WEBVTT - Why 2024 Paris Olympian Dakotah Lindwurm Keeps Smiling 0:00:04.050 --> 0:00:08.280 Thank you New York. Today, we're reminded of the power 0:00:08.280 --> 0:00:13.170 of community and the power of coming together. Athletes, on 0:00:13.170 --> 0:00:13.709 your mark. 0:00:15.839 --> 0:00:19.829 The first woman to finish for the second straight year here 0:00:19.829 --> 0:00:23.310 in the New York City Marathon is Miki Gorman, a smiling Miki 0:00:23.310 --> 0:00:26.190 Gorman and why not? 2: 29:30 the time for Grete Waitz. 0:00:26.190 --> 0:00:30.450 Look at the emotion of Shalane Flanagan as she comes 0:00:30.450 --> 0:00:33.180 to the line. Pointing to his chest, pointing to the U.S. 0:00:34.409 --> 0:00:44.070 A. He so proudly wears across his chest. A great day for Meb Keflezighi. 0:00:44.129 --> 0:00:47.700 Hey, everybody, and welcome to another episode of Set the Pace, 0:00:47.700 --> 0:00:50.848 the official podcast of New York Road Runners presented by 0:00:50.848 --> 0:00:53.609 Peloton. I am your host and CEO of New York 0:00:53.609 --> 0:00:56.430 Road Runners, Rob Simmelkjaer. Great to have you with us 0:00:56.430 --> 0:00:59.340 on a very special week here in New York at 0:00:59.340 --> 0:01:02.940 New York Roadrunners. So much going on. Global Running Day, 0:01:02.940 --> 0:01:06.240 the Mastercard New York Mini 10K, a lot happening and 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:08.429 we're thrilled to have you with us as we kick 0:01:08.429 --> 0:01:11.879 it off and we're missing Becs this week. It's just 0:01:11.879 --> 0:01:16.110 me. My co- host, Becs Gentry, is off traveling this 0:01:16.110 --> 0:01:19.679 week, but I was so excited to talk to Becs 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:22.408 about my big weekend. If you listen to the show 0:01:22.410 --> 0:01:25.230 regularly, you know that I ran a half- marathon this 0:01:25.230 --> 0:01:28.859 past Sunday. It was the Fairfield Half Marathon in Fairfield, 0:01:28.859 --> 0:01:31.890 Connecticut. First time I'd run that event, and first of 0:01:31.890 --> 0:01:33.690 all, I want to say it was a great event. 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:37.170 Congratulations to the organizers. That's a race that's been going 0:01:37.170 --> 0:01:40.559 on for over 40 years and it's just a beautiful 0:01:40.559 --> 0:01:43.770 race. It starts and finishes right on the beach in 0:01:43.770 --> 0:01:46.739 Fairfield, Connecticut, and it was a good day to be 0:01:46.740 --> 0:01:48.870 at the beach on Sunday because it was a warm 0:01:48.870 --> 0:01:51.870 day. It is a hilly course too. I knew it 0:01:51.870 --> 0:01:55.200 was hilly going into this race, but I don't think 0:01:55.200 --> 0:01:57.929 I expected the hills to just keep coming and coming 0:01:57.929 --> 0:02:00.809 and coming. But I tell you what, I'm so thrilled 0:02:00.809 --> 0:02:04.469 with the day I had. I must have really done 0:02:04.469 --> 0:02:07.860 a good job training because I felt terrific the whole 0:02:07.860 --> 0:02:12.720 way through. Ran my second- best half- marathon time ever 0:02:13.050 --> 0:02:16.830 at 1: 35 and change. And for me, that's a 0:02:16.830 --> 0:02:21.689 great time and a great experience for me given I tried 0:02:21.690 --> 0:02:24.418 to run that race a year ago and was injured, 0:02:24.450 --> 0:02:26.400 not able to even make it to the starting line. 0:02:26.820 --> 0:02:29.730 And so I just felt fantastic and want to thank 0:02:29.730 --> 0:02:33.329 everybody from the New York Roadrunners Group training to everybody 0:02:33.330 --> 0:02:35.130 I've run with to help me get ready for a 0:02:35.130 --> 0:02:37.530 race like that. And I tell you, I did something 0:02:37.530 --> 0:02:40.920 I never do and have never done before in a race. 0:02:40.949 --> 0:02:44.730 I am usually the master of the negative splits. I 0:02:44.730 --> 0:02:48.510 like to go out pretty slow and try to save 0:02:48.510 --> 0:02:51.450 something for the end. For this one, I did the 0:02:51.450 --> 0:02:56.249 exact opposite. I went out so fast and