The Rich Roll Podcast - Director of CNN’s Medical, Health & Wellness Unit

Episode Date: May 31, 2013

Not only is Roni Selig one of my favorite people, she is one busy woman, so I am honored that she carved out some quality time to sit down with me and do the podcast in the midst of her immersive (to put it mildly) work schedule at CNN, where she has the heady title of Director of the CNN Medical, Health & Wellness Unit in CNN's New York City headquarters high above Columbus Circle. In certain respects, I suppose this makes her Sanjay Gupta's boss — heavy, right? To provide some perspective, we were meant to conduct this interview about a month ago. But as we sat in her office catching up prior to potting the mics, the Boston Marathon bombing occurred, and I had the rare opportunity to watch her — and her team at the world's leading 24-hour international news network — jump into action to begin covering the unbelievably tragic events as they unfolded in real time. It was impressive. But needless to say, the horrible events of that day prevented the podcast from happening. Lucky for me, I was back in NYC a month later. No crazy breaking news that day, so we got it done. Compelling is the fact that despite the time constraints and pressures of her incredibly demanding job — amplified by her busy personal life as a wife and mother — Roni still manages to find the time to pursue her passion — triathlon – and pursue it well. We get into all aspects of her professional life — behind the scenes at CNN Health; plus how she balances her personal life to train and compete as a high level age group endurance athlete, and her passion for CNN Fit Nation — a program she oversees that involves a small group of civilians (hand selected annually from submissions) facing personal challenges committed to completing their first triathlon under the mentorship of CNN. All said, Roni is a delight and an inspiration. I hope you enjoy the interview as much as I (always) enjoy spending time with her. As always, thank you for all the ongoing support. You guys are everything. Thank you! Rich

Welcome to episode 33 of the Rich Roll Podcast with Ronnie Selig. The Rich Roll Podcast. Hello. Welcome. Thanks for dropping in. I am Rich Roll. This is the Rich Roll Podcast. What is this thing? What do we do here? Well, I started this podcast back in December with the simple goal of bringing to you some of the brightest and most forward-thinking personalities in health, fitness, nutrition, and generally wellness-oriented subject matters. I've had the good fortune over the last couple of years to meet a lot of wildly compelling people and personalities. And this podcast really was established as a forum to be able to share with you much of what I've

learned. And it helps me as much as it helps you because I'm continuing to learn with every guest. I've learned and it helps me as much as it helps you because I'm continuing to learn with every guest. I've had all kinds of people on the show, everybody from entrepreneurs to world-class athletes to nutritionists to doctors, MMA fighters, triathletes, marathon runners, people in the nonprofit sector, but everybody with a unique and interesting and important perspective on some subject matter, which relates either directly or tangentially to health, creativity, nutrition, or athletic performance. Thanks for dropping in again. I really appreciate you guys.

As I said in my last episode, we just passed half a million downloads, which is crazy. And I'm so honored to have this audience. I don't take it lightly. And if it's done anything, it's just encouraged me to take everything to the next level and be as professional and on par as I can be with the content that I'm delivering to you. Which brings me to my next point, which is that I'm very glad to be bringing you a second episode in the same week. I've been saying for a while that I wanted to get it to two episodes a week.

Now here we are. It hasn't been that way for a while. So just in time for your weekend listening enjoyment, we have another great episode for you today. Want to support the show? We have a couple of ways to do that. We have a donate button at richroll.com. It's on the podcast page or on the blog page. Click that. You can throw a few bucks our way.

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us. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Like I said, the paperback did come out. It's been exciting getting feedback on that. And I think I just Instagram the other day, the book has not been translated into Spanish. It has not been translated into German or Italian, but it has been translated into Slovenian. So go figure. I just Instagrammed the other day the cover of the Slovenian version of the book. They've retitled it just Ultraman. It's not called Finding Ultra there, but that's pretty cool. You can check out my Instagram page.

It's just Instagram.com forward slash Rich Roll. And you can find me on Twitter at Rich Roll. I've got a Facebook page. The Facebook fan page is Rich Roll Fans, facebook.com forward slash Rich Roll Fans. What else? I think that's about it. Let's get into our guest today. Today we have Ronnie Selig. Who is Ronnie Selig? Well, Ronnie is the director of the medical health and wellness unit at CNN. Essentially, she lords over everything health-related at CNN out of their New York headquarters at Columbus Circle. It's a pretty heavy job, man. She's got a lot of responsibility there. And not only that, she's a passionate triathlete. And so I've always thought since the moment I met her that she would make a great guest

for the show because she's balancing this incredibly demanding job with training and racing at a very high level. She does quite well in her racing pursuits. And I wanted to get into how she balances all of that, the demands of her job against the training and the racing and also being married and having kids. You know, she's got a family and she's a great example of somebody, you know, when you say, oh, well, you know, I'd love to do that,

but you know, I got kids or, you know, my job is too demanding or whatever. It's hard to imagine somebody with a more demanding job than what she has. And somehow she finds a way to get it done. So we get into how she gets it done. And I think you will find it more than inspiring. And in addition to that, she oversees the CNN Fit Nation program. CNN Fit Nation, she'll tell you more about it in the interview, but essentially they accept submissions every year from a wide variety of people. They cast a wide net looking for people

who are going through a challenging time or have had health struggles and have a dream of doing a triathlon. They pick a group of a small group of people, and then they mentor and coach them over the course of a year and prepare them to do a race. And last year the race was the Nautica Malibu triathlon. And they all came out to my neck of the woods to do the race. And we had the good fortune of hosting them all at our house the night before the race and had the whole CNN crew here, which was really fun and getting to know Ronnie,

both in her office and outside the office, the more I get to know about her, the more I am impressed with who she is and what she does and the service that she brings to every aspect of her life. We're brought to you today by recovery.com. I've been in recovery for a long time. It's not hyperbolic to say that I owe everything good in my life to sobriety.

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I love her to death. She's the best. So without further ado, let's just get into it. Ladies and gentlemen, Ronnie Selig. I've been trying to do it right. I've been living a lonely life. I've been sleeping here instead. I've been sleeping in my bed. I've been sleeping in my bed.

I've been sleeping in my bed. Hey, Ronnie. Hey, Rich. How's it going? It's going well. Thanks for coming back. I know. Take two.

Take two. Does everybody know why? Take two. No, let's tell the story. So I was in New York. What was that, a month ago now? It's been about a month. It's been actually a month, almost to the date. Yes. Right. So Ronnie was nice enough to take time out of her extremely

busy day as director of the health and wellness and medical unit here at CNN to sit down and do a podcast with me. And we got to know each other uh over the last couple years as a result of cnn fit nation and some other stuff and we were catching up and uh and we were going to do this we were getting ready to do it but we were just kind of socializing and catching up and as you might imagine uh everybody at cnn has multiple flat screens in their office, right? And your office is right off, like, would you call that, is that the newsroom right off your office? Yes. And we're sitting there, and right as we're talking,

the explosion happened at the Boston Marathon. Right. Right. And we saw the breaking news come up, and I saw smoke on the screen, and then I said, hang on, Rich. saw smoke on the screen and and then i said hang on rich and uh we went into full breaking news mode um for a very very very sad story which took over much of our broadcast our you know our coverage for for a couple weeks right i mean what was interesting was that when it first occurred it was it was pretty difficult to tell whether it was something serious or not.

