Road to Paris 2024: Inside the Olympic Team Trials Marathon

As we barrel toward Paris 2024, the heartbeats of Olympic dreams echoed through Orlando's strees during the 2024 Olympic Team Trails Marathon. Tune in as I share the sweat and soul of athletes like Clayton Young and Connor Mantz, who exemplify teamwork in its purest form. 

Step inside the announcer's booth with Carissa and Carrie Tollefson as we peel back the curtain on what it takes to put on an event like this. We give kudos to the likes of Leonard Korir, whose Olympic aspirations hang by a thread, and the surprise successes of the women's team, proving that the marathon trials are as unpredictable as they are inspiring. Then, we'll transport you to the very crux of the event, where each second is meticulously planned and the national anthem cues the dreams of a lifetime.

Finally, we lace up our shoes and hit the spectator stands, absorbing the electric atmosphere of the marathon and the looped course that keeps the energy high. We'll ponder the competitor experience in the Orlando heat, sharing the raw side of the sport, including the tough breaks and the poignant moments of athletic heartache. Join us as we sprint through these stories and more, celebrating the resilience of the human spirit on the road to Olympic glory.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

Welcome to 321 Go the Podcast. I'm John Pelkey.

Speaker 2: 0:08

And I'm Karissa Galloway, and we're bringing you stories from start to finish to keep the everyday athlete motivated to keep moving towards the next finish.

Speaker 1: 0:17

Alright, folks, the Paris 2024 Olympics are just months away and I, for one, cannot wait. I love two things the Olympics and Paris. So this is going to be a lot of fun, and the Road for Paris track and field started in Orlando, where my co-host, karissa. Say hello, karissa, hello. At the front row seat, add a mic for all of the action. Today we're going to dive into Karissa's weekend break down the race, the marathon trials, and answer your question about what trials was like for Karissa.

Speaker 2: 0:51

John. In short, it was amazing Podcast over. No, just kidding, it was.

Speaker 1: 0:54

Moving on.

Speaker 2: 0:56

Next, it was amazing seeing the look on someone's face the moment they realized their Olympic dream. Watching the families who were two feet away from me react to this I mean I'm still tearing up just thinking about it, thinking about the teamwork displayed by Clayton Young and Connor Mans. We're going to dive into that. We should all be so lucky to have such a great friend. John, would you let me finish in front of you? I don't think you would.

Speaker 1: 1:21

I will. You will always finish in front of me and I will always say it's because I've allowed you to do so.

Speaker 2: 1:26

Yes, Perfect, Glad we've come to that conclusion. Today in Healthier, you are going to talk about what happens when you race in the heat, like the athletes did here in Orlando, and we're going to share a listener story from Kia. Thank you guys for listening. Subscribe rate and you can even support the show. Check out the link in the show notes and join amazing listeners like Melissa, April and Bill for what they do to help keep the show going. We're going to do a giveaway for those special folks in March. If you want to get in on that giveaway, make sure that you support the show. To the show notes. Let's be friends, let's be social and let's do this. Three, two, one go. Before we dive into all things, trials and I talk, John, I want to check in with you. What's going on with you?

Speaker 1: 2:23

We talked about this off air, but I'll let everybody know now. Let them inside. Let's go Right now I am working on a writing project. I have a friend who has a production company in Omaha and every now and then I write scripts for them. They do a lot of corporate video and welcome to Omaha type stuff and that type of work. It's a lot of fun to do and I'm working on a project right now and it's going very, very well. Some last minute changes, as you know, carissa, when you're working on projects like that, those come up.

Speaker 1: 2:52

I had a moment today because I for folks who may not have listened to every episode of this podcast and every other one I mentioned the fact that I'm not really really good with the technical aspects of computers and all of that. I had an Underwood typewriter in college. That's my age. I'm working with Google Docs, which I don't generally use for the scripts, but we're working with the US Army Corps of Engineers. That's what they use, so we're using that. I had a moment and I know anybody who's ever done a writing project or even written and tried to write a letter on a word processor. I had that moment where I deleted the entire script. Oh my God. Intellectually I know that most of this software is very self-intuitive. They know people are going to do that sort of thing, so there's a way to restore it.

Speaker 2: 3:41

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 3:43

That in and of itself could prove to be a nine-week project for me, given how remedial I am at all of this. I had a moment where I panicked and I melted down, and you're one of the few people in my life who've seen me melt down. It was normally it's over food or being fed at events.

Speaker 2: 4:04

Or losing your glasses.

Speaker 1: 4:06

Losing my glasses. This is not good. That's a bad one. Heaven forbid you to delete the script and lose your glasses at the same time.

Speaker 2: 4:11

Oh my God, well, I have like 300 pairs of readers now Doesn't matter. You lose them in the trailer once a year.

Speaker 1: 4:18

There's one where the spare tire of my car is. I mean, I just have them everywhere. So I reached out to my friend who runs the company, my friend Margo, and she was laughing about it and she had a copy of essentially the up-to-date script. So I was talked down off the roof and then I was able to go through Google Docs, like a shout out to the folks, folks at Google and I found out how I could restore the edits that I'd made. But you know, you've been there.

Speaker 1: 4:48

It's that moment when and we all think, particularly those of us who perform and do things like this you can't get anything wrong, you can't do anything wrong and the minute something happens and you get into that downward spiral, it's hard to get out of that and my poor wife who, as we know, more talented than me, better looking, smarter, all of those things, she had to kind of talk me down, which is somewhat difficult because at that point in time no, I totally, I know and I get it.

Speaker 2: 5:16

And then, as I don't know if it's our personality, but something goes wrong and you want to fix it instantly. You can't step away and Google. You have to fix it instantly, because if you don't fix it instantly, it's never getting fixed and you've ruined everything and you're never working again. Yeah, no.

Speaker 1: 5:28

You know what I did. I'm getting. There is, like you know, incrementally baby steps for me. I did walk away, but I walked away and paced my living room going. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my. God.

Speaker 2: 5:38

So, knowing in the back of your head, it's going to be fixed. But like I have to like write out this emotional reaction before I can logically think about it.

Speaker 1: 5:45

Right, right, you know, and it's coming on a day. It's not like the first draft where, yeah, that would have been bad, but I, you know, I'm okay, but they made some other changes. So it's like I'm trying to keep three or four things in my head. Okay, don't you know, you're going to have to delete this, and that's what happened. I was trying to delete one thing and I deleted everything, but it's back, so okay, Feast of.

Speaker 1: 6:04

Famine over here. But now there is a good thing. That's happened to me recently and I mentioned it again to you.

Speaker 2: 6:11

Yes, off air, as we were talking, the breakthrough I am.

Speaker 1: 6:14

I'm exercising regularly now.

Speaker 2: 6:16

Good.

Speaker 1: 6:17

And I've done well, I think, for the last three weeks. I think there was one day that I missed when I wasn't feeling well and I got back on schedule and it's all good. And for the very first time on my Galloway Method app I was able to normally in my run walk method normally. Right now I'm on a one minute run, 30 second walk pace as I'm warming up for very good possibly the 10 K in the spring if we're able to get into those races.

Speaker 1: 6:42

That's always questionable. And for the very first time, I was able to do the one minute walk excuse me, run and the 30 second walk without having to expand my walk. Normally, sometime about halfway through, I'll expand the walk to a minute or I'll cut the rock the run to 30 seconds because my body is just not getting there. And this was the first time. My last workout on Saturday and I'm back on the treadmill today. It was the first time I was able to do that. Now my run is incrementally quicker than my walk, but I actually did pick up the pace, so I feel pretty good about that, I think. I think that's a slight breakthrough for me.

Speaker 1: 7:25

That's great, and there were about 12 times where I didn't want to do it. I'm like, no, just walk for a minute. No one's here, no one will know.

Speaker 2: 7:32

Jeff will know he knows these things. No, I'm super, I'm very proud of you and I think that's what I've loved hearing is the listeners like hearing this too, because they're in that same boat and that, that voice, and that's why I love the Galloway method when I'm doing my longer runs. And I remember it clearly when I was running the Boston Marathon because I was just beat up, my legs were beat up, but it beeps and you're like I have to run now. You don't get in that endless. I'm just so tired, I'm just going to keep walking.

