Throwback to Alysha Newman Pole Vault Olympic

This is episode 312, the empowered team Podcast. Welcome to the Empowered Team Podcast, where we unlock the secrets of self mastery for leaders who want to elevate their impact in both leadership and life. Your journey to being your best so you can give your best starts here and now, your host, executive coach and life strategist, Kari Schneider.

Have we got a treat for you today. Today we're doing a throwback to our second episode on the Empowered Team podcast with Newman.

Why?

Because she is now an Olympic bronze medalist. Not only a three time Olympian and a five time All American, but an Olympic bronze medalist from the Summer Olympics 2024. We figured you'd love to hear all about how she was developing herself into the current Olympic champion that she is. So listen in, you're going to hear all the good stuff. The work, the setbacks, the mindset, the focus, all of the things that are going to help you in whatever you are focusing on your big goal so that you can get the insights that'll help you get there.

Hey, everybody, and welcome to the Empowered Athlete Podcast. I'm Paul Durden, co hosting alongside my beautiful and brilliant wife, Kari Schneider, and with us today is Alicia Newman. Alicia, how are you doing and where are you?

I am doing great, guys. It's so nice to be on my very first podcast. I can't wait to get all the juicy questions in and out, so it's going to be so much fun.

Right on.

Looking forward to it.

Well, welcome, and we're so lucky to have you. And you know, we really think that you're the beautiful and brilliant one. So my gracious husband is looking for bonus points here.

I was gonna say, man, do you have a brother or something, Paul? Because I need to find somebody.

Right? No, he's not saying that behind the scenes, trust me.

Like, where did that come from? Well, you deserve it, Kari. For all the years I've known you, you deserve it.

Oh, thanks, babe.

That's awesome. So, just to give our listeners a little background about you, you're a pole vaulter and you are an incredible athlete. You've accomplished so much. And before I completely gush about you and what you've been able to do over the last few years, why don't you tell us a little bit? I mean, between Commonwealth Games, being a champion, between being an Olympian and a Canadian record holder, there's amazing things you've done. But that when people see something like that and they recognize these accomplishments, they don't often fully understand the road, the path, the long journey, or the Years that have been put in to get to all of these accomplishments. So can you back us way up? Tell us about where you started. Was it, I think, I mean, I know some of these answers, but for you, gymnastics, like, where did this all start?

Yeah, it pretty much started, I think my mom says, even in as graphic as it sounds in the delivery room, she says when I was out in the hospital, like my eyes were pried open. And the first thing the doctor said when I was born was, oh, this one's gonna be a tough one. This one's gonna be a fighter. And we were laughing because my mom says she loves all her kids very equally. But I am the hardest to handle. And I think a lot of times I realize now who I'm becoming and who I have become. I probably have that kind of toughness inside me and that's what makes me such a great athlete now, who I am. But it did start where I was. I never wanted to be at school. I always wanted to be working out and training and playing in the gymnastics gym. I remember my mom would have to come and find me. I play hide and go seek. She couldn't. I'd be the last person getting out of the gymnastics gym. And I just enjoyed it so much. Like, it was just so much fun. And I think over the years of, you know, my parents were so very, very, very supportive. And my mom did such a great job on putting us in everything from piano to tap to dance, to soccer, to hockey, to lacrosse, to everything you could possibly think a child could try. I'm pretty sure I tried almost every single sport. And I.

Did you, did you really dislike any one of those or were they all equal? Like, were you, did you quit some of them or were some of them just like, no, I want to keep doing this?

Well, I think. What were some of them? One of the things was, I think when I got there, like my mom, you know, usually you pay for like a four week session or even a March break or a spring break kind of class. And you could just tell as a parent, like, I would either come home and talk about it all day or I would wake up earlier than I'm supposed to my alarm and want to go. And so I think the one I just didn't really like was very, very obvious was hockey. But it wasn't. Not because I didn't like being out there. I actually really enjoyed it. But my mom said I hated the smell of the equipment. Understandable about the smell of the equipment. Oh, so do I.

It's Okay, I hate it.

So I started laughing. But then I remember like, you like little things come up in your head. And my brothers, after they would play, their gloves would smell so gross and they put it in my face and I think that's what turned me off.

Oh, my gosh. Yeah, you were traumatized. You're totally traumatized.

Who would have known? It maybe could have been a Team Canada hockey player. But hey, that's right.

We still, we still would have crossed. It's okay.

That's a good thing.

That's so funny. Oh, my gosh. So then did you. What were the kind of top ones that you stuck with? Because what's interesting about this and that you wouldn't have heard yet is just the theme that's been coming across with some of the different athletes we've interviewed is that they've had exposure to all these different sports and all they wanted to do was play.

Like they just couldn't get enough of that and couldn't get enough of almost all these different sports. So what kind of narrowed it down for you?

I think like, like you said, like, I think what was so great, all these athletes just love being active and love being outside or love doing physical things. I think it was more for me, it was. I was finally feeling rewarded after the day, if that makes sense. Where I felt like, you know, at first I was playing soccer and I was playing the piano and I get stickers or I get candy from my coach or my teacher. And that was exciting to me. But when I started gymnastics and the coach would come up to my mom, okay, now Alicia goes from six hours a week now she gets to move to the next level. She gets to be in the gym eight hours a week. And I just, that was my favorite part is that I kept. This sounds horrible, but I kept losing time at school and replacing it to the gym. So I was like, if I could get real good, then I maybe don't have to go to school ever again.

That was my plan.

Yeah, you did some of that too, right? And yet it's funny how you end up, you end up going to university in order to keep competing, right? Like, it's almost like it's double edged sword where, oh man, what got me out of school and now I have to stay in school to keep doing.

What I want to do.

And that's where, I think that's where my mom finally like saw in me, where, okay, we're going to like just let everything else go and we're going to have her focus on Gymnastics. And that was probably the age of six or seven, which is still. Still pretty young. But she knew too, because I got bullied really, really bad. Well, I switched three schools in London and I think a combination of me loving it and adding those hours and a combination of me being bullied, not wanting to be at school, like, made me into this so strong and I feel so confident and I'm happy on who I've become because of everything I've gone through. And I think that's been.

You must have. You must have. This must have been horrible for you to have to switch schools like, and at such a young age. How old were you when you had to. When you were going through that grade?

Probably grade six. So how old are you at grade six? I don't even know.

About 12.

And then. Yeah, and then I switched again. Going into high school. I didn't go to the high school my siblings went to, so I was like the only one that didn't go to a full French school. I went to MTS instead of Monsey Ablia. So, no.

Why were you being. What was the. Was it your size? Was it an attitude? Do you know what it was? Or was it.

Well, I had, I had glasses, I had braces. You know, that the typical, you know, what do they call you? Four eyes and train track face or train track teeth? I don't know. They said some mean things. But I also. And I do not ever regret this, but I went to a full French school at first et ca's. And I learned French almost before I ever learned English. So my reading skills and writing skills were not as great in English as they were in French. I was actually better and getting better grades in French than I was in English. And I think a lot of like, you know how you do, like chapter readings in the classroom where I would always pass because I was just so. I was just not confident to read in English.

