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Speaker 1: Before we begin today's episode, we'd like to warn you

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Speaker 1: that this chat contains themes surrounding eating disorders that some

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Speaker 1: may find distressing. If you'd like to access free and

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Speaker 1: confidential support, you can contact the Butterfly Foundation on eighteen

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Speaker 1: hundred thirty three forty six seventy three and will put

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Speaker 1: a link to their website in our show notes. As

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Speaker 1: a teenager growing up in New Zealand, Lydia O'Donnell fell

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Speaker 1: in love with running, and on that running journey she

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Speaker 1: found great success, winning New Zealand's national titles in the

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Speaker 1: ten thousand meter and half marathon events. But along the way,

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Speaker 1: she found herself showing symptoms of disordered eating as she

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Speaker 1: faced pressure to train in a way that was right

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Speaker 1: for men and didn't take her unique female physiology into account.

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Speaker 1: As a result, she lost her menstrual cycle and was hospitalized,

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Speaker 1: almost losing her ability to run completely. Now, Lydia is

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Speaker 1: the co founder and CEO of a women's running app

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Speaker 1: designed to unite a community of women and teach us

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Speaker 1: how we can move our bodies in a way that

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Speaker 1: makes us feel confident. Welcome back to the Female Athlete Project.

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Speaker 1: My name is Sophie the producer here at teeth BAP,

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Speaker 1: and this week, Chloe sits down with Lydia, who's also

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Speaker 1: a Nike Run coach, to discuss changing the narrative around

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Speaker 1: women's health and how FEMI is creating a space to

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Speaker 1: educate women on how to run and move with confidence.

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Speaker 1: We hope you enjoy.

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Speaker 2: It, Lydia O'Donnell, Welcome to the Female Athlete Project.

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Speaker 3: Thank you for having me. It's such an honor to

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Speaker 3: be here. I have been a huge fan ever since

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Speaker 3: you started the Female Athlete Project. I was just like, man,

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Speaker 3: this is so needed. So honestly, it is such an

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Speaker 3: honor to finally be here.

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Speaker 2: Thank you very much. I appreciate that because we have

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Speaker 2: similar we'll get to fermi. We have similar kind of

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Speaker 2: start times. Were you guys twenty twenty?

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Speaker 3: We were twenty twenty, but I do think you were

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Speaker 3: before for me, Okay, I do think you were, And

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Speaker 3: I was like really inspired by the work you were

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Speaker 3: doing because they're just weren't that many people in the

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Speaker 3: space doing things solely for women. And I think even

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Speaker 3: back then, which isn't that long ago, but oh it's not,

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Speaker 3: is it.

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Speaker 2: You know?

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Speaker 3: Even then, it was like almost not frowned upon, but

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Speaker 3: you were kind of taking a risk by doing something

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Speaker 3: that was just for women.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, totally it is.

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Speaker 3: Now. I think we're living in this world where it's like,

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Speaker 3: sorry pick that the our space is just for us.

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Speaker 3: So I was being inspired by you, and yeah, I

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Speaker 3: think the work kidding is so cool.

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Speaker 2: Thank you very much. Let's take it back to you

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Speaker 2: as a little kid before we get to what you're

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Speaker 2: doing with fami. Can you describe yourself as a young person.

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Speaker 3: I yes, I definitely can because I look back on

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Speaker 3: myself as a child and I laugh a little bit

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Speaker 3: because I was just like a really like energitic, chaotic

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Speaker 3: kid that just did everything. Really, I was like a

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Speaker 3: real go getter. I'm the youngest of three, so my

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Speaker 3: two older sisters were not that much older than me.

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Speaker 3: Actually we're quite close in age, so there was like

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Speaker 3: a level of competition between us. But being the youngest,

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Speaker 3: I think you do get thrown in the dpn and

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Speaker 3: you don't missus really kick guided the way that maybe

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Speaker 3: that I was in your family did. So I was

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Speaker 3: just like wanted to try everything. I started ballet and

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Speaker 3: dancing when I was like degree and took dance quite seriously,

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Speaker 3: Like I grew up dreaming of being a ballerina, right, yeah,

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Speaker 3: which is funny now because I'm so inflexible, But I

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Speaker 3: still love dance and not myself, I love watching it.

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Speaker 3: But I was just a really determined competitive kid, and

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Speaker 3: I remember carrying that like all through my youth, and

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Speaker 3: when I got to high school, I continued to play

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Speaker 3: sport and like pulled myself into that competitiveness. But my

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Speaker 3: best friend when I was at school was also an

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Speaker 3: incredible athlete, I would say, much better than me at sport.

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Speaker 3: And she was like I think she made the New

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Speaker 3: Zealand soccer team, like football team, the New Zealand hockey team,

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Speaker 3: and maybe the New Zealand cricket team as well. Like

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Speaker 3: she was just so good at ball sports.

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Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, that's insane.

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Speaker 3: And I just wasn't and so already I was like

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Speaker 3: comparing myself, which now I look back on and I

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Speaker 3: feel kind of sad for that young kid, But I

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Speaker 3: also I'm just like we were so competitive with each other.

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Speaker 3: We really had this like pretty beautiful friendship as young

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Speaker 3: girls growing up, and like we're quite tomboyish and just

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Speaker 3: wanted to like have a crap.

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Speaker 2: Really, Yeah, where did you first find a love for running?

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Speaker 3: I started athletics when I was like seven, so quite young,

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Speaker 3: but I don't think I took it super seriously. I

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Speaker 3: definitely had a natural talent for distance running, which when

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Speaker 3: we say distance running as a seven year old, you're

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Speaker 3: running like, I don't know, maybe I don't I love that,

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Speaker 3: But I definitely liked the longest stuff. And I found

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Speaker 3: a pretty incredible coach when I was about eleven or twelve,

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Speaker 3: and she happened to be a pe teacher at the

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Speaker 3: high school that I was going to. But I wasn't

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Speaker 3: quite at high school at the point, but my mum

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Speaker 3: was a high school teacher, so she worked with her

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Speaker 3: and she was friends with her, and her name is Rose.

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Speaker 3: She saw me competing when I was like eleven or twelve,

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Speaker 3: and she really saw I think she saw the drive

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Speaker 3: of me and the real love for running at quite

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Speaker 3: a young age, and so she took me under her wing.

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Speaker 3: And then when I got to high school, she coached

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Speaker 3: me for five years and she was a Commonwealth Games

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Speaker 3: eight hundred meter champ and wow, yeah, so she was

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Speaker 3: an incredible runner herself, and so she had that experience

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Speaker 3: but she also just really loved running and wanted to

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Speaker 3: guide young girls through the sport of running in a

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Speaker 3: really like healthy way. And so I was so grateful

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Speaker 3: to her. I think she taught me so much and

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Speaker 3: even what we believe in it fit them in what

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Speaker 3: we talk about all the time around sustainability and sport,

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Speaker 3: like all of that was built in to me at

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Speaker 3: such a young age. It was never about our pbs

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Speaker 3: or how fast or what we were winning, or definitely

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Speaker 3: not about our appearance or what we look like. It

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Speaker 3: was all like, let's go out and have fun and

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Speaker 3: do what you can with it, and wait till you're

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Speaker 3: a little bit older. She'd always say say to me, like,

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Speaker 3: you'll be patient with your body. It's going to take time.

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Speaker 3: Just wipe to your older nobody remembers a young athlete.

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Speaker 2: Wow, I like that.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, And that stuff just stuck with me for so long,

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Speaker 3: and it really held me back while I was at school.

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Speaker 2: And so looking at your friendship with your friend who

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Speaker 2: played the three codes, you kind of talked about feeling

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Speaker 2: like you weren't good at the ball sports. Was there

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Speaker 2: a moment like when did you kind of think like, oh, actually,

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Speaker 2: I'm good at running, so that means I'm also a

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Speaker 2: good athlete, you know, like that comparison thing.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a good question, I think with her, her

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Speaker 3: name is Jimmer, So she ended up representing New Zealand,

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Speaker 3: I think at three Olymput games for hockey. It's amazing.

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Speaker 3: It's so cool, so cool, And I think the comparison

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Speaker 3: was that it wasn't that I wasn't good at ball sports.

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Speaker 3: It was just that I wasn't as good as her

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Speaker 3: got yah, but what I could do better than her

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Speaker 3: was cross country Okay. So I think she was like

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Speaker 3: my best best friend, you know. And I think when

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Speaker 3: you're that close with somebody in or comparing yourself naturally

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Speaker 3: to that person, you will start to see where your

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Speaker 3: strengths are. And I do feel sad that I didn't

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Speaker 3: lean into ball sports more or team sports more. But

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Speaker 3: I'm also so grateful that I found running at such

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Speaker 3: a young age. And now she runs two which is awesome.

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Speaker 3: She's got three young girls and she's out running and

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Speaker 3: it's so cool to see kind of her love of

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Speaker 3: sport move into more of like the individual sport of running.

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Speaker 3: But yeah, bull spots was always a tough one for

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Speaker 3: me because I was constantly comparing myself to one of

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Speaker 3: the best in the country.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that's challenging. What is it about running? Because

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Speaker 2: I think, like, as a young person, did you battle

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Speaker 2: the individual nature of that sport, like compared to if

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Speaker 2: you were to play a team sport.

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Speaker 3: I think I am such a competitive, determined woman that

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Speaker 3: I really leant into how individual running is. Like, yes,

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Speaker 3: there is so much about community and running, and when

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Speaker 3: you're competing at the top, it isn't just an individual sport.

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Speaker 3: You have a whole network of people around you. But

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Speaker 3: the level that I was at for a lot of

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Speaker 3: the time was just it all came down to myself

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Speaker 3: and how hard I was willing to work, what sacrifices

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Speaker 3: I was willing to make. I was in complete control

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Speaker 3: of the training. We're not necessarily in control of the

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Speaker 3: outcome all the time, But for me, I was so

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Speaker 3: in control of what I could do each day to

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Speaker 3: become a better athlete that I really loved that and

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Speaker 3: I still love that, to be honest, Like, I love

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Speaker 3: that I can do the work and I can reap

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Speaker 3: the rewards of that work myself.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Probably also why I now coach myself because I am

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Speaker 3: in complete control. But yeah, I really liked the sense

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Speaker 3: of accomplishment when you know you've done it alone. But

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Speaker 3: also when you have a community around you who carry you,

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Speaker 3: I believe you can go even further. There's that funny

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Speaker 3: saying it's like, if you want to go fast, go alone,

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Speaker 3: and if you want to go far, go together, which

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Speaker 3: I don't think necessarily is completely true, and running because

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Speaker 3: if you want to be fast, you also need a

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Speaker 3: team people around you. Yes, but if you want to

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Speaker 3: go fast and far, you need people around it used

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Speaker 3: to go together, but yeah, I like I watched the

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Speaker 3: Lion King movie Move Faster recently and they sing the

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Speaker 3: song about going fast or going fast?

