[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to In Fearless Conversation, a podcast from two-six-one fearless, where every discussion is an opportunity to shape the future. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm your host, Kim Chafee, and together we'll explore any topic that impacts a woman's quality of life, from leadership and personal growth to health and financial security. [SPEAKER_00]: Join me and discover how a fearless conversation can shape the future you deserve. [SPEAKER_00]: Hey, everyone.
[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome back to Infereless Conversation. [SPEAKER_00]: I hope you're all doing well as we make our way into the heat of the summer here in the Northern Hemisphere. [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe wishing for just a smidge of some of that winter weather that our friends and Southern Hemisphere are enjoying right now. [SPEAKER_00]: Just a smidge, not too much.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, one of the things I love most about being part of two six one fearless is the connections that come out of being part of this community. [SPEAKER_00]: There are so many incredible people in the world and [SPEAKER_00]: I get to meet them through this wonderful network. [SPEAKER_00]: It's kind of like a six degrees of separation, kind of thing. [SPEAKER_00]: You know, women and allies that I likely never would have met otherwise.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that community just keeps growing and growing and [SPEAKER_00]: Honestly, I am a better person because of it. [SPEAKER_00]: Each person teaches me something new, opens my eyes to a new perspective, and I'm so grateful for all of it. [SPEAKER_00]: And that includes today's guest on the podcast. [SPEAKER_00]: We have Steph Roach joining us. [SPEAKER_00]: Steph is a fitness coach. [SPEAKER_00]: She's an adaptive athlete. [SPEAKER_00]: She's a cancer survivor.
[SPEAKER_00]: And now she's training for the New York City marathon with two, six, one, this November. [SPEAKER_00]: We are so excited to have her on our team. [SPEAKER_00]: But more than all of that, Steph is someone who brings so much heart and grit and such a powerful sense of purpose to absolutely everything she does. [SPEAKER_00]: You're going to be so inspired by her mindset. [SPEAKER_00]: We talk a lot about mindset today.
[SPEAKER_00]: We talk about what it means to be the first at a lot of things and [SPEAKER_00]: So many fun stories of Steph's career as a coach, her life before she was a coach. [SPEAKER_00]: It's just a great conversation and I'm so grateful that she joined us today and I know that there's going to be so much that you get out of this episode. [SPEAKER_00]: It's a really fun, really great conversation. [SPEAKER_00]: So let's get into it. [SPEAKER_00]: Well, hi back.
[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to Imperialist Conversation. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm so glad that you decided to join me today for this conversation. [SPEAKER_00]: How are you? [SPEAKER_00]: I'm doing good. [SPEAKER_02]: I've already coached a couple classes this morning. [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, Arizona. [SPEAKER_02]: So we're at like only nine thirty in the morning, but okay. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: What what's the temperature there?
[SPEAKER_00]: Because I know it might be nine thirty in the morning, but I'm sure. [SPEAKER_00]: So it's nine thirty in the morning right now. [SPEAKER_02]: It is about a hundred degrees. [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, my goodness. [SPEAKER_02]: Okay, is going to be a hundred and fourteen is what they're saying. [SPEAKER_02]: Well, we keep it. [SPEAKER_02]: We keep getting these like flash warnings and that kind of stuff. [SPEAKER_02]: So [SPEAKER_02]: You know, people always ask like, how do you live here?
[SPEAKER_02]: But honestly, we're just, we're just used to it at this point. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: And is it a dry heat? [SPEAKER_00]: I hear that from people, right? [SPEAKER_00]: Like, Florida is very humid, but Arizona is a dry heat. [SPEAKER_00]: Is that true? [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, dry versus sweaty. [SPEAKER_02]: Just get sweaty, but [SPEAKER_02]: Our house is like the puppy playhouse in a sense.
[SPEAKER_02]: So outside, so like all the neighbors, like we have a lot of space in our home, because we don't necessarily have as much furnished birds ever. [SPEAKER_02]: So yes, we are. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, puppy play day probably today. [SPEAKER_00]: So I love that. [SPEAKER_00]: What do you why that brings? [SPEAKER_00]: Just thinking about what that is like. [SPEAKER_00]: So okay, so let's let's back up. [SPEAKER_00]: Let's start with you kind of our audience that doesn't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself. [SPEAKER_02]: So my name is Steph Roach and I am going to be part of two six one. [SPEAKER_02]: Fearless is race team for the upcoming New York City marathon, which is really exciting. [SPEAKER_02]: My background is a little bit all over the place, but I was born with cerebral palsy. [SPEAKER_02]: I am a wheelchair user as well as someone that uses curches.
[SPEAKER_02]: So we call that a multi functional accessibility device user in many different facets of my life, depending on how I'm feeling or what I need to do and how that task needs to get done. [SPEAKER_02]: I pick the appropriate [SPEAKER_02]: accessibility device and so I'm a multi device user which is super fun.