Because for all we knew, a trash can caught on fire or something like that. And it was unfolding in real time. And I had the amazing privilege of being able to sit there. I felt so weird. I was like, I need to get out of here. Like, you know, there's real work happening here and I'm in the way. like, you know, there's real work happening here and I'm in the way. But I had the good fortune, well, you know, the good fortune to be observing something that was not so fortuitous. But to be able to see up close and personal how a real, you know, national top flight news organization

responds and jumps into action when something like that occurs. It was amazing. Oh, well, it is part of the job. And what I think really what the world relies on us for in terms of, you know, one of our hallmarks of our brand is these, you know, incredibly extensive, you know, stories that people want to know all the facts about and the who, what, where, when, why, and especially in this situation when we eventually found out that so many bystanders have been, you know, a few unfortunately

died, but others really maimed and really, really severely hurt. Absolutely horrible. It was very much in our wheelhouse of what CNN Health, Wellness, and Medical does. So it was really, it was all-consuming, but we have the top-notch reporters and researchers and producers,

and everybody comes together, and we try to do our best to report it out in real time, you know, get the facts all right and not serve it any less. I mean, I remember it pretty crystal clear. It was a Monday. And the reason I remember it was a Monday is because that's the day that Sanjay is in the operating room, right? And as most of you may know, Sanjay doesn't live in New York.

He lives in Atlanta. And, and so you were trying to figure out how to get him to, you know, get him there and get on the phone with him and find out for the next day, Anderson's on a plane and we got to, you know, and, and you were working two phones and then you're like, can I borrow your phone? And you were working three phones and on the email. And, and I was like, well, I don't know what else any single person could be doing right now, other than what you were doing at the time. But also kind of bearing in mind the pressures

brought to bear by this culture of instantaneous media that we live in with Twitter and everything else and how that kind of impacts how CNN covers it because there's this internal tension between immediacy and accuracy that comes into play. And that is a huge talking point in our business today because with Twitter and instant, you know, and Facebook and things that are coming across, you know, in the social media landscape,

you know, you're hearing things like, you know, I saw somebody's body part or something very serious like that, and you're wondering, could that actually be true? Wow, that's too much. That's kind of mind-numbing. That's too much. And you're really, you know, we have to do our own reporting. So unfortunately, that did turn out to be true because we did learn that, you know, in the end, there were 13 people who needed amputations and different things that happened. So did turn out to be true because we did learn that, um, um, that, you know, in the end there were 13 people who needed amputations and, and different things that happened. So, um, so, uh, yes. So balancing immediacy and accuracy, um, is the hallmark of what we do and, um,

we strive to be right. And, and, um, and that's, and that's what we do. But it's definitely, I'm sure changed kind of of the pressures and the, you know, this sort of way you go about reporting in some respect. Just to be in the back of your mind knowing like immediacy is more important than it used to be. And that creates a challenge for you guys, I would imagine. Right. Well, we'd rather be right than first. Yeah, of course. Of course. We appreciate you being right. Yes, we'd rather be right than first. Of course. Of course. We appreciate you being right.

Yes, definitely. But anyway, eventually I snuck out of there and let you do your job. You kind of slipped out. You slithered out. I was like, we're not doing a podcast today. That's not happening. I know. I felt bad. No, not feel bad. I mean, you know, this is real life. This is real news. This is what you do. I'm amazed that we're sitting here now and that you're willing to even, you know, take an hour out of your, you know, incredibly busy day and doing what you do to, to even talk to me. So we share the same passion. We do. Let's talk for sure. Yeah. We both found our way into,

uh, into triathlon or endurance sports, um, in our own unique ways, but also kind of, you know, this sort of shared, uh, pain motivation, I guess, you know, that seems to be a commonality. A lot of people arrive in marathon running, you know, in the wake of a challenge in their life. And that certainly was the situation with me. And you have a really interesting story too, about, about how, about how multi-sport came into your life. What is that? Yeah. Well, I'll try to be brief, but- You don't have to be brief. It's a podcast. Okay, that's true. Give me as long-winded as you want. That's fine. Good point. I was not an athlete as a child.

Let's just put it this way. I was Red Rover, Red Rover, don't send Ronnie over. You know, I mean, I was, you know, kind of an awkward, you know, kind of chunky kid, you know, through adolescence and high school and didn't really have any athleticism. I was a Gleek. I was the Gleek Club singer, you know, drama person, not the sporty spice. And so, never really thought of myself as anything like the word athlete. Those things were completely non-related to me.

And so, mutually exclusive. And so what happened was I had done a couple of 10K runs in my 20s. I was living in Cape Cod in the summers and in college and whatnot. And my family had a house there from when we were younger. And my family had a house there from when we were younger. And a couple of things kind of all, you know, kind of came together at the same time, which were very disturbing for me. As you might imagine, my father-in-law got pancreatic cancer and he passed away. Then six months, excuse me, prior to that, my own father had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

He passed away. And then six months later, my father-in-law died of pancreatic cancer. Then I was working for a company who decided to basically cut back on staffing and they laid off a whole lot of people. And I was part of that kind of dot-com bust, you might say. And so I was out of a job. and then my husband was out of a job. And we had two small kids in New York City and it's not an easy place to live if you don't have an income, let's say, never mind anywhere else in the country. To put it mildly. So all of these things kind of came together at once and it was pretty astounding. To put it mildly. And or I can try to, you know, get it together a little bit. And what can I do?

Because I really am a person who really likes structure. And I love organization, which is probably why I love triathlon, which we can get into eventually because you have to be both. I think people that, I mean, I work really well with structure and organization as well. That's when I, you know, within the confines of those walls, I perform best. And I think endurance sports lends itself to people that are prone to that kind of thing, right? Exactly, exactly. And so what I started doing, I had a membership for a JCC in New York, and I just started dropping my kids off at school and walking two blocks over to the JCC on 76th and Amsterdam here in New York City. And I just started swimming almost every morning. And I wasn't even,

I wasn't a trained swimmer. I just needed to have some kind of structure at that point. You knew how to swim, but it's not like you'd been on the swim team for years or anything. Never. Swim team? No. I was a junior lifesaver in camp, you know, in the late 60s. So I thought, okay, the water seems to feel like a cleansing feeling to me. Even now when I race, that's my actually favorite part of the race is the swim. There's a healing and cleansing. You know, obviously you can't be distracted by electronics. You are one with the water. Sometimes it's really rough water. So I started swimming, swimming, swimming.

And one day I was – and I had no goal in mind, just to swim and try to work out in my mind for an hour what my moves were going to be. Who was I going to interview with? Was I going to freelance? What job did I want? What would I go for? What was available, et cetera, et cetera? How would I, you know, pay my bills, whatnot? So I walked into the deli, you know, pretty much next to our apartment on Broadway, and I saw these pamphlets and these leaflets there

and these little kind of holders on the counter and it said, team in training, raising money for leukemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. And it kind of hit me almost like it lit up in a way. It's like it went bing like that and I sort of like said, wow. And I picked up the pamphlet and I brought it home and I read it.

And I didn't know what multi-sport was at that point. I knew nothing about anything. Um, but I read it and it said, if you want to come to an informational session, please show up at, uh, so,

um, I, uh, I went to the informational session and I love the vibe of the room. It's kind of like your vibe. It's the kind of this kind of cool, collected, like confident, but not but but humble um and um very um centered flowy kind of vibe is that my vibe it is your

good i'm gonna quote you on that yeah no that's a really good vibe you know like you got it together but you're not gonna like show off about it you You're not going to walk into people and say, hey, I'm an ultramarathon or an iRun. I mean, it was really kind of a cool environment. They had all these people in the front. It was at the YMCA in the Upper West Side. And people in the front, they were just standing there kind of like watching everybody coming in. They were very friendly. And, you know, they want you to succeed, but they also want you to raise money for a very important organization, which team and training is the largest.

From what I know, they're the largest fundraisers of leukemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, which my father died of. So I had a cause and a purpose. So I did the training. I raised the money. I got to a week before the New York City Triathlon. That was the particular first race that I was going to be, well, only race at that point that I thought I was going to be doing. And this was kind of like a one and done for me. I pretty much thought it was really hard to raise money.

It's very difficult for me to ask people for money. And even for a charitable cause, just something that I find hard to do. But, but I got there and then there was all the training sessions that we had. There was one training session up at a pool. It's a state pool up at Riverbank State Park, which is currently now where I swim for training. And it was with everybody. And they said, okay, we're going to simulate a swim and everybody in the pool at the same time. It's a timed workout because we want to make sure that you can do it. So we all kind of jump in one after another. It was almost like, you know, like, you know, go, go, go, like almost like you were diving, getting off a dock and on a race.