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Speaker 2: Is that something the Lion King? Yeah, in the.

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Speaker 3: Original, there's this whole song about like, if you want

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Speaker 3: to go fast, go alone, and if you want to

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Speaker 3: go far, to go together. And I was like analyzing

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Speaker 3: the lyrics as I do, and I'm like, it's not true.

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Speaker 3: Do you want to go fast and far? You do

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Speaker 3: need to go together, but you also need to do

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Speaker 3: the work alone.

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Speaker 2: Yes, Okay, I like that. What is it that drives you?

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Speaker 3: That's a really I guess that's like a question I

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Speaker 3: ask myself all the time. I really like to analyze

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Speaker 3: my own psyche and understand, like why I am the

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Speaker 3: way I am. I think for me, I want to

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Speaker 3: be remembered as someone who's been part of the change

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Speaker 3: and really help to create a better environment for the

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Speaker 3: future generations. And running is my voice to do that.

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Speaker 3: And so it's not necessarily about being the best athlete

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Speaker 3: I can be, or running the fastest times or making

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Speaker 3: you know, world's teams, like all of that stuff to

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Speaker 3: me is important and it's almost like a cherry on top.

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Speaker 3: But I think ultimately I just want to build a

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Speaker 3: voice and continue to build a community that helps to

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Speaker 3: drive the change. And yeah, there's nothing quite like feeling

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Speaker 3: like you're having an impact on somebody else and to

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Speaker 3: be able to do that through the work I do

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Speaker 3: now as such so amazing that Like if I can't

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Speaker 3: race ever again, I'd still be somewhat satisfied. Yeah wow,

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Speaker 3: But I also still like racing.

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Speaker 2: Yeah I love that. How did you go from being

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Speaker 2: a seven year old running eight hundred meters or so

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Speaker 2: to representing your country?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that was a journey, definitely. Much of that was

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Speaker 3: accredited to Rose coach at high school, who held me back.

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Speaker 3: I actually ended up going to the States when I

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Speaker 3: left school on a scholarship to a university in Texas,

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Speaker 3: and that experience was just like really a whole podcast

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Speaker 3: in itself. It was really eye opening. Right. I'd gone

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Speaker 3: from this like really beautiful environment with this amazing school

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Speaker 3: coach who really, like I don't know, looked after me

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Speaker 3: and put my mental health and physical health first, to

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Speaker 3: this nca NC double A system, which was incredibly competitive, right,

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Speaker 3: you know, when it all costs mentality, and I just

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Speaker 3: wasn't built for that at the time. I was seventeen.

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Speaker 3: I moved, you know, to the other side of the

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Speaker 3: world and was thrust into this really competitive environment and

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Speaker 3: our coach was just had so much pressure put upon

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Speaker 3: us in terms of racing, and I just didn't have

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Speaker 3: a good time. So I ended up actually leaving after

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Speaker 3: about five off five or six weeks or something, went

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Speaker 3: back to New Zealand. Quite running all together. Am just

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Speaker 3: like spiraled, My mental health spiraled quite badly, and I

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Speaker 3: just really lost my sense of direction at time. And

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Speaker 3: I think pretty common for teenagers to kind of take

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Speaker 3: a path where they don't really know where they're going.

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Speaker 3: But running was kind of the thing that brought me

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Speaker 3: back after about twelve months of not really running. I

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Speaker 3: was like, I remember how good I felt when I

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Speaker 3: was training as a fifteen year old at school, and

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Speaker 3: how much running brought happiness to my life, both from

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Speaker 3: like a social element as well as mental and physical health,

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Speaker 3: and I really wanted to find her again. So I

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Speaker 3: started running again when I was about eighteen or so

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Speaker 3: and went back to Rose. She helped coach me back

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Speaker 3: to kind of the level of fitness I was at,

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Speaker 3: and within about six months I won my first national title.

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Speaker 3: And I was training harder than I was at school

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Speaker 3: because I was kind of I'd gone through puberty. My

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Speaker 3: body was ready to kind of push a little harder.

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Speaker 3: And I think at that point when I won that title,

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Speaker 3: it wasn't anything crazy, like my time wasn't anything to

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Speaker 3: talk about, but it was definitely a moment for me

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Speaker 3: to be like, Okay, I think I can do this

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Speaker 3: and commit myself if I focus on the sport. And

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Speaker 3: so I did that, and that year I qualified for

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Speaker 3: the University World Camps and that was kind of my

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Speaker 3: first time representing New Zealand on the big stage. And yeah,

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Speaker 3: I guess throughout my twenties. There were a few different

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Speaker 3: New Zealand teams that I made, and I think representing

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Speaker 3: New Zealand and representing your country such an honor. But

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Speaker 3: to me, again, I just love running, like I just

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Speaker 3: love the pursuit of it, and seeing what you're able

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Speaker 3: to achieve is pretty incredible. And traveling the world to

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Speaker 3: do that's pretty amazing. It's definitely a privileged though.

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Speaker 2: You're pretty lucky if you're happy to just reflect on

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Speaker 2: that time. Over in the US, I think a lot

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Speaker 2: of athletes have experiences that can be really negative with

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Speaker 2: the coach. What do you think needs to be done

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Speaker 2: to protect athletes better in those kind of environments.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Well, unfortunately that was not the only time I

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Speaker 3: felt that and had been put in an environment that

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Speaker 3: was not really great for my mental and physical health,

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Speaker 3: and I kind of went came back to New Zealand,

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Speaker 3: took that time off, started training again. After I won Nationals,

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Speaker 3: I got put into a team with another New Zealand coach,

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Speaker 3: and I spent about five years after that in these

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Speaker 3: environments where coaches just unfortunately at that time, were unaware

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Speaker 3: of what we particularly myself as a woman athlete needed

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Speaker 3: to feel good in myself and feel good in my

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Speaker 3: body to be able to perform the best as possible.

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Speaker 3: And when I was at university in Texas, my running

289
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Speaker 3: coach was, you know, she's getting paid, it's her job,

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Speaker 3: and her job is all about getting us to be

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Speaker 3: the best and fastest runners. So I can understand from

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Speaker 3: her point of view trying to push us because she

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Speaker 3: just wanted us to be the best. But I remember

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Speaker 3: going on a long run a day after we had

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Speaker 3: an indoors race and she was crying because we didn't

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Speaker 3: run fast enough on the run, and I think at

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Speaker 3: that moment I was like, wait, this is weird, Like

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Speaker 3: this is surely this isn't normal. There were other examples

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Speaker 3: that I guess brought red flags to me, which was

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Speaker 3: most of the girls and the team pretty had pretty

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Speaker 3: evident disordered eating behaviors. And I'd been quite sheltered from

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Speaker 3: that growing up in New Zealand, and I definitely had

303
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Speaker 3: my own insecurities in my body as a teenage girl,

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Speaker 3: as unfortunately a lot of young girls do. But I

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Speaker 3: think that was really like an eye opener to what

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Speaker 3: I didn't know. What I wasn't aware of, was thought

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Speaker 3: to be good to be a good runner. And so

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Speaker 3: when I came back to New Zealand and was kind

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Speaker 3: of packed up by these new coaches in New Zealand,

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Speaker 3: I had the same pressures put upon me. Unfortunately, I

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Speaker 3: had multiple male coaches telling me that if I was

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Speaker 3: in a small all the body, if I was leaner, skinnier,

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Speaker 3: I would be a better runner. And it just really

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Speaker 3: at the time, I thought that's what was I thought

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Speaker 3: it was normal to be spoken to like that to

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Speaker 3: be a good athlete. And I was put in an

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Speaker 3: environment where I had male coaches like physically like grabbing

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Speaker 3: my stomach saying if you lost that, you'd be faster.

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Speaker 3: And I speak about it now as though it's completely

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Speaker 3: normal and it's not like it traumatized me for years

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Speaker 3: and even now, like if I had if I had

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Speaker 3: someone like you try and put the hand in my stomach,

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Speaker 3: I'm like no, because it's just like brings back that

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Speaker 3: kind of judgment or that fear of judgment that was

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Speaker 3: put upon me when I was like twenty years old.

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Speaker 3: So unfortunately, in the sport of running, it was seen

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Speaker 3: to be if you were smaller or skinnier or leaner,

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Speaker 3: that you would be lighter. And then if you're lighter,

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Speaker 3: you can run faster. But the narrative was just so wrong,

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Speaker 3: and the way that we were educated on our bodies

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Speaker 3: was just so minimal that we didn't know. I had

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Speaker 3: no idea what was going on for me at the time,

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Speaker 3: So I went through about five years of pretty severe

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Speaker 3: body image shows that went into disordered eating behaviors, having

335
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Speaker 3: no idea what was going on. I was cutting, you know,

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00:17:17,440 --> 00:17:20,480
Speaker 3: carbohydrates out of my dick completely and just doing Now

337
00:17:20,520 --> 00:17:23,760
Speaker 3: I look back and saying things to try and make

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Speaker 3: my body fit into these standards of what my coaches

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Speaker 3: had put upon me. Yet I wasn't just I wasn't

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Speaker 3: focusing on my performance. I was focusing on my appearance.

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Speaker 3: And that's where I think it's really gone wrong for

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Speaker 3: us as women athletes. It's all about how we look

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Speaker 3: and not actually in the numbers in terms of how

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Speaker 3: we're performing.

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Speaker 2: And especially when that message had almost been drilled into

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Speaker 2: you by people that you trusted and thought were kind

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Speaker 2: of the source of knowledge, saying that if you did

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Speaker 2: look differently that you would perform better, it makes sense

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Speaker 2: that in your mind that was almost the story you

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Speaker 2: were telling yourself.

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Speaker 3: Right, Definitely, I had so much trust in my co

352
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Speaker 3: and people around me, and in the sport as well.

