#156 - Lydia Russell, Professional Triathlete

In this deeply honest and moving episode of Stupid Questions with Seth Hill, professional triathlete Lydia Russell shares the journey that brought her from a childhood of competitive swimming to the pro triathlon circuit—all while carrying the weight of personal loss and learning to lead with both her head and her heart.

Lydia opens up about her nonlinear path through college athletics, the coaching struggles that almost broke her, and the pivotal mindset shifts that helped her find joy and purpose in training again. She shares how losing her father just months ago reshaped her perspective on life, racing, and what it means to leave an impact. From her spiritual roots in Quaker schooling to her candid thoughts on mental health, grief, and identity, Lydia invites us into her world with depth, vulnerability, and humor.

This is not just a conversation about racing—it's about resilience, legacy, and learning to show up fully, even when life hits hard.

Lydia’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/lydiarusselll/ 

TTL IG: https://www.instagram.com/that.triathlonlife/

SQ Socks: https://stupidquestions.show/pages/sq-merch
SQ Newsletter: https://stupidquestions.show/pages/newsletter-signup 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
How's it going everybody? And welcome back to another
edition of the Stupid Questions podcast today and the Pop.
We're going to be talking with Lydia Russell.
She's a professional triathlete who is just been in the game for
a few years. She went to U of A and graduated
there not too long ago as part of the triathlon program.
Super nice gal. We talked deep about triathlon.
We talked deep about her life and her actually losing her

(00:21):
father not even a year ago and going into other deep topics
around religion and spiritualityand the things that I hope you
guys would start to expect from the type of conversations that I
like having these days. So without further ado, I want
to introduce you to Lydia Russell.
Nice Fell. Off the wall.
So did you buy that like custom or did you no it?

(00:43):
Was just from Amazon. OK, nice.
Yeah. Sweet.
Well, Lydia, thank you so much for coming on the podcast.
How you doing today? I'm great.
How are you? I'm good.
I got up early and with the intention of getting outside by
5:30, didn't get outside till 6:15.
So I'm a little bit behind schedule in terms of getting
other things done, but it's all good.
It's a beautiful day out here inNorthern California.

(01:05):
Nice. Where are you at?
Where you from? I'm in Tucson.
I'm not, oh, I live in Tucson. I'm not from Tucson.
OK, where are you from from. I'm from just outside of
Philadelphia, like near Villanova, kind of.
OK. East Coast.
Did you grow up around there? Yeah, I grew up my whole life
there. Nice.
What took you to Tucson? Triathlon I had my first coach,

(01:28):
did like training camps here andthen when I came to EU of AI
moved here full time. OK, nice.
Do you like when did you graduate U of A?
Just this past May well actuallyI haven't finished my classes
yet, so I have, I'm taking two right now that I have like one
more week of and then I have what is it?
One more, that's seven weeks, and then I'll actually be done.

(01:51):
OK, so you got to walk, but you still are kind of wrapping
things up. Yeah, I did something similar.
I went overseas for like this, End of class I guess was the end
of year part of a class trip andthen I had to finish some
classes afterwards. So it felt kind of weird after
walking. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So tell me, I guess first question that I would love to
ask you is from your perspective, who is Lydia?

(02:15):
I've I've been thinking about this I'm.
I'm prepared, kind of. I still.
Have a good answer but. Not knock.
Down Park, Yeah, I'm I would sayI'm a friend.
I'm a daughter, I'm a triathlete.
I'm a cat and dog mom, OK? I'm a girlfriend.

(02:36):
I'm very passionate about everything I do.
Controversial whether this is important or not, but I'm in
Aries, which to me very important.
Like I think I'm, I'm in Aries to a team.
Fiery and stubborn. Yeah, yeah.
That's, that's, that's the basics.

(02:57):
OK, talk to me about the the fiery kind of controversial side
of you. Is that a nature thing or a
nurture thing? Or how does it make you feel?
Maybe both, it's hard to say. Both my parents are kind of that
way. Like they're pretty like
stubborn and they they both werelike lawyers my whole growing up

(03:18):
years. So they definitely like argued
like not not like mean argued, but like, you know, like had
kind of intellectual sort of arguments around me and like
neither one of them was ever very quick to back down.
So maybe a little bit of nurture, but I think I'm just
like, pretty, not stubborn and well, sometimes in a bad way,

(03:39):
but like, I'll kind of go after what I want and yeah.
Yeah. So let me ask you this.
What do you want out of life? Triathlon can be included,
obviously, but give me, give me that kind of the deepest what
Lydia wants out of life. I think I definitely want to
feel like I make an impact on the people around me.

(04:03):
Yeah, that I mean, that's it. Like whatever people around me
like in a big scale or a small scale, like making an impact on
my family or just making an impact like more broadly than
that. Who do you think has been the
most impactful person on your life?
Maybe my parents or maybe my grandma.
I was just spending some time with her because I raised Happy

(04:27):
Valley in Pennsylvania, so I went to see her in Philadelphia
like before and after. And she like, she's pretty much
like my third parent. Like she always watched me when
my parents were at work. So I think definitely like I see
a lot of myself and her and we're just kind of we're like
besties. Like we just hang out and it's
always been that way. Yeah, that's really awesome.
That's super special that you'reable to have that relationship.

(04:47):
How old is your grandmother? I believe she's 8485.
I want to say 84. Yeah, but still mentally sharp
enough to where you can have like that intellectual.
Oh yeah, mentally she is fantastic.
She spends all her days reading books and like I'll recommend
books to her and she reads them.It's super fun so.

(05:08):
What are some of the attributes about your grandmother that you
just really appreciate and admire?
She's just kind of like, she's, she's like the quintessential
grandmother. Like, she's everybody's
grandmother. Like growing up, my friends
would come over and like she'd cook for them and they'd all
call her Nana Sandy. Because like she just, she just

(05:29):
is everyone's grandmother. And she loves animals.
I think that's what I got like most from her.
She has three cats and that's pretty much cats and books.
That's her entire life. But she loves seeing pictures of
my cats and my dog and stuff like that.
No, that's special. What?
What kind of books does she liketo read, do you know?

(05:50):
Literally anything. Like, it can be mostly fiction,
but like historical fiction, mysteries, romance, like really
anything. I got her a book when I was
there called the The Cat that Caught the Killer.
So she said she's loving that one right now, Yeah.
A really a cross section betweentwo of her loves animals and
then mystery with yeah, yeah, that's awesome.

(06:14):
Are you an only child? Yes, I was raised as an only
child. I have two half brothers who are
I can never remember how old they are.
They're both in their 40s, like mid twenty 40s so.
So there's a bit of a gap there.You're in your early 20s mid.
20s yeah, I'm 23. OK, nice.

(06:34):
What? What do you, what do you chalk
up to you at 23 now being a professional triathlete?
What do you chalk up to leading you down that path?
Definitely for the most part, like my own kind of innate Dr.
and passion for things because there was never really like
nobody ever kind of forced me down a path or like.

