Sarah Whelan: She Almost Joined the Navy SEALs. Then She Became an Ironman.

Sarah Whelan is a special ed teacher, spin instructor, mom of three, and nine-time Ironman finisher. But the through-line isn't the race count. It's the girl who walked into a Marine recruiting office as a teenager, got laughed at, walked next door to the Navy, and still ended up exactly where she was supposed to be.

In this conversation, Sarah talks about how athleticism became the thread connecting every role she plays, why giving back isn't something she does on the side but the engine that runs everything, and what it actually looks like to show up fully in the classroom, at the finish line, and at home.

None of this happens alone. Sarah trains with Sonic Endurance under the guidance of coach Stacey Miller, and has been inspired and supported by Jess Kelly, her spinning colleague, friend, and the woman who first showed her what an Ironman mom could look like. This episode is a reminder that behind every woman showing up fully, there are other women lifting her.

If you've ever wondered what "anything is possible" looks like lived out over a lifetime, this is your episode.

If this conversation resonated, follow Strong Core and share it with another mother who needs to hear this. Connect on Instagram at @iris_strongcore for more conversations on mental and physical strength in motherhood and sport.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:01

Hi everyone and welcome back to Strong Core. Today I have a special guest joining us. Literally, she sent me a text a few minutes before she got online. It's now it's 8 46 p.m. right now. And she just put her little baby to sleep and she sent me a photo hugging him, putting him to sleep. I thought, oh my god, it's so hard and so precious to pull yourself together at the end of the day after being in spring break with the little kids at home, running around, entertaining them, putting them to bed, and then jumping on a call with me. So I'm so honored, Sarah, that you um made the time uh to meet with me and to um inspire others with your story today.

SPEAKER_00 0:47

Um thank you so much for having me. I'm I'm honored to be a guest and to be talking with you finally after weeks of back and forth. I mean, it's it's it's very exciting. So it's so great to see you.

SPEAKER_02 0:59

I'm I'm smiling because Sarah and I go, I think about two and a half years ago. I wanted I really wanted to interview Sarah for my study as part of my doctoral study. And we already found a date after a lot of back and forth. Sarah is very busy, you're gonna hear about this in a little bit. And then I had to cancel last minute because one of my kids had an emergency in Pittsburgh and I had to leave. And then I I I let it go. I was like, I'm not doing it to her again, and trying to find a time, and then trying to find time for the for this interview, went back and forth. Her baby got sick, my little older kid got injured, and we went back and forth, and finally we find time at 8 45 p.m. on a Thursday night during spring break. So I hope you guys appreciate what went to into getting here today. So Sarah, when I looked at her um little bio on Instagram, which I'm going to add to the uh uh show notes, uh, introducing herself um as a mom, she did nine time iron man altogether between I think three fools and six half, is that right? Yes. And um she's a teacher, she's a mom of three. She until not long ago, I want to say I think about a year or two, she's gonna tell us more about this, was a councilwoman in uh her town in her area. She's a spending instructor, and she is also an angel Angeles angel um volunteer. Um so I've seen some of the photos where you help athletes um as as part of the races. And I thought I just um it took it took my breath away to how much, how many things one amazing young woman can take on and still look in all the photos, so happy and vibrant, and it it looks to me, and that's what I want to ask you. It looks to me like instead of feeling pull apart to so many directions, it feels to me looking at your photos, and you come across as a very genuine person, you're actually owning it all, and you're stepping into each of those rooms exactly the same person. And so I wanted to start with that. Are you being pulled apart to all those uh uh identities, or do you feel like you got it together?

SPEAKER_00 3:16

Some days I feel like I'm pulled apart, but for the most part, I mean, um, all of the different identities makes me who I am, and I think I'm a person that that likes to stay busy, that I feel like I was put on this earth to to help others, and I just think every day, like, what more can I do? How can I um feel full or lay my head down and know, like, okay, I I did enough today, you know? Um uh I just I love to give back. It fuels the fire within me. Um, so any opportunity I have to do that, um, and especially now being a mom and being able to show my kids, hey, like what can we do? How can we make others' days uh even better? How can we include everybody? Um, and even them seeing them do that on the playground or just um doing it with each other. Like even today, we were out and we were um heading out to a playground, and my son gave my daughter a big hug, and he just looks back at me and said, I'm filling buckets today. And I was like, Ah, you are. Um, but then also not always looking for that like added, like, hey, good job, too, you know, um, for fueling their own fires.

SPEAKER_02 4:28

External kind of petting at the back, but doing it because this is what they feel that's the internal motivation, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 4:35

Um, which takes time, you know, and and you have to find your own route with that. But um I like to stay busy, I like uh people, um, I'm I'm just connected to other people, and I've learned so much in each different role that I've played a part in. Um, and it's helped me kind of each each role is linked to within each other. It's like a kind of like a quilt, you know what I mean, of my life. Um, and the different people I've met along the way and the connections I've built, um, and the community. It's that's what it's all about. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:09

So I think I think what I'm hearing is you told you told me these are my core values, and this is how, or my mission, if you will, and these are the values that I live by. And that's what makes sense to me to live by um with with integrating all those identities. But I know that I gave the the listeners and also to myself, because I just know you a little bit from the photos um on Instagram, I gave such a brief overview of like a full life of a very busy woman. So maybe you can take a step before all the races, uh, title and the and the finish line. Who are you? What what is your story? Uh what can you share and want to share about who you are, where you grew up, um, your family and and your occupation?

SPEAKER_00 5:53

Yeah, sure. Um so I grew up in like a small town right outside of Westchester, Pennsylvania. Uh, it's called Glenn Mills. Went to school um in Westchester, so that area, uh grew up playing a lot of sports, was very involved in the community. Um, I'm actually adopted uh along with my other sister, and then there's um I have two siblings that are not adopted. So grew up in a family of four, very busy, all different personalities. Um, and my I don't know how my parents do it. I look back as a mom now and I'm like, whoa, they went from zero uh to three in like a year and a half. I truly can't imagine. And I still say to my mom, I'm like, how did you do this? And she's like, Well, that's why we had a no pair to help out. And I'm like, all right, how do I get one of those? But uh no, it was it was great. It was just very busy life. So I just like we were always moving, we were always out and about. Um my dad would take us for bike rides all the time. He would wake us up in the morning um to run. Uh, we lived right outside um uh on a on a road, we would run and back, and that was three and a half miles. Um I was involved in uh Tang Sudo karate, so I'm a second degree black belt. Um or I was I don't I I don't think you ever lose that title, but I haven't been practicing. Uh so I I don't want to say like I still am, but I still have it. Um and so for that test, we had to learn Korean. We had to be able to run three mile or three miles total and then do a whole physical test and then a written test. So discipline was built within my my growing up, um, physical and and mental as well. Um, just always ingrained in my head, like to be the best version of yourself, to always challenge yourself, um, endurance, like anything is possible, keep moving, um, and and that grit piece as well. Um, and my my parents were really supportive in that um and and are still supportive today, still come to my races. They've driven up to Lake Placid, they've camped, they were along the sidelines holding, holding signs, um, watch the kids when I want to go on a bike ride with with Tom, which is few and far between, but uh alone without children or towing them. But uh, but it's I was very fortunate to grow up in a very supportive family. Um, and that led into college, being playing sports with that. Um, and then once college was over, I was kind of like.

SPEAKER_02 8:16

So in college, you were an athlete, student athlete?

SPEAKER_00 8:19

I I did the travel soccer for a little bit, and then I was um managing the women's soccer team. I was injured with my knee, I wasn't able to play. Uh, so I managed the soccer team, and then it was funny because I would record them and then I would be yelling, and so they would laugh when they would watch the film back and be like, oh, Sarah's talking again during the film. Um, but it was fun. I mean, the coach, the head coach at LaSalle was incredible, always included me as much as possible. Um, it's really funny. Well, Alexa can actually um text people on your phone by accident. So Tom actually accidentally texted Paul Royal, the head coach of LaSalle Soccer, like two days ago from my phone by accident. I was like, I'm so sorry. And he was like, It's so good to hear from you. I hope all as well. Just just real again, connections, you know, like really, really awesome staying in contact um with great people. Um, with that being said, once college was over, I was like, Well, well, now what do I do? Um, and I remember when I injured my knee, the doctor was like, You can't run anymore. You you have arthritis in both knees, you've barely any cartilage left. Like, you should do spin. And at the time my mom did spin, and I was I was 18, I think. I was like, that's what old people do. I'm never gonna spin. Here I am, a spin a cycle instructor. So for the last 10 years. Um, so yeah, but but I have to say, this I started to cycle, I started to get into biking, and it built up the muscles around my knee, to which then I was able to run, and now I run with no pain. Um, and I recently had an MRI, and they were like, Who told you you had like I we don't see it anymore? Or or we don't see it at all, or whatever. So who knows what happened, but um, I'm very fortunate to be able to do the PT and and keep those muscles strengthened, and and I feel very fortunate that I get to do this, that I get to wake up every day and challenge myself, um, because not everyone has that that ability to.

