1 00:00:00,520 --> 00:00:02,920 What's up everyone? You are listening to the CDs 2 00:00:02,920 --> 00:00:05,120 Magic Podcast. I'm your host Chris Chavez, and 3 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:07,480 every week we go beyond the results to bring you 4 00:00:07,760 --> 00:00:10,480 conversations with the biggest names on the track, the roads, 5 00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:12,760 and behind the scenes. From world class athletes and 6 00:00:12,760 --> 00:00:15,280 coaches to innovators shaping the sport. 7 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:18,520 If it's happening on the track, we're covering it with real 8 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:21,560 insights that sharpen minds, deep dives into the moments that 9 00:00:21,560 --> 00:00:25,360 define careers, and the kind of access to the pros you won't get 10 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:28,360 anywhere else. So let's get into it because we 11 00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:29,920 love. Track and field. 12 00:00:31,720 --> 00:00:34,360 Before we get to today's episode, you know we love giving 13 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:37,480 our listeners a shout out when they leave us a review on Apple 14 00:00:37,480 --> 00:00:39,360 Podcast. This certainly helps the show's 15 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:41,160 discoverability and we appreciate it. 16 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:44,080 This week's review comes to us from Kelly Needham, who writes 17 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:48,160 in saying Best Running Friends. With so many track meets behind 18 00:00:48,160 --> 00:00:51,120 a pay wall these days, this is the best way to stay in the 19 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:53,120 loop. This crew has grown so much over 20 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:55,680 the years and have really built something awesome here. 21 00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:58,560 No one matches their knowledge and world rankings and Chris is 22 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:00,680 a fantastic interviewer. Love it. 23 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:03,040 Thanks Kelly. Our mission statement and at the 24 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:06,200 core of everything that we do is to make this sport easier and 25 00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:07,520 more fun to follow. We're. 26 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:10,520 Glad that you've enjoyed our content to make that happen. 27 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:13,080 If you want your review to be read and if you want to support 28 00:01:13,080 --> 00:01:16,560 this show, leave us a five star review on Apple Podcast today. 29 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:22,200 About two months after we caught up with Sage her to collect her 30 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:25,200 after making her first US team, she's back on the City of Smack 31 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:28,840 podcast to recap her experience at the 2025 World Championships 32 00:01:28,840 --> 00:01:32,120 in Tokyo. Sage made it count after 33 00:01:32,120 --> 00:01:35,040 sneaking into the 800 meter final as the last qualifier. 34 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:38,640 She unleashed a fearless performance, dropping nearly two 35 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:42,240 full seconds off her PB to finish fifth in the final in 36 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:46,320 155.89. This made her the third fastest 37 00:01:46,320 --> 00:01:49,920 American of all time and now sits behind legends Like A Thing 38 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:54,160 MO and Ajay Wilson. She's finishing the year with 12 39 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:57,800 outdoor 8 hundreds and 12 sub two performances. 40 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:01,040 Sage proved that she belongs among the very best in the 41 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:04,400 world, and you'll hear in this episode that the 800 meters is 42 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:06,720 where she's planning to stay for the time being. 43 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:09,199 This was a fun one. We'll go through all of her 44 00:02:09,199 --> 00:02:12,200 experiences from the training to the time in between races and 45 00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:14,880 how her mindset shifted throughout the rounds. 46 00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:18,240 I love doing these recaps and Sage is an open book with all of 47 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:22,040 it, including the training. She's actually asking for more 48 00:02:22,040 --> 00:02:25,080 people to take notice of her on Strava, so go ahead and hit her 49 00:02:25,080 --> 00:02:28,040 with a follow there. So without further ado, here is 50 00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:42,480 Sage Herde Clecker. All right, and now we welcome 51 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:48,920 back the third fastest US 800m runner of all time, coming off 52 00:02:48,920 --> 00:02:52,080 of a fifth place finish at the World Championships. 53 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:56,960 Sage Herde Clecker, when I put all of that together, how's that 54 00:02:56,960 --> 00:02:59,720 sound to you now that you've had a couple days to process 55 00:02:59,720 --> 00:03:00,520 everything? Sage. 56 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:04,560 Yeah, I think that sounds just as good as it did coming off the 57 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:09,160 track in Tokyo. So I'm wow, what a what a 58 00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:12,520 special couple of accolades that I can have attached to my name 59 00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:15,320 now. Yeah, in general, I guess like 60 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:20,640 it's been has it has like the the past like month and a half 61 00:03:20,640 --> 00:03:23,480 felt like a little bit of like a blur of how quickly things 62 00:03:23,480 --> 00:03:25,400 happened. We went from talking about like 63 00:03:25,640 --> 00:03:29,480 finally making a team to now all of a sudden it's just like you 64 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:32,400 were right there in the in the final in contention for for a 65 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:35,040 medal. I think the whole Tokyo 66 00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:38,920 experience at least, was a blur. Yeah. 67 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:42,480 I mean, I feel like things changed quite rapidly in that 68 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:45,680 time, but I don't know. Also, it was sort of a long time 69 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:47,520 between USAS and Worlds this year. 70 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:52,120 So yeah, it seems like it wasn't that long ago, but there was a 71 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:54,840 period of time in the middle where I was like, Oh my gosh, 72 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:58,960 this is this season's like extending on so late. 73 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:03,760 I, I think one of the, my, my favorite things in doing these 74 00:04:03,760 --> 00:04:06,560 podcasts, like so soon after, you know, the World 75 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:09,920 Championships or any big races that we'll have kind of like 76 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:14,000 these fresh thoughts and we get them recorded and in a way, like 77 00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:17,360 we can always go back and revisit, you know, kind of these 78 00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:19,800 reflections. So I want to go through the 79 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:22,160 entire world championship experience with you. 80 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:24,760 And so I guess we'll, we'll start with, you know, kind of 81 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:28,280 picking off where we left off last time and that was, I guess 82 00:04:28,280 --> 00:04:33,320 now getting to Tokyo, I mean, training wise and everything 83 00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:37,280 like in that span of time that month between the championships 84 00:04:37,280 --> 00:04:41,760 and Worlds, I mean, how was training actually going for you? 85 00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:45,440 Yeah, it was going pretty well. There's always a little bit like 86 00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:49,520 of down period after USA. I don't know if I mentioned it 87 00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:53,560 last time, but normally after USA is like, you know, I've 88 00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:56,000 been, I've been disappointed and it's really hard and I'm very 89 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:58,040 tired. And then I realized that like 90 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:02,880 being really tired after that experience isn't just because 91 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:06,120 like it didn't go my way. I was still really tired. 92 00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:10,120 And so like my first workout back the next weekend, it was 93 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:13,120 like I couldn't hit a split to save my life. 94 00:05:13,840 --> 00:05:16,320 You know, there's just like this certain level of like, I don't 95 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:18,280 know, adrenal fatigue or something. 96 00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:23,840 But we had sort of set up my schedule to just chill a little 97 00:05:23,840 --> 00:05:26,440 bit. And then I paced Faith for her 98 00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:30,480 world record attempt in the 3K. And that was just on our skip 99 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:35,160 calendar as like this is going to be the reintroduction to like 100 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:39,040 training and racing here because it's a hard effort enough that I 101 00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:42,040 have to kind of get up for it, but it's not a full on effort. 102 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:46,400 So I think that was just a great, just as really special to 103 00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:49,880 like help faith in these in these races. 104 00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:54,120 So that was just like that was the the reset for me coming off 105 00:05:54,120 --> 00:06:00,160 of US as and then I also raced to 1500, which it was like a 106 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:02,800 swing and a miss for me for a sub four attempt. 107 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:09,200 I, I think I'd heard them call 344 at 1400 and then I ran a 21 108 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:14,960 second last 100. But it, it was a really good 109 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:16,760 trading stimulus. That's what I was telling 110 00:06:16,760 --> 00:06:20,840 myself. So what were the discussions? 111 00:06:20,840 --> 00:06:25,320 I guess, like once you get some of those results on on on paper, 112 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:27,480 you're like, all right, these are kind of, you know, yes, all 113 00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:28,800 right. One was pacing and the other one 114 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:30,480 was like a little bit of a stinker of a race. 115 00:06:30,840 --> 00:06:35,560 But then when you talk with Dathan and Kelsey about getting 116 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:39,000 yourself back up for the championships, like was there an 117 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:42,720 expectations, like, all right, we had to be in, you know, 157 118 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:47,960 shape to make this team in Eugene, but now how do we match 119 00:06:47,960 --> 00:06:50,800 that and also get better for the world Championship? 120 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:56,760 So like was there a focus on like trying to unlock 156 shape 121 00:06:56,800 --> 00:06:59,720 in that month? No, it's more of just, we're 122 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:02,240 gonna keep doing what we've been doing. 123 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:08,040 And you know, there's this accumulation where my, I don't 124 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:10,520 know, I wanna say my, well, my training volume has been fairly 125 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:15,320 low all summer, so it really was just like doing exactly what we 126 00:07:15,320 --> 00:07:18,040 would be doing earlier in the summer. 127 00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:22,000 But I think you do it for a few months and you're just gonna get 128 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:25,760 a little bit better at it. And yeah, we had a couple of 129 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:28,720 really key sessions, like once I got back from Europe and before 130 00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:33,480 I went to Tokyo, that it was a combination of like, Oh my gosh, 131 00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:37,960 I'm hitting paces that I haven't hit before. 132 00:07:38,280 --> 00:07:41,880 And also just like the relative effort is a bit lower. 