Speaker 2: 7:58

In the ironies, we were about to talk about the marathon trials where, like, the speed is just out of control, but the walk break makes me say no, I can do this for another minute, I can do this for 230 because I get that other break. And that's for me, the benefit of the Galloway method is the mental benefit of it. So kudos to you and you just keep progressing on that. The weather probably played into it a little bit. We had some nice well, what is it? Hot? It was actually warm on the weekend.

Speaker 1: 8:22

Yeah, I'm on a treadmill, so it was 66.

Speaker 2: 8:25

You know, and John if you can't get a springtime, we will come. I'll put chairs in your office and we'll sit and watch you do a 10K on the treadmill. That won't be awkward or uncomfortable at all. We'll like dress like different characters. We'll come in and out. We'll have some music.

Speaker 1: 8:40

Oh, that'd be great, and you know you just like run by me. We can do like I'll get a GoPro and I'll do one from my point of view and then you can have some video elsewhere. We're going to put together a website. If we're going to do this and not be a video on the website, at least have a YouTube channel.

Speaker 2: 8:53

There's something called YouTube. People generally use for that service. They put videos on a website.

Speaker 1: 9:00

Really Probably not the best time to be snarky with the guy who just had a series of mini strokes when he thought he deleted the entire video project.

Speaker 2: 9:09

All right, oh yes, so I, we're talking about your anxiety. I had what for performers for me is always an anxiety, not anxiety-ridden experience, but not the easiest things for me to do. I got together with Mark Ferrara and I was doing some voiceovers for Princess, so that the expo announcements and everything are in a female voice. Now, first, I can't believe I'm going to say this. This is so embarrassing because, john, you know, this never happens to me. Last two weeks have been crazy with trials and we're going to talk about that. So Mark sent me we're going back and forth about when we could schedule these voiceovers, we've seen. I was like I'm free from this time to this time. And he said, okay, great, we'll do it on Friday. And then he's in the text. He said, uh, what we were getting paid.

Speaker 2: 9:51

I wrote down the amount we were getting paid as the time I was showing up. So at the actual time I was supposed to show up, six minutes, like I was supposed to be there at one. He's like are you here? And then I was like, oh no, I was 30 minutes late. Luckily they had booked two hours. It didn't take two hours, so done, I was third. I was like sitting in my, I was sitting in my house because I was. I must have been doing something. I was looking at the message and I thought, oh well, I said I could do it at one, but I can do it whenever, that's fine. You guys just guess what time it was. I mean, maybe it was at 1130 at night and I made $1,000 to a. I was going to say, hey, look at this.

Speaker 1: 10:29

I have to be there at $4,000. Not that you're getting more great. If you are. Congratulations for doing that.

Speaker 2: 10:35

Well, I'm 30 minutes late. Everybody was very nice about it. It was just my mistake. I totally own that. But then voiceovers are not. They're not terrifying, but it's just an interesting experience. You are in this room by yourself.

Speaker 2: 10:48

You read something and sometimes the Weston is you know, a word got stuck, but you just kept going and then you're just making them be like, yeah, you said answered and not answered. And then at one point we I had to say good morning, which Mark's not going to listen. Maybe he does listen to it. I think he does. He was like I want you to be friendly, but then you're, you're on stage, you're authoritative, and I'm like I'm friendly, I'm authoritative, like what am I? So my good morning was like I couldn't get it right. I kept being too good morning Vietnam. And he didn't know his mic was on and he was like I don't want to keep doing this. We're going to stress her out, much like you know, like with your Google Docs thing. And I heard him say that and I kind of I didn't tell him that. I heard him say that. So they ended up just taking one of my good mornings and pasting it into every yeah, I always forget that they can do that.

Speaker 1: 11:35

Yeah, I appreciate.

Speaker 2: 11:36

Mark, knowing you have to know your performers, like we've talked about before, how we know, we know Riley and we know the things that don't trigger, but like we know how to best support him, and he knew, like let's just move on.

Speaker 1: 11:48

Yeah, I would have said trigger, but go ahead yeah.

Speaker 2: 11:50

But anyway it was. It was fun you guys enjoy. I'm sorry for those of you in the expo, but it's. It's not Riley, and I'm not a voiceover artist Like Riley has that great voice you do too, so for me. I'm just always self conscious about it. But it's princess, and sometimes I heard it and I was like, oh, that sounds pretty good. And then I also I kept saying cast members and not cast members. I don't know.

Speaker 1: 12:13

So just little things that it's very stressful because, I mean, it's not even like when you're on stage and you're saying something or even doing something live on television you can word burger through something and people often don't pick it up. But when you're recording something and people are listening back, you hear everything. And I have learned because I used to be the stop to guy to, but most directors will tell you just continue going through, because they do have the ability at times to edit, particularly if you've had pauses, which you should have at times. Obviously, unless you speak like I do, so it, but it's hard thing to keep in your head because you make a mistake. You're like, oh, I have to stop, it's horrible. And how often do you do this? Sometimes I'll be going through and I'm sure I've made a mistake and I haven't, because I just so in my head that I'm like did I say that wrong? Okay, nope, you were just fine. So that's why plow through people. If you're doing voiceover work, just plow through. Do your best.

Speaker 2: 13:11

So, no, it was good. I'm interested to hear it. So that was fun. So that means we're getting close to princess. And I do want to take a minute to give a shout out to something else that's been helping me the Pillar Triple Magnesium. One of our awesome sponsors, pillar, is a sports micronutrition company and they've developed products that intersect between pharmaceutical intervention and sports supplements for athletes. We've been using the Pillar's Triple Magnesium. You use it at night. It's great for recovery. It's meticulously crafted formula is designed for sleep and recovery.

Speaker 2: 13:43

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Speaker 1: 15:37

Good information and thank you to the good folks from Pillar. We also want to shout out to Sarah Akers with Runs On Magic. If you want to experience some extra special magic during those Run Disney weekends, or if you're just looking to get away on a cruise, Sarah Akers with Runs On Magic can help.

Speaker 2: 15:54

Yep, she's going to plan your experience. She's going to take away all the effort you have to do. When I plan my cruise, she called them. She got the different room options, all the price options, the credits she specializes in Run Disney, universal and the cruise. Like I mentioned, she has a special promo code, so say 321, go or use it. When you email. You don't say things, but just say it too Request your vacation quote for up to a $200 Disney gift card or booking credit. You can find her on Instagram at Runs On Magic, where she shares special offers or more, or email her at RunsOnMagicTravel at gmailcom.

Speaker 1: 16:31

OK, civilians, it's time for the goods. Let's get on to the interview. All right, folks, we are just days after a very successful Olympic marathon team trials right here in O-Town, orlando, florida, where my co-host, the talented Carissa Galloway, was on the team of announcers from start to finish. Now, if you've watched the broadcast, you undoubtedly heard her the entire time doing what she does Talking and talking, and talking, and talking, and talking and talking. Just kidding. First of all, welcome back and tell everybody, as we always ask, how are you? And this is a question that people are like, why would you ask Carissa. But believe me, folks, sometimes we do need to know where are you?

Speaker 2: 17:14

Well, right now I'm here in Oakland getting ready to head out on a whirlwind trip Oakland, florida folks Oakland. Florida. I'm home in Florida and I'm great. I am still riding the high of the amazing races, the amazing energy, just such good vibes. It was really fun and I'm excited to be here to be able to break it down with all of you and John too.

Speaker 1: 17:36

Yeah, it was great to watch and I heard you all over the broadcast and I mean that in a positive way.

Speaker 2: 17:42

You could hear us because I listened to the coverage in Atlanta like some clips, and you couldn't hear the announcer so I was like no one's going to be able to hear me. But I don't know if it's because of where Kara Goucher and their team was the NBC team was the back of the band shell at like YOLA, and we were just on Rosalind in front that you couldn't not hear us.