And, um, and we had to go up and down the lanes. It's a huge pool and come back around and whatever. So for a mile. And so I did it, I jumped in. And when I, just as I jumped in, I sort of felt a pressure on my right metatarsal, the baby toe of the right foot. And I went, wow, that kind of, that was a hard hit. Somebody must've just kicked my foot or something. So as I swimming, swimming, swimming, like maybe I would say three minutes later, my foot starts throbbing and it gets worse and worse and worse. This didn't, this just happened from sort of jumping in the pool, like putting pressure on your toe. No, it actually happened. Somebody hit me with

their foot, like in an unfortunate angle that just their pressure from my foot went right into the metatarsal, like a boom like that, like, you know, kind of side to side kicking because we're all in there at once. And it was a pretty confined space. So one of the, of course, as we all know, swimming is a context sport in triathlon. So unfortunately, it was my very first practice of that magnitude. By the time I got out of the pool, after the time swim, I did it.

I literally could not stand up on the right foot. I had no, I mean, it was damaged. I had no idea what I had done. It's such a freakish, weird way to injure your foot. It really is freakish and weird. But when you think about it at the end of the day, if you're going to get hauled out of a race a week before, you have to think there was a good reason for it. And it's a dangerous sport. There are things that can happen. And so to this day, I still think somebody must have, or somebody, you know, maybe my father, who knows, whatever, somebody is watching out for me and I wasn't meant to race that particular Sunday, you know, of that week. So the next morning I get right to my orthopedic, you know,

how many times do we see our orthopedics a year? Many. Right. Being triathletes. And she, I remembered exactly, I said, I have a race this Sunday and I really, really want to do it. And she's looking at me and she's looking at my foot blown up. And, you know, I'm sure like they see lots of injuries, but I was in denial. And she goes, well, you know, if it's broken, you can't race. And I'm like, well, it's not broken. I mean, it's probably just a really bad bruise. She comes back and she shakes her head. No, left to right like this. No. And she's got the, you know, the report in her hands and she says, it's broken. You can't race Sunday. And at that point, the waterworks turned on and I'm like,

I'm literally hysterically crying. Well, it's this vulnerable place that you're in. I mean, you, you've had these two deaths and then the two layoffs, and then you kind of find this lifeline with team and training that seems it's like this confluence of events where, um, you know, you were, you were kind of pushed into this world and then you see the flyer and it's raising money for, you know, a cause that's clearly important to you. And the stakes get higher and higher and higher. And it's your first race and everything that goes into that. I mean, I'm not surprised that, you know, you had an emotional breakdown.

It was very emotional. And I think they felt so bad for me. But the silver lining in it was that, you know, when I went, I called them the next day and whatnot. And of course, it was in a boot. They said, well, you can do the next team and training race because you've already raised the money. So you can do the Westchester Triathlon in September. And I thought, great. So I mean, it wasn't New York City, but great.

And as it turned out, the Westchester Triathlon sort of became my most favorite race that I had done year after year after year. It's not an easy race. There's some great, great hills in that race. It's in Rye, New York. It's like an Olympic distance. It's Olympic distance, same distance as the New York City one. But do you remember the movie Big where Tom Hanks goes up to Zotar and like in the amusement park where he's like asking, you know, where he gets his wish to be little again. Yeah, you're pushing my memory banks. Right, right. So anyway, he's actually, he's, you know,

he's a little boy and he wants to be big. And so he puts the coins into the machine. Yes, I do remember that. It's that amusement park where, you know, this movie was filmed with tom hanks and so um it was very nostalgic you know kind of like old you know an old kind of like you know um you know kind of art deco-y feeling to it so it had the history to it and it's a really great race and i i did it for many many many years and i still when i'm around i

still do it and it's now it has very significant meaning to me because it was my first Olympic. And when I crossed the finish line of that race, that is when I fell in love with triathlon. I literally said I have never felt this kinds of joy since the birth of my children and getting married to my husband, Stuart, and, you know, the kinds of things that elate you in life. And this was an elevated feeling. And it wasn't just endorphins. I promise you that because I know that high. It was a different high.

It was a lifestyle fix. Right. And that's what it became for me from that moment on. And it's been maybe, well, I guess it's been 12 years now. Right. And I had that experience as well. And I think that that's a common experience, this transformation that occurs when you discover, you know, whether it's marathon running or even a 10K or even a 5K for a lot of people or a triathlon. I mean, what do you think, like, what is it? What is it about endurance sports

that has that effect on so many people? Is it just, you know, I don't know that, you know, the Tough Mudder, you know, has that kind of impact on, I mean, maybe it does, I don't know, but there seems to be something kind of innate and specific to, you know, this world that really seems to change lives in a significant way. Right. Well, I will say the multi-sport aspect of it really helps with the cross-training. Because if you're just running or just swimming or just biking or just doing one thing, I think it can get boring.

Like, let's all face it. Just going to the gym, to me, I don't even belong to a gym. Okay? The gym is really, to me, very boring. I have such a hard time going to the gym. Exactly. I don't even belong. My gym is Central Park. I pay two bucks or three bucks for the 50 meters at Riverbank State Park or two bucks for the 25 yards versus meters. but I don't pay for a gym because it just sounds just awful. And I've had really great gyms that I've been able to be a part of.

It's just, it's not working for me. So being outside, I think, in triathlon is really special that you can be in the fresh air, which we are always inside. Oftentimes, I don't have a job that keeps me outside all day. inside with oftentimes I don't have a job that keeps me outside all day. Um, but I think the, one of the things about the trap, the triathlon lifestyle and what a lot of people have said is that for people who like to challenge themselves and, um, and, and, and, and have, and like to have goals, set goals, to be able to keep up and be fit. Having a goal of an Olympic or a sprint or half iron or even an Ironman someday, setting those goals for yourself really helps you with the training

because the training is a lifestyle. Training six, seven days a week sometimes. Seven days is extreme, so I'm going to say five to six because, you know, as I age, I need that time off to repair my body. But I think that discipline is very, very important and it does, when we go back to the whole idea of structure, having structure in your life. Right. idea of structure, having structure in your life, it really helps. And it's mostly mental. I mean, when I started the swimming, which I failed to say earlier, it was mental. I had no idea that the physical results were going to come from just swimming. It was all to keep my head together. So triathlon and the training, it's somewhat zen, to be honest with you. It's very in the present moment. Very much so. And I think that that elation or that kind of emotional release or cathartic reaction of crossing the finish line, there is obviously

the jubilance of having achieved something that maybe you didn't think was possible. But I think that that sort of emotional discharge really has to do with kind of something you touched on, which is it represents a change in your lifestyle because you're not getting across that finish line unless you have altered kind of the way that you live your life day in and day out. And it's sort of a triumphant, you know, stamp saying, I changed my life, you know, and I'm enjoying this and I can continue to do this. And that extends beyond, you know, whatever your time was or the fact that you achieved that race. It's about your life. I was training for triathlon, you know, even after team and training when I became hooked by myself.

And I must say it was much harder than when I joined my team that I'm on locally here in New York called Team Lipstick, which is an all-women's triathlon team, which is kind of like a sporty sorority, you might say, with women of, you know, all walks of life and ages from, you know, 20 to, you know, 60, whatever. And, um, this is a group of women who support each other. And once I became connected to them and I actually found them by accident also at river bank, you know, a bad thing happened there to me and a good thing happened to me there. And I was there on a solo swim for myself in the morning on a Sunday morning and I saw all these girls with these lipstick, team lipstick swim caps on. And I'm like, walk over to this gal

and I'm like, what is this? She's like, this is an all women's triathlon team. I'm like, I'm in, you know? And so, you know, kind of finding that kismetly in that way just was a blessing. And so now I'm'm not if they're if they're if they can show up at 5 45 in central park and it's 30 degrees at 32 degrees i can too and you you have that kind of um that that that you know you have that support structure and i

think that that really really makes a difference i don't know how you do it by yourself you run a lot by yourself i know but i'm a lone wolf that way. Like I like the time. I mean, you know, my household is so crazy. Like I kind of like the peace of doing it by myself. But also, you know, people all the time say to me, how do I get started? How do I get going? And I say, find a group that's doing it. Like make it a social outlet for yourself.

