Latest / The People Run Podcast / #66 4 Olympics. 2 Sports. What’s Next? | Chirine Njeim

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#66 4 Olympics. 2 Sports. What’s Next? | Chirine Njeim · The People Run Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: Shireen, welcome to the People Run podcast.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_02: You're a four-time Olympian in skiing and and and represented Lebanon.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_02: You also have done it in running.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_02: Like, how did you convince yourself after four times um becoming a beginner again and jumping to running?
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_02: Like, how do you do that in a new sport?
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, well, that's a great question because it's it's funny because I never expected myself to be a marathoner, and so it was all new to me.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the challenge and meeting people and just exploring and putting myself out there and you know, figuring out the sport that is so different than ski racing, where ski racing is all about power and how fast you can go and how strong and big you are, and then you come to running where everything is literally the opposite.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's like you have to pace yourself, you have to watch what you eat, and you know, all of that was exciting for me.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: It was new, so I wanted to learn more and more about it, and I think that's what kept me motivated and just chasing that running itch that everybody gets when you first start.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_02: Take me back to before the Olympics.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_02: You're a kid in Lebanon, like where's the attraction to ski come?
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_02: How does ski come into all this?
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know, everybody when they think of Lebanon, they think of a desert, they think, you know, maybe we have sand and they're like, where's the snow?
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, we have all four seasons in Lebanon, and then I learn how to ski race.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, my parents, my dad used to just teach me, you know, take me up the hill and then scare me up.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I just really loved skiing.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I still remember one of my favorite things to do is every day when there's the Woke Up on TV, and I would sit there and just watch it, and it's almost like I was studying it.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I try to do the same thing when I go on the hill, and they're like, why do you keep skiing this way?
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, because I was very visual, and every time I saw someone doing something, I'm like, I could do it, I could do the same.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: Lebanon had like a small little ski team where they had coaches from Europe come and coach the team, and they saw how I don't know if it was crazy or you know, I just had no fear.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: I just had so much love for the sport.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so they told my parents, you know, this this girl could be something, you know, bigger than what she is.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you just have to put it in the right environment, and that's how kind of my love for skiing just kept growing and growing.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_02: So you were preparing from very young with the city.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: I no, I mean, I think I'm very lucky that I had parents that really pushed me, and they never for my parents sports was as important as education.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I know a lot of people are like, you know, you have to study and you have to find a job, but my parents didn't look at it this way.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: They said, This girl loves to be outdoors, she loves skiing, she loves so why not let her chase her dreams?
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: You can work your whole entire life.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I say, but like there is a window where you can push yourself, you can be aggressive, you can just put yourself out there, you know?
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: And it will come time where you all slow down and you can find a job and settle in.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, my parents were not they were very indifferent than Lebanese usually parents, where they just let their kids travel and you know, do something for sports.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: So I was very lucky that I had that.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_02: What was that early journey like?
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you get approached, like, hey, there's something here.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Shireen could be something bigger than you know what's going on right now.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_02: Like, what was that journey in support?
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_02: Like what what happened after when they came to you, like, hey, we need to do something with this?
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, at a very young age, I think I was twelve years old at that time.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I started ski racing in Lebanon, and we had the coaches there that were coaching me.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: And my parents said to me, Hey, why don't you travel to France where you can study and ski?
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they have that.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, as a 13 years old then, I didn't really think about it.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: I said, Oh my gosh, this sounds exciting! Like I get to travel, I get to go to France.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: But what I really didn't know was how much I was going to miss my family, my friends, and just my culture, just being around there.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's it was very difficult, but um, you know, I let go and then I just lived in France with my coach and his wife, and um every day was you go to school in the morning, you train in the afternoon, and you just do it over and over again.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: And um it I can't like a lot of people ask me, how did you do it?
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: Because I was only, you know, I was only 13 years old.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like I didn't know, I was just still trying to build confidence.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: I was trying to figure out who I am, and you know, I had to figure that out quickly when I was in France.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: I was just on my own, and um, you know, I learned a lot.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: I traveled all over Europe, but at the same time, every day we didn't have the phones then.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I sound it makes me sound very but I remember we had to buy like the little cards and you go to like the phone booth and then just dial, and you have probably like 20 minutes and the card expires and you have to buy Nya.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: So I would sit there, talk to my mom, and I say, I ha I want to come home.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm I'm so sad, I want to be home.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: And she never said to me, you know, like no sharing, you can't.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like she always said, not a problem, just pack your bag and just just come home.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: But I almost feel like it was kind of like that reverse psychology.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: Well, remember why you're here for because you're here to ski and how lucky you are.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: That kept going probably every day until I was there for about two years.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: But of course, I went home for the holidays for Christmas.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but still it was very hard.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: But I got used to it and I remember like every time I tell myself, this is what I'm here for, I chose to ski, so I'm gonna keep going with that.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_02: And you just gave me a big flashback with the call out cards because I used to have to use those too.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's awful.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: Now I feel like now it's easy.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: I have my phone and call my family, and before it was just like, oh, it was horrible.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_02: You would get cut abruptly out of nowhere, card over.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's in the conversation.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_02: No, for sure.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_02: No, that's that's so awesome to have the support and family to be like, yeah, go chase your dreams, you know, we can worry about work later.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_02: Walk me through that first uh Olympic, if you will.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_02: You're standing there, you're representing Lebanon.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_02: What do you remember seeing, feeling going through your mind?
