New Zealand: How it All Came Together

Today on the podcast it's part 2 of my New Zealand adventure. I'm sharing some incredible stories and connections that happened at the Kona Ironman World Championships that led to an amazing outcome for this upcoming trip.

I also share the details of this race, and what we will be doing in New Zealand. I describe my intentions for the trip, how I'm setting myself up for success before, during and after the trip, and the lessons that I've learned from previous trips that I'm putting into place here.

You'll find lots of great ideas and inspiration for your next adventure or any dream you want to pursue. Anything is possible. For me and for you. Tune in today to see how you can start to turn your dreams into reality.

Want to talk about how I can help you turn your dreams into reality? Schedule a call here.

If you haven't listened to part 1 of my New Zealand adventure, find it here.

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to Binge Breakthrough, a podcast designed to help you finally break through the barriers that keep you stuck, feeling out of control around food. I'm Master Certified Coach James Hoker, and I want you to know that no matter how long you've been struggling or what you've tried, food freedom is possible. And I'm here to show you how. After years of therapy, eating disorders treatment, restrictive diet, and reading all the books, I was still stuck in the onigan-onic cycle of restricting and binging until I was able to see it all from a new perspective that changed everything. Each week I will share the strategies, tools, and mindset that allowed me to overcome my decades-long battle with binge eating. Your journey to body trust starts now. Let's dive in. Hello, trusted listener. Welcome to Binge Breakthrough. I consider you a trusted listener because I trust that you are listening to this podcast for a reason. I trust that you are going to hear something today that is insightful and impactful on your personal journey. So let's dive in. We're talking today about New Zealand. This is the second of two episodes where I'm talking about my next big adventure to New Zealand. So if you haven't listened to part one, which was last week, uh, I'll put a link in the show notes, but I highly recommend that you go back and you listen to that where I share why, why I'm going to New Zealand, the journey to get here that is pretty much five years running now, and all of the obstacles that have um taken place from that very first inspiration of I would love to go to New Zealand to now where I'm actually getting ready to go. So today what we're gonna do is share some, I'm gonna share some pretty amazing stories with you, and I'm gonna give you a sneak peek into what the trip will look like and also what I'm doing, not only to prepare for an amazing trip while I'm there, but also to set myself up for success in this period of time where I'm leading up to the trip as well as when I get back. So if you haven't listened yet to last week's episode, I am going to New Zealand to race in the Iron Man 70.3 World Championships in Taupo or Topah, not sure which way you say it yet, but uh I'll let you know in the recap episode that I'll end up doing to tell you uh what the trip was like in December, on December 14th. So the 70.3, this is why it's called the Iron Man 70.3 World Championships, is it is the half Iron Man distance. 70.3 is the number of miles that we will cover during the day of the race. So it's a 1.2 mile swim, a 56-mile bike, and a 13.1 mile run. If you add all those numbers up together, you get 70.3, which is the total number of miles. Now, in New Zealand, we uh they don't talk in miles, they talk in Ks. Uh, but the race, this race and this distance, I believe was started in the United States, which is why they talk in the number of miles. Now, not only do they not talk in miles and they talk in K's, they drive on the left side of the road, which means they also we will also be riding our bikes on the left side of the road, which also means we will be grabbing our water bottles and things from the aid stations with our left hand, not our right hand. So, even preparing for this, there have been a lot of different things. I have been practicing my uh grabbing water bottles with my left hand is not as easy as it sounds. Um, so we've my husband and I have been uh having some fun with some doing some bottle handops uh on the road in front of my house. But I want to share with you today a couple of pretty amazing stories. So in last week's episode, I shared that qualifying for this race back in 2019, it gave me permission to dream even bigger. When I qualified for the half Iron Man Distance World Championship, I thought, gosh, maybe, just maybe it might be possible to qualify for the Iron Man World Championships in Kona, Hawaii. And I did that. I qualified and I raced in 22 and in 2023. So I want to tell you a story of a couple of things that happened in 2023 when I was there last October that are really pretty amazing. So in 2023, I was there, and one morning