The Sevan Podcast - #95 - Danielle Brandon

Episode Date: July 30, 2021

The Sevan Podcast is sponsored by http://www.barbelljobs.com Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/therealsevanpodcast/ Sevan's Stuff: https://www.instagram.com/sevanmatossian/?hl=en https://app.sugarwod.com/marketplace/3-playing-brothers Brian's Stuff: https://www.instagram.com/brianfriend... https://morningchalkup.com/author/bri... Support the show Partners: https://cahormones.com/ - CODE "SEVAN" FOR FREE CONSULTATION https://www.paperstcoffee.com/ - THE COFFEE I DRINK! https://asrx.com/collections/the-real... - OUR TSHIRTS ... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by PC Optimum. If you like a curated playlist, why not try a curated grocery list? With Swap and Save, the new feature in the PC Optimum app, you'll get PC Optimum's best price for your grocery items. Simply add products to your shopping list in the app, and it'll show you similar items at a lower cost. Add coffee to your list, then swap it for one that's cheaper. Craving chips? The app will suggest some on sale.

To get started, just open the app. It's as easy as that. See the PC Optimum app for details. At Air Miles, we help you collect more moments. So instead of scrolling through photos of friends on social media, you can spend more time dinnering with them. How's that spicy enchilada? Oh, very flavorful. Yodeling with them. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew.

Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew.

Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew.

Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Must be mating season.

And hiking with them. Is that a squirrel? Bear! Run! Collect more moments with more ways to earn. Air Mile. Bam. We're live.

Funny how Sevan and Brian have done more to lift up the athletes than anyone else so lucky we get to hear their stories these guys are fucking great ashy ash ash len that's sweet but you guys wouldn't be tuning in if it was just me and brian you guys are here for danielle brandon but it's. You can keep the keep the shit going. I'm okay with it. I'm okay with it. The people are using you to get to me. I love being used. I have no issues with being used.

It's perfectly okay. I'm glad I have value in someone's life. I take that as a compliment. I have a shovel in my backyard I use every day and it's my favorite shovel and I would cry if it broke. Aww. You're the shovel. Yeah. Well, you know what? I'm using you guys.

I'm going to have to think about that. What did you say, Danielle? I said I'm using you guys. Thank you. You're welcome. I feel honored. Oh, where do you start with Danielle Brandon? I think we just start with where good one i'm in my we have like this huge house this huge airbnb uh it's like three no it's two levels but it sleeps like 16 people

it's literally like a mansion. It's huge. And who's there? Well, Carrie and Bethany were, but they're not anymore. Coach, Deb, Graf,

Christian Harris is staying with us. And I just had a couple of friends that got in last night that are here now. What do you mean friends? You can't be, you can't be like having friends over. Like you need to be now um what do you mean friends you can't be you can't be like having friends over like you need to be focused what do you mean friends mask at all times i'm not even worried about that but i'm just talking about friends like are they distraction like they keep it light they keep everything light and i have fun you know if i'm just like especially now that i don't have carrie or or Bethany it's hard to keep things like light around here you know can you tell us that story how like like what happened

oh man the details the timeline yeah so I think uh by the way you're having a great hair day wow thanks yep after the lake swim yesterday it's it's just gonna be a long weekend so whatever i don't know if that was no it was a compliment it was a compliment i know no one can ever you sound like my wife no one can ever touch these is that a compliment are you ripping on me i don't know it's a compliment okay sure whatever uh well so i mean i'll get into personal details but please bethany i mean bethany like started her period i think the day that so like okay she's like not feeling great you know she's like a very normal thing for women to feel not great on their period and then that night she

slept poorly because she woke up in the morning and had really bad like night sweats and was like oh maybe i just have like a little flu thing or i'm distressed or it's my period so or menopause oh no she had her period right okay yeah um so we were like okay she like didn't work out with us that day like she like fully isolated herself immediately when she wasn't feeling great and then i think i believe then like the next day she like didn't work out and like isolated herself and my dumb ass was just like totally oblivious because then that night like concerns were brought up like oh my gosh we have to test tomorrow bethany might test positive and i was

like oh my god like i didn't even think about her testing positive for covid because i'm just like she's just sick you know or like stress right like nowhere in my head did i think about that and i was like oh shit like possibility yeah so then literally that next day we all got swabbed up our nose waited 10 minutes and we where were you guys during all this what were you guys in madison car so we were like in the car and like we all had been isolating from each other. And we I don't know. We just like really didn't think this would happen. So we pulled up.

