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Speaker 1: I'm grateful. I'm so, so so grateful from that moment

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Speaker 1: of me being depressed because I can see I always

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Speaker 1: say there's a light at the end of the tunnel,

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Speaker 1: and I can never see it until December seventh.

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Speaker 2: Hey everyone, Emily Abani here, you are listening to a

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Speaker 2: special week of content here on Hurdle called Running Through

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Speaker 2: with Global Running Day on Wednesday, June first, It's only

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Speaker 2: fitting that we wrap up season nine and celebrate all week.

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Speaker 3: By bringing five back to back episodes to the feed.

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Speaker 3: You guys, you know the deal.

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Speaker 4: Here on the show, I am dedicated to bringing hurdler's

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Speaker 4: content that encompasses all that is wellness. Still running holds

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Speaker 4: a really special place in my heart. While idly leaned

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Speaker 4: into running as a weight loss tool back in college,

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Speaker 4: it has turned into a passion of mine, helping me

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Speaker 4: personally get through a ton of difficult hurdle moments and

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Speaker 4: ten marathons later become a happier, healthier version of myself.

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Speaker 4: This week, I am talking with other inspiring women who

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Speaker 4: have also turned to running during some of life's biggest,

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Speaker 4: darkest hurdles. We get vulnerable talking about tough topics like

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Speaker 4: loss and grief, depression and postpartum depression, and how running

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Speaker 4: in sport has helped them persevere, rediscover their self worth

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Speaker 4: and move forward with their head held high. For today's episode,

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Speaker 4: I am chatting with Tara Davis. She is a professional

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Speaker 4: track and field athlete, a long jumper, and as of yesterday,

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Speaker 4: the big announcement that we talk about in today's episode,

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Speaker 4: she is now a global Blue bu Lemon ambassador. So

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Speaker 4: excited about this episode, specifically because you may recognize Tara,

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Speaker 4: because let's just say it for what it is. She

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Speaker 4: blew up after the twenty twenty Olympic Trials thanks to

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Speaker 4: her fiery personality and her go getter attitude and.

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Speaker 3: On camera shenanigans.

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Speaker 4: Since then, she has been having a blast making content

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Speaker 4: with her now beyance and fellow Global Lululemon ambassador Hunter Woodhall.

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Speaker 4: Today she's on the podcast Solo, something that I don't

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Speaker 4: believe she has done just yet. Usually her and Hunter

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Speaker 4: a dynamic duo. So amped to have her here to

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Speaker 4: get personal, to talk about her journey and hers alone,

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Speaker 4: navigating everything from the pressures that go hand in hand

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Speaker 4: but going after your big Olympic dreams for her, that

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Speaker 4: involved navigating abouts of depression and what it was like

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Speaker 4: for her to navigate both long distance and the pandemic,

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Speaker 4: finishing at college, going to the Olympics all at.

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Speaker 3: The same time.

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Speaker 4: Really really grateful that Tara decided to get vulnerable with

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Speaker 4: us and this convo is one not to be missed.

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Speaker 3: Before we dive in, I have to give.

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Speaker 4: A huge, huge thanks to my sponsor for this week

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Speaker 4: of content, and that sponsor is Tracksmith. Tracksmith, as you

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Speaker 4: may know, is a brand for runners inspired by a

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Speaker 4: deep love for the sport. They craft incredible gear for training, racing,

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Speaker 4: and rest days, and create experiences that make running more rewarding,

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Speaker 4: more connected, and more meaningful.

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Speaker 3: There's summer collection features pieces.

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Speaker 4: Designed for running in the heat, as well as staples

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Speaker 4: for your vacation adventures. From their silky smove twilight styles

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Speaker 4: that seem to disappear while you're running to comfortable short

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Speaker 4: tights that can carry all of your long run fuel,

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Speaker 4: these are staples that will work as hard as you do.

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Speaker 4: Explore their collections and stories at tracksmith dot com and

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Speaker 4: use the code Hurtle twenty two for free shipping.

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Speaker 3: Now this is really special to me.

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Speaker 4: Tracksmith is working with me to support an organization that

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Speaker 4: I feel passionately about, especially after the awful massacre last

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Speaker 4: week in Alvaldi, Texas at rob Elementary.

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Speaker 3: And that organization is every Town.

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Speaker 4: For every order that is purchased on tracksmith dot com

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Speaker 4: using the code Hurdle twenty two, Tracksmith will donate five

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Speaker 4: percent of.

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Speaker 3: All sales to every Town.

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Speaker 4: Now, for those of you who don't know, every Town

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Speaker 4: is an organization that advocates for gun control and against

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Speaker 4: gun violence. So grateful to Tracksmith for partnering with me

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Speaker 4: on this and again. That code for anyone to do

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Speaker 4: some good and get free shipping over on tracksmith dot

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Speaker 4: com is Hurdle twenty two. Make sure you're following along

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Speaker 4: with Hurdle. Over on the Socials is a hurdle podcast.

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Speaker 4: I am over at Emily a body and with that,

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Speaker 4: let's get to hurdling.

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Speaker 3: Today. I am sitting down with Tara Davis.

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Speaker 4: She is a professional track and field athlete, a long

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Speaker 4: jumper and Olympian.

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Speaker 3: How you doing today, Tara?

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Speaker 1: I am good. Thank you so much for having me.

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Speaker 4: I am so excited to have you. You have nothing

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Speaker 4: going on right now, like absolutely nothing. You must be

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Speaker 4: so bored, so far from it, so far from it. Well,

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Speaker 4: we're recording this before a very big week for you,

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Speaker 4: but it's coming out after you make a major announcement.

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Speaker 4: So do you want to share what your news is

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Speaker 4: with us to start our collage?

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Speaker 1: Absolutely so. In track and field, I'm a professional athlete

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Speaker 1: and my fiance and I just signed with Lululemon. We

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Speaker 1: are now world ambassadors for the Lululemon team and we

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Speaker 1: are just so excited to be on board and be

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Speaker 1: with the team and see where it.

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Speaker 3: Takes us, see where it takes us.

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Speaker 4: Congratulations, I need like an applause, like and for you

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Speaker 4: to put into yeah, to put into the podcast here.

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Speaker 4: That's so exciting, so exciting and such a big moment,

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Speaker 4: especially you know, being our professional athlete. So many costs

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Speaker 4: that come and in hand with that, and we'll get

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Speaker 4: into your backstory a little bit, but it's expensive to

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Speaker 4: navigate on your own.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, very expensive. And before I went professional some

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Speaker 1: track meets I had to pay my own way to

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Speaker 1: get to and just recently we paid our way to

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Speaker 1: go to California and paid for the hotel and paid

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Speaker 1: for the flight and paid for everything about going on.

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Speaker 1: I was like, Wow, this sport is really really expensive,

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Speaker 1: especially if you don't have any sponsors around. You know,

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Speaker 1: there's so many track meets around the world, but you

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Speaker 1: have to travel to them and you're not staying there

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Speaker 1: just for one day or staying there for multiple days.

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Speaker 1: And then on top of eating and training and you know,

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Speaker 1: just doing all of that, just recovery and massage is

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Speaker 1: and you know it's expensive, and not having someone to

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Speaker 1: support you can really just like make the sport not

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Speaker 1: fun for anyone or for the person, you know. So

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Speaker 1: I'm so, so so grateful that Hunter and I have

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Speaker 1: this cool sponsorship that you know, supports us and supports

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Speaker 1: not only what we do on the track, but what

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Speaker 1: we do off the track as well.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, super super awesome.

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Speaker 4: And obviously we're throwing Hunter's name into the mix here.

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Speaker 4: If you have been living under a rock and you

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Speaker 4: don't know a Tari's fiance, his name is Hunter Woodall.

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Speaker 4: He is also an Olympian. Give us some context into

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Speaker 4: what it's like to be in a relationship with someone

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Speaker 4: who is as obscenely competitive as involved in sport as

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Speaker 4: you are.