I'm not 0:02:56.250 --> 0:02:59.669 sure exactly what was going through my mind to be 0:02:59.669 --> 0:03:02.370 honest. I think it may have been the fact that 0:03:02.370 --> 0:03:04.620 it was a warm day and I knew it was 0:03:04.620 --> 0:03:06.990 going to be getting hotter and hotter as the day 0:03:06.990 --> 0:03:09.660 went on and I felt really good at 8: 00 0:03:09.660 --> 0:03:12.030 AM. The temperature was still reasonable and it was a 0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:15.479 flat start and I said, " Let me just bank some 0:03:15.480 --> 0:03:17.940 time here early on." And so I ended up running 0:03:17.940 --> 0:03:20.370 very quick out of the gate, my fastest mile on 0:03:20.370 --> 0:03:23.608 the whole race was the second mile. I ran a 6/ 40 0:03:23.610 --> 0:03:28.110 split the second mile, which was bananas. But you know what? It 0:03:28.110 --> 0:03:30.569 didn't turn into a fly and die. It was more 0:03:30.570 --> 0:03:32.580 like a fly and fight. I kind of was able 0:03:32.580 --> 0:03:35.009 to hang on and finish with a respect all the 0:03:35.010 --> 0:03:37.260 time toward the tail end, but I've never done that 0:03:37.260 --> 0:03:40.080 before. Not sure I'll do that again. I'm sure Becs 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:43.170 would have some things to say to me about those 0:03:43.170 --> 0:03:46.500 splits. We'll talk about that later. But all in all, 0:03:46.500 --> 0:03:50.460 it was just a great day. Congratulations to the 2, 700 0:03:50.460 --> 0:03:53.129 or so finishers. And another thing I'll say about running 0:03:53.129 --> 0:03:55.890 a race like that, it was such a great race, 0:03:56.190 --> 0:04:00.270 but it just reminded me of how big a scale 0:04:00.300 --> 0:04:03.119 everything we do at Road Runners is. This was a 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:05.999 race with 2, 700 runners and it was a great day 0:04:06.509 --> 0:04:10.020 and they did a phenomenal job. In New York, our 0:04:10.020 --> 0:04:13.530 weekly races are 5, 000 runners and I just think 0:04:13.530 --> 0:04:16.770 it reminded me of how lucky we are in New 0:04:16.770 --> 0:04:19.320 York to have the incredible scale of running community that 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:22.440 we have and also how good our team is here 0:04:22.440 --> 0:04:24.870 at New York Roadrunners to put on events of that 0:04:24.870 --> 0:04:28.500 scale week in and week out. So it's great to 0:04:28.500 --> 0:04:31.560 get out and run in a community race like that, but 0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:34.410 it just reminds me of what we have in New York 0:04:34.410 --> 0:04:36.118 and how blessed we are in New York City to 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:39.029 have what we have in our running community here. So 0:04:39.570 --> 0:04:42.059 thanks again to everybody up in Fairfield for a great, 0:04:42.059 --> 0:04:45.178 great event. We are so thrilled to have Dakotah Lindwurm joining 0:04:45.178 --> 0:04:48.509 us in just a little while to talk about her incredible 0:04:48.510 --> 0:04:52.740 journey from being on average high school runner to being a 0:04:52.740 --> 0:04:55.409 member of the U. S. Olympic Marathon team. She'll be 0:04:55.410 --> 0:04:58.080 joining us in just a bit. And here at New 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:01.829 York Roadrunners, we are in final preparations for this weekend's 0:05:01.830 --> 0:05:05.699 Mastercard New York Mini 10K and boy, what a pro 0:05:05.699 --> 0:05:10.440 field we have lined up. Senbere Teferi, Sharon Lokedi, Sara 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:14.250 Hall, Edna Kiplagat, Molly Huddle. For those who want to 0:05:14.250 --> 0:05:17.219 check out the Mini 10K this weekend, of course you 0:05:17.219 --> 0:05:20.009 can show up in person. It's going down Central Park 0:05:20.009 --> 0:05:22.650 West and then into Central Park. But you can also 0:05:22.650 --> 0:05:28.740 catch the race on ESPN+, on abc7ny. com and on 0:05:28.740 --> 