August 20, 2024 • 43 mins
Allysa Seely made history in 2016 when she become the first woman to win gold in para-triathlon. In Paris she goes for a third straight as an Olympic veteran and fierce advocate for equality. Seely had to request hundreds of pages of her own medical documents to get an accurate diagnosis for herself at just 18 years old; the doctor who finally listened to her told said she’d saved her life with just months to spare. Her story is filled with bravery, and self-compassion, with lessons we can all apply to our own lives.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
If you're listening to this podcast, we know one thing
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Sports season jam packed with women's sports at the Sports Bra.
Hello friends, and welcome to the Powerful Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
I'm your host, Ajam McCord.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
In this podcast, we introduce you to powerful women.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Who are changing the game in and outside of their
field of play.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
These are women's stories, women who happen to be doing
things that many of us can only dream of, but
the lessons and inspiration they share is universal. Hey friends,
welcome back to the Powerful Podcast. I am so thrilled
to be joined here by my next guest. I'm your
host AJ McCord, and joining me today is not just one,
not just two, but going for her very third Para
(01:18):
Olympics experience. So she is somebody who competes in triathlon
and for a multitude of years she went undefeated in
every uti race that she competed in. So this is
somebody who in Paris has a chance to make some
history and represent Team USA. So incredibly. Well, please welcome
(01:39):
Alyssa Seely to the Powerful Podcast. Alyssa, thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
For being here, Thank you for having me. I'm so
excited to talk with you today.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
So I want to get into first because the opening
ceremonies are coming up like in five seconds. So you
are already in France, and there's a chance we have
to pod the podcast because you are so dedicated to
your training and bringing home another gold medal. Please telp
you well where you are doing this podcast from.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
So I am doing my pre camp in Vch, France,
and it's this very cute little town has amazing cycling
and I'm at a training center here. So they have
rooms that you can adjust the altitude in. They're called
like hypoxic rooms. So we're able to set the room
to the altitude that I live at. I live at
(02:22):
a higher altitude to help with training, and so we
have the room set a higher altitude. So you may
hear it in the background, or you may hear it
kick on in the background. I'll try to talk loud
over it and hopefully we can edit it out a
little bit. But the purpose of that really is to
just keep the adaptations altitude offers up until race day.
(02:43):
If I was to go from altitude to sea level
when I left about three weeks out, all of those
adaptations would be gone by the time we hit race day.
So now we're just trying to keep those to get
all the way through race day.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
So this is probably a silly question, but if you're
at seven thousand in your altitude room, what are you
going to be competing at? What's the elevation in Paris?
Speaker 4 (03:03):
So Paris is pretty close to sea level, or when
we think about it in Sport, it's sea level. So
right now I'm sleeping in the altitude and I have
to spend about sixteen hours a day in here to
be able to keep the adaptations I have. So I'm
hanging out a lot in my room, basically getting out
to work out, train, get some sunshine, but spend the
(03:24):
most of the time in my room. But hopefully it'll
be worth it.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Committed, That is the word that comes to mind, Alyssa.
I'm so excited to watch you compete in Paris in
the triathlon, but I want to go all the way
back to the beginning because I understand the way that
you found this sport was through a New Year's celebration.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Tell us about how you got started in triathlon.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
Yeah, so I decided a long time ago that I
didn't like the idea of New Year's resolutions because like
they're just like a running joke, right, Like nobody keeps
a New Year's resolution. And so I started a New
Year's tradition that I was going to start. I'm going
to try to do something I've never done before, and
that could be a wide variety of things from in
(04:06):
this case, try a new sport, triathlon, learn a new language,
go somewhere new. Uh So, just like a wide variety
of like doing something I've never done before once a year.
And I think, especially for me as somebody who like
really likes schedules and patterns and all of that, like
(04:27):
it's really good to just like step out of my
comfort zone and like do something I've never done before.
Sometimes it works out great and other times not so much,
and I don't keep up with it, but it's fine
because like it's all about trying and doing something I've
never done. And so that is literally how I found triathlon.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Okay, So before we learn more about the trafon, tell
me one of the road, because this one's worked out
exceptionally well. This New Year's adventure that you've gone on
worked out exceptionally well. What is one of the ones
that you were like? Okay, I did that once, never again.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
So in college I staid abroad. I lived in England
for a year and I went to visit Poland. My
mom's side of the family is Polish, so I went
to visit Poland and it was incredible. I really enjoyed Poland.
But when I was leaving, I got on the wrong
train somehow, and the conductor kicked me off at like
(05:18):
a one platform train station. So I was like lost
in Poland and spoke zero words of English, which is
pretty embarrassing when you're like half Polish. So I decided
I was going to learn Polish. The next semester, I
like sign up for a Polish class and I tried
so hard and it was it's a really hard language.
(05:39):
I still know a few phrases. I think I know
enough to like gat around now. I probably wouldn't get
lost in the middle of Poland, where like if somebody
murdered me, nobody would ever find my body. But yeah,
it it. My brain doesn't work really well with foreign languages.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Okay, that's okay, though, I think that's that's fine. That's
a good a good thing to learn about yourself. And
I feel like I do a ton of traveling, and
so my goal is always at least to know a
few things that like keep me safe if I need
to write, like where's the bathroom, where's the food? Where's
the police station? Like I can probably survive, where's the embassy?
(06:17):
Like those four things. I'm probably pretty good if I
can speak those languages.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
I've settled with that as well as long I you know,
I learned phrases every place I go, But that is
about the extent of it. Like how can I get
around knowing like where the train station is and what
tickets are? And then safety and that's frobout the extent
of my foreign language.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Look, she learns multiple sports for one sport, it's okay,
that language doesn't quite come the same way. So triathlon
is what you ended up falling in love with on
this one New Year's adventure. Tell me how you went
from trying it on a New Year's Eve for New
Year's Day at you know decision, to then starting to
compete in it, and then we'll get into how you
became a Paralympian and one of the best athletes in
(07:02):
the world.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
So I had like heard a little bit about Traflon,
and it was at a time that I had gotten
pretty burnt out with running and just running culture. Especially
at the time the running you know, running culture was
very much focused on lighter, was faster, and starving is
better and I was just very burnt out of that.
And so I'd heard a little bit about Trafon and
(07:24):
I was like, you know what, I'm going to give
this a try, Like it seems like a fun new challenge.
Probably hadn't rode a bike since like the fifth grade.
I grew up in Arizona, so swimming is something that
like we did every day all summer long. But I
never swam competitively. I did like rec league in the
summers when I was younger. That was the extent of
like my distance swimming per se. And so like a
(07:49):
week or so after New Year's Past, I got a
postcard in the mail. And yes, for our younger listeners,
that is how old I am. I got like a
literal postcard in the mail.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
There's nothing wrong with that. There's an I still will
send letters. I'm I'm so old school. I still send letters.
You're gonna get a letter after this, So like it
still happens.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
Nothing beats getting a letter, right, Like, I'm sorry, and
email is not the same getting an email. I'm just like,
oh another email, But work a letter in the mail.
You're like, this is great. So I got that postcard
and I was like, this is a sign I'm doing it.
And so I signed up for the traf on and
that was like the rest is pretty much history. I
(08:26):
did my first traf on on aigslist Craigslist bike I
got it was from like the bike was from like
the nineteen seventies. I you know, swam in the lake.
It was like the first time I'd ever done any
sort of like swimming race. I you know, I biked
and I ran, and I get to the end, I
won my age group and all in all, like I
(08:48):
just had so much fun, and then I crashed the
rest of the day. I took like a two hour nap.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
I won.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
I was so undertrained, like definitely did not know what
I was doing. I was just like winging it. But
I had so much fun because it was a new challenge,
like something that when I started, I truly didn't know
if I would finish it or not. Like I didn't
know if I could do it, And like that to
me was like thrilling, like this idea of like you
have no idea how this is going to turn out.
And in the end, I fell in love with it,
(09:19):
and so I joined our the ACU Traflon team, and
I competed with them for a while. Fortunately, not too
long after I did that first trap, and I started
having neurological symptoms and it changed the course of my life.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Yeah, so let's talk about that, because that was in
twenty ten. So your first Trifon was like eighth nine,
two thousand and eight. Yeah, okay, two thousand and eight,
and then two years later everything changes.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Tell us what happened in twenty ten.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
Yeah, so not long after I did my first trap on,
I started having a lot of neurological symptoms. Like I said,
I started getting numbness and tingling in my arms and legs.
I started having trouble walking. I had this constant headache
for almost two years that just would not go away.
And I went from being that nationally ranked triathlete to
(10:09):
sleeping nearly twenty hours a day. And I bounced around
from doctor to doctor, specialist to specialists. I was in
and other hospital constantly. And at the time, I you know,
I was really for a long time. I was embarrassed
to say it, but I was just gas lit by
the medical world. I was told that it was because
I must just be I took on too much as
(10:32):
a young female, and I must just be anxiety or
must just be stress. And it got to a point
that I went to an appointment, and at nineteen years old,
by myself, I went to an appointment and the doctor
just looked me in the eye and said, if you
keep progressing like this, you'll be lucky to make it
to October. And that was two months later, and I
(10:53):
just I was by myself. I had no family or
friend or anybody with me, and I drove home and
then I sat on my bathroom floor, just like at
a loss for words. I didn't know what to do.
