#164 - Brittany Charboneau, Professional Runner for The North Face

Elite trail runner, North Face athlete, and 2022 Dopey Challenge champion Brittany Charbonneau joins Seth for a vibrant and deeply human conversation that sparkles with laughter, honesty, and hard-earned wisdom. From winning 48 miles of Disney races in full costume to chasing dreams of Broadway and raising her newborn son Hugo, Brittany shares how she's learned to embrace her inner "mountain shark," surrender control, and let joy lead the way.

Together, they explore the intersection of art, athleticism, motherhood, marriage, and identity—including why glitter is her life’s metaphor, how singing makes her a better runner, and how middle school coaching taught her what really matters. This episode is a celebration of authenticity, playfulness, and the sacred messiness of becoming who you truly are.

Brittany’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/funnyrunner26.2/
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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
How's it going, everybody? And welcome back to another
edition of the Stupid Questions podcast.
And then Bob, we're going to be talking with Brittany
Charbonneau. She is a elite ultra runner for
The North Face. She also has a award that is
called the Dopey Challenge Champ.
You'll hear about that. It's basically running over or
near 48 miles in just a couple of days, winning a bunch of
races in the Run Disney circuit back in 2022.

(00:23):
She loves comedy, she loves running, she loves family and
just so many other things. This is a really uplifting
conversation for me and I reallyenjoyed it.
So without further ado, I want to introduce you to Brittany.
So this is going to air what is today, today's Thursday.
Let me check the schedule. So this one will come out on the

(00:49):
see 24th, 24th, so next Thursday, so a week from today.
Perfect. Cool.
Great. Yeah.
So wait, so how you doing this morning?
I'm good, thanks. I'm launching a Disney training
schedule. Yeah, on Monday.
And so I've just been busy building everybody's training
plans and I was literally just listening to Disney Villains
playlist. It's like living my best

(01:11):
morning. Yeah, that's awesome.
So yeah, I'm just curious because I was reading a little
bit on your background, what notand the Disney thing in the
running, what is the story currently with how you are
involved with that? And I guess you are the Dopey
challenge champ. What does that mean you.
Know if you're in the Disney scene, you know exactly what
that means. Otherwise people are like, what

(01:32):
the hell is that? I have no idea.
So in 2022 I won the Dopey Challenge, which is it's four
days in a row. It's a 5K10K half marathon, full
marathon, it's four days consecutively.
So like 48 miles over the courseof those four days.
And I was the first person to ever, well, first and only
person to ever win all of them. So I kind of have my Disney time

(01:56):
to fame because of that. And then it's been cool because
I've, it's opened up just doors for, yeah, just like connecting
with the Disney community, whichis like, there are Disney
people, I love them, but so likethey live for a theme just like
me. So this year I'm rolling out
kind of like a group training that everyone's either training

(02:20):
for Dopey or something that weekend.
And the idea is that they, I waslike, kind of like a support
group that's each, each week they all have the same theme and
they'll get inspirational videosand like content from me
directly and they'll get me as their regular coach.
But then they have the kind of this bonus level of Disney

(02:41):
support. Yeah, that's so cool.
That's so interesting. I mean, I've had some family
members do some of the differentraces and whatnot, but I didn't
realize it was such an involved thing.
But 48 miles in just a few days like that's that's.
Yeah. And it's they start, so they
just start at 4:00 AM. Oh my goodness.
Just because it's so hot. And to beat the they have to
open or get through the parks before.

(03:03):
Well, you can. You're still going through the
parks when they open, but they have to open the parks, so it's
wild. They're so fun though.
Like everybody's in costume, there's characters out along the
course of every day and everything like that.
So yeah, it's really fun. That's awesome.
What is the most unexpected opportunity that you have gotten
just from your interconnectedness now within

(03:25):
the Disney ecosystem? I.
Think just like getting to connect with the Disney runners.
So they're the, I would say a big majority of the Disney
community is run walkers. So it's been cool to apply my
training and my training philosophy to run, walk or any

(03:45):
levels of runners. So it's kind of fun because it's
just like, and it's like really helped elevate my coaching
because like I said, the Disney people live for a theme.
And so like I'm getting to like theme out and really think
through different training and I'm practicing it during my
training and then kind of relaying that in their training.
So it's kind of just been randomcool thing just to connect more

(04:10):
with the community itself. Yeah.
Are you native to Florida like you're from?
No. Where are you at?
No Born and raised from Denver. OK.
That's right. So you are in still Colorado as
well? Yep.
So most of these things happen though in Florida, I would
imagine. Yeah, so they the big marathon
weekend is in Orlando and then they've got races in spring and

(04:31):
fall and then they have now the Disneyland races that are back
and those are out in California.They don't have the Dopey
Challenge in California that's specifically for Orlando.
But it's cool. Like it's it's this whole rabbit
hole. If you are like, like it's
either you know about it and youare fully down this rabbit hole

(04:51):
or it's like, I had no idea. And it's massive.
It's wild, but I don't know, I love it and I'm like a Disney.
I'm a Disney person, but not like some of some of these
Disney people are full throttle,which I just like love.
So it's kind of like there's no limits on how much you can push

(05:13):
the themes and the costumes. I have 1 runner that she
literally has an entire room in her house that's just running
Disney running outfits and she runs in Disney stuff every
single day. It reminds me of like, yeah, the
cosplay Comic Con, like that level of dedication when people
get into that stuff, it's like almost a religion.
Oh 100%, that's a good way to put it.

(05:34):
Yeah, it's interesting. So this is going to hopefully
doesn't come across as offensive, but just with my own
assumptions and knowing little about Disney in terms of the
running atmosphere, but also knowing a good bit about North
Face and just the extreme outdoor.
Like these two brands that you represent now they I don't know
if I'd ever see a partnership between them.
So yeah, what is, what is your take on like how you intertwine

(05:58):
because you're talking about training plans and things like
that, the run walk scene versus like the extreme survivor
mountain top type of a person. So like, what's the how do you
marry those two? That's a great question.
This is the bane of my North Face handlers existence because
I keep telling her that my dreamis one day we will have a North
face sponsored run Disney event and she's like will never

(06:21):
happen. And I'm like that's my dream.
I'm going to make it happen. And I'm like, how rad would it
be if we could like have a Northface sponsored race up space
Mountain or like what if there was like a cruise that it could
be a run Disney trail event. I think like that would be where
my like I would love to get these Disney people on the

(06:43):
trails. I think that they're often
scared or intimidated of trails.And so that's like my future
dream. There's nothing that would warm
my heart more than seeing a whole bunch of people on the
trails in Disney costumes. Because that's the thing Disney
races too is like you wear costumes.
Big thing too when I won Dopey was that I was in costume for

(07:03):
every single day and won them all.
So that was kind of like, you can be intense and you can be
elite and you can win races, butyou can also play with it and
you can have fun and you can be in costumes.
So I think it's kind of a stretch, these two brands, but
somehow it kind of makes it work.
It's mostly like how I incorporate costumes, how I
incorporate play and that that'sreally what I'm doing on the

(07:26):
trails now, you know, like kind of just channelling all of that
and bringing all of that into mytraining and racing and stuff
like that. Yeah, yeah, I'm trying to like
think so like what kind of a movie or cuz you know, theme is
such a huge thing. What kind of a thing could you
tie in? I was thinking like all the
Incredibles, although that's Pixar.
They're. Still counts.
Yeah, so like Dash, he's a runner.

