Mile 20 Mindset Podcast Episode 029 - Featuring Nadia Ruiz

# How to Start Your Running Journey: 3 Key Insights from Nadia Ruiz

**Meta Description**: Discover how to kickstart your running journey with insights from elite runner Nadia Rees. Learn about motivation, training, and overcoming challenges in this engaging blog post.

Running is more than just a physical activity; it's a mental challenge that can transform your life. If you've ever thought about starting your running journey but felt overwhelmed by the prospect, you're not alone. In this post, we’ll explore key insights from elite runner Nadia Rees, who has completed over 163 marathons and many other races. You'll learn how to find motivation, train effectively, and overcome obstacles along the way.

## About Nadia Ruiz
Nadia Ruiz is an accomplished runner with a remarkable record of achievements, including 163 marathons and 21 ultras. Her journey began at a young age, inspired by her teachers and family. Nadia has also worked in the entertainment industry for over 20 years, blending her passion for running with her love for storytelling.

## The Power of Motivation
Understanding what motivates you to run is crucial for starting and maintaining your journey.
- **The Initial Spark**: For Nadia, the inspiration came from her middle school math teacher, who was also a marathon runner. Seeing someone she could relate to achieve such a feat lit a fire in her.
- **Cultural Connection**: Nadia’s experience at the LA Marathon, where she watched an Ecuadorian runner win, resonated deeply with her and her family, instilling a sense of pride and aspiration.
- **Personal Stories**: The Ironman World Championship broadcast revealed the power of human stories. Nadia was particularly moved by participants who were overcoming personal challenges, which fueled her determination to pursue her own goals.

## Training: Start Small and Build Up
Understanding how to train effectively is essential for any runner. Here’s how Nadia approached her training:
1. **Set Realistic Goals**: Nadia signed up for her first marathon at 13 without prior experience. Start with smaller races like 5Ks or half marathons to build your confidence.
2. **Leverage Your Background**: Nadia had a background in boxing, which developed her endurance. Find activities you enjoy that can complement your training.
3. **Train Consistently**: Consistency is key. Although Nadia didn’t have a structured training plan initially, she learned the importance of building mileage over time.

## Overcoming Challenges
Every runner faces obstacles, but how you respond to them will shape your journey:
- **Mental Fortitude**: Nadia emphasizes the importance of mental strength. She faced bullying in school, which shaped her resilience. Running became a way to channel that energy positively.
- **Support System**: Running with family can make the experience more enjoyable. Nadia’s father joined her in training for the LA Marathon, creating a shared journey.
- **Listen to Your Body**: It’s essential to respect your limits. Nadia recalls her first long run, where she learned the hard way about pacing and preparation.

## Conclusion
Starting a running journey can be daunting, but with the right mindset and approach, it can also be incredibly rewarding. By understanding your motivations, setting realistic training goals, and cultivating mental resilience, you can overcome challenges and discover the joy of running.

Want to dive deeper into the world of running? Check out Nadia’s full interview on the Mile 20 Mindset podcast for more insights and inspiration.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Hey, what's up, y'all? It is your boy Alan Mal Donato, the host of Mal20 Mindset. This is a running podcast for elite runners, novice runners, and those that love supporting the runners in their lives. Man, um I I could barely put together words to just describe the the the inspiration, the fortitude, the mental, the physical strength. Just it's unfathomable. Just reciting these. She's ran 163 marathons, 83 Boston qualifiers, 147 half marathons, 15 seven 21 Ultras. Um, this is a real person, you guys. This is a real person. Nadia Rees, welcome to the pod. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you so much for joining us. How are you doing today?

SPEAKER_01 1:13

I'm doing amazing. Amazing. I just finished a lunch run, so I've got my dopamine hit, my happiness inside of me, so I'm I'm really excited to have this conversation with you.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Uh I'm I'm so so excited to talk running with you. Um, I've I've been in the entertainment business for over 20 years, and similar to acting, running is sort of taking over my entire world. Um, where I would find myself at award shows in the corner with random people talking about running, completely forgetting about the things that I'm supposed to be doing, the business of why I'm there. So so excited to have this conversation with you and your experience. And if you can, let's go back to the why. Like, where did your running journey journey begin? Like, how did it all start for you? Was it just physical? Was it a mental thing? Like, I know a little bit about your story, so but I would love for for you to share with the audience of where did the running begin with you?