Read English.

And my mom was just like, but this is like your first language. Like we read to you growing up. Like, we were so involved in it. I just, for some reason I grasped. I grasped on to French, the French language, way better than the English language. And I think a lot of students started realizing as the years gone by that, you know, I was having a lot of trouble, you know, a little bit of tutoring and extra stuff for to learn English and to get up to where everyone else was that just people started noticing. And I think it hurt me a lot because didn't make sense to me that English is supposed to be My first language. But how am I speaking and doing better in French classes than I am in English classes?

Yeah.

And that's both my daughters. So the boys are first language French and the girls aren't first language French, but they've been put in full French schools and it's the same kind of thing. And Rayna's in university for the first year this year. But I see her spelling in English versus versus French. But at the same time, she's come a long way with it. I think that overcoming it. But as a kid that age, you.

Just feel like you're doing everything wrong and you just don't understand it. And people are reassuring you that you're. You're not the best or you're not doing the right things. And it, but at the, you know.

At the core of it. Yeah, like. And at the core of it, like, because I know your mom and how supportive she is. But then at the same time it doesn't, it almost doesn't matter because you, what you're feeling at the time as a, as a 12 year old or a 10 year old or a 13 year old, what you're feeling like is that, oh, I'm stupid or oh my gosh, everybody thinks I'm ugly or don't fit in. Yeah. And you need to primally feel like you are accepted by your peers in order to feel, to feel like you're surviving.

Exactly. And then exactly that. Like you, you. And that's where I found my. I guess you could say that light and that passion that I was getting, you know, moved up those hours in gymnastics. And that's why I devoted my whole heart and my passion towards gymnastics was because that was my relief at the end of the day. Like I knew that my dad was picking me up around like, I think it was like 132 and I would go to the gymnastics gym and starting at 2:30, I knew I was one of the best, if that makes sense. Where I would go to school every morning knowing I wasn't. And so it's. But you were forced to go there. So it's a different. Because you know, they say like you have to go to school, get your grad or your degree. You know, everyone needs it. Well, now with, I mean, the world we live in now, there's so many people that aren't going to school, you know, because they just.

Yeah.

And it's not that I don't believe in school. I think school's great. I think it teaches you how to be responsible and it, it Brings a lot of friends, and it brings a lot of, you know, social, I guess, aspects to your life. But at the end of the day, it's not for everybody. And that's where that line comes in. Right?

And at the same time, it's where you didn't feel you belonged. You felt like the people who got you, they really got you were at the. At gymnastics, your coaches or your peers, like, that's where you were shining. And at school, it's like nobody understood you. They didn't know who you really were. They were judging you by other things. And, you know, it's just. It's so.

It's.

It's. At that age, it's almost soul crushing, because if you didn't have gymnastics, if your mom wasn't savvy enough to kind of follow what was lighting you up, then who knows? You know what I mean?

And that's.

And that's the kind of thing that hopefully kids don't go through as much anymore. But, you know, I still see it like I'm. I'm monitoring my child today about some things that are going on, on the bus.

Right.

You know, with some older kids, what do you. What do you do? You just try and figure it out. How bad is it? Yeah. So what. What happened? How did you really kind of grow in gymnastics? What ages were you achieving? Certain things that really kind of kept you progressing?

Yeah, I think the one time was when I was with all the big girls. So there's girls about two years, three years older than me, and I made it to level eight. I know the levels have changed now drastically, but at my time, I was in level eight, and then there was level nine, and then there's national level. So I knew I was almost there. But when I knew I got to that Level seven and Level eight, you know, you were going to meets almost every weekend. You were. You were getting up early, you're getting your hair done by your mom or your coaches, you know, you're getting makeup done. And at that point, that's where I became almost an actress, if that makes sense. I became a performer. I became the person. Somebody else. But deep down, it was me. But it was me becoming the person I envisioned myself being. And that's where I truly fell in love with myself and fell in love with athletics or just like any sport in general, it brought a different side of me that every day didn't, you know, like people like kids get excited about ice cream and kids get excited about candy or, you know, other things. I got excited to show my routine off or go on the ballot theme or, you know, be at practice with the girls and getting yelled at. Like, I enjoyed someone telling me, you're not yet there. You have still this much more to go. And that's. That's where we still, to this day, don't know where that came from, if that makes sense.

Well, I was just gonna say. I was just gonna say, so your fire was lit.

But I know for Paul, and I know for some other athletes that part of their fire was lit by this. This almost retaliatory revenge of going. I'll show you, right, this. This part inside of them that for all those people who laughed or all those people who teased or all those people who hurt me.

Right.

Like, I'll show you.

Yeah. I think at my age, though, I didn't really. It hurt me and it bothered me, but I kind of almost felt like it was. It was normal. Like, you know, I'm gonna be bullied for the rest of my life, and I'm just gonna let that happen. I think now I realize, man, all the things that is happening, that's not normal. That is not normal. What I went through.

And not good. Yeah.

Good at all. But that fire in me must have just been lit subconsciously, because when I was out there on the dance, maybe it was more the fact that when I was out there performing, like, everyone was watching me, but no one was judging me, if that makes sense.

Like, I was out there to perform.

And I was the only one out there, and no one could tell me anything to do. At that point, everything else around me left. Like, I had no idea what else other people were doing. It was me, Alicia. In my zone, the music starts ongoing, you know, And I think it's like, you.

You finally have your own control, too.

Yeah, it's like a sense of relief. And I had my space and I had. What do you say, like, an exit wound of nothing could hurt me. It's like, you know. Yeah.

It's almost cathartic. It's like a release for you. It's amazing.

Wow.

That's incredible. That's incredible.

And it ended up going all the way till I was about 14 years old. So I had a good. About eight years of gymnastics that kind of unrolled in my life, which I'm so grateful for, honestly.

And so what happened at 18?

Oh, sorry, Paul.

I was going to ask the same question. And how. From the gymnastic world, what was your first look at track and field in that realm?

Yeah, I think it's when did the switch occur? I. I was getting a lot of pain, and it was a lot of aching pain where I was laying in bed at night and I was sore, and we knew we had to go get it checked out. And it wasn't anything major. I didn't, like, fall, and I ended up fracturing mile five. It was so much training, but I had grew from 55 to 58 within, I think, like six to eight months. And so my body just wasn't prepared to, I think, take the load of training. And that's where I ended up fracturing my L5 vertebrae. And that's where the coaches came, saw how tall I was, and saw me. To continue, you need to take care of your body. You're young, you're 14 years old. You have your whole life ahead of you. We cannot risk anything. So I think a decision between my family, my coaches, we decided to go into retirement and let it heal fully. So I had to take a full year off of all athletic to be fully healed.

And that was that devastating for you when, you know, athletics is your stage, it was your space to shine, and that's gone for a year.