133 00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:46,720 And I, I don't know, I think that, you know, as the season 134 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:48,160 goes on, I get a little better at this. 135 00:07:48,160 --> 00:07:51,440 And I think our, our training is really periodized, like coming 136 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:55,280 from a super distance program, like I'm not really gonna be in 137 00:07:55,280 --> 00:07:59,080 peak 800 shape all year just cause the legs are too tired to 138 00:07:59,080 --> 00:08:04,920 be running quick. And then I don't know, I think 139 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:09,680 maybe just getting that like burden off of me of making it 140 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:13,960 team, it just, I don't know, unlock something for me in terms 141 00:08:13,960 --> 00:08:18,840 of like not feeling this like pressure about something that's 142 00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:21,200 sort of like this big barrier for me. 143 00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:24,480 Yeah, if someone were to look at your training, because I guess 144 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:28,480 like I, I feel like we've never kind of gone in depth where we 145 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:32,480 saw like a little bit of a like a summary of Sage Herdeclecker's 146 00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:36,280 800 meter training in one week in this kind of, you know, 147 00:08:36,280 --> 00:08:39,440 period of time where, all right, it's bulking down for like a 148 00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:42,000 championship. How does I guess what does that 149 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:45,280 look like when it comes to just all right, the workouts, like 150 00:08:45,280 --> 00:08:48,000 where are they structured in the week long runs? 151 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:50,240 What's your mileage been at? Like I guess it's in the month 152 00:08:50,240 --> 00:08:52,560 leading into Tokyo. What does that all look like? 153 00:08:52,560 --> 00:08:55,200 Cuz I feel like a lot of people would be like, oh, I'm now that 154 00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:59,200 we've seen that Sage can turn around and run 155. 155 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:01,240 Like what did the build up look like? 156 00:09:01,240 --> 00:09:05,280 So without giving away, like all of you know, Dathan and 157 00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:08,680 Kelsey's, like, you know, secret workouts and all that stuff, but 158 00:09:08,680 --> 00:09:11,240 what stands out to you about just how how all of that is 159 00:09:11,240 --> 00:09:13,720 compiled? Well I will say if anyone does 160 00:09:13,720 --> 00:09:16,240 want to see everything I post everything on Strava and. 161 00:09:16,360 --> 00:09:18,440 You are on Yeah. OK, so everyone knows that Joe's 162 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:20,720 on Strava and there's threads and stuff about everything that 163 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:22,160 he does, but not as much about you. 164 00:09:22,560 --> 00:09:27,960 Yeah, I, I think everything that I've done like with very few 165 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:30,160 exceptions since like 2021 is on Strava. 166 00:09:30,160 --> 00:09:32,640 So is everyone really wants to compile all of that they can 167 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:35,480 look. But for anyone who doesn't want 168 00:09:35,480 --> 00:09:39,960 to do that, I've, I've been running about like 45 to 55 169 00:09:39,960 --> 00:09:43,200 miles a week. And like in this period of time 170 00:09:43,200 --> 00:09:48,880 between USA's and Worlds, I got up to 55 miles, which was the 171 00:09:48,880 --> 00:09:53,520 most that I'd run since June. And then like especially in the 172 00:09:53,520 --> 00:09:58,560 couple weeks leading into Tokyo, things shifted where we were 173 00:09:58,560 --> 00:10:01,120 taking two days between every single session. 174 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:05,400 We're normally there would be sessions where we only have one 175 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:08,600 day in between or things are a lot closer together, but we are 176 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:12,600 sort of just workout two days workout. 177 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:16,560 I did one fart lick right after I got back from Europe maybe 178 00:10:16,560 --> 00:10:20,440 like a month ago, but since then it's been just all track 179 00:10:20,440 --> 00:10:23,520 workouts. What's your I guess when you're 180 00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:26,440 running 50 miles a week like, what's your long run at? 181 00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:30,680 Like 10 miles. OK, yeah, when I'm running 50 182 00:10:30,680 --> 00:10:31,960 miles a week. Wow. 183 00:10:32,120 --> 00:10:34,800 OK. So I mean in the build up for 184 00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:37,120 USA is pretty similar as well. Yeah. 185 00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:41,640 I think too, because we did like one or two racing blocks going 186 00:10:41,640 --> 00:10:43,600 into it. I don't think I ran much more 187 00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:46,400 than 55 miles. Maybe it was trending just 188 00:10:46,400 --> 00:10:50,040 overall a little bit higher, like more towards that 50 to 55. 189 00:10:50,040 --> 00:10:54,920 But yeah, I don't think I've run much more than that since maybe 190 00:10:54,920 --> 00:10:55,880 May. Yeah. 191 00:10:56,480 --> 00:10:59,280 I'm assuming that during the indoor season when you were I 192 00:10:59,280 --> 00:11:02,240 guess doing some of the longer stuff, Well, I guess this one 193 00:11:02,320 --> 00:11:04,200 was a little bit different because it was the first indoor 194 00:11:04,200 --> 00:11:06,720 season that you were like 800 meter focus. 195 00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:10,760 But in the past, I guess using the winter to work on the 196 00:11:10,760 --> 00:11:12,120 strength stuff and the longer stuff. 197 00:11:12,840 --> 00:11:16,400 And then once you get into the outdoor season, a lot of it 198 00:11:16,520 --> 00:11:19,880 sharpening up that speed. This time around, I guess in 199 00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:24,640 those workouts, was it more speed, focus like what did one 200 00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:28,000 of the confidence builders like look like in terms of just like 201 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:31,600 the actual workout in and of itself? 202 00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:34,560 Overall this year I think one shift has been like, I haven't 203 00:11:34,560 --> 00:11:36,800 done a ton of threshold in the track season actually. 204 00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:42,200 Like a lot of my more strength reps are more like 3K5K pace for 205 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:44,240 me. So I'm not really running much 206 00:11:44,240 --> 00:11:47,920 slower than my 5K pace ever. You know, other than easy runs. 207 00:11:48,480 --> 00:11:50,840 So I feel like that has been super helpful for me. 208 00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:55,240 And then the big sort of the big set, I had two sessions going 209 00:11:55,240 --> 00:11:57,320 into worlds that were like really special. 210 00:11:57,640 --> 00:12:04,360 One of them I did an 800 time trial where I just I went behind 211 00:12:04,360 --> 00:12:08,120 Kai, my teammate who also got fourth in the world in the 5K. 212 00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:13,040 And he, he had a few of these reps, but I just jumped in for 213 00:12:13,040 --> 00:12:19,560 one and we did a negative split 800 where we went like 6258. 214 00:12:20,640 --> 00:12:24,600 And so doing that at altitude just sort of like, and then I 215 00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:29,000 turned around and did like 8 * 400 at my 5K pace after that. 216 00:12:29,280 --> 00:12:32,480 So that was like one of those workouts where it's like, OK, 217 00:12:33,400 --> 00:12:36,720 the fitness is definitely still there and I'm like, OK, if I can 218 00:12:36,720 --> 00:12:41,440 run too flat up here at altitude and still have a lot of life in 219 00:12:41,440 --> 00:12:45,400 me, you know, I'm definitely still on at least that 157 220 00:12:45,400 --> 00:12:48,120 shape. And then there's this one 221 00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:52,120 workout that we'll do sort of few times throughout the year, 4 222 00:12:52,120 --> 00:12:59,400 * 400 with 5 minutes rest. And normally for me on by that 223 00:12:59,400 --> 00:13:02,360 4th one, it's like a big deal if I can break 60. 224 00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:05,920 And this time I, I close in a 55. 225 00:13:06,920 --> 00:13:10,360 Yeah. And Kelsey says that it's the 226 00:13:10,360 --> 00:13:13,960 quickest she's ever seen me go from finishing that workout to 227 00:13:13,960 --> 00:13:17,960 starting my cool down as well, which I don't know it. 228 00:13:17,960 --> 00:13:21,400 I think that also goes to show, not that it wasn't hard and it 229 00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:26,000 wasn't hurting, but I wasn't like completely dead doing 230 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:27,600 something like that. And that was the one that was 231 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:31,120 like a real exclamation point. And that was the last, like, 232 00:13:31,120 --> 00:13:35,160 hard session that I did. And so it was sort of like, you 233 00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:37,760 know, I might be able to do something here. 234 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:42,680 Is that when Dathan starts throwing around that you're in 235 00:13:42,680 --> 00:13:46,080 156 O shape? Yeah, yeah, that's when he 236 00:13:46,080 --> 00:13:48,400 starts throwing it around. And what are you thinking, I 237 00:13:48,400 --> 00:13:52,200 guess when he when he says that? I mean, I think that Dathan, and 238 00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:54,360 I think this is one thing that's really great about him as a 239 00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:57,400 coach, but I think he tends to be like overly optimistic. 240 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:01,120 And I also think that there's like, it's 2 very different 241 00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:04,480 things to say you're in 156 zero shape and to actually like show 242 00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:06,840 up and do it. And so I don't, I don't really 243 00:14:07,040 --> 00:14:11,680 put too much like behind saying like, oh, I think you can run 244 00:14:11,680 --> 00:14:14,040 this time because it's sort of like, well, everything needs to 245 00:14:14,040 --> 00:14:18,240 go right for that to happen. So I was at least telling myself 246 00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:22,160 that like, I can run 157 zero, which you know at the time would 247 00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:25,920 still be like 1/2 a second PB for me, which would be pretty 248 00:14:25,920 --> 00:14:27,000 good. I'm like, OK, I think I'm at 249 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:29,440 least fitter than I've been before. 250 00:14:29,640 --> 00:14:32,840 One thing that stood out to me in our last conversation was 251 00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:37,000 that, you know, kind of with Usas, you allowed the US 252 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:39,520 championships to come to you. And it wasn't just sort of like 253 00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:43,040 this thing where, you know, it was built up in your head and, 254 00:14:43,520 --> 00:14:45,880 you know, this day on the calendar is just drawing closer 255 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:49,640 and closer because you learned what that has done to you in the 256 00:14:49,640 --> 00:14:51,680 past. Now this is different because 257 00:14:51,720 --> 00:14:54,000 there's never been a World Championships on the calendar 258 00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:59,160 for you. So did you kind of try and have 259 00:14:59,160 --> 00:15:02,160 that same approach or was it more of just like a building 260 00:15:02,160 --> 00:15:04,800 excitement of like worlds can't come any sooner? 261 00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:08,800 It was a, it was a similar approach, I would say, yeah, 262 00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:10,760 because I didn't really know what to expect. 263 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:15,440 And so it was all new to me and I was just going to see sort of 264 00:15:15,440 --> 00:15:19,200 what happened out there. And I didn't feel like there 265 00:15:19,200 --> 00:15:22,640 was, I mean, there was a ton of build up just because there is a 266 00:15:22,640 --> 00:15:26,120 lot of excitement going into worlds and but it was all more 267 00:15:26,120 --> 00:15:28,160 special. There wasn't like this build up 268 00:15:28,160 --> 00:15:30,320 of expectation. It was just this build up of 269 00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:33,920 like we're getting closer to this thing that we've really 270 00:15:33,920 --> 00:15:38,600 been working for. And like not just in the short 271 00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:42,160 term, but like one thing before all the racing got going. 272 00:15:42,800 --> 00:15:46,040 Well, honestly, like there was this moment after USA is where I 273 00:15:46,040 --> 00:15:49,440 was like I wasn't even I wasn't even like that excited to run it 274 00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:51,360 worlds. You know, I sort of like achieve 275 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:56,680 my big thing that I was trying to do and I had to sit down and 276 00:15:56,680 --> 00:15:59,800 think about like what's motivating me for worlds. 277 00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:05,480 And it just came down to, it was sort of this is the moment that 278 00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:09,400 I've been training what feels like for three years for, you 279 00:16:09,400 --> 00:16:12,240 know, there's been three years of a like a lot of hard work and 280 00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:16,360 like hard times to get to this. And it's all like, this is the 281 00:16:16,600 --> 00:16:19,960 thing that in my mind that like dream or goal that has kept me 282 00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:22,880 going. And so once I like put that into 283 00:16:22,880 --> 00:16:28,760 perspective, it was a lot easier to like ride that like wave of 284 00:16:28,760 --> 00:16:33,480 momentum in 2 worlds. And then goal setting wise for 285 00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:36,760 worlds, it was after the first round that you said like the 286 00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:39,200 goal and expectation was to make the final. 