SPEAKER_02 10:19

So I'm hearing athleticism being woven into your life from a very early age, parents supporting, you're driven by it also. So it's not just the parents pushing, but also you're driven. And um at some point you become a teacher before you're in the family, after?

SPEAKER_00 10:39

Um, it was before, so I actually um it's this is like also embarrassing story too, but I wasn't the best student in in high school. I was very social butterfly, more more so focused on the connections of the people and less on my studies. Um so I was really worried I wasn't gonna get into college. Um, so and I and I was so focused on the athletic athleticism. So I went to the Marines and I said, I want to be um a like a Navy SEAL. Like that, that's what I want to do. I can do this.

SPEAKER_02 11:13

So many surprising pieces to you. Wow. It's like it is, you know, and surprising.

SPEAKER_00 11:21

So I was like, I want to be a Navy SEAL. And they were there blonde, like blonde hair at the time. I went tanning. I know it's not good for you, but I was like very, very tan. Like nails were probably done. Bleach blonde hair, Barbie walking in saying, like, hey, I want to be a Navy SEAL. And they literally like laughed at me. I'm like, no, I'm telling you, I'm a secondary black belt. I I know what I'm doing, I'm strong. I'm I have like I can do, I can live up to any challenge. Like, I want to be the first female Navy SEAL. And they're like, It's it's not possible. You you won't be able to do that. So I was like, All right, well, then I'm going to the Navy. So then I literally walked next door into the next recruiting center, which was the Navy. So I went to the Navy and I said, Um, I I want to be a Navy SEAL, like I this is what I want to do. Maybe it wasn't the Marines, I don't remember, but they were like, Well, you can't do that, but you can be in the search and rescue team, which is like a level down from the Navy SEALs at the time. This is how they explained it to me. I don't know all the ins and outs of it. Um, and I was like, all right, that's fine. That's what I want to do. And they're like, You're gonna have to pass so many tests. Do you swim? Are you a swimmer? I was like, no, but I will be. So I started going to the gym. My parents were like, this is not happening. And then I had to go to um I had to go to Fort Dicks for a weekend of like a tryout situation where they like had to do all the physical tests, you had to do written tests, you had to go through all this stuff. Um, and I went through all of it. And the next day, like, and the recruiter drove me there, drove me back. I was there for the weekend. He dropped dropped me back off, and then he was like, All right, you're you're in it for the summer. We'll see you in a couple months. Like, keep training. And I was like, I I got this. Literally, the next more my parents were jet, my dad was like sweating. He was like, I don't want you going into the Navy. Like, what are you doing? Um, so anyway, the next that more that day when I got dropped off in the morning, that Sunday, my dad handed me a letter. And it was from it was from LaSalle. And it was like, you've been accepted into the program. The only school I got accepted into, because everything else I applied for like fashion, but had no portfolio. Like I didn't know what I was doing. Um, they were like, Where's your portfolio? I'm like, What's that? I just want to be like, I wanted to design clothes. I didn't know what I wanted to do. Um, so I get the I get the letter and I was like, uh, and my dad goes, all right, we're going to LaSalle. You're going to LaSalle, right? And I was like, no, I want to be in a Navy SEAL. Because in my head, I was like, I can't let him think that I did this just because I wasn't going to get into college. Like, I want him to know that like I really want to do this. And I at the time I really did. Like, I really I was like, I'm going to be the first female, whatever. Like, this is what I'm meant to do, what put on this earth to do. And then I thought about it, and then I thought about it. And then I worked at a place called Tommy's Pizza. And Tommy and his father were telling me every day. He was in the Navy, his father, and was telling me every day, like crying to like, please do not do this. You're you're made for so much more than this. Not not that service members are not like I could not thank anybody enough, but they just in a way were I they looked at me as their daughter at the time, so they were just worried about me. Um so with that being said, I then um I then looked at the letter and I called. I I actually had my friend call because I was scared of so scared of them, the recruit. I was I was so scared of them. So I had my friend call at a sleepover because I was 18. I was I wasn't even 18 yet. I think I was 17. And she called and she was like, This is there. I just want to let you know. I got into college, so I think I'm gonna do it after college in like four years. So we'll call you back. And he was like, Okay, bye. And he knew.

SPEAKER_02 15:07

I heard so many stories like this. So they're probably the first time.

SPEAKER_00 15:11

Yeah, they never they never reached out to me again. Watch after this, they're gonna call me and be like, remember. Hashtag yes, but I can't thank our servicemen and women enough for all that they do. I mean, I uh it's incredible. We we have our freedom and our safety because of them, but uh I I did not go that route. And I think my parents were were grateful at the time. They were very worried about me. Um, so then we went to LaSalle and we had it, it was like an open day where you could go around and talk. And I was like, Well, I want to be a newscaster, I think I want to be on the news. I had no I had no clue what I was uh you were 18, you're still a kid. You know what?

SPEAKER_02 15:50

And then I went kids were asking so much of the 18-year-olds to know so much of the stuff.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

Yeah, I had such a good and I was like, I have to decide right now. I I don't know what I want to do. So then I went to the next table and it was um the tea the education um department. So I was talking to them and I was like, listen, actually, I never thought about being a teacher. Do I have to do all the school again though? Like, am I gonna have to go through all of this? I like really didn't enjoy it. And she was like, No, you learn how to teach. And um, and and do you like kids? I was like, I love kids. I've been babysitting since I was like 10 across like in the whole neighborhood. I'd make flyers, I'd walk around. I was the neighborhood babysitter and would babysit my parents, friends, kids, like the whole nine yards. And and they were like, Well, listen, if you want, if you why don't you try teaching first? Because it's the hardest one, because you have to squeeze all your classes in in three years to then have the final year be student teaching. So you're done all of your like um prereqs and all all of the courses. And then if you don't like it in the first year, you can then like switch and go be a newscaster or whatever. And I was like, oh, well, then great, that's what I'll do. So I did that, and I was able to get a dual certification in gen ed, k to six, and then um special ed as well, uh birth until age 21. Um, and just as I was doing it, I was like, this is what I was made for, like learning how to teach, and then um, and now I'm currently teaching K to two special education, and I just love being able to use creativity, use um just helping the kids understand that there's different ways to learn, um, and everyone's a different learner, and be able to reach those learners that are struggling, like I was in school, um, and just connect with them on that level and be like, hey, yeah, this is hard, but we can do hard things and like look at those flags. Remember the Iron Man Mrs. Whalen did? Like, remember I was on that bike for so long. Like, you can do you can do three math problems, and then like, yeah, I can do three math problems. So it's like full circle moment, right?

SPEAKER_02 17:51

My heart is is melting. There's so much in this story that that you shared, but it's mostly the you you really found what you were meant to do, especially because as someone who struggled with education at a younger age for for whatever reason it was, but you struggled. You found a way to kind of uh uh come to from the other side and support others. And then I love how you're integrating your uh Iron Man stories, you know, um to motivate the kids. So it's such a such a beautiful story, and I did not know about uh not many people do, I guess you almost do yeah that's that's beautiful, and so um you became a teacher, special education, and at some point you get married, and there's three kids. How old are they?

SPEAKER_00 18:36

So Haley is eight, so be nine in August. Trevor just turned five, and then uh Chase actually just turned two, so three years apart.

SPEAKER_02 18:45

And at what point sport um gets back into your life? You were injured, there was a little bit of spinning, I heard, uh did you continue and train and found different sports routed, or at what point like okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

So I I started biking, like going back before I was married. I was biking. I was living in um a town right outside of Philadelphia called Mannyunk, big biking town.

