Trials, which was
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: the best weekend ever where I attended.
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: I did not run in case that's therapy.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: It was.
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: I was on such a high.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: And then, as we know, the pandemic sort of came
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: out of nowhere for some of us, for us everyday people.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: For I understand that for experts, it did not come
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: out of nowhere. You saw it coming. I know, I
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: wish we had all listened sooner, but uh, it was
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: on such a high and then this came. And my
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: husband was the one who took it seriously and was like,
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: I think that we should do something about this kind
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: of thing. And long story short, I didn't want to
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: go anywhere. I wanted to stay put. That was my
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: You know, I love that apartment. I loved our home,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: I loved our lives. But I think he had the
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: foresight to think, like, this isn't a two week thing.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: And we have a two year well a one and
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: a half year old, and a sixty pound dog, and
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: maybe coming and going from this apartment building isn't going
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: to be fun anyway. We decided to come up and
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: visit my parents in New Hampshire under the premise of
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: let's come it for two weeks and they were like, yeah,
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: greatly to do it, and that was it. That was
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: I think March thirteenth, and we are March seventeenth or something,
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: and we're still here. We just got to a point
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: where we were like, we're not going to go back
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: anytime soon. We've gotten used to the backyard life and
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: the country life and it's serving us all really well,
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: and it just made sense to break our lease. Our
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: stuff is all in a giant storage unit, which is funny.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: You can get a storage unit in New Hampshire that
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: fits all your stuff for cheaper than you can get
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: an apartment in New York, New Jersey. So yeah, so
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: we're still here and we've adjusted and pivoted in many
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: ways and a lot has changed. But like you, I'm
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: fortunate to have a career where I can do it remotely,
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: and I'm just so grateful for that that I can
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: still have conversations with people every week and get that
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: bit of inspiration that I know I need, and I
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: think some other people out there need to and we
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: can do that remotely, like we are right now.
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: We haven't stopped talking. Yeah, twenty twenty has not shut
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: me up.
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: So oh man, Well, hopefully if someone's listening to this
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: right now that they're happy that we haven't shut up.
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: Just I so just yet?
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: Okay, So, I mean huge shift for you going from
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: living in, you know, a bustling kind of city environment
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: going and getting some more space. I think that that
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: is something that a lot of people that are listening
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: to this can totally relate to, just this idea of
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: like maybe craving space now that we're inside more than ever.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's not a decision that we came by lightly,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: and it's also not a final decision. I mean I
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: people ask me every single day, where are you going
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: to move?
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: What are you doing next? When do you leave?
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: Are you coming back? Like, and we don't have those answers.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: I know everyone wants an answer, we don't have them.
• 8:47
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: It's it's just I used to be such a planner,
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: and I still am, at my course, such a planner.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: And again, I know I'm getting ahead of myself with
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: the lessons, but this year has certainly taught me that
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: it's okay sometimes to just go one day at a
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: time and if things are going okay, you don't have
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: to just worry about the next thing, Like I'm always
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: worried about the next thing. And this year has just
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: been a big lesson in like, you know what, we're
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: happy here right now, and could we have been happy
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: if we stayed in New Jersey. Maybe I would like
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: to think that I can find joy wherever we are,
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: and you know, the whole it's not about where you are,
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: it's who you're with kind of thing. But it's worked
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: out for us, it certainly has. It's ready for it. Hurdles,
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: plenty of hurdles, but you know we've gotten over them.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: We've caught our feet a couple times on the way over.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: But this is where we are for now. This is
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: where we'll be for the holidays and through the winter.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: And then it's kind of cool that because we're working remote,
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: we can make a list of potential places of where
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: to go next and then you know, narrow it down
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: on what's in our budget, which then that's like the
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: last fun part. But first we start with the dreaming phase,
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: and I'm excited for that.
• 9:58
  Speaker 5: I like the dreaming phase.
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: And I think here's touching on something a lesson that
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: has been a really big one for so many of us,
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: myself included, which is just this broader concept of letting
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: go of the things that you can't control. I mean,
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: God twenty twenty, so much that we can't control, and
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: so many things that made us feel like angry and frustrated.