353
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Speaker 3: And so when you turn up to a training session

354
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Speaker 3: and you hear your coach commenting on other girls, thinking, oh,

355
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Speaker 3: she looks fit, well, she's lean, she looks fit. You know,

356
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Speaker 3: I'm saying these words in qumotation marks. It's not true,

357
00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:17,360
Speaker 3: but we would hear that all the time, and then

358
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Speaker 3: constantly you'd be like, Okay, well, if she looks like that,

359
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Speaker 3: I need to look like that. What am I going

360
00:18:21,600 --> 00:18:23,080
Speaker 3: to do to look like that. I'm just going to

361
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Speaker 3: go and stop eating and try and train harder in

362
00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:30,040
Speaker 3: order to fit into that standard, even though there is

363
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Speaker 3: nothing in that standard that actually means you're running well. Yeah,

364
00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:37,840
Speaker 3: we now know that running well is it? Athlete is

365
00:18:37,880 --> 00:18:41,040
Speaker 3: a runner is all about consistent training, and to get

366
00:18:41,080 --> 00:18:43,840
Speaker 3: consistent training, you need to be looking after yourself. And

367
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Speaker 3: I just definitely was not doing that.

368
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Speaker 2: Did that have big impacts on you physically?

369
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Speaker 3: Yes, definitely, Like I completely ignored the kind of physical

370
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Speaker 3: impacts for years. I think my body was giving me

371
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Speaker 3: signs for so many years to say I wasn't fueling

372
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Speaker 3: myself correctly and I wasn't giving my body what it

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Speaker 3: needed in terms of rest and recovery. But it took

374
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Speaker 3: about five years till I hit the wall. Really when

375
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Speaker 3: I was about twenty five, I lost my period and

376
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Speaker 3: that was kind of, I guess, the first big sign

377
00:19:15,600 --> 00:19:21,320
Speaker 3: of something's going wrong. And after that my house started

378
00:19:21,359 --> 00:19:24,800
Speaker 3: to just spiral. There were heaps of signs that my

379
00:19:24,840 --> 00:19:27,160
Speaker 3: skin was all breaking out, my hair was all falling out.

380
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Speaker 3: I remember I had this like twitching eye that twitched

381
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Speaker 3: for like six months. But because I was so committed

382
00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:36,320
Speaker 3: to my sport and driven to be the best I

383
00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:38,919
Speaker 3: could be, I just ignored all of those signs and

384
00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:41,520
Speaker 3: I just kept pushing forwards. And then I just I

385
00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:44,680
Speaker 3: ended up actually in hospital with appendicitis, and I think

386
00:19:44,680 --> 00:19:48,359
Speaker 3: for me that was like the real something's going on here,

387
00:19:48,880 --> 00:19:52,160
Speaker 3: something's not right. I couldn't run, I couldn't even really

388
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Speaker 3: get out of bed, and I had to just stop

389
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Speaker 3: everything to let my body heal. And I now know

390
00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:00,760
Speaker 3: I was in state, in a state of relative energy

391
00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:04,800
Speaker 3: deficiency syndrome and sport redes for sure, but I had

392
00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:07,439
Speaker 3: no idea about REDESS. At the time, we'd heard of

393
00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:11,199
Speaker 3: the female athlete triad, which is what was kind of

394
00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:14,520
Speaker 3: known in that realm back ten years ago, which talks

395
00:20:14,560 --> 00:20:19,360
Speaker 3: about minstrel cycle dysfunction, bone health issues, and eating disorders

396
00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:23,919
Speaker 3: or anarexia. But I didn't physically look unwell. I didn't

397
00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:27,760
Speaker 3: look underweight, and my body was holding on to everything

398
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Speaker 3: it possibly could because I was in such a state

399
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Speaker 3: of low energy availability. But no one from the outside

400
00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:36,399
Speaker 3: would look on and be like, well, she's underweight and

401
00:20:36,440 --> 00:20:40,639
Speaker 3: she something needs to doing about it, right, So because

402
00:20:40,640 --> 00:20:43,520
Speaker 3: of that, it actually ended up being really harmful for

403
00:20:43,640 --> 00:20:46,480
Speaker 3: me because no one was stepping in because of the

404
00:20:46,480 --> 00:20:49,520
Speaker 3: way I looked. So I ended up in hospital, had

405
00:20:49,560 --> 00:20:52,159
Speaker 3: to take three months off, and ended up quitting my

406
00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:55,360
Speaker 3: full time job to come back and heal and let

407
00:20:55,359 --> 00:20:58,600
Speaker 3: my body recover. And it took about eighteen months to

408
00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:01,240
Speaker 3: kind of get a bit and get better. And that's

409
00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:04,159
Speaker 3: when I just like learned so much about my body

410
00:21:04,280 --> 00:21:06,639
Speaker 3: that just completely changed the game for me.

411
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Speaker 2: Yeah, how did you work towards that journey of healing

412
00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:13,359
Speaker 2: that relationship I guess between your mind and your body.

413
00:21:14,480 --> 00:21:18,359
Speaker 3: I think when I got sick and had to stop running,

414
00:21:19,359 --> 00:21:24,200
Speaker 3: it forced me to start picking away the pieces of

415
00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:28,359
Speaker 3: like what you're doing, the way you're training clearly isn't working,

416
00:21:28,480 --> 00:21:31,719
Speaker 3: my performance had plattered. I think I was running around

417
00:21:31,760 --> 00:21:36,119
Speaker 3: thirty four to thirty five minute TK for probably like

418
00:21:36,119 --> 00:21:39,080
Speaker 3: two or three years. I hadn't got any faster, which,

419
00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:42,640
Speaker 3: by the way, I know that's a fast time, but you.

420
00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:44,760
Speaker 2: Actually do the math that's very fast.

421
00:21:44,760 --> 00:21:47,200
Speaker 3: It's like it's a quick time. And I'm like really

422
00:21:47,200 --> 00:21:49,200
Speaker 3: proud that I was running those times in my twenties,

423
00:21:49,680 --> 00:21:52,560
Speaker 3: but without seeing performance progression over three years, with like

424
00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:57,600
Speaker 3: so much more training, something clearly wasn't clicking and working.

425
00:21:58,600 --> 00:22:00,879
Speaker 3: And then my health crumbled, and that was like, Okay,

426
00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:04,240
Speaker 3: something needs to change. So I was forced into a

427
00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:07,959
Speaker 3: place of like analyzing everything I've done to date, picking

428
00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:10,879
Speaker 3: it apart, and really figuring out what was going wrong

429
00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:14,240
Speaker 3: and kind of stars aligned. At the time. I was

430
00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:18,120
Speaker 3: given the book Raw, which is about Roar Okay by

431
00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:22,159
Speaker 3: doctor Stacy Simms, and I read that book when I

432
00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:25,880
Speaker 3: kind of had this downtime, and I was like, the heck,

433
00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:28,720
Speaker 3: like this so much I don't know about my body.

434
00:22:29,119 --> 00:22:33,160
Speaker 3: This is completely insane. I was not a professional athlete,

435
00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:35,840
Speaker 3: but you could maybe call me a semi professional athlete

436
00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:39,280
Speaker 3: at the time, and running was part of my career

437
00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:42,520
Speaker 3: and my job, and no one had taught me about

438
00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:45,200
Speaker 3: my body, which is the most important tool as a runner,

439
00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:49,159
Speaker 3: and I was like frustrated that I didn't know this.

440
00:22:49,320 --> 00:22:51,720
Speaker 3: I was twenty six, twenty seven, and I'm like learning

441
00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:54,480
Speaker 3: about my menstrual cycle for the first time in my life,

442
00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:58,480
Speaker 3: which yeah, at the time, I thought my period was

443
00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:00,760
Speaker 3: my minstrual cycle. Like I grew up thinking, oh, I'm

444
00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:03,320
Speaker 3: like on my minstrual cycle, which was on my period,

445
00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:07,000
Speaker 3: but actually our minstrel cycle is a continuous cycle that

446
00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:10,240
Speaker 3: is always happening and changing internally. But yeah, I just

447
00:23:10,280 --> 00:23:13,720
Speaker 3: had such a lack of education around what was going

448
00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:17,000
Speaker 3: on inside my body. And I remember learning about the

449
00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:20,760
Speaker 3: impact of estrogen and progesterone and being like, like, no, wonder,

450
00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:23,720
Speaker 3: one week I feel really good and then another week

451
00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:26,600
Speaker 3: I don't feel as good. Or I remember going into

452
00:23:26,640 --> 00:23:29,520
Speaker 3: a race once it was National Champs, and my coach

453
00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:31,760
Speaker 3: had said to me, like, don't even worry about it.

454
00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:33,160
Speaker 3: You've got it in the bag. You're going to win

455
00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:34,919
Speaker 3: by so far, like, just go out and have a

456
00:23:34,920 --> 00:23:38,399
Speaker 3: good run. And I ended up getting second and not

457
00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:41,360
Speaker 3: running anywhere near the time that I thought I could do.

458
00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:44,320
Speaker 3: And I remember walking away from that race being like

459
00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:47,679
Speaker 3: what am I doing? Like why am I even trying?

460
00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:49,800
Speaker 3: Like this is terrible. I should have won that race

461
00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:52,439
Speaker 3: by heaps and I didn't, and my body's failing me

462
00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:56,479
Speaker 3: and I'm not getting any better, constantly questioning myself and

463
00:23:56,560 --> 00:24:00,679
Speaker 3: losing confidence in myself. And when I read I was like,

464
00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:03,840
Speaker 3: that was just my hormones working for me, you know,

465
00:24:03,920 --> 00:24:07,480
Speaker 3: like that was just something that is actually really beneficial

466
00:24:07,520 --> 00:24:11,159
Speaker 3: to my health and my programs. But I lost so

467
00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:13,879
Speaker 3: much confidence because I just had no understanding of what

468
00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:17,040
Speaker 3: was going on. Yeah, and I think that was like

469
00:24:17,080 --> 00:24:19,320
Speaker 3: the biggest light bulb moment for me, is just the

470
00:24:19,359 --> 00:24:22,320
Speaker 3: confidence pace in terms of learning about yourself and what

471
00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:25,920
Speaker 3: that can bring to race day and how you can

472
00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:29,760
Speaker 3: build that confidence over time by actually acknowledging the changes

473
00:24:29,800 --> 00:24:32,880
Speaker 3: that are going on internally. So it was a journey,

474
00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:36,760
Speaker 3: but I was frustrated I didn't know it, but also

475
00:24:36,840 --> 00:24:39,040
Speaker 3: excited about the potential that I knew I had that

476
00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:42,359
Speaker 3: I hadn't unleashed yet because I hadn't understood what I needed.