And so at that point I just like started crying.
And my friend called me and she said, if that's
really true, if you have two months, are you going
to spend it sitting on your bathroom floor? And in
(11:17):
that moment, I was like, you're right, I'm not, like,
I'm not going to do that. And so that night
I decided to request all of my medical records, and
I got nearly seven thousand pages of medical records and
started looking through to find something, to find anything. I
don't know what I was looking for at the beginning,
every single word I didn't know. I googled, I read articles,
(11:38):
I read everything I possibly could, and eventually I finally
found the diagnosis at about two am in the middle
of the night one night. The next morning, I like
was like all night was waiting until eight am for
an office that had opened, and I call that office
who was a specialist in the diagnosis I found in
(11:59):
the chart, and I just started asking the first person
to answer the phone questions and they're like hold on
one second, let me get the nurse for you. And
so then I talked to the nurse and I am
like telling her, I'm like asking all these questions, and
then she's like, wait a second, can you just read
the MRI report for me? And I was like, okay,
So I read the MRI, like the part of the
MRI report she wanted, and then she's like, hold on
(12:19):
one moment, and so she puts me on hold, and
all of a sudden there's the doctor on the phone
and he was like, how soon can you come in?
And that was kind of the start of my journey
through diagnosis, disability and beyond.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
I think, first I just want to honor the bravery
of you, as an eighteen or nineteen year old to
refuse to take no as an answer, or to refuse
to take I don't know as an answer. I mean
that that is so hard to do in every aspect
of your life, but certainly for most of us in
the medical field, right that's like, that's such a hard
(13:02):
space to feel like you know, you have any idea
what's going on because the words are so big and
nobody knows it. How How did you fight for that?
Speaker 2 (13:11):
How did you like, how did you learn to fight
for yourself in such a way.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
I think it was a huge lesson in learning to
advocate for myself. I think all of us are conditioned that,
you know, we don't really question authority, like it's not
our role to question authority, and in a lot of spaces,
authority means somebody who is more educated than you, or
(13:39):
a a professional in their field, and so right, like
your medical doctors are a figure of authority in our lives.
And I think learning to question authority was a really
hard concept for me at first, but it had gotten
to a point that it really was life or death,
and if nobody else was going to show up for me,
(14:02):
the only choice I had was to show up for
myself and to advocate for myself. And it really started
just by asking questions, asking questions and not taking I
don't know for an answer, or you must just be anxious,
or you know, or you have too much on your plate,
and it's like, no, I've always had this much on
my plate and these things have never happened. I don't
(14:23):
feel anxious. I've talked to my friends that have anxiety
about what that feels like, and I don't have those
sensations and so just really not allowing them to dismiss me,
and then finally finding enough knowledge to pose very educated
questions so that I couldn't be ignored as a young
(14:48):
irrational woman. And I think I think that was one
of the most powerful lessons I've learned, something I've had
to do multiple times in sport and in the world since.
And to be able to learn that at nineteen, even
though it was a terrible way to learn it, I
think learning it then was a huge benefit. It has
(15:12):
not made any of this journey necessarily easier, but it
definitely has kept me alive.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Yeah, Oh my gosh, I just think that is that
is so incredible, And it almost makes like the resilience
that you showed after your diagnosis almost like a foregone
conclusion because that's who you are. Like you did the
hardest thing, which actually wasn't living with the diagnosis. It
(15:40):
was fighting to get diagnosed so you could live, and
that was the that was the true test of resilience,
and you went for it with flying colors. And so
then you get diagnosed with a multitude of things, and
how how did those diagnosies diagnose Sie diagnosis diagnoses.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Thank you?
Speaker 1 (16:01):
How do those diagnoses affect your life?
Speaker 4 (16:05):
So I was diagnosed with a chi malformation, basler and
vagination and other STANDLEOSD syndrome with a cascade of secondary conditions.
So those are like my primary diagnosis, or if you
think of an umbrella, the ones like at the top,
and then you have these like cascading diagnoses which are
the effects from those. And so first things first on
(16:26):
the table was brain surgery, so I had not long
after getting the diagnosis, I had brain and spine surgery
to stabilize both my brain and my spinal cords. So
QRII malformation essentially is a malformation of the back of
your skull and where your brain meets your brain stem.
And so I had a portion of my cerebellum in
(16:50):
protruding from my skull into my spinal column, which puts
pressure on both the brain and the spine. So you've
got symptoms of both a brain like neurological symptoms from
both the brain and the spine, which I think looking
back is what was like perplexing so many providers and
maybe making them think that I was in quotations doing
(17:12):
it for attention or it was all psychosomatic and I
was making it up and some of the other things
I heard. We were getting like varying competing problems basically
because problems in the brain and the spinal cords show
up very differently, right, but I was having a problem
with both, and so with the brain protruding, there was
(17:34):
pressure building on the brain, which is causing problems in
both my brain and spine. So first things verse was
brain and spine surgery. I had that in August August
tenth of twenty ten, and then spent quite a while
in the NEUROICU and the neuro rehab and then physical
therapy or outpatient rehab for hours and hours a day.
(17:57):
So that was kind of the first That was kind
of the production to like, oh, this is this is
what disability is, like.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Nineteen years old years brain surgery.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
Yeah, I'd already developed a lot of the disabling symptoms
by that point because of the delay and diagnosis. But
that's kind of the date that I mark is like
the that was the day I became disabled, because that
was the day we knew it wasn't going away, And
so from there I was really just like kind of
fighting for everything I had left and trying to make
(18:30):
any progress we could, and one of the things I
was unwilling to give up with sport. I wanted nothing
more than to be back running, swimming, cycling, and at
the time, I like competing or being competitive wasn't really
on my mind. I wanted to compete in collegiate national Championships.
(18:51):
I missed it the year before because of everything that
had gone on, and I just really wanted to be there.
I knew I wasn't going to be as competitive as
I once would have been able to, but I wanted
to be there. I wanted to experience it, and I
wanted to run again.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Walk me through then after that, because you have actually
changed classifications since then, right, So you've gone through first
competing in a one class during the not during the Paralympics,
but during during triathlons around the world, and then you
changed classifications in twenty fifteen. So walk me through how
(19:25):
from that first NF did you make it to NSSA.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
I did.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
I did make it to collegiate national Championships. I was
the first athlete that we know of with the disability
to compete in collegient national championships. So eight months after
my surgery, I somehow managed to swim, bike and run
for swam a mile, ran twenty four and then ran
rode twenty four and then ran six point two miles,
(19:49):
So somehow made it there. Definitely was not first. I
was much closer to last than I was used to,
but still to this day like is one of the
races that the most to me in the world, and
so that was pretty incredible. But going to our classification,
I had never heard of the Paralympics at that point.
(20:10):
I had never heard of paratrathlon. And I was approached
at that event by USA Trathlon and they were like, hey,
have you ever heard of this thing called para travelin
And I was like, no, I haven't. They're like, you
should really come to national championships and I was like,
that's great. I'm competing with my collegiate team, Like I
don't need that, And then I didn't really do anything
with it until a coach, my collegiate coach actually had
(20:33):
looked more into it a few years later in twenty
twelve and suggested that I give it a try, and
so that is when I first started. It was when
I first did paratrathlon, and so you get classified, or
classification for our listeners that don't understand, is basically a
system that tries to level the playing field because not
(20:54):
all disabilities are affect individuals the same. So you obviously
had people who use wheelchair with visual impairments or in
my case, have like a neurological disability and the amputation.
And so when I was classified in twenty twelve, we
were using one system of classification, and then we found
out in twenty fourteen that paratrathlon got into the Paralympic
(21:17):
Games for the first time in twenty sixteen, and in
doing so, the classification system was updated, which led to
a new classification. I was one of the first athletes
being classified, like I think they said like number three
or something, and being that I do having more complicated classification.
(21:38):
Many athletes competing have, you know, like a very cut
and dry you know, they're just an amputee, or they're
just visually impaired or blind, or they are a wheelchair user.
They're very cut and dry. But mine is not because
I have both a neurological injury and an amputation. And
so I was classified at that event, and then about
(22:00):
a year later we got a call. Our team manager
got a call from World Traffon and they had found
an error was made in the classification process and when
they rescored it, they believed that I would be in
a different classification than I was put in the first time,
and so they asked to reclassify me. So I was reclassified.
(22:21):
I think it was in twenty fifteen. Twenty fourteen is
a new system. I was reclassified at the beginning of
the season in twenty fifteen, and that's when my classification changed.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Okay, so twenty fifteen, you get reclassified. In twenty sixteen,
paratriathlon makes its Paralympics debut, and you, Alyssa, are the
one who walk away with the gold medal.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Just give me the experience in.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
Rio de Janeiro, oh Man. The twenty sixteen Paralympics were
absolutely incredible. I think special for so so many reasons.
