Finding the Fastest Path with USA Climber Emma Hunt | Episode 36

*This Transcript is Autogenerated*

Emma Hunt  0:01  
I started climbing when I was five years old with my family. My dad tried like a portable wall at a mall, and just loved it. And he found a gym near our house and we just started going all together. And so my whole immediate family climbs and it was just like family hobby.

Kristi Wagner  0:20  
Welcome to the other three years, a show for anyone who has an Olympic sized dream they want to turn into a reality. Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of the other three years podcast this week is a really fun episode, I have guest Emma hunt. And Emma is a professional climber. And she specializes in speed climbing, and actually qualified for the upcoming Paris Olympics by placing second at the 2023 World Championships earlier this year. She also just came in second at the Pan Am Games, she's just crushing it left and right. And it was super fun to connect with Emma and learn all about climbing and specifically what she does sprint climbing, which she will tell you all about in the episode, but it's really interestingly always raised on the exact same wall. So she can practice it like every day, which she does, or not every day, but you'll hear about it in the episode, Emma and I compared and contrasted our sports and she just shared a lot about her own journey and her own other three years is a super fun conversation. And she's a rock star just still pretty young and new in her in her journey, but still already so accomplished. And yeah, it was really awesome to have her on. Before we get into that though, I wanted to share an update on what's currently going on in my training. I am in Sarasota, Florida. Still for this week, it is the week before Christmas and the holiday week. So it was windy all of last week. But we did get out for some good rows. And sometimes it's good to row in the wind. And I think just trying to use everything to your advantage as much as possible. Obviously, it would be great if the water was dead flat all the time. But that's just not really any reality. And I think I'm just trying to use like okay, the windy days are a good advantage. Being able to row in that kind of weather is good. And also if you know we're forced onto the onto land for a day like that's a that's an advantage to getting in some good land training is also good. This week is a big testing week for all of us rowing kind of all across the country, everyone's doing some ERG testing. So we've got quite the docket lined up for the week, we have a 2k and to six gay so and I think a one minute test. So a lot of ERG testing. And, you know, obviously, I'm a little nervous the nerves and the kind of little bit of anxiety before tests never go away. But I know that I've been doing good training and I feel pretty confident in what I've done and in my body of work so far. So I am excited to let it rip, you know, but just trying to prioritize everything a little more this week, like a little more sleep a little healthier food a little more stretching all that stuff, because it matters. But I think the other thing that I can feel good about going into test pieces, and I I feel like you don't have to do anything crazy. Like you just have to go and trust your training and trust yourself. And I think that the other thing I've learned is like, it's gonna hurt. So not trying to pretend that it's not gonna hurt because it is gonna hurt. And it's, you're gonna want it to be over. But I think just trying to sit in the sock a little bit is like, sort of my new secret for ERG testing. Like, I think I used to try to think that it wouldn't hurt. But now I know that it's going to and so just sort of approaching it as this is an opportunity to test my fitness and see what I can do. And it's not a scary thing. It's an exciting thing. And you know, I'm excited but obviously a little bit nervous. The other thing is like you got to pick something fun to be on the other side. And that's really easy this this week because it's Christmas and it's going home for Christmas. So it's kind of like you get through all the drug testing and all this stuff and then you get to go home for Christmas. where I get to go home for Christmas and that'll be really fun. And I'm so I'm flying back to Boston on Saturday evening and then Sunday is Christmas Eve and Monday's Christmas day and then my family has my brother's wedding on New Year's Eve so I will be in Boston for the whole holiday week and I'll get to see like so many friends and family Because everyone's coming into town for the wedding, I'm really excited to celebrate my brother and his fiance. And I can definitely talk about this more next week when it's actually wedding week. But I feel very lucky that they're bringing our whole community in, and I get to see everybody as well. It's really fun for for them, obviously. But for me, also, I took a whole rest day yesterday, which is kind of rare for me. But I figured we got a big week of needing to go really fast. So it's probably a good thing. watched the Patriots played the chiefs, which started out very exciting, seemed like they were going to be in the game. But the second half was not the same story, they did lose. And I didn't even get to go and get to try to meet Taylor Swift. So really, I don't know, it was just sort of a just sort of a flop. But I really hope everyone has a great Christmas, I think Christmas is such a nice holiday. I really do love it. I I think that it's just there's like a lot of magic involved. And I really appreciate that. And so I think it's a good reminder to just let the magic happen and enjoy being with friends and family and loved ones. And it's crazy that it's already Christmas again, this year has been weird, and fast and slow and a lot of things. But I think that it's important to just, you know, enjoy the time we have with those that we have it with. So I hope that everyone gets to do that. So now it is time for my conversation with USA climbing star Emma hunt. I'm so excited to talk to you. I like did a hilarious internet deep dive on you yesterday. So I apologize for like terms that I use that are the wrong terms. No, you're