477
00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:46,359
Speaker 2: And so once you kind of got that knowledge on board,

478
00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:49,280
Speaker 2: how did that change your relationship then with running?

479
00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:53,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, it definitely did. I think for the first couple

480
00:24:53,960 --> 00:24:56,840
Speaker 3: of years. Once I started to really adapt my training

481
00:24:56,880 --> 00:25:00,960
Speaker 3: to my cycle and actually start eating prize surprise, which

482
00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:03,720
Speaker 3: made me feel really good and I actually had fuel

483
00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:07,679
Speaker 3: to like train. I felt really good and I was

484
00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:11,240
Speaker 3: starting to perform way better. I was able to start

485
00:25:11,320 --> 00:25:14,920
Speaker 3: backing up training. I remember going from when I had Readeths,

486
00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:17,320
Speaker 3: I was probably running like one forty to one fifty

487
00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:20,239
Speaker 3: k a week, but struggling to get through it. And

488
00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:23,360
Speaker 3: then I started this like new training approach of adapting

489
00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:27,320
Speaker 3: to the cycle and fueling really specifically to training, and

490
00:25:27,359 --> 00:25:30,320
Speaker 3: seeing food as fuel and as energy to get me

491
00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:34,240
Speaker 3: through training, versus seeing food as the devil or like

492
00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:36,080
Speaker 3: it was going to make me slower if I ate,

493
00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:37,840
Speaker 3: because it was going to make me bigger. So my

494
00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:43,479
Speaker 3: whole mindset shifted, and then I started to see my

495
00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:46,399
Speaker 3: performance gains. I got up to like one seventy k weeks,

496
00:25:46,440 --> 00:25:49,479
Speaker 3: which is massive, like a lot of running. Yeah, And

497
00:25:49,560 --> 00:25:54,639
Speaker 3: I was backing up sessions and I started to just

498
00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:58,520
Speaker 3: chip away at my time. So I broke my five k,

499
00:25:59,280 --> 00:26:02,240
Speaker 3: ten k half marathon and marathon PB in the space

500
00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:06,239
Speaker 3: of about eighteen months. Whoa yeah. And I think that

501
00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:09,680
Speaker 3: for me was like a real just like green light

502
00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:13,359
Speaker 3: in terms of you're doing the right thing. And on

503
00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:15,199
Speaker 3: top of all of that, on top of all the

504
00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:18,919
Speaker 3: training and PBS and whatnot, I had a healthy cycle.

505
00:26:19,400 --> 00:26:22,480
Speaker 3: I was eating well and I felt so much better

506
00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:27,040
Speaker 3: in my body because I stopped focusing on my appearance.

507
00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:29,280
Speaker 3: I stopped saying I need to get to this weight

508
00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:32,639
Speaker 3: in order to achieve these goals. I was then saying,

509
00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:34,320
Speaker 3: I just need to eat this much to do this

510
00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:36,480
Speaker 3: much training so I can then get to these goals.

511
00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:40,080
Speaker 3: And that whole mindset shift was just huge for me.

512
00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:44,320
Speaker 3: So yeah, it was been a journey, but it's exciting

513
00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:47,000
Speaker 3: to think, like what else I could potentially achieve and

514
00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:49,280
Speaker 3: what other women can achieve now that we know what

515
00:26:49,320 --> 00:26:50,800
Speaker 3: we know about female physiology.

516
00:26:51,720 --> 00:26:54,840
Speaker 2: I've had the opportunity now to meet you and work

517
00:26:54,840 --> 00:26:56,439
Speaker 2: with some of your team on an event that we

518
00:26:56,440 --> 00:27:00,159
Speaker 2: did with Nike, FAMI and TIFA on International Women's Day,

519
00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:03,240
Speaker 2: and I absolutely love the work that you do but

520
00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:06,640
Speaker 2: also the community that you've built around that. But can

521
00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:09,919
Speaker 2: you explain for people who don't know what is FOREMI

522
00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:13,440
Speaker 2: and why did you start for me as a co founder? Yeah?

523
00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:16,320
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm so lucky. I started for me with my

524
00:27:16,359 --> 00:27:21,159
Speaker 3: best friend Esther who unfortunately but fortunately went through a

525
00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:25,000
Speaker 3: very similar journey to me. She was an incredible runner

526
00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:29,480
Speaker 3: when she was a teenager. She had very similar coaches

527
00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:33,080
Speaker 3: with similar mindsets around wait At when she was like thirteen,

528
00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:38,399
Speaker 3: fourteen fifteen, and she unfortunately fell into anorexia at that time,

529
00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:42,280
Speaker 3: and she actually won World cross country Champs as a teenager,

530
00:27:42,400 --> 00:27:46,840
Speaker 3: which is huge, so it was really seen as going

531
00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:50,280
Speaker 3: to be the next big thing for New Zealand distance running.

532
00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:54,639
Speaker 3: And because of those issues and the eating disorders and

533
00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:59,159
Speaker 3: not feeling herself greatly, she also fell into reader. She

534
00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:02,960
Speaker 3: had spracture after stress s practure, and she had bronchitis

535
00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:05,240
Speaker 3: and all these health issues and ended up stopping running

536
00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:10,440
Speaker 3: at like seventeen sixteen seventeen and took about five or

537
00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:14,520
Speaker 3: six years away. So when we became friends, we kind

538
00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:17,800
Speaker 3: of bonded over similar journeys, and then we also both

539
00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:21,240
Speaker 3: found ourselves not only being athletes but working in the

540
00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:25,040
Speaker 3: fitness industry from quite a young age, and I started

541
00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:28,720
Speaker 3: coaching when I was about twenty one. I got offered

542
00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:30,480
Speaker 3: a role at a high school in New Zealand to

543
00:28:30,560 --> 00:28:33,639
Speaker 3: work with the young girls and coached the track and

544
00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:37,160
Speaker 3: field team and because I had such an amazing experience

545
00:28:37,200 --> 00:28:39,800
Speaker 3: as a teenage girl with my incredible coach, I really

546
00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:42,080
Speaker 3: wanted to give back to the sport through the way

547
00:28:42,080 --> 00:28:45,320
Speaker 3: that she coached me, and so I worked with Diocesan

548
00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:48,800
Speaker 3: School for Girls in Auckland for five years. And throughout

549
00:28:48,840 --> 00:28:52,640
Speaker 3: that journey, I also just had so many runners online

550
00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:56,040
Speaker 3: messaging me for coaching programs and advice. And I didn't

551
00:28:56,080 --> 00:28:58,440
Speaker 3: really think about it too much at the time, but

552
00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:02,080
Speaker 3: I it was really like the first steps in terms

553
00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:06,640
Speaker 3: of building an online running community. And I think over

554
00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:09,640
Speaker 3: about four or five years, I wrote about four thousand

555
00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:10,680
Speaker 3: running programs.

556
00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:13,560
Speaker 2: That's a lot of running program a.

557
00:29:13,480 --> 00:29:16,160
Speaker 3: Lot of and for everyone all over the world. I

558
00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:19,240
Speaker 3: really had no idea what I was doing. I definitely

559
00:29:19,240 --> 00:29:21,280
Speaker 3: had no idea about tech, and I was just like

560
00:29:21,320 --> 00:29:25,200
Speaker 3: writing these programs, personalizing them for everybody. I would email

561
00:29:25,240 --> 00:29:27,560
Speaker 3: every single person, would head back and forth, like make

562
00:29:27,560 --> 00:29:30,560
Speaker 3: sure it's as personal as I can possibly give for

563
00:29:30,680 --> 00:29:35,520
Speaker 3: each individual athlete. And it was a really like incredible

564
00:29:35,560 --> 00:29:38,400
Speaker 3: experience in terms of learning how to work with all

565
00:29:38,440 --> 00:29:41,920
Speaker 3: ability athletes alongside the work I was doing with Nike.

566
00:29:42,200 --> 00:29:45,120
Speaker 3: So I started as the Nike Run coach in New

567
00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:48,640
Speaker 3: Zealand in two thousand and fourteen or fifteen, I believe,

568
00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:52,080
Speaker 3: And so I kind of got to experience running outside

569
00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:54,480
Speaker 3: of my own like little bubble of being a high

570
00:29:54,520 --> 00:29:58,280
Speaker 3: performing athlete and got to see what running could do

571
00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:02,320
Speaker 3: for everybody, the impact that running can have on an

572
00:30:02,400 --> 00:30:05,160
Speaker 3: everyday person who just wants to feel good and achieve

573
00:30:05,240 --> 00:30:08,640
Speaker 3: their goals alongside working full time jobs or raising kids

574
00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:12,400
Speaker 3: and all of that. Like, I was really inspired by

575
00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:15,479
Speaker 3: what everyone else could do. So I was kind of

576
00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:18,360
Speaker 3: online coaching, working as Nike Run coach and then working

577
00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:22,760
Speaker 3: with high school girls. And when I went through my

578
00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:26,560
Speaker 3: own journey, my own health journey and learning about myself

579
00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:29,680
Speaker 3: as an athlete and learning how important it is to

580
00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:34,240
Speaker 3: understand your physiology as a female. By about twenty nineteen,

581
00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:37,640
Speaker 3: I just felt this huge responsibility to take everything I

582
00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:40,240
Speaker 3: had gone through and all of the challenges I went through,

583
00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:43,000
Speaker 3: and all of these learnings that I'd gone through and

584
00:30:43,080 --> 00:30:48,680
Speaker 3: actually start educating women correctly and guiding women appropriately based

585
00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:54,160
Speaker 3: on their hormones. And in twenty twenty, obviously we all

586
00:30:54,240 --> 00:30:57,080
Speaker 3: went through lockdown and COVID's and esther, who was working

587
00:30:57,120 --> 00:30:59,280
Speaker 3: as a personal trainer at the time, lost your job,

588
00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:02,600
Speaker 3: and I had kind of built my online business to

589
00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:05,360
Speaker 3: a point where I couldn't expand it by myself any longer.