(07:47):
Or maybe they could come up withsome new movie that tells a
story around adventure racing orsomething like that.
Like that seems like that where you could make the sober, but I
guess you're going to have to find a pretty big budget to make
something like that. Which I mean, those two brands,
we're not hurting. They're, well, they're not
hurting for a big budget. So I just have to make the right
pitch, I think. Sweet, well, fun conversation to

(08:09):
start out with. I guess the first thing I really
should say though, is Brittany, thank you so much for coming on
the podcast. Really appreciate it.
It was fun to get to connect with you.
I think it's been probably a year or more ago, I guess, when
Seth Ruling's episode, his firstepisode came out.
So yeah, thank you for making ithappen.
Yeah, thanks for inviting me. It's fun.
I'm so to get to chat and connect.

(08:30):
Yeah. So the first question I would
love to officially open up with is how do I say your last name?
Good question, Charbonneau. Charbonneau OK, so it's French.
George Canadian. Apparently it's my husband's
last name. My maiden name was Lee.
OK, So I went from Lee to Charbonneau and that last name
has been through the ringer whenit comes to races.
Charbonne, I've gotten Starboni,Charbonnier.

(08:53):
OK, anything like that. So Charbonneau that's.
Awesome, how long you been married?
We've been married. This will be this September will
be 8 years. Congratulations, I just passed 2
years as well in June. Amazing.
Congrats, Yeah. How's how?
What kind of lessons have you learned from marriage so far?
Dear God, it's work, but good work.

(09:15):
It's like training that you can't let off the gas for too
long. And the communication and just
reflection, all of that is the biggest thing that we've learned
together, especially now that we've had Hugo, our baby, and
really making sure that the communication is key.
I think it's like I always picture, I don't know about you,
but I pictured being married andit almost turns into this

(09:40):
inadvertent. You're kind of throwing your
spouse under the bus or you're talking about the woes of like
the ball and chain and all of that.
But we just have, we just haven't felt like that.
I'm like, we don't, we don't anytime we get into that habit
of we do get into throwing each other under the bus or things
like that, that it's like we have to nip that in the bud
because there's usually some annoyance there that we're

(10:02):
actually talking about. Yeah.
And so I think recognizing that and then stopping that in its
tracks because I think that thatcan add up.
So just remembering to just be kind to each other I think is
something we've tried to practice and learn throughout
the years too, and address thoselittle grievances just like you

(10:23):
would an injury. I think like, what is this new
goal? Where's it coming from?
And let's like, get a hold of itbefore it turns into a stress
fracture. Yeah.
And that's a really good analogy.
Yeah, I would agree. It's been interesting.
My wife and I have come through the cycle of life a few times
through that, you know, the ups and downs and I think like any
training plan or whatever, you know, with your blocks, you have

(10:44):
a build and taper or however youwant to look at it.
But it's interesting with like the subtleties of the
expression. So for me, it was always when we
were with a group of friends, particularly close friends, like
sometimes I guess I would pick at her a little bit or bring
that stuff out and I didn't evennotice it.
Brittany completely like it was and she it had to not only come
from her, but some of my friendsare like, hey, like, you know,
you do this a lot and people maynot see it as like a weird thing

(11:08):
or whatever. Because I think unfortunately,
that kind of behavior is pretty culturally normal in the.
United States. I agree totally.
It's like releasing a little pressure in a public setting,
but you're not actually having to like, face the problem.
Couldn't agree more. Yes, that's exactly what we
found ourselves doing too, is that little public nitpicking.

(11:28):
And then we would see it in other people, and it almost
makes it awkward for other people because they're like,
well, this feels weird, like you're calling them out.
And so we stopped. That was probably one of the
biggest things we stopped doing that have helped a ton.
Was it easy just to to just stopthat?
No, especially me, I think just talk about it and recognize it
and be really conscious of it. Especially for me with Justin,

(11:52):
like I have to make sure I'm notdoing that or just I think just
practicing it like that has and it took time and I feel like
we're pretty good with that now.If we do do that, it feels like
weird, and it feels like that feels like an old thing that
we're doing. Yeah, I don't like that.
So takes time. But marriages, marriages work.
And it's hard. But gosh, like, we love it.

(12:14):
I mean, we're having a blast with each other.
And luckily I met someone who also loves costumes as much as
me. I've done my good match.
Yeah, that's really neat. Just cuz it just popped into my
head. Tell me about the tattoo on your
arm. I think I see some mountains or
something. Oh yeah, OK, so I have, well, I
have this one which is for the listener.
It's my Disney tattoos, so it's my four costumes that I had

(12:36):
during Dopey. So I had Elsa from Frozen 2,
Bing Bong from Inside out, Joy from Inside Out, and then
Cruella from the new Cruella. And then this one is an armband
like circa 1990s vibe with a shark with a crown in the middle
or underneath. Is that a polka dot shark?

(12:56):
It is a, it is a like glitter shark with the crown because I
call myself mountain shark on the trails.
So I got this tattoo when I first started really getting
into trails. So my, my background's in Rd.
racing. So when I started to get into
trails, I always struggle with imposter syndrome.
So I got into trails and I was like, are people just going to
think of me as a Roadrunner? And it seems like trail runners

(13:17):
have mountain tattoos. So I'm like, get this mountain
tattoo. So that's kind of the origin of
that. And then, of course, I put the
pink shark with it. So I'm a mountain shark.
Yeah. I was like, maybe I'll regret it
one day having kind of this armband tattoo because I see a
bunch of old dads now with, like, their barbed wire.
And I'm like, am I in that category?

(13:38):
But I'm going to own it at leastwhile I'm still in the running
scene. Yeah, for sure.
So professional runner, obviously you have a history
with running your mom, you have the Disney side of things.
You're married, so you're also awife.
You know, just in 15 and so minutes, I can kind of get a
picture of who I would say you are.
But according to you, who is Brittany?

(14:00):
Good question. I think that's if I had to sum
it up based on all those things,because I'm like, Oh yeah.
And he didn't mention this and this and this.
And I do a lot. I sometimes think of myself as a
Hummingbird squirrel where I'm constantly kind of flitting
around to different things and interest in bopping from one
thing to the other and get distracted.
So I'm kind of like constantly, you know, looking around, doing

(14:22):
different things. But that's kind of what I've
embraced about myself and that Ireally love about myself.
I think I tried to be super focused on one thing for many
years, but it wasn't bringing mejoy.
When I get too focused on just one thing, that's when I tend to
spiral or crash and burn or I get way too intense on

(14:44):
something. So I like having this like,
variety of, you know, different,for lack of a better costume
term, different hats that I get to wear, different costumes that
I get to be mom, wife, runner, coach, just all of those
different pieces really make me me artist, you know, all of

(15:04):
these different things that I get to be and own it because
that's just how I function and what makes me happy.
And I feel like why I'm good at these all these different things
because I let myself be this Hummingbird spurrel, if you
will. Yeah.
How, at what point in your life did you start to realize this
about yourself? And then I guess fully accept it