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Speaker 1: It's honestly such a fun journey because we know we

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Speaker 1: do the same exact thing and not the same event,

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Speaker 1: but the same sport, and we both know how tiring

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Speaker 1: and what track and field is, and like having someone

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Speaker 1: who can get it, if that makes sense, like get

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Speaker 1: what we're going through, it's so much easier. And so

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Speaker 1: I think it's better to have, you know, my significant

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Speaker 1: other being the same sport because one day I'm having

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Speaker 1: a bad day, but I don't have to explain to

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Speaker 1: him why I'm having a bad day or a bad practice.

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Speaker 1: He already just knows. And same for him, like I

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Speaker 1: know he's had a really hard workout. We probably don't

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Speaker 1: want to go, you know, walk around the mall for

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Speaker 1: two and a half hours, and like I just we

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Speaker 1: get it. We get each other and we get like

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Speaker 1: what's going on. It's just a lot easier.

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Speaker 4: And it's it's super interesting to me. I mean, you yourself,

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Speaker 4: you're a ball of energy. You're so fiery. But you

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Speaker 4: even said at the top of this episode, like Hunter

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Speaker 4: and I got signed to Lulu Lemon, and before I

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Speaker 4: sat down with you today, I was like looking for

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Speaker 4: just Tara Davis interviews and there aren't a lot of them.

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Speaker 3: So together you get to do a lot.

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Speaker 4: But I personally, selfishly am excited to have you here

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Speaker 4: on your own today.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much.

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Speaker 3: I'm so excited.

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Speaker 1: It's fun doing things together, but it's also fun doing

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Speaker 1: things like separately. It's kind of like throes back to

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Speaker 1: like when you know we weren't together and what we

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Speaker 1: used to do not together.

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Speaker 3: So you've been together for a while.

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Speaker 4: Now, talk to us a little bit before we get

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Speaker 4: into more of your Olympic journey, which is what I

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Speaker 4: really do want to talk about today.

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Speaker 3: Talk to us about what it was like meeting him.

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Speaker 4: You started dating and got exclusive pretty fast right before college,

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Speaker 4: so give us some context there.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so Hunter and I met. We were both seventeen.

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Speaker 1: He was actually turned eighteen that day. We were in

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Speaker 1: Simplot at Simplot Games, which is in pokatell Idaho, and

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Speaker 1: it's just an indoor track, super small, and he was

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Speaker 1: running a race and I saw him and I was like,

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Speaker 1: oh wow, he's pretty cute, and I we went up

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Speaker 1: onto the track as he finished his race. I don't

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Speaker 1: know why, but I just had a feeling that I

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Speaker 1: had to hug him and give him a hug, and

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Speaker 1: I went out to him. I was like, I don't

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Speaker 1: know why I'm doing this from giving you a hug,

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Speaker 1: and then I was like pretty much it for that

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Speaker 1: track me and then we followed each other on social

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Speaker 1: media and began talking on there, and then you know,

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Speaker 1: it just kind of took off. And at first, like

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Speaker 1: we knew we liked each other, but it wasn't like exclusive,

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Speaker 1: like we're not telling each other we like each other.

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Speaker 1: And then I don't know, someone we posted a picture

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Speaker 1: together and someone's like, oh my gosh, you guys would

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Speaker 1: be such a cute couple, and we're like, we should

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Speaker 1: pretend that we're dating, but like for dead, but actually

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Speaker 1: started dating. So we just played along with everyone and like, actually,

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Speaker 1: like I really like you and he's like, I really

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Speaker 1: like you. And then you know, just started dating. And

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Speaker 1: then college came around. Immediately went to long distance, which

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Speaker 1: was not fun, but it made our relationship our relationship.

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Speaker 1: So we did long distance for four years all of

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Speaker 1: college up until August I moved in with him in Faetteville, Arkansas.

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Speaker 3: Wow. Wow.

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Speaker 4: Also of note, which we haven't covered yet, is that

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Speaker 4: Hunter is a paralympian, so he is working with two

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Speaker 4: prosthetic legs. When you guys started dating, was that even

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Speaker 4: something that you thought about or you were just so

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Speaker 4: taken by him?

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Speaker 3: That was never like in the equation for you.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I get this question, and I kind of just

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Speaker 1: didn't even. It didn't phaze me. I was more focused

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Speaker 1: on him himself and his personality and just his like

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Speaker 1: aura himself, and I didn't even. It wasn't even a thought.

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Speaker 1: And I don't know, it's still not a thought. I

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Speaker 1: kind of forget that. You know, he doesn't have two

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Speaker 1: feet seas like everyone else, but it's cool it makes him.

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Speaker 3: Has that been challenging for the both of you at times?

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Speaker 1: No, only when he wants me to go do stuff

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Speaker 1: for him to get out of bed at first, and

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Speaker 1: I'm like, no, you get out of bed.

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Speaker 3: You figure it out. Yeah, oh my god, Oh my god.

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Speaker 4: Well, okay, so you guys met super young, dated all

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Speaker 4: of college, and during this.

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Speaker 3: Time you transfer schools.

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Speaker 4: You start at one university, end up at University of Texas,

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Speaker 4: and you're both training at this like next level that

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Speaker 4: must be in itself for you have been certainly challenging

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Speaker 4: navigating all of the emotions that go hand in hand

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Speaker 4: with trying to be a full time student, a full

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Speaker 4: time athlete, and also in a long distance relationship, and then.

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Speaker 1: Trying to have a social life as well, and it's

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Speaker 1: just like a lot of things piling on top of

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Speaker 1: each other, you know, trying to and then try to

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Speaker 1: figure out what adult life is or what you know,

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Speaker 1: how to live a life without parents or without someone

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Speaker 1: telling you what to do when you know it's it

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Speaker 1: was hard trying to navigate through all of it, and

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Speaker 1: it I mean I got through it. It wasn't easy,

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Speaker 1: but I got through it. And with the help of

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Speaker 1: my fiance Hunter. He knew what I was going through

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Speaker 1: and I knew what he was going through, so we

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Speaker 1: could relate on that and help each other throughout those

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Speaker 1: hard times.

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Speaker 4: Then, as you are navigating all of this, what year

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Speaker 4: do you graduate college?

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Speaker 1: I graduated in twenty twenty one. I went to the

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Speaker 1: Olympics while I was still in college, and I was

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Speaker 1: doing assignments in Tokyo.

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Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, and like navigating a global pandemic.

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Speaker 3: So that's really where I want to go with this.

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Speaker 4: I want to talk to you about that experience, because

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Speaker 4: I'm sure a stress anxiety unlike any other navigating all

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Speaker 4: of that during so much uncertainty in our world.

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Speaker 3: So where were you when things got shut down?

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Speaker 1: I was actually at my house in my apartment. My

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Speaker 1: teammates had just left two Nationals, so I was a

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Speaker 1: little upset because I couldn't go with them because I

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Speaker 1: didn't make the team. I was like, dang, like I

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Speaker 1: really wish I got to go. And then all of

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Speaker 1: a sudden, the my group chat of the team starts

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Speaker 1: blowing up and they're like, why are we going home?

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Speaker 1: What's going on? Like we just got here. They're telling

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Speaker 1: us the Nationals to shut down, no fans allowed, and

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Speaker 1: it was like everything was a bit confusing, and I

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Speaker 1: was like stating at home, like what the Heck's going on?

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Speaker 1: Hunter called me telling me that he was on the

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Speaker 1: flight and I guess they're the president of their school

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Speaker 1: said no no travel for athletes and they had just

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Speaker 1: landed in New Mexico and he calls me. He's like,

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Speaker 1: I have no idea what's going on? Like I think

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Speaker 1: we're about to go home And I was like what,

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Speaker 1: Like you just got there. So long story short, Hunter

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Speaker 1: ends up coming to Austin and they get back to FAYEO.

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Speaker 1: Everyone comes back home and Hunter books it to Austin.

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Speaker 1: We thought he was gonna stay for like a week

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Speaker 1: or two, ends up staying for six months and like

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Speaker 1: we just lived together for six months, and it was like,

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Speaker 1: at first it was a little terrifying because I didn't

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Speaker 1: know where track was going. I didn't know how the

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Speaker 1: Olympics were gonna go. I didn't know anything because everything

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Speaker 1: was just shut down. No one knew anything. But then

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Speaker 1: realization set in, like Track's over for the year, Track

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Speaker 1: is done, there's no there's not gonna be the Olympics.

