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[Music]
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Lydia odono welcome to my podcast oh
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thank you so much for having me it's an
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honor to be here actually yeah I feel
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like well you and I have been friends
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for such a long time now and I know
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we've been talking about having this
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conversation for a long time and I am
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very fleeting when I come to New Zealand
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so stoked we could finally make this
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work yeah it's been years in the making
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by the way you said we've been friends
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for a long time um yeah I was thinking
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about this when I was doing the research
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for this interview do do you know do you
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remember how we
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met embarrassingly I do
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it was probably like
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200 N maybe I can't remember the year
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but I remember the event I'm just one
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want to match up stories to see if
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you've got the same yes so uh myself and
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my sister decided to enter a competition
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on the edge to win a mini and uh we knew
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that there would be a ton of people
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putting themselves forward to win the
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mini and I mean you win a mini which is
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worth I don't know like 40 or 50 Grand
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or something so it's like a decent price
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uh and so we decided to write in our
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submission that we would live in the
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mini which you had to live in the mini
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for like 3 or 4 days um that we would do
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it in our bikinis
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which I am somewhat embarrassed about
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this now my sister would be extremely
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embarrassed we've been talking about
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this I didn't remember I didn't remember
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you guys were in your bikini I remember
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the mini promo but I I didn't remember
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that aspect of it I think we tried to
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get like an upper hand on people and for
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some reason we thought being in our
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bikinis would do that but like now is
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this like very strong feminist I'm like
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we should not have done that that's all
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right but it's empowering though isn't
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it as a feminist like a yeah to embrace
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yourself yeah that's cool now but I
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remember um coming down and U meeting
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all the contestants cuz I think there
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was like four maybe four or five groups
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of two that were living in minis like
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little mini teams um and and we met and
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um you mentioned your run and I was like
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oh cool like what do you do you're like
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10 10,000 M or whatever and I was like
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oh what sort of time do you do cuz I
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think I at that time I was maybe like 45
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minutes 40ish minutes for 10K and you
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were like 33 minutes or something oh
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probably 35 maybe straight away I was
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like oh [ __ ] this chick's
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legit I remember like the the hardest
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part of the entire challenge was not
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being able to run I just sit in that
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mini for 3 or 4 days straight and like
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I'm you know nothing's really changed I
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can't sit
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still yeah so you've been um you've been
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like a crazy runner for a long time now
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um I I've so who do you do interviews
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and you say it's um like your identity
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is not tied up in it but it's kind of is
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in a way as it's mine I feel your
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identity I think can be whatever people
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think of it so I'm going to set my own
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identity but I feel like people probably
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have an idea of who I am based off what
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they see or hear of me and so I think
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definitely for other people they would
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see me as you know I'll L A that Runner
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um whereas myself I think I am I'd like
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to think I'm a lot more than just one
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who goes out and puts One Foot In Front
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of the other yeah I think it's an
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interesting one and I actually listened
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to the conversation you had with LV mtag
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and she's very similar around just
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keeping your identity you know away from
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Sport and being a person before you are
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an athlete I think is really important
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there's just so many dangers that come
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into play if you get too tied up in
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competitive Sport and you don't
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necessarily have a control of the
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outcome and so if you you know think you
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are a particular person and that you
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have to be achieving particular things
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to be that person if those things don't
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come true then you do lose your identity
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and you lose who you are and your self
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worth and I've been there and it's
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pretty hard to work through that and so
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yeah I think for me now it's just like I
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love running and everything I do is very
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much based on the sport of running but I
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also am
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someone away from the sport as well
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yeah I feel um quite similar similar to
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you uh obviously a lot slower Pace umow
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but I um I I love running and I love
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what it's given to me from a physical
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perspective and a mental perspective but
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the past um year 18 months I've had knee
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issues and I've had periods where I've
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been unable to run all together and I've
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had to sort of re-evaluate um things and
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it's um initially it's a terrifying
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Prospect thinking I may never better run
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again and this is a part of who I am and
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I'm a big ad for you what it's done for
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me but you do have to accept that it's
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it's a good thing and it's something
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that can be taken away definitely and
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honestly those challenging times and
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some of the hardest times that I've had
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with the sport have been some of the
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best for my relationship with the sport
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they've really like taught me who I am
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away from running and what running means
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to me and changed my perspective towards
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yeah towards running as well so I've
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definitely gone through periods of my
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life where I haven't been able to run or
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I've been chasing a mess of go and
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haven't got there and then had to go
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through kind of like this turmoil of
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like who am I away from it away from all
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these results and running and you we all
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like need to kind of go to those depths
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to figure out who we are cuz life
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shouldn't be about like results you know
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um there's so much more to life so I try
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to inspire other people to find
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themselves away from running too but
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running can help you get there but it
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shouldn't be your kind of Soul Thing m
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yeah uh your Instagram's amazing um and
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uh we're recording this a couple of days
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after the um Ro room marathon where you
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finished um Second Place yeah was second
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place it was actually national champs
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and that was like a massive reason well
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one of the reasons why I did it um was
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to compete in a national race which I
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hadn't done in probably like four or
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five years a long time so uh yeah it was
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cool to get out there and run and be
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here in Alo racing against other people
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so I love your caption you said um it's
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it's um it's not a personal best time
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but you had a personal best time which
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um I loved I thought that's really cool
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and um there'll be a lot of people that
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that listening to this that don't run or
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don't really understand running times
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but um just for a little perspective you
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broke three hours which is something
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I've done once
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I cool thanks J um I I I TR I even wrote
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it wrote a book about this my quest to
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break 3 hours so this was you having a
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shitty day out and you still managed to
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break 3 hours but I I love that post I
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love that post and I love the phrasing
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of it I thought that was really cool oh
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I appreciate it I feel like I try to be
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super aware of
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my um ability in running and try not to
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you know downplay the result like I I
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did run sub three I don't actually know
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the final time um and I got second place
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and that's amazing and I am incredibly
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proud of that um but when I compare
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myself to myself and what I know is
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achievable and what I have achieved
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before it's tough like it is it's it is
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tough to kind of be in that position be
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like I want to be running faster and I
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know that I can and I didn't reach my
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potential on that day but trying to find
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the middle ground of just accepting that
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being proud of where I am and like
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looking ahead and continuing to push I
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think is really important for me so
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yeah it's uh it's a hard one because I
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am super proud of it and anyone running
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a marathon anyone running at all is like
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super impressive it's it's such an
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amazing feat um so not downplaying that