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: Being at the Olympics is truly how people say it's a dream.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: It truly is the dream.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you're living two weeks of you feel even if you were just a normal, you know, normal person, normal life, when you go to the Olympics, you become someone else.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just because everyone looks at you, you know, like you're an Olympian.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: And it to you, it doesn't sink in.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: You're just there because that's what you do, that's what you know, we we train to be there, and so to me the award was to be there because I have gone through so much to get to that point.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: Even you know, before the Olympics, I went through a lot of injuries, which is crazy to think.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like, close to the injury, I uh close to the Olympics, I had an ACL surgery, and then coming back from that, I had you know double pneumonia, and coming back from that I had anorexia.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: It was just one thing after another, and somehow I made it through, I got through it, even like the anorexia, which is like the craziest, hardest thing to get over.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: But I think for me it was just um being like feeling depressed that I couldn't do what I loved because I kept getting injured.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, but you know, I I stayed positive, I kept like fighting.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: I had great people surrounding me, pushing me and reminding me why I was there.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I made it to the Olympics to the 2002 Salt Lake City games.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: It was a dream, I couldn't believe it that I was there.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um I lived the dream for two weeks.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: It was just, you know, you're surrounded by athletes, you sit around and you almost don't want to stare at others.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, when you're so young, I was 16 years old, and I'm looking over and I'm seeing someone that I just always followed.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's hard not to sit there and say, Hey, can I take a photo with you?
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: They look at you, they're like, What are you doing?
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: You know?
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but it was just a kind of like a child's dream come true uh for my first Olympics.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: It just felt like a blur, but I still remember it very clearly.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_02: At 16, you're there.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_02: Did you have any feeling of like I'm carrying my country's flag on me or representing, or it was still too young?
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: No, absolutely.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: I think um because I've been through also like so much in Lebanon, as you know, there's just a lot of war and politics and never-ending uh situation there, but because of all of that, I my love for Lebanon is so big that I remember carrying the flag.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I was so nervous.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I'm gonna fall.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: But it was such a privilege and such an honor to be able to represent Lebanon um and being there at the Olympics.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, of course, it means a lot to me to be to do that.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's probably the most important part of the Olympics for me.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_02: What's that like at 16?
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_02: Like, just I'm just imagining it here.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_02: You got the flag, you're representing, you're there after a few injuries.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_02: You're like, I'm just happy to be here.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_02: And then you also got your whole upbringing, families, I'm sure, are watching, or they're present.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_02: Friends, family, like, hey, I know her.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_02: What's that all feel like?
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's you feel you play a big part, you know.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: You're representing your country.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, people are waiting for you, people are looking for you.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's it was never a pressure for me because I feel like, again, m the way I got there, like being away from home for such a young age, has made me honestly like who I am as an athlete.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like I feel confident, I feel like I of course I had to build that.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: I had to f that.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: And um going on the Olympics, I never felt really a pressure.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: I just felt like I am so lucky to be able to represent Lebanon, you know.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean, just it's it's an honor.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's an honor to be representing Lebanon.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: I just felt like I'm playing such a big role.
• 11:04
  unknown: Yeah.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: More than just like I have to perform.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: It was just more you're lucky to be there, like represent finish.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's all I was thinking about.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_02: When did skiing stop?
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_02: You're like, you know what, I wanna pause and pivot.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then uh before the running, at some point you stopped and went, Yes, here well, you know, after so after the 2002, I went to the 2006, 2010 Olympic Games, and it's you always think, How do I ever step away from something that it's kind of your identity, it's who you are.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a ski racer.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but then I met my husband now who he lived in Chicago.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: We actually met on, which is a long story.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um but I met him and it was my last year of college, so you know he said, Why don't you move to Chicago?
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: And to me, the idea of starting something different and something new, like I was ready for that.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you just know I was ready, I was ready to put skiing aside and just turn the page and then start something new.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: And the new thing was for me to just start a normal life, like find a job, um, find yourself and you know, find a new city and meet new friends.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: I was really looking forward to that, but I never thought in my life I'm gonna go back and do another sports and be competitive at something else.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: I just wanted to do Pilates and running, and running whenever I felt like so um, so that was just something that you know changed me a lot and it was a huge pivot in my life.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_02: You talked about identity, and I can only imagine you're doing this for years and spent almost your whole life training it.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_02: Did losing that identity bother you?
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_02: Did you feel you lose something?
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: I I will admit it, I did.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like it took me a while to say I'm no longer a skewer and to just remove myself from that environment was really hard, but I think it did help that I completely changed like city.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: I completely like not just from the mountain.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: I went from the mountains to you know being next to skyscrapers, and I had no option, so I had to change.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I felt like when I was in Chicago, nobody knew who I was, so that helped a lot to just start something fresh.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: But definitely it was difficult, yes, to let go.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_02: When did running come into play?
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_02: Like how'd that start?
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, wow, so when I was so when I moved to Chicago, I was looking for jobs and I didn't really, you know, I would just go for walks and I saw a lot of people running and cycling, and just I was like, what are what are they doing?
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like I never thought I was never a runner, so I was like, where are they running?
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: Why they run just to run?
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like what's you know?