(15:25):
because it sounds like there's alittle bit of tension there in
the beginning, you know, you felt like maybe from AI don't
know past mentors or family or whatever that you needed to
quote UN quote, focus on one thing.
When did that shift in cementingof just the way that you live
life become something you were comfortable with?
It came from myself, I feel like.
I don't feel like it necessarilycame from any necessarily

(15:47):
outside influences. So I had a big kid job all
through my 20s. I was in sales and marketing all
through my 20s. And I won a local race here.
I won Denver's marathon in 2017.And the night before that I was
in the finale of a local improv show that was like a three month

(16:09):
long show called Denver's Next Improv Star.
And I didn't win that. Woke up the next morning, won
the marathon and I was like, well, these two like mediocre
things. I'm going to GoPro in both of
these. Like had this blind confidence.
On paper, I should not have pursued them.
Really was getting married and Justin and I talked and he was

(16:35):
like, quit your job, go pursue this.
Like, we'll figure this out. So when I was 29, right before
we got married, I quit my corporate job and went to pursue
running and comedy, having literally no income, having no
idea what I was doing. On paper, I shouldn't have done
that. So I had put these, like, strict

(16:55):
goals in place, which, Sir, was helpful in a sense of giving me
a timeline and direction. I told myself when I quit my
job, I was like, OK, I have six months to be both on SNL and an
Olympian. Wow.
It was not even an Olympic year.And so I was like, OK, if six
months I'm not those things, I can go back to my corporate job.

(17:16):
So that was kind of just like this piece.
And then I was just taking personally what I felt like I
was seeing from social media in terms of running.
I remember seeing the Road Runners and thinking, just based
on the content they were postingin just my own perception, that
I needed to be just super serious.
I needed to be full throttle in running and racing and training,

(17:37):
and I needed to be super strict on my diet.
I needed to be really skinny to be fast.
That was kind of like, I really went so full throttle and so
serious into racing because I thought that that's what was
going to make me successful because that's what I thought I
saw. And I did it for a while and it
was miserable, to be honest. Like it wasn't fun.

(17:59):
I was just not not enjoying it. And I remember one of my biggest
goals after I quit my job was toqualify for the Olympic Trials,
which I did. Basically the next race that I
ran, I qualified for the OlympicTrials.
So I was training for that. And I remember thinking, if I
get one opportunity to ever run the Olympic trials, I want it to

(18:20):
be so fun. And looking back, like on my
career, I have no idea how long my professional running career
is going to be. I want to look back and think I
had the best time. And I don't want to look back
thinking like it was a grind. I hated it.
And it's a grind. Like there's the days that just
like anybody else, it is a grind.
It is the days that you don't want to get out and do it, but

(18:41):
you have to. But I was just like, I want the
cumulative hole to be full of like fun, experience,
playfulness, color, all of thosethings.
And so I finally kind of just slowly started to let myself
explore different things. I had themes for each week in
the beginning that I was channeling different characters.

(19:03):
Right here is my very first weekwas Julia Child.
So I channeled Julia Child that week and I listened to podcasts
about her, just kind of took inspiration from her.
She was a, you know, pioneer in her field and she loved cooking,
so she just kind of followed that.
So I did that and then I was making art based on my different

(19:24):
themes, which I call it weird art.
And it's just like this digital collage Frankenstein art.
But once I started to do that, it was all for myself and not
for other people. And I realized I could do art
and I could do these other things that didn't make me so
serious and that like not my whole life wasn't resting on

(19:47):
race results. So I think, I think it's been
over time. I think I still struggle with
kind of owning myself sometimes and letting myself be kind of
the weird one or be my sparkly rainbow full throttle costume
self. But it's been just kind of my
30s. I feel like have.
I've like really started to likewho I am.

(20:08):
I've liked what my vibe has been.
It feels authentic to me. But it's taken time.
It's taken years to get to that point.
It's taken going through the Super serious phase and
realizing it doesn't work for mebecause some people only listen
to this and be like, I want no part of any of the things you
just mentioned. I actually like being serious

(20:30):
and regimented great, like as long as that's for you.
But I just felt like I gotta like keep stepping into my
authentic self and also just kind of letting myself discover
who that is and what is bringingme joy.
Yeah. Well, I think that inner joy a
lot of times comes from our inner child.
And if we lose the ability to connect with that, which I think

(20:51):
there's some stuff that I reallydon't agree with and some stuff
that I really do agree with withDisney.
And I think the biggest thing I do agree with is like the
ability to get in contact with your inner child and don't let
that side of us die. Because, yeah, I feel like some
of the most intense arguments orconversations I've ever had with
people, I I typically have not seen them in that light.
And one pivotal point in time when I was actually having like

(21:14):
a huge fight with my mom is whenI don't know exactly why it
happened, but I yelled at her soloud and got so intense with
her. And 1st of whatever reason, I
kind of saw her in that moment as like her as a nine year old
or 8 year old and like how scared and just terrible she
must have felt. And just like unsure because
we're going through a very tumultuous time and she didn't
know what she was doing. And that's usually when that

(21:35):
inner child comes out. But I realized if we, if
everyone of us had the ability to kind of look at the other
person on the side table and seethem as who that inner child is,
but also to realize that to see ourselves is that way whenever
we're scared or intimidated, like would make such a huge
difference in how we approach my, my internet's working now.
Oh, well, what's the last thing you heard?
We'll just go from there. You were talking about your mom

(21:57):
and just kind of being her nine year old self.
Yeah, yeah. So as I was talking to her, I
realized, like, wow, if I can start to view people in that
respect, it would just change the way that I have empathy and
I can just kind of get to the core of what really matters is
like, can I love that individualon the other side table even
though I disagree with him? But then also realizing, and

(22:18):
this came much later, about how to get in contact with or just
be in touch with enough to speakto the emotions that I'm
feeling, which typically come from the scare, the fear, anger.
It's like that inner kid just not knowing what to do so.
Yeah, but have you seen the movie Inside Out?
Yes, yeah. So that was such a an important

(22:39):
movie for me because I felt likeit finally described what I felt
like was going on in my brain with all these different
emotions and how I kind of felt like some are taking over at
times. So I can totally resonate with
that. And there's also a point in life
where you realize your parents are people and that you're like,
oh, yeah. Like they have fears.

(23:00):
They have all these things they did the best they could or
they're, they're also flawed. So I think that that's helped.
And having kids now I think has also kind of helped with that.
I think that there's a piece where I'm like, I'm doing my
very best. He's five months old.
I'm doing my very best so far. I know I'm going to mess this up
at some point. My mom and dad did.
And I'm going to have a little bit more grace with who they are

(23:22):
as people now. So that's kind of I can totally
resonate with that. Yeah, yeah, it's something I'm
fascinated with and I have not been able to figure out is why
that kids seem to be born with this programming that we think
automatically, even though we fight our parents tooth and nail
for many years. It's even though we don't agree
with them, They're they're kind of seen as like, well, they know

(23:44):
everything or they have it all figured out.
And then we reach that age of quote UN quote, enlightenment or
whatever it is, and we're just like, they're Renaissance.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Then they're it's they know
nothing. And then you would come back
again in our 20s, thirties, whatever it is.
Everyone's a little bit different.
And we're like, OK, well, it's alittle bit grayer than I
thought. It's in the world's not so black
and white. Yeah, there's got to be some

(24:05):
evolutionary peace in there of like, OK, you're my protector, I
trust everything you say. I need to start now going and
hunting for myself. Like you said this about the
hunting experience. It's not true.
I don't trust you anymore. And then kind of getting me
more, bigger perspective. There's got to be something in
there, I think. Yeah, who are you?