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but also kind of like pushing to the
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next book yeah there's a little bit of
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disappointment there there is yeah there
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is naturally I think um cuz how how many
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marathons have you done now what what do
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you reckon 20 30 n no no no way like
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maybe 10 yeah or 11 yeah okay we we're
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talking yeah we're talking like formal
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official events but it's worth pointing
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out you do some Long training runs yeah
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I probably would have done a lot of
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marathons and training as well uh so in
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a training block towards Marathon I
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wouldn't really get up to 42k maybe
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maybe once but most of the time I'll get
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up to like 38 39 at the most um but
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there have been a few 40 plusk long runs
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and yeah there's a few others like I did
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an ultra last year so you can maybe take
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that as as a marathon but yeah I have
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raced 10 or 11 but I'm like pretty
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particular about the races that I do and
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so that those 10 or so have been spread
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out over the last nearly 10 years um
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which means I'm really only running a
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marathon maybe once a year but there's
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actually been gaps there where I haven't
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run a marathon for a few years and then
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I'd like load two or three marathons up
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into one one year so uh yeah I feel like
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I fluctuate a lot when it comes to the
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marathon but I love all running like 5Ks
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get me on the track like I love that
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love 10K half marathon's probably my
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more favorite distance um but the
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marathon is just such a challenge and
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it's freaking hard like it's so tough um
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which I do love the
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pancave yeah you must do even with the
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training that some that you do like you
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do love the pain cave like just your
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speed workouts and stuff like it's um
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it's exhausting do you do you ever run
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run n as without a watch uh uh I thought
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you meant something
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else that's what I ask all
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feminist do I run without a watch no I I
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love my watch I run with it all the time
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I run with my phone pretty much all the
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time un least I'm doing like a track
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workout but I
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um I'm not someone who gets super
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consumed by the data and I laugh with my
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best friend Esther who is someone who
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has extreme she either loves the data
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and will dive into it and like and
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analyze every workout or not wear a
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watch and not not even like collect the
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data whereas I will wear a watch I'll
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look at my runs I'll look at my Paces
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while I'm running I'll look at my total
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distance but I'll never go back and look
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at that run ever again uh which is funny
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I just don't get too consumed by it I
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just love training I love running I love
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how it makes me feel and uh I just also
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trust the process and know that if I'm
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doing the work then I'm going to get to
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where I want to go so no I'm prettyy
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much wearing a watch all the time yeah
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same I'm a I'm a straa [ __ ]
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boy that's funny I I uh have some quarms
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with straa but uh I can understand why
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people love it but I also don't think
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it's been built for woman oh real yeah
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why what do you mean um I think a lot of
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Fitness platforms have been very much
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been built by for men by men uh and
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particularly straver has been built on
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competition in comparison and I think a
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lot of men
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not to say women don't like it but a lot
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of men thrive in that environment of
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competition and comparison whereas
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women women not so much uh women are
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there to support each other and they
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want to feel supported but when it comes
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to a
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platform like straa uh we're constantly
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being compared to each other and so
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being put in a position where you're
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layering on top of that the ability to
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compare yourself after others I think it
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can be quite dangerous so I know for a
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fact when I was on straa for a very
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brief time I had so many women looking
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at my workouts looking at my runs my
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mileage and comparing themselves to what
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I was doing and then they thought if
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they could wanted to get to where I was
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they needed to do what I was doing
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without the context of like I'd been
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running my entire life and I've like
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gradually Built My mileage up and I've
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done all the right things to be able to
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condition my body to get here so if
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you're someone who's running running for
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2 years and you see what I'm doing don't
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go and do what I do because you will
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probably get injured or at the very
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least you'll get burnt out and so for me
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I'm just like yeah I'm here to support
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woman and I want to empower them and
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Inspire them to do what is right for
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them to get to where they want to go but
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like just don't compare yourself to me
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so I feel like with driver it's kind of
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just a tool to to do that to compare one
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another and I'm just not really here for
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it yeah I I think with running in with
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life like comparison it's just um it's
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not a good thing the only thing you yeah
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I've even got family members cuz on my
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mom's side of the family it's there's
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she's one of 14 and there's a lot of
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runners in the family and they're all
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very competitive and I've got like one
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of my uncles Uncle John he's like in a
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70s now he did a marathon in like the
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1970s or the 1980s this is like pre-at
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pre- internet and apparently he did like
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a 241 and he he'll say to me 241 that's
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the that's the time to beat that's the
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family record and I'll laugh it off but
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I don't give a [ __ ] yeah I I what would
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it what would it mean to me if I broke
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that time I'm still 30 30 minutes behind
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the world's best yeah there still my
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best time ever was 2 hours 57 in Tokyo I
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I don't think I even made the top
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thousand yeah it's crazy isn't it so you
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it's dumb compare compare yourself to
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anyone else is dumb yeah exactly hang on
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o stop it sorry Kanye is being extra
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annoying yeah it's just it's just a it's
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dangerous game and you've um yeah you've
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you've got sort of muscle memory from
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years and years of doing this like you
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can you can handle what are you do on a
00:14:06
big week at the moment I'm probably
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running like 120 to 130 which sounds
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like KS that is that sounds like a lot
00:14:12
of KS and it is a lot of training but to
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where I used to be before I had this
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full-time job that takes a lot of my
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time I was running up to like 160 to
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170k so I have stripped my training back
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quite a lot but I'm just trying to be as
00:14:28
realistic as possible and just do what
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is achievable and enough for me to
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continue to make progress but not burn
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myself to the ground yeah 170k is it's
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like 100 miles in a week that's massive
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that's huge by anyone's measure it's a
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lot of running um and another thing I've
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noticed about your Instagram you hardly
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ever me mention your your finishing
00:14:45
times or anything like that yeah I don't
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know I why is that is that conscious it
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is I'm really proud of my times and I'm
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proud of what I've been able to achieve
00:14:54
in my running career and I will continue
00:14:58
to be proud proud of it but I also don't
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think again it's it's super helpful for
00:15:03
me to just like be pushing those times
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in front of people and I want to feel
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like I can be relatable to women
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particularly like I really want women to
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feel like I'm one of them and I am one
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of them and I am on my own running
00:15:18
journey and I want wom to feel like
00:15:21
we're on that together and so yeah
00:15:23
constantly talking about my own times
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and my own splits I feel like that can
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be intimidating to a lot of people and
00:15:29
so I just don't think it's like that
00:15:32
interesting either I just feel like
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we're all on our own Journeys and
00:15:35
whether you're running a seven minute k
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or a 32 minute K like who really cares
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you know I I love that I love that so
00:15:43
much yeah because your times your times
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are lightning quick um but then if say
00:15:49
Bridget Cy sees your times she's going
00:15:51
to think you're slow you know exactly
00:15:54
there's always going to be someone
00:15:55
faster and someone slower it just
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there's a lot of people faster than me
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um okay said let's go all the way back
00:16:01
so you're from um toonga Mount monoi
00:16:03
from toonga yeah grew up in toonga so
00:16:05
and you run as a kid as a kid you like
00:16:07
soccer dancing and running dancing was
00:16:09
like kind of my first love I started
00:16:11
dancing when I was like three years old
00:16:14
loved ballet I think ballet in
00:16:17
particular taught me a lot about
00:16:19
discipline and hard work and I just
00:16:22
thrived in that really competitive
00:16:23
dancing environment and so I did that
00:16:25
from a pretty young age and and then I
00:16:27
found running when I was about seven so
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I started doing Athletics um back home
00:16:31
Ina from the ages of seven and loved it
00:16:35
also I was just a hyper competitive kid
00:16:37
I think I just wanted to like give
00:16:40
everything my all and see where it could
00:16:42