(06:56):
Yeah. People have pushed me, but like,
like definitely my parents and my brothers, like they've always
pushed me to kind of like get the best out of myself, but
they've never put any pressure on me or like expected this
level of performance out of me. Like, they're just happy when it
happens. So yeah, I think definitely just
like my internal drive and like wanting to see how good I can

(07:17):
be. Yeah, how good can you be?
I would hope to someday when either 70.3 worlds or Iron Man
worlds. Yeah, my coach thinks one day
Kona is going to be in my future, but that's that's a long
ways down the road. Yeah, for sure.
What? What kind of expectations do you

(07:38):
hold Lydia to? Not like I try to not have like
super big expectations for myself, like in the front of my
mind, of course they're there inthe back of my mind, But I think
if I like put too much pressure on myself, it's it can get to be
a lot. So I think just kind of

(07:58):
approaching everything with like, oh, how good can I be?
And like, but if I fall short like in a workout, not like
getting mad at myself kind of thing, but then often that'll
lead to me surprising myself and.
Like doing better than I think Ican do.
Yeah, it's a good feeling. Have you always held that same
level of expectation or not? I guess lack of expectation.

(08:23):
I think there have definitely been times where I've had too
high of expectations for myself or like put too much pressure on
myself. Particularly like I'd say in the
past year, year and a half with swimming, I've really learned to
kind of like, I call it like like the radical acceptance kind
of mindset of I'm just going to do my best in this session and

(08:45):
whatever happens, happens. But I'm not going to like get
frustrated or get upset if it's not going the way I want to.
And I think that's led to a lot of growth.
And particularly I've seen it onthe swim because on my team here
at Arizona, we do these open water sessions where we take all
the lane lines out of the long course pool and we put buoys in.
And I would get so frustrated when we first started doing

(09:07):
them. And like if people like say for
example, the instruction was like go out cruise and like pick
it up each buoy, but everyone would go out like race pace, get
out speed. And I would get so frustrated.
This person didn't do that. And this person didn't do that.
And I, I got hit in the face andblah, blah, blah.

(09:27):
And it was so frustrating. And I would just get so mad.
And then like my session would go downhill and I would cry and
it was just terrible. But then over time, I've tried
to practice just like saying, OK, we're going to accept what
happens and the only thing I cancontrol is my effort.
And if I'm putting a good effortin, I'm going to get what I need
out of the workout. It doesn't matter what anybody
else does. Like I just need to control.

(09:48):
I can control and go hard when I'm supposed to go hard and
that's fine. Like I'll improve if I do that.
And it's been crazy, like the shift I've seen in that.
And I like sometimes lose my head a little bit, but it's
definitely easier to control when I go at it with that
mindset. Yeah, yeah, that's really cool.
Who gave you the push to start to adapt that kind of mindset?

(10:09):
Was it a coach? I don't know exactly.
I would say probably my coach Wes, 'cause I think he just like
he's like, there's no point in getting mad.
Like I think that's kind of his attitude.
Like in generally people can do whatever they're going to do.
Like you can't control them. You can get frustrated with
them, but like it's not going tohelp you to get frustrated with

(10:32):
other people. Yeah, take me back to the
beginning days, even before triathlon, when you first
started to approach a world of athletics.
I love the cat. Like, yeah, walking on your
keyboard, no less. Yeah.
That's awesome. Take me back to the beginning
days of like when you started tocome to a place where you

(10:55):
realize, oh, athletics is something that I enjoy or it's
something that I feel passionateabout.
Yeah, so it started with swimming.
I swam like summer league growing up, like when I was a
really little kid and I moved kind of to year round by the
time I was 10. Yeah.

(11:16):
And it's just always been something that I like, felt
really passionately about. And my best friends were on my
swim team. And yeah, I don't.
It was just like always so fun for me and something I looked
forward to. And yeah, still, some of my best
memories are like from those early days of swimming.
Yeah, how early did you have to get up to do the swimming gig?

(11:38):
Not like that early till I was older, but like in the summer it
was so chill. It was like a 10:00 practice.
That was like the first thing inmy day.
And I think back to that. I'm like, oh, those were the
days. Yeah.
What is that? Yeah, What is that?
What is the typical day in your life look like now?
Now I wake up. Quite early because it's hot

(11:59):
here in Tucson, yeah. That's going to be.
Mega hot. Yeah, it's like it's not
terrible. Like when you compare it to
somewhere with humidity, you know, like the humidity gets
pretty bad in on like the East Coast.
So it's almost nice in a way here that you can like wake up
early and beat it because on theEast Coast you can't wake up
early and beat the humidity. It's just worse there, yeah.

(12:19):
Yeah, so I usually wake up around like 4:30 or five, like
pretty early. I like to take my time getting
up, which is my downfall in the summer because I have to wake up
even earlier. I like to have an hour from like
waking up to starting my activity.
So yeah, I wake up, have my coffee, eat my toast or

(12:41):
whatever, and then like to sit around and just come to terms
with being awake. Yeah.
Start to awake. What time do you get up then?
Like 435? Yeah, 435.
Yeah. Wow, that is early.
Yeah. What is the what is the peak
temperature that you've seen so far this year in Tucson like?
Maybe one O 5. It hasn't gotten like, yeah,

(13:03):
terribly hot yet. It's so nice in the mornings.
Yeah, I saw, I just recently moved from the East Coast,
Chattanooga, TN to here in Northern California in Redding.
And we saw 107 a couple of weeksago, a few weeks ago.
I think I was really shocked because it's so far north, but I
guess because it's kind of all the air gets slammed up here in
the north. It just sits there and you bake.

(13:25):
It's crazy. Yeah, that's crazy.
So we're getting a little Tucson, Tucson ask feel.
But going back to again, I guess, like the early days of
getting into swimming, when did you start to come into the, I
guess, realm of triathlon? When did it come onto the scene
for you? Triathlon specifically, not till

(13:46):
2022. OK, so fill in the gaps.
Yeah, or sorry, the fall of 2021, so.
Beginning of 2022. Yeah, so I I swam until I was.
14. To the end of middle school and
in 6th, 7th and 8th grade I picked up track just because you
had to do like a sport every season because it was part of

(14:08):
our school day so I did water polo, swimming and track and I
tried like hurtling and high jumping like I was not really a
distance runner by any means I. Ran the mile.
A couple times broke 6 minutes once it was yeah great.
And then I like told my middle school track coach that I was

(14:29):
going to try cross country my freshman year of high school.
And so I didn't like really wantto do it, but I was like, well,
I told her I would so I'll go try this out.
And I trained over the summer and went and ran cross country.
I really liked it. So then I had to like break the
news to my mom that I wanted to quit swimming and really just
like go and on running for the year and do indoor track too.

(14:50):
And she was not thrilled about it, but she was like.
OK, how come you can do that? Well, she swam growing up, so it
was like she was happy that I was a swimmer.
And yeah, it broke her heart a little bit.
She'll she'll say that to this day.
She's like, you broke my heart. But it all worked out.
Was your dad also a swimmer? No, he played like lacrosse in

(15:10):
football, so I don't think he really cared what sport I did.
Yeah, as long as you did something.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I ran all through high school
and then was recruited to college to run.
Is this at U of A? No, I was recruited to Oregon
1st and I was there for my freshman year.
Then I transferred to New Mexicofor my sophomore year and then
was injured there and at Oregon.So at New Mexico is where I got

(15:33):
into cycling. So that that gap from leaving
Oregon to I guess going to New Mexico and then finding yourself
fit in Arizona. What was the what was the story
and the reasoning why behind youtransferring schools and then
the story of the injury. Like in those first two years of
college. Yeah.

