Rach McBride: Non-Binary Pro Triathlete on Inclusivity in Sports and Overcoming Challenges in Competition

Celebrate Pride Month with us as we welcome the inspirational Rach McBride, a professional triathlete who has navigated a remarkable 14-year career while embracing their non-binary identity. Learn how a pivotal moment in 2019 empowered Rach to live authentically, and find out why representation and inclusion in sports matter more than ever. Rach’s story is a beacon of hope for non-binary athletes, offering valuable insights into how family and community support can make all the difference in one's journey.

We then turn our attention to the emotional rollercoaster of recent Olympic trials and the heart-wrenching story of Athing Mu, the reigning Olympic champion in the women’s 800 meters, who faced an unexpected fall. Tune in for an analysis of the Florida Panthers' thrilling Stanley Cup victory and the anticipation for the Pier Run 4th of July event in St. Pete. Whether you’re an athlete or a fan, the discussion on managing pre-competition anxiety and overcoming fear will resonate deeply and inspire you to tackle challenges head-on.

Lastly, get ready for a mix of practical wellness tips and a fascinating history nugget about the Hoover Dam’s construction. Join us as we introduce the Summer Shake-Up Challenge, a 30-day program designed to revitalize your health habits with achievable daily goals. Rach McBride shares their excitement for upcoming races and emphasizes the importance of inclusivity in sports. Don’t miss the answers to listener questions about sport recovery plans and favorite post-run meals—yes, breakfast sandwiches are on the menu!

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

This is a Jeff Galloway podcast. Welcome to 321. Go the Podcast. I'm John Pelkey.

Speaker 2: 0:07

And I'm Carissa 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

All right, carissa. Today we are thrilled to have professional triathlete Rach McBride joining us for an open conversation, not just about their 14-year career as a professional triathlete, but about non-binary athletes in endurance sports. Now, as we're taping this, it is June. The last few days of June, it's Pride Month and we wanted to do a show that helped to celebrate that, because this is a podcast of inclusion and support. We support all of our athletes, whatever your position, station, however your gender, identify, any of those things. We really wanted to make sure that we did this and to get Rach on to do it, giving her stellar career. I mean, this is a big treat for both of us.

Speaker 2: 1:05

Yeah, the Purple Tiger is here and it is important to have Rach join us. They are a five-time Ironman 70.3 champion, an accomplished cellist, they have two graduate degrees. And, John, you and I say it over and over, but representation matters. So thank you to Rach for letting us share your story. In Healthier you, we're going to highlight how to shake up your summer wellness and we're going to answer a listener question about John's sport recovery plan. Ah, stay tuned for that one. All right, thank you guys for listening, sharing and to our amazing sponsors, thank you, support the podcast and keep us going. Find out in the show notes and let's do this. John, the people have been asking, the people have been rioting. Is that like close to a Hamilton quote? Where, oh where, is the history moment? Because Adrian kind of made it seem like I was preventing this from happening.

Speaker 1: 2:15

Yeah, and as much as I'd love to continue that narrative and actually considered it, that is not true Carissa hates history.

Speaker 1: 2:24

I have dropped the ball on that. You know, I was given some subjects to go with and I started looking at all of them. And I'm just. You know, when it comes to history and documentaries and reading about history, I am the proverbial dog with the squirrel is that I'll go down a rabbit hole that has nothing to do with what I'm really going to talk about. It makes it difficult.

Speaker 1: 2:45

I've said before on here I write some scripts for production companies. I did audio tours in the past and really the thing that occupied most of my time was studying things that were never going to come into the script for either of those things. So that has fallen apart. But I will say I did find out a couple of things today. So we're going to have a very short history moment right now, because today is the day that work began. I want to make sure that I'm right about this. You're right On the Hoover Dam and there's a reason that I bring that up. Or it's either the day that it opened or the day that it, but that's not important.

Speaker 1: 3:23

Here's what's important about Hoover Dam 112 people died in the building of the Hoover Dam.

Speaker 4: 3:29

That's a lot, don't you think over a number of years?

Speaker 1: 3:31

Yeah, the most interesting fact was and I had this wrong for years it's still. It's incrementally less interesting than I thought it was, but it's still interesting Of those 112 people, the second person to die was the father of the final person to die in the building, and I always thought it was the first person who passed away and the last person were father and son. But it wasn't the second person who passed away and actually passed away before the building of the dam began. They were both of the first couple of people drowned while scouting locations for where the dam was going to go. And then the final person to die was the son of that second person, which I thought was just an amazing, sad, terrible coincidence that that family had lost so much in the building of this thing, which was a marvel at the time and still remains one. How about that?

Speaker 2: 4:28

I mean just way to kick off the podcast People running out there in the summer. Yeah, podcast three, two. Oh well, that's a bummer.

Speaker 1: 4:37

It's also the, it's also the anniversary of Custer's last stand, so that one doesn't end well either. So not going to go there. And I should say also, it is the birthday of the architect and artist that I mentioned when we were in Barcelona, and I believe it's Anton Gaudi.

Speaker 2: 4:55

Good.

Speaker 1: 4:56

It would be his birthday, so a shout out to that too, very timely, since I've been in Barcelona. But those are my history moments for today.

Speaker 2: 5:04

Well, Adrian, are you satisfied? That's what I want to know.

Speaker 1: 5:08

There's probably not. I'm going to try to work up a little more in the future, but I will say this about it, carissa, because you and I talk about the length of the podcast and frequently we record more than we should. We try to keep it succinct enough that people don't get bored, but we're not really good at that, so me adding in a history thing where I will be incredibly verbose generally. I got to be careful.

Speaker 2: 5:33

People. I think Adrian asking for it shows that people like it. I think part of well, I'm not going to say it makes us successful, but it's a yin and a yang. Right, john, they're here for they. Might. You know, some people like me, some people like you, some people hate me.

Speaker 1: 5:46

That's true. Some people don't like either of us. We run into them. Why are they?

Speaker 2: 5:49

listening Just to get angry. They're just creating an anger listening to us.

Speaker 1: 5:53

I'm fine with that. There's nothing you know. There are hate watch movies. You want to know something?

Speaker 2: 5:59

that's going to make somebody angry that probably won't listen to this. Tracy's episode already has more downloads than Riley's. Ooh.

Speaker 1: 6:12

You don't even have a comment, do you? That's uh, wow, okay, now it may be. It simply may be this. Perhaps more people have started listening to the podcast. Perhaps, so there's a greater group of listenership.

Speaker 4: 6:25

Or Mattablo just keeps listening over and, over and over again, to bump up tracy's number yeah.

Speaker 1: 6:31

So guys, don't, don't tell riley he's a sensitive soul no, no, and if he and if he's listening he'll, he'll let us know yeah because he does listen to, to certain when he drives to, when he drives down.

Speaker 2: 6:42

You know he does, he does, but I think he listens otherwise as well.

Speaker 1: 6:45

A little bit here and there.

Speaker 2: 6:46

We've already gone off track.

Speaker 1: 6:48

Yeah, we have gone off track. I have to ask you have you been at the Wide World of Sports without me? Because there are things going on over there that normally I would have been a part of, but apparently I'm not a part of them any longer.

Speaker 2: 6:59

I have been participating in the Department of Defense Warrior Games, and I did that last year.

Speaker 1: 7:05

What'd you do? I did announcing for the Warrior Games. It was Tracy and I and there was a big. It was an event where and this folks, here's some inside baseball for the Walt Disney World Resort Thunderstorms can change things in a moment and we were having this big opening ceremony.

Speaker 2: 7:22

It was supposed to be, in the stadium.

Speaker 1: 7:24

And the thunderstorm came along. It was a bad one, it was a long thunderstorm and they were very close to just cutting the opening ceremony altogether. But they moved it into the arena the newest of the arenas and we were able to go on with it. But Tracy and I were announcing, announcing. I was nice enough to let Tracy announce John Stewart um, she asked and of course, as me, the dean of, uh, espn wide, but formerly apparently the dean now now I'm just a nobody.

