Born a Champion: How Paralympian Jarryd Wallace Turned Loss Into Legacy

In this powerful episode, four-time Paralympian, two-time Paralympic medalist, three-time world champion, and four-time world record holder Jarryd Wallace joins Rachael to share the full story behind his journey.

Jarryd opens up about why he made the life-changing decision to amputate his leg, what that process looked like physically and mentally, and how that decision ultimately launched his career as a professional athlete. He shares what it takes to compete on the world stage at the Paralympic Games and the discipline required to perform at the highest level. He also speaks candidly about the role his faith played in that decision, the hope that carried him through uncertainty, and how trusting God continues to guide both his career and his calling.

But his impact doesn’t stop on the track.

Jarryd and Rachael dive into how they met, the work they did together to help pass SB 101, and what that legislation means for the limb loss and limb difference community. They also discuss what they’re currently working on and how advocacy continues to shape their mission.

Plus, Jarryd shares his vision behind the RIVL Foundation, which he founded to create lasting change and opportunity for individuals with limb loss and limb difference.

This episode is about resilience, advocacy, purpose, and turning adversity into impact.

Follow Jarryd below!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wallace_jarryd/

RIVL Foundation: https://rivlfoundation.org/

Facebook: https://facebook.com/aleginfaith

Follow Alliance Prosthetics and Orthotics below!

Website: https://www.alliancepo.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alliance_po/

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Questions? Email us! Info@alliancepo.com

Guest: Jarryd Wallace, four-time Paralympian, two-time Paralympic medalist, three-time world champion, four-time world record holder, and Founder of RIVL Foundation

Host: Rachael Auyer, Co-Owner of Alliance Prosthetics & Orthotics

Producer: Laine Johnson, Alliance Prosthetics & Orthotics, Marketing Coordinator

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:01

Welcome back to the Alliance Goldigger Podcast. Today's conversation is one I've been looking forward to for a long time. I may have asked this gentleman 15 to 20 times to come on my podcast, and I am grateful he did not get sick of me asking. Today's guest is Jared Wallace, a four-time Paralympian and a two-time Paralympic medalist. Jared has represented Team USA across four Paralympic Games, earning bronze medals at Paris 2024 in the men's long jump T64 and at Tokyo 2020 in the men's 200-meter T6-4. And uh his Paralympic career also includes competition at Rio in 2016 and London 2012 in sprint, relay, and long jump events. Beyond the game, Jared is a five-time world champion medalist with three gold medals, two bronze medals spanning sprint, relay, long jump disciplines, most recently earning a bronze in the men's long jump in 2025 world championship. And I know you all are impressed with his long list of accomplishments, but what Jared is most famous for is his love for his family. He is famous in his home, uh his husband to Leah, father to two sons, and most recently welcomed a new baby girl. While not training, Jared is a highly sought-after public speaker and serves as the CEO of Rival Foundation, which I'm so excited we could talk about shortly. Jared and I became friends and colleagues during an initiative across our state of Georgia where he and I worked together to enact brand new legislation January 1st, 2026, which was passed because of our amazing legislators, General Assembly, state senators, lobbyists. We all work together to make sure patients would have access to secondary devices. So without further ado, welcome Jared Wallace.

SPEAKER_00 1:54

Rachel, thanks for having me. You give me a little uh too much credit on the end there with uh the legislation stuff. You drove that vehicle. It was fun to jump on board and uh shine my medals and take some pictures and uh speak when necessary, but um grateful for all that you've done for our community and excited for the work ahead.

SPEAKER_03 2:10

Yeah, it's been a privilege to work alongside you, get to know you, uh, know your beautiful family and your story. I still love to tease you that you're really loverly gray's brother. I didn't really know you. Uh something I didn't uh share with you, I think as candidly, is that people sent me your podcast that you did with your sister, and they said, Do you know this guy? Because when you do prosthetics and orthotics, you know every patient. Um and one of my friends said, I believe one day you're gonna know him.

SPEAKER_02 2:37

Oh, cool.

SPEAKER_03 2:38

And I was like, I don't think so, because he doesn't use Jason, so I don't know how we're gonna do that. But I wanted to see if you could catch everybody up who might not know you. How did you become a part of this community and what was that process? And give us kind of the details.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

Yeah, so um, I guess I'll kind of just take you back to my junior year of high school. Um, I had just committed to run track and field at the University of Georgia, which was a huge uh honor and excitement for me. Both my parents were athletes at the university. My mom was a track athlete there, my dad was a tennis player there. My dad had also uh at the time was the current head women's tennis coach where he uh stayed in that position for 38 years. So um, I've been a dog my whole life, and having the opportunity to follow in their footsteps and go to the university was amazing. Um, had just won a couple state titles, but I'd been dealing with kind of this overuse running injury for uh the last like 18 months. And um, after committing to university and knowing that, hey, you know, I'm gonna go to the next level and training's gonna be ramped up and expectations are gonna be ramped up, uh, you know, I kind of wanted to figure out am I injury prone? Is this something I'm gonna have to deal with most of my career, or you know, is something else going on? So uh we went and got a couple other opinions from different doctors, and we ultimately found out that I had something called chronic exertional compartment syndrome, which is a mouthful and a fancy medical term. Basically, all it is is I've got pressure that was built up in my calves, cutting off nerve function, blood flow in my foot. Uh felt a lot like like shin splints or a stress fracture, but it wasn't structural, it was muscular. And so uh the exciting thing about that news is that there was a solution for it, right? You know, I'm I'd been running 18 months, I'd still been, you know, competing at a really high level, um, but hadn't been able to train to the capacity I wanted to, and uh, you know, very quickly found out, hey, you have this surgery six weeks after the surgery, you're back rock and rolling pain-free. You won't ever have to deal with this thing again. So I'm 17 years old. I know where I'm I know what my future's gonna look like, right? I'm going to Georgia, I'm gonna have a professional career after this. It's gonna be amazing. Let's get the surgery done, go dense defend some state titles, and let's go on and have an amazing collegiate and potentially professional career after that. So that was the plan. That was kind of where we uh you know set things up. So after my cross-country uh season, my senior year, we went in and had that surgery done. So um went in and unfortunately ended up having complications in that surgery, um, ended up losing about 60% of the muscle from my knee down and um spent the next two and a half years uh ultimately having a total of 10 reconstructive surgeries trying to save my leg. And uh it was one of those things that, you know, when I look back at uh the time that I went through, you know, it was, you know, you're 17, you have your dreams for your life, you have you know your plan for your life set up, and and really to be fair, at 17 years old, my identity was in who I was as a runner. You know, that was kind of what the what I felt like I was bringing bringing the world at that time. And and when you have that stripped away, uh and you have your identity completely, you know, destroyed in front of you with something that you couldn't control or handle. It was it was really a tough season. I would I'd say there was probably an 18-month period there where I was running from God and very just just angry. Why me? Um, you know, if I go back to, you know, that moment specifically, you know, I would say about four months into the recovery process, you know, I was always a I was always an optimistic dude. Like even a month after, like knowing my leg is wide open, 60% of the muscles gone, like not walking, I'm gonna still run. Like that was my mentality. Like we're still good, like everything's gonna be fine. And then I remember going through rehab and just things weren't getting better, they were getting worse. And and you know, about four months in, I kind of was like, man, I don't I don't know what my life's gonna look like anymore. And you know, there was a a pretty pivotal moment for me. I was it was a Sunday, man. It was uh you know, it was kind of crazy, but it was a Sunday, Sunday afternoon. Normally on Sundays, I would go for a run. We would go to church in the morning, I'd have lunch with my family, and then I'd go for a run in the afternoon.