SPEAKER_01 2:22

I think it started for me since I started the and I found it as a child, and I found it was a mental thing. So it was a mental challenge of like, can I do this? I want to do this, I can do this. So even just having that inner dialogue conversation with myself at age 12 is where it started. And it got, there's a few seeds that got planted in order for it to get to bloom as it as it is today. And like what one of the seeds was my middle school math teacher, he was running marathons and he was also the PE teacher. And I wasn't athletic at all. I I just have two left feet. I cannot do team sports, I can't play soccer, can't play basketball, can't play like any team sports. I'm just not coordinated enough to get the skills right. So I wasn't the middle child of three. I wasn't the child that was into community sports. My sister and my brother were very athletic when they were young and kids, and they were just normal kids, like just playing all those team sports. For me, I was in that um art competitions, math competitions, arithmetic competitions, like just competition after competition, but for my mind and for my my hands. And so I just accepted it, and that was just the way things were or are were then. So when I saw my math teacher, just like I never knew the concept of a marathon. I I seen him look just really tall and slim and fit. And I was like, that's really cool that he's living the the culture that he's talking about. Like he's a P teacher and a math teacher. So he speaks about like just math, numbers, and then he's also trying to encourage physical fitness, but it also he has a lot when we're kids, we think of teachers of not having a life outside of actually teaching. So he's like, Oh yeah, I did these marathons, I did the LA marathon, I run and I'm happy. I'm like, I love that. I love the fact that there is life outside of a teacher's role in the classroom. And so that gave me hope. I'm like, oh, this is a real person. And I guess it goes back to the storytelling aspect that connectability, being able to identify somehow with somebody really matters. So that was the first seed. The second seed was um my dad, he's an immigrant, but both of my parents are immigrants from Ecuador. And I was made in I was made in Ecuador and I was born here in the US. And we grew up in poverty, very, very humble beginnings. And all I saw was my parents just working hard day after day and always telling us like your opportunity is going to be by how hard you work. It's the work ethic that you develop now, and that those will translate later when you discover what your skill, your passions are, and to basically make a living off of that, whatever that brings you joy. And so it was an amazing message to get from immigrant parents. And so, like, just completely unknown of what the what the culture was here and having to adapt and learn and quickly adapt. So I was like, okay, so I just I always like observed my parents, their ethic, their work ethic. And I always saw that they worked really, really hard at anything they wanted to achieve and do. They'd have to put in hours and hours and hours and hours. And it was just something that was ingrained in them. And I'm like, that's what success is, is like when you you will receive results, the more dedicated you are to it. So um, my dad on the side, also again, aside from being a high work ethic, there still needs to be joy in the process. There still needs to be something that lights you up and brings joy into you. That's a healthy medium. So for him, it was sports. And I was at LA Marathon actually in I think 1996, around that time, where an Ecuadorian came to the States, competed in LA Marathon, and he won. And so, like, you don't see somebody usually from a minority color winning a major marathon. So we actually went to that marathon. My dad went to go cheer and he brought me along. And I'm a little girl at that point, and still like probably maybe sixth grade, seventh grade, whatever it was. And I just saw the fire and joy in my dad's face, like cheering for his country, his team, someone that looked like him that was in the front winning. Yeah. So that that like empowered me and like touched my heart to see my dad so passionate and so filled with emotion for somebody that he didn't know. But because he looked like him, because we had came from the same culture, that mattered. So it's that connectability again. Like if someone you can connect with in some deep way, it it just makes it more powerful within you. So that was the second seed. The third and final seed was um I was still middle school around the time. These are all happening around the same time, I was still middle school. I was uh doing my homework in the living room and I was I turned on to TV and I had some background noise, and I put on the Iron Man World Championship showed up on TV, and they used to broadcast it every, every like um after the race comes on in October. And I I just I never knew what a triathon was. I never knew what the Iron Man was. And I was just completely intrigued that people would put themselves through this at 2.4 mile swim, 112-mile bike ride, and then you were American. But for me, as I've shared with my community and I've shared with my athletes, is that the most empowering message that I got again was connecting with the real stories, with the people there that was showing up that have our parents that have full-time jobs, have careers, that are overcoming some hardship in their life because they want to they put this goal onto themselves and they're either overcoming divorce, they're overcoming cancer, they're overcoming a loss, a loss of a child. That message was like, that's where the message came in. It's like, can I do that? Yes, I can. I will do that. So it's just that inner dialogue of creating that within myself. And it it just was that was a third seed that kind of got planted with those three things that were really kind of close together in proximity, and I just connected the dots. I was like, I will do an Iron Man, what do I need to do to learn that? So that's kind of how my journey started, and it got inspired. Um, and and it had a lot of factors in come into play. So I was doing my research and I saw that the Iron Man was very expensive. Uh, the Iron Man, the traffic sport is very expensive. And we're talking like this is 1996, 1997. So, you know, 30 years ago.

SPEAKER_00 8:33

And you're I was just like, but this is this is like most 12-year-olds are talking about may maybe volleyball, like maybe a least expensive sport than an Iron Man at 12. So, yeah, no, I that's that's that is fascinating. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

I don't um Yeah, I I was just wired a little differently, I guess. And and it's it just it didn't just happen. It was a wiring of watching my parents be such hard workers. And from the moment that I can from remember that wiring started from my memories in like five, six, seven, eight, ten. You work hard, you get dedicated, you do something that you love, and you and you find a find a way. And just because you're doing something that you love or you don't, like you still have to challenge yourself. It's gonna have hard days, you're gonna have great days. And I just learned that through practice within the passions that I was exploring at that time. And when I explored the Iron Man, I was like, I need to wait till I'm 18. I need to have some money for that. And so that's why I actually uh decided to pick one of the sports. I thought naturally running would be the easiest. And I didn't know about small races, I didn't know about like half marathons, 5K, 10Ks. I didn't know that existed. I literally just knew from my math teacher he ran the marathon. My dad, he went to go spectate a marathon, and then all of a sudden there's a marathon piece in the Iron Man. So naturally, what I'm thinking at 13, I'm like, I'm gonna do a marathon. So I signed, I signed up for my first marathon when I became a freshman in high school, and that's where my running journey started. And whoa, did I hit a brick wall that day?

SPEAKER_00 10:13

Oh, so let's let's to let's let's talk about that for a second, as far as for one, that is an incredible sort of set of events where visual representation is so important. Um, like my mother, I grew up in a single-parent home. I I saw my mother get up at 4 a.m. and go to work and not get home until 8 p.m. And that was just the routine. So hard work has her showing me what hard work is is the reason why I found success in in acting as well, to persevere and overcome the odds and just get up every day and put together put together, be 2% better than I was yesterday. That was the things that I saw and from my mother to but to see this in these this specific order as far as how the marathon, that just only speaks to how special of the things you've accomplished. Um, so let's let's talk about this first. Like that just sounds crazy. At 13, what was I I man, I was running the streets at 13. Like I was I was not worried about running a marathon at 13. Freshman year, I was worried about my if my outfit was up to par, like if I if I was getting actual friends at school, but you're preparing for a marathon. Let's talk about like how do how does one train at a as a 13-year-old for their first marathon? I'm so curious. Like, was it you and your father training for this together? Like, was it like, all right, I'm doing this, and you know, I'm I've I you sat down with your teacher and he gave you play like how did you go about training? Because you, it's one thing to go see these things, see it on television, and be like, all right, now I'm about to go do it. What was like, what was that like? And especially back then, when like now, because of social media, and then like I talk about even the 10 years ago when I began to run and how hard it was to find sort of information, and it would be like these side conversations that I'll have, and you'll just be exchanging these like gems. This is 96, 97. Like, how are you what where did where did you come up with the plan? How did you figure this thing out?