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: But the reality is is that when you stop putting
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: all that energy and that anger and all of that
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: feeling towards something that you literally can do nothing about,
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: then you have new abundant resources to dive into other things,
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: whether that be other relationships, other projects, other work.
• 10:38
  Speaker 5: Things, you know, you name it totally.
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: And I think that's so important, is that?
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: And it's funny because like the pro athletes talk about
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: it all the time, right, Talk to any professional runner
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: about like recapping a race, whether it went well or
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: it didn't, and you ask them about their mindset, and
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: they always come back to controlling the controllables. That they
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: can't control their competitors and they can't control the weather
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: on race day, but they can control their training. They
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: can control their mentality going into it or when it
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: gets hard. And I don't think I ever really thought
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: too much about applying that to stuff beyond running, and
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: this year that's been I think the biggest lesson of
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty is I can only control what I can control.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: I can only let you know. This sounds cheesy and
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: I don't want to like be putting toxic positivity out there,
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: but like I used to wake up and check the
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: weather every day, and it no good came from that
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: because it was either oh, it's gonna rain, Oh well,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: it's gonna rain tomorrow. Oh, today's beautiful, and tomorrow's beautiful,
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: but Thursday's gonna rain yuck. I just don't check the
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: weather now, which often means I am very inappropriately dressed.
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: For my runs.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: I am always over or underdressed because I'm like, h
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: looks decent out it's not. But like such a simple
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: thing of checking the weather was putting me in a
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: negative headspace. So now I don't or like my mom,
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: bless her heart, she wakes up every morning and puts
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: on the news and looks at the little ticker at
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: the bottom of the screen to see what the COVID
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: counts are in every county and every town in our state,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: and she gets all worked up about it.
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: And I'm like, you just don't watch it. She's like,
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: but I need to know, And I'm like, but why.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: And yes, there are very real and very serious issues
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: and realities we all need to face right now. But
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: I think those little things of just like not checking
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: the weather, I'm so much happier without it, or mom
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: not turning on the scrolling ticker of COVID numbers that
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: are rising.
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: Like, we know, and let's control what we can control.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: Let's protect our family, let's take care of ourselves and
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: our community.
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: But I don't know, just those little things.
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: I've become really sensitive too, and I just don't want
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: that in my life.
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: Taking a break from today's episode to talk to you
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: about my sponsor, Gooder.
• 12:57
  Speaker 5: Y'all.
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: Gooder is my ghost to holiday gift for so many people.
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: They make affordable, polarized running sunglasses that are no slip,
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: no bounds, and as they put it, all fun and
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: I am hooked. Literally, it doesn't matter if I am
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: sprinting around the track and running my absolute fastest or
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: if I'm casually awaring them to brunch. These sunglasses they
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: look great, They stay in place and starting at just
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: twenty five dollars. Honestly, they are a total no brainer.
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: Gooder has an unbelievable deal for the Hurdle audience. They
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: are offering ten dollars off at checkout. Head on over
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: to Gooder dot com slash hurdle and use the code
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: hurdle at checkout for ten dollars off. As I mentioned
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: at the start at twenty five dollars, So this deal
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: is awesome. Use hurdle at checkout Gooder dot com slash
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: hurdle to grab your glasses today. I think this is
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: another huge lesson is finding the things that bring you
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: small joy and really appreciating that for what it is
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: instead of, you know, comparing it again to like things
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: that could have been going on. Like for me, you're
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: talking about your mental health. You're talking about prioritizing your
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: mental health. For me, I often think about the things
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: that I can do every single day which are giving
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: back to me and my mental health, whether that is
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: journaling or going out on that run regardless of what
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: the weather is outside, and finding those small things that
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: just make me happy, that make me feel like me.
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: I mean, even back you know, in March and April
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: I was dealing with a hip injury of sorts, and
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: I needed to move my body in some way. And
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: so instead of like sitting there and like pouting and
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: being angry and frustrated about the fact that I wasn't
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: getting out and running, I laced up my seekers and
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: walk down the four flights of stairs and went.
• 15:01
  Speaker 5: For a walk. And you know what, that walk was great.