SPEAKER_03 6:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

And it was kind of always this thing that I would do clear my mind, hit hit reset for the next week. And um, you know, obviously it wasn't the first Sunday that I wasn't able to do this, right? It'd been four months into this journey, but it was the first time where I realized my life was just never gonna look the same. And uh I remember going upstairs in my room and sitting on my futon bunk bed and looking up at the poster out of my wall that said life is good. And I was like, Man, no, it's not. Life sucks. And uh I took the poster down, ripped it up, walked out the front of the house. We lived about a mile away from the high school track, and I stood on the start line determined to run again. And uh, what normally would take me about 48 seconds to do walking around the track ended up taking me about three and a half minutes. And uh I remember falling on my face at the finish line and just yelling at God, why me? Why now? What did I do to deserve this? And uh I said, if this is kind of God, you are I want anything to do with you right now. Um, and that kind of began the you know, 18 months of running from God, you know, going through these surgeries, dealing with the pain, dealing with the addiction of the medication and just everything that was going on. During that time, you know, if there was something that the world said would hide the pain, I was trying it, you know. You know, I was just trying to hide the reality of the present circumstances that I was in. It was a sad, hard place to be, but I also now looking back am so grateful for that time because it allowed me to be angry at the journey, not angry ultimately now at you know what what has become my amputation. Um so I think that that season was was really helpful for for me. And you know, coming out of that season, you know, I I kind of I got tired of running, to be fair, which is very ironic. Yeah, as a runner. Um, but I really I got tired of running, I got tired of trying to figure everything out on my own and and really just kind of started being like, I don't, you know, I don't know what change looks like, but it's something's gotta change. And um, I found myself in a in a doctor's office. My parents were kind of like, we need to get another opinion. You know, we we feel like we've tried everything, we've been 10 surgeries in at this point, reconstructing your limb. And and you know, the last doctor was like, This is about as much as we can do. And so we went and got another opinion from a doctor, and he basically was like, he goes, Jared, he goes, Man, I just want to take your leg off the table for a second. Like, what do you want your life to look like?

SPEAKER_04 9:00

Hmm.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

I was like, man, yeah. I was like, man, doc, you know, I don't know. It's like I, you know, I want it to be pain free, you know, I want to be able to work a normal job and not have to stop halfway through a shift to take take a break. You know, I wanna, Lord, one one day have kids and play with them in the yard, maybe coach their soccer team, you know. Like I just I like ultimately I just want to live a normal life. And uh he looked at me and he was like, Man, he's like, that's awesome. He's like, I love that, but it's just not realistic with the leg that you've got. He said, But if you consider having your leg amputated, I think all of those things could come true. And uh, you know, it was the first moment where I heard amputation and realized that like that that that was the right decision. And it was this like peace that I can't really explain, you know, outside from the fact that it just was so directly from the Lord, you know, in Philippians it says, do not be anxious, but in every situation through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your request to God and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding or guards your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. And I believe like in that moment, the peace from God that is like literally unexplainable is what allowed me to hear that raw truth. Hey, dude, you need to have your leg cut off so that you can live a normal life at 19 years old to hear that and be like, Yeah, cool, I'm I I I'm okay with that. Um, is just really hard for my little brain to grasp, like that I was okay with that. Yeah. Um, but I also think the doctor did something really powerful there because for so long I had been letting the reality of my present circumstances, the fact that I had a deformed limb, the fact that I was in chronic pain, dictate how I viewed my entire life. And I let all of my decisions be fueled from this place of I can't because or I shouldn't because or this is where I'm at, so I can't do this. And what he did is he removed that and he got me to dream again and he got me to set goals and he gave me hope. So, man, yeah, I'm just grateful for Dr. William Turnipseed and his wisdom. And um, you know, it was a catalyst moment for for my life. And, you know, for me, I walked out of that appointment knowing that amputation was the right decision. And for me, amputation became uh an opportunity for hope, a second chance, not a loss of something, but a gain of of something.

SPEAKER_03 11:17

Oh, that's beautiful. While you're talking, I I thought about one, I have a 17-year-old right now and thinking about as a parent. Yeah. What now that you're a parent as well, thinking aback about your parents, what did they do really well as your primary covering during chronic pain, making life-altering decisions, and then ultimately deciding to go forward with amputation?

SPEAKER_00 11:45

Yeah, you know, um, they did a lot well. Uh and I think one of the things that I think honestly one of the best things that they did well is they allowed me to suffer. And and I it's like so weird to say that, but they allowed me to endure the pain. Um, they allowed God, they literally surrendered me to God, right? They allowed him to to take me through the flames, you know. And and and I, you know, I think they knew me really well. Whereas if they would have tried to protect me from some of the decisions I was making, you know, they weren't they weren't naive, you know, they knew what was going on, you know. But it I feel like if they would have tried to save me or protect me, it would have just pushed me further and further away. And so in their wisdom and and I know through a lot of prayer and and surrender, you know, they just did a really great job of of letting me experience the pain because the reality is is we learned some of our greatest lessons from from moments of failure, moments of loss, moments of hurt, right? Moments of pain. And, you know, they they'd have both experienced that in their own respects and in in various ways in their lives. And, you know, I think that they trusted my heart and their foundation from an upbringing standpoint, and trusted ultimately the Lord that he would protect me in that season, um, with no guarantees. Like it could have ended differently, right? But you know, they were um they were prayerful and allowed me to end, you know, go through that season, you know, and then coming out the other side, you know. Um it was almost like, okay, we endured this with you. We gave you the you know the best chance to to to grow and make the right decision. And then it's like, okay, wait, okay, sure, you're making decision you amputate your leg. Okay, we gotta wrap our right wrap our head around this now, right? You know, it's like, yeah. Whereas like, okay, you know, we're good, we're glad you're good, but this is also a lot, you know, and and hard to figure out. And like this is one of those decisions, like you can't sew it back on if you decide to, you know, yeah, go back on this thing, right? And so, um, yeah, I think that, you know, again, they did such a brilliant job through the, you know, the early years. And then I think they just they really what they did really well once I made the decision to amputate was helped do the the research to equip me to be as successful as possible. Um, helping me build the right team, helping me understand how to build the right team, you know, learn about the industry, you know, research a strategy. Um, and and we did. I mean, we built we built a team, we went in with a plan, we executed the plan, we came out the other side, we executed that plan, and you know, I think that's one of the reasons I hit the ground running, you know, literally.

SPEAKER_03 14:23

Yeah. No, I mean, I I want you to speak to that of um you've said it multiple times in different testimonies that your goal was to be the fastest. I don't want to forfeit this opportunity to talk about the identity piece that you touched on. You said prior to the decision to have your surgery at 17 that your identity was a runner.

SPEAKER_02 14:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:44

And after that, it was really fueled by what you can't do because of your chronic pain and the limb difference you were experiencing. How did you shift and not allow your amputation to then become your identity? What is the difference for you?

