Kind: captions
Language: en
hey everybody Welcome to impact Theory
you're here my friends because you
believe that human potential is nearly
Limitless but you know as I do that
having potential is not the same as
actually doing something with it so our
goal with this show and Company is to
introduce you to the people and ideas
that are going to help you actually
execute on your dreams all right today's
guest is a super level badass not only
is she a full-time corporate attorney at
global Powerhouse Apple she is
undeniably one of the toughest humans
alive it wasn't enough for her just to
be a standout attorney so at 28 she Dove
headlong into the impossibly grueling
sport of obstacle course racing a sport
where people actually die and since
beginning she has racked up what is
arguably the most impressive resume of
any female in the sport and her
accomplishments prove that whatever men
can do women can do just as well in her
career she's had 30 victories and more
than than 50 podiums she's won the
24-hour world's toughest mutter three
times one of those victories coming just
8 weeks8 weeks after knee surgery she
was also the Spartan Race World Champion
in 2013 she's been the Spartan Race
points Series champion twice and she has
three times finished the Death Race a
race that is literally designed to break
you and has the slogan you may live
having now also survived 2016 which she
dubbed her year of healing after
fracturing her femur from all of the
racing and training she has begun to
discover yet another Talent Sports
commentating even though she could make
a living as a sponsored athlete and
commentator she maintains her intense
day job at Apple to ensure that she's
challenged both body and mind please
help me in welcoming the Pop-Tart and
ketchup craving race ninja who has been
called the Michael Jordan of obstacle
course racing Amelia
boom Amelia thank you so much for coming
for having me it is an absolute pleasure
man I hope I can do that intro Justice
you've already done that intro Justice
it's really really crazy what you've
accomplished but I'll be honest the
thing that I'm most interested in
obviously 2016 was a brutal year for you
but reading your blogs about what you've
been going through I think is the thing
that's going to be most valuable to
people you talk a lot about doing the
hard things but tell us what have you
learned from Rock Bottom yeah 2016 has
been an interesting year for me it was
was a fracture in the femur where I had
an entire year plan and then just
everything was wiped from that and so
for me what I found is actually that
hitting rock bottom that's the time
where you are forced to then really look
inwards and discover who you are it's
great when you're on top when you're
riding this wave when you're winning
race after race it's easy to ignore the
hard things it's easy to ignore your
problems or to just push them aside or
to think I'll deal with that later or
just you're riding this wave and when
it's you're sitting there and it's just
you and yourself you some you have to
confront that and so for me that's what
this entire year has been and what's
been so interesting to me actually is
that more people have come out to me and
said yes thank you and you are relatable
and this has been so helpful to me and
so I'm learning that the more that I let
people in and say look like I go through
hard times too that I hit rock bottom um
that I suffer and that I you know am
vulnerable that people relate to that
and it's been amazing is that meaningful
to you to be able to help other people
through this by sharing your journey I
think so I didn't start out that way
kind of like when I started out with
obstacle racing I I didn't set out to be
an athlete it was for me it was a fun ja
with friends on a weekend a 10 m
obstacle through mode yeah right that it
was just it was like hey let's get
electrocuted by these wires and cool and
have a beer at the end and get a
headband but so I didn't intend for it
to turn into a second career such as
when I you know when I got injured I
didn't intend to to necessarily help
other people with it but when I I
realized the way that I deal with things
is through writing and through blogging
and for me it was almost a personal a
Personal Diary in a journal and and I'm
like if people read it great if they
don't fine for me it's all about the
process and healing myself and I've been
incredible that it's been able to help
other people yeah it's amazing cuz when
I started the research I didn't know
that you'd gotten injured so I knew Tim
and I had talked about you he was on the
podcast
that put you on my radar and said just
you know the things you'd accomplished
were so incredible and so we were like
oh my God we got to get her on the show
could be really really amazing and I
dive into the research and I'm hearing
all the stuff that you win and and all
these interesting questions which we
will get to about like why women do
better and longer races which is utterly
fascinating to me um and then sort of I
discovered in real time in the research
that you'd actually spent all of 2016
out with an injury and then you like
quintupled in interest for me because
watching you process it out loud and
really go through that and um talk about
things like fear and the lessons that
you were learning from that was actually
really motivating and inspiring for me
um what's a lesson that fear has taught
you I think that I have learned that if
something is fearful to you then you
need to do it and you need to explore it
and fear is a very powerful emotion and
there were so many things that I was
afraid of this past year with injury and
like not being able to come back yeah
and I'm still I 110% honest I still
struggle with that every single day you
lose that confidence as an athlete
whenever you are knocked off of your
pedestal or whatever you're on your
track and you're forced to kind of come
back and and question whether or not you
can quote unquote get back to where you
were that's something that you really
have to work through and I've never
really had to deal with that just
self-doubt and I so I think for me fear
is teaching me almost to reframe and to
think that it's not getting back to
where I was it's shaping myself as a new
person going forward and um to realize
and to embrace those opportunities it's
really incredible you actually put
something up on your mirror when the
injury happened I forget the name of the
