Live from Dream Run Camp: Dani Polerecky (Shanahan)

Happy to be coming at you from Flagstaff, Arizona, Dream Run Camp, sponsored as always by 80/20 Endurance and a proud supporter of the Coaches of Color Initiative. You can find out more about that and our newest apprentice, Sabrina Lott, at 8020foundation.org. You can make a contribution or apply for a future apprenticeship. Um, my guest this This evening is someone I knew as Danny Shanahan, but is now Danny Polarecki.

You got it right. You're like 1 in 3 that gets it right. Right? Wow. The first try.

I actually practiced all day.

I'm so proud of you.

Yeah, yeah, we went on a 4-mile hike and I was just going Polarecki, Polarecki, Polarecki, and it just about drove these people nuts. That did not happen. The 4-mile hike happened.

Gotcha, because I was going to say that, that explained my warm welcome. He's like, you hear my name?

Uh, yeah, exactly. So this is, so this is her, huh? Um, anyhow, so we know each other a tiny little bit, um, and I'm actually kind of interested, and hopefully someone else is interested, in, in hearing like, um, what you remember of any previous encounters we had.

I remember the first time I met you. I think it was at Buffalo Park at Bruce Camp when like everyone was kind of coming in because I was a camp counselor in 2019. And I do remember meeting you and you at like the little—

At that point, was that my wife and Taki?

Yes. Yes. At like the little bench area. And then I remember we ran a bit together.

Was that— Was that 2018?

It would have been 2019.

2019. Yes, that makes sense. Yes, 2019. Yeah. Yes. And then to add to that, I remember we went down to Sedona where we were today. That gesture was at Dream Runner, Michael. Yeah. And then the— I love Bruce Camp.

It's very fun.

Yeah. So I hope they don't feel like I'm disloyal by creating my own never-ending running camp because I I went there 4 times. But yeah, I remember going down to the track there in Sedona and we talked, somehow the campers talked Steph and Ben into doing an all-out 400s in trainers. But they wouldn't race each other. They did separate ones.

Yeah, 'cause the workout was you had a partner and your recovery was whatever the partner's 400 was. I think is what I remember. So I don't— maybe you blacked it out. I was just kind of there just like, yay team, I'm ordering everyone smoothies. I was a counselor and I was also on my running break. Steph was also on her running break. And then just, I think she busted out like a 63. And then I remember Ben watching and being like, oh, I have to try a little bit harder now because I can't let my wife beat me. I do remember that. That was funny. And they were both in Clifton's.

Yeah. Yes, exactly. Yeah, that's— yeah. But like, that's like, that's Bruce Run Camp in a nutshell. You know, just like you can talk the still, like, not retired yet, like the still active professional runners. You can talk them into just like doing a time trial, like as an exhibition with everyone watching in improper footwear. Yes.

Yes. I remember that well.

Yeah. Not to dwell on this too much, but like the moment I remember, and this is just like bespeaks like what a, like a running geek I am. But cause I remember the, I remember the workout too. And it was like, it was like, what was it? 800s at, no. Well, we were supposed to run at 10K pace. Right. Uh, and I ran at a pace that was like a bullshit, like fantasy 10K pace. I remember like you asked my split and I said it and you're like, that's my 10K pace. I'm like, You mean I could be pro?

I don't remember that, but that's pretty funny.

Yeah.

So like, I'm sure that like the pace I ran for 400 meters was your 10K pace at the time.

Yeah.

It was not my 10K pace. And you've since gotten faster.

Ideally so, yes.

31:22?

Yes, that is my PB at this point.

And what's the Olympic qualifying standard?

30:40.

30, 40. Yeah. So like, is that the big mission? Like, as I speak to you now, is that the focus? Like getting there?

Yeah, I mean, each year we just kind of want to like progress a bit and get a bit faster, get a bit better. And like, I'd be lying if I said like that time's not all— not always in the back of the mind whenever you line up. It's the same with like the trial standard. Um, but yeah, just kind of chipping away, but always aware of what standard we're being held to as professional athletes.