0:05:32.580 NYRR's social and digital media channels. All those links will 0:05:32.580 --> 0:05:34.799 be in the show notes, so you can check that 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:36.749 out. And by the way, if you want to know 0:05:36.750 --> 0:05:40.529 how we got this incredible pro field, check out last 0:05:40.529 --> 0:05:43.049 week's episode of Set the Pace. Our general manager of 0:05:43.050 --> 0:05:45.839 pro athletes, Sam Grotewold, joined us and took us behind 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:48.990 the scenes of this year's Mastercard New York Mini 10K 0:05:48.990 --> 0:05:52.409 field. So check that out as well. Also, if you're 0:05:52.410 --> 0:05:56.010 listening to this, you're not too far removed from June 0:05:56.040 --> 0:05:59.039 5th of this week, which was Global Running Day, a 0:05:59.039 --> 0:06:01.680 big day in the world of running. It's a worldwide 0:06:01.680 --> 0:06:04.950 celebration of running that encourages people of all ages and 0:06:04.950 --> 0:06:08.520 abilities to get moving. And of course, we were big 0:06:08.520 --> 0:06:11.070 into Global Running Day at New York Road Runners. There were 0:06:11.070 --> 0:06:13.319 live events all over the world. We had one in 0:06:13.320 --> 0:06:16.320 New York as well, a kids race taking place out 0:06:16.320 --> 0:06:19.950 at Randall's Island. And there's still time to participate in 0:06:19.950 --> 0:06:24.450 our virtual race. We've got the NYRR Virtual Global Running 0:06:24.450 --> 0:06:28.109 Day 5K. It's open through June 9th, so you can 0:06:28.110 --> 0:06:32.250 sign up for that at New York Roadrunners website, nyrr. 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:36.149 org and then run it on the Strava app. You can find other 0:06:36.180 --> 0:06:41.790 virtual events at www. globalrunningday. org. Hey runners, be sure 0:06:41.790 --> 0:06:44.549 to sign up for the Peloton app. You can actually 0:06:44.550 --> 0:06:48.389 try it 30 days for free. No equipment is needed, 0:06:48.389 --> 0:06:50.460 and you can use the app to track all of 0:06:50.460 --> 0:06:53.669 your movement in one place, from your outdoor running and 0:06:53.670 --> 0:06:57.719 walking to your strength training, even your meditation, and you 0:06:57.720 --> 0:07:01.020 can enhance your daily workout routine or training schedule with 0:07:01.020 --> 0:07:03.808 workouts that feel right for you. You can find the 0:07:03.809 --> 0:07:06.058 Peloton app in the Apple App Store as well as 0:07:06.059 --> 0:07:10.349 the Google Play Store. New paid memberships only, terms apply. 0:07:10.469 --> 0:07:13.739 Peloton, the official digital fitness partner of New York Road 0:07:13.740 --> 0:07:17.160 Runners. Coming up later in the show, our friend Meb Keflezighi, 0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:20.849 will be here to interview Gabrielle Yatauro. She's a New 0:07:20.849 --> 0:07:24.210 York Road Runners member and is also a very fast 0:07:24.210 --> 0:07:27.210 runner. She'll be joining the elite field as a local 0:07:27.210 --> 0:07:30.000 runner and she'll be joining Dakota Lindwurm and all the 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:32.400 other incredible pros we've got lined up at the starting 0:07:32.400 --> 0:07:35.790 line of the Mastercard New York Mini 10K. Then a 0:07:35.790 --> 0:07:37.620 little later in the show, Meb will be back with 0:07:37.620 --> 0:07:40.500 his Meb Minute. He'll be giving us some advice on 0:07:40.500 --> 0:07:44.400 goal setting. We are thrilled to have an incredible guest 0:07:44.400 --> 0:07:48.809 with us today. Dakota Lindwurm, who is quickly becoming the U. S. A. 0:07:48.809 --> 0:07:54.390 's favorite marathon " underdog" from her beginnings as a, some 0:07:54.390 --> 0:07:56.789 might say average high school runner and then a walk 0:07:56.790 --> 0:08:00.149 on at her division II college. Dakota has trained and 0:08:00.150 --> 0:08:04.439 willed herself to two victories at the Grandma's Marathon. Most 0:08:04.440 --> 0:08:07.830 recently, she earned a spectacular third place finish at the U. 0:08:07.830 --> 0:08:13.350 S.A. Olympic Marathon trial, securing her place into the Olympics 0:08:13.350 --> 0:08:17.490 in Paris 2024. She's known for not just her incredible 0:08:17.490 --> 0:08:21.389 skills as a runner, but her character smile while racing. 