(15:54):
Well, I guess I got injured the first time because I was kind of
left to my own devices during COVID.
OK, just. Overtraining.
Yeah, not good. So I went from like 40 miles a
week up to 6065. And then some of my other
training partners, like went offto college or I couldn't see
them. So I was just like running way
too fast all the time because I was just by myself doing

(16:14):
whatever I wanted. Yeah.
So I got injured right when I got to Oregon, stress fracture,
and then kind of spent the year recovering from that.
But it just wasn't like really agreat environment anyway.
So then I decided to transfer atlike in that spring and went to
New Mexico. And then again, was left to my
own devices a little too much with the mileage.

(16:35):
And I thought, you know, great idea.
We're just gonna ramp it up to 80 miles a week.
That's a lot. Because, you know, I was 19
years old and lacked. Some critical thinking in that
realm. Experience.
I mean that's like ultra distance ultra runners mileage a
week. Right.
Yeah. It was not good.
But like coaches, like the coaches at New Mexico knew what

(16:57):
I was doing, but like, they weren't like telling me I should
be doing that. They were just like, OK, but
yeah, it was, it was kind of an interesting like coaching model
they had because they didn't like prescribe a mileage.
So you could really do whatever you wanted.
How did what did they coach then?
I mean, that's like. Like the key sessions, That was

(17:18):
it. That's it.
A long run, A track workout. Yeah, like that's basically like
I actually. Saw a girl who, like, was
coached by them because they're not Louisville or the head
coaches. And I saw a girl on TikTok who
was coached by them, and she was, like, echoing the same
sentiment that she was, like, they didn't really give a lot of
guidance. Yeah.
And then so that was, I guess, starkly different from your next

(17:41):
experience with coaching. Yes, ever since I've been in
triathlon, I've had very like concrete This is what you will
do on this day. Yeah.
Coaching. Yeah.
So when you, so make sure I'm understanding correctly, you go
to Oregon, then you go to Mexico, then you go to Arizona.
Then I kind of took a year off of school and I was like, I

(18:04):
cannot do this NCAA thing anymore.
Like it's ruining me. So I took year off and that's
when I got into triathlon through the Through USA TS
collegiate recruitment program. So I was coached by a triathlon
coach for the whole of 2022 and was like doing some classes
online here and there, but not like actually in school or in

(18:27):
the NCAA. Gotcha.
I'm gonna take a pause really quick.
Sorry to be oddly specific on that.
No, that's OK. Yeah.
So talk to me then I guess you take the year off, you're
getting into triathlon, and you decide you want to get back into
the NCAA game. This is when you've a had the
program correct. Yeah, so I didn't fully decide

(18:48):
necessarily that I wanted to be back in the NCAA.
Like, it wasn't like I wasn't seeking that out and like,
talking to a bunch of coaches, but I had stopped working with
my first triathlon coach and waslike looking for what I was
gonna do next. And I came to Tucson 'cause I
already had an Airbnb and stuff set up here for a camp that I
was planning to be part of. So I still came here.

(19:08):
And then Wes had just taken the job with U of A.
So he was here like coaching some guys while he, like, you
know, got that all set up. So I reached out to him 'cause I
knew him. And I was like, oh, can you just
help me out while I, like, get my shit together?
And he was like, oh, well, sure,but what if you come and be part
of my U of A-Team because you have eligibility?

(19:30):
And at first I was like, that's that just doesn't really seem
like the move. But then I, like, talked to some
people and they were like, everybody said, oh, yeah, you
should do it. So I was like, OK, well, I'll
get school paid for and like, I'll get a good scholarship.
So let's, let's try it out and see what happens.
So yeah. And during all of this time,
what degree were you pursuing? My bachelor's in well it was I

(19:57):
changed my major like 4 times, but ultimately it was it was a
bachelor's in law. That's.
All I was going to ask going back to the arguing thing like
you like to you like to be a little contentious.
So or did you end up pursuing that full through and then now
that you're wrapping up the lastfew classes for that?
Yeah, yeah. So I'm I'm finishing that and

(20:19):
then I'm starting a Master of Legal Studies in August.
Oh wow, so you're gonna be doingthat and racing professionally?
Yeah, but it's online, so it's very chill.
Yeah, so you can. And it's only one.
Year in pace, right? One year master's program.
Yeah, I think cuz there's only so much you can do in law before
you get into the realm of like law school, so.

(20:41):
Do you wanna go to law school? Maybe I'm I'm leaving the option
open, yeah. There there's a there's quite a
few female, I don't know if I'vemet any males, but quite a few
female professional triathletes that are loggers.
Yeah, I was just talking to Tamara Jewett in Pennsylvania
about it and, yeah, whether I should go to law school or not.
And she was like, well, you can always do it later.

(21:01):
Like, plenty of people do it. Like, yeah, in their 30s.
Like you don't have to go right now.
Yeah, that's true. You do have so much time and a
lot of runway still for like theathletic career.
So yeah, yeah. If you were to go directly into
law, let's just say if you weren't doing the triathlon
thing, what, what area of law doyou think that you would enjoy
the most? So I haven't looked into it like

(21:22):
that specifically, but in terms of the classes I've taken for my
undergrad degree, I think I've enjoyed like patent law and
intellectual property the most, which is kind of niche, but it's
interesting. Yeah, that's needed.
I, I got hey, school of Hard Knocks.
I went one time when I had this company I started in college,

(21:43):
try to get all the patents things.
And the most thing that I learned is just, it's kind of
like taxes. You kind of define it as you go
along and then you end up payinga ton of money and hope you do
it right. And really at the end of the
day, it all comes down to, well,do you have the money to
litigate or to keep somebody on your stuff, which is unfortunate
really. Yeah, yeah.
You have to be like the first person to file and yeah, it's

(22:03):
all sorts of stuff like that so.It's crazy.
Time stamp it. So moving back into the
triathlon world, then you started going toward this full
steam ahead. You know, you took the advice of
being coached by West. I'm doing NCAA program.
You're going through school. When did you start to really
cement internally? Like, OK, this is something I

(22:24):
think I could do, maybe even after school and do
professionally. I think pretty early on, because
I did I podium that a European Cup my first season in 2022 in
Portugal. So I think that was like it was
pretty clear to me that I I could be pretty good.

(22:45):
But it was after that, there wasa lot of, like, ups and downs of
racing, of kind of figuring out how to put it all together and
like how I had put it all together so early in my career.
Because in short courses, just really like, you know, if you
don't make that front swim group, you're like, you're
pretty much out of the contention for the podium.
Yeah. So yeah, I was a little bit

(23:07):
like, up and down with that. But I think I always kind of had
some idea that I wanted to keep pursuing it, Yeah.
And now is the the pursuit that you are in, are you 100% bought
and sold or do you ever have doubts of like, oh, maybe I
should go a different direction.I would say I'm pretty bought in
at this point. Like I think especially after my

(23:28):
last race in Happy Valley, it's like, well, I like clearly on
the right track. I think after like Oceanside,
Oceanside was pretty rough on the bike and I was a little bit
like, oh, what am I doing? Like every single person is
passing me on the bike, but I don't, I know like what I'm
capable of power wise. So I think it clearly was just
figuring out like how to not be afraid and how to like stay

(23:50):
connected with a group even though you're not drafting and
everything like that. But I definitely put it together
a lot better in Happy Valley. Yeah, So was it was that day
just like a perfect day for you mindset rolled in Nice.
I mean, standing on the podium with and winning with Chelsea,
Sodaro and Jeannie standing there beside you.
Like I read your post like obviously that was a pinch me

(24:11):
moment and it meant a lot to you.
But what? What was the attributing factors
of success for that day? I wouldn't say I like went into
it not differently than anythingelse.
I was really nervous. Well, I'm really nervous before
every race. But yeah, I was really nervous.
And I just kind of kept like redirecting myself and thinking

(24:32):
why not me and going back to that because again, like I know
what I'm capable of in training and like kind of where like
physiologically I know what I'm capable of.
So it's just a question of putting it together.
But yeah, I would say in the swim I had, I like did not know
who was around me. I could see somebody out like
far with Victoria. So I thought maybe that was

(24:53):
Chelsea or like Grace. I didn't know who it was, but I
was like, oh shoot, somebody went with her.
And I don't know if it's one person or multiple people, but I
was like, oh, if that's Chelsea and Grace out there, I was like,
oh, well, they're gone. But then we got out of the water
and I realized that like everybody I knew I was with
Jeannie in the water 'cause I could see her wet suit.
And I eventually I figured out Chelsea was with me, but I
didn't know Grace was still withus.