take me and so once I got to high school
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I actually met a woman called Rosemary
00:16:47
Wright who was a PE teacher at high
00:16:49
school but also a commonwealth games 800
00:16:51
meter Champion she ran for Scotland I
00:16:53
think um and she was just an amazing
00:16:58
coach she like took me under her Wing at
00:17:00
the ages of about 12 maybe even slightly
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earlier and just like taught me so much
00:17:06
about running and like the importance of
00:17:08
enjoying the sport especially as a young
00:17:11
girl like not putting too much pressure
00:17:13
on me I remember her always saying to me
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no one remembers a young athlete like
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wait till you're a little bit older and
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just like go out there and have fun with
00:17:21
it and so at that time in the early
00:17:25
2000s most high schools didn't have
00:17:28
running groups and so we were one of the
00:17:30
only groups in New Zealand that had like
00:17:32
a high school running team and so it was
00:17:35
so cool because we just hung out with
00:17:37
our friends we'd go after school go to
00:17:39
the supermarket buy this huge bag of
00:17:40
lollies like consume all these lollies
00:17:44
go to training and have the worst
00:17:46
stomach but it was just so fun because
00:17:48
you with your mates and you didn't
00:17:49
really think about the running at all
00:17:51
and then we'd go to Nationals and none
00:17:53
of us would ever win national titles but
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we would win the national medals because
00:17:58
cuz we had just had such a solid team so
00:18:00
it always felt like we were like making
00:18:03
some really like massive gains and and
00:18:06
we were getting that satisfaction of
00:18:07
like winning but winning as a team and
00:18:09
so yeah she just instilled so many
00:18:12
values that I still hold with myself
00:18:14
today and what we do it Fe me is very
00:18:16
much about what she taught me around
00:18:17
like sustainability in the sport and
00:18:19
enjoying the process and having fun with
00:18:21
it and like the the race is just the
00:18:23
cherry on top you know and so I was very
00:18:26
lucky to have her and and through my
00:18:28
high school I ended up pulling away from
00:18:30
dancing cuz I just couldn't do both um
00:18:33
but I did play football I was
00:18:35
terrible I literally played because I
00:18:38
because I could run um but yeah she
00:18:40
taught me just so much and I'm just so
00:18:42
grateful to have had her as a coach
00:18:44
because I was just so um and still am
00:18:47
like dedicated to success that I think I
00:18:50
would have done some pretty silly things
00:18:52
if I didn't have her guidance at that
00:18:53
time so I'm pretty pretty lucky to have
00:18:55
had that experience how do you mean
00:18:57
silly things I think I probably would
00:18:59
have trained way harder than what I was
00:19:02
training at the time I would have tried
00:19:03
to win national titles at high school
00:19:05
which awesome to do but as she said no
00:19:09
one remembers the young athletes like
00:19:11
patience is so key to being a successful
00:19:13
senior athlete and so yeah I just so she
00:19:16
H me held me back so much and then it
00:19:18
wasn't until like my late teenage years
00:19:20
that I actually started to train a lot
00:19:22
harder and then by the age of 19 I won
00:19:24
my first national title and that was
00:19:25
like a moment for me to understand that
00:19:29
I have huge potential in the sport if I
00:19:31
do all the right things and I think
00:19:33
that's where I really just like got
00:19:35
hooked into being a a competitive Runner
00:19:39
and um haven't really looked back so
00:19:42
were you was there some natural Talent
00:19:44
there I think look I think my natural
00:19:48
Talent was probably more so in my mind
00:19:50
than in my body what does that mean I
00:19:53
think I have a pretty competitive mind
00:19:56
and I think I'm pretty like dedicated to
00:20:00
get the job done whereas I think uh I
00:20:03
don't know I'm I talk about this quite
00:20:06
often around like the balance of natural
00:20:09
ability and not having that and learning
00:20:12
the tools that you need to have to
00:20:13
become successful in whatever you do and
00:20:16
I think it's way better to not have a
00:20:18
natural ability and to actually work to
00:20:21
get to where you want to go because you
00:20:22
learn the things that matter like
00:20:24
dedication and how to work hard and to
00:20:26
make sacrifices like you learn all of
00:20:28
that through process whereas when you're
00:20:30
naturally talented you just see the
00:20:32
success for what it is but you don't
00:20:34
actually have to do the work to get
00:20:35
there and as an a senior athlete in
00:20:40
whatever sport uh hard work is going to
00:20:43
take you way further than natural
00:20:44
ability so I'm kind of stoked that I
00:20:46
didn't have I definitely had some I
00:20:49
don't think I had like if you look at
00:20:51
some of the athletes there are some
00:20:52
pretty yeah I'm I'm a sucker for a good
00:20:54
quote in this one I really like it um
00:20:56
hard work beats Talent when Talent
00:20:58
doesn't work hard exactly and it's one
00:21:01
thing I've found doing this this podcast
00:21:02
and um I've had so many like high
00:21:04
Achievers and high performers on hard
00:21:06
work is the only cheat code there is
00:21:08
yeah um you look at the absolute best
00:21:10
like the guys in the NBA like Kobe
00:21:12
Bryant and Michael Jordan um they had
00:21:14
natural talent but it was matched with a
00:21:16
work ethic like no other actually I know
00:21:18
you're good friends with um Jimma mcco
00:21:20
she's one of your besties and yeah
00:21:22
Richie is another example of that is he
00:21:24
is a guy that works his [ __ ] ass off
00:21:26
definitely and look where he's got to so
00:21:28
like it is it is it's all about hard
00:21:30
work there is no check codes you just
00:21:31
kind of have to put your head down and
00:21:33
stay focused and and be patient that's
00:21:35
the biggest thing with running is like
00:21:38
patience it takes so long to Peak as a
00:21:41
runner um so you can't just like go out
00:21:44
and train really hard for six months and
00:21:46
think you think you're going to be
00:21:47
incredible it takes years and years they
00:21:50
say eight years to reach your Peak as a
00:21:51
runner oh no I've been going way longer
00:21:54
than eight years yes iach definely are
00:21:58
you what are you 30 33 33 so are you do
00:22:02
you think you're at the Apex now you're
00:22:03
still getting better or you feel like
00:22:05
you're sort of at that Plateau point now
00:22:07
I think for me I through 27 to 20 uh
00:22:12
2017 to 2020 2ish my soul Focus became
00:22:17
running and I saw the progress I made
00:22:22
when I purely just focused on training
00:22:26
and racing and
00:22:29
it was awesome to see all the PBS that I
00:22:31
broke I think within 18 months I broke
00:22:33
every PB from my 5K to the marathon and
00:22:35
there was many other things that led to
00:22:37
that point but
00:22:39
uh I don't think I was satisfied I don't
00:22:43
think i' got to a place where I was like
00:22:45
completely satisfied in myself not
00:22:48
myself as an athlete I think I was
00:22:50
definitely proud of what I'd done but I
00:22:52
just felt like there was something
00:22:55
missing you know like I just don't think
00:22:56
that running competitive running as a
00:22:59
professional athlete completely fills my
00:23:02
cup and
00:23:03
so since then and and building for me
00:23:07
which I'm sure we'll talk about has um
00:23:10
taken a lot of my focus away from
00:23:11
training and hence why my training has
00:23:13
dropped down my KS have dropped down but
00:23:15
it's just not my priority anymore and I
00:23:17
think I know if I stripped everything
00:23:20
back and just ran I don't think I've
00:23:23
reached my complete potential I think I
00:23:24
could run a lot faster but is that what
00:23:27
I want to do probably really not right
00:23:29
now I feel like I'm having a way bigger
00:23:31
impact in the work that I do right now
00:23:32
than being a a sole athlete um and so
00:23:36
yeah who knows maybe I run faster than I
00:23:39
run in the future that would be epic to
00:23:42
run just as fast and to be doing and
00:23:45
leading this company that we're building
00:23:47
and to to have both would be amazing but
00:23:49
I just don't know if it's possible yes
00:23:51
one thing I love and um I suppose some
00:23:54
of this is sort of ego based but you see
00:23:57
you see some athletes and when they when
00:23:58
when they're no longer winning or
00:24:00
they're no longer running the best times
00:24:01
that's that they they throw it away um
00:24:03
and then you see someone like um
00:24:05
slightly different sport but um Cameron
00:24:06
Brown who's I think 52 53 now he's no
00:24:10
longer winning anymore but he still
00:24:11
loves it yeah still trains like a Savage
00:24:14
he's he's just getting out there and
00:24:15
doing it I think that's really awesome I
00:24:17
feel like you'll be the same you just
00:24:19
like like running for the for the for
00:24:21
the for the movement aspect and the act
00:24:22
of getting out there and doing it yeah
00:24:24
there's so many things that running has
00:24:25
given me which is like yeah I guess
00:24:28
connection to others is a big thing like
00:24:30
the friendships that I've been able to
00:24:32
build through this water of running like
00:24:33
it's changed my life and and it's given
00:24:36
me my career and it's given me my
00:24:37
confidence and so much like it is so
00:24:40
much more about that than getting to
00:24:42
finish lines and winning gold medals for
00:24:43
me and everybody's different there are
00:24:45
athletes out there who just want to
00:24:47
chase gold medals and that's awesome for
00:24:49
them but it isn't really why I do it I
00:24:52
think the results are a on top and it
00:24:55
would be nice to win races again but I
00:24:58
also so I'm just like will always be
00:25:01
grateful to the sport and like just
00:25:03
stoked that I can be doing it I don't
00:25:05
know I think I've always said growing up
00:25:06
like if I wake up one day and completely
00:25:08
hate running I'll just stop you know but
00:25:11
you do see some athletes who hate their
00:25:13
sport but they just do it because they
00:25:15
want to be the best and I just can't
00:25:16
imagine living like that yeah yeah yeah
00:25:19
yeah it's funny that isn't it um okay so
00:25:22
so yeah so you're at school you're
00:25:24
running you're good but not great
00:25:27
necessarily um you must be okay though
00:25:29
because then you get a scholarship you
00:25:30
leave school and you get a US
00:25:32
scholarship in Texas I do yes and that's
00:25:34
a that's a terrible experience so you're
00:25:36
1 17 171 18 you go to Texas what happens
00:25:40
there yeah so when I over to America um
00:25:43
I was like super excited to go over to
00:25:46
the US on a scholarship because I just
00:25:47
was yeah a real upand Go kid and I just
00:25:50
wanted to like try different experiences
00:25:52
and so I got the scholarship to a place
00:25:55
in Texas and
00:25:58
I just was super unaware super naive of
00:26:01
like what I was going into I think my
00:26:03
parents probably were too and I kind of
00:26:06
just like got on a Plane by myself went
00:26:09
to the other side of the world and it
00:26:12
was just a massive shock I'd gone from
00:26:14
this incredible coach that I was telling
00:26:16
you about Rosemary right who was just
00:26:18
like so supportive was there for me
00:26:21
wanted me to just like have fun and
00:26:23
there was no pressure to this intense
00:26:26
environment the NCAA system is just like
00:26:29
hyper intense it's all about competition
00:26:31
and who's winning your coaches uh
00:26:34
essentially there and getting paid if
00:26:36
the team is winning so there's pressure
00:26:38
on them and so I got put into that
00:26:41
environment and my entire education at
00:26:45
University was based on my running
00:26:47
training and so you'll find this funny
00:26:49
but one of the classes that I got put
00:26:51
into was called Walking for
00:26:54
Fitness so because it worked in my
00:26:57
schedule
00:26:58
I would go to class and would walk
00:27:00
around an inside track for an
00:27:02
hour but that was just like did you pass
00:27:05
you passed that class look I don't think
00:27:07
I've gave it enough time because I left
00:27:09
pretty quick but um I would like to
00:27:11
think I'd pass that one but yeah it was
00:27:13
just like my education to me was
00:27:14
important and I wasn't getting it there
00:27:17
and then the environment was not great
00:27:18
for me and I was home cced the the
00:27:22
culture in Texas is so different to what
00:27:26
we experien in New Zealand and that was
00:27:28
the
00:27:29
biggest probably the biggest thing that
00:27:31
turned me away from being there was just
00:27:34
like we're so lucky an out o like we
00:27:37
have such an amazing country and it's um
00:27:40
the people are beautiful and everyone is
00:27:42
like kind to each other and over there
00:27:44
it just wasn't like that at all and as a
00:27:47
17year old it was just really eye
00:27:51
opening and so yeah I can't imagine the
00:27:53
level of homesickness um some sure some
00:27:56
people would thrive in that environment
00:27:57
though right I think some people would I
00:28:00
think if I um I don't know I I want I
00:28:03
want to say if I hadn't had such an
00:28:05
amazing High School experience maybe I
00:28:07
would have gone more prepared into that
00:28:08
environment but because I didn't have
00:28:10
that and then I came back and I was like
00:28:12
I came back from to New Zealand after
00:28:14
about six weeks and I was like I don't
00:28:16
want to run like that was horrific I
00:28:18
don't if that's what running and
00:28:20
competitive running is like I don't want
00:28:22
to do that so I actually ended up giving
00:28:24
up running for about a year after that
00:28:26
so you just lost the love temporarily
00:28:28
I think I lost the motivation to be an
00:28:31
athlete because I had experienced what
00:28:35
the toxic side of being an athlete looks
00:28:37
like and um my coach what do what do you
00:28:41
mean toxic like how my coach over there
00:28:44
was just incredibly intense and I
00:28:47
remember one training session after we
00:28:49
had raced on the Saturday and we're
00:28:50
going out for a long run on a Sunday and
00:28:53
she she cried when we got back from
00:28:55
training because we hadn't run fast
00:28:57
enough on the long
00:29:00
run which is as a coach that is
00:29:03
passionate though you can't you can't
00:29:05
argue with imp passent I could never as
00:29:08
a coach never
00:29:09
imagine okay maybe if you're upset about
00:29:12
the training go and have your moment but
00:29:14
I remember it being quite like obvious
00:29:16
that she'd been upset about it so there
00:29:18
was that and there were other things I
00:29:20
knew a boy in the team had a stress
00:29:21
fracture or multiple stress fractures
00:29:23
and he was being made to run to make up
00:29:25
numbers and just things that didn't sit
00:29:28
well with me at all so you you I mean
00:29:30
under the 2024 lens that's that's pretty
00:29:32
bad even under at the time you thought
00:29:35
okay this is not no no even at the time
00:29:38
I was 17 and like I was also aware of um
00:29:42
what was going on amongst the woman in
00:29:43
the team which yeah I guess I'm kind of
00:29:46
proud that I could pick this out at that
00:29:48
time because it's everything we talk
00:29:50
about it Fe now but every woman by me
00:29:53
pretty much were suffering disordered
00:29:55
eating behaviors and it was very obvious
00:29:57
and they were this is not the fault of
00:30:00
their own unfortunately it's super
00:30:02
common amongst our sport but um they
00:30:05
were all suffering and no one was
00:30:06
stepping up or doing anything about it
00:30:08
and I as a 17-year-old I had never
00:30:11
experienced any of it I was just like
00:30:13
this is not healthy and not what running
00:30:15
should be about what what do you mean
00:30:16
like they were watching their calorie
00:30:17
intake or they we had there was a woman
00:30:21
on our te who was anorexic and um we
00:30:23
would go to the dining hall sounds so
00:30:25
American but we'd go to these dining
00:30:26
Halls at lunchtime and the girls would
00:30:28
all get salads and the boys would all be
00:30:29
eating pizzas and I'm like I want the
00:30:32
pizza right yeah uh and I think that was
00:30:36
like probably one of my kind of first
00:30:38
experiences um around seeing the
00:30:41
pressure that female athletes get put
00:30:43
under um
00:30:45
as competitive athletes but also we know
00:30:48
now it's not just competitive athletes
00:30:50
that are suffering which is sad but yeah
00:30:52
yeah it's um it was yeah eye opening to
00:30:54
say the least and I escaped there as
00:30:56
soon as I could yeah six weeks six weeks
00:30:59
got I can't imagine how homesick you're
00:31:00
very young as well at that point weren
00:31:02
you I was I was young um I think I was a
00:31:06
youngest of three and I think I was I
00:31:08
want to say quite independent and like
00:31:10
doing my own thing but it was um now I
00:31:13
look back as a 17 I was like damn what
00:31:14
was I thinking so
00:31:16
young um so then you come back and you
00:31:19
quit running for a while is this where
00:31:20
you have your party girlly
00:31:22
era how how much fun was that what was L
00:31:25
odonnell the party girl like um were you
00:31:28