SPEAKER_00 15:00

Yeah, I think there were a few things that happened. I mean, you know, that that meeting with the doctor was really pivotal. Um, I think that moment really showed me the power of having goals, having dreams, uh, looking at not your circumstances, your you know, identifier. And so, you know, that was the the seed that was planted after the amputation, you know, I had this one moment I was at Target with my mom pre-leg. And so I'm crutching around with, you know, with with a you know, missing, missing my lower leg and foot. And, you know, or we're in Athens, Georgia, you know, University of Georgia Targets, you know, bumping with beautiful women, right? You know, like so as where all the college girls are shopping, and you know, I'm 19, you know, I'm I'm in school or 20 now at this point, was in school at Georgia. And so I remember crutching around and I remember seeing a couple cute girls, and you know, I had a I basically had a decision to make. You know, my mind, it was like initially it was like insecurity, like what are they gonna think of me? And then I realized, like, okay, either I'm gonna let this define me or I'm gonna crutch around and be like, hey man, I'm good to go. Like everything's gonna be fine. And and really, you know, and I obviously I made that ladder, ladder decision. What happened there for me was I I made the decision I wasn't gonna let the amputation define who I am. You know, the the loss of a limb, or you know, I mean it's the reality, we're you know, and I I try to tell my boys this all the time, you know, Levi is our oldest, he's six, and it it wasn't until he was three that he realized that not all dads have robot legs. You know, it was like he it was like this huge epiphany moment, like we went to a birthday party, other dads were there, and he was like, wait a second, like what's wrong with them? You know, like they don't have a robot leg, like what is up? And and you know, we we try to tell tell our kids all the time, you know what, like we're you know, everyone's born with different hair color, different eye color, like different skin tones. Like that is how God uniquely created them. That's not an identifier of who they are, right? And so, you know, for me in that moment, that was the big decision was I'm either gonna let the fact that I'm missing a leg be my identifier, or I'm gonna let it be my superpower. And what I chose to do is let it be my superpower. And and um, you know, the way that I carry myself in that regard, I think allows me to be approachable. I think people are are more curious about the fact that I'm not trying to hide my leg, about the fact that I'm not um, you know, I walk around and you know, I gosh, this is so crazy. I was talking I was at the track training two days ago, and there were some workers that were out there, and I was talking to them for like five, ten minutes, and and they didn't know I had a prosthetic, and I was wearing shorts.

SPEAKER_03 17:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:45

And and I said something, and they both looked down, they're like, we would have never known. And it just hit me, it was like, I mean, I don't I obviously don't move with a limp, but like at the same time, it was like it hit me that like if you just live move on and live your life like normal, like it's no, like it's not, it it doesn't do anything. You know, it's not it's not a big it's not as big of a deal as we want to make it sometimes. And it's hard when you go through the trauma because you sometimes I feel like and and I even feel this now is like sometimes I want people to know what I went through. Yeah, you know, like I want people to know that it was hard and that I endured it, but the best way to create space for that conversation is not to walk around suffering, but to walk around in success, right? And this built this position of confidence and clarity and conviction because the reality is is you know 99.9% of people are walking around with something.

SPEAKER_03 18:42

Absolutely, right? Or they're not telling the truth, or they're lying to you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

And and where I say that like amputation has become my superpower is you know, when I'm walking around in shorts and people see my leg, they immediately can connect, they immediately can relate because they're like I can see that that person has been through something and they're good. So that gives me hope because I'm in the middle of something right now and I don't feel good. And and the re you know, I think just to add on to this, like it's okay to be not okay. Yeah, it's okay to hurt, it's okay to to endure that trauma. I mean, it it is not a I mean, you heard my story, like it when there's 18 months of just devastation, right? That's part of the journey. It's okay to be not okay, it's not okay to stay there. Yeah, right. And so I guess, you know, uh maybe a just a quick encouragement is like, you know, this this amputation has lost my leg is one thing, but like every day I have to wake up and make the choice to be who God called me to be that day, to manage the day, whatever struggles I'm facing outside of the amputation, just in life in general, and I can use the lessons that I learned that are very clear, you know, or I can choose to not, and the day is not very productive, you know, or beneficial. So, you know, it's it's one of those things that, you know, I think every day we have a choice to to make what we want out of it. And, you know, I I try to do my best to to make the best out of each day because every day I wake up and I put my leg on to the first thing and it's just a reminder of how good God is and how gracious he's been.

SPEAKER_03 20:20

That's beautiful. I think uh while you're talking, I was wanting to transition and I have his permission up front. So all my listeners know it's not it's not going deep without asking prior to. So there's this unique thing that we all know for our patients is that this is trauma. Typically, after trauma, you experience some sort of mental health issue or decision. And I've just learned that elite athletes can experience this too. And I wanted to know you said it's okay to not be okay, but it's not okay to stay there. Give some recommendations for people who are walking through their personal dark night where they have to decide this isn't gonna define me, and I want to move in a different direction. What are things that you practically did that helped set you up to start making a life built around that mentality?

SPEAKER_00 21:12

Yeah, I mean, you know, it really did start in in the application of the the you know, meeting with that doctor and realizing that I was letting the reality of my present circumstances dictate my future. Yeah. And and and I use the word dreams and I use the word goals because those are you know, those are very powerful things. Like if you've gotten to a place in your life where you can't see beyond your present moment, if you can't sit down and say, here's where I want to be in a month, or here's what I'd like to see myself in six months, or here's a task that I'd like to do in five three weeks that I'm not doing today, then you're you're not allowing yourself, you're you're allowing the reality of your present circumstances to dictate everything, right? And so it's it really is an easy application. But it's hard to do, right? Pull out a piece of paper, write my goals, write a timeline, and put something down that you aren't doing now that you want to be doing in the future. And this is not a uh passfail, you know, success or not success deal. This is the reality and the power of a goal or a dream is it gets you moving somewhere besides where you are. Yeah. And so, you know, when I set goals, you know, I always use this idea of, you know, I want my big goals to be about 60% attainable. So it's that means it's out there, right? It's way, way out there.

SPEAKER_04 22:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:40

But I also know there's a chance. If all the stars align, everything happens perfectly that I could get there. But what happens after when I start chasing that goal, in a in a year, I look back and I'm not even close to where I was when I wrote that down on the piece of paper. Maybe I'm not as close as I wanted to be to the goal at the time, but I'm I'm somewhere new. I've gotten, I've I've gotten some momentum, I've gotten some little wins. And so, you know, I it's it's a it's a simple application, but it's a hard thing to get us, you know, to get yourself to do, especially when you're in a moment of trauma where you're not seeing hope, you're not seeing opportunity. But the ability to dream, the ability to set goals is one of the most powerful drivers to get people moving from from where they are and and and get a move and just it and it didn't have to be to where they want to be, it's just in moving in general. Moving is success and moving is the the the goal. So I would say that would be the f you know the first thing. And then just to speak on the athlete side for a second, you know, it's it's really interesting because and I've had to kind of rinse and repeat this a little uh you know through my career, but you know, I I spend f you know, every four years I spend, you know, f I I write down a goal and I leave leave the previous games of where I want to be in the next four years, the next games, and then I spend four years training relentlessly for most of my career for one race that lasted ten and a half seconds. So I spend four years and in in ten and a half seconds, my uh worth based on the world standards is basically just here you go. This is success fail. Like you either won a medal, you didn't, you either performed well, you didn't, and your entire value is judged and based on that. And so I had this really powerful experience early in my career. It was 2013, and I broke the world record in the prelims of the 200. It was the the first time I ever broke a world record, and I walk out of that race kind of shocked because I mean the objective of a prelim is just to like qualify for the finals. And so I just executed what our strategy was. I was I literally shut down and was like jogging across the finish line, still broke the world record. And I go into the first interview, and the the reporter goes, Jared, world record run, brilliant performance. Are you gonna run faster tomorrow? And I was like, I mean, yeah, I hope so, I guess. Like tomorrow's about winning the race, but like whatever it takes, you know. But um, this is kind of a weird question, right? And so I go into the next interview, same question. Are you gonna run faster tomorrow? Literally four interviews in a row. I got asked, are you gonna run faster tomorrow? And so I go, you know, I go back to the hotel and I'm like, think about this question. I'm like, ah, you know what? Like, I got a race tomorrow. Like, let's not worry about it, you know, throw it in the journal. We'll talk, we'll sift through it later. Finals the next day, break the world record again, won the gold medal. Same exact person, same exact interview, number one, Jared, brilliant run, gold medal, world record performance. How fast do you think you can run the 200? And and and again, that that was the kind of the the question that funneled through, you know, most of the interviews. And so I I got on the plane, I got home, you know, I I left that event winning two gold medals and breaking the world record three times, we broke a world record in another event as well. And what I realized is that the world will never be satisfied.

