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Speaker 2: Thank you, New York. Today, we're reminded of the power
Speaker 2: of community and the power of coming together, athletes, on
Speaker 2: your mark.
Speaker 3: The first woman to finish for the second straight year
Speaker 3: here in the New York City Marathon is Miki Gorman, a smiling
Speaker 3: Miki Gorman, and why not? 2: 29: 30, the time for motorbikes.
Soeaker 4: Look at the emotion of Shalane Flanagan as she comes
Soeaker 4: to the line. Pointing to his chest, pointing to the
Soeaker 4: USA, he's so proudly wears across his chest. A great
Soeaker 4: day for (inaudible) McCluskey.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Hey everybody, and welcome to another edition of Set the
Rob Simmelkjaer: Pace, the official podcast of New York Road Runners. We
Rob Simmelkjaer: are presented by Peloton, and I'm your host, Rob Simmelkjaer.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I'm the CEO of New York Road Runners. With me
Rob Simmelkjaer: here, still recovering, I've got to imagine from her unbelievable
Rob Simmelkjaer: world adventure, Becs Gentry from Peloton. Hi Becs, how are you?
Becs Gentry: Hi. I am doing very well, thank you. Aside from
Becs Gentry: calling myself a bear who wants to be in hibernation
Becs Gentry: with this gray sky right now. Otherwise, I'm rolling.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah, we finally got some rain around here the last
Rob Simmelkjaer: few weeks. It'd been so sunny for so long, but so
Rob Simmelkjaer: dry. So the rain's a good thing, but yes, it
Rob Simmelkjaer: can definitely lead to some days that make it hard
Rob Simmelkjaer: to get up and motivate hard even to get up
Rob Simmelkjaer: and motivate to run. I'm really curious, Becs, to hear
Rob Simmelkjaer: about what you've been doing since the Great World Race.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And by the way, today's the day that we're going
Rob Simmelkjaer: to really go in deep with Becs to hear all
Rob Simmelkjaer: about this incredible adventure. That's right. Becs is our interview guest today,
Rob Simmelkjaer: so I can't wait, Becs, because there's so many questions
Rob Simmelkjaer: I've been wanting to ask you about that trip, about
Rob Simmelkjaer: those runs, about just how you feel coming out of
Rob Simmelkjaer: that. So a little bit later on in the show,
Rob Simmelkjaer: it's going to be all about Becs and the Great World
Rob Simmelkjaer: Race. I can't wait to hear it. Are you ready?
Rob Simmelkjaer: Are you ready for me to grill you?
Becs Gentry: I am, actually, I feel like I am. It's starting
Becs Gentry: to become something that is being processed in my mind,
Becs Gentry: so of all the people to ask the questions first,
Becs Gentry: this is the best podcast for it to be on.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Appreciate that. Thank you. And I know our listeners are so curious.
Becs Gentry: They are. And we have a little extra as well, Rob,
Becs Gentry: as well. We are not just going to be hearing
Becs Gentry: from me today, though, a little surprise for you. Joining
Becs Gentry: us later in place of our usual member moment interview,
Becs Gentry: we are going to be joined by the woman who
Becs Gentry: claimed the crown in this year's Great World Race, my
Becs Gentry: wonderful friend Hillary Kupish will be joining to help with
Becs Gentry: this debrief.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Wow. Can't wait to hear from her and what it
Rob Simmelkjaer: took to beat you and so many others over those
Rob Simmelkjaer: seven marathons in seven days on seven continents. So that
Rob Simmelkjaer: sounds awesome. So we'll talk to Hillary a little bit
Rob Simmelkjaer: later on as well. And then Meb will still be with
Rob Simmelkjaer: us later in the episode for our weekly Meb minute.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Today's tip from Meb is all about hydrating during those
Rob Simmelkjaer: winter runs, whether you're up here in the northeast or just
Rob Simmelkjaer: running in temperatures colder than you're used to. That's actually
Rob Simmelkjaer: something I sometimes have to remember is just because it's
Rob Simmelkjaer: cold doesn't mean you don't need to drink water. So
Rob Simmelkjaer: Meb will give us some tips on that. Before we
Rob Simmelkjaer: dive into our conversations with Becs and Hillary, this past
Rob Simmelkjaer: Saturday, we hosted the Ted Corbitt 15K in Central Park
Rob Simmelkjaer: honoring one of my predecessors and the first ever president
Rob Simmelkjaer: of New York Road Runners, they call him the father
Rob Simmelkjaer: of American long- distance running Ted Corbitt. We were joined
Rob Simmelkjaer: by more than 4, 000 runners who braved a very
Rob Simmelkjaer: cold morning to celebrate the life and legacy of Ted
Rob Simmelkjaer: Corbitt. And Becs, we thank them every week, but this week, I
Rob Simmelkjaer: think a special and big thank you to our staff
Rob Simmelkjaer: and our volunteers who went out in some very cold
Rob Simmelkjaer: temperatures and they didn't get to run. And I went out
Rob Simmelkjaer: and I ran just to frankly stay warm, Becs. And
Rob Simmelkjaer: that really did help, although, it took a while. But
Rob Simmelkjaer: thanks to everybody out there because it was a chilly
Rob Simmelkjaer: day and we had a nice crowd on hand. But
Rob Simmelkjaer: thanks again to all of our folks who helped put
Rob Simmelkjaer: this race on. Big congrats to our winners, by the
Rob Simmelkjaer: way, from last Saturday. For the women, it was Erin
Rob Simmelkjaer: Gregoire with a time of 53:02 from the Brooklyn Track
Rob Simmelkjaer: Club. The non- binary winner was Abdoulaye Sow from the
Rob Simmelkjaer: Bronx Burners and the men's winner was Owen Ritz with the time of 46:
Rob Simmelkjaer: 53. Owen hailing from the New York Athletic Club.
Becs Gentry: Wow, what incredible times on that cold day, I was
Becs Gentry: thinking of you all whilst I was here teaching my
Becs Gentry: Peloton class in the warmth of the Treads studio, but
Becs Gentry: it did look like everyone was smiling and had the
Becs Gentry: festive fun with them in those miles. So yes, big
Becs Gentry: thanks to those volunteers. It's something that I always say
Becs Gentry: to runners whenever people ask me about tips for their
Becs Gentry: first races, no matter what distance, one of the things
Becs Gentry: I always tell them is thank the volunteers while you're
Becs Gentry: running. If you forget while you're running, thank them at
Becs Gentry: the finish line. Just make sure you get a thanks
Becs Gentry: out there because those people show up, they stand in
Becs Gentry: the cold, the wet, the hot sun, and they make
Becs Gentry: sure that we're all safe to do the runs. So
Becs Gentry: big (inaudible) .
Rob Simmelkjaer: A 100% our head of volunteers at New York Road
Rob Simmelkjaer: Runners, a woman named Donna Finney always says, " When you
Rob Simmelkjaer: see a volunteer, thank a volunteer." And that was definitely
Rob Simmelkjaer: a good day to thank them on Saturday and those
Rob Simmelkjaer: frigid temperatures.
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Rob Simmelkjaer: Well, we've been talking about it for months here on
Rob Simmelkjaer: Set the Pace. And so if you listen to us
Rob Simmelkjaer: here or you follow her on Instagram or take her classes, you know
Rob Simmelkjaer: that my true beast of a co- host, Becs Gentry,
Rob Simmelkjaer: has just completed an incredible physical and mental test, seven
Rob Simmelkjaer: marathons in seven days on seven continents. And now, we
Rob Simmelkjaer: finally get to hear all the skinny on Becs's incredible
Rob Simmelkjaer: adventure. So, Becs, first of all, again, congratulations.
Becs Gentry: Thank you.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I'm so in awe of you. I have been ever
Rob Simmelkjaer: since you even said you were taking this challenge on.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And so the first question I want to ask you
Rob Simmelkjaer: is why, and I don't think we really ever dug
Rob Simmelkjaer: into the why you decided to do this and take
Rob Simmelkjaer: this on. So when you were first approached about it,
Rob Simmelkjaer: what was the thing that made you want to do this?
Becs Gentry: I was essentially inspired by David Kilgore, who we had
Becs Gentry: on as a guest on Set the Pace a while
Becs Gentry: ago to discuss the Great World Race. So he was
Becs Gentry: my kickstarter of, can I do this? Should I do
Becs Gentry: this? But my why is I'd say twofold, Rob, it
Becs Gentry: is my daughter. I want to be able to tell
Becs Gentry: her the boundaries that were put in place for women
Becs Gentry: before my time and the boundaries that were broken through
Becs Gentry: during my time as a female athlete, as a female
Becs Gentry: in this world. And to show her that no matter
Becs Gentry: how you identify, you can do anything that you put
Becs Gentry: your mind to, but you have to work for it.
Becs Gentry: And this to me was a prime example. It hit
Becs Gentry: my other why, which was me. And some people may
Becs Gentry: say that's selfish, but in order to inspire other people,
Becs Gentry: to light up other people, I have to make sure
Becs Gentry: that my light is still bright. And in order to
Becs Gentry: do that, I am not necessarily somebody who goes shopping
Becs Gentry: and that fills up my cup. I want to adventure,
Becs Gentry: I want to experience things. I want to create personal memories
Becs Gentry: and anecdotes and experiences that I can share with my
Becs Gentry: family and friends and beyond. And weirdly, it's running. And
Becs Gentry: so I've always loved adventure running. That's where I started
Becs Gentry: going around the world to do funny races here and
Becs Gentry: there, unheard of races. And so I thought, what better
Becs Gentry: than the Great World Race to go around the world
Becs Gentry: in seven days and take on the challenge of running
Becs Gentry: a marathon in every single continent?