0:08:21.389 --> 0:08:24.000 And I can see that smile as we get set 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:26.280 to start this interview right here on Set the Pace. 0:08:26.280 --> 0:08:28.710 Dakota, it is so great to have you with us 0:08:28.710 --> 0:08:30.210 here on the show. Thanks for joining us. 0:08:30.570 --> 0:08:32.848 Yeah, thanks so much for having me. I'm really excited 0:08:32.849 --> 0:08:33.328 to be a part of it. 0:08:34.320 --> 0:08:37.740 It was so much fun to see you break through 0:08:37.740 --> 0:08:41.999 in Orlando. I was there and watching that race unfold 0:08:42.000 --> 0:08:45.480 and of course we knew some of the names and 0:08:45.480 --> 0:08:48.120 a lot of the names there. And I'm relatively new 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:50.999 to my role as CEO of New York Roadrunners and new 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:54.450 to the professional running world. So I would have to 0:08:54.450 --> 0:08:57.719 be perfectly honest, I did not know you as I 0:08:57.719 --> 0:09:01.920 watched you finish third that day in Orlando to make 0:09:01.920 --> 0:09:04.619 the Olympic team. And so this is a chance for 0:09:04.619 --> 0:09:07.740 me and our listeners to get to know Dakota Lindwurm. And 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:09.660 I just want to start out with what I usually 0:09:09.660 --> 0:09:12.030 ask people when I first meet them. Where are you from? 0:09:12.059 --> 0:09:12.689 Where'd you grow up? 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:16.799 I grew up in Saint Francis, Minnesota, which is about 0:09:16.799 --> 0:09:19.199 an hour north of the city. It's a small town 0:09:19.199 --> 0:09:21.660 of maybe 4 or 5, 000 people. 0:09:22.889 --> 0:09:28.830 And was running something that was a big part of your life as a kid or did it 0:09:28.830 --> 0:09:31.439 really just start in high school for you? How did 0:09:31.440 --> 0:09:33.360 running become a part of your life? 0:09:34.049 --> 0:09:37.320 Yeah, I started in high school my freshman year. Being 0:09:37.320 --> 0:09:40.650 from Minnesota, like a true Minnesotan, I played hockey for 0:09:40.650 --> 0:09:43.890 most of my life. And then my freshman year, my 0:09:43.890 --> 0:09:47.370 mom was just kind of like, " You know, you're so 0:09:47.370 --> 0:09:50.549 invested in hockey and that's amazing, but you need to 0:09:50.549 --> 0:09:53.458 broaden your horizons. Great athletes are typically great at a 0:09:53.458 --> 0:09:57.000 lot of things, so let's get you in something else." 0:09:57.000 --> 0:09:59.640 And I threw a fit. I wasn't super happy about 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:01.830 joining a different sport because I was so obsessed with 0:10:01.830 --> 0:10:05.370 hockey, but I decided to go out for the track 0:10:05.370 --> 0:10:08.400 team because I typically beat the boys in the mile 0:10:08.400 --> 0:10:10.800 in gym class. So I was like, " I must be 0:10:11.160 --> 0:10:15.270 pretty naturally talented at this." And it just turns out 0:10:15.270 --> 0:10:17.340 the boys in my gym class didn't try very hard 0:10:17.340 --> 0:10:20.880 because when I got on the track team, I was 0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:25.289 directly on the JV team and took last a lot my freshman 0:10:25.290 --> 0:10:28.769 year. But because I was so bad at it and 0:10:28.770 --> 0:10:31.290 I'm generally a pretty athletic person who picks something up 0:10:31.290 --> 0:10:34.650 pretty quickly, I think because I was so bad at it, it kind of fueled 0:10:34.650 --> 0:10:37.530 a fire for me. I was like, " I'm going to 0:10:37.530 --> 0:10:41.699 work really hard to be better." And I think it 0:10:41.699 --> 0:10:44.699 was a blessing that I wasn't a natural at running. 