Yeah. And you raced a couple of 10Ks quite recently, like on the track, right?

I did. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. So like that's, that's in pursuit of the mission. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, they were both a little bit strange circumstances. I ran the 10 at Sound Running on March 16th. About 6 laps in, I got my spike stepped on real good. It came off.

We were watching live here, by the way.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. It came off. I had to— I was 6 laps into a 25-lap race. So I was like, well, my options are either run this with one shoe and potentially just completely mess up my foot and have to deal with the repercussions of that or just kind of gut it out by myself. I think we were hoping for a bit of a faster day out of it and less strange circumstances, but, um, I hadn't finished a track 10K since I had run my PR, so that kind of felt like a big monkey off my back. And I was very proud of like the effort I put in of just kind of like chipping away, chipping away, competing where there were people to compete with, and staying as engaged as I could in a strange situation. After that, I was pretty miffed about what had happened.

Yeah. So you wanted to get back on the horse.

Yeah, I wanted to get back on the horse as quickly as possible. And we made the quick decision to have a quick turnaround and run the Stanford Invite. I think we were also kind of hoping that— we had looked at the past year's results and it looked like it was going to be kind of around what we were shooting for. It also ended up in like a strange limbo for 2 weeks. I didn't find out that I had gotten— because with Sound Running being where it was, we had missed the deadline to register for the race. And it's not a professional race, it was a college race, so we were kind of at the whim of a college system, which I hadn't been at for— been at the whim of for a while. And so my agent Josh Cox worked very tirelessly to get a hold of somebody.

The same, the same Josh Cox who got me a pro bib for the 2017 Chicago Marathon as a 46-year-old 2:40 marathoner.

The man can work wonders. But he, he eventually got through to somebody, and I was very grateful we were able to have another opportunity. But I didn't find out that I was racing a Friday race until the Monday of the race. So pretty quick turnaround.

It's like high school.

Yeah, kind of. Yeah, pretty quick turnaround, not only from like a 10K to a 10K, um, but also just, oh, now I have to book my flights and leave in 2 days. Um, so yeah, we made a nice weekend out of it, but, um, the race is still working on— I ran fine for what the circumstance was. Again, I kind of ended up at the front kind of driving the ship a little bit and was maybe a little bit overconfident in my ability to kind of go do it on my own. But I'm glad we got the effort in and yeah, just working on seeing progress where there is progress, but also not feeling like I'm still just like chasing that 31:22.

Yeah. Yeah. I'd like to actually to rewind back to the 10 and that moment when, when your shoe came off. Yeah, I've been there.

Yeah.

I mean, not at that level, obviously, but like, yeah, like I had a shoe taken off by someone behind me, like literally 2 strides into the Boston Marathon one year. It's just like we all started, someone clipped my heel and it's like, there's like, it's like, well, that happened. Yeah, exactly. But, you know, as a coach, what I find is like, you know, those moments are really they show where your mental game is at because like you never expect them. I'm like, that's the kind of thing that happens. But when it happens, like you're always taken off guard and then like you sort of like, then, then you, you just will react spontaneously and you, you will have people who just flat out panic. And honestly, that's a lot of recreational runners, a lot of competitive, even competitive recreational runners. And then it sounds like, you know, you didn't like it any more than anyone else would have, but you didn't panic. And it was just like, I don't know, you tell me, like, if you rewind the tape, could you have handled it better? Like, not just there, but like, you know, you still have the— you have to solve the last 19 laps of the race to run.

So it's like, uh, I mean, in that situation, I don't think there's anything I could have really done differently besides maybe just kind of been a little bit more aggressive and not been running in front of the person that I ran from. But then it's like, who's to say that it couldn't have happened with someone else running behind me? I don't know. Um, but yeah, I do remember the moment, and it was like very just kind of matter of fact of— in my brain it was like, well, I guess I have to put my shoe back on. And Yeah, I did, and I do remember kind of feeling a certain amount of kind of like fight behind me of, okay, well, this sucks. Just start closing in the best you can. Don't panic. Find the effort. Yeah, that's kind of how it went. There are definitely the parts of the race that I kind of think about more aren't those moments immediately after. I think I did what I could in those situations. That situation was more of the deeper parts of the race where you're, you are, you're already asking yourself those hard questions, and then to kind of be doing it from a place of coming from behind was definitely more challenging.