Rob Simmelkjaer: Becs, we sometimes have guests on the podcast, female runners,
Rob Simmelkjaer: moms who run marathons and do it really well. And
Rob Simmelkjaer: one of the challenges I know is just fitting all
Rob Simmelkjaer: this stuff in, the training, the actual race. I'm curious what
Rob Simmelkjaer: it was like when you first brought this idea home
Rob Simmelkjaer: to your husband, to your young daughter, like, " Hey, I'm
Rob Simmelkjaer: going to do this crazy thing." And not only obviously
Rob Simmelkjaer: the time you'd be traveling for the race, but I
Rob Simmelkjaer: mean, the amount of time you have to be training.
Rob Simmelkjaer: How much of a team effort did this have to
Rob Simmelkjaer: be to even get ready for this for you and your family?
Becs Gentry: Oh, golly. This was a huge team effort. So Austin
Becs Gentry: was actually the nudge to my acceptance of doing this
Becs Gentry: race. I wanted to do it, but he is my
Becs Gentry: biggest cheerleader. He believes in me more than I believe
Becs Gentry: in me most of the time. And he was so
Becs Gentry: encouraging for me to do this race. And we sat
Becs Gentry: down and I said, " You understand that if I do
Becs Gentry: this for most of this year, I'm going to be
Becs Gentry: stepping back from parenting duties on an equal level to
Becs Gentry: you. You're going to have to do a little bit
Becs Gentry: more for me to be able to succeed in the training.
Becs Gentry: I can't half- ass this in the long." That was the long and short of it.
Becs Gentry: And he's super dad, he's an absolute super dad. He's
Becs Gentry: born to be a father. He's incredible with Tallulah. So at
Becs Gentry: the start of the training, it was difficult. I hate
Becs Gentry: missing wake up time. I hate missing bedtime. There's the
Becs Gentry: two things in my life that I think are going
Becs Gentry: to disappear very soon. She's going to be an independent
Becs Gentry: woman who doesn't want me to wake her up, doesn't
Becs Gentry: want me to cuddle her and read her books to
Becs Gentry: bed. And so I cherish those times and even missing
Becs Gentry: one a week really plagues me with guilt. So I had
Becs Gentry: to get through that by myself of it's temporary, this
Becs Gentry: is something that's going to be a very good example
Becs Gentry: for her in the long run. And then Austin just
Becs Gentry: is a very good at getting up early, which is
Becs Gentry: fantastic. So the days when I went out even earlier,
Becs Gentry: he's great at getting up, getting himself his coffee and
Becs Gentry: starting his daily routine before Tallulah wakes up because thank
Becs Gentry: whoever above this child loves to sleep. So she goes
Becs Gentry: down easy and more often than not, she will sleep
Becs Gentry: till 7: 00, 7:30. Yesterday, she slept till eight o'clock, gone
Becs Gentry: eight o'clock.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Wow. Wow. What a gift.
Becs Gentry: Yeah, we can actually get some work done. We can
Becs Gentry: actually both start our days relatively well before Tallulah's normally
Becs Gentry: up. And there were days because I trained through spring
Becs Gentry: and summer in New York, there were days where actually
Becs Gentry: I'd got my workout done by the time she was up
Becs Gentry: and running so I could still drop her off at
Becs Gentry: school or spend an hour with her before our nanny
Becs Gentry: arrived. So the daylight being longer hours was really in
Becs Gentry: my favor to still be a mom on a level that
Becs Gentry: made me feel happy.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah, that's a good time of year to be able to do this in the fall
Rob Simmelkjaer: when you've got those long summer hours to work with,
Rob Simmelkjaer: it's so much harder to train over the winter months
Rob Simmelkjaer: when there's no light.
Becs Gentry: It is.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So before we even get to the start backs, the
Rob Simmelkjaer: journey to the starting line, I always tell people the
Rob Simmelkjaer: hardest thing about running a marathon is getting to the
Rob Simmelkjaer: starting line. You had to get to seven starting lines.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And I'm just wondering, and I know you had some bumps
Rob Simmelkjaer: along the way in training, you had the incident with
Rob Simmelkjaer: your bed post.
Becs Gentry: For the natural bump.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yes, where you banged your foot on the bed and that
Rob Simmelkjaer: set your foot back quite a bit. But how many
Rob Simmelkjaer: doubts did you have along the way as to whether
Rob Simmelkjaer: you could pull this off?
Becs Gentry: Oh gosh, at the start, there was a lot, because
Becs Gentry: I had sort of said yes to it along the
Becs Gentry: same time that I ran Tokyo Marathon, should I say,
Becs Gentry: and I got my six star medal and I felt very
Becs Gentry: good about it. However, I didn't enjoy running the Tokyo
Becs Gentry: Marathon. I don't know whether I was just falling out
Becs Gentry: of love with marathon road racing or whatever was going
Becs Gentry: on. Also, I've admitted this on many of platform, I
Becs Gentry: didn't train to the extent I'm used to training for
Becs Gentry: Tokyo Marathon. I went into it in my personal opinion
Becs Gentry: rather undertrained, so therefore underprepared, which leads me to understand
Becs Gentry: why I didn't enjoy it. So I think once I
Becs Gentry: started getting into the routine, I sort of felt like, "
Becs Gentry: Oh my gosh, this isn't enough because this is what
Becs Gentry: I should be training for one marathon, not seven, as
Becs Gentry: you said." And I think just as the mileage started
Becs Gentry: to increase and I was really tired or I was
Becs Gentry: searching for ways to just add in mileage in my
Becs Gentry: day, it was quite overwhelming at the start. And I did
Becs Gentry: have to sit down and just think, okay, what can
Becs Gentry: I do to make this " easier" for myself? Even though
Becs Gentry: it's going to get harder, I just had to make
Becs Gentry: it more manageable, more doable because the more obstacles that were
Becs Gentry: in the way, the easier it is for me as
Becs Gentry: an Aries to just go, I'm good, I'm just going
Becs Gentry: to step back and not do this because it's not
Becs Gentry: the way I want it to be. So I sat down and I looked at my
Becs Gentry: work schedule, I looked at my social schedule and I
Becs Gentry: carved out ways to add in miles. Now, I'm very
Becs Gentry: lucky, I live in New York. New York is one
Becs Gentry: of the most highly populated cities for runners. Everyone runs,
Becs Gentry: and I know a lot of our listeners might be
Becs Gentry: based in locations where it possibly isn't that safe to
Becs Gentry: run to work, to the grocery store, to whatever appointment.
Becs Gentry: I am very lucky, I choose to live here, so
Becs Gentry: it's not all luck, but I am able to redirect
Becs Gentry: my commute to foot and that's what I did. I'd
Becs Gentry: send my Peloton outfits or anything I needed for the
Becs Gentry: rest of the day. I used to send my laptop
Becs Gentry: here in an Uber car on a Tuesday morning. So
Becs Gentry: I'd run here, set up my laptop, then we'd record
Becs Gentry: the podcast. And it was all very manipulated for my
Becs Gentry: success. And I don't mean success is in my win,
Becs Gentry: but in my success to me in that time was
Becs Gentry: just happiness and feeling that I had done what I
Becs Gentry: could do the best I could do day by day,
Becs Gentry: week by week to get my training in. And that's
Becs Gentry: where it had to be on a sort of daily
Becs Gentry: basis. I wanted to make sure when I went to
Becs Gentry: bed and I looked at my Coros app that I
Becs Gentry: was like, " Yeah, I made the most out of that
Becs Gentry: day." And that was a really good lesson for me to
Becs Gentry: learn in the long run of, okay, make the most out
Becs Gentry: of your day really, especially in summer in New York
Becs Gentry: City, nobody cares if you turn up sweaty because everybody
Becs Gentry: is turning up sweaty. So again, train for ultras in summer.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I couldn't agree more. All right, so you get on
Rob Simmelkjaer: the flight, you get yourself to South Africa, Cape Town, which
Rob Simmelkjaer: is your first staging ground for the first race in
Rob Simmelkjaer: Antarctica, and the first race started a day early, so the
Rob Simmelkjaer: whole thing started a day early.
Becs Gentry: Yeah.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Why did that happen and how did that affect you?
Becs Gentry: Oh my goodness. So let me just say the flight from
Becs Gentry: New York to South Africa was so daunting. Austin literally
Becs Gentry: stayed at the security on the other side in LaGuardia
Becs Gentry: until I had gone around the corner. I think he
Becs Gentry: was so worried that if he left, I would just
Becs Gentry: run back out and be like, " I'm not doing it. I'm not doing
Becs Gentry: it." He stood there like a security guard watching me
Becs Gentry: go through. And so once I got there and I
Becs Gentry: had all of this idea that I was going to go
Becs Gentry: sit in the Delta lounge and have a glass of
Becs Gentry: champagne, and then I was like, no, I'm so nervous. I can't even, no.
Becs Gentry: I just sat there with a glass of water, sort
Becs Gentry: of shivering with nerves. And then I got to South
Becs Gentry: Africa. I had a wonderful flight. I actually ended up
Becs Gentry: meeting about four other runners from the US that were
Becs Gentry: on the flight from Atlanta to Cape Town, which was
Becs Gentry: lovely because that immediately got the conversation flowing. I think
Becs Gentry: people's nerves were relaxed. I had a wonderful air hostess
Becs Gentry: on the flight who she could not believe what we
Becs Gentry: were all doing. I was, I think, the only mom
Becs Gentry: and I was by myself, and she was a mom
Becs Gentry: of two I think as well, older kids. She just
Becs Gentry: took me under her wing and she kept just bringing
Becs Gentry: me over the nicest champagne to drink. I think I
Becs Gentry: had about four glasses of champagne and was like, " I
Becs Gentry: got to stop." I do not normally. I don't normally drink
Becs Gentry: that much ever and be on a flight. I was like, "
Becs Gentry: Oh geez." But it was a 15- hour flight. So I
Becs Gentry: watched the movies. I had a good cry because we
Becs Gentry: all know we cry more when we're in altitude. That's
Becs Gentry: my excuse, anyway, and I slept and woke up and
Becs Gentry: I was in South Africa and felt, thank goodness, fine.