Speaker 1: 7:52

Now. I'm just on the wall, as you know can I interrupt you to say something? Ponchos, riding club or something there's. There's a reference. Only Riley will get well, that's two references to.

Speaker 2: 8:03

Riley. Um, I did not do the ceremony, it was all. I know that Tracy was there, she did voiceovers and someone told me which is really going to lay it all out here, our old director, matthew Hamill, is directing it and they said oh yeah, Matt's coming. Matthew's coming because Tracy's here, he likes her voice better than yours, so she's doing it. So Matthew's coming because Tracy's here, he likes her voice better than yours, so she's doing it. So there's that. If you were needing an ego, it's not just you.

Speaker 1: 8:29

Well, can we say that? I mean, he doesn't even speak to me anymore, so apparently I've done something wrong. Well, that's not apparent. He doesn't even acknowledge me.

Speaker 2: 8:36

But I'm doing the award ceremonies for the events afterwards, so I don't think that was a part that nobody did last year. I'm working with a great company, a great woman named Christy. Their company is called Van Wagner, so we are doing the award ceremonies outside in Florida for about eight hours a day, but it's kind of like a run Disney finish. These athletes are remarkable.

Speaker 2: 8:58

Seeing what they've overcome, what they're doing, the celebrations, the camaraderie, the excitement between the different branches. So there's the branches of the US military, there's also the Australian military is there as well. There was a cycling race last weekend and they had the tandem divisions and in one case the gentleman won and his son was his pilot, and it was just. It was. It's hard to announce. I said I had to bite the inside of my mouth to keep it. I'm not remembering.

Speaker 1: 9:24

I said I had to bite the inside of my mouth to keep it. I'm not remembering. I did do the award ceremonies, so I do. I do remember that now that you brought them up. I remember because we had, you know, because again we had we had some weather issues throughout last year and a lot of things were, you know, were very fluid and I'm generally pretty good with that sort of thing, but apparently I've offended someone. But now that I know who the director is, I know why I wasn't there.

Speaker 2: 9:46

Well, matthew didn't hire me. If that makes it any better, it doesn't really make it any better. John, before this podcast, you would never know this.

Speaker 1: 9:54

No, I noticed that Tracy was there and that made me angry because I was there the last time.

Speaker 2: 9:58

Folks, and don't think we're just bitter. This is the entertainment industry essentially Like well, you got that. Like this is. This is just what it is, and maybe this is how it is at your workplace. John and I have never worked in a normal environment, so we don't know how normal environments work, but if it's judgment and thinking that you should have every single job and wondering why other people did that, that's our work environment.

Speaker 1: 10:16

I just, you know, I never mind not getting one, but it's like when I've had one and I lose it and I don't know why.

Speaker 2: 10:22

Yes, I agree with you.

Speaker 1: 10:25

That's the one where it's like well gosh, I did this last year and I thought it was helpful. The only thing that I have that I can hang my hat on at this point is that the only other people I know working the event are females at this point, so there's really nothing I can do about that, so I'm just going to assume they wanted female voices.

Speaker 2: 10:48

I mean, I can share something that I haven't shared, that's kind of sad. Uh, okay, I'm not going to the Ironman World Championships this year, really, yeah, so talk about doing a good job working really, really, really hard and then being told well, there wasn't enough budget and you're the first one to go well, that's the other thing, you know, as we get older or not, I don't know, but it was right, it's.

Speaker 2: 11:03

I'm still like. I cried, for probably, like you know, cried a couple days. I was really upset about it. So that happens though. That's the industry. You just move on.

Speaker 1: 11:13

You know, disappointment is a big part of it. They used to tell me when I was auditioning for commercials it's like, well, you should get a callback for at least half of them. And then so if you do 10, you should get callbacks for five. And if you book two, it's amazing. You book one. Then you know you're kind of on the right path. But you think about it. You know they say baseball. If you hit a baseball three out of 10 times you're an all star, four out of 10 times you're a legend. Well, I mean, if you book two commercials out of 10 auditions 20% then you're considered like really, really hot. So you deal with a lot of rejection.

Speaker 2: 11:47

What are you going to do? I just think my personality is just. You just do your best every single time and you try to you don't complain. I mean, I'm not complaining, I'm disappointed. But move on Talking about disappointment before we wrap up chat. Did you watch the Olympic trials last night?

Speaker 1: 12:04

I have been watching some of the Olympic trials. I actually watched the Stanley Cup final last night, but I have been watching quite a bit of the diving and the swimming. Okay, and I have recorded a lot of the track and field and I've seen some of it live, but I do. I am setting aside time to go back and watch and I have been reading the story.

Speaker 2: 12:23

But I want to spoil. I'm going to talk about one, so you spoil something.

Speaker 1: 12:27

No, I'm on the artist formerly known as Twitter and all that.

Speaker 2: 12:30

So avoiding spoilers is just you know, a Thang Mo, reigning Olympic champion. Last night in the women's 800 final fell. She got tripped up and fell and didn't make the team. Now, arguably she has had a very tough offseason, or just last season she hadn't raced competitively, so this was kind of her first competitive set of races. She's so talented that Wes and I were saying, had she just gone to the front of the race taking it out at her pace, no one could match her.

Speaker 2: 12:58

But what happens with these 800s and these 1500s and even any race on the track that's longer, there's dynamics that happen. It's not just how fast can I run, it's okay, I'm gonna let this person lead, take the heat. I'm going to search here. You're in, you're boxed in. She fell and I almost cried watching it. I could barely watch it, knowing that like she got back up and Weston's like she's got, she's got space, and I was like no, she does't. And to watch this woman who is the Olympic champion and now that's it. That journey's over. You're not going to four years until you get to try this again, and that's what I think brings us into the Olympics. But it's what also breaks, breaks hearts. So it was very difficult to watch. So it's very that's, that's sport. But I just was it was, I was upset.

Speaker 1: 13:45

And particularly like an individual sport like that, with a large group of people participating, something can always happen. I mean, again, I'm sure if she had it to do over she'd go. Well, I'm just going to go to the front, but you know, 800, such a crap distance. I'm just thinking about running at 800. It's such a difficult distance to run that, yeah, she had a plan and sadly it can happen. But again, I think you know you have to keep things in perspective. Like this If you won, every single time it would get boring. You'd be a home lander.

Speaker 2: 14:18

Well, actually that's what she said so they did this package on her before. And I'm always like, oh gosh, you made a package before. She even made the team. Like to me, you and I, our personalities is like oh gosh, no, and she said it, I had won. And she kind of won really easy, not easily, but she won the NCAA championship, she won the trials and for 2020, tokyo whatever that was won the Olympics and she was like I didn't have something to push me, I was the best that I needed and so she took. You know, know, that was a mental struggle, like what's driving me? What's that great rivalry?

Speaker 2: 14:44

right um, and then, and for now she has that motivation.

Speaker 1: 14:48

So, um, yeah well, I don't know. I don't know. You would call it complacency, but they talk about it a lot in team sports as a team's won a championship or something that the you know the next year, that that the fire is not necessarily there. I think you saw last night again, we'll jump back to the Florida Panthers congratulations, congratulations. They'd lost two Stanley Cup finals in the past. They lost in five games last year and that was very motivating for them. Also, they were up three nothing lost three games in a row and they were about to historically lose the Cup. But you know it's the only true reality show is sport and that's because, no matter what, you cannot 100% predict the ending of any sport.

Speaker 2: 15:28

Yeah, and somebody made the team that never thought they had a chance. So that is the video sport and that's why I love the Olympics. I loved watching track and field because you know it can happen any day and I think, just like the podcast that translates to life, like always, believe in yourself, no matter what's happening. Believe in yourself because if you stop, then you're going to close that door so real quickly. You are going to be at St Pete Run Fest very soon.

Speaker 1: 15:49

Hopefully people will say hi to you. Yeah, the Pure Run 4th of July, sorry.

Speaker 2: 15:51

Pure Run, you're right.

Speaker 1: 15:52

Yep, that's right. Run Fest is in November, but it's part of the global St Pete Run Fest. Oh wow, global You've really call it global.