590
00:31:05,440 --> 00:31:07,760
Speaker 3: Like I really kind of hit the ceiling in terms

591
00:31:07,760 --> 00:31:10,120
Speaker 3: of what I could do, and I really wanted to

592
00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:13,240
Speaker 3: grow into something that was not just about me and

593
00:31:13,280 --> 00:31:15,400
Speaker 3: not just about me as a coach. I've really wanted

594
00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:18,200
Speaker 3: to build something bigger and so Easter and I came

595
00:31:18,280 --> 00:31:22,480
Speaker 3: together and at the time we knew there was a

596
00:31:22,560 --> 00:31:26,320
Speaker 3: need for a space specifically for women. Easter and I

597
00:31:26,320 --> 00:31:29,520
Speaker 3: have always been quite hardcore feminists in the sporting industry.

598
00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:31,120
Speaker 3: I feel like we've always been the ones who have

599
00:31:31,200 --> 00:31:34,400
Speaker 3: like stood up with things haven't felt quite right or

600
00:31:34,480 --> 00:31:37,120
Speaker 3: fear for women. We've definitely called out the media in

601
00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:39,160
Speaker 3: New Zealand if they haven't given Yes.

602
00:31:39,240 --> 00:31:41,280
Speaker 2: Actually you told me that story the other day, can

603
00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:42,480
Speaker 2: you share that? Yeah.

604
00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:44,960
Speaker 3: So we ran this race back in New Zealand. I

605
00:31:45,480 --> 00:31:48,680
Speaker 3: want to say maybe it was twenty eighteen, definitely before

606
00:31:48,720 --> 00:31:52,520
Speaker 3: Fame's time, and it was the biggest five thousand meter

607
00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:54,239
Speaker 3: race in New Zealand. So it's like quite a lot

608
00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:57,120
Speaker 3: of media, quite a lot of coverage. People get really

609
00:31:57,120 --> 00:32:00,680
Speaker 3: excited about the race and I fortunately won that race,

610
00:32:00,760 --> 00:32:04,080
Speaker 3: which I was really proud of and excited by the

611
00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:06,720
Speaker 3: next day, the results came out and there was a

612
00:32:06,760 --> 00:32:09,920
Speaker 3: news article and it was really like minute by minute

613
00:32:09,920 --> 00:32:13,640
Speaker 3: play of how the men's race went down, who was leading,

614
00:32:13,720 --> 00:32:16,000
Speaker 3: who was in front, who was overtaking. You could have

615
00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:20,720
Speaker 3: read the entire race, and they didn't even say one

616
00:32:20,760 --> 00:32:23,400
Speaker 3: thing about the women's race, not even one man, not

617
00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:25,800
Speaker 3: even one mention. And I had people messaging me on

618
00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:28,520
Speaker 3: Instagram saying like, where are the women's results. I haven't

619
00:32:28,560 --> 00:32:31,000
Speaker 3: been able to find them, like who came first? And

620
00:32:31,880 --> 00:32:36,320
Speaker 3: I was just so shocked that in the day and

621
00:32:36,360 --> 00:32:40,120
Speaker 3: age that that can even happen, And so Esther and

622
00:32:40,160 --> 00:32:43,080
Speaker 3: I like called that out and we were pretty loud

623
00:32:43,120 --> 00:32:45,520
Speaker 3: about it and really wanted to make a point that

624
00:32:45,560 --> 00:32:50,480
Speaker 3: this is not okay. Just because men are physiologically built

625
00:32:50,520 --> 00:32:53,720
Speaker 3: to run faster does not mean that more impressive or

626
00:32:53,760 --> 00:32:56,840
Speaker 3: that they, you know, should have more attention. And so

627
00:32:56,960 --> 00:33:00,800
Speaker 3: we called that out and change was made. They rewrote

628
00:33:00,840 --> 00:33:04,200
Speaker 3: the article, and then I believe now every piece of

629
00:33:04,640 --> 00:33:07,280
Speaker 3: media that comes out from Athletics New Zealand has to

630
00:33:07,320 --> 00:33:09,520
Speaker 3: be equal and they have to make sure that there's

631
00:33:09,560 --> 00:33:12,800
Speaker 3: equal prize money. That's always somewhat been the case that

632
00:33:12,840 --> 00:33:15,640
Speaker 3: has changed. I think that definitely been something that's come

633
00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:18,520
Speaker 3: out over the last ten years, which is good and

634
00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:22,160
Speaker 3: also like imagery and just making sure there's like equality

635
00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:25,680
Speaker 3: now sports so so important, particularly when we see so

636
00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:29,240
Speaker 3: many young girls dropping out of athletics, Like when that happens,

637
00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:32,080
Speaker 3: you're like, well, no wonder girls aren't wanting to continue

638
00:33:32,080 --> 00:33:34,440
Speaker 3: the sport if we're not getting the level of support

639
00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:37,960
Speaker 3: and attention that the boys are. So that was a

640
00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:40,000
Speaker 3: massive one for us, so Eastern and I have always

641
00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:43,120
Speaker 3: kind of been like I love it really like whistle blowers,

642
00:33:43,120 --> 00:33:46,160
Speaker 3: Like we need to get woman the support that they need.

643
00:33:46,880 --> 00:33:49,400
Speaker 3: So by twenty twenty, we're like, how are we going

644
00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:52,440
Speaker 3: to do this, and let's start building something together. We

645
00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:55,680
Speaker 3: had another friend, Page who was with us in Melbourne,

646
00:33:55,680 --> 00:33:58,040
Speaker 3: one of my training partners who also had lost her job,

647
00:33:58,440 --> 00:34:00,520
Speaker 3: so we brought her and as a coach as well,

648
00:34:00,560 --> 00:34:04,600
Speaker 3: and Demi really started as one to one coaching, so

649
00:34:05,080 --> 00:34:08,279
Speaker 3: really off the back of my old running programming business,

650
00:34:08,480 --> 00:34:10,839
Speaker 3: we started one to one coaching and it was all

651
00:34:10,880 --> 00:34:14,799
Speaker 3: about adapting the training to the woman's menstrual cycle, if

652
00:34:14,840 --> 00:34:17,120
Speaker 3: she has a natural cycle and if she doesn't. How

653
00:34:17,160 --> 00:34:20,200
Speaker 3: can we give her the best and most sustainable programming

654
00:34:20,239 --> 00:34:24,759
Speaker 3: possible or where she's out on her running journey, And yeah,

655
00:34:24,760 --> 00:34:28,400
Speaker 3: we pretty quickly saw the need for what we were delivering.

656
00:34:28,600 --> 00:34:31,440
Speaker 3: We also saw this huge gap in the market in

657
00:34:31,520 --> 00:34:35,080
Speaker 3: terms of sporting technology for women. We were using like

658
00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:40,040
Speaker 3: five different platforms to give her coaching, guidance, give her

659
00:34:40,239 --> 00:34:42,960
Speaker 3: track her menstrual cycle. We did that all manually. We

660
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:45,680
Speaker 3: were giving her tips around her cycle and how she

661
00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:48,239
Speaker 3: can be the best her on whatever day she's on

662
00:34:48,239 --> 00:34:51,440
Speaker 3: in her cycle. We were like trying to chat with

663
00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:55,560
Speaker 3: her through whats like it was a real mishmash and like, yeah,

664
00:34:55,600 --> 00:34:58,440
Speaker 3: it was just a bit chaotic. And we tried to

665
00:34:58,480 --> 00:35:01,799
Speaker 3: find like a sporting platform we could use that would

666
00:35:01,840 --> 00:35:04,600
Speaker 3: do it all, and there just wasn't one. And we

667
00:35:04,640 --> 00:35:07,520
Speaker 3: saw kind of this rise of other sporting tech and

668
00:35:08,120 --> 00:35:11,239
Speaker 3: like social media sports tech growing and we were like, wow,

669
00:35:11,280 --> 00:35:15,799
Speaker 3: it's so masculine, it's so built for competitiveness and comparison,

670
00:35:16,560 --> 00:35:20,600
Speaker 3: and it doesn't really inspire a lot of women. So

671
00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:22,839
Speaker 3: we need to fill that gap and build something that's

672
00:35:22,960 --> 00:35:26,040
Speaker 3: just for her, makes it feel good, it's about her

673
00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:29,319
Speaker 3: personal journey and she can share it if she wants to,

674
00:35:30,040 --> 00:35:34,640
Speaker 3: but it's also just around sustainable training periodise to her cycle.

675
00:35:34,840 --> 00:35:38,600
Speaker 3: So from there we started building tech really and alongside

676
00:35:38,600 --> 00:35:41,839
Speaker 3: that building the community, which has been a huge Jenny.

677
00:35:42,040 --> 00:35:44,440
Speaker 2: What on earth is it like building tech?

678
00:35:44,800 --> 00:35:50,479
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh. Yeah, it's been a huge learning curve.

679
00:35:50,520 --> 00:35:52,800
Speaker 3: I feel like I've gone through like ten degrees in

680
00:35:52,840 --> 00:35:57,440
Speaker 3: the last like three or four years. It's hard. I

681
00:35:57,480 --> 00:36:01,000
Speaker 3: think tech is something that is constantly changed, and I

682
00:36:01,160 --> 00:36:03,239
Speaker 3: kind of came from this world of Nike. So I

683
00:36:03,239 --> 00:36:05,959
Speaker 3: spent five years in the brand team at Nike alongside

684
00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:09,719
Speaker 3: being the coach, and we put so much effort and

685
00:36:09,960 --> 00:36:14,920
Speaker 3: work into launching a shoe and obviously there's so much

686
00:36:14,960 --> 00:36:18,120
Speaker 3: tick an innovation that goes into that beautiful shoe, But

687
00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:20,600
Speaker 3: once the shoe is on the show, it's not changing,

688
00:36:20,680 --> 00:36:23,680
Speaker 3: Like that is the shoe that we're selling. And so

689
00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:26,279
Speaker 3: you built a huge campaign around that shoe and you

690
00:36:26,400 --> 00:36:28,960
Speaker 3: do all the glitz and glam and the shoe so

691
00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:33,479
Speaker 3: hours out and happy days. Whereas in technology, you'll never

692
00:36:33,719 --> 00:36:37,440
Speaker 3: finished the job of building a tech or a product.

693
00:36:37,640 --> 00:36:41,440
Speaker 3: A digital product is just like a constantly evolving beast,

694
00:36:41,520 --> 00:36:44,400
Speaker 3: which definitely has pros and cons as well.