SPEAKER_01 12:39

I did it. So I didn't again because it was answered. It was uh a mental task, and that's why when you said, like, what was this is a physical thing, is a mental thing, emotional thing, and and usually all those come into play, but this was actually a mental thing completely, because I went in with ignorance, and sometimes ignorance is bliss, but at a point you need to kind of get more educated and to know the skill set and how to do it properly. So around this time, again, middle school, uh, middle school, and as for most of uh uh children, like it's really a tough transition period to go in from being a child in elementary, you're preteens and you're about to transition into adolescence in your high school. So I was bullied, I was bullied pretty bad in middle school. I mean, and my bullying probably started even in elementary, and I always had to pocket that. I always had to tuck that away. I always had to, I would have conversations with my partner, and it's just like I go, that I that really impacted me, and I didn't realize how much it impacted me because it didn't just happen once or twice. It just happened year after year after year after year until I became a runner, until I became an athlete, until I started high school, until I actually went through puberty. So it was like a huge eye-opener. I'm like, I'm still the same person, I still have the same work ethic, I still do the same things. What is it that my environment, my peers, actually changed in order to not make fun of me anymore, to not pick at me, to not try to bring me down, to not. So it was a very interesting way to like explore that dynamic. But so in middle school, um, because I was getting bullied and and my mom wanted me to protect myself, it was interesting because my mom actually signed me up for community boxing. So I did boxing for three years, and that's where I developed my endurance engine. I again, it comes back from like the work ethic. You need to be dedicated to something. If you want to excel at it, you put in your whole heart into it. And that's all I knew. That's all I knew is like you put your mind, you put your heart, you put your mental, put everything into it. Because I observed that. And so and I applied that. And everything I did that for, whether it was art, if it was uh competitions in in math, if it was competitions in whatever it was, it or even like I played an instrument. I I jumped years in a and skill set because I was just so devoted to practicing, to just trying to get my skill right. So with boxing, if you know, I mean anybody that knows boxers, their training regimen is out of this world. It's unreal. And it's it's dedicated.

SPEAKER_00 15:07

And you're dedicated to- I box as well. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

Yeah. You dedicate to so many.

SPEAKER_00 15:13

Most of shape athletes are boxers, to say the least. Uh so no. Yes, to be an elite boxer, it takes an enormous amount of dedication to get to that physical aspect, along with the mental of someone trying to punch you. Like, so yeah, no, I I could see how you built your endorsement.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

I was an elite, but I wasn't, I was a child learning. And I signed um, we we trained, we trained three hours a day after school. I trained five days a week. So as a child, I was training 15 hours a week, and that's all I knew. I was like, that's what you need to do in order to get better. So that developed my engine. So you could kind of think of that as your base training. You're getting yourself ready for how to train for a half marathon properly, how to train for a marathon properly. So, again, it's very specific the sport to boxing. It's not, you're not gonna just go jump into boxing and join a marathon. I mean, I know I did, but I wouldn't recommend that. So when I started high school cross-country, I that's where I started running, like actual running races. And that's where I jumped in. I signed up for the LA Marathon. Um, I started freshman year in 1998, and then the following um track season is when March comes around for LA Marathon. So it's 1999. And I was 14 years old at the time. I sat my parents down. It was just a couple weeks before. I was like, I signed up for the LA Marathon. I'm gonna do this. This is on my way to do an Iron Man when I get older after 18. I probably gonna have to wait till after 18 because it's an expensive sport. So I'm gonna have to probably wait till after grad school and professional school in order to do that. So this is my stepping stone. And my parents were just like, uh okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:53

I can just I'm I'm like my mouth is dropped right now because I could just imagine you saying this at thirst. And I'm pretty sure you said it the same way. And they're just like, Yes.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

Okay, there were very few things like there were very few things that I would ask permission for. I would actually negotiate with my parents and I would tell them. I would tell them this is what I'm earning and this is what I'm doing. This is we sort of this is the reason why I'm doing these things. And so they've kind of gotten used to that behavior, and I was very like just logical at that point. So when I sat them down, I'm like, my my parent, my dad is like, well, if you're doing the LA marathon, then I'm gonna sign up for my marathon and I'll do it with you. And he was 40 years old at the time. Come on. Yeah, so I inspired my dad to sign up for his first. Um, he'd never really had a running background per se, but he came from like usually in the Latin culture, soccer's really, really dominant in our culture, and especially in Latin community like countries. Like Ecuador is like loves soccer. They live soccer. You know, if you go to that country, it's like you just see everyone always aspiring to want to become that professional soccer player. So my dad was like that. He loved it, he loved watching it, he loved playing it. He did a competitive league as an adult in his um 30s. And so he he was 40. He's like, I'm gonna, I can do this. Like, how hard could it be? So we both went in with the intention of like testing ourselves and challenging ourselves. But it was for for both of us, it was this mental task of like, I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna test myself and and see.

SPEAKER_00 18:28

I know that's right. I mean, he just finished he he just finished watching uh uh Ecuadorian win the marathon. He was charged up. He was ready, he was like, Oh, I could do it too. So I could, I, I, I know that had to be something special for you guys as far as to come together through this training process. So, like, how was like what did you did you guys run your long mouth? Like, how, again, going to the the to your first time training for a marathon, what did you guys do or did not do rather in in in leading up to this this first marathon?