Yeah, it was. Let's just say my mom and my parents had to really look after me after hours. And, you know, I couldn't fall asleep for some nights, and I was really sick, and I just didn't really feel. I felt like someone ripped my soul away from me. And I didn't understand that because I was so young and I didn't understand. I never had a heartbreak in my entire life. And that was my very first heartbreak, was being told that I wasn't. My body wasn't capable. Mentally, I was there, but physically, my body was incapable of finishing what I wanted to accomplish, which was become an Olympic gymnast. And that where my mom, you know, did really well. She told me to do after school programs. I did go to more tutoring, and I really did start focusing on school a little bit. And then I graduated elementary school and I went to high school, and it kind of all turned around for me where my English teacher. You know, elementary school, there's always the one meet a year that we have. Track and field.

Yeah, yeah.

Or what's it called?

The TV Raw.

Is a TV raw?

No, High school tv.

I don't know.

It's like the elementary school, smaller version of that. Yeah, yeah, they have the one. You know, we go to TD Waterhouse, and like everyone. There's like 10 people in each lane, and we were running.

We've taken all the kids there.

Exactly. And I just like bolted it down the hundred meter. And my English teacher, because I had taken a lot of time with him, spending time with him after schools for him to help my English. I actually still remember his name, Mr. Walsh. He was so good with me. I was like, he was the, he was like a second dad to me. And he called my mom right as I was finishing the race, saying, you need to put her in track and field. And that's where it kind of lit. It became, okay, well, let's let this heal. It's been about, been about probably six to eight months at this time. So we need to let this heal, finish heal. Let's go see the doctor and see if she can do another sport. And that's where I found my passion for track.

Oh, I know now how did you.

Like, did you get, did you decide you were going to do the meets or did someone else kind of put you into it or.

I think it was, I was forced, like I was forced by people around me. I don't think it was something like, oh, like, yeah, I'm going to go sign up for this. It was like, I think if you're part of the phys ed program, you could sign up. And then I just signed up. And then they were like, okay, you have a, you can do a meet at the end of this, this year, at the end of every school year and you can do as many events as you want. So I think I did the hundred. I did shop good. I did a high jump. I did like little, little the little events.

Do you think that before that track meet, do you think that looking back on it, do you think you were depressed?

Oh, 100%. Like 100%. I was going through something that my mom had very good control over. She, she was just so aware of. And I don't know how she did it. I still don't know how she did it. I just felt like I was like a walking zombie, if that makes sense. I just went through every day with no purpose and I had no idea how to handle that. And like I said, I started like when I was up to 24 hours a week in gymnastics, you know, I started not having friends at school because, you know, they would go play after school at one of the houses where I would be at the gymnastics gym till 9 o' clock at night, you know. So then I started have to make friends, but there was already cliques and.

Then you have to break those clicks.

And you had to like do bad things to like get in those cliques. And so it was just. It was a very big social adjustment for me. And I just. I think I just rolled with it. And my mom kept me so busy at home with tutors with, you know, keeping me up, watching movies and, you know, taking us out for ice cream and, you know, every Friday night we did pizza night. And, you know, just. She was very, very. She kind of devoted all her life to her children. And that's one thing my mom is so great at.

And she knew you so well.

She knew that you needed distraction in order to stay busy, in order to just have a chance.

Exactly.

So when you bolted down the track.

What went from there?

What happened after that?

So that's where my English teacher called. And then my mom was like, hey, we're gonna. We googled the track and field clubs and two came up. London Western and London Legion. And my mom emailed both of them. And London Legion was the very first people to email my mom back. They were like, okay, we're gonna go with London Legion. And I started with Sandy and Joe Ryder. And I was doing hurdles and just running, like, getting in shape. And it was funny because I still remember to this day. SANDY laughs. Because I would always ask for extra work because track only lasts probably an hour and a half to two hours. Right. You don't. You're not there for very long. Yeah.

And your training age was such that, like, unlike the other athletes, you endured so much.

You mean we're done?

Yeah, that's what I would say. I'm like, we're all done now. Like, I have to go home. It's only. Only 5:30. Like, I have the rest of the night. What am I supposed to do? And I would be freaking out as like a 14 year old not knowing what to do. And it's so crazy to like, think back about that. But I really had to train my brain to say that I didn't need to be training eight hours a day. Like a good two hours of putting in work. It took me like probably four years, I'm not lying, four years to train my brain for that. Because I think even with you, Kari, I ended up getting. Not like with you, because of you, but I think I got stress factors.

We had to pull you. We had to pull you back.

Yeah.

Because there was always. You wouldn't want to listen to your body for those little things that would give you warnings where it's like, okay, we have to back off here. And you'd either want to hide that or ignore that because you wanted so badly to keep going. And part of it, I would imagine, would be from the pain of not.

Wanting to go back to where you were.

Exactly.

You know what I mean? Just that fear of why I just want to keep doing this. I want to keep doing this. I don't want to be able to, or I don't want to be stuck with doing nothing.

And I think too, with the whole body changing, because, you know, you're putting in those, those hours in gymnastics, you're not gaining any weight in gymnastics. You're working out those whole five hours where after that I only was, you know, I felt like my body developed. I became more of a woman, you know? You know, I wasn't. Didn't understand what boobs were like. I didn't understand that I had to, I had to train my mind that it's okay to look like that, to look a little more curvy and to deal with my body changing was very, very high. I remember the first thing I said when I retired gymnastics and I told my gymnastics coach, Jen Kramer, I said, I don't want to get fat. And that was the first thing I said was I was worried about when I was leaving gymnastics. And she said, she says, if you do take a song for every day and do abs for that whole song, you won't get fat. And I remember her just like easing my mind. And I did it for like four years straight. I did.

Oh, my God.

Whether it's a four minute song, just straight for the four minutes. And it was now, Kari, Kari, are you cringing?

Because it's one of the, one of the greatest myths in all training is spot reduction of fat does not exist. So I know the idea that.

But she know, she knows that.

Oh, I know, I know. But I mean, just you hearing that, it's gotta make it.

Oh, no kidding. But it's, it's that kind of thing.

That as a young kid, like I remember in working with you, you were so hungry to like, eat up anything you could on training. Like, you were so hungry for all of that. But at the same time, it's. But at the same time, you're also curious about what to eat, what not to eat. And I think your mom was also really, really supportive that way because she was helping to support you with healthy things. But it's amazing because I see this so often where somebody's got so much activity. So I see this in older athletes too, when they're retiring from their sports. Except for Paul. He's one of the most disciplined people athletes on the planet.

Show me those tips, Paul.

Yeah, just say no.

Honestly, I just have the ability to say no to things that others don't.

He does. Like, he's seriously, he's very disciplined when it comes to food. But, but, but really. But so many athletes, they retire and.

Then they still eat the same as they did when they were playing. And the difference with Paul is that he, like, he listens to how he feels, how his body, like, he's not. He could never feel over full on a day that he's got practice or playing. You know what it's like in gymnastics. You feel over full when you had practice or competition or anything like that. Otherwise you. You can't perform properly. So you'd only eat small amounts in order to. Or if you're eating a larger amount, it'd be after training and later in the day or after. You know what I mean? But then that person who is retired or they have an injury or they're not doing anything, the body is sending hunger signals when you're not actually needing that food. The more you sit around, the hungrier.