695
00:36:44,840 --> 00:36:47,279
Speaker 2: It makes me just feel a bit tired thinking about it.

696
00:36:48,200 --> 00:36:50,680
Speaker 3: Yeah, we had honestly, we had no idea what we're

697
00:36:50,680 --> 00:36:52,840
Speaker 3: getting ourselves in for. We We're like, yeah, we'll just

698
00:36:52,880 --> 00:36:55,879
Speaker 3: build this app and it'll be fun. And now we've

699
00:36:55,920 --> 00:36:58,839
Speaker 3: been building. So we started ide eating in twenty twenty one,

700
00:36:59,440 --> 00:37:03,200
Speaker 3: started bo in twenty twenty two. We launched in twenty

701
00:37:03,239 --> 00:37:05,600
Speaker 3: twenty three, the week of my wedding, which was just

702
00:37:05,680 --> 00:37:10,879
Speaker 3: also kot Well that's and then twenty Yeah. So we've

703
00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:13,120
Speaker 3: been launched now for about a year and a half

704
00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:16,280
Speaker 3: and we've been building for maybe about two and a half.

705
00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:20,040
Speaker 3: So it still very early days and we still have

706
00:37:20,160 --> 00:37:23,360
Speaker 3: so much to do. We have such a long roadmap

707
00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:25,200
Speaker 3: what we call in the product world. We have this

708
00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:27,840
Speaker 3: huge roadmap of things that we want to build for women.

709
00:37:28,719 --> 00:37:31,239
Speaker 3: But I'm really proud of what we've been able to do. Like,

710
00:37:31,320 --> 00:37:33,879
Speaker 3: our team is small right now. We only have one

711
00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:37,360
Speaker 3: engineer and just myself and esther, and we have a

712
00:37:37,440 --> 00:37:40,600
Speaker 3: huge wide team, which is incredible because it's our community,

713
00:37:40,680 --> 00:37:44,839
Speaker 3: but it is it's a grund. I've been learning a lot,

714
00:37:44,960 --> 00:37:45,279
Speaker 3: a lot.

715
00:37:45,440 --> 00:37:48,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, what has it been like being a woman running

716
00:37:48,920 --> 00:37:49,520
Speaker 2: a startup?

717
00:37:50,280 --> 00:37:54,360
Speaker 3: It's been yet hard. I think a lot of people

718
00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:56,960
Speaker 3: are kind of unaware of the startup space and what

719
00:37:57,040 --> 00:37:59,960
Speaker 3: goes I definitely had no idea about the startup work

720
00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:04,840
Speaker 3: world and raising capital and investment and how the economy

721
00:38:04,880 --> 00:38:07,120
Speaker 3: goes round and that kind of world. I just was

722
00:38:07,200 --> 00:38:10,280
Speaker 3: so ignorant to all of it. And then twenty twenty

723
00:38:10,320 --> 00:38:14,160
Speaker 3: two we got accepted into a startup program called start Mate,

724
00:38:14,200 --> 00:38:18,040
Speaker 3: which is one of the biggest startup programs accelerated programs

725
00:38:18,080 --> 00:38:21,440
Speaker 3: in Australia in New Zealand. At the time we applied,

726
00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:24,279
Speaker 3: I was kind of like, we're just building a running app,

727
00:38:24,400 --> 00:38:26,520
Speaker 3: Like I don't know if people are really going to

728
00:38:26,600 --> 00:38:30,120
Speaker 3: care about this as in the startup world and investors

729
00:38:30,760 --> 00:38:35,840
Speaker 3: and our cohort, five hundred companies applied and they only

730
00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:40,239
Speaker 3: selected twelve, and so for us to be selected and

731
00:38:40,280 --> 00:38:43,879
Speaker 3: that cohort was a huge confidence boost in what we

732
00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:47,160
Speaker 3: were doing. We were so lucky, and I don't want

733
00:38:47,160 --> 00:38:49,879
Speaker 3: to say lucky. I think we earned that. I used

734
00:38:49,880 --> 00:38:54,000
Speaker 3: the word luck I think probably as a woman saying

735
00:38:54,760 --> 00:38:58,280
Speaker 3: all the time, but actually I think we definitely deserve

736
00:38:58,400 --> 00:39:00,160
Speaker 3: to be there, and I definitely look back on the

737
00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:01,920
Speaker 3: journey we went on to where we are now and

738
00:39:01,960 --> 00:39:03,759
Speaker 3: I'm so proud of the work that we've been able

739
00:39:03,800 --> 00:39:06,239
Speaker 3: to do. But that was a huge confidence burst to

740
00:39:06,280 --> 00:39:09,520
Speaker 3: say we were on the right path, and that was

741
00:39:09,560 --> 00:39:13,200
Speaker 3: our first injection of capital. And so coming out of

742
00:39:13,239 --> 00:39:16,000
Speaker 3: start Mate, you kind of in the startup world get

743
00:39:16,040 --> 00:39:18,799
Speaker 3: solved this idea that you are going to raise all

744
00:39:18,840 --> 00:39:20,799
Speaker 3: this money and build this huge business and it's going

745
00:39:20,840 --> 00:39:22,440
Speaker 3: to take over the world and that's all going to

746
00:39:22,480 --> 00:39:25,399
Speaker 3: happen in twelve months. Like that's kind of the young

747
00:39:25,560 --> 00:39:30,399
Speaker 3: you get spun and it's unfortunately not that common, Like, yes,

748
00:39:30,480 --> 00:39:34,319
Speaker 3: sometimes that does happen, but for us, we have been

749
00:39:34,360 --> 00:39:36,239
Speaker 3: on this journey now for a few years and we're

750
00:39:36,239 --> 00:39:39,760
Speaker 3: still learning and we're still building, and we are still

751
00:39:40,239 --> 00:39:42,600
Speaker 3: while we spent pretty much all of twenty twenty four

752
00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:46,520
Speaker 3: trying to raise capital. But when you are in an

753
00:39:46,560 --> 00:39:50,120
Speaker 3: investment world where majority of the investment managers working at

754
00:39:50,200 --> 00:39:54,880
Speaker 3: these vcs which are the venture capitalists, are men, and

755
00:39:54,920 --> 00:39:58,680
Speaker 3: you're building a company for women and your two women founders,

756
00:39:59,200 --> 00:40:03,880
Speaker 3: it's incredible hard to get them to understand the product,

757
00:40:04,080 --> 00:40:07,040
Speaker 3: actually get them to even understand the problem. When we're

758
00:40:07,040 --> 00:40:09,440
Speaker 3: sitting there saying, you know, women have grown up in

759
00:40:09,480 --> 00:40:13,520
Speaker 3: a world where we have been spoken to as exercise

760
00:40:13,600 --> 00:40:15,799
Speaker 3: as a tool to lose weight or change the way

761
00:40:15,840 --> 00:40:19,000
Speaker 3: you look, and it's been built around men and there's

762
00:40:19,040 --> 00:40:23,200
Speaker 3: no consideration of female hormones. You try and tell these

763
00:40:23,239 --> 00:40:25,399
Speaker 3: problems to men and that kind of like, oh yeah,

764
00:40:25,440 --> 00:40:28,320
Speaker 3: that kind of sounds about right onto the next one,

765
00:40:28,640 --> 00:40:30,239
Speaker 3: or you might be lucky to get a pat on

766
00:40:30,239 --> 00:40:32,400
Speaker 3: the back to say you're doing some really good work.

767
00:40:33,719 --> 00:40:37,080
Speaker 3: And so we spent I don't even know, we would

768
00:40:37,080 --> 00:40:40,560
Speaker 3: have pitched to over one hundred investors last year, and

769
00:40:40,960 --> 00:40:45,319
Speaker 3: fortunately we found some real amazing mostly women. We have

770
00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:49,720
Speaker 3: a female investors, but mostly a women who get the problem,

771
00:40:50,120 --> 00:40:53,200
Speaker 3: understand the mission we're on, and are really excited about

772
00:40:53,200 --> 00:40:55,520
Speaker 3: the tech that we're building, and they are just the

773
00:40:55,520 --> 00:40:59,200
Speaker 3: biggest supporters for us. But yeah, as a woman founder,

774
00:40:59,360 --> 00:41:01,480
Speaker 3: whether you're building a product for women or not, I

775
00:41:01,520 --> 00:41:03,680
Speaker 3: know that. I think it's less than two percent of

776
00:41:03,760 --> 00:41:08,560
Speaker 3: venture capital money goes into female founders. So majority of

777
00:41:08,600 --> 00:41:12,360
Speaker 3: the funds from investors are going into male founders, and

778
00:41:12,480 --> 00:41:16,080
Speaker 3: most of them are going into founders that the investors

779
00:41:16,120 --> 00:41:18,360
Speaker 3: can relate to. So not only are they men that

780
00:41:18,440 --> 00:41:20,799
Speaker 3: are like the Elon Musks of the world, or you know,

781
00:41:20,920 --> 00:41:23,200
Speaker 3: like the Jeff bezos is who are like, oh, you're

782
00:41:23,239 --> 00:41:25,040
Speaker 3: the next Jeff Bezos. I can see that in you

783
00:41:25,080 --> 00:41:27,879
Speaker 3: because you're a dude who has carries a lot of confidence.

784
00:41:28,800 --> 00:41:31,239
Speaker 3: We get told to be louder, we get told to

785
00:41:31,280 --> 00:41:33,439
Speaker 3: be more confident, you know, we get told to put

786
00:41:33,480 --> 00:41:38,279
Speaker 3: on these personas to impress people or press investors, and like,

787
00:41:38,840 --> 00:41:40,920
Speaker 3: why can't we just be ox helps you know, I'm like,

788
00:41:40,960 --> 00:41:43,960
Speaker 3: why can't I just be me, be Lydia and do

789
00:41:44,040 --> 00:41:46,080
Speaker 3: the hard work that we're doing and still get the

790
00:41:46,080 --> 00:41:49,440
Speaker 3: support that all the guys are getting. It's a it

791
00:41:49,520 --> 00:41:51,960
Speaker 3: is a battle, but right now we're just so in

792
00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:54,000
Speaker 3: the thick of late building a product that I know

793
00:41:54,120 --> 00:41:55,560
Speaker 3: is going to change the world. I'm like, I don't

794
00:41:55,560 --> 00:41:56,000
Speaker 3: even care.