(25:15):
So during the summer I'm like, oh, no, this isn't really going
well. And then we came out of the
water and I was like, oh. Everybody's here.
This is perfect. So then we started riding and
then I like pretty quickly started to surprise myself, like
how much I was able to just kindof like stay with them, which I
was pushing about the same poweras Saint George, But in Saint

(25:36):
George, I was so afraid on some of those dissents.
And there weren't like those massive sweeping like there
were, there were dissents and like it was raining and it was a
little bit windy, but there was nothing like where you're just
like. Yeah, I feel like 40-50 miles an
hour. Yeah, nothing like that.
So I think I just like kept likelike I was, I was very focused,

(25:56):
like very mentally in it and I was like OK, like so much self
talk, like telling myself OK, just keep going.
Like if they pulled a little bitahead on a descent or something,
like really talking myself through to like catch back up to
not like, you know, not like feel defeated because they got a
little bit ahead to just like belike, OK, I have this like I can
catch back up. And every time I would catch
back up until like the last big descent, they got away and got

(26:19):
like 2 minutes on me. But I was like, oh, that's
pretty good compared to my otherraces.
Like I just stayed with them forpractically that whole thing.
And then I still had Jeannie with me, so that was really
nice. Yeah.
And then you get off onto the run and talk, talk me through
that. Well, I know the run's my
strength so and I definitely in Saint George, I felt like like

(26:40):
coming off the bike I was like, how am I going to run?
That was so hard. But this time even it was
literally like the same exact power.
This time I felt a lot better and I was like OK, now we.
Just have to. Like, go chase some people down.
And I felt pretty confident I could catch either Grace or
Victoria. So I was like, OK.

(27:01):
And like, I didn't know really what Jeannie's level of running
would be right now, but I like felt pretty confident I could
hold her off 'cause I came into transition with her.
So I was like, OK, we definitelyhave a podium, which is like,
I've never gotten a podium at this like sort of racing before.
So I was like, OK, this is perfect.
This is fantastic. I wasn't really expecting to

(27:23):
pass Chelsea. And like, even when I could see
her and knew I was reeling her in, I was like, well, maybe
she's been going easy this wholetime or like, you know, maybe
she's really gonna like, make mefight for it.
So I was, I was ready. I was, I was like, OK, I'm gonna
go past her. But like, she might just go with
me and run on my shoulder and, like, make me Sprint in for it

(27:43):
because I know she's a really good runner.
I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna underestimate Chelsea Sedaro.
I was, I was prepared to grit itout.
But I ended up being able to putsome time into her and I was, I
passed Victoria's husband, Danilo, I think at one point on
the course. And he I was like trying to ask
him like where she was. And then there were like people

(28:05):
cheering on the course. So I didn't even know.
And they're like, Oh, you have like this much time.
And I was like, Oh, thank God for all these people.
Because like, I'm, I'm so nervous right now that like she
might be gaining on me. And then I even like coming into
the finish, I was so nervous. I was like, there was an
official like the one of the head officials was out like in a
golf cart or on the bike or something.
Not the person that was biking with me, but somebody else.

(28:25):
And I was like, am I good? Like have I done everything
right? And what'd they say?
He was like, yeah, you're good. And I'm like, I'm like, I, I
don't have a penalty. Like I didn't, I didn't miss a
turn. Like I don't need to go back to
somewhere, like I'm going the right direction.
He was like, yeah, yeah, you're good.
And I was like, OK, cool, great.Yeah.
That's amazing. So then you cross the finish
line, you take the tape, and what was the interactions with

(28:49):
those coming in behind you as you finished?
Pretty like chill interactions. I'm trying to think.
I feel like I've talked to so many people.
Yeah, after like I talked to like everybody.
When it's such a high too, I imagine.
Yeah, but it was, yeah, it was alittle bit chaotic because they

(29:10):
were like wanting me to come talk like on the mic and then
they were getting us all on the podium and we weren't really
sure where we were supposed to be.
So it's a little bit chaotic. But yeah, it was really fun,
like congratulating everyone andhaving post race, like chit
chats, post race social hour. Yeah.
So when you race and even outside of racing, do you think
that you approach situations more from a place of headspace

(29:32):
or like from your heart? I try to approach it with my
head, but definitely my heart is.
Takes over but. What, like pulls me forward?
I would say yeah. What do you mean?
Like I think I like approach like like my heart is what
drives me. But like, I try and bring my

(29:54):
head into it too, to like bring some rationality to it.
Yeah. Do you feel like it's more
useful to use your the head aspect of things when you are in
a tough moment or when things are going well and you're trying
to more like keep yourself in line?
I think I definitely need to usemy head when it's hard because
otherwise I can get kind of like, like it's easy to get down

(30:17):
on myself or things like that. And it's, yeah, I mean, it's
hard to bring in my head and focus and be like, this is
what's really happening in this moment.
But I think that's ultimately like, what makes it possible to
like have success in any given moment is to be able to like
bring in the head and be like, I'm not just doing this like,

(30:40):
like based on like feeling, or I'm not like feeling terrible
about myself cause 'cause you know, I like, I could have at
the end of the race said, oh, they put 2 minutes into me.
Like what a bummer. Like that sucks.
But then you bring the head intoit and it's like, Oh well, I can
run 2 minutes faster than most of them.
So like, let's go see. Yeah, that's beautiful.

(31:00):
So between your mom and your dadand your grandma, who do you
think is most proud of you? That might be hard to to
measure. My mom's definitely the most,
like, emotional about it. I would say.
Yeah, like, like she'll just cry.
She's like, I'm so proud of you.Was.
She at this race were they? At this.
Yeah, she was. She was at the race and my high

(31:22):
school cross country and track coach was able to come.
That's awesome. So that and actually her parents
came too, so they were all out there watching.
So that was super special. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, it's it's just very different.
My dad passed away in November. So are you serious?
Yes. I'm so sorry.

(31:44):
Thank you. Yeah.
But I mean, yeah, obviously I knew he was proud of me, but in
a different like my mom's proud of me and she's like, everything
you do is amazing. Like.
But my dad, his proudness would be like, I'm so proud of you and
like, I know you can do more. Like, like I, we have these like
team like talent show things that we do before nationals.

(32:06):
And I would always do stand up comedy and I would send it to my
dad and he'd be like, that's hilarious.
But like, here's what you need to do to like make it.
Really good. Yeah.
Was your dad a pretty comedic person like?
Oh, yeah. That's like what he is known for
really in like, well, aside fromlike being a good lawyer, but
like everybody like he'll, I mean, all his humor was like

(32:27):
super dirty and like raunchy andoutrageous.
But yeah, everybody knows like, oh the Tim jokes or like the Tim
sayings or whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
How old was your dad when he passed?
76. Oh wow.
Yeah. Yeah.
Do you do you mind me asking questions about?