book forgive me but um Cheryl str's
brave enough yes thank you perfect so
here was the quote fear thank you for
being here you're my indication that I'm
doing what I need to do exactly why do
you think it is that cuz I am obsessed
with that notion like that really sits
at the heart of my being and this show
makes me incredibly anxious and when we
originally talking about doing this I
was like oh dear God like I don't know
don't want to be in a camera literally I
had I truly had no desire to be out
front that was not what I wanted to do
um but because it was one of those
things that scared me as as much as it
did and I have a rule in my life because
I try to avoid pain so frequently uh
that if it scares me then I have to do
it just to become the person that I want
to be right so cuz I'm a person left to
sort of my own natural inclinations I'm
very lazy I'm very fearful and I will
just recede into the background and
accomplish nothing um so I found that
the fear had something to do with stakes
and so I always put myself in that
situation when did you develop that
notion of fear being a Guiding Light and
how are you using it now through what
you're going through well it's
interesting because I
actually throughout childhood and
growing up I was not a risk taker and I
still to this day I don't consider
myself a risk taker but a lot of people
would say when you entered that first
24-hour race in New Jersey in December
and it was 20° when you were going
through ice in the middle of the night
is that not taking risks that's a fair
question and I think that what I've
realized is I'm like okay well it's a
calculator risk but no um I try andum
justify it
but for me confronting that fear that
first of all the first time you do it
it's so I mean it's so paralyzing but it
becomes easier and you realize that and
if you incorporate that if you make it a
practice then the daytoday Things become
easier and so for me as a kid who was
actually very fearful and very I don't
want to take risks I want to stay in
inside this shell and this is my life
plan and I literally probably when I was
13 years old had my entire life planned
out it is nowhere where I am right now
and thank God it's not and I think that
it's been through the experiences of
challenging myself and through
confronting that headon and embracing
the fear and embracing the pain that
I've then come to where I am what I love
is one of the stories you were telling
you said there's something to be said
about the naive of the beginner and that
in the beginning I was actually less
afraid of obstacles than I am now like
the electricity electric eel didn't it
make you black out at one point it did
it did so it's there's this awful awful
says the non-risk taker right yeah but
it's
right it's also one of those things that
I think that you look back now and I'm I
see that obstacle I'm petrified of it
because of those experiences that you
associated with but I think at the time
where you don't really know what's going
on you're like sure why not and it's
also the middle of the night and you're
exhausted and you're not thinking
straight so you might as well get zapped
in the head uh I'm not sure I've ever
had that
thought but I think that I'm always a
Guiding Light for me has always been
that I want to seek that next challenge
and that I want to constantly find the
new hard thing and so when I at the
rifled age of 28 started to become a
quote unquote professional athlete it
was just this new challenge for me and
it was how can I do that and so every
every thing that I encountered you know
whether it was that obstacle on that
course that scared the hell out of me
was going to
be pushing myself to that new limit do
you think about identity at all like
your own identity
I do actually what's interesting is that
I don't know how to introduce myself to
people because it also depends on who
I'm talking to that's interesting
because when people so you meet people
at a party and they say oh hi I'm ailia
oh ailia what do you
do and most people will give their
profession most people say five years
ago they said oh I'm really I'm an
attorney or if I'm around a bunch of
athletes what do I do I say I'm I'm an
obstacle racer do I say I'm a so I go
through this notion of of what I am and
I kind of like that I don't have to
Define it and I don't want to Define it
and I don't like the labels because I've
realized now that I don't have
to narrowly Define myself in a box and
that I can constantly reinvent myself
and I feel like not enough people do
that or give themselves the
opportunities to do that yeah
Reinventing ition to me has been really
important in my life the way that I
think about identity is um maybe
adjacent to that which is I I have this
Vision in my head about who I want to
become and part of the reason that I
have to do the things that scare me is
because the person that I want to become
would do those things um and that as I
tell myself and I don't know like if
this is just me or if a lot of people do
this but I'm always telling myself a
story about myself right like you're the
type of person that does that you get
out of bed fast you do this you do
things that scare you all of that to
sort of create this self-fulfilling
prophecy in myself so that's why it was
so interesting for me to hear that you
know you would think that as you're
doing these obstacle races that they
would get easier so when you're saying
that in some ways they actually get more
difficult um that was really fascinating
and you have a super interesting way of
dealing with that which I'll call
chunking I don't know I don't know use
that word I'll take that I'm a huge
Goonies fan so anything that is like CH
Truffle Shuffle and chunk I'll I'll go
with yes
so you break things up into small pieces
yeah so I find that people get if you
look at the entirety of a task it's very
easy to get overwhelmed and so for me
you start you start a 24-hour race or
you start a 100 mile race and you're you
look at the clock and you realize I'm
two I have 22 hours left to go and I'm
exhausted right now and that's
overwhelming that's when people quit so
instead in my mind I think okay I'm
going through if I'm going through a
really rough patch in a race because
thingss and flows I think just get to
the next obstacle just get to the next
obstacle just get to the next lap and
not think about the
entire like the grand scheme of things
it's just these little
compartmentalizing things so when you're