I was gonna go out for a bike ride just to, you know, get do a little, make sure that my bike had traveled okay, make sure everything was great, working well on the bike. And I went out early one morning to ride my bike, and I ended up running over a little rock that basically tore a gash in the hole of my tire. And so I had to walk my car, my my bike back to the car. Fortunately, it was less than a mile, but uh I meant that I needed a new tire. So I had to wait for the bike shop to open to get a replacement tire, which fortunately Todd was able to fix for me. And then he drove me back out to the Queen K Highway where I wanted to uh do my bike ride. And uh I went out to do my bike ride. I so I was out there because of this whole situation with my tire, I was out there hours later than I normally would have chosen. So I get out there, I'm doing my ride, and towards as I'm coming back from my ride, I come across two women who had crashed very, very recently, crashed. And I came, I was the very first person to come upon them. So they were uh they were okay, but they were not in a position to get on their bikes. They also didn't need, nor did they want medical attention. So I called Todd, who happened to be just down the road at the coffee shop, and he came back to pick them up and to get them to their car, which was at the same coffee shop, and make sure they were okay. So Todd arrives and he's taking care of these women. And one driver, uh, we'll call him George. He pulled up to make sure everything was okay. And uh, as once we knew they were okay, Todd was taking care of them, George and I started talking. And it turns out that George was there with his wife. Uh, we'll call her Stacy. And Stacey was participating in the world championships as well, and she was out riding her bike. And so he saw us on the side of the road and he pulled over to make sure that we were okay, which he was the only person who stopped. He was an incredibly nice guy. And as we got to talking, I asked him where he was from, and he said he was from New Zealand. And I said, Oh, New Zealand! I love New Zealand. I'm going next year for the world championships, the 70.3 world championships. And he said, Oh, wow, that's amazing. And he and he tells me that they, that he and his wife live pretty darn close to where the race is and asked if we had a place to stay. And I said, No, not yet. And he said, Well, here, let me give you my wife's card and you can reach out to her. So uh I so I take her card and I connected with her after the race. Now, let me do a side note and just let you know, these two women who had crashed earlier, they were okay. They were a little beat up, but they were okay. They were both able to complete their race in Kona. And um so that was all that was all great. So after the race, I connected with Stacy and she told me uh about some options um in terms of staying with them. But at the time, I thought we would have other friends racing, and so I didn't take her up on anything. I thought we might have a big group of people going. And then over time, things changed, our plans changed, and so it was just me and my husband. And I reconnected with Stacy and she tells me, you can stay with us, no problem. We've got an extra room, and not only can you stay with us, you can also use my bike. So here we are going to this place in New Zealand where finding accommodations is very challenging. There are a lot of people who are staying really quite far away because Taupo or Taupa is a very small town. There is not a lot of lodging there. And here we have this opportunity to stay with Stacy and George. And I had reached out with Stacy. I decided a lot of people travel with their bike, but we are um we're turning this into a vacation after the race. And I really didn't want to have to deal with having my bike while also trying to be on vacation. So I had reached out to Stacy and said, Hey, do you know any place I could rent a bike or anybody who might have one that I might be able to borrow? It turns out we're the same size. She is not racing, and she has allowed me to borrow her bike. It is such an amazing, incredible situation. Their place is right by the transition area. So here we have this incredible place to stay. I do not have to worry about traveling with my bike. And none of this would have happened if the situation in Kona didn't happen, if I didn't have that gash in my tire, that ended up me needing a different tire, that ended up with me going out on the bike hours later, if that other crash hadn't happened, if George hadn't stopped to make sure that everybody was okay. All these little things had to come into place for all of this to come together. I don't believe this is a coincidence. Now, would we have figured something else out? Of course. Of course we would. But these connections, it just goes far beyond a coincidence. There is so much happening here that's like, wow, there are so many things that we just can't see. Things that you might look at and say, oh, that's awful. It's awful that you put a gash in your