You get, which people don't realize that.

Training ends up being. It thwarts your hunger.

It's not.

You might get more hungry later and boost your metabolism later, but during the day, if you're active all day, it thwarts the hunger signals that you would get otherwise. But no, I don't, like, I don't envy any kid that has so much energy like you did. I mean, we have kids like that in our household, and then all of a sudden everything stops. You know, what do you. What are you going to do? And you're at that time where you're going through puberty, so you're going to be growing still and you're going to be gaining some fat in the right places because you're female, which is a good thing and a healthy thing. But then at the same time, the confusion of, well, this isn't my image of what a gymnast is, because my image in my head is different than what's happening to me.

Exactly. And that was what took me. Like I said, before I had even come to empowerment, I was with a strength coach that did only depend on body image. And I think that's where it kind of affected my mental state on food, because I remember being on a diet that he had provided, and it just was not. It was not for athlete that worked out as much as I did and was doing stuff, you know, where we regret doing that. But honestly, at this point, because of that I have learned so much about nutrition and my passing. I went to school and I did part nutrition in my, in my degree. So it's like everything does happen for a reason and I don't change it. But at the end of the day, it's crazy how one person with just a little bit wrong info can really affect your whole life. And that's where we go into talking about, you know, trusting people and your team around you. It's, it's very hard because it takes a while.

Yeah.

And at the same time, you were young enough and had gone through enough that it was, it was easy to start to be afraid of food and have a relationship with food that wasn't necessarily healthy. And that's, that's a tough thing. And you know, we, we recently interviewed someone who is in a sport that is, you know, there's, they're in a bathing suit all the time and then the body image and some of the.

Things that the coaches might say, you.

Know, you're just like, that's got nothing to do with their coaching or their.

Performance or those other things.

So have you had any of those experiences on the track or on where you were self conscious with your body image?

Yeah, I think my first year university really kind of hit me hard. I think I did kind of gain that freshman 15. I think it was more like a freshman 10. But my body totally changed. And it could have been not really from the food, but more so just the different atmosphere away from home. You're living in dorms with other people, your training schedule, your weightlifting has gone up double and your training practices and stress level has gone up so high. There's so many factors that you really can't really pin down or pinpoint one thing that changed me, but yeah, and.

It'S likely the combination of all of it.

Yeah, that's a tough scenario. Just being an athlete, you have your routines and things that you fall into and then, you know, you make a little change and see what effect it has. But you're describing just, you know, complete, massive change.

Right.

How can you pinpoint anything and not have gain weight or lose weight or, you know, something else entirely happen?

And I think that's where at first, and it bothered me right at the beginning because, you know, you would, I mean, it's, it's simple. Like people know when they gain weight, you know, your jeans fit a little tighter or your shirt or sports bras, you know, fit a little snugger. But it wasn't like I accepted it once I started jumping High. Like, I. After, like, I think my indoor season, it wasn't until my very last meet, it was Mac championship, and I ended up qualifying for indoor nationals. And they only take top 16 in the country to indoor nationals. And I was 16. And my coach at the beginning was like, okay, let's just like, let's have that goal in the back of our mind, but, like, let's not that be your number one goal. But you know me, Kari.

I was like, that's right.

Yeah, I know what I'm going for.

I think, like, and that's where it comes into proving people wrong. Like how Paul said, like, he felt like he had to do. That's at that point where I started wanting to prove people wrong was that one coach in my life was scared to dream really big. And I don't regret him doing that to me. I think it's done me a lot of good. But I think now that he sees what I'm doing now he realizes where that drive and that passion came for. Because I'm okay to shoot for as high as I can. And if I just, you know, fall a little short, it's still gonna be high enough to be, you know, world class or in the top in the nation, you know. So at the end of the day, I always try to shoot as big as I can.

And for that coach, you probably taught him to dream bigger.

Exactly. I think it was a little bit for sure.

Yeah.

But. And that's where my very last meet, and it just wasn't going like the whole indoor season, my freshman year, was not going well. I just couldn't figure it out. And I was self conscious. I didn't even want to wear, you know, pole vaulters wear the bum huggers and the little singlet. So I just was not comfortable from going from gymnastics scene, an eight pack to maybe seeing a one, maybe even just two packs. That's okay, you know, and it was very uncomfortable for me at that point because I had no. I didn't think I could be great looking that way. And then I jumped high at last meet and I qualified for indoor nationals. And it was like, okay, I can relax now. I jumped high looking this way. That means if, even if I lose a little way, maybe I'll jump a little higher. And I still went at it as the wrong way. I shouldn't have thought, okay, I can lose weight and I'll jump higher. It was, no, I'm getting better, and you just need to ride this wave.

Well, it's like a light bulb going off. Because at that moment, you realize that your weight doesn't correlate directly to your performance. That how you look has no. It has some bearing, but not total bearing on how you perform. And so you have this amazing performance, not feeling perfectly physically, and away you go. And that was in Michigan.

That was at Eastern Michigan.

Eastern Michigan.

Sorry. Yeah. Yeah.

So what prompted the move to Miami in the Hurricanes.

Yeah. So he ended up getting offered a job down in Miami. And at first, the head coach at Eastern Michigan would not give me a release. And for people that don't really understand, transferring is. You have to be released by your head coach to go to another school. You can't just, like, be like, okay, I'm leaving, like, if you sign in the contract. And I was on full ride scholarship down there, so they pretty much own my life as it is. Mm.

Yeah.

And then it was funny because I was like, well, I need to talk to him. Because I wasn't even allowed to talk to him. Like, I wasn't even allowed to communicate because she never knows if he's trying to, like, recruit me there or try to find a way out.

And there's so many NCAA rules that way.

But she gave me. It's called release to speak. So I was only allowed to speak to other coaches at other schools, but I wasn't allowed to go there. I wasn't allowed to accept other workouts. But what we saw, what we found a loophole behind. And he did so, like, he saved my life. I loved Eastern Michigan. It was a great school, but it just wasn't for me. It wasn't. There wasn't enough energy for me. I needed more city life and I needed more.

You know, Carol Giggles has that.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. I needed excitement. And like, I always dreamed about going to school in Florida or somewhere warm because I want. It's track and field. I want to be outdoors all year. Right? Yeah. So we found a loophole. Long story short was by him giving us a release to speak, I can go on a visit to Miami. And that's where I went. And I. That summer, actually, I ended up winning Pan Am Juniors, breaking the Pan Am record, and jumping 440, which had won indoor nationals the year before. So Miami head coach was like, yes, her name's Amy Dean. And she was like, yes, we need her here. And so we ended up convincing Sue Parks we had a. We did pretty much. We appealed each time. She said no. And finally I had to do some bad things to. To get the release. Not, like, illegal things, but I Would show up to practice and be like, why am I here? I would swear at the coach I was forcing my way out of that school, and I cannot tell you.