Yeah, yeah. So let me ask you this, like You know, as a professional runner, like, you know, like some of those numbers, I mean, we all get fixated on numbers, right? That's part— it's part of the fun. But, you know, as a professional, like, they, they have greater import, right? You know, they have to do with, like, your job.

Yeah.

At the same time. But I mean, you know, the way I look at it, for any, any, like me or any other recreational runner, like, I think what's more important is not the numbers, but like how you perform in those moments. You know, just like, like, are you proud of yourself as an athlete? You know, like, how, you know, how do you feel about, you know, the gap between your ultimate potential and what you've actually achieved? You know, and I wonder like how different is it for you where you're— are you able to be proud of yourself? You know, you know, because like you kind of need the number.

Yeah, I mean, that's a loaded question, right? It's definitely— especially in Olympic year, if there's a very like clear-cut this is a good race and this is a bad race, I do think that like it is a lot more nuanced than that. Um, I mean, it's If we're like talking about recreational runners, because I coach recreational runners as well, um, they're like a lot of like hard cutoffs for like Boston qualifying times. And it's like when you have big goals, you have to believe in them and shoot for them and believe yourself capable of them. But at the same time, hold the space for I can still have a big day and not reach this and still appreciate those steps along the way, which is hard sometimes when it's such a clear cut of I got into Boston or I didn't, or I ran the Olympic standard and I didn't. But I think it is important to have the space for those moments as well to kind of celebrate that, hey, I did a good job. You can always want more, you can always want to be better, but it does suck the joy out of things if you're not appreciating the steps forward as well.

Well said. Um, I would like to open up the floor to questions if anyone else in the room has a question for Danny. I think Michael's like raring to go.

Yeah, I didn't, I didn't really have any questions before I sat down, but yeah, I'm really intrigued by the conversation. Number one, how, how does one transition from being a recreational amateur runner to a professional runner?

You know, what, what, how did, how did you do that?

What made that happen?

Um, I mean, I wouldn't, I wouldn't say that like I was someone that was like ever purely like a recreational runner, if I'm being honest. Like, I, and I came out of high school, I was like pretty well sought after, like recruit and stuff too, and like that kind of thing. So I do think that there are things that are, there are mindsets that the people that I work with on the recreational side, and like me as a professional, like, it's not that different. Like, embracing that racing is always going to be uncomfortable even if you are really fit. That doesn't mean it gets any easier, you can just run faster. Knowing that sometimes things that go awry, like the, the parts of training and racing that are challenging to professionals granted there might be like higher stakes there, it still also translates to like recreational running as well. And those are like conversations that I often have with my athletes before races. So hopefully that answers your question in some way. Yeah.

Yeah, actually that led us a beautiful segue. Michael, you should, you should host. Yeah, you should stick around, maybe co-host. Yeah. Yeah. So like getting back in your origin story. You grew up in Torrance, California, is that right?

I did, yeah.

Yeah, what was that like?

I mean, you kind of can't ask for much better, right?

Yes, yes, I've been there.

I call it like beachy suburbia. It's pretty darn nice. I grew up like 10 minutes from the beach. Like, this is the furthest I've ever lived from the ocean. Yeah, I grew up very close to like a very close-knit group of cousins and aunts and uncles. And my first day of school without like a family member was college, like that sort of kind of tight-knit family. But yeah, and then like high school running, I started my freshman year of high school and I remember I was like, there was the first day the coach was like, oh, like has anyone like run before at all? I was like, oh, I've run a little bit, like maybe a mile or two a day. She's like, cool, um, good luck. And then, uh, I ended up like making state my freshman year. And I remember, uh, my first league meet, I won, and I called my mom after, and I had to tell her like 4 different times that I won the race because she's like, you did what? What? I was like, yeah, Mom, I won. She's like, no, what? So it's like the belief of that like, oh, okay, this is happening, like, she's good at this. Um, but yeah, from there I was a very, like, big fish in a small pond at that school. Um, transitioned to training with a different team when the coach that I had at that time decided to kind of leave coaching. Um, worked with the public school in the area where I met, like, some of my best friends to this day, and made some very, very big jumps. And eventually ended up at Loyola Marymount University where I met my husband who's sitting like half a—

That's Jeff.