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so for me, like I just started feeling like the itch of I wanted to be competitive again.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted to do something that challenged me.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I I couldn't settle for just being an ordinary person.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I then decided to sign my husband and I to the Chicago Marathon 2012.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: And it was one of those like, check the box, let's do a marathon, and then move on else.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I think after doing my first marathon, I fell in love with running, and I'm like, I can run faster, I can do it better, and that was it.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: I was hooked.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_02: So it was immediate competition.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I didn't think for the my first marathon, I absolutely didn't think of like, hey, I'm someday I'm gonna go to the Olympics.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: It was truly like, let's check the box, like do something that is just bigger than what you thought you could ever do.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: Running a marathon, like that's huge, you know.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I remember doing a 5k and thinking that was a lot, and an 8k, like a shamrock shuffle, but to do a marathon that was that was so big, you know.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but once I did it, I just felt like oh my gosh, like there is more for me to give.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like I want to learn more, I want to just dig more, I want to find out how this whole running works, and that's how I involved myself with a lot of like running community here in Chicago.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: As you know, there is a lot of clubs, and so I started joining clubs, and at the same time, that was a way for me to meet people and make friends, and I thought it was a great idea.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: So I did that.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: I joined uh Kara here in Chicago, and I remember they used to do 6 p.m.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: runs like training.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: She asked me now to do 6 p.m.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: training.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_03: I cannot same here, same here.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: But then I was like so excited about it, and I would just you know, show up and you know, whatever they have, 800 Zama repeats.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: I really didn't know what any of it meant.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: I just did it with a group, and from there, like I kept improving every marathon because obviously I was doing a little bit more, running a little longer, yeah, you know, reading more about it.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, I was kind of introducing myself more and more to the sport.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, and that's how it just kind of kept going.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_02: How how did you find the training in the beginning?
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_02: Was it very humbling coming from like an Olympic background to like, oh, what is this long distance and what are these repeats?
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_02: I'm tired.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_02: This is hard.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: It it it was very hard, like truly, but I think when I started, like where I started, and you know, showing up every Tuesday nights to do a 6 p.m.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: workout, like I could tell how I was improving.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: Because I would write it down, I'm like, okay, today we did 800 and I did it in such time, and then we'd go back and I would do it a little faster.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, oh my gosh, like I'm getting better.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it was never easy, it just got better.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: Somehow it got better, but it never got easier.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the one thing that I had to learn was pacing myself.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because you know, in skiing, when you go out of the gate, you're all out.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: There is no pacing yourself.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I did the same thing in running.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: Once the gun went on, I just sprinted out of the start, but I had to learn the hard way.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: And some races I just start walking, and then I'm like, wait, I need to slow down a little bit so I can like keep going.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: And same with the nutrition.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I never thought, you know, in skiing, you can eat and then just go up on the hill and do your run.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: And in running, it's it's you know, weeks planning to a marathon or whatever days leading towards it, like how you sleep, how you eat.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: So it's just a lot of things that I had to learn along the way that had helped me to improve.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_02: At what point did running not feel like, okay, like I saw your first marathon and you ran like a 307, and then eventually you won't, okay, qualifying time.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_02: Let me start chasing that.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_02: Like, at what point did it not feel like, hey, this marathon thing, I know you said you were hooked, but like this might be I might chase another Olympic dream here.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I never really like thought I would be an Olympian or go to Olympics until I ran the 2000, so the Rio games were in 2016.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: 2015, so every year I kept improving, kept improving.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: And 2015 I did the Chicago Marathon, and I went from I think three hours down to like a 246.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: And a huge I mean, I honestly surprised my surprise myself, and because all my trainings leading to that was training with a friend.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like I remember we used to run to work and then we'd have a backpack, and on the way back, we would run back and do like a tempo with a backpack.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like while we were thinking, but I somehow, you know, just picked up the pace.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: I think it was just like the extra weight in the bag that just made me.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: But um, I ran the Chicago Marathon in 246, and then every year I go to Lebanon and I run the Beirut Marathon, and for me, that one is in November, like the first week of November.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: So October, like second week of October is Chicago, second week of November is Lebanon.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: So I go to Lebanon because to me it's not about time going there, it's about just being there for the younger generation to representing to just being there.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: I love running in Lebanon, and you know, the marathon is great and it's just so fun to me.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I went to Lebanon, I ran that marathon there, I ran it in 248.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: So I was very proud of myself because I'm officially now in the 240s, like I have proved myself I can be there.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: And then the talk started, people started talking and telling me, hey Shereen, you know, if you before January, if you qualify to uh if you run a two sub 245, you can qualify to the Olympics.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: And that idea, it was like before February, that idea started like running in my head.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, wait a minute, I can actually do that.
• 20:23
  unknown: Yeah.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: And um I remember coming back from Lebanon, I emailed my coach and I said to him, I said, I'm going to run Houston Marathon in January.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: He said, Shereen, that's enough.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yes, back to the marathon.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think doing a third one, you're going to PR.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: So he just said to me, like, don't like, let's think about this.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: I said, No, I am sure of it.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I want.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: And without hesitation, he said, Alright, you know what?
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go for it.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: That's what you want.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_01: You're passionate about it.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: Let's let's have fun.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go see what happens.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: And between Lebanon and Houston, January, none of the training was good.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like it was like it was cold here.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: I would go out on my run.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: I couldn't even hit the pace.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: I was like frustrated.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: But somehow, my whole like mind and body, everything was telling me I'm going to run sub-245.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: I just I was just so focused on that.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: And sure enough, went to Houston, ran a sub uh 244, and I qualified to the Olympics to Lebanon.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_02: So okay, let's unpack that.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_02: Hold on.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_02: So training doesn't go good.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_02: You run, I'm gonna run this back.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_02: October.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_02: Chicago.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_02: A month later, we go uh Beirut.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_02: And then we got December, January, right?