SPEAKER_03 26:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:07

And and that if I put all of my energy, value, and worth in what the world perceives of me, or I allow them to define success for me, I am literally setting myself up for failure. And what most people don't see, right? So athletes spend four years just relentless training. I mean, it is just it's it's grueling what uh what elite athletes go to to get to the level that we are at as a as competitors. And then we're judged and defined by the outcome of like these small little races that when you think about it, like that race doesn't define me as a human. It doesn't define the work that I put in, it's defined me the lessons that I learned over the four years to get there, it doesn't define the impact I've maybe made in my community or you know how I've grown as a person, the things that I've learned. But yet we get basically put into this little box of you are defined by this. And that's the correlation between trauma, right? Because when you have a limb difference, or when you lose a limb, you get very quickly put into a box that is defined by this. And the world says, Well, you do you are missing a leg, or you are missing an arm, or you do have a disability, and so this is who you are. And it's it's so unfortunate that that is that's how we're as humans received, or even sometimes how we receive or judge others, right?

SPEAKER_03 27:44

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 27:44

When it's so much more than that. So I think one of the things that being brought into this community and and obviously that experience in the games has brought me to this place to understand is like, first of all, like, you know, as a believer, like my identity has to be rooted in Jesus, period. Like it it's it's full stop there. But I I would also say that like how the understanding for me, the understanding that I'm gonna choose not to give the world power over me there, and in that is gonna allow me a to be free as I'm walking around the world not worried.

SPEAKER_03 28:21

About ten and a half seconds, right?

SPEAKER_00 28:23

And then and then what that does is it creates opportunity to love and meet others well where they're at and and give hope and clarity and perspective into that. So I know it's a really long-winded kind of correlation or connection behind that, but there there is so much um truth behind the idea of uh, you know, mental health, you know, I think at the end of the day, it really comes from a a misconcewed perspective of like how much power we give the world over us and our identity. But it's real.

SPEAKER_03 28:56

No, I think that's so powerful. I'm gonna misquote it, but it's an Air Force saying that is in a leadership book that I read, and it talks about you can survive three weeks without food, three days without water, three minutes without air, but 30 seconds without hope. And I think that is a powerful reminder is that hope for the future is something that we mutually share is our faith is what guides us in that. And we can have hope for tomorrow. And it is part of our unique here at Alliance is that we set goals with our patients to help them recognize their inherent value and worth.

SPEAKER_02 29:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:34

Because it was always there. It it's not determined based off of their abilities or their limb loss or their limb difference, because we believe everyone is made in the image of God. Yeah, that is what we try to offer every person who walks through our doors, that they are reminded of that through setting and achieving goals. So I appreciate you talking about goal setting because that is our unique. Uh, I want to shift and I want to talk about a book that David Clark, our mutual friend, talked about on our podcast. And I naively just bought it for my husband for Christmas, and I had no idea that your story was in it, which is the comeback and this phrase people can relate to a stumble more than a medal. I know we've talked around this. I know you've said a lot of different things. Can you talk about that and how you show up in the real world? Because I think people think, you know, when you're an elite athlete, everything just goes well. You you just, I mean, I would just assume, you know, the doors just magically open for you because you have a gold medal or a bronze medal, and you know, everything's just easy.

SPEAKER_00 30:43

Yeah. So you know that that quote came from an experience in my first games. So just like quick timeline. I had my imputation in 2010, uh, June of 2010, uh, qualified for my first U.S. national championships one year later, um, almost to the day, ran in the hundred, qualified for the Pan American team that headed down to to Mexico. 16 months after amputation, ran down there, ran the fastest time in the world, won a gold medal, and kind of started on my journey to qualifying for the Paralympic Games in in 2012. So uh, you know, two years after amputation made the team uh go into London and was one of the members of the four by one relay team. And, you know, there was our our whole our whole team was new. Um there was one athlete who had been a veteran, but everyone else was new. So no one really knew what to expect from the US. Uh South African team had been the defending champions. That's where everybody kind of thought who's gonna get the medal. But we knew that we were kind of a dark horse in the competition and we had an opportunity to, you know, contend for the gold. And um I was running the third leg and um I remember, you know, the guy coming down the back stretch, and I was in my three-point stance, and I took off my first step, and I realized I hadn't hadn't lined up properly for the turn on this track. And and so I had I kind of needed to shift my hips a little bit. I ended up tripping on my blade, stumbled. We went from like second to fifth place really quickly, didn't fall, was able to save it, continue to run handoff. We ended up getting a bronze medal shortly after he had gotten disqualified from you know, one of the athletes stepped on on the line, and it was just it was de you know, it was just devastating. So I'm on my way back home after the event, you know. I I wasn't I wasn't upset or or like mad at the performance. I was, you know, I just the fact that I was there was amazing, you know, and I kind of had to keep that in perspective. But I I did remember writing in my journal on the airplane back, I was like, I was like, God, I I don't like I don't I'm maybe I'm missing something, but like, you know, I thought the goal was to like come over here and like crush it, get a get on the podium, do a medal, like come back home and share, you know, share your glory, right? How good you know you are and the things that we've accomplished together, right?

SPEAKER_03 33:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:01

And in that moment, man, I was just like, he's like, Jared, he goes, I just gave you the best and most powerful story that I could have written for the games because you think that in order for me to use you, you have to be on the podium and you have to be the champion and you have to win. He goes, but I can use you in anything because I'm that good. And he goes, when you're sharing, when you go back home and you're sharing your story of the games, because man, people people don't care, they just want to hear, man. They want to hear the experience, they're so fired up and excited about the things that you've been able to do. But how many more people do you think can relate to a stumble in the middle of a race compared to a gold medal? Yeah, and and that was that was the beginning of my perspective shift of you know what, God's really got it going on.

SPEAKER_02 33:52

This guy, this guy's writing a good story.

SPEAKER_00 33:54

Like he he he gets it, you know? And yeah, it was just one of those moments where you know I I I really spent the next you know year or two, you know, sharing, sharing a story, and and it really was around this idea of you know, we aren't we aren't defined by our trips, you know, we aren't defined by our losses, we aren't defined by our failures. As a matter of fact, those are the those are the things that sharpen us, that give us perspective, that allow us to become stronger, more equipped, maybe even give you a little bit of motivation. Um, not to strive to win to show that you're capable, but to strive to learn, to see what, you know, what's next, and and to continue to be a part of, you know, whatever the story ultimately is. And you know, it goes back to this, you know, there's the the the world that we live in where it's just a success or failure mentality, and um people like the idea of success, but the greats understand the power of failure. And some of the most successful athletes endured some of the greatest failures to get to where they are.

