Full Transcript for From Cheering to Competing - Triple Jump, Breaking Records and Backing Yourself at 48 with Emily Murray

tall, I'm five foot five, but I was much too tall in that day and age. 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:08.719 So if you were over five foot, you were a serious disadvantage. 00:02:08.879 --> 00:02:17.120 And puberty had hit, and I was told that it would be a good idea for me to cut down on eating certain foods, and they would do the fat caliper stuff at squads. 00:02:17.280 --> 00:02:23.759 But I just remember thinking, my body's saying, no, this sport now, that's the end of it for you. 00:02:23.919 --> 00:02:29.599 And it's interesting because looking at it now from the perspective of having taken up athletics in late life, why? 00:02:29.759 --> 00:02:31.360 Because I'd always really loved running. 00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:33.759 As a gymnast, I was surprisingly fast. 00:02:33.840 --> 00:02:41.280 I remember at a squad training session, I think it was a trial, you had to sprint along the runway and into the foam pit, and they timed you. 00:02:41.439 --> 00:02:45.680 And I remember they made me do it again because they thought they'd got it rolled because I was so fast. 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:49.039 So I always knew that I would have, and I raced the boys at school. 00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:50.159 I just loved to run. 00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:52.719 When I gave up gymnastics, it's funny. 00:02:52.879 --> 00:02:54.560 I think I thought my time had gone. 00:02:54.639 --> 00:02:56.479 I was too old for that sort of thing. 00:02:56.639 --> 00:02:58.080 Like I should have done it earlier. 00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:00.719 So I felt like I never got a chance to be an athlete. 00:03:00.800 --> 00:03:11.599 And so I did a lot of dance, I tried springboard diving, and then I went to university and I started rowing because it was Cambridge and it was like a social thing, but they had an amazing facility. 00:03:11.759 --> 00:03:17.520 The river was so beautiful, and I just wanted to be part of the thing that felt like the most fun. 00:03:17.759 --> 00:03:28.479 So I started to train a lot of cardio, I started to lift weights a bit and trained so that when I started at university and my college, that I was fit and ready. 00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:32.159 And so it took one term of being a novice, and then I made it into the first boat. 00:03:32.400 --> 00:03:37.919 And that was so cool because it was just such an amazing thing to be part of a team because I'd never done a team sport before. 00:03:38.479 --> 00:03:43.759 I did a little bit of football when I was at university as well, but I'm terrible at football. 00:03:43.840 --> 00:03:44.400 It's such a shame. 00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:46.400 Anyway, rowing was great. 00:03:46.479 --> 00:03:51.520 I rowed for most of my three years at university, and it gave so much to me. 00:03:51.759 --> 00:03:55.039 Our boat was the most successful women's boat in my college's history. 00:03:55.759 --> 00:04:03.840 We won these like blades that I've got up my wall because there was a thing called the bumps where you have to like try and bump, literally hit the boat in front of you when you're rowing. 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:05.199 So that was just amazing. 00:04:05.280 --> 00:04:10.560 And I actually did gymnastics when I was at university as well for Cambridge because it was an easy win. 00:04:10.639 --> 00:04:16.959 You get blue and half blue colours, and you get to go and try and beat Oxford, and we did beacon Oxford, so that was cool. 00:04:17.279 --> 00:04:20.319 But yeah, sport was like a backdrop to my whole university. 00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:27.040 And then when I left university, you know, you go to the world of work and it's time pressured and you have to get up early and you know, all that stuff. 00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:33.279 We did military fitness, it was quite a popular thing in the parks around London, and I would cycle to work. 00:04:33.439 --> 00:04:36.079 I lived in Islington and I worked in Hammersmith. 00:04:36.240 --> 00:04:46.079 So I'm cycling from Islington to Hammersmith like up to an hour, 45 minutes, and then I'd cycle back and via the park where I'd do a military fitness session and back home again. 00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:49.120 And then I did quite a lot of running, like I would just go for runs a lot. 00:04:49.199 --> 00:04:53.279 And I did a marathon when I was in my early 20s. 00:04:53.439 --> 00:04:59.759 So I did some decent training, but on the day, if I was thinking about it now, I'm thinking that was the ignorance of youth. 00:04:59.920 --> 00:05:02.079 I had a bowl of cereal, literally. 00:05:02.240 --> 00:05:03.439 I think it was special pay. 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:04.800 Well, I think it was 23. 00:05:04.959 --> 00:05:08.319 And the train broke down on the way to the marathon. 00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:10.079 We had to get a taxi. 00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:16.800 So when we arrived, I think I'd thought, oh, I'll eat something else when we get to it, because it was in Stratford upon Avon because I couldn't get a place in the London Marathon. 00:05:16.879 --> 00:05:19.920 And what I just did was like, oh, when's the nearest marathon to the London Marathon? 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:20.959 It was like a week later. 00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:22.639 I didn't know it was a hilly course. 00:05:22.800 --> 00:05:23.680 I didn't know how to get there. 00:05:23.759 --> 00:05:25.040 I was just like, I'll just do that one. 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:26.800 It was called the Shakespeare Marathon as well. 00:05:26.879 --> 00:05:28.000 And I studied English literature. 00:05:28.079 --> 00:05:29.759 So I was like, oh, that's that's fitting. 00:05:29.839 --> 00:05:31.279 But anyway, so we we got there. 00:05:31.360 --> 00:05:34.000 I think we had hardly any time before the marathon started. 00:05:34.079 --> 00:05:35.279 So I didn't eat anything else. 00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:36.639 I didn't put any gels. 00:05:36.720 --> 00:05:40.399 I was just standing there in my I'd done a lot of running beforehand. 00:05:40.560 --> 00:05:41.839 But anyway, off I ran. 00:05:42.079 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00:05:46.720 At the half marathon stage, I must have done it in, I think it was like an hour 40. 00:05:46.959 --> 00:05:48.079 I was feeling amazing. 00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:50.720 Like if I'd stopped then, I could have gone and done whatever. 00:05:50.800 --> 00:05:51.360 I was fine. 00:05:51.519 --> 00:05:53.519 I was flying along, I was feeling great. 00:05:53.600 --> 00:05:57.439 And then I'm going to check you my watch at about 18, 19 miles. 00:05:57.600 --> 00:05:59.759 And looking at how fast I'd done the previous mile. 00:05:59.839 --> 00:06:02.000 And I'm like, oh, my watch is broken. 00:06:02.160 --> 00:06:03.120 Something's gone wrong. 00:06:03.360 --> 00:06:07.439 Because it was like the previous mile had been the whole couple of minutes slower than the one before. 00:06:07.519 --> 00:06:08.959 And it was run out of fuel. 00:06:09.040 --> 00:06:10.560 My body had just run out of fuel. 00:06:10.639 --> 00:06:11.759 There was nothing left. 00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:16.560 And because this was like this funny little Shakespeare marathon, there were no people handing out energy trains or anything. 00:06:16.639 --> 00:06:18.000 There was no one cheering on the streets. 