[SPEAKER_02]: I've been in the fitness space for about thirteen years now as a fitness instructor I started in the CrossFit realm and then have moved more towards functional fitness and working more with the adaptive population. [SPEAKER_02]: In, twenty, twelve, I walked into my first CrossFit class and absolutely fell in love with the idea of just moving your body at high intensity. [SPEAKER_02]: The words high intensity sometimes scare people, but I believe that intensity is relative, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: And so. [SPEAKER_02]: What's high intensity for me might not be high intensity for you or vice versa. [SPEAKER_02]: And so what I loved about the community at the time was that you could do and move however felt best for your body and you were just in a class in an environment that really accepted everyone.
[SPEAKER_02]: From twenty twelve to about twenty fifteen I was heavily involved in creating opportunities for people of the adaptive population to do functional fitness and kind of space in [SPEAKER_02]: competitive prospect and competitive fitness. [SPEAKER_02]: And then in twenty sixteen my life kind of unfolded a little bit and a little bit of a little hiccup in life as I like to say. [SPEAKER_02]: And I was diagnosed with cancer.
[SPEAKER_02]: So took a little bit of a break in twenty sixteen and worked through a cancer diagnosis. [SPEAKER_02]: I'm very grateful to say that I'm almost nine years cancer free, believe it or not, which is amazing. [SPEAKER_02]: to think about. [SPEAKER_02]: But through that time, I just spent a lot of time advocating for myself and for people like me in the fitness space specifically and from twenty sixteen on. [SPEAKER_02]: I stayed heavily involved in CrossFit until about twenty twenty.
[SPEAKER_02]: We actually owned a CrossFit gym in North Carolina. [SPEAKER_02]: And then the pandemic happened and ended up closing the CrossFit gym and opening a virtual functional fitness business. [SPEAKER_02]: And my population was actually about ninety percent able body when I started and during the process of the pandemic, [SPEAKER_02]: And there were so many people at home realizing that it was so hard to get out and move and get transportation to things.
[SPEAKER_02]: So they started realizing more and more adaptive athletes for joining stage driven. [SPEAKER_02]: And now we're probably ninety nine percent adaptive and maybe one [SPEAKER_02]: able body, which is pretty cool, but we run a fully functional business. [SPEAKER_02]: We offer forty five classes a week and it's so amazing. [SPEAKER_02]: Forty five, that's amazing. [SPEAKER_02]: It's so amazing to see what this can do zoom, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: And and you're being [SPEAKER_02]: people from all over the world and just having the opportunity to build a business and understand that, you know, going from a brick and mortar business, which was really challenging, really difficult, and I'm sure we can get kind of into that later. [SPEAKER_02]: But really challenging, really difficult, especially financially, to going to building a virtual business, [SPEAKER_02]: that is like the complete opposite of that.
[SPEAKER_02]: Sure. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_02]: That's just a little bit. [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm sure there are pluses and minuses with each, right, with each kind of in person, brick and mortar and virtual. [SPEAKER_02]: I think I get the best of both worlds now because I do a few classes locally in Arizona and then we'll do like speaking engagements on the road and do some sort of [SPEAKER_02]: training on the road, but then, you know, majority of my time is actually spent in my house.
[SPEAKER_02]: So just reminding myself, it's a kind of get out and as well as is important. [SPEAKER_02]: So I think there's there's plus and pluses and minuses to both. [SPEAKER_02]: I think one of the things I'm most proud of as a business now is that I have a staff of five people that work for me and four out of the five of them have a disability, which are [SPEAKER_02]: I think it's just so cool that like people don't necessarily put the two and two together, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: Like having a disability, having a physical disability and being a fitness instructor or being involved in fitness doesn't always seem like it goes hand in hand in society, right? [SPEAKER_02]: And so you've built a successful business out of this. [SPEAKER_02]: It's pretty cool.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love that you're right because I think you know oftentimes people when when it when it first comes to mind right like someone with a physical disability being a fitness coach you're right that might not be the first thing that comes to mind is those two things coming together. [SPEAKER_00]: by doing what you're doing and employing people that you're employing, that is bringing is kind of changing that narrative because people are seeing that, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: I remember when my husband and I first started dating in twenty-fifteen. [SPEAKER_02]: We met Halloween night of twenty-fifteen on Tinder. [SPEAKER_02]: So if anybody's out there on the apps, trust me. [SPEAKER_02]: If you just stay true to who you are. [SPEAKER_02]: But I met my husband in twenty-fifteen and I remember he was a fireman, paramedic when we first met. [SPEAKER_02]: And a lot of his friends and people he worked with were doing CrossFit.
[SPEAKER_02]: And his running joke to me was, oh, what's a girl on a wheelchair? [SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to teach me about fitness. [SPEAKER_02]: Now he wasn't being rude. [SPEAKER_02]: He was like joking. [SPEAKER_02]: Cause that's right. [SPEAKER_02]: Talk about the perspective, you know, the perspective that he will hide of me. [SPEAKER_02]: And I was like, just give me one class. [SPEAKER_02]: I love it. [SPEAKER_02]: Remember it came into my class for the first time.