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_02: The January, I believe, is when Houston is somewhere around there.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_02: So two months basically.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_02: We'll talk it up to two months.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_02: Training goes bad.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_02: Cold winters.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_02: If you've ever been to Chicago, it can be really brutal, especially in winter.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_02: And you run the PR um and qualify.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: Like, what do you attribute that to?
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_02: Just the fire of Lebanon on your back?
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I think that's a I'm so glad you asked me that question.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: Because I kept thinking about it.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: What motivated me to do that?
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: Especially that the training wasn't going well.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: I think for me, I that time taught me how if you're mentally focused on something, there is nothing that can block you.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like I have had races where I trained so well, but mentally I wasn't like all into it.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I was like, okay, I'm training very well, but I'm really not that excited about that race.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I did really bad.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: So it just really taught me how if you're in your mind, really are focused and want something, like your body's just gonna like do it, you know.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we're all capable, we train for it, so like it's it's just gonna happen, you know.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but I think it was just for me, it was just like the mind and body just kind of just that's what that what that's what I wanted.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: I was not gonna let anything get in the way of that.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_02: No, that's amazing.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I gotta ask, you know, since you run a few marathons now, and then we'll get back to topic here, but like what's what's your favorite?
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_02: Is it going back home to to Lebanon on a race or you have some other favorites?
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: Uh there's few.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I do love running in Chicago because my it's home.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Beirut is always amazing because it has so much, like it means a lot to me.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_01: It means a lot of people running forward, people going to people meeting and in the same spot and finishing in the same like direction because it's a happy, it's a happy thing, you know.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: So as you know, like people in Lebanon, if you see them all gathering together, something's not good.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: But this one is just different.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so to me that was great.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I have to say, um I like the most unique places I've ever ran was in Antarctica when I ran the seven marathons on seven continents in seven days.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um that was very, very unique.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: So but yeah, and then I would say if I have to pick another good marathon, it's Valencia.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_01: Beautiful, absolutely beautiful.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_02: That's on my list, that one there.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um I highly, highly recommend that race.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: Easy to get to to start.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: Just the people are nice, the town is nice, like I it's it's beautiful.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_01: Fast course.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_02: I I say I want to go there, one for the race, but also the food.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_02: So it's just like, let me go on vacation here.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: I highly, highly recommend it.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_02: What was harder for you, like qualifying and skiing for the Olympics, or running and qualifying for the Olympics?
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, um, they both play such a like different role, you know.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: I can't I can't say one was easier or one, it's just different it's completely different.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I can't really compare those two.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, of course, running takes just a little bit more thinking than than ski racing.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: I think ski racing you can really disconnect and just kind of trust yourself and go.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh running, you definitely have to be like smarter at pacing yourself and all the little things along the way and fueling yourself.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: So just a little different, but they both have their their their things.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_02: In real, you traded in your ski boots for running shoes.
• 25:31
  unknown: Exactly.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_02: You're standing there again representing the country, like this time when you look around, what's going through your mind?
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, I mean, it meant a lot to be there.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because it kind of put me in like I'm the only Middle Eastern person to have competed in both Summer and Winter Olympics.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: So to me, it's very special.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's a title that I will hold on to for as long as I can until someone else comes and takes it away.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um but my parents were there in Rio and my sister was there, so it was just such a fun event to have your family cheering for you because when you're skiing, they everyone is at the bottom, so they can't like see you on the hill.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: Or I mean I can't see them either if they're standing on the side looking ahead.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: But in Rio, you're going in loops and you keep seeing your family, they're screaming at you, they have signs out.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that was so special to me.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that made it a lot of fun, minus the weather, but that made it a lot of like it was just amazing, amazing to be there.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: And packing to go to the Summer Olympics is so fun because it feels like you're going on a vacation.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_02: You know, and like much lighter too, I'm sure.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you're packing like four or five pick pairs of skis and you know, a couple poles, it's just a lot.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it was very special to have my family and everyone cheering for me um at the summer Olympics.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_02: So what um you've hinted at a few of them as we've been speaking, like things you've learned from skiing versus the marathon.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_02: What translated, if anything, from skiing as you became a very efficient and fast runner?
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: I will say my strength.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um if you see me, I'm very like built and I'm not built as a runner.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: I don't even know if there is such a thing as a runner's body because I'm doing what most runners do, but I'm very I'm very strong.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like a lot of people sometimes ask me if I'm a gymnast, or they ask me how if I do high rocks.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but in general, I just I feel like my strength has helped me just stay very healthy um through my running.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I have done so many marathons, I have done high mileage, I have done seven marathons back to back in seven days, and knock on wood.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_01: I think because of skiing and my built, it has kept me injury free.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_02: Do you still strafe train today?
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um I do like free weight.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_01: Not not that I don't love it, I just think I build so fast.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: I think my body is like from skiing.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_01: Honestly, I just I I will look like a a bodybuilder, which gotcha it's crazy because a lot of people are like, How do you how do you do to have strong arms, strong legs?
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I don't know, I'm just genetically like gifted.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_01: No, but it's um so I have to keep it a little bit light on the lighter side.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_01: I sometimes try to do some legs, just free weights, nothing, nothing crazy.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_02: See, now I wanna ask, and I'm gonna preface this.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_02: This is nuanced, and this is what works for Shireen, just in case, because some people need to strengthen more than others, and vice versa.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_02: Uh like we mentioned, she's built.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: I've done, I mean, I've been ski racing since I was, you know, four years old.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: Starting nine, um, I have a lot of muscles on me.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: Not that it it doesn't mean that I shouldn't maintain it, but I don't need to work as hard as people that are just starting running and starting strength.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: But if someone would ask me, like, hey, I'm a runner, should I do strength?