Cushion over. Yeah, who is now my coach. But yeah, that was kind of the origin story, I guess, of the way back when.

Yeah. Yeah.

You had a gift from a young age then.

Yeah, I was very fortunate to kind of like have the right people in the right times to kind of like pushed me along. But yeah, just kind of found something I was good at and leaned into it a bit. Yeah. Yeah.

This is another Matt being a geek question, but like, I mean, I always find it fascinating, like, because I remember like discovering running. I remember falling in love with it and, you know, I was okay at it, but like I was— I grew up in a small state and like at like when I was in high school in the late '80s when American running was just like in the pits. So it wasn't like that hard to like kind of be on the radar.

Be the guy.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. So, you know, like I was, I was, I was an okay runner, you know, and I remember what it was like to discover like I was okay at it. But like, I'm always curious like what it's like to discover that you're really good at it, especially when, like, you know, you're not like the Rittenheins' daughter, you know, where it's like you got just Olympic genes on both sides.

Yeah. Um, if you ask my parents, I think they would say confusing. Um, but I don't know, like, for me it was definitely a slow burn of it because, like, like I said, like, I was a big fish in a small pond at the school I was at. I came from a California school, so like it is a fairly competitive state, and I was always the most competitive. Yeah, it's very, very competitive. But I was—

I grew up in New Hampshire.

Yeah, I was in a small division there, so I could still like go into like my league finals and stuff and like compete very well and like move on to sections, like sectionals or whatever, um, without having to make like drastic life changes. And there were just like schools in my area that I could tell, like, training was their life. And I remember my first, like, 3 years of high school, like, not wanting that to be me. Um, and then this is kind of funny— when I met my college coach for the first time, he has no recollection of it at all, um, because I wasn't that, that, like, fast enough to be recruited at that point. And He basically said, okay, like, come back when you have, like, a walk-on standards, because I didn't. Yeah. Um, and I really loved LMU, and I was like, okay, I'm gonna go here. And he's like, goodbye. He does not remember this at all.

Um, he wouldn't want to.

No, I brought it up to him like my junior year, and he was like, really? I was like, yeah, you, you don't remember. Um, but I I changed coaches that year because my, like I mentioned, like my coach had quit and my dad kind of like sat me down and like, he's like, hey, if you want to go here, this is— you've picked a kind of ritzy school kid, um, you need to kind of step things up on this side if this is what you want to do. And set me up with another coach in the area where I trained with during the off-season and made some like very, very drastic jumps that year. And before that, I always knew that I was good at it, and I knew I could be better at it. But I do remember that, like, senior year of high school, I was like 18, I was training with other people that had done things that I hadn't done before, and I was dropping them and keeping up with them. And it was really hard, but it was really fun. And I, I remember just loving it more than I thought I would. The, like, this is your entire life now kind of feeling, and just really, really leaning into that. And I saw a lot of success that year. What got hard after that, though, is when you make huge jumps like that, is then going into the next year, which was college, where there's always, like, a lot of ups and downs as a freshman anyways. Yeah, thinking you're gonna sustain those huge jumps Um, I still improved, but it was just kind of like a little bit of a snap back to reality. If you really love this, you have to learn how to like tick away at it, chip away at it, instead of, oh, you're gonna PR in the mile by 30 seconds in one year kind of thing, because that, that happened. Um, yep. So yeah.

Yeah. Cool.

All right.