[SPEAKER_02]: Obviously, we're freshly newly dating. [SPEAKER_02]: We got one. [SPEAKER_02]: It's like impressive and I remember I had an older gentleman who was in my classes used to come to my five a.m. [SPEAKER_02]: class. [SPEAKER_02]: religiously. [SPEAKER_02]: I think he was probably like in his late sixies, and he used to be a Marine, so he was like, oh boy. [SPEAKER_02]: Hardcore, like into it, this thing was like, I love him so much.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I remember when my husband's name is Ty, I remember when Ty came into the gym, and I made him strip the bar to empty because I'd never seen him move before. [SPEAKER_02]: I taught him like anybody else, right? [SPEAKER_02]: Sure. [SPEAKER_02]: So I made him like strip the bar and he was next to Mike who was like loading his bar. [SPEAKER_02]: And I was like, don't worry. [SPEAKER_02]: Like you don't get there. [SPEAKER_02]: But at the end.
[SPEAKER_02]: we talked about like what he really enjoyed about me as a coach and he always tells people this story like as much as we joke around the beginning one of the things that I take most pride in is being really cognizant of my words right and I might not physically be able to do a deathlift the same way you would do a deathlift or do a burpee the same way you would do a burpee
[SPEAKER_02]: But with my words, I can effectively show you and teach you how to move your body so that you stay safe and you have a good time, right? [SPEAKER_02]: And it always talks about how like that was his first impression of how incredible it was that I might not be able to physically do a movement, but I was able to command the room enough with enough knowledge to be able to have people moving from place to place movement to movement safely.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I thought that was pretty cool, right? [SPEAKER_02]: And I've always take very cool. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: What a cool, what a cool compliment, right? [SPEAKER_00]: Like, I love that he was like, you are an amazing communicator. [SPEAKER_00]: And you can handle them. [SPEAKER_00]: And I mean, [SPEAKER_00]: Wow. [SPEAKER_00]: Can you imagine the snack time because that's a good guy right there. [SPEAKER_00]: That's the compliment again. [SPEAKER_02]: I love it.
[SPEAKER_02]: I always say I got so lucky when I met him because we were dating five months and he helped to find my cancer and save my life. [SPEAKER_02]: And no, really? [SPEAKER_02]: I really tell me more about that. [SPEAKER_02]: Our relationship was super fast tracked in the sense that like the universe had had plans for us, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: So we've been married legally for five years, but we always say we've been married for ten years, basically, because this coming November will be ten years together. [SPEAKER_02]: But we were dating about five months, and he was a fireman permanently, like I said in the beginning, and he had a lot of medical knowledge [SPEAKER_02]: And I remember we were going on a date. [SPEAKER_02]: It was a Saturday night and I'll again like try to impress him like, you know, be all nice.
[SPEAKER_02]: I went to go to use the restroom and I transferred from my wheelchair to the restroom and I screamed really loud. [SPEAKER_02]: Like there was no hiding the fact that it was not cute or not cool. [SPEAKER_02]: And I had this huge lump under my arm. [SPEAKER_02]: And he was like, I don't want to look at that. [SPEAKER_02]: I was like, no, like, you don't have to work. [SPEAKER_02]: Like, it's not, it's not fine. [SPEAKER_02]: It's nothing.
[SPEAKER_02]: And he said, I really want to look at it. [SPEAKER_02]: So I had him look at it and he said to me, he said, babe, muscle doesn't do that and neither does bone. [SPEAKER_02]: And he said, one day, you and I, we are going to the doctor. [SPEAKER_02]: It was never due. [SPEAKER_02]: It was never by yourself. [SPEAKER_02]: It was always weeks.
[SPEAKER_02]: And that was April sixteenth of twenty sixteen and then on April eighteen we found that I not only had a lump under my arm, I had lumps all throughout my body that I didn't know about. [SPEAKER_02]: Wow. [SPEAKER_02]: And so we were [SPEAKER_02]: you know, hoping for the best the fact that like I was going to just have like a random cold. [SPEAKER_02]: It's going to be fine and I was going to take medicine.
[SPEAKER_02]: But within like, I don't know, four or five days, the doctors were like, you need to go see an oncologist. [SPEAKER_02]: And so that kind of fast tractor relationship because we were living in Florida at the time. [SPEAKER_02]: And the oncologist that my family had recommended I go to was in New York. [SPEAKER_02]: And so how do you look somebody that you've been dating and being like, hey, like, you don't have to come with me like I would love you to, but you don't have to.
[SPEAKER_02]: And he picked up this whole life and moved with me in New York. [SPEAKER_02]: I remember the moment I knew that I was gonna marry him. [SPEAKER_02]: I had said to him, like, hey, we'd been a couple weeks in and we were meeting family like that. [SPEAKER_02]: But didn't know, you know, really much about him. [SPEAKER_02]: And I said, you know, I really appreciate you picking up your life and moving with me. [SPEAKER_02]: But you don't have to stay here. [SPEAKER_02]: It's a lot.