SPEAKER_02 19:12

In my neighborhood, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

Oh, oh, no way, it's awesome. So, so a lot of bikers out. Um, I was actually just talking to someone I met at the playground today. I was like, when I when my husband and I lived there without kids, we did not use it to its full extent of biking and and all the outdoors and the trails. I was like looking back, all we did was go to bars. I like want to go back and relive that time and not be in the bars until 2 a.m. and go do all this biking stuff. Um, so we really do like kick ourselves sometimes, but you know, you're young, you're no, yeah, no children. So um, but yeah, so we lived there for a little bit. So I got my first bike. Um, and I and I remember I rode it for the first time, clipping in pink head to toe, like very excited. It was cold, and I'm riding back. I thought I I thought I killed it. It was like I just did the best biking thing ever. I think I went seven miles, but to me, I'm like, I did a hundred miles. Like this, this was great. And I come back totally wipe out, skid down the road, like all the way down. I get back on the bike, I come back, and my new pink leggings I got were all ripped, and Tom was like, What happened? And I was like, I fell. I was like, I did so good, and then I fell. But you know, I mean, you everybody falls, you have to fall, and then you got back up and you keep going. So I just always look back to that day. I remember exactly where I fell. Um, and I just laugh because I'm like, you all everybody has to start somewhere, um, no matter what you're doing, you know. Uh, and to feel so, and I just remember how excited I felt. And I still, anytime I get on my bike, it's my favorite thing. I I just take off and go, and I'm smiling the whole time, and and it's just it's so freeing to me.

SPEAKER_02 20:54

It's funny you say that because there's something about I agree with you, there's something about it's different than running and for me a little bit. There's something about when I put all the cycling gear and all of a sudden you put the glasses on and you just like look next level athlete.

unknown 21:10

Right.

SPEAKER_02 21:11

It's like a different persona. Yes, running is very simple, not simple to run for me at least, but it's just like you know, light those. You don't know if you go to the grocery uh store just to pick up, you know, something from your the yard. But to go cycling, everyone knows you're going cycling, and so you it feels like I feel like at least I'm stepping into like the cyclist identity. I totally understand what you're saying. So you're cycling, you knew swimming from when you thought you're going to be going to the marines and running was there, but you thought you know there was something with the car being. So, when did you how did Tarathlon get into the picture? Where at what point in the journey?

SPEAKER_00 21:49

So I started biking, so I was biking a lot. Um, and then my sister, who uh went to school in Boston, she's a big runner, she's the track star, she's cross country, um, so she was a runner and she She texted me and she was like, Do you want to do a a triathlon with me? And I was like, What what's it what's that? I was like, What do you mean? And she was like, You swim, bike, and run. I was like, I think I'm gonna drown. I don't I don't know how to like I'm I haven't swam forever. She's like, it's it'll be fine. It's in a lake. I was like, What? What do you mean? And so she's like, We're gonna be, we're we'll do it together. It'll be fine. We'll just backstroke if you have to, or we'll just doggy paddle, you know. Um, and it was up by her, and I think it was right outside of Connecticut, and it was called Iron Girl. And I was like, this is and I so I looked into it, I'm like, this is so cool. It's an all-female race, like called Iron Girl. But then a part of me was like, I'm kind of mad, it's called Iron Girl. Why is there an iron girl and an iron man? And the iron man's more tough. I was like, one day I'm gonna be an iron, like I'm gonna do the Iron Man and be and like say, like, I'm an Iron Woman, you know. Like I was like offended by it, but I but now I'm like, no, I'm an Iron Man, you know. Um I understand it now. I did not, I I just was like, what the heck's all this? I can do all like I can do anything a man can do. Type that's where my head was.

SPEAKER_02 23:03

Meanwhile, I've never done even a sprint, but no, you knew.

SPEAKER_00 23:07

No, but I was I was like, that I I got this. We're do we're doing this. Um, so anyway, I met her up there, and it was just so nice to do it with her, to do it with somebody. Um, my sister, she's one grade, like a year younger than me, um, one grade younger. So growing up, we were just at each other's throats all the time. Um, not all the time. When we were little, we would play and stuff like that. But like high school, I just remember both of us back and forth, back and forth. But I love her dearly, um, loved her dearly at the time as well. We were just, you know, living in close quarters. So her inviting me to do that, I'm like, this is awesome. So we got to do it together, and um it was it was really hard. I just looked back, I'm like, it was so hard. I'm pretty sure I like was the last one to come out the water, come out of the water, if not my sister was. I I don't know how that played out. Um, and then I did the bike and I just like I wasn't clipped in, everybody else was clipped in. I could bear I I didn't like that people were passing me. I was like, what is happening? Um, and then the run, I was like, my lungs are gonna come out of my throat. I like this is this is wild.

SPEAKER_02 24:13

So you haven't even trained for it? It was you just jumped.

SPEAKER_00 24:17

Yeah, I think I thought I was training for it, but I I did not train for it. No, I did not do any. I didn't what a brick was no, no, I had no idea what a brick was. I I didn't know heart rate. I like I didn't even have a watch. I just I just went out. Not that you need any of that, but uh I'm living proof. I'm still alive. That was like maybe 12 years ago, I don't remember. Um, but yeah, so that was that was how this all started. And then once I did it afterwards, like getting a picture with her off to send you a picture later of of the two of us. Um that was this journey of triathlon and endurance sports for me. Um, just reflecting on the drive back. I'm like, I just feel so alive. Like I did that, it like really, really sucked, but I got through it and I didn't die. And I like I can do it, I can do more, you know. So I wanted, I signed up I think that year for a couple other sprints. Um, and then started like started really training and learning about what a brick was and and learning like learning what all of that meant. Um, but but people helped me, like the community helped me. Um, I joined the gym, I started becoming a cycle instructor um because I got into cycling more and cycling longer. Um so learning about all of that and just meeting meeting people. Um, and then I from the one gym I was at, uh unfortunately shut down where I was working as a cycle instructor. So then I joined um a larger gym where I still am now. And um the community there is just incredible, endurance athletes of all kinds, um people that that come and train for life, you know, walks of all life, um, coming together just to be the best version of themselves. Um so it's a great community to be a part of.

SPEAKER_02 26:04

Um well, so at this point in your life, I'm kind of counting your your your wife, your teacher, you're an athlete, and just knowing uh from looking at the your kids, you the kids are joining a little bit later. Your daughter is the oldest, and I think she's not 12 yet.

SPEAKER_00 26:22

So you started training for uh so started training, yeah, and then got married as I'm training in the trial line.

SPEAKER_02 26:30

Yeah, so at that point you have multiple now. You become a mom. What's happening um to athleticism? I'm sure you kept working. Obviously, maybe after maternity leave, you you probably go back. I I assume, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 26:42

No, no, no. I kept I nope, I worked the whole way through. Um, yeah, I worked all the way through. I did take the the like two and a half to three months, three six weeks, I think it was, and then an additional six weeks, um, unfortunately with America unpaid, which was not fun. Um, but we made it work, right? Uh, as we do as moms and parents.

SPEAKER_02 27:04

And usually what mom's telling me, and also at least with my experience as well, is there's a little bit of we a time that we take off because we're learning how to become moms. Um, you know, our body's soul is overwhelmed. So what I want to hear your story. What happened when you became a mom with your relationship to with sport, with athleticism?

SPEAKER_00 27:26

Sure. So I I actually taught um cycle up until two weeks before she was born. So I to me it's um meant, I have to be, I have to move my body to feel mentally okay. Um if I if I find myself if I don't move my body for a long period of time, I I just um I don't feel myself. Um so after I had my daughter, Haley, I remember feeling almost like an out-of-body experience. Like I don't recognize this body. I'm I'm so grateful for my body to have grown this beautiful child and be able to feel like I did breastfeed, so be able to provide for her, but I just didn't feel like myself. Um I I didn't look like my like what I was used to. Um and you know, all all things happen once you have a baby. Um so I just remember, but I also welcomed this new chapter of life. So I just I and she was the type of child where if I put her down, the whole world knew that I had put her down. She the neighbors knew, everybody knew. So there were times where I would just hold her all day long. Tom would come home for work and I would look at him, like I'm sitting on the couch, probably all day, and I would just look at him and I would say, Can you hold her, please? I have to go to the bathroom. And he was like, What? I was like, I haven't put her down, I can't put her down. She screams. I can't she can't scream. She's a baby. She's like, she has to be happy all the time. He was like, We need to talk. So um there were times where I would literally hold her. I I was very safe, I promise, but I would hold her or wear her, and I would I brought my um, it wasn't my tri, I'm looking over here because I'm in my basement, my little pan cave. It wasn't my tri-bike, but I had like a stationary bike, and so I would wear her and I would ride the stationary bike. And so she was like on me and move not hard, not I wasn't in like zone, just moving my body.

