Take Off Your Shoes

Welcome back to a brand new episode of Take Off Your Shoes.

After a long summer break, I’m back and stoked to introduce my guest, Dani Aravich.

While she might be a “budding” trail runner, she’s also a Paralympian, having competed in both the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games, and now she’s preparing for the upcoming Milano Cortina Games.

Of course, she’s far beyond her athletic achievements. What stood out to me most was her encouragement of curiosity and her ability to create a space where all questions are welcome. Having been on the business side, the media side, and the athlete side of the sports she’s involved in, she brings a truly unique perspective to her work and advocacy.

This was an incredibly meaningful conversation where I got to learn a lot, and I’m very grateful to Dani for it. I cannot wait for you to listen.

Make sure to leave your comments below and let me know what you thought!

• Also, be sure to follow ⁠Dani on Instagram⁠
• Check out what she and her team are doing with ⁠Culxtured⁠!
• ⁠Follow the show on Instagram,⁠ and share with a friend who you think might like this episode.

Thank you very much for taking the time to listen; it means a lot. Take care, and until next time!

Welcome to the 20th episode of Take Off Your Shoes!

My very special guest for this special episode is  Dani Moreno. 

I am very grateful for Dani’s openness and admire how self-reflected she was which showed in the beautiful ways she worded her experiences in and around the sport that she fell in love with again as well as her path of navigating injury and the myriad of emotions it brought up as well as the valuable lessons she learned. 

Some of the best parts of the conversation were the tangents she took, allowing me to get an even better glimpse into her life. 

She is versatile, caring, very passionate, and very dedicated to her craft. 

She'll be toeing the line this Saturday at Broken Arrow 46k for her place in Team USA, and I’ll be cheering for her and applauding her for the curiosity she’s bringing to the start line. 

I left this conversation smiling ear to ear, and I’m sure you will too. 

Follow and send your support to Dani on Instagram

Listen and subscribe to The Sub-Hub Podcast with Dani and Emkay Sullivan.

Shoot me a DM with your thoughts about this episode!

Photo credit: Cody Mathison

Hello and welcome to another episode of Take Off Your Shoes!

My guests today are—that’s right, plural—the power couple: Tabor and Eli Hemming!

This episode was exactly what I was looking for when starting this podcast: to get to know the people in this sport, who they are beyond the sport.

We discussed the importance of being multi-dimensional, not just as athletes but as people. We explored how they’re intentional with their time, balancing friends, family, farm work, coaching, and trail running. They also openly shared their feelings about Tabor’s father’s recent diagnosis, highlighting how fleeting life can be and the value of embracing every moment.

I was truly inspired by the maturity of their approach to life and sport, and I hope you will find them equally inspirational.

Tabor, Eli, thank you so much for such an amazing conversation.

Hope you enjoy listening.

The Hemming Way - their Substack

The Hemmings - their Youtube Channel

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Shoot me a DM for your thoughts and comments!

Photo Credit: Ryan Thrower

Welcome to a new episode of Take Off Your Shoes!

My guest this week is Marianne Hogan.

Before anything else, she’s known for her contagiously positive attitude, and it was a pleasure getting to know her like this.

I realized that this attitude is centered in gratitude, in putting enjoyment of the moment and of the sport as a first-order condition. This mentality allowed her to keep the joy at the forefront even when becoming a full-time athlete and leaving her job in HR behind.

Learning more about her experiences with injuries, how she’s toeing the line between pushing her limits and knowing when to stop, and how this is an ongoing learning process, was very insightful. I really loved getting to discover her nomadic lifestyle, allowing her to fully immerse herself in the places she travels to, experiencing the people and the places in a more meaningful way.

If I am to take one thing away, though, it’s the importance of self-belief, of trying and shooting your shot. Setting goals for yourself, for your sake, and continuing to work towards them.

This conversation was chock-full of inspiration and just very fun overall to chat with Marianne.

Thank you Marianne for the conversation, and thank you all for listening!

Photo credit: Thibaut Baronian

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Hello and thank you so much for tuning into another episode of Take Off Your Shoes!

Today I’m so happy to be sharing my conversation with Arden Young!

She was an incredible conversation partner, and I’m so grateful for her openness when talking about her ongoing struggles with the word “elite”, as well as the juggling act that is having two demanding careers: professional ultra runner for Norda and dentist!

We talked about her unconventional start to running, even though she wasn’t the most athletic of her four sisters, and her path to becoming a professional athlete. I really appreciated her thoughts around becoming her own cheerleader and having self-belief, while also balancing being critical enough to push herself forward and taking time to celebrate her own wins.

She also said something that really stuck with me: “You have to make running work for your life and not make your life work for running.”

For her, running is very important, but it should always stay fun, and she keeps reminding herself that it’s for her mental and physical health.

I especially loved opening up about our respective partners and how they’re not in the ultra-endurance world. There’s something beautiful about having someone who tries to support our dreams, even if they don’t fully understand them at all times.