287 00:16:39,200 --> 00:16:42,200 So eventually you did mentally bring yourself to to that point. 288 00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:46,760 Does that also come from like a place of like the pressures and 289 00:16:46,760 --> 00:16:51,320 expectations of like Americans reaching the stage where you can 290 00:16:51,320 --> 00:16:54,400 sometimes look at the all time, not the all time list, but like 291 00:16:54,400 --> 00:16:58,040 the season list and you see it's like OK, towards the top. 292 00:16:58,040 --> 00:17:01,880 It's a little diverse with, you know, Kenya, Great Britain, you 293 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:05,240 know, a couple other countries, but then the list is primarily 294 00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:10,520 like a ton of Americans who have run under, you know, one 59158 295 00:17:10,720 --> 00:17:12,599 'cause we have that depth as a country. 296 00:17:12,599 --> 00:17:18,599 And then it's so hard to make Team USA that by the time people 297 00:17:18,599 --> 00:17:21,720 reach, you know, the championship stage, it's a 298 00:17:21,720 --> 00:17:24,880 little bit underwhelming when someone gets bounced in the 299 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:29,240 first round or the semi finals and we, you know, are so good at 300 00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:32,320 this event and maybe there's one person in the final. 301 00:17:32,320 --> 00:17:36,080 And so there's like a little bit of that added pressure, but also 302 00:17:36,080 --> 00:17:39,120 you're towing the balance of like you had to get yourself up 303 00:17:39,120 --> 00:17:43,440 for Eugene and making the team. So, you know, I guess for you, I 304 00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:47,000 guess, how did you kind of get yourself to the point of 305 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:49,040 thinking, all right, I want to reach the final? 306 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:51,040 I didn't leave my best in Eugene. 307 00:17:51,320 --> 00:17:54,000 I've always raced really well all the way, even though I 308 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:55,920 haven't made the teams, I've always raced really well into 309 00:17:55,920 --> 00:17:59,680 September and so I just knew like all my best racing has been 310 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:01,640 in August and September every year. 311 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:04,960 I think it helped even that USAS was a bit later. 312 00:18:06,480 --> 00:18:10,640 So, yeah, I just, you know, I and to me, it's not so much 313 00:18:10,640 --> 00:18:13,360 about like the physical preparation, it's more about 314 00:18:13,360 --> 00:18:16,200 just like mentally being ready to do it all again. 315 00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:19,320 And, you know, fully, even though I have been through so 316 00:18:19,320 --> 00:18:22,400 many rounds at USA's and I know how to do that. 317 00:18:22,400 --> 00:18:26,600 I think the novelty of being at Worlds, it definitely added like 318 00:18:26,600 --> 00:18:28,560 a little bit of like urgency to it. 319 00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:32,360 And I, I also felt like I got to kind of watch like most of the 320 00:18:32,360 --> 00:18:36,640 meat before I even got going. And so I could see how the 1500s 321 00:18:36,640 --> 00:18:39,400 played out. And to me it was just a reminder 322 00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:43,360 of it's going to be very hard, like even getting through the 323 00:18:43,360 --> 00:18:46,400 first round. Like, you know, I, I said I 324 00:18:46,400 --> 00:18:47,960 don't, didn't wanna take it lightly. 325 00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:50,840 And it's because you watch all the other events and there are 326 00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:56,320 surprises and people not running to what they maybe should have 327 00:18:56,320 --> 00:19:01,440 or could have. And I just didn't want that to 328 00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:04,680 be my narrative. At the same time, you're in the 329 00:19:04,680 --> 00:19:07,840 second-half of the World Championships and so you got to 330 00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:11,120 feed off of the team success that was happening with, you 331 00:19:11,120 --> 00:19:14,240 know, George becoming a world champion. 332 00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:19,040 What I guess what did that do for your own sort of confidence 333 00:19:19,040 --> 00:19:22,040 and at the same time, just as a teammate who's been there from 334 00:19:22,040 --> 00:19:26,080 the very beginning of when this team formed and and he was one 335 00:19:26,080 --> 00:19:28,240 of the cornerstones of getting this whole thing started. 336 00:19:28,240 --> 00:19:30,800 It's like you were able to see that that whole journey. 337 00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:35,960 Mm hmm, yeah, I think, I mean, it's really cool because that 338 00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:38,440 was also how our team kicked off the whole thing. 339 00:19:38,440 --> 00:19:42,640 It's like, Oh my gosh, our first person in the final is a world 340 00:19:42,640 --> 00:19:45,920 champion, which, you know, that's just such a high and 341 00:19:45,920 --> 00:19:49,040 that's not something that you really look and you say, oh, I 342 00:19:49,040 --> 00:19:53,680 need to replicate that. Cause it's more of just like in 343 00:19:53,680 --> 00:19:57,280 George's like trajectory this year has not really been linear, 344 00:19:57,280 --> 00:20:01,200 but I've sort of had a front row seat to how like discipline and 345 00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:03,680 dedicated he's been. Even when he hasn't been racing 346 00:20:03,680 --> 00:20:08,240 or like running on the ground. He sort of done everything to 347 00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:10,520 get to that point. So that was just really cool for 348 00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:13,120 him. But then, you know, once once we 349 00:20:13,120 --> 00:20:16,720 started to get like more people to the finals and couple 6th 350 00:20:16,720 --> 00:20:20,120 place finishes, it sort of starts to add that pressure of 351 00:20:20,120 --> 00:20:24,440 that group mentality of like, well, I can't be the one that 352 00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:27,360 like, you know, I don't want to be the one person who's not in 353 00:20:27,360 --> 00:20:31,640 their final or the one person who's not like competing upfront 354 00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:34,040 at their final. So there's a little bit of peer 355 00:20:34,040 --> 00:20:36,560 pressure there for sure. And actually the first thing I 356 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:39,240 thought when I crossed the line was at least I did better than 357 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:41,120 six. So I could say that I did better 358 00:20:41,120 --> 00:20:44,280 than Robert and Josette. And then Kyle was watching 359 00:20:44,280 --> 00:20:46,440 underneath because they were right after us. 360 00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:49,760 And he said that once I got fifth, he was like, Oh, I got to 361 00:20:49,760 --> 00:20:53,400 show up because he also was like, well, I can't be the one 362 00:20:53,400 --> 00:20:56,240 guy who doesn't like perform here. 363 00:20:56,320 --> 00:20:59,480 So I think we peer like by the end it was definitely some peer 364 00:20:59,480 --> 00:21:02,680 pressure of we got to be dialed in here. 365 00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:06,440 I guess from a behind the scenes standpoint that maybe the fans 366 00:21:06,440 --> 00:21:11,760 are curious of is like how much like team interactivity is there 367 00:21:11,760 --> 00:21:15,520 during World Championships? Or is it, you know, you guys are 368 00:21:15,560 --> 00:21:17,840 pretty separate at that point because everyone's got just kind 369 00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:21,640 of like crazy schedules. And so how much time are you 370 00:21:21,640 --> 00:21:24,840 checking in with coaches and then seeing your other teammates 371 00:21:24,840 --> 00:21:26,360 throughout the throughout the world's? 372 00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:30,200 Yeah, I, for me, it started out pretty strong, especially I was 373 00:21:30,200 --> 00:21:33,320 with Joseph training for about a week beforehand. 374 00:21:34,360 --> 00:21:37,320 But yeah, by the end I'm not really seeing anyone like 375 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:40,760 outside of like if we were racing on the same day, I would 376 00:21:40,760 --> 00:21:44,120 see them or, you know, I just stopped by to say hi to Joseph 377 00:21:44,160 --> 00:21:46,960 before her race. But it it definitely like 378 00:21:46,960 --> 00:21:48,200 everyone's on their own schedule. 379 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:53,800 So everyone's preparation looks a little bit different and then 380 00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:56,080 I'm just like very dialed in on what I'm doing. 381 00:21:56,080 --> 00:21:58,760 But you know, you don't really need to be seeing someone every 382 00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:01,600 day when you see them every day the whole year to be excited 383 00:22:01,600 --> 00:22:05,280 about what they're doing. And you know, they're team group 384 00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:08,400 chats too, so that are celebrating everyone's 385 00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:11,720 accomplishments. So it's just it builds around 386 00:22:11,840 --> 00:22:14,440 everyone, even if I'm not seeing them. 387 00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:17,240 Plus being from different countries, everyone's like a 388 00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:20,400 little bit in a different system while they're at worlds. 389 00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:22,520 Yeah. All right, fun question before 390 00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:24,800 we get into the races. I mean, did you stay in the the 391 00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:29,200 team hotel 'cause I heard this was like it was one giant cruise 392 00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:32,560 ship of like every single country and every athlete 393 00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:36,920 staying in one place where, I mean, I the, the, the, the 394 00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:40,800 horror stories coming through of just like food not being great 395 00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:44,280 elevators taking 45 minutes to just like go up and down. 396 00:22:44,600 --> 00:22:46,480 I mean, what, what was that like? 397 00:22:46,480 --> 00:22:49,800 I guess having to deal with that also outside of competition. 398 00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:55,360 Yeah, I mean, I stayed at that giant hotel, but then like by 399 00:22:55,360 --> 00:22:58,800 like a weekend, 'cause I went in probably 10 days before my race 400 00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:02,400 by a week before by like a weekend. 401 00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:04,600 I was like, OK, I need to change the scenery here. 402 00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:08,400 So I, I actually booked a a different hotel, like just for 403 00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:12,160 the duration of my races. And it was really funny going 404 00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:16,040 into it 'cause I was, I was like debating with myself, like how 405 00:23:16,040 --> 00:23:21,360 many nights do I book it for? Cause I was like, well, there's 406 00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:24,200 if I, you know, if I get out in one of the first rounds, there's 407 00:23:24,200 --> 00:23:27,120 no point in me. Like paying to stay at this 408 00:23:27,120 --> 00:23:30,480 different hotel. But like, I don't wanna sell 409 00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:33,600 myself short. So it was, it was a big back and 410 00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:36,320 forth for like 24 hours about what I was gonna do. 411 00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:41,360 But yeah, it was definitely, you know, the rooms were so small. 412 00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:45,720 It was like the first one of the first days that just that night 413 00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:49,360 were there, we had one of our like team physios like set up 414 00:23:49,360 --> 00:23:51,800 their table in our room, which is tiny. 415 00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:54,440 It's like between our bags being out. 416 00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:56,920 It was like you would be sitting on the bed waiting for 417 00:23:56,920 --> 00:23:58,080 treatment. Then you would just have to like 418 00:23:58,080 --> 00:24:00,840 crawl from the bed onto the like treatment table. 419 00:24:02,120 --> 00:24:05,040 There is no room. It was a lot of like close 420 00:24:05,040 --> 00:24:08,480 quarters time and then every time you left and went into the 421 00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:11,680 lobby, it was like a full on onslaught of like hundreds of 422 00:24:11,680 --> 00:24:14,280 people. Yeah. 423 00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:18,640 So it it for me, I wouldn't say have a Horror Story, but 424 00:24:18,640 --> 00:24:22,640 energetically it was a lot. Yeah, no, I think a lot of the 425 00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:26,280 athletes who ended up tune well kind of did the same move of 426 00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:28,880 just like finding a place to to stay outside of it. 427 00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:35,880 The City of Smack podcast is presented by Lollipop. 428 00:24:36,360 --> 00:24:39,280 If you tune into our shows in Eugene, you may have seen me 429 00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:44,080 holding a nice yellow can That was Lollipop's new Pineapple 430 00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:47,480 Paradise flavor straight out of Bikini Bottom. 