Becs Gentry: We all got off the flight, got to the hotel, we
Becs Gentry: were supposed to have... So the next day was going
Becs Gentry: to be briefings, and then we'd have Thursday as a
Becs Gentry: free day to organize ourselves. And then Friday morning was
Becs Gentry: takeoff to Antarctica. So I have family in South Africa,
Becs Gentry: my mom's side of the family reside there. I was so excited
Becs Gentry: to see my aunt, my uncle, my cousins who I
Becs Gentry: haven't seen in 10 to 15 years, something like that. So we
Becs Gentry: went for the briefing, and David Kelly, the race director
Becs Gentry: just says, " Okay, great, got some updates for you. We
Becs Gentry: will be leaving for Antarctica at 4: 45 AM tomorrow morning."
Becs Gentry: Silence. The whole room went from this buzzy, excitable hum
Becs Gentry: to dead silence, and I think I definitely burst out
Becs Gentry: laughing because I thought it was a joke, was like, "
Becs Gentry: Yeah, a way to crack the ice, David, hilarious." I
Becs Gentry: think everyone else was like, " Ha, ha, ha, great joke." And he was like, "
Becs Gentry: No," this is Irish guy. He's very straight down the
Becs Gentry: line. He was like, " No, I'm serious. We're going to
Becs Gentry: Antarctica in the morning. We have to leave early." So there was
Becs Gentry: a huge weather front that come into Antarctica, a huge
Becs Gentry: storm coming in that would've meant if we'd have gone
Becs Gentry: on Friday, we would've risked having almost whiteout conditions for
Becs Gentry: running. But that wasn't the worst. It would've been potentially
Becs Gentry: getting stuck in Antarctica, which is the worst, or the
Becs Gentry: options were pull it forward a day or push it
Becs Gentry: back by five days. So the logistics team of the Great
Becs Gentry: World Race took the good idea of pulling it forward
Becs Gentry: a day. And so that was it. I mean, I
Becs Gentry: don't like change like that, but honestly, it was probably
Becs Gentry: since having Tallulah who arrived three weeks early, I've really
Becs Gentry: had to come to terms with the fact that life
Becs Gentry: does throw you curveballs and you have to be able
Becs Gentry: to pivot quite quickly. So thank goodness, the past two
Becs Gentry: years I've really honed that skill in and I just
Becs Gentry: sat there like, " Oh, this is going to be insane.
Becs Gentry: The rest of my afternoon is going to be awful."
Becs Gentry: Yeah. But I think in hindsight, having lunch with my
Becs Gentry: cousins and my family was a good distraction for a
Becs Gentry: couple of hours. And then once they left, I was
Becs Gentry: in my hotel room just organizing everything, I had packed,
Becs Gentry: organized and ready to go, but we just had to
Becs Gentry: get one bag ready for Antarctica, and then we had
Becs Gentry: to have everything else ready because once we arrived back
Becs Gentry: from Antarctica, we had a few hours sleep, literally two
Becs Gentry: hours sleep. We ran the Cape Town leg and then
Becs Gentry: we were leaving, then we were going. So everything had
Becs Gentry: to be organized and in its place. So that was
Becs Gentry: just, yeah, it was pivoting, it was going with the
Becs Gentry: emotions and getting it done.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So you get to Antarctica, good conditions?
Becs Gentry: Perfect, absolutely beautiful. You know what? It was sunny.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Sunny, beautiful, the pictures looked amazing.
Becs Gentry: Blue sky, it wasn't even that cold.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Like what?
Becs Gentry: When we landed, it was minus 12 Fahrenheit when we landed, so
Becs Gentry: it was pretty cold. So below zero for everybody, let's
Becs Gentry: say, let's just call it that, it was below zero
Becs Gentry: for every, whenever you measure your weather in.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Temperature in. Yeah, that's pretty cold.
Becs Gentry: Yeah, it was pretty cold, but there wasn't wind, which was the
Becs Gentry: scary thing is that you could have 40, 50 mile per
Becs Gentry: hour freezing winds in your face. So we were layered
Becs Gentry: up and I definitely took off my outer shell layer
Becs Gentry: within the first two miles of the race, and I took off
Becs Gentry: my huge thick gloves within the first four miles of
Becs Gentry: the race.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And you're running on an ice road basically?
Becs Gentry: Essentially, yeah. Half of it was actually the runway that
Becs Gentry: we landed on with the plane, and then the other
Becs Gentry: half was groomed around the White Desert. They were the
Becs Gentry: organization company that took us to Antarctica around their sort
Becs Gentry: of base camp because they do expeditions there. And so
Becs Gentry: half of it was, as you say, ice, the runway,
Becs Gentry: it was compact, the other half was running on sand
Becs Gentry: in snow. It was uneven, it was deep and it
Becs Gentry: was not enjoyable. So yeah, that was about a mile.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And you're running laps back, I mean, is it a bunch of laps around a track, four laps?
Becs Gentry: Four 10K laps of that, and I say about a mile and a half of
Becs Gentry: it was unpleasant and the rest was pretty good.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And you felt good about your race in Antarctica? I mean, I don't know what-
Becs Gentry: I felt okay.
Rob Simmelkjaer: ... your expectations were in a race, in an environment like that, wearing I'm sure not normal running
Rob Simmelkjaer: shoes, right?
Becs Gentry: I did actually run in my Vaporflies.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Wow.
Becs Gentry: Yeah.
Rob Simmelkjaer: In the snow?
Becs Gentry: In the snow. Yeah.
Rob Simmelkjaer: You had enough traction with those?
Becs Gentry: Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, because it was groomed and it's
Becs Gentry: compact ice. I mean, it's just ice. There's nothing underneath,
Becs Gentry: there's no tarmac anywhere. It's all ice. So it was
Becs Gentry: hard. And they were great. They were absolutely great because
Becs Gentry: it wasn't windy. My feet didn't get that cold, but
Becs Gentry: I did have the layers on, the base layer sock
Becs Gentry: and then the wool sock and then the shoe, and
Becs Gentry: I felt good. My only issue with Antarctica was that
Becs Gentry: it was very difficult to hydrate because when they poured
Becs Gentry: us water, it froze immediately, and I hate drinking cold
Becs Gentry: water even on the hottest of days. So I found
Becs Gentry: it very difficult to take on board hydration. I normally
Becs Gentry: run with my hydration in my hand, but obviously you
Becs Gentry: couldn't do that because it would freeze. Even taking gels
Becs Gentry: was just like, this is so different to everything I
Becs Gentry: know about running. I struggled to take on it, I should
Becs Gentry: have taken on more gels and I got a slight cramp.
Becs Gentry: My stomach, I had GI issues, so that was a
Becs Gentry: lot going on, but I was pretty happy with finishing.
Becs Gentry: I think it was around a 3: 30 marathon, something
Becs Gentry: like that, which is great.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Which is unbelievable. Yeah, it was incredible. And so Antarctica
Rob Simmelkjaer: is a day trip, right?
Becs Gentry: Yes.
Rob Simmelkjaer: You finished that thing, you're right back to Cape Town, night
Rob Simmelkjaer: in Cape Town, and then what's the route you're running
Rob Simmelkjaer: in Cape Town for day number two?
Becs Gentry: So we got into Cape Town at around 3: 30
Becs Gentry: in the morning. We got back and we went to
Becs Gentry: bed and we were starting the South Africa race at
Becs Gentry: around 7: 00 AM, so it was very minimal sleep.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Wow, so very little sleep.
Becs Gentry: It was six loops on the waterfront outside of the
Becs Gentry: Winchester Hotel, basically in Cape Town. So it wasn't down at
Becs Gentry: the waterfront in front of the Victoria and Alfred, but all
Becs Gentry: of that, it wasn't anything that you would know really unless
Becs Gentry: you know South Africa, Cape Town very well. But it
Becs Gentry: was fine. It was great. It was unfortunately all on
Becs Gentry: cement, so it was quite a lot of impact on
Becs Gentry: the body, especially after Antarctica. So I sort of felt
Becs Gentry: a little bit of that hamstring cramp effect, the pulling
Becs Gentry: of my muscles. I felt it a little bit in my foot
Becs Gentry: that day, but just sort of brushed it aside as, "
Becs Gentry: Hey, you're running another marathon within 24 hours. This one's
Becs Gentry: on concrete. You're used to running on tarmac, blah, blah,
Becs Gentry: blah, blah, blah." There's so many excuses in your head.
Becs Gentry: But that race was pivotal in my understanding of the
Becs Gentry: friendships that I was going to make on that race.
Becs Gentry: I was already good friends with David Kilgore. You all
Becs Gentry: know that. And for him, he had for him a
Becs Gentry: rougher race. He wasn't blazing it. I can't quite remember
Becs Gentry: what the cause was, but the girls, we'd formed a
Becs Gentry: bond in Antarctica, and we sort of cemented it that
Becs Gentry: day and we picked him up because he was sort
Becs Gentry: of flagging a bit, and I was like, " Kilgore, come on,
Becs Gentry: join us, join our group." Then we had another awesome
Becs Gentry: Irish guy called Jeff Pendergrass. He was running with us
Becs Gentry: too. So there were seven of us running in total
Becs Gentry: in that group, and we stuck together. We pulled through
Becs Gentry: when we all really had moments in that race where
Becs Gentry: we were like, "Oof, okay, maybe this isn't going to be
Becs Gentry: as fun or as easy or as whatever we thought
Becs Gentry: it would be on day two," and we got each other
Becs Gentry: through, and that was when we came over the finish
Becs Gentry: line, all seven of us holding hands in the air
Becs Gentry: and really, really did make me understand, okay, you can
Becs Gentry: be friends with somebody. I don't see David and his
Becs Gentry: wife, Molly, a lot in New York. We all travel,
Becs Gentry: we all have very busy lives, but when we're together, I
Becs Gentry: can actually say he's a very good friend, and especially
Becs Gentry: after that day, and then that included Hillary, Shereen, Ash,
Becs Gentry: Jenny, it was just, that was it, the ball was rolling on those
Becs Gentry: really deep friendships.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I love it. I love it. So cool. If you're going to bond, that's a pretty good way to
Rob Simmelkjaer: bond with someone is traveling around the world with them
Rob Simmelkjaer: running marathons, seven straight days, so I can only imagine
Rob Simmelkjaer: you're all going through the same thing. Okay. Right after
Rob Simmelkjaer: that, you're off to Australia and that's got to be,
Rob Simmelkjaer: I'm guessing, is that the longest flight of the race or-
Becs Gentry: That was the second longest.