Emma Hunt  6:49  
gonna be totally fine. I'm sorry if you saw any, like old embarrassing pictures of me. No,

Kristi Wagner  6:53  
no, no, you're you're great on the internet. But would you call it speed climbing? Like, is that what you would say your sport is okay.

Emma Hunt  7:02  
So my discipline is speed climbing. And then like Olympic term, it's called like, um, big umbrella is sport climbing, sport

Kristi Wagner  7:10  
climbing, okay, and what is under the sport climbing umbrella.

Emma Hunt  7:16  
There's technically three to print disciplines. But in the Olympics, there's only two, they combined two of them. So there's Boulder and lead, which is like totally compliant combined discipline. And then there's speed climbing, which is its own discipline. And then in Tokyo, they had all three combined. How has it sort of changed, like the sport in that

Kristi Wagner  7:40  
they've brought in like these Olympic events? Because even those were new in Tokyo, right?

Emma Hunt  7:49  
Yeah, it's changed a lot. Just like the even just the gym like training, like so many more people know about it, and like come in and like, I guess just like watch me train. Because really like, yeah, it's just like, I think the numbers are like bigger, but just like the environment of competing has definitely changed. Like it got, I think, way more serious and like, competitive. But it's been cool after Tokyo going into Paris with speed climbing, being taken out and having its own discipline, because it's just so different from Boulder and lead. It's nice to see like special lists come out of it. And it's big.

Kristi Wagner  8:31  
They seem pretty different. Like you'd need different skills to do all three. So how did you specifically get into climbing,

Emma Hunt  8:39  
I started climbing when I was five years old with my family. My dad tried like a portable wall at a mall. And just it and he found a gym near our house. And we just started going all together. And so my whole immediate family climbs and it was just like family hobby. And then when I was eight, we found the competitive side and like coach and it just kind of took off from there. But I only did bouldering then and then when I was like, honestly like 1011 I started doing lead like top rope. And then when I was 1213 when I joined a Stone Summit team, I started to be climbing. Wow,

Kristi Wagner  9:21  
how much were you pushing the like, I want to do this in a more competitive environment. I really liked this. Yeah,

Emma Hunt  9:30  
so we it was just kind of like our whole family thing. We would always come together and then we train and then just everyone will go to the comps and I just I loved it so much and like I kept on wanting to do it and then just like kind of kept on adding a discipline for a little while. And then when I was on stone CEMET Steve team, I did all three disciplines. And I did I competed in all three disciplines until I say like 2020 2021

Kristi Wagner  9:59  
Yeah And that's why you became mostly spring feed but separate.

Emma Hunt  10:03  
I went old speed.

Kristi Wagner  10:06  
Do you ever climb outside? Yes. I love it. I don't know I've I've like seen all the documentaries. You know? I'm a very I'm novice. I don't know anything. I feel like it's so cool to have. Like, I think rowing is kind of like this, like a sport that you're doing really competitively. But is this really cool recreational activity for so many people? And I think it's cool that there's like crossover. And I feel like your sport is like so much that way. Yeah.