431 00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:50,360 Their limited edition SpongeBob cans have arrived. 432 00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:53,840 Pineapple Paradise features a burst of juicy pineapple, 433 00:24:53,840 --> 00:24:57,000 special sweetness and a splash of Mandarin. 434 00:24:57,360 --> 00:25:00,480 It's on shelves now at Walmart, Target, Whole Foods, Circle K, 435 00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:02,960 Amazon, and select stores nationwide. 436 00:25:03,120 --> 00:25:06,760 You can check out all of their flavors and get 25% off your 437 00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:11,160 orders at drinklollipop.com using code SIDIOUS 25 at 438 00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:13,680 checkout. Find them, sip them, and don't 439 00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:16,320 miss the SpongeBob Movie in theaters December 19th. 440 00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:21,320 All right, so let's get into the races. 441 00:25:21,320 --> 00:25:25,400 So at USA, as you told me that you use the first round to kind 442 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:29,240 of wake yourself up and remember, OK, this is the US 443 00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:32,640 championship. So this time around, was that 444 00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:35,880 also the case? Because it was a 158, you know, 445 00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:39,840 you finished second and you were controlled, comfortable. 446 00:25:40,120 --> 00:25:42,000 And then afterwards, like when you came through the mix zone, 447 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:44,640 you said that you felt like you had a bunch left in you. 448 00:25:44,920 --> 00:25:47,680 But what was it that you took away from that first round? 449 00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:50,880 For me, like what a big disappointment at Worlds would 450 00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:53,040 have been would be getting out in the first round. 451 00:25:53,040 --> 00:25:57,040 So I took it really seriously and it was just good because it 452 00:25:57,040 --> 00:26:01,120 was my first 800 that I really raced in like, I don't know, 5 453 00:26:01,120 --> 00:26:03,840 or 6 weeks. And I crossed the line in my, in 454 00:26:04,320 --> 00:26:07,440 my initial reaction was that wasn't as hard as I thought that 455 00:26:07,440 --> 00:26:09,960 it might be. So I think that that, that just 456 00:26:09,960 --> 00:26:14,880 set, set things up really well from there of 'cause it was that 457 00:26:14,880 --> 00:26:18,960 little bit of novelty of like, I don't know, like at USAI said 458 00:26:18,960 --> 00:26:21,400 that I wanted to set the tone. But for me, there is a little 459 00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:26,240 bit of autopilot in that first round because I've run that 460 00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:29,680 first round, you know, since 2021, made it through. 461 00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:31,520 And so I, I kind of know what to expect. 462 00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:35,520 I know what people are gonna do, what I need to do, but I was 463 00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:37,880 thinking of it like, OK, well, the level of competition is 464 00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:40,760 going to be a bit higher and I don't know how high and like how 465 00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:42,200 many people are going to show up. 466 00:26:42,880 --> 00:26:48,200 Did you feel like you had a little bit of an extra like edge 467 00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:51,560 in your back pocket of having like the compiled Diamond League 468 00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:55,760 experience of like the last two years where yes, like in the US, 469 00:26:55,760 --> 00:26:58,080 it's so much easier to pay attention to know, you know, 470 00:26:58,080 --> 00:26:59,560 everyone who you're competing against. 471 00:26:59,560 --> 00:27:02,280 And then sometimes at these World Championships, you might 472 00:27:02,280 --> 00:27:05,240 have someone in one of these rounds that you're like, have I 473 00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:07,640 ever raced that person before? Like, what's their season's 474 00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:09,320 best? Like, how are they going to do? 475 00:27:09,320 --> 00:27:11,920 But for you, I guess, like you got your exposure to that over 476 00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:15,040 the last two years just racing internationally a bunch. 477 00:27:15,280 --> 00:27:18,400 A lot of these people I have raced against or I or I'm very 478 00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:22,240 aware of what they're doing. And I think the biggest thing 479 00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:27,760 was more like going into the final and on the line, they're, 480 00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:31,560 they're saying everyone's accomplishments and literally 481 00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:35,360 everything is like these people are world or area medalists. 482 00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:39,080 And then my thing is like, she's a two time NCA champion. 483 00:27:39,440 --> 00:27:41,520 That's mine. And you know, at this point, 484 00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:44,200 that was like 6 years ago or something. 485 00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:46,040 Or no, not that one like 4 years ago. 486 00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:48,720 I mean, actually one of those is from 2017. 487 00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:54,760 So like literally 8 years ago. But going through the Diamond 488 00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:57,480 League and in 2022 I got third at the final. 489 00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:01,920 Like, having that experience helps me feel like, no, I do 490 00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:04,800 belong here, even though I haven't had, like, maybe some of 491 00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:08,760 the same opportunities as these other women Because, you know, 492 00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:11,240 otherwise it could be pretty intimidating to toe the line 493 00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:15,200 against people with such crazy accolades. 494 00:28:16,360 --> 00:28:19,680 One thing that stood out to me, I don't maybe it wasn't after 495 00:28:19,680 --> 00:28:22,200 the first job, but definitely in the final and the semi final 496 00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:25,280 when they did show you just sort of on camera and they announced 497 00:28:25,280 --> 00:28:29,000 you to the whole stadium. A lot of people are like waving 498 00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:32,000 to the crowd, smiling. You've got this locked in. 499 00:28:32,040 --> 00:28:34,600 Look, I guess what is going through your mind, I guess right 500 00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:38,400 before in those, those intros, because it's like you, I think 501 00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:40,680 appear to be the most serious in the entire race. 502 00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:44,720 Yeah, I think that's just that's just my disposition to begin 503 00:28:44,720 --> 00:28:47,080 with. I tend to be very serious and 504 00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:49,280 have a little bit of a mean mug at all times. 505 00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:53,120 For me, especially like that semifinal, that felt like a 506 00:28:53,120 --> 00:28:56,840 little bit of like a, this is the moment, you know, this is do 507 00:28:56,840 --> 00:29:00,320 or die for me. And I'm really trying to make 508 00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:04,440 sure that my energy is like high enough to sort of like do what I 509 00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:07,760 need to do out there. And, you know, that's not 510 00:29:07,760 --> 00:29:11,360 necessarily like my favorite moment of racing. 511 00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:14,400 It's like for me, that's that like getting ready on the line. 512 00:29:14,400 --> 00:29:17,920 That's that's sort of a reckoning in some ways. 513 00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:22,960 When they came out with the teat sheets for the the semi finals, 514 00:29:22,960 --> 00:29:25,640 I guess what did you think of the draw that you got? 515 00:29:25,640 --> 00:29:29,760 And I guess like talking things over with Dathan and Kelsey have 516 00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:31,400 just sort of all right. What's the plan, Premiere? 517 00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:36,720 My first thought I was like a little bit intimidated because I 518 00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:38,960 think they do the seating based on season best. 519 00:29:39,640 --> 00:29:44,560 And so my season best is about a second slower than my personal 520 00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:46,960 best. And then Jess whole hadn't 521 00:29:46,960 --> 00:29:50,600 really run that fast. So I think just the way that it 522 00:29:50,600 --> 00:29:53,040 worked out. I was the fifth fastest personal 523 00:29:53,040 --> 00:29:58,600 best in my race, which is very I don't know, it just it wouldn't 524 00:29:58,600 --> 00:30:00,800 have been that way in the other two heats either. 525 00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:04,040 You know, just was running well this that week. 526 00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:07,600 And so it just felt like in some ways what they call like the 527 00:30:07,600 --> 00:30:10,840 heat of death. But then on the flip side, the 528 00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:15,520 the way that a lot of the women run in that heat, I was like, 529 00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:19,880 OK, well, it's going to be fast and no one is going to want to 530 00:30:19,880 --> 00:30:23,600 be that person who doesn't make the cut because there were so 531 00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:27,280 many more people in that race that, you know, on paper deserve 532 00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:30,400 to be in that final. Then there were spots available. 533 00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:32,160 So I knew everyone was going to bring it. 534 00:30:32,160 --> 00:30:35,640 And I knew going in, OK, there's a really good chance that two 535 00:30:35,640 --> 00:30:38,240 time qualifiers come out of this race. 536 00:30:38,800 --> 00:30:39,920 Yeah. All right. 537 00:30:39,920 --> 00:30:43,120 So then as the race unfolds, I think before we started 538 00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:46,840 recording, I said that I thought that this is one of like the 539 00:30:46,840 --> 00:30:50,600 biggest momentum swinging performances for like one 540 00:30:50,600 --> 00:30:54,440 person. And you ran so hard, you came 541 00:30:54,440 --> 00:30:58,600 within a tenth of your PB, eliminated some heavy headers in 542 00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:00,880 the process. What I really want to hear is 543 00:31:00,880 --> 00:31:04,440 like what's going through your head in the final, I guess the 544 00:31:04,440 --> 00:31:07,560 final lap because like in a way, like you got into great 545 00:31:07,560 --> 00:31:11,840 position, but then with like just before 200 to go, it's sort 546 00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:14,120 of like you, you held back a bit. 547 00:31:14,120 --> 00:31:17,480 But then at the IT, it's the final 100 meters that we're just 548 00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:21,160 so remarkably impressive. I, I didn't have a great sense 549 00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:23,480 of how fast we were running, but I could tell we were running 550 00:31:23,480 --> 00:31:26,880 pretty fast. And I just in terms of 551 00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:29,880 positioning and like how hard I was running, I had this moment 552 00:31:29,880 --> 00:31:34,320 of hesitation at 200 and in the 800, I feel like these just 553 00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:38,240 split seconds somehow can like break a whole race open. 554 00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:44,160 So I'm coming around the turn and I, I was in probably 7th 555 00:31:44,200 --> 00:31:48,520 place and I could just see the like the front of the race 556 00:31:48,520 --> 00:31:52,600 getting away from me. And I guess you could call like 557 00:31:52,600 --> 00:31:55,880 this moment of disgust of like, what am I doing? 558 00:31:55,880 --> 00:31:58,280 Like this is, you know, I've had, I feel like I've had plenty 559 00:31:58,280 --> 00:32:01,240 of races where I get to the turn and starts getting a little hard 560 00:32:01,240 --> 00:32:04,960 and, you know, I don't really show up for myself like how I 561 00:32:04,960 --> 00:32:07,880 want to. And AI didn't wanna do that. 562 00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:10,760 And BI had told myself like before the race that I needed to 563 00:32:10,760 --> 00:32:13,880 be top four. I was like, because I had a good 564 00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:16,360 sense that the little cues were gonna come out of our heat. 565 00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:20,120 I said it doesn't count. My thing was it doesn't count if 566 00:32:20,120 --> 00:32:23,320 you don't get 4th. So it was just sort of this 567 00:32:23,320 --> 00:32:26,040 moment of like, A, what am I doing here? 568 00:32:26,040 --> 00:32:28,240 And B, it doesn't count if I don't get up there. 569 00:32:28,560 --> 00:32:31,480 And so I just sort. It was just a sort of a full 570 00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:33,640 send moment where I was like, you know, I don't really care. 571 00:32:33,640 --> 00:32:39,280 I don't, if I die trying, that's fine, but I deserve to at least 572 00:32:39,280 --> 00:32:42,960 give myself the chance here. So I went really wide of the 573 00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:47,560 turn and just got some momentum going on that straight and yeah, 574 00:32:47,560 --> 00:32:49,880 past a bunch of people. And it's funny, 'cause you look 575 00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:53,440 at the splits and it's not like my split was that remarkable 576 00:32:53,440 --> 00:32:55,880 compared to some other people that last 100. 