Speaker 2: 16:06

It's now a traveling series Anywhere are you going to go to St Pete Russia? Is that allowed? Yes, yes if the budget allows as we know, if the budget allows, they may take me along, that's not a bad word, but this is a peer run.

Speaker 1: 16:19

4th of July there are two runs at 630 and 8. Two runs at 630 and eight. They're four milers, four miles on the 4th of July and then you can do four by four. There's a challenge as well. It is. It is a lot of fun. There's a pie eating contest that happens during this entire thing. It's a. It's a great little way to start off your 4th of July. The only downside is that it is generally debilitatingly hot. It can be really, really steamy and you're right, but you are right down there, you know, at the pier and everything. So there's a little bit of a breeze and it is a fun day. But it's one of those events where I want to weigh myself before I announce and after, because the loss of water weight will make me think hey, John, you're getting in better shape. You're six pounds lighter than you were previously.

Speaker 2: 17:09

Tape salt to your microphone and just lick it occasionally.

Speaker 1: 17:13

And I'm doing it and Jodi is co-announcing with me, so that'll be fun.

Speaker 2: 17:18

That will be fun. Before we dive into Rach, I do want to take a minute to give a shout out to Pillar Triple Magnesium. Pillar is a sports micronutrition company and they have products that intersect between pharmaceutical intervention and sports supplements for athletes, for everyday athletes. For John and I, we have been using Pillar's Triple Magnesium. It's been great. I slept amazing. Last night I did a 12-mile run. It helped me recover because it's a special formula designed for sleep and recovery. Now, with magnesium, it's not your run of the mill magnesium. What you need is a high dose of magnesium glycinate, and this is what it gives you, and you don't have to take my word for it. Professional athletes like Jan Frodeno, ben Knute and Gwen Jorgensen and many more are recovering and getting better sleep and getting to the starting line in the best condition over and over again with Pillar. We want to thank Pillar for your support. The website thefeedcom that's where you're going to want to get it and use the code 321GO to save.

Speaker 1: 18:17

Yeah, highly recommend. We also want to thank Sarah Akers, our good friend with Runs on Magic. Now she's a lover of Run Disney, herself Run Disney veteran. She loves helping plan those magical weekends. But, as we say, the world is her oyster. With her she can help plan anything. She's here and at your service.

Speaker 2: 18:35

Yeah, talk about complimentary travel planning services, personalized itineraries. She specializes in Run Disney, universal and cruise vacation. When you request your quote, use the code 321GO and you could get up to a Disney gift card or a booking credit, depending on where you're going. Follow her on Instagram at RunsOnMagic, where she shares special offers and more, or email her at RunsOnMagicTravel at gmailcom.

Speaker 1: 19:01

Okay civilians.

Speaker 2: 19:02

it's time for the goods. Let's get on to the interview. They are a five-time Ironman 70.3 champion, an accomplished cellist, they have two graduate degrees. And, john, you and I say it over and over, but representation matters. So thank you to Rach for letting us share your story.

Speaker 1: 19:20

All right, Rach, welcome to 321. Go the podcast. We'll start it, as we do all of our podcast interviews how are you, and let everyone know where are you this week to do a gravel race.

Speaker 3: 19:49

I just did an Ironman 70.3 on Sunday in very rainy and cool Mont-Tremblant, quebec, so it's a bit of a shock to be here where it is getting up to 100 and something today, I believe.

Speaker 2: 19:57

Yeah, that race did not look fun from an announcing point of view, but just so much rain, like just crazy rain, I mean being from the Pacific Northwest, it was like, oh, this is fine, I'm used to riding and running in the rain.

Speaker 3: 20:12

It didn't super phase me. It was just afterwards, when everything was like soaking wet and that you did start to get a little bit cold, that it was a bit miserable, but otherwise, like it really wasn't, wasn't too bad. I came away with like no blisters.

Speaker 2: 20:30

So I'm, you know, happy with that Unscathed and ready to get on the gravel again. So, as we're taping today, it's the end of Pride Month and we do want to use this conversation to help our listeners and endurance industry as a whole understand how we can best support all the athletes, including non-binary competitors like yourself. But we want to set the stage, because you are a professional triathlete, I think 14 years in maybe, but you did come into being a triathlete kind of later in life, I think. So can you tell us a little bit just about that journey? So our listeners are like oh yeah, rach is a badass when I was 15.

Speaker 3: 21:29

And then, when I was 25, decided that I needed to do something epic and interesting and get back in shape and I decided to run a marathon. And I ended up qualifying for Boston in my first marathon, which was a complete surprise to me. So then I was like, okay, I guess I'm going to go run the Boston marathon. And the people who I was training with for Boston were also getting into triathlon, um, and I had gotten really involved in the running community and was volunteering for, like the half marathon clinics and things. So my running mentor at the time, um, she had been in a like, um, a high level triathlete and she said you know, rach, I think you could, you could be an elite triathlete, even though, like, I hadn't really swum since I was 11. And I had been a bike commuter and had started like all through my life and had like started riding my bike a little bit more. But I for some reason, was just like, yeah, I'm going to be an elite triathlete. And so I moved across the country to more temperate conditions in Vancouver and did my first sprint distance triathlon at the age of 28 and absolutely loved it. I completely took over my life.

Speaker 3: 22:39

My first Olympic distance race was amateur national championships, which I ended up winning my age group there and then the next year won my age group at the amateur world championships in Hamburg and started kind of thinking in that like Olympic stream Um. But uh, being a late comer to high performance and elite athletics I didn't know anything about. I knew how to like train really hard and like go, go, go, but I didn't know anything about recovery. Ended up super injured, really burnt out, um, and went back to school and did another degree and at that time just raced bikes. And when I came out of that degree I was pretty burnt out from that and decided you know what, I'm just going to like take the summer off.

Speaker 3: 23:29

And my coach at the time was like you know, I should really think you should try this, like half Ironman stuff. So I ended up doing my first half Ironman um at the age of 32, completely like I won the race by 24 minutes, put in a time that would have put me like top 10 at the world championships that year. And I was like you know what, I'm not getting any younger. If I really want to try this as a career, I have to do I have to go now? And yeah, that was 14 years ago, um, and I've been living the dream ever since like full-time pro athlete. It's such an absolute privilege to be doing this and I get to. I get paid to, you know, train, swim, bike run every day and race around the world.

Speaker 1: 24:13

It's awesome, it's remarkable and you just get. Everyone has a story, but yours. It's just such a remarkable way to come to it that late. I do have to ask as you said, you stopped playing sports at around 15. Had you been a team sport person up to that point, or were you always a little more drawn to individual sports?

Speaker 3: 24:28

It was a bit of a mixture. So, like I would, I dabbled in team sports for sure, I think. In like grade seven and grade eight I played basketball. I definitely played soccer a little bit, but generally it was individual sports like track and field and cross country and, yeah, swimming until I was 11. I pretty like I don't like I think I don't like relying on other people for my athletic success. I am very competitive. So, yeah, the individual basketball.

Speaker 1: 25:01

They've passed the ball to you. Never saw it again. One of those.

Speaker 3: 25:04

Yeah, yeah, and I am like terrible at getting a ball in a goal or in a net, like absolutely terrible. I can run up and down the field or the court like nobody's business, but trying to get that stupid ball to get a point, no terrible.

Speaker 1: 25:21

Yeah, I feel you there, Absolutely.

Speaker 4: 25:23

All right.

Speaker 1: 25:24

Well, you mentioned 14 year career. I'm so many highlights. I'm sure Can you boil it down to a couple of what you believe your best moments. I mean. For me it's like best athletic moment. You qualified for Boston, your first marathon First of all. I could spend weeks on that. But for your triathlon career, what are some of those moments that you remember the most?