That's just normal for you, isn't it? I'm just kidding. I'm totally kidding.

Depends on what day, Paul. Depends on what day.

Did you ever swear at Kari in the gym?

Oh, probably, but, like, no, maybe not. I had too much sweet.

She swore. Just swore. But she didn't swear at me in your general direction?

Yeah.

Yeah, I might have. We had to go aside for a talk or two here and there, just to kind of go, okay, where are we at? What are we gonna get done here?

Definitely gave you bad attitude, Kari. For sure. For sure.

There are some rough days. There are some rough days. So there's a lot of good days.

That is very true. So, yeah, pretty much. I. And then the coach went up to the head coach and was like, listen, she is toxic to the team. She cannot be here. You have to let her go. She doesn't like it here. And with me doing it for two weeks straight, they. They gave up. And they were like, okay, you're gone. We give you your release. But it wouldn't have happened if I didn't force it. But for some reason, you know, when you have a dream or you have something, it's like, you're not going to let anybody mess up your goals in life, and you're not going to let anybody, you know, second guess. Like, I knew I needed to be down there just because I mentally was going to be happier there. I had the coach that I wanted to go. When I went on recruiting visits to. I went to. I went to Michigan and I went to a bunch of them, and I bonded so well with Coach Langley. He was at Eastern at that time, and I knew I needed to do my four years with him just because I felt so comfortable with him. And so I pretty much said, whatever it takes for me to get there, I'm gonna do. And it took.

I wonder.

I wonder why they even allowed the visit.

You know what I mean? Like, the speaking.

Because that's what gave you just the.

Crack in the door open enough to.

Like, okay, I'm getting through this. I'm going.

And I think it, you know, I think made Amy Deem feel better. She was head coach at Miami because she met me and she was able to really see what type of person I am. And she was like, dang, this girl is very passionate what she does. And it doesn't just show on. Last summer she jumped high, but she loves track and field and this is what she wants to do. And so she stuck out her neck for me and so did Coach Langley and then, you know, Coach Parks, that was the head coach at Eastern. She ended up saying, you know what? You're better off to leave. And we ended on good terms, but it was more just civil because I didn't like how she was forcing a child to be in a place that they don't want to be. I know it's a business and I know I was on full ride scholarship and I know I had want to get them a lot of points when I was down there, but you don't want, you don't want to like make a person force them to be somewhere. And that's where I don't want to state on that stuff. Like if there's an athlete that doesn't want to be there, you got to let them go because.

But it's, it's a big money situation.

Right?

Like they're, they're. Athletes are part of the commodity of the schools and you know, so that's, that's what they're signing and. Yeah, well, what. So you finished your degree in Florida?

Yeah, I did kinesiology and sports med down there.

Nice.

Yeah, it was good. If I were to go back though, I would have done interior decorating.

Well, that was something that was on my mind. So because you're now you have more of a social media presence, you're really emphasizing your style, your look, you're standing out in a way that you can tell that you're really settling into your own. Is that, and I was going to say earlier, you know that point where you realize that you could perform and your body, even though your body wasn't exactly the way you wanted it to look, it almost that what came to mind for me is that that might have been when you started to fall in love with your body again and that now you see it as the whole you instead of, you know, oh, I like you body if you're doing what I want you to do and I don't like you if you're not looking the way I want you to. But now when you fall back in love with your body, then you nurture it and you treat it a different way and it's all of you instead of you against your body. You know what I mean?

And like you said, mental is so connected to physical. And I think it wasn't. To be honest though, it was 2016, the year of my first Olympics. I Said, you know what? I'm vowing, I'm making vows to myself that this year I'm not making, I'm not making adjustments on my nutrition or the way I look. I'm going into this year gonna look the way I do. Qualifying for the Olympics, the way I look. And that, like, automatically changed, like, everything.

I just started jumping that mental shift, that paradigm shift. And I love what you just said. I pick up on these things all the time. I love what you just said. It's that presupposition. It's that 2016, my first Olympics.

I hear you.

Atta girl. I hear you.

You know, I want to do five Olympics. I'll be around for a while.

That's fantastic.

And that's where I really, if you wanted to ask about that breaking point in my athletics, it was that year because there's so much emotions leading up to that year. You know, I became like a fifth time All American and I graduated that year. And then four weeks later, I qualified for my first Olympic Games. And it almost was like, man, I accomplished the past 12 years through gymnastics and then now through university and through elementary and everything, everything I went through was so worth it. Like, I cannot believe when they named my name to that Olympic team, the amount of relief I felt just, I did it and it worked. And at some points, like you said, you both probably feel in your day in, day out, you go through so many things that you think, this is the end of me, and then you get through it. And it was like, wow, I'm that much better because of it. And my breakthrough year was definitely 2016, for confidence wise, for sure.

And, and what did that feel like, making it like having your dream come true, going to the Olympics, feeling that come to fruition. What was that like for you?

It was like, it was like, you know, like a dark tunnel you've been like walking through for decades, and then all of a sudden you see like a little glimpse of light and it, your hope just like changed from, you know, I, like, at one point, I remember before I even qualified for the Olympics, I was like, wow, after this year, I guess I'm going to have to go into the working world. And it wasn't because I didn't want to. I wanted to work and make money, but I wanted to make money and be a professional, doing the thing I love. And that was pole vaulting. And that glimpse of opening my life to, oh, I'm on a world stage now. I'm with the best women in the world. I'm Competing for my country, it was a whole different level of, like, it's hard. It's such a. It's like a. You're floating in the clouds that's falling, but it's never hitting the ground. It lets you down so gently, and you just want to keep doing it. You just want to. It's like. It's like a sense of adrenaline and a sense of your purpose and your crazy goals came true. And it's like you're surprising yourself. You surprise yourself on I Did It. And it's such a hard feeling to describe. I don't know, Paul, how do you describe that feeling? I feel like, you know, but I don't. Like, it's so hard.

I think it's really hard to describe because it's an evolution in your mind as an athlete of simply being focused on the next step. So for you, you're in the ncaa is. You're focused on winning nationals and that. And then, you know, your mind, you know, Olympics is there, but being representing Canada and all those things that you just talked about that take you to almost that euphoric level.

Right.

But until you do it and feel it.

Yeah.

You don't know what you're missing. So it's kind of like finding a new drug. It's a new high above what you're used to. And, you know, that stage that, you know, it's kind of been the theme through your. Your story on the talk here today of just, you know, wanting to be on that gymnastics stage, in the spotlight. Well, there is no bigger spotlight than the Olympics. So you're thrust onto this massive stage which just feels completely different. And, I mean, I can't relate to that personally. But, yeah, just having gone through, you know, World Championships and World Cups and European Cups and things like that, it touches on it, but it's. Yeah, getting to that next level that you don't even really know is there until you're in it. And then it's. It's an amazing fuel. I found that.

Yeah.

Once you have it, you don't want to let it go. You want to stay at that level and do anything you can to stay there and just to stay there.