going through so much pain and when
you're going through hardship that's the
thing that keeps me sayane is just to
not think about the endgame to not try
and think about 2 days from now when
this race will be over but just the task
at hand is there a certain way that you
want to be when it comes to pain like I
want to charge through pain or how do
you conceptualize pain I make friends
with pain I think that pain is something
that we're so fearful of we spend so
much money trying to avoid pain and
which is kind of funny because I think a
lot of the r the rise of these these
endurance races and obstacle racing is
is kind of interesting as our lives
become easier and we're able to avoid
pain people are actually paying to seek
out pain it's interesting I've never
thought of it like that right um there's
a fantastic documentary that I'm I'm
part of uh call the rise of the suffer
Fest that where they they actually the
the director actually Chronicles the
rise of these races and so it's a good
look at it
but I make friends with pain because I
think pain is something that teaches us
so many lessons and so during a race if
I'm like okay all right my right hip
kind kind of hurts right now all right
right hip how are you doing and I I
actually will talk to my body and then
you work through it it's a process and I
actually find that it changes so there
have been times where I started a
24-hour race and my calf started
seasoning up and I'm like how am I going
to make it through 24 hours 10 miles
later the calf was fine it was on to the
next thing and so there's such a
mindbody connection
that if you can talk to your physical
pain I find it's much easier to deal
with do you think mental toughness can
be cultivated I absolutely think so so
what's that
process for me I think that it's it's
doing the hard things it's not taking
the easy way out do you like make a list
like these are the hard things or no
well I think that the hard things are
different for everyone and I think that
you kind of know because you go back to
that notion of fear and if you're
fearful of it that's a hard thing for
you
for instance I realized very early on
when I was trying to become an attorney
that I always had this notion that I
wanted to be a prosecutor and on and on
stage and things like that and I
realized I don't do public speaking very
well and that it would seize up and it
was awful for me so I had because I've
seen you do public speaking very very
well but it's one of those things that
I've had to cultivate and it's one of
those things that I've had to practice
and
so I think that that the hard things you
know give
you cultivate that mental toughness and
people say okay well how do I how do I
make it a habit or how do I how do I
cultivate mental toughness and I say
well that's what you do you make it a
habit is that you don't give yourself
the option and something you you pick
something put it into your routine
whether it's waking up 30 minutes
earlier every day so you can actually
get out the door to move your body
and you just don't think about it you
don't give yourself the option to not do
it all right talk to me about training
in non-ideal conditions cuz that's one
of the tactics you use right right yes
so training when it's raining outside
there are a lot of people if it's
raining if it's snowing we'll say I'll
get on the treadmill today why you know
like that's easy and it's boring um but
if you're so I love running when it's
cold running when it's dark and because
you know you're getting more tough
that's why you love it it well it also
part of me I feel more alive I like to
be out of Nature and so I feel more
alive but I also think that yeah it it
forces you to to go through hard things
in non-ideal conditions that then yes
indirectly help cultivate T toughness is
a weird kind of nebulous word and
there's so many different things that
can go into that but I think what it
does is that it cultivates
a a willingness and a drive and a
discipline to get through those things
CU I'm I think now I'm like okay I used
to live in Chicago and I would go out a
run when it was negative
10° and if I can do that I can
definitely go out and run in San
Francisco when it's 60 degrees and
raining you know
so it's all about comparisons so one of
the um writers that had written an
article about you said I don't know if
you said this to him or if he just made
it up but he said I I think she runs in
the rain and when it's cold because she
knows that her competitors are packing
it up and going inside is that
true it maybe used to be true but now no
longer I think maybe I let out all my
secrets and now what everyone else is
doing it but yeah I mean I I used to
when I was training for world's toughest
mutter that first year and we all run in
wet suits cuz you have to because it's
freezing cold you're in out of water and
you lose all your body heat over 24
hours so I would take my wet suit out
and go run around in Chicago when you
know it was it was 30° and jump in and
out of the lake and no one else was
doing that what a surprise know and
actually the the police officers really
didn't like it so it was kind of weird
to so but those are the things that make
you
uncomfortable and like like we said said
that uncomfortable tells you okay that's
what I need to be doing so what I love
about that is it's so simple right so
how do you deal with the things that are
uncomfortable that are going to or that
you need to get more tough you go out
and do them right so you set the alarm
you get up 30 minutes earlier you put
your wet suit on you run when it's rainy
you jump in the lake things that
obviously are unpleasant but in their
unpleasantness actually they begin to
toughen you have you read Angela
Duckworth's book grit no I haven't it's
on I have a list of like a list of books
a mile long and it's on there it's
moving up yeah I mean you're you could
have been interviewed for the book I
don't think there's any argument about
that but it's it's a just an amazing
scientific recounting of why it works
what's at play like how you actually
develop it and I think she was really
one of the first people to say that grd
is like a muscle cuz I think people
think that a lot of foundational things
like internal fortitude you either have
or you don't and she really laid out
like that is just not true that you
really can develop your Grit has it
gotten easier for you to like jump in
the lake for instance which I'm sure the