Speaker 3: 25:44

Oh gosh, you know I was thinking back to my very first like Ironman 70.3, that was my second half iron ever and I just remember, you know I was so new to this to that distance and coming off the bike in second place already and starting the run was just like it kind of took me back to that first moment of my first race and just like being so excited, um, and of of like being up there and, yeah, just having an incredible race to start off with. Um, I think the one of my most memorable moments was so I had, in the middle of my career, a bit of a, an epiphany of some kind, where I went from like a middle of the pack ish swimmer to more of a front pack swimmer, from a training program, um, with uh, uh and a program called tower 26 that just like gave me the right swim stuff, some technique help, all these things sort of clicked into place and when, within six months, I did my, I think it was my second Ironman, full distance Ironman ever it happened to be Ironman.

Speaker 3: 27:09

Canada in Whistler.

Speaker 3: 27:11

So it was kind of a hometown race because I live in Vancouver and it just so happened that there were, like it was a women's only pro race and there were like literally thousands of people at the swim start because they were also holding a 70.3 that morning and everybody had to be there, um, for the the full distance swim.

Speaker 3: 27:37

So I came out of the water in first place with a two and a half minute lead, which had never happened ever in my life, in my career, had I been first out of the water and there were 1000s of people in a hometown race. So I got to run through transition with like this screaming crowd and I just couldn't believe what was happening in in this race. And then I came out of transition, got on the bike and ended up um, my family was there as well, which is really special, and I remember coming around this first turn on the bike and my mom was there on the corner and she was like quite usually like very subdued sort of proper British type um person and she was like jumping up and down and cheering as I turned the corner on the bike, coming out like literally first in the race, and that was a really, really special moment for me.

Speaker 2: 28:36

What year was that in Whistler?

Speaker 3: 28:39

I think it was 2017.

Speaker 2: 28:44

I think I was there because I think Weston did the race that year and I was there and I kind of remember that I also. It was just because I remember it was so crowded there was only one bridge you could go over for the pedestrians to like get back over to transition. You did two loops at the swim, right Like you had to swim it, yeah. And then you kind of said, yeah, I was there, I remember that and then I was so.

Speaker 2: 29:05

I, you know I was waiting. I didn't. I would have been an endurance announcer for 20 years, but Ironman is new. It was new to me and that he, we had just started dating and he was doing it. So I was. I was my first Ironman, so I was like what is happening? And like whoa, women, and like it was. I remember that, yeah, it was fun. And then I sat on the side of the run course with a sign that I'd drawn on cardboard that said I'm missing Game of Thrones for this Cause. It was like. And then I just sat there in like a lawn chair, like looking very grumpy, while all the runners it was on the run course and I remember being like no one looks happy running right now. Why?

Speaker 4: 29:36

are they doing this?

Speaker 2: 29:41

That's amazing. That makes me happy, just like reliving that whole time. I think we've talked to Haley Churro, we've talked to Tim O'Donnell, talked to some other pro triathletes here. I think it's a hard career choice to be a professional triathlete even more so, I think, than than an, than a runner, because there's so much that goes on and there's so much that at any given race, more things can can go wrong, wrong that are sometimes completely out of your control. So what drives you?

Speaker 3: 30:09

Oh well, it's like this puzzle that you're just constantly trying to figure out. I think that that is absolutely one of the biggest things, especially at this point in my career. That's driving me is that I am trying to nail this like nine hour race, and it really is that there are just so many variables that can go in that like anything can go wrong. Um, it's really, and you know, you do things in training that work perfectly, like nutrition wise, for example, and then you get out on course and race day it all goes to crap and you're just like this is this is crazy, like what is going on. So I think it's like that, all those little pieces, for me. I like trying to figure out this puzzle, um, and it just keeps me coming back.

Speaker 1: 31:09

Yeah, that's what's so cool about it. Any endurance athlete has to be adaptive, because when you're, you know obviously you're performing for an extended period of time a lot of different things can happen. But then you add in now, now there are all of these different disciplines, and then throw in something mechanical like a bike, and we've talked to people about that. That is another, you know, another layer to it. So that's really really interesting. All right, we want to get into this because you're the first professional triathlete to come out as gender non-binary so we want to ask you about your journey and how you got to that place where you come out and say, hey, I'm Rach and I'm non-binary, Take us through that and what?

Speaker 3: 31:47

Well, I feel like I have been like different gender wise since I was really really little, and I talk about how, like when I was five, I would get like, quote unquote, misgendered all the time Because I was quite androgynous and I asked my parents if I could get my ears pierced when I was five so people would stop calling me a boy. Um, but it never really, I don't know, I I was always just like I'm just being me and I don't want to be put in one of these boxes, um. And so when I in my 20s I learned about different terms like genderqueer, and I was like, oh yeah, that seems to that like totally fits me. And so I started learning more and more and like finding the language to describe like how I felt inside. But it wasn't until like probably the mid 20 teens where I started using they, them pronouns along with she, her pronouns, and it was sort of been this like Jen, like slow realization and slow process of self-reflection.

Speaker 4: 33:11

And what?

Speaker 3: 33:11

happened in 2019 is I. I had someone in my life who was like you know what if? Who was just like asking a lot of questions and making me really think about who I was as a person. And um was like you know what if you were just lived for yourself? Like what if you weren't scared? What if you didn't have what you know, what would living like your true self be? And when it really came down to it, it was about like I, I was.

Speaker 3: 33:46

I was continuing to use she, her pronouns for other people be, so I wouldn't have to like, take the energy to correct people to um, so everyone else could be comfortable. Um, and it really then became um. I really like finally had the courage and the confidence to be like no, I am, they, them. I do identify as non-binary I. I have been in this binary sport for so long that it's really I've. I've wondered why I felt weird standing, you know, standing at a start line and being grouped in and feeling uncomfortable, like being called a lady or a woman or a girl, and um, uh, yeah, once.

Speaker 3: 34:40

Once I finally like started coming out and it's funny, there was an article that was going to come out in a magazine um, a magazine um early in 2020. And I had yet to tell my parents about my gender identity, um, and I was like, oh, this is like really coming out now, like I'm gonna, I have to say something, and my parents are are amazing, but I couldn't. I just couldn't do it in person. I had to. I ended up writing an email and um before, like right before the article came out, like probably the day before, and um, that was like definitely one of the scariest moments I have had, just because it's like you know, these are my parents, like people who I love dearly and um severely and um, there I was really worried about the loss that they may feel, um, and but their response was just, it was incredible. It was just so supportive and they were. They were basically like Rach, we've already. We've always.

Speaker 3: 35:52

And we were just waiting for you to kind of figure it out Um and it. It. That alone, just like, having that support from my family, really helped give me that grounding to be able to have the conversations more and more in public. Um, and since, since then, like it has just there have been so many things that have just validated, like this, the process for me and validated like who I am and really like, made me more and more solid in in all of this, and I'm so grateful to have the, the language now to describe who I am and how, how I feel.

Speaker 3: 36:37

Um, and it's still an ongoing incredible journey. It takes a lot of energy, um, to kind of move through the world with the identity that I have, that, the pronouns that I use, um, and it's still a work in progress, but it's not I wouldn't. What. What keeps me going are the folks that reach out to me and are just like thank you for being out. You know, the parents of kids who are non-binary, who, um, yeah, it's, it's like it really is what keeps me afloat.

Speaker 2: 37:13

I have a question we're going to. I kind of want to dive into non-binary in sports, but when you were talking you said like fear, and there was so much fear and I would love for you to kind of expand maybe a little bit on on what those fears were and what happened when you came out. Only for anybody that might be listening that is saying, yeah, I want to be there, but I'm I'm scared. You know, what would you say to someone like that? That you know I was scared of this, and then this is kind of what happened.

Speaker 3: 37:37

Yeah, Um, I think I was. I was scared of people not understanding. Um, I was, yeah, scared of having to like defend myself in a way, um, of having to explain myself, Um, and I think that is still a fear of mine of, um, yeah, it's just, it's really challenging, I think, to be confronted with those folks who are like, well, there's, there's only two genders, you know, there's only these two boxes that you can fit in. But, yeah, what? What has been helpful is just, you know, I think, learning how to communicate things and learning how to like explain sort of the spectrum of gender. Um, that it is sort of it is a continuum, and to have examples and also to have more and more non-binary folks coming out and being visible in other sports and in just in life in general, and so there are just so many examples to point to and a community to have. It really is about that support I talk about, like this non-binary family that I have, that a lot of these folks I've never met before but, um, you know, just through social media and online, having that support is really helpful.