[SPEAKER_02]: Like I know that in his response was I didn't pick up my life. [SPEAKER_02]: I just went with it. [SPEAKER_02]: And that like, I was done. [SPEAKER_02]: I was okay. [SPEAKER_02]: You know, wow. [SPEAKER_02]: Oh my God. [SPEAKER_02]: And so I think our relationship, not to just, it's not all sunshine and rainbows. [SPEAKER_02]: I want to be very honest and clear about that.
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, and we still have our cats and we still, you know, get on each other's nerves, but man, let me tell you, [SPEAKER_02]: Like there's no one on this planet that I would want to go through half of the things and I've went through life without him, you know. [SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, it's pretty cool. [SPEAKER_00]: That is pretty cool. [SPEAKER_00]: My goodness. [SPEAKER_00]: Well, and now you're taking on [SPEAKER_00]: reading New York City, Marathon.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: And I know it's got a part in that. [SPEAKER_00]: It means like building building new and new hand cycle. [SPEAKER_00]: And we thought about it. [SPEAKER_02]: And so, okay, we've decided to kind of not do that so much. [SPEAKER_02]: He works on building accessibility equipment, building wheelchairs. [SPEAKER_02]: So I'm super lucky. [SPEAKER_02]: Like this idea to be like, yeah, here's an idea. [SPEAKER_02]: I have a really functional bike that I've used.
[SPEAKER_02]: So a little background on why I'm doing New York City. [SPEAKER_02]: This isn't my first marathon. [SPEAKER_02]: This isn't my first rodeo. [SPEAKER_02]: This will be my first New York, which I'm very excited about. [SPEAKER_02]: But hand cycling was actually what got me into CrossFit. [SPEAKER_02]: So four years before we started doing CrossFit, I was competitively hand cycling with Achilles.
[SPEAKER_02]: And for those that don't know, Achilles International is an amazing organization for specifically adaptive athletes that use hand cycles that are blind runners or adaptive runners and they have an incredible community of people all over the world, which I think is awesome. [SPEAKER_02]: Absolutely. [SPEAKER_02]: But just like anything, it wasn't the organization. [SPEAKER_02]: It was just the physical movement. [SPEAKER_02]: I started getting kind of bored, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: So I was competing and I competed and did great and I loved it and it was wonderful. [SPEAKER_02]: But I really just wanted to get stronger and faster at my marathons. [SPEAKER_02]: And that's really, I mean, into CrossFit. [SPEAKER_02]: So then I've been doing, you know, functional fitness for so long, but I kind of hung up my helmet and was like, I'm retired. [SPEAKER_02]: Like, I don't really want to do it. [SPEAKER_02]: And then I have a very good friend.
[SPEAKER_02]: We have a mutual friend. [SPEAKER_02]: Her name is we have. [SPEAKER_02]: And she just said, hey, like, what do you think about maybe doing this? [SPEAKER_02]: And I was like, what do you mean? [SPEAKER_02]: Maybe do you? [SPEAKER_02]: I think you'd be a really good fit with this organization. [SPEAKER_02]: Why don't you just think about it?
[SPEAKER_02]: And so I looked at the organization and it didn't take me very long to think about it because anything she wants to do is going to be so fun. [SPEAKER_02]: Yes. [SPEAKER_02]: This opportunity and she's like, well, you're going to do New York. [SPEAKER_02]: And I always wanted to do the New York City marathon. [SPEAKER_02]: So the fact that I am going to be doing it alongside friends of mine, meeting new friends. [SPEAKER_02]: And being part of your organization is really cool.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think what a lot of people don't realize is that I'm the first adaptive representation for your team. [SPEAKER_02]: And so there's been a lot of firsts in my life. [SPEAKER_02]: And I'm the world's first CrossFit trainer with a level two certification, a female with cerebral palsy that done a lot of different firsts.
[SPEAKER_02]: And sometimes it can feel like overwhelming in a sense because it's like, kind of a, it's like, [SPEAKER_02]: You have this, this idea that you want to hold yourself to a really high standard. [SPEAKER_02]: And so sometimes it's like, okay, am I done being the first, but then it's like those opportunities allow for the next. [SPEAKER_02]: Right. [SPEAKER_02]: I think that's one of the reasons that I like doing these things is because it shows the next person.
[SPEAKER_02]: or the next little girl, like I, one of my best friends, her daughter is like my tiny little best friend, I color my tiny best. [SPEAKER_02]: Her name is Colby and, you know, it's been amazing to kind of be an example for her and her friend and people come that come after us because it's like, hey, if someone like Steph can do this, maybe I can do it too.
[SPEAKER_02]: And it's not because I'm anything special, but like you and I talked about [SPEAKER_02]: Having that visual, tangible representation, I mean, like, wait, I saw myself in that. [SPEAKER_02]: Does that mean I can do? [SPEAKER_02]: Like, that's my, what I believe is like my purpose in life. [SPEAKER_02]: So while this wasn't necessarily on my twenty twenty five finger card, it's your bonus thing. [SPEAKER_02]: I'm really, really excited about it. [SPEAKER_02]: So it'll be good.