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Speaker 1: And I think Hunter and I took full advantage of

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Speaker 1: this moment and just lived a normal life while everything

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Speaker 1: wasn't normal. We got to be together, we got to

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Speaker 1: just enjoy each other's time and just I would say,

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Speaker 1: learn more about each other than we ever learned before

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Speaker 1: because we were in one space for longer than twenty

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Speaker 1: four hours together. And I personally enjoyed COVID because of

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Speaker 1: that reason, because I got to, you know, track has

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Speaker 1: always been in my life since I was four years old,

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Speaker 1: and it finally wasn't And it was a weird transition.

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Speaker 1: It was weird change, but it was so cool. I

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Speaker 1: had no responsibilities. I had nothing to, you know, go

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Speaker 1: do at twelve thirty in the afternoon, I didn't have

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Speaker 1: to go practice and stuff. So I found myself. I

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Speaker 1: found like what I like to do. I had to

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Speaker 1: think about if Track was taken away, what other hobbies

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Speaker 1: would I like to do? And we filmed a lot

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Speaker 1: of YouTube videos. We filmed so many things. We got

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Speaker 1: to have one on one time with each other and

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Speaker 1: you know, just live a life like a normal couple would.

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Speaker 4: What else did you learn about yourself? When you say

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Speaker 4: I got to really learn who Tara was?

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Speaker 3: Who is Tara without Track and Field?

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Speaker 1: I that's a really big question because at the time

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Speaker 1: I was like just doing stuff that I wouldn't have

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Speaker 1: been doing, you know, like staying up until four am

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Speaker 1: watching Netflix, or you know, like I didn't know I

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Speaker 1: could grub all of this food and such like a

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Speaker 1: short amount of time. And just like I didn't see

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Speaker 1: I was always focused on Track and not on the

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Speaker 1: bigger world. I didn't know there's all of these like

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Speaker 1: what did we do? We did almost everything. We went

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Speaker 1: to the creek, we went to play with my dog.

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Speaker 1: I trained my dog, taught so many tricks to him,

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Speaker 1: and like it was just I want to say I

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Speaker 1: found myself, but I don't know how to say, like

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Speaker 1: what I found within myself? But it was just another

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Speaker 1: chapter of life where track was involved.

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Speaker 4: And it's really interesting to hear you talk about this,

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Speaker 4: because I think the flip side of that coin can

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Speaker 4: be when you don't have your sport, whether it's because

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Speaker 4: of injury or in this case, a global pandemic and

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Speaker 4: so much anxiety and confusion sets in and you really

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Speaker 4: start to struggle with your identity.

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Speaker 3: But you kind of had like the adverse experience.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and I knew that, I mean, track was going

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Speaker 1: to be there next year, you know, and I knew

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Speaker 1: it was going to come back, and I knew whatever happens,

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Speaker 1: that I can still just go to the track and

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Speaker 1: train and do whatever I would like to do. But

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Speaker 1: not having to was so cool, like not being forced

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Speaker 1: to do something, if that makes sense. And I just

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Speaker 1: I got to sleep in and I got to like

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Speaker 1: not have my body and pain twenty four to seven,

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Speaker 1: and I feel like it was really a reset for

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Speaker 1: my mind and for my body. I don't think I

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Speaker 1: would have made the Olympic team in twenty twenty at all.

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Speaker 3: Interesting talk a little bit about that.

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Speaker 1: I just mentally wasn't ready to be on that stage

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Speaker 1: and physically nowhere near. Yeah, I just don't think I

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Speaker 1: would have made the team. I don't think I would

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Speaker 1: have been in the position where I was the next

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Speaker 1: following year.

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Speaker 4: When you go to the Olympic trials, you have a

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Speaker 4: standout appearance, I would say, And it feels as though,

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Speaker 4: and please correct me if you've perceived otherwise, But after

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Speaker 4: the Olympic Trials, everyone knew Tara Davis's name. So talk

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Speaker 4: to me about what that experience was like for you

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Speaker 4: and how that felt.

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Speaker 1: It felt so good. In high school, I was pretty

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Speaker 1: elite in track and field, and I was, you know,

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Speaker 1: famous in the high school world and everyone knew my name.

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Speaker 1: But in track now, you know, and just social life,

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Speaker 1: and it kind of reminded me like, this is where

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Speaker 1: you're supposed to be, This is what you want to be,

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Speaker 1: this is you know, this is what you've worked so

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Speaker 1: so so hard for. And having my name recognized and

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Speaker 1: people recognizing me and just knowing that what I did

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Speaker 1: on the track is showing and what I do off

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Speaker 1: the track is being you know, recognized, and all of

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Speaker 1: my hard work I was dedicated for so long and

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Speaker 1: it's finally paying off. And every time I get recognized,

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Speaker 1: I feel, you know, humbled, and it shows that what

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Speaker 1: I doing is really working, and it feels good to

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Speaker 1: be reminded that all my hard work is being paid

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Speaker 1: off from just like this short amount of time on

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Speaker 1: the runway or on the track.

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Speaker 4: Of course, with that level of attention also comes a

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Speaker 4: lot of opinions.

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Speaker 3: I don't need to tell you this.

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Speaker 4: You also have something like three hundred and fifty thousand

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Speaker 4: Instagram followers.

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Speaker 3: How has navigating that been for you?

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Speaker 1: It was really difficult at first. You know, the negative

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Speaker 1: comments stick out more than the positive comments, and I

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Speaker 1: get hundreds and hundreds of positive comments, but that one

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Speaker 1: negative really sticks out like a sore thumb, and I

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Speaker 1: learned to brush it off. But at first, I was like,

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Speaker 1: why are these people talking like this. I'd never done

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Speaker 1: anything to them. They don't even know what they're talking about.

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Speaker 1: They're assuming that when I was transferring, they assumed that

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Speaker 1: I was the problem and I was just being dramatic

381
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Speaker 1: and that's not true. Like no one understood like behind

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Speaker 1: the scenes. And I think that's where I finally came

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Speaker 1: to recognitions, like they're not seeing what's going on behind

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Speaker 1: the scenes. They can only see what they put on

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Speaker 1: social media or what other people say. And so it

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Speaker 1: took some getting used to and it's still getting I still,

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Speaker 1: you know, fall under the comments and try to calm

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Speaker 1: back and fight back. But at the end of the day,

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Speaker 1: that person's just sitting on the couch, not doing anything,

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Speaker 1: just watching a twenty three year old living their life.

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Speaker 4: Do you want to shed some light on the transfer

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Speaker 4: for us?

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Speaker 1: When I went to University of Georgia, I went from

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Speaker 1: twenty seventeen to December twenty eighteen. Once I transferred, my

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Speaker 1: coach blocked me, and he said that I was too

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Speaker 1: good of an athlete to compete against his girls. And

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Speaker 1: what blocked means is I couldn't compete with any team

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Speaker 1: for the next season at all. So doesn't matter if

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Speaker 1: it was like an SEC school or a Big twelve school,

400
00:21:58,720 --> 00:22:03,040
Speaker 1: it's any school in the D one, you know, championships

401
00:22:03,040 --> 00:22:08,360
Speaker 1: and c WAD one. And that was hard because I

402
00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:13,320
Speaker 1: couldn't understand why an adult was blocking someone or.

403
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Speaker 3: How is that legal? Like how does that work?

404
00:22:15,359 --> 00:22:18,640
Speaker 1: You know, I can tell you all the legalities of everything,

405
00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:21,960
Speaker 1: but I know that it's wrong. I know it's wrong

406
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Speaker 1: because if that coach wanted to leave a school and

407
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Speaker 1: go coach somewhere else, he could do it. Fine, No, like,

408
00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:33,080
Speaker 1: no options, no blocking, no nothing. He can go do it.

409
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Speaker 1: But for an athlete, someone whose career that you're hindering,

410
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Speaker 1: that's not fair just because of your own opinion. And

411
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Speaker 1: I didn't understand that, and you know, I still don't

412
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Speaker 1: understand it. I still don't know how it's legal. But

413
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Speaker 1: I hope it changes so you know, kids can really

414
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Speaker 1: live out their career and their dreams. It's I'm not

415
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Speaker 1: everyone's going to get along, and that's just the way

416
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Speaker 1: life is. And I don't think that there should be

417
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Speaker 1: someone blocking someone for doing that and not doing that.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm I giggled a little bit silently to myself

419
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Speaker 4: before when you were like, and sometimes I say something

420
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Speaker 4: back because I feel like, was it yesterday on my

421
00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:18,880
Speaker 4: Twitter foret or two days ago you like literally said

422
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Speaker 4: to someone, sorry, I'm annoying you.