Speaker 3: 39:18

Um, and I think some of one of the biggest things for me as well is the fear, fear around, like having to correct people, and I am not the type of person who likes to like interject into conversations. It's like if I am in a group of people and I am being misgendered, like I don't, I don't want to stop the conversation and be like no, like me, this is me and this is like the these are the pronouns that I use and you're doing it wrong. Kind of like. This is how I feel. I'm not gonna say this. I would like say it like that out loud, but like it feels confrontational, it feels aggressive in a way and it feels kind of self-centered in a way. Um, and it is.

Speaker 3: 40:06

It's been a really interesting exercise in self-compassion and self-worth to recognize that like I don't need to make myself feel uncomfortable just so everyone else can be comfortable. It's like no, I can. It's okay to take up space, it's okay to be my authentic self. Um, that everybody deserves to be respected, no matter if you agree or disagree with who somebody is, no matter what or how they present. It's really just about respect. Because what? What is my identity? How is my identity and the pronouns that I use? How is that affecting you? How is that your problem? All you want is to be respected. All I want is to be respected and recognized as well.

Speaker 1: 41:05

Yeah, and the thing is too. What I think that we need to remember is that we all need to remember is sometimes people just need to be educated and really, if they actively listen, they will be educated, because you know the human animal, we all fear change to a certain extent and being presented with that, and I think that's if we people listen better and they were educated towards it, I think in the end they appreciate the education. So, just when you start to feel that you're being selfish, think of it in that terms. There are just some people. Even though all of this non-binary gender stuff goes back to right after the First World War, scientists in Germany were starting to come to terms with this as a thing. People think it's something that happened overnight, you know, overnight, and it's not. The understanding of it took a while for people. So I just want to shout out to anybody out there when people are talking to you about this, they're not necessarily scolding you. They're trying to educate you, and I think education is the most important thing for people.

Speaker 3: 42:07

Yeah, and I think that's something that society is really struggling with right now is having conversations with each other of like, not feeling like you have to take one side or the other, that like it's OK to disagree, it's OK to have hard conversations, to have discussions. You don't have to pick a side. It can be very nuanced and, yeah, I think we're all starting to not remember how to engage with each other.

Speaker 1: 42:37

We don't do nuanced well. I agree we're not doing nuanced very well, it's. You know. There's a lot of black and white happening now and we really need to talk about those grayer areas.

Speaker 3: 42:46

Absolutely, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 42:48

So, rach, let's talk about. You know the triathlon world. So your first race, when you said, you know I'm gender non-binary you race as in the women's division. That is what there is currently. What was that you? I got to be honest, even when I go into the triathlon world, I don't necessarily always feel the warm and fuzzies in that that environment. So what was that like for you?

Speaker 3: 43:19

Yeah, oh gosh, I mean so, yeah, it was really interesting because I came out right before the pandemic and so then there wasn't really any racing, Um, and in the in the meantime I was just having a lot of conversations with the community and there was like all of this support and like all like really incredible conversations um that were happening. And then I went back into the racing world and it was a bit of a shock because it was like oh right, we are still in this binary.

Speaker 3: 43:57

This is still really new for people and it is, I'm going to have to say it's, it's been a challenge, it's getting better better, but it was kind of a being constantly misgendered by race announcers and it, I think, just because my awareness to was was more in terms of observing the binary. I just saw more ways in which things could be done differently and things could be more inclusive, and so it's. It has really inspired me to like have conversations with race directors who have, who have reached out to me for like okay, how do we do this? There aren't more resources now for for folks, um, and for race organizers, um, for including non-binary categories, um, and there are race announcers who are doing a much better job, who are trying. There are some incredible examples Um, uh, there's a U S um US track and field runner who is non-binary and like it's like if NBC Sports can say them pronouns then, like Ironman can do it too, these other folks can do it too.

Speaker 3: 45:25

So it really is, I think, a message to like you can step up, like it's possible.

Speaker 1: 45:31

Yeah, that was going to be my question as to you know, obviously, the challenges and people who are going to push back, and I mean you know people feel change and anything new is is weird. But I was wondering if there were some positive surprises for you. Were people where you thought, well, this may not be as accepting and then turned out to be, because I think I think it's important for people who are are struggling with coming out about it to know that, while, yes, there are the struggles and boy wouldn't it get to be great if we got to a place where somebody simply saying I'm non-binary wasn't a courageous thing, it's just a thing. This is who I am it's like.

Speaker 4: 46:03

my name is John. I'm non-binary.

Speaker 1: 46:05

I have no idea it's almost sad to have to say that it's brave but that there are areas of acceptance. So I was just wondering if there any place where you were just surprised and went oh, oh, ok, people are just going. Ok, great, thanks for letting us know. Can we move on?

Speaker 3: 46:20

Yeah, I think it's really happening at the grassroots level. So I think there are grassroots races who are really doing a good job, who are, in a lot of ways, paving the way, um and, and they're really open to learning and so, um, yeah, I think, I think that's where we're seeing. It is at a more grassroots level and hopefully that's going to continue to translate up into higher level racing.

Speaker 2: 46:50

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Speaker 4: 47:28

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Speaker 2: 48:05

I have to say and I'm John, I'm going to get to my question in a second so last year I announced the Ironman world championships. That was the women's only day and that's what we were supposed to say. Like this is the women's only women's race, women's race, women's race. But I knew there were several athletes there that were non-binary and I I said to them like I'm sorry, I I felt guilty, I was like I don't know how what to do in a way, because I every time I say women's only race, I realized that that's not appropriate, but I feel like I didn't know what else to do. Do you have? I know you're not the, I know you're not like the head of an organization, but like what is appropriate in a situation like that, where you were in a race that is a women, you know what do we do?

Speaker 3: 48:49

I know I mean it's, it's really it's tough.

Speaker 2: 48:54

Cause I felt like every time I said that. And her name is Vanessa. I don't know if you know Vanessa, but I would just see her in my mind and I was like I'm not honoring them, I'm not honoring their journey and it weighed on me.

Speaker 3: 49:05

Yeah, um, yeah, I think I think like the way around that technically is to um, uh is to I.

Speaker 3: 49:20

I say it like folks racing in the women's race or, but it's like that doesn't roll off the tongue as I can imagine that's okay, we can adapt we, that's okay okay, yeah, where you're not like labeling the people in the race, but that's just like folks, like it's an inclusive, gender neutral term and this is the race that they're competing in, like the women's race. That to me feels like because you're not identifying the people in the race.

Speaker 2: 49:54

You're separating the participants from the label of the race.

Speaker 4: 49:58

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 49:58

Okay, thank you, that's helpful.

Speaker 4: 50:00

Good advice.

Speaker 2: 50:01

Yeah, I do want to talk about the non-binary divisions because, as you mentioned, some organizations do it really well. I know New York Roadrunners. They're always really great about when they're celebrating their top three. We're seeing male, female and and non binary as well. Let's use triathlon for an example. How would you like to see the sport evolve to be more inclusive for non binary athletes? So, in a perfect world, what would you know triathlon do?

Speaker 3: 50:28

Yeah, I mean, I think in a perfect world there would be a third category that would be like a non-binary slash, gender expansive category where, yeah, folks who don't fit in the binary can race. I think that you know, on the registration forms you are able to pick which race you want to be in and not have to identify specifically as, like, a specific gender. It's like I just I want to race in this race category to allow people to just self-select the race they want to be in. Um, that the language on the websites in the media are is gender neutral, um, or at least inclusive um of gen, of genders outside the binary.