I think the first thing that it's kind of weird
looking back and seeing so I had been undefeated since
September twenty fifteen, but I was still considered like an
(23:07):
underdog for some reason, like I was off of everybody's radar.
The media, nobody was paying attention to me. Everybody else
was like predicting other winners, like my name was nowhere
being mentioned, so like somehow I go into this event
still as an underdog. I'm just like, okay, well, I've
always personally liked rooting for underdogs, so like I'm okay
with this. But I think being there was incredible. We
(23:33):
got to we went to Florida, and we had our
training camp, which what I'm doing now in Florida, and
the day before we were supposed to leave, hurricane's coming in,
and all of a sudden, they're like, we want to
get you out today perfect. We're worried lights are going
to be the leg and there's gonna be issues. Smart
we want everybody on like planes as soon as possible,
(23:55):
and so we're like packing all our stuff getting to
the airport. When we get like basically rushed off and
out of Florida before a hurricane heads. I never went
back and looked if it actually hit or not, I'm
not sure, but whatever, we got out of it. And
it's kind of all a whirlwind, to be honest. Once
(24:16):
you get into the village, it's just like one thing
after another. We check into the village, we were there,
we do opening ceremonies, or I got dressed and I
chose not to do opening ceremonies. I was the only
athlete on our team who didn't do opening ceremonies. So
it was like a little bit lonely and a little
bit sad at the time, But looking back, I feel
(24:38):
like I made a really good decision opening ceremonies for
everybody who doesn't know there Wednesday night. They always games
always open on a Wednesday night, and your commitment to
do opening ceremonies is anywhere from like five to eight
hours of like standing on your feet and just like
a lot of like hurry up and waiting and getting
(24:58):
on and off in buses and being shuttled around. And
I worked with like my team that I was pretty
close to, and partially because of my brain injury, I
don't do great in like loud environments. It's very exhausting
for me because my brain can't tell the difference between
important sound and sound, so it's all like my brain
(25:19):
is just constantly trying to figure out what like I
can't ignore any of it, so it's just like constantly
being from it. And so we just decided like it
wasn't worth it, so I watched opening ceremonies like on
a TV by myself in the village, and then just
kind of went to bed. And then you move into
like your course previews, your mandatory meetings, like an equipment check,
(25:43):
like so many things. So it's just very busy and
like literally like all of a sudden, it was racing
and I was like, all right, cool, you know how
to do this. And so we swam in the ocean
right off Copa Cabana Beach, again pretty iconic, but we
got kind of got on boats and shuttled out to
(26:04):
a barge in the middle of the ocean and we swam.
For me, I came out of the water in a
pretty pretty solid spot. I knew the bike would be
the toughest portion for me. My disability affects me the
most on the bike, and so I knew that was
going to be a really, really tough part of the race.
And I went into this race thinking, as long as
(26:26):
I can keep my competitor Hayley in my sight's like
I know I can win this race. And it was
like immediately it was like she was, you know, a
few laps into the bike, she's like ten seconds ahead.
Then thirty seconds ahead, then ninety seconds ahead, and I
was just like, okay, well I got to see what
you have on the run. And I knew I was
(26:47):
a strong runner, and so when I started running, I
just I just like kind of looked up to the
sky and was like, you're made for this. I have
always loved running ever since I was a small child,
and I was like, you were made for this, and
so I just I kind of took off, and I
was like I knew in my mind I was going
to do every single thing I possibly could to get
into that first position, Like I wasn't going down unless
(27:09):
I was fighting. And so I came out of this
second transition where we changed from bike to run, and
I was about eighty seconds back, and so I just
like put my head down and went for it, and
slowly but surely, I was reeling her in and I
got to a point that I was not too far
behind her, and I knew in my head, I'm thinking, okay,
(27:31):
you have to decide now. Like I was running at
a much faster pace than I thought I could maintain.
I was like running really like trying to go for
a p I was basically going for a pr at
that point, and I was like, all right, So I
hung back a little bit far enough that she couldn't
hear my press thattic hitting the ground to really like
collect myself, collect my breathing, get my heart right down.
(27:52):
And then I kind of strategically so when I passed
her it didn't look like I was dying.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
I wanted to feel like this is so easy, I've
got it.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
Yeah. I wanted to be able to pass her and
her question if she could hang on, and so I
hung back for a little while and at my brain
knew when the timers right, and it was just like
go for it, and I would say, within you know,
twenty or thirty strides, I was passing her to take
the lead, and chills went over my body and I
(28:26):
was like, nope, not yet. We are not there yet.
We have like a mile to go. And I literally
said to myself, like it is yours to lose, Like
it is yours to lose. You cannot like you cannot.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Stop for one moment.
Speaker 4 (28:40):
And at that point, like I just ran, knowing that
I was about to accomplish like something historical, something I've
never been done before, and coming up to the finish shoot,
our finishes always have blue carpet on the ground. So
coming up to the blue carpet, I hear a familiar
voice just like screaming at the top of their lungs
(29:02):
and screaming, you did it, go get that gold medal,
And then that's my sister. And I look over and
my brother is like running alongside the barricades, like trying
to push through this crowd of people and then like
tripping over things, and I'm just like at that point,
like you just have to like kind of start laughing.
(29:23):
And so I see the picture of the finishing shoot
in Rio and everybody thinks I'm like ugly crying, and
I'm like dying breathing and like laughing hysterically at the
same time, and somehow that that'd be equaled ugly crying. Oh,
oh my gosh, but it's like one of my fondest
memories and just like hearing the emotion in his voice
(29:46):
and like knowing in that moment, like how incredibly proud
uh so many people were for me.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
Yeah, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
That like that has me ugly crying because I'm like
laughing at the the picture of your brother just like
shoving people like I don't know if you've never been
at the end of a race, Like, I don't care.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
I don't care how big or small the race is.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
It's always packed at the finishing shoot, right, and there's
like all these barricades and so like imagine he's like
trying to run next to it, but there's like a
whole line of people that are right against the barricade.
So I'm just like dying laughing at that, and then
like crying at the fact that your family must have
been just like, wow, we almost we almost didn't have this, right, Like,
(30:30):
I mean, that must have been such a moment of
emotion when you crossed the finish line and realized everything
that you had done and lived for and fought for.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
You know.
Speaker 4 (30:42):
It's actually a never really only recently did this come
up with my brother.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (30:47):
We were sitting sitting at my brother's house and my
sister in law is like, I know he'll never say it,
but he is so incredibly proud of you, And I
was like, I know I could tell in his voice.
And my brother and I I's relationship has always been
very competitive, you know, He's always been trying to like
be smarter than me, have more degrees than me, or
(31:08):
do something.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Better than me.
Speaker 4 (31:11):
On that day, he was like, all right, you win,
I'm done.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
You're like this is my gold medal. Bro, sorry about it?
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Oh oh man, Yeah, Like.
Speaker 4 (31:23):
It's just I've never actually talked too much with my
family about like how they felt in those moments. But
our race was not televised, and so like all of
my family and friends at home really had no way
of watching it. So my sister ran around the course
like Facebook living it like and I went back and
watched it, and the moment she saw me pass into
(31:43):
first like her voice cracked and like you could tell,
like it's just like nothing needs to be said, because
it was like so much was just said in the silence, right,
Like so much was said in those moments that like
I didn't I mean, I experienced my brother like tripping
over barricades firsthand, but like I didn't experience my sister's
reaction firsthand, but like hearing it her voice break and
(32:07):
then the silence on the Facebook live like it's just
so much was said in that moment.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Oh my gosh, I can imagine that just is that
gives me chills. And now I'm ugly crying on the
podcast this is great.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
So okay, so you win gold and Rio, you go
to Tokyo, you do it again. Now you're getting ready
to go to Paris and try to repete. Tell people
because obviously there's been so much attention on the triathlon
and you guys swimming in the sin, how are you
feeling about the course in Paris?
Speaker 4 (32:39):
So we are swimming in the sin, There's been a
lot of attension on it. I'm very confident that it'll
be safe for us to swim.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
They're not.
Speaker 4 (32:48):
Trathlon is very very good in creating safety regulations for
US athletes, and so I am confident it will be
safe to swim the day we race, which is awesome
because we all want it to be a triathlon. Nobody
wants to swim to be canceled. But I think the
amazing thing about Paris is like Rio de Janeiro was
(33:11):
an iconic course. We're on Copa Cabana, like literally right
along Copa Cavana. Tokyo had like an amazing, challenging technical course,
but we were like out in the suburbs, so it
wasn't like you don't have those like iconic Tokyo sites
that many people know. And so with Rio having like
an easier course than the iconicness, and then Tokyo having
(33:33):
an amazing course but not being as iconic, like Paris
is putting it all together. Paris like we are racing downtown,
we are racing in the Seine, we are racing down
the champsia de Las, we are like with the Eiffel
Tower in the background, Like it does not get more
iconic than that, which is absolutely incredible. And then when
you look at the course, like it is so technical
(33:54):
and so challenging. We've got, oh, it is very turned,
it's got so many turns, it's got cobbles, it's I mean,
it's got everything you could imagine. And I just think
that's really cool to see how much courses in the
sport have grown in you know, two Olympic cycles, going
from something that was like pretty basic, just like simple,
(34:16):
not too challenging, to a course that is incredibly challenging.