(24:26):
More like you think your mom or your dad.
Probably my probably my mom, I would say in the sense of, I
don't know. I kind of also feel like this
like unique specimen in my family.
They're both social. They're both here's the thing,
they both, no matter what I, I ever came to them and said I

(24:48):
wanted to do, it was always like, great, how are you going
to make that happen or do it? It was never, I don't feel like
I was ever. I was also never pushed into
some things. I started running when I was in
8th grade and ran through high school and stuff, but there was
never a where do you want to runin college?
Where do you want to, where do you want to take this running?

(25:08):
It was never that. It was always just like you're
enjoying it. That's great.
We support that. And there's no expectations, no
stipulations on that. And I really do think that
that's where a lot of my longevity and my career has come
from is that I was allowed to have the joy in it.
And so I think that's both of their and they've been divorced
since I was 6 or something, but I think they both share that

(25:31):
spect of just complete and totallove and support.
And so being on board of like you're going to go to New York
and audition to be a Disney Princess on a cruise line, OK,
that kind of thing. Or like you're going to go run
up mountains now and you're going to tell jokes like what's
happening, but OK, we support you.

(25:51):
So I think that that's kind of, I don't know what quality that
would be, but I think that that's something that I have
picked up from both of them eventhough they're quite different
as people. Yeah.
Before I go on kind of down thistrail, you said audition to be a
Disney Princess. Did you make that audition?
I went, I got back. I graduated college.

(26:12):
I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life.
One night I was like, you know, just dreaming.
And I was like, man, I would love to be a Disney Princess
when online. Turns out you have to be 5 one
or shorter, which I'm five one. Yeah, you have to be really
short to be a Disney Princess. I was like, perfect.
They were having auditions in New York to be a Princess on a

(26:32):
cruise lines. So I went there.
I made it through all the roundsexcept the final round.
I didn't end up making it. And you don't get to pick which
Princess you want to be. They cast you.
So I've made it through like thesing or the dancing, the like
all of this somehow never did make it, but I went for it.
And I'm like, well, I'm kind of getting to do my own thing with
that now. Yeah, that's.

(26:53):
An interesting They made you sing.
No, luckily not then right now. I would have loved that because
I have a vocal coach. So OK, here's my another
Hummingbird squirrel moment. So my dream when I retire from
running is to be on Broadway. So I decided that if I'm going
to be on Broadway, I need to start working on my dreams now.
So I've been working with my vocal coach for a couple years

(27:15):
now and we do just Disney and Broadway singing.
So that way, you know, in like 30 years, when I'm an old lady,
I get to be an old lady on Broadway and I've got my chops.
Yeah. Going to the stage.
Yeah, that's amazing. How's it going?
Do you feel like it's progressing?
How do you feel about your voice?
Like, have you gained confidencein it?
Yeah, big time. It's fun.

(27:36):
It's also this goal that I picked.
Well, this thing that I picked afew years ago of I just want
something. I want a hobby that I can do
that has zero goals attached to it.
It's literally just joy, fun, art, a challenge, but I don't
have to like there's no auditioning.
There's no, I just do this because I love it.
So right now it's just fun and we pick different songs that are

(27:58):
more challenging. Or my vocal coach, you give me
songs that I'm like, there's no way I can sing that.
Then you know, weeks you practice for a few weeks and you
gain confidence. You're like, actually, I can't
hit those notes. So it's fun.
Like it's just a funny thing again that doesn't have anything
attached to it right now. Yeah, I've always been amazed
about singing because with the work like you can, it's amazing

(28:22):
how much you can expand your range.
And I mean, just just the practice alone of like learning
how to breathe correctly and youknow, where to sing out of your
head and all of that stuff. It's pretty amazing to have that
experience because so many people are like, oh, I don't
sing or oh, I Can't Sing. It's like somebody may have
gifted, you know? But most people I would say can
actually sing if you work on it.And the breath work and how you

(28:45):
breathe with singing is so similar to running.
So when I first started, totally, I knew how to do the
breath work because that was such a big part of what I'm
doing during running. And then there are some
inspirational bangers of Broadway songs for running
specifically that just when you belt that shit out and then you

(29:06):
go run a trail, you're like, I am amazing.
And you're like singing this on top of a mountain.
So it's really fun and like a strange crossover.
Yeah, it's so interesting you say that because when I was in
college, I, I was, when I kind of first started, sorry, started
running a little bit and at the same time, you know, during my
off classes, I would go play piano and try to sing and stuff.

(29:27):
But I was like, man, you could actually probably create a
training plan to be better at running that involved singing
while running. I've done it.
Oh, I love this. OK, I should make that whole
plan of that, but I have done that a couple times.
I sang, I rapped Eminem one week.
My theme was Eminem, all time favorite rapper.
So I rapped during that. And then when I set the SKT on

(29:50):
the four pass loop in Aspen, theway that I was checking in with
my breath later in the run was Iwas singing, singing, rapping,
satisfied from Hamilton. And that was my way of like
calming my breath back down, making sure I was going at an
effort that was sustainable enough to be singing Hamilton.
So I do think it goes hand in hand.

(30:12):
I love that. Yeah, it's interesting too,
because depending on what your cadence is, but a lot of popular
music, especially in the hip hopgenre or and rap that it can hit
around 80 to 90, which, you know, you double that and then
you get like that golden zone OF175185 whatever for for your
cadence. So yeah, it definitely fits.
That's super interesting. It's like there needs to be like
some research done on this in. Depth.

(30:34):
There's got to be something. Yeah, I'll have to dig into it.
So going back to your parents a little bit, what what kind of
work did they do that kind of influenced the upbringing that
you had in terms of, you know, not pushing you out there
because there's a lot of people who are professional athletes
now. There was a lot of, all right,
you're 7, we're going to throw in the pool or younger and
getting up at 4:00 AM. And it works for some people,

(30:54):
but there's a lot of burnout that typically happens.
So what was their background and?
None, none of that. My dad was a contractor like a
did home remodels construction. He still does that.
He's 78, still does that. My mom has been a school
administrator for as long as I can remember.
And I think the biggest thing that they both it was always

(31:16):
hard work. It was maybe nothing ever
glamorous, but we work hard. That is like our foundational
piece, but we work hard and we rest.
I think that's the thing too, islike there's nothing.
Nobody's extreme. I would say I'm probably the
most extreme in my family, but no one's extreme.
My dad has a background in he, he was, he played baseball

(31:37):
growing up and was my softball coach throughout the summers.
Just wreck softball. So I knew about sports.
I knew we were never allowed to quit.
So we always had to pick something, finish the season.
We didn't ever have to do it again if we didn't like it, but
we always had to complete it. My mom used to do like 5 KS at
this dirt track by her house andI used to go ride my big wheel.