first time was pretty hard or is it has
it actually maintained its difficulty
but you just demand it it comes and goes
I think it there are certain things that
definitely get easier um but then there
are also things that I it's funny I
don't people always ask me if I do all
the cold exposure and Ice baths and
things like that and honestly I have
been so cold in all of these races and
so miserable that I almost prefer I'm
like ah you know unless there's a race
on the line I kind of like my hot
showers and
so it's this give and take about when
I'm willing to and when I'm not but it
it definitely is it's one of those
things that I think that you can get out
of practice if you're not constantly you
know exposing yourself to those
conditions that it can be very pleasant
and great and and then you realize
you're like oh no wait wait wait wait
let's Flex that muscle again train it so
that's interesting do you have a set
routine that you do as you prepare for
something do you cycle through those
things like now is the time to be cold
now is the time to do ultra long
distance like how do you prep what does
that look like yeah I think it depends
definitely depends on the race um and
exactly what I'm going for but I think
yes in terms of training I cycle through
various train points in the year in
terms of building strength and then in
terms of building mileage and then
backing those down because what's
interesting about obstacle racing is
that you have to be such a well-rounded
athlete and we have to mix
this this ultimate mix of speed and
strength and skill and endurance and so
you can't just if you're just a if
you're a runner if you go run a marathon
you never really need to train your
upper body but we're crawling over
things and jumping over things and so
you have to be so well-rounded that it's
kind of this fun little game of figuring
out the right combination I love that
you call it a fun game so people people
watching right now almost certainly are
dismissing you as just being well she's
so gifted athletically of course she's
doing well at this but you actually
couldn't do a pull-up when you started
these courses if I'm not mistaken no no
I I was very very weak in terms of
absolute strength I spent 6 months
trying to do a pull-up to prepare for
the race and I couldn't do it couldn't
do it and I went out to that race and I
fell off all the obstacles I had no
strength and I loved it though because
to me
I all of a sudden had this new challenge
in front of me I was like I was really
bad at that let's try and get better I
love that and you know I didn't come
from a stellar athletic background or
anything like that but I all of a sudden
found this new purpose and I was when
did you develop that that that you would
look at something that you failed at you
tried for six months and still failed
and go wow now I'm excited cuz I have
this challenge I think I've part of me
has always had that I don't I don't I
don't like failure nobody likes failure
fine and so it's one of those things
where I it's almost like I wanted to
write it it was one of those things that
I failed at that and now it is going to
be my new task to to achieve that to go
do that and
so you know I I think that that was one
of the the first things that I realized
that really drew me to this so yeah I
loved when I came across that cuz I did
assume that oh you must have been
athletically gifted I mean your physique
is ridiculous I mean it's crazy and as
somebody I mean being at Quest and
having worked in the health and fitness
industry like I know physique So reading
that you had started so far back from
that was really really interesting cuz
to me when you hit that moment where you
really bad at something you've got two
choices and choice one is the Easy
Choice it's the everpresent choice which
is avoid right okay I did not like that
I don't like failure just like you said
everybody hates it and most people do
that left turn right there and they say
okay well I'm not going to be doing that
again but there's a really interesting
psychological principle which is to say
okay well now I'm going to look at this
as a challenge I understand that the
body the mind can adapt I'm going to
develop this new skill and people that
are able to do that either just they
have it in them or they cultivate that
in themselves it it's astonishing to see
how far they end up going right and to
this day I still have to do it so for
instance uh when I broke the femur
there's very little I could do
physically because bom leg of course so
but I was they said you can get in the
pool and you can swim with a pool buy
between your legs and I don't know if
you've ever spent any time swimming with
pool buoy between your legs but it's
really boring but it was the only thing
that I could do and I'm not a swimmer I
don't frankly like
swimming but it was my option and I so
and I sat there and I go all right we're
going to make friends with the pool and
so really for the this past year I
have like to me swimming is that hard
thing that failure thing cuz I'm not
good at it and I don't and I don't like
not being good at things but over this
past year I've grown to actually crave
that time and in that pool and to do
that there are things that I'm awful at
in my flip terms I look like a drowning
porpus and I mean it's it's really
really gnarly if and if swim coach
looked at me they'd be like oh my God
but to me it was a way especially in
injury to tackle a new challenge and to
recognize and actually do be very humble
about where I was and what I could do
and I think that that you know makes you
so appreciative of of everything else in
life for sure so other than swimming
what is something that you're taking on
as a challenge so this past year I've
actually gotten into meditation as well
which is also something that I've always
issued as who to me running was my
meditation I almost looked at my early
morning runs as kind of my way to clear
my mind but the idea of sitting still
and just thinking nothing to me was
frightening and so that's actually
something I'm I'm horrific at meditation
most sometimes I fall asleep sometimes I
just like I it's 10 minutes later and I
realize that I've been planning my day
and oh crap but I still do it every
single day thinking that someday it will
get
easier and you're a big believer in the
power of routine I am a huge believer in
the power of routine I think that there
is so there for me there are so many