And it means that you have to be very fit,
but you also have to race very smart, you have
to be very be very technical, you have to have
all of the aspects to perform well in this course.
And you're doing it like in the heart of Paris,
(34:37):
which I don't think it gets cooler than that.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
And it's not gonna You're not gonna have to assis
running around the course on the Facebook Live. We're gonna
be able to root you on in real time. So
that's great.
Speaker 4 (34:47):
Yeah, everybody can go along this time.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
Oh my gosh, if there was something before we move
on to the next segment, Is there something, if there
was something that you wanted to tell that nineteen year
old who was laying on the bathroom floor wondering what
was going to happen? Would she make it two months?
What would you want her to know in that moment,
(35:11):
having lived through the last decade since.
Speaker 4 (35:14):
I think the one thing that I would want her
to know, and I would want thirty five year old
need to know, is that your tenacity and your voice
is your greatest strength. The world is not ready for that.
The world is not ready for strong, smart, powerful women
to step up and question authority. But your voice is
(35:35):
your strength. And no matter how many times people try
to tell you your voice and your words don't matter, they
do like, don't stop speaking, don't stop advocating for yourself,
because all of that fight becomes worth it.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
Wow, Yeah, it definitely does. I am just so grateful
that you are willing to share your story because I
think that it is so universal.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
It is so universal to feel like your voice.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
Is not enough to question your own knowing and you
never did, or even if you did, you didn't let
it stop you. And I think that that is something
we can all learn. So I cannot wait to reach
you on in Paris.
Speaker 4 (36:16):
Well, thank you. I think for me it is very
important to let all women and girls know I did
question myself. I question myself every freaking day. I question
myself every time I'm labeled as difficult or challenging or
non compliant or whatever it is. I question if I
should just sit down and shut up, and I know
so many other women do. Don't do it. Don't allow
(36:39):
the world to silence you. I've had the amazing opportunity
to be given this platform, and I think that's the
biggest thing I want everybody to know is I'm not
different than you guys. I don't hold some special power.
I question myself. I mean there's times I don't believe
that I deserve a life is as good as I have,
or there's times I don't I question my own knowing
(37:03):
and feeling because so many people question me. I've been there,
I've been in those shoes. But don't let that doubts
from other people seep in. Don't let them silence you.
Don't let them decide your future.
Speaker 2 (37:17):
Yeah, do it scared?
Speaker 4 (37:19):
I love it?
Speaker 2 (37:19):
Yeah? Do it scared? Oh man?
Speaker 1 (37:22):
Oh list, I'm so excited. Okay, we have to move
on to our next segment.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
This is called Something to Sip On.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
It is brought to you by the Sports Bra, which
is an amazing women own sports bar in Portland, Oregon,
the very first women's sports bar in the entire world.
And so I want to know this week, when we
are sipping on the Alyssa, what is the mocktail that
we are sipping on?
Speaker 4 (37:42):
Oh my gosh, I oh h, I don't know. This
is this is great. I'm so excited about this. I
feel like this is very epic. Also, my friend who
lives in Portland has never been to the sports baron.
I'm like, how is that possible? Because I would have unacceptable.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
When I got there.
Speaker 4 (37:56):
So now this I'm making her go for this reason
so she can take a peck.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
Sure.
Speaker 4 (38:00):
Anyways, I think the mocktail for sure. Has some lemon,
some pomegranate, gotta go with like our sparkling water, simple syrup,
and I think like a little bit of mintn't. I
don't know. I'm sure, I'm sure. I'm sure a bartender
(38:20):
there can make something of all of that, but like,
I don't know, something along those lines, a little fruity,
a little little minty.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
Yeah, so lemon, pomegranate, sparkling water, what.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
Was the other thing said? And some mint, some mint.
Oh that sounds so refreshing.
Speaker 4 (38:39):
Yeah, I mean, you're gonna make some when you're working
out all the time. You want something refreshing. So I
feel like that's a good a good go too.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
Yeah, that's perfect. Okay.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
So now we're gonna move into our powered up segment,
which is rapid fire questions. And if you guys have
been listening all season, you know I disclaim this every time.
I'm terrible at this because I try to keep it
rapid fire, and then I just want I just want
to learn the story of the of the answer. So
I'm gonna try really hard yet again to say rapid fire.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
Okay, are you ready got this?
Speaker 4 (39:07):
You got this?
Speaker 1 (39:08):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (39:08):
Thank you, thank you, thank you okay, coffee or tea?
Speaker 4 (39:11):
Tea?
Speaker 2 (39:12):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (39:12):
Favorite ice cream flavor Colorado cookies and cream.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
What makes it Colorado?
Speaker 4 (39:19):
It's made with the sweet cream base instead of a
vanilla base.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
Oh okay, I love the next level.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
That's amazing. I love that. Okay.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
Go to meal before or after racing a triathlon?
Speaker 4 (39:33):
Uh? Post race meal is a cheeseburger.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
Oh yum? Okay? Are you an early bird or a
night owl?
Speaker 4 (39:40):
Early bird?
Speaker 2 (39:42):
Nice? What is your favorite place that your sport has
taken you? Oh?
Speaker 4 (39:45):
Man, this one is always so tough because every place
is a little bit different. I'm gonna go with uh Lazan, Switzerland.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
Ooh okay, wow, I bet that's stunning. If you weren't
a triathlon, what would you want to be a Paralympian
or Olympian.
Speaker 4 (40:02):
In so, I'm actually a two sport Paralympian. Many people
don't know. I competed in track and rio as well.
But if we take both of those off of the table,
I I would really want to do gymnastics. I just
I really like the idea of like throwing my feet
twelve myself twelve feet in the air and like spinning
(40:22):
and flipping multiple times. We're dreaming big here.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
Yeah, I mean, look, it's Simon Biles, Jordan Childs, Simmy Lee.
They all make it look heavy like. They all made
it look so fun.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
I so that was my sport.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
I was a competitive gymnast for a long time. I
can't confirm. It's very fun, also very scary, but very fun.
Speaker 4 (40:39):
I mean they make it look so easy, which makes
me think I could do it, but also I know
I can't, but.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
In this world we can. It's so good.
Speaker 1 (40:48):
Yeah, Okay, what is your dream vacation spot?
Speaker 4 (40:53):
Tahiti?
Speaker 1 (40:54):
Actually we were just joking before we came on the
podcast that if the sendant were out, they should have
just sent the open water swimmers and the people who
are going to be swimming in the send to Tahiti
because that's where Olympic surfing was. So maybe next time
LA twenty twenty eight is where they're going to have
some really good Yeah, it'll be great. You'll be swimming
like out around a pier or something. It'll be very fun.
Speaker 2 (41:16):
Okay. And then, what is the best piece of advice
you've ever gotten?
Speaker 4 (41:20):
I think the best piece of advice I've ever gotten
that was probably from my grandma and that was, don't
let the world limit you. I think like she grew
up in a world that told her who she had
to be and what she was allowed to do, and
she told me, don't ever let the world limit you.
And I think I've tried really hard to stick true
to that, and I hope every young girl here's the same.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
Yeah. Okay.
Speaker 1 (41:44):
My last two questions for you, Alyssa is what does powerful?
This is a powerful podcast where we celebrate powerful women.
What does powerful mean to you?
Speaker 4 (41:55):
There's so many things powerful means. I think the first
is being true to yourself, of being authentic, using your
voice even when it shakes, even when it's scared, advocating
for yourself, and not allowing anyone or anyone to tell
you who you are, what you are, and what you
can or can't do.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
And when do you feel the most powerful?
Speaker 4 (42:18):
I feel the most powerful after finishing like a super
hard workout on my own, knowing like I did that,
I challenged myself, I pushed myself and I got it done.
I didn't need somebody there to tell me how to
do it, or when to do it or how hard
to go. That's I think when I feel the most powerful.
Speaker 1 (42:40):
I love it well, Alyssa, thank you so much for
being on our podcast. We are honored to have gotten
to know your story better and I cannot wait to
root you on in your third Paralympics as you compete
for your third gold medal. Sorry about you, badass, and
then through all the rest of it too, because we
know that's sport doesn't stop every Olympic, every Paralympic cycle,
(43:04):
and so we're excited to reach you on for the
rest of it.
Speaker 2 (43:06):
And thank you for sharing your story.
Speaker 4 (43:08):
Thank you so much for having me. It's been so
much fun, and I really hope that everyone out there
keeps chasing their dreams and reaching high, no matter how
big those dreams might be.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
I love it. I love it.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
I think that your story will inspire many to do
exactly that. So all right, thank you guys for listening.
I hope you enjoyed this episode of The Powerful.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
We'll see you next time.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
This is a reminder to check us out every Tuesday
all summer long everywhere you get your podcasts, And if
you really enjoy this and don't want to miss an episode,
be sure to hit that subscribe button.