(32:50):
Your dad? Oh yeah, go for it.
Yeah, well, how did he pass away?
He had cancer. That started actually about the
same time I started triathlon, interestingly enough.
So it had been going on for a few years and then like it was
kind of like a like random thing.
Like it was all very under control and like being treated.
And then suddenly he got like a 10 centimeter tumor in his

(33:12):
heart. Literally like came up in a
month, like literally out of nowhere because he had been
getting scans the month before and there was nothing.
And then suddenly it just like appeared.
So then it was pretty quick after that.
Yeah. How did he take that in turn,
like in his interactions with you and the family?

(33:32):
Well, at first it was like, not a big deal.
Like they were like, oh, we see this thing like we're gonna get
it treated. And then suddenly it was like,
oh, we don't know how easy this is gonna be to treat.
And this is all over the course of like a week.
And I was at NCAA nationals during this time.
So my parents were supposed to go to nationals and then

(33:53):
suddenly they can't. They can't.
Or like suddenly he can't. And my mom was still going to
come. And then they realized that it's
untreatable. So my mom couldn't come because
she has to be there with my dad.And then he was supposed to have
like a few months to a year maybe.
And then he it was only a week before he passed away.
Oh my goodness. Yeah.

(34:15):
Do you? What was your was the last
interaction that you had with your dad a good one?
I mean, yeah, it was like, like it was pretty clear to everyone
that he was like going downhill pretty fast.
But yeah, I mean, we like, I think I asked him, it might have
been the day before, but it was probably like 2 days before

(34:37):
because he was pretty incoherentthe day before.
But yeah, I asked him like, oh, you.
Do you have any like secrets to tell me?
Like anything, Anything you haven't told me all this time?
Like, I was kind of joking, like, because that was our
relationship. Like, we weren't super serious
with one another, but he just said like, I love you.
And that was the only thing he had to say.
So that's, yeah, something I hold on to.

(34:59):
Yeah, yeah, That's beautiful, man.
That's super tough. I mean, seven months.
So I don't, I don't know if you know this or not, but my dad
died when I was 16. Seven months after that, I can
barely even put together a timeline.
Honestly, for like the first year, just because there's so
much going on and you're still relatively young to losing
someone of that caliber at that age is a very hard thing to go

(35:22):
through. I guess my question is like how
are you doing? Like I would say I've handled it
pretty well. Like obviously it's hard.
Like I have my days where I'm like where I'd show up to swim,
practice in tears because it's just like hard.
And it does still feel very likesurreal because I've never had

(35:43):
like his parents died before I was born, but then my mom's
parents, like they're still alive.
So I've never really had anyone like super close to me die
before. So it's very like, like
sometimes it'll hit me like I'm like, oh, like that's Yep,
that's real. Yeah, no kidding.
But yeah, I think like on the more positive, not it's not

(36:05):
positive, but like I 'cause he was older.
So like I have always known thatlike, we weren't gonna have
forever. Like I like was pretty sure like
he wasn't gonna meet my kids because like just of the age he
was like, so it's, it's always been in the back of my mind that
like, yeah, I'm not gonna be 50 when I lose my dad.

(36:28):
Like, yeah. Yeah, but still like it, I guess
it's good to have that, like mindset to know it also brings
value to like the moment you do have.
But losing someone so sudden like that with no real planning,
because oftentimes, like, have the stories I've heard, it's
usually a cancer. And it's like a battle for a

(36:49):
number of years. And it's never easy to just
like, say, OK, I've had enough time to prepare for this.
But when it's so sudden like that, it does stuff to us.
It's like, I mean, yeah, I can'timagine doing and operating at
the level that you were. I could, I didn't even go to
school. I could barely function in
school. Like I was just, I turned to all

(37:09):
kinds of craziness just to try to fill that gap and try to
figure out, you know, how to what does it mean to be a man
type of a thing? And it's obviously different for
you as a girl, but like losing your dad is like such a huge
thing that's crazy and it's hardto hard to navigate.
Yeah, I think luckily, like triathlon and just like training
in general has always kind of been something that's like,
comforting to me. And it's like a constant.

(37:30):
So, like the day he died, I like, went out and ran 8 miles
after 'cause I was like, I just need to like, go be in my own,
like, kind of my own space and like, be away from everybody
else who's grieving and like getout of the house and get like,
yeah, just like get away from all of it.
Yeah. When's the last time you cried?

(37:51):
You said like you went swimming sometimes and it shows up there.
I, I cry a decent amount. I feel like I used to cry like a
lot like as a not as a child, but like during my time at
Oregon, perhaps. I don't know.
Actually, I didn't, I didn't crybefore the race in Pennsylvania
this time, before Oceanside in Saint George.

(38:12):
I just was like so nervous, likeafter the briefing I would, I
just came back and I like I guess in Oceanside it wasn't
like on purpose, but I'm before Saint George.
I was like, well, I need to let it out, I guess.
So I just like let myself have alittle cry and then got over it
and moved on. And I guess this time I wasn't
wasn't quite so nervous that I needed to have a cry.

(38:33):
But crying is such a healthy thing.
I think for me is the years wenton, I became harder for me to
cry. And then I actually went to this
retreat thing that my friend paid for me to go to up in
British Columbia, Canada. And it really brought me back
into touch with like what it means to be able to kind of let
loose emotionally, which I thinkwould be a little tougher for
guys, but it's such a healthy thing to do.

(38:54):
Honestly, we should normalize crying a little bit more because
I guarantee when you start up for the line of an Iron Man, so
many people are crying inside. It usually comes out the finish
line. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I was kind of surprised I didn'tcry at the finish line in Happy
Valley because it was also the race was on Father's Day, so
that was pretty special. Yeah, my mom cried, but I'm sure
I think I was like, I need to hold it together.

(39:16):
I can't. Yeah, can't lose it here.
Why can't you? Oh.
I don't know. I wasn't sure if I would ever
stop then. Yeah.
I was like I. Got to get on this podium and
have a little composure about me.
Yeah. What does, what does mental
health mean to you? Like does it?
Is it a thing that you spend time thinking about?
Oh yeah, absolutely. Give me.

(39:36):
Your download. Well, I'm medicated for my
anxiety, so that's like, I don'tknow, like mental health is like
very real to me. I do not function well if I'm
not on anxiety meds. I get very upset and yeah, like,
it's not a fun time for me or people around me.

(39:58):
Has it been that? Way for a long time like.
Yeah, since about like my like the end of my senior year of
high school. Yeah.
And my mom's on the same anxietymedication, so super fun for us.
But yeah, it's definitely something that's really
important to me. And I've like seen regular
therapists, especially after my dad died.

(40:19):
Like that was really important to me to be able to talk about
it. Yeah.
And then yeah, sports Sykes, like, yeah, definitely.
Mental health is is really big to me.
Yeah. So you've been talking to
different, like you said, peoplewho can help provide a place for
you to just have space to talk about whatever is going on or

(40:41):
they can ask questions. What are some of the things that
you've learned just about that profession and maybe tools you
use in your personal life or even when you interact with
other people about helping them overcome or go through things I.
Would say there's like, yeah, there's not like any like super

(41:01):
big takeaways, but I think it's just like having that space,
kind of like, I think that's themost important thing is to be
able to have somewhere where youcan discuss that kind of stuff
because otherwise it, it really does just like get swept under
the rug. And OK, actually, now that I
think about it, the big thing islike, I think it's important to
have a space to talk about that stuff before things get bad.