naturally talented or hard work at it I
00:31:30
I was
00:31:32
neither no it's funny because you could
00:31:36
call it like a party girl ER era I
00:31:38
definitely I quit running I wasn't doing
00:31:41
a heck of a lot I lived down the mount I
00:31:43
was um yeah drinking quite a lot I was
00:31:46
doing drugs I was not in a good mental
00:31:49
space at all it's probably one of the
00:31:51
worst mental spaces I've been in my life
00:31:54
and I actually haven't talked about this
00:31:55
very much before but yeah I wasn't in a
00:31:58
healthy place I was not moving my body
00:32:01
and I just had no idea who I was and I
00:32:04
think a lot of teenagers go through that
00:32:06
process of trying to figure out who they
00:32:08
are what they want to do with their
00:32:10
lives there's so much pressure as a late
00:32:12
team to figure out what you're going to
00:32:14
do for the rest of your life and that's
00:32:17
I think incredibly difficult to do and
00:32:20
so I just didn't know and I lost myself
00:32:23
for a while I was on a pretty toxic
00:32:25
relationship and things weren't really
00:32:28
working for me at the time and so yeah
00:32:31
after about 12 months it was running
00:32:32
that like pulled me back on track came
00:32:35
back to it yeah you said do you think
00:32:38
your your mental health issues were sort
00:32:39
of um like bought on or compounded
00:32:43
compounded by the alcohol and and drug
00:32:45
use or or do you think um you started
00:32:47
taking the alcohol and drugs to you know
00:32:49
trying to escape feeling [ __ ] I don't
00:32:51
know I think I was just like a teen
00:32:54
exploring what life was about and um
00:32:58
yeah I'm super like super grateful that
00:33:02
I had experienced a really like healthy
00:33:05
life where I felt confident in my body
00:33:07
through growing up as a as an athlete
00:33:09
because that was what I missed and
00:33:11
that's what I craved and and I firsthand
00:33:16
witnessed and have witnessed throughout
00:33:18
my life addiction pretty severely and um
00:33:22
yeah it's like have you heard friends
00:33:24
family uh my sister yeah really is she
00:33:27
right now or is she still she is uh no
00:33:31
no so me and her grew up like really
00:33:34
close we were um best friends she's only
00:33:37
about 12 13 months older than me so like
00:33:40
super close in age and pretty similar
00:33:42
like personalities as young kids and
00:33:45
grew up playing sport together and
00:33:47
dancing and running and everything and
00:33:49
um yeah about the age of 12 13 like I
00:33:52
was starting to like figure out myself
00:33:54
as an athlete and started kind of taking
00:33:56
that path with with my coach at high
00:33:58
school and she just took the complete
00:34:01
opposite path and yeah she just like
00:34:04
have hasn't been able to get off that
00:34:07
path unfortunately and it's like pretty
00:34:10
um hard to think about because of the
00:34:14
opportunities that we were both given
00:34:16
and I said yes to these opportunities
00:34:19
and she said yes to these and it's just
00:34:23
completely you know chalk and cheese
00:34:25
like taking us down different yeah
00:34:27
Journeys and yeah it's um it's been
00:34:31
pretty tough for my family to go through
00:34:33
it and I think that's what's affected me
00:34:35
the most is just seeing like what my
00:34:36
parents have gone through to be able to
00:34:38
support her through it and and uh yeah I
00:34:42
I guess for me it's just sport that
00:34:45
saved my life and that's why I think I'm
00:34:46
so passionate about getting young women
00:34:49
but all women also into Sport and into
00:34:52
running because it it literally saved me
00:34:55
and it's given me this incredible life
00:34:57
and I look at my sister who I don't have
00:35:00
a heck of a lot to do with now but I I
00:35:03
look at her and I'm like if if only she
00:35:04
was like yeah she would she took those
00:35:08
opportunities that I took or said yes to
00:35:10
the things that I said yes to would have
00:35:11
changed who she is so I suppose
00:35:15
um I mean it's never too late to turn
00:35:17
things around so she's obviously like a
00:35:19
year older than you so she's 35 or
00:35:21
whatever so and the big scheme of an
00:35:23
entire life it's still still young so
00:35:24
she could turn it
00:35:26
around yeah
00:35:28
I mean ideally that would be incredible
00:35:31
but I also know how unlikely it can
00:35:35
be when people are addicted to opiates
00:35:38
it's it's pretty severe and it's pretty
00:35:40
hard to get off that once you're on it
00:35:42
so um one day she might find running you
00:35:46
never know but uh for now it's just kind
00:35:48
of like yeah accepting what has been I
00:35:51
mean there's a lot of people that do
00:35:52
like there's a I know there's an
00:35:53
organization called speed freaks um I've
00:35:56
seen them yeah which um you know you get
00:35:58
people that were addicted to one thing
00:35:59
and they replace it with another
00:36:00
addiction to distance running you know
00:36:02
there's a lot there are like a lot of
00:36:04
reformed um yeah people that had drug
00:36:05
issues that gravitate towards the pain
00:36:08
of running I suppose it's um you chasing
00:36:10
that cheap dopamine versus you know yeah
00:36:12
chasing the um the hard earn dipine
00:36:14
which you get from running yeah it's
00:36:16
funny I think I saw a quote one time and
00:36:18
it said something like um when you take
00:36:20
drugs you feel great in the moment and
00:36:22
then [ __ ] afterwards but when you run
00:36:23
you feel [ __ ] in the moment but great
00:36:25
afterwards and I think I know which one
00:36:27
one yeah 100% it's funny that it's like
00:36:31
ice baths are you are you still in the
00:36:33
ice bath Buzz or look uh not so much I'm
00:36:36
a BG WM in the car but I tried to every
00:36:39
now and then I tried to do a ice bath
00:36:40
but I wouldn't say it's the thing that I
00:36:42
do yeah that's so hard but they feel
00:36:44
it's amazing though yeah it's like and
00:36:47
and you feel just electric for hours
00:36:49
afterwards it's so good it is it's a bit
00:36:50
of a hit yeah I I should do it more
00:36:52
often that okay so you you you um have
00:36:56
your party G or your deil for a little
00:36:57
bit and then you come back to running
00:37:00
um New York Marathon was that your first
00:37:02
one in 2018 no it wasn't actually my
00:37:06
first marathon was in 2015 and that was
00:37:08
mbour Marathon so between the ages of
00:37:10
like 20 to 25 I was running a lot of 5K
00:37:14
10K and half marathons and then by the
00:37:16
age of 25 I I can't really remember what
00:37:19
it was um why I decided to do the
00:37:22
marathon I think my coach was kind of
00:37:24
like I was running somewhat f in the
00:37:28
shorter distances but I think he could
00:37:29
maybe see this potential that I could
00:37:31
have in the longer distances and so yeah
00:37:33
I signed up to Marin marathon with just
00:37:35
like so much naivity I had no idea what
00:37:38
I was doing and there's so much Beauty
00:37:41
in that particularly in the marathon
00:37:43
like the Beauty and the ignorance yeah
00:37:46
like just not knowing what to expect how
00:37:48
much it's going to hurt I just remember
00:37:50
last week going into I I was terrified
00:37:54
like I was genuinely so scared of the
00:37:55
pain that was going to come because I
00:37:57
knew exactly how much it hurt whereas
00:38:00
that first marathon I was just like cool
00:38:02
I just get to go and run around
00:38:03
Melbourne like that'll be fun and it's
00:38:06
the best Marathon I've ever had it felt
00:38:08
so amazing I'd never really got to that
00:38:12
point of heading walls or feeling like
00:38:14
incredible pain and yeah I ended up
00:38:18
getting second which was just I think a
00:38:20
shock to everybody and ran a PB that I
00:38:23
didn't break for another about five or
00:38:25
six years after so yeah it was an
00:38:28
amazing race and I think um it
00:38:31
definitely that was my first like moment
00:38:33
of falling in love with the marathon and
00:38:35
then from there I've just kind of
00:38:37
continued to chase that high which I
00:38:39
just have not had again like the same as
00:38:42
your sister but way more noble yeah um
00:38:45
yeah it's funny CU I suppose you do your
00:38:47
first one you've got nothing to compare
00:38:48
it to so yeah you say you didn't beat
00:38:50
that time for another few years or
00:38:51
whatever I suppose you do that first one
00:38:53
then you're like oh that's that's I can
00:38:55
do that again I can do that better um
00:38:57
and it's um you need so much to go right
00:39:01
so much to go right and I think I don't
00:39:03
know exactly but I think every marathon
00:39:06
after that well the next six marathons I
00:39:09
ran between 239 and 240 like six times
00:39:12
or something which I think was similar
00:39:14
to you did you run like around the same
00:39:16
time just over and over and over oh yeah
00:39:18
yeah you're way slower so like 3 310 to
00:39:21
3 set of 15 yeah yeah but you just kind
00:39:23
of repeat the same such a close time for
00:39:27
marathon after marathon and you're like
00:39:29
I like I know I can take time off this
00:39:32
and I mean my PB now is only 238 so it's
00:39:34
only like a minute faster than what I
00:39:36
ran back in 2015 but it is um it's
00:39:41
making progress so yeah by the way for
00:39:44
any um sort of non-runners or people
00:39:48
that don't sort of have a perspective of
00:39:49
time that are listening to this or
00:39:50
watching this so to do if you do a 2hour
00:39:52
48 marathon it's lightning [ __ ] quick
00:39:55
it basically means you're running 4E km
00:39:58
pace for 42 km so 238 what's that like 3
00:40:02
minutes 45 per km I think so so next
00:40:06
time you're on a treadmill in the gym or
00:40:07
somewhere you try doing 1 kilm at 345
00:40:11
that is quick yeah that is quick yeah
00:40:15
here's me downplaying it again yeah and
00:40:18
it's it's running quick for a long time
00:40:20
as well yeah it is it is but uh I can
00:40:23
see why you're nervous at the start cuz
00:40:24
it's going to yeah it's going to hurt
00:40:26
but it's going to be for most people you
00:40:28
know like it's all relative to like
00:40:30
where you're at in your journey but um
00:40:32
it's uh it's a pretty incredible feeling
00:40:34
when you can hold such pace for such a
00:40:37
long time yeah so yeah so the the new
00:40:39
Marathon 2018 so that wasn't um wasn't
00:40:41
even a personal be or anything but you
00:40:43
did really well you finished like 20th
00:40:45
yeah 20th and U the New York marathon's
00:40:47
exceptional so I've done I've done New
00:40:49
York and I was just in a Carell group
00:40:52
like you know people running between 3
00:40:53
hours and 3 hours 30 say so were you to
00:40:57
to run 20th were you in like the elite
00:40:58
group at the start no so I was actually
00:41:00
in the sub Elite Group which I'm so
00:41:04
stoked that I was because the elite
00:41:06
woman left maybe like half an hour
00:41:09
before the sub Elites and the sub Elites
00:41:12
actually started with the elite men and
00:41:14
everyone else within that would have
00:41:17
group would have been like three hours
00:41:18
maybe and so we were right at the front
00:41:22
and the first mile or so you run from
00:41:25
Sten Island over to Brooklyn and you
00:41:27
cross the bridge and I was right out the
00:41:30
front so I pretty much LED like
00:41:33
thousands and thousands of people over
00:41:35
that bridge and I just
00:41:36
remember running across the bridge and
00:41:39
looking up and the sun was rising and
00:41:41
then there was thousands of people
00:41:42
behind me and it was just like a very
00:41:45
surreal moment I like am someone who
00:41:48
time stamps and I try and like imprint
00:41:50
memories because I have got a terrible
00:41:52
memory so I have to like force myself to
00:41:54
remember things and that was a moment
00:41:56
where I was like do not forget this
00:41:57
moment forever because this is insane
00:42:00
and that entire race was just Next Level
00:42:04
there was nothing in the world like it I
00:42:06
had the best time out there it was just
00:42:08
like a a party on the streets the
00:42:10
millions of people that come out and
00:42:11
support you so much energy you get to
00:42:14
see so many different things it's a
00:42:16
tough course like it's a really hard
00:42:18
course as you would know but uh yeah
00:42:21
like it was definitely my my favorite
00:42:24
Marathon today um and I I love to do it
00:42:27
again one day but yeah it's a it's a
00:42:29
pretty tough one to get into it's
00:42:31
incredible a I I remember that bridge as
00:42:33
well at the beginning um different
00:42:35
experience to you but it was a windy
00:42:37
year that I did it and all you could
00:42:39
hear was the slapping of people's shoes
00:42:41
on the on the ground which is a just an
00:42:43
incredible sound when there's like 40 or
00:42:45
50,000 people doing that and um just the
00:42:47
sound of numbers flapping on people's
00:42:49
shirts yeah and the faint the faint
00:42:52
soundtrack of Frank SN with New York New
00:42:53
York playing in the background and some
00:42:56
some water cannons and the the water
00:42:58
below the bridge it's just magical it is
00:43:00
magical and you've just done rot on the
00:43:01
weekend as we established it's quite
00:43:03
different like you do a New Zealand
00:43:04
Marathon you might get a couple of
00:43:05
people out with a god dad side but in
00:43:08
New York yeah the whole city shuts down
00:43:11
and you have strangers out supporting
00:43:13
you it's great I feel like in New
00:43:14
Zealand and even in Australia to a
00:43:16
degree if you're running a marathon and
00:43:19
if you're not running the marathon all
00:43:21
you hear is just like oh get these
00:43:23
Runners off the
00:43:24
road yeah yeah yeah you just you just
00:43:29
recently been to um Paris with my mom
00:43:31
and they shut the whole the whole city
00:43:32
down and in Oakland like they'll shut
00:43:34
one lane of the har Bridge down for an
00:43:36
hour in the morning you know yeah yeah
00:43:38
and everyone complains about it it's
00:43:40
such an inconvenience but we're in
00:43:42
America every's just like oh my God like
00:43:44
you wear your medals around and
00:43:46
everyone's so stoked for you I'm like
00:43:48
damn you know I feel that energy over
00:43:51
there is we need some of that down here
00:43:53
yeah 100% we do like um people will mock
00:43:56
you in New Ze if you wear your model
00:43:58
your midal the day after the marathon
00:43:59
over there you get free food and free
00:44:01
coffees and restaurants it's cool um so
00:44:05
Gold Coast Marathon 2019 is that one of
00:44:08
the biggest fails of your life yeah
00:44:10
don't rub it in no no no I'm curious
00:44:13
about that because um I mean failure
00:44:16
failure is never nice but yeah I um yeah
00:44:20
I suppose in the last 5 years or so for
00:44:22
me I've learned to embrace it a bit more
00:44:23
because you realize that that's where
00:44:24
the growth happens so I um I've been
00:44:27
following you on Instagram for a long
00:44:28
time so before that your your buildup
00:44:31
looked insane you moved to LA why did
00:44:32
you move to LA just had a good group
00:44:35
over there that I wanted to train with a
00:44:36
good coach over there blue benad him so
00:44:38
I got to go run with him and his team
00:44:40
and I just needed some I needed some
00:44:43
guys around me who were not Elites um
00:44:46
which meant they weren't like super
00:44:47
selfish about their own training and
00:44:49
they'd be able to jump in and help me
00:44:51
and that was just like the perfect spot
00:44:52
plus I love La I think it's a great City
00:44:54
it's really good for running so yeah
00:44:56
over over there trained with them for a
00:44:58
few months and trained harder than I've
00:45:01
ever trained in my life that's where I
00:45:03
was getting up to 160 to 170k a weeks
00:45:06
and I was
00:45:08
just I wasn't working so I was running
00:45:11
an online coaching company which was
00:45:13
just like all on my own time no stress
00:45:16
at all I'd come from this like pretty
00:45:18
stressful career i' spent the last 5
00:45:21
years in the corporate world just
00:45:23
working with Nike and you know it was a
00:45:25
pretty high pressure environment coming
00:45:27
away from that and and being able to
00:45:30
just like run and that's where all my
00:45:33
energy and my stress came from went to
00:45:35
and came from and uh and I just saw my
00:45:39
performance just like Skyrocket like I
00:45:42
was able to turn sessions around like
00:45:45
massive workouts on Tuesdays and
00:45:47
Thursdays and then huge long runs on
00:45:49
Saturdays and I felt so good um it's
00:45:54
been the last I don't know my
00:45:57
early 20s 20 to 26 I was battling like
00:46:00
pretty severe body image issues and
00:46:02
disordered eating behaviors and I'd gone
00:46:04
through this journey of just like trying
00:46:06
to figure myself out because I I'd had
00:46:10
so
00:46:11
many uh external pressures put upon me
00:46:15
purely based on my Aesthetics and so as
00:46:18
a young female athlete I was constantly
00:46:20
being told that if I was smaller I would
00:46:23
be a bit OutRunner if I was leaner I
00:46:25
would be faster and so really totally
00:46:29
pretty severe
00:46:31
yeah you are you carrying too much
00:46:33
muscle is that what people would
00:46:34
thinking or no you like like yeah we've
00:46:39
known each other for a long time you've
00:46:41
you've always had like a like a I don't
00:46:43
know yeah I don't know that's that
00:46:45
should be it you shouldn't you know I
00:46:47
think um so many women women athlete in
00:46:51
particular but woman feel pressured to
00:46:54
fit into standards that other people put
00:46:57
upon them and so myself as a young