0:10:45.689 --> 0:10:49.139 Yeah, I could see that. And I can also see how hockey 0:10:49.139 --> 0:10:52.320 would be a tough thing to give up. In Minnesota, 0:10:53.670 --> 0:10:56.429 they play both indoor arena hockey and then I know 0:10:56.429 --> 0:10:59.910 pond hockey is huge in Minnesota. Were you a pond 0:10:59.910 --> 0:11:01.020 hockey player as well? 0:11:01.980 --> 0:11:04.020 Yeah. I mean, I'd get done with practice and then 0:11:04.020 --> 0:11:07.289 we'd go play. We, I guess call it shinny hockey 0:11:07.289 --> 0:11:10.530 where you're not in full gear, you just go play hockey at 0:11:10.530 --> 0:11:14.160 whatever rink is open at night basically. I was pretty 0:11:14.160 --> 0:11:16.950 obsessed with it and I played all summer long and 0:11:17.610 --> 0:11:19.349 any chance I had to get on the ice, I 0:11:19.349 --> 0:11:20.700 was doing it for sure. 0:11:21.120 --> 0:11:24.090 Was there anything from the hockey that you found translated 0:11:24.090 --> 0:11:26.850 well to running? I mean, there is endurance, especially if 0:11:26.850 --> 0:11:28.949 you're on for a long shift or something in ice 0:11:28.950 --> 0:11:31.500 hockey, you've got to have some pretty good lung capacity. 0:11:31.950 --> 0:11:34.410 Well, let me surprise you a little further. I was 0:11:34.410 --> 0:11:36.629 a goalie, so I didn't do a lot of skating. 0:11:38.700 --> 0:11:42.539 And let me tell you what I tell everybody is I think the biggest 0:11:42.539 --> 0:11:45.300 correlation between being an ice hockey goalie and a marathoner 0:11:45.300 --> 0:11:47.968 is you have to have a screw loose up here 0:11:48.059 --> 0:11:51.270 to want to be hurt that way. So I do 0:11:51.270 --> 0:11:54.300 think that they correlate in the way of I'm okay with 0:11:54.929 --> 0:11:55.350 being in pain. 0:11:56.550 --> 0:12:00.840 That is 100% right. That is so funny. Yeah, the 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:04.470 least endurance related spot in a hockey rink and that 0:12:04.470 --> 0:12:08.790 was you playing goalie. That's so funny. So as you 0:12:08.790 --> 0:12:14.370 go through high school, Dakota, when did it occur to 0:12:14.370 --> 0:12:17.309 you, I guess that you might actually have something with 0:12:17.309 --> 0:12:19.200 this running? You mentioned beating some of the boys in 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:22.260 the mile, but then finishing last in the JV races. What 0:12:22.260 --> 0:12:25.500 was the progression and when did you start to realize, 0:12:25.500 --> 0:12:28.260 okay, this is kind of something I'm good at and 0:12:28.260 --> 0:12:30.929 maybe longer distances being where you could shine? 0:12:32.159 --> 0:12:34.559 I don't know if I ever really thought like, oh, 0:12:34.619 --> 0:12:38.220 I'm pretty good at this in high school because I 0:12:38.220 --> 0:12:41.098 never qualified for state meets, I never won any conference 0:12:41.100 --> 0:12:45.420 titles. But what I did really love about it compared to 0:12:45.420 --> 0:12:48.540 hockey was that I was working really hard in the 0:12:48.540 --> 0:12:51.509 off season. I was working really hard on the weekends 0:12:51.599 --> 0:12:55.380 and I was seeing the results on the track. I 0:12:55.380 --> 0:12:57.990 was getting better every year. I never really was great 0:12:58.020 --> 0:13:00.990 in high school, but I was seeing the PRs pretty 0:13:00.990 --> 0:13:04.349 frequently. Where in hockey, I was continuing to work really 0:13:04.349 --> 0:13:07.559 hard, but my position, I could only do so much. 