decisions that need to be made in life
and you can encounter that idea of
decision fatigue so routine for me takes
away those some of those decisions so it
just becomes
automatic and I feel best when I go
through through you know just have kind
of a set plan and um so that to me is
the power of routine is really taking
away those those decisions that you have
to make up make every morning and so you
can focus your energy on the big
decisions on what really needs your you
know your attention not what am I going
to eat today or what time am I going to
wake up since your injury have you
thought at all differently about work
and what you're doing as an attorney yes
and so so for me I the injury made me
very very very grateful that I was more
than just an athlete you know and that
to me it was a time to also recognize
and reconnect to what I love about being
an attorney as well though what's
interesting to me is that I actually
found it sometimes harder to work
because I didn't have the other ball in
the air for instance you've talked about
that that I am more productive when I am
juggling multiple things why I think it
forces you to be efficient that's
interesting is that if you know if I
know look I have to get up tomorrow
morning to train at
4:00 so I need to get in bed by X time
so I need to get all my work done my you
know attorney work done by X time so I
can do that whereas if you don't have
that then you're just like oh I can
procrastinate a little bit oh I can take
my time blah blah blah so I found that
I'm more productive when I am juggling
multiple things it's really interesting
um talk to me about self flagellation a
little bit which you've written quite
eloquently about um yeah what what have
you learned yeah so I've talked about
this I call it the merry gound of self
flagellation so let's say you're feeling
bad about something you're feeling bad
about a failure for me I sat there after
after the femur and I knew that it was
my fault it was I had run myself into a
fracture in my femur and I went back
through in my mind all of the ways that
I could have changed that and you get in
this on this marry go around if I called
it of you already feel bad that you
screwed up right and that you know you
you wrecked your entire season but then
you feel bad because you feel bad and so
you beat yourself up over feeling about
and just spirals into this circle and
you can't get off of it and so for me
I've had to kind of step back and almost
detach myself and realize when I get
into this story that I'm telling myself
and just and just stop it and it's
really hard I mean and I think we all do
use I think really I try to
depersonalize it and detach it and to
realize I almost think of myself as a
third person and say okay Amelia you're
on that right now and St stop if one of
my friends came to me and said that they
were doing that to themselves I'd be
like get off of it like that's the past
you can't change that so beating
yourself up over something that happened
in the past isn't going to change it so
what advice would you give to somebody
in your shoes a true world class athlete
they've had this catastrophic injury
what what's your advice to them in in
that moment of uncertainty when they
don't know if they're going to be able
to come back or not I think really it's
accept
is is where you need to end up you talk
about it in stages of grief um you know
everyone talks about injury is kind of
like the stages of grief after death um
almost not to be that
dramatic
but to realize that it's okay how you're
feeling
and kick scream cry do whatever it is
you need to do let it out but give
yourself a time limit so I said said
after my injury so I had and and I was
miserable and I was you know just a bear
to be around but I told myself okay I'm
going to give myself two weeks to be an
awful person about this and then you
know what I'm going to pick up and move
on and say what can I do now in this
scenario and really what it was and what
I found is I cut myself off and then I
looked at how can I make the best of of
this situ situation and for me that
ended up in being able to do commentary
work and being able to be on the course
be on the sideline support my fellow
athletes and actually take joy in their
in in their accomplishments in their
victories instead of seeing them as
competitors right and so it's about
reframing what you can do in that moment
all right so you brought up strong women
which we have to go deep into why do
women do better the longer the race
women are better at suffering and I
don't know if that's just because we
maybe childbirth I don't
know
I I don't necessarily think that women
are tougher women have more mental grit
but there's this definite phenomenon you
see is the longer the race gets the gaps
on the time between men and women tend
to tend to you know lessen and you see a
lot of women winning very long races
outright so I think that maybe you know
I don't have if I had the answers I
would probably be in a different field
you know I'd be like in you know some
type of psychological expert and so and
so or or physiological expert but for me
I've really found that women have this
ability to really pull down deep um and
I think for me I realized that there's a
lot of things physically that I can't do
on the same level as men from like a
brute strength perspective from brute
strength you know I'm not going to
compete with dudes in a squat contest or
a bench press you know it's just it's
not going to happen but what I can do is
outlast you and so that is something
that I really I don't know maybe it's a
chip on my shoulder but that's really
what drives me through those those races
and I think that maybe women you know
there have been so many instances where
we are told we can't or we haven't or
that's not what things that you're good
at that you carry that chip on your
shoulder and so in these long races it
comes out I love that talk to me about
so how do you use a chip on your
shoulder effectively and not let it be
just bitterness exactly I think that's a
I think that's a very it's a very hard
fine line to to not cross over into I
think for me it's always thinking you're
the underdog is an effect way to do it
even when you're not Everyone likes
being the underdog I mean and I loved it
when I first came into this and nobody
knows who you are and then all of a
sudden you're there and Bam and who is
this woman but it's keeping that
Underdog mentality even when you're not