00:47:00
20-year-old that's when it really
00:47:02
started I had male coaches after male
00:47:04
coaches telling me that if I would lost
00:47:06
some weight I'd be a better Runner and
00:47:07
it wasn't like you're overweight lose
00:47:09
some lose some of that it was like oh
00:47:11
just a few kilos here and there
00:47:13
and to give them credit they had no idea
00:47:17
that the words they were using and what
00:47:18
they were saying were going to impact me
00:47:20
the way that it did there's just a huge
00:47:23
lack of Education when it comes to
00:47:24
female physiology and psychology and
00:47:26
sport so for those who don't know only
00:47:29
6% of sport Science research is actually
00:47:31
done on women so when we think about the
00:47:33
ways that we train how we speak to
00:47:35
athletes how we feel how we recover it's
00:47:37
all been based on male Psychology and
00:47:39
Physiology and then just applied to
00:47:42
women and so my coaches treated me like
00:47:44
one of the boys and even saying that to
00:47:47
a boy is not okay you shouldn't be
00:47:49
telling anyone that they should be
00:47:51
changing the way that they look or or
00:47:52
commenting on people's bodies like
00:47:54
commenting on people's clothes or shoes
00:47:57
or whatever is cool but like don't
00:47:58
comment on the way people are built and
00:48:01
so after being told that for many years
00:48:04
as you can imagine my mental health
00:48:06
suffered my body image issues started
00:48:10
and I just restricted my diet because I
00:48:12
took was I really trusted my coaches and
00:48:15
my leaders and I thought because I
00:48:17
wanted to be this competitive athlete
00:48:18
I'll do whatever it takes like if I need
00:48:20
to do that I'll do it and so there was a
00:48:23
point in my mid 20s I cut carbohydrates
00:48:26
out of my diet completely I was
00:48:28
constantly restricting my food I felt
00:48:30
guilty if I was eating too much I you
00:48:33
know I was actually put on diet
00:48:35
supplements when I was about 53 kilos
00:48:37
and what are you now oh who knows no
00:48:40
idea no idea and I don't care yeah and
00:48:43
so it just got to a point where I was
00:48:46
under fueling severely and training to a
00:48:50
point I wouldn't say overtraining I just
00:48:52
was training too much for what I was
00:48:54
giving myself and I my health just
00:48:58
crumbled and so at about the age of 25 I
00:49:01
fell into what is known now as relative
00:49:04
energy deficiency syndrome in sport I've
00:49:07
you know what I've had um Rosa fenan
00:49:09
from two Ro sisters on the podcast Zoe
00:49:11
McBride different sport but AA same
00:49:13
thing isn't it horrific it's so common
00:49:17
so I I suffered from reds I lost my
00:49:19
period And I celebrated I thought that
00:49:23
not having a period as a female athlete
00:49:25
was like Ed of Honor yeah the epitomy of
00:49:29
being a successful female athlete and
00:49:32
that did not last long after about 3
00:49:34
months of had not having a period I
00:49:36
ended up in hospital my body was
00:49:39
shutting down everything was kind of
00:49:41
like out of order and I couldn't run I
00:49:44
could barely get out of bed and so I was
00:49:47
suffering pretty severe fatigue and I
00:49:49
thought that's what it was was just
00:49:50
fatigue and um I also was working that
00:49:53
pretty stressful job so that didn't help
00:49:56
um and so quit my job quit running for a
00:49:59
short period of time but came back into
00:50:01
it after a few months and slowly worked
00:50:02
my way up but it took about 18 months to
00:50:04
get better and that's when I realized
00:50:07
like everything I'm doing to myself is
00:50:10
based on my appearance and why do people
00:50:13
care what my appearance is and how is
00:50:15
that connected to my performance and
00:50:18
it's clearly not working because the key
00:50:20
to being a good athlete is consistency
00:50:22
and if you keep getting injured or sick
00:50:24
then you can't get consistency to make
00:50:26
progress ress and so I took a hard look
00:50:28
in the mirror and realized like this is
00:50:30
not good and ended up just starting to
00:50:33
learn about my female physiology for the
00:50:35
first time ever it was around 27 28 I
00:50:39
learned about my menstrual cycle and I
00:50:42
learned about the fluctuations of my
00:50:44
hormones and I was just like completely
00:50:47
shocked by how little I knew about
00:50:50
myself and not just myself as a woman
00:50:53
but a woman athlete where my body is my
00:50:55
tool and it's my care career and no one
00:50:58
had taught me about my period no one had
00:51:01
taught me that my period and my
00:51:02
menstrual cycle were two different
00:51:03
things I literally thought they were the
00:51:05
same thing and you have to explain that
00:51:08
to me so your period is part of your
00:51:10
menstrual cycle it is one of the phases
00:51:12
of your cycle but it is not your entire
00:51:15
cycle your cycle is from day one of your
00:51:18
period all the way through to your next
00:51:20
day one of your period but throughout
00:51:22
that entire time whether it's 25 days or
00:51:25
30 days or 35 days every every one's
00:51:26
different your hormones are changing
00:51:28
every day so the way that you can
00:51:31
recover the way that you can perform the
00:51:33
way that you could be fueling yourself
00:51:35
can change because of your hormones your
00:51:38
female hormones that are constantly
00:51:40
changing and so once I learned this I
00:51:42
was
00:51:43
like what the [ __ ] like why has no one
00:51:45
taught me this this is such an important
00:51:47
piece of the puzzle that no one has even
00:51:49
acknowledged and now that I know it
00:51:52
everything just makes sense like that's
00:51:54
why I race well on that day and not well
00:51:55
on that day that's why some trainings I
00:51:57
feel good and other trainings I don't
00:51:59
like I can stop beating myself up when
00:52:01
I'm not hitting Paces or being able to
00:52:03
run certain distances because it's just
00:52:04
my female body working like this is
00:52:08
shocking but also really enlightening
00:52:10
that now I know this I can actually use
00:52:12
it to my advantage and so that was year
00:52:15
like 2017 2018 I started actually
00:52:19
adapting the way that I trained to my
00:52:21
cycle and those hormonal fluctuations
00:52:23
yeah I I I know nothing about this as
00:52:25
you can imagine but I I don't feel
00:52:27
uncomfortable talking about it and I um
00:52:30
yeah I feel like you and your friend e
00:52:31
and we'll get to the family stuff soon
00:52:33
you guys have done a great job ldia Co
00:52:35
there was a thing I saw on YouTube Lydia
00:52:36
Co I love lyia Co um some male
00:52:39
commentator was talking about a
00:52:40
tournament and she was like I didn't
00:52:41
play very well because you I'm on my
00:52:43
period or whatever and um just the guy's
00:52:46
reaction it was like he was so awkward
00:52:48
about it so awkward I know and that just
00:52:50
shows like how taboo the subject of
00:52:52
menstrual cycles and period it's um
00:52:54
somewhat comical now but like it should
00:52:57
be a normal conversation it's a bodily
00:52:58
function that 50% of the population have
00:53:00
yeah 100% okay so explain something to
00:53:02
me so say
00:53:04
um so so what happens if if um if you
00:53:07
have your period And it's like on a on a
00:53:09
race week or whatever completely fine
00:53:11
yeah yeah you know I grew up with the
00:53:14
narrative that periods are a nuisance if
00:53:15
you're on your period sit on the couch
00:53:17
and eat ice cream and like be kind to
00:53:19
yourself and like you don't need to like
00:53:21
don't do any movement just chill and
00:53:24
actually during your period is when
00:53:26
you're hormones are at the lowest both
00:53:28
estrogen and progesterone female
00:53:29
hormones and uh you can actually train
00:53:33
really well during that phase so
00:53:35
everyone is different but for me in
00:53:37
particular I feel really good on my
00:53:38
period and so I will go out and like
00:53:41
smash 1K reps and do hard sessions if I
00:53:43
have a race on my period I'm like sweet
00:53:45
whereas like so many women who haven't
00:53:47
been given this education they will
00:53:49
freak and think that being on their
00:53:50
period is like going to be detrimental
00:53:52
to their performance but actually it's
00:53:54
fine you know and it's a good thing so
00:53:57
we're trying to change that narrative
00:53:59
and stop speaking so negatively about it
00:54:01
because when you speak negatively about
00:54:04
your cycle in particular as a woman your
00:54:07
cycle is a big part of your female
00:54:09
physiology and that means you're
00:54:11
speaking negatively about your body you
00:54:13
know whereas we need to start having
00:54:14
like positive conversations about our
00:54:16
bodies because we're been brought up in
00:54:18
this world to have such negative
00:54:19
conversations with ourselves so trying
00:54:21
to change that it's hard but we're
00:54:23
making some
00:54:24
progress okay so if you look at training
00:54:26
schedule and you've got like a tough
00:54:28
training week coming up and it falls
00:54:29
with your period cycle you're not
00:54:31
freaked out about it it's just business
00:54:33
as usual business as usual yeah there's
00:54:35
definitely things in different phases
00:54:37
throughout your cycle you can um feel
00:54:40
not as great and there's definitely
00:54:41
things you can do to like benefit of it
00:54:44
um focusing on things like sleep and
00:54:46
there's some particular supplements you
00:54:48
can take if you are someone who suffers
00:54:50
more but yeah you you just don't freak
00:54:52
out you like you just celebrate the fact
00:54:55
that you've got a healthy menstrual
00:54:56
cycle that's a sign from your body
00:54:58
saying that everything you're doing is
00:55:00
good you're not overtraining you're not
00:55:02
under fueling you're not under too much
00:55:03
stress like this is a good sign to say
00:55:06
you're healthy and to be performing well
00:55:09
you need to be healthy so it's actually
00:55:10
like a really positive thing uh yeah
00:55:13
we're trying to change change that
00:55:15
yeah okay so um you so back to LA so
00:55:19
you're train you're training like a
00:55:20
Savage and you're getting the results
00:55:23
and it's the um the Gold Coast Marathon
00:55:25
2019 what was your what was your goal or
00:55:27
expectation so going into that after
00:55:29
those few years of focusing on running
00:55:32
and being like I'm going to give this
00:55:33
give this a red hot crack and just like
00:55:36
see what I can achieve I had the goal of
00:55:41
making the world team that year so um
00:55:45
the world standard I think was 237 and
00:55:48
I'd run a 239 at that point so I was
00:55:50
like with all this training and with how
00:55:53
I had been able to get by not working um
00:55:56
I was super confident that I was going
00:55:58
to be able to make that time yeah three
00:56:01
three seconds a kilometer quicker yeah
00:56:03
not much at all and so being in La I was
00:56:07
I I want to say which I know you can't
00:56:09
really say this cuz I never did it but I
00:56:11
want to say I was in definitely low 230
00:56:13
shape like some of the sessions I was
00:56:15
doing I was just I knew that I could run
00:56:17
a 230 um and so I went to Australia
00:56:22
after LA and started to prep for Gold
00:56:24
Coast and then I got sick a couple of
00:56:25
weeks out
00:56:27
and that wasn't ideal but in those
00:56:30
instances you just have to not get
00:56:32
consumed by what is going on around you
00:56:34
and just kind of stay calm and focused
00:56:36
on what's ahead and do what you got to
00:56:38
do to get there and so I tried to kind
00:56:40
of ignore the fact that I'd been sick
00:56:42
and just like slept and AED and and did
00:56:44
what I needed to do and then I got to
00:56:47
the race and it was a pretty horrific
00:56:49
day I remember it was like really wet it
00:56:52
was pouring rain at the start line it
00:56:53
was really windy which is like very
00:56:55
unlike gold coast and like a pit Gold
00:56:58
Coast is the the race I wanted to do
00:57:00
flast yeah and um unfortunately it just
00:57:04
wasn't there and I got to I got to
00:57:08
25ks and felt somewhat okay and then by
00:57:11
about 28 I was like feeling like the
00:57:17
whales were somewhat falling off yeah in
00:57:18
28 sort of in a marathon when it when it
00:57:20
begins where it begins and um the
00:57:23
horrific thing about Gold Coast is that
00:57:25
you run past the start line at about
00:57:27
30ks and so you do this big loop and
00:57:30
then at 30ks you run past the start line
00:57:32
then you've got another like 12K to go
00:57:34
and I remember at the 30k running past
00:57:37
the start line and my mom was there and
00:57:38
I was just like no like I'm not feeling
00:57:42
good and I remember her saying you can
00:57:44
pull out like it's okay you can pull out
00:57:46
and I was like no I'm going to keep
00:57:47
trying and then my Pace went from
00:57:49
running whatever it would have been like
00:57:50
340s or something down to like 350s and
00:57:53
4 minutes and and then at about 3ks I
00:57:56
think I dropped down to like 4 15s I
00:57:59
think I was like that I'm not going to
00:58:00
make the time
00:58:02
and like if I'm not making the standard
00:58:05
then what's the point really and I just
00:58:06
remember stopping my watch like sitting
00:58:09
on the side of the road and just like
00:58:11
balling and just being like because I'd
00:58:14
spent the last three or so years
00:58:16
completely focused on running it was my
00:58:19
identity it was what I did and then I
00:58:21
just like lost all of that in an
00:58:23
instance and I was just like instant and
00:58:25
then I was just like
00:58:27
who am I and what is the point of all of
00:58:30
this you know and so I think that like I
00:58:34
was saying earlier was one of the most
00:58:35
challenging times in my running career
00:58:38
but it was probably the best thing that
00:58:39
happened to me because it changed my
00:58:41
perspective towards running and it
00:58:43
changed my appreciation for what the
00:58:45
sport actually is and what it can do for
00:58:46
me and I only stayed in that kind of
00:58:49
dark place for like 48 hours I was just
00:58:52
like you know I let it all go I went
00:58:56
through the emotion of it all um and
00:58:58
then within 48 Hours I'd signed up to
00:59:00
another Marathon which was like 3 weeks
00:59:02
later and I promise short memory yeah
00:59:06
shortterm memory and I promised myself
00:59:08
that I'm going to go and do that
00:59:09
marathon without looking at my watch and
00:59:10
just enjoy it because I want to prove to
00:59:12
myself that there is way more to the
00:59:15
sport than just teams and times and
00:59:17
places and
00:59:18
so uh yeah I went and ran the sunny
00:59:21
Coast Marathon like 3 weeks later and
00:59:23
and one it wasn't my goal it was a
00:59:26
pleasant Supply prize to win it got the
00:59:29
record and didn't meet the time that at
00:59:32
that point um qualifying um times had
00:59:35
actually shut so even if ID run it I
00:59:37
wouldn't have made it but I didn't have
00:59:40
that pressure I was just like just go
00:59:41
and run and and um my relationship with
00:59:44
running has changed ever since then and
00:59:46
it's um for the good it's good yeah yeah
00:59:48
it's funny because um before we started
00:59:50
recording today um we were talking about
00:59:52
the road Marathon over the weekend and
00:59:54
you told me you were feeling like [ __ ]
00:59:55
you your parents were there and they're
00:59:57
like come on lyia you know get on with
00:59:59
it you're in Gold Coast did you your mom
01:00:01
was saying if if you're not feeling good
01:00:03
you can just pull out yeah it's funny do
01:00:05
you think it was like a mother's
01:00:06
instinct at the time or I don't know
01:00:08
because my mom and my dad I think are
01:00:10
both very competitive
01:00:12
and I have very high expectations of
01:00:15
myself and I think particularly my mom
01:00:17
has probably even higher expectations of
01:00:19
me and so seeing her in the weekend and
01:00:21
she was just
01:00:22
like keep going like you have to finish
01:00:26
yeah whereas in goco she was like I
01:00:28
remember her saying like it's okay if
01:00:30
you if you need to stop um I don't
01:00:33
really know where where her head was at
01:00:36
in the two different races but I think
01:00:39
um she's seen the evolution of me and my
01:00:42
running and my perspective of running
01:00:45
and now being a founder and a CEO and
01:00:48
she's seen the the expectation that I
01:00:50
put on myself in both those positions
01:00:52
and I think um she wants to support me
01:00:55
as much as she can and I think she knows
01:00:58
that I do Thrive under pressure and I
01:01:00
think she wants to put the pressure on
01:01:02
for me to just keep pushing but uh yeah
01:01:05
and the weekend I was just like Mom this
01:01:07
sucks like do I have to keep going and
01:01:10
she just wanted me I think to get the
01:01:12
middle so I was like okay I'll do it for
01:01:14
you guys yeah and and that that Gold
01:01:16
Coast event were you um immediately
01:01:18
after pulling out were you like were
01:01:21
were you mad or disappointed at yourself
01:01:22
for not even you know hobbling it into
01:01:24
the Finish or you just felt like you
01:01:26
were done I was done I think I had so
01:01:29
much pressure put upon me leading into
01:01:32
that race as well I remember my coach at
01:01:34
the time saying to people he'd
01:01:36
introduced me to people and he'd be like
01:01:37
oh this is Lydia she's going to the
01:01:39
World Marathon Champs and I'd be like
01:01:41
haven't qualified yet that's how
01:01:42
confident he was in me and I was also