(31:58):
So I saw her being active again.Nothing extreme.
And I think about that helped because there was it wasn't like
I was always out playing in the yard, playing in the street like
all the classic things of like AI feel like a full American
upbringing was just like go playthe active.
I mean we didn't have video games and things like that

(32:21):
growing up, so I didn't have anyof that.
This is obviously way before technology and things.
I lived on Disney movies and TV like Full House and TGIF.
So there is definitely like that.
And like I remember Fridays we would go to Blockbuster, get a
few movies and a pizza and that would that would be the weekend.

(32:42):
So it was like, I think a healthy mix of all the things I
one time that I wanted to push myself more.
I've always been goal driven, pretty self motivated.
And so I feel like that came later for me on my own accord.
And I didn't feel like I had that pressure coming from my
parents. And I coached middle school
also. I have a middle school team that

(33:02):
I coached and it's really, really important to me with them
that we're not making Olympians in middle school.
And I'd even argue high school. I think that some of these kids,
it's just I, my biggest piece islike, we cannot lose this joy
running. I love it so much competing at a
high level, but I don't think that you have to sacrifice the

(33:23):
joy for it. And I also in like, let these
kids just be, they don't have tohave a scholarship attached to
it. They might not want to pursue
this. They might.
I just want to have an association of positive
positivity with movement, whatever that looks like.
But I really do think that that came from my parents as well.
Yeah, with the coaching you do at the younger ages, who's more

(33:48):
difficult to coach, the parents or the kids?
I've lucked out. Luckily my school is super hands
off. It's an International School, so
luckily they're really for the most part hands off.
I hear horror stories from otherfriends that are middle school
coaches and some parents that can be kind of bonkers.
I've lucked out. So a lot of times it's like you

(34:10):
guys like can. It's usually the kids that are
like, can you please stop army crawling when we're trying to do
like warmups, like Oh my God, orlike, please stop throwing the
baton. Like usually it's the middle
schoolers. And the hard part too is
sometimes just convincing them that they can do it.
So that's actually the harder part sometimes is the middle

(34:32):
school kids themselves versus the parents, luckily.
Yeah, with that age group, what is the like compare and contrast
the the boys and the girls? Like what motivates them, who at
that age is, you know, having more self belief and things like
that. They are both so motivated by
beating each other because there's, there's not the big gap

(34:54):
yet. So, you know, since they're all
still in that 6th to 8th grade development range, they're
actually pretty even. I usually always have a couple
girls that will smoke the boys. And.
The boys that are right on the edge with them do not want to
get beat by the girls. So they're, they're pretty even
when it comes to that. I will say by the time my girls

(35:15):
get from 6th to 8th grade, you can just unfortunately watch
their confidence plummet, which just breaks my heart because I'm
like, what is it that is this thing that happens during
puberty that their confidence just goes down and they become
hyper aware of what everybody else is doing and all of those
pieces. And the boys, it's almost the
opposite because then they're growing into their bodies.
They're getting more comfortablewith their more muscular

(35:40):
leticism physique and they're then like seeing their
confidence just skyrocket. So my job with especially the
girls is and a lot of times I'm getting the girls that are maybe
not the trendy ones, maybe not the, you know, they're the kind
of odd ducks, which is kind of what I was in middle school and
getting to just like remind themthat, hey, you matter.

(36:01):
Like I see you. I think this weirdness that you
have is the coolest thing ever. And just like hopefully,
hopefully something of that sticks with them as they
continue through high school. But it's fun.
I mean, the middle school, everytime I say that I coach middle
school, I kind of get the look of like, Oh my God, that feels
intense. But they are still playful.
They're not overly intense. You can wrangle them more than

(36:25):
the elementary kids. They'll mostly listen to you.
So it's fun. I just, and, and that was where
my running started was I had just great supportive coaches my
8th grade year. So that's why I'm really
passionate about getting to coach middle school.
And that's like my highlights ofmy year in my middle school
season of track and cross country.
Yeah, that's so neat. Whenever you were going through,
like you were saying, the littleodd duck points of life, what

(36:47):
were the relationships that mattered the most to you that
you found security, comfort, confidence in?
That's a good question for sure.My coaches, I just felt they, I
had female coaches my 8th grade year and they just encouraged
me. They suggested that I do cross

(37:08):
country. In high school, I had no idea
what cross country was. So I felt like I found my place
where I sit in and running. I felt like, OK, people get it
that you want to just work hard for yourself.
I don't necessarily have to. I wasn't like very coordinated,
so I didn't feel like I had to like worry about how to dribble

(37:29):
a ball or how to throw a ball better.
I could just run. So I felt really safe and fun
with my people in the running scene all through 8th grade,
year and then high school. And then just my probably my
siblings, they're 10 and 12 years older, so I looked up to
them a lot and I just remember always feeling like they've got

(37:51):
my back and like kind of just trotting along beside them or
behind them made me feel good and just kind of built my
confidence that way. And I've got a really awesome
extended family on my mom's sidethat were always just really
supportive. So I feel like I had like a just
a good community of family and coaches throughout all of that

(38:12):
time of life. Yeah.
Did you find as you were growingup that the relationship,
especially with like mom and dad, you tended to different
periods of life, lean on one side more than the other?
Yeah, I mean, so my so I moved to Missouri when I was in 4th
grade with my mom and my stepdad.
And I lived out there and my momand my dad stayed in Colorado.

(38:35):
So I would come back in the summers, live with my dad.
School year, I'd be with my mom and my stepdad.
And then my freshman year, aftermy freshman year, I decided I
wanted to move in with my dad. So I moved from Kansas City to
Denver and finished high school out here.
So I certainly had to lean more on my dad when I moved out here

(38:55):
in high school, which is interesting because I think
that's kind of an important timeof life to need your mom.
And I feel like I because just of the distance and all the
different factors, I didn't quite have that, but I had my
older sister. So I feel like I kind of leaned
a lot on her. My brother was a sort of a
father figure to me too. So I kind of had all these

(39:17):
different dynamics in my life ofsupport.
And even though we had distance between us, my mom and I still
stayed close. So I still had all of that.
So it was kind of like, I feel like everybody kind of came in
and out as needed throughout allthe different times.
Made it work. Yeah, totally.
Yeah. So you have a child, right?

(39:38):
Yes, Hugo. How old is Hugo?
He's 5 1/2 months. OK, so he's very young.
Yeah. So you're you're going through
it. How's the sleep schedule?
My God, he was a champion early on.
That's awesome. And we were like, man, we have
the best sleeper and then my gosh.
And he's perfect in every other way.
But lately it's been just, he's just wanting to fall asleep on

(40:01):
us and stay asleep on us, which is the hardest thing in the
world because I'm like. Buddy, I'll happily I would
snuggle with you all night long,but we can't be snuggling all
night long like you need to go in your crib.
So we'll put him down and then he'll wake up and we rinse and
repeat that about 45,000 * a night right now and totally gets
better. So we'll see.

(40:21):
Do you have kids? I don't but I'll just say it and
people will be shocked, but we just found out my wife's
pregnant. She's going on 10 weeks so.
Congrats. Yeah.
Thank you so much. So it's the best thing in the
whole world. I'm very excited.
I when, when, when it happened, you know, and she, cuz I was
like, honey, I think you're pregnant.
Cuz she was saying like, oh, I've been having cramps for like
3 days in a row and I think I'm gonna start my period.