00:06:18.079 --> 00:06:19.839 It was just an empty road. 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:22.240 And occasionally there would be someone with some water. 00:06:22.399 --> 00:06:24.800 But my body just ground to a halt. 00:06:24.959 --> 00:06:28.560 And by mile 20, 21, it was like treacle. 00:06:28.639 --> 00:06:32.079 And I had to walk around, walk hobble, because then my IT band started flaring up. 00:06:32.160 --> 00:06:39.439 But I finished it in three hours and 57 minutes, which is quite funny because, of course, it was a sub-four hour marathon. 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:44.319 And I feel like for my own ego, if it had been more than four hours, I would have had to do another one. 00:06:44.399 --> 00:06:50.399 But as it was, even though I should have been running it in about three and a half hours, or 345 would have been a good time, I guess. 00:06:50.560 --> 00:06:52.079 I was just like, that was hideous. 00:06:52.160 --> 00:06:52.480 I'm done. 00:06:52.560 --> 00:06:53.920 I did my sub-four hour mouths. 00:06:54.079 --> 00:06:55.920 I've never I'm not doing it again. 00:06:56.000 --> 00:07:01.199 And then I just did a lot of running, Ed K's, 10Ks, stuff like that. 00:07:01.439 --> 00:07:04.720 And then I'm trying to think if there's anything else between. 00:07:04.879 --> 00:07:06.399 I did a bit of cross country. 00:07:06.560 --> 00:07:07.839 But I hate cross country. 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:10.160 And then I had kids, that's right, and children. 00:07:10.480 --> 00:07:16.399 And that was kind of like I just tried to maintain some form of fitness. 00:07:16.560 --> 00:07:18.879 And I would do like mum's boot camp and stuff like that. 00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:24.720 But then once I feel like coming out of having had my second child, and now I is definitely not going to be any more kids. 00:07:25.439 --> 00:07:33.920 Watching my children enjoy sport, and especially my youngest, who's very, very competitive, watching him start to do athletics three years ago or so. 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:36.319 And I was down in the track with him, watching him long jump. 00:07:36.480 --> 00:07:38.319 He's a hurdler mainly, that's what he loves most. 00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:40.079 But I was watching him doing the long jump. 00:07:40.240 --> 00:07:44.240 And I was so aware of how he could have done it better. 00:07:44.399 --> 00:07:49.519 I suppose it was partly because the dynamics of like a vault, like a gymnastics vault. 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:53.600 You run up the runway and you take off how to convert forward momentum to upward momentum. 00:07:53.759 --> 00:07:56.959 And I just started to think like I shouldn't be telling my son what to do. 00:07:57.040 --> 00:07:57.519 That's not my job. 00:07:57.600 --> 00:07:59.600 It's not great for the dynamic between us. 00:07:59.920 --> 00:08:02.240 Because we've been there, done that with academy football. 00:08:02.319 --> 00:08:08.560 And it is best that I stay back because my competitive instinct is not required in that domain. 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:25.279 And I feel very strongly actually on this that kids, all kids need from their parents, however lofty their sporting ambitions, all they need from their parents is them to be their biggest cheerleader and give them a snack and tell them they're great, not to criticize, not to try and coach. 00:08:25.519 --> 00:08:29.279 And I could feel that that was potentially where I was going to go with this. 00:08:29.360 --> 00:08:33.919 And I told myself, well, why, if you know how to do it, why do you better go? 00:08:34.639 --> 00:08:41.279 And the idea sort of percolated, and then high jump, I was watching, and I was like, I'd like to get a bounce high because I can still do a backflip now. 00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:45.279 And I'm like, Women in their mid-40s can still do a backflip. 00:08:45.600 --> 00:09:03.759 Someone had told me about master's athletics, and I think this was the switch that flicked it for me, was realizing that there was this thing where you weren't just trying to get a medal for participation, like in our marathon, you could try and win gold because you were competing in a five-year age category. 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:04.879 And I'm like, wait a minute. 00:09:05.039 --> 00:09:08.960 So there is a world in which I can see how far I can jump. 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:13.600 And I'm only going to be compared to other women aged between 45 and 49. 00:09:13.759 --> 00:09:16.639 And if I'm can jump the furthest, I win a gold medal. 00:09:16.720 --> 00:09:19.679 And I was just like, oh my God, show me how to do this. 00:09:19.759 --> 00:09:21.440 Like, give me the training. 00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:28.320 So I signed up to my local athletics club, Kent AC, which is the same club that my son is at. 00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:33.440 And I was pointed in

the direction of a sprint coach called Juno, who is brilliant. 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:34.720 He's been around forever. 00:09:34.879 --> 00:09:35.519 Everyone knows him. 00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:36.960 He knows everything about sprinting. 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:40.720 And I just was like, right, I'm here because I want to win the British Masters Championships. 00:09:40.960 --> 00:09:42.879 I want to be the best long jumper, the best high jumper. 00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:44.879 That was what I thought, high jump, long jump. 00:09:45.039 --> 00:09:46.320 And then off I started. 00:09:46.399 --> 00:09:48.480 And that was like two, two and a half years ago. 00:09:48.639 --> 00:09:55.039 And it was my whole introduction to the world of what it is to train for a track of field. 00:09:55.360 --> 00:09:58.320 And it was so fascinating. 00:09:58.480 --> 00:10:02.799 Because even just like the drills, I'd be trying to point my toes and do it all pretty. 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:06.320 And it took me quite a long time to realize that there was quite a lot. 00:10:06.399 --> 00:10:11.840 Although there were things in common with gymnastics where you're trying to, you know, create force and momentum and all this stuff. 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:15.120 So much of it is to do with the flexion of the foot and the banging down. 00:10:15.200 --> 00:10:16.720 And it doesn't matter what it looks like. 00:10:16.799 --> 00:10:18.399 It matters what you produce. 00:10:18.799 --> 00:10:24.320 And that was at first a bit confusing and then increasingly liberating. 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:28.080 My cast would be burning like I couldn't do all this stuff on your toes. 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:29.519 I'd be like, oh my God, my butt. 00:10:29.679 --> 00:10:33.519 I felt like weirdly kind of weak, even though I'd done so much yoga. 00:10:33.600 --> 00:10:34.559 That was the thing that I'd be doing. 00:10:39.840 --> 00:10:41.440 It's a different kind of power, isn't it? 00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:44.480 And you say you think that it's transferable and it isn't. 00:10:44.720 --> 00:10:45.519 Yeah, yeah, exactly. 00:10:45.600 --> 00:10:48.320 And I was like, oh but I'm a runner and I would do these sprint sessions. 00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:51.440 And although I had good salmon, they would be struggling a bit with the reps. 00:10:51.519 --> 00:10:55.759 They'd be like, and I would be more like, oh yeah, I can keep going because I just was used to that. 00:10:55.919 --> 00:10:57.679 I was learning like it didn't really matter. 00:10:57.840 --> 00:11:01.279 I was still going out for these like 5K runs a couple of times a week, whatever. 00:11:01.360 --> 00:11:03.279 And my coach was like, Why are you wasting your energy? 00:11:03.440 --> 00:11:05.519 And I'm like, Well, but it's not what you're supposed to do. 00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:06.960 You're supposed to go out and run. 00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:13.200 And slowly my mentality shifted to this sort of short, sharp, powerful, explosive. 00:11:13.360 -->