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's such like an important component for running because you're hitting the ground like every step you go.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, you don't have to lift heavy, you just have to kind of like maintain your body, just do lightweight, just do repetition, just you know, little things that would keep your body healthy.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's very, very important.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_02: Well, what I want to ask is someone like yourself who does lift and has lifted for years, like it's okay to answer this however you will.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_02: We we put the nuance here.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_02: Like, when is it okay to maybe like let's say I am built, I've been lifting for years, back off a little bit for my marathon goal.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_02: Let's say I want to chase a marathon PR goal, like you know, I've been strength training for XYZ years.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_02: It's okay to back off a little bit because like Shireen, I'm built.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_01: I would say, I mean, you know, right?
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I I'm definitely more built than my friends.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I I just have more muscle, I have more arm muscle, leg muscles.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I used to be a ski racer where my whole life was lifting heavy, like doing back squats, doing bench press.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like I still hold the the bench press in uh in my high school.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: I think it was like one day, which is crazy.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um so you just know like you don't need it's a different sport, so you don't need a lot of muscle, right?
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_01: So like you don't need the big legs, the big arms, like it's a different sport.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I think you would just kind of do it lightly and not do it to build, you just do it to keep your muscle and your body strong.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I would talk about it.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_01: And you just know, you just look at yourself, and for me, if I lift for you know a month, I truly will be very, very built.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_01: Might as well just quit running and try something else.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_02: Try that high rocks.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_01: Now that I should probably do that.
• 31:24
  unknown: Okay.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_02: What sport scares you more?
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, one, you're skiing down very fast uh in some of these races, and the other one, you're going for a two, you know, 40 gotta pace yourself, uh mile 20, you know, fueling, all that fun stuff.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I mean, I get nervous at both.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like when I'm standing at the I think that's not a sign of I'm not prepared, it's just a sign that I care so much about what I'm doing.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think in skiing, once you're out of the gate, it's almost a weird feeling to describe, but you you're not really thinking.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like you're not really, it's just everything's happening so fast.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you're just you know turning around the gates.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, you're you never think, oh, I'm gonna fall and injure myself, but you're not really also thinking that much.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: And and if you do have a fall, it happens so quickly that you probably won't realize what just happened.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_01: And running, I do sometimes get nervous.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like, okay, what if I'm running and I'm like way, like, way out there, how do I get back?
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what do I do?
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what if I have an upset stomach?
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_01: You know, those are things that you're not thinking about in skiing because there is really you don't really have those issues.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so it's just it's different, right?
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's different, hard to compare.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_01: I don't have fear, but I definitely I think running definitely has a lot more thinking and more more you know, more things can happen in running than it could happen in skiing.
• 33:07
  unknown: Okay.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_02: Well, one's quicker to your point.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_01: Well yes, I feel like skiing, if you fall, you're falling, it could be really bad or it's okay.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_01: And then running, you can just slowly like disappear.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you can like you get to a point where honestly, like I've had that in running where your body just can't can't keep going.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_01: You're like, I just don't I just can't.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_01: And people just don't understand.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_01: They're like, What's wrong with you?
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_01: You're like, I can't move.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like I can't rock.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_02: The glycogen has left my body.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like done and I've done that before in a marathon, like the indie marathon.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_01: I was at mile 18 and I stopped.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember my husband's like, Really?
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you were running so well.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_01: I said, the thought of finishing another like to 26 miles, my mind just was not gonna be.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_01: I just couldn't, I just was like, I just couldn't do it.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_01: So I had to stop.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's crazy how that works, but it's different, you know, it's different than ski racing.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_01: You never have that issue.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_02: It's funny the way you put skiing makes me think you don't have the option because you're going so fast.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's like true, actually.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_01: You're just you're just letting go and going so fast you don't know what's gonna happen.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like in your mind, I'm just gonna have a good line and I'm just gonna run that something could happen and just quickly you're out, you know.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_01: Where running, it's you're very aware of your body and what's happening, and you you feel it, you s like you're just like I can't keep going.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_02: Sharine, if let's say husband or a coach that's seen you through both skiing Olympic and running Olympic saw you under pressure.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_03: What would be identical?
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh um, you mean under pressure in skiing?
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: So I've the one thing they used to tell me in skiing, they said, Shreen, just disconnect your head from your body, because I always used to overthink.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_01: And the other thing is they made me listen to like calm music because I used to listen to like techno, and it's like, let's go, like, I'm so punk.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: And they said, No, like skiing, you just have to think about it like just you're just kind of like rhythmic, you know, you're you're flowing through the course, right?
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_01: And so they're like, you need to calm down, you need to breathe, like there's no stress, just calm down.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_01: And in running, I would say they would say the same thing to me, like slow down, you know, at the start, like be calm, like don't go all out.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I think I've always been that person, just push it, you know, as hard as I can.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but there's one thing about me in ski ra in running is that I'm always looking at others and being like, oh my gosh, like they run 100 miles.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_01: I can do that, I'm gonna do that.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I sometimes like can, and sometimes I just go so far to a point where I'm like, all right, it's enough.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I think this is where like with coaches would say, Shreen, like, think of Sharine and what Sharine, what works for you and not what work what other people are doing.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I had to learn that like truly the hard way in so many ways.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I remember my first coach, he said to me in running, you know, all the great runners they run hundred plus miles, and that was the only thing I wanted to do was to run hundred miles.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I did that, and my body just I just couldn't run.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_01: I was just so tired all the time.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_01: And but I had to figure out like that sweet spot that what works for Shereen.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's just yeah, I think they just would tell me be confident of who you are and you know, don't compare yourself.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_02: What's that mileage look like now?