(40:42):
I was like, no, I think you're pregnant.
Actually, you should go take this.
Anyway, she threw it out in front of me and it was positive
and I just started laughing hysterically.
I was so excited. Yeah.
Congratulations. Are you guys going to find out
if you're having a boy or a girl?
We are, yeah. So it's August 5th, I think is,
or actually we're going to change it because we went out of
town. But right around there is when
we'll go get the first ultrasound, I think.
Yeah. Oh.
My gosh, congratulations. Thank you so much.

(41:02):
It's a ride, but it is the coolest thing ever.
Like it's, it tops everything. Like it's the best thing in the
whole world. Yeah.
Well, I was going to ask you like, what's the most important
thing you've ever done in your life?
Would you say that that is rightup there?
Yep, hands down, hands down. It would have been probably
races or things in the past. They've had amazing experiences,

(41:23):
travel, of course, but there's something about this little dude
that just open mouth, smiles andthen goes full on into your nose
to give you this kiss. And then he's starting to eat
solid foods. And by I mean just shoving them
in his mouth and then spitting them back out.
He tore through some pancakes last night.

(41:44):
That's so cute. It's just cool.
Like it's just these little tinymoments that you're like, he's
looking at me in his rainbow striped pajamas.
Then he knows that I'm like, like as cool as I feel and I
love being his mom. So it's it's awesome.
Yeah, I can only imagine. I, you know, it's interesting
you were talking about being kind of the odd one out when I
was younger. I remember from like a just a

(42:06):
very young age, the thing that Iwanted to do was be married and
have a family from like very, from very young, which I still
like other things too, but that's like one of the things
that I've looked forward to the absolute most.
And my sister, she's four years younger than me.
She just had her second child and I was like just, you know,
been married for eight years. We were kind of on the five year
plan or whatever and some other things happened.
So we had to kind of delay it. But yeah, I've just been so

(42:29):
pumped because when even when she had her first and she called
me, she's like, hey, do you wantto come to the hospital and see
him? And I was like, yeah.
And I got the phone. I just started bawling.
And I was like, what is what is going on?
And like, this isn't even my kidyet.
So I'm sure it's going to be. Oh, you're going to.
That's my husband. He's wanting to like be married
and have kids forever. And he's been so patient
because, like I said, I quit my job when I was 29 to run.

(42:50):
So running's kind of been my bigpriority because I didn't
originally think that I could keep going after kids.
So it's kind of why I have been like putting it off, putting it
off. He's I think he cries once a
day. Loves being a dad.
Yeah, that's so special. I'm so happy for you guys.
That's awesome. Yeah, the world needs more good

(43:10):
dads, so. Dude.
Yeah. Amen to that.
Yeah, yeah. And that there's a serious
epidemic and lacking of it. Yeah, it's crazy.
Yeah. Yep.
Oh, congratulations. Thank you so much.
So back to you what what are thethings that you have thought
about in terms of like your child and upbringing and being a
mom or having mom and then now you stepping into that role of

(43:33):
being a mom. Are there things that you have
really pulled in that you're like, I want to do or I don't
want to do in terms of how you raise a child?
Yeah, I think so. How old are you?
I am 32. Oh, OK, so I'm 37 and like I
said, I feel like luckily I had my, if I had a kid in my 20s,

(43:54):
that kid would be, it would be adisaster.
I was a hot mess in my 20s, which I think it needs to be.
I think everybody kind of had their Love Island vibe in their
20s. My I think something that I've
gained and like we were talking about earlier, how I was so
serious with training. Think throughout the beginning

(44:14):
of that to now, I've learned that I don't have to be so
stressed about all the things. And I think that's something
that I'm starting to notice, especially on others in our
lives are having kids, that there's just things that I'm
just not as stressed about because I just don't think it
matters. And I'm not going to be so
stressed about all the little things and trying to get

(44:36):
parenting perfect and recognizing that it's just like
training and racing. It's not going to be perfect and
I'm going to focus on the thingsthat are really important to me
and I'm going to really try and dial those in and listen to Hugo
and listen to what he's letting us know.
These kids are brilliant. These tiny ages.
I'm that's something I'm shockedby is that they're little people

(44:58):
and they know what they like. Their personalities are there
from the beginning. I call him my little monkey
because when I was pregnant withhim, he was an absolute lunatic
in my stomach and that has not changed.
He's non-stop and I'm like, that's him.
That's just who he is and I'm not going to fight.
I'm not going to tone him down. He's a little boy.
He likes to climb already. He's like bananas.

(45:21):
So I think that's something thatI want to make sure I'm not
overly stressed. Justin and I communicate a lot.
I'm not, I'm like, this doesn't matter.
We're going to figure it out. They all develop differently.
The milestones are different. He, it's really important to us
that he's exposed to color and art and music early on.

(45:41):
His room is a circus. He's got bananas on his ceiling.
Justin made art for his walls. There's color everywhere.
It's not a traditional nursery, You know, that's like calming
and soothing because that's justnot us.
And we want him to know that allthe crazy is welcomed and
celebrated. So I think, and then again, just
like our parents, I think we both had a similar upbringing in

(46:03):
the sense of whatever you want to do, like we're going to
support you as long as it's bringing you joy, it's being
kind to others and you know, whatever.
Like sure, if you want to be a circus performer and whatever,
Yep, we're going to figure out how to foster that for you.
So I think that's something thatthose like key things are really
important to us. Movement is really important.

(46:26):
So Hugo sees us, we'll often puthim on the floor in the living
room if we're doing like strength training or something
like that. He's already been to a couple of
my races. We have gone on hikes, we go on
walks. Like we just want to keep that
routine of him seeing movement with his parents and knowing
that fitness and activity and health is really important.

(46:47):
But I mean, other than that, it's just like play.
Like, do you like Explorer? Yeah, totally.
Yeah, yeah. It's interesting to like the
past 15 years or so, this at least from since I've started
paying attention, there's a lot of this talk of like, oh, you
got to find your passion, do what you love, but without the
proper encouragement or just thefreedom.
I think at a younger age, it's so hard for kids to figure that

(47:08):
out because I feel like coming from a post World War Two
generation and then, you know, into the Cold War and to the 70s
and 80s, like there was less of a focus on do what you want and
more on like do you have to do to survive.
Which totally makes sense for the era that a lot of these
people grew up in. But now, especially with the
advent of the Internet and just,there's so much opportunity, you
know, from working from home to figuring out how to make money

(47:30):
on your own, which is a huge blessing and gift the, the
systems to be able to train or have kids just acquiesce to
figure out how, what they like to do isn't there as much.
So, but as parents, I feel like that's, I don't know yet cuz I
don't have kids. But as I start to raise my own,
I think one thing that yeah, I'dlove to stick in line with is

(47:51):
just encourage them to go try many different things.
Cuz I had a similar upbringing and I was never pushed in any
One Direction. And I think that's really
because my parents didn't have any direction growing up.
They just kind of figured out asI got older.
Yeah, that's true. But now moving forward, you
know, I've tried so many different things and I feel like
our passions and the energy willflow to those passions like
water does to the path of least resistance.