(41:26):
Because other like if you let things get bad and then you're
like panicked looking for a therapist, it's like really
hard. But if you have somebody who you
have that relationship with and you have that space where you
can go and talk about like the really hard stuff.
And then when shit hits the fan,you have somewhere to go and you
have somewhere to direct that. So I think that's like been
pretty important to me. Yeah.

(41:46):
Is that a lesson that you learned post after, like losing
your dad and stuff because you didn't have that space?
Or did you have that space and you realized the importance of
it? No, I did.
I can't remember 'cause I switched therapists like pretty
shortly after he died, but 'cause I thought like the one I
had, like it just wasn't I, I honestly like thought she wasn't
really giving me the space I needed.

(42:08):
Like she wasn't pushing me to talk about it or anything.
And I was like, it doesn't matter if I seem like I want to
talk about it, like my dad just died, like we need to talk about
that. Like I can't just act like
everything's fine. So I found a new one.
But yeah, I mean, it definitely was helpful.
Like immediately, even though itwasn't like my favorite
therapist in the world, like it was helpful to have somebody.

(42:28):
Well, you just revealed something quite interesting to
me that I'd love to dive into then because like you said, you
need someone to help push you to, to open up.
What, what helps you feel pushedto open up?
Like is it Lydia, I want you to tell me, you know, blah, blah,
blah. Or is it the asking of a
specific set of questions? Or what?
What helps you to open up? I think, yeah, I definitely need

(42:50):
like a push. Like the the previous therapist
I talked about like she would belike, oh, well, it seems like
you don't want to talk about this, so we're not going to talk
about it. And I was like, well, but I
probably, I probably seem like Idon't like that probably means
we should talk about it. Yeah, like, of course I'm happy
to talk about my cats and like what my cat ate for breakfast
today. But like, is that really what's

(43:12):
going to better me? No.
So I like, need somebody to be like, OK, we're enough about
your cat's breakfast. Like, let's move on to the
deeper stuff. Yeah, what?
What is something in your mind right now that is taking up like
the most mental bandwidth for your day-to-day life?
I don't know, it's been a very, like it's been a crazy few

(43:34):
weeks, 'cause I went to Philly and then I went to the race and
then I went back to Philly and then I went to DC to visit my
best friend from high school. And then I went back to Philly
again and then I came back to Tucson.
And then when I got back here, my girlfriend and I got a dog.
So now we have a dog and yeah, so it's just been crazy.

(43:55):
So today's like my first real, like real in quotation marks
'cause I did some training like the end of last week, but my
first real day back to training since the race 'cause I took my
little mid season break. So pretty much chaos is what's
occupying my mental space, but good, good chaos.
Good chaos. Well, how much time do you have
now between like the next thing that's going to pull you away
from kind of home base? Not till the beginning of

(44:18):
August. So this is like my little mid
season training block. So that's that's nice.
Although we are moving apartments in in the middle of
July, so. So I'll be busy and hopefully
they have a better dishwasher. I know.
Hopefully it doesn't break threetimes.
That's funny. So tell me a little bit about
TTL. Like, I know Eric Impala,

(44:42):
obviously they're really nice people, but what was your level
of involvement like? How did you get hooked up with
them? And then how's that been going?
Yeah, so they, I think they justlike put on the story like or
their Instagram post, something like that.
Yeah, the application back in November.

(45:02):
Yeah, I think, yeah, like towards the end of November.
And I just applied for it. Like, I wasn't like thinking a
whole lot about it. I was just like, oh, sure.
Like can't hurt to apply for it.Like, I don't know if they'll
pick me 'cause I've already beenin this sport and like, I don't
really know what they're lookingfor, but might as well.
So then they picked me to do an interview and I did the

(45:23):
interview and then suddenly onceI did the interview, I was like,
oh, I actually feel invested in getting this.
I'm like, OK, please, please choose me.
Yeah. So then they chose me.
And luckily I got to actually meet them when they were here in
Tucson in, When was that? February.
So that was pretty fun. And I got to swim with Paula.
And yeah, since then, I feel like it's been just like, really

(45:46):
fun to be involved at races and like, have like, be at races
with them, which I think is pretty unique.
Like, not everybody who's on theDevo team gets to actually,
like, be involved with them, like face to face so much.
Yeah. So that's been really fun.
And I feel like, yeah, it's justbeen like kind of like a pretty
special like, relationship that I feel like we've built.

(46:07):
And I like, I text them for all sorts of questions.
And yeah, I was texting Paula pictures of the dog.
She was very excited about my dog.
So yeah, it's definitely like developed into like not just
like professional, but more of like a friendly relationship,
which is really fun. And it's helped me feel very
like comfortable as well. Like I didn't feel like I was

(46:28):
showing up to Oceanside and likeI was just alone.
I mean, I had my mom and my coach were both there, but like
I didn't feel like I was just like this girl who's like there
all by herself. Like I felt like I was kind of
part of something which was really special on the same in
Saint George. Yeah, being able to have
community no matter where we areis such AI think key piece of

(46:48):
just our overall well-being being to be able to enjoy and
thrive in in life. Yeah.
How many people are a part of the TTL program right now?
I believe it's 6. OK.
And have you got to meet all of them like you guys have like a
all everybody get together camp at one point?
I think they were like considering doing that in the

(47:10):
fall. I don't know what the status is
on that, but OK. Yeah, yeah, I've met.
I've met John Reed and Liam Donnelly through like short
course and that stuff, but I haven't met the other 3.
Yeah, cool. So switching gears a little bit,
tell me, are you a religious person?
Are you spiritual at all? That's.

(47:31):
A great question. So I like grew up going to
church like Episcopalian, just like pretty standard church.
And then I went to a Quaker school for.
Quaker School. 1st through 12th grade.
I don't. I don't know if you're familiar
with the Quakers. I'm not.
Enlighten me. So it's like a branch of

(47:52):
Christianity, but it's very niche and it's like, it's one of
the like original, like when the, when everybody was coming
over from England and yeah, colonizing there were the
Quakers and they were one of thereligions.
It was like persecuted in England.
They didn't want them to exist. So they came over and that's
like the the Quaker Oats guys, like.