SPEAKER_03 35:03

No, agreed. One of my favorite poems of all time is If by Rudyard Kipling. And one of the lines which helps me get up and I'll transition here to how we actually know each other, is that if you can treat triumph and disaster both the same, they're imposters. And so that whole idea that triumph and disaster don't define us as human beings gives you the courage to dare greatly because you're not in charge of the results, you're in charge of the obedient next step, which is why uh we know each other because we dared greatly to change legislation together down at the Capitol in you know a year, which is pretty wild.

SPEAKER_04 35:44

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_03 35:45

Uh landmark legislation. I just am so proud of our team. Yeah. I think about every unique person that said, yes, I want to be a part of that, and the sacrifices they made in order to make it happen. For those that don't know, you don't actually only work for 40 days, 40 nights in session. There's a lot of lead up to it. And afterwards, I wondered if you could share what your side was and how you desired to be a part of the movement and something that surprised you.

SPEAKER_00 36:14

When I got brought into this community, um, you know, God is, I truly believe this, and I tell everybody this that we're all every person's uniquely called, uniquely equipped, uniquely positioned to do great things. We can choose to walk in that or we can choose to ignore it. Um, we can choose to walk in our calling, we can choose to activate our equipping. You know, it it it just it's he he will open open up the door, but he's you know, he wants us to walk through it. And sometimes he doesn't open it all the way, sometimes he just cracks it open and he wants to know are we gonna grab it and open it up, you know. So um it's not always this easy roadmap, and uh this legislation last year was an example of it's not always easy, and it it doesn't always happen the way that you think it's gonna happen. You know, it was smooth sailing for a long time until the final hour there, and and then you know, we had some some major scares, and then God was like, Man, I I actually I want to write this story differently. And you, you know, this was how you guys thought it was gonna work, and this was the plan that you guys had for it, but um, I've actually got a better plan and and it and it's and it it and it's really I mean it's amazing the how how it came to fruition at the end, and and really in some capacity, like you can only say that God's hand was fervently on that for it to be successful. Like in some capacity, if it would have happened the way that we kind of planned, it would have been a little bit more like ah, we played a pretty big role in this, you know.

SPEAKER_01 37:39

Like we did a good job, we did a good job, right?

SPEAKER_00 37:42

Whereas like everything that was planned like literally went up into flames in the final 24 hours.

SPEAKER_03 37:47

Yeah, uh the insurance committee, uh yeah, it definitely went in flames. It was crazy. I mean, it really wasn't. We expected it all.

SPEAKER_00 37:54

Yeah, no, and we I mean, that was literally one of those. I remember you and I chatting was like, I don't know if it's gonna happen. Let's just we just need to pray. And literally it was 24 hours of prayer, and um, and then we got a call, it was done, and was like, What's done? Oh, and it got done.

SPEAKER_01 38:08

I was like, oh my gosh, how did this happen?

SPEAKER_00 38:10

Like, what is going on? So, man, it's you know, I uh when I got brought into the amputee community, I knew I knew kind of in some capacity, I knew God's giftedness for me and and and how he created me. And so I knew that I knew that I was gonna be a part of change in in some way, shape, or form. I didn't know what that was gonna look like. Um, you know, and I've I'm still searching, right? I mean, I spent 15 years in this community trying to identify, you know, what are some of the needs, what are some of the gaps, um, you know, and still trying to figure out where my you know specific role is to help be leave, you know, I don't want to say leave this community better, but be be a part of the change this community I think wants to see. Um and so when you called, you know, what way when we when we when we met originally full circle, which was very unexpected. Um, and then when we had you know our kind of first conversation after that was, you know, it's like, man, the timing couldn't have been more perfect. You know, I was in the beginning of like starting to slowly publicly communicate some of the things that I've been working on for a long time. And there's just so much uh great alignment in in being involved with with what was going on, you know, and then obviously knowing if knowing a few of the people on the So Everybody Can Move team, you know, from from the Paris Sport world was was really uh an organic, easy kind of transition into as well. So um, yeah, I mean it was it was really for me, I think there was a couple things that I took away from. Um first was just when legislation is really hard and going through going through that process is really difficult. And especially when you're communicating with people who don't understand it at all. Um and it's not a it's not a left-right red-blue thing, you know. It really is just, you know, every every state manages legislation differently, every year is different on how it's perceived. It's it's understanding, you know, where to lean in, where to step back, you know, where to align, where to not. And so it's just there's this big juggling app act that kind of happens. But I think one of the things that I realized is that, you know, every person who is dealing with limb loss or limb difference, and this is what the legislation really taught me, was it has their own unique story, but they also have their own unique perspective on how like to succeed, right? Whether it's personally succeed or how the legislation should be done or how it should be communicated. And so the the difficulty is, you know, because there's so many people involved, and because there's so many different ways to communicate what success could look like, it really is trying to figure out, you know, I think the hard the hard part is not everyone's gonna be happy with the end result, but how can we start moving in the right direction to make create the best opportunity for change in the long in the long haul? Um, and and with that means that you've got to concede on things, you've got to make hard decisions, you've got to maybe disappoint or upset some people at times. And and and I think for me that was you know, one of the things that was interesting was going through this process was saying, okay, we're gonna have to, we're not gonna be able to do everything we want to do, which means there's there's there's people who have been fighting for this that are not gonna get the support that they need right, maybe right now, but that are still very integral in this process. And so I, you know, for me, it it helped me change my perspective a little bit because you know, all our you know, our individual ideas are the best ideas in the world, right? You know, like we all kind of we all walk around like, this is a great idea, you know, like and and but until you see it from other perspectives and other lenses, which again, that's I think the biggest thing I walked away with is just understanding that every person that was involved in the legislation wanted to see success, but success looked different for every single person. And so to in order to, you know, from my perspective, in order to effectively serve the community, in order to effectively enact change in the community, there's there needs to be this empathy and understanding of of what people truly need, not the perceived needs of the people. And so, you know, it's seeing that, and then how do we communicate that to the legislators? How do we communicate that to people and and connect it to them? Because they haven't had this experience, but there's something in their lives, you know, as we talked about earlier, right? You know, because my superpower is visible, people can connect their loss, their pain, their hurt to that as well. And um, I think we did a great job. I think the team was remarkable in that and excited to continue to keep the fuel in the fire this year and see if we can continue to gain gain the support that we need for the state of Georgia.

SPEAKER_03 42:57

No, I I so appreciate it. Uh for our audience. Jared was so kind. I made him wear shorts and his medal every time he went to the Capitol and he shared his medal with every single person.

SPEAKER_00 43:07

And a lot of pictures.

SPEAKER_03 43:08

A lot of pictures. Our legislators, I think, were very agreeable to what we put forth. It wasn't that anybody really shut us down super hard except in the insurance committee, but every other time it was very much, oh, I want to know more. And so that incrementalism that we were able to do easy plus one, helping people to better understand what we were working towards. I think that was a really cool thing to witness. And, you know, my big surprise was in insurance committee. I had already identified all the perceived people that I thought were on our team. And it wasn't, as I thought at all, the person that really um moved on our behalf was somebody that I thought I don't think he's going to be for our legislation. And judging a book by their cover, by what they're known for, is the biggest mistake you can. Make and I learned that through this legislation, um, you know, the power to compromise and to find common ground with people that you don't agree with.

SPEAKER_04 44:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:09

I think everybody should do some act of legislation because you will quickly learn how to work with people that you don't agree with on the daily, but you do agree on one thing, and I think our nation would be better if we all had to do some more civics. So yeah, no doubt.

SPEAKER_00 44:26

Very well said.

SPEAKER_03 44:28

So now I wanted to move into kind of what your new projects are. What is rival? What is this need that you have identified after 15 years and kind of talk about this transition?