795
00:41:56,760 --> 00:41:58,960
Speaker 2: I love that. I love that. What has been some

796
00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:01,520
Speaker 2: of the feedback you've got from people in your community

797
00:42:01,520 --> 00:42:02,600
Speaker 2: who've been using the app?

798
00:42:03,520 --> 00:42:06,960
Speaker 3: Yeah, amazing, Like that is one thing I feel so

799
00:42:07,040 --> 00:42:10,279
Speaker 3: grateful for. I feel so lucky to hear from our

800
00:42:10,320 --> 00:42:13,920
Speaker 3: community all the time, Like I get to be in

801
00:42:14,120 --> 00:42:16,720
Speaker 3: amongst the women I go to the Fermi run community.

802
00:42:16,840 --> 00:42:20,080
Speaker 3: So we have now I think twenty maybe over twenty

803
00:42:20,080 --> 00:42:24,000
Speaker 3: physical run communities across the world and women are meeting

804
00:42:24,040 --> 00:42:26,880
Speaker 3: every Friday, they go for a run, they get coffee,

805
00:42:27,200 --> 00:42:30,360
Speaker 3: and it's so much more than just the pursuit of running.

806
00:42:30,400 --> 00:42:34,360
Speaker 3: It's really like a connection point and a really safe

807
00:42:34,640 --> 00:42:37,560
Speaker 3: environment for women to meet and converse and talk about

808
00:42:37,600 --> 00:42:40,360
Speaker 3: things that maybe they don't talk about anywhere else. So

809
00:42:40,400 --> 00:42:42,440
Speaker 3: we had one woman come up to us in Auckland

810
00:42:42,960 --> 00:42:45,560
Speaker 3: who said she came to for ME because she has

811
00:42:45,760 --> 00:42:49,439
Speaker 3: been having issues with her minstrual cycle and she didn't

812
00:42:49,440 --> 00:42:52,279
Speaker 3: really know where else to go to get support. And

813
00:42:52,680 --> 00:42:54,440
Speaker 3: everyone at fe ME is obviously going to wrap the

814
00:42:54,560 --> 00:42:58,560
Speaker 3: arms around her. And although they and myself I'm not

815
00:42:58,640 --> 00:43:02,080
Speaker 3: a medical profession we have medical professionals on the team

816
00:43:02,120 --> 00:43:05,759
Speaker 3: who educate us. Just being able to have that conversation

817
00:43:06,520 --> 00:43:09,480
Speaker 3: is life changing. Like to feel that you have a

818
00:43:09,520 --> 00:43:11,680
Speaker 3: space to go to to talk about these things is

819
00:43:11,719 --> 00:43:14,960
Speaker 3: so incredible. So we're so lucky to be able to

820
00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:17,000
Speaker 3: feel that and hear that all the time. I don't

821
00:43:17,080 --> 00:43:19,400
Speaker 3: know if Esther and I would still be on this

822
00:43:19,520 --> 00:43:23,320
Speaker 3: mission without it, because it's been so hard. I hate

823
00:43:23,400 --> 00:43:26,279
Speaker 3: playing that poor female founder card. I really don't like it,

824
00:43:26,360 --> 00:43:28,279
Speaker 3: but I also want to be honest, like it has

825
00:43:28,320 --> 00:43:31,879
Speaker 3: been a real mission to get here. Yeah, but it's

826
00:43:31,920 --> 00:43:34,440
Speaker 3: all thanks to the community from like getting behind us

827
00:43:34,480 --> 00:43:37,399
Speaker 3: and believing in what we're doing too. So yeah, we've

828
00:43:37,440 --> 00:43:40,120
Speaker 3: had women like say that Jimmy's changed their lives and

829
00:43:40,520 --> 00:43:42,800
Speaker 3: you know, being able to see them break their pbs

830
00:43:42,840 --> 00:43:45,640
Speaker 3: and get to finish lines. Like I spent the weekend

831
00:43:45,719 --> 00:43:48,560
Speaker 3: at the Nike after dark to it in Sydney and

832
00:43:49,080 --> 00:43:50,799
Speaker 3: I was on the mic for like four hours at

833
00:43:50,800 --> 00:43:53,560
Speaker 3: the finish line and I don't know if you've ever

834
00:43:53,600 --> 00:43:55,239
Speaker 3: been to a finish line of a race, but it's

835
00:43:55,280 --> 00:43:57,799
Speaker 3: the most incredible my bucket list I need to have

836
00:43:57,960 --> 00:44:00,560
Speaker 3: to It's like being at the air or when you

837
00:44:00,600 --> 00:44:04,880
Speaker 3: see people come together, seeing women across the finish line,

838
00:44:04,920 --> 00:44:07,439
Speaker 3: like holding hands with their hands up in the air,

839
00:44:07,640 --> 00:44:11,359
Speaker 3: massive smile on their face, just so proud of themselves.

840
00:44:11,520 --> 00:44:14,400
Speaker 3: And that to me is like why I do all

841
00:44:14,440 --> 00:44:17,279
Speaker 3: the work that I do. It's seeing the confidence of

842
00:44:17,320 --> 00:44:21,240
Speaker 3: these women gain because they have done something really hard

843
00:44:21,480 --> 00:44:25,040
Speaker 3: and they're so proud of themselves. And BEMI is a

844
00:44:25,120 --> 00:44:28,520
Speaker 3: running app and from the outside that's what it looks like.

845
00:44:28,719 --> 00:44:31,640
Speaker 3: But ultimately we're trying to build confidence in women because

846
00:44:31,640 --> 00:44:33,440
Speaker 3: we have just been brought up in a world to

847
00:44:33,840 --> 00:44:36,480
Speaker 3: drain our confidence if since well born, and it's really

848
00:44:36,560 --> 00:44:39,440
Speaker 3: cool to see women like taking it back and taking

849
00:44:39,480 --> 00:44:43,080
Speaker 3: ownership and being like, I trust myself, I believe myself.

850
00:44:43,239 --> 00:44:44,479
Speaker 3: I can do this. That's really cool.

851
00:44:44,560 --> 00:44:47,239
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's really powerful. What has it been like to

852
00:44:47,320 --> 00:44:50,880
Speaker 2: be part of the run club culture? That's just absolutely

853
00:44:50,920 --> 00:44:52,920
Speaker 2: taken off over the last few years.

854
00:44:53,080 --> 00:44:55,839
Speaker 3: That's why that's crazy. I still have to like sit

855
00:44:55,920 --> 00:44:57,360
Speaker 3: back and look at it some time and be like,

856
00:44:57,400 --> 00:45:00,840
Speaker 3: this is insane. Because when I was running high school

857
00:45:00,920 --> 00:45:04,239
Speaker 3: and even in my twenties, my early twenties, running was

858
00:45:04,320 --> 00:45:08,080
Speaker 3: so naff like it was really like nerdy and for

859
00:45:08,160 --> 00:45:11,160
Speaker 3: the like, no one thought running was cool. Yeah, some

860
00:45:11,200 --> 00:45:12,880
Speaker 3: people would be like, oh, that's cool, you ran a

861
00:45:12,880 --> 00:45:16,399
Speaker 3: half marathon, you know, like move on. And now it's

862
00:45:16,480 --> 00:45:18,960
Speaker 3: like people's entire identity.

863
00:45:18,760 --> 00:45:20,760
Speaker 2: Because about runnies, yeah.

864
00:45:20,760 --> 00:45:24,480
Speaker 3: And running races, and it's been wild. I think Nike

865
00:45:24,560 --> 00:45:28,319
Speaker 3: run clubs started in twenty and eleven, I believe, and

866
00:45:28,800 --> 00:45:31,520
Speaker 3: Auckland in New Zealand was one of the first cities

867
00:45:31,560 --> 00:45:35,759
Speaker 3: to have a physical Nike run club. So we started

868
00:45:36,080 --> 00:45:39,239
Speaker 3: getting people together from all walks of life. Every Wednesday.

869
00:45:39,280 --> 00:45:42,520
Speaker 3: They'd meet down in Britamar in the city and we'd

870
00:45:42,520 --> 00:45:44,399
Speaker 3: go for I think it was like a five k

871
00:45:44,640 --> 00:45:48,200
Speaker 3: or a kink and it was just incredible to see

872
00:45:48,200 --> 00:45:51,280
Speaker 3: the diversity of people coming. We would have like sometimes

873
00:45:51,320 --> 00:45:53,399
Speaker 3: young kids would turn up and then sometimes they would

874
00:45:53,400 --> 00:45:55,520
Speaker 3: be like seventy year olds who have been just in

875
00:45:55,600 --> 00:46:00,640
Speaker 3: running all their lives and just love it. And from

876
00:46:00,680 --> 00:46:04,640
Speaker 3: that to what it is now has just been incredible

877
00:46:04,719 --> 00:46:07,360
Speaker 3: to watch, I think, and to be part of as well.

878
00:46:07,760 --> 00:46:11,400
Speaker 3: I started coaching in twenty fourteen or fifteen, but I've

879
00:46:11,440 --> 00:46:13,960
Speaker 3: been part of Nike Run Club since twenty and eleven.

880
00:46:14,760 --> 00:46:19,000
Speaker 3: And in about twenty and eighteen we stopped doing the

881
00:46:19,040 --> 00:46:22,759
Speaker 3: physical or weekly run clubs, so we pulled back as

882
00:46:22,760 --> 00:46:25,759
Speaker 3: a Nike Pool back from doing the physical meetups and

883
00:46:25,880 --> 00:46:29,399
Speaker 3: kind of handed the keys over to the participants who

884
00:46:29,400 --> 00:46:31,839
Speaker 3: were turning up weekly and said to them, you know,

885
00:46:32,040 --> 00:46:34,360
Speaker 3: go and start your own run club and we'll be

886
00:46:34,400 --> 00:46:38,600
Speaker 3: here to support you. And from there until now, what

887
00:46:38,680 --> 00:46:41,720
Speaker 3: has it been like seven years, It's gone from maybe

888
00:46:41,719 --> 00:46:43,759
Speaker 3: one or two run clubs in a city to now

889
00:46:44,280 --> 00:46:47,600
Speaker 3: in Sydney there's probably like a thousand run clubs and

890
00:46:48,760 --> 00:46:51,880
Speaker 3: there is a run club or a run community for everybody.