423
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Speaker 1: They said, I'm annoying. I'm the most annoying track at

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Speaker 1: and I'm like, how I don't I do to you?

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Speaker 1: I don't think it's in the same breath. In the

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Speaker 1: same breath.

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Speaker 4: You also said everyone is entitled to their own opinions,

428
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Speaker 4: so you tried to come at it from a place

429
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Speaker 4: of grace.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it's true, like everyone's in town to

431
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Speaker 1: their own opinion, but like, I'm sorry that I'm annoying you,

432
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Speaker 1: but I'm just gonna continue to do what I do.

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Speaker 4: Twenty three years old, so like beyond your years already

434
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Speaker 4: and like so many years ahead of you, and certainly

435
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Speaker 4: young in the sport. So it's really cool to see

436
00:23:57,359 --> 00:24:00,600
Speaker 4: you stepping into your power. Well, it doesn't act and

437
00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:03,240
Speaker 4: as a woman, I think we'd be remiss if we

438
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Speaker 4: didn't talk about the fact that you're also a black athlete.

439
00:24:07,560 --> 00:24:10,960
Speaker 4: And over the last couple of years, there have been

440
00:24:11,520 --> 00:24:17,560
Speaker 4: a lot of conversations surrounding race and diversity within sports

441
00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:22,480
Speaker 4: and beyond sports. For you, as a black woman, how

442
00:24:22,520 --> 00:24:27,040
Speaker 4: does it feel to represent for so many perhaps younger

443
00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:30,040
Speaker 4: athletes that look up to you and see you and

444
00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:34,320
Speaker 4: then in turn can see themselves perhaps after the things

445
00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:35,040
Speaker 4: that excite them.

446
00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:39,080
Speaker 1: You know, it's crazy because I was I'm going to

447
00:24:39,119 --> 00:24:40,679
Speaker 1: go off topic a little bit, but it kind of

448
00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:43,159
Speaker 1: relates to the story. When I was watching the election,

449
00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:47,120
Speaker 1: I saw Kamala Harris on my screen. I was like, Wow,

450
00:24:47,760 --> 00:24:50,879
Speaker 1: there's a colored woman in the office on my screen.

451
00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:54,480
Speaker 1: The biggest thing that any woman, any person can be

452
00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:58,119
Speaker 1: at and she's there, and I just started bawling my

453
00:24:58,200 --> 00:25:01,280
Speaker 1: eyes out because I didn't see that growing up. I

454
00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:05,080
Speaker 1: didn't see you know, person of color, you know, running

455
00:25:05,080 --> 00:25:07,080
Speaker 1: the nation at all. I didn't think that was ever

456
00:25:07,119 --> 00:25:09,800
Speaker 1: going to be possible before Barack Obama and then a

457
00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:13,679
Speaker 1: woman being a vice president, And I just bowled my

458
00:25:13,760 --> 00:25:16,880
Speaker 1: eyes out because I know for my kids, my kids

459
00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:19,440
Speaker 1: are going to be African American, and I know that

460
00:25:20,119 --> 00:25:22,840
Speaker 1: there's going to be their color on the screen. And

461
00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:25,320
Speaker 1: I feel like for me, I'm doing the same thing.

462
00:25:25,359 --> 00:25:28,440
Speaker 1: I don't even realize it. And it's so cool that,

463
00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:30,760
Speaker 1: you know, young women look up to me and tell

464
00:25:30,760 --> 00:25:34,040
Speaker 1: me that I've inspire them. I'm like, wow, Like that's

465
00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:36,240
Speaker 1: so insane, and like when everyone comes up to me

466
00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:39,760
Speaker 1: like I am inspiring them and I'm doing something that

467
00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:43,840
Speaker 1: I love, but I'm also showing everyone else that they

468
00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:44,560
Speaker 1: can do it too.

469
00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:48,720
Speaker 4: I think a saying that I heard last week was

470
00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:51,800
Speaker 4: in order to be her, sometimes you need to see her.

471
00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:54,679
Speaker 4: So it's like to see people that look like you

472
00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:57,600
Speaker 4: doing things that you want to do. Sometimes that's the

473
00:25:57,760 --> 00:26:01,200
Speaker 4: unlock to go after the potential that you already had.

474
00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:02,439
Speaker 3: It's already inside of you.

475
00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:05,640
Speaker 4: But sometimes we need to see, especially as women, other

476
00:26:05,760 --> 00:26:08,600
Speaker 4: women going after and pursuing the things that excite them

477
00:26:08,680 --> 00:26:11,359
Speaker 4: so that we can channel that excitement within us. Going

478
00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:14,760
Speaker 4: back to the Olympics, you said that you weren't exactly

479
00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:18,280
Speaker 4: sure if you would have made it before this extra

480
00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:23,160
Speaker 4: year so to speak. Talk us through the actual experience

481
00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:26,600
Speaker 4: and making that team and the prep that happened for

482
00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:31,720
Speaker 4: you between the Olympic trials and let's call it game day.

483
00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:36,520
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a lot of overwhelming, but it was

484
00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:41,600
Speaker 1: so exciting. But it was very overwhelming because there's so

485
00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:45,000
Speaker 1: much publicity. But I loved it at the same time,

486
00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:48,960
Speaker 1: and I wanted to, you know, focus on the Games

487
00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:51,920
Speaker 1: as another track meet. I didn't want to wrap my

488
00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:54,639
Speaker 1: head around it being the Olympics because I was twenty

489
00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:56,760
Speaker 1: two years old, like still trying to figure out like

490
00:26:56,960 --> 00:26:59,600
Speaker 1: how the heck I even got here, and like this

491
00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:02,120
Speaker 1: was my dream, This was my main goal, like since

492
00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:04,040
Speaker 1: I was four years old, was to make the Olympic team.

493
00:27:04,560 --> 00:27:06,480
Speaker 1: And I knew if I went to the meet that

494
00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:10,000
Speaker 1: it was the Olympics, that I probably wouldn't have done

495
00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:12,639
Speaker 1: as you know, as well as I did, because I

496
00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:14,879
Speaker 1: was going to be so wrapped up around you know,

497
00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:18,520
Speaker 1: the rings and the Olympics and everyone there, and like

498
00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:20,679
Speaker 1: this is the biggest stage of your entire life, like

499
00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:23,800
Speaker 1: you've got to do well. Like no, you can do

500
00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:27,880
Speaker 1: well while having fun. But I just wanted to embrace

501
00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:30,520
Speaker 1: all of it and just treat it as another track meet.

502
00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:33,080
Speaker 1: Treat it as like this is something that you do

503
00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:35,720
Speaker 1: all the time. This say is if you fail or

504
00:27:35,720 --> 00:27:38,760
Speaker 1: you win it, it doesn't define you because you're still

505
00:27:38,800 --> 00:27:41,920
Speaker 1: an athlete that you are, You're an Olympian. And I

506
00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:44,960
Speaker 1: don't know, I just went in like, go for it,

507
00:27:45,040 --> 00:27:47,320
Speaker 1: Just go fun, Go have fun. You know, you've made

508
00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:50,520
Speaker 1: it this far, just go do you And I did.

509
00:27:50,600 --> 00:27:51,520
Speaker 1: It was so much fun.

510
00:27:52,520 --> 00:27:52,920
Speaker 3: Yeah.

511
00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:57,720
Speaker 4: So, I mean sixth in the world isn't bad. And

512
00:27:57,960 --> 00:28:00,760
Speaker 4: to your point saying like, whether you do good or

513
00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:02,160
Speaker 4: you don't do good, at the end of the day,

514
00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:05,320
Speaker 4: you're still an Olympian and you still have the opportunity

515
00:28:05,359 --> 00:28:06,720
Speaker 4: to learn from that experience.