(48:13):
Just like put the water on the pan, roll it around and see
which way it flows easiest. And then let a child kind of
figure out what they like. And we don't have to all have it
figured out by the time we're 17and be on 4/30 under 30 list.
Because that's really, that's where I was for a while.
I was like, I have to be successful.
Me too, me too. And especially in the
traditional successful, at leastfinancially, that was always

(48:37):
like a huge driver for me. I love that water analogy you
just said. And you know, when you're in
your flow, which I think obviously speaks to, so we have
that when you're like, it just feels easy.
It feels like I'm like just cruising downriver.
That's when like that's kind of what I've followed, especially

(48:57):
over these years is man, it's not that much work.
You can work, but it's not that hard.
And that's when I found it's like that's where the fun is and
that's where like big things happen.
And when success comes, you know, that's at least that's
been my experience. Yeah, for sure.
Lately I've been trying to figure out like how you would

(49:20):
give someone who's a little bit later in life that, that same
opportunity because like, life happens and you have
responsibilities. So it could be tougher.
Like when, you know, a woman becomes a mom or a dad has to
provide for children or whatever, like that.
Your ability and opportunity definitely changes.
And I don't know if there's a way to actually do it other than

(49:41):
work really hard. I don't know.
Yeah, I think, I think it's almost like, again, taking some
of the pressure off and just letting yourself build a little
bit of time with something you are passionate about or enjoy,
even if you're not going to makemoney off of it.
Like the singing, for example, That may never ever happen, but

(50:02):
it sure is bringing me joy rightnow.
And I feel like I'm chipping away at this giant goal that may
never actually come to fruition,but it's fun.
Or, you know, the other thing, too, is we're seeing so many
cool examples in athletics, in acting in all these different
arenas, that people are doing things so much later in life.
And like, there was the woman who won the Academy Award for

(50:25):
Everything Everywhere All at Once.
And she was like, these are 60s or something.
And she was like, it's never toolate.
And I love that because it was like, yeah, we don't have to do.
We don't have to accomplish her life by 25.
Yeah. You know.
Still got 3 lifetimes to live. Big time.
Yeah. So since you have figured out a
bit more of, you know, what you want out of life and what it

(50:47):
should look like, what does success look like for you just
personally and how has that changed over time?
Because I I guess you answered part of that question already.
Yeah, I think I grew up not. We were never, we were very,
very middle class. I would say lower middle class
success always equaled financialsuccess.

(51:08):
It always was financially motivated, it seems like.
And I feel like that's still important to me.
I wouldn't say I'm not not financially motivated.
Like earning money and making money and being able to not have
to think about super strict budgets is important to me or
that's like a driving factor. But I think it's more, I think

(51:29):
it's shifted to more impact. I think.
I do think there's this trickle effect of know that like I want
to walk away being knowing that I have put a rock in the water
and it's spreading. I also kind of feel like
nightlife's purpose is to be theperson that I grab a handful of

(51:49):
glitter and I'll just blow it. And my job is just to be that
one sparkle in like any different area that I touch and
almost like annoying that you can't get rid of it.
And like, I'm cool with that because I love glitter.
So that's kind of more importantto me now than I think like fame
has like definitely like admittedly been a thing, but I
was like, I want to be famous and I want to have a lot of

(52:11):
money and all of these things. And I want to be an Olympian and
all of these different pieces. And that's still like, I think
that a goal, but I think the reasons behind it are different
than maybe they might have been 10 years ago.
Yeah, I like how you are unashamed to break the
stereotypical mold of what the different phases of life look

(52:34):
like, particularly with The North Face pro run runner and
then the Disney glitter side. Because I think especially when
sports are younger, it's oh, it's a certain body type, it's a
certain mindset. It's a certain this, that and
the other. And like, especially in
triathlon lately, that's been started to break by some of
these people who've become worldchampions and don't fit those
typical molds. Yeah, North Face needs to figure

(52:57):
out how to do the the Disney crossover.
I'm going to quote that and I'm going to keep working on it.
That's my dream, but it never happened, but whatever.
Yeah, we'll see what happens. Are you a spiritual person?
I say like I always say the universe, like I have this kind
of overarching piece. So this other tattoo that I have

(53:19):
is a rainbow and it has pennies.And so those are what I call
pennies from heaven. So I pick up change on all my
runs and those are my signs thatI'm on the right path.
So I'm a very kind of woo woo signs universe vibe.
That's kind of my driving piece.I do feel like there's something
bigger that's happening. I just don't know if I could

(53:40):
pinpoint exactly what it is. Or what does that sense come
from? Open that up a little bit more
for me if you don't mind. I think just I reflect a lot.
I love I one of my favorite things in life is hindsight.
I love it. So I think that it's cool to
look back and see like, oh, shitlike that was that teed up that

(54:00):
and that and that and it happened for a reason.
And I really believe that. So I think that's a factor.
My mom's pretty much that way. My dad's a pretty old school
Catholic. I went to a Catholic High School
and I moved back out here and that it didn't really resonate
very well with me, especially asI got to college and I was one

(54:22):
of my majors with history. And I kind of was like a little
skeptical of this piece. But my mom was always there's
signs that you got to listen forand there's different pieces in
play. And I think I've just kind of
learned to trust that for myself.
And anytime that I am strugglingwith something, being impatient
with what's happening next in life, or especially when we were

(54:43):
trying to get pregnant, it was like, come on.
Like, I just want this and letting go and surrendering.
And then I see a whole bunch of change on the ground and I'd be
like, OK, like that's all I need.
That's my affirmation. I know I'm on the right path.
I'm going to let it go. And then sure enough, like
that's when we got pregnant. So it's all those different
pieces. And it's, I think just come with

(55:03):
maturity over the years and justreflection of it all.
It all works out. It always does however it's
supposed to. And I do believe that.
Yeah, it's beautiful. The the those little signs I
think really transcend all of the different from what I've
experienced and talked to peoplelike the different religions.
There's always something that issomewhat unexplainable, but it's
like a through line in our lives.

(55:24):
You know, you're talking about hindsight and looking at the
path that we that you were on and how you can trace back and
see and say with confidence. Oh, there was like there was a
guiding force behind that, whichI find is really interesting.
So I want to ask you this question.
You said the universe or like this bigger thing, entity,
whatever it want to be. If that power force was able to

(55:46):
be embodied into a human or somekind of figure that could talk
to you, what kind of words wouldthat being say to you?
You think I'm? Laughing because I know exactly
who it is. It's Abe Lincoln and he's up in
heaven and he's got rad Sonny's on.
I have a piece of art that I've made from him and I think he's
always, I always picture him just up there just like tossing

(56:07):
and change down and just, it's always telling me just relax,
Just just relax. And this Penny is like your
reminder, like be in the moment,trust it and just relax and
enjoy it. I I think that this ride goes so
quick. It's like, and again, I think
it's just like I said with my running career, I want to look

(56:30):
back at my wife and be like, holy smokes, lived up and I did
it and I did all the like, I didall the things.
That is such a goal. And I feel like weirdly, I also
have this weird thing with presidential history.
I love presidential history. Abe was a lawyer.
He was president. He was all these different

(56:51):
things that I loved that that I didn't, that don't have to be
this one thing in my life. I want to just be like, my, my
tombstone is going to be like, she did it all and like she did
it all with color. And we can't like there's
glitter everywhere and it makes me smile.