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_02: You know, 100 or you found your sweet spot.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_02: Is it 80, 200?
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_02: I'm kidding.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I mean, I as you know, like I have run you know, seven marathons on seven continents in seven days.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_01: So that limit of running a lot of mileage, I have pushed that.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I think because of, you know, I'm just I just feel like it took me years to build to that.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_01: So for me to run in a week at 90 or 200 miles, like I'm capable of doing that without feeling exhausted.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_01: I think if I pass that, that's when I start feeling a little like too much.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_01: And especially having like a full-time job, it's just a lot of mileage to put in.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like I have a life outside of running.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so that I just have to keep it all balanced.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I think if I have to look at what I do, if I run 90 to 95 miles a week, that's very doable for me in my schedule, in my life.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_01: But if I go over, I know I would not do but yeah, but I I've tried, I've tried like a few trainings where I did as low as 80 miles, and few, I think my high would be 90 miles.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um I would say like if I peak at 90, 95, that's where that's where I am.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_02: You're doing good.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_02: Talking about seven marathons, seven continent in seven days.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_02: Like, someone goes, Hey Shireen, I have an idea for you.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_02: Let me uh what do you think about this?
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_02: What part of your brain said, you know what, yes, or were you like absolutely not?
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not doing this.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_01: That was that that was like the most amazing challenge I've ever truly done in my life.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it was actually started with Ryan Hall.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_01: He posted something on Instagram where he said, run with me, I'm running seven marathons.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I was so confused.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, wait, so you're coming to Chicago?
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like, do I just you know, because I I trained with Ryan Hall, so he was my coach at that time, and then I was like, wait, so you you run to Chicago so I can like run with you?
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_01: How cool is that?
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_01: But I clicked on it and I looked at it and it just like hit me.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, oh my gosh, I have to do this.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like, this is so amazing.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_01: And um slowly the idea, like I put the idea in the back of my mind, and I started asking like people around.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, what do you think if I run Seven Marathon, you know, on seven continents?
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_01: Some people like you're crazy, some people like, oh my gosh, that's that would be so amazing.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_01: Some people said, Oh, I know a friend who did it, and so it's it's that all of that just made me really believe like I should be doing this, I should be doing this race.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_01: So if I sign up for it.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_02: In hindsight, you had hella fun, and you described it as one of your best experience.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_02: But in the moment, what days felt good and when did it go?
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_02: Oh no, wait a minute, we still have more days left.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's I was waiting, I was waiting for that question because I think like I was so nervous getting there when I was getting to we started in Cape Town, the way there coming from Chicago, I was like, what am I doing?
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like, why did why did I sign up for this?
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_01: Why am I doing this?
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm so scared, I'm so nervous.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but once I got there and I met like the group of people that was there, it's it was so exciting because it just felt like we all kind of clicked, you know, the women that were there.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_01: And to me, that was like, okay, like I have my team here, I have my group, so they're not gonna let go of me.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like if I drop, they're gonna drop with me.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_01: And so I kept that in the back of my mind.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_01: But I would say, um, you know, running in Antarctica was just amazing, like amazing.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I never thought I would be ever putting a foot on, you know, there um just alone to run.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_01: It was it was crazy because it's all so white, you know, because of the snow.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_01: You start like hallucinating it.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you're like, I need a tree, I need to see something.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like, is there a bear running around?
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like you just your mind like goes somewhere else, you know.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I would say uh not until my one, two, three, fourth marathon.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_01: We got to Istanbul, it was raining a little bit.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_01: I was getting tired.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_01: That's when it hit me.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I don't know if I can do this.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if I could do this.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember like a few times I'll tell the girls that I was running with, like, I need all your help today.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_01: I need your support, I need you to stay with me.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want to be left back.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think having that really has helped uh just finish all seven of them.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_02: Did any day you like feel like okay, I'm not having fun anymore?
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_02: You're just like, we're gonna get through this and just have a blast, and then every day was so special.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I think the the group of people that we were traveling with, uh, because we were all on the same plane, we were all just doing the same thing, just it was amazing.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like everyone was positive.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's you're you're with a bunch of people that have the same mentality as you.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_01: So how can it, you know, we're all crazy, we're all doing something that so that made it so special, and I think that just kind of kept us all going forward, and knowing that at the end, like all our family is going to be in Miami was just absolutely like so special.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_02: What kind of things did you guys tell each other to help each other carry this goal and go through all seven days?
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_01: So to us, because we ran like there was a group of women that we ran together, and there was a live feed going every time, and I we we never really thought that's how it was gonna go, but we stayed together, and I think it was just like the woman, like the woman empowerments and all those kids watching us just felt so amazing.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like I felt like we carried that with us um the whole entire way.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we're doing this for our kids who's watching, we're doing this for all the kids out there for people that don't believe they can.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_01: It felt so special, it really truly did.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_02: That's amazing.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um Shereen, you do skiing Olympics.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um you run, real, you do seven marathons in seven continents, seven days.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_02: At what point do you go, okay, what now?