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:09.389 I could stop all the goals, but I couldn't score 0:13:09.389 --> 0:13:11.819 any and I felt like I wasn't seeing those direct 0:13:11.820 --> 0:13:15.630 results. So somewhere around my junior year, it kind of 0:13:15.630 --> 0:13:20.040 sunk in that instead of me being like, okay, I'm 0:13:20.040 --> 0:13:23.670 training during the cross country and track, I'm just training 0:13:23.670 --> 0:13:27.088 for hockey, it became like I'm just waiting for hockey 0:13:27.089 --> 0:13:28.979 to get done so I can get back on the 0:13:28.980 --> 0:13:31.800 track and get back in cross country. And that flip 0:13:31.860 --> 0:13:33.900 kind of switched for me around my junior year and 0:13:33.900 --> 0:13:37.559 that's when I started to think, well after college or 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:40.078 I mean, after high school I'd really like to continue 0:13:40.080 --> 0:13:42.509 to run if I could and that's when I started 0:13:42.509 --> 0:13:44.400 reaching out to my college coach. 0:13:45.089 --> 0:13:50.610 Yeah. And you were not someone who was on a lot of recruiting lists, it sounds like. 0:13:50.610 --> 0:13:54.300 Nobody was calling your parents or coming to your meets 0:13:54.300 --> 0:13:56.670 to try to recruit you. You were making the calls, 0:13:57.030 --> 0:13:58.679 which by the way I can relate to. Did the 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:00.360 same when I was coming out of high school for 0:14:00.360 --> 0:14:04.468 playing baseball. How did it play out that you ended 0:14:04.469 --> 0:14:07.109 up getting onto a college team? You went to Northern 0:14:07.109 --> 0:14:10.950 State University, and what was that process like of being 0:14:10.950 --> 0:14:12.240 able to walk on and run there? 0:14:13.140 --> 0:14:17.218 Yeah, I didn't get a single recruiting letter, not a 0:14:17.219 --> 0:14:18.959 single person reached out to me to be a runner, 0:14:18.960 --> 0:14:22.799 and that's perfectly fine. I had kind decided on the college 0:14:22.799 --> 0:14:25.080 that I wanted to go to was Northern State. The 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:28.740 campus was pretty small. It's in a small town and 0:14:28.740 --> 0:14:31.830 it had my major and it was very affordable, so 0:14:32.160 --> 0:14:34.259 I knew that's where I wanted to go. And then 0:14:34.290 --> 0:14:36.659 they had a track team, so I just emailed a 0:14:36.660 --> 0:14:40.379 coach. I said, " Here are my times. I perfectly understand that 0:14:40.379 --> 0:14:43.770 I am not somebody who you typically give a scholarship 0:14:43.770 --> 0:14:45.210 to, but if you let me on your team, I'm 0:14:45.210 --> 0:14:47.760 going to work really hard." And a day or two 0:14:47.760 --> 0:14:49.860 later, he called me and said, " You'd be a really 0:14:49.860 --> 0:14:53.220 great walk on addition." And for me that was him 0:14:53.250 --> 0:14:56.070 offering me a full ride scholarship. I was so thankful 0:14:56.070 --> 0:15:00.540 for the opportunity that I really wanted to keep my 0:15:00.540 --> 0:15:02.490 word and say, " I'm going to work as hard as 0:15:02.490 --> 0:15:06.000 I can for you," which he probably wasn't expecting me 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:11.429 to be eventually a five time national qualifier, two time 0:15:11.429 --> 0:15:14.759 all American. But he definitely picked a good diamond in 0:15:14.759 --> 0:15:15.510 the rough for sure. 0:15:16.530 --> 0:15:19.500 And it's an incredible thing when a coach is able to find 0:15:19.500 --> 0:15:22.950 that, right, because they've all got limited scholarship slots available 0:15:22.950 --> 0:15:26.519 for their sport. And when someone with talent pops up out of 0:15:26.760 --> 0:15:29.730 the blue and comes on as a walk- on, that's 0:15:29.730 --> 0:15:33.210 like gold for a college coach. What was the process 0:15:33.210 --> 0:15:37.500 once you got there like of improving and when did 0:15:37.500 --> 0:15:40.350 you or your coach or someone say, " Wait a second, 0:15:41.340 --> 0:15:43.020 we got something here? I think we got a steal." 0:15:45.090 --> 0:15:47.549 Actually, it took me a year to get my stride. 