SPEAKER_01 19:05

We didn't train it, we train we didn't train for it at all, zero. So all I had behind me was we had um I had one cross-country season behind me. And so as a 14-year-old, I was running probably only 20 miles a week, uh, if that, but I was running only like three, five milers. I had some speed work under me, so my VO2 max was really pretty high and it was really strong, but I didn't have endurance. So that's where the mind kind of comes over and will fill in the gaps. And so if you have a lot of gaps like I did, the mind is gonna have to get recruited to fill in a lot of those gaps. Same thing for my dad. Like he didn't run anything structured, he didn't do anything. Like me wasn't even having any weekly mileage, he was just like so determined mentally, like my daughter's doing it, I'm gonna man up and do it too. Like, I hear no he will, he will not show any weakness. He just he does not, and that's kind of where I've learned my mental fortitude as well. So, what we did last minute, which again, I would have never advised this because it doesn't make it for a very pleasant experience unless you love pain. So if you are a glutton for pain, which I am, uh, I wouldn't advise this. So we were about two weeks before, maybe 10 days before the LA Marathon where we both signed up. And it was like, well, maybe we should try to do a long run together. And so we did, and it was about a week before. And we went for, I believe, like we tried to do like an eight-mile, and I had never really run over five or five miles, just in cross country. So I went and I did eight miles, and I was mentally, I wasn't locked in. So I wasn't there yet. And I was crying, I was like, This is I'm exhausted, I'm tired. My dad even like pulled me because we were we had my dog at the time. He pulled the dog leash around my waist. He's like pulled me. He's like, You could do this, you could do this. I was like, Oh my god, what did I sign myself up for? Um, this was your idea.

SPEAKER_02 20:51

Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:52

So that was it. It was literally like one training run, and I I didn't do it really well. I was suffering, but you know, we mentally committed to it. We showed up to the starting line and we knew that we were going to have to recruit every mental fiber in order to get our goal done that day. And it was a learning experience by by far. I'm the you've probably have come across maybe some people who have done marathons and without training, and it is extremely painful. Um, extremely painful while you're doing it. Yeah, and and it's extremely painful the recovery after. Like you can't walk for a couple weeks. If you're well trained, you usually recover pretty, pretty well. So that was exactly kind of what happened to me. I, as even a fit 14-year-old, I really couldn't walk for a couple weeks afterwards. I was like, this shredded my legs. It shredded it. But I had so much fire inside of me after finishing my first marathon. I I was like, I am ready to train properly next time.

SPEAKER_00 21:49

So so that that's that's what again, that just leads me to I I'm just fascinated by because I ran my first marathon with no training, broke my foot, it was terrible. Um I I broke it at Mal 22. So I I did not know I broke it, but no training. It it it showed up for sure. It showed up. So I want to talk about this is 98. You've two weeks out, 14 days from before the Maryland starts. I want to I want to talk about your first sort of race day or race weekend experience, like the expo, picking up the bibs. Like how was how was it sort of visualizing or actually seeing the things that you witness, whether it be the marathon um and also just the Iron Man on television? Now you're at the expo, you're getting your bib. Like there's people right now that have that are listening that may have never experienced a marathon weekend. Please take, if you can, take me back to your first time going to the expo, picking up your bib. And I'm sure your father was there. What was that experience like?

SPEAKER_01 23:05

Oh, it race expos, especially if it's your first few, especially your first one, are so full of energy, so full of emotions, so full of because you are with your people. You're with there with a bunch of like goodies for you at on the running, running arena. And then you all are surrounded with runners who are all coming together for a common goal to do this race and share that experience together. And the beautiful thing is, is like, I mean, I started running before social media. It was even around. And so, like, you now are connecting in real life with people who all have a story, all have a reason why they're there, all have a powerful why that got them to that start, like that, that they're going to their starting line. So that energy is so much fun and so it just helps lighten you up. But you also have to learn how to manage those those emotions that are happening in that because then it could get you maybe doubtful, it could get you nervous, it can get you all these sorts of feelings because it's natural when we care for something and we've devoted ourselves like mentally, emotionally, and physically, you know, when it comes down to the line where we have to perform, it's like you gotta like learn how to manage that as an athlete does, as a champion. It's a champion mindset.

SPEAKER_02 24:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:13

So coming into the expo, it was so much fun. And I mean, this is like 1999 expo. It was still at the LA Convention Center. This is when the course actually started and finished in downtown LA. And my dad and I would go there. And it's like you really did enjoy bringing your family because back then it may mean sponsors were a little bit different. There was a lot more goodies to like hand out. I mean, people would give out boxes of weird. I heard.

SPEAKER_00 24:37

Yeah, heard the goodies. I heard the goodies have gotten short chains this time around. That is what I heard from a lot of people. Like, yo, the goodies back in the day was it.

SPEAKER_01 24:48

Yes, you literally can go to expos and come out with like bags, bags full of stuff that was just like, wow, I feel like I just went on a shopping spree and it was all free. So that was that was um those first few years, it was like that. And then as I was continuing to run races, I was like noticing that the goodies were like less and less and less and less to the point where I come out sometimes. I'm like, I didn't get anything. I think you like you go to the expo, like you have to just buy everything now. So much different back then. Like literally, like entire family would come out with a bunch of goodies. So that's the fun part. It's really, really fun for runners to show up and get there. Now, like I'm 29 years later of racing. I have done so many that I understand the energy output that happens there. So I try to usually, I would recommend always to my athletes is try not to go to the expo if you can the day before, because you should be meditating, you should be resting, you should be emotionally slow and peaceful and visualizing. Try to do the expo two, three days out and then get all that energy out, you know, mingle and socialize and have fun and do the things that you want to do that that makes part of the expo. But day before, you need to be shutting down. Think of any, any pro-elite athlete out there in their sport. They are just really zoning in. And we have to be like that, like that if we want to perform for ourselves. It's not about being professional or elite, it's just finding that inner peak performance, finding that inner power in within us. So that's kind of I tried now is I go to the expos always two days before. And you know, I have community or my athletes like, are you going day before? I'm like, no. These days I need a lot more recovery and a lot more like rest. So I I you will not find me at expos usually the day before. It's just I've I've I've learned I get really drained, I get really tired, and that takes away from your race because it's a lot of energy output on race day. So that's kind of why I would recommend always two days before. On some of the bigger runs, the bigger races, they've got three-day expos, so you can even go two, three days out. But that energy is amazing. I highly highly recommend it.