So that way it's fun and you're surrounded by people that are like-minded and have similar, if not the same goal. And there's an accountability that comes with that too. Like if all, if you know in the back of your mind, even if they don't care that they're going to be showing up at 545 for a workout and they're going to know whether you're there or not, you know, you go, well, there's that little added kind of like nudge or pressure that gets you out of the bed, out of the bed in the morning and gets you there. Right, right. And you want to see these people because you like them and they're there to support you and cheer you on.

And B, you do have this goal. I mean, you do want to – it's not about winning. It's not about being the – I mean, I'm not a professional. I'm an age grouper. Yeah, but you're fast too. I mean, I'm trying for professional, I'm an age grouper. Yeah, but you're fast too. I mean, I'm trying for my age to be fast, but, you know, sort of like the point is that, you know, I want to live a long time and I want to be healthy. And from all the studies and reports that I've read, given what I do, being fit gives you a leg up.

It's an advantage. And so if I can kind of cheat the age process a little bit, so be it. And I want to be a good role model for my kids also who are teenagers and who are pretty happy to be in front of the TV a lot. Right. And I want to get into the balance thing and the family life thing in a minute. But, but first I want to harken back to something you said earlier, which is that you were originally motivated to kind of show up at the pool

because you had a lot on your mind or you were under a lot of pressure with all these sort of things that were happening. And you went there to kind of sort out in your mind, you know, answers to these, you know, dilemmas that you were facing. And that's something that I think is powerful. And I have that too. There's something weird about, uh, endurance sports or the training, whether it's running or, or swimming where you're able to kind of, you know, ruminate maybe even on a unconscious level about these things that are going on. And when you're done with your workout and then you're walking around or whatever, boom, like the solution kind of like, I always have like, if I'm stuck in my writing or whatever it is that I'm doing, like I go out

and I do my training session. And oftentimes a lot of these problems that seem unsolvable, I end up figuring out how to solve them. Well, I completely agree. And it's a really good reflection, a time to reflect on yourself, to have self-reflection. That, you know, you are alone with yourself and you can say, you can be critical of yourself. You can say, you know, I would have done something differently. And you are, it's almost like self-therapy in a way because you do have that time. You are, if you are in the pool or you are running or whatever, you have that time to be, you are alone with your thoughts. I used to run with music until I became, I kept getting injured because I was really pounding away to the music. And finally, Matt, our running coach, Matt Wilpers, our running coach from Team Lipstick said to me, stop with the music because you're just going to keep getting injured. And I was having one injury after another. And the minute I stopped running with music, I was focusing on my footing

and my pacing and my heart rate, looking at my heart rate monitor, et cetera. And I was really now, I was in the moment. Yeah, you're present in what you're doing. You're present, exactly. And I think that's all the more precious these days. I mean, you know, it's so hard to peel your eyes away from the BlackBerry or the iPhone or whatever's going on in your life. And that's the one time where you can actually flip the switch and say, you know, I'm going to disconnect for this time. This is my time. And there's a lot of value in that. You've got to respect that, I think.

Right. And, you know, people will often say, well, you know, I have small children or I have a family, whatever. I mean, if, you know, if you have anybody, if you do have small children, and there are women on our team that have small children, if you have a support system in any way and you can get people to come in and watch your kids for the hour or 90 minutes or whatever it is and somehow fit it into your schedule and want to do it. It's doable. You know, you may not get in as many workouts as you want, but, you know, if there's a will, there's definitely a way. And I think especially moms, you know, because when I had my children, I gained a tremendous amount of weight with each of my children. I was 205 pounds with my second kid because I was on bed rest.

And I had two C-sections. And, you know, carrying around that kind of weight, I was so uncomfortable. And then even after my son Noah was born, I was probably a good 25 pounds or 20 pounds overweight, you know, at least two or three dress sizes where, you know, I would feel comfortable. And the funny thing is, is that when I started this journey in the pool, I never really expected, I wasn't doing it to lose weight or anything. I was doing it because I was like falling apart in my brain, you know? And, um, hence I got this incredible side benefit of an athlete's body, which, you know, people advertise on TV all the time for, you know? And, um, and it was really, um, just a side benefit that, you know, people always say to me, oh, how'd you get those arms or whatever? And I'm like, ah, I swim, whatever, you know? So it's just kind of,

it's important to recognize that when you started, you didn't know where that was going to lead you. You were just doing it. You felt compelled to do this for whatever reason you were being led into doing it. And, uh, and you were open to whatever possibility. It wasn't like, I'm going to do a triathlon. So I'm going to the pool. I mean, it's just kind of evolved organically over time. And, and, you know, that kind of happened to me too. Um, and, and I think the lesson in that is staying out of judgment, you know, whether it's, you know, the judgment of, oh my God, I'm not going to be able to do the New York triathlon. You know, I have to, I have this broken foot and being hard on yourself and just letting go and let the adventure carry

you where it's going to carry you and, and reserve that judgment and breaking news. Hello. I told Ronnie, she could, she could keep herself. Yeah. I'm actually doing rituals podcast right now in the conference room on the fifth floor. Okay.

I'll call you another while. Is it urgent? Okay. This is the life. This is the life of a CNN. I will totally give you a shout out. Is it urgent? Okay. This is the life of a CNN producer. Okay, I will totally give you a shout out. Okay, sorry. Bye. That's alright. See, you can't do that on radio.

You can do that on a podcast, no problem. That's true, that's true. That was our publicist, Neil Kyrzada, who wants to talk to me about Sanjay Gupta's next documentary that's going to be airing in August. It's called Weed, and it's all about marijuana and how marijuana basically affects your whole health.

Yeah, interesting. So that'll be on in August. Oh, in August. Yeah, so we've got a little while to go, but it's been in the works for almost a year. Yeah, I think I remember him tweeting about doing some background on that quite a while ago. Yeah, he's been all over the world talking to experts about marijuana, medical marijuana, and just marijuana in general. So that's a plug for our special in August. So look for it on CNN.

What's the thesis? Or can you not say? I can't say. You're going to have to watch. I wanted to talk about that later, but let's talk about it now. I mean, one of the things that you do here that I think is unique to news is you do do these kind of long format documentaries. And obviously the one that I like the most is The Last Heart Attack. Oh, yeah. It's spectacular.

The ramifications from that program were enormous. that I like the most is The Last Heart Attack. Oh, yeah, it's spectacular. Which is, you know, which that had, you know, the ramifications from that program were enormous. And, you know, it's not like, I mean, that story had been swirling around, and I kind of feel like other news stations were too scared to touch it. Really? Is that what you think? Why do you think they were scared?

Because, whoops, I kicked my mic. Um, because it's still is, you're still going out on a limb to say, to sort of advocate this plant-based diet, you know what I mean? And especially with an advertiser base, like if you are, you know, if you have dairy products being ever, you know, you're going to, it's going to be displeasing to that. And so, and other, you know, you're going to, it's going to be displeasing to that. Well, I see what you mean. And other, you know, nobody else really covered this Bill Clinton going vegan thing. I mean, it might have made a headline here or there, but nobody said, hey, what's really going on here? People thought he was sick. Yeah, let's talk to this.