SPEAKER_02 29:27

I want to tell I want to tell you and the listeners, there's a researcher that it's worth following if if you're interested uh in uh future pregnancies, and even if not, I actually No, we're done. Three three yeah, I learned about her research when I did my my doctoral degree and I looked at different literature about athletes. There's a lot of literature about um there's nothing about iron moms, maybe one article, that's it. Um and now there's a PhD uh about it. But um yes, there is researching actually pregnancy and um doing sport. Her name is Margie Devonport. And I love how she's posting so much about how much has changed about not only what it does to the mother, but also it actually helps um with the baby, with a healthier delivery, with a healthier uh um babies and mothers. So I don't think there's any uh reason to apologize that you did what you needed. But I do want to ask you something. I try doing it consistently in my study and in the women that I interview, and I think that's what separates some of the women that persist from doing sport any. In our case, it's an Iron Man, but or endurance sports, okay? Not an Iron Man, but you know, Ron Boston. Women are telling me I'm a better mom because of that of that. I'm a better person of that. And and one more thing I want to add and then I want to ask you something that I need to understand. And if you say if I you just said it, if I don't exercise, if I don't move, and it's different than walking with the dogs. I don't exercise, I don't feel like myself, and I need to understand it because I don't have that. If I don't exercise, I'm okay. Yeah, I'm I'm gonna be upset if I have a training and I missed it, but let's say if I'm not a training regiment and I need the training, I'm fine, but I'm hearing loud and clear other women are telling me it's not who I am. I need these. Can you explain this? Yes.

SPEAKER_00 31:35

Yes, and I I have said this um to my students as well because sometimes I can tell with some of my students, um, you're gonna laugh, but I got I've had a lot of people uh thankfully donate a lot of um the desk pedal bikes to my classroom. Um I have recently had a treadmill, there's a lot of safety procedures in place for it. Um and I get parent parental uh permission for it, but students need to move. Um, some students need to move before they sit down in a desk all day or in between. Um, because I know that with myself, that if I don't wake up, or the days that I might have a rest day, and I don't even I have to wake up to stretch. I have to wake up to do yoga, to do some sort of movement, to have that time to myself, um, to to kind of collect my thoughts, the morning time. I was I wasn't this way in college. Um actually my husband was a morning, he played, he was a D1 swimmer, was up all hours of the morning, jumping in a cold pool. So he was the one who kind of opened my eyes to, or who did open my eyes to the morning workouts. And he was like, if you just do it, then it's done. You don't have to worry about it throughout the day. I have to say, on the days that I don't work out, I'm so worried and so mad at myself almost, like that I slept in or that I didn't get that time to myself and worried for the rest of the day in the back of my head. I'm just thinking, Am I gonna have that time? Am I gonna be able to move my body today? Am I gonna get it through that much? Um, and then the days I'm such a better teacher, I'm such a better mom, a better wife, on the days I'm able to move my body. And sometimes Tom will even say to me, if he sees that I'm anxious or just trying to get stuff together, he'll say, Just go out for a run, go out for 30 minutes and come back.

unknown 33:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:25

And I'm like, Is this telling me you're telling me that I'm not being nice? But he's like, No, I'm not gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_02 33:29

I'm gonna say something, I'm gonna say something so shallow, I can't believe that I'm gonna say that. But I didn't know about I mean, I was an athlete before um I yeah, I was in Israel, and so we go to the army at 18. Yeah, and then so kind of my swimming stopped at 18, and then I went to study, I went to the university, and then continued with life degrees, kids, and I remember that I needed my knee time, but then when I had a big career in corporate and um kids one after the other. And so when I felt like that, I remember my husband from the yeah, I have the most supportive husband, really. And he would say to me, you know what, why would you go shopping? And he didn't mean it in a bad way. It was like you go take some time. I don't think I realized that. I wish someone would have helped me, you know, uh even realize it. But sport seemed so I mean, all or nothing. Like I can't do sport the way I want to, the way I know everything. Right. So the way, you know, to be with myself was to go shopping. Now I'm not a big shopper, I'm talking TJ Maxx, right? Or Marshall things not like going to I wish my husband would tell me to go shopping. But it's funny, I I'm starting to understand what you're saying. I needed time for myself, yes, to collect my thoughts, to be away. Right.

SPEAKER_00 34:46

And I think every individual needs that. Man, woman, whatever like every person needs time to themselves. And this is what I say in in my cycle classes too. Like, this is your 45 minutes. You need to get out whatever you need out of this 45 minutes for you. Like, you are in, those doors are closed. This is your time. Stay both physically and mentally present in this room. Ignore everything else, it'll all be there when you get back. Like, this time is for you. Use it how you want to use it. If you need to just be in here to be with the the community, great. If you want to be in here and like PR a class, fantastic. If you're somewhere in between or want to follow the plan we have today, that's wonderful too. But be here physically and mentally, you know, like it's your time.

SPEAKER_02 35:32

45 minutes, and the kids can are biking if if they want, and listening to the class.

SPEAKER_00 35:40

Oh no, this I this is when I'm teaching at at ah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, yes. No, but I do I um for me to help with my mom guilt that I have, which is there there should be no such thing as mom guilt, but there is. Um, and how I deal with it is I set the alarm very early. So whether like tomorrow I wake up at tomorrow's Friday, I wake up at 3 30. Um, and all the other days I wake up either at 4 or 4 30 to get up and get my workout in, shower, and then be able to help get them out the door and myself to work on time.

SPEAKER_02 36:11

Okay, we got we're gonna we're gonna pause here for a second because I I need to understand this. I saw one of your posts not long ago for March.

SPEAKER_03 36:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:18

Where first of all, March for me is too cold to go outside. So already, props to you for like just doing this. It's like, guys, it's cold here in where we live in around Philadelphia in March. Yes, and you wrote, I woke up this morning, I wrote, I wrote, I ran three miles, and then I got showered, you packed up because God forbid you're gonna buy food. You packed up, kissed the kid, the other two were sleeping, and I rode my bike to school, and I'm like, How?

SPEAKER_01 36:51

Now it's so funny because everyone is over like how far was it?

SPEAKER_02 36:56

Well, I'm also an accomplishment when I know how to do a lot, but like I don't understand how you go to bed after you organize the house, doing laundry. The house is not that organized.

SPEAKER_01 37:05

Let's just make that very clear.

SPEAKER_02 37:07

Exhausted and still sleep seven or eight hours to wake up at 3 30. Like some something gotta give. I don't understand how people manage the time and wake up at 3 30. So help me understand.

SPEAKER_00 37:17

Yeah. So so I think I don't sleep as much as I should. Um, so that's definitely, and I know that that is like the silent killer. So I do that is something I need to work on. Um, there's not enough hours in the day, but spring break has been great. I've been sleeping and being able to get my workouts in. So it's a nice little reset for myself. Um, but I but I think days like that, that's not every day. So that was like a really special day. It was a little bit warmer, so it wasn't super cold. Um, I think it was like 40 or something. It was above 30.

SPEAKER_02 37:49

Until May, I'm not out there.

SPEAKER_00 37:52

Yeah.

unknown 37:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:54

No, it was definitely, I think I feel like it was like in the 50s or 60s. It was definitely more than a bigger way. So I saw the weather. Yeah, it was it was a nice day. And I remember I said to my husband, because it was the day that my mother, my mother-in-law, bless her soul, comes, comes every Tuesday and Thursday to watch my son and helps my daughter get onto the bus because Tom works out of the house on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Um, so she has she is amazing, incredible. She comes and watches them. So it was a Thursday, I think, or or Tuesday, I don't remember which one, where Tom could take Trevor in, and then my mother-in-law was coming. So there was time for me to be able to go. So I cleared it with him. I'm like, hey, here's my plan. Are you okay with this? And then I'm gonna bike to pick Trevor up, but then we'll take the train home because we live right by the train station. I was like, and we'll get water ice, it'll be like a fun little activity for him. Are you able to just come and relieve your mom in the afternoon? He's like, Yeah, that's that's fine, whatever. So I just packed my clothes into my backpack, my laptop, and uh and rode to school. And it was great. And it was so fun.