SPEAKER_00 44:43

Yeah. Uh, you know, I'm I I think I've learned from a lot of uh athletes in the past and have gotten some really good advice is don't wait till you retire to figure out what your retirement plan is.

SPEAKER_03 44:52

Um that's good advice for non-athletes.

SPEAKER_00 44:54

Yeah, yeah. Don't wait to graduate from college and be like, I guess I'll try to figure out a job right now. Um, yeah. So I and I do think a lot of athletes struggle with that, right? Their identity is in who they are as athletes, performers, and then they, you know, they spend 15, 20 years being the best in the world at what they do, and what they do is non-transferable into the corporate business world. And so, yes, there are some soft skills that transfer really well, but the hard skills, they're just not there because you don't have the reps. And so um, you know, for me, it's like how you know, I'm I want to build something I can transition into, um, but I also want to build something that's gonna impact this community. And I think what one of the things that's been the most frustrating to me is, you know, 15 years in this community, I look back and and not a lot's changed. Like not a lot has changed, um, industry-wise, resource-wise, access-wise, education-wise. There's a lot of good uh good good intents, there's a lot of movement, there's there's great orgs here and there and and and great companies, but just as a just a big brush stroke across the organization, it's just the community, it just hasn't changed. And and for me, that's kind of that's devastating, right? And sad. And you know, so I I kind of was like, all right, we gotta create some change. You know, I'm I'm I'm kind of a person where I I don't sit back too long. Um, and 15 years is a long time. I haven't been doing nothing for 15 years. I've been strategically learning the industry using my platform and and opportunities to um gain, you know, I I would say some perspective. But yeah, I think when I step back and realize, you know, if I had to identify like what's what's the major problem with the industry, it's the lack of access to resources and information for the consumer, for the amputee themselves. Um and and it's uh that's like I don't know about that. Maybe you probably can, you can't maybe you can, but man, if you're you know, if you're an amputee example every person I talked to is amputee is like, yeah, I did there was no guide, there was no roadmap, there was no, I I had to figure it out as I win, and I, you know, or I got really lucky and got a great got with the break great prosthetic company, or man, I did not, and it was three years of just absolute, you know, brutal experience.

SPEAKER_03 47:05

And none of them are alliance people that say that. Right.

SPEAKER_00 47:09

I just want to make sure that that was that understood. Um but yeah, it's you know, it's one of those things that I you know it's just it's it's hard because and even he even in Alliance, right? It's it's so hard for you guys to do everything.

SPEAKER_03 47:23

We can't, right? That's not possible.

SPEAKER_00 47:24

100%. And so, you know, there's for me, I you know, a step back and I I I said, okay, what why AY is there not this, you know, why why is there such a lack of resources information? You know, and I think that there's a lot of I won't give my opinion piece on that, but I think that there's a lot of different ideas there. But what I started leaning into is what happens, what happens to a community, what happens to a a people group, what happens to a society when there isn't uh the right information or education. And and what happens is you lose the ability to effectively have agency over yourself.

SPEAKER_03 48:04

Correct.

SPEAKER_00 48:04

You lose the ability to um advocate for yourself, you lose the ability to you know go back to what we were talking about earlier, you lose the ability to dream because you don't have the right information on how to effectively have a goal or or dream because you don't you don't know what you don't know.

SPEAKER_03 48:23

Correct.

SPEAKER_00 48:24

And so, you know, I think you know, at Rival, you know, our our vision at our organization, you know, we're we want to be a collaborative ecosystem uh for this community. And I'll kind of go into details of what that looks like in a second, but we want to interact with the community. We want to be the most trusted and reliable source of education and information for the APT community. That's that's our our big goal. Um the way that we want to achieve that is through being a collaborative ecosystem. So we want to build a space where we can take data, we can take information, we can take and develop rehab protocols, we can kind of help influence um kind of all the all the metrics that I think the industry wants to know and have, but just doesn't. And and we don't want to do it in a silo. We don't want to do it and own it and protect it. We want to do it in a collaborative way to where we're sharing it. We want to work with prosthetic companies, we want to work with, you know, the big manufacturing groups, we want to work with the the patients, we want to work with the therapists, we want to work with the doctors. We we know that if everyone is communicating in the same space, but someone is owning the strategy, someone's owning the information, and someone's helping make sure that it gets in the right hands in the right places to to enact and influence proper change, that that's you know, that's the the you know, again in our our mind, that's the most effective way to create change. Um the industry as a whole it is is broken. I mean, there's no way around it, it's broken. And so I I think that the for the most part, as it stands right now, there's a lot of a lot of organizations, a lot of industry centric people that are continuing to build things on and into a broken system versus trying to figure out how we can fix it or or rebuild it in a in a healthier way. And so I I think the you know, the the long-term vision for Rival is that we create this ecosystem built on data, built on information that is for us consumer focused, not industry focused. The objective for us is that the consumer wins, not the industry sustains. It will sustain, right? The industry is not going to go away, but we want to give for me, I want to give the power back to the consumers to be equipped to make the right decisions, to take agency back, to own their journey. You know, I there's a crazy statistic, and I'm sure the data is different for different groups, but roughly 40% of above-nee amputees 18 months into their journey don't actually use their prosthetic.

SPEAKER_03 50:55

Oh no, that's that's accurate.

SPEAKER_00 50:57

So that is devastating financially. That's crippling because insurance is paying big money for prosthetics not ever not ever getting used.

SPEAKER_03 51:05

That are sitting in a closet.

SPEAKER_00 51:06

That's just sitting in a closet. And so it's like, how can how can we A, why does that happen? And I go go back to the information. If you don't have confidence, agency, or competency to be able to understand how what success looks like for you and to be able to take ownership on that, how do you how do you get ownership? Information, knowledge, uh, understanding. You like if you don't know it, it's hard to take ownership on it, right? And so if we want to stop that, and that's just one small statistic, it's it's wild. The industry is wild on on how many more consistent numbers like that exist. But if we want to, if we want to give agency back to people, we we don't want that to be their story, we want their success, success story to look different. Um, it starts with with equipping them. Um and so, you know, again, I I think there's so many great I I don't think we're gonna come in and save the industry by any means, but I think that we're gonna come in and and and maybe just maybe for the first time create a space where the industry works in in tangent, collaboratively together, um, and we strategically gather the right data that's gonna allow us to positively influence decisions in this industry, decisions that insurance makes, decisions that support the needs for prosthetic companies, decisions that make sure that the patients actually get the right technology that they need from Go, not what they're gonna need in a year because they only get one leg build in two years. And so we're gonna just make a guess, you know, I digress. But um, yeah, so I, you know, I'm I'm really excited. We we have uh a big, big plans for the future. Um we're uh projected to open our pilot facility where we're gonna start developing rehab protocols, standardized rehab protocols. Um we got a partnership with uh American Physical Therapy Association who's gonna work really tangently alongside of us in that process. And, you know, we got a lot of other things that we've got planned down the road. We're we're trying to kind of build the right team to put together a hundred thousand square foot performance lab where we're gonna kind of build build this hub, where we're gonna be able to capture this data, do innovation, work together with the industry, and really make the change we want to see. So um, you know, we're looking about 2028 to 2030 as far as opening that facility, but looking at this summer to start our pilot and um rock and roll. So we're excited. It's a very new organization, but um we have an amazing team, a clear vision, and I believe we have a heartbeat on what what the need is here in this community. Again, we're not we our objective is not to be the household name that solves everything. Our objective is to create a space where we can work together to to to make change.