Rob Simmelkjaer: ... no, maybe second longest? Yeah.
Becs Gentry: Yeah. It was the second longest. So very similar. It was about a 15
Becs Gentry: or so hour flight. We were all really excited to
Becs Gentry: get on that flight.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Sleep?
Becs Gentry: Yes. It was also the first time we were seeing our jet, the charter
Becs Gentry: jet. It was a commercial jet, but a charter jet,
Becs Gentry: the one that the Rolling Stones had used for their
Becs Gentry: last world tour.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Wow.
Becs Gentry: I was really excited to get on this plane to
Becs Gentry: find our home for the rest of the week as
Becs Gentry: well. We all coined the phrase our rowmies, whoever we were in
Becs Gentry: a row with, that was our rowmy for the week,
Becs Gentry: and it was kind of cute. I felt really like
Becs Gentry: a kid who'd run away from home and I've got
Becs Gentry: my little backpack, my snacks. It was just all surreal. So we all got
Becs Gentry: on that flight, we all passed out, all of us
Becs Gentry: in our different recovery boots and face masks and noise-
Becs Gentry: canceling headphones. Everybody had their jam that they had worked
Becs Gentry: for them in training and was there, and then yeah,
Becs Gentry: we got to Australia and it was just so quick.
Becs Gentry: That one to me was the quickest. It was, we
Becs Gentry: landed, and I'll tell you, when we landed that day,
Becs Gentry: I felt awful that it was a really bumpy landing
Becs Gentry: and we were on a very big plane, so it
Becs Gentry: felt like I was at Deep Sea fishing boat coming
Becs Gentry: into land, or I've never been on one. That's how
Becs Gentry: I imagine from watching lots of movies. And I felt
Becs Gentry: nauseous, I felt just really off and was like, " Oh God, this is
Becs Gentry: going to be a terrible race." Just thinking in my
Becs Gentry: head, you're starting a marathon again in the next couple
Becs Gentry: of hours.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Right off the plane.
Becs Gentry: Right off the plane. We had a 15- minute journey, so we grabbed our bags,
Becs Gentry: we got on buses and it was all very quick,
Becs Gentry: straight through customs at Perth Airport. We got on the
Becs Gentry: buses, we drove 15 minutes to the track near a
Becs Gentry: stadium in Perth. I completely forget the name of the
Becs Gentry: stadium. Beautiful. It was beautiful. And I will say the
Becs Gentry: people there, the track, the athletics club were incredibly welcoming. They
Becs Gentry: were so vibrant and funny. The Australians are just such
Becs Gentry: funny people and so, so sweet. They had everything laid
Becs Gentry: out for us, and it was all set up wonderfully.
Becs Gentry: There was some Peloton members there, which surprised me, and
Becs Gentry: they came and brought me my favorite Australian biscuits, which
Becs Gentry: are Tim Tams. And so it was all like, I was like, "Okay, I'm starting to feel good, starting to feel
Becs Gentry: better." And then we got to the start line and they changed
Becs Gentry: the course. So it was supposed to be six laps.
Becs Gentry: They turned it to 12. So it was essentially a mile
Becs Gentry: and a bit out and backs, which was the first
Becs Gentry: time that we faced that. And it was difficult to
Becs Gentry: wrap my head around. I'm not a track girl. I
Becs Gentry: like running a long way in a straight line. That's my favorite
Becs Gentry: thing to do. So doing these repeats was a little
Becs Gentry: bit concerning, but with the help that was on hand,
Becs Gentry: had an incredible Peloton member called Nancy who worked for
Becs Gentry: the Athletics Club, and she's an ultra runner out there
Becs Gentry: in Perth, and just a big shout- out to her.
Becs Gentry: She was my savior that day. Anything I needed, she
Becs Gentry: was just there with it. She almost like she could read
Becs Gentry: my mind. She knew when my hydration was running out
Becs Gentry: and she grabbed my bottle and go and fill it up for me
Becs Gentry: and put my hydration sachet in. And again, the girls,
Becs Gentry: we stuck together. So Hillary, Ash, Shereen, and I, we
Becs Gentry: always took the first few miles to find our grooves
Becs Gentry: individually, and then there was never a handshake or whatever you
Becs Gentry: want to call it, an agreement. It was just, let's
Becs Gentry: see how we all feel. If we end up together,
Becs Gentry: great. If not, we're all going to still love each
Becs Gentry: other and have a great run. This one, we stuck
Becs Gentry: together again, and we actually got quite professional, Rob. We were
Becs Gentry: doing flying formations, getting in the front, swapping each other
Becs Gentry: in. It just turned into so much fun and as much as I didn't...
Rob Simmelkjaer: Like the Peloton.
Becs Gentry: Exactly, exactly, like the Peloton. And as much as I
Becs Gentry: didn't want to love the 12 out and backs or
Becs Gentry: 10, I can't remember, it was a lot. It was
Becs Gentry: really fun to go through the start and finish that many
Becs Gentry: times and see the people and also to see the
Becs Gentry: other runners. We got to high- five 57 of us,
Becs Gentry: all running together. We got to high- five each other
Becs Gentry: hundreds of times, and that made it really sink in
Becs Gentry: that we are a big team doing this. We're a
Becs Gentry: bunch of individuals who agreed to it, but we've become this
Becs Gentry: team who are doing it together. And yeah, it was
Becs Gentry: really, it was kind of wild. The room that the
Becs Gentry: Athletics Club had us in looked like a housing, like
Becs Gentry: what's they called? Natural disaster housing area. It was just
Becs Gentry: mess, suitcases a mess, and people laying on the floor
Becs Gentry: after the race recovering. But it was just part of
Becs Gentry: the adventure.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And as I recall from your results, you started to get
Rob Simmelkjaer: better too. I mean, Antarctica was hard obviously, but I
Rob Simmelkjaer: think you did quite well, if I recall, in Perth, which is
Rob Simmelkjaer: surprising given the flight you just got off of, you
Rob Simmelkjaer: turned around right after this race and flew to Istanbul, right?
Becs Gentry: Exactly.
Rob Simmelkjaer: There was no night spent in Australia, am I correct?
Becs Gentry: There was nothing. Yeah, no. So we literally were, as soon as everyone was
Becs Gentry: done, I honestly think the last runners ran from the
Becs Gentry: finish line onto the bus, and we went to the
Becs Gentry: airport, we got straight on the flight. That was the
Becs Gentry: quickest I have ever gotten to an airport. They handed
Becs Gentry: us our boarding passes and we got straight through customs and
Becs Gentry: straight onto an airplane, and we flew to Istanbul. So
Becs Gentry: again, that was about a 14- hour flight. Again, sleep,
Becs Gentry: and Istanbul, we had Asia and Europe, and I would
Becs Gentry: say that was just probably the worst arrival was Istanbul
Becs Gentry: when we got there, it was raining, it was dark, it
Becs Gentry: was nighttime. The course looked like a jackhammer had been
Becs Gentry: taken to the pavement. The fishermen who were doing what
Becs Gentry: they do every day, fishing for their food, didn't want
Becs Gentry: to move understandably, but it was unsafe for us all
Becs Gentry: to be running because they were sort of blocking the
Becs Gentry: pathway. So we had to wait, and then it got
Becs Gentry: really cold and it was just a logistical nightmare, not just for
Becs Gentry: us as runners, but for the team as well, the
Becs Gentry: logistical team for David Kelly and everybody. They were trying
Becs Gentry: their best to make it function quickly, but every minute
Becs Gentry: we delayed, the start was time away from sleeping. So
Becs Gentry: obviously, there's runners. The girls and I were running around
Becs Gentry: three hour marathons at this point, but you have to
Becs Gentry: remember, we had eight hours to complete the race, and there
Becs Gentry: were runners using every single second of that eight hours.
Becs Gentry: So the longer we delayed the race, especially for those
Becs Gentry: runners, they were then risking having little to no sleep
Becs Gentry: at all before their next race. So it was a
Becs Gentry: little bit stressful. Again, the race had to be cut
Becs Gentry: short, so we were... Not the race, the route had
Becs Gentry: to be cut short, so we were doing multiple.
Rob Simmelkjaer: More laps.
Becs Gentry: And this one was the shortest, Rob, it was, I
Becs Gentry: think, a kilometer out of that.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Oh my goodness. So you're doing over 40 of those?
Becs Gentry: Yeah, it was wild. It was really wild. Yeah, 22
Becs Gentry: times we saw the start finish, I think before, it
Becs Gentry: was just so much, and then again, we started together.
Becs Gentry: I had terrible GI issues for this one, so I
Becs Gentry: spent quite the last, I'd say five plus miles running
Becs Gentry: by myself, which again was fine because we had the
Becs Gentry: camaraderie of all the other runners. We were high-fiving.
Rob Simmelkjaer: You've seen them. Yeah.
Becs Gentry: Yeah. So it didn't feel like I was by myself, but
Becs Gentry: in my head I was like, " Oh my gosh, I
Becs Gentry: haven't got my girls, this is suddenly got more difficult.