891
00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:54,600
Speaker 3: There is a space for everyone. I think what we

892
00:46:54,680 --> 00:46:57,200
Speaker 3: hear all the time is a woman saying I want

893
00:46:57,200 --> 00:46:59,480
Speaker 3: to start my own run club or community, but I

894
00:46:59,520 --> 00:47:02,359
Speaker 3: just feel like there's already so many and there isn't

895
00:47:02,400 --> 00:47:05,560
Speaker 3: really space for me. And I just want people to

896
00:47:05,600 --> 00:47:08,480
Speaker 3: know there's always space, and whether you have two people

897
00:47:08,520 --> 00:47:12,279
Speaker 3: showing up or two hundred people showing up, building somewhere

898
00:47:12,360 --> 00:47:15,080
Speaker 3: where people can connect is so incredibly special and I

899
00:47:15,120 --> 00:47:18,920
Speaker 3: just don't think we understand the impact of that long term.

900
00:47:19,480 --> 00:47:22,160
Speaker 3: And so what we've actually built in the FEMI at

901
00:47:22,239 --> 00:47:24,560
Speaker 3: now is the ability for people to start their own

902
00:47:24,640 --> 00:47:27,680
Speaker 3: run communities. And we call it host your Home Run

903
00:47:27,800 --> 00:47:30,880
Speaker 3: or own your Home Run. You can apply to have

904
00:47:31,000 --> 00:47:34,240
Speaker 3: a run in your local area and SEMI will promote

905
00:47:34,280 --> 00:47:36,319
Speaker 3: it for you. We cover all the waivers and all

906
00:47:36,360 --> 00:47:39,439
Speaker 3: the teas and seas. You're completely covered and people can

907
00:47:39,560 --> 00:47:42,520
Speaker 3: find you in the FEMI app and come along and run.

908
00:47:42,760 --> 00:47:45,800
Speaker 3: And it's been really cool, Like we had someone from

909
00:47:46,080 --> 00:47:48,760
Speaker 3: the US and I think it was an Alabama recently

910
00:47:48,800 --> 00:47:51,759
Speaker 3: applied to host a run and it's really amazing to

911
00:47:51,840 --> 00:47:56,400
Speaker 3: see kind of this giving people the ability and opportunity

912
00:47:56,480 --> 00:47:59,200
Speaker 3: to build something of their owner's really cool. So especially

913
00:47:59,200 --> 00:48:00,000
Speaker 3: for one, it's really.

914
00:48:00,080 --> 00:48:02,880
Speaker 2: Need Yeah, that's awesome. I touched earlier on the International

915
00:48:02,880 --> 00:48:05,720
Speaker 2: Women's Day event. It was really really cool. I got

916
00:48:05,760 --> 00:48:07,640
Speaker 2: all my family to come along, my partner Riley, and

917
00:48:07,680 --> 00:48:09,359
Speaker 2: our little boyfriend, and it was quite funny because they

918
00:48:09,360 --> 00:48:11,719
Speaker 2: were Fred. His naps were all over the place and

919
00:48:11,760 --> 00:48:13,440
Speaker 2: so they were running a little bit late and so

920
00:48:13,560 --> 00:48:16,279
Speaker 2: we A majority of people did the run that day,

921
00:48:16,280 --> 00:48:18,160
Speaker 2: but we did the walk and we were waiting for

922
00:48:18,280 --> 00:48:20,799
Speaker 2: Riley and Fred to arrive in the pram and it

923
00:48:20,880 --> 00:48:23,680
Speaker 2: was so lovely because the other girls from FORMI who

924
00:48:23,680 --> 00:48:26,440
Speaker 2: were walking with us, at every traffic light would stop

925
00:48:26,600 --> 00:48:28,640
Speaker 2: and wait for us to make sure that we caught up.

926
00:48:28,840 --> 00:48:30,640
Speaker 2: And I think they talked about that being a really

927
00:48:30,640 --> 00:48:34,200
Speaker 2: big part of the community of it. It's not about

928
00:48:34,239 --> 00:48:37,279
Speaker 2: that competition and running as fast as you possibly can.

929
00:48:37,360 --> 00:48:39,640
Speaker 2: It's about doing it together and the relationships that you

930
00:48:39,640 --> 00:48:40,279
Speaker 2: build out of that.

931
00:48:40,560 --> 00:48:44,640
Speaker 3: Definitely that it is about like building a safe space

932
00:48:44,680 --> 00:48:46,920
Speaker 3: where anybody can show up no matter what pace you're

933
00:48:46,960 --> 00:48:50,520
Speaker 3: running it. And Simmi fridays it is not a race.

934
00:48:50,600 --> 00:48:53,560
Speaker 3: You're not going there to ultimately build a fitness or

935
00:48:54,000 --> 00:48:57,400
Speaker 3: get faster or crush your goals. It's there to connect

936
00:48:57,480 --> 00:49:00,400
Speaker 3: with each other and there are spaces to that. And

937
00:49:00,440 --> 00:49:02,560
Speaker 3: I know there are run clubs that exist that are

938
00:49:02,640 --> 00:49:05,440
Speaker 3: around competition and running as fast as you can, and

939
00:49:05,480 --> 00:49:07,400
Speaker 3: all of that is great and I think it's needed.

940
00:49:07,440 --> 00:49:10,520
Speaker 3: But FIMMY is differently there for just to support women.

941
00:49:11,040 --> 00:49:14,880
Speaker 3: I feel like we just don't have enough safe spaces

942
00:49:14,880 --> 00:49:18,640
Speaker 3: that are ours to own and we want to go.

943
00:49:18,719 --> 00:49:20,600
Speaker 3: We want women to shurn up and feel like they

944
00:49:20,760 --> 00:49:23,359
Speaker 3: heard and seeing and acknowledge no matter who they are,

945
00:49:23,840 --> 00:49:26,840
Speaker 3: what their running journey has been, what like pace they're running.

946
00:49:26,920 --> 00:49:30,239
Speaker 3: So I'm glad that you felt that because there's differently

947
00:49:30,280 --> 00:49:31,239
Speaker 3: the FIMI ethos.

948
00:49:31,320 --> 00:49:34,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's awesome, that's very cool. A question that I

949
00:49:34,160 --> 00:49:37,960
Speaker 2: ask everyone on the show is what is your favorite failure?

950
00:49:39,480 --> 00:49:44,919
Speaker 3: So I feel like failures are just an opportunity to learn.

951
00:49:45,280 --> 00:49:50,160
Speaker 3: I feel like, particularly building technology, there's a term and

952
00:49:50,280 --> 00:49:53,239
Speaker 3: building tech called fail fast okay, And the faster you

953
00:49:53,280 --> 00:49:56,040
Speaker 3: can fail, the quicker you can learn and then build

954
00:49:56,080 --> 00:49:59,640
Speaker 3: something better. And so for me, I try to take

955
00:49:59,680 --> 00:50:01,800
Speaker 3: that and apply that to all areas of my life.

956
00:50:01,840 --> 00:50:02,000
Speaker 2: Now.

957
00:50:02,080 --> 00:50:06,160
Speaker 3: I think I grew up in a world where I

958
00:50:06,280 --> 00:50:08,960
Speaker 3: was so afraid of failing. I felt a lot of

959
00:50:09,000 --> 00:50:11,920
Speaker 3: pressure as a young kid to be perfect and be

960
00:50:12,320 --> 00:50:15,560
Speaker 3: the best me, and particularly as a ballerina. It's all about,

961
00:50:15,880 --> 00:50:19,120
Speaker 3: you know, ticking all these boxes, and I definitely carry

962
00:50:19,120 --> 00:50:21,840
Speaker 3: that in my life now still about like perfectionism, and

963
00:50:21,880 --> 00:50:24,360
Speaker 3: I think a lot of women do, like I feel

964
00:50:24,360 --> 00:50:28,759
Speaker 3: like we all feel this pressure to be seen as

965
00:50:28,880 --> 00:50:33,279
Speaker 3: like being perfect in society, which is probably a whole

966
00:50:33,360 --> 00:50:36,880
Speaker 3: nother conversation, But for me, I'm trying to embrace failure

967
00:50:36,920 --> 00:50:38,440
Speaker 3: a bit more. But I think when I look back

968
00:50:38,480 --> 00:50:43,160
Speaker 3: on my life, failing was falling ill and like going

969
00:50:43,200 --> 00:50:46,200
Speaker 3: through that challenge of not understanding my body, because it

970
00:50:46,280 --> 00:50:49,200
Speaker 3: really forced me into a place where I had to learn,

971
00:50:49,360 --> 00:50:54,120
Speaker 3: and that learning completely changed my life. So that was

972
00:50:54,160 --> 00:50:57,279
Speaker 3: for sure my proudest failure, which is quite weird because

973
00:50:57,320 --> 00:51:00,359
Speaker 3: it was, Yeah, it was really challenging, think you don't

974
00:51:00,360 --> 00:51:03,879
Speaker 3: here to your body and magises, and yeah, I feel

975
00:51:03,880 --> 00:51:05,640
Speaker 3: like I came out the other side of that with

976
00:51:05,680 --> 00:51:07,960
Speaker 3: this kind of boolt about to help others.

977
00:51:08,400 --> 00:51:11,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's really powerful. Thank you so much for your

978
00:51:11,480 --> 00:51:14,480
Speaker 2: time today and for sharing really openly your story and

979
00:51:14,520 --> 00:51:16,720
Speaker 2: for your vulnerability and sharing that. I'm really thankful.

980
00:51:17,239 --> 00:51:18,120
Speaker 3: Thanks for having me.

981
00:51:18,600 --> 00:51:21,000
Speaker 2: Thanks so much for listening. If you got something out

982
00:51:21,000 --> 00:51:23,480
Speaker 2: of this episode, I would absolutely love it if you

983
00:51:23,480 --> 00:51:25,560
Speaker 2: could send it on to one person who you think

984
00:51:25,680 --> 00:51:29,520
Speaker 2: might enjoy it. Otherwise, subscribe, give us a review, and

985
00:51:29,560 --> 00:51:31,920
Speaker 2: make sure you follow us on Instagram at the Female

986
00:51:31,920 --> 00:51:34,960
Speaker 2: Athlete Project to stay up to date with podcast episodes,

987
00:51:35,080 --> 00:51:38,520
Speaker 2: merch drops, and of course, news and stories about epic

988
00:51:38,600 --> 00:51:39,600
Speaker 2: female athletes