577 00:32:55,880 --> 00:32:59,640 But I think just in terms of like coming off the turn and 578 00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:02,680 going super wide and positioning myself in that little bit, I 579 00:33:02,680 --> 00:33:06,760 think then from maybe like the last 70 was really good. 580 00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:11,280 In that moment, like it's just bodies in front of you like you 581 00:33:11,280 --> 00:33:17,000 had like no, yes, on paper, the names, you knew who these people 582 00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:19,320 were like at the start of the race, like it was like 583 00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:21,200 Halimanakai. And then who was the Ethiopian 584 00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:22,800 that was like right ahead of you in that moment. 585 00:33:23,280 --> 00:33:25,920 Yeah, Sigitaguma where it's like Olympic medalist. 586 00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:30,280 And in that moment you just with with the full send. 587 00:33:30,600 --> 00:33:33,480 Was it just sort of like all right, bodies to pass and I've 588 00:33:33,480 --> 00:33:36,120 still got this gear like. Is it just like a blur? 589 00:33:36,680 --> 00:33:40,240 It is a blur, Yeah, 'cause it just, you know, you see people 590 00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:43,000 going backwards and you're going forwards and you say, perfect, 591 00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:44,880 I'm going to go get them. You know, you're not thinking 592 00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:47,440 like, hey, why? I would never give anyone the 593 00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:52,880 credit of like, oh, you know, you won X medal whenever, you 594 00:33:52,880 --> 00:33:55,720 know. Yeah, that's not the time to 595 00:33:55,720 --> 00:33:57,800 think about it. There's not much thinking going 596 00:33:57,800 --> 00:34:01,440 on in the last 100 of the 800. It's more about like honing 597 00:34:01,440 --> 00:34:04,000 those instincts and making sure you capitalize on the moment. 598 00:34:04,480 --> 00:34:10,239 All right, so then you cross the finish line and I guess you have 599 00:34:10,440 --> 00:34:15,199 to sit in the elimination chair and watch like the next heat go 600 00:34:16,280 --> 00:34:19,960 in that instance, I think just like from the cameras, like 601 00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:23,280 smiling all throughout because, you know, you guys ran pretty 602 00:34:23,280 --> 00:34:25,560 fast. She felt good, but it's just 603 00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:28,679 sort of like you're the one who's like I'm the last one in 604 00:34:28,679 --> 00:34:31,520 the on the bubble, like I don't want to get knocked off if one 605 00:34:31,520 --> 00:34:33,600 person runs, you know, faster than that. 606 00:34:33,600 --> 00:34:37,920 So it was really funny to see just like the difference in in 607 00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:39,520 expression between the two of you. 608 00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:42,440 But what's going through your head, I guess, as you have to 609 00:34:42,440 --> 00:34:45,800 sit on that chair? Yeah, I mean, there were 610 00:34:45,800 --> 00:34:48,960 definitely moments where I was like happy about how fast I had 611 00:34:48,960 --> 00:34:53,360 run and how I had really rallied and kind of like laughing at 612 00:34:53,360 --> 00:34:55,800 this being the situation a little bit. 613 00:34:56,239 --> 00:35:00,160 But it was, it was quite tense 'cause I, I also was about half 614 00:35:00,160 --> 00:35:03,800 a second back from Jazz, and that's a long half a second in 615 00:35:03,800 --> 00:35:06,840 the 800. Because the, I mean, in the 616 00:35:06,840 --> 00:35:11,880 men's semis, the margins were so small for it was like just a 617 00:35:11,880 --> 00:35:15,960 couple hundredths of like people who were on the right or the 618 00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:18,280 wrong side of the bubble across different heats. 619 00:35:18,600 --> 00:35:23,000 And you can't really prepare. I had a good sense just the way 620 00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:27,840 that Keely had run her prelim. And then I was like, OK, Keely's 621 00:35:27,840 --> 00:35:30,760 not going to do more than she needs to do here, which I was 622 00:35:30,760 --> 00:35:33,840 happy about. Or, you know, I thought, OK, 623 00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:37,880 this might pan out the right way, but you could tell that all 624 00:35:37,880 --> 00:35:40,720 of those women in that heat were like running hard and they, they 625 00:35:40,720 --> 00:35:44,080 were trying to make sure that they were up there, but it just, 626 00:35:44,200 --> 00:35:47,120 it just wasn't quite enough. And so it was more of the last 627 00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:52,960 100 meters of that last semi final that I was sweating a bit 628 00:35:52,960 --> 00:35:55,200 'cause, you know, I'm not stressed. 629 00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:57,560 Like I can't stress about anything before then. 630 00:35:57,560 --> 00:35:59,600 You, you don't really always know how people are going to 631 00:35:59,600 --> 00:36:02,880 respond or how they're going to look coming off of the 1st 600. 632 00:36:03,440 --> 00:36:06,240 One random question that was sent in to us during the World 633 00:36:06,240 --> 00:36:08,960 Championships that I had no idea and maybe you can answer it but 634 00:36:09,040 --> 00:36:11,200 I'm sure everything was happening so fast. 635 00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:14,240 Do they wipe down those elimination chairs before? 636 00:36:14,640 --> 00:36:17,960 Like you have to sit on them? Or are you sitting in someone 637 00:36:18,080 --> 00:36:19,520 else's sweat from the previous seat? 638 00:36:19,520 --> 00:36:22,040 Someone else asked me this and I was like, I honestly have no 639 00:36:22,040 --> 00:36:23,160 clue. It didn't. 640 00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:25,200 It wasn't like sweaty when I sat down. 641 00:36:25,200 --> 00:36:27,560 So they could have. And they did have someone whose 642 00:36:27,560 --> 00:36:30,920 job it was to sort of like manage that area, make sure that 643 00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:33,920 we were like seated when we need to be seated and like, bring us 644 00:36:33,920 --> 00:36:38,360 water and like probably, you know, kick people out when they 645 00:36:38,360 --> 00:36:42,520 get bumped. So I don't know, I, I wasn't 646 00:36:42,520 --> 00:36:45,960 really thinking about it in the moment, but that's a great 647 00:36:45,960 --> 00:36:47,840 question. I probably should hang a little 648 00:36:47,840 --> 00:36:49,840 bit more attention. You're like, I wasn't really 649 00:36:49,840 --> 00:36:52,480 thinking about just sort of like the hygiene of the moment. 650 00:36:52,480 --> 00:36:54,160 It's just sort of about making it to the next. 651 00:36:54,160 --> 00:36:56,960 Range And it was a little bit of also like, OK, I, I just ran an 652 00:36:56,960 --> 00:36:59,120 800. I would like to sit down for a 653 00:36:59,120 --> 00:37:02,600 moment. Yeah, 'cause usually your hands 654 00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:05,240 on the track and like crouched over, like you've got a 655 00:37:05,240 --> 00:37:10,200 signature pose post race every. Single time All right, so then 656 00:37:10,600 --> 00:37:16,240 as that final heat goes your way, I mean, what is it that you 657 00:37:16,640 --> 00:37:18,560 the goal was to make it to the final? 658 00:37:18,800 --> 00:37:22,840 You check that box and is it just sort of like now what? 659 00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:25,640 Like once again, you're just sort of like having to find what 660 00:37:25,640 --> 00:37:27,400 the next goal is. Like does it? 661 00:37:27,920 --> 00:37:31,800 You had nothing to well, you had to treat your semi as your own 662 00:37:31,800 --> 00:37:34,120 final. But then once you got that done, 663 00:37:34,120 --> 00:37:38,400 I guess, how did the goal shift once you got to the final? 664 00:37:38,960 --> 00:37:41,600 Yeah, I mean, once I made the final, that was like the first 665 00:37:41,600 --> 00:37:43,880 time, you know, a lot of people it's like, oh, I'd love to 666 00:37:43,880 --> 00:37:46,000 meddle at Worlds. Literally the first time I'm 667 00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:48,840 thinking maybe I should, maybe I could meddle at Worlds is like 668 00:37:49,120 --> 00:37:54,040 36 hours before the final. And I think like Joe had a lot 669 00:37:54,040 --> 00:37:57,000 to do with sort of like even though he wasn't in Tokyo, he 670 00:37:57,000 --> 00:38:01,360 was definitely like in my phone, like messaging me about like, 671 00:38:02,560 --> 00:38:05,280 I'm not really that dialed in. Like especially in the moment of 672 00:38:05,280 --> 00:38:07,200 racing, like how did this person look in their heat? 673 00:38:07,200 --> 00:38:10,440 Like what exactly did they do? But Joe is paying attention all 674 00:38:10,440 --> 00:38:13,360 of that. And so just based on like how I 675 00:38:13,360 --> 00:38:17,160 did in my semi where I was like there was a lot more in there 676 00:38:17,160 --> 00:38:20,560 than maybe I thought. And then, you know, across the 677 00:38:20,560 --> 00:38:22,920 board how people were looking, it's like, you know, on the 678 00:38:22,920 --> 00:38:25,200 right day, maybe I could sort of squeak up there. 679 00:38:25,200 --> 00:38:29,240 And also I was like, I feel like every position, it's like me 680 00:38:29,240 --> 00:38:32,360 saying that I'm 6th in the world instead of 7th in the world 681 00:38:32,360 --> 00:38:36,560 sounds a lot better. So there's just sort of a lot to 682 00:38:36,680 --> 00:38:39,880 go out there and run for and just try to like get up as far 683 00:38:39,880 --> 00:38:42,520 as I can. And in the 800, a lot of those 684 00:38:42,840 --> 00:38:45,400 sort of positions are earned at the very end. 685 00:38:45,400 --> 00:38:48,880 So I was just like leaving it open to see what happened. 686 00:38:49,680 --> 00:38:53,120 One thing that stood out to me, you know, after the final that 687 00:38:53,240 --> 00:38:55,640 you mentioned in the mix zone, you said after the race, after 688 00:38:55,640 --> 00:38:58,920 last year, I would have never dared to speak a day like this 689 00:38:58,920 --> 00:39:01,080 into existence because it's so hard to get here in the 1st 690 00:39:01,080 --> 00:39:03,560 place. And so I guess what I'm, what 691 00:39:03,560 --> 00:39:07,520 I'm wondering is like you, I guess 36 hours out, like you 692 00:39:07,520 --> 00:39:11,080 knew you were capable of, you know, making it to the final. 693 00:39:11,080 --> 00:39:15,520 But then I guess what was that sort of private moment or just 694 00:39:15,520 --> 00:39:19,760 like that I guess when things took a turn and you knew that 695 00:39:19,960 --> 00:39:23,240 the possibility was there to do something special, I guess. 696 00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:27,600 Can you pinpoint exactly like was it on the cooldown after the 697 00:39:27,600 --> 00:39:31,440 semi final or back at the hotel? Like, when did you start to 698 00:39:31,760 --> 00:39:35,360 finally allow yourself to, you know, Daydream about the final? 699 00:39:35,480 --> 00:39:37,840 Yeah, I think it was probably the following day because 700 00:39:38,120 --> 00:39:40,360 there's a little bit of just sort of like got to decompress 701 00:39:40,360 --> 00:39:44,480 as quickly as possible from each round to like sort of kick start 702 00:39:44,480 --> 00:39:47,880 that recovery. And it was for me, like I woke 703 00:39:47,880 --> 00:39:51,400 up the next morning and I had this like, full, like, series of 704 00:39:51,400 --> 00:39:55,400 text messages from Joe where he was sort of analyzing like 705 00:39:55,520 --> 00:40:00,440 historic world finals and like how they played out and like 706 00:40:00,720 --> 00:40:06,440 what people did to do well and. It's sort of was coming together 707 00:40:06,960 --> 00:40:09,840 to because it's also a lot of pressure, like not just for me 708 00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:12,040 to show up to a world final pressure for everyone. 709 00:40:12,280 --> 00:40:14,840 People have a lot of expectations on them and you 710 00:40:14,840 --> 00:40:16,760 know, sometimes everyone shows up. 711 00:40:16,760 --> 00:40:20,000 Sometimes people who you expect to show up in a big way don't 712 00:40:20,440 --> 00:40:24,120 and you just have to be ready to do like the best that you can 713 00:40:24,120 --> 00:40:28,320 and sort of capitalize on anyone's sort of moments of 714 00:40:28,320 --> 00:40:32,280 weakness to accomplish something. 715 00:40:32,280 --> 00:40:36,320 And so I don't know, I just felt really wide open, like not not 716 00:40:36,320 --> 00:40:39,080 like there weren't people who are favorites, but sort of wide 717 00:40:39,080 --> 00:40:41,960 open in terms of like the possibility of like what I could 718 00:40:41,960 --> 00:40:45,200 do. I love that for Joe in between 719 00:40:45,200 --> 00:40:47,960 probably like double s and stuff, and because like you're 720 00:40:47,960 --> 00:40:52,280 probably sleeping through the middle part of his day like he's 721 00:40:52,280 --> 00:40:56,280 just at home on YouTube watching races, pouring through results 722 00:40:56,280 --> 00:40:58,520 and then sending like these observations over. 723 00:40:59,200 --> 00:41:02,320 Yeah, and it really helps cuz I don't know if that's something 724 00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:04,760 that I really want to do, especially in between rounds, 725 00:41:04,760 --> 00:41:07,360 because in some ways I'm like, I just want to not think about 726 00:41:07,360 --> 00:41:10,640 racing for a moment. Did you think that because this 727 00:41:10,640 --> 00:41:13,200 was just sort of like something that we talked about in between 728 00:41:13,200 --> 00:41:15,360 the semi final and the and the final, that there was going to 729 00:41:15,360 --> 00:41:17,720 be a little bit of like a fight for who was going to try and 730 00:41:17,720 --> 00:41:19,600 take control of the the race in the front? 