SPEAKER_00 27:04

So let's let's talk about race day. Let's talk about race day your first time. Like uh again, there's people listening that may have not experienced uh a marathon, as far as race day morning is something unique in itself, as far as you got this large amount of people at the crack of dawn excited to do something like excited. It's 5 a.m. and everyone's charged up. There's a sea of porter potties, like what was your for first experience of race day mourning, and how did you take it all in?

SPEAKER_01 27:49

I was extremely charged up. Just like you said, adrenaline, happy, excited. I I don't feel like because you don't know what you don't know. So it was ignorance. I didn't know the amount of pain I was about to get myself into. So there was just complete ignorance and being naive of like, I can't wait. I can't wait to this energy, waking up. There's an entire family affair. Um my my family dropped us off at the uh downtown LA and they were gonna cheer us on the course. It was my mom, my sister, and so my dad, like we lined up so energized, so excited. And again, my dad's very like stoic, where he holds in his emotion as usually adult men do, and he's not gonna show fear or anxiety or or if like there's anything negative happening, he's gonna be like, I'm I'm here with my daughter. I need to set an example and and be like, we're ready, we're ready to go, as an athlete would.

SPEAKER_02 28:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:40

So we show up, and the energy of a starting line, whether it's a small race, a medium-sized race, or a large race like LA Marathon, it's it's just it's something that resonates. And I never forget that first. And I will be towing my line with um LA Marathon in March from the 28th year in a row. So it's been 28 years of LA Marathon uh consecutive with my dad.

SPEAKER_00 29:02

Incredible.

SPEAKER_01 29:03

Every single one is special, every single starting line is special. And that's, I mean, getting chills right now, like literally, like because when you tow that line, it's like what it took to get there. What it took, what did you overcome? What did you fight? What did you sacrifice? What did you dedicate, like, and your why? So that's what makes that race morning so special, right before you take off. The easy part is quote unquote easy is when you already take off, because then you get to do what you love, you get to enjoy your gift of movement, you get to enjoy your gift of running. It's just the anticipation for it is really the hard part of just managing those, those, those expectations or or emotions that are happening. But I as a little girl, as a child, four years old, I was just charged up and happy. And you hear the song, the LA song, you hear the helicopters, you see all the runners kind of excited. You know, this is before cell phones. I mean, I don't think really anybody had cell phones back then. So you don't see anything of capturing or nobody, it's just everybody's present. Yeah. So it was uh it's very special to just count it down and that the morning goes by super fast. Um, and then once the gun goes off, it does, it's like a release, a release to go.

SPEAKER_00 30:19

Yeah. And so that's my next question. As far as the gun goes off, you're in your first couple of steps in this marathon that you've you've manifested in a way from just witnessing these these these moments of people accomplishing hard things. And now you're starting this thing. What what were the thoughts going through your head? Now you're not only are you starting this, you're starting this alongside your father. So I know that that is special, but when those first few steps, like what were the thoughts going through your head?

SPEAKER_01 30:56

You know, this is 28 years ago. It's the thoughts literally were just it was ignorance. It was just excitement. I I was like, I can't wait to do this, and completely oblivious to like pacing, completely oblivious to like proper socks, proper shoes, proper attire, proper uh hydration, proper feeling, none of that. None of that was going through my head.

SPEAKER_02 31:20

None of it.

SPEAKER_01 31:21

And so all I all I thought about was I need to get to that finish line, and I'm gonna run my heart out thinking that the pace I was gonna start at, I was gonna keep holding that pace. And it was gonna be again, uh not as hard as I anticipated physically. And so as I collect the miles, I was very grateful that once I passed mile eight from our one long run, uh, I didn't hurt as much because you have adrenaline. You have a lot more going on in your body biochemically. So it is a numbing pain as well. It's like, oh, I'm energized, I'm great. But then the wall really hit for me uh at mile 12. So here I'm still seeing my dad completely stuck to stain.

SPEAKER_00 32:01

That's that is that is that is my next question as far as like when that the the the Mal20 mindset, when does the the wall happen? When does that that moment where you versus you and you may have the upper hand in whatever trauma, whatever issues you're dealing with, even at the age of of of of 14. 14 what what again, what what mal was it? I think you said it was 12, but also what were the thoughts that were coming in your head? Defeat.