Becs Gentry: I'm tired. I was wet, it's cold." And then I
Becs Gentry: saw Ash on one of my last turnarounds and she
Becs Gentry: was like, " Go catch me up. Catch me up." And
Becs Gentry: I did crack out a 6: 15 or whatever it
Becs Gentry: was. I think we had 6: 12. Every time she
Becs Gentry: told me to catch her up, I ran a 6:
Becs Gentry: 12. I caught her up and we ran the last
Becs Gentry: couple of loops together and finished together on that race,
Becs Gentry: which was really nice to just finish again with one
Becs Gentry: of my girls side by side. An hour or so
Becs Gentry: later, we got to the hotel in Istanbul, maybe two. It was
Becs Gentry: probably two hours from when we finished, and just, yeah,
Becs Gentry: it's just weird. You're arriving at a hotel in the small
Becs Gentry: hours of the morning knowing you've got to get up
Becs Gentry: and run a race early the next day, but you
Becs Gentry: want to have a shower. Ash and I shared a
Becs Gentry: room and we were just getting our kit out. It
Becs Gentry: was just like being at camp again. We didn't eat
Becs Gentry: that night, which was really not good. We didn't eat
Becs Gentry: after the race. There wasn't food there, and it was so late.
Rob Simmelkjaer: That's tough.
Becs Gentry: That was really tough. But we were in a hotel,
Becs Gentry: so we knew the next morning there would be breakfast
Becs Gentry: at the hotel. So I think we were all really plowing in the field.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Must've gone crazy for that breakfast, absolutely.
Becs Gentry: Yeah. But again, knowing you've got to run another marathon pretty quickly
Becs Gentry: after you eat.
Rob Simmelkjaer: On the other side of the Bosphorus to get the Asian leg in. And was
Rob Simmelkjaer: the route any different, any better over there or more
Rob Simmelkjaer: or less the same?
Becs Gentry: It was longer. It was a little longer. I think
Becs Gentry: it was back to being about two miles out, so
Becs Gentry: maybe it was 10 laps of that one, which was
Becs Gentry: better. But this is the one where my foot really started to give me some
Becs Gentry: pain. So I started...
Rob Simmelkjaer: Your foot, you'd banged on your bed?
Becs Gentry: No, the irony being it was other foot.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Other foot, interesting.
Becs Gentry: This is I'd got cramp in my right leg or just
Becs Gentry: verge on the edge of cramp in Antarctica and what
Becs Gentry: the physio and the doctor on the trip thought was
Becs Gentry: that the posterior fascia in my right leg had tightened
Becs Gentry: up so much in this cramp situation that it had
Becs Gentry: pulled all the way up because I felt it in my hamstring, but
Becs Gentry: I'm used to feeling it in my hamstring. What I'm
Becs Gentry: not used to feeling, it is in my foot. And
Becs Gentry: so that fascia underneath, which is on the outside of
Becs Gentry: your muscle, was pulling, if you imagine this is the
Becs Gentry: underneath, your fingers are underneath of your foot and you clench your fingers
Becs Gentry: up, and that was what was happening, with every step
Becs Gentry: I took, it was just jarring it back, which actually
Becs Gentry: feels like a shooting pain. It feels like someone's stabbing
Becs Gentry: your foot. So in my mind, I'm thinking, " Oh my
Becs Gentry: gosh, I have plantar fasciitis." I've never had this. People
Becs Gentry: talk about it's debilitating. Oh my gosh, I'm freaking out.
Becs Gentry: I'm just like, " This is awful. I've got to do
Becs Gentry: more races."
Rob Simmelkjaer: That can be a game ender right there, absolutely.
Becs Gentry: Game ender, yeah. And so in my mind I'm like, " Oh, I have
Becs Gentry: to get a cortisone shot in my foot in Turkey,"
Becs Gentry: or I'm like, " No, I can't do this." So I
Becs Gentry: never take any medication. I'm very much a believer that
Becs Gentry: if your body is... You have a headache, lay down,
Becs Gentry: if you can, just weird mindset. And when I asked
Becs Gentry: Ross, one of the physio on the team, he was
Becs Gentry: riding alongside on the bike and the girls had left
Becs Gentry: me and he looked at me, he was like, " You're not
Becs Gentry: okay." I was like, " I'm in so much pain. I
Becs Gentry: can't even explain to you, worse pain than childbirth right
Becs Gentry: now." He's like, " Oh, okay. What's going on?" I explained
Becs Gentry: to him. He gave me some anti- inflammatories and some
Becs Gentry: pain relief, and they kicked in and thank goodness. But
Becs Gentry: I did run about half that race by myself, mainly
Becs Gentry: because I didn't want to hold up the girls. They were so
Becs Gentry: sweet. They were like, " We'll stay, we'll run with you."
Becs Gentry: I'm like, " No, no, no, no, no, you go, you go, you get there." Hillary and Ash,
Becs Gentry: I think ran a sub 3 in that race. So
Becs Gentry: there was no way I was staying with them. But once
Becs Gentry: the painkillers kicked in, I actually felt pretty good and
Becs Gentry: managed to pick up the pace a little bit more
Becs Gentry: and finish well, I mean, I think I ran a 3: 12 or something
Becs Gentry: in that race.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Incredible, incredible.
Becs Gentry: But then the fear was there, Rob, to be honest,
Becs Gentry: that was the first time I just thought, " Okay, I
Becs Gentry: got through that using pain relief, but I need to
Becs Gentry: be a mom. I need to be a Peloton instructor.
Becs Gentry: I don't want to break my foot. I don't want
Becs Gentry: to leave this race in Miami, not able to walk
Becs Gentry: or relying on cortisone injections to get through my job."
Becs Gentry: I was spiraling a little bit. I had a very
Becs Gentry: emotional FaceTime with Austin just crying my eyes out of
Becs Gentry: like, "This is a mistake. I shouldn't be doing this." And you
Becs Gentry: go to the bad spots in those moments. I got
Becs Gentry: some work on my foot. I rolled it with a
Becs Gentry: ball, and then we got on that really long flight, 19 and
Becs Gentry: a half hours, that included a stopover and refueling in
Becs Gentry: Madrid, and we flew from Istanbul to Cartagena, Colombia. When I
Becs Gentry: tell you I got in my bed, well, my chair,
Becs Gentry: I made it into my bed. I put my recovery
Becs Gentry: boots on, we landed and took off in Madrid. I
Becs Gentry: did not move, no idea. I woke up with about
Becs Gentry: three hours to go on the flight. I slept. I
Becs Gentry: was gone, out.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I'm not surprised. I am not surprised. I could totally
Rob Simmelkjaer: see it. Okay, Becs, I watched that race in Cartagena and it looked really,
Rob Simmelkjaer: really hot. How hot was it?
Becs Gentry: Well, the real fear was around a 100, 101 degrees, but
Becs Gentry: it was the humidity rub, it was so high humidity,
Becs Gentry: I think it was 95, 96% humidity. It was really that
Becs Gentry: kind of you lift your pinky finger and you are
Becs Gentry: drenched with sweat. So we got on a bus from the
Becs Gentry: airport, which took us to a hotel lobby where we
Becs Gentry: got ourselves situated and ready. We had the whole day
Becs Gentry: actually in Cartagena. So the race organizers had booked out
Becs Gentry: a certain number of rooms for groups of people to
Becs Gentry: drop their bags off in so we could shower after.
Becs Gentry: So we sort of dumped our stuff in rooms about
Becs Gentry: five of us per room and headed out. And it
Becs Gentry: was a short walk from the hotel to the start
Becs Gentry: line. And already by the time we got to the start line, you
Becs Gentry: could just see everybody was drenched and the sun was
Becs Gentry: out. So sometimes you can kind of handle it, especially
Becs Gentry: in New York, if it's a little overcast, it's humid,
Becs Gentry: and it's hot. If the sun is not also beating
Becs Gentry: down on you, you feel a little bit more ready
Becs Gentry: to handle it. But when you then feel the seer of
Becs Gentry: the sun on your skin too, you're like, " Please, no, this is just torturous."
Rob Simmelkjaer: It looked brutal. It really did.
Becs Gentry: It really was. The saving grace was that we did run
Becs Gentry: along water, which was lovely. There was no breeze whatsoever,
Becs Gentry: but psychosomatically, you look at water and you're like, " Okay,
Becs Gentry: this is a little... I can calm myself down. It's not through
Becs Gentry: a city." Again, a heinous amount of repeats of this short one
Becs Gentry: mile course. And as the irony went, I ended up
Becs Gentry: getting not quite sunburned, but the most drastic sports bra
Becs Gentry: tan line on my back. But then I got ice burn
Becs Gentry: on my chest because I was putting ice down my
Becs Gentry: sports bra. I was like, " This is just a juxtaposition
Becs Gentry: right here."
Rob Simmelkjaer: Too hot, too cold, run back.
Becs Gentry: Yeah. But it was all about working together. Even the whole
Becs Gentry: logistical team of the Great World Race, people who weren't
Becs Gentry: medical, just people who were there pitched in to help
Becs Gentry: throw ice on us, throw water on us, make sure that there
Becs Gentry: was enough salt tabs. They went to get some extra
Becs Gentry: salt tabs to make sure people were having enough. And
Becs Gentry: they were also, the medics were running up and down
Becs Gentry: being like, " Only take three, no more than three." You
Becs Gentry: can't take a salt tab every time you come past
Becs Gentry: because you're going to get hyponatremia. So it really was a big
Becs Gentry: team effort to get through. And that's why I say
Becs Gentry: sticking with the girls with Hillary, Ash, and Shereen on
Becs Gentry: that one. The conversations we had were so linked to
Becs Gentry: each other's mental strength on that one, points where some
Becs Gentry: of us were just really struggling there. All of us, apart
Becs Gentry: from Hillary on that one, had really bad GI issues
Becs Gentry: and there was nowhere to go. So it was quite
Becs Gentry: a moment to say the least.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Gosh, I'm so sorry for the GI issues, it just
Rob Simmelkjaer: sounds like that was a theme of this whole event
Rob Simmelkjaer: for you.