01:01:44
there but I did feel a lot of pressure
01:01:46
and so I think once I pulled out I just
01:01:49
remember I think they took me to the
01:01:50
ambulance I didn't definitely didn't
01:01:52
need to be there well maybe for my head
01:01:54
but I was um just balling and just like
01:01:58
lost and I suppose because so much work
01:02:00
went into that moment so much work and
01:02:02
money and there's not a lot of money in
01:02:04
running so it's all off my own back and
01:02:07
I don't do it for the money at all but
01:02:09
when you're pouring your own you know
01:02:11
your own savings into into the sport and
01:02:14
then not getting the result there is
01:02:17
that pressure as well so yeah a lot a
01:02:19
lot went into it but a lot more has come
01:02:23
out of it and um yeah I'm I'm glad I
01:02:26
went through it and that pressure that
01:02:28
you talk about how much of that um do
01:02:30
you think is um is is internal like
01:02:34
pressure on yourself and pressure from
01:02:35
other
01:02:36
people a lot of it is internal yeah I
01:02:39
have pretty yeah pretty high
01:02:41
expectations of myself I am pretty
01:02:45
addicted to success I think I like will
01:02:48
do anything to see myself progressing I
01:02:51
think it's the progress to success which
01:02:53
is what I like Thrive off so it's um
01:02:57
it's hard because there's days where I
01:02:59
should just like relax and smell the
01:03:01
roses as people would say but I just I
01:03:04
just can't like I want to constantly be
01:03:06
making progress whether that's in my
01:03:08
career or my relationships or in my work
01:03:10
and or in my running and I'm just like
01:03:13
it's um it can be a pretty difficult
01:03:14
position to be in but I think it's
01:03:17
exhausting you're always chasing
01:03:18
something definely yeah but I think the
01:03:21
fact I'm aware of it is really good uh
01:03:25
but making change I don't know how to do
01:03:28
that and I don't know how I can like be
01:03:31
kinder to myself but still be content
01:03:34
because I wouldn't say that I'm like
01:03:37
ever feeling the that
01:03:40
content I suppose it's just pausing from
01:03:42
time to time and taking stock of what
01:03:44
you've done and where you're at but
01:03:46
still keeping an eye on the future and
01:03:48
being better yeah I think that's it yeah
01:03:51
being proud of where you are as well
01:03:52
yeah um we haven't even talked about
01:03:54
your career stuff so you you you don't
01:03:56
work for Nike anymore but you had a
01:03:58
fabulous career career with Nike you
01:03:59
were in marketing yeah I'm still with
01:04:01
the brand y uh I Nike hits to always and
01:04:05
every Instagram yeah by the way um most
01:04:08
of your Instagram stories you're wearing
01:04:10
almost like the Nike sort of bike shorts
01:04:12
yeah Pros why um yeah why do you wear
01:04:14
them and not the not sort of like flappy
01:04:16
flappy shorts just prence yeah I just
01:04:19
like them um yeah I mean I've been with
01:04:22
the brand now for going on 14 15 years
01:04:25
years so I feel like kind of part of the
01:04:28
furniture at Nike now and I've had such
01:04:31
an amazing career with them and I
01:04:34
actually started with Nike as an athlete
01:04:36
so back in 2009 or 10 um I got picked up
01:04:41
by them when I won my first national
01:04:43
title and I was just like right place at
01:04:45
the right time actually this is a pretty
01:04:47
funny story which yeah I think for me
01:04:50
shows how powerful our minds can be and
01:04:53
how important confidence in yourself is
01:04:55
for because I actually went into a Nike
01:04:58
store um when I was like 19 and blessed
01:05:02
myself but like asked the woman behind
01:05:04
the counter if I could get sponsored by
01:05:08
Nike I like someone working like the St
01:05:11
Luke's BR it was the new store please
01:05:13
pleas please pleas and I just you know
01:05:17
the woman would have just looked at me
01:05:18
and been like lady I'm just working R
01:05:21
there's no way that I can give you a
01:05:22
Nike contract you know oh hang on I'll
01:05:25
just ring still night yeah yeah and
01:05:29
so all the naivity that's gorgeous
01:05:31
gorgeous and so I left the store
01:05:33
obviously and then I remember a few
01:05:35
weeks later actually being offered a
01:05:36
contract with another brand just to to
01:05:39
know I wasn't a great Runner like I won
01:05:40
nationals but I wasn't performing on the
01:05:42
global stage or anything and anyway this
01:05:44
other brand offered me a contract and I
01:05:45
remember turning it down because I was
01:05:47
like adamant that I was going to get
01:05:48
sponsored by Nike and um hang on yeah
01:05:51
we'll just take some of Tiger Wood's
01:05:53
money away and Michael Jordan's little
01:05:55
little we teenage girl in New Zealand
01:05:58
and um and so yeah I just had this
01:06:01
belief and then I'm not kidding you
01:06:02
within about two months I want to say um
01:06:05
I got offered a placement on a squad
01:06:08
here in New Zealand and our main sponsor
01:06:10
was Nike and that was just like whether
01:06:14
it was the power of the mind or just
01:06:16
like the confidence that I deserved it
01:06:18
and was worthy of it I ended up getting
01:06:20
that contract and I was an athlete for
01:06:23
about 2 years and then I
01:06:26
I'm very much a yes scal so I'll say yes
01:06:28
to pretty much every opportunity and
01:06:32
maybe maybe not so much yes now but
01:06:34
definitely back then and uh I as an
01:06:38
athlete got given opportunities as a
01:06:40
Nike athlete you kind of get asked to
01:06:42
come along and like speak at events and
01:06:44
be attendees at events and I just went
01:06:47
to everything and said yes to everything
01:06:49
and I think the brand saw that in me and
01:06:52
they actually offered me a position in
01:06:54
the marketing team when I was about 21
01:06:56
um and so that was like pretty amazing
01:07:01
to get that experience I was still
01:07:03
studying at University to get the time
01:07:04
and so it was the dream job like I drove
01:07:07
this massive Volkswagen van around with
01:07:09
about 250 pairs of running shoes and go
01:07:12
out to runs Park runs and the Nike run
01:07:15
Club I think was just kind of kicking
01:07:16
off at the time and we just kit people
01:07:18
out on running shoes and just talk to
01:07:20
people about running and it was just
01:07:21
like so epic I think it was like my
01:07:23
first experience
01:07:25
of community running like seeing Runners
01:07:28
that weren't Elites and and mingling
01:07:31
with people who didn't just run and it
01:07:33
was like so cool to see how they loved
01:07:37
the sport and what they did like how
01:07:38
they could benefit off the sport away
01:07:40
from just being competitive athletes and
01:07:41
so yeah I was very lucky to kind of be
01:07:44
in that position and um and spent about
01:07:47
five years in the brand Team um and
01:07:49
alongside being in the brand Team I took
01:07:52
on the Nike run Club coach role which is
01:07:55
the title I still hold today um and have
01:07:58
now been in the coaching position for
01:07:59
about eight years wow and it's just yeah
01:08:02
again like amazing it's um yeah I think
01:08:05
it's it was hard for me as a 22y old
01:08:08
working in the brand Team at Nike I
01:08:10
ended up leaving University and just
01:08:12
focusing on that
01:08:14
and I just remember thinking at 22 like
01:08:17
I found my dream job like what do you do
01:08:20
when you found your dream job at
01:08:23
22 because I was traveling I was was
01:08:25
like living and breathing running I was
01:08:28
talking about the best brand in the
01:08:29
world like it was just so cool and um
01:08:32
yeah I remember being like well this is
01:08:34
going to turn into a disaster because
01:08:35
where can I go from here and uh I didn't
01:08:38
I guess I didn't have like huge
01:08:39
Ambitions to become like directors of
01:08:41
the brand or anything like that and um
01:08:44
yeah I think that's I I found myself in
01:08:47
a position where my health was suffering
01:08:49
and um I needed to look after myself and
01:08:52
I ended up leaving the brand Team but
01:08:54
stayed with the brand and and in this
01:08:56
coach role until now and um it's been
01:08:58
just like a whirlwind and I'm so
01:09:00
grateful to the brand like I definitely
01:09:02
wouldn't have had the opportunities that
01:09:04
I've had without the brands I'm just
01:09:06
like very very grateful it's good that
01:09:08
you still like it because often you know
01:09:09
you you you have these goals or
01:09:11
aspirations and then you know when you
01:09:14
when you get up close and personal
01:09:16
that's when the cracks start to show in
01:09:17
any sort of organization um so the fact
01:09:20
that you're still passionate about it I
01:09:21
think that's really cool definitely I
01:09:23
think every company and organization has
01:09:25
it's like pros and cons it's hard times
01:09:27
and good times and I think um I just I
01:09:30
didn't come from like a brand marketing
01:09:32
background I just found myself in that
01:09:34
position and I just learned so much um
01:09:38
so yeah they've always been so
01:09:39
supportive to me and it's a mutually
01:09:42
beneficial relationship we have with one
01:09:44
another and now with FEI like we are in
01:09:47
partnership with Nike so we get to work
01:09:49
together and we're all chasing the same
01:09:51
outcome you know we want to get people
01:09:52
moving and we want people to feel good
01:09:54
in their bodies and um it's just cool to
01:09:57
be working with a company with a brand
01:09:58
that is so passionate about the same
01:10:00
things yeah and you shared on Instagram
01:10:02
some stories um of you running around
01:10:05
the 400 meter track at um um Nike HQ yes
01:10:09
and Eugene is it Eugene Oregon yeah what
01:10:12
that track looks beautiful just 400 met
01:10:15
track but it's surrounded by it's like
01:10:16
it's in the middle of a bush yeah yeah
01:10:18
it's incredible it's the most beautiful
01:10:20
track in the world it's so cool the
01:10:22
whole Nike headquarters is just like
01:10:23
Dreamland it's incred
01:10:25
incredible the only problem with um a
01:10:28
400 met track in Bush how how do you
01:10:30
know where your opponents are you
01:10:33
don't remember D we're out there just to
01:10:35
have fun and focus on yourself and just
01:10:38
compete with yourself so no it's um I
01:10:40
haven't raced on the track but it would
01:10:42
be quite hard to know like where
01:10:43
everyone is at because you can't see
01:10:45
across the track you'd see them every
01:10:46
like I don't know 100 meters or
01:10:48
something like there is one section
01:10:50
where you can see across but the rest of
01:10:51
it you're pretty lost but it's cool it's
01:10:53
really cool amazing we we've been going
01:10:55
for over an hour we haven't even got to
01:10:56
the FI stuff yet we'll get to that soon
01:10:58
I promise um one thing I wanted to know
01:11:01
you you were stuck in Melbourne during
01:11:03
Co Melbourne was like a [ __ ] show hey
01:11:06
Melbourne was like kind of similar to
01:11:08
ockland I guess it felt like Melbourne
01:11:09
had a worst lockdown yeah than anyone
01:11:12
else in Australia um how was that and
01:11:14
how was your mental health during that
01:11:15
time yeah it was it was challenging I
01:11:17
think early on in the lockdown I
01:11:19
thankfully found myself in a position
01:11:21
where I actually wasn't in the city I
01:11:23
was out of the city um up a place called
01:11:25
ham which was just like really beautiful
01:11:27
and secluded um I ended up going there
01:11:30
with an ex partner and it was just like
01:11:33
good timing that we ended up being there
01:11:35
and then we were actually away from the
01:11:37
city for the first kind of section of
01:11:38
lockdown for a few months but the in
01:11:42
2021 um I think it was 2021 I was in a
01:11:47
much more difficult position in my
01:11:49
apartment I had an apartment in
01:11:50
Melbourne by myself and spent probably 8
01:11:54
months in lockdown Al lot own
01:11:55
essentially and that was like really
01:11:58
tough yeah um I think that was 22
01:12:01
actually yeah it was really hard it was
01:12:03
just like a lot of alone time and
01:12:06
running was my only outlet and it was
01:12:08
the only way we could connect with other
01:12:10
people but even running was like we had
01:12:13
60 minutes and if you ran for 61 you'd
01:12:15
get told off by everybody and um there
01:12:19
were like policemen on horses that would
01:12:21
stop you while you're running and check
01:12:23
your watch to make sure you weren't
01:12:24
running for more in an hour which is
01:12:28
insane but it is you look you look back
01:12:30
and it's only like a couple of years ago
01:12:32
it seems crazy crazy I just can't
01:12:35
believe that that was like reality for a
01:12:37
while um but yeah it was hard it was
01:12:40
hard and and your your dad got sick
01:12:42
about the same time I remember you
01:12:43
shared um uh I think it was a post from
01:12:46
miq yeah um and you were running outside
01:12:50
by the way you were lucky the EMQ I was
01:12:52
and we weren't even allowed to run if
01:12:54
you broke into a run in the exercise
01:12:56
yard um there was a guy that would blow
01:12:58
his whistle um so yes how is your dad is
01:13:01
he okay now um yeah he he is a fighter
01:13:05
yeah so he got diagnosed with at the
01:13:08
time they found the cancer in his brain
01:13:11
um and that's when we first found out
01:13:14
that he had cancer and uh we soon after
01:13:18
found out that it had stem from melanoma
01:13:20
so that was kind of the primary source
01:13:23
was melanoma but had metes to his brain
01:13:26
by the time we founded and um that was
01:13:29
pretty severe and that was 3 years ago
01:13:32
now and he's he's fighting he is an
01:13:36
absolute Legend like he's super positive
01:13:38
about the whole thing and um he wants to
01:13:42
be here you know so it was really
01:13:44
challenging coming back and being put
01:13:45
into demq by myself two days after I
01:13:48
found out dead head cancer and that was
01:13:50
like one of the most challenging times
01:13:53
of my entire life M so the you're locked
01:13:55
up for 14 days and there's nothing
01:13:57
nothing you can do while Dad was going
01:13:58
in for brain surgery yeah it was pretty
01:14:02
horrific uh but I think in those
01:14:06
instances
01:14:08
you really learn how strong you are and
01:14:12
like you really see your resilience and
01:14:15
I think it's um yeah again like some of
01:14:18
the shest times in my life but has
01:14:19
helped me become who I am today and now
01:14:23
like running a business and all the
01:14:24
stresses that go on I feel like I don't
01:14:26
really get too phased vatal because I
01:14:28
feel like I've been in instances where
01:14:29
like life has actually been so hard and
01:14:33
and it feels like your world is
01:14:34
crumbling um and you get through it you
01:14:36
know and so I'm like you know what
01:14:38
things that work don't work out exactly
01:14:40
how I imagined it it's okay because
01:14:42
we'll get through these tough times yeah
01:14:44
one thing that you get from um from
01:14:46
following you whether it's like
01:14:47
listening to you on podcast or listening
01:14:50
to your own podcast on FY or following
01:14:52
on Instagram um you're you're very very
01:14:54
positive of very glassful also um very
01:14:57
grateful is this um is this just like
01:15:01
your your DNA or is this something
01:15:03
you've worked on like do you do you
01:15:04
practice gratitude mindfully do you
01:15:07
Journal definitely I think
01:15:10
gratitude I think it really does come
01:15:12
back to my journey and my sister in
01:15:16
particular and like seeing the journey
01:15:17
that she's taken and where she's ended
01:15:19
up and like just being so grateful that
01:15:22
I am here um and
01:15:25
I think gratitude is everything like
01:15:27
honestly I feel like if you can't be
01:15:29
grateful for where you are today then
01:15:31
what what's the point you know um it
01:15:35
allows you to appreciate what you have
01:15:37
and in a world where we are constantly
01:15:40
finding ourselves comparing ourselves to
01:15:42
others and wishing we had what they had
01:15:45
or looked what how they looked I think
01:15:47
being able to stop and just like be
01:15:50
happy with what you have is like the
01:15:52
most important thing to enjoy life and
01:15:56
uh yeah I've definitely had my struggles
01:15:58
with it too but gratitude I think has
01:16:00
like really saved
01:16:02
me yeah well you think about your you
01:16:04
know your dad the day that he found out
01:16:07
he had brain cancer he he would give
01:16:09
anything to be feeling how he was the
01:16:12
day before you know what I mean totally
01:16:15
um yeah it's it's hard the way sometimes
01:16:17
I don't know life life gets in the way
01:16:19
or you just get caught up in your own
01:16:20
[ __ ] um yeah but it does take it
01:16:23
does take if a it's like a musle and you
01:16:25
have to train it the the whole gratitude
01:16:26
thing it is yeah and I think um it
01:16:30
really plays into
01:16:31
like building a life that you are proud
01:16:34
of and that you are you are happy to
01:16:38
live you know like I think happiness is
01:16:40
is a forever growing Beast it's not
01:16:43
something you can wake up and just be
01:16:44
happy every single day but I definitely
01:16:46
think like building a life that you can
01:16:49
wake up and say you know this is the
01:16:51
life that I've always wanted to live and
01:16:53
like I don't know feel like um I was
01:16:56
saying this the other day I think I put
01:16:58
up a post about it around
01:17:02
um that it takes time to figure out like
01:17:06
who you are and where you want to be but
01:17:08
uh like the the moments along the way