Speaker 1: 18:00

But it was kind of funny, no you came through loud and clear on any number of occasions, so kudos to you for that. Ok, let's get through this because there's a lot to cover. It was a very, very dramatic and exciting race. For anybody who thinks, watching people run a marathon how exciting will that be? I highly recommend Check out I'm sure it's on Peacock the Olympic trial marathon trials. It was amazing. So we have five members of Team USA and a provisional member ready to go for Paris. We have all three of our women and two out of three of our men, again with one provisional. So we'll see where that takes us. It's a little bit difficult to explain how qualifying happens. Tell us about those folks.

Speaker 2: 18:43

So for the men it couldn't have worked out better in terms of quote unquote fairness, because we had two guaranteed spots and those two spots were opened up by the two men that got, clayton Young and Connor Mance. They trained together. They're from BYU, got to hear some interesting things about them in the press conference. They both went on missions as they do. They said they would be lucky if they could get in 30 minutes of running on their missions and they each gained about 25 to 30 pounds on those missions. Yes, and then have come back and they've been back for years. But just such an interesting perspective on putting that service first. Amazing teamwork that went on. Amazing story. Funny story too. They both had a friend request cameos from Jeff Galloway before the race. So Jeff Galloway made cameos. It's awesome and we're trying to get them on the podcast with Jeff to kind of talk through some stuff.

Speaker 1: 19:34

So that's great.

Speaker 2: 19:35

Couldn't be too nicer guys. The third place man who he got third to try out he's a provisional member of Teen USA Leonard Linney career. He missed the spot in Atlanta by seconds, like he got passed in sight of the finish. So I have goosebumps right now. I was so excited for him to come in. He is still serving in the Army. So we talk about someone who had a dream, slipped away, spent four years working for it, and I asked him you know you may not get to go and he said but I finished third, like I did what I was supposed to do and I'm happy in that. We have to wait until May 5th to see where the world athletic rankings come out. If we are in a high enough position, I believe you have to be in the top 80. We are number 68. The ranking is not necessarily his ranking, it's other US athletes. So if other US athletes do well in the upcoming Platinum majors Boston, japan, seoul or if they don't do well and a lot of other athletes do they push us down. But we'll be waiting on May 5th to see if Linney does get to go to the Olympics. He's Kenyon born but he's an Army service member, so just a great story, so send out good energy for him.

Speaker 2: 20:47

For the women we heard in all the podcasts we had all these names, john, and it was like there's going to be names you don't expect it's not going to be your top three and nobody that made the team was like oh my god, I can't believe it. You could believe it, but it's just that the depth on the women's side was so deep. Fiona O'Keeffe ran her first marathon. She ran the fastest debut time by a female US marathoner and just had a courageous race. We are trying to get her on the podcast as well. Second place was Emily Sisson, the American record holder. She ran, for her, a flawless race. She knew what she needed to do. She didn't do anything that put herself in danger, Ran a really strong, consistent race and then third place.

Speaker 2: 21:30

Third was there was a lot of going on in the later six miles of the race Dakota Linworm, who was a walk on to a division two team. Talk about having to believe in yourself and she was someone she's a multiple time winner of Grandma's Marathon that we knew could have the potential to make the team. It's just the best person. On that day. She never gave up and I've heard her talk.

Speaker 2: 21:55

After the race there was a Kenyan-born woman, caroline Rotich, who's a former Boston Marathon champion. When there was a breakaway and Dakota and Caroline were probably back in seven and eight, she said let's work together, this isn't over. So the teamwork that happens by teammates like Connor and Clayton and non-team mates out there on the marathon course you guys, this is what makes this sport different than anything else. Knowing that Dakota eventually went and got third and took a spot that Caroline could have gotten, but just really beautiful, excited for all of them. So please keep following them, follow them on social, cheer them on to their journey to Paris. And there were some heartbreaks as well that we will maybe get to talk about, but a lot of really great performances to cheer for.

Speaker 1: 22:40

Yeah, it's as I said. It's incredibly dramatic to watch Because again we'll get into the nuts and bolts of that. But Miss O'Keeffe essentially led wire to wire.

Speaker 2: 22:53

She was in the lead pack the whole time and I didn't go back. I didn't know. She was in the lead pack right in the beginning. We'll get into why we were kind of chaotic about it. But yeah, she put her nose in it and she went and a lot of people thought when she went and took the lead and pushed the pace it was a mistake. Obviously it wasn't, and she knew that.

Speaker 1: 23:10

It was interesting to watch the broadcast of that too, because they went back to her, I think, more than they would have someone who had been maybe a more recognizable name, maybe someone they thought Because it was. It did seem like a story of somebody who, alright, she is pushing this as hard as she can in her first go around. Is that necessarily a good strategy to have? Because, as we saw on the men's side, maybe leading for an extended period of time is isn't necessarily the best idea, but she did and it was really just remarkable. I think everyone was expecting at some point, right, she's gonna fade, but she didn't. She actually widened her distance and it was. It was absolutely remarkable. We should shout out Before we get back into this to our friend CJ Alberson, who we interviewed pre trials. He finished fifth Rana personal best of two ten oh seven, which is just insane and frankly, had a probably the best last five miles of anyone in the race he really did it.

Speaker 2: 24:19

I was a little bit surprised when Zach panning went and push the pace, who is a gentleman who, if you are watching as the Brooks athlete push the pace again, I was not surprised to see him there at all. I really had him on my radar. I was surprised CJ didn't go with him. But CJ stayed. He ran his own race because they were on two seven pace. So if you know you're capable of the two ten and they're going to seven, you know there's a risk in going with them. But he ran a really strong. Had there been another four hundred meters because he was only five seconds out of fourth, which was like I mean, he was only fifteen seconds off the Olympic team, maybe even ten seconds off the Olympic team on. And that's what breaks your heart in a race like this. If it's the Chicago marathon and you finish with a personal best, you feel good, you walk away.

Speaker 2: 24:59

Right and the Olympic trials. You just break down what. What did I, what could I have done differently? And I think we all do that in any race, any marathon we're doing for a time. Did I stop for that water station too long? Did I mean? Obviously they didn't. But like as a recreational runner like you, replay it so much and I hope all these athletes are happy, like, with their performance, even though they're sad kind of how it didn't work out. But yeah, way to go, way to go, cj, we're proud of you.

Speaker 1: 25:21

It was great to. It was great to watch because I think when I first tuned in and I was looking, trying to look for the leaderboard, where he was and I think he was sitting in, you know they were in a large packs at that point with Zach out in front and then a couple of people had separated but largely large back and I think he was at that point unofficially twenty fourth, yeah something around that. And then, as I'm watching, all of a sudden you know they're top twenty, now he's seventeen. And then, like I said, through that last five miles or so and I'm not sure when he kicked it in a hundred percent. But he just kept moving up the leaderboard. And I'm yelling to my wife, I'm going oh my God, our guy CJ is really pushing it to finish with the two ten, oh seven, and as as close to the top three as possible.

Speaker 1: 26:02

Kudo siege. That it remarkable, remarkable, and shout out to all of those remarkable athletes. All right if we're going to dive deeper into this, you and I, but we have a mix of questions from our amazing listeners.

Speaker 2: 26:14

Yeah, good luck saying all the Instagram names. Yeah, yeah, all right no one's name is like Bob. It's all. It's like code words.

Speaker 1: 26:25

Here we go here. Here's we're going to try as I'm looking through now. Now you got me all paranoid that I'm going to look through.

Speaker 2: 26:29

I'm not going to be they're just not names, they're just, you know.

Speaker 1: 26:33

Let's you know what, let me. Let me ask you this question first.

Speaker 2: 26:37

This is. You're the host of this. I know, I know, I know there's just so much material over here Before we jump question?

Speaker 1: 26:44

I don't. Before we jump into the listener questions, let everybody know how you got started with marathon trials, how did you get the gig and who you worked with and all of that, and then we'll dive into our listeners, some of them with questionable Instagram handles.

Speaker 2: 26:59

Okay, well, yeah, so I'm several years ago when Orlando was bidding on the trials. Kim Bruno, who was a huge part in organizing all this works with track check, ask me for a quote of like we got to put an announcer cost into the bid. What would it cost for you? Blah, blah, blah. We'd love to have you if we get it, but we don't know. Yada, yada, yada. That was years ago.