Let's talk to Dr. Esselstyn. Let's talk to these guys. I mean, even Dr. Oz, who is very progressive in many of his views and kind of gets grief for it from time to time. I mean, he had them on. He had all those plant-based doctors on and Rip Esselstyn and all those people. But even at the end of the program, he kind of backpedaled a little bit and said, well, you know, you want to make sure, you know, if you're going to do this, you better be careful. You know, sort of like I almost felt like the network told him he had to say something like that so i thought that it was quite courageous that you guys did that story and did it in like a really bold manner and gave it you know the breadth and the width that it

deserved well thank you for saying that i mean the goal of our documentaries um obviously we're always seeking the truth um we we are you know, our mission is to, you know, Sanjay goes on these journeys, like he's going to be he's doing with weed, he went out to find out everything he could find out about marijuana. Same thing with, you know, with, you know, with basically heart disease, you know, why is heart disease killing so many people and, and, and what can be done about it? And there is scientific, you know, Sanjay Gupta, MD, is a scientist. And he's a brain surgeon.

And he went about his mission, you know, looking for answers as to how, you know, how one of the most famous, excuse me, heart patients in the world was dealing with it. And that was former President Bill Clinton. And who maybe people know, Sanjay was a White House fellow during the Clinton administration and worked for Mrs. Clinton as well. And also, correct me if I'm wrong, was he asked to be Surgeon General by Obama? Yes, but by Obama. Yes, he was.

Well, he was, yes, he was asked to, you know, consider the appointment of Surgeon General. And he chose to stay in his current lifestyle. He didn't want to leave as Ronnie. No, I don't think I was going to hear that. That's funny for you to say that. No, that was before Ronnie. But, you know, it's funny when you are asked to be surgeon general, he found out you can't practice surgery.

Interesting. Yeah, so I think at the height of his career, at the time he was asked to stop practicing surgery, I've heard him say that, you know, perhaps that it wasn't the right timing. You know, it's obviously quite an honor. Right. But the plant-based diet, you know, aspects of that documentary, I mean, the woman who reversed her heart disease through, you know, her vegan diet, I mean, the facts are there when, you know,

when you have doctors showing you, you know, arteries that have been, you know, Yeah, the angiograms, basically, they're indisputable. Right, exactly. So the science is there. And a lot of us, you know, played around with our diets and, you know, altered our own thinking. And I think it was a really, it had a high impact. And that's what we want to move the needle, you know, hopefully for people to have healthier lives. That's our mission. Our mission statement is, you know, there's something going on in the world, you know, that can help you. You know, we as journalists, you know, medical correspondents and medical journalists know it, and we want you to know it too. And that's really the most powerful thing that we can deliver to the people who are reading CNN.com or watching CNN on all its multi-platforms.

Right, and it's heavy you have a heavy job there's a lot of responsibility to the public and and you know within your department i would imagine to deliver i mean it's no small thing it's an honor i have to say you know i've had a lot of different jobs in my career, and this is a very honorable position to be in to be able to deliver this kind of content with the kinds of professionals that I work with on the entire staff. We have people in Atlanta and Washington and here in New York. These are the greatest medical journalists that you could ever ask to work with. And they've taught me a lot. I don't come from a medical background.

Your background really is television. You've had a lot of high-level television positions at various networks and shows over the years. But obviously I'm passionate about this topic. So it was kind of like a neat fit when it kind of came my way by accident, that kind of thing. So what's a day in the life like? We'll get into, I want to get into the balancing and the training and all of that, but just at work, like, you know, essentially you're Sanjay's boss. You're the, you're the one who's sort of organizing every, I mean, you're the director of the unit, right? So what is it, what does that mean that mean like tell me what that means um i um i oversee um you

know the team um i'm responsible for um the output of the content in terms of you know what you know what direction we may be going on on a day i mean i have have a lot of senior level people who I work very closely with and who, you know, are very, very, very open and honest about their points of view, which is really helpful to help, you know, guide. But you start, so the stories are coming in and you help sort out, we're going to cover this, we're not going to cover that, or let's put more focus on this. You know, there are journals that come out every week that, you know, the American Academy of Pediatrics and JAMA and, you know, they're on and on and on. Lots of journals that regularly come out.

And we have a gal on our staff. Her name's Miriam Falco. Actually, this year, she's celebrating her 20th anniversary at CNN. And she is the professional that I go to for the facts, you know, we call her Dr. Falco. She's not an MD, but she plays one on TV behind the scenes, but she's amazing. And, um, uh, you know, ever since, uh, the beginning, I, you know, I, I, her, her breadth of experience and, um, whatnot has really, um, been, you know, huge benefit to this company because, uh, you know, she will go

through these studies and say, that's a good study. That's not a good study. It's only in mice, you know, whatnot. It hasn't been tested in humans, et cetera. So I have a lot of guidance from, you know, different people on the staff for the regular reports that come in and we push them out to the shows and say, we think this is important to cover. Right, for the longer leads.

For the longer leads, exactly. For the couple of days in advance. But when you say a day in the life, I mean, there are scheduled meetings that go on here, editorial meetings and futures meetings and whatnot. But things happen on a dime, as you witnessed. And so anything can happen at any minute at any minute of any day. We work 24 seven. Um, we do have vacation time and when we're on vacation, we're on vacation

and people substitute for us and take over for us. And, um, Tim Langmaid is, um, you know, you know, my deputy on, uh, on all things that are, you know, management and editorial and whatnot, and he's phenomenal. And so he covers for me, and if he's not around, then we've got Miriam and we've got Jennifer Bixler and Caleb Hellerman. These are the seniors on the team who I have come to rely on very heavily. And then we have amazing staffers that are brilliant you know, brilliant at what they do. Danielle DeLordo travels all over the world as Sanjay's senior producer. She's amazing. Amazing. And you

worked with her in- Of course, she's the best. She's amazing. And then Ben Tinker, who puts together Sanjay Gupta MD, and he's great. So, you know, I know that by me mentioning names and not mentioning all the names, I'm going to get killed for this. Matt Sloan is the other one that I know. Caitlin, Trish, Nadia. You're in big trouble now. I am in huge trouble. Let's move on. Let's move on.

But anyway, the point being is that breaking news happens. We react to it. We figure out what the you know, what the angles are that we need to get across as quickly as possible. Like right now, the, you know, coronavirus, you know, you know, is something that we're looking at really carefully. This is a SARS-like virus that has killed, I think, four people as of this date, right now as we're speaking. Right. But this is something that we need to pay attention to and see if it's going to become

one of these pandemics or, you know, a contagion of some sort that we need to send Sanjay and Danielle jump on a plane, go, you know, and go to the region which has been infected. And how is the World Health Organization responding to this? How is the CDC working with the World Health Organization? That sort of thing. So, you know, if something is happening in the world and it's going to affect your health, you need to pay attention to what, you know, Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Elizabeth Cohen, our senior medical correspondent, you know, are going to be reporting on all things, you know, are going to be reporting on, on, on all things, um, um, you know, important

that, that are vital to, you know, us keeping people healthy and safe basically. And after that description, I'm having a hard time imagining how you have any free time whatsoever, let alone enough time to train for a triathlon and like, and, and to be a wife and a mother. And, you know, how do you, how is it possible that you can, I mean, people are always saying, well, you know, I would do that if I had, you know, but I don't have that free, that kind of free time. And I echoing something you said before, I share this sensibility that if you are determined to take control of your health and, and take stock in yourself, that you can find the time that we all waste time. You know, there's all, there's ways of finding greater efficiency in how you conduct

your day. But somebody with your job and that kind of responsibility, I mean, you're taking it to a new level. Like, how do you work it in? Well, I don't have babies anymore. So that's one thing. I mean, my kids are 15 and 19. And so they can take care of themselves. And one of the goals of... See you later, mom's coming. Here's the takeout menu. Apples and some cucumbers. You know, one of the goals of my husband and raising our kids is that, you know, they can rely on themselves to a certain extent. That, you know, that they are, that they know that they have themselves. And so, you know, we don't leave them without food in the house, obviously.

But, you know. Wait, that's interesting. Explain that a little more fully. I want them to always always know that in a pinch they have themselves to rely on, that they don't that, you know, the only person that's going to save them. They're not relying on you to do everything for them. Well, absolutely not relying on us. They're self-sufficient. Exactly. You know, I mean, obviously, you know, we take care of them on every level that we, you know, that we that we are, you know. So you drive them out to the desert and drop them off in their underwear with twenty dollars and say, find your way home. Exactly. That's exactly what we do. And, you know, these I mean, they're they're they're amazing kids. They have grown up to be really, you know, maybe part of it is growing up in New York City. You know, you kind of grow up a little faster and you're a little bit more self-reliant.