SPEAKER_01 32:36

I felt completely deflated, defeated, and overwhelmed with uh disappointment in myself. And it was an insane amount of negative thoughts that were overwhelming, and I didn't, I didn't expect that. I I just and it was coming from all the physical pain that I was feeling because I had I was completely new to that. I didn't understand that the pain that I was feeling in my legs and in my body, and it started crawling up even like higher. I'm like, why can't I handle this? If I can handle racing at race pace for a a three-mile, if I can handle boxing, I can handle being in the match, I can handle being hit and get and hit others, why can't I handle this? So it was all of those negative emotions that hit at mile 20, and that was my wall. It was a very hard wall. And I don't think it was so much physical, it was more emotional at that point. It was an emotional wall, an overwhelming power of weight that was just pushing me down because of the physical, physic, physicality that I was feeling. So I sat on the ground, I started crying, and I told my dad, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I got you into this. I'm sorry I let you down. I'm sorry I let myself down. And I just, it was it, and I and I and I feel it again right now. And my dad, he it's almost like he just knew the right thing to say, and he kneeled next to me. He's like, Mika, he's that if you believe in yourself, you can do anything. I believe in you, but you need to say right now, I believe in myself, I will do this. And it's like we will finish this marathon together. We are going to cross that finish line together, step by step together. And so to see my dad say that and do that, and also be empowered to do that. And even I I knew he was hurting too, but he didn't say anything. He just he's like, let's do this niha. Like, so I stood up and I was like, okay. And that's where it flipped. It flipped because my my body's still extremely hurt. I still felt those emotions as well. It didn't, it didn't erase them, I just learned to manage them. Because now my dad inserted the skill set of like, you need to recruit your mind. You need to recruit your your mind because it is your most powerful tool. And once that shift happened, I got up still the same pain. But then I started getting up back on cadence, back on pace. And I still felt the emotions that I was feeling, but now it started to transform into different emotions, like I can do this, I can do this, I will do this, I will get there. And as much as this hurts, this is I am teaching myself that my mind will overcome my body and push me through and get to the finish line with my father because he believes in me. And if he believes in me, then I better say I believe in myself because that's where it begins. You have to believe in yourself. And if you don't believe in yourself yet, you've got to create that mindset of wiring yourself and convince yourself over and over. I will do this, I will do this with such conviction. So that's where the switch happened, and that was my wall. But it was that transformation of balancing the physical, emotion, and mental. And we we shuffled, we shuffled ourselves to the finish line. And literally from mile 12 to the finish, it was almost a blur. It almost like became a monotonous that it just it almost erased from my memory because everything from that point I remembered. But from 12 to 26, it was like, you need to grind, you need to focus, and you need to push yourself to get there. So right when we crossed, my dad grabbed my hand, he pulled it over our hands, and we both cried. Like I cried from pain, I cried from emotion, I cried from like, I did this. And I from that point, I was like, I can do anything. I can do anything.

SPEAKER_00 36:28

Listen, I and I'm not I'm not surprised you doing it, doing LA in particular for the 28th time. Like, I know all the girl dads out there are are fighting tears right now. Listen to listen to this story. That is such a beautiful moment to have had with your father is such a powerful and pivotal moment, um, not just in the race, but in your life. You are at a you're 14, you're in the middle of your maturation years, and just to have this powerful moment, not just, because sometimes when you're a parent and you have these conversations with your kids, you're a lot of times there are a lot of hypotheticals on like do this and you'll get the results. And all of the the girl dads right now wiping, wiping, wiping tears off of their face, and just how magical of a moment that is to finish the marathon that you guys didn't train, didn't train for. So I can only imagine how grueling physically and mentally you guys both actually experience together in oh man, um, you guys are inspiration to say the least. Um and just how powerful of a moment that is has carried on for 28 years. It is not I'm not surprised, and I'm again honored to have this conversation with you about it. Um, my next question is it's it's almost I just want to know to know, but like how do you feel after completing that race it changed you? Because that's one out of 160, 63. So I obviously it changed you in a way to make you run more, but I want to know, I guess you as a person outside of running, how did that one marathon change your life?

SPEAKER_01 38:34

I fell in love with a feeling of empowerment. I felt that I'm invincible, I felt that I could do anything, and I felt so internally and mentally strong that I was like, I want to do that again and I want to do it better, and I want to see how I can grow as a as an athlete, as a runner, as a person. And as as all of us know, when we start our running journey, we don't know what to expect. But as we're going along that running journey, it's transformative. It's transformative of how much it actually pours over into other areas of our lives and it makes us a better person. If we apply ourselves to try to really grow and to make progress and try our best, it's a beautiful, beautiful journey. And that's kind of what I almost like saw that. And like I want to run. And it's crazy at that moment to say, like, I want to run for the rest of my life. I want this feeling again. And I I always found a way to evolve and adapt, to recreate that energy, that feeling. And I also was such a powerful feeling that we go, I want others to feel this too, because it's such a beautiful feeling. Like, I want my mom to feel it, my sister to feel it, my brother to feel it, my friends to feel it, my community to feel it. And and it wasn't until years later, what I think it took probably another eight years from that point when I did join social media. I didn't join social media until I finished grad school. So I was like literally like probably in my low 20s, if that. And so that's where I was like, I want to help others to really feel this feeling that I'm feeling. Because if I can do it, I know you can. And I know as cliche as that sounds, because we do utilize that that that phrase, it was something that I knew was possible because I started from scratch. I started from ignorance. I started not knowing what to do. And there is a way to learn and there is a way to transform and and change and and grow. I think as human beings, we are constructed to want growth. We want progress. And that's what makes the journey so beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 40:35

Wow. Um I I I challenge you to pick out of all of these races. Like my next question is like, what what are some of so many? What were some of the funniest or funny moments or some outrageous moments while running a marathon? I've ran 14 and each race has its own story. So like I've I've lost my phone in the marathon. I've I've I've totally not wanted to run the race and walked and pouted and and actually cursed out a fan. Like I was so I was so out of my mind. Like I did not want to be there. Like I've had some crazy sort of memories while running all beautiful moments. Can you recall maybe one or two of sort of these outrageous moments that as a marathoner we go through?

SPEAKER_01 41:37

You know, it's crazy because I I have so many race experiences and and now I'm almost like just numb to them that because things are gonna go wrong. So things that are are going to go wrong and they're gonna challenge you, they're gonna make you angry, they're gonna make you emotional, they're gonna make you sad. And and that people are like, this is what it's about. Like, why am I doing this? But like all those things is part of the process. And I they to me, it's almost like normal and it's almost natural, like these things that happen. But I think the most vivid when you said um about it's always a restroom issue. That's probably the the biggest like embarrassment and things that people run into worry about.