731 00:41:19,600 --> 00:41:24,000 Because it's like Mary Maura had looked good and she tends to 732 00:41:24,080 --> 00:41:26,640 really like to do that. And then last year when Keely 733 00:41:27,320 --> 00:41:30,880 one gold, you know, just because she happened to be like the 734 00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:33,400 fittest of everyone in the field that she was able to get out in 735 00:41:33,400 --> 00:41:35,280 front and control the race from there. 736 00:41:35,760 --> 00:41:39,720 And so expectedly, like it was it it ended up being the two of 737 00:41:39,720 --> 00:41:42,360 them fighting for just sort of like that pole position. 738 00:41:42,360 --> 00:41:47,640 And So what did you and would Dathan and Kelsey kind of draw 739 00:41:47,640 --> 00:41:51,360 up as a as a plan to allow that to happen, but then at the same 740 00:41:51,360 --> 00:41:54,920 time remain in contention with, you know, the rest of the medals 741 00:41:54,920 --> 00:41:58,320 in that pack? I fully have the expectation, 742 00:41:58,320 --> 00:42:01,200 especially at this level of race, like my 1st 200, I'm gonna 743 00:42:01,200 --> 00:42:05,480 feel like I'm getting dropped. The margins are like they, they 744 00:42:05,960 --> 00:42:08,960 feel and can look quite large because everyone's running so 745 00:42:08,960 --> 00:42:11,120 fast. You know, I'm really only like 746 00:42:11,760 --> 00:42:15,080 maybe half a second behind everyone at the 100, but when 747 00:42:15,080 --> 00:42:17,800 you're going that quickly, that's a big half a second for 748 00:42:17,800 --> 00:42:19,760 me. And you know, based on all of 749 00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:24,200 this analysis, it's just like as long as I'm up sort of in 750 00:42:24,200 --> 00:42:27,680 contact with everyone and in a good position at 400, like for 751 00:42:27,680 --> 00:42:30,680 me, it's not so much of like the 1st 200. 752 00:42:30,920 --> 00:42:33,760 I'm like everyone else can go out and sort of fight for what 753 00:42:33,760 --> 00:42:35,840 they want to do in what position they want. 754 00:42:36,040 --> 00:42:39,440 But for me it's more of like looking at that 400 meter mark 755 00:42:39,440 --> 00:42:42,160 as to like where I getting to where I need to be. 756 00:42:42,320 --> 00:42:45,160 So where was it that you wanted to be at that point? 757 00:42:46,320 --> 00:42:50,720 Top half ish or like, you know, not in the back for me. 758 00:42:50,720 --> 00:42:53,440 I also sort of like running a little bit more to the outside 759 00:42:53,440 --> 00:42:55,360 because you're not going to get trapped. 760 00:42:55,440 --> 00:42:59,000 Also when you're coming from wait for far back, it's hard to 761 00:42:59,000 --> 00:43:02,840 get up onto the inside. So yeah, just sort of tucked in, 762 00:43:02,960 --> 00:43:05,560 but like in the thick of things, like sort of in contact with the 763 00:43:05,560 --> 00:43:08,560 front of the race. When you describe sort of like 764 00:43:08,560 --> 00:43:12,280 the last 100 meters of the semi finals, like a full send. 765 00:43:12,760 --> 00:43:16,280 Then this time around in the final, when after 400 meters, 766 00:43:16,280 --> 00:43:19,400 you're still, you know, right there in contact with with the 767 00:43:19,400 --> 00:43:23,120 leaders and you know they're starting to to make their move. 768 00:43:23,560 --> 00:43:27,280 What's like if if the semi final was a full send then what was I 769 00:43:27,280 --> 00:43:30,720 guess the hearing the bell in the final for you? 770 00:43:31,280 --> 00:43:33,400 Yeah. I mean, the semi final was that 771 00:43:33,400 --> 00:43:35,200 full send in the last 100 meters. 772 00:43:35,200 --> 00:43:39,360 But I think almost having that moment of, I don't know, 773 00:43:39,360 --> 00:43:43,960 weakness or indecision at 200 in the semi final, it was to me 774 00:43:43,960 --> 00:43:46,600 that was like a key inflection point, like getting into 775 00:43:46,600 --> 00:43:49,160 position in the first lap. That's a little bit like routine 776 00:43:49,160 --> 00:43:51,080 for an 800. But for me that like critical 777 00:43:51,080 --> 00:43:54,240 moment was definitely going to be with 200 to go. 778 00:43:54,760 --> 00:43:58,200 And I didn't want to falter in any way like I felt like I had 779 00:43:58,200 --> 00:44:02,520 in the semi final. And you know that that was sort 780 00:44:02,520 --> 00:44:06,320 of what I was gearing up for. And I thought, you know, as 781 00:44:06,320 --> 00:44:09,960 close as I can stay and then just be ready for it to be like 782 00:44:10,680 --> 00:44:14,600 an onslaught because everyone is sort of like kicking and giving 783 00:44:14,600 --> 00:44:18,480 it their all at that point. So then obviously like a foot 784 00:44:18,480 --> 00:44:23,200 race ensues between Lily, Nodira, Keely and Georgia up in 785 00:44:23,200 --> 00:44:26,640 the front. And then for you at that point, 786 00:44:26,640 --> 00:44:30,120 once they they start to go, is it just sort of like holding 787 00:44:30,120 --> 00:44:31,960 your place and and defending that spot? 788 00:44:31,960 --> 00:44:35,600 Because in a championship, like anything can happen in the, you 789 00:44:35,600 --> 00:44:38,280 know, you don't want to get past for 7th at that point or 790 00:44:38,280 --> 00:44:39,760 whatever it is, yeah. Yeah. 791 00:44:40,040 --> 00:44:43,520 I mean, for me, it wasn't like I was not think looking backwards 792 00:44:43,520 --> 00:44:45,840 at all. I had Mary Maraud up ahead of 793 00:44:45,840 --> 00:44:50,320 me, you know, which she has sort of been up with that group who 794 00:44:50,320 --> 00:44:52,480 was competing for the win and then was starting to fall back. 795 00:44:52,480 --> 00:44:55,320 So that was a very easy like target for me. 796 00:44:55,640 --> 00:45:00,680 And so at one point I had gotten up into fourth and then, yeah, 797 00:45:00,680 --> 00:45:03,840 Sarah Morale had ended up like getting me right at the end. 798 00:45:05,400 --> 00:45:08,680 But yeah, for me, it was just about looking forward. 799 00:45:08,880 --> 00:45:11,840 And then it's, you know, when Sarah Morale came upon me, it 800 00:45:11,840 --> 00:45:14,520 was a little bit of getting to the line 'cause there were only 801 00:45:14,520 --> 00:45:18,800 a few meters left anyways. But yeah, up until like those 802 00:45:18,880 --> 00:45:23,040 closing moments of the 800, it was still like how many people? 803 00:45:23,160 --> 00:45:25,680 Because you also never know, like sometimes people will like 804 00:45:25,680 --> 00:45:28,960 be running really well, like off the turn, and then they just 805 00:45:28,960 --> 00:45:31,640 don't have like that was the move and they don't have the 806 00:45:31,640 --> 00:45:33,800 last 50. So I was just ready for 807 00:45:33,800 --> 00:45:36,440 whatever. Yeah, and with Mary Moriah, you 808 00:45:36,440 --> 00:45:39,480 just never know because she's always like kind of lean back 809 00:45:39,640 --> 00:45:43,400 all the whole way, yeah. I, I also just knew like coming 810 00:45:43,400 --> 00:45:46,920 off that turn, there were, you know, people who like weren't 811 00:45:46,920 --> 00:45:49,960 necessarily in contact with the front of the race where I 812 00:45:49,960 --> 00:45:53,280 thought this is going to be a big disappointment for them in 813 00:45:53,280 --> 00:45:56,840 this moment. And I feel like I can capitalize 814 00:45:56,840 --> 00:46:00,320 on the fact that they probably wanted to meddle and they're not 815 00:46:00,320 --> 00:46:02,760 going to. That's what I would, that's what 816 00:46:02,760 --> 00:46:06,800 I'm thinking about is like, for me, anything is good here. 817 00:46:07,200 --> 00:46:10,080 And for some of these women, not meddling is a huge 818 00:46:10,080 --> 00:46:13,360 disappointment. And like in in it's really hard 819 00:46:13,360 --> 00:46:15,600 to push yourself when you're already starting to feel the 820 00:46:15,600 --> 00:46:18,680 hurt of like not achieving what you want to do. 821 00:46:19,240 --> 00:46:22,520 Like for me in a big way, like that moment was like coming down 822 00:46:22,520 --> 00:46:26,040 the last 100 at the Olympic trials last year where I had 823 00:46:26,040 --> 00:46:29,200 actually run like a really good 700 meters, but I saw where 824 00:46:29,200 --> 00:46:31,480 third place was and it was just too far away. 825 00:46:32,000 --> 00:46:35,760 And so I think that, not that I'm thinking that deeply about 826 00:46:35,760 --> 00:46:38,040 it, but I just knew that there are these inflection points, 827 00:46:38,040 --> 00:46:41,000 especially in these major championships where it can be a 828 00:46:41,000 --> 00:46:44,680 gut check and if you're ready to really go, you know, good things 829 00:46:44,680 --> 00:46:46,720 can happen. I guess this was something that 830 00:46:46,720 --> 00:46:49,160 someone brought up like on our stream, like in the YouTube 831 00:46:49,160 --> 00:46:52,640 chat, that it was like Kenyan team tactics happening with just 832 00:46:52,640 --> 00:46:55,680 kind of Mary serving as a pacer for the whole thing. 833 00:46:55,720 --> 00:46:58,400 I mean, I don't know, 'cause like there's, they're not all 834 00:46:58,400 --> 00:47:00,880 like in the same training group or anything like that. 835 00:47:01,080 --> 00:47:04,040 And the way it kind of panned out, you could read into it just 836 00:47:04,040 --> 00:47:07,680 like, because they're all in the same country panning out in that 837 00:47:07,680 --> 00:47:09,840 way. But was there anything, I guess, 838 00:47:09,840 --> 00:47:12,480 like in the call room, the warmups that you noticed of like 839 00:47:13,040 --> 00:47:17,120 the three of them together or at any point, 'cause I I was 840 00:47:17,120 --> 00:47:20,320 honestly of the all the shocks, right, of Lilian Odira 841 00:47:20,640 --> 00:47:23,640 upsetting, you know, Keely for the gold. 842 00:47:24,320 --> 00:47:27,920 I thought it was more surprising that Sarah Marah was, you know, 843 00:47:27,920 --> 00:47:29,680 in shape enough to finish fourth because. 844 00:47:29,840 --> 00:47:32,360 She she had a whole. Roll of KT tape like basically 845 00:47:32,360 --> 00:47:34,480 all over her leg. I didn't and and she was like on 846 00:47:34,480 --> 00:47:36,680 the ground in the semi final. Yeah, yeah. 847 00:47:36,720 --> 00:47:38,640 Like borderline. It was like, is she gonna be 848 00:47:38,640 --> 00:47:41,320 able to race this final? Like she was still entered, but 849 00:47:41,800 --> 00:47:45,360 I was like, in some world I was like, there's no way that she's 850 00:47:45,360 --> 00:47:48,520 getting through an 800 level and running like another second and 851 00:47:48,520 --> 00:47:51,280 a half faster than she did in the semi. 852 00:47:51,280 --> 00:47:54,600 You know, it just, that didn't really make any sense to me. 853 00:47:54,800 --> 00:47:57,680 Just like I wouldn't have predicted that in any way. 854 00:47:59,080 --> 00:48:01,840 You know, they're definitely like they, they all know each 855 00:48:01,840 --> 00:48:04,720 other and they're warming up together, doing their drills 856 00:48:04,720 --> 00:48:09,080 together at the warm up track. So I can't really speak as to 857 00:48:09,080 --> 00:48:11,440 like team tactics. Also, I feel like even if there 858 00:48:11,440 --> 00:48:13,680 weren't any other Kenyans in the race, Mary would have done 859 00:48:13,680 --> 00:48:18,520 exactly what Mary is gonna do. But yeah, definitely a little 860 00:48:18,520 --> 00:48:21,240 bit of a unified front on the Kenyan team. 861 00:48:21,720 --> 00:48:26,480 All right, then one of the best moments is, you know, the moment 862 00:48:26,480 --> 00:48:30,600 you cross the finish line and the look of shock that you had, 863 00:48:30,840 --> 00:48:35,480 I guess once your name popped up on the board with the time, what 864 00:48:35,840 --> 00:48:39,440 was it that I guess, like, led to such a jaw-dropping, you 865 00:48:39,440 --> 00:48:43,160 know, reaction from you? Yeah, I mean, they had announced 866 00:48:43,160 --> 00:48:46,640 in the stadium that it was a championship record, and then 867 00:48:46,640 --> 00:48:49,120 only the winning time populated on the board. 868 00:48:50,040 --> 00:48:52,560 And there was sort of a long delay where everyone was just 869 00:48:52,560 --> 00:48:57,680 sort of looking like, OK, what what happened 'cause when that's 870 00:48:57,680 --> 00:48:59,200 sort of the tone. And then I'm like, well, I 871 00:48:59,200 --> 00:49:03,560 wasn't really that far behind the front of the race and it was 872 00:49:03,560 --> 00:49:08,680 154 up front. And so in my, I was hoping, you 873 00:49:08,680 --> 00:49:10,480 know, oh, this is this is gonna be a fast time. 874 00:49:10,480 --> 00:49:13,920 This is definitely APR. But I think just seeing that 875 00:49:13,920 --> 00:49:18,240 155, which, you know, as we said Dathan had put into my head, 876 00:49:18,240 --> 00:49:23,640 like 156 is possible, but never has 155 come up really. 877 00:49:23,640 --> 00:49:27,360 So just seeing that was like, oh, well, and that's such a big 878 00:49:27,360 --> 00:49:29,200 time too. Like, I didn't know where it 879 00:49:29,200 --> 00:49:34,400 fell in terms of like the US leaderboard, but that's just a 880 00:49:34,400 --> 00:49:39,200 really serious 800 time. And so it was like, yeah, and 881 00:49:39,200 --> 00:49:41,160 you're living in such the moment in the race. 882 00:49:41,160 --> 00:49:45,280 Like sometimes in an 800. I sort of know what our splits 883 00:49:45,280 --> 00:49:46,960 are throughout as sort of feedback. 884 00:49:46,960 --> 00:49:50,720 But this one was just full on like in the moment racing that I 885 00:49:50,720 --> 00:49:53,600 didn't have any real clue of like where I was at relative to 886 00:49:53,600 --> 00:49:58,600 everyone else. And that was just so insane for 887 00:49:58,600 --> 00:50:01,600 me. You skipped over the 150 sixes 888 00:50:01,600 --> 00:50:04,920 entirely. Yeah, my mom, my mom's joke is 889 00:50:04,920 --> 00:50:09,600 that because I tend to be like very strong willed and I'm a 890 00:50:09,600 --> 00:50:12,160 little bit of someone who like, if someone tells me to do 891 00:50:12,160 --> 00:50:14,760 something, I'm going to like specifically not do that. 892 00:50:15,440 --> 00:50:19,800 And so since Dayton said 156, my mom said I had decided that I 893 00:50:19,800 --> 00:50:23,000 just wasn't going to do that. I like that. 894 00:50:24,240 --> 00:50:29,280 One thing that you brought up in the mix zone was that if you 895 00:50:29,280 --> 00:50:31,880 cleaned up that race, it's maybe a little bit closer. 896 00:50:31,880 --> 00:50:33,960 And like, I get that like in the moment, you still probably 897 00:50:33,960 --> 00:50:36,960 hadn't even watched the race in the sport. 898 00:50:37,120 --> 00:50:40,520 You are your own harshest critic, like every for everyone 899 00:50:40,520 --> 00:50:42,920 individually. But I guess when you've gone 900 00:50:42,920 --> 00:50:46,720 back to rewatch the race, like what are those areas that you 901 00:50:46,720 --> 00:50:50,080 you're like, I wish I would have done this differently and maybe 902 00:50:50,160 --> 00:50:51,600 the gap would have been a little tighter. 