Yeah.

Ride that train.

Yeah, no, exactly. And that's like. That's the feeling, you know, you put in. You're putting in all this work day, in and out, not knowing if it's even going to benefit you, and you're just. You're hoping that everything comes together that one day, and when it does, it's just. It's mind blowing that every little factor that could have gone wrong didn't. And I think that's more how it. How I felt that, you know, it came together.

Even the little things, the unpredictables came together.

Yes, exactly.

So where. So you've. You've. Are you injured right now? Where's.

Yeah, so I'm injured right now. So I've. Since 2016, I've made a world team. I became a Nike athlete. I'm professional now. I'm living in Toronto full time. And my coaches are here. Doug Wood and Zednik. They. Doug Wood was in the 92 Olympics for men's pole vault. And so his coach, Zed Nick, lives here, but he's from Czech Republic, and they work together at a construction company and they come and see me every day after work. So I have a really nice setup here. We have the Olympic hub here at York University, where Athletics Canada built us our own weight room. And we have an indoor track and two outdoor tracks here. So I'm in a really good environment. But this past year, I. Well, I've been dealing with jumper's knee. It's not nothing surprising to any jumper. Right?

Never heard of it.

Oh, my gosh, his knees, man.

Sorry. Go on. I just had to say that.

No, serious. And I had dealt with it from 2017 to now, and we were monitoring so well. We did such a great job. We got through World Champs with it, we got through Commonwealth Games, and we were monitoring it. And then I thought I was for sure going to get through it until about August this year, but May I took off and it just tore my patella tendon. So I ended up saying, you know, well, if any year could have happened, I already had brought home the Commonwealth gold. We did what we needed to do. That was our number one goal this year. So I was like, you know what? This is the time my body's really telling me, you know, I gave you a year and a half, Alicia. You need to fix this. Like, you need to get this done. So we got me in right away. I'm seeing a doctor, Dr. Miniacci. He worked with the calves, but now he also works at the Cleveland Clinic. And we have a Cleveland Clinic in Toronto and in Cleveland, and I think they have one in Fort Lauderdale, too. So we did four rounds of shots. We did two PRPs and two stem cells. Nice. And I was mind blown on even the first prp, on how much better I felt because they said, excuse my.

Ignorance, and for the listeners, but the PRP is centrifuge. Your blood plasma.

Yeah.

Yes, Plasma.

Yeah, yeah. And then the stem cell is. It's a mix. So they still take your blood and then they use it. There's like four different ways you can get stem cell. Like, I think there's like, bone, fat one or the one I got was embryonic fluid, and then I think there's one more, but I forget. But, yeah, I got the. A newborn embryonic fluid, and it. We did two of them and.

And it didn't have to be your own stem cells.

No, no. You just took them out. Yeah. You just make. They take it as if a normal prp. They take the blood out, they mix it, take the good stuff and then mix it again and they inject it. And it was. Took like 15 minutes to put in. It hurt really bad. Yeah. I cannot believe the way I'm feeling. I told them I wanted them to inject it in the other one because the other one feels. Feels good.

Yeah.

The bad one feels better than the good one. So I was like, can you do both? And he's like, no.

Oh, what?

What? I know, because there's no point. There's nothing wrong with my other one. I was just. It feels so much better. And I'm just. Now I'm. I've been off since May, so that's when it happened. So I'm. I've had the pleasure of really doing things that I love off the track and that. Where I've gotten really excited about just because I really want to. I want to be more than just known as an Olympic athlete. I think I've always have other interests, and I've been very interested in fashion and, like I said, interior decorating and just things that bring joy to my life other than just track. And so I've switched my mind, and I can kind of feel like it's running out now. But I'll be starting October 15th again, get back into season. But it's quite incredible if you can keep yourself busy, how you can train your mind to let it say that it's going to be okay, that you're going to be fine.

It's really great to hear you say that, Alicia. Just coming personally, just telling you as a friend that to hear you say that is fantastic, to hear that you have those other really positive interests and directions with your life, because for myself, I didn't have any of that. I was Paul Durden, the volleyball player, 24 7. And when it ended, I was lost.

Yeah, it's hard.

I was lost. No clue what I wanted to do. Nothing at all. Even remote me lit me up. Except my loving wife Kari. I mean, nobody, I mean, honestly, you know, your family. But beyond that, I mean personally, directionless, rudderless. And so I think it's huge that you have that because it's a cruel game athletics in any sport that it can end in an instant and no one believes it can happen to them. But I was not prepared for it and it's great. That's probably a blessing that you had this time early in your career to just be able to have those other things, get them going and then now that you're physically ready, getting back into competing again, which is obviously your first love.

Well, it was funny too because like I said, like, like what you said, like to have a hobby. I didn't really have that before this year. And then as like track became my everything because I used to have school like until 2016, so I was busy all day where then I became pro my first year. I was excited because I was in a different country every week and you know, I was flying everywhere. I was exhausted, I was sleeping. And then now year two came around and I almost felt like I was like, oh my God, I'm wasting my life away because track's going well, I don't have to do anything else. What else can I be good at? Like, let me do something else. And I almost fell out of love with track this past year. A lot of people don't know leading up to the Commonwealth, I didn't take off the ground for almost three months. I would not jump. I didn't want to be there. I hated it. And I think this happened to me because. Because it was. Somebody was sending me signs on saying, like, don't let this trick you. You are obsessed with track and field. Because I've never not thought about track and field from the day I've gotten hurt. I cannot wait till I get back. I'm more motivated than I have any year I've ever been. I'm like, there's a sense of adrenaline that I didn't get to use up this year that is going to go towards in that bank into next year. And it's so funny how things like that happen because like I said, I walked out in Commonwealth. Both you asked my coach, we had no idea what was going to happen. He says, all your number one goal. I know you've had a rough year. I need you to just go out and have fun. And it was incredible. On how the pressure of the competition wasn't usually I can't sleep the night before. But I had known I had been vaulting horribly, that I was like, I'm nothing to lose. Nothing to lose. And I went out there and I had the of my life. And I was I. Right there, I re. Fell in love. If you can't fall, if you can unfall and refall in love. I did that with pole vaulting. And then all of a sudden, I was ready to kill the season, and I got hurt, like, right after. So I'm, like, still on that high. I finished on a high that I cannot get that feeling out from, and I need that feeling back. So I think after this injury start in October, I'm just, like, ready for, like, 2019 to start.

So.

That's fantastic.

That's fantastic.

And it's the kind of thing that, you know, something you love, love, love.

So much, but if you let it.

Run you down, if it's too much.

Eventually, you know, it's finding. Okay, what's the magic recipe? What's that magic amount?

That.

And that's.

That.

That's part of experience.

Right? Right. Excuse me. Yeah. I think it took me a while to find hobbies, but I enjoy dressing up. And I think that's something I've always loved doing is like being a double, living a double lifestyle, but in the positive way on, like, I can be, you know, tough and rough and dirty on the track and sweaty and that, where then I can, you know, look beautiful and strong and confident and powerful in an outfit. And I think I love that. Double life is so good for me, and I enjoy it.