If you're listening to this podcast, we know one thing
for absolute.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Certain you are a fan of women's sports.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
And there's nothing better than enjoying women's sports with community,
and no better place to find that community than The
Sports Bra in Portland, Oregon, the very first women's sports.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Bar in the world.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
The owner Jenny Wynn and her team have created the
best atmosphere combined with top tier menu and cocktail options
to root on your favorite team. So next time you're
in Portland, be sure to stop by the sports Bra
and don't forget. All summer, the sports Bra will be
featuring drinks picked out by our powerful women.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
So stop by, have a sip, and enjoy the summer.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Sports season jam packed with women's sports at the Sports Bra.
Hello friends, and welcome to the Powerful Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
I'm your host, Ajam McCord.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
In this podcast, we introduce you to powerful women.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Who are changing the game in and outside of their
field of play.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
These are women's stories, women who happen to be doing
things that many of us can only dream of, but
the lessons and inspiration they share is universal. Hey friends,
welcome back to the Powerful Podcast. I am so thrilled
to be joined here by my next guest. I'm your
host AJ McCord, and joining me today is not just one,
not just two, but going for her very third Para
(01:18):
Olympics experience. So she is somebody who competes in triathlon
and for a multitude of years she went undefeated in
every uti race that she competed in. So this is
somebody who in Paris has a chance to make some
history and represent Team USA. So incredibly. Well, please welcome
(01:39):
Alyssa Seely to the Powerful Podcast. Alyssa, thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
For being here, Thank you for having me. I'm so
excited to talk with you today.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
So I want to get into first because the opening
ceremonies are coming up like in five seconds. So you
are already in France, and there's a chance we have
to pod the podcast because you are so dedicated to
your training and bringing home another gold medal. Please telp
you well where you are doing this podcast from.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
So I am doing my pre camp in Vch, France,
and it's this very cute little town has amazing cycling
and I'm at a training center here. So they have
rooms that you can adjust the altitude in. They're called
like hypoxic rooms. So we're able to set the room
to the altitude that I live at. I live at
(02:22):
a higher altitude to help with training, and so we
have the room set a higher altitude. So you may
hear it in the background, or you may hear it
kick on in the background. I'll try to talk loud
over it and hopefully we can edit it out a
little bit. But the purpose of that really is to
just keep the adaptations altitude offers up until race day.
(02:43):
If I was to go from altitude to sea level
when I left about three weeks out, all of those
adaptations would be gone by the time we hit race day.
So now we're just trying to keep those to get
all the way through race day.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
So this is probably a silly question, but if you're
at seven thousand in your altitude room, what are you
going to be competing at? What's the elevation in Paris?
Speaker 4 (03:03):
So Paris is pretty close to sea level, or when
we think about it in Sport, it's sea level. So
right now I'm sleeping in the altitude and I have
to spend about sixteen hours a day in here to
be able to keep the adaptations I have. So I'm
hanging out a lot in my room, basically getting out
to work out, train, get some sunshine, but spend the
(03:24):
most of the time in my room. But hopefully it'll
be worth it.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Committed, That is the word that comes to mind, Alyssa.
I'm so excited to watch you compete in Paris in
the triathlon, but I want to go all the way
back to the beginning because I understand the way that
you found this sport was through a New Year's celebration.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Tell us about how you got started in triathlon.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
Yeah, so I decided a long time ago that I
didn't like the idea of New Year's resolutions because like
they're just like a running joke, right, Like nobody keeps
a New Year's resolution. And so I started a New
Year's tradition that I was going to start. I'm going
to try to do something I've never done before, and
that could be a wide variety of things from in
(04:06):
this case, try a new sport, triathlon, learn a new language,
go somewhere new. Uh So, just like a wide variety
of like doing something I've never done before once a year.
And I think, especially for me as somebody who like
really likes schedules and patterns and all of that, like
(04:27):
it's really good to just like step out of my
comfort zone and like do something I've never done before.
Sometimes it works out great and other times not so much,
and I don't keep up with it, but it's fine
because like it's all about trying and doing something I've
never done. And so that is literally how I found triathlon.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Okay, So before we learn more about the trafon, tell
me one of the road, because this one's worked out
exceptionally well. This New Year's adventure that you've gone on
worked out exceptionally well. What is one of the ones
that you were like? Okay, I did that once, never again.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
So in college I staid abroad. I lived in England
for a year and I went to visit Poland. My
mom's side of the family is Polish, so I went
to visit Poland and it was incredible. I really enjoyed Poland.
But when I was leaving, I got on the wrong
train somehow, and the conductor kicked me off at like
(05:18):
a one platform train station. So I was like lost
in Poland and spoke zero words of English, which is
pretty embarrassing when you're like half Polish. So I decided
I was going to learn Polish. The next semester, I
like sign up for a Polish class and I tried
so hard and it was it's a really hard language.
(05:39):
I still know a few phrases. I think I know
enough to like gat around now. I probably wouldn't get
lost in the middle of Poland, where like if somebody
murdered me, nobody would ever find my body. But yeah,
it it. My brain doesn't work really well with foreign languages.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Okay, that's okay, though, I think that's that's fine. That's
a good a good thing to learn about yourself. And
I feel like I do a ton of traveling, and
so my goal is always at least to know a
few things that like keep me safe if I need
to write, like where's the bathroom, where's the food? Where's
the police station? Like I can probably survive, where's the embassy?
(06:17):
Like those four things. I'm probably pretty good if I
can speak those languages.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
I've settled with that as well as long I you know,
I learned phrases every place I go, But that is
about the extent of it. Like how can I get
around knowing like where the train station is and what
tickets are? And then safety and that's frobout the extent
of my foreign language.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Look, she learns multiple sports for one sport, it's okay,
that language doesn't quite come the same way. So triathlon
is what you ended up falling in love with on
this one New Year's adventure. Tell me how you went
from trying it on a New Year's Eve for New
Year's Day at you know decision, to then starting to
compete in it, and then we'll get into how you
became a Paralympian and one of the best athletes in
(07:02):
the world.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
So I had like heard a little bit about Traflon,
and it was at a time that I had gotten
pretty burnt out with running and just running culture. Especially
at the time the running you know, running culture was
very much focused on lighter, was faster, and starving is
better and I was just very burnt out of that.
And so I'd heard a little bit about Trafon and
(07:24):
I was like, you know what, I'm going to give
this a try, Like it seems like a fun new challenge.
Probably hadn't rode a bike since like the fifth grade.
I grew up in Arizona, so swimming is something that
like we did every day all summer long. But I
never swam competitively. I did like rec league in the
summers when I was younger. That was the extent of
like my distance swimming per se. And so like a
(07:49):
week or so after New Year's Past, I got a
postcard in the mail. And yes, for our younger listeners,
that is how old I am. I got like a
literal postcard in the mail.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
There's nothing wrong with that. There's an I still will
send letters. I'm I'm so old school. I still send letters.
You're gonna get a letter after this, So like it
still happens.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
Nothing beats getting a letter, right, Like, I'm sorry, and
email is not the same getting an email. I'm just like,
oh another email, But work a letter in the mail.
You're like, this is great. So I got that postcard
and I was like, this is a sign I'm doing it.
And so I signed up for the traf on and
that was like the rest is pretty much history. I
(08:26):
did my first traf on on aigslist Craigslist bike I
got it was from like the bike was from like
the nineteen seventies. I you know, swam in the lake.
It was like the first time I'd ever done any
sort of like swimming race. I you know, I biked
and I ran, and I get to the end, I
won my age group and all in all, like I
(08:48):
just had so much fun, and then I crashed the
rest of the day. I took like a two hour nap.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
I won.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
I was so undertrained, like definitely did not know what
I was doing. I was just like winging it. But
I had so much fun because it was a new challenge,
like something that when I started, I truly didn't know
if I would finish it or not. Like I didn't
know if I could do it, And like that to
me was like thrilling, like this idea of like you
have no idea how this is going to turn out.
And in the end, I fell in love with it,
(09:19):
and so I joined our the ACU Traflon team, and
I competed with them for a while. Fortunately, not too
long after I did that first trap, and I started
having neurological symptoms and it changed the course of my life.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Yeah, so let's talk about that, because that was in
twenty ten. So your first Trifon was like eighth nine,
two thousand and eight. Yeah, okay, two thousand and eight,
and then two years later everything changes.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Tell us what happened in twenty ten.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
Yeah, so not long after I did my first trap on,
I started having a lot of neurological symptoms. Like I said,
I started getting numbness and tingling in my arms and legs.
I started having trouble walking. I had this constant headache
for almost two years that just would not go away.
And I went from being that nationally ranked triathlete to
(10:09):
sleeping nearly twenty hours a day. And I bounced around
from doctor to doctor, specialist to specialists. I was in
and other hospital constantly. And at the time, I you know,
I was really for a long time. I was embarrassed
to say it, but I was just gas lit by
the medical world. I was told that it was because
I must just be I took on too much as
(10:32):
a young female, and I must just be anxiety or
must just be stress. And it got to a point
that I went to an appointment, and at nineteen years old,
by myself, I went to an appointment and the doctor
just looked me in the eye and said, if you
keep progressing like this, you'll be lucky to make it
to October. And that was two months later, and I
(10:53):
just I was by myself. I had no family or
friend or anybody with me, and I drove home and
then I sat on my bathroom floor, just like at
a loss for words. I didn't know what to do.