Speaker 3: 51:29

Um, that the gendered spaces in races, because I do, you know, I think that like that is a reality, that we are going to have like gender change spaces and gendered um, but uh, um, you know, if they're multi-stalled washrooms, I I have a thing about bathrooms. I think bathrooms should be just like open concept that people can use whatever bathroom they want, like we're all doing the same thing in there. But gender neutral porta potties are my biggest pet peeves. I'm like why, why, but anyway, that those gendered spaces are like labeled as as like gender expansive, inclusive it's you know that it's not just like this gender and this gender, but it's like this gender and you know gender expansive folks are welcome. You know, just having that alone allows me, as a non-binary person, to go into a gendered space and feel okay, like, feel welcome and yeah, and just for like people's pronouns not to be assumed, people's genders not to be assumed when they're crossing a finish line or when the race is being announced.

Speaker 2: 52:52

That's hard and I did not realize that the winner of Ironman 70.3, gulf Coast two years ago was non-binary. And someone corrected me and I went and I apologized profusely and they were fantastic. But it is hard that we necessarily don't know and sometimes we have male, female and then sometimes there'll be there's an X, right, but then what I've heard from the race organizers is a bunch of people will just they don't mean to select that. So then you're kind of in a situation where you're like, well, what do? What's right and what's wrong. So I tend to, in that situation, not gender identify the person, just celebrate them. But in this case I didn't see it and I felt really bad about it. So I think it is challenging and having that category where there is, you know, an X or whatever it is, is helpful for us because that's a signal that like, hey, just be mindful.

Speaker 3: 53:42

I guess in a way, if you will, yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely, and I think, yeah, I mean in that kind of scenario it's like, yeah, yeah, this is the winner of this race. Um, if it's like a binary race and that to if, if there is an x besides somebody's name, for example, like you can just assume, like people, I think a lot of times don't really balk at like being at they, like they, them being used for, like a single person, in a way that like being misgendered within the binary is like I think that's, it's, that's really um, I don't know, that's, at least I think, for us it's a situation where I'm not conditioned on and maybe you're not to look.

Speaker 2: 54:30

Look at that category of the screen Sometimes you know, because we're trying to fit and that's on us to just let's look at it again, because you see a name and you haven't looked before. You're saying you know something. So again, like good education for us and for the community it gets to be more um uh, visible.

Speaker 1: 54:55

I think it gets to be easy. But you do, you fall into as an announcer just like. You fall into just kind of a rhythm of doing something and uh, and you may misgender somebody. You're just talking and you've got a lot of, a lot of things that you're you're dealing with. So I, I think, again, I think it's important People need to be educated and I think the more people are educated, the easier it is to be able to draw from that.

Speaker 3: 55:17

Yeah, and I think I mean I have such compassion for race organizers, because our race announcers, because I'm like the amount of stuff that you have to have going on in your brain like while you're also talking is just like it blows my mind. I'm like I could never do that.

Speaker 1: 55:34

You end up saying some really stupid stuff. I will just say it 20 years in. You know we'll we'll laugh about it later. When somebody said something that either there's a lot of we'll say something and not realize it's the most inappropriate double entendre ever said in front of a group of human beings. And then we're doing it at Disney. So it's like oh. Lord.

Speaker 3: 55:54

But I do. I think it's like it's practice, like I know, even for myself, like I used to misgender myself all the time and so it, but it really is just about like practicing and like the more that you do it and the more that you have the opportunity and and the awareness awareness it really is about it's how we learn anything right. It's like first you're aware of it and then you are like consciously trying to change something, and then eventually it just becomes an unconscious thing. I think, though I think it is challenging like we are in the majority of people. It is a reality. The majority of people fit in the gender binary, and so it does, I think, take that conscious effort to be using they them pronouns, or be thinking like outside of the binary, just because it is just so pervasive in human society. Naturally, Right.

Speaker 1: 56:56

Yeah, it's tough to embrace something we don't understand and again, some people balk at trying to understand To that point. Clear up some misconceptions for anybody who may be listening and not know the difference between non-binary and transgender and not know the difference between non-binary and transgender, okay.

Speaker 3: 57:12

So yeah, non-binary I define as, like, anyone who identifies outside of the gender binary, like outside of man or woman along that gender spectrum. Trans is something so technically non-binary is like under the umbrella of trans, um, like what we mean by um, trans is something that is like it, it's me, it as the, as the word implies, it like crosses crosses something versus cisgender, which is, you know, you are born in a body and you identify as that gender. So technically, like, not all non-binary people identify as trans, but trans is sort of inclusive of that. Transgender is, yeah, typically associated with, if we say, a trans man or a trans woman or trans femme or trans masculine. It is someone who was born on one side of the binary and identifies on the other side of the binary.

Speaker 2: 58:29

Yeah, side of the binary. Yeah, thank you, because I hope some people don't, you know, don't want to dive into that and don't want to understand all of that. So for you, if there was a non-binary professional division, you would want to be in that one and you could then theoretically be racing against someone who was born male, even if that would be more challenging for you. That would be your preference. I know that feels like a really uncomfortable question, but just try to you know what I mean. I just like want to understand where you would, what you would want yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 3: 59:00

I mean, I think that, um, yes, I would. If there was a professional non-binary category, I would want to be racing in that category. Um, what that category is going to look like in the future? Um, I don't know. I have no idea. Um, in terms of the like, quote, unquote, fairness side of things, I do know that, like the majority of races so I am I was assigned female at birth. I race in the professional female category. Um, I, when I go to these races, I am also beating the majority of the people in the race, no matter what gender they are. I have been in a lot of non-binary races in the gravel racing community where I have competed against and and like, excelled against people you know. You know, assigned male, assigned female at birth. For me, um, it is. It is more about creating the space right now to include non-binary athletes, um, and that what that's going to look like in the future is up for non-binary folks to decide in terms of how they want to see the categories.

Speaker 1: 1:00:39

Yeah, that's it. Yeah, why don't? Why not listen to the people that it impacts? There's a, there's, there's a novel idea again as we as we struggle with the gray areas in a black and white society.

Speaker 2: 1:00:50

Let's completely, I'm not done. I have one more question.

Speaker 1: 1:00:53

All right, fair enough.

Speaker 2: 1:00:54

Do you see a day where you know we're talking? We're in Olympic fever right now, where in the Olympics we have a non-binary division?

Speaker 4: 1:01:04

Um, I don't know, I don't know.

Speaker 3: 1:01:12

I don't know, I mean, I think it would be amazing, um, but I'm, yeah, I think I'm, I think that we, I think that at this point there are, you know, not enough non-binary athletes. Um, if we look at even the, the number of people who identify as non-binary as a proportion of our society, and then take from that, the number of those non-binary folks who would be at like an Olympic level of competition, is going to be a very, very small population. You know, I was asked the question recently of like do you see at some point, you know rate in races that, like you know, 25% of the field is going to be non binary? And I'm like no, I don't, because that's not what we see as folks identifying in in society at large.

Speaker 2: 1:02:15

So I wouldn't expect, like such a large proportion of folks in sport all of a sudden to but, we could argue that the more that people see that this is okay, that over time because if you know what, in 50 years ago women couldn't run the marathon, and you know what I mean Like we kept capping humans, like women can't run over 800, because that's bad for them. There aren't enough non-binary people and maybe there are, they just haven't felt comfortable accepting that. So I understand what you're saying. I just, I guess I want to have the hope that we have a day where someone gets to be celebrated on the biggest stage, no matter how well, yeah, maybe there's only there's less people that do it, but that doesn't mean that they don't deserve to have their celebration in their moment. I guess.

Speaker 3: 1:02:57

Yeah, no, that's super true. Um, yeah, I think that, um, of course, there are non-binary athletes already before there were other categories, like I was a non-binary athlete competing in the binary Um, there are absolutely non-binary athletes out there and who may or may not have the space or the category to race in. And that also, yeah, I think that, just like myself as a five-year-old who didn't have the language, who thought I needed to fit into one of these categories and didn't have the language, that now that a five-year-old now has that ability to be like, oh yeah, there is a place that I fit in, that, um, yeah, it's not, it's not that like all of a sudden, we're seeing this.