So we'll fast forward a little bit and, and talk about, yeah, your, I guess, Nazalit days. Like, yeah, that's, that's when our worlds collided ever so briefly. Yeah. Well, what was that like? And speak freely. Yeah.

Yeah. No, I'm going to start. All this by saying like I'm so grateful for those years and the mentors that I had and just kind of the, the steering of the ship that I had at that time of my life. It was what I needed in that chapter. Um, like again, I keep going back and saying like I was a big fish in a small pond. I also went to a small college where I was pretty quickly like one of the fastest people on the team and trained a lot by myself by the time that I was done there. So it was a culture shock to the system, to say the least, to come in with 3 other recruits who were as fast or faster than me, who had all been living at altitude for years. And my little sea level butt is coming up here and just getting absolutely dragged. Not to even mention, like, the women that were already on the team who had been training for years at a professional level. I'm so grateful for just like the guidance of like Steph, Kellen, and Alphine, especially in those early days to kind of be like, hey, like this is how you do this, this is how you do things, you're capable, like this is where we were at when we were your age, just kind of giving me that early on. So yeah, it was definitely a challenging time of my life because when you go in feeling like, oh yeah, I'm on top of the world, I've wanted a contract forever. This is— I've done it. And then you're there and you're getting your butt kicked. It's like, oh gosh, do I even deserve this? And there are a lot of those feelings to work through early on. Um, but yeah, just gave me a very good kind of like structure and jumping off point and great people to lean on at that time of my life. Um, yeah, after staying there for a few years, there's just like a lot of changes coming down the pipeline and I wanted to kind of have the reins of my own destiny a little bit more and decided to make some changes. Just because something, uh, isn't a good fit at that moment doesn't mean it wasn't a good thing that happened.

So yeah, that's pro sports.

That is pro sports.

Yes. Um, yeah, actually, you know, just like, uh, you know, I'm just so interested in in how you experience things, you know, at that level of the sport. And could you just say a little bit more about, you know, I guess maybe the self-doubt that cropped up? And because it's like, it's almost like just a more diffuse version of your shoe coming off 6 laps into a 10K, you know what I mean? It's like, it's not like, you know, it's like you know, an overuse injury versus an acute injury.

Yeah, I mean, in some ways the shoe coming off 6 laps into a 10K is easier to deal with, right? Yeah, I mean, that— it's still something that I work on to this day, and I think most people that you would talk to would I would say that it's something that they've dealt with at some point. It has its like ebbs and flows, but yeah, I think when I did run the 31:22 back in 2020, that was definite like confirmation to myself at least. It's like, okay, like I am more than capable of being here and doing this.

That's a fast time.

Yeah, it was, it was, yeah, it was pretty quick. But yeah, and then it's, yeah, just kind of, uh, working on it each day, each workout. And it sometimes creeps in and just kind of like learning who you are and leaning into that and knowing that like if these thoughts happen, it doesn't mean that they're true. It doesn't mean that that's who you are. Just kind of like having that to kind of like center yourself.

Yeah. Well, I mean, that's, that's very humanizing because I mean, what you just described is like, I would think almost any running runner could relate.

Yeah.

You know, it's like, yeah. And that's what's easy for, you know, for me, like, I feel like I've for a long time stood at the intersection between the two levels of the sport. And, you know, like there are some noticeable differences. Like, you know, people don't get to your level just because of like good physiology. Like, you have to have something going on in your favor up here too. You just do.

Yeah.

Um, and, and I know this, you know, just like I, I know a lot of pro runners and I know thousands and thousands and thousands of recreational runners. And so there are some differences, but like there's also like the I mean, that's like the tip of the iceberg. The rest of it is the same. Like, we're all human, we're all the same. And part of what I try to do with my writing is like, you know, show that to like, you know, like actually like this type of encounter between you and you is like something I try to do with my books at a much broader scale. Because I think it's encouraging. It's encouraging maybe a little bit. Intimidating for athletes to, you know, for the Michael Bastas of the world to know exactly like what really is going on in the mind of someone at your level. Yeah, so that was just like a random—

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, human beings, all of us. Yes, make no mistake.