We drove together. And so we drove together. We were all in the same car. We got tested after 10 minutes. They like just came up to our car and they were like, Bethany's positive for COVID. You just jump out of the car then you just jump out. They were like, Bethany's positive for COVID. Do you just jump out of the car then? Do you just jump out of the car and pull a giant condom over your head? But like, we didn't think it would happen. Right. Right. Healthy, healthy denial.

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Totally. And then we got out of the car. We were waiting around for a while because then they tested her again and immediately she tested positive again and then they were waiting for a medic to come so we had to stand outside for about a half hour because a medic came and they were like well we didn't actually think this would happen like we protocol you guys are also athletes and you were around her now we have to like navigate a whole new situation, you know? So sorry. Is this, is this an official CrossFit games testing area? Yeah, this was like, okay. Okay. I thought, okay.

What morning? Monday, Monday morning. Okay. I believe. Yeah. So then we just waited around and then we, me and Carrie were told to go home. We waited around forever and they were trying to figure out if we could get our stuff, what the next step was, but they just said, okay, go home, isolate, stay away from each other. Um, and then you'll come back tomorrow and get tested. So came back the next day, we all got tested. Obviously me and Carrie had negative tests. We didn't go to any athlete briefings, no dinner or anything,

which was fine. And then, and I mean, I don't know if Carrie wasn't like Carrie woke up that morning. And it was kind of like feeling off. Oh, I think I lost you guys. No, no, we're here.

We're here. We see you. I was like, I don't see Brian anymore. His screen is black. I purposely turned Brian's screen off. Okay. Okay. So that we don't have to look at him.

Love it. Cool. I didn't want to. I was sick of looking at him, honestly. He has the best internet connection, I'm sure. But that morning, Carrie was just feeling off. And I think we were all really stressed. Like, you know, we were like, oh, my gosh, we could test positive as well.

So Carrie was a little stressed, but then we tested negative, obviously. But then that next morning, I mean, Carrie was very quiet, but Justin knows Carrie so well. And Justin just had a gut feeling. And sure enough, we're waiting. And then I just see Carrie crying. They like call her back and she's crying. And I was like, oh shit. So I like called Justin and I was like, Carrie just tested positive, but they're going to

test her again because it could have just been a false positive. Who did you call? And then Justin. Okay. Because me and Carrie went separately. again because it could have just been a false positive who did you call and then justin okay because me and carrie went separately so justin who justin who your coach or yeah okay oh yeah yeah okay sorry from when bethany tested positive carrie and i separated like we drove separately we like you know tried to keep that distance right Right. We're in like completely, she's upstairs. I'm downstairs. Like we don't come in contact and call Justin.

And he's like, Oh shit. It's like, let me call some other people. And then I don't know. Carrie just pulled up next to me. It was just emotional because it was like very obvious that she had tested positive again so and no no and no symptoms from carrie none no but she tested twice and then so and so now

she's whisked away and her her what what do they do they just take bethany and carrie to an incinerator and burn them like what happens to them like after that? I think they just sent them. Since none of them can fly, I think they're literally road tripping back. Wow. To Vegas. Wow. I mean, I wouldn't want to just like stay here.