516
00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:09,320
Speaker 3: Again, going back to being wise beyond your.

517
00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:12,720
Speaker 4: Years, I would say that's pretty exemplary of that statement.

518
00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:13,040
Speaker 3: There.

519
00:28:13,320 --> 00:28:16,399
Speaker 4: Beyond that experience and showing up for quote unquote just

520
00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:19,679
Speaker 4: another track meet, there still was a hell of a

521
00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:23,600
Speaker 4: lot of preparation that went into this. So you said

522
00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:26,399
Speaker 4: before kind of jokingly like it was nice for my

523
00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:29,840
Speaker 4: body not to hurt every single day. Did you feel

524
00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:31,800
Speaker 4: like you were really just like kind of pushing it

525
00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:34,120
Speaker 4: to the max and the weeks and months leading up

526
00:28:34,200 --> 00:28:36,120
Speaker 4: to the Olympics, Yeah, I had a.

527
00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:39,080
Speaker 1: Stretch fracture in my hip, I had a strained hamstring,

528
00:28:39,160 --> 00:28:41,760
Speaker 1: I had a broken foot all before the Olympics, and

529
00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:44,360
Speaker 1: at the trials, I had a fracture in my hip

530
00:28:44,760 --> 00:28:48,880
Speaker 1: and it was painful, so so so painful, and I

531
00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:52,600
Speaker 1: remember like hitting my hip like this like the entire time,

532
00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:55,840
Speaker 1: just to like stop hurting, like like, let's not do

533
00:28:55,960 --> 00:28:58,640
Speaker 1: this right now. And I was talking to my competitors.

534
00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:00,600
Speaker 1: I was like, dang, my hip birds like I don't know,

535
00:29:00,760 --> 00:29:03,560
Speaker 1: like I was like limping, and but as soon as

536
00:29:03,560 --> 00:29:06,240
Speaker 1: I started jumping, you know, it kind of just went away.

537
00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:07,640
Speaker 1: Until I would sit back down.

538
00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:09,240
Speaker 3: I'm like, oh my god.

539
00:29:10,680 --> 00:29:13,240
Speaker 1: But I mean it's all worth it at the end.

540
00:29:13,280 --> 00:29:19,080
Speaker 1: And I don't think any athlete has ever competed freshly healthy,

541
00:29:19,320 --> 00:29:21,360
Speaker 1: like there's always something hurting us, you.

542
00:29:21,320 --> 00:29:24,000
Speaker 3: Know, Yeah, firstly, how is your hip?

543
00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:24,240
Speaker 4: Now?

544
00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:26,120
Speaker 1: It's good? Now, it's just my knee.

545
00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:30,600
Speaker 4: Now it's just another ailment. And then secondly, talk to

546
00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:32,440
Speaker 4: me about the mental game that goes with that, because

547
00:29:32,560 --> 00:29:36,360
Speaker 4: it's not like normal that you can just combat that

548
00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:39,880
Speaker 4: sort of pain. Clearly there is some work that goes

549
00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:41,800
Speaker 4: hand in hand with that. Are you working with anyone

550
00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:44,880
Speaker 4: to kind of get to that next level for mental

551
00:29:44,920 --> 00:29:47,960
Speaker 4: performance for the sports psychology side of things, or is

552
00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:51,120
Speaker 4: this just an acquired skill that you've come to this

553
00:29:51,280 --> 00:29:52,840
Speaker 4: place of positive self talk?

554
00:29:53,320 --> 00:29:53,600
Speaker 3: Yeah.

555
00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:55,920
Speaker 1: I mean in college I was talking to a therapist,

556
00:29:55,960 --> 00:29:59,360
Speaker 1: which really helped, but towards the end I stopped talking

557
00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:03,080
Speaker 1: because it was in school. So I mean I used

558
00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:05,520
Speaker 1: some of the coping mechanisms and everything that she's had

559
00:30:05,560 --> 00:30:08,640
Speaker 1: taught me and brought it to the trials into the Olympics.

560
00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:12,520
Speaker 1: But it's almost like a second nature of like pushing

561
00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:14,600
Speaker 1: pain out of your head. And it's kind of like

562
00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:17,880
Speaker 1: kind of toxic if you think about it, because you're

563
00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:21,360
Speaker 1: like forcing your body to go through this pain when

564
00:30:21,400 --> 00:30:24,120
Speaker 1: it's not supposed to. But at the same time, it's

565
00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:28,280
Speaker 1: kind of cool how our brain works that, like if

566
00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:32,400
Speaker 1: you put your mind to something, it can happen. And

567
00:30:32,440 --> 00:30:34,360
Speaker 1: I tell myself, Okay, yeah, you're going through this pain,

568
00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:36,280
Speaker 1: but we're going to keep on pushing because we want

569
00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:38,520
Speaker 1: to make this team, or we want to keep on

570
00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:40,280
Speaker 1: pushing because we want to do well.

571
00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:44,160
Speaker 4: It seems as though the way that you're framing it,

572
00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:47,200
Speaker 4: that pushing seemed to work in your favor. But throughout

573
00:30:47,240 --> 00:30:50,480
Speaker 4: your athletic career, did pushing ever get you to a

574
00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:53,040
Speaker 4: place that you were worse off than where you were before?

575
00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:56,720
Speaker 1: Absolutely? And that was two years a year before the

576
00:30:56,760 --> 00:31:00,120
Speaker 1: Olympic trials, where I was super, super, super depressed and

577
00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:03,160
Speaker 1: I was just being forced to show up to practice

578
00:31:03,160 --> 00:31:04,560
Speaker 1: every day and if I didn't show up, I would

579
00:31:04,560 --> 00:31:08,520
Speaker 1: get in trouble. And it was like, how can I

580
00:31:08,560 --> 00:31:11,160
Speaker 1: balance all of that? Like I can't even get out

581
00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:12,920
Speaker 1: of bed, but I'm forcing myself to get out of

582
00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:14,920
Speaker 1: bed to go to practice. And I would show up

583
00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:17,440
Speaker 1: to practice literally like in a hoodie and sweatshirts on

584
00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:20,480
Speaker 1: a ninety degree day because I didn't want to do anything.

585
00:31:20,520 --> 00:31:23,600
Speaker 1: But I would just go out there and kind of

586
00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:27,880
Speaker 1: like half ass everything. And that part was not healthy.

587
00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:29,640
Speaker 1: That was not what I was supposed to be doing.

588
00:31:29,640 --> 00:31:31,680
Speaker 1: I should have just stayed at home and you know,

589
00:31:31,760 --> 00:31:36,440
Speaker 1: took that mental day to recoup. But every day I

590
00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:38,040
Speaker 1: had to get up and do it. And so it

591
00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:41,040
Speaker 1: kept on like m like hitting me, hitting me and

592
00:31:41,080 --> 00:31:44,200
Speaker 1: hitting me, and finally, just like one day, just like

593
00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:48,960
Speaker 1: completely didn't show up to practice and broke completely. And

594
00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:52,400
Speaker 1: I think after a couple of weeks from that day,

595
00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:57,719
Speaker 1: I kind of changed my mindset of like, this is

596
00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:01,040
Speaker 1: my choice, this is what I'm going to do. I'm

597
00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:05,000
Speaker 1: going to choose to not feel this way. And it

598
00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:08,800
Speaker 1: was hard and I did it, but it was so

599
00:32:08,800 --> 00:32:12,240
Speaker 1: so so difficult because it took months, almost a year

600
00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:14,760
Speaker 1: and a half to even get to that point.

601
00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:18,800
Speaker 4: Do you mind talking us through a little bit more

602
00:32:19,160 --> 00:32:23,520
Speaker 4: of what that pinnacle hurdle moment I'm not going to

603
00:32:23,560 --> 00:32:26,080
Speaker 4: show up today day was like for you. And I

604
00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:29,840
Speaker 4: ask you that because so many individuals listening to this,

605
00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:33,520
Speaker 4: they hear you say I was definitely depressed when you

606
00:32:33,520 --> 00:32:37,560
Speaker 4: reflect on that time, and they two may be either

607
00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:40,960
Speaker 4: struggling with depression or wondering if they are navigating something

608
00:32:40,960 --> 00:32:41,840
Speaker 4: similar right now.