and I think for me when for instance
when I was also on the top of the sport
and winning everything and doing that I
still always try to view myself as the
underdog and that's hard to do because
you have the Target on your back
but just just keeping that mentality for
me has been very helpful now you said
that women can really dig deep is there
any of that that you can like articulate
is so I know you use a distraction
technique to keep yourself focused what
are some other techniques that you that
that are the act of digging deep yeah
for me I think the the digging deep in
races also comes up in interacting with
those around you so the distraction in
terms of you know compartmentalizing
chunking the race but then also just
stopping to think entirely and by doing
that by interacting with those Racers
around you so that's a great thing about
long races is that it's you have time to
kind of chat with people because you're
out there for so long you know and
you're going at a slow enough pace and
so I always try and you know if I'm
running the same Pace another competitor
how you doing where you're from like how
you feeling and getting to know them
because and sooner or later you realize
that a few miles have gone by and you
haven't been thinking about yourself
you've been thinking about other people
and I think that that's very powerful is
if you take the focus off of yourself
and focus on others you can almost
ignore the pain that you're going
through so I don't know I mean maybe
women as women are more stereotypically
more nurturing more caring that ability
to then tap into other people though I
don't know no one's ever described me as
extremely nurturing not like my number
one attribute but I uh do generally
enjoy you know getting to know other
people and learning about other people
so yeah that's interesting and to your
point about I guess if we could really
explain this we'd be in a different
field but as somebody who's married to a
woman who who is just gritty Beyond
Reason and really Beyond Reason and will
to the point like you she'll get injured
and she'll keep working out and she'll
be like yeah yeah yeah I'm de tomorrow
for sure I'm taking tomorrow off and I
wake up to the sound of like waights
clanky down and I'm like wait a second I
thought you were taking the day off yeah
no I felt good and I just so it's uh her
like I pride myself on my ability to
suffer I can suffer my friend right but
my wife it's it's it is inhuman it's
really crazy it is but what's
interesting and what I've learned is
that there is a difference
what the thing that has made me so great
at this sport my ability to suffer my
ability to Embrace pain is also my
greatest downfall it's also my greatest
weakness because I will push myself past
the part point of being smart and that
is what has led to injury for me and so
this past year I've had to realize like
it's okay to rest it's okay to take a
few days it's okay to take a few weeks a
few months and let you and actually take
care of your body
and that's almost become such a dirty
word for some of us the four-letter word
of R is like the worst four-letter word
out there and so it's sometimes the
hardest thing the hardest thing for me
this past year has been to take care of
my body and so it's interesting how that
goes around and comes around do you ever
struggle with knowing if you're resting
because it's the right thing or you're
resting because you want to be lazy
no I don't that's my big downfall really
that's why I push myself past the point
of what some people would consider
reasonable because in my head is a voice
that is so catastrophically lazy that I
have to push like my wife will be
telling you know you're sick you need to
rest you I can't let myself do it
because that's what I want so badly and
I've learned that doing what feels good
is rarely the thing that moves me
towards my goals right yeah I struggle
more with that if I'm
resting I feel lazy and I hate that you
know because you and I'm saying we've
we've Associated rest with laziness
which isn't the case necessarily so I
try trying to like create this Twitter
movement of like epic rest days or like
rest day brags where because people go
out there and they like I'm bragging
about this 30 mile I just crushed and
it's so epic bro and I'm like you know
what I
walked a thousand steps today I ate a
tub of ice cream # rest brats you know
it's not so bad it's about balance
right no that's that's really
interesting and my wife and I actually
get in fights with each other cuz from
the the rational perspective the other
person seems crazy so when she's pushing
herself to ridiculous extremes I'm like
what are you doing and her retor is
always this is exactly what you do when
you're sick exactly so it's like okay
well that's a little harder to argue
it's very easy for me to dish out advice
to other people so hard for me to take
it and so I think that that's also
something I've really tried to do this
past year is try to live live
authentically to to lead by example and
to to make sure that if I'm telling
somebody something that this is what
they should do X Y and Z that I'm also
doing it myself cuz I feel like there
are so many people out there that can
spew advice and they can set up a life
that looks so perfect on the outside
side M you know you can create anything
through social media but it's not
authentic and there's that weird
disconnect and I hate that and so for me
this past year especially admitting
vulnerability and admitting when I'm
struggling is part of that entire trying
to live
authentically what would you say to a
young girl who struggles with just
feeling inadequate I can't imagine being
you know a teenager right now and I
remember how hard it was for me at that
age and now with social media I just I
mean it boggles my
mind
and so I think especially for for
younger girls it's
about don't limit yourself don't label
yourself and constantly try and break
boundaries and barriers and you don't
have to choose so I think for me one of
the greatest compliments I can get and I
never set out for this are people that
come to me or parents that come to me
and say we struggle for female role
models in this world thank you for being
a female role model for our daughter
somebody that can use their brains can
use their
body and I never set out to be a role
model but to me that's so powerful and
so I would you know especially for young
for younger girls is that don't label