SPEAKER_02 38:57

It's amazing. But consistently I'm seeing you waking up in the morning and talking about I I got this much workout, 10 miles before work, and which again, I know that many endurance athletes do that, but I'm particularly interested in the mobs. How are you what is your uh daily routine to be able to get, especially when there's a build towards a half or full Iron Man where there's sometimes a long break or you know, the 100 miles, you have to do it at least twice before an Iron Man.

SPEAKER_00 39:29

How do you do that? So I think um planning definitely comes into play, and I have the most supportive partner. I mean, Tom is just uh a hundred percent on board and and we do a give and take too. So um we plan the weekends, like one day is his his day is usually Saturday to go out and do something because Fridays I'm like toast. Like my brain is just like done. I needed sleep, so I try to sleep in a little bit on Saturday. Don't get your sleep advice from me, first of all. Don't it's not the best thing. Um, but then because Friday's my early morning because I teach a cycle class, and then I try to get my workout in, and then I go to school. Um, and just by the end, all teachers Friday were just melted brains. Um, so he does his his thing on Saturday. We do a family thing, and then Sunday I do my longer workout. Um, but it's a lot of planning. I I mean I'm a part of a great uh uh triathlon team that helps me kind of look at look at my plan, look at my goals. What are some workouts you would suggest?

SPEAKER_02 40:28

Um we give them a shout out.

SPEAKER_00 40:30

Oh my gosh, Sonic Endurance, they're incredible. Yep, stay tuned. Oh yes, yes, they are incredible. And what's amazing about them is I joined them as a mom, um, coming back postpartum. Not many people, not many coaching uh uh places really want to take on postpartum moms. For for example, I've talked to a couple and they're like, Oh, I'm not, I'm not so sure, or or what were your stats when you were good, stuff like that. Um it was yeah, it was really interesting. Uh and Stacy, when I talked to her, she was like, uh, yeah, I'm a mom. We have mom coaches, like it's gonna be great. Not everybody. I don't want to, I'm not trying to say negative things about any other coaching.

SPEAKER_02 41:13

I'll coach Stacy. Yeah, we're gonna put her in the show. She's incredible.

SPEAKER_00 41:18

Yeah, she's she's incredible. I mean, Jess Kelly, I work with her. Um, she's actually my she's my boss at uh Lifetime as a cycle instructor. She actually hired me there eight years ago, which is wild. Postpartum. I was literally three months postpartum, and she hired me. Um so she took me under her wing and uh she actually really inspired me because she had done Iron Man before. And I told her, I'm like, this is my dream. Uh and so she she kind of took me under her wing and and taught me, taught me all about it.

SPEAKER_02 41:49

It's such a beautiful, it's just such a beautiful connection to where I wanted to go next. You talk you talked about Jess, um, who is uh also a coach at um uh Sonic Endurance and working with you at the same um uh place. Um I wanted to ask, you were talking about uh holding your Haley, biking with her very carefully. At what point the dream of becoming an Iron Man and kind of making the decision through Jess, meeting another uh mom who is uh cycling instructor and also an iron mom herself, or was that dream kind of evolving as Haley was in your in your hands?

SPEAKER_00 42:29

Yeah, it was definitely evolving because right before I had Haley, I was doing I went from sprint to Olympic. So I had made that jump to the longer distance, and then um it was Tri-AC had the Olympic distance that I was doing, Delmo Sports, love them. Steve's awesome. Um yeah, and then um they hosted the the Half Iron Man 70.3 AC. Yes, so I had yep, so I had that goal in 2000. So Haley was born 2017. I think I did it, I want to say 2000, 2018. So like a year that that next year, she wasn't, I don't think she was a full year yet. I can't remember. She might have been. I don't remember. I'll have to look back at the dates, but I just remember um that was my goal. Like I want to come back postpartum, like doing doing a full uh a half, and then I had the goal. I was like, after this half, I'm doing I'm doing a full. Like I'm I'm we're doing it.

SPEAKER_02 43:25

It's easier for me to understand once you do a half, you want to do the full. It's it's like an immediate addiction, but I do want to ask why, as a young mom, postpartum, this became your goal.

SPEAKER_00 43:37

It was I wanted to find myself again. That's that's the only way I feel like I can explain it. Um just that time being able like in the saddle, not not that it was about the losing of the weight or uh just like feeling I wanted to feel my body again. I wanted to give myself like I I'm more than just a mom, I'm more than just a wife, I I I'm more. Than just an athlete or a triathlete. This is part of my journey. This is what I want to do. This is a goal for myself. I'm a goal setter. Like, I want to set a goal. I want to raise the bar. I want to keep trying. I want to keep going. I want to see how far I can go. Um, not that I'm searching for a breaking point, but just the continued challenge. And also having having my daughter, I want her to know anything is possible. Like, I couldn't love the phrase anything is possible anymore. I have a tattooed on my wrist, actually. Um in my grandmother's, yes, in my grandmother's handwriting. Um, so she had passed away a couple years ago. So I I went to a tattoo artist with my Aunt Donna this past um uh Thanksgiving, and he pulled, she never wrote anything is possible together, but he pulled from a letter the letters and wrote in her handwriting, and I don't know if you can see it, but anything is possible on my wrist. So when I am in the try-bars, I can read it and it's right there. Yeah. Um, so it's just a it's the phrase I live by. Um, and I wanted to show my daughter that you can you can do anything you set your mind to as long as you put in the work. You have to put in the work, you have to show up for yourself, and and it has to be something that you're passionate about, something um that you enjoy. And I love being on my bike, I love running, I love the community that is that is triathlon. So um I finished the the half Iron Man training and and it was so hard and it was rainy, it was hot, it was on the boardwalk, it was but it was so exciting and it was so exhilarating. And then the the next year, so that was 2018, and then the next year in 2019, I finished my first uh Lake Placid Iron Man, which was amazing. But before that, my sister had me run my first marathon. She texted me, same sister who brought me to the triathlon world, Jess. Yeah, my my influencer, my personal influencer, she texted me and she goes, Do you want to go to Paris? I was like, Jess, I just had a baby. What do you mean? And I'm a teacher. What are you talking about? I can't just go to Paris in the middle of the school year. And she was like, Well, what if what if I pay for you? Would you run the marathon? And I was like, I'll run a marathon if you're gonna take me to Paris. Sure. I'll run, I'll run, I'll run two marathons. I don't care. And so she booked my flight, booked the room. I stayed with her and one of her friends. And uh Tom was totally on uh supportive. I was in Paris for three days, almost missed my flight, which was awful, but made it. Um, zero sleep, but got there and uh ran my first marathon in Paris. And it was the best way to see a new country, a new city is running a marathon. You see everything.

SPEAKER_02 46:42

So there's there you have been a city councilwoman.

unknown 46:46

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 46:46

You're currently a teacher, a coach, an athlete, a mom, a wife. Are there are there days that you feel it's too many? Things sometimes, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:59

And and some days there I feel that I'm not some days I definitely feel like I'm not able to be a hundred percent of all of those things on all of those days. And I and when I look at those days or look at those times where I'm feeling uh the worst, I take from myself. So those are the days where I'm like, okay, I'm not gonna work out tomorrow so that I can wake up and answer all of my emails. But then that affects me later. Do you know what I mean? Like then then I start to feel the stress.

SPEAKER_02 47:29

Yeah, it's something.

SPEAKER_00 47:30

Then I start spiraling and then yeah, yeah, then it creates the anxiety, and then I mean, just just the last two weeks before spring break were really, really difficult at work. And my um HRV like tanked for two weeks, and it just it just came back today. I was like, oh my goodness, like all this rest and time to like really unwind. I need to be better about leaving work at work and and then being mom at home. Um, so so you live and you learn. I think that that's why I was a councilwoman um for four years up until January of this year. And I had I didn't, I chose to not rerun or to be re-elected. Um uh and but I did say that, and everyone was so kind and so sweet and and didn't want me to leave. I mean, the person who took my seat is incredible and is doing amazing things. Um, but I did say I was like, I will be back, but right now I need to really focus on my family and raising my children. And what that did for me was open up more. I it's funny because the people that know know me are like, well, you gave up counsel, but now you're taking on ski patrol, but and you're also coaching girls on the run and you're coaching Iron Knights. Like, what and I was like, Well, I couldn't do council woman and do all of those other things. They were like, but you added three more things. I'm like, Oh, it's gonna be fine. So giving it'll all be fine.