You've got to learn how to manage the subways and the buses and all that sort of thing. Street savvy. So when I – they're street smart. So when I say that take care of yourselves, I mean it's that sort of thing. You know, it's not, you know, go and figure out, you know, things that your parents should be helping you figure out. But nonetheless, I – you're backpedaling. I'm going to get so, I am going to get such hate mail on this. It's like, but, um, no, I think that's really important.

And that's something I'm trying to instill in my children, uh, is, you know, to be like the greatest thing a kid can have is their own internal motor and their sense of self and be self-driven, self-directed, and to take responsibility for their decisions and their choices. And as a parent, you have to instill that and you have to empower them to do that. And sometimes that means challenging them or saying, you know, no, I'm not going to do that for you. You figure it out, come back and I'll help you or what have you. I mean, I think that's effective parenting. That's exactly right. I mean, you know, when it came down to, you know, my daughter, what was she going to do for her, you know,

her summer between, you know, freshman and sophomore year, it was basically, you know, you have to find a job. I mean, we're not going to find a job for you. You need to find a job. And if you want an internship doing something special, you need to, you need to figure it out. We'll help you, you know, and guide you and whatnot, but you need to figure out what you want. Take responsibility for that. Take responsibility for what you want and what are your passions. And so that's sort of where I'm going with all of this. And so because, you know, we kind of got off the track, but you're talking about independence, but because I have maybe a little bit more free time now than when they were little. I'm able to get up at 4.30 in the morning and get myself together and get out the door

by 5.20 and get to Central Park at 72nd Street, Transverse, and meet the team and go for a ride from 5.45 to 7.15. That's something that is in my schedule. And you're making the choice to get up at 4.30. Yeah, I know. I'm definitely not getting enough sleep. You seem fine to me. You have plenty of energy, Ronnie. I think that the energy is also channeled to the things that, well, let's face it, you know exercise

gives you more energy. Yeah. Even if you're like super, uber tired. Right. It doesn't deplete me. It fortifies me. Exactly. And how many times have you gotten like two hours sleep before a race and you do just fine?

All the time. Right. Because you have to be up at three in the morning and you're going to sleep maybe after you get organized at 11 or 11.30 and then by the time you're excited and your adrenaline's going, and by the time you fall asleep, it's midnight. And then you've slept from like midnight to three. That happens a lot. Right. And I'm also more efficient and more focused in what I'm doing. So there's this weird inverse relationship, although it takes time to do the workout, especially cycling. Cycling takes up so much time, but, but then I'm so much more focused in whatever task I'm

doing later that I end up getting it done more efficiently and more effectively than had I just blown the workout off and then I'm kind of meandering around. You know, again, it goes back to structure and kind of creating those guideposts to keep you self-directed. Exactly. And I have felt that it's not – it seems like I have more time to focus on the most important things even though I'm packing more things in. It's weird. It's like there's the budgeting of time. It's very – it seems to be religious almost in a way that you're able to really figure out what you're doing at which time. And the worst thing for me is exercising at night. That does not happen for me. I can't. I can't do it either.

I've got to get it done in the morning. And there have been times when obviously if there's breaking news or something and I can't go and I can't – you have to blow it off. But because it's not my profession, the sport of triathlon is I'm not, I'm not a professional triathlete. Um, uh, and it's not, it's not going to, to hurt me in a way that's, you know, at the end of the day. No, it's about, it's about improving your life, not disrupting it. You know, of course you have pressures. You're not always going to, you know, you set up the structure. These are my workouts. Something intervenes like, you know, life, life intervenes. That's the way it works. I mean, and then you, you can't flog yourself or judge yourself. You

just move on. I mean, I am, I have a love affair with, with triathlon. There's no question. And I am, and you are neurotic. I remember when we were in Malibu doing the swim clinic before the Malibu triathlon and you're in the wetsuit and, and helping out with a couple – Chrissy was there and we were going to do a little like how do you get in and out of the water. Yeah. And you were asking a million questions. I was like, Ronnie, calm down. You've done this a million times. You know what you're doing.

You don't need any help. I'd never swam in those kinds of breaker waves before. And swam in those kinds of breaker waves before. I'd never done the dolphin dives through these giant surfer waves before. So that was new to me. I mean, there's always these new things. And I was in uncharted waters, as they say. So it was a little scary.

I like to be prepared and like to know. But the thing that I wanted to say is the whole thing with the love affair of triathlon is I want everybody to be exposed to this. So that's kind of where the whole Fit Nation program kind of came about. And I just think that I've seen so many people's lives change through it. And it makes me so happy. Not just staff members that we work with, but, you know, John Bonifield and William Hudson are Elizabeth's producers, Elizabeth Cohen's producers. And they, you know, both did people and have them feel good about themselves. And the Fit Nation six-pack, the ones in Malibu that we were talking about, seeing these people's lives transformed. They're now four years.

Well, before we get too into it, yeah, let's back up a little bit. I mean, Fit Nation is your baby, right? Well, FitNation was in existence before I came, but the Triathlon Challenge was the thing that I… That's a new one, right, that you brought to it. That was what I brought to it. And that's been going on for how many years? Four years now. So, explain to somebody who's listening and might not be familiar with what FitNation is, what it is exactly. So FitNation was a program, as I said, that was started before and it was a health initiative

with Sanjay and Matt and I'm sure a bunch of other people who I'm not exactly, you know, Tim Langmaid was involved in that, you know, et cetera. And a lot of people were taking, you know, Sanjay was going around the country and whatnot and then what is the next reiteration of this fantastic program that, you know, you're bringing awareness to diet, nutrition, and exercise. And they were putting on races in different places and whatnot. So, or they were taking part with different races. And so because of my love affair with triathlon, I was like, well, how about if we maybe make it the Fit Nation

triathlon challenge? And it was convincing Sanjay to become a triathlete. That was the most important. Do I have to do this too? He, I caught him on a plane. He tells a funny story that, you know, he was like kind of on a plane and they was making him, they were asking him to shut off his phone, shut off his phone, turned down. And I said, well, will you do it do it will you do the will you do the triathlon he goes okay okay and i had no idea because he's trying to get you off the phone exactly and so from then on we just like literally green light go and so um the the the fit nation triathlon challenge was born and we asked people to send in their eyeorts as to why they would want to do it and we picked a group of six. We called them the six pack and you know everybody has finished the

race over the past three completed years. This is now the fourth year that we're doing it and we take people from all over the country. So the iReports people submit videos and a testimonial as to why they should be selected to be part of this team that you're going to kind of provide supervision and resources to, to help them. Yeah. And these are people that are, that are, you know, coming from all walks of life, have their, all have their own kind of challenges and personal stories and why they want to, you know, try to do a triathlon for the first time. And then, and then you create these human interest stories around what they're doing and let them blog and talk about it on your website.

And you have these training camps and you get them gear and coaching and all that kind of stuff. And you're with them for a year. That's exactly right. That's exactly right. And it becomes a family, kind of its own family, and they support each other. And it becomes a family, kind of its own family, and they support each other. And April Berkey is – Galatly Berkey is our athletic director slash coach.

And she is a pro triathlete. She's actually racing Ironman Texas tomorrow. Oh, wow. Yeah, cool. We have to give her a big shout out. April's awesome. Yeah, April's awesome. April's awesome.

That's her Twitter, right? That's her Twitter account, yep. And so maybe by the time this airs, she'll have already raced, right? She will have done it, yeah. She'll have done it. It probably won't go up until next week. Okay. So, you know, obviously she's chasing Kona. She wants to be a pro in Kona. And we are all like her biggest fans and her biggest cheerleading base. And she's amazing and has created an incredible program for the six pack. And she keeps track of all their workouts. And she has a great saying, which is safety first, which I abide by all the time now. If I'm coming down a really fast hill and I think, oh boy, a little too fast, I kind of try to make sure I have control of that bike.