[SPEAKER_00]: Super excited to have you as well. [SPEAKER_00]: Like you said, you're the first adaptive athlete and I certainly hope that you're not our last adaptive athlete because like you said, movement is for everybody and everyone moves in their own way. [SPEAKER_00]: And I just think these conversations and opportunities are so important and [SPEAKER_00]: I do realize like you were saying there's like this responsibility that you feel with being the first of so many different things.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I can only imagine. [SPEAKER_00]: like how too excited that must feel right like rewarding and wonderful and amazing, but also challenging right like so I mean, I I'm listening to your book which I'm so enjoying by the way, I'm almost done I and I'm listening to it on audiobook and you read it and I just it's just so. [SPEAKER_00]: I just keep playing it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I keep trying to find opportunities in my day to be like, okay, I'm going to go, I'm going to go fold the laundry. [SPEAKER_00]: So that's where I can listen to my book. [SPEAKER_00]: You know, so.
[SPEAKER_00]: some of the things you explained in there about like when you were younger and you went to I think it would you were camp and there was this circus opportunity and you saw this trapeze and you were like I'm going to do that like you this whole mindset that you have of just like well that looks cool I want to do that and I mean you went bungee jumping that is [SPEAKER_00]: on my never to do last, by the way, is budget jumping?
[SPEAKER_02]: Let's talk about that part of my brain a little bit and I'll give a little background into those types of stories. [SPEAKER_02]: So people always ask me, like, where did you come from? [SPEAKER_02]: Like, your person, where does it come from? [SPEAKER_02]: Where does all the tallet obnoxious? [SPEAKER_02]: Like, I'm just like, I'm just, I'm just, I'm very forced coming in in what I want. [SPEAKER_02]: And I go after what I want.
[SPEAKER_02]: I remember on our first date, like, I just, I knew that I wanted to be with Ty. [SPEAKER_02]: And I knew that like, that's what I wanted. [SPEAKER_02]: And I went after it. [SPEAKER_02]: And I was like, if he's not going to kiss me on the first date, I'm going to kiss him. [SPEAKER_02]: How about that? [SPEAKER_02]: We always kind of joke about that. [SPEAKER_02]: But like, so for as a little girl, um, it's just always been like inside of me.
[SPEAKER_02]: I remember when I was very, very young like [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know five six years old and we went to like Disney for the first time and I saw someone get in a wheelchair that didn't need one and I saw them get in a wheelchair and try to like push away with it and I went up to the person who was like you don't need that I do and like my mom used to like be like [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, okay, like she's gonna be. [SPEAKER_02]: She might be Joe. [SPEAKER_02]: She might be Joe.
[SPEAKER_02]: Take care of herself. [SPEAKER_02]: Um, and like, I remember people would ask my mom or like family members like, oh, like, well, what's wrong with her? [SPEAKER_02]: And my response would always be nothing's wrong with me. [SPEAKER_02]: What's wrong with you? [SPEAKER_02]: And I was always kind of like, I'm very empathetic and very fine. [SPEAKER_02]: But it always had that like, [SPEAKER_02]: sassy fiery like wanting to advocate for myself type things.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I remember coming home from like first grade, your six year old first grade going in this second grade. [SPEAKER_02]: And my friends were all going to summer camp. [SPEAKER_02]: And so it wasn't really a good question in my brain. [SPEAKER_02]: It was more like, I'm going, right? [SPEAKER_02]: And so coming home to my mom and saying, like, hey, my best friend, Jess is doing this. [SPEAKER_02]: Like, I want to do this too.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think they were a little taken back by like, I wasn't asking. [SPEAKER_02]: I was literally saying, this is what I'm going to do. [SPEAKER_02]: Now granted, I was little and there's probably a lot of logistics that went into the back of that. [SPEAKER_02]: But I ended up going to summer camp. [SPEAKER_02]: I was the first of my four siblings to go and had the best time.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I didn't really ever realize that I was different because I just I just lived with my life right and so always kind of translated to like, okay, if we can't figure this out, we're going to find a different way to do it. [SPEAKER_02]: And so like the [SPEAKER_02]: Moving forward to like the New Zealand thing you were talking about the bungee jumping. [SPEAKER_02]: They actually wouldn't let me bungee jump because bungee jumping you had to like somebody had to push you.
[SPEAKER_02]: So they wouldn't let me do it because I couldn't jump. [SPEAKER_02]: So I was like, okay, well, what am I allowed to do? [SPEAKER_02]: And they were like, oh, well, we have this like swing that you can climb up. [SPEAKER_02]: So I think I climbed up like a hundred and fifty something stairs. [SPEAKER_02]: And you get to the top of it. [SPEAKER_02]: It's called the town post when it was the most gorgeous beautiful thing I've ever done. [SPEAKER_02]: You get to the top.