tire. It's awful that this happened. It's awful that that happened. But then look at the connections. Looked at what, look at what happened because of the next situation. It's unbelievable. All right. So fun story that I wanted to share. So let's talk about what's happening when we go to New Zealand. We uh fly out on a Monday. We uh, because of the time change, we actually miss Tuesday altogether. We arrive on a Wednesday, and my race is on Saturday. We're gonna go to a hot springs near the area, do a little bit of relaxing, we'll drive the bike course. Uh, Todd will help me get the bike fit and set up to um so that I can be as comfortable as possible on it. They have a parade of nations for the athletes who are coming from all over the world. There are 2,000 athletes racing this race over two days. The women will race on Saturday and the men will race on Sunday. So I'll do the race on Saturday, and on Sunday, we'll go and we'll watch the men race. Then we're gonna fly to for New Zealand is two different islands. There's a North Island and the South Island. And uh Taupo is in pretty much the middle of the North Island. So on Sunday evening, we're gonna fly to the South Island to Christchurch. And on Monday is actually Todd's birthday. So we're basically gonna spend another, I think, nine days there in New Zealand purely in vacation mode. We're gonna celebrate Todd's birthday, we're gonna do several things in Christchurch. We are gonna go up the coast to a place called Kaikora that is known for a lot of um sea life, um, a lot of the just the marine sea life. We have all kinds of adventures planned. We're gonna go on a dolphin tour, we're gonna go whale watching, we're doing a penguin encounter, we're gonna go on some obstacle course, we're gonna do a lot of hiking and walks. It's really gonna be incredible. After we go to Kaikoura, we're gonna go back up to the North Island to Oaxike Island, which is just off the coast of Auckland, which is very much at the northern tip of the North Island. And then we're gonna fly home on Christmas Day. It's going to be an incredible, incredible trip. So there's really a lot happening. We have kind of have the first almost week of the trip is really for the race itself. And then it's gonna be all about just adventure, vacation, having fun, and really exploring the land and being together. So I've talked about before in previous podcast episodes about intentions and setting an intention for really anything and the power of intentions. One of my recent podcast episodes was all about the power of intentions and how you can use this really in any area of life. I love to use intentions for trips, especially. So I have a handful of intentions that I have put together for this trip. One is to just enjoy every moment and to be in the present moment, to be all in wherever I am. There are so many things happening. It will be very easy for me to be in the future. What comes next? What about this? What's happening tomorrow? Okay, I need to be sure that I'm ready for this. Okay, well, the race is happening here. Uh, you know, we've got to do this, we've got to do that, kind of being in the future, making sure that like what's coming is taken care of. But when you're in your head and when you're planning the future, you aren't where you are. You're not in the present moment. And the present moment is all we actually have. This very moment right now. So I want to be in the present moment. There are going to be so many different present moments throughout our time there. And I want to enjoy them. I want to be in the present, to be all in wherever I am. When we were, my husband and I were there in 2015. Almost every day we were there, at the end of the day, we said, best day ever. I have an intention to continue that tradition. The best day ever. Each day will have its own journey. Each day will have its own intention. But if we can end most, if not all of our days there saying the best day ever, that just continues the wonder and the magic of New Zealand for us. I also have an intention to savor, to savor every moment. Being in that present moment, savoring, savoring the people, savoring the experience, savoring the richness, savoring the fact that five years later I'm actually there to savor it. I have an intention for connection, connection with my husband, connection with myself, connection with my body, appreciation for all that my body has been through to get to this moment, and an intention for joy. I want to enjoy this experience. We won't get to the best day ever if there's not a lot of joy. If there's not a lot of being in the present moment, being all in, savoring it. These are my intentions for New Zealand. So how am I setting myself up for success? I'm planning and recording podcasts in advance. As I'm recording right now, I'm doing my blog posts in advance. I've got my cultivate group coaching program, so I'm bringing in guest coaches for them. I'm also setting up experiences where they can connect together and chat as a community and increase their own connection with each other