Is it within the bounds of you still being able to love your family well? Do you have benchmarks for how you make sure that you're still loving them well and pursuing your sport as much as you can?

Yeah, it's tricky, right? Because it's an all consuming sport.

So, you know, like there's a lot of my competitors are like living in training camps, right? Like away from their, like they have families are like away from their families all week, like a training camp and like just eat, sleep, run, and just having every, like having their meals prepared for them.

Like, you know, they don't have to like do anything.

And that's like a really different lifestyle than I have.

But I think I think for me, I've come to the point like I wouldn't want that because I don't want to miss out on a lot of things.

And so for me, it's like you have to be willing to sacrifice somewhat.

So I have to ask, because I know people listening are going to want to know, as a master's runner, are there any supplements in particular that you live and die by that you think have really helped you?

Yeah.

And, and also, like, just feeling like I don't have to give them all of my time every day.

Like, I can, like, have this, and it, it's, like, makes me come alive, which, like, is so good for them to see something that makes me come alive.

Like, again, model to them so many things of hard work and discipline, all these things.

But also, like, um, I still have so much, like, quality time with them that I carve out, and I think it's, it's more about, for me, quality over quantity, right? Like, it's not like I'm just at their beck and call all day long, but it's like I really focus on enjoying them.

And, like, that's been a journey of figuring out, 'cause for a while I was just helping them with school, helping them with all these things, and, like, I didn't actually enjoy any of that stuff, really.

It was a lot of, like, just serving.

Yeah

Wow.

And it was really incremental, and I think, um, it, it was awesome because improvement's addictive, [laughs] even small improvements.

But, um, but the, like I fought for each of those minutes with innovating what I'm doing, and I share a lot of that stuff in the book of the things I learned along the way.

But for me, it was a process of loving, um, that innovation of the craft and experimenting, and like Ryan likes to experiment too, and so, um, so yeah, it was I think just showing people that, um, don't put limits on yourself, and if you love the process enough that it's worth it in itself, then you never know where it's gonna lead.

'Cause for me at every stage it was kind of like, yeah, I ran 230 or whatever, but like that doesn't really justify like doing this when I have four kids and-

Mm

...

he for me in th- those cases.

But can you share? Because I think just getting into your mind and what was going through you can be quite helpful to other athletes as well who are experiencing challenges in races.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

London I really see as like the defining moment of my career thus far, and it's almost like a microcosm for my career.

Like everything that happened in the lead up and in the race itself, it like sums up the career basically.

But yeah, so, um, the 2020 Olympic marathon trials happened in Atlanta in end of February right before COVID came out, and I had the fastest marathon in the US in 2019, and so I was 37 years old.

I was like, "This is my last shot." Like, um, and I had really high hopes for being able to make that team.

Like, I'm, I'm curious to hear a little bit more about what you feel has worked well.

I guess, what did it really take for you to kind of break out of that and then start to, you know, step into your own, like you just described, like the hero of your own story? Like, when did that, how long did that process sort of take?

It was an evolving process, for sure.

You know, I grew up, um, conservative Christian family, and so did Ryan.

I'm really thankful for that.

Like, I'm thankful for so much of what I got in the church and, and from my parents, and, but there was really traditional gender roles in there as well.

And I think in-In the Christianity I grew up with, um, you know, a woman-- what's praised is, like, being a servant, like, serving your family, being selfless.

And I think there's a lot of real, like beauty in that, right? And as a professional athlete, having more selflessness is good, right? Because so much of your life revolves around yourself, so you do wanna find ways to be selfless.

Those trips to Ethiopia all throughout your career, I guess, w-you know, when you were training, understanding how, you know, the girls lived, and, you know, you, you were coming in there, what was it that Ethiopia, I guess, showed you about the running world, um, that you don't necessarily get in Flagstaff, Crested Butte, or these big running hubs that we have here in the United States?

And of course, in a profession like running where it's driven by performances and trying to set fast times, how did you develop a healthy identity?

Yeah, it was really through my faith, honestly, that, um, I came at that.

You know, I didn't realize-- I didn't have words for it at the time, but of like even anxiety or like that I was putting my identity in success and really depending on that for my self-worth and love and belonging coming from being successful.

But yeah, looking back, it, I, I... all of a sudden I realized, you know, at a young age when I started getting criticism online anonymously that anytime I failed, like, y- I made that connection that if I fail in running, like I can lose what every teenage girl wants, which is love and belonging from people.

And, and it just planted that seed in my heart that continued with poor coaching or, yeah, different things reinforcing that.

And, and it, I really just got to the point where I, I knew in my head about the unconditional love of God, but it took a lot of failure for it to like actually be integrated in my heart and to really experience it.

And yeah, it was, it changed everything, honestly.

How did you get connected with that country originally? And, you know, talk about how that connection has continued over the years.

When you think back to that, to your first marathon and to who you were at the time, can you talk a little bit about what that Sarah was like and what you see in her now?

now?Yeah.

Gosh, um, it's pretty wild to think of that.

You know, I, I went into that marathon actually with, like, really high hopes.

Um, you know, I'd, I'd kind of had a up and down track career before that, and then I was training, you know, in Ethiopia for that marathon, like visiting the girls at the time, like we hadn't adopted them yet.

We were in the adoption process for them at the time and hadn't told anyone.

Um, and so, so yeah, I was, um, actually just, just felt full of hope for that, that like I could maybe have some of the exciting moments Ryan had in his career in the marathon, like just being able to do some of the same workouts that I'd watched him and Meb and Dina do.

Can you talk a little bit more about that story in the book of, of reaching out and saying, "What's going on with the shoes?"