[SPEAKER_02]: I was scared out of my mind because I'm so scared. [SPEAKER_02]: And that's the top of it and they flip you in and then they press a button and it's like releases you so they allowed me to do that. [SPEAKER_02]: I just find ways around it. [SPEAKER_02]: Like even with this marathon thing, there's going to be things that might come up that we don't foresee right now. [SPEAKER_02]: But you know, when you come next year or your next race, like we just kind of go with the flood, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Right. [SPEAKER_02]: Right. [SPEAKER_02]: I get kind of frustrated when people are like, oh, well, it's not really accessible. [SPEAKER_02]: So I'm not going to go make it accessible. [SPEAKER_02]: like, like, sure. [SPEAKER_02]: You know, I think there's, there's a difference between being rude and being quote unquote entitled, but you are entitled to access, right? [SPEAKER_02]: Accessibility should not be privatized.
[SPEAKER_02]: Accessibility is not something that should just be sheltered. [SPEAKER_02]: I tie and I talk about it all the time. [SPEAKER_02]: It's this idea of like universal accessibility is not hard. [SPEAKER_00]: Like what right why are we making things harder than they have to be you know so yeah absolutely and I and we we talked before too about the whole process behind people like not realizing. [SPEAKER_00]: because they aren't thinking that way, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: But being open to that constructive criticism and willing to be like, well, yeah, of course, oh, I didn't, I'm so sorry. [SPEAKER_00]: I didn't realize this wasn't as accessible as it needs to be. [SPEAKER_00]: How can I fix it? [SPEAKER_00]: How can I do better? [SPEAKER_00]: And I think people are scared to not get it right on the first try. [SPEAKER_00]: And that prevents them from even trying at all.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think this, this is exactly the conversation we need to have because how else do you learn how to do better, right? [SPEAKER_00]: When you know better, you do better. [SPEAKER_02]: It's just certain things that it's okay to literally ask somebody to help you.
[SPEAKER_02]: I I made dinner for us the other night and I texted time and I said hey I haven't dinner ninety nine percent done I just need you to stick it in the oven because our oven is not accessible for me and I'm not about to go hurt myself right and so right at the end of the day there's just certain things that [SPEAKER_02]: you have to just kind of live with and you accept the fact that this is your life, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: And there's a certain level of acceptance that's that's okay, right? [SPEAKER_02]: But this is the only life I've ever known. [SPEAKER_02]: Right? [SPEAKER_02]: So there's many different avenues to the adaptive community. [SPEAKER_02]: And that's something I love about staying driven, which is my virtual business is you're meeting so many people from different backgrounds.
[SPEAKER_02]: But I always say there's a difference between somebody that acquired a disability later on in life and someone was born with it because I don't know anything different. [SPEAKER_02]: Just like you don't know anything different with the color eyes you have. [SPEAKER_02]: You don't know anything different. [SPEAKER_02]: you know, with how, I don't know, do you style your hair or whatever it is? [SPEAKER_02]: Like, how much is that? [SPEAKER_02]: Right?
[SPEAKER_02]: And so I've just been adapting my whole life. [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know anything different other than like, hey, I want to get from point A to point B. Okay, how do I do that the most effective way possible? [SPEAKER_01]: Right. [SPEAKER_02]: And so I also grew up and I'm very able-bodied world.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so I talk about it in my book, but one of the most like embarrassing things that I hate admitting is that I never really associated with very many people with disabilities until later on in life because I just I didn't think I [SPEAKER_02]: was part of that I didn't fit in anywhere I was just making the most of what was around me right and I think the longest time I've shut myself out to incredible opportunities and incredible people because I had this
[SPEAKER_02]: internalized, internalized ableism, which is dumb, right? [SPEAKER_02]: And like you just don't even realize that you do it. [SPEAKER_02]: But the disability community is one of the only marginalized communities people can join at any time in their life at any age. [SPEAKER_02]: At least point, it doesn't matter. [SPEAKER_02]: And so for people to just turn a blind eye to accessibility, [SPEAKER_02]: You and I talked about this the other day.
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean diversity and inclusion is great and one thing. [SPEAKER_02]: But diversity and inclusion are different to accessibility, right? [SPEAKER_02]: Everyone should be cognizant of diversity and inclusion. [SPEAKER_02]: That is so important. [SPEAKER_02]: And I'm not saying that's not. [SPEAKER_02]: But diversity and inclusion are completely separate to getting into a physical space. [SPEAKER_01]: Right. [SPEAKER_01]: Right.
[SPEAKER_02]: And right having access to some way, right? [SPEAKER_02]: Like you and I go on a lunch date together. [SPEAKER_02]: We're so excited to be able to go to an outside restaurant, but they only have high tops. [SPEAKER_02]: Right. [SPEAKER_02]: What do you do with that? [SPEAKER_02]: You know, and like am I sitting where the tables up at my face? [SPEAKER_02]: Like I, you know, and yeah. [SPEAKER_02]: People don't have to think about it so they don't necessarily think about it.