SPEAKER_03 53:34

Yeah, to fill the need. You know, I think that's such a beautiful mission. And I cannot wait to see what comes out of Rival. I'm hopeful our clinic gets to get all those fun protocols and we get to work together in the future because we share that same value that if patients are first, the company, the industry will always take care of itself because we're in the service industry.

SPEAKER_04 53:56

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 53:57

And what a patient needs and their personal mobility goals should be at the forefront of every clinical decision we're making. I'm grateful that there's other people in the state of Georgia who agree with that. It was while you're talking though, I kind of laughed. I was like, oh, so you're doing exactly what the legislation was. So you're basically helping people define success, knowing what an incremental change looks like, and solving the need and helping people become educated. So I mean, gosh.

SPEAKER_00 54:25

And I think I think the one point, you know, and this is just insight for those of you who aren't as close to the legislation, the missing link for us that is that will limit our ability to succeed on a legislation side of things is not how amazing Rachel and the team are. It is the lack of data that we have to support the true reality or the true picture of what's happening in our industry. And and so it really, we we are at a point industry-wide where the system is built not for us to win. And I say that very, very intentionally. And and the only way to help gain a little bit of leverage back in that narrative is to develop uh undisputed data sets that peer reviewed, all the fun stuff that we don't have access to.

SPEAKER_03 55:12

That's right. Um, I I'm sorry, I didn't want to get on a soapbox, but the thing that I think people don't understand is uh insurance companies can say it's not medically necessary because we don't have the research to back that it is medically necessary.

SPEAKER_00 55:26

So uh insert rival here.

SPEAKER_03 55:29

Yeah. That's why we are so pumped that there's an organization willing to meet that need so we can show insurance companies, physicians, those making the decision, corroborating medical records that this is great information. Uh, so looking forward to the work that you're doing.

SPEAKER_00 55:47

And it's gonna save them money in the long run.

SPEAKER_03 55:48

Uh it's either pay now or pay later. We all know that. It's it's why our state was willing to make the change without the data. Yep. They met face to face with our patient population. They have common sense, which I'm so grateful that I live in a state that has common sense. Yeah, that when we explained what we are doing, they said that makes total sense. Let's figure out how. And now that we have worked in tandem with uh our legislators, we now know, hey, they need more data. Let's get more data and you guys are gonna fill that need perfectly. So thank you so much for stepping up and using your retirement to uh pour back into our community. Um, but it's not time for retirement yet.

SPEAKER_02 56:33

Not yet.

SPEAKER_03 56:34

All right. I the goal for our movement is 28 by 28 because the Olympic Games are coming to LA. I know we currently have Olympics going on. The Winter Olympics matter. I don't want to over overshoot or not give them their highlight. I will, uh-huh. But I want to talk about you. How are you training? What's your plans? I don't want to be like that reporter though and ask any of the wrong questions.

SPEAKER_00 56:54

So how far can you jump? Uh what's your plans? No, um, no, I've I'm my identity is not in the success or outcomes of the world. So you you don't have to worry about pushing those buttons. Uh I learned that lesson in 2013. I'm gonna have to remind myself every now and then 2016 was a uh was a challenge there. But um, yeah, so gosh, training is amazing. Yeah, I've loving loving to watching the winter games right now. Um, got a lot of friends competing, uh, which is exciting to you know have some personal relationships with some of the Olympians and obviously with the Paralympics coming up here in about 20 or 30 days uh as well. So excited for that. But um training's really interesting right now. Um coaches me on a uh not allowed to run protocol. So he goes, You've been a professional athlete for 15 years. Um, very rarely in your career do we have the opportunity to rebuild a foundation. And so he goes, You're for the next eight to twelve weeks, you're just doing um your warmup. He said, You're gonna perfect your warmup. You're gonna perfect the small little movements that make a big difference over time. And uh if you if if we want to do what you want to accomplish in 27 and 28, then we need to take the time this year to rebuild the engine. And so um historically rebuild the engine means work harder. Um this year, rebuild the engine means do the little things well, do the ABCs really, really, really well. Um, be consistent, be present where you need to be present, don't over-exert yourself. Um, he knows that I'm doing a lot right now, and so we're building a a strategy this year. We don't have an international competition that we're required to compete in. I do have to show proof of performance. Um, but this year we're we're looking for new sponsorship opportunities, partnership opportunities, new tech opportunities. And so, you know, we're we're we are happy with where we were, but we think that there's another gear to where we can go. And so we're uh we're strategically having conversations right now to figure out what's the right team for me, uh, what's the right tech for me, what's the right partnerships with me, um, for me to to allow us to you know comfortably and confidently move into 2028. Um, where I'll be 38 years old, you know, like I'm not I won't not gonna be a spring chicken there, right? And so we we we just have to take a little bit of a different perspective on how to how to do what I know my body's capable of still doing. And so um, yeah, I've just really um it's been a it's been interesting, you know, going to practice and I'm not even bringing him a running blade. I'm you know, it's you know, I don't even put it on. He won't like literally I won't be able to put it on until probably the end of March.

SPEAKER_04 59:26

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 59:27

And so it's just you know, I do go through my warm-up, go through all the little motions. Um, you know, I've got a high activity leg that allows me to, you know, I can do bounds and you know, high knees and you know, simulated running movements very comfortably. But, you know, I ain't I'm not gonna take off sprinting, you know, on this leg, you know. So yeah, it's it's been a fun, it's been a fun first, you know, six weeks. I took 14 weeks off after the world champs. Um, you know, we had our our little girl came 12 weeks ago today. So uh Margot's uh now joined the Wallace clan and she's amazing. We finally have a chunky baby. Our two little boys were not. She is chunky and it's so cute. Love her to death. But yeah, so it was you know, I I got to take some good rest, um, both for family and for myself. And then yeah, we're you know, we're slowly itching this thing, but I think come April I'm gonna be I'm gonna be ready to start getting after it again. And and maybe that's part of the plan too, is you know, building this engine, but also just kind of keeping the internal engine churning, the desire churning. When you do something for 15 years, it it can get monotonous. Especially, I mean, you know, I I've just been very fortunate, but I've been top three in the world for 15 years in in you know any event that I've you know focused on. And so uh to maintain that level it just takes a lot. Sometimes it gets boring, which is why I've changed events, you know, like I I've d done things to try to keep it interesting. But you know, uh this this game feels uh uniquely special. Um I don't you know obviously getting to uh be in a home country is really special, really, really cool. Um it'll be my fifth games, you know, uh whatever the outcome is, whatever the purpose is for for me over this next few years building um building the engine, I guess, that is me to to get to that point, you know, again and from you know, the the day I um the day I ran for the first time, it was six no three three months to the day after amputation. And um I remember taking off down the sidewalk and turned around and like the prosthetists were looking at me like what what is what just happened? You know, and I come back, I'm like, did I do something wrong? They're not like no, you like you just look great, you're running. Like I was like, Well, you told me just to run, you know, and to trust the thing. But I remember driving back home feeling, you know, knowing it'd been three years, and I thought I was never gonna run again, you know, and having that feeling of you know, joy and excitement, having the dreams and goals of wanting to be a professional athlete as a paralympian. And uh I remember having a conversation with God and I said, Hey, I'm I'm not gonna run for me anymore. I don't want my identity to go back to where it was. And I had this like little hashtag and thing I put on my blade for a long time and I said I run for him. And and I and in that car ride, I said, You say when I'm done. And and I tell you right now, like, if I make the team to LA and the night before the game, the competition, he says, You're done, I won't show up on the track. And and so it's really fun to be there and have been there for most of my career. I think it's one of the reasons that's I've had a long and successful career, is because my worth value, who I am, my identity is not rooted in that. I see it directly as a vehicle for him to create these amazing experiences and opportunities to share his glory and grace and mercy on my life and his goodness. And I'm I'm hopeful that we get to finish that writing that story through LA. But, you know, uh he may be using this as a as a vehicle to to to share more about what's happening with Rival, or maybe it's just to continue to keep me in a place where he's he's working on me in my heart. You know, I I I I don't know, but um, you know, each day is a a day where I say, hey, is you know, is today it? No, okay, let's go to practice, you know. And so it's it's just fun to be in a place. Um I guess I don't, you know, bless my wife's heart here, but like I I just I don't I don't really worry too much. Like he's just been so good and provided every step of the way that like even in times where it's like, yeah, but I don't know, like there's some things that we need to figure out. And it's just like it's not absent of doing the work, but it's just this piece of like he's got it. Yeah, he's got it. He's shown up too many times in moments that he sh could have not. And I just can't yeah, there's just a so much peace that comes with where um where we are right now. And and where we are right now can it's not easy. We're in a tough season right now of life and just figuring things out, and in the midst of that, he's so good.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:18