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_02: And what is that what now um for you?
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I I wanna I don't think I will ever stop asking myself what's next.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think it's just um it's my nature.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_01: I you know I Life is too short to sit around and wait for things to happen.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like I'm someone that loves to explore.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_01: I love to push myself to the limits and see where can I go?
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_01: What can I do?
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I always set a challenge for myself and somehow I I accomplish it.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_01: And every time I do that, I say, oh my gosh, if I could do this, what else can I do?
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's you either have it or you don't.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_01: But for me, it's just life is too short to sit there and wait for life to happen.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_01: Just enjoy it.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_01: Just enjoy.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_01: And if I fail, it's okay because it's a lesson for me.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's a lesson that, all right, this is you have given everything you have, but that was it.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_02: So I love the mindset behind that.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_02: Do you like pick these and just go, I'll figure out the rest later?
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I never, you know, sometimes it's just like people will say something about a race or they will say something, and to me, that's just the idea kind of hits me.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, like it's funny watching, is it bad water?
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_01: The the some people think, why?
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_01: Why would you do this?
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_01: This is crazy.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_01: And somehow there's a part of me.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, someday I'm gonna do this.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know how, when, but I feel like someday I'm gonna do it.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_01: I just I love that.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_01: I love that just being tired and pushing yourself to to a point where you can't walk.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_02: No, I can relate to that.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_02: Some might call it crazy, but I get what you mean.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_02: Wanting to test that limit, and then you test the limit, and then the limit grows bigger, and you're like, okay, what about now?
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, what's next?
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's a question that if if anyone has fun like challenge, I'm all all for it.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_02: So I think you threw a big one out there already because bad water is a big one.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_01: I think someday I'll do it.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_01: I really feel like it's it's something that I will end up doing.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know how, but I will.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_02: Let's talk about nameless.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_02: How did that start?
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, like you mentioned early when we started, there's a lot in Chicago, but you started nameless.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_02: Talk to me about like how that started and what you wanted to accomplish with it.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_01: So um Nameless is the the running team that um my friend and I have here in Chicago.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_01: And the way Nameless started, like all of us were part of a team here in Chicago, and we just wanted to disconnect from that.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_01: We just wanted to have our own thing because all of us have a full-time job, and it was hard sometimes to say, okay, on Tuesday, you have to be there at 5 a.m.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_01: in the morning, and you wake up sometimes on Tuesday, you're like, I'm not in the mood for a workout, like, can I just do it tomorrow?
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_01: And that's I think the beauty that Nameless has is you don't have to feel like you have to be there.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_01: Now, of course, your teammates, your friends, everyone will be there, but if you ask someone, someone might be feeling the same way and might say, Hey, I'll run with you on Wednesday, like that's okay, I'll do it with you.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_01: So the flexibility of that was something that we wanted to do.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_01: We wanted to be part of the community where people don't just look at us like, oh my god, those are elite like people and I can't train with them.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_01: We're not, we're just ordinary people that are trying to find what else we can do.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_01: We are trying to change, chase that OTQ.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_01: We're trying to chase new challenges.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, we don't have someone on the team.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_01: If someone comes in with, you know, a 330 marathoner, it doesn't matter.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_01: As long as you're there and you're showing up and you're doing what everybody else is doing, that's all that matters at Nameless.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_01: We're there to help others find what's, you know, what's next for them.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know, what's what's what challenges them.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's how Nameless started.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_01: So so yeah.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_02: How satisfying is that for you now?
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, you've run all these big races, run very fast, but now you're you're essentially helping people get their PR, their goal race and and you know, accomplishments.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for me, like nameless is it's not a job, and it's it will never be like a business, and we don't make any profit out of it.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's just a team of women that are so passionate about what they do, and that's so important to me because one, I'm surrounding myself with people that are that I want to be like, that I want, that I look up for as well.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_01: And at the same time, like I can go out and help them.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like, if I'm able to help someone pace or just you know, give advice, this means a lot to me because I have experience, I've done it for so long, so why not be able to help others?
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_01: And it gives me so much like reward to do that, you know.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_01: I truly absolutely love that team so much.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_02: But like, what did you wish existed before nameless um in the community?
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_02: You know, because you've been in Chicago a while now.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_01: I um you know, Chicago has such a great community.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_01: I just wish maybe sometimes I had what nameless is.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_01: I had I wish I had that before because it's the flexibility, just having that group of women that supports each other, um, just having someone where I can ask for advice or ask, like, hey, if I want to do this marathon, what should I do?
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_01: What should I eat?
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_01: How should I fuel?
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like, there's a lot of people that ask those questions that are coming from you know, a 10K, a 5k, and they ask me, you know, hey, you've done marathons, how many gels should I take?
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like I wish I had someone really to be able to ask those questions.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_01: I think um I was reading a lot about it, you know.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_01: I had a friend who did it, but it I didn't have that big group that I can just take all these ideas from.
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_01: So but I can't I can't say that Chicago does not have an amazing running community in general.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_02: No, a few.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_02: But very fun.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_02: No, I've seen some of your guys' stuff in Nameless.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_02: You guys seem to be having a blast.
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_02: I think almost at least from my observation from outside in, most of the pictures, everyone's smiling, they're having a good time, so that's always like it excites me to be like, oh man, I want to go run.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, but I hope that when you come visit Chicago, you can join us.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I tell people.