Well, you look fantastic. Your Instagram posts, but the personality and the style comes through. Being a trendsetter, that's a fun thing. It's a really neat thing, and it's inspiring to other people too.

Right? Which is so fun. Is there.

Is there anything that you're afraid of right now? Is there a fear there for you?

I think I have. Like, subconsciously I've thought about this, that I just. I feel like because I've taken so much time off that I might not be at the best this coming up year, but I'm trying to ignore it, if that makes sense. I'm trying to take it day by day. Going in, I'm nervous that my knee is going to hurt again. I know that I'm going in full force on it as if nothing happened. But I think our minds mentally make a note that we had been recovering this knee. So I know I'm going to be a little weaker on that leg. I know I'M going to have to do a little bit more extra work to bring that strength back up, and then I'm just gonna have to get confident again. Pole vaulting, because, I mean, it's. Pole vaulting is an event that you just. You have to want to do it. You have to be there mentally and physically, otherwise, I mean, bad things could happen.

Yeah, it's so unique that way that a lot of sports, you know, there's been games where I'm playing a weaker opponent and I can coast a bit. You can't coast in a pole vault. There's nowhere to hide. It's commit.

Yeah, it's so true. And I think that's. That's what's been so great about vault, too. You have to show up, you have to be ready to perform. And I think that's what, that's what scares me because I feel nobody's. Nobody's telling me that, like, they want to see where I am, but I just feel like, energy of, you know, other. Other women that I've vaulted on the circuit with or, you know, coaches and other people that talk so highly of my technique. Like, is Alicia going to be able to come back from this? Because they haven't seen me since May and they won't see me until January. So that's a good, what, nine months? And a part of me feels like I won't be able to live up to their standards on getting back. But I'm trying to ignore it, I guess every day I'm trying to not think about it, and I'm trying to take it day by day and, like, again, like, surprise myself that, you know, you worried for no reason.

Draw from the confidence of knowing that coming back from even major surgeries, but all kinds of knee injuries, you can come back stronger than you were before that injury, which is. And lots of athletes have gone through that.

I think.

You know a young athlete that I'm working with right now, Lauren Harrell.

Yeah, I do.

Yeah. And she's. She's fully back from a complete acl. ACL reconstruction.

That's crazy, right?

So it's those kind of things that. Just knowing that, okay, this. Having that confidence in. In your body and in that knee, it. It's there. And knowing that you can. And knowing that the time off can be the perfect thing for your body because it needs that break. Bodies never keep improving on this perfect linear path.

They kind of make these waves, but.

It'S going on the upward trend. So, yeah, you'll. Your knee is going to be great. Your body's going to thank you for having just that little reprieve, that little break.

And I'm just hoping I'll surprise myself for sure. My goals have been limited from the last year. I even upped my goals as if I accomplished all my goals last year. So every year I write down about five goals that I want to accomplish. And so this year I have 10 because I didn't. Well, sorry. I have like nine because I accomplished the one.

Are some of them interior decorating?

One was actually related. I did it and I did it.

What did you do?

My friend bought a condo and I, like, re. Renovated the whole thing, like, even, like, sand and stained all the cabinets, ordered all the new appliances, made all the cute little things for the walls and art pieces, and ordered all the beds and everything. And I enjoyed it because it wasn't my money.

That is awesome. That is so awesome.

Did you.

Was it fulfilling? Like, was it fun?

So much fun. Like, I had not been up, like, because I train at like, noon every day. So I get up at like 9, 30, 10, and then I go to practice, and then I'm home at like, 5, where here I was up ready for the stores to be open at 7, and I was like, there. I was so excited. That was the first time something could get me out of bed that early. And that's awesome. So fun. And that's how I know I just want to do this after track, but I'll be a little bit down the road.

No, but that's so good. That's so good. Okay, I'm gonna fire you with a few questions here just to get some of those things that people might be curious about in your life. Like, do you have favorite workouts that you do? Do you have a couple favorite things that you really like?

I'm obsessed with diagonal runs on the turf. Like, I. For some reason, turf feels good on my shins. I always feel like you're running fast on the turf. It's always a good workout, especially the summertime because the heat is just blazing down through the, I guess, what is the black rock? They're the black.

Yeah.

The little gray. Yeah. You always feel like you get a really good workout. And I always feel so, I guess, fit after those workouts. You know those workouts you go in. You know how some, like, guys say, you know, they have to lift before they go out so their arms feel good?

Yeah.

I love that workout. And I usually do that workout actually the day before I pee because I feel so fit and I feel ready it's almost like my. My last check box.

Your ritual?

Yeah. Yeah. So I love doing diagonals on like inner fields and that kind of stuff.

What workouts do you hate?

Oh, the ones or.

Do you hate any or. I mean, that's a strong word. So dislike.

I'm not like a hating person, but if there's one thing I cannot stand when we have to do is rope climb.

That's like a classic gymnastics.

I know. And I used to be so good at it and then all of a sudden, oh my gosh, it's like now I'm. I'm. I'm like even worse at it and I don't know how. And it's, you know, Kari, it's like chin up, you know?

Yeah.

You do them every day, all week, and they're still hard no matter what.

They're always killer. They're always killer.

No.

And so that's the. Funny. Speaking of chin ups, I remember when you were pregnant and I think you beat us all on chin ups that one day and I was like, there's no way that she's pregnant. She's beating us. That's crazy.

I remember seeing you do that, hun. I don't know who you're. We're doing testing in the gym and there was a team, principally volleyball team, female, and you, literally seven months pregnant, go and rip off, you know, seven or eight chin ups. Talking, demoing.

So.

And it's not gonna count if your arms aren't straight and there's no bounce at the top, no kip. And you're just talking away, ripping off perfect chin ups. And the girls jaws are on the floor. Classic.

We didn't even listen to the instructions. It was just full Hari doing chin ups. Watching her.

But the good part, the reason I had to do them though was because half the time when the guys demo the chin ups, the female athletes just don't believe they can do them. And so they need that belief that, okay, just because I'm female doesn't mean that I can't do chin ups. Because they're gonna stare at the guy and go, well, he can do them because he's got a stronger upper body or he's a guy or whatever. Whatever. And so I just like, I always had to just blow that out of the water to get all of the girls, the female athletes to understand. Yeah, the buy in that, okay, don't think you can't do this. And yeah. So, yeah. But yeah, I was very pregnant at one point because I don't think we Started testing them till November, and I was due in January. January.

Yeah.

Yeah, Yeah.

I will never forget that. That is like my Fauna.

And.

And I hope there's not a not so fond memory.

They're all really positive. We always had fun there. We've had with the Bakers and Nicole Stutterington. Like, we had a good group of girls that we would go with.

Very, very talented. And the guys were very talented, too. Very talented. And we have a. We should have a track group coming in this year. So we'll see. We'll see who we've got. And Liam Mather left. I worked with him last.

Last season.

Yeah.