01:17:11
are what really matter you know and so
01:17:13
for me I'm just like I am really proud
01:17:15
of this life and I'm so grateful for the
01:17:19
life that I live and some days are
01:17:21
harder than others and that that's okay
01:17:22
just take it as it comes like I'm really
01:17:25
yeah I'm just like I don't know I think
01:17:28
everything in your life does there's
01:17:30
meaning behind it all and it's taking
01:17:32
you on this journey you know as wooo as
01:17:34
maybe that sounds like I look back at my
01:17:36
experiences as a teenage girl and what
01:17:38
Rose taught me and I then I think about
01:17:41
the challenges that I've been through in
01:17:42
my life and they've all like kind of led
01:17:44
to these moments and the work that I do
01:17:47
now and the impact that hopefully I feel
01:17:49
like I'm having um yeah like I just
01:17:52
don't think I would be doing this if all
01:17:53
of those challenges and things didn't
01:17:55
happen to me earlier so yeah I think
01:17:58
you're in a great position too because
01:17:59
um if you're a professional Runner like
01:18:01
it hasn't very very short window a an
01:18:04
expiry date on it um but what you're
01:18:07
doing you can do for the rest of your
01:18:08
life ideally fabulous yeah well it's not
01:18:11
really wrapped up in times or medals is
01:18:14
it no it's not and I I yeah me and
01:18:16
Esther talk about this too because
01:18:18
Esther was who's my best friend and also
01:18:20
my co-founder like she was an amazing
01:18:23
athlete when she was a teenage girl she
01:18:24
won World cross country Champs when she
01:18:26
was like 14 or 15 which is just the best
01:18:30
in the world obviously like beating all
01:18:31
these incredibly talented athletes
01:18:35
and yeah and we try to think about like
01:18:38
if we had made the Olympics and
01:18:40
fulfilled these potential dreams that we
01:18:42
once had would we still be would we be
01:18:45
feeling like we've we're having the
01:18:47
impact that we're having today you know
01:18:49
versus what we're doing through FEI and
01:18:51
the work that we're doing and we would
01:18:53
both 100% take this path of like
01:18:57
building building a safe and supportive
01:18:59
environment for females and for female
01:19:01
Runners to connect to them to each other
01:19:04
to learn about themselves to have
01:19:06
appropriate guidance and to empower
01:19:07
women in movement like that is our goal
01:19:10
and I just don't think you can do that
01:19:11
when you're just like this athlete
01:19:12
focused on your performance it's really
01:19:15
hard to if you're going to be an athlete
01:19:17
I suppose it's too much of a self
01:19:18
selfish Endeavor in a way you don't have
01:19:20
the energy or the heartbeats for so
01:19:22
let's talk about F let's get into that
01:19:24
now so so this this started with um
01:19:27
Esther who you're talking about yes the
01:19:29
bestie the best is that what you call
01:19:32
each other the besty she doesn't quite
01:19:34
have the same one for me but even yeah I
01:19:36
definitely refer to her as s the bestie
01:19:39
oh wow it's loow hanging fruit so so
01:19:42
you're working at n how does this work
01:19:43
so she's in um she's in toonga you're
01:19:46
you're in Melbourne you're working for
01:19:48
Nike it seems like um it seems like a
01:19:52
[ __ ] show starting a business together
01:19:53
when you're in different countries so at
01:19:55
the time this was in 2020 So Co
01:19:57
obviously happened at the start of 2020
01:19:59
kicked off then went for a few years but
01:20:01
at the end more closer to the end of
01:20:03
2020 ether was in Melbourne and I was in
01:20:06
Melbourne so we're actually in the same
01:20:07
place okay at the time ether had um been
01:20:11
working as a personal trainer for a we
01:20:12
while but she had lost her job because
01:20:14
of the lockdowns and I had at that point
01:20:17
had been running my own coaching company
01:20:18
for about 3 or 4 years and it was um
01:20:22
writing programs for runners all over
01:20:23
the world and and uh it was awesome like
01:20:27
not a lot of stress and still felt like
01:20:29
I was having impact on people so I was
01:20:31
really enjoying it but I couldn't really
01:20:33
scale it beyond what I was doing to that
01:20:35
dat like I couldn't really build a
01:20:38
company off the back of it it was just
01:20:39
myself and so Esther and I had gone
01:20:43
through this experience as as female
01:20:45
athletes and come out the other side of
01:20:46
it and we' both just spent the last two
01:20:48
years like learning about our
01:20:50
bodies and we both had been coaching
01:20:55
and also working with the likes of Nike
01:20:57
and other big Global sporting Brands and
01:21:00
we both knew there was a huge
01:21:02
responsibility on our shoulders to take
01:21:06
what we had learned through our
01:21:07
challenges and the education that we'
01:21:09
gone through ourselves and spread it to
01:21:11
other people
01:21:13
and we just thought if we if we build
01:21:17
something to do that then we can impact
01:21:19
people woman more than just telling them
01:21:23
how to run faster
01:21:25
and so we kicked FY off in 2020 as a
01:21:29
onetoone coaching company and it was
01:21:31
very much about providing woman Runners
01:21:33
guidance around their cycle and adapting
01:21:35
their running training to their cycle
01:21:37
and educating them about their bodies
01:21:39
because almost all of us had just not
01:21:42
learned anything about ourselves and um
01:21:45
that's where it started and I guess we
01:21:46
saw really quickly like the need for
01:21:49
this type of service for women and we
01:21:52
spent the last 3 years working on onet
01:21:54
toone coaching but alongside building
01:21:57
the coaching company we realized that
01:22:01
there was just like this huge lack of
01:22:04
software to support women in sport
01:22:06
there's just like pretty much 99% of
01:22:09
Fitness software is being built for men
01:22:12
so not taking into account female
01:22:15
physiology is a massive mess and we just
01:22:18
couldn't find a toour where we could
01:22:19
like get women to track the menstrual
01:22:21
cycles get given the appropriate
01:22:23
guidance around their side CES get given
01:22:25
them training guidance around their
01:22:26
cycles and then just like connect women
01:22:28
to each other and we like very quickly
01:22:31
realized that there was a huge
01:22:32
opportunity for us to to build something
01:22:35
that could serve women better and so
01:22:38
neither of us are techy at that point
01:22:40
neither of us knew anything about
01:22:42
startups the startup World raising
01:22:44
Capital none of it like we were so naive
01:22:46
and we're like we just build this app um
01:22:49
and so we went on that journey and we
01:22:51
first buil out prototypes and tested
01:22:53
that with people and and we just had no
01:22:55
idea really where to go or what to do
01:22:57
and so it took about 18 months or so
01:23:00
before we actually got accepted into an
01:23:01
accelerator program called start mate
01:23:03
which is the biggest accelerator program
01:23:05
in Australia and New Zealand and they
01:23:07
have about 500 companies apply each um
01:23:10
cohort and in our cohort only 12
01:23:13
companies got selected so we got
01:23:16
selected um in such a massive group of
01:23:19
other companies that applied and and
01:23:21
that was like just a huge confidence
01:23:22
boost for us cuz we were like not Ticky
01:23:25
firsttime Founders building something
01:23:27
that doesn't exist like there were a lot
01:23:29
of things working against us but we got
01:23:30
in and that gave us confidence and it
01:23:33
gave us our first investment so from
01:23:35
there we were able to make our first
01:23:38
hires which Tagan and Stefan who are
01:23:40
still on our team today and um and that
01:23:43
the build of the FI app started at the
01:23:45
end of 2022 and so we launched in
01:23:49
November 2023 um and now we've been in
01:23:51
the app store for about six or so months
01:23:53
and um it's just just been awesome like
01:23:55
such a journey to be on and just to see
01:23:57
the impact that we're able to have like
01:23:59
one of the um one of our users our
01:24:01
community members came up to Tagan in
01:24:03
the weekend at the road to a marathon
01:24:04
saying you know like the F apps changed
01:24:07
my life and to hear that from women it's
01:24:09
just like so rewarding so it's pretty
01:24:12
cool I'm just really excited about where
01:24:13
we're going in the future that's so
01:24:15
humbling isn't it and you guys making
01:24:18
okay money from it no no not yet got the
01:24:21
life of an entrepreneur eh it's it's
01:24:23
terrifying it's it's it's funny because
01:24:25
I feel like a lot of um I talk a lot
01:24:28
about what being an athlete taught me
01:24:31
around resilience and hard work and
01:24:32
taking risks and like making sacrifices
01:24:35
all of it is exactly the same as being a
01:24:36
founder and so uh no like the goal is to
01:24:40
Monday make money but right now we're
01:24:42
just building the best possible platform
01:24:45
software app for women who run and we've
01:24:48
got some incredible investors who are on
01:24:51
the journey with us and like are
01:24:52
supporting us to get to where we know we
01:24:55
can go but um yeah it's it's all new to
01:24:58
me like being a CEO and being a Founder
01:25:00
is just like an entirely New Journey but
01:25:02
one that I'm like really enjoying so
01:25:05
you're just learning so many new skills
01:25:07
so many new skills yeah is it's cool um
01:25:10
yeah that's neat and it's it's how how
01:25:12
big is the community can you put a
01:25:13
number on it oh it's hard to say we have
01:25:16
at the moment 14 physical run location
01:25:18
so every Friday our woman meet and go
01:25:21
for a run and get coffee and just hang
01:25:23
out and they were just really like safe
01:25:26
supportive environments for women to
01:25:27
meet um so we have that community and
01:25:30
then we have our kind of wider Community
01:25:32
we have our podcast community so it's
01:25:34
hard to say how many members are in our
01:25:37
in our community we've got thousands
01:25:39
people on the app using the using the
01:25:41
app and following our trading guidance
01:25:43
so it's um yeah it is humbling it's
01:25:46
really cool and um you even um ambushed
01:25:49
cornered I don't know what the correct
01:25:50
phrasing is Steven Bartlett from Diary
01:25:53
of a CEO yeah
01:25:56
yeah how how did you accost one of the
01:25:58
world's biggest podcasters it's so funny
01:26:01
so I've been listening to Steven butlet
01:26:03
for like maybe like two no three maybe
01:26:06
three or four years ages and it's just
01:26:09
hilarious when you listen to someone on
01:26:10
a podcast and you like feel like you
01:26:12
know them um but I got the opportunity
01:26:15
to go to his show in Oakland a few weeks
01:26:16
ago and he is an investor himself he is
01:26:20
one of the sharks on Shark Tank and I
01:26:22
know he's pretty actively invested at
01:26:24
the moment and so I as I said I'm a yes
01:26:28
girl and I try and take every
01:26:29
opportunity I decided to get a ticket to
01:26:32
meet and greet him and uh I don't know
01:26:36
if you know his conversation cards he he
01:26:38
has conversation cards that he builds
01:26:40
off yeah at the end of the podcast every
01:26:42
guest has to write a question for the
01:26:43
next guest in a book and he tuned into a
01:26:45
game Y and so we took the design of his
01:26:49
conversation cards redesigned it and
01:26:51
called them the Fe conversation cards
01:26:53
and pretty much had questions about the
01:26:55
lack of support women Founders and women
01:26:57
and Sport G and um had a QR code there
01:27:00
to go direct to our pitch deck and so I
01:27:03
gave them to him and said to him you
01:27:06
know theel about F and cuz how long do
01:27:09
you reckon you had I reckon I had 3
01:27:11
minutes at the most yeah so it was
01:27:13
pretty quick but through all the
01:27:15
accelerated programs that we've been
01:27:17
part of you definitely learn how to
01:27:18
pitch quick so the experience was there
01:27:21
helped heaps but immediately when I said
01:27:23
where got a fem tech company and we're
01:27:25
building tech for female athletes uh and
01:27:28
women in sport he was like we're
01:27:30
investing into fem Tech right now like
01:27:32
gave me an email and um yeah I pitched
01:27:35
to their team last week so things are
01:27:37
looking positive it's very exciting but
01:27:39
he was a legend like he as I knew he
01:27:41
would be he's just such a genuine dude
01:27:43
and I've just I've never seen someone
01:27:46
present the way he presented like he
01:27:48
pretty much rattled off a speech 2 and a
01:27:50
half hour speech word for word didn't
01:27:52
mess up at all I was just shocked by how
01:27:54
well spoken he is you just don't get
01:27:57
that when you just listen to the
01:27:58
interviews um on his podcast cuz
01:28:00
obviously the guest is mostly speaking
01:28:02
but uh he's like he's he's an awesome
01:28:05
guy and hopefully can become an investor
01:28:07
for us well that's amazing um you're
01:28:09
very courageous on your part how nervous
01:28:11
were you like compare the nerves of so
01:28:14
you're in line so you buy you can either
01:28:16
buy a g ticket or you buy a VIP ticket
01:28:18
where you get to meet afterwards so
01:28:19
you're in line in that line as he's
01:28:22
getting closer and closer how nervous
01:28:24
were you compared to like say at the
01:28:26
start line of a marathon oh way more
01:28:30
nervous way more nervous I thankfully in
01:28:34
the line behind me was my friend Robin
01:28:37
who owns a company called Hollow period
01:28:40
period cups and menr cycle discs and
01:28:43
she's awesome and so thankfully I had
01:28:45
her to kind of chat with and laugh about
01:28:46
the situation with her before I went up
01:28:49
and spoke to him but yeah I was like as
01:28:51
soon as I got up to him I'm I just like
01:28:52
I feel like I've met quite a lot of
01:28:55
celebrity aletes through the work that
01:28:58
I've done over the last 15 years and I
01:29:00
just don't really get that like wowed by
01:29:02
too many people I think people are
01:29:04
amazing but I don't get nervous as such
01:29:06
but I think for meeting him I was just
01:29:09
like not so nervous about meeting him
01:29:11
but nervous about missing the
01:29:13
opportunity for what it could be if I
01:29:15
did it well um and so also not a fan
01:29:18
girl situation just performance nervous
01:29:19
about getting your pitch right oh yeah
01:29:22
like love him but I feel like I love our
01:29:26
community more and the work that we do
01:29:28
at F That's What mattered to me was just
01:29:30
like get the pitch so he sees the
01:29:33
opportunity um get that right and then
01:29:35
you never know and I wanted to say to
01:29:37
him CU everyone was getting photos and I
01:29:39
wanted to be like we don't need a photo
01:29:40
because I'm going to see you again soon
01:29:42
just give him the confidence is that
01:29:44
what you said I ended up getting the
01:29:46
photo I
01:29:48
know yes but we got it on Instagram and
01:29:51
actually his investment fund saw all of
01:29:53
the content on Instagram cuz we posted
01:29:55
about it um the day after and tried to
01:29:58
get well we asked the community to be
01:30:00
involved and talk about how fies helped
01:30:02
them and that was the most rewarding
01:30:05
thing was just seeing these comments
01:30:06
these women are incredible and to see
01:30:10
how Fe has helped them on their own
01:30:12
Journeys
01:30:13
like I can't even speak about it like it
01:30:16
was just it's mind-blowing and and then
01:30:19
flight fund his investment fund saw that
01:30:22
and I think that's what got them excited
01:30:25
it's funny a because I suppose you do
01:30:27
any sort of business venture because you
01:30:28
want it to be you know financially
01:30:30
viable or you you know you want to
01:30:31
better keep the lights on or however you
01:30:33
want to phrase it s like the same with
01:30:35
me with this podcast I guess but
01:30:37
ultimately even more important than any
01:30:40
amount of money is the impact you're
01:30:41
having definitely so it's like the nice
01:30:43
comments that I get from people about
01:30:45
the podcast means far more than any sort
01:30:48
of financial reward you guys God you
01:30:50
guys must be so proud of what you've
01:30:51
built yeah it's funny being in the St
01:30:54
world now because it is very much about
01:30:56
how much are you raising how much are
01:30:58
you valued at what is the potential what
01:30:59
are you going to be worth in five or 10
01:31:01
years and and I've never been someone to
01:31:04
be focused on the money and it's not a
01:31:07
way I do it and I am very much about the
01:31:11
impact is how much impact can we be
01:31:13
having and can I be having and and
01:31:16
that's what matters to me and so it's I
01:31:18
find it difficult as a founder and CEO
01:31:21
to like talk about the numbers
01:31:24
because that's what the investors want
01:31:26
to see and I should I should be chasing
01:31:30
that and and I think it's exciting to
01:31:31
think about if we could reach those
01:31:33
numbers but it's more exciting to think
01:31:35
about the impact we can have if we reach
01:31:37
those numbers that's that's really why I
01:31:39
do it suppose they all go hand in hand
01:31:41
ultimately and you get to start it with
01:31:42
your best friend that must have been um
01:31:44
scary as well because um anytime
01:31:47
you I don't know would you say
01:31:49
commercialize a friendship like it's
01:31:50
It's A Dangerous Ground like you could
01:31:52
have a Fallout it is coulden it's a
01:31:54
marriage you know like we're pretty much
01:31:56