00:11:18.799 I still go to the gym properly, learning how to use free weights, probably standing there with it on your back. 00:11:19.039 --> 00:11:21.519 Like, I've never done that in my life before. 00:11:21.759 --> 00:11:30.960 So it's just changed the way that I feel about my body, about the power that I can generate, and what I'm capable of. 00:11:31.039 --> 00:11:41.840 And I feel so excited because I'm new to the sport, within Maths's Athletics, that's very rare for people who tend to be winning things because they'd done it when they were younger, or they've continued it on and off. 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:45.600 Maybe they've had kids and stopped for a bit, but they generally know what they're doing. 00:11:45.759 --> 00:11:50.559 Whereas I'm completely new, but I'm watching myself improve at a rate like this. 00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:52.720 And my PB is a genuine PB. 00:11:52.799 --> 00:11:55.679 I have never jumped that far in my life before or jumped that high. 00:11:55.840 --> 00:11:59.840 And then about a year or so ago, I decided to try a triple jump. 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:05.039 And that was the moment where I suddenly was like, I think this is the thing that I might be best at. 00:12:05.279 --> 00:12:12.559 Because it combined the gymnastic and rebound abilities in a way that the other jumps maybe didn't quite the same way. 00:12:12.720 --> 00:12:15.360 And I just really liked the feel of it, like being a skimming stone. 00:12:15.519 --> 00:12:19.919 And yeah, I just won my very first national, it was an inter-area competition. 00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:25.440 I was representing Southeast, I think it was, and in the 35 to 39 category. 00:12:25.519 --> 00:12:28.559 So I was like right at the top of the age category representing the region. 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:29.840 And I beat everybody. 00:12:30.399 --> 00:12:33.679 So I was like, okay, I think I've found something that I'm really good at. 00:12:33.840 --> 00:12:36.559 And then since then I've done a couple of internationals. 00:12:36.639 --> 00:12:41.440 I went to the European Outdoor Championships in Madeira, that was in October. 00:12:41.600 --> 00:12:43.679 And I came fourth in the triple jump there. 00:12:43.840 --> 00:12:46.000 And that's when I broke the Scottish record. 00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:46.879 It was crazy. 00:12:46.960 --> 00:12:48.480 I was like, how I couldn't believe it. 00:12:48.559 --> 00:12:53.360 So I jumped 997, agonizingly close to 10 meters, but 997. 00:12:53.519 --> 00:12:57.519 And I remember when they read out, and my coach Joe was there as well. 00:12:57.679 --> 00:12:59.600 And we were all like, oh woman, let's see what it is. 00:12:59.679 --> 00:13:00.559 And they said 997. 00:13:00.639 --> 00:13:02.559 We're all like, no, I'm so excited. 00:13:02.720 --> 00:13:06.559 And for a short while I was actually third, and I was just like, this is insane. 00:13:06.720 --> 00:13:09.679 I've literally done probably about 20 triple jumps in my whole life. 00:13:09.919 --> 00:13:11.279 But it gave me such a hunger for it. 00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:18.399 And then I went to uh the indoor championships in Poland a month or so ago, a couple of months ago, but my training hadn't gone as well. 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:21.440 And my Achilles had been a problem, so I hadn't had a proper training block. 00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:23.679 And I jumped nearly as far, 993. 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:27.200 I came fourth again, which was really frustrating. 00:13:27.279 --> 00:13:29.840 But I did get a long job PB, so that felt good. 00:13:29.919 --> 00:13:33.360 And I felt like I'd done what I could with what I had available to me. 00:13:33.519 --> 00:13:38.559 And this is another thing is learning about how to compete again and being competitive at this age. 00:13:38.879 --> 00:13:44.320 And then coming in, doing something completely different, like you, I had excelled and done really well. 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:50.240 I haven't told people, but as in karate, I have a black belt and I used to compete and was a national champion. 00:13:50.399 --> 00:14:00.559 And you just think as you get older, and I went into higher ups, I knew I wasn't going to necessarily win anything, but you just feel like it's going to be transferable and everything's going to work in a very similar way. 00:14:00.879 --> 00:14:03.440 But my competitive element had gone to sleep. 00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:06.720 My competitive side, the kids had never seen it. 00:14:07.519 --> 00:14:08.159 Your kids think. 00:14:08.480 --> 00:14:12.639 I don't think my competitive side had left in the sense that it was leaking. 00:14:12.720 --> 00:14:16.000 Like I was saying something to parts of my life that it shouldn't have been in. 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:21.600 So I think I knew all too well how competitive I was, but it was in the role way. 00:14:21.840 --> 00:14:40.000 So for them to see me channel it, I think has been really great for all of us because I have been able to unleash it and for them to be able to see what you can do if you want something, but in a way that felt healthy, and that they can also see they've seen me try and fail. 00:14:40.159 --> 00:14:43.919 They've seen me try and succeed, and they've seen how I deal with each of those things. 00:14:44.080 --> 00:14:56.559 And it's meant that when I'm trying to help them with moments in their lives, sport or otherwise, where things haven't gone so well, when they've tried to achieve something, that it's more authentic when I say what I say because it is more authentic. 00:14:56.799 --> 00:15:01.440 I'm genuinely thinking about something that's happened to me in the last month in terms of trying and feeling. 00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:06.559 But also they know that I'm not just saying random stuff as a mum might say. 00:15:06.720 --> 00:15:09.039 It's something that they have seen me go through. 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:12.960 I have two boys, two teenage boys and husbands. 00:15:13.039 --> 00:15:23.759 So I