yourself don't give into what is popular
because what's popular is definitely not
necessarily not what's right and so
challenge yourself physically challenge
yourself mentally and you know look to
break those barriers and so that you
know to me is you see the strong when I
see images of strong girls like coming
to races you have all these girls now
interested in obstacle racing and that's
phenomenal to me cuz it's about being
functional it's not about looking a
certain way it's about what your body
can do for you and achieving things and
carrying heavy things and surviving
hours in the woods
so itth wow it really is a pretty
incredible incredible test talk to me
though about when racing stopped being
fun for you at least for a
minute yeah so people always ask me now
would you quit being an attorney to be a
full-time racer and I never really
seriously considered for a number of
reasons but one of them is also Racing
for me has always been the stress
release it's always been kind of my
outlet and as soon as you start making
it you know your your bread and what
puts food on the table it becomes not
fun and so that was a reason why I
always kind of like kept why do you
think that robs the fun out of it well
because no longer is just winning just a
cool thing you know it's then winning
becomes the expectation and there's that
pressure that surrounds it and so I
avoided that scenario but I think for me
racing I went through a period where
racing stopped being fun
because I felt like if I wasn't winning
I was letting everyone else down that it
was expected that I was on the top of
that Podium right and that all of a
sudden when I got fourth at Spartan
world race World Championships people
and I was supposed to win it was like
what happened to a milia yeah and and I
just like guys I got fourth and it's
actually not so bad I know but it was
this all of a sudden what I realized is
I was letting other people's
expectations get to me right as opposed
to just thinking about myself I race
because I love it whether that's winning
a race or whether that's coming in dead
last whether that's doing a race on
crutches you know so it's really trying
to just harness in on the original
reasons that I started all this if you
had to Define confidence how would you
define
it confidence for me is not making
apologies for how you're living not even
feeling like you have to or just not
doing it just being able to make
decisions and to own that
and to not care about all the noise out
there and they may be the wrong
decisions but you need to stand by them
for me all right when you had the injury
and everything you said that it really
really shook your confidence how did you
rebuild it like what does that process
look
like honestly I'm still working through
it so I'll let you know in a few months
but
uh it's um to me it's celebrating the
little victories for sure the first time
that I letting those build like momentum
and confidence in you yes for sure
because every single little Victory is
going to create that bigger sense of of
self so that first run back where I did
a
mile and it was like high five I felt
like I had just run 100 miles but it was
that little wave that just that if you
can keep building on those and
unfortunately it's never going to be a
smooth
linear linear progression and so those
little setbacks are the times where you
need to realize okay it's just a blip on
the radar and so he kind of going to
look like this but as long as you can
kind of see that goal towards the end
and embrace that process that's really
how I've been rebuilding it now that's
really incredible if you were in stepen
Hawkings situation what would you shift
your attention
to I would yeah so I've actually asked
if I couldn't race and if I couldn't
express myself physically because I've
talked about is that I've when I haven't
been able to use my legs I've had to use
my voice and so what's really been
empowering for me this past year is to
be an advocate for the sport be an
advocate for obstacle racing it's such a
new sport and we have such an
opportunity as athletes to help shape it
and where it goes and will it make it to
the Olympics or what will it do so for
me it would be shaping that and also
really I'm really passionate about women
in sport and about women in you know
women equality and Sport things like
that and so it's using that voice and
how do you think we get to that how do
we man I mean that's been a question for
how many years at this point but it's
really it we've come a long way but it's
really just more and more it's women
standing up but it's also men standing
up um you know it's everyone regardless
of of making sure that you know prize
purses for women are the same across
genders you see some sports where men
get $100,000 and women get $50,000 for
winning the same freaking race like I
don't get it and so that is something
that there needs to be there needs to be
a constant dialogue about it um and
unfortunately you know we're still not
there but we're getting there so I know
dorum is going to force you to give me a
really humble answer to this question
and and I'll maybe push you a bit but
what do you think your impact has been
by you beat the vast majority of the men
that you race against I mean the vast
majority so do you think that's helping
do we need more people that are playing
at that level that can really show up
and and Dazzle quite frankly what I
would want the impact to be is to start
to normalize that conversation because
people will say
oh my God they oh my God she got second
overall or she she won that 50k outright
like it's some crazy strange thing and
that's great it brings attention to it
but with if we keep thinking about that
as an outlier it's not going to shift we
need to be like look dude that woman won
that's awesome that's cool that's a
woman one outright and if we can
normalize that then that when I think
we've really made progress yeah what's
fascinating have you seen the studies
that they've done on on throwing like a
girl quote unquote of some of them but
they keep emerging so I don't know
exactly which stud just that it's it's
so incredible it has nothing to do with
being a girl and it has only to do with
whether you keep throwing or not and
that boys tend to keep throwing and
girls are encouraged to go do other
things and so they just stop and that
boys when they first start throwing
throw like a girl and it's just that