Becs Gentry: It was.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And that's not a theme you were looking for, I doubt.
Becs Gentry: No, no, no.
Rob Simmelkjaer: But you battled through, truly battled through.
Becs Gentry: We get through. We get through.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So you battled through Cartagena. You said it was one of
Rob Simmelkjaer: the hardest races of your life.
Becs Gentry: Yeah.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And then it was a relatively short hop over to
Rob Simmelkjaer: Miami, and that's where Becs' cheering section was in full
Rob Simmelkjaer: effect. You had Becs Beasts, I believe they were called.
Becs Gentry: We did.
Rob Simmelkjaer: There to cheer you on. That must have felt great
Rob Simmelkjaer: to see everybody in Miami.
Becs Gentry: Oh, my gosh. The anticipation of getting to Miami was obviously
Becs Gentry: there from the minute we got on the flight to
Becs Gentry: Antarctica. So it's building up and it feels like a
Becs Gentry: lot longer than seven days since we got there, actually,
Becs Gentry: it was six days really. And leaving Cartagena was sort
Becs Gentry: of wild because we were all really drained after finishing
Becs Gentry: that race. But we had, as I said, the whole
Becs Gentry: day in Cartagena. So I rallied the troops and said, "
Becs Gentry: When are we going to be back here? Let's go
Becs Gentry: and see the old town. It's supposed to be beautiful."
Becs Gentry: So we all trudged off and did a little bit
Becs Gentry: of sightseeing that day, which I'm really happy we did.
Becs Gentry: But in hindsight, probably should have slept a little bit
Becs Gentry: somewhere because the flight to Miami was slated to be
Becs Gentry: only three and a half hours. It ended up being
Becs Gentry: only two and a half hours. We had some big,
Becs Gentry: big tailwinds, which any other flight you take to any other
Becs Gentry: place, you're like, " Yay, I got there quicker." This one
Becs Gentry: where you're like, "No."
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah, but that's your sleep time. That's your sleep time.
Becs Gentry: That was a sleep time.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah. Yeah.
Becs Gentry: So we landed in Miami just before 4: 00 AM. And
Becs Gentry: Rob, there was no... The airport was empty. We flew
Becs Gentry: through customs and it was just like a ghost town
Becs Gentry: and we're standing there, okay, we're not running till 7:
Becs Gentry: 00, so what are we doing? And the race organizers said, "
Becs Gentry: If you have a hotel room, feel free to go
Becs Gentry: to your hotel room." And I was like, " Well, I can't
Becs Gentry: rock up at 4:00 AM, and wake up my daughter and Austin."
Becs Gentry: And also, if I step foot in that hotel room,
Becs Gentry: you think I'm coming back out?
Rob Simmelkjaer: Pandemonium, of course, it'd be nuts. And you would not
Rob Simmelkjaer: want to exactly say goodbye to your family.
Becs Gentry: No, I see massive king- size bed and I haven't
Becs Gentry: seen that in days.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Absolutely.
Becs Gentry: So I hung around the airport. Some people stayed there.
Becs Gentry: A lot of people did actually go to their hotel
Becs Gentry: rooms who didn't have family members there yet, or if
Becs Gentry: they had an Airbnb, and they got a little rest. And
Becs Gentry: it took me about half an hour of just standing
Becs Gentry: around in Miami airport and getting stressed. I was just like, "
Becs Gentry: I'm getting angry and tense." I said to Hillary was like, " Do
Becs Gentry: you want to just come to my hotel? We'll organize
Becs Gentry: our bags. We'll sit in the lobby, we'll get a
Becs Gentry: coffee, and it'll be fine." So we did that. We
Becs Gentry: just jumped in an Uber. We went to my hotel and just
Becs Gentry: honestly, there was no one really around. It was quiet
Becs Gentry: and we organized our bags, we threw things out. We
Becs Gentry: got ourselves ready, brushed our teeth, had a coffee. Austin
Becs Gentry: did pop down, so I was happy I got to
Becs Gentry: see him before the race. My uncle appeared out of
Becs Gentry: nowhere. I just suddenly look up and my uncle's standing there.
Becs Gentry: I was like, " What are you doing here?" I didn't
Becs Gentry: even know he was staying in that hotel. And they'd
Becs Gentry: changed their hotel last minute. So I got to see my
Becs Gentry: uncle who actually sponsored me to do this race. So
Becs Gentry: I'm really glad we did that. And then just getting
Becs Gentry: to the start line, the start line location was changed
Becs Gentry: with 20 minutes to go before the race started. So there
Becs Gentry: was a complete pandemonium chaos. Everyone's like, " Where are we
Becs Gentry: going? What are we doing?"
Rob Simmelkjaer: I don't even understand how that can happen and still get
Rob Simmelkjaer: the right distance, but that's another conversation. So Miami, all
Rob Simmelkjaer: I can ask you is how focused were you on
Rob Simmelkjaer: during that race on trying to quote win? Were you
Rob Simmelkjaer: and Hillary competing at that point, or was it just
Rob Simmelkjaer: finish and see your family?
Becs Gentry: It was finish. It was finished, see our family, I
Becs Gentry: put up on Instagram earlier this week, a video that
Becs Gentry: somebody caught of the first time I saw Tallulah and
Becs Gentry: it brought me to my knees. I was so, so
Becs Gentry: tired to the point where I hadn't allowed myself to
Becs Gentry: feel it. And you'll hear more from Hillary on that
Becs Gentry: actually in the message with her. We sort of block
Becs Gentry: ourselves from the true emotions when you're doing something like
Becs Gentry: this, and then when you see your true loves, it
Becs Gentry: comes out because you are your most vulnerable in front
Becs Gentry: of the people you love and care about the most.
Becs Gentry: And I fell to my knees when I saw my
Becs Gentry: daughter and the tears just came. I was just suddenly
Becs Gentry: really sobbing because I was so tired. But looking at
Becs Gentry: Tallulah, she's like, " Mommy crying." I'm like, " No, mommy's fine.
Becs Gentry: I'm fine." I didn't want her to see this as
Becs Gentry: a mommy sad or mommy's upset. I was like, " Mommy's fine.
Becs Gentry: She's just a little tired, but she's fine." And then
Becs Gentry: really it was true chaos. That start line. I don't
Becs Gentry: know if any listeners out there who've ever been to
Becs Gentry: the boardwalk of Miami Beach, it's narrow. It's busy. It's
Becs Gentry: a very active place down there. It's gorgeous weather. People are
Becs Gentry: always out exercising in the morning, walking, running, cycling, roller
Becs Gentry: skating. There's everything going on. And then there's 57 runners
Becs Gentry: plus the crew, plus all of our now supporters, family
Becs Gentry: and friends. It was wild. As a CEO of, and you got Road
Becs Gentry: Runners, Rob, I think if you'd have seen that at the start to
Becs Gentry: finish, you would've just been like, " Ted would've been losing
Becs Gentry: his mind as a race director." There would've just been
Becs Gentry: so many red flags. But that was the theme of
Becs Gentry: this race. We just got on with it and off
Becs Gentry: we went. Hillary, Shereen, and I stuck together. Ash was
Becs Gentry: unfortunately feeling some really bad hip pain after Cartagena and
Becs Gentry: into Miami, and she just said, " Don't wait for me.
Becs Gentry: I'm going to be really pulling the pace back. I
Becs Gentry: don't want to hold you guys back. It's going to
Becs Gentry: be significant change in pace." And so we all hugged
Becs Gentry: and we're like, " All right, let's do this." Jenny had
Becs Gentry: also had some issues after Cartagena, I think some norovirus
Becs Gentry: or something hit her. So she was sort of walk
Becs Gentry: running the last race, unfortunately. So it was Hillary, Shereen
Becs Gentry: and I set out with a couple of other guys,
Becs Gentry: actually, really cool guy, Anders, who runs the athlete blog
Becs Gentry: and then a very fun Italian dude who fast and
Becs Gentry: few silly if you find him on Instagram. Very, very
Becs Gentry: great runner. And we sort of stuck together. And another
Becs Gentry: really fantastic runner called Santosh for a while and then
Becs Gentry: dropped off a little bit, and then it ended up
Becs Gentry: the three girls again, and then Shereen had to drop
Becs Gentry: back. She was feeling a little bit of the GI issues,
Becs Gentry: and then it was just Hillary and I. and we
Becs Gentry: just said to each other, " Are we finishing this together?"
Becs Gentry: And she was like, " Yeah." And neither of us wanted
Becs Gentry: to leave the other one. We'd got so far, not
Becs Gentry: just the seven days, not just that race. It was
Becs Gentry: just like we progressed so far in our lives individually
Becs Gentry: that neither of us was going to break away from
Becs Gentry: the other one. It just felt like a bad juju to do
Becs Gentry: that. So we said, " All right, mom, stick together right
Becs Gentry: here. We're inspiring three kids between us, A, to be
Becs Gentry: bad asses, but B, to commit." You committed to running
Becs Gentry: this thing together, and I'm not just going to leave
Becs Gentry: you in the dust for glory. It wasn't either of
Becs Gentry: our vibes. So we stuck it out together and ran
Becs Gentry: all the way in. And again, you'll hear a funny story from
Becs Gentry: Hillary about that moment.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So cool. All right, so Becs, to wrap this unbelievable adventure up, here's what I want
Rob Simmelkjaer: to know. How is Becs Gentry different now than she
Rob Simmelkjaer: was before starting this? Whether it's as a runner or
Rob Simmelkjaer: a Peloton instructor or a wife or a mom or
Rob Simmelkjaer: anything? How are you different now or can you even
Rob Simmelkjaer: process that yet?