SPEAKER_02 42:19

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 42:20

Um so thankfully, I've learned how to time your you can time how your GI track. You can to teach and train your GI track on making sure you don't have to go to the restroom as long as you know something outlandish happens. And those things have happened to me. So uh I it was probably in my late 20s, I think. A couple times I've when I've done a marathon and also when I've been an Iron Man, I've gotten food poisoning. So I'd gotten food poisoning. So from whatever that's a big fear of runners. Like when you go to destination racing, you're going to a restaurant and you don't know what you're ordering, you're enjoying yourself, and you happen to get something bad that makes things come out here and come out from both sides. And so I had gotten food poisoning, but I was gonna say, I'm gonna show up. Complete, it's just not a good idea to run a marathon or an Iron Man with food poisoning, because you will literally be desperately looking for porta potties, desperately, like it just and get and then plus you're you're depleting yourself. So not only are you depleting yourself because of the food poisoning is trying to get out of you, but you're also depleting yourself from actually doing the event. And and you start to get very weak, you start to get dizzy, you start, and it's not, I do not recommend that. It's not healthy and it's not safe. You could probably faint, you can probably hurt yourself. And it's just again, I'm stubborn, and a lot of us runners and athletes are very stubborn. And so I wanted to keep showing up for that race. And uh, there's been marathons that like that, those were the vivid ones. Like there was a Phoenix marathon, I think it was in 2012 where had gotten food poisoning for the first time, and it hit me like. mid-race and I was literally rushing to the to the restroom like scared scared that I was gonna have an accident and I even made a phone call. I sat down, I think it was miles 16 or 17. I sat down, I was like, I don't think it's safe for me to finish because I don't want to have an accident. And um my the the person I was talking to is like are you sure? Do you want me to pick you up? No, you no problem. It's like don't worry. This is just a race. But in your head it's never just a race. In your head it's like no I need to finish like no I'm not I'm not broken broken. So I'm gonna go and try it. And so I just walked myself. But it was always like that internal fear of having to having an accident and that was scary.

SPEAKER_00 44:44

Yeah no that that listen that happened to me my last marathon I I went for my first P I've never tried to PR in the prior marathons. I've always loved helping first time marathoners run their first marathon. That's something that I love doing I run with them to Mal20 and then that's when I leave them on their own personal journey. But this last marathon I went for my first PR and I'm cooking. I'm cooking I got seven minute mouse I'm going for a sub three I'm I'm I'm doing all right to mouth 23 and I almost took the shit off I had three inch shorts on and I said mm-mm not today not today I don't that pace dropped dramatically dropped dramatically it was hard to hold a seven minute mouth while clenching your booty cheeks together I had to slow it down and now that was the one thing I said I I don't want it that bad I said I don't want it that bad for me to pull up to the finish line like that. So so yeah it it it is a I've definitely experienced that as well um so my my uh sort of last question before we get to our our last segment of the pod is and I call it sort of my my running altar call like there's somebody listening right now that may be on the fence of beginning their running journey are deciding to run their first marathon from your your vast experience what would be your number one tip to that person.

SPEAKER_01 46:26

We all started somewhere and so it takes baby steps to start. Think of how we all taught ourselves to walk we tried again and again and again and we fell several times until we could walk and that's kind of what our running journey is is we are gonna fall we are gonna fail we're gonna make mistakes but it's the journey getting there and when you start to run and find your flow it's a beautiful state and it it every run becomes special. Every run whether it's a workout a long run a short run an easy run it becomes special.

SPEAKER_00 46:57

So it all starts with those first few steps and not giving up beautiful beautiful um so okay we're gonna go to our last segment which is the the knees out speed question that's my running crew the knees out coalition um you answer these uh sort of one word but please elaborate um knees out means yes and knees in means no so the first question is were there ever a time in your training that you thought about quitting but you still showed up for yourself yes all right so the next question is do you think everyone has at least one marathon in them yes for sure yes we were evolutionarily made to run and to move and be long distance okay um wow you've kind of you've kind of flipped this one this one over the head um because I usually ask people if they're gonna run another marathon but I usually then if they ran a marathon I usually go to an ultra um I guess my question is what race or what challenge have you yet to tackle? Like like like what is what is the what is that next big thing? Because it's because I like me and my friends we plan to hike uh Mount Kilimanjara like I I'm definitely a person about challenges I've ran with the bulls um like you've checked off a lot of boxes when it comes to long distance what what box is left like like like what box is left I'm so curious I want to do all the hardest marathons or hardest um adventures out there like mentally physically and emotionally it doesn't necessarily have to be like a month long trek it doesn't necessarily have to be a 100 200 300 mile race it's what fires you up inside it has to be a goal that makes you excited and and scared a little too and so for me those adventure races are what still light me up to this day and I want I wake up excited to train I wake up excited to eat healthy.