Speaker 2: 27:18

They got the bid and it's the thing you and I always talk about. Like you don't know that you have a job for a long time and I am not going to be the person that calls somebody up and goes, hey, are you using me? That's just not me, it's not me at all. So I knew they had the bid. I kind of heard some scuttle, but that, like USA TF has a big hand, who they pick. So like we want you but we don't have really control over that. And one day she messaged me and was like, okay, we're good with your shirt size. And I was like okay, and even then, like when you're announcing a race, like when I'm in the Iron man World Championships, there's never an email. That's like you are announcing the Iron man World Championships. It's always like, yeah, here, hold these dates or something like that. So that's how I found out when, to find out that it was going to be Carrie Tollson who was with me.

Speaker 2: 27:59

We had on the podcast. And then we had A third woman who was with us, insert of a producer researcher role. Her name is Jesse Gabriel. She's worked for track town USA. She did all the world champion stuff out of Eugene and we worked so well together. It was such an amazing synergy, because women all when you work with other women, they're either going to be on board it's going to be the best time ever or there's a chance that it's like an uncomfortable, or you're just trying to get a long situation and I People can be competitive.

Speaker 1: 28:28

Yeah, even we won't even say gender wise, as we talk about people in those situations can be competitive, because these are highly sought after jobs and you really do want people to notice that you're doing a good job.

Speaker 2: 28:39

Yeah, and in this I've never worked with three women where it was such a collaborative, such a high energy, such a supportive environment and I think that came across In what people heard and saw. So I was an honor to be there with Carrie she is like as we talked to, her amazing broadcasting resume, and Olympian, and then Jesse her knowledge, her background. I mean she'd be on the computer pulling up splits, calculating average finish times, pulling up gaps, like and we're going based off of the NBC coverage, so that's what we're seeing to. We didn't have a straight feed. We're giving the play by play at the finish and we'll talk a little about that.

Speaker 2: 29:11

But that's how I got started and I'm just so grateful that I got this opportunity and it's not in a situation where I'm like, oh my God, I can't believe I got to do this. I I know I was capable of this. I know this was something that's in my wheelhouse that I've worked for. You know people don't realize that I've been announcing for 20 years, so like, can you announce a start line? Yes, I can, but it felt good to be like in a environment where I was 100% confident in what I was doing and having a great time doing it on such a stage.

Speaker 1: 29:39

Yeah, I mean, you're at the top of the food chain really when it comes to our race. Now I think there aren't many other. You know the Olympics themselves. There aren't really other places that you can go, and I'm glad that it was not some sort of Lord of the flies experience, because there, and it's as we know we've all been there in some situations.

Speaker 1: 29:57

Well, sounded great. And again, so many people reaching out to me on social media oh my God, carissa's Hosting the trials, people who are out live in Orlando and a couple people who saw you on television and everyone said you killed it. And I couldn't be proud of you and less surprise that you killed it alright, let's get to our Listener questions. August, tjm 2000. And now I want to know why. Why that's the name? Wants to know three questions here.

Speaker 2: 30:25

So using Using up the answer one of them, by the way how many people started, how many finished?

Speaker 1: 30:32

And that's an interesting question because I've saw a couple of people who were, if not favored people, who thought that they, you know, were in the mix, who did drop out during the race and again, a little warmer here than I think some of them were used to and the other was did Weston run?

Speaker 2: 30:48

Yeah, I love those questions. So what's funny is when we were prepping this I was like, oh, I got to go back and put those answers in. I have about a hundred page binder with so much information on it, oh goodness. Um, I know for the women, 173 had qualified and I think we were at about 160 that we're going to run on January 31st. The men was a bigger number in the 200s that went down. I don't know how many finished. A little over three hours was our final female finisher and we stayed there to celebrate everybody in. But the fact that I do know is that for the women particularly I know more information about the women the qualifying standard was 237. And of all the women that finished, only 41 ran under that time on the day. So just kind of speaks to the challenging conditions and how you really like go for it.

Speaker 2: 31:33

Um, so there was a pretty big fatigue drop off and you got to think some of these athletes are saving their legs for other races If they just know they're not feeling well or they're not going out there. Um, did Weston run? Yes, he ran around downtown Orlando the morning of the race. Weston is a sub three hour marathoner, much like a Khrushchevaz of Sidious Magazine. Weston did not run in the Olympic trials, but thank you for Weston, for thanking the knees.

Speaker 1: 31:57

I have a lot of friends who live in the milk district in areas of Orlando who got their steps in while they were trying to make their way around the event. Uh, but uh, yeah, and it's it's. The conditions at the start were perfect if they'd stay that way throughout the entire day. But uh, it really did.

Speaker 2: 32:15

You want to know funny story of that funny story we're going to. This is going to happen to this, episodes like this. So we were up there on the stage and John Hughes comes up and, um, we must have been talking about the weather previously and he's like, well, you know what it's and this is not on mic, but it's like, chris, it's not that humid, the humidity is great, it's just hot the sun. I'm like, okay, john, he's like the sun, but he just wanted us to know that it's not that humid, it's just a son.

Speaker 1: 32:38

It was, you know, it's true, when I, when I uh, I was hanging out here at the house and I actually people are wondering what I was doing I was at the uh Wintergarden, uh farmers market that day, uh, and uh following my phone and then came home, but uh, at race start time it was so perfect.

Speaker 2: 32:55

Perfect spectating weather.

Speaker 1: 32:57

And if it had just stayed that way for the entire length of the race. But over the over the couple of hours, it really did heat up quickly and you could see that. And, uh, I just want to make this point which I thought was so interesting and they made the point during the race is that, um, we talked to people about knowing their body when they run a race like this, and, and amateurs, whomever, um, a number of those athletes who dropped out, as you said, knowing the difference between I'm fatigued or I could get to the point where this is detrimental to me moving, moving through the rest of the track and field season and moving forward. Um, so it's a good, it's a good lesson for everybody. Certainly, you push through your challenges, but, uh, you should always be aware, uh, to listen to your body when it says you know what we may be now venturing into. Uh, a difficult area.

Speaker 1: 33:46

All right, you also went to the press conference with the conference excuse me, can't speak something we don't have for Disney races. Not sure why you and I aren't interviewed at every race. I think we should be. What was that all like?

Speaker 2: 33:59

Um, so I was just, I was there, you know, as a spectator listening, and I actually did get a lot of good information from the press conferences. But what was interesting is I go to the press conferences at Iron man and I'm sitting in the back and I, like, would never say a word. Um, this press conference, I felt like in Mean Girls. I was at the cool kids table. It was like me, jesse Ali. I was sitting next to Kara Goucher, olympian, kara Goucher, ali on the run.

Speaker 2: 34:18

Uh, louis Johnson came in late. He's standing on the side, doesn't even have a chair. Um, it's just pretty cool to be in the room where it happened. Um, so they're doing the women first and Jay Holder, who we worked with really well, amazing guy, we're hoping to get him on the podcast. As soon he was leading the press conference, moderating, and he said, okay, we're going to have three questions. They asked the first two questions for the females. He's like, okay, any other questions? It was like 15, 16, and then no one's asking and I'm like, oh God, we're going to run out of questions. This is so.

Speaker 2: 34:49

I just raised my hand and just like good for you and I asked the question if you saw the coverage. I said you know it was a question that I wanted personally wanted to know because they hadn't talked about the moms and on that stage three of the five were moms. So I said you know I asked. In the past eight years of Olympic cycles we've really seen a space where moms have the opportunity to run to have a family and then they're supported and they can come back. That's not something we saw. You know, if we're looking back at Olympics in Beijing and Athens, there weren't mom marathoners, especially not from foreign countries. So I asked a question and it got some great responses. So I was excited to hear that and I was excited to see those were some of the responses that they pulled for coverage because for me as a mom, I think these women inspire us.

Speaker 2: 35:32

I think any mom that's out there doing things that are hard, that are time consuming and having to do that juggle other moms empathize with us and Carrie and I both talked a lot about you know, our mom guilt of even just being there for this event. She missed her kid's birthday, you know, to be here and it's hard to be a mom who still goes after their dreams. But I think the value and what your kids see in that um exists. But I asked a question and get a lot of good information from those press conferences. When you ask the right questions and that's kind of helps us on the coverage is getting those first person stories. You can read all the articles you want, you can look at all the stats but it's really when you make that human connection it makes you a better broadcaster, I think.