[SPEAKER_02]: Right. [SPEAKER_02]: You know, you and I talk about it. [SPEAKER_02]: I come to the approach is like, I can't get mad at you for not having that experience ever, but then if I'm now in your life and I'm opening those doors in your eyes, I would hope that moving forward. [SPEAKER_02]: You would think about that a little bit more. [SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely. [SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely. [SPEAKER_00]: Sorry, I talked a lot. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm goodness. [SPEAKER_00]: No, talk on.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is like it's selling important and I mean, I'm just so glad we're having this conversation. [SPEAKER_00]: You, your, your mindset and your ability to look at something. [SPEAKER_00]: That is an obstacle and think, okay, how do I get around it? [SPEAKER_00]: How do I get over it? [SPEAKER_00]: How do I get through it? [SPEAKER_00]: Like, that is, I think something, I mean, everyone is struggled with, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Is seeing an obstacle and not letting it get you down, it's such a [SPEAKER_00]: You're so like mentally strong in that way. [SPEAKER_00]: And we can so much. [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I mean, from the outside, I'm just going to say the mental strength is strong with you. [SPEAKER_00]: And I mean, I imagine that that is helpful to you in your marathon training, like, what's how are you doing with your marathon training?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, [SPEAKER_02]: So it's definitely challenging right now in a billion degree. [SPEAKER_02]: Right. [SPEAKER_02]: I found so a couple of things. [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know that everyone will have access to this if they are hands like this, but my local gym has two indoor hand cycles that can be moved.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay. [SPEAKER_02]: So some people don't realize that they can just ask, but I really wanted to take a spin class because I used to be really into flywheel, which was like before Peloton, flywheel was a big come. [SPEAKER_02]: Okay. [SPEAKER_02]: Before Peloton. [SPEAKER_02]: And so I used to take spin classes all the time and I used to physically bring my own bike into the class and then have that set up and it was a whole thing.
[SPEAKER_02]: But then he came out with the cranks cycle, which I love because it's a very light to be able to move around, but you can still have the resistance and still have that feeling of being on the bike. [SPEAKER_02]: So the cranks cycle into the studio and then can take some of the. [SPEAKER_02]: classes they have there or just hop on the Peloton app and Cody and Logan are my two instructors that are used most. [SPEAKER_02]: I love it.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, no, I've just been trying to keep [SPEAKER_02]: You know, as much strength as possible, really upper body strength as well, because for those that don't understand the way that my hand cycle is going to work, it's a three wheel track, but it's upright. [SPEAKER_02]: So it's like I'm sitting in my wheelchair and then propelling with my arms forward. [SPEAKER_02]: My legs really, they'll do a lot of work because I have spastic CP.
[SPEAKER_02]: So as I'm pushing forward, my legs are constantly wanting to kick out in front of me. [SPEAKER_02]: And so with them being strapped down, there's going to be a lot of pressure on my legs. [SPEAKER_02]: My hope is that I can go under four hours. [SPEAKER_02]: That's my goal, but who knows?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's such an amazing race that, like, I mean, I know a lot of times when people run these big races, they have times and think of like that, but there's so much happening, like the entire way that I almost want to say. [SPEAKER_00]: wanted to be over too quickly. [SPEAKER_00]: And you want to you want to take it all in as you go.
[SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, I'm born in bread New York, like originally from Long Island and then lived in the city for the eight months while I did chemo and like it's going to be a different experience because there, you know, you just are in the element with [SPEAKER_02]: thousands and thousands of people but like no cars. [SPEAKER_02]: No. [SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's it's it's a one not a once in a lifetime because a lot of people do it more than once, but it certainly is, you know, one to kind of check off a bucket list. [SPEAKER_00]: It's a bunch of this item for sure. [SPEAKER_00]: So okay, I'm looking at time and I want to be mindful of yours. [SPEAKER_00]: And we're starting a new kind of way to end our podcast with the fearless vibe.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm going to ask you it kind of like rapid fire, but doesn't have to be like one word answers just with little bits here. [SPEAKER_00]: Whatever comes to mind when when I ask you these questions, okay? [SPEAKER_00]: So the first one is, what is the word fearless mean to you? [SPEAKER_01]: word fearless. [SPEAKER_02]: It means getting out of your own way. [SPEAKER_02]: And that's sometimes we can get so trapped in our own head that we become so guarded.
[SPEAKER_02]: But when you're fearless and you get out of your own way and you're trying new things, you're going to experience either people or an opportunity that you might have not experienced if you've gotten a lot of growing way. [SPEAKER_00]: amazing, absolutely amazing. [SPEAKER_00]: I love that so much. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, too. [SPEAKER_00]: Can you tell us about a moment when you surprised yourself? [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, recently. [SPEAKER_02]: So I started getting into hierarchs racing.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, yes. [SPEAKER_02]: My scene there, hierarchs is like, if CrossFit and Marathon had a baby. [SPEAKER_02]: I did the hierarchs in Houston and the modifications are fully set yet for the full adaptive experience. [SPEAKER_02]: But I wanted to complete the race as it was written to stay on the leaderboard and I did and the race took me almost seven hours. [SPEAKER_02]: And I never once felt sick. [SPEAKER_02]: I never once felt dizzy.
[SPEAKER_02]: So I was like, oh, I'm going to just keep going. [SPEAKER_02]: But then didn't realize how much my body and my mind were mentally going through as I was literally the last person to finish. [SPEAKER_02]: So I was really proud of [SPEAKER_02]: How much carried me through that. [SPEAKER_02]: And I highly wouldn't, I highly recommend not doing what I did because I don't think it was necessarily the safest option.