SPEAKER_01 49:21

I wake up excited to to just research and plan because it's those goals and those adventures and so for me like I one of my one of my goals was to do the Kilimanjaro marathon and summit Kilimanjaro as well and that was something in the making for over a decade for at least at least I think maybe even 14 years I had that goal like I want to do that one day. But for me I want to do things a little differently. So I wanted to do it in a day I said if if like if it's possible I want to do it in a day. Most people do it in six seven eight day treks and I just put that arbitrary like I want to do it a day. And like it came from building that confidence and trying other things too. So back like 14 years ago I had did the Inca Trail marathon and I did that most people like backpack the the route for three four five days but again I wanted to challenge myself can I do it in a day like if if regular people do it in three, four, five days like I want to try it in a day. And so I did I found an um or an organization a race organization that did it and I ended up coming in third female overall and that marathon had 10,700 feet of gain. Extremely challenging but transformative like the more you you you challenge yourself in something that makes you excited that's that's where I wanted to kind of stand up a reinforce is that this goal has to be exciting for you. It's not because of what somebody else thinks is exciting not what somebody else is trying to plant into you. It's not what maybe your social media following wants you to do and starts encouraging. It's what is inside your heart that fires you up. And so that's what fires me up is like what can I do that's a little bit differently that makes me fired up. So that Inca Trail marathon planted the seed of like me wanting to try to do Kilimjaro in one day and that planted the then the seed of like can I go and run a marathon in Mount Everest like a Mount Everest base camp. And like that has been resonating in my my fibers lately. Like it's just why am I waiting? Like what why why not now? Why not me? Why not go try? And if not now then when and so that's right now is the next one and like that will plant a seed for something else. It's like because I don't want to just look look for the goal. I'm looking for the journey that gets me to the goal. That's what I love. And that's what I've learned for now 29 years as an athlete is it's just everything that gets you there because when you get to your event or to your race or to your challenge, whatever it is, that's your celebration. That's where you get to celebrate what you've overcome to get there. So for me right now is Everest is calling I mean Antarctica is calling some of like what I do is I I'll put in like one of the hardest marathons in the world and there's a beautiful list out there that I've I've bookmarked.

SPEAKER_00 52:07

I love listen you got you got me ready to go go run to to the to the moon right like like like like you got me charged up no I I I love it.

SPEAKER_01 52:18

I do have one I do have one question about the ultras um before I get to my last question in the speed crowd I've heard so many stories about people becoming you know delusional are like seeing things like did you ever experience that while running running uh your ultras did have have you had that had that happen to you before yes yes so it usually happens when you start to become severe yes so when you start to become severely sleep deprived it happens and it it probably happens to almost everyone that's starting to sleep deprived everybody has a different threshold as to how much sleep deprivation you can handle. I mean just think of it's it is the most extreme torture to deprive a human being of sleep. And it's crazy that people as ultra owners put themselves through that and to get into a mental state that's completely outside of your body. And so it actually happened um recently the one was last year in Kilimanjaro on my way down was extremely depleted and I pushed and and again I compressed what people normally do in six, seven days I compressed it in a day. I summited Kilimanjaro in 17 hours. So once I saw the sunrise I came down and I was extremely fatigued and I was eating I was fueling I was hydrating I was doing all those things right because as I know as an athlete as a coach but I was coming down I didn't stay on top of my caffeine like kind of dosage on an intake and I started to like the hallucinations that were happening were wild. Like one of them was um I saw like in the distance a woman standing like tall like very like almost combative and she had like a row of of boxers and it almost looked like they she was gonna sick that stick them on me. I'm like I was I told my porter and my guy I'm like do you see that like do you see that and he was like what is there dogs and dog boxes over there like they're about to attack me I think they're gonna attack and he's like there's nothing there and as as I got closer I saw it was just bushes and I was like okay I started seeing other things too and I'm like wow this is what they're talking about like it's just being so sleep deprived that your brain starts to misfire like just in in your brain it's it's wild.

SPEAKER_00 54:32

It's it's wild to me because for some weird reason that just sounds inviting which is crazy I'm like oh wow that sounds like ooh that sounds fun like that's just me I I I love it I love this thing uh that we you said what I yeah I don't I don't think the hallucinations were fun because I I think I was scared I was scared to see those things so I didn't think they I didn't know that they were not real I think there's some people who are probably used to more hallucinated hallucinations so like they can program and say oh that's not real like just relax like it's not it's not there.

SPEAKER_01 55:08

But for me I think some of the hallucinations that I saw potentially seemed real and they scared me. So that was not not not too fun.

SPEAKER_00 55:18

Oh no I I I I'm thinking it just as a from a from the artist side of things and you know I'm a I'm a painter as well and like just from that aspect it just seems cool to be like where is imagine my mind unleashed that's crazy. So that's like it's like oh I'm I'm just fascinated on what the hell I'ma see like I'm just like that's where my imagination is more like it's it's exciting to see that for me and like I said that may sound crazy but I I'm always fascinated by ultra marathon runners that with them being able to get past that and still just persevere and push through and just to again you doing a a three to seven day race in a day just it's not surprising to hear that you you saw a pack of dogs and who's to say that the other guy wasn't when it that you didn't see it he probably didn't like like you're doing something crazy there. Like that is oh I love it. So my last question is do you believe running can change a person beyond the mouse?

SPEAKER_01 56:31

Yes a hundred percent yes and it can do it for the rest of your life. And please please elaborate if you may it's it's just a transformative process. Even when you start and even when you're running and this is why I've been in the sport for for 29 years. It's because every every race is special every um year is different every year is special and then the older and older I get through the comp competitiveness and the wear and tear you start to evolve on like there's different reasons as to why a certain race is important or why a certain goal is important. And then it's also we're made to share experiences with people that we care about.

SPEAKER_00 57:14

So if you're sharing it with a loved one a parent a sibling a child a friend um overcoming pain overcoming loss like it's just it becomes very very transformative and that's why it can be transformative for the rest of your life beautiful um well well I'm uh Queen Nadia is what I'm gonna call you um you you are a legend um I am so fortunate and and so appreciative of you taking this time out to have this conversation and share uh continue to share your story. Um I am so excited to see you and your father finish another LA Marathon because that that story alone is just it deserves its own movie on top of all of these other journeys and other these these incredible feats that you're doing um I if I could dump a whole truckload of flowers on you that's what I would do because you deserve them what you are doing is extremely special you are a superhero you are a living superhero forget X-Men forget Thanos forget all of those individuals you are the real deal so thank you and and thank you for doing and being you um yeah uh this is this is another incredible episode of Mal20 Mindset. Please follow and subscribe peace y'all