Speaker 1: 36:10

Well, and I think that's what makes the Olympics so compelling for people watching sports that they wouldn't otherwise watch is those human interest stories. And shout out to Lewis Johnson, by the way, because I watched the track and field competition from up in Boston, where he apparently jumped on a flight and got up there at that new facility in Boston for track and field, which, goodness gracious. At some point we need to talk about that on another podcast. But shout out to Lewis because he does a great job.

Speaker 2: 36:34

And really they did the best questions he gets, because he knows you know sometimes that I'm a guilty of that you have one question like well, how do you feel that's not the best question? Lewis will go right to the heart of the question and Johnny Anderson alluded to that on the podcast as well, how good he is and he is a I mean, it's a nice way a large, muscular man.

Speaker 1: 36:51

He's a big guy.

Speaker 2: 36:52

He's a big guy. So I would just say I'd like never like really sat down and talked to him, but I just say hi to him like I know him, and then he says hi back to me like he knows me. I'm like what's up, lewis, have a great show.

Speaker 1: 37:01

Well, he did terrific work, and at the track and field competition as well. All right, let's walk through race day, because I'm assuming that your morning was not like a morning for run. Disney is, which means an uncrustable drinking a lot of coffee and trying to figure out how to get the Ursula costume so that it fits well. What were your start line responsibilities like? What was your morning like?

Speaker 2: 37:24

Yeah, a late morning. Obviously we didn't start until 10, 10. We didn't go on the mic until 9 30. We did a little welcome that we kind of kicked in at 9 45. But what's interesting was that so NBC coverage started at 10. We started at 10, race started at 10 10.

Speaker 2: 37:39

So we had the NBC producers kind of coming up to us constantly because we needed to do a national anthem. But we had to do the national anthem when they were on commercial. It couldn't bleed into the coverage. So we had to get everything up. We had to hit the athlete intros specifically at like 10 05, 30 so that they were on that type of coverage. So when we called out he is the reigning trials champion, a two time Olympia, blah, blah, blah, that person would come up and wave. So we had to be really tight on cues, specifically that anthem. They were like if this anthem bleeds over and you lead into it late, so just kind of stuff that we're comfortable with, but just really knowing that like hey, don't, don't mess this up. So, going through all those time cues and then once the race start, it was almost laughable how quickly it was like oh, that's everybody, cause we're used to like an hour of athletes.

Speaker 1: 38:30

Where's the next wave? Yeah, where are the balloon ladies?

Speaker 2: 38:33

Really great energy there. At the start, meb Kofleski was the official starter for the men and there's videos and I literally like keep hugging meb Like he's my best friend and he's just so friendly and I'm not going to say cute, but like he's like man, you're just like, oh, it's a map and like, literally, my friends are like you act, like you know, I'm like I do. He came on bloom when I hosted bloom, so he was the men's starter and then in between we had Bex Gentry, who's a Peloton instructor, an amazing runner. She was doing some stuff for NBC so she jumped up on stage, chatted with us and, much like Kari's energy, she was one of those women that's like I love you. Oh my gosh, blah, blah, like good energy people. So Sandra Lewis from the voice season six did the anthem. I wish you could have heard it because it was Josh Waddlevel it was so good and that was, I think, my.

Speaker 2: 39:25

one of my favorite parts of the day was that where the flag was, we're standing looking at the athletes for the anthem and it was a small stage. So Sassandra's like right, it's like me, meb Sassandra, and you're seeing the athletes' faces it was the men only during the anthem and watching their faces and you're just staring at them for 90 seconds Cause I kept trying to like smile at them. But Clayton Young, who went on to get second, was mousing the words of the anthem and I knew right there he's relaxed, he's in the moment, he's going to have a great day and that was one of the coolest moments. And then Joan Benoit Samuelson came up for the women's race because this was the 40th anniversary of the first time women were allowed to run the trials. Obviously she won that trials. Obviously she won the Olympics.

Speaker 2: 40:13

So that's when, if you guys saw me on NBC they they were on Joni then I'm with my clipboard and the NBC guys yelling at us so you can see me like looking and for the time, queues when we got to a minute. They didn't want us chattering, they didn't want it to be any sort of confusion because Joan was blowing the horn, and that was the start. The same for meb. So we were told to do a 60 seconds, 30 seconds, 10, but to not say anything in between, to not confuse anything, because everybody was going off that queues, the motos, the lead vehicles, the NBC. So that's why in NBC I'm just standing there with my clipboard like don't mess up, don't do any, don't talk, just stand here nicely. But it was fun when I hadn't looked at my phone the whole day and I was like, oh, I made TV. I was really there Like I've covered the Olympics on NBC. Theoretically, right, jon, oh absolutely, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 41:04

And it's funny because people are always you know, we've all done these things where you have to work with television from time to time, you and I, going back to Atlanta Braves Spring Training, right when there's a televised game and how the clock becomes a much bigger character in everything, and you do, you can't talk here have to nail this get this at this time. Don't want to put the anthem on because and people are asking why it's because they don't want to sit there for the entire time where they have commercials that they need to run, things they need to get to, and you don't want to cut away from the anthem because then you're going to show up on every right wing podcast, as you know, to woke. All right, let's see Moving on another time. Another good time for a listener question.

Speaker 2: 41:45

Okay.

Speaker 1: 41:47

This comes from J-E-N-M-K. Undersigned. Buy a Val there. J-e-n-m-k. Undersigned. What was your? Wow, I get to do this moment. I mean, is there one really really big one?

Speaker 2: 42:02

So, for me, what I was most excited about that was like I get to do this was and I think you'll kind of you might agree in terms of like the things you've got to do was you get like six five to six athletes where you're gonna call out and they're the ones that are gonna come out and wave, like I mentioned, and so being able to stand up there before the Olympic trials and be like she's a two-time Olympian, the 2018 Boston Marathoner this is Des Lyndon. You know, like that moment and I think, do you love that moment too like the starting lineups when you worked for the Raptors Was that? I mean, maybe I'm just talking out of turn, but it's a cool moment.

Speaker 1: 42:35

It's kind of a double-edged sword because, again, and not wanting to get something wrong and pronouncing names and I've said it on the podcast we were having my name pronounced wrong when I scored a touchdown in high school football. I know what that can do to people, even like the greatest athletes, when your name's pronounced wrong. It's not always a funny thing. So, yeah, it's really really cool. Now I didn't get to announce LeBron James because he wasn't playing. But you know and pick your NBA player. But it's also a little bit stressful because you don't want to get that moment wrong and you can't find yourselves fan-boring or fangirling too much, because that's when you make mistakes, so you have to be focused. But, yeah, I can see that as being the first time I did and I didn't do the starting lineups for the Raptors. The first time I did the away lineups and I think it was the Cavaliers. I don't remember who we were playing, but I'm like, oh, this is kind of cool, I'm doing this on the big level, or even brave spring training.

Speaker 2: 43:26

Yeah, it was funny. The night before I was in the room and I was reading over him, Because we don't rehearse a ton.

Speaker 2: 43:31

A lot of this is ad lib, but I just wanted to have said it enough times that it came out and I was staying in the athlete hotel, so it's gosh, probably 10 o'clock at night, you know, and I'm going ob-de, ob-de-rop man. And then I was like, oh God, are they waking somebody up? Am I ruining somebody's Olympic trials? Because I'm over here like shut up. So I did lower my voice a little bit but that for me was a cool moment because you just got to like, for me being these are professional runners, a lot of them I know I'm conversational with, but like the gravity of what these people have done, you know is just, and to be able to give them their moment in this moment, a moment like this, you know all that.

Speaker 1: 44:08

You don't want to get in the way, you don't want to be, you want to add to it without getting in the way and sometimes, yeah, you feel like I should probably not say anything. But All right. Now, a little over two hours from start of the race till you started seeing finishers, what did you do before the athletes arrived? Did you have additional responsibilities? Shouting out to the cheer zone? Wanted to thank the folks from Kelsey's crew. I mean what were you doing at that?