Speaker 3: 1:03:53

Like you know, mass identification is non-binary, but just yeah, there are actually people out there who just needed the language and just needed the space to identify how like how they are. Yeah, it's a good point.

Speaker 1: 1:04:11

There have always been non-binary athletes, it's just. You know well, call me a cockeyed optimist, but I do believe that the arc of history and X really bends towards justice. It just doesn't always bend as quickly as we would like it. So let's, let's keep our fingers crossed and let's keep dialogue up with people, let's talk to people and, more importantly, listen to people, and I think we're going to we're going to learn a lot. I want to switch gears completely here. You're a cellist. I love the cello. I have two things. I grew up with a piano in my living room and I never learned to play, and I will kick myself every day for the rest of my sad, pathetic life because of that. But if I had to go back when I picked up a clarinet for my first instrument, I'd have picked up a cello. Talk about that. What's your favorite music to play? Because I will argue there's no better sound on earth than a cello. I would have to agree.

Speaker 3: 1:05:02

I would also say it's never too late to learn a new instrument. Thank you, Rach.

Speaker 1: 1:05:07

I'm still trying to. I was a bass player in a blues band and I'm still trying to figure out how to do that. And so, one at a time. One at a time.

Speaker 3: 1:05:17

Yeah, I mean, I was a classically trained cellist until I went to university and then got into more like improv and, uh, rock and punk and all sorts of things to do on the cello. I have a dream of making sort of um, like I want to say kind of like electronic music in a way. I I really love experimenting with the cello. I used to um back when I was playing a lot more and performing a lot more. I had like a bank of you know, guitar pedals that I was using with the cello. Then technology is like so much bigger now that I'm really excited for and I'm like I really have this creative itch these days that I want to get back into playing more and yeah, that that is my dream to make sort of like weird, crazy, danceable electronic music with the cello.

Speaker 1: 1:06:22

I'm so here for it. I'm so here for it. And you have a guitarist heart because they're all equipment nerds. So all the pedals and everything, all the guitars are like. Look at my new pedal for a cellist to be that way, come on, how much fun is that. And, by the way, we spent punk rock youth here as well. I actually saw the Bad Brains live in DC way again. So it's like what it makes me yeah, it makes me, I, I, I I'm raised in the eyes of all punk rock fans when I'm about. You know, I'm from dc and I saw the bad brains. So there you go, carissa. I know you don't know any about what these are, so we can move on to your no, I just want more.

Speaker 2: 1:06:52

I'm gonna ask for more cello content on social media. You had found some, you had some. Let's let's kind of you know, bring that, bring that back. Are we are?

Speaker 1: 1:06:59

I follow a couple of cellists on tiktok. I will say that I follow some cellists. So there you go.

Speaker 2: 1:07:04

I'm not, isn't that? Isn't that amazing? Um, uh, we're gonna get to our final closing questions, but there's something that I've heard you talk about, another podcast that I think our listeners would like hearing about, and you mentioned how part of it I think was a story about why you quit cross countries because you felt fear at a start line, and I think a lot of us feel that. But can you share that story Because I think for so many people will resonate with that idea of like I'm not alone.

Speaker 3: 1:07:33

Oh man, I love. This is probably one of the most powerful things that I have learned in from sport. Like I have learned so much about myself from sport, but this for sure is the biggest thing. So when I first started racing triathlon, I felt really self conscious because every time I got to a race I got to a start line. I was like Every time I got to a race I got to a start line, I was like I, in my brain, in my mind, I was like I don't want to be here, I just want to turn right back around.

Speaker 3: 1:08:08

Um and yeah, when I was in cross country and when I was 15 years old, I, it was the first day, um, the first meet of the season. And um, that day in school, I just went up to my coach and I'm like I'm not, I'm not racing, I'm not competing, competing, I quit. And that's when I like I quit all sport. Imagine if I had stuck with cross country what my life would have been like. Um but um. And when I look back at that, at retrospect, because you know, when I started racing triathlon and I would have these feelings and I was like something's wrong with me, like I shouldn't be here. This is a this is an indication that I should not be an athlete and I should not be doing this because I'm having these feelings. And one competition one morning, um, uh, fellow racer just turned to me and said you know what I really wish I could just turn around and go back to bed. And I was like, no wait, somebody else feels exactly the same way. I'm not alone.

Speaker 3: 1:09:16

Okay, like maybe this is a thing about like our body's physiology was that was my body just like being excited about something, being nervous about a challenge that was coming up, and it gives for me, it gives me this like, like butterfly feeling in my stomach. I really feel it in my stomach. I feel a little bit nauseous. Now I understand why some people like throw up before competitions. Thankfully that's not me, but I feel it in my body and what my interpretation of that is?

Speaker 3: 1:09:51

Like I don't like feeling this way. How do I make this feeling stop? Oh, I don't, I don't do this, whereas I know, once the gun goes off and I am like out there, I'm fine, Like I don't have those feelings anymore. I am enjoying myself or maybe not enjoying myself at the moment in so much pain, but you know I am doing what I love to do, um, telling this story at a conference for high performance surgeons, like doctors, and one of the surgeons in the audience, uh, when the questions came was they raised their hand and they were like I feel that way every single time before I step into surgery and I was like that's incredible and like this was a moment for this person of like the same kind of feeling of like, oh wow, I totally know how that feels and I'm not alone and this is just my body's like physiology, that like fight or flight that is just telling me to turn, turn around and run away.

Speaker 1: 1:10:59

And so now, I'm just gonna say I think that's consistent with performers period. I think a lot of performers, if you're a high level performer, that it's learning how to take that fear and I always say terror is my muse use that fear to really kind of drive you. Because I've had other athletes say and I'm sorry to cut you off on that but other athletes say, the minute I walk out of like a pitcher, minute I walk, I walk out on the mound and I don't have those butterflies, I know it's time for me to quit because my, you know, my, my body is now not all dialed into this.

Speaker 3: 1:11:33

Exactly, exactly. And so I think now for me, I use it as like I have a familiar feeling. I'm like, okay, I am, am here. I say the exact same thing of like if I start, show up at a start line, and I don't have these feelings at any point, I know that something's wrong and like I I'm probably not supposed to be here doing this board anymore, um, but that it is about.

Speaker 3: 1:11:56

There is a the, a moderate level of bodily excitation that you should have, like there is. It can be too low, but it can also be too high. And so I do now do things to like try and calm myself just a little bit, to like temper that down. And it really has been an incredible learning experience in terms of like just bodily awareness, how to manage stress and anxiety, how my own physiology and what I can do like deep breathing and things that can help regulate that and make me feel better, and just a yeah, just just recognizing that it is a completely natural response and it doesn't mean anything about whether or not you should or shouldn't be there.

Speaker 1: 1:12:47

Yeah, and again, it's counterintuitive, but it sort of means you should be there more than the other feeling when you're just like you know whatever, just going to slough this off. Okay, these are our questions, that we ask all of our guests, three questions that we ask everyone. So I'm going to start with this one. When you get to a difficult place, be it in a race, in a workout, learning a difficult cello piece, what do you do to motivate yourself to move on? Because you mentioned, you know, the fight or flight thing that comes into play for us a lot when something gets to be difficult. How do you, how do you self motivate in those moments?

Speaker 3: 1:13:20

I think that the biggest thing for me self-motivation is that I start to break things down into really into smaller parts.

Speaker 3: 1:13:28

I tell myself, like even in my race on Sunday, when I was in the last like 5k of the half marathon, I was like, okay, rach, just give me another kilometer, just give me another like four minutes of like effort. And so I'm not thinking of like, oh my gosh, I have like so many more kilometers to the finish line. I'm thinking like, okay, I'm here in the moment, just just get myself to that, to that moment, like, just get myself a little bit further. And so then I can just kind of bunny hop along like that. I also, for me, find a lot of motivation in thinking about the massive amount of work that I have put in to be there, the privilege that it is to be there, but also the team that has got me there, that I'm not just racing alone but I have all of these other folks that have that are cheering for me and then have helped me get to where I am. That is just such a privilege and that you know that motivation to like not let people down it goes back to fear.