live in a family of males, and I think it's really important for them to see a woman being fiercely competitive, wanting to make things happen, getting strong. 00:15:23.919 --> 00:15:25.759 They watch me doing weights in the house. 00:15:25.919 --> 00:15:32.080 They watch me talk about the goals that I have, and they see me show up to training sessions over and over again. 00:15:32.320 --> 00:15:36.000 I've even raced my son on a couple of occasions, he just beats me. 00:15:36.159 --> 00:15:39.279 But my long jump PB is one centimetre better than his still. 00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:41.039 But yeah, it's great in so many ways. 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:43.919 In fact, there's no downside to it in that sense. 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:53.600 And I think, as you were just saying, in terms of them seeing what you're going through and you yourself, it's really important for our boy children, men, to see that. 00:15:53.679 --> 00:15:57.120 But it's interesting how to navigate it because your children are a bit younger. 00:15:57.279 --> 00:15:58.080 How are they finding it? 00:15:58.240 --> 00:16:08.480 I think that's a really interesting dynamic that actually you can compete and do exactly the same things as you are, but maintain a really interesting and constructive dynamic. 00:16:08.720 --> 00:16:10.639 That is a it's such an interesting one. 00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:19.679 And I'm often trying to work out whether or not well, you know, when the kids are little, you're like, oh, I'm not gonna beat them like snakes and ladders because they cry, right? 00:16:19.759 --> 00:16:23.679 And now I'm at a very interesting juncture, different with both of my boys. 00:16:23.759 --> 00:16:30.240 So with my 13-year-old, who is the athlete, the one who's really into athletics, or they're both very sporty, but specifically athletic. 00:16:30.399 --> 00:16:38.080 I don't want to be directly in competition with him, as in a sort of joke about my relative long-term PB to his. 00:16:38.399 --> 00:16:45.759 And I thought about this and I thought maybe I should stop even saying anything about that, ever making a comparison. 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:48.480 But then I thought they both go to boys' schools as well. 00:16:48.639 --> 00:17:01.440 I thought it's important that they can see a 48-year-old woman who can jump further than they can, and for them to see that and to be used and to think, no, I can be beaten by a woman and it doesn't make me less of a man. 00:17:01.519 --> 00:17:06.799 And I thought, you know what, he's a lovely kid, like 13-year-old, and he can be sometimes quite anxious and quite hard on himself. 00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:15.680 But I thought the benefits of him going, yeah, yeah, my mum can jump further than me, and then going, you know what, that's so cool. 00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:19.279 I'm so proud of her, rather than the other way around. 00:17:19.359 --> 00:17:23.200 And I feel like similarly, I'd delight for him to jump further than me. 00:17:23.279 --> 00:17:25.440 I'd like him to because it shows he's progressing. 00:17:25.680 --> 00:17:30.240 But I think that it's more that we can motivate each other. 00:17:30.799 --> 00:17:47.440 And whereas like my 16-year-old, it's just fascinating to see what happens when puberty hits, testosterone hits a boy because within the last couple of years he's just become so strong and so fast. 00:17:47.680 --> 00:17:52.319 He does a lot of football and he does sport, but it's quite interesting for me. 00:17:52.480 --> 00:17:54.960 Like yesterday we were like, who can jump and touch the ceiling? 00:17:55.119 --> 00:18:00.960 And he's like that much taller than me, but even still, like he could easily do it, and I was not managing at all. 00:18:01.279 --> 00:18:09.039 And I think this whole thing about male sports and women's sports is to say, you know, the reality is yes, women are generally slower and not as strong as men. 00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:09.920 But look what's happened. 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:12.720 It's like literally, you haven't done anything to that. 00:18:13.200 --> 00:18:18.640 I've been training harder than you, or at least similarly, but this is just what happens to guys. 00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:26.160 They get this puberty like superpower, and great, good for you, but don't go thinking that makes you a better person or whatever. 00:18:26.400 --> 00:18:29.119 It's just we're operating in different areas. 00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:30.160 Different context. 00:18:30.480 --> 00:18:30.799 Yeah. 00:18:31.039 --> 00:18:40.319 But I do think that, you know, for my boys, they're growing up in a world, certainly their world, where when they talk about football, sometimes they'll be talking about what's happened in some football match. 00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:44.480 And suddenly I'll realize they're talking about women's football, but they haven't diminished it. 00:18:44.559 --> 00:18:46.960 They haven't talked about it as women's football and football. 00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:48.240 They've talked about it as football. 00:18:48.319 --> 00:18:50.079 And then you find out that they're talking about women. 00:18:50.240 --> 00:18:52.160 And I just think we've come quite a long way. 00:18:52.319 --> 00:18:56.880 We've got so far to go still, but it feels like we have made some progress in that area. 00:18:57.200 --> 00:18:57.759 Definitely. 00:18:57.920 --> 00:19:12.160 And as you say, going back to your earlier point around your boys, any boy being able to actually take that difference and work with it in a positive way, not use it as a fuel to say, I can do better than mum because it's mum. 00:19:12.319 --> 00:19:21.519 But there is also that dynamic, it's mum and the roles that we play because we've been a protector, nurturer, but now we're stepping into our own spaces and doing our own things. 00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:28.160 It's powerful for them to see we can excel and there are no limits for us beyond what they know us as. 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:32.640 And now

that I am, it's like, okay, mum's identity has changed. 00:19:32.880 --> 00:19:38.400 I think when I went to the European indoors in Poland, I took with me my 16-year-old. 00:19:38.559 --> 00:19:53.119 And I think it was an incredible thing to watch him watching women and men, older, you know, 35 plus, and some much older than that, and me in that context, give it their all. 00:19:53.440 --> 00:20:09.279 And for him to watch me out on this incredible stage, this sort of world-class stage where the world indoor championships have just been held, and watch me compete and watch me be on the big screen and walk in and wave and see that I was doing so well and doing it on this stage and putting myself out there. 00:20:09.359 --> 00:20:16.160 And I could see in his face like the pride that he had for me and the esteem that he held me in and what I was doing. 00:20:16.319 --> 00:20:17.039 It was so cool. 00:20:17.279 --> 00:20:22.640 It's always been very important to me that I have an identity that's far beyond. 00:20:22.880 --> 00:20:25.839 It sounds I mean, being a mum is like the most incredible thing. 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:33.039 And I think that sometimes the problem is that you can be hooked in this place as being just a mum. 00:20:33.359 --> 00:20:44.640 You know, this idea of being a stay-at-home mum, which is what I used to be, which can be seen as you've kind of lost, you you are subservient to your children, you are there to support them, they were there to support family. 00:20:44.799 --> 00:20:50.319 And I think being a supporter and a carer and that sort of role is one of the most incredible things that anyone can do. 00:20:50.480 --> 00:20:57.519 But it does mean that if that is the thing that you confine yourself to, that you never get to realize your true potential in whichever area that might be. 00:20:57.680 --> 00:21:10.319 And I've always felt very strongly that I want to see what I'm capable of, physically and otherwise, and that I know that I would resent my children, my husband, anybody who made me feel like I had not been able to do that because of them. 00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:14.640 Now, obviously, having kids means you do have to put yourself second quite a lot of the time. 00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:17.200 But it was my choice, and I knew that that was part of it. 00:21:17.440 --> 00:21:19.200 So that's always a difficult balance. 