Speaker 2: 44:34

point, yeah, we. So we hustled over to the finish because we had another set up there and by the time we got there the men's race was, golly, probably almost in the mile three mark and our job there was because there were no screens. So we essentially became play by play. So we did play by play for almost two hours and that's where Kari Jessie and I worked really synergistically. We had the broadcast on, we had our binders with all of our information, trying to explain to people the race that was going on.

Speaker 2: 45:05

And then, from me, my point of view as a race announcer is that the spectators are part of the conversation too, and we really believe this at Disney. We don't talk at them, we talk with them. So I would go back and I'd kind of stand out where they could see me and try to get them into the moment. You know how I always tell people I want them to cry, I wanted everybody to cry. So we just kind of did that until the athletes came in doing full play by play, as if we were the NBC broadcast which you heard, but then also acknowledging the crowd, talking to the crowd, we interviewed Clayton Young and Connor Mantis' family. We talked to Dakota Linworm's boyfriend, who I think his name is Montana, which is fascinating to me that Dakota and Montana are dating.

Speaker 1: 45:45

And I believe they're from Minnesota, so this gets really, really.

Speaker 2: 45:47

Exactly. So yeah, we had a great time. And then again, I can't shout enough, carrie and Jesse, how amazing they were to work with. Dj CJ was supposed to be there. He accidentally double booked himself, so we had DJ Jack. I don't know, we'll just move on, but I just, we love you, dj CJ, we do it. I don't think I forgive you, but Jack was great and the audio was great. Our audio was actually very nicely leveled, because that makes a big difference as well. So we were just there. And then we brought them in. We got to call people Olympians and it was really cool. And then, when that was done, we then athletes go to interviews, they go to the press conference, they go to drug testing, and then we stayed until we knew every single person had finished, because that's our job.

Speaker 2: 46:34

We're a race announcer, you can call all the play by play you want, but your job is to celebrate each and every athlete, which we did. Then we jumped over to the Lake Eola and we did the awards ceremony where we gave out the top 10. And then we were like, should we interview the top three? We were like, yep, that's what we want to do. So we just interviewed the top three again and that was nice. It was a really relaxed environment. A lot of the families were there and I'm jumping all around.

Speaker 2: 46:59

But you talked about Zach panning earlier, so if you didn't watch the race, I'll try to quickly summarize. For us to get three spots open, to get that third Olympic spot open, somebody that wasn't Connor Mans or Clayton Young had to run under 208.10. That was the only way we would get a third spot. So Zach panning went for it. He went out, took a lead, pushed the pace. Connor and Clayton went with him.

Speaker 2: 47:23

They were on 207 pace for a really long time and Zach was at the front and I wish Connor and Clayton might have rotated a little bit, taken some of that wind off him. But you're not going to. You want to win the race. Zach eventually fell back and faded, but he pushed the pace. He allowed Connor and Clayton to get far enough away that no one was going to challenge them, and I feel like I'm going to cry. When Zach came up and was awarded I think he was maybe sixth place or something Connor and Clayton's families stood and applauded him, and then everybody stood because they knew what he did Like he doesn't get to go to the Olympics, but he gave it everything he had and his race essentially allowed them to get those two spots.

Speaker 2: 48:03

But it was beautiful just to see that support from the running community and that's what's different, I think, than any other sport in the world. Running not just in working triathlons Running is different because it's a singular pursuit, it's a singular thing you do and so much goes on in that race and there's so much respect and that was beautiful to see that for Zach.

Speaker 1: 48:24

Yeah, he was. As I said, it was compelling television to watch because he was going for it. And then you have that moment where you started to see His elbows were getting a little further out when he was running. You could see the gate changed a little bit and it's like he's pushed it to this point and he knows what he's doing. So he's backing off the pace a little bit and he just didn't have enough. But what a courageous run and he deserves all the kudos in the world, as much as anybody in that race, Because for the folks at NBC they better send him a fruit basket because he made that really, really compelling, Because these races sometimes are not that compelling.

Speaker 1: 49:04

You get a big group of people, they kind of spread out. You generally know, with three, four or five miles left to go. Well, it's probably going to work out this way and there were a lot of dramatic turns in this one, which was really interesting to race. And we should point out and I wasn't thinking about this when I was asking about what you did that the way they ran this race is there was a 2.2 mile loop, I believe, around Lake Eola, and then it was three eight mile loops. So for spectators and I know you had your positions and everything seems like it was a really, really great spectator race, because you're seeing these people three times, no matter where you're standing.

Speaker 2: 49:41

And a lot of time. That's how championship races are designed. If you go back and look at the Rio Olympics, the Tokyo Olympics, that's how these are designed. One it's logistically easier. You're closing less roads, but people want to be able to see that. But what's funny is I heard this about people in 2020, and I heard this again this year. The fans were so loud, they were too loud. Don't stop being loud if you're a fan. But Clayton Young was in the early stages. I just wanted to settle in and my ears were ringing because the people were so loud. But then, in later stages, as it strings out, I also heard from some of the athletes that people were giving them time cues, like she's 15 behind you, she's 30 behind you, even strangers and they found that really, really helpful, because you don't want to look back at all.

Speaker 2: 50:27

You don't want to do anything to change your momentum, but kudos to Orlando. But yeah, it was a really fun spectator. Course. We could see the turnaround point, we'd see the flashing lights, but, to be honest, we'd only look for enough to say, like here comes our lead man, and then we'd go right back into our books, into the TV, making sure we didn't miss a move, because, as you saw, the TV would flash back and then wait, wait, wait. The women's race has all changed and so we're having to catch up, get on top of that. And then we couldn't hear the broadcast. So we're having to look and see who's that, who's that, who's that. We're just having to use all of our senses to then articulate that for the people who were around us, because they could have been watching on their phones, but we were essentially their broadcast.

Speaker 1: 51:07

Yeah, there was a lot going on. There's no doubt about that, because NBC, to your point, at long periods of time, we're focusing on the women and not the men, or then the men and not the women, instead of jumping back and forth and I'm sitting there as a viewer going, all right, ok, great, yeah, ok, we're telling the human interest story, but what's going on with the women? Exactly, and eventually you got the picture in picture and a lot of that. But it really was a very dramatic race on so many levels and kudos to those folks. I heard people shouting out even on the broadcast you're three and a half minutes ahead and I was wondering do they have coaches peppered through the course to let them know? Or is this just fans? I mean they do so.

Speaker 2: 51:42

For example, sarah Hall, her husband, ryan Hall, the fastest American marathoner. He's kind of friends with Weston so they actually borrowed a bike of ours for Ryan to ride around the course. So coaches will try to ride around the course and see them more. But what we were doing when we were watching the broadcast and what you tend to do and I'm sure spectators were doing this as well so you'll say Fiona's leading, you see her across the light post down farther. Once she crosses the light post, you count until the next person gets to the light post. And then that's how, that's what you would shout to them and that's what we were using on the broadcast as well Shadows. I was using shadows. It's easier for me to count with dark to light. But that would be how the everyday person, not necessarily a coach, would try to help.

Speaker 1: 52:24

Good, good to know, good to know. All right, we have some more listener questions, so let's get through a few of these. And then I have a very personal thing that you just reminded me that I have to tell you that's very, very funny. It'll be like a back end chat thing. All right, this is from Flora Montes. Jason, who wants to know? There were celebrities everywhere, and there were a lot of celebrities for the running community and beyond out there. What was your biggest fan girl moment?

Speaker 2: 52:48

Well, I think I've kind of talked about some of them there, but I think it was just being on stage with the people staring the same platform as, like Meb and Joan, and being able to celebrate everybody was really, really cool for me. I don't know if there was like a one fangirl moment that stood out. But we're walking to the race, we come out of the hotel and there's all the city-est mag people and we're taking a selfie with them and then we turn the corner and, like, allie on the run is there, so there's all these names. It's like that first day of school vibe where you're just surrounded by so many good, cool people. I was like man, I got to Instagram all this, I got to go to work, so that was it.