609
00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:44,040
Speaker 3: So would you mind just talking a little bit about that?

610
00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:48,360
Speaker 1: So that day was the day I set for myself

611
00:32:48,480 --> 00:32:51,560
Speaker 1: that I think it was like December eighth or December seventh,

612
00:32:52,120 --> 00:32:56,400
Speaker 1: where if I am not happy I was quitting track,

613
00:32:57,200 --> 00:33:00,120
Speaker 1: and I made a pros and cons list of all

614
00:33:00,120 --> 00:33:01,960
Speaker 1: the reasons why it was good for me to quit

615
00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:03,960
Speaker 1: track and why it wasn't good for me to quit track,

616
00:33:04,600 --> 00:33:08,560
Speaker 1: and of course the cons outweighed the pros of me

617
00:33:08,640 --> 00:33:13,360
Speaker 1: quitting track, and it was like, okay, I've put it

618
00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:15,880
Speaker 1: into writing that like if I quit track, I'm not

619
00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:18,120
Speaker 1: going to have the life that I want to live.

620
00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:21,000
Speaker 1: And so it all kind of like sort of like

621
00:33:21,040 --> 00:33:23,120
Speaker 1: coming together, and I was like, you know what, this

622
00:33:23,280 --> 00:33:25,320
Speaker 1: is my choice, and I love track so much. I

623
00:33:25,360 --> 00:33:27,520
Speaker 1: don't know what I'm going to do without it, and

624
00:33:27,560 --> 00:33:29,680
Speaker 1: I just have to put all of my eggs into

625
00:33:29,720 --> 00:33:32,520
Speaker 1: this basket and just trust the process that it's going

626
00:33:32,560 --> 00:33:35,760
Speaker 1: to turn out well. And it was really really hard,

627
00:33:35,800 --> 00:33:37,960
Speaker 1: and I had so many conversations with my dad, I

628
00:33:38,040 --> 00:33:40,680
Speaker 1: had so many conversations with my coach about it, and

629
00:33:42,040 --> 00:33:44,760
Speaker 1: at some point they just said it's up to you,

630
00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:48,000
Speaker 1: like whatever you do, we're going to support you. And

631
00:33:48,040 --> 00:33:49,960
Speaker 1: I was like, I will feel so guilty if I

632
00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:52,200
Speaker 1: give up all of my talent that I know I have,

633
00:33:53,040 --> 00:33:54,920
Speaker 1: and like I'm not going to be able to live

634
00:33:54,960 --> 00:33:57,240
Speaker 1: with myself if I do that. And I worked my

635
00:33:57,240 --> 00:33:58,880
Speaker 1: butt off since I was four years old to get

636
00:33:58,880 --> 00:34:03,080
Speaker 1: to this point. Why would I just throw it away?

637
00:34:04,080 --> 00:34:08,440
Speaker 1: And it was a huge mind shift and it was

638
00:34:08,520 --> 00:34:12,400
Speaker 1: very difficult where you know days where I was like, yeah,

639
00:34:12,520 --> 00:34:15,960
Speaker 1: I'm definitely gonna run track. No, I'm not going to

640
00:34:16,040 --> 00:34:17,560
Speaker 1: run track. I don't want to do this. I wanted

641
00:34:17,560 --> 00:34:20,560
Speaker 1: to live my own life, and back and forth, back

642
00:34:20,560 --> 00:34:21,960
Speaker 1: and forth all the time, and I just came to

643
00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:25,000
Speaker 1: the conclusion. I was like, try it, just try it

644
00:34:25,680 --> 00:34:28,960
Speaker 1: if you can do, like just one day, go to practice,

645
00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:31,560
Speaker 1: happy and see what happens. Go to practice and put

646
00:34:32,120 --> 00:34:34,520
Speaker 1: all your effort into it and see what comes out

647
00:34:34,560 --> 00:34:38,080
Speaker 1: of it. And from that day, practice was not the

648
00:34:38,080 --> 00:34:41,400
Speaker 1: same practice. I was on tin at every practice, I

649
00:34:41,440 --> 00:34:43,920
Speaker 1: listened to my coach on every queue and everything that

650
00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:48,040
Speaker 1: he said to me. And that's when my life just started,

651
00:34:48,080 --> 00:34:50,839
Speaker 1: you know, escalating, and it's becoming what it is now.

652
00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:54,360
Speaker 1: I'm grateful, I'm so so so grateful from that moment

653
00:34:55,040 --> 00:34:59,560
Speaker 1: of me being depressed because I can see I always

654
00:34:59,560 --> 00:35:00,920
Speaker 1: said there's a light at the end of the tunnel,

655
00:35:00,960 --> 00:35:03,280
Speaker 1: and I could never see it until December seventh.

656
00:35:03,520 --> 00:35:07,319
Speaker 4: So so profound and such a great thing that you

657
00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:11,560
Speaker 4: shared that with us. Anyone can go through that. Obviously

658
00:35:11,600 --> 00:35:14,600
Speaker 4: you had your unique experience. But what I mean by

659
00:35:14,600 --> 00:35:18,839
Speaker 4: that is that depression happens to all different sorts of people, right,

660
00:35:18,880 --> 00:35:19,640
Speaker 4: and it comes.

661
00:35:19,400 --> 00:35:21,239
Speaker 1: In different ways. It shows in different.

662
00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:26,520
Speaker 4: Forms, exactly different forms, different experiences, different reasons for both

663
00:35:26,560 --> 00:35:32,080
Speaker 4: people that may be attached and not attached in your relationship.

664
00:35:32,440 --> 00:35:34,960
Speaker 3: How did this manifest for the two of you?

665
00:35:35,600 --> 00:35:39,480
Speaker 1: It was more Hunter was always there supporting me, no

666
00:35:39,520 --> 00:35:43,880
Speaker 1: matter what time of the day, doesn't matter where he was,

667
00:35:44,320 --> 00:35:46,600
Speaker 1: he would always pick up the phone. And I think

668
00:35:46,600 --> 00:35:51,960
Speaker 1: that was like the most crucial thing in my depression stage,

669
00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:55,400
Speaker 1: is him picking up the phone, because it could have

670
00:35:55,400 --> 00:35:57,440
Speaker 1: been me just calling saying hey, but it was also

671
00:35:57,560 --> 00:36:01,920
Speaker 1: me just bawling my eyes out, like basically saying help me,

672
00:36:02,040 --> 00:36:03,880
Speaker 1: like I don't know what to do, help me. And

673
00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:06,840
Speaker 1: he was there, even though he was in Favou, Arkansas

674
00:36:06,840 --> 00:36:09,440
Speaker 1: and I was in Austin, Texas, eight and half hour drive.

675
00:36:10,160 --> 00:36:13,759
Speaker 1: He was there. And I can't think him enough. And

676
00:36:13,800 --> 00:36:16,000
Speaker 1: I've always said this, like he saved my life literally,

677
00:36:16,440 --> 00:36:21,040
Speaker 1: And if it wasn't for him and for you know,

678
00:36:21,080 --> 00:36:23,759
Speaker 1: my other supporters in my life, I don't think I

679
00:36:23,760 --> 00:36:24,439
Speaker 1: would have been here.

680
00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:27,360
Speaker 3: Why did you choose long jump?

681
00:36:29,680 --> 00:36:32,000
Speaker 1: My dad was my head where my dad was the

682
00:36:32,040 --> 00:36:35,239
Speaker 1: coach of a team in Texas and my sister was

683
00:36:35,280 --> 00:36:38,000
Speaker 1: doing long jump for the track team. And I was

684
00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:39,759
Speaker 1: four years old and I was like, I want to

685
00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:41,799
Speaker 1: do that. I want to go jump and play in

686
00:36:41,800 --> 00:36:45,680
Speaker 1: the sand. And ever since then, I've fallen in love

687
00:36:45,719 --> 00:36:48,120
Speaker 1: with it and it's always been like my main niche

688
00:36:48,120 --> 00:36:51,400
Speaker 1: I've done trouble jump, I've done hurdles, I've done sprinting,

689
00:36:51,760 --> 00:36:55,200
Speaker 1: but nothing compares to the feeling of flying literally flying

690
00:36:55,239 --> 00:36:59,759
Speaker 1: in the air and it's so technical and it just

691
00:37:00,080 --> 00:37:02,560
Speaker 1: you know, makes my brain work and I love it.