00:21:19.440 --> 00:21:24.079 But I feel like it's one that I'm proud of, that I give them what they need. 00:21:24.240 --> 00:21:32.640 But actually, part of what they need is for them to see women as being impressive in what they do in their own right, not just as carers and supporters. 00:21:32.799 --> 00:21:40.640 And that for me is part of bringing up a boy or man in this world who genuinely believes that men and women are truly equal. 00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:50.880 And that's a really interesting point because I looked at it and I've been aware of it more from an academic standpoint and capability in the workplace, in life, and not through movement. 00:21:50.960 --> 00:21:59.759 But now that I'm in the movement space, I understand the power of that and showing our children, our boy children especially, what we're capable of. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:00.400 It's complete. 00:22:00.799 --> 00:22:09.279 And it didn't occur to me before, which is what I find a little bit concerning for myself, but it just wasn't on the radar until now, because then you're not balanced. 00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:11.599 You're not giving them a balanced kind of perspective. 00:22:11.839 --> 00:22:12.079 Yeah. 00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:21.680 But we are, we've grown up in a patriarchy and we are ourselves products of that patriarchy, and we uphold the patriarchy even when we don't realise we're doing it a lot of the time. 00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:26.240 And it's very difficult to sort of break that aside and do things a different way. 00:22:26.319 --> 00:22:50.480 I mean, the criticism, because I've spent quite a lot of time putting my life on Instagram, for example, or blog posts, I've seen, I mean, it's less me doing this, but I've seen other women when they talk about going on holiday on their own or, you know, taking time for themselves, the hate that backlash from, well, the daily mailers out there, the people who think that women's place is effectively in the home looking after the kids, they can't cope. 00:22:50.640 --> 00:22:52.240 But so much of it is from women. 00:22:52.480 --> 00:22:58.880 And it's really easy to understand that these are women who are jealous because they feel like they have not fulfilled their potential. 00:22:58.960 --> 00:23:01.359 And they're like, well, if I can't, why should she get to? 00:23:01.519 --> 00:23:06.880 And women in this world, I feel, because we've been told by men that there's no room for women at the table. 00:23:07.039 --> 00:23:14.400 And if there is room for any women at the table, there's probably one space at the important table if we're discussing the important things. 00:23:14.559 --> 00:23:19.359 So women feel that they have to stand on each other and push each other aside to get that one space. 00:23:19.519 --> 00:23:25.279 Whereas what we should be doing is opening up the table and creating more seats there so that we all benefit. 00:23:25.519 --> 00:23:26.880 But it's very hard to do. 00:23:27.039 --> 00:23:45.839 And if you feel that your life has been one where you've had to subjugate yourself to men, to children, and then you see other women getting to swan off somewhere, of course you're gonna feel like hugged on by and you're gonna make that known if you have a certain type of personality and you're feeling particularly bitter and you're having a band day, and the menopauses smacked you over the head. 00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:47.119 So yeah, it's hard. 00:23:47.440 --> 00:24:08.880 Definitely, and then I think that's where again for me, movement is so powerful because where you realize and you

explore what you're capable of and you keep pushing the boundaries, that empowers you in so many different areas of your life that you can potentially consider changing maybe that dynamic that you may not have felt empowered to change before. 00:24:09.279 --> 00:24:19.119 And you know, I've seen it, I've heard it, I've experienced it to an extent just around for myself, in terms of considering what else I could do that nobody told me. 00:24:19.279 --> 00:24:22.720 My husband never told me I couldn't do it, but it just was not a thing I thought of. 00:24:22.799 --> 00:24:24.640 And then suddenly, why don't I? 00:24:24.799 --> 00:24:29.839 I'm wanting to, and that it's a luxury to an extent for some people. 00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:31.359 Yeah, I think it feels like that. 00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:37.119 I mean, it shouldn't be, and I think that this is it, which stops like you're saying nothing is often stopping women from doing these things. 00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:43.119 Like in theory, they could go and join an athletics club or they could go and start doing this hobby or sport, whatever. 00:24:43.279 --> 00:24:54.319 But it's that sense, even I felt, and I feel like I'm doing pretty well at one end of the spectrum of being like, come on, you know, you just live your life, do your thing, you know, sort of trying to be a bit of a pioneer for that sort of thing. 00:24:54.400 --> 00:25:02.319 But even within that, I have hesitated and do hesitate sometimes when I think, oh, is it okay for me to go and compete? 00:25:02.559 --> 00:25:05.359 Take a week, my gosh, but I, you know, took a kid with me. 00:25:05.440 --> 00:25:07.119 But I feel a tiny bit guilty still. 00:25:07.200 --> 00:25:18.160 I do, and it's annoying that I'd feel like that because I shouldn't feel like that, but we're still at that place that I'd feel like, oh, but I'm neglecting my duties. 00:25:18.480 --> 00:25:31.680 But the more I do it, which obviously is a joke, but the more I kind of feel like I'm like, no, you know what, I am gonna go and spend a week in Madeira trying to jump further than other women in my age category, which I'm so completely like, what's the point of that? 00:25:31.920 --> 00:25:37.519 The more you lean into something that grabs you and makes you go, yeah, just keep chasing that thing. 00:25:37.680 --> 00:25:44.240 Leaning into that has so many benefits in so many areas that I hadn't even foreseen. 00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:53.039 And one of them is showing my boys that going after something that you want, whatever it is, but going for it, like giving it your best shot. 00:25:53.200 --> 00:25:56.960 Like we've got a piece of art in our home and it says, Who cares wins? 00:25:57.119 --> 00:26:00.160 It's like a cover of a book instead of who dares win, of course. 00:26:00.319 --> 00:26:04.720 And I for me, that is almost like my life's motto at the moment, at least. 00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:18.559 This idea that caring about something, it's the sort of thing that kids in school would be like, oh, it's so uncool to try, it's so uncool to study, it's so uncool to, you know, but caring about something and just giving it everything you've got. 00:26:18.799 --> 00:26:27.920 And and yet you might not quite manage it, but it says so much about a character, about a person who is willing to throw themselves into something wholeheartedly. 00:26:28.079 --> 00:26:35.680 And I think actually even the term wholeheartedly says a lot about someone having a whole heart, like giving giving it heart. 00:26:35.839 --> 00:26:42.319 And that kind of a person is the kind of person that I gravitate towards, and it's the kind of person that I want my kids to become. 00:26:42.559 --> 00:26:45.200 Like genuinely, I do not mind. 00:26:45.519 --> 00:26:50.799 I mean, give or take the odd thing, that long as it's not illegal and they're being nice to people. 00:26:51.039 --> 00:26:58.720 I don't mind what it is that they decide they want to do in this life as long as they absolutely give it everything they can. 00:26:58.880 --> 00:27:08.319 Because and I also think that that can be a bit of a triple-A because you kind of go, Oh, at some point giving 100% is actually you giving 60% because whatever's going on in your life. 00:27:08.400 --> 00:27:16.559 And so it's it's you also got to make sure your kids don't feel that unless they're completely like always driving and driving, that they are somehow a failure. 