Speaker 2: 53:20

But I will say, one moment that will stick with me is we finish the awards and Cree Kelly comes over and he gives me a hug, and then this guy comes up and I know who he is and he's like I'm Ted, I'm the director out of New York. You did a fantastic job and I just had so many things I wanted to say about how much we love the New York City marathon, but I was just like thank you this. I know who you are. Thank you very much. And then I was like I can't work your race. I love you, though Maybe one year. I didn't say that, but in my head I was like the coolest race ever. So I got props from Ted, from our favorite race.

Speaker 1: 53:52

Very nice, nice to know Cree was in town, didn't reach out to me. We'll be canceling his episode. All right, it is still coming out. We love you. Yeah, that's right, we have a wedding coming up for Cree, all right. Anything really really surprise you. Something catch you off guard that you want to share with us.

Speaker 2: 54:10

You know, we went so hard doing the play by play that by the end I was starving, I was thirsty, I was like it was like we ran a race without hydrating properly. Nothing caught me off guard, but I think some of the comments that I got to hear these athletes make that may or may not make the broadcast and I think this one that I'm going to share did. But it was Emily Sisson and her husband is a psychiatrist, so she has a great mental game and she said she was struggling in the race. And she saw Dina Caster, 2004 Olympic bronze medalist, in the marathon on the lead vehicle, and she was struggling. And she said I thought about Dina, I thought about her book where she said she got to mentally stay positive. So seeing Dina help switch my brain into a positive state.

Speaker 2: 54:51

And so I kind of like that visualization. I think I'll take it with me when I'm struggling on a run. I'm going to visualize Dina. Visualize Dina in front of you. She says you got to switch that brain. She says you've got to be more positive, get those positive thoughts going. So I didn't necessarily surprise me, but moments like that that, I think, will stick with me for a long time and will inspire my own running at my pace. That now feels very embarrassing. I went on a run today and I usually share my run like split screen and I'm like I mean, I don't have to be fast to be an announcer, right? Like I know you guys are Olympians, but like I like to run.

Speaker 1: 55:28

Look at me. I've done professional basketball. I'm five, eight and three quarters. I mean no.

Speaker 2: 55:32

Yeah, but that's different. I feel like in the running world, everybody on a mic is an Olympian, so it's as harder, I think, to get into it because everybody wants to do it and everybody has so much background in it. You know what I mean. You would agree the same thing, like it's hard to get into sports broadcasting when you were not a player.

Speaker 1: 55:52

You're right. You're right, but generally, I think for the best broadcasting teams there's a mix of both.

Speaker 2: 55:58

And there is and somebody needs to be that bridge of someone with the broadcast experience to keep a show moving.

Speaker 1: 56:03

Right and you're gonna ask better questions if you're in a situation where you're questioning because you're not asking the nuts and bolts stuff. All right, let's move along. I wanna make sure we get a couple more of these questions in from our folks out there.

Speaker 1: 56:16

This is for Quinn 10, underscore E. Did you get any sense if the competitors enjoyed their time here, the weather being a little warm not withstanding, but people knew, coming in, that that was a chance. Do you think that they enjoyed the event and, as we said, really great spectators. So how do you think they felt about it? And do you think Ohto might be on the rotation again sometime?

Speaker 2: 56:44

Who knows about that. You got a bid for it. It's quite a process, but Track Shack really put on an amazing event.

Speaker 2: 56:48

They did A flawless event. Shout out to John Betsy, alicia Kim, everybody over there. I did hear that people had a great time. Deslyn and on her podcast, gave kudos as well. So, and then we saw a friend of ours on a picture of him in line at Universal behind Gail and Rupp. So I know a lot of the athletes got to enjoy some of all of Orlando's favorite attractions. So, yeah, I think they had a good time. How could you not? I mean, it's Orlando, there's so much to do and it's beautiful.

Speaker 1: 57:13

Absolutely All right and this is a question that I actually had because I saw this popped up for folks but we will give attribution to our Instagram follower Ratchtylove.

Speaker 2: 57:28

I'm gonna say it's.

Speaker 1: 57:28

Rach, rach. R-a-c-h is Rach. I don't know why that would be a long A. We're gonna get to the bottom of this, you know, just just.

Speaker 2: 57:37

Yes, was that blood on Fiona O'Keeffe's bib?

Speaker 1: 57:40

Was it blood on Fiona O'Keeffe's bib? Yes, it was.

Speaker 2: 57:44

She is her first marathon she put a gel in her bra Ladies, we've all done that. And then after you run I mean for me it's running for four hours for a marathon, but her running for two hours and 22 minutes, she bled. Now I am surprised. I didn't know it was blood at first, thought it could be a measure of vomit power aid, that it bled that much. Yeah, to go through the bib, which is, is kind of like a waterproofy type paper.

Speaker 2: 58:06

But I have two things to say about this. One I think we've told the story before, but when Weston did his sub three marathon, he finished without a shirt on and it was like 50 degrees and I was like that's an interesting choice, but he's his, as men's do. His nipples had blood on his white shirt. He'd luckily noticed and took it off. So he was saying that sometimes you don't realize how much you're bleeding.

Speaker 2: 58:27

But the other thing was I she came up and we were getting ready for awards and I wanted to be like, do you want to take that bib off? Cause you know. Like do you want? But then there's so many rules that I don't know about drug testing and everything. Like Emily Sisson asked for water when we were doing our interviews, like right at the finish, and I went to give her water and I went to open it and they were like no, you can't open it. And I was like I was just trying to help her cause she had a flag on Sure, so she never had hands. And I was like, oh, you're right, I can't open this water and give it to you because you haven't been to drug testing and I can't open anything. I mean, you have to open a closed water yourself. So I just didn't know. But I did want to be like girl, do you want like a shirt, like something, cause you're going to go get your gold medal with? And I didn't know it was blood at the time, but um.

Speaker 1: 59:08

Right, she should frame that.

Speaker 2: 59:09

Maybe she's wanted to show people how hardcore she was. And that's what made me think it was a little bit hardcore.

Speaker 1: 59:14

Maybe. And now all my memory because of what Weston said goes back to getting on the raft in the ocean early, and when you're a kid and you get on a raft and you don't realize that apparently they were made out of 3M sandpaper back in the day, for some unknown reason, and that's when you realize, as a man, my nipples can bleed and it's unpleasant. It's an unpleasant situation.

Speaker 2: 59:39

Well, thank goodness that we didn't go through an entire marathon recap without talking about nipples bleeding, because it's important, it happens. Folks don't be embarrassed.

Speaker 1: 59:46

No, it does happen. All right, let's get through a couple more of these before we let you go, Cause we know you're busy and you're going to. You have to leave town again soon.

Speaker 2: 59:55

I'm gonna pick up my child from school in shower.

Speaker 1: 59:58

Here's an interesting one Victoria J912. Ever get disappointed with results?

Speaker 2: 1:00:03

So we're not supposed to. You know, in terms of the broadcast, I don't want to cry. Talking about this, I am. There's one that really breaks my heart. It's Sarah Hall. We mentioned Sarah and Ryan earlier, so Weston was with ASICs, sarah and Ryan have been longtime ASICs athletes, so we went to the 2020 trials in Atlanta, essentially there to watch Sarah. She was one of the. She is has been one of the top marathoners in the country. She DNF'd in Atlanta. It was really disappointing.

Speaker 2: 1:00:28

So, going into this year, we knew that she had put everything into this race and this was her eighth time competing at an Olympic trials never made an Olympic team and she was there. And she was there and, as the cover was just going back and forth, there was a point where she was in fourth and I looked at Jessie and I was like oh man, and she looked like she was struggling, like her neck was back. You could see she was struggling and Jessie said she's going to make it. She's the toughest woman. I think she was the next explicative that I know. And then it came back and that was when Dakota Linward had made her move and it was like she's not just.

Speaker 2: 1:01:01

We knew there was too much time. She wasn't going to make it, but Sarah didn't quit. Sarah fought and she was going through cramps, she was dealing with stuff. She finished fifth, she said, an American master's record. It's her highest finish ever in the Olympic trials. But she didn't make the team and she's 40 years old and, like you, don't get another chance to line up and I know that her story is not unique. There's someone going and giving everything. But to not make it again and to have been on paper with somebody that should have made it is really just sad, because I wanted that moment for her so bad.