692
00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:09,160
Speaker 4: Did you have a come down after the Olympic Games

693
00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:13,799
Speaker 4: that maybe rivaled how you had dealt with depression in

694
00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:14,320
Speaker 4: the past.

695
00:37:14,960 --> 00:37:19,440
Speaker 1: There is definitely a post Olympic depression, definitely, because you

696
00:37:19,480 --> 00:37:21,919
Speaker 1: work your life, but you work so hard your entire

697
00:37:21,920 --> 00:37:24,200
Speaker 1: life to get to this one moment, and that moment

698
00:37:24,280 --> 00:37:28,960
Speaker 1: finally came and you're like, Okay, well what's next. Like

699
00:37:29,400 --> 00:37:31,279
Speaker 1: my dream was to just make the Olympic team. It

700
00:37:31,320 --> 00:37:33,759
Speaker 1: wasn't to win, it wasn't to you know, medal or

701
00:37:33,840 --> 00:37:36,080
Speaker 1: do any of the other stuff. Is just to make

702
00:37:36,080 --> 00:37:40,200
Speaker 1: the Olympics, and I never made a goal besides make

703
00:37:40,239 --> 00:37:43,480
Speaker 1: the Olympic team because I was so you know, I

704
00:37:43,480 --> 00:37:46,080
Speaker 1: feel like young and didn't really understand that like, yeah,

705
00:37:46,600 --> 00:37:49,319
Speaker 1: you want to we want to win, but I just

706
00:37:49,360 --> 00:37:52,680
Speaker 1: want to be an Olympian, you know. And so afterwards

707
00:37:52,880 --> 00:37:58,680
Speaker 1: I was like, well, I'm an Olympian. What's next? Like

708
00:37:58,800 --> 00:38:01,680
Speaker 1: what else is there to do? And it took a

709
00:38:01,719 --> 00:38:04,880
Speaker 1: while for me to like make new goals for myself

710
00:38:04,960 --> 00:38:07,120
Speaker 1: because I was super confused on where I'm supposed to be.

711
00:38:07,640 --> 00:38:11,759
Speaker 1: She's like just graduated college, I'm an Olympian. Now I

712
00:38:11,800 --> 00:38:15,480
Speaker 1: live with my fiance. Okay, Like I've done life, you know,

713
00:38:15,800 --> 00:38:17,640
Speaker 1: like I did everything that everyone asked me to do.

714
00:38:17,719 --> 00:38:20,600
Speaker 1: I did what I would ask myself to do. So

715
00:38:20,640 --> 00:38:25,400
Speaker 1: what's next? And I think us, you know, living together,

716
00:38:25,480 --> 00:38:27,600
Speaker 1: kind of made new goals for ourselves, you know, like

717
00:38:27,640 --> 00:38:30,480
Speaker 1: now we're getting married, and then we found new hobbies

718
00:38:31,480 --> 00:38:35,160
Speaker 1: with real estate and stuff, and just like a new

719
00:38:35,600 --> 00:38:39,879
Speaker 1: life has emerged and new goals have emerged. And now

720
00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:42,360
Speaker 1: I'm like setting myself up for bigger.

721
00:38:42,600 --> 00:38:46,880
Speaker 4: That word supposed can be really tricky, right, feeling like

722
00:38:46,920 --> 00:38:51,400
Speaker 4: we should do X or Y are you willing aside

723
00:38:51,400 --> 00:38:53,680
Speaker 4: from you hinted at the real estate stuff. To talk

724
00:38:53,719 --> 00:38:57,200
Speaker 4: to us about what some of your big, scary, audacious

725
00:38:57,239 --> 00:38:58,120
Speaker 4: goals are right now.

726
00:38:58,560 --> 00:39:01,120
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, of course, with some track and field,

727
00:39:01,960 --> 00:39:06,040
Speaker 1: you know, making the world championship team and not just

728
00:39:06,040 --> 00:39:08,520
Speaker 1: this championship team, but the next one and then the Olympics.

729
00:39:08,560 --> 00:39:12,560
Speaker 1: That's those are my track goals. But life goal just

730
00:39:12,600 --> 00:39:17,680
Speaker 1: like learning more about myself and learning like how this

731
00:39:17,800 --> 00:39:22,000
Speaker 1: world works. And with our new sponsor, they're letting us

732
00:39:22,280 --> 00:39:26,320
Speaker 1: like they're very big on diversity and community driven goals,

733
00:39:26,800 --> 00:39:30,400
Speaker 1: and I'm really excited to work with the women and

734
00:39:30,560 --> 00:39:33,560
Speaker 1: be able to find a niche that I like. I

735
00:39:33,600 --> 00:39:36,799
Speaker 1: love special ed kids. I love teaching special education, and

736
00:39:37,360 --> 00:39:40,319
Speaker 1: you know, that was a dream of mine, and it

737
00:39:40,400 --> 00:39:44,080
Speaker 1: kind of got pushed back because Track was so like

738
00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:48,640
Speaker 1: full force in my face. I went to school for

739
00:39:49,360 --> 00:39:51,400
Speaker 1: special education and I was going to be a teacher,

740
00:39:51,480 --> 00:39:53,880
Speaker 1: but I didn't like the way that they were teaching kids.

741
00:39:53,920 --> 00:39:56,279
Speaker 1: They were trying to seclude kids into other classrooms, which

742
00:39:56,320 --> 00:39:59,040
Speaker 1: I didn't agree with. I think they should be in

743
00:39:59,080 --> 00:40:02,399
Speaker 1: a classroom just like any normal kid could be. That's

744
00:40:02,680 --> 00:40:05,520
Speaker 1: they're obviously the social cues are not there, so let's

745
00:40:05,520 --> 00:40:07,520
Speaker 1: make them there, you know. So it kind of like

746
00:40:08,120 --> 00:40:10,240
Speaker 1: irritated me a little bit that that's how they wanted

747
00:40:10,239 --> 00:40:14,640
Speaker 1: to treat kids. And I got out of the program

748
00:40:14,640 --> 00:40:16,560
Speaker 1: because I was like, no, I'm not going to do that.

749
00:40:16,920 --> 00:40:20,120
Speaker 1: But now since I've gotten my degree, I've gotten stuff

750
00:40:20,160 --> 00:40:23,480
Speaker 1: under my belt. Now I want to try to do

751
00:40:23,520 --> 00:40:26,000
Speaker 1: what I dreamed about with special ed kids and make

752
00:40:26,040 --> 00:40:29,480
Speaker 1: a program where kids can come and run track or

753
00:40:29,960 --> 00:40:32,759
Speaker 1: My main thing was teach kids playground games. I'm not

754
00:40:32,800 --> 00:40:36,000
Speaker 1: sure why, but it was because I remember there was

755
00:40:36,320 --> 00:40:39,160
Speaker 1: the special ed kids could not come to the recess

756
00:40:39,200 --> 00:40:43,200
Speaker 1: because we were there, and they never learned the games

757
00:40:43,239 --> 00:40:46,200
Speaker 1: that I played, like handball and you know, tag and

758
00:40:46,200 --> 00:40:48,319
Speaker 1: all this stuff. And that's what I don't know, I

759
00:40:48,400 --> 00:40:52,640
Speaker 1: just dreamed of, you know, teaching little kiddies on sports

760
00:40:52,640 --> 00:40:53,160
Speaker 1: and stuff.

761
00:40:53,680 --> 00:40:57,120
Speaker 4: Okay, so right now, someone comes to your social media.

762
00:40:57,160 --> 00:40:59,560
Speaker 4: We talked about your extensive following. We're like at three

763
00:40:59,640 --> 00:41:03,799
Speaker 4: hundred fifty thousand people. They see an Olympian ha who

764
00:41:03,960 --> 00:41:06,520
Speaker 4: just made this really big announcement. By the time this

765
00:41:06,560 --> 00:41:09,120
Speaker 4: episode comes out, when you look in the mirror, what

766
00:41:09,239 --> 00:41:12,719
Speaker 4: is it that you see looking back at you, Tara.