0:15:47.549 --> 0:15:50.159 I feel like, as a lot of people do, I had a little 0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:54.630 bit of a difficult time transitioning in college and I 0:15:54.630 --> 0:15:58.230 had a teammate, her name was Sasha Hovind. She had 0:15:58.230 --> 0:16:01.050 the exact same high school PRs as I did, 5: 35 0:16:01.050 --> 0:16:03.900 in the mile 1157 in the two mile to the 0:16:04.170 --> 0:16:10.920 second, the exact same PRs. And her sophomore year in 0:16:10.920 --> 0:16:14.310 cross country, she qualified for the national meet and I 0:16:14.310 --> 0:16:17.280 was nowhere near it. And we drove down, we watched 0:16:17.280 --> 0:16:21.180 her compete, she became an All- American that first time. 0:16:21.690 --> 0:16:24.990 And it was sitting there that sophomore year being like, " 0:16:25.049 --> 0:16:27.420 She had the same exact PRs as me. All I 0:16:27.420 --> 0:16:29.850 have to do is do what she does and I 0:16:29.850 --> 0:16:32.940 can do that too." And that's when the flip really 0:16:32.940 --> 0:16:36.900 switched for me. And I did whatever she did. If she 0:16:37.020 --> 0:16:38.760 were on a workout hard, I run it just as 0:16:38.760 --> 0:16:40.859 hard. If she stayed after to do core, I did 0:16:40.860 --> 0:16:44.700 core. And that was where she really set the example 0:16:44.700 --> 0:16:49.740 for me for sure. And then that outdoor season, I 0:16:49.740 --> 0:16:52.980 qualified for the national meet as well. So that's, I'm 0:16:52.980 --> 0:16:54.990 sure, when my coach was like, " Oh, all right, we got a 0:16:55.200 --> 0:16:55.680 good one here." 0:16:56.880 --> 0:17:00.660 It's amazing what someone setting in the example can do. 0:17:01.080 --> 0:17:03.900 We think about having a pacer in a race. This 0:17:03.900 --> 0:17:06.869 is almost like having a pacer in life. You see 0:17:06.869 --> 0:17:09.570 someone doing it and you say, " I want to do that. 0:17:09.570 --> 0:17:12.420 I just need to keep up with them." And it 0:17:12.420 --> 0:17:15.869 can be transformative to have essentially a role model. You're 0:17:15.869 --> 0:17:18.780 talking about a role model who is also a contemporary and 0:17:18.780 --> 0:17:21.599 a teammate of yours that helped you figure out the 0:17:21.599 --> 0:17:23.220 path to being what you could be. 0:17:23.969 --> 0:17:27.180 Yeah, absolutely. I'm super thankful for her because if she 0:17:27.180 --> 0:17:29.910 wasn't my teammate, if she wasn't there setting that example, 0:17:30.330 --> 0:17:31.980 there's no way of knowing if I'd be where I 0:17:31.980 --> 0:17:34.950 am today. So I'm really grateful for that and I've 0:17:34.950 --> 0:17:39.000 always sought that rising tides, floats all boats and her 0:17:39.000 --> 0:17:42.840 having so much success just elevated my success for sure. 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:47.490 So what were your preferred distances, Dakota, in college, and 0:17:47.760 --> 0:17:53.280 did you start to now really gravitate towards longer distances? 0:17:53.280 --> 0:17:57.839 Where were you in terms of your distance endurance and 0:17:57.839 --> 0:17:59.580 where you were lengthwise? 0:18:00.148 --> 0:18:03.990 Yeah, my college coach only let me run one 10K 0:18:03.990 --> 0:18:07.290 my freshman year. He was pretty conservative in the idea 0:18:07.290 --> 0:18:09.480 of doing too high a mileage and he wanted to 0:18:09.480 --> 0:18:13.590 make sure we had long successful, healthy careers. So I 0:18:13.590 --> 0:18:16.229 got to do one 10K that freshman year, and I 0:18:16.440 --> 0:18:21.119 immediately knew that the 10K was for me. I felt 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:24.658 like when I would do 5Ks, I would give everything 0:18:24.660 --> 0:18:27.240 I could in that 5K and then five minutes later, once 0:18:27.240 --> 0:18:28.918 the race was over, I'd be like, " Okay, let's do 0:18:28.920 --> 0:18:32.790 it again." I was recovering so quickly. So yeah, I 0:18:32.790 --> 0:18:36.780 was a 5K, 10K girl, but definitely knew 10K was my strength 0:18:37.770 --> 0:18:40.170 And that was a signal for what would come later. 0:18:40.170 --> 0:18:45.359 Obviously, your body was telling you, you can go longer 0:18:45.359 --> 0:18:48.750 here, this is good. We like to keep going. And 0:18:48.750 --> 0:18:52.199 so did that essentially turn you into a 10K runner 0:18:52.199 --> 0:18:53.728 as you went further into your college career? 