• 15:05
  Speaker 5: Every day I went and walked five k And you
• 15:08
  Speaker 5: know what, everyone's different. Everyone has the things that bring
• 15:11
  Speaker 5: them their small hints of joy. But to be able
• 15:14
  Speaker 5: to a and not be angry about the circumstance and
• 15:16
  Speaker 5: be like really articulate what those things are can be
• 15:20
  Speaker 5: such a game changer.
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, dude, walking is awesome. I love walking.
• 15:25
  Speaker 5: Love walking.
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: I one of the most delightful walk the other day
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: around the reservoir at Central Park. I haven't walked that
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: reservoir in so low.
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: It's the best.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: You notice so much more to like talk about a
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: metaphor for life of whether you're running or walking or
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: just living life. You notice so much more when you
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: slow down, and there's so much more to appreciate when
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: you just slow down.
• 15:50
  Speaker 5: Slow down. Okay, so hit me with another twenty twenty
• 15:54
  Speaker 5: takeaway my friend.
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: Oh gosh, I'm on the spot.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: Remember an hour ago when I was like, I'm gonna
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: prepare and I'm gonna have a life.
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: And then I went for email.
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: She says to me, I'm going to spend the next
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: hour thinking about the lessons I've learned in twenty twenty.
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: And I was like, Wow, this is a really diligent guest.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: Yes, and I tried, and here I am. And now
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: I'm like, shoot, what can I say? What can I say?
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: Maybe this is cheating because I'm going to go for
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: this one. I'm going to go pre pandemic. Because one
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: of my biggest lessons came in February at those trials
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: that I mentioned, the US Olympic Marathon trials at the
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: end of February in Atlanta. I went as a fan
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: of the sport and had the opportunity to do a
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: couple live shows down there, and that was the first
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: weekend where I had that clicking aha moment of I
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: belong And I tell people this every day. I tell people,
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: if you run, you're a runner, if you're if you're
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: a runner, you belong in the running community. Like I
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: preach these words, but I don't think that I necessarily
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: felt them for myself until that weekend. And I came
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: away from that weekend feeling really reinvigorated for the work
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: that I do, and feeling like the conversations that I
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: put out there matter, and just feeling like you can
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: be a positive person and impact this world. You don't
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: have to have one hundred thousand Instagram followers to do that.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: You don't even have to have one hundred Instagram followers
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: to do that. You can be a positive force in
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: your family's life, in your friend's lives, like whatever it is.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: And to be able to have that moment before twenty
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: twenty sort of went on a really intense downhill slope
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: really quickly. I'm really grateful for that, of course, but
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: I also I think I needed that.
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: I don't think I realized I needed that.
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: But what was it about that weekend in particular that
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: gave you that feeling?
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: Okay, so I've not yet learned the like, I don't know,
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: the humbles not the right word, because I do think
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: I'm a pretty humble person. But I did a live
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: show on what day was it, so it would have
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: been Friday before the trials.
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: The try were on Saturday, and so Friday morning, I.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: Did a show at the Expo for the trials and
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: it was with a handful of women who have been
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: on the Alley on the Run Show and who were
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: running the trials, but all but one of whom were
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: every day runners, so obviously very gifted everyday runners, but
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: they weren't professional runners, except for Caitlin Goodman, who is
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: a professional runner. And so we talked about how you know,
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: running fit in and all that and their lives and
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: it was just a lovely conversation and the audience was packed,
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: like seats were filled, people were standing, and it was
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: at ten am on a Friday. It was so cool
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: to see the way people showed up. And we finished
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: the show and we all had a big group hug
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: and I came off. We were on like a little
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: stage and I came off stage and there was like
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: a whole line of people and so we sort of
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: all came down together. And they were people who listened
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: to the Alley on the Run Show like they weren't
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: waiting to meet Shlane Flanagan or Des Linden or Michelle Obama,
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: like they were there to talk to me. And I
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: know that sounds a little like they were there to
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: meet me, and they swear I don't mean it that way.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: It was just such an incredibly humbling thing to see
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: a line of people that just wanted to say I
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: listened to the show, and so many people talk to
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: me about how they went to Atlanta not knowing any
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: professional runners or anyone running the trials, but they heard
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: them on the alley on the run show and it
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: made them care about the sport and want to be
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: there and want to root for these women. And so
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: I think that was big is to say, like I myself,
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: I am not Runners World, I am not Women's Running.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: I am certainly not the New York Times. But I
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: am my own thing. And to a lot of people
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: out there, that thing just like hurdle, that thing matters,
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: and that thing is part of their weekly routine and
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: they do care. And so I felt like I got
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: to play a really small part in helping bring professional
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: running to the broader running community.