(48:12):
Yeah, he's got the hair. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So they, it's like it's very, there's like no pastor or
anything, like no priest. It's just like the core kind of
belief is that like there's the light of God and everybody and
that. So they're at school.
We would have meeting for worship once a week, which is

(48:33):
where like the whole like middleschool or high school, whatever
division you're in, they come together in the meeting room and
you sit there and you just sit in silence for like 40 minutes
to an hour like and leave silence.
Yeah, you sit there and you're silent.
And sometimes there would be like somebody who's instructed
to like lead and it would begin with like a guided meditation or

(48:54):
like some like queries to focus on, but sometimes not.
And then so anybody who's moved to speak who like has a message
that like, and the the origin isof it is like if it, you feel
like God has like given you a message that you want to share.
But some people just take like some people aren't like actually
Quaker. So it's just like if you feel

(49:15):
like something it's important for you to share with the
community, you can just stand upout of the silence and you share
your message. And then you sit back down.
Like you don't clap, you don't nothing like that.
You just share your message, sitdown back to silence.
And like, yeah, sometimes, like,if it was a particularly, like,
tumultuous time in society, liketons of people would stand up or

(49:37):
like, sometimes nobody would stand up.
Did you Anyway? Stand up.
I'm I might have. I mean, 12 years is a long time.
I might have once in 4th grade. I don't remember though,
actually. But yeah.
So the Quaker, there's like somenumber of guiding principles I

(49:58):
forget it might be 6 or 7, but it's like spices is the word
that the acronym for it. So it's simplicity, peace,
integrity, community, equality and stewardship.
So there's 6. So anyway, to answer your
question, I don't know specific,like, I believe that there's
something like the universe likelike everything kind of like

(50:21):
conspires together to like everything will work out in a
certain way. I don't know if it's like one
person being like, oh, this is what this person needs to happen
or like, like I don't know if it's someone you can
specifically like pray and talk to.
But like, I do believe in like you like the energy you put out
and like the things you manifestand like, that's what meant
what's meant for you. We'll find you.

(50:41):
And I think I've seen that a lotin my own life.
And I do believe in like, like, definitely since my dad has
passed, I'm like forced to kind of think about it more.
I'm like, OK, well. Might be eternal, like if
there's something after. Yeah, I'm like, well, where is
he? Like, And obviously, like we
make our own meaning, you know, so like, the meaning I've made
of it is like he was obsessed with coyotes.

(51:03):
And in Tucson we have a lot of coyotes.
So every time I see a coyote, I'm like, hey, dad.
And like that's like I'm like, Idon't really know, but like it's
nice to think that like, yeah, it gives you a that could be him
or like that could be a way thatlike I'm communicating with him.
But yeah, so I don't, I don't know specifically what I
believe, but I definitely like have been guided by those core

(51:24):
principles and just like in terms of the way I kind of
navigate the world, I guess. Yeah, that's beautiful.
The fact that you're able to still memorize that spices,
that's going to stay with me. Yeah, since first grade, it's
been ingrained, yeah. Yeah, yeah, some would say it's
brainwashing, but I think that those those things kind of
things are important. I went, I grew up in and out of

(51:45):
different private schools and usually they were of Christian
origin. And we would have Chapel, which
wasn't quite necessarily the same as the 40 minutes silence
thing, but we'd usually sing or something and someone would talk
or whatever. And in our religion it was like,
oh, don't clap because then you're lifting up self or type
of a thing. So it was interesting, but a lot

(52:05):
of those core principles, I think if because something
that's become more popular here in the past, I would say three
to five years is this idea of like cultural Christianity and
it's adopting kind of the core principles of Christianity and
how we treat others, which if wewere all to do that, the world
but definitely be a better place.
But we are inherently human. But I appreciate you sharing

(52:25):
that because that's really interesting with the back story,
like for who you are as an individual, things you've gone
through, and then what you'll doin the future.
Do you think that? Well, let me ask you this.
Do you want kids? Do you want everything?
Yeah, You do. Yeah.
Would you, would you teach them these principles?
I mean, I would teach them like about them.
I don't know. I've that's actually something

(52:46):
I've never thought about is likebecause I think like raising
your kids with no religion at all is like not in not that they
like need religion specifically,but I have had members of my
family who were raised with no religion and then they've gone
like completely like far extremeend like my mom's two cousins

(53:06):
were raised with no religion. Now one's a Jehovah's Witness
and the other is like a Catholicpriest, but like to the like
highest extent like does sermonsin Latin like.
Oh wow. Yeah, like lives I think in some
sort of like monastery or something, I don't know, but.
Like very they're very. Serious about their religion.
So I'm like, OK, I want to like teach my kids some moderation

(53:28):
that we can have balance religion and life.
And it doesn't have to be like can just be something that
guides us. But then we can pursue other
things at the same time. Yeah.
How does your partner think about these things?
I think she kind of like agrees with me, like she's, she's
similar. She's like, I don't know what I

(53:49):
like what God I believe in, but yeah, like similar of like we
believe in something but like we're not sure what.
But honestly, I really enjoyed Judaism, so I wouldn't, I
wouldn't be averse to raising mykids Jewish.
Nobody I know is nobody in my family is Jewish, nor is my
girlfriend. But it's really fun.
I like I like Judaism. What's what's attractive about

(54:11):
Judaism? I, I just like grew up around a
lot of Jewish people and like they, it just seems very like,
it's like you take all the like parts out of Christianity where
like you get punished for thingsor you go to hell or like any of
that sort of stuff. It like just removes all of
that. And then it's like the same core
beliefs. And they have really good food,
so. They do have good food, I I

(54:32):
think that they still believe inhell if I'm not mistaken.
Really. Now let me Google this because I
let me see core beliefs of Judaism.
I love ChatGPT to use ChatGPT. Yeah.
So they believe in one eternal all powerful God, the covenant,

(54:53):
which we could get into that theTorah, Torah, ethical living,
worship and prayer, people of Israel coming at the Messiah.
So I would do they believe in hell?
I'm just curious. I don't.
Actually, they do not. There we go.
Not in the Christian sense. Most traditional Jews believe

(55:15):
that there's something called genomic sheol, which is like the
underwater. Okay, yeah, which the Bible
talks about. Interesting.
Well, I learned something today.Right.
So maybe like, like you might bepunished if you're a terrible
person, but like, you're not going to burn for eternity.
Yeah, I don't I don't believe inthat either.
If you really did have like an all loving God, who would
because if we do go to heaven and like some of family members

(55:36):
or whoever didn't go and they were in hell, what kind of a
terrible place would we want to live where we can constantly see
here someone like burning forever that doesn't.
Mean that would be terrible. Yeah, it's disgusting.
I don't. Think I also feel like you can
you can probably punish people in other ways that don't involve
them having to burn for eternity.
Yeah, like an eternal death likeI feel like that would.

(55:58):
Yeah, there's some people in history who could that would be
a good enough punishment just tobe true non existence.
So let me ask you this to getting toward the end of the
questions, 'cause then I gotta go soon.
When you die, what do you think that the best connect best case
scenario in your mind is like what do you believe would happen
to you or what do you? Like to believe?

(56:18):
Gosh, or what do you think wouldbe?
That's really tough. I don't know, like rebirth would
be nice, like not conscious. Like obviously you're not gonna
consciously be reborn. Like you won't know, but like, I
think that would be ideal. Like your soul just like goes
into somebody else. And but I don't know.

(56:40):
Then I'm like, well, it would benice to like see my dad again,
but I'm like, I don't know if that's I don't know.
There's lots of possibilities. Yeah, you're not married to any
single one. Yeah, no one doesn't seem more
comforting than the other. Yeah, I did just start watching
a show called, I think it's called Upload.
And the premise is that they figured out how to take your

(57:03):
consciousness and upload it to some like it's like essentially
like a digital like video game type server.
So you go and you're in this like essentially you like choose
like a retirement community, butit's your like heaven community
and you go and you're like uploaded there and you like have
full consciousness and you can like talk to your loved ones who

(57:23):
are still alive as your upload. Wow.
And I don't think I would want that.
That seems really creepy. Concept yeah being trapped in
something as humans we seem to be very obsessed at least in
modern culture now with this whole AI boom and consciousness
everybody's talking about consciousness what is

(57:43):
consciousness collective consciousness, the yada yada
yada mushrooms this that and theother but it's like everyone
wants to figure out how to extend their lives into
immortality, whether it's freezein your brain for 1000 years
until you can bring it back or uploading like you're saying to
some kind of computer or maybe AI in humans become like a

(58:05):
symbiotic thing after death yeahit's really interesting to see
how people. Yeah, I think I would not want
that. I think like one life is
probably enough. Yeah, I think that kind of goes
back to what I was saying. Like you want to leave an impact
because you know that you can't like you're not here forever,
but you want to impact people and mother like, whether that
like lives on beyond you or justlike you made their time here a

(58:26):
little bit better. Like I think that's what's
important is like making everybody's time here a little
bit better. Like, you know, like I enjoy
being the person on my team who like makes everybody laugh, like
the same way that my dad would make everybody around him laugh.
And like, I think that's like 1,like he's living on like through
me because I'm trying to be the same that he was like making
every like giving everybody something to laugh about.