Yes.

Yeah. And then actually, Lauren, do you have a question? Okay. I don't know. I just thought I saw a look or something. Yeah, feel free. Yeah. Something else I wanted to ask about. And again, more from like a track geek perspective, running geek perspective. It's like when I look at your body of work as a runner, I see a lot of evidence that the longer you go, the better you get.

Don't say that. You can say that in front of him.

Yes.

Okay.

Like, this is not at all surprising to me. Yeah. So you feel the same way? Son of a bitch. Phone just rang.

Throw it across the room.

Yeah. Yeah. Although, the sensors, they're like, don't go there, Matt. It's fine. I feel like for Dani, I know her very well. Yep. Both my wife and an athlete.

God, I hope so.

And I think she one day will be very, very good at the half marathon. I think it'll take a lot of convincing to try to go any longer. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I'd agree.

Yeah. I'll tell you what, like, I know my shit because like that's exactly what I thought. Like, I thought that, that A, I'm right and you actually are good at longer stuff, and that B, the main reason you hadn't gone longer is that like you don't want to. And then C, I was willing to bet that Jack would see it my way.

I finally was like, Jack can come too. But no, I do— I have been told by more than one person that I will be very good at the half. Um, we've also definitely talked about putting a debut half on the schedule. We just want it to be at the right time, and we want it to be something that I'm like truly excited to do and not something where it's just like, oh, you're approaching your 30s, you should move up to the half marathon. Um, so yeah, I, I do think that there still untapped potential on the track, and I do want to recognize that before kind of moving on up. But it's a household conversation that comes up every couple months. So yeah, it's in the zeitgeist of what we're thinking of within the next— I don't know, I don't even want to give a timeline to it, but it'll happen eventually before I hang up the racing choose in a serious manner. But yeah, especially with this being an Olympic year, we really wanted to give the track like a real go.

Yep.

I have a question for you.

Go for it.

So what are your favorite events, Dani?

Yeah, I would say that I kind of lean more so towards like the 5K and the 10K. I would say I'm probably best at the 10K and I do like it quite a bit.

So what strategy— so here you find out as a freshman that you have aptitude, you got the physical genes for running fast. And so, and then you already hit on mindset. So you have to be mentally strong to run through the mental barriers as well as the physical barriers.

But then there's strategy.

So how does strategy fit into your races?

Yeah, I think it depends on the race, right? Like there are definitely times like the 10, which like granted didn't necessarily go my way, but that was a very like time trial kind of setup. Um, that it's like, hey, we, we have a conversation ahead of time where it's like we're going in trying to run X split and just kind of hanging out there and going. But say you get to the Olympic trials, it's a totally different ball game, right? It's a different conversation. That is just compete, compete, compete. Where like the time doesn't matter as much. I do think there is an intersection of the two because even if you are in like a time trial sort of setup where it's like me chasing an Olympic or trials standard or like you chasing like a BQ kind of standard, at a certain point it gets really hard and you just have to dig and you have to compete. So just kind of finding that line between the two and giving yourself those checkpoints. Something that I talk about a lot with my athletes is just like, hey, let's check in with ourselves at this point, this point, and this point, how are we feeling? And then I'll kind of give them a couple avenues they can go. Like, if you're feeling good, you can take it down a little bit, take it down a few notches, increase the pace. If the pace feels appropriate but hard, just kind of lean into that but increase your effort. Like, those sort of things. Um, again, just kind of depends on the race, depends on the conditions, depends on what you're going for. Yeah.

Thank you, Michael. Thank you.

Yeah.

Yeah. So you've made a couple references to your coaching of other athletes. And so, you know, for, you know, for pro runners, like coaching is sort of like the obvious thing, thing to do. But, you know, you know, like there's a difference between like doing the obvious thing and like feeling kind of like a pull. You know, toward coaching. So I just, I just put you on the spot, but like, you like your job, you don't have to say.

I do like my job.

