Raven Saunders On The High Of Winning A Silver Medal, The Low of Losing Her Mother & The Future Conversation Around Athlete Mental Health
The CITIUS MAG Podcast | A Running + Track and Field Show
CITIUS MAG
4.9 • 1.9K Ratings
🗓️ 27 August 2021
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
"Initially, when I found out I broke down. I honestly went Hulk mode on a wall in the village. My room wall was torn out with a steel beam. It’s got a couple of dents in it. I went crazy. I'm not gonna lie. As I thought about how happy she was in those moments – She was actually with Athing Mu’s high school coach and Tara Davis’ mom in Orlando having the time of her life. So I think about her smile and her love and all the things and lessons that she gave me and taught me and how happy she would be for me in this moment. I really find a lot of peace in it. I feel like you really find the true beauty of life in those high and low moments. Because just as high as I was, I went just as low as I went so fast."
Raven Saunders and I recorded this while she was in attendance at the Prefontaine Classic and popped by The Magic Boost tent. We traded a couple of messages over Twitter about how we wanted to make this interview happen for a while because she’s one of the funniest personalities in the sport and the throws deserve more love. The last time people may have seen her on TV was twerking shortly after winning a silver medal in the shot put at the Tokyo Olympics. You could have also seen her on the news since she raised her arms in an X to protest racial and social injustice in America. Just a few days later, her mother, Clarissa, passed away. Raven decided to take a short break from social media. In this episode, we touch on it all as well as where she sees the conversation around athlete mental health going from here since she’s been very outspoken about her own past struggles.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Today's episode of the city's mag podcast on the city's mag podcast network is presented by whoop |
| 0:05.6 | We are getting to the heart of fall marathon training season whoop is a fitness wearable that provides |
| 0:11.8 | 24-7 personalized insights around your sleep recovery and daily activity whoop has helped runners of all backgrounds |
| 0:18.0 | Trained smarter and recover faster so they can get to the starting line healthy and hit some new PRs |
| 0:23.2 | as I get ready to dig deep into my marathon training |
| 0:27.7 | My whoop is what's telling me just how exhausted I am from covering the Olympics and torch talk |
| 0:32.7 | But now I'm rested recovered and recharged to get back into the thick of it |
| 0:37.4 | Whoop doesn't just get your splits or mileage but instead focuses on the 23 other hours of the day when your body's getting ready for that next run |
| 0:45.0 | Every day it gives you personalized recovery score based on things like your resting heart rate sleep and respiratory rate |
| 0:50.2 | So you actually know if you're gonna be able to crush those temple runs and if the legs are feeling good |
| 0:54.8 | I've seen Nikki Hildz Joe Kovacs through Hunter and a slew of other professional athletes wearing it now |
| 0:59.6 | It's your turn join now for free whoop is offering 15% off with the code cities at checkout go to whoop |
| 1:06.0 | That's WH-O-O-P dot com and enter cities at checkout to save 15% sleep better recover faster and run faster get to this starting line healthy with whoop |
| 1:17.2 | Thanks to all the support on patreon. We've had 14 new backers in the month of August |
| 1:24.5 | So thanks to your generosity the show will continue going strong and I've decided to bring on a podcast producer named Mike Zorzolo |
| 1:30.4 | We'll be helping with the show going forward your dollars help us put on series like torch talk and help us |
| 1:36.2 | Think of fun future concepts and trips especially with fall marathon season approaching |
| 1:40.3 | So if you enjoy what we're doing support us over at patreon dot com slash city smag |
| 1:45.6 | Another way you can show your love for us is by picking up a t-shirt or sweater over at city smag dot com and hitting the merch tab |
| 1:51.7 | We actually just came out with t-shirts and sweaters that say I heart track and field because let everyone know I love track and field |
| 1:59.4 | We've also surpassed 1000 reviews on Apple podcasts |
| 2:02.5 | This helps us populate on people's feeds as a recommended show on Apple podcasts and allows |
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