(58:48):
But also then like that's my impact.
And like that like they'll remember that, you know, as like
they go through their lives and like maybe they'll pass that on
to the next person. Like I guess a little bit of
like the butterfly effect, but Ithink I don't.
It's like cliche, but people saylike if you live right, like one
life is enough. But I think that really is true.
Like if you're intentionally trying to make an impact on

(59:10):
people, I think like you can have like a very good one life.
You don't need to extend your consciousness forever.
Yeah, in line with that. So I do come from a worldview
like Christianity and all going back to, you know, a couple of
humans. But the idea of even if you
don't believe in that right now,like you're saying your dad, you
inherit epigenetics, pieces of who he was and then try him

(59:31):
raising you. Like there's different character
traits or quirks that like you carry on to the next person.
And it is a cool thing to know that we can pass that on to
someone else because my wife andI would like to have kids
eventually. And just thinking about that
because, like, I'm 3233, you know what, If I raised someone,
they would have inherent personality traits of me even

(59:52):
without me doing the nurture piece.
But then as you influence someone, yeah, there's a lot to
be left behind. So I guess I'm just agreeing
with you. Yeah.
Yeah. So let me ask you this final
question for somebody who is wanting to also pursue this
world of triathlon and they wantto impact people and leave the

(01:00:12):
world a better place. What is some low hanging fruit
like practical advice that you think you could give to those
younger kiddos to to take and try to implement?
I think what like this definitely hasn't always been my
outlook. And in the past I was actually
like a very shy person. Like I wasn't super social.

(01:00:35):
But I think like now I've realized just like how much you
can control your own experience and other people's experiences
just by kind of trying to like be a positive person to be
around. And like, yeah, I think like I
was definitely made like have, as the season has gone on, made
more and more of an effort of that.

(01:00:55):
Like that's like, I can create who I am in the sport of
triathlon, if that makes sense. Like, like you don't just like
have results and then people talk about you and like, you
turn into a person who people like celebrate.
I think you have to control thatin a way or not like control it.
But you have to like, if you want people to think really
highly of you, like you have to be somebody who people like,

(01:01:18):
think highly of. So like whether it's just like
congratulating somebody at the end of a race or like sending a
message to someone who, you know, like didn't have the race
of their life, but like you're impressed by like how much they
saw it through or something likethat.
Like I think that's been really important to me.
And like, even on a smaller scale, like not just like
anybody who I'm racing against, but like my own teammates.

(01:01:40):
I think it's helpful. This is like maybe going a
little bit beyond your question.But like I always try and think
like when I struggled so much atOregon my freshman year, and
then I'd like take that and think about like the freshman or
anyone younger than me on my team.
And I think to myself like, OK, like what did I need then?
Like what person did I need whenI was at Oregon and I didn't

(01:02:01):
have that? And like I try and be that
person. So like if someone on my team is
really like struggling, I just like send them a text and say
like, oh, if you ever like want to come over, like if you want
to go get a coffee. And like, I have had like people
who've taken me up on that offerto like go get coffee.
And I think it's nice to be thatpresence for them.
But it's also very healing for me to be like, OK, I didn't have

(01:02:23):
this. I didn't have people who like
when I was a freshman who was like dumb and stupid and making
all these mistakes. Like I didn't have anybody
giving me that grace and like, offering to like be a listening
ear and give advice. But now I'm in this place where
I can be that. And I think that's just like, I
think that's the biggest thing you can do in the sport is think
like, what do you want to see from other people?

(01:02:44):
And then you can't control what anybody else does, which is what
I was saying in the beginning. But you can control what you do.
So you just have to like, you have to be that person that you
want to see are. You still there?
I don't know what happened. I have no.
Idea that was so bizarre. Did your screen say like can't
connect or something? Yeah.
Yeah, I've never had that happenin all the time that I've been
doing this podcast. That was really crazy.

(01:03:05):
That's OK, I was almost at the end of my sentence.
Yeah, yeah. Well, do you remember the last
thing you were saying? I was just saying like you can't
like control what other people do, but like you can, you can
make the sport full of the kind of people you want to see by
being that kind of person and inspiring other people to be
like that. Because I hope that like if I
treat my teammates with that kind of grace, like 4 years down

(01:03:26):
the line when they're a senior of fifth year and they'll have a
freshman who's really strugglingand it is making lots of
mistakes because they're young and stupid.
Like they won't say, oh, that idiot.
Like, why are they doing that? They'll say like, oh, come get
coffee with me. And like, let me give you advice
based on what I've learned. Yeah, a blessing offered is a
blessing received, I think is what you were saying too.
And like, that's so true. Being able to offer anything to

(01:03:49):
somebody who maybe needs a little connection is such a
blessing. But yeah.
Yeah, so. Well, Lydia, you are a very deep
thinker. I appreciate you taking the time
and allowing me to ask and prod questions about various
different topics in life. But I will say this, I've never,
I've never said yes to someone before when they are like asking
about, you know, potentially being on the podcast.

(01:04:10):
Not to rat you out a little bit,but but I'm so glad I did
because I didn't know about these different other pieces of
your life and I feel like I'm a better person for it.
So yeah, I really appreciate youcoming on and being flexible
with me on the time multiple times to make it happen.
Yeah, thank you. I yeah, I definitely, like, I've
listened to your podcast a lot and I've like the questions you

(01:04:30):
ask people. I'm like, oh, those are the
questions I wish more people asked because you can ask like,
I can tell the story a million times of how I got into
triathlon. But like, ultimately that's not
what's interesting about me, so.For sure.
Well, maybe in the future would have to have you on again and
dive more into some of those topics, but yeah, cool.
Yeah. Thank you so much.
Yeah. Thank you.

(01:04:53):
Thank you so much to Lydia for coming on the pod and allowing
me to dive into her life, especially sharing about losing
her dad. That touches a deep place and
accord in my heart obviously forthe things that I've gone
through. So for her to share so freely
and willingly was a special opportunity for me to get to
dive in with her. If you made to this point in the
podcast, just want to say thank you so much.

(01:05:15):
Make sure to check out our show in the descriptions for all the
different things. We do have the socks.
I would love to get those out toyou guys.
So if you want to check those out, check out the link in the
show notes. If you're watching on YouTube,
like comment, subscribe, turn onthe notification bell continues
to help grow us there. And if you are listening on the
podcast platform, such as Spotify or Apple podcast, if you
could like review, comment, subscribe, follow whatever you

(01:05:38):
can do on those different platforms, please do that.
Thank you so much for being here, guys.
Really appreciate it and we'll catch you in the next one.
Peace.