It's really important. So the program has been wildly successful. And we love it it we love it and we hope that um it it's infectious to other people to help other people think about things that they never thought that they could do right i mean this is a this is you know if you just go on you know our fit nation um website and i'll put that in the show notes for people that can go to the site. Yeah, they can see who the latest six-pack is. They're incredible. So last year I had the honor of playing a small part when you guys came to Malibu of trying to help out a little bit and got to meet, you know, everybody.

And I was there at the finish line to watch all of them finish. And it was exactly, you was exactly kind of what you related when you did your first triathlon. I mean, they were over the moon, like so excited that they were able to complete this thing that to them seemed like going to the moon. Yeah, exactly, exactly. And some of them actually have,

I mean, really many of them have adopted and adapted this lifestyle where they're doing like half irons. We're racing Augusta, Georgia Ironman and the 70.3 on September 29th with a bunch of alumni, including Denise Costelli, who is from the Challenged Athletes Foundation. Right, right, right. And who I swam with in Malibu, who lost her leg in a very, very serious softball incident where she had broken her leg. Try Hard Denise. Try Hard Denise. Twitter at Try Hard Denise. Yeah. And she's an amazing athlete.

So we're going to do that with a bunch of us. So we're going to do that with a bunch of us. And that's going to be another time where I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm going to see these people who had never done anything like that before now do a half Ironman. And I'm going to be with them by their side and racing with them. That it's going to be – I'm anticipating it to be almost like this motherly high. You know what I mean? That these are my ducklings and now they have gone off. You lit the spark that sent them off on this journey. I'm so excited. I'm really excited.

What are some of the people from this year's crop? What are some of their stories and things that they're dealing with? Things that they're dealing with. They, well, they, one of them is a woman who's a warden at a prison and she's retiring and she's sort of giving herself a gift of fitness. And, you know, she has surprised herself in terms of like how much she loves, loves biking and loves the sport. Like she loves it. And it's, you know, loves it, and it's amazing. She's in her 50s. There's people who are –

a guy who had a massive heart attack very young on the sidelines at a Notre Dame game, and he died several times and came back. Wow. And, you know, he's, you know, has to keep track of his heart rate now. He's, you know, you know, has a new life now because now he has, you know, a sport that he, you know, can jump back into. because now he has a sport that he can jump back into.

And another gal who was on her own journey prior to coming to us where she was looking for a large weight loss. I think she was over 300 pounds, and she was doing her own weight loss program. And she was doing her own weight loss program. And then she kind of came to us and, you know, now has completed her first half marathon as she's been training with us. She'll do her first triathlon in September with us. But, you know, she's a remarkable person and she's already lost 160 pounds. That's amazing. Yeah.

So, I mean. 160 pounds. Yeah. So, I mean. 160 pounds. Yeah. So, she's completely transformed her life too. And I say she started her journey before we met her this year. But I think it's really been, you know, a great goal for her to set as she's been, you know, it's a long time to be in, you know, a journey like that. So, and they all support each other. That's just three of the six, but they all support each other in remarkable ways where

they want each other, as every group did in the past, they want each other to succeed. And if something becomes difficult, you know, they jump on the phone with each other. And, you know, we have, you know, calls that are scheduled calls where we all kind of talk and discuss things that have been working and not working and getting their garments working and things when they got their bikes and, you know, milestones when they, the first time they ran two miles and didn't stop and didn't walk, you know, things like that, that are really, you know, huge milestones for people. Huge. Yeah.

Didn't you just have a training camp or something? Yes, we did. We just came back from Florida last week. We were in the Claremont area where they have the National Training Center swim center where I think Olympians train at. And that pool is pretty spectacular. And so they swam, they biked, they ran. And then at the end of the week, it was a full week. And at the end of the week, we did a kind of a mock mini sprint to have them put all the parts together so that they know that they actually can do it. And it was so hot, so hot.

And every single one of them completed it. And they swam. Yep, they swam in this huge lake. And then they biked around the lake. And then they ran, you know, three something, 3.2 miles, something like that. And they all completed it and, um, you know, we're just cheering like it's the Olympics. Is the race again going to be the Malibu one or you're doing that again? Yes, we're doing Malibu again. And we have people from the staff doing it. We have, coming back from other Fit Nation years doing it.

Of course, Sanjay. And it's really, it's a very celebratory and very special experience for people. And, you know, we often talk about diet and health and fitness and lifestyle and whatever. And the fact that we actually get to practice what we preach is really a gift. It's really a gift. And I hope it's a gift that we can keep giving to people here, especially even here at the company. They have the Fit Nation program at Time Warner now, which is really exciting. Yeah, Time Warner kind of company-wide has their own teams and all that kind of stuff. They do.

So, it's really amazing that the company has endorsed a healthy lifestyle through fitness. It's fantastic. I mean, it's unbelievable. So, we're very lucky. Very lucky. Well, FitNation is inspiring. You're inspiring a lot of people and you're doing great work. And anybody who's interested in learning more about triathlon, I mean, obviously they can learn about it through you, but they can also, you know, as we said, you know, jump on the website.

And next year, hopefully, you know, we'll be continuing it. And in September, if somebody who's like has it on their, you know, bucket list or they want to try it out or whatever, they've never done it. The one requirement is you have never been able to do a triathlon. You've never done a triathlon before. And then they send in their iReports. Send those videos in. Right, exactly. And then we…

Sift through them. We do. Like a film festival. Exactly. We, you know, we, we, we do. I mean, I mean, there are so many great people, but we can only, you know, pick six for, um, you know, reasons, many reasons, obviously. But, um, you know, there's, um, there are a lot of people out there who have a passion to want to, you know, change their lifestyle. And that's something that's takes a lot of mental, it's mental, right? We always talk about it. This is a mental sport.

It takes courage. Right. You know about it. This is a mental sport. Well, it takes courage. Right. You know. Right. So. Yeah, definitely. It takes a lot of courage. Yeah.

And just when you think you're not going to be able to do it, you know, you kind of have to psych each other like an Alcatraz. Right. That was pretty scary. Yeah. So, Ronnie just did the Alcatraz triathlon, Escape from Alcatraz, which usually is held during the warmer months. But because of the America's cup coming to San Francisco, they pushed it to when,

when was it in March and March, which, you know, I've swum in that Bay and it's not, yeah, I've done a lot of open water swimming. The only time I've ever really been freaked out has been in the middle of that bay doing that Alcatraz swim. Because it's, well, it's freaky because there's currents and it's really cold.

And you can kind of smell the oil and the gas from the barges. And you can see the Golden Gate Bridge out there. And it's foggy. And it's very ominous and, like, disorienting. And the water is so dark you can't see anything. Right. And on this particular day, with the water is so dark, you can't see anything. Right. And on this particular day, with the water being 50 degrees, which is pretty mind and body numbing. That's very, very cold.

Yeah. And the seas were like this. I mean, they were like, they were, I mean, there are great videos on YouTube. If you just look them up, Alcatraz 2013. I mean, I, the kayaks were dipping in and out of these waves. And it was a tough swim. It's tough when it's calm. And I think what people don't realize is they time the swim right at the slack current.

So it's, you know, the water in the San Francisco Bay is either moving inwards or moving outwards. And there's like a half an hour period where it's kind of in between those two things. And they try to time the swim for that. So the faster swimmers can kind of cut through that and blaze to the finish. But the slower ones, the slower you are, the worse it is because then the current starts to go out again. And then they start picking up swimmers who, you know, are climbing ashore down by Safeway, which is way down the coast. You know what I mean? Exactly.

It's scary. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's why I think, I mean, you have to, I guess you have to, excuse me, qualify for the race. In some ways you have to, you know, have special times or whatever. I remember I got an email from, you know email after the Westchester Triathlon last year. I got an email, and this race had been on my bucket list.