00:27:16.640 --> 00:27:17.920 So there's that to be looked at. 00:27:18.480 --> 00:27:25.119 But I do think that generally caring about things and trying to make things work in itself is just a brilliant way to live. 00:27:25.359 --> 00:27:26.160 Yeah, definitely. 00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:36.000 But as you say, it's finding a fine line because it can become all consuming, and that's what I am really aware of because there's a little bit of guilt and I'm working through that. 00:27:36.240 --> 00:27:39.920 But if we are doing what makes us happy, why not? 00:27:40.079 --> 00:27:40.559 Why not? 00:27:40.720 --> 00:27:46.880 Because for me, it's about how we feel, then is permeating throughout the household at the end of the day. 00:27:46.960 --> 00:27:47.759 It's energy. 00:27:47.920 --> 00:27:54.400 Yeah, if I'm happy, I'm gonna move and be happy and do different things in the house than if I'm not. 00:27:54.559 --> 00:28:02.160 Yeah, training gives me that, and I know at the moment I haven't trained for a while, and I'm a little bit low energy, and I can feel that. 00:28:02.720 --> 00:28:14.319 I'm just saying, like because I pulled my calf muscle last week, and I it's mending pretty quickly, but the last week or so I haven't been training, probably haven't been to the track, and it doesn't take long, and I have this slightly sort of antsy feeling. 00:28:14.400 --> 00:28:24.240 I mean, I've done you know a couple of gym sessions and did one this morning, but I feel like there's a slight sense of self that I'm lacking because I'm not

at the track sprinting. 00:28:24.480 --> 00:28:44.720 Like that's so fascinating, and particularly sprinting, I feel like there's something magical about that, and it's something that actually I speak about with my girlfriends quite a lot because I feel like sprinting is a thing that women in their 40s and beyond, it's not something that happens very often, hardly ever. 00:28:44.880 --> 00:28:48.480 Women don't sprint, they run lots of miles, you know, increasingly. 00:28:48.559 --> 00:28:55.759 But I think there's some stats over like marathon running, and the biggest dynamographic to sign up is women in their 20s, whatever is just amazing. 00:28:56.079 --> 00:29:02.880 But I do think that there's been this almost like this huge marketing campaign around running a marathon, which is a very, very long way. 00:29:03.039 --> 00:29:10.640 And actually, for women in their 40s and above, I've seen quite a lot of research that suggests that it's actually not the best idea to be doing loads and loads of cardio. 00:29:10.799 --> 00:29:27.599 What we should be doing is well, the weights, which is a big thing, but sprinting, power, moving your body as fast as it will go, and it feels so liberating, but it takes quite a lot of preparation to get to that point because that's something I've also had to learn is like just standing up and sprinting. 00:29:27.680 --> 00:29:35.440 I mean, some of us have been there with the older school sports day, it's like deciding, like, yeah, I'm just gonna go win that race, and then before you know it, you've like pulled your hamstring. 00:29:35.680 --> 00:29:37.920 Oh, my mum was a cautionary tale on that one once. 00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:40.799 So from then on, she would always do like tissue stretching by the trip. 00:29:41.119 --> 00:29:42.160 The minutes before the race. 00:29:42.319 --> 00:29:48.480 Yes, you can't be seen doing it because you don't want to show that you like really care, but also you don't want to pull your hamstring, but also you really care. 00:29:48.880 --> 00:29:52.960 But I don't know, I just feel like sprinting has become a bit evangelical about it, you know. 00:29:53.119 --> 00:29:56.480 I'm not religious, but I feel like maybe sprinting is my new religion. 00:29:56.720 --> 00:29:58.720 You get some sort of euphoria from it. 00:29:58.799 --> 00:29:59.839 You can fly. 00:30:00.079 --> 00:30:00.400 Yeah. 00:30:00.640 --> 00:30:07.759 So I was just gonna ask, so does that mean that you may be shifting your attention to sprinting a bit more from jumping in the future? 00:30:08.079 --> 00:30:09.839 Oh, there's lots of things I want to do. 00:30:09.920 --> 00:30:12.799 I'm like a kid in a truck and feel candy store. 00:30:12.960 --> 00:30:19.200 I think had I done athletics when I was younger instead of gymnastics, I think I would have been a hept athlete. 00:30:19.519 --> 00:30:26.799 And I think that the multi-events is something that I have a very strong pull towards, partly because as a gymnast, you did four events. 00:30:26.880 --> 00:30:27.519 That's what you do. 00:30:27.599 --> 00:30:29.599 You do lots of different things, and I love that. 00:30:29.839 --> 00:30:37.519 So my coach Joe and I, we talk about me moving into multi-events, maybe as I turn 50, so 48 now. 00:30:37.599 --> 00:30:40.400 Uh because I love the sprinting and really want to do hurdles. 00:30:40.480 --> 00:30:42.400 So hurdles is something I've never done before. 00:30:42.480 --> 00:30:47.200 I've had a couple of goes when we've been training, and I just feel instinctively. 00:30:47.279 --> 00:30:49.519 I mean, my son's an amazing hurdleist, so maybe he gets it from me. 00:30:49.680 --> 00:30:50.960 It's like, well, he's great at Ben. 00:30:51.359 --> 00:30:54.000 Maybe I can be inherited it from my 13-year-old. 00:30:54.240 --> 00:30:55.039 And Brescia. 00:30:56.000 --> 00:30:56.240 I know. 00:30:56.640 --> 00:31:00.720 He's actually just texted me, he just made it through to a national final, so I'm super proud of it. 00:31:01.359 --> 00:31:05.279 But yeah, I just feel like hurdles is it's got enough danger and excitement in it. 00:31:05.440 --> 00:31:07.279 And the idea that there's a starting gun. 00:31:07.359 --> 00:31:09.680 But I'm quite scared of the whole starting gun situation. 00:31:09.759 --> 00:31:14.400 I've run one race, like proper sprint race in my whole life, and that was last year. 00:31:14.559 --> 00:31:21.200 I ran the hundred meters, I didn't know what I was doing, and I forgot everything that I'd been taught, and I just like stood up while I did it. 00:31:21.279 --> 00:31:28.079 But the thing that worries me about sprinting, it's not going to stop me because I think I will start to enter races. 00:31:28.240 --> 00:31:38.880 But the thing that concerns me is I am so competitive that I'm concerned that when that gun goes off, I'll just do anything to try and win. 00:31:39.119 --> 00:31:41.599 And that my body will be just, I don't think so. 00:31:41.759 --> 00:31:49.519 And because the odd times I have called things here and there, a couple of the times have been when I'd been sprinting flat out because people are watching me or trying to beat someone. 00:31:49.599 --> 00:31:53.759 And it's one of the reasons that I pulled back from my initial training of training in a group. 00:31:53.839 --> 00:31:59.680 Um and it's also one of the reasons that I stopped doing military fitness when I'd had kids, because you're all trying to race up a hill is part of it. 00:31:59.839 --> 00:32:02.720 And I just I can't not try and win these things. 00:32:02.880 --> 00:32:18.079 So I feel like I need to work with my own personality, and it's almost like as I get stronger and fitter and I learn my capabilities and I ease myself into sprinting, I do want to do it because I think the thrill of it, the buzz is amazing. 00:32:18.480 --> 00:32:22.079 And then the hurdling and I need to do some more shot putt. 00:32:22.240 --> 00:32:23.680 Not very good at shot