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: Again, a very small part, but it was really awesome.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: And I was like, Okay, I do have a voice here,
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: and my voice is different than the mainstream publications. It's different,
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: you know, I'm not doing investigative journalism. I'm not doing
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: reporting here, I'm having conversations, but that might matter, and
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: that's really cool. So it was just a really big
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: boost and it gave me a lot of really good
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: energy to head into the next couple months, which as
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: a podcast host were very stressful. The like first day
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: that everything shut down, every single one of my sponsors
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: was like, we got to back out, like we can't renew,
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: we can't pay, we need to whatever it was. And
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: we had great conversations and they all ended up sticking
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: around and we made it work.
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: But it was scary for a while.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: I am a podcast host and my husband owns a business.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: Like everyone in the world, this year, it didn't feel
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: like there was a lot of security, and that was scary.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: And so I know, this is turning into the longest
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: rambleiest answer ever, but that's kind of my specialty.
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: No, not a rambley answer. I totally understand it. I'll
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: never forget. When I was down at the trials, you know,
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: we definitely cross paths down there, and I was so
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: excited just to like see the attendance and like the
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: you know, community showing up to support all of these
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: who I mean, I know that you agree with this,
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: like superhumans that have these nine to five jobs and
• 21:18
  Speaker 4: then like go out and crush these insane times and
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: just like love running for the sport of running. And
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: I remember that at one of the shows that I
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: did as well, like when we finished afterward, one of
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: the hurdlers came up to me and she started talking
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: to me like we were best friends.
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: It is jos She's a gem and.
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: I recognize her like shortly after we started chatting.
• 21:45
  Speaker 5: But then I was like, oh my god. I was like,
• 21:48
  Speaker 5: this is just like what it is.
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: You are in these people's homes on the regular and
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: they are She's gonna die when she listens to this.
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: I love her so much.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: Talk about the best energy on the planet and great
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: hair too, Joanna, we love.
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: You, Oh my god, great hair. I think it's it's
• 22:05
  Speaker 4: just it was just so special. And after her and
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: I spoke, she she walked away from me and the
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: things died down, and a friend of mine at the
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: time came up to me and he said, you know
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: how I know what that was about, And I was like,
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: what he's like, it was obviously about hurdle because the
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: way that you looked at her was with so much
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: love and affection and like, woe is me? Just like
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: gratitude that it had to be about Hurdle. O oh
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: kills me. Kills me every time. So this also makes
• 22:30
  Speaker 4: me think about you're talking about how things got difficult,
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: how sponsors like were kind of on the fence about
• 22:35
  Speaker 4: what to do next. It makes me think about another
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: really big takeaway that I have from this year, and
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: that's really about having some grace with myself. I think that, uh,
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: and I'm sure that you know, you can relate just
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: this idea of like me being my own biggest critic.
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: It's definitely something that's always kind of on the back
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: burner in my mind, is like how can I be
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: doing better? What can I be doing better? Is this
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: good enough? Am I totally messing up? And this year,
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: like I had to overcome a really big learning curve,
• 23:05
  Speaker 4: like coming into twenty twenty after two full years of Hurdle,
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: I can't believe we're approaching its third birthday. It I
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: had recorded remotely a total of less than five fingers,
• 23:19
  Speaker 4: like less than five times had I recorded remotely, And
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: I was scared shitless, Like I was frightened that this
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: thing that I worked to build was going to suffer,
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: and there was like nothing I could can do. There
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: was nothing I could do about it. And I had
• 23:34
  Speaker 4: to like somehow figure out how to make all of
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: this work. And in doing that it really taught me
• 23:40
  Speaker 4: important lessons in having grace and allowing myself to learn
• 23:45
  Speaker 4: on the fly and to learn as I go and
• 23:47
  Speaker 4: understand that you know, not every single thing is going
• 23:50
  Speaker 4: to be perfect or you know my definition of perfect
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: at the time, But if you're putting in the best
• 23:56
  Speaker 4: that you have, if you're giving it all that you've got,
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: then really that's all that you can ask of yourself.