I wanted to do this. I always wanted to do this race. One of the great races. Exactly. And you qualified, and I think it had to be based on my swim because the rest of my race wasn't anything to scream about.

But I think once I got it, I was so excited. I literally sent in my registration and I didn't even look at the date. Like I just assumed it was the same as it is every other year. Well, why would you assume otherwise? I was so excited. I sent it in. And then somebody said to me, you know that race is in freezing cold water in March. I'm like, what are you talking about?

I just sent in my deposit, my money. And at that point, it was all mental. And I tried to, I took ice baths before the race, like to try to get my body, like, what is it going to feel like? Like what, like I tried to take cold showers. I mean, where was I going to train really, you know? So, but the smartest thing that anybody can do if they ever consider that race, whether it's in March or June or May, whatever, is to, they have an amazing program the day before where you can go out and do a, you know, do jump in the San Francisco Bay with these professional, you know, swim people who know the bay like the back of their hands. And, you know, I was able to take that little clinic. And I think that was a lifesaver. That's smart. I mean, we're seeing this crazy sort of uptick in people dying in triathlons, you know.

And it's always in the swim. And, you know, it's having, I mean, aside from the obvious, you know, tragic nature of that, you know, the impact on triathlon, you're seeing it already. Like anytime there's anything weird with the water, they cancel the swim or, you know, the insurance rates, I'm sure, are through the roof and it's making it harder and harder, I think. Yeah. So I think anybody, you know, everybody should explore those kinds of things if you're uncertain about the swim. I mean, I think it's that, you know, lack of experience and the kind of anxiety

and rush that comes with being in a race that gets people freaked out or they're panicking or have, you know, these anxiety attacks that lead to these problems. Absolutely. And I have had those anxiety attacks even after lots of experience and it can just come upon you and you don't even know why it's happening. Like I could be literally fine running into the water or at a water start

and then maybe, I don't know, 100 yards into the swim, something kind of comes over me or whatever or somebody like puts their hand over my head and pushes my head underwater. Anything can happen. And you just, all of a sudden your heart rate shoots up and then you have to use your intellect to kind of get back in the groove again and calm yourself down or flip on your back or whatever the techniques are.

But if you're in a panic state, you don't, you don't have experience with how to do that, how to calm yourself down, how to control your breathing, you know. That's right. You know, and if you're in a wetsuit, it's like, you're, you're not going to sink, you know, roll on your back, catch your breath, you know, take a moment, uh, and try to collect your, you know, your body. Yeah. It's, um, it's a, it is, it is, um, you know, a very scary thing to have happen. And, um, when you go into any kind of panic mode like that and you have to be just really smart about it, you know, and you have to train and hope for the best, you

know, that something, you know, that you don't have some, you know, kind of underlying health issue that you don't know about. Right. And that, you know, things are going to be okay. So, you know, it has become a, you know, kind of a big issue in the sport that, you know, I guess the USAT is looking into pretty carefully. I would imagine they are. Yeah.

But you escaped. You escaped from Alcatraz. And now you got a big Gran Fondo coming up. Is that this weekend? Yes, that's this weekend. Actually, I have my packet here. I just picked it up before our little meeting. I have my shirt. The color of Gran Fondo is this

lime green, black and white jersey. Oh, that's cool. I'm going to make you put that on and we're going to take a picture after this. Okay, alright, we'll do that. And then they have these really cool— Show me you got number 23 for this, and I asked you if you were the Michael Jordan of cycling. Well, the reason I have 23 is because I'm part of the Hometown Challenge Racers,

which means I raised money for this particular event for the Challenged Athletes Foundation, which I fully support and I think is an important cause. Um, but the cool thing is, um, they give you these license plates, which you put on the front of your bikes and they're the timing chips. So this is, so you don't wear timing chip in your ankle. You just put this on the front of the bike. And then when you go over certain things, I guess there's, they guess they time certain parts of the race or whatever. But that's kind of a cool thing. And they give you a bottle of wine, too, which I thought was awesome.

Well, that's the Gran Fondo spirit. I mean, these Gran Fondos, which are now popping up all over the place, which I think are really great because they're 100-mile-plus rides. But they're not races. They're sort of experiences where you go and you take your time and they have these rest stops and they always have amazing food and it's very festive yes and they're fun you know celebratory and i'm riding with my team lipstick girls um so we're going to meet at 5 45 and head over to the starting line which is um at the george washington bridge on the lower level so anybody um who was trying to get over the GW Bridge this coming Sunday, beware.

Find a new route. They will be rerouted. And there's a couple thousand people doing it. So it's cool. It's a very cool event. And I'm like one of those people, I always like to be part of a big crowd. You know, it's like if there's a concert happening in central park, I want to be like at the event. I want to be like the scene, you know,

it's like, I love, I'm not obviously to live in New York city, you have to like crowds. So, um, so I just love being a part of a part of the action. Cool. And if somebody wants to find out more about your fundraising, is there like a site where they can contribute? Yeah. Boy, I tweeted it out. You did?

Yeah. So if, you know, at Ronnie Selig is my Twitter. Yeah. R-O-N-I-S-E-L-I-G. And if you kind of look back, I put a link to it. There's a link. All right. Well, if you email me the link, I'll put it in the show notes.

Oh, that would be great. That would be really great. Yeah, it's for a really good cause. It's for $1,500 we can buy a prosthetic leg for a challenged athlete, you know, one of those runner's legs. Yeah. And that's kind of cool. And challenged. I mean, they do such an amazing job.

runner's legs and that's kind of cool and challenge that i mean they do such an amazing job you know they they literally hook up those people with like incredible prosthetics and get them active again and yeah i mean it gave denise castelli a new life i mean you know one of her the quotes i'm not speaking out of school because she said this on tv but you know she said to sanjay that you know after her after she lost her leg in her twenties, you know, she said, I don't know if anybody will ever love me again. And it was so poignant and so touching and to see Denise racing and to be with her, um, just is, is, it's so beautiful and it's so exhilarating and inspiring that, um, you know, it just gives you so much joy. So, you know, and it's interesting because, you know, when, you know, this horrible situation with the Boston Marathon happening, you know, the people that were most, you know, significantly and horribly injured, you know, they were the people on the sidelines.

But you and I know we go to those races. And that could have been us. And whether or not they were running in the Boston Marathon or they were just on the sidelines, I mean, we don't know what their dreams were, if they wanted to ever run a race or whatnot. I mean, supporting other people. Oh, please. And the. I mean, you know, supporting other people. Oh, please.

And the young boy who, you know. Well, what I was getting at was that, you know, the Challenged Athletes Foundation, you know, an organization like that can be a significant life-changing and life-altering, you know, wonderful. Lifeline. Lifeline, exactly, for your future. Absolutely. And, you know, maybe people in the sidelines were people that were supporting other people, but now, maybe it could be within their reach to run a 10k, or 5k, or something like that, or, or, or,

or, you know, or ride a bike again, that kind of thing. So if you know, if they or or you know or ride a bike again that kind of thing so if you know if they had you know an amputation or something so you know my point is that the technology is there you know people need resources and they need help and um it's up to us to provide that safety net and those resources and so in any way that we can help do that i think it's it's it's a responsibility that we all have so that's why i um that's why I'm a big fan of that particular organization. Beautifully put. I think we can wrap it up with that. I can't think of a better bookend.

Okay. Well, thank you for having me, Rich, my first podcast. I hope I didn't disappoint you. It was cool, right? Did we do okay? I hope so. I was nervous. I was nervous to interview a real journalist. Oh, no. I don't know what I'm doing here. Oh, nervous. I was nervous to interview a real journalist.

Oh, no. I don't know what I'm doing here. Oh, no. I hope CNN is still on the air without you manning the booth. They're fine. So to speak. So we've got to get you back to work. Thank you, Rich.

All right. Thanks so much for being on the show, Ronnie. All right. I'll see you in Malibu. All right. Peace. Peace. Let's. Peace. Peace. Lance. Thank you. you you you you you you you you you you you you