Becs Gentry: I'm starting to really, in the past few days, it
Becs Gentry: started to settle in to me that without sounding dramatic,
Becs Gentry: it was a hugely pivotal point in my life. And
Becs Gentry: I do have to accept that I have changed, not
Becs Gentry: in a big way. You're not going to look at me
Becs Gentry: and be like, " Well, she's so different these days." But
Becs Gentry: internally, since becoming a mom, a parent, I not lost
Becs Gentry: some of my vibe, but it changed shape. And I
Becs Gentry: think I needed to reformat what my vibe truly is.
Becs Gentry: And before Austin, before Tallulah, before being a Peloton instructor,
Becs Gentry: travel and running were huge parts of who I was
Becs Gentry: and how I filled my cup up. And definitely, since
Becs Gentry: becoming a parent that has gone, when you travel with
Becs Gentry: a kid, you just relocate your life somewhere else. It's
Becs Gentry: not a vacation anymore.
Speaker 2: No, we call it a trip, not a vacation. Yeah.
Becs Gentry: Yeah, it's just a trip. So I really needed to reset and refill my cup
Becs Gentry: because I was feeling like my cup was almost empty.
Becs Gentry: I didn't feel I was that inspiring as a Peloton
Becs Gentry: instructor. So goodness knows, I wasn't inspiring as a partner,
Becs Gentry: as a parent. So doing this trip really did give
Becs Gentry: me the opportunity to relight my fire and allow that
Becs Gentry: bright, bubbly, motivated, inspired human to flourish again. And so
Becs Gentry: by doing that, I truly hope once it really does
Becs Gentry: settle in, I'm going to be able to be a
Becs Gentry: better mom, a better partner, a better friend, a better
Becs Gentry: instructor, and just thrive how I used to thrive. And
Becs Gentry: I know that may sound selfish to a lot of
Becs Gentry: people, but I think we forget and then my job
Becs Gentry: is a lot about giving to other people and making
Becs Gentry: sure other people are doing well. And they get to a
Becs Gentry: point where you think like, " Oh, goodness me, I'm not
Becs Gentry: doing that well, what do I need to do?" And
Becs Gentry: yeah, slightly off the realms of weirdness when you say, "
Becs Gentry: Okay, I'm going to run seven marathons in seven days in just one week
Becs Gentry: to do that," but that's who I am. And we're
Becs Gentry: all different. We're all different. Someone may go and buy
Becs Gentry: a really expensive handbag. That's (inaudible) .
Rob Simmelkjaer: Well, I think that these things are so relative, and
Rob Simmelkjaer: I think what you're saying about how you feel different
Rob Simmelkjaer: doing seven marathons in seven days on seven continents is
Rob Simmelkjaer: how a lot of people will tell you they feel
Rob Simmelkjaer: after running one marathon in their mind.
Becs Gentry: Exactly. Yeah. It's a challenge. It's pushing yourself again and realizing what
Becs Gentry: you are capable of by yourself, whether that's one mile,
Becs Gentry: whether it's seven marathons, it doesn't matter what the actual
Becs Gentry: quantitative distance time is, it's the feeling, it's the pride,
Becs Gentry: it's the going to bed at night and being like, "
Becs Gentry: I did that. I did that." Yeah.
Rob Simmelkjaer: 100%. I think you nailed it. I think that's what
Rob Simmelkjaer: it's all about. And you did do that. You did
Rob Simmelkjaer: it, and man, it was a thrill to watch you do
Rob Simmelkjaer: it. It was a thrill to talk to you about
Rob Simmelkjaer: doing it. And again, we're all so proud of you.
Becs Gentry: Thank you.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And just thrilled to have had a chance to share
Rob Simmelkjaer: in this journey with you, even if it was from afar.
Becs Gentry: Thank you so much.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So Becs, thank you for regaling us with these stories. They're amazing. And
Rob Simmelkjaer: once again, congrats. Can't wait to talk to Hillary and
Rob Simmelkjaer: hear what she says about how you did out there.
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Becs Gentry: a lot of long days. But with HubSpot, it's easier
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Becs Gentry: Okay. Joining us now, again, in place of our usual
Becs Gentry: member moment, we are being joined by one of my
Becs Gentry: fellow Great World Race finishers from this year. She's not
Becs Gentry: just a finisher though. She's actually the top person to
Becs Gentry: finish this challenge this year. By day, Hillary is a
Becs Gentry: brand strategist, and by night, weekend, and whenever else in
Becs Gentry: between she can, she's a badass mom and an incredible
Becs Gentry: runner. I'm honored to now be able to call her
Becs Gentry: a friend. And aside from being running moms in common,
Becs Gentry: Hillary and I have also have one more bond following the challenge
Becs Gentry: where we both finished she first, me second overall, we
Becs Gentry: decided to get matching seven tattoos to commemorate this crazy
Becs Gentry: bond that we forged over one week and 183. 4
Becs Gentry: miles. So Hillary, welcome to the show. It is so
Becs Gentry: good to be reunited with you virtually.
Hillary Kupish: Yeah, thanks for having me. So glad to be here.
Becs Gentry: We were just talking through my debrief of the race
Becs Gentry: with Rob, and obviously your name comes up a lot
Becs Gentry: in it because we spent a lot of time and
Becs Gentry: miles together with Ash, Poulsen, with Shereen, with Jenny and
Becs Gentry: other runners on our trip. But we thought it'd be
Becs Gentry: fun to have you on today to just talk about
Becs Gentry: you and your life as a runner, because what a
Becs Gentry: week, 10 days before was New York City Marathon for you.
Hillary Kupish: Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, Jenny as well.
Becs Gentry: And Jenny as well. Yeah. But outside of the elite
Becs Gentry: professional running world, there is Hillary who comes in with
Becs Gentry: a steaming 2: 44 at the TCS New York City Marathon and
Becs Gentry: then hops on a flight home and then hops on
Becs Gentry: a flight to Cape Town. So Rob, should we ask
Becs Gentry: Hillary some questions about how this happens?
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah. I'm really wondering, first of all, how this all
Rob Simmelkjaer: came about, Hillary, I asked Becs this question, how'd you
Rob Simmelkjaer: first get roped into this incredible Great World Race?
Hillary Kupish: Yeah, it's a great question. I actually was thinking back
Hillary Kupish: on this, and I think I was initially targeted with something
Hillary Kupish: on social. I saw it came up and I think I
Hillary Kupish: had probably a similar reaction to what I hear most
Hillary Kupish: people of being like, " That's wild, that's interesting, that's exciting."
Hillary Kupish: And in my mind I'm like, " That's for sponsored athletes or people
Hillary Kupish: with a certain amount of dollars," I had these reactions
Hillary Kupish: to it, but it popped up multiple times. And then
Hillary Kupish: honestly, I was on the Tread, it was I think
Hillary Kupish: the first week of August, and Becs started talking about
Hillary Kupish: it and I was like, " Oh no, she's doing this."
Hillary Kupish: And I was like, " Why?" It's one of those things, there's
Hillary Kupish: moments in life where certain ideas or things come into
Hillary Kupish: my purview and my mind, and they just have this
Hillary Kupish: tug. And this was one of those where I'm like, " It's not
Hillary Kupish: leaving me alone and I need to look at why."
Hillary Kupish: And so that's what led me to saying yes and
Hillary Kupish: the first week of August. So it was a short
Hillary Kupish: runway for me coming into the race.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Did you guys know each other before this?
Becs Gentry: No.
Hillary Kupish: No, no, no, no. I knew Becs because I run on the Tread. I am
Hillary Kupish: a very loyal Peloton member. I have the Tread, it's
Hillary Kupish: a part of my training routine. I live in a
Hillary Kupish: beautiful place where I can do a lot of outdoor
Hillary Kupish: running, but also, I have smoke in the summer and
Hillary Kupish: I have ice in the winter, and I have a three- year-
Hillary Kupish: old and a six- year- old. So when you have
Hillary Kupish: them full on as a single mom, there's moments where
Hillary Kupish: it's like, it's time for a movie and I hop
Hillary Kupish: on the Tread. And so yeah, that's how, I knew
Hillary Kupish: of Becs, of course, but we had never met or chatted.
Becs Gentry: I love that. I love that story. And honestly, I
Becs Gentry: think it was the funniest and sweetest moment ever was
Becs Gentry: on Miami when you told me, I'm like, " We were
Becs Gentry: two laps from the finish together," and we'd stuck together
Becs Gentry: literally through that whole race of like, " Okay, let's do
Becs Gentry: this together. We're going to finish, we're going to be
Becs Gentry: moms who finished this." And there was a point when I was like, " Hillary,
Becs Gentry: David's dropping back, I think we're actually going to win-
Becs Gentry: win this race together." It was just a lot going on. And I had
Becs Gentry: a bit of a moment where I just had a
Becs Gentry: breakdown of tears and emotions overcame me. And Hillary was like, "
Becs Gentry: Too soon, too soon, we've got more laps. Hold it together, Becs."
Becs Gentry: And then the next lap in almost the same spot,
Becs Gentry: she was like, " I got to tell you something." I was like, "Oh no, here we go.
Becs Gentry: We're both doing it." And that's when she said...
Hillary Kupish: I saved my fangirl moment. Yeah.
Becs Gentry: Yeah, right till the end, which was hilarious. And then
Becs Gentry: I'm like, she's there having a nice honest moment and
Becs Gentry: the roles had reversed. I was then laughing and giggling
Becs Gentry: and just like, " Yeah, but now, we're friends for life."
Hillary Kupish: Tell them about that officially.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So Hillary, and this question is really for both of
Rob Simmelkjaer: you, but I'm curious, Hillary, what did you learn about yourself?