Speaker 2: 1:01:32

I wanted to see her run into Ryan's arms and be able for them to both be Olympians. Because Kira Damato, who also didn't make it, sat in the press conference and I think this kind of encapsulates the feeling. I had the American record in the marathon. It got taken away. I had the American record in the half marathon. It got taken away. When you're an Olympian, no one can ever take that away. She also didn't make the team and it's just. It's so hard to do and no one knows what it means more to be an Olympian than to think about Jeff Galloway. Right, his title carries with him forever.

Speaker 2: 1:02:00

So, it was hard to see Sarah and I think also it was hard to see Zach and CJ be so close. But it doesn't take away your joy for somebody else. It's not like, oh, I can't. It's just the humanity of the sport and I think that's what draws us into events like this, knowing what's on the line. So Sarah was over here yesterday dropping off the bike and just she was happy. She was happy with her finish, but sad that it wasn't in the top.

Speaker 1: 1:02:25

Well, she was really classy on social media too, and talking about her being honest about her disappointment and everything, but being very classy about the people that supported her and her journey, as we would expect from her, and it was. It was heartbreaking, but, to your point, there are at most six non-heartbreaking stories on any of these races. Everyone else, there's some level of heartbreak because you were that close. So, anyway, very, like I said, very, very compelling. All right, final question, though I do. I know you just wrote we can wrap, but I do want to ask this final question for anybody, because we're known for our Run Disney, our 20 years of Run Disney. Let people know how does your role change from the Olympic trials to the Run Disney event?

Speaker 2: 1:03:11

Tons of research, right Like you have to know every person. So many stories binders.

Speaker 2: 1:03:15

I don't like to print things because of trees and I've got 100 page binder with all the results, just so we knew whoever was up there in the top we'd heard their stories, we could share their stories. No tutus. No glitter lipstick, although I did still wear red lipstick. We talked, carrie and I talked about glitter headbands, but we went straight in the arrow. But again, as I said before, I'd never do a race or even an Iron man. I want to bring the fun, I want to show the joy and I want to bring the spectators into it. So I brought all of that. But it was just a really great experience. And thank you guys, so much for the support, for the messages. Having people say I recognize your voice and I'm sure people have said this to you it's such a foreign. It's still a foreign thing, right, because that's just me. I'm doing my job. So thank you guys for the support, Thank you for the team that allowed me to do this and let's do it again, right?

Speaker 1: 1:04:07

Oh my gosh. Well, we're all so proud of you. Great job. Like I said, people reached out to me who aren't even really friends of yours on social media, just saying oh my gosh, your co-host was just amazing, so I assume this is going to mean bigger and better things for you, and the clock is ticking on when I'm replaced by someone else Carrie Tulpson. On this podcast, who is much more deserving.

Speaker 2: 1:04:30

Irreplaceable John All right athletes.

Speaker 2: 1:04:33

here's the drill Time to shape up your diet. Carissa, give them the goods. All right. Today in Healthier, you were going to keep with this trials theme because I want to bring awareness to the heat. Now it wasn't. It still was dangerously hot. We weren't in the 80s, we were still in the 70s, but the sun made it hot. So athletes suffered with cramping. Kira DiMotto, betsy Sinus, sarah Hall all talked about the cramping they had. In these conditions, your body is working over time to regulate your temperature and you're sweating, you can push yourself and then your muscles kind of seize up. That's a muscle cramp. John, has that happened to you?

Speaker 1: 1:05:08

It has.

Speaker 2: 1:05:09

And it's not, you can't. I mean, sometimes you can work through it and sometimes you can't. And I was surprised to hear all the women say they just fought through them. I mean, that's just remarkable. But the reason why it happens your muscles are contracting and relaxing in this rhythmic fashion. Temperature goes up, your body sweats more, you're losing the water and you're losing the electrolytes. The electrolytes are essential for muscle function and when they get depleted that increases your risk for cramping. And then the intense heat also increases your muscle fatigue, so your muscles wear out faster because they're having to work harder.

Speaker 2: 1:05:43

So the key to preventing these cramps and we know that these athletes have fine-tuned their nutrition, but sometimes it doesn't go as planned or it's simply not enough is hydration. For those of you listening, it starts days before and you also need those electrolytes, especially as we're getting into maybe springtime surprise, where we know we're going to be hotter here in Orlando. Make sure you're training with electrolytes, make sure you're using them on the course. And then another thing a lot of athletes did I know Emily's system was here for three weeks, almost a month is to acclimate yourself to the heat. So shorter runs in the hot weather, increase in the duration. John, when you get close to springtime I'm going to say to you, if you're going to do the 10k, do some of the runs outside so you are letting your body sort of adapt to that. And then in Orlando, unfortunately, we're going to pepper in humidity as well, meaning it's even harder for your body to stay tuned. But stay hydrated, replenish your electrolytes, be cognizant of acclimating yourself to the heat slowly, so your body is a little bit used to it. You do get great adaptations to training in heat. We talked about that during not our broadcast, but our live broadcast about Jeff Galway and the Florida Track Club, how they acclimate it to heat. That gives you some of the same benefits as altitude training.

Speaker 2: 1:06:53

But if you want to get more help with your nutrition whether it's a diet, whether it's your race nutrition I can help you at healthier you. There's two options for you. One is our 12-week course that you actually have a year to access. That's 12 weeks of modules about nutrition, education, training, meal plans, and then you get a year of monthly seminars with me. Or you can pick our seminar series option where you'll get quarterly meal plans and then you'll get access to our monthly group chat. So go to gallowaycoursecom. You can find out options for both and use the code podcast Athletes, listen up. It's mail call time. Announce a free present.

Speaker 1: 1:07:32

All right. Thank you, sarge. Today's listener story is from Kia and it comes via email. She says I started doing Run Disney when my childhood babysitter convinced me to sign up for the 2017 Princess Half Marathon. Still knows her childhood babysitter? That's pretty amazing. This was my first race and when I crossed the finish line I swore it was my last race. I'm sure you're not alone in that. Seven years later, just celebrated my 10th Run Disney weekend with my first dopey Congratulations. I've done other races, but none of them holds a candle to Run Disney races. Their entertainment and vibes are unmatched. I love Run Disney because ever since I was a little girl why do you make me read this? I've been invisible. She put in quotes. I'm introverted and like to keep to myself. The Run Disney community is the family I've never had and makes me feel seen and accepted and part of something good.

Speaker 2: 1:08:27

I made Johnny Cry. We've put this in a lot of.

Speaker 1: 1:08:29

There's something in my eyes. So, why don't you pick up right?

Speaker 2: 1:08:31

now. No, I wanted to share this story and thank you, kia or Kaya, for sharing it, because that's all we want to do at Run Disney and we have this beautiful space to bring people together for a love of Disney. And then what keeps them there is this community, this family vibe, this feeling where, yes, you are accepted, you are here, whether you're introverted, extroverted, like, we support you and your goals. So, to everybody that has ever felt invisible, like I think that's a common feeling like you don't fit in, and we heard that from DW as well Thank you for coming to Run Disney and thank you to the Run Disney community for being so kind and welcome and warming.

Speaker 1: 1:09:06

And I do also want to say for those of us who seem more extroverted, Kia or Kaya, and apologize if I get there wrong. You would be surprised. I think we all have imposter syndrome to some level and I think we all need to feel accomplished in some way, and we don't always get that in our day-to-day life. So to be able, I'm so happy for you that you found something that gives that to you, and how many 10? 10 races.

Speaker 2: 1:09:38

A dopey and a dopey yeah, 10 weekends. So we know that's a lot more than that. What?

Speaker 1: 1:09:44

happened to that. This will be my last race. I want to get to the bottom of that, but congratulations to you and thank you so much for the question.

Speaker 2: 1:09:51

Yeah, keep sending in your questions, your stories, Keep rating us 321, go podcast at gmailcom or send them to us on Instagram. Thank you guys for listening. Thank you for letting me ramble. Princess is not far away. We can't wait to see you there. Have a great day. We'll see you real soon.

Speaker 1: 1:10:06

Bye bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye. 3, 2, 1, go. Momôe from Planetariumites has returned to ISS again.