Emma Hunt  10:36  
And so, like outdoor climbing, it's definitely better in like the colder weather. So they kind of I think the trend right now is to go train in gyms over summers, and then you would go climb outdoors, and you set what we call like projects. And it's a climb that you want to send. And you might have to go like a couple days, couple sessions and put in just work on it. And I think that's kind of like my roots is like outdoor climbing training to be good. And then it kind of phased into climbing. And so like just going outside on Thanksgiving, we went outdoor climbing with my family. That was our, like holiday family. That's

Kristi Wagner  11:15  
so fun. What's the what's your favorite place? You've gone outdoor climbing?

Emma Hunt  11:19  
Um, I think I'm very fast like my home crag, which is like what we call like the boulder fields. It's stone for it's in Chattanooga. It's on a golf course. Funny enough.

Kristi Wagner  11:30  
Yeah, I feel like climbing is a sport. Like, I mean, I obviously know, it's like, been around for a long time. But I really feel like it's become way more popular. Like in the past, I don't even know. 510 years, like, Do you think that's true? Or it's so

Emma Hunt  11:46  
true? Because I feel like when I was little as explaining like, oh, yeah, I rock climb, like, or I had to tell my teachers, I'm going to a climbing comp. They're like, what's that? Are you doing? And now people are like, Oh my gosh, you rock climb. That's so cool. They kind of understand what it is now, which is very nice when I have to explain what I do.

Kristi Wagner  12:03  
Yeah, no, that's awesome. What do you think, led to that? Do you? Do you know? Or?

Emma Hunt  12:09  
Um, I think probably a couple random. Stand up. I don't know if you've heard of the movie free solo. Oh, yes. Yes. Yeah, like free solo. And just a couple other like standout athletes. I don't know. If you know who by Janya. Barbara is. She's a gold medalist for Tokyo. And she is just dominating the bouldering lead field. And so I think like athletes like her, and what like free solo has done is really like opening up the climbing community.

Kristi Wagner  12:43  
Yeah. That's so cool. And now you, you're doing it?

Emma Hunt  12:50  
Easiest to watch. So I

Kristi Wagner  12:52  
read online, but you can I'm sure can tell everyone better than I can. So it's the same wall that you climb, like anywhere. Right? Yeah. And what's it called? The path you take up? Like the beta, the beta? Yeah. So is everybody's beta is different? Or like you plan your beta? Or is it? Oh, yeah. Okay. So

Emma Hunt  13:16  
they can be exactly the same. They can be 100% unique. It's just kind of based on like you and your strengths. So like, I'm a taller climber for the woman. And so my moves are bigger than most of the other women's, because they can fit in like a box that I can't fit into scrunch up and I just like, kind of spill out of it. So like making the beta to your specifics is important.

Kristi Wagner  13:46  
So how often would you say like, do you have you changed your beta? Do you ever change it? Would you be like, Oh, I really want to learn this new like skill? I don't know. Or is that a thing? Yeah, kinda. Yeah. So

Emma Hunt  14:00  
every I feel like, especially in the last couple years, everybody's been trying new beta just trying to find the new fastest way to get to the top. And then before Tokyo Olympics, there's this climber Timon Osaki, he made like a huge game changer, beta, and like, skipped the hold. And that's become like most everybody's standard star. And so you can like see pockets of people trending towards certain betas. And then the men have just been finding, like new, explosive, powerful ways to, like skip polls and go in more of a straight line, which I think is always so cool. It's

Kristi Wagner  14:40  
so interesting. So like, how often do you climb on that wall?

Emma Hunt  14:44  
Like at least four days a week?

Kristi Wagner  14:46  
How often do you say you try to like go up as fast as possible, like four days a week or no?

Emma Hunt  14:52  
Trying to do as many laps as they can? Or? Some days it's when it's just bad like you're just trying I didn't make it to the top. And it depends on like way I'm in a training cycle, what I'm trying to do, and like we do different training stuff, and everybody has their own training methods, but like adding a weight vest and doing a lap, or like doing a lap hitting the ground and going right again, is like more endurance. So it's just kind of where you are in a training cycle and what your goals are.