Rob Simmelkjaer: You're obviously a very accomplished marathoner, you're running amazing times
Rob Simmelkjaer: in New York and other places. Do you see yourself
Rob Simmelkjaer: differently now as a runner having been able to complete
Rob Simmelkjaer: this and not just do that but win it? Are
Rob Simmelkjaer: you thinking, wait a second, maybe this should be a
Rob Simmelkjaer: job for me, maybe I should get some sponsors and
Rob Simmelkjaer: quit my day job and do this for real?
Speaker 3: That is a great question and a very interesting one. I will
Speaker 3: say one of the things that surprised me about this
Speaker 3: trip, other than my own performance, how my body held
Speaker 3: up, the relationships and the connections that were built during
Speaker 3: this, and one of the most interesting thing about that is
Speaker 3: the type of people that this brought were people that
Speaker 3: obviously were in for a challenge for themselves, but really,
Speaker 3: really spoken to each other's lives. And I had a
Speaker 3: lot of great challenges kind of come my way and
Speaker 3: push me and pressed me to think about what do
Speaker 3: I really want this to look like? And so am
Speaker 3: I going to go for the Olympic trials? No, I've
Speaker 3: been asked that. I was like, " Absolutely not." I know
Speaker 3: where my strengths are and I don't know if that's
Speaker 3: what I want to do and where I would want to play. But absolutely,
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm not done with being competitive. I love the
Speaker 3: trail space, I love the adventure space. And even seeing
Speaker 3: runners like David, I'm like, " He's doing it differently." He
Speaker 3: has these incredible sponsorships and his thing is these stage
Speaker 3: wild races. And so there's areas I definitely want to explore. Also,
Speaker 3: I love my day job and I think there's something,
Speaker 3: the other thing that surprised me about this was the
Speaker 3: community that reached out to me, the amount of DMs,
Speaker 3: the amount of people were like, " How are you doing
Speaker 3: this as a normal person, as a mom with a
Speaker 3: job?" And I think there was something that really landed
Speaker 3: for me there. One, I hadn't posted on social for
Speaker 3: two years before New York. So, all of a sudden, I'm like, "Oh, I'm starting to understand
Speaker 3: the value of social in a different way," and thank
Speaker 3: you to everyone that did send messages because it meant
Speaker 3: a lot to me. But it was just like there's
Speaker 3: part of me that I do want to show that these are
Speaker 3: things you can do and still pursue other passions. It
Speaker 3: doesn't have to be one extreme. And so absolutely looking
Speaker 3: into what does sponsorship look like, especially for some of
Speaker 3: these big ambitious races that require a lot of travel
Speaker 3: time, funding, et cetera, but still having some conversations or kicking
Speaker 3: off some conversations and we'll see how that unfolds, but
Speaker 3: I don't think I'm going to be quitting my day
Speaker 3: job anytime soon.
Becs Gentry: Love that. But that's how it should be, I think,
Becs Gentry: the way you've started is an inspiration, and to change
Becs Gentry: that would be kind of strange in many ways. So
Becs Gentry: fingers crossed, I'm so excited for you.
Speaker 3: Freed out my authentic self, and there's different facets of
Speaker 3: me of my life that I really want to love
Speaker 3: and honor, running is a really big part of that and
Speaker 3: has been for a while now, but I don't want
Speaker 3: to just take one route because it's the path that I've
Speaker 3: seen forged the most. I think the beauty of what
Speaker 3: I saw through this experience is there's really creative ways
Speaker 3: to live your life and have meaningful impact in the
Speaker 3: different areas of passion that you want to pursue.
Becs Gentry: Absolutely.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Hillary, what do you think it was that allowed you to win
Rob Simmelkjaer: this thing? I mean, this is not a normal race.
Rob Simmelkjaer: This is an endurance event on many levels, running endurance,
Rob Simmelkjaer: sleep endurance, GI endurance, I'm sure, I mean, so many
Rob Simmelkjaer: things can go wrong over a week with your body
Rob Simmelkjaer: and something like this. What do you think it was
Rob Simmelkjaer: that spelled the difference for you?
Hillary Kupish: Gee, there's so much complexity and this whole race, seven
Hillary Kupish: days of teetering on the edge. And I will say,
Hillary Kupish: I actually made a call (inaudible) messages to Becs
Hillary Kupish: yesterday because we listened to the Rich Roll podcast with
Hillary Kupish: David Roche. I am a massive David- Megan Roche fan,
Hillary Kupish: and they really do a deep dive into all these
Hillary Kupish: different areas of fueling... They're really focused on the ultra
Hillary Kupish: field, and I've nerded out with them for years. And I think
Hillary Kupish: I really trained for this in an ultra mindset. It definitely
Hillary Kupish: wasn't any sort of traditional marathoning. And I would say
Hillary Kupish: some of the differentiators were definitely fueling. I really practiced
Hillary Kupish: a ton of fueling. I think I had more during races
Hillary Kupish: than most people, and that definitely left me maybe a
Hillary Kupish: little bit more recovered in some ways. But I will
Hillary Kupish: say I looked down at my legs every day and I was talking to them like
Hillary Kupish: they're my kids. I'm like, " You look so good today. I'm
Hillary Kupish: proud of you." And to rip off that, I think the
Hillary Kupish: other part of it that I spent a lot of time
Hillary Kupish: around was mindset and how I think people don't realize
Hillary Kupish: how their self- talk impacts them or even what their self-
Hillary Kupish: talk is. And I spent a lot of time in my
Hillary Kupish: training reframing, and I think one of the biggest game
Hillary Kupish: change, things you can do is I can, I get
Hillary Kupish: to, and I'm grateful for, and if everything is framed
Hillary Kupish: with I can do this, I get to do this,
Hillary Kupish: and I'm grateful I get to do this, it changes.
Hillary Kupish: Of course, throughout the first six races, there was not
Hillary Kupish: a moment where I was like, " I'm over it, I'm
Hillary Kupish: done, I can't, I was tired," but when I felt
Hillary Kupish: tired, I knew what to do because I had practiced
Hillary Kupish: it. I'm like, " This is when the work starts, so
Hillary Kupish: let's go, you can," and I say six because the
Hillary Kupish: seventh, I remember that morning I woke up after two
Hillary Kupish: hours of sleep and I was like, it was the
Hillary Kupish: first time I had cried. I was just in the chair by myself. I'm like, "
Hillary Kupish: Not enough. It's not enough." It was rough morning for
Hillary Kupish: me, and it was the first time that I was like, " I
Hillary Kupish: don't want to run today." But then I was also like, " Okay,"
Hillary Kupish: there were so many days where I staying with the pack,
Hillary Kupish: running smart, holding back enough, and that was another part
Hillary Kupish: of this, just like if I would've pushed harder and maxed sooner,
Hillary Kupish: things could have fallen off. And that's again what you're
Hillary Kupish: always teetering with. And so being able to hold some
Hillary Kupish: of that back and get to the point where, thank
Hillary Kupish: God, it was just the last day that I was like, "
Hillary Kupish: No, this is a struggle." And then I happened to be on Miami with Becs'
Hillary Kupish: entire fan club who I'm just like, "I'm going to ride this wave.
Hillary Kupish: I know you're cheering for Becs, but I'm pretending you're
Hillary Kupish: cheering for me too." So long- winded answer, but there you go.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Amazing. Congratulations. It's phenomenal. Are you going to come back and
Rob Simmelkjaer: defend it next year? Is this something people defend or do
Rob Simmelkjaer: they just check that box and move on?
Hillary Kupish: Becs is not somebody that does races twice. I'll do races
Hillary Kupish: twice. Something like this, I was like, " I would want
Hillary Kupish: to, I'd probably run with a different purpose maybe to
Hillary Kupish: get people..." I mean, I'm happy to go up against
Hillary Kupish: someone just if they want it, I'm like, " I'll give you a
Hillary Kupish: run for your money or try to." But also, I really, really
Hillary Kupish: believe in what David is doing in building here from
Hillary Kupish: a business standpoint. And if I can support that and
Hillary Kupish: if being a part of it helps that, then absolutely, I will.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I love it.
Hillary Kupish: There we go. Funding part, we have to have.
Becs Gentry: Sub 3, it's all the way, please.
Hillary Kupish: Oh my gosh, yes. We could go lower. We could go
Hillary Kupish: lower, but we'll see.
Becs Gentry: Yeah.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Wow. Well, I'm in awe of both of you, but
Rob Simmelkjaer: Hillary, congrats, amazing to meet you and can't wait to
Rob Simmelkjaer: see what you do next.
Hillary Kupish: Thank you. Yeah, really appreciate it.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Thanks again, Hillary. Now, it's time for today's Meb minute.
Meb: Thanks, Rob. Cold weather training and hydration, in the winter,
Meb: it is easy to forget about hydration, but it's just as
Meb: important as a warm month is. Cold weather can mask
Meb: thirst, but your body still loses fluids when you run.
Meb: Make sure you hydrate before, during, and after your runs,
Meb: even if you don't feel thirsty. Also, don't skip your
Meb: fueling. Your body still needs energy to perform, carry an
Meb: energy gel or snack for longer runs, and make sure
Meb: to eat a balanced meal afterward to help you recover.
Meb: Remember, it is not what you do only practice time,
Meb: but how you take care of yourself for the next
Meb: 22 hours. Hydration is something you can control. Make sure
Meb: you get your rest and have fun.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And that does it for another episode of Set the
Rob Simmelkjaer: Pace. Thanks, Becs, for telling us all the great stories
Rob Simmelkjaer: of the Great World Race, and thank you to Hillary
Rob Simmelkjaer: as well for walking us through her incredible and victorious
Rob Simmelkjaer: World Race experience. Thanks as always to Meb for some
Rob Simmelkjaer: great insight as well. If you liked our episode today,
Rob Simmelkjaer: please go ahead, rate it, subscribe, leave a comment. We'd
Rob Simmelkjaer: love to hear from you. Hope you guys are having
Rob Simmelkjaer: a great, great holiday season. Enjoy the miles. We'll see
Rob Simmelkjaer: you next week.