and support each other. I'm communicating with my clients. On a personal level, we send out a Christmas newsletter every year with a bunch of pictures and kind of a brief update of what happened during the year. We've already completed 90% of it, but we've left two spots and about one or two sentences so that we can include New Zealand in our Christmas newsletter. But it's already mostly done. So all we have to do when we get back, insert those two pictures, insert those two sentences, print them out, and it's done. We're setting ourselves up for success. And then what are the lessons learned from previous trips? Here's my lessons learned. Start packing early. I can remember years ago we went on a trip, we went to Italy, and we didn't start packing for a long time. We were so busy trying to get ready and get all of our work done and everything else that we started packing very late. And we ended up staying up until 2 a.m. the night before our flight because we hadn't started packing early. And we thought, oh, this is not the best way to start a big cross, like going across the world travel experience. Start packing early. Give ourselves plenty of time and space after we return. I have very little scheduled after we return. I know there's going to be a lot to do, but what I have learned from experience is not to put too much on my calendar and commit myself too much. I will end up using that space both to rest as well as to take care of whatever else needs to be taken care of. Get as much done as possible now without sacrificing sleep, rest, and fun. Sometimes what happens is there's so much stress. I got to get it done. I got to get done. I've got so much to do. And then we sacrifice sleep. We sacrifice rest. We're so stressed out to try to get to the fun. We don't want to do that. Yes, we want to make sure that we can get things done without sacrificing the sleep, the rest, the fun, and the connections. Because all we have is this present moment. Another lesson learned. Let people know that we will be gone and mostly unplugged. Communicating expectations, letting people know so that when we do unplug, we're not worried about people thinking that they might be expecting that they're expecting a response from us and quickly. Another lesson learned: trust everything and everyone will be fine without us. I think sometimes, you know, we think we we've got to be so available. People are gonna, you know, people need us. It's like, no, actually, everything's gonna be okay. Everyone is gonna be okay. And we'll come back and we'll get right back to it. Another lesson learned is to write a few sentences each day about what happened so that I have it to document afterwards. Sometimes when I look back on things, it's hard to remember. But if I just write a few sentences each day, if I want to do a photo book, if I want to do a blog, if I want to do something else, it's easy for me to do that because I've just taken a few, just a couple of minutes each day to write about what happened. So those are my lessons learned from previous trips that we are also applying to this trip. So in 2019, I knew I wanted to go and race in New Zealand. I never thought it would be five years before I would be there. But what's kind of fun when I think about this is it's like finding the middle ground of the pendulum. I so often see this, people with their black and white thinking, their all or nothing thinking, it's like being on the pendulum. You see this especially with binge eating. Somebody says, I'm either eating none of these foods that I think are quote unquote bad, or I'm eating all of them. When I first had this dream, I kind of was in that black and white thinking. I either thought, I'm either going to next year, to New Zealand next year, or I'm not. All or nothing. I'm either going or I'm not. That wasn't the case. I did qualify, but I had to wait. I could have settled for other races and I could have transferred my entry as I kind of described in last week's episode, but that's not what I wanted. I wanted to go to New Zealand. And if you happen to be listening to this podcast as it airs live in 2024, I have just arrived. So what about you? What dreams do you have for yourself? What is your next step towards believing that it might be possible for you? The next step might be finding someone who can hold belief for you until you can hold it for yourself. This is exactly what a coach can do for you. I would not be in New Zealand right now without a coach who believed it was possible for me. If you are ready to pursue your dreams, and if you wonder if I might be the one to hold belief and guide you towards your goals, click the link in the show notes to schedule a call. I love connecting with new people who are pursuing what's possible in their own lives. All right, that's what I have for you today. Stay tuned for next week's episode, where I have a big announcement for you. It's something I've been working on for months, and I can't wait to tell you about it. I'll see you then.

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