Kristi Wagner  15:24  
So what is like your typical training, like what is like a typical training week, or like a typical training day like look like for you, like how much time is like in the gym versus like, I don't know, maybe like cross training or that kind of thing I've been

Emma Hunt  15:40  
doing right now it's around two hours of like, just speed climbing. And

Kristi Wagner  15:45  
then for a seven second, right, that's just like my sport. We're like, so much training for like, a really short race, but it's much more than seven seconds. Sorry, I

Emma Hunt  15:55  
cut you off there. No, like, very relatable. Like you do all this work for like a short race. And you're like, wow, it's already over. Yeah, but around like two hours for like, just speed climbing. And then maybe, I don't know, it depends on how focused I am, like 30 minutes to warm up. And then, depending on the day, I might finish out with like a little workout, or I might save a big workout for a non climbing day.

Kristi Wagner  16:24  
That makes sense. And are you like, do you train with a team? Or do you just have like a coach? Like, how does that? Yeah,

Emma Hunt  16:34  
so I'm just by myself right now. And I have my coach here. He like works as the US national team coach every now and then. And he is the youth national team coach. He works with the youth team here. And so that's the theme I was on. So I just stayed here and trained with him. But the US team is based in Salt Lake City, because you're still in school, right? Yes, but I'm online. Okay. Okay. Yeah, I

Kristi Wagner  17:00  
was gonna ask about the how balancing that was going,

Emma Hunt  17:03  
you know, slowly chipping away at it.

Kristi Wagner  17:06  
I think that people like that's like something I've really been trying, or like, I think is really cool about the podcast is I don't think people realize, like, in sports that aren't seen all the time. I feel like people think that you're just like, or we're just sort of like regular people. And then every four years like, go to the Olympics and like, perform. And it's like, well, no, you have to do all this work and prep and stuff to like, get there. And yeah, it takes so long. Like all of the workouts and all the stuff and it takes for like your day is just like taken up by it. You know,

Emma Hunt  17:40  
why aren't you taking more classes, like, all you do is climb and I was like, but there's actually more to like, just climb. I have to go do workouts or I have to plan, like make my training plan for the week or make training plans to go to Salt Lake like there's always something I have to do. And they're like, Are you only taking one class?

Kristi Wagner  18:01  
Yeah, I'm actually qualifying for the Olympics. I'm not just sitting watching Netflix all the time. So how often would you say do you compete,

Emma Hunt  18:08  
it's changed a lot for me like year to year, like sometimes I think last year, it might have been like at least six World Cups, which is like the most I'd done then is just kind of sprinkle in like USA climbing comps, every now and then it gets so complicated when you factor in like world ranking and stuff. Because with USA climbing, if you make top 10 world ranking, then you automatically get an invite from IFSC. So then for the next World Cup season, so you're automatically on like US team, okay. And then it gets complicated, like oh, if you're on US team, you don't have to go compete at Team Drives. So then that's like eliminating comp, but you could go to team trials if you wanted and it gets like a lot of different versions of like, how you can compete. So right now for me, it's mostly just World Cups, and then I'll go do a national event if I like, feel like I need a comp. Okay,

Kristi Wagner  19:09  
and do you just work with sort of your coach on that? Like how much influence does like USA climbing have on what you're doing? Like for you to be a member of like the national team or whatever? Are there certain things that you have to do throughout the year? Or is it more like on an individual person basis?