[SPEAKER_02]: But they taught me that, you know, you have those moments where you realize you're way stronger than you think yes. [SPEAKER_00]: Yes. [SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely. [SPEAKER_00]: Wow, that's amazing. [SPEAKER_00]: Congratulations. [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you. [SPEAKER_00]: What's a message that you would share with your younger self, or maybe another woman who's starting out on their journey towards fitness as an adaptive athlete? [SPEAKER_02]: So, I'll do both.
[SPEAKER_02]: The first part is a little heavier, but there was a point in my life where I wasn't sure that I wanted to still be here. [SPEAKER_02]: And it was a point in my life where I kind of wanted to just go to sleep. [SPEAKER_02]: And I'm really glad that I didn't because fifteen, sixteen years later, I'm living a life that she would have never believed.
[SPEAKER_02]: Right, and so like I think everyone has issues, I say everyone, but a lot of people have those moments where they're stuck in such darkness, what they feel like they cannot get out or that it's never going to end, but the cliche of like, just keep going, it's going to get better. [SPEAKER_02]: It does get better, you know, when you put in the work.
[SPEAKER_02]: So whether it's talking to a professional or putting yourself out there and trying new things like my life is endlessly better because I made really hard decisions. [SPEAKER_02]: And I chose hardest thing was to keep going. [SPEAKER_02]: So that's like the first piece.
[SPEAKER_02]: And the second piece, if there's a younger version of staff and there's this little girl or a little boy or however they want to identify, just knows that the world is full of so many more opportunities and technology is a beautiful thing. [SPEAKER_02]: And that if you're an adaptive athlete no matter its CP or it's something completely different, news technology to your advantage.
[SPEAKER_02]: These were things that like it sounds so weird to say like all we didn't have back in the day. [SPEAKER_02]: But like we didn't right and we didn't have as much information as much medical knowledge. [SPEAKER_02]: So like if you come across. [SPEAKER_02]: you know someone that's recently diagnosed with a physical disability or you are someone who is recently diagnosed or have a child.
[SPEAKER_02]: Don't be scared of it because I think that's people's like initial reaction is like, oh my god, their life is over, but their reality is like once they learn to fully accept [SPEAKER_02]: who they are and like where they are at right now. [SPEAKER_02]: Their life is so beautiful and going to be full of so many incredible things.
[SPEAKER_02]: So just, you know, it's having a physical disability is not a death sentence and I think that's something that's so important for just society to realize. [SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely. [SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, what's one habit or ritual that helps you feel strong, grounded or joyful? [SPEAKER_02]: One have it. [SPEAKER_02]: I love music. [SPEAKER_02]: I listen to all different types of music.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm not just like one genre, but I just love like good like pump up music or just something that keeps you excited and I use a lot of the fit radio stuff that's love for fit radio. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, there we go. [SPEAKER_00]: I love it. [SPEAKER_00]: So, okay, and last one is what's something that made you laugh recently? [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, this morning, I was doing, I teach all women's class, and I do a meditation with them at the end of all of our classes.
[SPEAKER_02]: And my puppy hexy was doing her own meditation, and she was like, hang on her back, and she was like, she was able to like capture her doing it along with us, which was fun. [SPEAKER_02]: I love it. [SPEAKER_02]: I love it. [SPEAKER_02]: I love it. [SPEAKER_00]: the time just flew by what a fabulous conversation that was. [SPEAKER_00]: I absolutely loved getting to chat with Steph and I hope her story lit something up in you too.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you want to follow along on her New York City marathon journey, definitely check out her Instagram. [SPEAKER_00]: I'll link to her Instagram page in the show notes. [SPEAKER_00]: She's doing big, bold things and she's bringing all of us along for the ride. [SPEAKER_00]: Also in the show notes, find out how you can support her and our other inspiring charity athletes on their New York City marathon journeys as well. [SPEAKER_00]: The links for those will be in the show notes.
[SPEAKER_00]: If this conversation is leaving you wanting to hear more about Steph's journey, then I highly, highly recommend grabbing her book, Driven, how adversity helped me find my greatest potential. [SPEAKER_00]: It also is available in audiobook, and I also highly recommend you listen to the book that way. [SPEAKER_00]: It's honest, it's powerful, it's full of the kind of truth that just stays with you.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'll leave you today with a call back to Steph's response to our first fearless five question, which was, what does the word fearless mean to you? [SPEAKER_00]: She said, sometimes we can get so trapped in our own head that we become so guarded. [SPEAKER_00]: But when you're fearless and you get out of your own way and you try new things, [SPEAKER_00]: You're going to experience other people or an opportunity that you might not have experienced before.
[SPEAKER_00]: So my question to you is what new experience will you have today? [SPEAKER_00]: Be fearless and see where it takes you. [SPEAKER_00]: All right, that's it for now. [SPEAKER_00]: Be well, stay fearless and we'll catch you in the next one.