(57:12):
That's my. I think that that's my goal is.
To have a glittering tombstone. Can you imagine?
I can actually. Himalayan.
Pink granite with like, sparklesin it.
How do you reverse that? That's so funny.
And I like it. It's that it's Abraham Lincoln
too, because he's on the face ofthe penny, right?
Like that's. Exactly.
Yeah, Yeah. So he's my all time favorite

(57:32):
president, obviously, but he just he's just he was a wise
dude. It seems like so.
And he also stood out. He was like a freak of nature,
tall. And then he wore a really tall
top hat on top of that, you know, So I think it's digging
into that piece a little bit. I appreciated that he stood out
and he was going against the grain at that time, you know?

(57:53):
So I think that that is just a cool.
He's just somebody that I've looked up to, even though like,
I imagine him in my own vibe, inmy own way of what he probably
was actually like. And we all do that.
We all definitely do that. So in closing, a question
wrapped in this, I guess realization of what you were

(58:14):
explaining around the concept ofsurrender and finding peace.
I think for most of us humans, especially those that are a bit
more of the type A wanting to figure out life and do it well,
we obsess over control. And I am a Christian and the the
concept of surrender is like oneof the most freeing things and
just not only surrendering that we have control, but

(58:36):
surrendering that sometimes we don't know everything.
Like as you said, hindsight is 2020.
We can't know the future. We can't know all the variables.
It's impossible to know. But having a level of faith to
know that everything is going towork out If we, you know, as
some people say, put out into the universe, be kind, whatever
it is. I think that that's like a very
universal thing that centers around love.
So for you, if you were to give advice to somebody when they are

(58:58):
looking for a way to figure out practically how to relinquish
that control and to find that peace and surrender, what would
you say to them? I loved all of that, like nailed
it and how cool whatever you believe, it's the same, same
thing. And I think that has the

(59:18):
surrender piece has been so massive and it has taken
practice. So one of my so I think
practice, practice surrendering and then reflect on the proof
that it has worked. When you have like look back on
your time that you have surrendered and reflect like
it's worked. And the other thing is

(59:40):
surrendering is where the joy is.
So my background in comedy is animprov and the whole goal is
when you get on stage, you have no idea what's about to happen.
And that is where the play and the fun comes in is letting go
of the control and just just kind of like we're just going to
see what happened. I also think of off the cuff and

(01:00:01):
I also think about there's there's a run I did like a month
ago. And my theme was the 50 states.
So I was trying to collect all the 50 states on my runs.
So I looked up different trails and there is this one that I was
like, oh, I've never, it was Maryland Mountain and I've
never, I didn't even know that was here.

(01:00:22):
And I was like, I run all the same trails a lot of the time.
So I went to that and it was awesome because I didn't know it
was coming. And I like came up over the
sledge and then it was just thissprawling, amazing scenery of
all of these huge mountains. And I was like, I'm so glad I
didn't try to like pre plan this.
I just went out with the intention to run, enjoy it,

(01:00:45):
surrender to the moment. And I got this.
And it's just like stuck in my brain.
So I think practicing that, and that comes with racing too, is
practicing. I'm going to be as prepared as I
can. And then race day, it's all
about surrendering to joy. And whatever is going to come is
going to come. That was my I taped my watch

(01:01:07):
when I ran the Olympic trials in2020.
And it my mantra on my watch wassurrender to joy because I
didn't want to. I didn't want to control it.
I'm very controlling. Let's be clear, Like I have this
Hummingbird squirrel side, but I'm also like a very regimented
can be and I'm in the lead athlete.
I'm a runner. I definitely have that same

(01:01:27):
control brain. So I think they can work hand in
hand. I don't think that that means
now you just have chaos in your life and you don't have to worry
about anything and you don't have to control things.
But I think in the pivotal moments that matter, it's about
practicing surrendering. And then what the like,
anticipating the play, anticipating the funny moments,

(01:01:49):
anticipating what you never would have been able to dream of
if you were controlling it the entire way?
That was really well said, if I do say so myself.
Yeah, good job. Yeah.
No, it made me think of like military operations.
There's a lot of planning and forethought that goes into
anything, even if it's, I don't know, corporate America or
running or whatever, but. And you make a plan so that you
have something to look to, but when the unexpected happens, you

(01:02:13):
don't have the plan to there to be discouraged.
Oh, we're off the planet. So you have like a frame of
reference of what direction I think that I I should go because
you can control where you can control until you can't control
it. So exactly.
Yeah. You said yeah.
Well, beautiful, I love that. Well, Brittany, this has been a
very eloquent, deep conversation.
I've learned a ton. I didn't get to ask a lot about

(01:02:35):
your comedy, but I'll have to have you on again sometime, and
we can hear about that a bit. But yeah, thank you so much for
diving in and going with the flow and just sharing your life
and the way that you have. All the best to you and Hugo.
And your husband is Justin, right?
Yeah, I call him the Jasmine. Jasmine yes.
Justin, my husband. Yeah, thank you.
I appreciated this a ton. I really, really enjoy the just

(01:02:59):
insightful questions and thoughtprovoking things and hopefully
it helps people in any way have permission to be who they are
and you know, Chase, chase that joy.
Now I have one question for you that's been gnawing at me the
whole time. What is this accent that I'm
hearing? Do you hear an accent?
A. 100%. Well I am from Chattanooga, TN,

(01:03:20):
I grew up in North Carolina. I knew it OK.
Funny. Yeah.
Yeah, because I usually people are like, oh, you don't have an
accent? That's interesting that you
heard one. I lived for an accent, so yeah,
it's lovely. It's very subtle, but I was
like, I'm guessing I was going to place Tennessee or that.
Yep. What kind of Apple action ish?
Yeah. Chattanooga is one of my

(01:03:41):
favorite places, and my husband did the Iron Man.
Was it the full dump? No.
He did the three down there one year and it was awesome.
We loved it. Yeah, that was great.
It really is. That's great.
Did you hear that? It's great.
That's awesome. Well, thank you again so much.
I really appreciate it and look forward to hopefully get to meet
you in person sometime if I evercome out.

(01:04:01):
Yeah. Yes, please.
Yes, please. Sounds great.
Thanks. So.
Thank you. Thank you so much to Brittany
for coming on the pod and for sharing so freely and vulnerably
again. I know I say that a lot, but I
really mean it when I have theseconversations where people do
that. It is such an uplifting
experience for me and I really appreciate it.
So go make sure to check out Brittany sub stack her
Instagram, all that stuff and the things that she has going

(01:04:23):
on. She's also a coach.
And if you want to check out anyof the stupid question stuff,
you can check out the show notesas well at the bottom there.
If you made this point podcast, though, I just want to say thank
you so much for being here. If you're on Spotify or Apple
podcast, if you could like comment, review, send some
messages, share that thing, whatever you can do to continue
to help push this podcast out there.

(01:04:45):
Really appreciate it. I think that these conversations
have the opportunity to impact people in a positive way.
So I appreciate you helping me to get that sharing out there.
Thank you guys again, so much for being here.
It really is an honor to spend these many hours with you
sharing these stories. All right, thanks.
Bye.