Emma Hunt  19:28  
It's definitely on like individual bases like USA climbing will give me like their advice on like, hey, like we think this comp is important or you might want to go not go to this comp or something but it like ultimately comes down to me and what I need to do like training and training cycles. But for a while it looked like maybe like end of April beginning of May is when World Cups would start and then they would end like September October and it was kind of like one comp a month or they would Like an apparel mob do like back to back weekends. And so then it would like skip a month its speed is also kind of dragged out the longest. Oh, really? Yeah. So they would do bouldering season kind of starts in April and ends June, and then lead picks up after that. And speed goes throughout the whole time. It's kind of just added on to Boulder and LEED World Cups. And so we have like, the longest season, so it's hard to keep track of,

Kristi Wagner  20:28  
it's also just like, so awesome. But you've already qualified for the Olympics. Did you think that that was I mean, I'm sure that was like your goal, right? In going into last year. But how has it been like having a whole year to prepare for the Olympics?

Emma Hunt  20:45  
It's very nice and a little daunting, because I never, because I've never had like a year for like, a training plan. I like sat down. I was like, What do I do with a year, but it's like, also so nice, like, oh, I have a year. Like as soon as I qualified, I took a week off, like no speed climbing. I hadn't done that. And like, maybe two or three years. No,

Kristi Wagner  21:08  
I think that brakes are really important, actually. Especially when you are doing so much sports specific training. And like

Emma Hunt  21:16  
speed is so much muscle memory that I'm like, so strict about like, oh, I don't want to take more than like three days off from speed. Because I feel like I get rusty and I go down a whole like spiral. But taking more than three days off. I was like, Well, I think my body really needed that and kind of my brain.

Kristi Wagner  21:35  
I was gonna ask you about the like, sort of mental side of it. How much of it? Do you do do like, I don't know if it's okay to ask, do you do like mental training? Like, do you like see like a sports Psych and all that stuff? Because I feel like, it must be really important.

Emma Hunt  21:50  
Yeah, for sure when I need it. And like it's kind of like track in like out racing. So it's just very, like, the whole thing is totally mental all the time.

Kristi Wagner  22:00  
What would you say have been kind of your, like, biggest improvements that you've kind of made? Or would you say it's just been like incremental gains, like, has there been anything where you were like, I decided to, like approach things in this way. And then like I made, you know, whatever big jumps and like big improvements in in my climbing, I guess the most like notable

Emma Hunt  22:21  
ones are just like when I changed beta is cool to speed, you can see like an actual improvement because at times, it's like bolder and lead, you can't always see improvement, because the routes are constantly changing. Like you're never gonna get the same thing again. But speed you can actually see like, oh, wow, I ran eights one year, and now I'm in mo sevens. Or just like you can see like big jumps. And it's I think those are like the times and I'm like, Wow, I'm actually improving. It's cool.

Kristi Wagner  22:48  
Yeah. It's such a cool sport. Does it ever get boring to be doing the same? Climb? Like, all the time?

Emma Hunt  22:58  
Oh, yeah. Some days I just like go into the training. And I'm like, Okay, I don't want to do this. Because like, the gym, like has everything it has speed, lead and bouldering. So like, I like rest a good amount to like three to six minutes on the ground. So I just kind of like look around. I'm like, I want to go try that claim. Like it looks so fun. So it does get a little boring sometimes. But I think usually it's pretty engaging because I always have something to work on.

Kristi Wagner  23:27  
Do you ever listen to like music or anything? Or do you just you're just like, oh, you okay?

Emma Hunt  23:32  
I'm a big music like headphones. Like, climber, like some people are very just like focusing in the moment and I'm just like, have my headphones in singing I don't even care if people

Kristi Wagner  23:47  
know totally. Do you have any, like, favorite, favorite songs that you always listen to? Like for competition?

Emma Hunt  23:53  
I do. But I keep those very close. No,

Kristi Wagner  23:57  
I understand. I understand. It is so funny though. Like, it's so individual what people are like listening to in their headphones. I don't know. I think it's like, I think it'd be hilarious if like, you're at a competition I'm sure it's true for like every sport and just to go around and like be able to hear what everybody's listening to because it's never what you think it's gonna be. I feel like doesn't fit the like vibe of the person what they're actually listening to.