Speaker 2: 1:14:39

A little bit too, I'll tell you fear is my muse, terror is my muse. I'm driven completely by fear fear and self-loathing, john pelkey all wrapped up into one fear right fear and loathing, that's me and like I have you know, in the in my race on sunday, I I prepared for that.

Speaker 3: 1:14:58

I prepared for like I was in my mind. I was like this is like four to four and a half hours where I just need to focus and be there. I just need to be in this moment. It is a and that, um, you know, whatever, whatever happens, I can just give myself that moment to like be there and do the best that I can, because it is a moment in time and that outside of that, like I don't know what I was gonna say after that.

Speaker 2: 1:15:32

And it's over, and then you forget it and we're good goldfish, so we've moved on. Oh, that hurt a lot. Oh, look a medal, let's do. I can do it again. Yeah, you've been at a lot of races, and john and I, as race announcers we get to see a lot of amazing stuff.

Speaker 3: 1:15:57

From your point of view, do you have a moment that was inspiring, that stands with you where you felt you know, kind of? The most memorable moments that I have had was, um, I was actually spectating the Ironman world championships, um, about eight years ago, and one of um one of the professional athletes, um, it was Meredith Kessler, who is just a legend in the sport and an incredible human. She was not having a good day, but she didn't drop out of the race, she walked the marathon, finished in the dark, dark, um, and that, to me, was actually a really inspiring moment of just like what it means, I think, to to have integrity in the sport and to finish what you started and to, um, to really appreciate the privilege that it is to be racing on the world stage like that.

Speaker 1: 1:17:01

That's great. I know that is really really great. All right, now, this is a two-parter. First of all, let everybody know what's next for you, and I know a lot of people are going to want to follow your journey now and your career. What's the best place to do that?

Speaker 3: 1:17:15

Yeah, so best place to follow me is on Instagram, for sure. My handle is at Rachel McBee, r-a-c-h-e-l-m-c-b and what is up next for me. So on Saturday I am racing a hundred mile gravel race here in Lincoln, nebraska, called Grounded Nebraska. I'm very excited to be here. This race actually has a huge part. Like a percentage of the um participants are non-binary, so that's really exciting. I think it's like 20% maybe I don't know the exact stat but, it's a very awesome race, so I'm really excited to be here.

Speaker 3: 1:17:54

Um and then, uh, next triathlon for me is Ironman Canada in Penticton, uh, on August 25th.

Speaker 2: 1:18:04

Yeah, well, I will see you in Penticton on August 25th.

Speaker 4: 1:18:07

Yeah, well, I will see you in Penticton, so I'm very excited about that Won't see you in Placid this year.

Speaker 2: 1:18:11

I was wondering if you're going to be in Placid this year, but I will see you in Penticton for our final iteration of Ironman Canada in Penticton for now, I guess. So thank you so much, rach. Thank you for being so open, for educating all of us. We are really grateful. And, guys, if you listen to Rach's story and this touches you, please reach out, let us know, let her know and keep passing it along so we can become a more inclusive, supportive society as a whole. And we love seeing the dog moving around the background.

Speaker 1: 1:18:42

Oh my God, I couldn't be happier. My wife. I've said this on every show everybody gets mad. My wife ran a pet rescue for 20 years and we currently have a foster cat and we have cats and dogs and your dog. I'm loving your dog.

Speaker 2: 1:18:52

As much as I enjoy talking to you watching?

Speaker 1: 1:18:55

the dog is just giving me life.

Speaker 3: 1:18:58

This is Patrick. He's not a very good dog, but he's been very good during this podcast. Yes.

Speaker 1: 1:19:05

Give Patrick a kiss on the head for us all, yes.

Speaker 2: 1:19:07

Yeah, all right. Well, thank you so much, rach, we appreciate it.

Speaker 3: 1:19:11

Yeah, my pleasure. Thanks for having me Appreciate it. All right athletes.

Speaker 2: 1:19:15

Here's the drill Time to shape up your diet, carissa. Give them the goods Before we move on to Healthier you. I did want to acknowledge at the end of the podcast. There, as you probably heard, I misidentified Rach. Even in an environment where I'm trying to be so supportive and inclusive, I made a mistake. Thank you, rach, for letting me know, thank you for bringing that to my attention, and I will continue to do better. All right, today on Healthier you, we are talking about something really cool that is starting very soon. So it is my summer shake-up challenge. I think sometimes we need a little motivation. We're in the summer, we're traveling I mean you, you've been all over the world to Europe and back again and I think that could take a toll maybe on our health habits, on our motivation, because we get that concept of like when I get back, I'll be better, right.

Speaker 1: 1:20:01

And it's difficult, when you're traveling all the time, to eat properly or to rest properly. All of those things, all of those things.

Speaker 2: 1:20:08

So I created the Summer Shake Up Challenge. It's 30 days of. Each day is a different prompt, a different attainable challenge. Most of them are nutrition. About 60% is nutrition, but the other percentage is fitness, is mindfulness, is rest. So every day, the community will have a different challenge, whether it's getting more fiber, focusing on protein, getting good rest, and you check off the challenges and the goal is, in my mind, creating it that you have attainable goals and habits, that you can circle back to that, instead of it being just a one-off, it can be something. You know what I felt better that day when I did this. Let me try to add it in more.

Speaker 2: 1:20:45

So it's 30 days of attainable challenges. When you sign up, you're going to get the challenges. You'll get a little calendar where you can check everything off and then, when you sign up, you're going to get the monthly accountability chats for three months and, because you're listening to the podcast, a bonus meal plan. So you're going to want to go to gallowaycoursecom, scroll to the bottom where the seminar series is. Sign up for that using the code summer and it's just going to be $50 for the challenge, the three months of chat and the meal plan. So let's shake up our summer together with healthier you Athletes, listen up. It's mail call time Announcer free present Mail call time Announcer free Present.

Speaker 1: 1:21:22

All right, sarge. Today's question comes from Rego. Via Instagram, he wants to know what's your favorite post-run workout meal.

Speaker 2: 1:21:32

And that's the question. This is for you. My assumption is what's that? This question was actually for you. I just didn't write that. They didn't want to know mine, they wanted to know John's.

Speaker 1: 1:21:42

Well, you know, obviously I don't have a lot of history of races, but I will say, remembering back to my 10K, the most recent one is I am a big fan and I think you know this I love eggs. So my post-race meal for the 10K was a breakfast sandwich. I'm also a big fan of the sandwich and I would say, if I had my choice when I was done and I needed to fill myself up, there would probably be some level of a breakfast sandwich. But I will say this as well, that I have found that I you know me I don't really have a sweet tooth, but I have found that at the end, at some times, I do crave something sweet and my assumption is it's my body telling me there's not. I don't have enough sugar in my system, so I wouldn't be above grabbing a donut or something as well, but mainly for me it would be some type of a breakfast sandwich, would be like really the top of the list.

Speaker 2: 1:22:39

And neither you and I have had breakfast and taping this, that we are not doing a good, a good job on that. So any type of sandwich sounds delightful today. So, john, I am on board. I actually have a TV segment to do in about 50 minutes that is sponsored by eggs, so I'm going to get to cooking some eggs. You're going to get to taping another podcast.

Speaker 1: 1:22:57

I know, and I have 18 eggs right now in my refrigerator.

Speaker 2: 1:23:01

What are you?

Speaker 1: 1:23:02

guest on, because we're going to do the breakfast for dinner thing one night and that's something to but. Yeah, if you ever see me in a restaurant and there's some sort of egg on a meal, I'm probably going to be your huckleberry with that.

Speaker 2: 1:23:12

All right, let's hear it for eggs, not mad at that, the incredible edible egg. Thank you to Rach. They were fantastic to have on the podcast. Please reach out to them, share their story so that we can help everybody feel supportive and inclusive. Thank you to our producer, weston Galloway, and thank you guys for emailing us, for sharing 321gopodcasts at gmailcom. That's where you can send your question or your story. See you real soon. 3, 2, 1, go.