You know, basically have to say you were pulled toward coaching. Sorry, that was a terrible question.

No, I mean, I do think it was some— it is something that I do think I was pulled towards in some ways. Thank goodness. If any of my athletes are watching, I love working with you, but Uh, yeah, no, it's definitely something that's kind of like come up a lot throughout my life, even before I actually started doing it. Um, when I was in college, I majored in psychology, and then when I did my master's, I went in— LMU had like a really great one-year master's program that like, uh, a lot of like principals would take, but also a lot of athletes would take it because it was one year and you could get a fifth year out of it. But it actually really did suit very well. It was in educational studies, but I could put an emphasis in counseling, which if anyone who's coached at any level knows that there's a lot of counseling skills that you do need. Riding training is the easy part. So I did think that at some point in my life I'd either end up in coaching or back in school as like to finish like the other half of that counseling degree. But, uh, when the opportunity kind of did come up when I was transitioning out of NAZ Elite, uh, and we were kind of weighing options, looking into options, Jack had already been working with James for a long time. Um, we were already pretty ingrained in that community, and it was something that I always had kind of felt like I would likely end up in at some point, coaching in some capacity. It just felt like a natural fit. Yeah, I really do enjoy it. I've also like found that I do run better when I have other things going on in my life. Even when I was with NAZ Elite, I was working some odd jobs at the beginning, and then when I was kind of like running pretty well, I was actually working part-time at the Boys and Girls Club here in Flagstaff. I still kind of keep in contact and keep tabs on what they're doing. And, um, yeah, just kind of really loved that part of my life and just kind of like being involved in the community in that way. And I was very busy, but I was running really well too. So, um, in 2021, I did kind of pull back from that, and things didn't go great either, and I wasn't feeling as happy or as fulfilled. So I did know that moving forward in any transition that I've made, that my life needed to be fuller in some way, and coaching was a very natural fit for that, along with already kind of having certain skill sets for it.

Mm-hmm. Yep. Yeah, makes total sense.

Yeah. So I do like my job.

All right. I'm sorry.

No, you're fine. You're just lucky I like my job.

Yes. Very lucky. Um, yes, uh, yeah, to wrap up, um, so yeah, for those of you who aren't here but could be, um, we're having chicken tacos, uh, for dinner, and Danny and Jack have promised to stick around. Um, yeah, and just, uh, to wrap up, uh, I would like to ask, um, so you're, you're 29 years old, right?

Yeah.

Yeah. So I'm 52. I'll be 53 on Cinco de Mayo. We're gonna have a party here. Rory Linkletter is coming back. We discussed this, those of you who saw that episode. It's on tape. Rory's coming back to celebrate his Olympic selection. So can you imagine being 52 about 53, where you might be in life?

Oh gosh, I don't even know. I don't even know where we're gonna be in the next like 5 years.

Yeah, I mean, that's like so long.

Yeah, I don't even know. Like, I, I mean, I, I assume I will not be doing this at the same capacity that I am now, um, just for various reasons. Um, but I would like to think I still have like some sort of just like toe dipped into the sport. Um, and I, I have, I haven't thought about like, oh, like when I went into running professionally coming out of college and stuff, it's like, will I ever know when it's done?

Yeah.

Um, I do think that at that point I will be done. But I do hope that whenever that time is for me to walk away, I can walk away with like a sense of like I gave it the best that I had and walk away with some feeling of peace with that. I know that we're not at that point yet. So other than that.

Wow.

Yeah, right on. Yeah, well, that's fine.

Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, shoot, be present. Yeah, you're doing it.

Yeah, if you want to like a 5-year plan, 5, 10-year plan, you're asking the wrong half of us. So cool.

Well, you know, that's why we do tend to pair up. Yeah, I can tell you that a lot of what I'm lacking is right over there. So yes, well, thank you So much, Dani.

Yeah, thank you for having me. Yeah, been a pleasure.

Right on, really enjoyed talking to you. So that's it for episode number whatever of Live from DreamRun Camp. Tacos for us, nothing for you.