767
00:41:12,680 --> 00:41:19,000
Speaker 1: I see a bad ass chick who's just dealt with

768
00:41:19,239 --> 00:41:25,880
Speaker 1: just crazy amounts of situations. And I've pushed myself to

769
00:41:25,920 --> 00:41:29,959
Speaker 1: get to this point, and kid, you're not a year ago,

770
00:41:30,120 --> 00:41:32,080
Speaker 1: I would not be looking at myself in a mirror.

771
00:41:32,520 --> 00:41:34,719
Speaker 1: And so I look at myself and I was just like,

772
00:41:34,800 --> 00:41:38,600
Speaker 1: you made it, and you're here and you're doing what

773
00:41:38,640 --> 00:41:41,040
Speaker 1: you want to do, not what someone's forcing me to do.

774
00:41:42,320 --> 00:41:45,960
Speaker 3: Will you tell us why why you wouldn't look in

775
00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:46,360
Speaker 3: the mirror?

776
00:41:47,360 --> 00:41:49,880
Speaker 1: Because I didn't like who I was. I didn't like

777
00:41:50,000 --> 00:41:53,239
Speaker 1: who I didn't like my skin, I didn't like what

778
00:41:53,400 --> 00:41:57,600
Speaker 1: I was, and I just wouldn't avoid all mirrors.

779
00:41:57,680 --> 00:41:59,480
Speaker 3: I was like, nah.

780
00:41:59,520 --> 00:42:03,080
Speaker 4: Ah, I look at you, and I see like this budding, vibrant,

781
00:42:03,200 --> 00:42:06,560
Speaker 4: beautiful young woman who, as we kind of got into before,

782
00:42:06,600 --> 00:42:10,319
Speaker 4: like so many other young women are going to look

783
00:42:10,360 --> 00:42:12,600
Speaker 4: at you and be like, I can do this too,

784
00:42:12,920 --> 00:42:16,880
Speaker 4: And that in itself is emotional and special and exciting,

785
00:42:16,960 --> 00:42:19,880
Speaker 4: and I'm super stoked to continue to follow along with

786
00:42:19,920 --> 00:42:20,600
Speaker 4: your journey.

787
00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:22,200
Speaker 1: Thank you so much.

788
00:42:22,480 --> 00:42:24,799
Speaker 4: If you are going out for a run, are you

789
00:42:24,880 --> 00:42:26,960
Speaker 4: a music listener or a podcast listener?

790
00:42:27,000 --> 00:42:29,680
Speaker 3: And if it's music, what's your go to track right now?

791
00:42:30,320 --> 00:42:35,520
Speaker 1: It's definitely music, and it's definitely something with Billie Eilish.

792
00:42:35,600 --> 00:42:40,440
Speaker 1: I'm a huge, huge Billie Eilish fan, like huge, I

793
00:42:40,480 --> 00:42:43,680
Speaker 1: own a lot of Billy murch and I will listen

794
00:42:43,680 --> 00:42:45,000
Speaker 1: to her on repeat.

795
00:42:45,280 --> 00:42:46,879
Speaker 4: Someone will hear that and they'll be like, that's not

796
00:42:46,960 --> 00:42:49,120
Speaker 4: necessarily always like an amp up vibe.

797
00:42:49,120 --> 00:42:52,000
Speaker 1: Though, No, no it's not, and it is for me.

798
00:42:54,480 --> 00:42:55,400
Speaker 3: I love this for you.

799
00:42:55,680 --> 00:42:58,120
Speaker 4: And then the second thing I'm asking all the guests

800
00:42:58,120 --> 00:43:02,279
Speaker 4: this week is in light of your new collab, in

801
00:43:02,320 --> 00:43:05,920
Speaker 4: your new partnership, your new global ambassadorship, what is your

802
00:43:06,000 --> 00:43:08,600
Speaker 4: go to piece of Lululemon gear?

803
00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:13,279
Speaker 1: Oh, the Aligned pants, Yes, they're so soft and they're

804
00:43:13,440 --> 00:43:19,600
Speaker 1: just so lovely. But inside scoop the new Sensinet fabric.

805
00:43:19,719 --> 00:43:24,000
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, it's being released. It is so nice.

806
00:43:24,200 --> 00:43:28,719
Speaker 1: We've tested and it's approved stamp by Tarred Hunter. It's perfect.

807
00:43:29,040 --> 00:43:31,560
Speaker 1: It's perfect for anybody who wants to do yoga running.

808
00:43:31,640 --> 00:43:34,200
Speaker 1: It keeps you all in place and so nice.

809
00:43:34,600 --> 00:43:39,800
Speaker 3: No jiggle, jiggle, no jiggles. That's it. That's it. Right now,

810
00:43:40,600 --> 00:43:41,719
Speaker 3: you have an opportunity.

811
00:43:41,920 --> 00:43:44,719
Speaker 4: You are so vulnerable and candidate about what you went

812
00:43:44,800 --> 00:43:47,839
Speaker 4: through struggling with your mental health. You have an opportunity

813
00:43:48,160 --> 00:43:51,160
Speaker 4: to offer yourself a piece of advice going through that

814
00:43:51,239 --> 00:43:56,320
Speaker 4: hurdle moment, knowing what you know, Now, what advice do

815
00:43:56,520 --> 00:43:57,400
Speaker 4: you tell yourself?

816
00:43:58,719 --> 00:44:01,319
Speaker 1: It's not advice, it's a statement. And there's a light

817
00:44:01,360 --> 00:44:04,000
Speaker 1: at the end of the tunnel, and there is, like

818
00:44:04,040 --> 00:44:06,200
Speaker 1: I promise you, there is, And if you just keep

819
00:44:06,239 --> 00:44:08,920
Speaker 1: going and you just keep moving, you're gonna get to

820
00:44:08,920 --> 00:44:11,200
Speaker 1: that light and there's gonna be a whole new world

821
00:44:11,239 --> 00:44:15,560
Speaker 1: for you. I personally did not believe that until I

822
00:44:15,600 --> 00:44:18,400
Speaker 1: saw it, and I was like, are you kidding? This

823
00:44:18,440 --> 00:44:20,279
Speaker 1: is what I missed out on. I missed out on

824
00:44:20,360 --> 00:44:24,160
Speaker 1: being happy and joyful and it's exhausting being sad. And

825
00:44:24,200 --> 00:44:26,319
Speaker 1: I was like, wow, this is so much fun, Like

826
00:44:26,440 --> 00:44:31,160
Speaker 1: life is so much more clear and more enjoyable and

827
00:44:31,400 --> 00:44:34,040
Speaker 1: if you can just keep on pushing like you're gonna

828
00:44:34,040 --> 00:44:34,600
Speaker 1: get through it.

829
00:44:35,200 --> 00:44:37,400
Speaker 3: So excited that we were able to make this happen.

830
00:44:37,360 --> 00:44:39,200
Speaker 4: Tara, How do the hurdlers keep up with you? How

831
00:44:39,200 --> 00:44:41,200
Speaker 4: do they follow along with you on your journey? Give

832
00:44:41,480 --> 00:44:42,760
Speaker 4: us your info?

833
00:44:43,120 --> 00:44:46,480
Speaker 1: Yes, you guys can follow me on Instagram. It's at

834
00:44:46,600 --> 00:44:51,040
Speaker 1: underscore t aa r r A underscore. I know it's annoying,

835
00:44:51,640 --> 00:44:55,799
Speaker 1: but they wouldn't let me change it. And then you

836
00:44:55,800 --> 00:44:58,080
Speaker 1: can catch Hunter and I on YouTube with just Tar

837
00:44:58,160 --> 00:45:02,319
Speaker 1: and Hunter. Yeah that's pretty mu. Twitter's Tara Tara t.

838
00:45:02,239 --> 00:45:05,520
Speaker 5: A R underscore and score Watch out not Back, Hi,

839
00:45:05,719 --> 00:45:10,319
Speaker 5: I will Club, I'm Over at Emily Bodie and at

840
00:45:10,400 --> 00:45:12,840
Speaker 5: Hurdle Podcast another Hurdle conquered.

841
00:45:13,160 --> 00:45:14,200
Speaker 3: Catch you guys next time