And so at that point I just like started crying.
And my friend called me and she said, if that's
really true, if you have two months, are you going
to spend it sitting on your bathroom floor? And in
(11:17):
that moment, I was like, you're right, I'm not, like,
I'm not going to do that. And so that night
I decided to request all of my medical records, and
I got nearly seven thousand pages of medical records and
started looking through to find something, to find anything. I
don't know what I was looking for at the beginning,
every single word I didn't know. I googled, I read articles,
(11:38):
I read everything I possibly could, and eventually I finally
found the diagnosis at about two am in the middle
of the night one night. The next morning, I like
was like all night was waiting until eight am for
an office that had opened, and I call that office
who was a specialist in the diagnosis I found in
(11:59):
the chart, and I just started asking the first person
to answer the phone questions and they're like hold on
one second, let me get the nurse for you. And
so then I talked to the nurse and I am
like telling her, I'm like asking all these questions, and
then she's like, wait a second, can you just read
the MRI report for me? And I was like, okay,
So I read the MRI, like the part of the
MRI report she wanted, and then she's like, hold on
(12:19):
one moment, and so she puts me on hold, and
all of a sudden there's the doctor on the phone
and he was like, how soon can you come in?
And that was kind of the start of my journey
through diagnosis, disability and beyond.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
I think, first I just want to honor the bravery
of you, as an eighteen or nineteen year old to
refuse to take no as an answer, or to refuse
to take I don't know as an answer. I mean
that that is so hard to do in every aspect
of your life, but certainly for most of us in
the medical field, right that's like, that's such a hard
(13:02):
space to feel like you know, you have any idea
what's going on because the words are so big and
nobody knows it. How How did you fight for that?
Speaker 2 (13:11):
How did you like, how did you learn to fight
for yourself in such a way.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
I think it was a huge lesson in learning to
advocate for myself. I think all of us are conditioned that,
you know, we don't really question authority, like it's not
our role to question authority, and in a lot of spaces,
authority means somebody who is more educated than you, or
(13:39):
a a professional in their field, and so right, like
your medical doctors are a figure of authority in our lives.
And I think learning to question authority was a really
hard concept for me at first, but it had gotten
to a point that it really was life or death,
and if nobody else was going to show up for me,
(14:02):
the only choice I had was to show up for
myself and to advocate for myself. And it really started
just by asking questions, asking questions and not taking I
don't know for an answer, or you must just be anxious,
or you know, or you have too much on your plate,
and it's like, no, I've always had this much on
my plate and these things have never happened. I don't
(14:23):
feel anxious. I've talked to my friends that have anxiety
about what that feels like, and I don't have those
sensations and so just really not allowing them to dismiss me,
and then finally finding enough knowledge to pose very educated
questions so that I couldn't be ignored as a young
(14:48):
irrational woman. And I think I think that was one
of the most powerful lessons I've learned, something I've had
to do multiple times in sport and in the world since.
And to be able to learn that at nineteen, even
though it was a terrible way to learn it, I
think learning it then was a huge benefit. It has
(15:12):
not made any of this journey necessarily easier, but it
definitely has kept me alive.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Yeah, Oh my gosh, I just think that is that
is so incredible, And it almost makes like the resilience
that you showed after your diagnosis almost like a foregone
conclusion because that's who you are. Like you did the
hardest thing, which actually wasn't living with the diagnosis. It
(15:40):
was fighting to get diagnosed so you could live, and
that was the that was the true test of resilience,
and you went for it with flying colors. And so
then you get diagnosed with a multitude of things, and
how how did those diagnosies diagnose Sie diagnosis diagnoses.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Thank you?
Speaker 1 (16:01):
How do those diagnoses affect your life?
Speaker 4 (16:05):
So I was diagnosed with a chi malformation, basler and
vagination and other STANDLEOSD syndrome with a cascade of secondary conditions.
So those are like my primary diagnosis, or if you
think of an umbrella, the ones like at the top,
and then you have these like cascading diagnoses which are
the effects from those. And so first things first on
(16:26):
the table was brain surgery, so I had not long
after getting the diagnosis, I had brain and spine surgery
to stabilize both my brain and my spinal cords. So
QRII malformation essentially is a malformation of the back of
your skull and where your brain meets your brain stem.
And so I had a portion of my cerebellum in
(16:50):
protruding from my skull into my spinal column, which puts
pressure on both the brain and the spine. So you've
got symptoms of both a brain like neurological symptoms from
both the brain and the spine, which I think looking
back is what was like perplexing so many providers and
maybe making them think that I was in quotations doing
(17:12):
it for attention or it was all psychosomatic and I
was making it up and some of the other things
I heard. We were getting like varying competing problems basically
because problems in the brain and the spinal cords show
up very differently, right, but I was having a problem
with both, and so with the brain protruding, there was
(17:34):
pressure building on the brain, which is causing problems in
both my brain and spine. So first things verse was
brain and spine surgery. I had that in August August
tenth of twenty ten, and then spent quite a while
in the NEUROICU and the neuro rehab and then physical
therapy or outpatient rehab for hours and hours a day.
(17:57):
So that was kind of the first That was kind
of the production to like, oh, this is this is
what disability is, like.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Nineteen years old years brain surgery.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
Yeah, I'd already developed a lot of the disabling symptoms
by that point because of the delay and diagnosis. But
that's kind of the date that I mark is like
the that was the day I became disabled, because that
was the day we knew it wasn't going away, And
so from there I was really just like kind of
fighting for everything I had left and trying to make
(18:30):
any progress we could, and one of the things I
was unwilling to give up with sport. I wanted nothing
more than to be back running, swimming, cycling, and at
the time, I like competing or being competitive wasn't really
on my mind. I wanted to compete in collegiate national Championships.
(18:51):
I missed it the year before because of everything that
had gone on, and I just really wanted to be there.
I knew I wasn't going to be as competitive as
I once would have been able to, but I wanted
to be there. I wanted to experience it, and I
wanted to run again.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Walk me through then after that, because you have actually
changed classifications since then, right, So you've gone through first
competing in a one class during the not during the Paralympics,
but during during triathlons around the world, and then you
changed classifications in twenty fifteen. So walk me through how
(19:25):
from that first NF did you make it to NSSA.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
I did.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
I did make it to collegiate national Championships. I was
the first athlete that we know of with the disability
to compete in collegient national championships. So eight months after
my surgery, I somehow managed to swim, bike and run
for swam a mile, ran twenty four and then ran
rode twenty four and then ran six point two miles,
(19:49):
So somehow made it there. Definitely was not first. I
was much closer to last than I was used to,
but still to this day like is one of the
races that the most to me in the world, and
so that was pretty incredible. But going to our classification,
I had never heard of the Paralympics at that point.
(20:10):
I had never heard of paratrathlon. And I was approached
at that event by USA Trathlon and they were like, hey,
have you ever heard of this thing called para travelin
And I was like, no, I haven't. They're like, you
should really come to national championships and I was like,
that's great. I'm competing with my collegiate team, Like I
don't need that, And then I didn't really do anything
with it until a coach, my collegiate coach actually had
(20:33):
looked more into it a few years later in twenty
twelve and suggested that I give it a try, and
so that is when I first started. It was when
I first did paratrathlon, and so you get classified, or
classification for our listeners that don't understand, is basically a
system that tries to level the playing field because not
(20:54):
all disabilities are affect individuals the same. So you obviously
had people who use wheelchair with visual impairments or in
my case, have like a neurological disability and the amputation.
And so when I was classified in twenty twelve, we
were using one system of classification, and then we found
out in twenty fourteen that paratrathlon got into the Paralympic
(21:17):
Games for the first time in twenty sixteen, and in
doing so, the classification system was updated, which led to
a new classification. I was one of the first athletes
being classified, like I think they said like number three
or something, and being that I do having more complicated classification.
(21:38):
Many athletes competing have, you know, like a very cut
and dry you know, they're just an amputee, or they're
just visually impaired or blind, or they are a wheelchair user.
They're very cut and dry. But mine is not because
I have both a neurological injury and an amputation. And
so I was classified at that event, and then about
(22:00):
a year later we got a call. Our team manager
got a call from World Traffon and they had found
an error was made in the classification process and when
they rescored it, they believed that I would be in
a different classification than I was put in the first time,
and so they asked to reclassify me. So I was reclassified.
(22:21):
I think it was in twenty fifteen. Twenty fourteen is
a new system. I was reclassified at the beginning of
the season in twenty fifteen, and that's when my classification changed.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Okay, so twenty fifteen, you get reclassified. In twenty sixteen,
paratriathlon makes its Paralympics debut, and you, Alyssa, are the
one who walk away with the gold medal.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Just give me the experience in.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
Rio de Janeiro, oh Man. The twenty sixteen Paralympics were
absolutely incredible. I think special for so so many reasons.