Yeah, unshakeable. Yeah, that's that's a beautiful uh way to transition to how we as a nation can support our athletes for the 2028. Teach us as a nation what it would look like for America to really support our Olympic athletes, especially on our home turf.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:38

Yeah, no doubt. Yeah, it's a huge opportunity to lean in. You know, we we are very fortunate, um, A to compete for the greatest country in the world.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:47

Love our country.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:48

Amazing country. Yeah. But we you know, we get to we get to wear the USA across the chest. We have the flag on our on our chest, and and if we are fortunate enough to win a medal, we get to we get to hold the flag and and you know, win a gold. You get to hear the national anthem, which is just an unbelievable um experience. But w we we represent the country. I mean, we we truly do. And and all that it embodies, and you know, even in the the craziness of our our society right now, like the reality is is yeah, we represent all it embodies, means the good, the bad, and the ugly, because the reality of our career is the it's good, bad, and ugly. Like again, we we are celebrated on the podium for one fleeting moment, and then what? Yeah, like then we go back to work and we fail and we struggle and we suffer and we grind and we disagree and we lose opportunities and we get opportunities, and and it's not all the roses that you see in social media and Instagram, and and it's not just that one moment on the podium, and you know that our our our world, we're we're broken, our country is broken, like we live in a broken world, and um you know we need Jesus, man, more than ever. Holy moly. I mean, I don't know how to say it any other way, but um but there is a beauty in the fact that the journey to the podium is very, very broken, hard, and difficult. And um to be a part of a great country at times it's broken hard and difficult. And that's that's that's how refinement happens, and that's how we the people become better.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:23

Beautifully said. I will be supporting all of our athletes and currently at the Winter Olympics. I wondered, do you have an event if you weren't Jared Wallace that you would go and compete in the winter?

SPEAKER_00 1:06:35

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I actually almost got talked into competing for these this games after after Tokyo was postponed a year, and they weren't really sure what they were going to redo world champs or like kind of what our track schedule is gonna be like. I I was contemplating doing snow snowboard border cross.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:53

Really?

SPEAKER_00 1:06:53

I grew up wakeboarding and competing as a wakeboarder and snowboarding, and so um Louis Vito and and a few of the uh uh Toby Miller, a few of the pro snowboarders on the US team, uh the Olympic team, uh took me out and and we were in Park City and we rode for a few days and and we're just testing some things out. And you know, they're they're you know half pipe tricksters, so you know we were hitting some rails and jumps and stuff like that, but you know, we found a few spots to kind of test it out. And they're like, man, you know what? You haven't ridden snowboard. I hadn't snowboarded since my amputation. It was the first time snowboarding, and uh they're like, dude, like you could totally do this thing, like let's go for it. Um logistically didn't really make sense. Don't live around a lot of snow. Um you don't say, but yeah, so it it is it's uh it's always kind of a funny joke where it's like, well, you know, we could maybe make a run forward after I retire. Um there's always snowboarding. Probably won't do that, but yeah, snowboarding would be the uh definitely the the the one. Um my although my neighbor right now, he's trying to talk me into being the first paralympian and Olympian. He wants to he wants to go make the Olympics and curling, which I feel like I could totally totally curl with a prosthetic, but um it's you know, curling is not as easy as they make it look on television. I can tell you that right now.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:08

Um, I want to say, as not an elite athlete, I kind of daydream about at what point would I die in the middle of any of those events. It's so impressive to watch. And I'm so honored to get to know a few of you guys who have dedicated your lives to excellence. And it challenges me to do the same in my regular life. And uh as we transition to clothes, uh, I tease my kids all the time because for me, my Olympics is raising my children. And not one time have I ever heard an Olympic athlete get told it's okay to sleep in, it's okay to not come to training, it's okay that you don't do what is asked of you. And that's what I tell my kids is one day I'm gonna stand before God and I'm gonna have to say, How did I live my life? And it's the Olympians that taught me you guys don't take days off. You guys go when it's raining and when it's so inconvenient when you're sick and you choose to be excellent despite your circumstances. So I just want to say thank you for doing that out loud for the regular people like us, that we can be inspired to do that in our everyday life.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:13

Yeah, well, that's awesome. Appreciate you.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:15

All right. Well, we do this thing if you're a faith person and you know that we love our patients, but our listeners. And if you found this podcast, you are somehow connected to the limb loss and limb difference community. You could be a caregiver, you could be a prosthetist orthodist. Um, but I asked Jared, would he pray for the listener that needs to hear encouragement today? So as we close, Jared will pray for us. And uh Lane, my amazing marketing coordinator, is going to put all of his links, his bio, every place to connect with Jared Wallace will be there. Don't DM him too much. He's training, okay? So uh make sure that at Instagram. Yeah, so don't worry. Um, Hannah tells us otherwise, though. Hannah says you're the reason. Uh but yeah, a lot of good stuff. So thanks, Jared, for being on the podcast and uh thank you for praying for our audience.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:07

Yeah, for sure. Let's pray. God, we man, we just come before you. First of all, just thank you for Rachel and her heart for this community and creating a space to hear stories, share stories of encouragement, um, be encouraged by um each other. Uh Lord, um, community is so important. You did not create us to live alone, God, but you created us to live in community, to be encouraged, to be loved, um, and to be inspired by each other. So um, God, I just pray specifically right now over uh the listeners, God. I pray for um just peace that can only come from you. Lord, you know every single listener's story. You know their fears, you know their doubts, you know their insecurities, Lord. You know what makes them happy, you know what makes them laugh. Um, God, you have created them uniquely. God, I believe confidently you have equipped them uniquely, and God, I believe you have a calling for each one of their lives, Lord. Uh may you bring that calling to the forefront of their mind. May you give them the confidence to take hold of it. May you give them the endurance to endure the seasons that feel hard. Um, God, knowing that you are in complete control. May they find rest and peace in you, God, and then through that calling, may they just find abundant joy that comes from uh serving and knowing who they are and most importantly, whose they are. Um so, God, thank you for this time, Lord. May you just have us leave uh with just amazing peace and gratitude. Um and Lord, we just love you so much. It's in your name I pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:59

Thank you, Jared. Were you inspired or challenged today? If so, connect with us. Follow the links in the description box below. We want to hear from you. Until next time, thanks for listening to the Alliance Goldigger podcast.