903 00:50:51,880 --> 00:50:54,760 I don't think I would do anything differently because I 904 00:50:54,800 --> 00:50:57,400 think that I ran a race plan that really works for me. 905 00:50:58,040 --> 00:51:02,280 But I just think that like if things were a 'cause I think, 906 00:51:02,600 --> 00:51:05,240 you know, part of why I ran so fast was 'cause everyone was 907 00:51:05,240 --> 00:51:10,640 like so good racing full on. But I think that just if things 908 00:51:10,640 --> 00:51:13,960 were a little bit differently, I was running out very wide. 909 00:51:13,960 --> 00:51:17,960 Like I was in lane 2 from 400 to 500. 910 00:51:17,960 --> 00:51:20,320 I was in lane 3 coming off the last turn. 911 00:51:20,320 --> 00:51:22,720 Like that's a lot of extra meters in an 800. 912 00:51:23,400 --> 00:51:28,560 And so I, I ran a lot more than 800 meters in that one minute 913 00:51:28,560 --> 00:51:31,800 and 55 seconds. So that's just the sort of thing 914 00:51:31,800 --> 00:51:35,240 where it's less of like me wanting to go back and change 915 00:51:35,240 --> 00:51:40,160 anything as like looking forward, like being ready maybe 916 00:51:40,160 --> 00:51:43,720 for a moment like this again. And if things play out 917 00:51:43,720 --> 00:51:48,200 differently, like there could be more there in terms of just what 918 00:51:48,200 --> 00:51:50,800 the final time is. So you've gotten your taste now 919 00:51:50,800 --> 00:51:54,920 of like competing at the World Championships, Like it feels 920 00:51:54,920 --> 00:51:58,400 like you're just like, I want to do this again and, and more 921 00:51:58,400 --> 00:52:02,440 often or like, has it settled in Just sort of like now kind of 922 00:52:02,440 --> 00:52:05,680 reflecting on like, oh, it was, it's so funny that like I had to 923 00:52:05,680 --> 00:52:09,720 get myself back up to competing for, for competing at worlds 924 00:52:09,720 --> 00:52:12,200 that now it's just sort of like, you want to run this back and do 925 00:52:12,200 --> 00:52:16,040 it do it again annually. Yeah, yeah, obviously that's 926 00:52:16,040 --> 00:52:19,080 that's the big goal now. And for me, this was sort of 927 00:52:19,080 --> 00:52:23,000 like within the world of sport, a little bit of like a life 928 00:52:23,000 --> 00:52:28,120 changing performance for me. And also just a huge validation 929 00:52:28,120 --> 00:52:31,360 of like everything that I've been working for for the last 930 00:52:31,360 --> 00:52:35,000 three years. It just feels like, OK, I've 931 00:52:35,000 --> 00:52:37,720 been working really hard and OK, I've run like a couple 10s of a 932 00:52:37,720 --> 00:52:40,920 second faster than I did like basically coming out of college. 933 00:52:41,280 --> 00:52:44,040 And so now it's like, no, this really does pay off. 934 00:52:44,040 --> 00:52:47,840 And I'm running writing a lot of good positive momentum. 935 00:52:47,920 --> 00:52:49,360 Yeah. You always just wanna get more 936 00:52:49,360 --> 00:52:52,800 and more out of yourself. So that'll just be sort of the 937 00:52:52,800 --> 00:52:56,080 goal of like, I don't know, less about like specific accolades 938 00:52:56,080 --> 00:53:01,280 and more of just, OK, how can I replicate and do better going 939 00:53:01,280 --> 00:53:04,320 forward? Yeah, it's further validation to 940 00:53:04,600 --> 00:53:07,280 shut me up. And on any further questions 941 00:53:07,280 --> 00:53:10,640 about, hey Sage, when are you going to run the 15? 942 00:53:10,640 --> 00:53:12,480 It's like, Oh my. Gosh, that that was like my 943 00:53:12,480 --> 00:53:17,400 first reaction to is like, OK, and it's less about when am I 944 00:53:17,400 --> 00:53:20,480 going to run the 15. It's that a lot of people have 945 00:53:20,480 --> 00:53:24,000 had a lot to say about how I'm not really an 800 runner and how 946 00:53:24,000 --> 00:53:27,200 I you don't really have the tools to be a good 800 runner. 947 00:53:27,440 --> 00:53:29,080 I just kept doing what I'm doing. 948 00:53:29,080 --> 00:53:30,680 But it's really annoying to hear. 949 00:53:30,760 --> 00:53:33,920 And so I hope everyone knows that I can actually do a lot. 950 00:53:34,680 --> 00:53:38,640 And, and this year actually, it's funny because USA was 951 00:53:38,640 --> 00:53:41,280 actually the first time, the final was the first time I've 952 00:53:41,280 --> 00:53:44,520 ever closed in 800 in under 60 seconds. 953 00:53:45,440 --> 00:53:48,560 So I felt like maybe before then I didn't have the speed to 954 00:53:48,560 --> 00:53:51,400 really hang in those final moments. 955 00:53:51,400 --> 00:53:57,200 But then that cut down 800 that I did with Kai 58 like oh, and 956 00:53:57,200 --> 00:54:01,200 then in the semi sub 60, I even closed sub 60 in the final. 957 00:54:01,200 --> 00:54:04,760 Like, you know, I just, it's there. 958 00:54:05,040 --> 00:54:07,920 It's there. Now you've you've shut me up and 959 00:54:07,920 --> 00:54:11,480 you've shut so many people up about the move to the 15 and 960 00:54:11,480 --> 00:54:15,360 then I guess it's just like we just want to see demolish 4, I 961 00:54:15,360 --> 00:54:19,360 think at this point. Yeah, which we'll see because 962 00:54:19,440 --> 00:54:22,120 next year is so different. So with the ultimate 963 00:54:22,120 --> 00:54:27,000 Championship where it actually like in order to get enough like 964 00:54:27,000 --> 00:54:31,240 points to qualify, it'll still probably be emphasizing the 800 965 00:54:31,240 --> 00:54:34,480 cuz you kind of gotta make sure that you're putting up some good 966 00:54:34,640 --> 00:54:36,920 performances in order to qualify. 967 00:54:37,080 --> 00:54:41,120 But yeah, I mean the sub 4 is still in there on the on the 968 00:54:41,120 --> 00:54:43,160 right day in the right race. It's still in there. 969 00:54:43,160 --> 00:54:46,560 We'll we'll get there, but I don't think it's going to happen 970 00:54:46,560 --> 00:54:49,600 in a big way, at least for a little bit longer. 971 00:54:49,760 --> 00:54:53,320 When it comes to just sort of like looking at your spot on the 972 00:54:53,320 --> 00:54:55,840 USL time list, like a thing is there. 973 00:54:56,160 --> 00:54:59,840 She's got an Olympic gold, you know Ajay is ahead of you, she's 974 00:54:59,840 --> 00:55:04,120 got World Championship medals. And it's funny because it's like 975 00:55:04,120 --> 00:55:08,320 you've run this fast now and you've established how good you 976 00:55:08,520 --> 00:55:11,120 are at this event and how consistent just year over year 977 00:55:11,400 --> 00:55:16,000 you've been at this event and how only 36 hours before the 978 00:55:16,000 --> 00:55:18,240 final was the first time you ever thought about just sort of 979 00:55:18,560 --> 00:55:22,080 the potential of a medal. But now does that change things 980 00:55:22,080 --> 00:55:24,520 for you? I guess having come this close 981 00:55:24,520 --> 00:55:27,160 and you know, the next opportunity being two years 982 00:55:27,160 --> 00:55:30,760 away, which means, you know, two years to continue to develop at 983 00:55:30,760 --> 00:55:35,360 this like, you know, a medal plus a time just like further 984 00:55:35,360 --> 00:55:38,800 solidifies your place is like one of the best in U.S. history 985 00:55:38,800 --> 00:55:41,560 to do this. Yeah, I mean, yes and no. 986 00:55:42,440 --> 00:55:45,400 Coming off the track talking to Louis Johnson, you know, as part 987 00:55:45,400 --> 00:55:49,200 of also the NBC like Olympics hype, one of the first things is 988 00:55:49,200 --> 00:55:50,960 he's asking me about like the Olympics. 989 00:55:50,960 --> 00:55:53,520 I'm like, you know, I didn't really think about meddling at 990 00:55:53,520 --> 00:55:55,720 worlds this year until 36 hours ago. 991 00:55:55,720 --> 00:55:58,600 Like I haven't really thought ahead to the Olympics. 992 00:55:58,720 --> 00:56:02,280 I'm like Team USA and I like to see Team USA do well and I'd 993 00:56:02,280 --> 00:56:07,400 love to be that person. And I also, I guess I had maybe 994 00:56:07,400 --> 00:56:10,880 thought that if I had made a transition in the 15, like that 995 00:56:10,880 --> 00:56:13,160 would be the event that I would be pushing for. 996 00:56:13,720 --> 00:56:18,600 But that's like sort of a storybook highlight of a career 997 00:56:18,600 --> 00:56:22,480 as a medal at a home Olympics. But at the same time, like I, I 998 00:56:22,480 --> 00:56:25,640 do acknowledge that it's so hard to get to that moment. 999 00:56:25,880 --> 00:56:29,480 Even Keely was like, you know, this is a great accomplishment 1000 00:56:29,480 --> 00:56:31,800 for me to make five world finals in a row. 1001 00:56:32,160 --> 00:56:35,600 And it's true because the only people I think that were from 1002 00:56:35,600 --> 00:56:39,000 the Olympic final last year were maybe her and Mary. 1003 00:56:39,760 --> 00:56:43,560 And so, you know, you look at that at the US level where there 1004 00:56:43,560 --> 00:56:46,760 is a lot of turnover year to year in the final at just the US 1005 00:56:46,760 --> 00:56:50,760 Championships and then it's the same the World Championships. 1006 00:56:50,760 --> 00:56:57,040 So I am not going to put any undue pressure, but I think I I 1007 00:56:57,040 --> 00:57:00,080 had specifically not put a ceiling on what I could do for 1008 00:57:00,080 --> 00:57:05,160 Tokyo and I think I will keep that ceiling quite high going 1009 00:57:05,160 --> 00:57:08,680 forward. But I also just know that this 1010 00:57:08,680 --> 00:57:11,760 sport doesn't really care about what you've done a year or two 1011 00:57:11,760 --> 00:57:15,800 ago, and I'm just going to keep showing up in the moment to do 1012 00:57:15,800 --> 00:57:17,560 what I can do. Yeah, that's what I was going to 1013 00:57:17,560 --> 00:57:20,840 add to. Is that just the idea of a metal 1014 00:57:21,360 --> 00:57:24,160 also feels just very difficult when you're coming up coming at 1015 00:57:24,160 --> 00:57:27,960 this from like in an era where the event as it is at an all 1016 00:57:27,960 --> 00:57:31,560 time high And then in general, it's like you, yes. 1017 00:57:31,560 --> 00:57:36,480 I mean, kudos to Keely and Mary Maura for like their consistency 1018 00:57:36,480 --> 00:57:39,480 of getting to that level, but their federations have just 1019 00:57:39,480 --> 00:57:41,800 exemptions for them to just be named to the team. 1020 00:57:42,000 --> 00:57:45,160 You've got your hands full with, you know, two to three rounds of 1021 00:57:45,560 --> 00:57:48,560 AUS championships every year where it's like there is no 1022 00:57:48,640 --> 00:57:53,360 favoritism happening there. No, not, not like nothing, is 1023 00:57:53,560 --> 00:57:55,080 it? It doesn't really make it easy 1024 00:57:55,080 --> 00:57:57,880 for you. You know, it even like how you 1025 00:57:57,880 --> 00:57:59,800 say that sometimes there's a little bit of a disconnect 1026 00:57:59,800 --> 00:58:02,480 between like how people run earlier in the year in AUS 1027 00:58:02,480 --> 00:58:04,160 championships and then how they do it Worlds. 1028 00:58:04,160 --> 00:58:07,880 Like you can't build your schedule just around the World 1029 00:58:07,880 --> 00:58:11,640 Championships, which is such a which is in some ways a 1030 00:58:11,640 --> 00:58:16,280 disservice to the athletes. But I think also the US system 1031 00:58:16,280 --> 00:58:21,280 with how many people we do have, it is better in terms of like 1032 00:58:21,280 --> 00:58:25,400 the amount of drama and noise that can be around a lot of team 1033 00:58:25,400 --> 00:58:29,200 selection procedures. So I'm, I'm still all for the 1034 00:58:29,200 --> 00:58:31,160 top three at the US Championships. 1035 00:58:31,160 --> 00:58:37,080 But yeah, it definitely is just an added challenge to have that 1036 00:58:37,080 --> 00:58:40,320 sort of consistency as like you kind of have to go through 1037 00:58:41,080 --> 00:58:44,280 similar like level of competition to like a first 1038 00:58:44,280 --> 00:58:46,800 round or two at Worlds before you even get there. 1039 00:58:47,120 --> 00:58:51,360 Like to me, there wasn't this huge euphoric moment after USAS 1040 00:58:51,360 --> 00:58:54,440 because I think in my head, a lot of it was like, OK, we've 1041 00:58:54,440 --> 00:58:59,880 just done the first 3 rounds and we have three more rounds to go. 1042 00:59:00,200 --> 00:59:02,760 It was just a little bit of like, well, the job's not done 1043 00:59:02,760 --> 00:59:03,720 here. Yeah. 1044 00:59:04,240 --> 00:59:07,240 Oh man, it's so stressful when you wouldn't, when you kind of 1045 00:59:07,240 --> 00:59:09,840 just like compile it all and describe it that way. 1046 00:59:09,920 --> 00:59:13,800 And so, I mean, mission accomplished for everything that 1047 00:59:13,800 --> 00:59:17,640 that you accomplished to, you know, get to this point this 1048 00:59:17,640 --> 00:59:20,640 year. So at this point, what are you 1049 00:59:21,040 --> 00:59:23,360 looking forward to the most? You know about this break 'cause 1050 00:59:23,360 --> 00:59:26,680 it has been such a long year. Yeah, every, I feel like 1051 00:59:26,680 --> 00:59:28,320 everyone had these big vacation plans. 1052 00:59:28,720 --> 00:59:32,680 I don't have vacation plans because Joe is in the midst of 1053 00:59:32,680 --> 00:59:36,120 marathon training and I feel a little guilty. 1054 00:59:36,120 --> 00:59:40,800 Like this guy is, you know, running 120 plus mile weeks, 1055 00:59:40,800 --> 00:59:44,000 taking care of our 4 pets all by himself, like trying to keep the 1056 00:59:44,000 --> 00:59:46,760 house together. And I'm just like, yeah, I'm 1057 00:59:46,760 --> 00:59:48,920 going to Europe, I'm going to Tokyo. 1058 00:59:48,920 --> 00:59:52,520 Like just the whole year I've been, I feel like I've just sort 1059 00:59:52,520 --> 00:59:56,040 of left him high and dry. And so I'm just being a little 1060 00:59:56,040 --> 01:00:01,680 bit of like the, the marathon wife and going to his races. 1061 01:00:01,680 --> 01:00:05,960 So I would say I have a few little things, but like now. 1062 01:00:06,760 --> 01:00:08,400 It's not about me. It's a little bit more about 1063 01:00:08,400 --> 01:00:09,800 like the lead up to New York City. 1064 01:00:09,800 --> 01:00:12,640 And you know, I'm from New York, I love New York City. 1065 01:00:13,000 --> 01:00:14,560 Like I just can't wait for that weekend. 1066 01:00:14,560 --> 01:00:16,600 That's my my big thing on the horizon. 