putting. 00:32:24.000 --> 00:32:25.359 It'll come, it'll come. 00:32:25.920 --> 00:32:29.920 So you said you've moved away from training collectively in a group. 00:32:30.160 --> 00:32:31.039 How have you found it? 00:32:31.200 --> 00:32:35.440 Was it a little bit lonely having done group fitness before and then training on your own now? 00:32:35.599 --> 00:32:36.960 Because I'm I'm the reverse. 00:32:37.119 --> 00:32:40.400 I've been, well, yeah, I used to train on my own and now I train collectively. 00:32:40.480 --> 00:32:44.000 And that has given me such a lease of life, shall I say? 00:32:44.319 --> 00:32:45.599 It's it's really an interesting one. 00:32:45.680 --> 00:32:46.559 I think about it quite a lot. 00:32:46.640 --> 00:32:54.960 Because when I started out training with Juno, the coach at Ken AC, it was really good to be in a group with lots of really cool people and it was men and women, different ages. 00:32:55.119 --> 00:32:58.640 I mean, I was the oldest, I really by quite a long way. 00:32:58.960 --> 00:33:00.559 But I would keep up with some of the women. 00:33:00.799 --> 00:33:02.799 I felt good, they were such cool people. 00:33:03.119 --> 00:33:04.400 I enjoyed that. 00:33:04.720 --> 00:33:08.000 But it was funny because I'm also a massive control freak. 00:33:08.160 --> 00:33:15.519 Like I want to do things specifically in the way I want to do them, when I want to do them, to fit around my life and when the kids need me and all that stuff. 00:33:15.839 --> 00:33:23.359 I also felt that I'm more prone to injury than they were because mainly because I was older, but also because I was quite new to it all. 00:33:23.440 --> 00:33:28.319 So I'm still feeling the limitations of my body and working out what works and strengthening bits of me. 00:33:28.480 --> 00:33:35.519 And I felt like what I needed, and that's partly why I started working with Joe, because Joe, a pyre, MBE, cool man. 00:33:35.920 --> 00:33:37.039 You know him very well. 00:33:37.200 --> 00:33:44.720 But he uh he's a master's athlete, he's in his 50s, he's a world, multiple world record holder and hurdles and dumb jump. 00:33:44.960 --> 00:33:52.559 And so I just thought Joe understands what it is to train right now as an older athlete. 00:33:52.720 --> 00:33:57.839 And I felt like he also had an understanding that I'm he doesn't need to worry that I won't push myself. 00:33:58.000 --> 00:34:00.079 I need someone who was gonna almost hold me back. 00:34:00.160 --> 00:34:01.119 And he does it quite often. 00:34:01.200 --> 00:34:02.400 I'll be like, Oh, just do one more jump. 00:34:02.480 --> 00:34:04.240 And he's like, No, no, you're done. 00:34:04.640 --> 00:34:06.480 And that is said at most training sessions. 00:34:06.559 --> 00:34:08.639 He'll be like, No, you're not doing any more of that. 00:34:08.960 --> 00:34:17.599 And it's so useful to me to have that, and it's so useful to me to have the technical training with somebody who understands what they're doing. 00:34:17.760 --> 00:34:22.800 And then I actually like to do my own sprint training and my climate trics and my gym. 00:34:23.440 --> 00:34:26.639 I enjoy the ritual aspect of it. 00:34:26.800 --> 00:34:28.320 I know exactly when I'm gonna go. 00:34:29.280 --> 00:34:34.159 I don't have to wait for anybody to come, or if someone's late, I'm not dependent on that. 00:34:34.320 --> 00:34:43.599 There's enough variables already, I feel like, but I do miss having a group, and I know that Joe wants me to race people. 00:34:43.760 --> 00:34:44.800 Sometimes I do. 00:34:44.960 --> 00:34:49.519 There's a teenage girl that my son also trains with, and he trains with Joe as well. 00:34:49.599 --> 00:34:55.599 And sometimes I'm in the same, I like I'll train with her and I'll be racing her a little bit, and that's always really fun. 00:34:55.920 --> 00:34:58.880 So yeah, that's something that I think will have to evolve over time. 00:34:58.960 --> 00:35:08.000 And assuming I stick with this, I think I will want to move slowly into having a bit of a group for some things. 00:35:08.159 --> 00:35:10.079 But I think I'm feeling my way. 00:35:10.159 --> 00:35:16.719 I feel like I have so much to learn, and I need to take my time learning it my way. 00:35:17.360 --> 00:35:20.960 And the problem is you're in a group, suddenly you're doing it the way of the group. 00:35:21.119 --> 00:35:23.920 And I don't think that that's what I need right now. 00:35:24.079 --> 00:35:34.079 And I think what I've been doing, listening to myself, whenever I've really not listened to myself and I've done something that goes against my gut instinct, I've generally regretted it. 00:35:34.400 --> 00:35:40.719 And now I'm starting to listen to my instinct as to how to train and how to move things forward and who to listen to and what, yeah. 00:35:40.880 --> 00:35:46.079 It's a fascinating process, the building blocks of making your body strong enough to do these things. 00:35:46.159 --> 00:35:54.159 And the next thing that I'm going to be doing, I'm just starting to work with a nutritionist and to learn more about what I put into my body. 00:35:54.559 --> 00:35:58.400 Because I think that that is something that I hadn't really thought of before. 00:35:58.480 --> 00:36:01.920 I mean, I eat reasonably healthily, but I also eat quite a bit of crap. 00:36:02.000 --> 00:36:06.079 And I drink not a load, but more than would be optimal. 00:36:06.320 --> 00:36:24.320 So I'm thinking, right, maybe we need to take things slightly to the next level, especially since coming back from Poland, like being there with these amazing athletes and being like, yes, it's amazing that I'm competing with you and feeling great, but also looking at them and thinking, you're taking this slightly to the next level, some of them. 00:36:24.480 --> 00:36:26.639 And I'm like, do I want to go to that next level? 00:36:26.719 --> 00:36:28.880 And I'm thinking, yeah, I think maybe I do. 00:36:29.119 --> 00:36:35.519

And so if I do, I need to think about things more holistically, which is now the next stage of all of this, I think. 00:36:35.840 --> 00:36:39.440 And you talk about using and listening to your intuition. 00:36:39.679 --> 00:36:41.360 Is that something you think that have you? 00:36:45.039 --> 00:36:53.199 Is that something you think you've honed over the years as you've got older and as you've kind of stepped into midlife, or is that something you've done all your life? 00:36:53.360 --> 00:37:05.360 Only because I personally, through the exercise, have become more attuned to that and definitely reflecting on the benefits of being older, if it make if that makes sense, and how I make my decisions. 00:37:05.679 --> 00:37:14.960 I think by necessity I've had to become more in tune because when your body's older, it's you can't get away with as much. 00:37:15.199 --> 00:37:28.320 But that started back when having kids, coming back from having kids and doing these lum boot camps, I was constantly injuring myself because even if it's a long boot camp and we've got our buggy, I'm gonna try and beat everybody around those trees. 00:37:28.480 --> 00:37:32.320 And I will, but it will quite often come at the cost. 00:37:32.559 --> 00:37:47.199 And so I've been learning those lessons over the last 15 years, and but now because the stakes are raised, and because I'm demanding from my body quite a lot, I'm demanding that it operates at quite a high level and that it runs fast and jumps far and is very springy. 00:37:48.000 --> 00:37:48.880 I have to. 00:37:57.840 --> 00:38:02.800 Although sometimes Joe will be like, no, but you need to do that because you're gonna have to do that next week in the competition. 00:38:02.960 --> 00:38:06.559 So you have to do the hops over the hurdles, whatever, into whatever it is. 00:38:06.880 --> 00:38:25.920 But I think more important than intuition, or maybe equally important, is my physio and understanding the physiology and the science behind my body, which as a gymnast, as a child, even as a you know, into my twenties, I just didn't bother with. 00:38:26.079 --> 00:38:27.280 I just did think. 