Emma Hunt  24:24  
Definitely, and like I've been doing like music calm since I was like eight and so I just created one long playlist. So like every now and then I'll like make like oh I want like this playlist for this comp but I have like a huge playlist and like has like High School Musical on it. It's never what you expect people like oh, she must be listening to like, some like hardcore music and I'm like, I don't know there's like High School Musical. I don't know what you want me to say. Yeah,

Kristi Wagner  24:56  
no, no, that's totally what I mean. Like, if you like a song and it's like Bobby then you're like, I gotta listen to it. I don't know. Like, I don't care if it's embarrassing.

Emma Hunt  25:05  
It's me. There's no reason but

Kristi Wagner  25:09  
yeah, exactly. What would you say is like, I don't know, like, if you were to give advice to somebody that's like in climbing or outside of climbing and just like wants to kind of like, make the jump to the next level, I

Emma Hunt  25:24  
guess consistency with like, training, like just putting in the time. And even if it's stuck, like sucks, and you don't want to do it just still go do it.

Kristi Wagner  25:35  
Yeah, that's good advice. And that's actually I think, how you go to the Olympics.

Emma Hunt  25:40  
Yeah. Motivation can come and go, but like dedication. That's where it's at.

Kristi Wagner  25:47  
What are you most looking forward to at the Olympics besides competing?

Emma Hunt  25:51  
I think seeing everybody. Hard to be like, Oh, my God, that's Katie Lee Dickey, like, Oh my God. Yeah, just like the athlete village experience. And I kind of already did that, like Pan Am's games, though. I feel like that was a good warm up to like, okay, like, keep it cool. Don't just be like, Oh, my God.

Kristi Wagner  26:11  
Oh, I think you I think you can be like, Oh my God. I don't know.

Emma Hunt  26:17  
I feel I'll definitely be like, like, oh, my god that was just miles in the like, rounded corner and freak out. But I don't want to like

Kristi Wagner  26:25  
do it and their face. Yeah. Yeah, and the really big celebrities, like don't actually live in the village. So Oh, at least in Japan, they didn't like the gymnastics team and the like soccer team and the basketball people like they all lived in hotels, I think like none of them were in the village. But like the swimmers and like track and field and like volleyball. I don't know, there were a lot of people. I definitely had a lot of them. I was like, Oh my God. But um, yeah, no, it's definitely cool. And like from other countries, too, I don't know. It's just, it's just so cool to athletes come and like so many different shapes and sizes. And you know, but everyone's like the best at what they do. And I just think that's like, such a cool thing to see. And like, celebrate through inspiring. I

Emma Hunt  27:13  
think that's also like one of the things like why climbing is so cool, is there's no like one perfect size. It's like you can be taller, you can be short, you can be lean, you could be more solid, like it doesn't matter what you are, as long as you can do moves.

Kristi Wagner  27:30  
It's totally fine. That's really cool. And like way more inclusive, which is really cool. Yeah,

Emma Hunt  27:35  
we have almost a full team for Paris now. Even just looking at everyone going to Paris. There's no like coffee. It's everyone's like the men's vote or like Jessie group, or he's way taller and Collins around like my height. Like, it's just very different.

Kristi Wagner  27:52  
Yeah, no, that's awesome. Well, this has been really cool. I feel like I've I don't know if I like didn't ask you about anything. Or if you have any questions for me.

Emma Hunt  28:01  
What's your training? Like? I'm like, very curious.