0:18:54.388 --> 0:18:57.658 Yeah, absolutely. And then even as I got farther and 0:18:57.660 --> 0:19:00.330 I was getting more successful, I almost never just did 0:19:00.570 --> 0:19:04.050 one event. It was always like the 5K, 10K double, and 0:19:04.050 --> 0:19:07.619 I was never really banged up or beat up or 0:19:07.619 --> 0:19:11.549 tired after, which was also kind of like now looking 0:19:11.549 --> 0:19:13.949 back, I can see that was my body telling me 0:19:14.099 --> 0:19:17.460 you're really a marathoner. You don't really get exhausted from 0:19:17.460 --> 0:19:18.448 these short races. 0:19:20.250 --> 0:19:22.200 Having your body tell you is one thing and then 0:19:22.440 --> 0:19:25.799 picking up on those signals and listening to it is 0:19:25.799 --> 0:19:28.438 something else, right? Because a lot of people, maybe they 0:19:28.440 --> 0:19:30.629 have in their mind, " No, no, no, I'm not a 0:19:30.630 --> 0:19:34.440 marathon or I'm not a long distance runner. I'm a 5K person." 0:19:35.220 --> 0:19:38.220 They kind of resist and fight what their body's telling 0:19:38.220 --> 0:19:41.158 them, but it sounds like you were ready to listen 0:19:41.160 --> 0:19:42.658 and to go that longer distance. 0:19:43.648 --> 0:19:46.800 And a little funny story people don't always know is 0:19:47.190 --> 0:19:51.180 my college coach always encouraged us to run summer races, jump 0:19:51.180 --> 0:19:55.350 into 5K or 10K, stay motivated for cross country. And after my 0:19:55.350 --> 0:19:59.309 freshman year going into my sophomore year, I convinced him 0:19:59.309 --> 0:20:02.759 to let me run a trail marathon. And so every 0:20:02.759 --> 0:20:06.119 summer in college I ran this trail marathon and won 0:20:06.119 --> 0:20:09.720 it. So I already kind of knew that my body 0:20:09.720 --> 0:20:11.908 was built for the long haul for sure. 0:20:12.480 --> 0:20:17.070 Wow, that's pretty unusual for someone at that collegiate level 0:20:17.070 --> 0:20:21.148 to already be sampling the marathon distance. So you really 0:20:21.150 --> 0:20:24.059 had a sense at a very young age. And so 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:27.480 as you get out of college, Dakota, the marathon's already 0:20:27.480 --> 0:20:29.730 in your mind at that point, right? So what is 0:20:29.730 --> 0:20:33.388 your thinking? As you're getting out of school, is a 0:20:33.388 --> 0:20:37.259 professional running career fully in your sights at that point 0:20:37.259 --> 0:20:38.489 and knowing that's what you wanted to do? 0:20:39.898 --> 0:20:45.240 Not at all. I knew that I was going to keep running. Running is my everything. 0:20:45.240 --> 0:20:47.490 It's what makes me feel most like myself, and I 0:20:47.490 --> 0:20:49.890 knew I was never going to not be a runner, 0:20:49.890 --> 0:20:53.700 and I thought, " You know, I'll train for local 5K, 10Ks 0:20:53.700 --> 0:20:56.609 marathons, maybe I'll qualify for Boston one day." I didn't 0:20:56.609 --> 0:21:00.780 really have any sense of what professional running was. I 0:21:00.780 --> 0:21:05.310 literally didn't understand what it meant. And I was helping 0:21:05.310 --> 0:21:09.388 my coach give a perspective athlete a tour of the 0:21:09.388 --> 0:21:12.990 school, and his parents said to me, " What are you planning 0:21:12.990 --> 0:21:17.158 on doing? Surely you're not done with running." And I 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:20.220 gave some answer like, " Yeah, I'll always keep running. I 0:21:20.220 --> 0:21:23.430 want to train for marathons." And my college coach just 0:21:23.430 --> 0:21:24.900 looked me in the eyes and he goes, " You could 0:21:24.900 --> 0:21:29.129 qualify for the Olympic trials in the marathon." And I 0:21:29.160 --> 0:21:31.799 looked and I said, " What is that?" I was like, " What 0:21:31.799 --> 0:21:33.929 does that mean?" And the next day, I walked into 0:21:33.929 --> 0:21:36.928 his office with a notepad and a pen and I said, " 0:21:37.290 --> 0:21:39.510 I need to know everything about what you just said. 0:21:40.230 --> 0:21:42.928