• 24:01
  Speaker 4: And so again on the judgment front, on the like
• 24:04
  Speaker 4: us being so hard on ourselves, to have some grace
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: and just like respect for the fact that you're willing
• 24:09
  Speaker 4: to show up and get it done and put in
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: that work.
• 24:12
  Speaker 5: Jesus, that is so important.
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: I know a woman who says, I believe the phrases
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: all it takes is all you've got.
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: I don't know if you've heard that before. I've heard
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: that before.
• 24:24
  Speaker 5: Here, heard that before. Let's round this out here. Twenty
• 24:28
  Speaker 5: twenty one. It's looming, it's coming.
• 24:30
  Speaker 4: Many people have high hopes we're all excited. If you
• 24:34
  Speaker 4: had to identify one thing that truly excites you about
• 24:40
  Speaker 4: twenty twenty one, Ali Feller, what is it?
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: Endless possibility.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: I have no idea what twenty twenty will look like,
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: And of course I say endless possibility, hoping and praying
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: for health, and I mean that for my family, for
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: my friends, for my community, for the entire world. Like
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: I of course, like all of us, want what's happening
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: in the world to turn a corner. And I don't
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: think that magically happens with the flip of a calendar.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: But I know there are a lot of reasons to
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: be optimistic right now. And if you need some hit
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: me up, I'll you know. I'm happy to do what
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: I can to spread some optimism, even if it's in
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: the form of jokes. I know a couple jokes, But
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: for myself and my family, I'll just speak to us,
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: and that is I feel possibility. I have a like, funny,
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: hilarious two year old who sees the world with the
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: widest eyes every single day, and it's a good reminder
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: that I should try to do that as well. Like
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: she'll literally go from just sitting and coloring quietly to
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: standing up and having a full on dance party, and
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: I'm like, hell, yeah, let's have a dance party, like
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: just little silly reminder that really help now more than ever.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: And so I feel optimistic, just relentlessly, hopelessly optimistic. I
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: feel possibility. I am really excited on the career front.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: I feel energized, and I know, you know, and I
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: hope none of this sounds totally like delusional. I'm very
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: aware of what's going on in the world, but for
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: the sake of this conversation, I will spare everyone all
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: of my thoughts and opinions. I just, you know, I
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: just hope that we can all go into twenty twenty
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: with a renewed sense of empathy and with kindness. Even
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: if you have to fake it till you make it,
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: I think let's all act with a lot of kindness.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: And just my hope is that when we get to
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: the end of twenty twenty one, we're not all saying
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: I can't wait to flip the calendar. We're looking back
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: and saying, like, what made this year awesome? Instead of Oh,
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: let's get to twenty twenty two.
• 26:58
  Speaker 4: Ali, I am a hurdler and I don't yet listen
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: to the Ali on the Run show Crazy, Tell me
• 27:06
  Speaker 4: where do I find you?
• 27:07
  Speaker 5: How do I keep up with you? Give me all
• 27:09
  Speaker 5: the details.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: Oh well, we would love to have you for fun
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: and we're nice and we have a good time. The
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: Alli on the Run Show is everywhere that you listen
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: to podcasts, iTunes, Apple podcasts, Spotify, soundclouds, titch Er overcasts,
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: all of them. You can check out my website Alion
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: thereunblog dot com, Instagram, and Twitter is Ali on the
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: Run one and if you're nice, the only rule is
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: that you have to be kind. But there is an
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: Ali on the Run Show Best Running Friends Facebook group
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: and it is all about like giving each other hugs
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: when you have a great run, talking about who has
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: found the best sports.
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: Bras and share them and lots.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: And lots of puppy pictures. So if that's your jam,
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: come and join us. The only question you have to
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: answer is do you promise to be kind? And so
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: we'd love to have you. We'd love to have you.
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: I love puppy pictures. Oh yeshon oh man, Who doesn't.
• 28:02
  Speaker 4: I am at Emily a Body and at Hurdle Podcast,
• 28:05
  Speaker 4: Another Hurdle conquered.
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: Catch you guys next time.