SPEAKER_02 48:57

Giving back is very important to you, and and as part of it, you mentioned a couple of things. Ainsley Ainsley's Angels and Iron Speeds. Tell us a little bit about uh why what are you doing and why are you doing these exchanges? Sure.

SPEAKER_00 49:10

So I first was inspired by the Pease brothers, Brent and Kyle, who uh completed tremendous amount of Iron Man together, tremendous amount of races, and started their own foundation. So I had reached out to them, I think it was right after, right before it was right before my first Iron Man, because uh Brent actually really he he was like, I did placid, let me help you out, let me talk to you. Like the hills are crazy, you need to go out and do like this amount, and and would give me a bunch of tips. So he was wonderful. Um, but I was truly so inspired by their story, their passion, and just their inclusivity for for all, and and being sure, like being so passionate about making sure everyone has the opportunity to participate in sport. And so um I was talking back and forth. I was like, what can I do? How can I get involved? And he said, You want to run the Marine Corps Marathon? So that was after Placid in 2019, and I said, Yeah, sure. So I raised money to to get to the starting line, and I was fortunate enough to meet an incredible woman named Sierra, and her and I got to run together and talk the whole time, run in the pouring rain in Washington, DC. We were started next to um Brett and Kyle, but I didn't see them for the rest of the race because they just whish they were off. And I was like so far behind. I'm like, oh, maybe we'll see them later. Solemn after they were already changed. Um, but they're they're incredible. And and the community that they have built, the organization they built was incredible. So um I had met Sierra, and after the race, she said, Will you bring me up to Philadelphia? I said, We'll make it happen, of course. Like anything is possible, we're gonna make it happen. So about a month later, I called, uh, oh no, it was less than a month, it was like a week later, I feel like I called Brent. I was at uh lifetime, and I said, I was in like the locker room at the time, and I said, Listen, crazy idea, but we I think we can do it. The Philly Marathon's next month. So I ran in October and I was like, the Philly Marathon's in November. Um, do you think we can get Sierra up here? I can get a chair from Ainsley's Angels, like it'll be great. Well, we can make it happen. And he he he was like this. I he he was like, I I could hear his wheels spinning. He's like, I need to make a couple calls. I'll give you back, uh, give you a call back soon. But I I think this is gonna be good. And I said, Great! And I was like, this is gonna happen. So sure enough, he made it happen, flew his her family up, met them in Philly, and uh a month later we ran the Philly marathon. I got to show her the city, and then it snowed at the end, which was incredible because she's from Georgia, so she was like, I never saw this before. So it was so cool. Um it was so special. We got to go into the professional tent. She got to meet um so many incredible people, so it was really, really special moment.

SPEAKER_02 52:05

And to to continue and stretch the thread of um assisting athletes. You also ran, did you run an Iron Man assisting another athlete? Or am I?

SPEAKER_00 52:15

So it was Sierra. So yeah, so it was Sierra. So then after the Philly marathon, she she I gave her my Iron Man hat to help with the snow because it was getting in her face and she's cold. You have to remember, like, this is not easy to sit in that chair for for four hours. You know, it she was freezing. So I'm trying to keep her bundled, keep her warm, keep her hydrated. Um, so I gave her my Iron Man hat, and after that race, she goes, Will you help me become an Iron Man? And I said, Heck yes, we got this girl, we gotta do it. So then that spring, um, I think COVID happened. I think that's when COVID, yeah, because 2019. So then COVID happened. I had my son, so then I had to build back up and build my endurance back up and my um my strength back up to be able to um be there for her. Um in order to do an Iron Man as a duo team, you have to show that you can do it at the Olympic distance. So I flew down to Georgia, met her for an Olympic um triathlon there, had to complete it on a flat tire, which was wild, on her chair. And so I was panicking that we weren't gonna make the time. I was so nervous. So at the end, I just said to the guy, I at one point, I was like, Did we make the time? He was like, You finished. And I was like, but did we make the time? He was like, There's no time, you finished, you're fine. Like the the race isn't over. I was like, okay, I just had to, I was just stressing out there. Um, so then there we did, um we went to Augusta to do the Augusta 70.3, and I missed the bike cutoff by three minutes, I think it was. Um and uh the they were filming us the whole time. I just started, I saw the I felt so bad. One for Sierra, I just felt like I had failed her. Um, and she is the incredible person that she is. She's telling me, it's not your fault, it's okay. Stop crying. She's like yelling at me to stop crying in the nicest way. And then I just see this man from Iron Man just put his hand out. Lee's looking down, he's crying, everybody's crying, the film crew's there crying. And I just was like, I just let all of these people down. I was I was broken. And I I was like, I let my kids down, I let my husband down, who flew all the way down here with me. I let the whole Kyle Pease Foundation down, I let everyone down. I didn't let anyone down at the time. I look back there. Now I know it was just talk about mom guilt, that was like the but I have to say that was the turning point in who I was, you know, who I am, and just realizing that truly anything's possible. Um, I'm gonna go back to high school for one second. Try it out for the team, try it out for the team freshman year. Didn't make the cut for soccer. They had pulled me aside, and and we have Penn University really close to us and said, You need to go to this camp next summer, and then you can come back and try out. You need to work a little bit more on your technique. So I had played um travel soccer in between that time. I didn't give up. I loved playing soccer, and then went to the I saved my money, went to the camp, paid it for myself, went to the camp, and then came back, tried out again. And literally they call they they sit you all on it's it's terrible. They sit you all on the hill, call you up one by one in front of everybody. You know who makes it, who doesn't, by how you're like walking back. And I go up to the table and I'm like, This is my second time at this table. I don't know what they're gonna tell me. And the coach looked at me and goes, You are the only person that ever came back to try out again in my years of coaching. And he goes, You made it. You he was like, You went to that camp, didn't you? And I said, Yeah, I saved my money. I like really wanted to be on this team. He's like, Here's your jersey, you earned it. And I just went, I like replayed that moment. But I replayed that moment to to their. I mean, it took it took some time. It took me like a week to get myself together. It took my husband to help like put the pieces back together, my friends, and and and Brent and Kyle calling me, checking on me throughout that week. I mean, Kyle called me, texted me, like we are proud of you, like you, you're doing big things. It's like this is you didn't fail. You tried and made it happen. So it took me a while, but then I realized we're doing this again. Like, nope, we're doing it again. I we're finishing this. Like, we I promised her that she's gonna be an Iron Man and we are finishing this, we're getting it done. So then um, then I signed Iron Man.

SPEAKER_02 56:55

Because I'm so anything and interested. So I think it could be a movie.

SPEAKER_00 57:00

No, yeah. Um, so then so then I asked Sierra, I'm like, Do you do you want to try again? Is this something that you'd want to do? Like, I promise you, I'm gonna be on my bike, I'll be pooling my kids, like I will be, I will make sure I am physically ready. She was like, Yes, I'll do anything. Like I want, I I want to do it. So we signed up for Eagle Man. The reason I picked that one was because the hills in Augusta were wild, um, pooling and towing the bike that I had at it was a bike that I had never trained on. So this time around, I made sure one, I was using my I was using my road bike and was able to um use a chair that hooked onto my bike so that I was used to that bike, and then I was also used to feeling the pool by using my kids to tow my kids. So I was using to feel that that same weight um and and riding at that distance. So we rode, we we had an awesome bike time. I when I got off that bike, I just remember crying. I was like, We did it! My husband's like, you still have to go run. I'm like, who cares about that? We we're off the bike. I can do a half marathon with her. I've run so many marathons with her. Like, we're we're gonna be just fine. He's like, You are not done yet, go. I was like, Okay, I'm just so excited. And and the crew there at Iron Man is incredible. Everybody was so helpful cheering us on. I mean, Ryan Kelly works for um, I forget who he works for, what the name is, and he's gonna kill me for that. But uh, he's he works for the crew to film. And I mean, he just he he was there in Augusta, then he was there in um uh Cambridge, and it was so cool to have him film both and be there for both, which was really nice for the familiar face. So when we crossed that finish line, I felt like I was flying with her, like alongside her. She goes, Will you lift my hand up like Brent does to Kyle? I was like, I'll do anything you want. You did this, we did it together. So it was such an awesome experience. Um, and and just being able to feel that alongside with her. And everybody says, like, how can you do that? How can you do that for so many hours? And I'm like, it's not just me, we're a team. Like, she makes sure she lifts our spirit, she's carrying us on, she keeps conversation going, she's helping. I feel her energy. Like, I I am not solo in that. Her energy truly, I feel it come into me and we go and we make it happen. Um, and I I felt it at the Ainsley's Angels races. Recently, I was able to complete the Philly half marathon this year with one of my former students, which was amazing. So I just, it's such a gift to be able to be a part of such an incredible moment in someone's life and to be able to support them to reach their goals. So it's truly an honor. And I just the reason I post all of this on on Instagram is to try to inspire other people. Like you can have this feeling too. I'm not, I'm not special, I'm not some superhuman, you know. Anybody, anybody can get up and get started. Maybe you get up and and walk on the treadmill just a little bit in the mornings. Do it for two weeks. Your body will get used to it, and you go a little bit further each week. You everybody, I mean, I fell the first time I got on my bike, and now now I have three and I love them, you know. Everyone's has to start somewhere.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:25