00:38:27.440 --> 00:38:38.320 I didn't really understand why I was doing this training or what it meant or how because I guess I've been quite lucky in that my body's always pretty much done what I've asked it to do. 00:38:38.400 --> 00:38:44.480 And yes, I gave up gymnastics because my shoulder wasn't playing ball, but it's fine, I could do pretty much anything else. 00:38:44.880 --> 00:38:51.280 So now I feel like I have this amazing physio called Paul, and he, it's like I'm learning. 00:38:51.360 --> 00:39:04.960 Every time I go, my kids and I have started to go, my husband goes, and I'm like, when you go see Paul, you have to be switched on and ready, notebook in hand, and you need to be listening because he's giving you a lesson how your body works and how to look after it. 00:39:05.119 --> 00:39:19.840 So I'm not like previously I might have thought you rock up to a casino and you're like, oh, you'll give me like a nice massage, and then you'll tell me to like do five like these exercises or whatever, and they'll send you away again and say come back in three weeks, or give you some acupuncture. 00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:27.280 I'll be gone and I'll be given a full lesson on the structure and the muscles and how this connects to this and why this means that this, and then if you do that, then this. 00:39:27.599 --> 00:39:32.960 And I feel like I'm really loving the education I'm receiving. 00:39:33.119 --> 00:39:34.719 I didn't even do biology at school. 00:39:34.800 --> 00:39:42.960 I just know so little about all of this because I never worked in sports, you know, other than doing high-level sport as a young child, and then I just went and worked in the media. 00:39:43.119 --> 00:39:50.639 A lot of people who've done such international level sport when they were younger, they maybe were coaching, they were being a physio, you know, whereas I just stopped. 00:39:50.800 --> 00:39:53.519 So it's like now I'm like, let's understand it more. 00:39:53.599 --> 00:40:16.480 And it also means that that knowledge can be applied to my kids and like the fact that I can help them understand how their bodies work, or like at least give them access to someone who can tell them, I think it's like for the rest of my life, now I'm perceiving it as being looking after my body so it can function until I'm the hundred odd, you know, so that I can live the best lie. 00:40:16.639 --> 00:40:30.079 And there's nothing better than watching the master's athletes, you know, in their 80s pole vaulting or sprinting or whatever, or in their 90s, you know, running, you know, cross-country or whatever, and going, now that's what I aspire to. 00:40:30.239 --> 00:40:32.960 And how cool that you could still try and win a medal at that age. 00:40:33.039 --> 00:40:41.280 So I feel like I have much better understanding of what the future holds in a positive way if I stick to this way of life, you know. 00:40:41.840 --> 00:40:44.719 So as we start wrapping up, thank you so much, Emily, for this. 00:40:44.800 --> 00:40:45.679 It's been amazing. 00:40:45.840 --> 00:40:50.960 But as we start wrapping up, can I ask you the question that I ask everybody? 00:40:51.440 --> 00:40:54.719 In a word or two, what does movement mean to you? 00:40:55.280 --> 00:40:58.400 Ooh, that is a good question. 00:41:03.119 --> 00:41:05.599 Oh, it's so hard, I'm not good at a word or two. 00:41:06.559 --> 00:41:10.079 A word that springs to mind is self. 00:41:10.559 --> 00:41:18.079 Because for me, it's such an integral part of my sense of self. 00:41:18.400 --> 00:41:23.039 But of course, your body is yourself, it's the only one you're ever gonna have. 00:41:23.280 --> 00:41:47.760 And as well as it being your sort of vehicle for moving through the world, the connection between your body and your brain and your happiness

and everything like that, for me, it's always been such like I often think like if I was if I was badly injured and something happened and lost a limb, or I couldn't, I'm always drawn to those stories of people who have gone, right? 00:41:47.840 --> 00:41:49.199 Well, this is the body I'm in now. 00:41:49.360 --> 00:41:50.639 Let's see what I can do with it. 00:41:50.800 --> 00:41:52.639 And that resonates really strongly with me. 00:41:52.719 --> 00:41:54.639 It's like, this is the body that I have. 00:41:54.880 --> 00:42:09.440 It might not always look like this, it might not always behave like this, but whatever it is that I have, I'm gonna try and make it see what it's capable of and have fun in the process, you know, because what a cool thing we have that we get to live in. 00:42:09.599 --> 00:42:18.159 Like looking after it and making it springing and jump and somersault and whim, and you know, I just want to use it in as many ways as possible. 00:42:18.400 --> 00:42:24.719 Yeah, I love I love that explanation, and that makes sense and gives so much context and colour to the word. 00:42:25.119 --> 00:42:34.880 So I just want to say before we finish, there is also a thing that you do every year that I think you should share with everybody because that is really quite exciting, and I wish I could do the same. 00:42:35.039 --> 00:42:38.079 What do you do around your birthday every year that keeps you moving? 00:42:38.400 --> 00:42:42.800 Yeah, so every year I do a backflip, the yearly backflip. 00:42:42.960 --> 00:42:47.679 So I need to try and ensure that I can still do a backflip. 00:42:47.760 --> 00:42:52.800 And when I say a backflip, we used to call them jumping backwards onto your hands and then onto your feet again. 00:42:52.880 --> 00:42:54.400 It doesn't have to be without hands. 00:42:54.800 --> 00:42:58.960 When you grew up in the 1990s in the UK as a gymnast, backflipping, you put your hands down. 00:42:59.199 --> 00:43:05.280 But for me, it it's a connection to little Emily, who loved gymnastics so much. 00:43:05.440 --> 00:43:11.920 And I don't want to try and go back and be a gymnast again, and I don't intend to compete or do adult gymnastics classes. 00:43:12.320 --> 00:43:18.320 But there's something in this idea that I can, it's like a thread that connects me to her. 00:43:18.559 --> 00:43:22.159 And it also means that you've got it, it it's a part of the motivation. 00:43:22.239 --> 00:43:26.159 It's like keeping my shoulders strong and keeping my back flexible, all the things that you need to do. 00:43:26.239 --> 00:43:35.920 This is why gymnastics is like the best sport, still the best sport, because it's your whole body and it's making it seeing what it can do in all spheres in 360 degrees. 00:43:36.159 --> 00:43:47.599 So if I can continue to do that backflip every year, I mean, also because I I film it every year and then I put it on Instagram because obviously it's not on Instagram, it didn't happen, but it's kind of a way of documenting it. 00:43:47.679 --> 00:43:55.119 And it'll be interesting to one day, hopefully, to have like these backflips that'll be, you know, 10 years of backflip, 20 years. 00:43:55.360 --> 00:44:02.239 No, I mean, one of these days I'm gonna fall my head and we're gonna have to have like ambulances and stuff, but we'll be filming, so it'll be bit content. 00:44:03.760 --> 00:44:04.719 Thank you, Emily. 00:44:04.880 --> 00:44:07.679 So before we go, where can people find out more about you? 00:44:08.000 --> 00:44:10.320 So I tend to hang out on Instagram. 00:44:10.480 --> 00:44:13.360 My handle is at Pink House Living. 00:44:13.440 --> 00:44:14.800 It's probably the best place to go. 00:44:14.880 --> 00:44:23.039 There's a lot of stuff about my home renovation, but I also put things about my athletics journey and jumping and all that stuff as well. 00:44:23.119 --> 00:44:24.960 So come on over and say hello. 00:44:25.280 --> 00:44:25.840 Brilliant. 00:44:26.000 --> 00:44:27.199 Thank you so much, Emily. 00:44:27.280 --> 00:44:28.719 This has been a great delight. 00:44:28.960 --> 00:44:29.840 Oh, it's been lovely. 00:44:29.920 --> 00:44:30.800 Thanks so much for having me. 00:44:31.119 --> 00:44:31.840 Any time. 00:44:32.960 --> 00:44:34.159 Oh, that was brilliant. 00:44:34.320 --> 00:44:34.800 Thank you.