Kristi Wagner  28:03  
Well, first of all, our our races are like six to eight minutes depending on like when like boat class and stuff. And so we do two to three sessions a day, they're normally like, what would do to like cardio sessions, either like rowing, always one rowing, or like we use the rowing machines if the water is really bad, or whatever. And then the second one will be either like another rowing session, or indoors or some sort of cross training, like bike or run, whatever. And then we'll do either like a lift or core in between. And we do mostly what we call like steady state. So it's like low heart rate. 140 just like knocking out meters, and then we'll do prop. It depends on like the point in our training, but two to three, like workouts a week, which are either like 80, or like threshold or at like pace, like race pace, is like

Emma Hunt  29:04  
endurance thing for you guys, because it's seven to like eight minutes. Yeah,

Kristi Wagner  29:08  
so like, the whole thing is like that, you're basically going at almost like max heart rate for that, like 70 minute race, which I think is like why we do so much like endurance training, because it's like, you need like fast twitch and slow twitch muscles because we do like a racing start. So you're like, you know, whatever, Max, and then you like lengthen it out a bit, but it's still like a very high rate and like, high intensity, and then we like bring it up again at the end. So yeah, it's similar to like the MOT like a mile run. I mean, it's definitely like a little bit shorter, but I think it's a similar like, kind of, and I think there's other sports like I think cross country skiing and like speed skating. Some of those things are like a very similar athlete profile kind of thing.

Emma Hunt  29:58  
Kind of like that. do while you're going. Yeah,

Kristi Wagner  30:02  
it is a lot of like mental but it's mostly like mental in the sense of like making your body not listen to your mind telling it to stop like kind of thing. Yeah,

Emma Hunt  30:14  
it's been like, not tired. Right? Keep going,

Kristi Wagner  30:17  
yeah, yeah, yeah, this is fine, everything's fine. I don't want to lay down. It's all good.

Emma Hunt  30:24  
So cool that you guys like you keep going and then like you get faster then because like even sport climbing or elite climbing, it's like around six minutes, but you can stop and rest anywhere you want, like, hang on hold for like one minute like you can like no one's gonna tell you to keep going. If there's just so that you like constantly going because I feel like climbing, like speed. We're going constantly for like six seconds. But like lead, you're going for like six minutes, but you can stop whenever you want it. So

Kristi Wagner  30:57  
how do you manage all the travel?

Emma Hunt  31:01  
Not always the best. So hard and like times and sometimes like, especially when we go to like Korea, or Jakarta you just kind of like up at 5am. And you're like, oh, it's not what I want.

Kristi Wagner  31:14  
Somebody was telling me like it's like statistically harder to like go to the Olympics in any sport than like, doing all these other things that sound way. You know what I mean? Like, I can't remember what they were. But I was just like, Oh, God, like that is stressful. I don't know. But I think also when you're in it all the time, that sort of becomes more normal, right? Because this is just like the life you're living. So you're like, Oh yeah, of course, like horse. I qualified for the Olympics. And like I'm going and I just went to Pan Am's and I like I'm doing all these things. But it's like when you take a step back, you're like, Whoa, that's so cool. Yeah, yeah, sure. Cool. Well, I really appreciate you coming on and talking to me and I will be cheering for you from afar. I hope I qualify for myself, but also so that I can come and watch you speed climb. Well,

Emma Hunt  32:03  
good luck. I hope it all goes good.

Kristi Wagner  32:05  
Thank you know, thank you. You too. Now this was so fun. Thank you so much. Thanks for listening. And thank you so much to Emma for coming on the podcast and sharing her story. I hope that I qualify for the Olympics for many reasons. But now one of them is definitely so that I can potentially meet Emma in person and maybe watch her compete because it just seems so cool. So to end the show, I wanted to share a quote that I heard on another awesome podcast, the retro podcast, and his guest was last year's iron woman champion, Chelsea SIdora. And she shared this quote that she has written on her bathroom mirror. And I just really like resonated with it. And so she wrote Make the most important thing, the most important thing. And I just feel like that's so true. And that doesn't need to be the same thing all the time. You know, like your most important thing can change. But when something is the most important thing you like owe it to yourself to make it the most important thing. So thanks for sharing that Chelsea and withdrawal and I hope everyone has a great week. Thanks for listening and Merry Christmas. Bye.

I'd love to hear from you. So send us a topic suggestion or if you'd like to submit a question for our Ask Christy anything segment, head to our website, the other three years.com

Transcribed by https://otter.ai