And he's off, so that's pretty cool. But so what.

What else?

We've got a few other little things here. What would be your favorite foods? You could, like, list a favorite breakfast or a favorite lunch or dessert.

Okay. Only one. Or, like, for everyone. Whatever.

Whatever you want. Whatever speaks to you.

Okay, well, breakfast, like, my favorite is, like, over medium with avocado and feta. Is so good to me. It's like, oh, my God, that sounds good. It's, like, so good. And it's not filling, but, like, just two eggs and avocado and a little bit of feta cheese. It is literally the best. Like, I'll eat that every morning. Like, it's so good.

That is. That sounds fantastic.

Oh, so yummy. And, like, my snack that I really like. I've been craving a lot lately is my kale chips I've been making. They're so good. I put them. I massage the kale.

Yes. With olive oil.

I put it on just a cookie sheet, and I put drizzle coconut oil over top with a little bit of salt and pepper. And I put it in for 10 minutes at 350. And they are. So they come out crunchy, and they're healthy because it's kale and it's.

So I just wrote this down, just so you know. I just wrote that down.

You have to text me after you have it. Like, it's honestly the best. I give it to everybody that comes over if I have something. And they're like, you don't want to eat unhealthy. Like, what can we make? And I always make a mig kale chips, because they're. And they're actually pretty feeling, too. They're good.

That's so good. That's so good. Any desserts? Anything on the other side of the spectrum?

Oh, my gosh, Yes. I like love. So I'm obsessed with icing, so never Have a cake if I come to an event, because I'll lick it all.

You sound like Maeve. She'll just like, oh, my gosh, it's so yummy.

I mean, I know where she's coming from. It's. I mean, it's hard to not.

And then, you know, we're. We're off sugar right now.

Are you. Oh, gosh.

Yeah.

I don't know if I could do that. I've never done that.

30 days, we're off sugar.

I have to do this. Maybe I should start October 1st. I'm going to try.

This is only the second time, I think. Well, this is the second time I've done it in this last year. But before that, the last time I did no Sugar was probably 15 years ago.

Really?

And how are you guys doing?

Oh, we're like three weeks in. Yeah, he doesn't crave. Yeah. He doesn't crave sweets. I'm like, give me my chocolate every single day. And then. Then I'm good with everybody. But at this point, I'm.

Yeah.

A little testy.

So, like, on. On everything. So you have to, like. Okay, so what about, like, there's sugar and everything? Like. What about fruit?

No. No cereal? Well, naturally occurring sugars won't do anything. Like cereal or anything that's got sugar added.

Amazing. Yeah. Yeah.

Anything that's added processed sugar. So even. But even if there was added honey, added cane sugar, added maple syrup, then.

We won't have it.

So if it was sauces or. I don't know, what are some of the weird things that it comes up in, like ketchups or sauces?

Some.

Some salt. Not our.

Not the one we have Some.

Some salts do. But not. Not our good Himalayan pink.

I might have to do this on October 1st. I might have to challenge myself and see.

Yeah, that's why. That's why I did it now, because as soon as Halloween hits.

Oh, yeah. Then.

Then it's just this barrage of sweets from Halloween all the way through until January. And so I was like, you gotta start reset now.

Yeah.

So then I'm not craving as much because I.

Too much of a habit.

Yeah.

So that's what we did. But.

Well, Thanksgiving is going to be tough. That'd be hard.

Well, yeah, that's. That's why we did it in September, so we. We would be done by Thanksgiving.

Amazing.

So what. What is your favorite movie?

My favorite movie of all time? Yeah. Okay. I'm obsessed with Greece and. And Titanic. Those have been like the. I can watch those on Repeat whenever. I'm obsessed with those two movies.

That's awesome. That's so good.

I actually want to be Lightning Sandra D. For Halloween this year, so I think that's what I'm gonna be.

Oh, do it.

I know. I gotta figure out how to do her curls, though. My hair is getting too long, so maybe I'll have to put a wig on.

Yeah, do the wig. Do the wig. And then the black. The black tight pants and another jacket and all that. Yeah, it would be so cute. What about favorite book?

Favorite book? You know, I just finished reading how to Be a Badass.

Oh, that's a good one.

I really liked it. Like, that was the first time I really, like I wrote in the book. Usually you're just like, sitting there. You're like, ugh, just another story. Or, you know, like, that one. I really felt like I could relate to the book and, like, put my goals down and then like. Like, you know, even and funny too. And it's good. And it's like. It's like, dang, that's true. You know? Yeah, I did overthink that situation. Like, why am I overthinking that?

Yeah, just to make things difficult. That's what we do.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

That's fantastic. What about lastly, any tips that you have for young up and coming athletes? You know, we've got lots of young pole vaulters in London in particular. You've really paved the way for a lot of people. What tips might you have for them?

I think the number one tip that I have for in general athletes is I've always told athletes, fail as much as you can. I think a lot of people, that's their biggest fear is to fail. But if you're not failing, then you're not getting better. And that's something over the years that I've realized that, you know, when I fail, I had a great day because I learned something and now I don't want to feel that feeling again. But also for vaulters, I think our event is very special. It's very unique, and you have to embrace that. It scares you. I know a lot of, you know, I think the women pole vault is going crazy right now in the world. You know, they're jumping so high and we're finally figuring it out. And so I think a lot of women pole vaulter lack that confidence. On this poll's a little longer, the pull is a little stiffer. But your coach won't put you up on the next pole if he doesn't think it's Ready. You're ready for that next pull. If they say that next pull. So I always say you have to be. Just be confident. And when you're taking that first step, there's no turning back. You got to commit all the way through and just be happy, have fun. If it's something like you can't stop thinking about, you can't go one day not thinking about it, then that's where you're meant to be. Wherever makes your heart happy is where you should be, and that's by having fun and a positive life. That's like, number one.

That's amazing.

It's such a great note to finish on, too.

And.

And Alicia, you know, as long as we've known you, you have been just such a bright light and so fun to be around. So vivacious and energetic and driven. Like, your effort and hard work and motivation in what you do is unparalleled. And we're really, really grateful to have you on with us. And we know that your experiences and your story will make a difference for other people who have felt those same ways. And we really appreciate you being on. So thank you so, so much.

I couldn't have done it without you, too, Kari. You are a huge part of my life. You and Paul were like, you know, you guys. You guys did save me in that strength part of my life. So I really do appreciate everything you guys have done for me with this podcast. I mean, this is. This is incredible. So you guys got to keep going with this. This is great.

Thank you so much.

Yeah, thank you so much. We'll have to have you back, you know, right after Tokyo and then the Olympics after and four more Olympics to get through with you. So keep talking.

Maybe we'll go there and we'll interview you there. How's that sound?

Oh, perfect. I'll probably be in London too, because there'll be a gold medal, so you'll want to touch it, right?

That's right.

That's right. But we want to go to Tokyo, too.

Oh, we're coming right in Tokyo?

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yes, for sure.

That's fantastic. Well, thank you so much.

Thank you, guys.

Thanks, Alicia.

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