married at this point and we are just so
01:32:00
we're so lucky to have each other like I
01:32:02
could not be doing this by myself and I
01:32:04
wouldn't want to do it with anyone else
01:32:06
and we have hard times and then we have
01:32:09
amazing times but I think with Esther
01:32:11
and myself we just know each other so
01:32:13
well and we know exactly what each other
01:32:16
is thinking and we know what
01:32:18
environments we thrive in and we just
01:32:21
compliment each other it's funny because
01:32:22
I think there's so much advice you get
01:32:25
given as a Founder from you know
01:32:27
successful business owners that have
01:32:30
done it in the past and a lot of them
01:32:32
are men um and they're trying to give us
01:32:34
guidance on how to run our business um
01:32:37
but ultimately Esther and I we know what
01:32:39
we need to be doing and we know what's
01:32:41
right for our women in our community and
01:32:43
so we're both just like really committed
01:32:46
to making this thing into what we know
01:32:50
it can be and um trusting ourselves I
01:32:53
think that's the biggest thing is like
01:32:55
trusting each other trusting our team I
01:32:58
think is incredibly important and then
01:33:00
trusting ourselves that we can do this
01:33:02
because female Founders are few and far
01:33:05
between only less than 2% of venture
01:33:08
capitalist money actually goes into
01:33:09
female Founders so most of the companies
01:33:13
that have been built as startups have
01:33:15
been built by men and men are great
01:33:19
Founders but so are women women are
01:33:21
incredible leaders incredible Founders
01:33:23
and have amazing ideas yet they're just
01:33:25
not getting back to the way that men are
01:33:27
uh and we want to build a you know equal
01:33:31
future for everyone and we need females
01:33:34
to be building that future as well and
01:33:36
so we're both just like so passionate
01:33:39
about breaking down gender equality
01:33:41
barriers not just in sport not just in
01:33:44
Tech but in the startup world as well
01:33:46
because we just want the next generation
01:33:48
of of girls to have the opportunity that
01:33:51
we didn't have or that people before us
01:33:53
didn't have I've got no doubt you'll do
01:33:54
it too you guys have both got the
01:33:56
passion have you had any um any sort of
01:33:59
even shortterm falling outs it's yeah
01:34:02
yeah yeah with just like creative
01:34:04
differences or whatever you get off a
01:34:06
zoom with each other and I we we
01:34:10
actually haven't and I'm sure it's to
01:34:11
come I'm sure there will be times that
01:34:13
will be really hard and there has been
01:34:15
hard times but for sure yeah we care
01:34:18
more about each other than anything so
01:34:22
what's the most important thing is our
01:34:25
health and our friendship um and so we
01:34:29
will like if we need a pause meetings
01:34:31
and step away from work to just like
01:34:33
have a friendship discussion we'll do
01:34:35
that you know because it's it is the
01:34:36
most without us getting along the
01:34:39
company will fall apart so like it is
01:34:41
the most important thing um but we're
01:34:43
just we're both very empathetic um and
01:34:46
maybe that's the hardest thing is we
01:34:48
both like do both impath yeah oh that's
01:34:52
good though no you're both sensible
01:34:53
people and you're both well adjusted so
01:34:56
um when you guys get together and run is
01:34:57
this all you talk about I try not to I
01:35:00
try to like not talk about work all the
01:35:02
time but um well you're both passionate
01:35:04
about it yeah but like there'll be T
01:35:06
days when maybe is will start talking
01:35:07
about work and we're out running and
01:35:08
I'll just say let's not talk about it
01:35:10
now like we're just try and change the
01:35:11
subject and neither of us take you know
01:35:13
offense to it we're just like yep cool
01:35:15
we'll talk about dogs or something
01:35:17
instead so we both love
01:35:20
dogs um oh you mentioned before some of
01:35:22
the yeah when we about Steven Bartlett
01:35:24
some of the athletes you met through
01:35:25
Nike and stuff um do you want to drop
01:35:27
some names oh honestly like I just like
01:35:31
don't really get that wild I couldn't
01:35:32
really even say tell you like who are
01:35:35
the most I mean the most famous person
01:35:37
I've probably met she's not an athlete
01:35:39
but she's pretty well known as Ellie
01:35:40
Golding I met her through Nike oh yeah
01:35:42
yeah she loves her 10k run clubs she
01:35:44
runs yeah yeah yeah yeah but like
01:35:46
athletes I'm like oh I feel like I've
01:35:48
like encountered so many of them there
01:35:50
are some like amazing amazing athletes
01:35:52
just in Australia there um we be at
01:35:55
events together and like J was an
01:35:57
amazing Runner but she's I also consider
01:35:59
kind of one of my friends you know um so
01:36:02
oh even yeah you're good mates with um
01:36:03
Lucy Bartholomew as well who's an
01:36:05
Absolut Savage like an endurance when
01:36:07
did she start doing endurance events
01:36:09
like when she was ran her first Ultra
01:36:10
when she was about 15 that's right with
01:36:12
her dad yeah yeah so she had to run with
01:36:15
her dad in order to get past the
01:36:16
organizers yeah she's got some pretty
01:36:18
crazy stories that one she's like wild
01:36:21
but she's yeah probably one of the most
01:36:23
resilient people I've ever met she's
01:36:24
pretty amazing she hasn't um got you
01:36:28
interested in urance events well I did
01:36:31
my first Ultra last year it was probably
01:36:34
the worst race I've ever done no I
01:36:36
wouldn't say worst but hardest it was
01:36:38
50ks and I think it was over 2,000 M of
01:36:41
elevation and I just signed up the week
01:36:43
before which is not recommended do not
01:36:46
do that um but I signed up ran this 50k
01:36:50
through the back of Brisbane I can't
01:36:52
remember mount cther I think it's called
01:36:54
and oh I remember it's just a different
01:36:57
sport like I remember calling James my
01:37:00
husband and probably at about 40ks or so
01:37:04
crying this sucks why did I do this why
01:37:07
did I sign up I don't want to be here
01:37:08
but like when you're that deep into an
01:37:11
ultra particularly on those Trails you
01:37:13
can't get out like you have to run so
01:37:15
you don't really have an option so poor
01:37:17
James is just like I can't do anything
01:37:18
to help you and um and then I remember
01:37:22
at like five case ago there was 1K climb
01:37:24
which was like you're on your hands and
01:37:26
knees pretty much and I just remember
01:37:29
looking at a race organizer there was a
01:37:30
race organizer up the hill and I just
01:37:32
looked at him and I was like this is
01:37:33
[ __ ] insane as though like it was his
01:37:36
fault that I was on this hill at 45k or
01:37:40
something on my hands and knees and he
01:37:42
was just like and anyway I got to the
01:37:45
end and super proud I did it but I don't
01:37:47
know if I'll do I think I'd like to do a
01:37:50
flat 50k but not the Hills I I've done a
01:37:54
similar sort of one I did one called the
01:37:55
mot Tapo which is a 52k run goes from um
01:37:59
wanica to aot toown I thought it' be a
01:38:01
good entry level ultra distance yes same
01:38:04
sort of thing lots of elevation there
01:38:06
was even a period in there where the
01:38:08
field is so separated I couldn't see
01:38:10
anyone in front of me couldn't see
01:38:11
anyone behind me I had like a
01:38:12
transponder thing but if I if I press
01:38:14
the button on that the helicopter comes
01:38:16
in and unless you're severely injured
01:38:18
you have to pay for it so through my in
01:38:20
my head I was just I was actually sort
01:38:22
of drafting the in stag post of how I
01:38:25
was going to frame me pulling out of
01:38:26
this event yeah that's funny and then I
01:38:29
feel like I've definitely done that and
01:38:32
then I got to the next the next
01:38:33
checkpoint and it was I had some jet PL
01:38:35
planes and some coke and the the
01:38:37
volunteers were very nice so I kept on
01:38:39
going it is a different sport like I
01:38:41
look at what that 50k and then I look at
01:38:43
a road Marathon I'm like there's just no
01:38:46
similarities like I was walking so much
01:38:50
of that 50k
01:38:52
and I don't know it's Le about the watch
01:38:54
isn't it you're not looking at your
01:38:55
splits you can't some kilometers might
01:38:58
take you eight or N9 minutes and it's
01:38:59
like not a big deal but I just love
01:39:01
running you know so I just remember
01:39:03
being like this isn't running like no
01:39:05
offense doctor Runners it is running but
01:39:06
it's just different running and it's not
01:39:08
the running that I like I would say that
01:39:10
I loved but maybe I'll be back there
01:39:14
like Never Say Never but it was hard I I
01:39:16
feel exactly the same way as you I just
01:39:19
love it it's given me so much like I
01:39:21
don't think I understood until maybe
01:39:23
like the last 5 or 10 years the mental
01:39:25
health benefits that I got from running
01:39:27
um but it's just the whole thing it
01:39:29
makes me feel so good makes me
01:39:31
appreciate so much stuff it's like 99%
01:39:34
of people I reckon would get out of bed
01:39:35
in the morning turn on the shower have a
01:39:36
shower at 37 38 degrees and not even
01:39:38
think about it if if you're out on a
01:39:40
long run and you're drenched and it's
01:39:43
cold you appreciate that shower like
01:39:46
nobody else oh oh my gosh I know yeah
01:39:50
I'm such a routine person cuz I will
01:39:51
like get up have a coffee go for a run
01:39:54
or have some toasts go for a run
01:39:57
and the other morning or before the
01:39:59
marathon you know like just waking up
01:40:02
the day before and not going for the run
01:40:04
I'm like it's so weird to like not have
01:40:07
that but I do it because it sets my day
01:40:10
up so well like whether I'm going out
01:40:11
for a 30 minute jog or a 2 and 1 half
01:40:14
hour long run like it just sets my
01:40:17
mental state up so well it's my
01:40:20
non-negotiable I just won't budge on
01:40:23
that time by myself particularly now
01:40:25
when work is so hectic I'm pretty much
01:40:28
every day I'm in meetings from like 800
01:40:30
or 9: in the morning till 5:00 at night
01:40:31
and back to back you know getting pulled
01:40:34
left right and center and and there's a
01:40:36
hick of a lot of pressure in the work
01:40:38
that we're doing right now
01:40:39
and I just need that time in the morning
01:40:42
to myself and it is truly the only time
01:40:45
where I can like disconnect from the
01:40:48
chaos of the world and what's going on
01:40:49
and and just be super present in the
01:40:52
moment and um
01:40:53
yeah I I hope I can do it for as long as
01:40:56
possible God your life sounds stressful
01:40:58
start your own business they said it'll
01:41:00
be fun go my mentor every time he calls
01:41:02
me he's like running a startup is fun
01:41:03
isn't it and I'm like don't get me
01:41:05
started it's um it's pretty long days
01:41:08
it's mess of days you got married
01:41:10
recently like November last year you've
01:41:11
you've mentioned your husband a couple
01:41:12
of times does is he a runner um did he
01:41:15
know what he was getting himself in for
01:41:16
so when we first met he definitely
01:41:18
claimed he was a runner on one of our
01:41:20
first dates we went running up a
01:41:21
mountain cuz he told me that he ran um
01:41:24
did he go right yeah or was it obvious
01:41:27
to you that he's hasn't run since he ran
01:41:30
15K up Mountain so that's really good
01:41:33
but um I wouldn't say he's done a heck
01:41:35
of a lot of running since like he'll run
01:41:37
with me every now and then but he
01:41:39
definitely sucked me in at the
01:41:41
start made it out like he this big
01:41:43
Runner you're you're a big commitment
01:41:45
like you like you have running holidays
01:41:47
where you be in a camper van and you'll
01:41:48
get up and yeah like it's not it's not
01:41:51
for everyone I know feel for so does he
01:41:54
run with you when you have these running
01:41:55
holidays or does he just stay in the van
01:41:57
and last month we went to the South
01:41:59
Island so I've actually only seen him
01:42:01
for like two weeks this whole year
01:42:02
because of work but um last month we had
01:42:05
a week together we went to the South
01:42:06
Island and one of the Mad campers which
01:42:08
was so cool and yeah we pretty much just
01:42:11
went on like a running tour and he had
01:42:13
no idea that that was going to be the
01:42:14
case but good
01:42:16
communication he he did run with me yeah
01:42:19
he did we ran the um we ran the AI track
01:42:22
um up Mount Cook and it's it's 10K so
01:42:25
it's not a heck of a long run but it's
01:42:27
just like the most beautiful run in the
01:42:28
world if you haven't done it you should
01:42:30
cuz it's just stunning so no he he can
01:42:33
move well like he's he can run but um
01:42:37
there's a bit of complaining that goes
01:42:39
on and I'm just like if you're not
01:42:41
having fun don't come complaining from
01:42:45
you because you to run slower than what
01:42:46
you normally run no no no no the thing
01:42:48
is he can run fast it's more just like
01:42:50
every like 5 10 minutes and we're like
01:42:52
can we stop and like okay oh for [ __ ]
01:42:55
sake and and what about um what about um
01:42:58
Jimma Flynn Jimma McCoy how how how do
01:43:00
you guys know each other you're not from
01:43:01
a hockey background are you no I'm not I
01:43:03
she sucked me into hockey when I was a
01:43:05
kid but I do you know each other through
01:43:07
to so we we met when we were five she's
01:43:10
probably my longest standing friend yeah
01:43:11
so we met as a really as really young
01:43:14
girls she was like my best friend all
01:43:16
through Primary School in high school
01:43:17
and she is like one of the most
01:43:21
naturally talented speaking natural
01:43:23
Talent naturally talented athletes I've
01:43:26
ever met she was so good with like
01:43:29
soccer and hockey and everything When We
01:43:32
Were Young she could just pick up any
01:43:34
sport and do it and do it so well um
01:43:36
whereas I was like I can run but like I
01:43:39
don't have much coordination
01:43:41
so she definitely pushed me she was like
01:43:45
I don't know if you could tell now but
01:43:46
she was a real tomboy when we were
01:43:47
little like we were both quite like
01:43:50
tomboys but she was very much she two
01:43:51
brothers and she just like
01:43:53
grew up yeah running around kicking at
01:43:55
ball really um so yeah we both like just
01:43:57
loved sport and pushed each other quite
01:43:59
a lot and we both fished quite a lot
01:44:02
when we're little we'd go fishing quite
01:44:03
a lot our dads are best friends so um
01:44:06
they're still best friends today which
01:44:07
is super cute they've got each other and
01:44:09
um they still go out fishing which is
01:44:10
cool that's so cool what an enduring
01:44:12
friendship and you and you've um I've
01:44:14
seen this on Instagram you do some like
01:44:15
training runs with Richie you've done
01:44:17
some like 1K repeats with them and stuff
01:44:19
Richie is uh he goes all right for big
01:44:22
well I was down in Queenstown with them
01:44:24
a few years ago and um I was training
01:44:26
for um a marathon and I had like a 5k I
01:44:31
think it was a 5k repeat session where I
01:44:33
was doing 4ks at marathon pace and then
01:44:35
1K float and I think I had like maybe
01:44:38
five or six of them so a big run and I
01:44:41
remember Richie being oh yeah I'll come
01:44:43
just like real downplaying it you know
01:44:45
and I was like good luck at Hanging On
01:44:48
he's like twice my way you know I was
01:44:50
like yeah how mean I feel like he's got
01:44:53
um smaller as he's gone on with his um
01:44:55
endurance Journey but he yeah was he
01:44:56
still playing rugby then he wasn't
01:44:58
playing rugby but he was still quite
01:44:59
recently retired yeah so quite a big
01:45:01
dude yeah and anyway he came out and
01:45:05
like we were running the five the 4ks on
01:45:07
at probably like 345s maybe and um I was
01:45:10
like oh he'll hang on for one maybe two
01:45:13
and I think he stuck around for like
01:45:14
three or four reps and I was just like
01:45:16
what that's insane like for a guy that
01:45:19
pig to be running that well so I think
01:45:21
it's like as a kid more than anything
01:45:23
he's just mentally strong yeah I was
01:45:25
going to ask you that because obviously
01:45:26
you need to be physically fit but um
01:45:27
yeah mentally he it's feels like he's
01:45:30
made of something different right yeah
01:45:32
yeah he's just like he will just work
01:45:36
work and work to like make progress but
01:45:38
some of the stuff the two of them
01:45:40
actually do I'm just like crazy yeah
01:45:42
they love their love their sleep
01:45:44
deprivation it seems say like 48 hour
01:45:47
Adventure races and stuff no thanks no
01:45:49
thanks hey well it's been wonderful
01:45:52
today it's this long EST podcast ever
01:45:53
you I feel like it is yeah I got to run
01:45:56
to meet an
01:45:57
investor oh really if I Ki you no you're
01:45:59
fine it's um it's been so nice to chat
01:46:01
with you AB absolutely absolutely I've
01:46:03
known you for a very long time and I'm
01:46:05
just so so proud of the work that you
01:46:07
and E are doing um with f me and um like
01:46:10
everything you do it's it's it's going
01:46:11
to be wildly successful and good than
01:46:14
it's just it's just how you wired I
01:46:16
appreciate it all right and you with the
01:46:18
podcast it's amazing to see I'm just
01:46:19
like super excited to see what comes out
01:46:21
in the future thanks l yeah awesome
01:46:24
[Music]