sheer repetition and when you were
saying like really push to the B
boundaries that that's what you would
want for a young woman like that to me
you want to talk about getting equality
in the sport honestly I think there
there really is only one answer so I
always play a game with myself called No
[ __ ] what would it take right so no
[ __ ] what would it take for um
female Athletics and male Athletics to
be on par I think it takes you it takes
people like you that show up they play
to win they push the boundaries they
show that they're able to play at a
level that's impressive to watch right
so I look at you and I'm not inspired
because you're a woman I'm inspired cuz
you're a badass right and that that's
what I want I'm not cuz I'm bad you know
I feel like over I think you can say
that I want it to be regardless of
gender right you know that I want it to
be cuz you're right cuz so I grew up
playing softball and so I'm sure I threw
like a girl at first but I I throw I was
a pitcher you know and now like I play
softball very well it's it's normalizing
that and breaking down where we don't
see the gender anymore but unfortunately
to not see the gender we almost for a
while have to be hyper sensitive to it
or and that's at least the realm that
we're in right now yeah and so how do we
shift from that hyper sensitivity to
then being blind to it yeah I mean so
trust me I do not wish Stephen Hawking
upon you but the voice that you have
learned to speak in and I think other
women are going to see that and they're
going to realize that's got to be a part
of the strategy of finding that equality
is to to be able to speak out to
encourage them to push the boundaries
just to say that they can do it that
it's a valid Choice um I think is is
going to go a long way towards doing
that getting more people adopting it
early developing their prowess and then
you know we can see really what they're
capable of doing which is pretty
incredible and just seeing them blossom
in these endurance um events I think is
really going to make people question
their own assumptions about what women
are capable of yeah we just had an an
ultra runner in um Texas in this 100K
she wanted outright she went it outright
and you're seeing this you're seeing
this more and more and it's it's one of
those things to to keep that
conversation going that I think is
really is really
important yeah it's amazing I'll be very
interested to see how far we can take
this and I hope that you certainly stay
very very invested in the sport whether
it's competing commentating obviously we
won't be able to compete forever but I
think that voice is is pretty Neary I
don't know you know the the thing about
endurance Sports is that you tend to
Peak later on so I'm always like a I'm
33 and I feel so broken I'm like no no
I'm going to still doing this as long as
it's fun and you know as long as my body
lets me so that's awesome I'm excited
for the ride all right what's the impact
you want to have On The
World God that's such a good question
because I think that the impact that you
think that you want isn't always the
impact that you end up having and if
you'd asked me that question 10 years
ago I mean I would have given you a
completely different answer what would
the answer been 10 years ago oh it would
have been it would have been be a
partner at a law firm and you know have
my 2.5 kids and you know married and but
it like it was the standard dream or
whatever and I and I realize now
that what I see what I want to do is
live authentically lead by example and
also what I've really learned and to to
know that you don't have to fit in these
boxes and that you may not be able to
have it all but there are opportunities
there to always kind of pivot and to
reinvent yourself and that especially
for young girls is you don't have to
choose you don't have to choose brains
you don't have to choose Beauty you
don't have to choose strength like you
can have them all and you can
incorporate those into your life and for
me it's not not having this massive
Global impact it's the small little
connections that I make to people
through all of this to the girls running
those obstacle races that are 1011 out
there that I can have those impacts on
those little those little impacts on
people's lives then I think that adds up
to the big one that's incredible all
right where can these guys find you
online Twitter at amilab Boon I'm on
Instagram at Arbon 11 Facebook I have a
website that desperately always needs
updating so has amazing blog content I
mean really really great thank you yeah
so my blog ailia Boon racing.com you can
find it there and I don't get to write
as often as I would like but it's one of
my favorite things and your blog is
titled in Latin it is what does that
stand for so race ipsa loor is a is a is
a doctorine in in um in the law means
the thing speaks for S and so and it was
a play that's cool on Race which is r s
and then I made it r a c e so that was I
was incorporating a little law that's
good I like it Amelia thank you so much
for coming on the show it was absolutely
incredible all
right guys you're going to want to dive
into her world on this one it is
absolutely incredible and what you're
going to see is somebody who has really
found their voice both physically and
just from the perspective of being able
to articulate things for people and what
she does physically is unbelievable and
it will make you challenge every
assumption you have about what a human
can do let alone what a woman can do and
when you see the footage of her crying
in the Ice Cold River and she just keeps
going in one of the Death Races which
she has completed three times by the way
it is absolutely astonishing to watch a
human push the boundaries and when she
said that I hope that you guys got the
chills like I did that is unbelievable
to encourage people to push boundaries I
hope you guys are pushing the boundaries
in your life not accepting limitations
pushing your mind as hard as you push
your body this is somebody who is a role
model for me to be certain and I hope as
a role model for many many people guys
dive in she will change your life if you
let her all right it's a weekly show so
be sure to subscribe until next time my
friends be legendary Take Care thank you
again so much what a
pleasure hey everybody thanks so much
for joining us for another episode of
impact theory if this content is at
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