So you spend your days believing in other people, believing in the athletes you're assisting, believing in your students, believing in your kids. Who believes in you?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:36

I think my my family, you know, I I see it through their eyes. Um, my husband, uh uh my students, you know. I I think it's a everyone I believe in, they believe in me as well. It's a give and take, I think.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:52

And I just I feel it and um so there's a song that I love to play in my psycho class. I can't re I'm so bad with names, I'm like terrible, but there's there's a phrase that says you you always get what you give. So however much you give, that's what you get in return. Whether it's internal and you feel really good because you gave to somebody or you receive you receive that relationship back. Um, and not always, but majority of the time I found myself you always have to see the bright side of things and see everything. I truly believe everything happens for a reason. So after something bad happens in my life, I'm like, okay, this this really sucked. Like I I need to just something. Yeah, like I need to get a grip. And like, why did that happen? What am I gonna learn from this? How am I gonna be stronger? Give back more? What am I gonna how am I gonna spin this um to make it a positive as much as possible?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:53

So after nine Ironmans, um half enfold, three.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:58

I was gonna say, don't say nine full.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:01

Yeah, no, no, but endurance again.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:03

Yeah. Why keep going? There's other things.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:14

There are.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:14

I yeah, and I think I mean I'm I'm dabbling in some new things too. I I have a high rocks coming up, like trying something new, and that's fun because I was actually was just talking to my partner, her name's Morgan. I met her through lifetime, and I was like, let's name our team strong moms. And it is also is Sarah and Morgan, isn't that all like I'm like, see, this could be a thing. Uh so uh like I think it always comes back to community.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:43

The community.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:44

I yeah, I think it's community. I think it's the challenge, no matter, even though it's the same distance, I'm not like I'm still coming back. I feel even though I did um so after each pregnancy, I did a full Iron Man. That was my that was my way of coming out of postpartum. Like how to I know I feel like I'm gonna be able to do that I learned that term.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:06

I learned that term when I came to the US. Uh it's not nothing a push gift. So that was your push gift.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:13

That was my push present, yes. The Iron Man, the Iron Man registration, yes. Fortunately, I didn't get a new bike for each one, but that's okay. That would have been a real good push present. Um no, but I think uh just it it's familiar to me. And when you when you when you wake up at three o'clock in the morning and you walk out in the pitch black and you walk down to where there's thousands of bikes, thousands of people and the music is pumping. It's just an energy that you don't get anywhere else. Like nowhere else feels like that at four o'clock in the morning, not one place.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:53

I I I agree with you, and I want to ask, and by no mean I'm trying to induce guilt, I'm trying to lean into your world and and worldview, if you will. There's no point in time where you say, My kids are young, I'm a little tired. This can wait for when they grow up. I don't hear that negotiation. So I want to understand how come there's no negotiation? There's it sounds like it's not there's not even an open door to to this to come in. It there's no, none of it.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:23

No, no, there's not. And and what's really I love that you brought that up because we were first of all, part of my training and a lot of my training, my kids are involved. They're there with me. Whether I'm running with the double stroller and pulling the other one behind me, or now that my daughter's older and she doesn't really fit in the stroller, no matter how much I try to make her comfortable, um, she'll ride her bike alongside of me, you know. Um, or I do it when she's at swim practice in the mornings in the summertime. So I plan it strategically so that they are doing something that they enjoy, or they're getting their nap in. Um, but they're involved in it and they're excited about it. My son was so disappointed to learn that I wasn't doing Iron Man Lake Placid this year, just this weekend, because my friend Rich, who's done all three with me throughout throughout the time I met him at Lifetime, he's he's been through the journey of all my kids. Um, they my family, my kids call him Uncle Rich. He's the best. And and he actually was help he was on the support team helping with uh Team Sierra at Cambridge. He drove all the way down and uh and helped with that. So my son said to me we ran into him at the trail and we were biking and he was out for a run. And Trevor said to me, Mommy, you and Uncle Rich are are doing the big race again this year, right? And I was like, What what do you mean, buddy? And he was like, You're we're doing Iron Man, right? And I was like, Oh, I didn't I didn't sign up this year. And he was like, What? What do you mean? He's like, We're not go I'm not I don't get to go. And I was like, Oh no, no, I'm I did I signed up for the a half. I said, But I'm just going. For the day, and then I'm coming back and we're gonna get to do something fun together. And he was like, But I wanna go. I wanna go. It's so fun. And I was and he's only five. So he grew up going. It's part of their, it's just part of their journey. Um, it's been part of it's their life, you know, it's their lifestyle, being part of the races, meeting. I I mean, he they my kids love Stacy. They look at Stacy, they admire Stacy. I mean, Stacy was with my daughter for a good portion of the day, cheering them on, and she was volunteering with her in the tent, you know. So Stacy does an amazing job of including families as part of the race, and it's it's a family event, it's not just a me event, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:41

Yeah, yeah, yeah. What related to that, I completely agree, by the way. I saw one of the photos where Haley actually waited for you at the red carpet to give you the uh medal and I'm gonna cry. Yes. I know that Stacy was behind it, you know, to make it happen and like bring her with. What are you hoping your kids are taking from watching How You Leave?

SPEAKER_00 1:07:07

I think I just hope at uh no matter what they do, no matter where they go, whether it's triathlon, whether it's music, whether it's art, that they find something that they enjoy that makes them happy, and no matter what they hold on to it. Because that's what life's about. It's about finding what makes you happy, finding the people that you feel connected with, and and making the most of it. We only have a short amount of time on earth, you know, so we gotta make the most of it. What what can what do you do that makes you happy? Um, how can you give back to others? And and how do you be your true authentic self?

SPEAKER_02 1:07:45

And that the next question might be a little bit loaded, but I'm curious to know how does being an athlete, a mom, a teacher, and a coach each of those roles feed each other? Because I'm sure you're taking away borrowing skills from one to another. So how do they feed each other so they're integrating so well for you?

SPEAKER_00 1:08:04

A hundred percent. I can, I mean, I was an athlete first, so I I learned that I can do hard things, that um I learned how to be uncomfortable and and that I'm gonna survive after being uncomfortable. Um, I've learned to push myself, to challenge myself, to learn, to never stop learning as an athlete, but then also as an educator, I learned that each individual and as a coach, each individual is different. Not everybody has the same learning um style or coaching style and needs a little bit more. So whether I'm in the classroom or I'm in the cycle studio and I notice someone starting to fade a little bit, I give them words of encouragement. I give the but not just you never want to point someone out, you just say it in general. Or or maybe they're not feeling feeling the workout at and we need to dial back. And then I I just make that mental note and plan. Um, or maybe a student needs to spend a little bit more time on this math math. So I make additional problems to support support that need. So it's all about adaptation um in both coaching and teaching. I think that those both align a lot, and and also as a parent, like you gotta be flexible at all times. There's you never know when the other shoe's gonna drop. So um, just being flexible, and it all comes down to the relationship in in all in all everything in life. The relationship and it it's what it is. You have to get to know the other person to be able to reach them. I I can't teach someone day one just walking in because I'm a teacher. I need to get to know them. I need to understand how they learn what what do they enjoy? How can I tie that in to the classroom? How can I do they need more hands-on activities? Do they um enjoy more independent work? What do they need from me to get the most out of our our sessions together? So it really all comes down to getting to know who you're working with and building that bond and relationship and making the most out of it.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:05

I love it. I love it, and I I think that a lot of the stories that I'm hearing, and that's a takeaway for parents that I didn't expect surprised me. And you started there, you said it all started with my athletic kind of identity as a young girl and and a young woman. Uh, I think that confidence, there's a lot of reels um out there about send your daughters to sports because young women athletes become CEOs or become, you know, uh leaders in the community. It doesn't have to be a and it's I think there's something there that we need to pay attention on who becomes uh those impressive women like you. And I think there's something about the DNA of being young and learning to trust yourself, pushing yourself, expecting more of yourself. It's uh quite amazing. Before we wrap and go into the rapid um fire, I want to ask a question I ask every iron mom, and I'm curious to know. Um what would you tell a mother standing kind of at the border thinking, can I make the leap from a short distance into a longer distance? Or maybe can I even enter the sport? Just like uh in all the interviews, uh someone that's reaching out and saying, the sister, like your sister, someone else and someone at work, hey, would you join me? So let's say someone wants to join and you want to invite them to join, what would you tell them?