It was such a fun conversation, and I really admired her outlook on the sport, the balance she’s able to strike, and just her candor.

Thank you Arden for the conversation, and I hope you all enjoy it!

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Photo credit: Moe Lauchert

This was a really fun conversation with Jessica Brazeau (who graciously accepted my invitation just a couple of days after her race in Chianti), where I not only got to know her but also got a peek behind the curtain of how she holds the Brazeau-Walmsley team together.

She opened up about her feelings surrounding the move to France. She shared the struggles of uprooting an established life, seeking a new community, and how things turned around, in large part thanks to Simon Gosselin and his partner, who helped them turn their little chalet into a home in a French Alpine village.

While she’s not used to talking much about her own running, I got to learn her story, how she found trail running largely through its community, and where she is now, signed with Hoka.

I know you will love this one!

Make sure to follow Jess on Instagram

Let me know what'd you think of this conversation on Instagram

PC: Marzelle van der Merwe Ham 

Thank you for tuning in to a new episode of Take Off Your Shoes!

I'm super happy to be sharing my conversation with Hilary Yang!

You might know her as an amazing photographer, the race director of The Mammoth, or the co-founder of the Women's Trail Running Fund… just a few of the many hats she wears, all stemming from her love and passion for storytelling.

We talk about how the WTF became a reality, and the beauty and 'privilege' of being able to give grants to creators to tell their own stories. Hilary opens up about the ups and downs of being self-employed, how she got there, and how she and her husband Billy are managing it. We also discuss her longtime dream of running the Hardrock 100 (happening very soon!) becoming a reality, as well as the LA wildfires and how, amidst this tragedy, she was deeply moved by the community coming together, and so much more!

She gave me timely advice that I will carry with me: "Be intentional with your time." I'll try to keep that in mind when choosing what to do, and hopefully, you all will too.

I hope you enjoy and take something away from this conversation I was lucky enough to have.

Thank you, Hilary, for taking time out of your crazy schedule for this chat, and thank you all for listening. 

Follow Hilary's journey to Hardrock 100 at her Youtube channel

Listen and subscribe to the Trail Network Podcast

Send me your thoughts on Instagram!

Hello and welcome to a new episode of Take Off Your Shoes!

I’m very happy to be sharing my conversation with Chris Andrews.

An up-and-comer for most of you, Chris has such a unique story, and it was really fun and interesting getting to learn all about it.

His excitement for the sport and his desire to help others experience what he’s getting out of running—the release, the happiness, the joy—is really inspiring. Being the same age underlined the effect of these conversations for me: While I cannot fully understand or relate to the crazy feats he’s able to accomplish, I can relate to his passion and the joy he finds in running.

He’s racing in just 3 weeks at the Canyons 100k, where I’ll be rooting hard for him. He has a really bright future, and I’m very excited to see what that future looks like.

Hope you all enjoy it!

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Leave a rating and review wherever you’re listening, and thank you so much for listening!

Welcome to another episode of Take Off Your Shoes

I am so stoked to share my conversation with Emily Hawgood!

Talking to her just lifts my mood—and I’m sure it’ll do the same for you when you listen to our conversation. 

It’s really inspiring to see how she chooses to stay positive. As she put it, “The more positive you can be, the happier you will be.” 

Getting to learn about her background and her experience of moving across the globe to find a new place she calls home really resonated with me, and we delved into our mutual experiences. 

From her childhood to where she is now, from her own running to her coaching philosophy—we covered a whole range of topics. We also talked about her family, her chosen family of friends, and of course her team at Adidas Terrex.

I’m also proud to say that I took her advice and dialed things back a bit—and I feel much healthier now. It was a super fun conversation, and I got to learn so much about her. 

I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I had fun recording it!

Photo credit: Luke Webster

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Other incredible podcasts she was a guest on:

Trail Network Podcast

Freetrail

Running Long - A trail and ultra running talk

Hi everyone and welcome to a new episode of Take Off Your Shoes!

I am super happy to share my conversation with Leah Yingling with you all!

It was a super fun convo where i got to not only learn about her past, her relationship with her twin sister, her husband Mike, her own podcast with Katie Asmuth, Rachel Drake and Hilary Yang Trail Network Podcast, but also about her ever evolving sense of why and her ongoing self-challenge of taking more risks and becoming ‘less even keeled’.

We also talk about (rather timely) family planning and the nuances and the intricacies around it and the balancing act of a career outside of sport, a career as a competitive professional trail runner and wanting to accomplish a very long time coming goal of starting a family with Mike.

She just announced a few days ago that they are indeed expecting a child later this year and I am super happy for the next chapter of her (and their) life.

This conversation just made the time fly by and I had a blast getting to know Leah better, I hope you all do to!

Go follow Trail Network Podcast wherever you’re listening to podcasts

Make sure to follow Leah on Instagram

Follow Take Off Your Shoes on Instagram and send me your thoughts!

I appreciate each and every one of you so, so much! 

Photo credit: Mike Mcmonagle