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_01: Like, if you're in Chicago, you want a group to run with, like, please reach out.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like, it's that's what we are.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_01: We're not like a closed group, like people are very open and they just want others to join us and challenge us, and that's what's that's what nameless is all about.
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_01: But yes, we're having if you're not having fun, what's the point, right?
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_01: Can't take it seriously forever, so it gets hard.
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_02: Shereen, and a lot of the stuff I've seen from you, like Lebanon keeps coming up, no matter where you run, where you live, like you're always representing um, you know, home, if you will.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, what does Lebanon mean to you representing it now versus when you were like 16, 17 and competing?
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's obviously like if you know Lebanon has gone through a lot.
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um to me when I was younger, I don't think I understood how how big that is.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_01: I think for now it means a lot.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like I am very proud to say that I'm Lebanon and I love my culture, I love my people, and I want people to know how beautiful Lebanon is.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's not just uh what you hear on the news, it's not, you know, it's it's a the the people of Lebanon are just amazing, and I hope and wish that a lot of people someday would go and run the marathon there and do some races there because it's a it's a very welcoming country, and it's definitely not what people see and hear about on the news.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, representing Lebanon is always especially like doing bigger races, doing challenges, like you know, the one that I just did in the seven marathons, it's it means a lot because it's something different.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's like Lebanon is out there, and um I I don't know if Lebanon was ever there was a flag ever in Antarctica.
• 52:33
  SPEAKER_01: So to me it was like, oh my gosh, am I the first one to put that flag out there?
• 52:37
  SPEAKER_01: So it I always feel proud because I am I'm proud to be Lebanese and I think I'll always represent that country.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_02: So do you feel a sense of responsibility being like one of its most accomplished endurance athletes, if you will?
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um it I feel a lot that way when I'm actually home in a way.
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like the kids when they come to me and they just like want to talk to me, it feels so special.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like obviously, here it's me, my country, myself, and what I know.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_01: But when I'm in Lebanon, it means a lot to me.
• 53:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like I care, I feel like I have a big responsibility to be there for that next generation and tell them all the things that I have done.
• 53:26
  SPEAKER_02: So definitely uh inspiring.
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sure many out there would be cool to see some uh young athletes come up.
• 53:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um I hope that'd be really cool.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I hope so.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_01: I I really truly hope someone will come.
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like I always say, you know, people ask me, like, hey, would you do you feel bad if anyone, you know, breaks your records or if anyone does like what you did?
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, no, that's that's the point.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_01: I want people to I want people to follow my footsteps.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_01: I want people to put themselves out there and believe in themselves and know that you know their dreams can come true.
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_01: You just have to truly believe in what you want, and I think you can get there.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that that would be cool to see.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sure you'd feel that way.
• 54:09
  SPEAKER_02: Like, hey, just bring on more.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, before I was like, no, it's all mine.
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_01: Now I'm like, please, please want someone out there.
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_01: I want someone to keep representing Lebanon and showing up, you know.
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's I think that's very important.
• 54:25
  SPEAKER_02: Shereen, right now today, what version of athleticism or athletic goals are you chasing right now?
• 54:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I mean, right now I would love to do I have a few things.
• 54:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like I would love to do the indie marathon.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think I always would love, I still would like to break my own PR, uh, which is of 236 in the marathon.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'm still, you know, out there training, and I think, you know, if you would ask me, I don't know if I'll ever stop training.
• 54:57
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I might slow down, but I enjoy the training so much.
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like, if truly you remove racing from everything, I'm okay with it.
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_01: I just love going out there, getting up in the morning, doing my runs, even doing workouts, doing something different.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_01: I love that so much.
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but for now, it's nice to also set up goals like hey, I have this race, and for now I have the indie marathon, so I would love to do that and see how how much I can push myself.
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_02: Indie's a good one.
• 55:27
  SPEAKER_02: That's one of my favorites.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, that's all it's a good race, it's a low-key, like good marathon.
• 55:35
  SPEAKER_02: I I don't know about low-key anymore.
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_02: They're getting up to their like 25,000.
• 55:39
  SPEAKER_02: I I I'm pretty sure it'll even be bigger this year.
• 55:41
  SPEAKER_02: I know it's already sold out.
• 55:42
  SPEAKER_02: Like it it's it's getting bigger.
• 55:47
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, now races are like going two days.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_01: Was it the London marathon?
• 55:51
  SPEAKER_01: Now they're doing it Saturday and Sunday.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_02: I'm doing it on Saturday, yeah.
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_02: And I was coming in.
• 55:57
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh, I wasn't sure all about that.
• 56:01
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I'll keep you posted, and I'm pretty sure given Chicago, we'll we'll talk about it on a run before that.
• 56:07
  SPEAKER_02: I can promise you that.
• 56:08
  SPEAKER_03: All right, I love that.
• 56:10
  SPEAKER_02: But uh yeah, I was happy to get into that one.
• 56:13
  SPEAKER_02: But um Thank you, Shereen.
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_02: I want to thank you actually and appreciate you for sharing your your beautiful story and continuing story.
• 56:22
  SPEAKER_02: We're not gonna end it like it's done because you got a lot more to come.
• 56:25
  SPEAKER_02: But thank you for coming on the People Run Podcast and chatting with me.
• 56:29
  SPEAKER_02: I I've enjoyed this a lot.
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_02: Hope everyone's uh inspired or got something from it.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, this has been the People Run Podcast.
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_02: Until next time.
• 56:39
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 56:39
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much for having.