SPEAKER_00 1:11:29

I would ask them a question. Can I do that? I would say, what is your why? What is your purpose? Why, why are you teetering? And and why, why wouldn't you want to do it? So it's always about it's so easy to make up an excuse, like, oh, I don't know if I have the time. You need to make the time. I don't have time. I have to figure out how am I gonna make how my nobody has time, everybody's busy. Um, especially with just work coming home with you on your phone or or whatever. You know, we're always on like on expected to be on demand. So, like, what is your why? Why would you want to do it? Or why do you why are you interested in it? For me, it was to challenge myself, to to find myself again, and to show my kids anything is possible. I had my kids' names written on my on my wrist. And anytime I thought I would give up, I would say to myself, Do I want to feel like I did in uh at that soccer field when I quit? Like when I didn't make the team, you know, I didn't quit, but when I I'm not a quitter, I'm not gonna quit, we're gonna get it done. So, and I want to show my kids like we when once you sign up for a commitment that you follow through with that commitment. So I would ask, what is your why? And um, and how like and how are you gonna make it happen? How are you gonna make the time? Not not do you have the time? How are you gonna make it happen? I think is important. Um, because truly, again, like I am, I'm not, I'm not some superhuman, but to me it's it's what brings me joy and a little bit. No, um, but it's what brings me joy, and I I would love for more people to just just try, just build the confidence, do the sprint, see how it goes, do the Olympic. Did you like it? Did you have fun? Maybe you just like the Olympic, and not just, but that's okay. That's okay too. You're doing what you love. Um, or maybe you tried and you're like, this is not for me. I don't like being on the bike. For me, the biking is my favorite part, so that's I love to be on the bike for hours. Um, I had some friends who tried and were like, I can't sit on the bike for five hours or six hours or whatever. Um, and that's okay. So so everybody finds what they what they like, and that's what's most important.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:42

And that yeah, I completely agree. Um, it's so important to know your why, what's what's the purpose? Does it does it align with your values? And it sounds like what you're doing about community, relationship, giving, and role modeling, it all comes together in in this sport, which is beautiful. Thank you for that. So we're gonna transition into a little bit of a different mode. This will be like sprint intervals now instead of endurance um session. So during a long workout, music, podcast, or silence?

SPEAKER_00 1:14:17

Um I watch TV during a long workout. Is that bad? No, I I don't know. Whatever works. That's because I don't have time to watch TV, so that's how I get caught up on all my like junk bravo TV. So I kind of like reward myself. Like, you'll get to watch the Housewives if you run 10 miles.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:37

Whatever works. Okay, so that's how I do it. Name for the bike or no name?

SPEAKER_00 1:14:45

I have a name, yes. Name. What's the name? Yes. So I actually, after my grandmother, whose name was Barbara, I named uh my bike, all three of my bikes are uh pink, so I named it Barbie after after Barbara or Barbara, which is my grandmother.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:00

It just all goes back to how you started, all pink with the bike.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:02

Yeah, yeah. They're all they all have to be pink. Right now I'm looking for a new mountain bike, and my husband's so mad at me because he's like, we can't just buy it because it's pink. You gotta look at the components. I'm like, no, no, we don't. Has to match.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:15

Biggest lie this sport tells women. Ooh.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:26

That you can't like I not that the sport says this, but I feel like you can't go as fast as men men can go, or or what you know what I mean? Like comparing us to that, or or even comparing us to each other. Um I think I think comparison is the biggest thief of joy, and the only person that you should really compare yourself to is yourself. Like, did you try your best that day? Be proud and move on, you know. Um yeah, I I'm not I I haven't gone to Kona, but I have a really great time, so that's where I'm at. Excellent.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:02

Now, yeah, your athletes or your kids? Who's better in listening to you? That's a great question.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:14

Like students or my my my own children? Students. Oh, um, I oh, I think it depends on the day. It definitely depends on the day. Some days neither one. I I go from teaching to then cycling literally two weeks ago. I was like, there has to be a full moon because nobody's listening to me today.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:34

What was that's a draw? What would your pre-mom era think about you today?

SPEAKER_00 1:16:41

I think it would say, like, how did you not do this before kids? I don't know what you did with your time. What were you doing? Um, I am so much stronger, I am so much more energized, I'm so much more active than I was before kids. Like I was saying, when we lived in Manniank, I just look back, I'm like, we wasted so much time.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:02

So I know you you said it's hard for you to give one word, but give it a try. Oh, sorry. No, no, no, no. The next question. It's not it's not a next question. Okay. Nine races, one word that describes why you keep going.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:22

I don't mean brushing.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:25

Passion. Passion. I can say that for finish the sentence. I feel most like myself when with my kids and my family.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:40

Finish the sentence. I wish women knew that.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:46

Knew how strong they are and can be last question, and it doesn't have to be related to anything.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:55

What is the best advice you ever got?

SPEAKER_02 1:18:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:11

No, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:12

I I think I'm gonna stick go back to the the phrase I live by, that anything is possible, the Iron Man slogan. Truly. Like I live by that phrase. Yeah, I live by the phrase. I I'm reminded about daily. I mean nobody ever said that directly to me, but it's I actually, my my karate instructor, who unfortunately had passed away, he was like a second father to me. And this is not a one-word answer, I'm so sorry. But he would just drill into us, like you can do this, anything is possible, every single day. Um, so I think it all circles back to him, and I feel so connected when I'm doing these races to his spirit because he was the one like I saw myself touching my hair and fixing my hair. And if I did that during karate, he's like, I'm gonna get my sword. So I was like, even if I go like this on the bike, I'm like, oh um. So it just I think it's just like a full circle that ability to challenge yourself and just remember that you are what you make of the world, and you can you can do anything.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:19

Sarah, it has been such a pleasure getting to know you. I thought I knew a lot about you from watching you. Oh, I want to say this because it came up in my head during the interview, but I didn't want to interrupt. In my uh previous life, before I opened my own practice in uh uh leadership development, I was in human resources for many years in big companies. And I think I was good at that because all the women I recruit for the podcast are just phenomenal. And I thought to myself, here's another one, phenomenal. Like if I could create a company with all the iron moms I interviewed and we could interview, I I I don't know you. We never met actually, you know.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:00

No, but we need to we need to get a bike ride or something. We don't live far.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:05

But yeah, I I I want you to know that for someone from the outside, you are phenomenal, you're an inspiration. I enjoy watching you, and you're bringing joy to others with the authenticity and the energy uh that you're bringing uh uh in in the photos, and I could see that it's real, it's not like just showing everything that is perfect. So I thank you. That means so much to me. And that you said yes to to sit with me here.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:35

I feel privileged, yes. Thank you. Thank you for having me. I mean, just being able to talk through everything is is so incredible. It just jogs my memory a little bit. Um, but it's it's such an honor to be uh sitting with you here, and I hope that we get together soon.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:49

I would love to see you in person. If I was an agent, which I'm not, I would totally sign up for a book. You need to think about it as a one-day book.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:59

One more hat to add on.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:01

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:02

Author.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:02

Again, thank you so much. Have a good night. I know you're gonna have a short and you're gonna wake up the morning.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:07

Yes, I have to teach. I think you should come to my class. There you go.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:10

Well, I will. It's a little bit further. 5 30. Yeah, we'll we'll we'll extend uh text about that. So thank you again, and um we'll be in touch.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:20

Sounds great.