I think the first thing that it's kind of weird
looking back and seeing so I had been undefeated since
September twenty fifteen, but I was still considered like an
(23:07):
underdog for some reason, like I was off of everybody's radar.
The media, nobody was paying attention to me. Everybody else
was like predicting other winners, like my name was nowhere
being mentioned, so like somehow I go into this event
still as an underdog. I'm just like, okay, well, I've
always personally liked rooting for underdogs, so like I'm okay
with this. But I think being there was incredible. We
(23:33):
got to we went to Florida, and we had our
training camp, which what I'm doing now in Florida, and
the day before we were supposed to leave, hurricane's coming in,
and all of a sudden, they're like, we want to
get you out today perfect. We're worried lights are going
to be the leg and there's gonna be issues. Smart
we want everybody on like planes as soon as possible,
(23:55):
and so we're like packing all our stuff getting to
the airport. When we get like basically rushed off and
out of Florida before a hurricane heads. I never went
back and looked if it actually hit or not, I'm
not sure, but whatever, we got out of it. And
it's kind of all a whirlwind, to be honest. Once
(24:16):
you get into the village, it's just like one thing
after another. We check into the village, we were there,
we do opening ceremonies, or I got dressed and I
chose not to do opening ceremonies. I was the only
athlete on our team who didn't do opening ceremonies. So
it was like a little bit lonely and a little
bit sad at the time, But looking back, I feel
(24:38):
like I made a really good decision opening ceremonies for
everybody who doesn't know there Wednesday night. They always games
always open on a Wednesday night, and your commitment to
do opening ceremonies is anywhere from like five to eight
hours of like standing on your feet and just like
a lot of like hurry up and waiting and getting
(24:58):
on and off in buses and being shuttled around. And
I worked with like my team that I was pretty
close to, and partially because of my brain injury, I
don't do great in like loud environments. It's very exhausting
for me because my brain can't tell the difference between
important sound and sound, so it's all like my brain
(25:19):
is just constantly trying to figure out what like I
can't ignore any of it, so it's just like constantly
being from it. And so we just decided like it
wasn't worth it, so I watched opening ceremonies like on
a TV by myself in the village, and then just
kind of went to bed. And then you move into
like your course previews, your mandatory meetings, like an equipment check,
(25:43):
like so many things. So it's just very busy and
like literally like all of a sudden, it was racing
and I was like, all right, cool, you know how
to do this. And so we swam in the ocean
right off Copa Cabana Beach, again pretty iconic, but we
got kind of got on boats and shuttled out to
(26:04):
a barge in the middle of the ocean and we swam.
For me, I came out of the water in a
pretty pretty solid spot. I knew the bike would be
the toughest portion for me. My disability affects me the
most on the bike, and so I knew that was
going to be a really, really tough part of the race.
And I went into this race thinking, as long as
(26:26):
I can keep my competitor Hayley in my sight's like
I know I can win this race. And it was
like immediately it was like she was, you know, a
few laps into the bike, she's like ten seconds ahead.
Then thirty seconds ahead, then ninety seconds ahead, and I
was just like, okay, well I got to see what
you have on the run. And I knew I was
(26:47):
a strong runner, and so when I started running, I
just I just like kind of looked up to the
sky and was like, you're made for this. I have
always loved running ever since I was a small child,
and I was like, you were made for this, and
so I just I kind of took off, and I
was like I knew in my mind I was going
to do every single thing I possibly could to get
into that first position, Like I wasn't going down unless
(27:09):
I was fighting. And so I came out of this
second transition where we changed from bike to run, and
I was about eighty seconds back, and so I just
like put my head down and went for it, and
slowly but surely, I was reeling her in and I
got to a point that I was not too far
behind her, and I knew in my head, I'm thinking, okay,
(27:31):
you have to decide now. Like I was running at
a much faster pace than I thought I could maintain.
I was like running really like trying to go for
a p I was basically going for a pr at
that point, and I was like, all right, So I
hung back a little bit far enough that she couldn't
hear my press thattic hitting the ground to really like
collect myself, collect my breathing, get my heart right down.
(27:52):
And then I kind of strategically so when I passed
her it didn't look like I was dying.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
I wanted to feel like this is so easy, I've
got it.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
Yeah. I wanted to be able to pass her and
her question if she could hang on, and so I
hung back for a little while and at my brain
knew when the timers right, and it was just like
go for it, and I would say, within you know,
twenty or thirty strides, I was passing her to take
the lead, and chills went over my body and I
(28:26):
was like, nope, not yet. We are not there yet.
We have like a mile to go. And I literally
said to myself, like it is yours to lose, Like
it is yours to lose. You cannot like you cannot.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Stop for one moment.
Speaker 4 (28:40):
And at that point, like I just ran, knowing that
I was about to accomplish like something historical, something I've
never been done before, and coming up to the finish shoot,
our finishes always have blue carpet on the ground. So
coming up to the blue carpet, I hear a familiar
voice just like screaming at the top of their lungs
(29:02):
and screaming, you did it, go get that gold medal,
And then that's my sister. And I look over and
my brother is like running alongside the barricades, like trying
to push through this crowd of people and then like
tripping over things, and I'm just like at that point,
like you just have to like kind of start laughing.
(29:23):
And so I see the picture of the finishing shoot
in Rio and everybody thinks I'm like ugly crying, and
I'm like dying breathing and like laughing hysterically at the
same time, and somehow that that'd be equaled ugly crying. Oh,
oh my gosh, but it's like one of my fondest
memories and just like hearing the emotion in his voice
(29:46):
and like knowing in that moment, like how incredibly proud
uh so many people were for me.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
Yeah, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
That like that has me ugly crying because I'm like
laughing at the the picture of your brother just like
shoving people like I don't know if you've never been
at the end of a race, Like, I don't care.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
I don't care how big or small the race is.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
It's always packed at the finishing shoot, right, and there's
like all these barricades and so like imagine he's like
trying to run next to it, but there's like a
whole line of people that are right against the barricade.
So I'm just like dying laughing at that, and then
like crying at the fact that your family must have
been just like, wow, we almost we almost didn't have this, right, Like,
(30:30):
I mean, that must have been such a moment of
emotion when you crossed the finish line and realized everything
that you had done and lived for and fought for.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
You know.
Speaker 4 (30:42):
It's actually a never really only recently did this come
up with my brother.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (30:47):
We were sitting sitting at my brother's house and my
sister in law is like, I know he'll never say it,
but he is so incredibly proud of you, And I
was like, I know I could tell in his voice.
And my brother and I I's relationship has always been
very competitive, you know, He's always been trying to like
be smarter than me, have more degrees than me, or
(31:08):
do something.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Better than me.
Speaker 4 (31:11):
On that day, he was like, all right, you win,
I'm done.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
You're like this is my gold medal. Bro, sorry about it?
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Oh oh man, Yeah, Like.
Speaker 4 (31:23):
It's just I've never actually talked too much with my
family about like how they felt in those moments. But
our race was not televised, and so like all of
my family and friends at home really had no way
of watching it. So my sister ran around the course
like Facebook living it like and I went back and
watched it, and the moment she saw me pass into
(31:43):
first like her voice cracked and like you could tell,
like it's just like nothing needs to be said, because
it was like so much was just said in the silence, right,
Like so much was said in those moments that like
I didn't I mean, I experienced my brother like tripping
over barricades firsthand, but like I didn't experience my sister's
reaction firsthand, but like hearing it her voice break and
(32:07):
then the silence on the Facebook live like it's just
so much was said in that moment.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Oh my gosh, I can imagine that just is that
gives me chills. And now I'm ugly crying on the
podcast this is great.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
So okay, so you win gold and Rio, you go
to Tokyo, you do it again. Now you're getting ready
to go to Paris and try to repete. Tell people
because obviously there's been so much attention on the triathlon
and you guys swimming in the sin, how are you
feeling about the course in Paris?
Speaker 4 (32:39):
So we are swimming in the sin, There's been a
lot of attension on it. I'm very confident that it'll
be safe for us to swim.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
They're not.
Speaker 4 (32:48):
Trathlon is very very good in creating safety regulations for
US athletes, and so I am confident it will be
safe to swim the day we race, which is awesome
because we all want it to be a triathlon. Nobody
wants to swim to be canceled. But I think the
amazing thing about Paris is like Rio de Janeiro was
(33:11):
an iconic course. We're on Copa Cabana, like literally right
along Copa Cavana. Tokyo had like an amazing, challenging technical course,
but we were like out in the suburbs, so it
wasn't like you don't have those like iconic Tokyo sites
that many people know. And so with Rio having like
an easier course than the iconicness, and then Tokyo having
(33:33):
an amazing course but not being as iconic, like Paris
is putting it all together. Paris like we are racing downtown,
we are racing in the Seine, we are racing down
the champsia de Las, we are like with the Eiffel
Tower in the background, Like it does not get more
iconic than that, which is absolutely incredible. And then when
you look at the course, like it is so technical
(33:54):
and so challenging. We've got, oh, it is very turned,
it's got so many turns, it's got cobbles, it's I mean,
it's got everything you could imagine. And I just think
that's really cool to see how much courses in the
sport have grown in you know, two Olympic cycles, going
from something that was like pretty basic, just like simple,
(34:16):
not too challenging, to a course that is incredibly challenging.