1067 01:00:17,120 --> 01:00:20,720 No, it's going to be it's the the best day in the best city of 1068 01:00:20,840 --> 01:00:23,520 like the entire year. One fun question that was 1069 01:00:23,520 --> 01:00:27,200 submitted in my group chat with like the the girls who I run 1070 01:00:27,200 --> 01:00:29,760 with on the Central Park Track Club is like they want to know 1071 01:00:29,760 --> 01:00:33,200 about your eye makeup and like what, what, what was the story, 1072 01:00:33,200 --> 01:00:34,440 I guess behind that? Yeah. 1073 01:00:34,440 --> 01:00:40,640 So I, I just always do the winged eyeliner and then the, I 1074 01:00:40,640 --> 01:00:44,640 started bringing in some of this additional white eyeliner last 1075 01:00:44,640 --> 01:00:47,440 year at the Olympic trials when I was going to the 1500, I was 1076 01:00:47,440 --> 01:00:50,440 just like, I just needed something else to like, I don't 1077 01:00:50,440 --> 01:00:53,600 know, I just needed a little bit of change, a couple extra little 1078 01:00:53,600 --> 01:00:57,240 things going on. And for me that like the, when I 1079 01:00:57,240 --> 01:01:01,520 pull up the white line eyeliner, it means like, you know, it's a 1080 01:01:01,520 --> 01:01:04,600 little bit of like a war pain. It's like we are going full on 1081 01:01:04,600 --> 01:01:06,600 today. If the white eyeliner is out, 1082 01:01:07,160 --> 01:01:13,640 then we, this is like serious. And so that was just like, I, 1083 01:01:13,800 --> 01:01:16,760 that's how I was taking every single round that the first 1084 01:01:16,760 --> 01:01:19,200 round I was like, OK, definitely doing this. 1085 01:01:19,560 --> 01:01:22,760 And then I, I just really like the second round. 1086 01:01:22,760 --> 01:01:24,960 I was like, we're going to war. And I really liked how that 1087 01:01:24,960 --> 01:01:27,120 turned out. So I just repeated that same 1088 01:01:27,120 --> 01:01:30,280 exact design for the, for the final. 1089 01:01:30,280 --> 01:01:32,600 So yeah. And it had gone so well. 1090 01:01:32,600 --> 01:01:34,560 I was like, OK, we're just going to do exactly what we did the 1091 01:01:34,560 --> 01:01:36,280 other day. I. 1092 01:01:36,480 --> 01:01:39,960 All right, so word of warning to all of your future competitors. 1093 01:01:39,960 --> 01:01:43,000 It's like if you see Sage with the white eyeliner on, it's like 1094 01:01:43,000 --> 01:01:46,920 it's on. Yeah, it means that I am trying 1095 01:01:46,920 --> 01:01:50,640 to get that little boost. Also thing I noticed three 1096 01:01:50,640 --> 01:01:53,240 different uniforms, right? I guess like it's when USA gives 1097 01:01:53,240 --> 01:01:55,920 you all of these different options, you might as well 1098 01:01:55,920 --> 01:01:59,600 exhaust them or like, was there a reason behind, you know, the. 1099 01:01:59,600 --> 01:02:04,640 Order that you chose. It was definitely like USA gives 1100 01:02:04,640 --> 01:02:06,920 us the options and then there's that like special if you make 1101 01:02:06,920 --> 01:02:08,640 the final, you get a different uniform. 1102 01:02:08,640 --> 01:02:09,640 Oh really? I didn't know that. 1103 01:02:09,880 --> 01:02:12,240 Yeah, yeah. Like in the prelims, everyone's 1104 01:02:12,240 --> 01:02:15,960 wearing this like this striped uniform and then it's like a 1105 01:02:15,960 --> 01:02:19,400 speckled uniform in the in the finals. 1106 01:02:20,160 --> 01:02:22,760 And so that would just automatically was going to be a 1107 01:02:22,760 --> 01:02:25,160 different uniform. And when you're like going 1108 01:02:25,160 --> 01:02:27,520 through team processing, you put in your request of like what 1109 01:02:27,520 --> 01:02:33,320 style you want for that uniform. And I actually, I wasn't 1110 01:02:33,320 --> 01:02:37,800 originally going to wear the speed suit in one of the earlier 1111 01:02:37,800 --> 01:02:41,280 rounds, but just the way that my laundry worked out that it was 1112 01:02:41,280 --> 01:02:45,040 the one because like there's I had worked out in a pair of the 1113 01:02:45,040 --> 01:02:46,800 shorts. And so it was just like, OK, 1114 01:02:46,800 --> 01:02:51,000 well, this is what's clean. No, that's what I was going to 1115 01:02:51,080 --> 01:02:53,320 say was that. So you do have to switch it up 1116 01:02:53,320 --> 01:02:56,560 like there's no I'm superstitious. 1117 01:02:56,600 --> 01:02:58,800 I did great in the semi final uniform. 1118 01:02:58,800 --> 01:03:01,360 I just you know, I'll wash it and I'll get right back in it 1119 01:03:01,360 --> 01:03:03,440 for the for the final. You had the switch. 1120 01:03:03,720 --> 01:03:07,040 I don't know, maybe someone is superstitious like that, but I 1121 01:03:07,040 --> 01:03:08,840 feel like I don't know. It's also a little bit of a 1122 01:03:08,840 --> 01:03:13,120 point of pride of like I made the final and I'm going to get 1123 01:03:13,360 --> 01:03:16,240 this like special uniform. I'm like, I feel like this is 1124 01:03:16,240 --> 01:03:20,200 definitely usat well, I guess all the Nike teams I think have 1125 01:03:20,200 --> 01:03:23,200 these finals uniforms. So it's definitely like a Nike 1126 01:03:23,200 --> 01:03:26,640 thing of like, you know, incentivizing people to do well 1127 01:03:26,640 --> 01:03:28,480 a little bit. Once again this like peer 1128 01:03:28,480 --> 01:03:33,680 pressure aspect of performance. One other I guess fun question 1129 01:03:33,680 --> 01:03:37,480 that came up is when I was scrolling through Dathan's like 1130 01:03:37,480 --> 01:03:40,160 Instagram posts that he made of like the whole team. 1131 01:03:40,480 --> 01:03:43,440 There's a short video of you like warming up or doing strides 1132 01:03:43,440 --> 01:03:46,760 in some dark alley like when was this? 1133 01:03:47,320 --> 01:03:52,040 This was after the semi final, especially between rounds, like 1134 01:03:52,280 --> 01:03:56,280 sometimes Nathan just likes to have me do a couple of strides. 1135 01:03:57,800 --> 01:04:04,080 And so we I would cool down from the stadium to like Dathan had 1136 01:04:04,080 --> 01:04:08,120 an Airbnb that was like a little bit closer to the warm up track. 1137 01:04:08,760 --> 01:04:12,080 And so this was just some like random alley that was sort of 1138 01:04:12,080 --> 01:04:15,200 like the clearest. And it was only I, I, it was, 1139 01:04:15,200 --> 01:04:18,320 these strides were only 9 seconds long because it was not 1140 01:04:18,320 --> 01:04:21,200 very long alley. It was just sort of like the 1141 01:04:21,200 --> 01:04:23,640 clearest path. And Dathan was like, oh, this is 1142 01:04:23,640 --> 01:04:26,280 so cool. This is like my rocky, rocky 1143 01:04:26,280 --> 01:04:29,640 moment, you know? Because I saw that I was like, 1144 01:04:30,040 --> 01:04:34,040 is that before the the final or semi final that just like in 1145 01:04:34,040 --> 01:04:36,480 this dark alley? Yeah, that's that's the, that's 1146 01:04:36,480 --> 01:04:38,080 part of the post race cooldown there. 1147 01:04:38,160 --> 01:04:40,600 Gotcha. What did you make of just like 1148 01:04:40,600 --> 01:04:45,160 the whole added curveball of like having to get on the but 1149 01:04:45,160 --> 01:04:49,200 well-being taken to the warm up track, the bus, the call room, 1150 01:04:49,480 --> 01:04:51,920 like that was a whole nother just sort of thing that 1151 01:04:51,920 --> 01:04:54,720 everyone, everyone competing at the World Championships had to 1152 01:04:54,720 --> 01:04:57,520 deal with. Yeah, once again, I felt like I 1153 01:04:57,600 --> 01:05:00,920 lucked out a little bit in being in the second-half because I was 1154 01:05:00,920 --> 01:05:02,400 able to hear a little bit from my teammates. 1155 01:05:02,400 --> 01:05:05,120 And I'd also seen Nikki Helts. And Nikki Helts was telling me 1156 01:05:05,120 --> 01:05:08,840 like, yeah, it really isn't that big of a deal. 1157 01:05:09,040 --> 01:05:12,560 And I'm also someone who airs on the side of I would rather get 1158 01:05:12,560 --> 01:05:17,080 my warm up done earlier and just have some time to like rest, 1159 01:05:17,360 --> 01:05:22,520 like feel like fully rested and in the zone before I race. 1160 01:05:22,680 --> 01:05:25,120 I, I think it's funny, I feel like there's a little bit of a 1161 01:05:25,120 --> 01:05:28,920 difference in like the distance world versus this Sprint world a 1162 01:05:28,920 --> 01:05:31,680 little bit in terms of like what you're doing in those final 1163 01:05:31,680 --> 01:05:35,280 moments before race. It's even like when they brought 1164 01:05:35,280 --> 01:05:38,200 us out to the track for the final, we were on the track for 1165 01:05:38,200 --> 01:05:40,360 a long time and there was a long period of time where everyone 1166 01:05:40,360 --> 01:05:43,760 just like sitting down or standing there 'cause no one's 1167 01:05:43,760 --> 01:05:45,720 trying to like expend any extra energy. 1168 01:05:46,000 --> 01:05:48,720 Sometimes in this, like when I'm running more than 15 or a longer 1169 01:05:48,720 --> 01:05:51,760 event, it's just like people are doing strides and like trying to 1170 01:05:51,760 --> 01:05:57,480 do everything to stay warm. But it really to me, it was just 1171 01:05:57,520 --> 01:06:01,520 a good like mental reset of like, OK, now we're going in and 1172 01:06:01,720 --> 01:06:04,280 we've done everything that we need to do before basically 1173 01:06:04,280 --> 01:06:07,880 fully warmed up, put the sweat suit on and just when I get 1174 01:06:07,880 --> 01:06:11,240 under, do a couple strides, jog a couple minutes and we'll be 1175 01:06:11,240 --> 01:06:16,560 ready to go. So 3 canyons, 2 British training 1176 01:06:16,560 --> 01:06:19,920 partners and teammates. Like is there some chitchat like 1177 01:06:19,920 --> 01:06:22,840 on the bus you know then to the call room and stadium? 1178 01:06:22,840 --> 01:06:25,040 Or is this like a dead silent bus? 1179 01:06:25,160 --> 01:06:27,080 It's a dead silent bus. Yeah. 1180 01:06:27,560 --> 01:06:31,240 I feel like especially in these moments like leading into a 1181 01:06:31,240 --> 01:06:34,520 final or something like that, there's no room for chitchat, 1182 01:06:34,880 --> 01:06:37,800 even amongst teammates. You know, they're very much 1183 01:06:37,800 --> 01:06:39,600 trying to accomplish their own things. 1184 01:06:40,000 --> 01:06:42,320 You know, they're not showing. They're not necessarily even 1185 01:06:42,320 --> 01:06:45,240 showing up to the call room together 'cause they have their 1186 01:06:45,240 --> 01:06:47,560 independent things that they need to do to prepare. 1187 01:06:48,040 --> 01:06:51,840 And I feel like even if there is some camaraderie in the sport or 1188 01:06:51,840 --> 01:06:55,560 in events, you don't see it in those moments leading up. 1189 01:06:56,240 --> 01:06:58,840 Yeah, I had heard from like one of the 1500 guys that it was 1190 01:06:58,840 --> 01:07:03,960 like Jakob was on the bus just like talking to people before, 1191 01:07:03,960 --> 01:07:07,200 like the 1500 first round. And they were like, that's when 1192 01:07:07,200 --> 01:07:10,040 we knew something was up and that he probably wasn't 100%. 1193 01:07:10,040 --> 01:07:11,920 It's because he's just yapping. Yeah. 1194 01:07:12,680 --> 01:07:15,520 Yeah, what do you say in that moment either, you know. 1195 01:07:16,000 --> 01:07:16,880 Yeah, right. It's like that's. 1196 01:07:16,880 --> 01:07:17,800 My biggest thing? What am I? 1197 01:07:17,840 --> 01:07:19,280 What? What do I have to say right now? 1198 01:07:19,280 --> 01:07:22,000 Nothing really. The bus driver doesn't even like 1199 01:07:22,000 --> 01:07:25,800 put on music or anything for like the whole they just no. 1200 01:07:27,120 --> 01:07:29,720 Just a silent ride. Oh my gosh, like if it. 1201 01:07:29,720 --> 01:07:32,440 You were you were allowed to listen to music if you wanted. 1202 01:07:32,600 --> 01:07:36,400 OK like you could put headphones on but most people honestly 1203 01:07:36,400 --> 01:07:38,960 didn't even do that, just get to the track. 1204 01:07:39,240 --> 01:07:42,800 The curveball would be just like pulling out a book and just like 1205 01:07:42,800 --> 01:07:46,120 sitting there and reading a book then or pretend to read a book. 1206 01:07:46,120 --> 01:07:47,600 It's everyone else would be like, there's no. 1207 01:07:47,960 --> 01:07:50,280 Reading, yeah. Oh my gosh. 1208 01:07:51,040 --> 01:07:53,200 And then what book you decide to pull out? 1209 01:07:53,560 --> 01:07:55,240 You could get really creative with that. 1210 01:07:55,320 --> 01:07:58,040 Oh, it's just like the Art of War. 1211 01:07:58,040 --> 01:08:01,400 Or then after that, it could be, it could just you could take it 1212 01:08:01,400 --> 01:08:04,320 to a different extreme and it's like a court of thorn and roses 1213 01:08:04,320 --> 01:08:05,880 or something like that. They're like, wow, really? 1214 01:08:06,240 --> 01:08:08,840 Right before the final I. Was like, I was writing the you 1215 01:08:08,840 --> 01:08:10,720 know the best part you gotta keep. 1216 01:08:12,040 --> 01:08:15,360 Reading. Oh man, yeah, that word of word 1217 01:08:15,640 --> 01:08:18,840 to the wise for World Athletics. Let them bring books to to the 1218 01:08:19,200 --> 01:08:21,760 warm up track in the call room. Yeah, the craziest thing would 1219 01:08:21,760 --> 01:08:26,240 be reading in the call room. Oh yeah, hold on one SEC. 1220 01:08:26,240 --> 01:08:27,560 I'm like I'm getting to the good part. 1221 01:08:28,800 --> 01:08:31,600 Awesome. Well, Sage, thanks so much for 1222 01:08:31,600 --> 01:08:35,880 taking the time to reflect on just an epic, epic World 1223 01:08:35,880 --> 01:08:38,600 Championships and a great season in general. 1224 01:08:38,600 --> 01:08:42,640 And I'm looking forward to more from you in the 800. 1225 01:08:42,680 --> 01:08:45,880 You'll never hear me ask you about the 1500 ever again. 1226 01:08:46,279 --> 01:08:49,319 Yeah. I mean, I did also publicly say 1227 01:08:49,319 --> 01:08:51,319 on the Coffee Club podcast that I was going to switch to the 1228 01:08:51,319 --> 01:08:55,000 1500 and so on this next podcast that I'm doing, I would like to 1229 01:08:55,399 --> 01:08:58,240 take that back. It's official. 1230 01:09:01,399 --> 01:09:03,080 Thank you all for listening to this episode. 1231 01:09:03,080 --> 01:09:05,120 This episode was produced by Jasmine Fair. 1232 01:09:05,319 --> 01:09:07,960 I love doing this for you guys. So please do me a favor and 1233 01:09:07,960 --> 01:09:11,240 leave a five star view on Apple Podcast or Spotify that helps us 1234 01:09:11,240 --> 01:09:13,399 grow the show and get even more awesome guests. 1235 01:09:13,880 --> 01:09:15,439 Let me know what you're enjoying about the show. 1236 01:09:15,640 --> 01:09:17,920 Make sure you're subscribed or following on your favorite 1237 01:09:17,920 --> 01:09:19,720 podcast. Players, please share this 1238 01:09:19,720 --> 01:09:22,120 episode with your friends if you think that they'll get any value 1239 01:09:22,120 --> 01:09:24,399 or inspiration out of it. Let's build this thing together. 1240 01:09:24,560 --> 01:09:26,560 Visit citysmack.com for a lot more. 1241 01:09:26,560 --> 01:09:28,920 We've got a brand new website with tons more articles, videos 1242 01:09:28,920 --> 01:09:31,359 and podcasts. As always, I love track and 1243 01:09:31,359 --> 01:09:33,560 field. I'm Chris Chavez, see you next 1244 01:09:33,560 --> 01:09:33,760 time.