And it means that you have to be very fit,
but you also have to race very smart, you have
to be very be very technical, you have to have
all of the aspects to perform well in this course.
And you're doing it like in the heart of Paris,
(34:37):
which I don't think it gets cooler than that.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
And it's not gonna You're not gonna have to assis
running around the course on the Facebook Live. We're gonna
be able to root you on in real time. So
that's great.
Speaker 4 (34:47):
Yeah, everybody can go along this time.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
Oh my gosh, if there was something before we move
on to the next segment, Is there something, if there
was something that you wanted to tell that nineteen year
old who was laying on the bathroom floor wondering what
was going to happen? Would she make it two months?
What would you want her to know in that moment,
(35:11):
having lived through the last decade since.
Speaker 4 (35:14):
I think the one thing that I would want her
to know, and I would want thirty five year old
need to know, is that your tenacity and your voice
is your greatest strength. The world is not ready for that.
The world is not ready for strong, smart, powerful women
to step up and question authority. But your voice is
(35:35):
your strength. And no matter how many times people try
to tell you your voice and your words don't matter, they
do like, don't stop speaking, don't stop advocating for yourself,
because all of that fight becomes worth it.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
Wow, Yeah, it definitely does. I am just so grateful
that you are willing to share your story because I
think that it is so universal.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
It is so universal to feel like your voice.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
Is not enough to question your own knowing and you
never did, or even if you did, you didn't let
it stop you. And I think that that is something
we can all learn. So I cannot wait to reach
you on in Paris.
Speaker 4 (36:16):
Well, thank you. I think for me it is very
important to let all women and girls know I did
question myself. I question myself every freaking day. I question
myself every time I'm labeled as difficult or challenging or
non compliant or whatever it is. I question if I
should just sit down and shut up, and I know
so many other women do. Don't do it. Don't allow
(36:39):
the world to silence you. I've had the amazing opportunity
to be given this platform, and I think that's the
biggest thing I want everybody to know is I'm not
different than you guys. I don't hold some special power.
I question myself. I mean there's times I don't believe
that I deserve a life is as good as I have,
or there's times I don't I question my own knowing
(37:03):
and feeling because so many people question me. I've been there,
I've been in those shoes. But don't let that doubts
from other people seep in. Don't let them silence you.
Don't let them decide your future.
Speaker 2 (37:17):
Yeah, do it scared?
Speaker 4 (37:19):
I love it?
Speaker 2 (37:19):
Yeah? Do it scared? Oh man?
Speaker 1 (37:22):
Oh list, I'm so excited. Okay, we have to move
on to our next segment.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
This is called Something to Sip On.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
It is brought to you by the Sports Bra, which
is an amazing women own sports bar in Portland, Oregon,
the very first women's sports bar in the entire world.
And so I want to know this week, when we
are sipping on the Alyssa, what is the mocktail that
we are sipping on?
Speaker 4 (37:42):
Oh my gosh, I oh h, I don't know. This
is this is great. I'm so excited about this. I
feel like this is very epic. Also, my friend who
lives in Portland has never been to the sports baron.
I'm like, how is that possible? Because I would have unacceptable.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
When I got there.
Speaker 4 (37:56):
So now this I'm making her go for this reason
so she can take a peck.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
Sure.
Speaker 4 (38:00):
Anyways, I think the mocktail for sure. Has some lemon,
some pomegranate, gotta go with like our sparkling water, simple syrup,
and I think like a little bit of mintn't. I
don't know. I'm sure, I'm sure. I'm sure a bartender
(38:20):
there can make something of all of that, but like,
I don't know, something along those lines, a little fruity,
a little little minty.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
Yeah, so lemon, pomegranate, sparkling water, what.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
Was the other thing said? And some mint, some mint.
Oh that sounds so refreshing.
Speaker 4 (38:39):
Yeah, I mean, you're gonna make some when you're working
out all the time. You want something refreshing. So I
feel like that's a good a good go too.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
Yeah, that's perfect. Okay.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
So now we're gonna move into our powered up segment,
which is rapid fire questions. And if you guys have
been listening all season, you know I disclaim this every time.
I'm terrible at this because I try to keep it
rapid fire, and then I just want I just want
to learn the story of the of the answer. So
I'm gonna try really hard yet again to say rapid fire.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
Okay, are you ready got this?
Speaker 4 (39:07):
You got this?
Speaker 1 (39:08):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (39:08):
Thank you, thank you, thank you okay, coffee or tea?
Speaker 4 (39:11):
Tea?
Speaker 2 (39:12):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (39:12):
Favorite ice cream flavor Colorado cookies and cream.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
What makes it Colorado?
Speaker 4 (39:19):
It's made with the sweet cream base instead of a
vanilla base.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
Oh okay, I love the next level.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
That's amazing. I love that. Okay.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
Go to meal before or after racing a triathlon?
Speaker 4 (39:33):
Uh? Post race meal is a cheeseburger.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
Oh yum? Okay? Are you an early bird or a
night owl?
Speaker 4 (39:40):
Early bird?
Speaker 2 (39:42):
Nice? What is your favorite place that your sport has
taken you? Oh?
Speaker 4 (39:45):
Man, this one is always so tough because every place
is a little bit different. I'm gonna go with uh Lazan, Switzerland.
Speaker 1 (39:54):
Ooh okay, wow, I bet that's stunning. If you weren't
a triathlon, what would you want to be a Paralympian
or Olympian.
Speaker 4 (40:02):
In so, I'm actually a two sport Paralympian. Many people
don't know. I competed in track and rio as well.
But if we take both of those off of the table,
I I would really want to do gymnastics. I just
I really like the idea of like throwing my feet
twelve myself twelve feet in the air and like spinning
(40:22):
and flipping multiple times. We're dreaming big here.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
Yeah, I mean, look, it's Simon Biles, Jordan Childs, Simmy Lee.
They all make it look heavy like. They all made
it look so fun.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
I so that was my sport.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
I was a competitive gymnast for a long time. I
can't confirm. It's very fun, also very scary, but very fun.
Speaker 4 (40:39):
I mean they make it look so easy, which makes
me think I could do it, but also I know
I can't, but.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
In this world we can. It's so good.
Speaker 1 (40:48):
Yeah, Okay, what is your dream vacation spot?
Speaker 4 (40:53):
Tahiti?
Speaker 1 (40:54):
Actually we were just joking before we came on the
podcast that if the sendant were out, they should have
just sent the open water swimmers and the people who
are going to be swimming in the send to Tahiti
because that's where Olympic surfing was. So maybe next time
LA twenty twenty eight is where they're going to have
some really good Yeah, it'll be great. You'll be swimming
like out around a pier or something. It'll be very fun.
Speaker 2 (41:16):
Okay. And then, what is the best piece of advice
you've ever gotten?
Speaker 4 (41:20):
I think the best piece of advice I've ever gotten
that was probably from my grandma and that was, don't
let the world limit you. I think like she grew
up in a world that told her who she had
to be and what she was allowed to do, and
she told me, don't ever let the world limit you.
And I think I've tried really hard to stick true
to that, and I hope every young girl here's the same.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
Yeah. Okay.
Speaker 1 (41:44):
My last two questions for you, Alyssa is what does powerful?
This is a powerful podcast where we celebrate powerful women.
What does powerful mean to you?
Speaker 4 (41:55):
There's so many things powerful means. I think the first
is being true to yourself, of being authentic, using your
voice even when it shakes, even when it's scared, advocating
for yourself, and not allowing anyone or anyone to tell
you who you are, what you are, and what you
can or can't do.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
And when do you feel the most powerful?
Speaker 4 (42:18):
I feel the most powerful after finishing like a super
hard workout on my own, knowing like I did that,
I challenged myself, I pushed myself and I got it done.
I didn't need somebody there to tell me how to
do it, or when to do it or how hard
to go. That's I think when I feel the most powerful.
Speaker 1 (42:40):
I love it well, Alyssa, thank you so much for
being on our podcast. We are honored to have gotten
to know your story better and I cannot wait to
root you on in your third Paralympics as you compete
for your third gold medal. Sorry about you, badass, and
then through all the rest of it too, because we
know that's sport doesn't stop every Olympic, every Paralympic cycle,
(43:04):
and so we're excited to reach you on for the
rest of it.
Speaker 2 (43:06):
And thank you for sharing your story.
Speaker 4 (43:08):
Thank you so much for having me. It's been so
much fun, and I really hope that everyone out there
keeps chasing their dreams and reaching high, no matter how
big those dreams might be.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
I love it. I love it.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
I think that your story will inspire many to do
exactly that. So all right, thank you guys for listening.
I hope you enjoyed this episode of The Powerful.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
We'll see you next time.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
This is a reminder to check us out every Tuesday
all summer long everywhere you get your podcasts, And if
you really enjoy this and don't want to miss an episode,
be sure to hit that subscribe button.
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