Right, right, right. And it's weird. And I'm sure they don't want to abandon you either. It's kind of it's it's it's weird and i'm sure they don't want to abandon you either it's kind of like a you're they're torn but also at least they're together right they can cry each other's shoulders they can process it together if it was just one of them i mean if it was just bethany driving back it would be totally different or just carrie driving back at least they have both of each other to be like they can go through their hey this fucking sucks to like okay there's nothing we can do about it right you know danielle do you know like their coach or significant other anything with them to yeah so actually randy um bethany's boyfriend came and he got in i don't even know what day it is he got in like tuesday or wednesday and then carrie's parents day or sorry last night and like picked her

up and i think her boyfriend's gonna join them or something so then from there the games team contacts you and they're like yo you're gonna have your own lane you're gonna have your own judge you're gonna have your own like can of monster energy water you're gonna have like what do they start telling um first it started off just with like, I mean, going back and forth. Even when Carrie was still in it, it was going back and forth that the CDC says this, the CDC says this,

like we should quarantine them for 10 days. And it was like, no. I think Cooper was just like, no, we're not going to quarantine them. We're going to find a way for them to compete. And if that's testing them every day, we do that so they basically test me every day I have to and they're very they communicate this a lot they're very communicative um always in my ear about make sure we're social distancing when we're walking behind the crowd when we're walking

behind the other athletes um you're going to put your mask on when you walk out there you're going to hand it to your judge you're going to right when you finish the workout put your mask back on which is actually miserable yeah it's it's a pretty crazy it's some pretty crazy this is just my opinion i mean i'm not hating on anyone but it's some pretty crazy theatrics and the fact that you actually hand your mask to someone is fucking insanity because no one should be touching your mask. And who knows what's on there? And let me tell you, even if there wasn't covid. Right. Like, why? What do we I mean, this is like, although I did borrow a stranger's mask one time to go into Jamba Juice to get my kids some juice. I'm like, fuck, I don't got a mask.

Right. You're desperate yeah and i'll just say like you can use mine if you don't give a shit and this this lady who looks like she just fell out of a camper with one tooth hands me her mask i'm like yeah let's do it anything for my kids oh my gosh you're just building the immune system so so these are some of the things i'm hearing i'm hearing that you're tested twice a day i was tested twice yesterday yes so that was the first day of competition um or on yeah do you enjoy any part of the testing like does it like remind you like like having that thing sticking your nose is there anything pleasurable about that i don't care i don't it's like something up my nose it's not very high right it's itself i don't care. It's like something up my nose. It's not very high. Right.

It's itself. I don't care. It's more like the anxiety of like, oh, shit. Like this could pop because you have to wait 10 minutes and you're just like looking at this screen and you're refreshing it to like see green. Someone's just wrote it's a crime to cover up Danielle's face. Nick of time. I couldn't agree more. i love it um it's kind of like it's kind of like if every time after you had sex you got an aids test it's like you know but like you'd like come on man really like but like also opposite of buying a lottery ticket like you only lose if you they pick your number these athletes are going

out and about. And I'm probably going to get crap for this. I went to breakfast this morning. I wore my mask. I like kept my distance. It's very respectable. I got nothing but love from people. I'm, you know, I'm sitting there and I'm watching other athletes who are at breakfast as well.

And they're hugging everybody. Yeah. I'm like, test them every day day why am i at such a higher risk now like you're testing me every day of course maybe at some point someone's going to test a false positive or you know it's just like so stupid test them i guess it's a higher risk than i am i guess it just doesn't play into the theatrics theatrics of it all i think it would it's like fuck it we're gonna test the athletes every day now and see who drops they would they would what if someone's listening to this and they start doing that they'd love you i don't care because then my chances are the same as theirs. Right. Okay. So

this is the story that I really liked. This is the part that I just love of the whole thing. So I, another story we heard is that you were, they were going to have you do the 550 meter run by yourself. 500 meter, 550 yards. When you're a spect spectator it doesn't matter if you're not running so tell me that story tell me tell me how they come up to you and they're like yo girl you're gonna run by yourself and tell me how that plays out no detail is too small like what you were wearing what teeth what you brush your teeth with right yeah no so literally i was waiting we were like they it was before the pig event. So before that, too, I was standing there waiting and we were waiting for the athletes to line up and then like, you know, they would start to walk and then I'd like follow behind. So we were waiting and Dave comes up to me, Dave Castro, and was like, hey, just putting it out there. Worst case, like you're running this 500 meter sprint alone and I was like what one I'm like my brain's not even on the sprint like my brain's on the pig

workout and I'm like what the I was like are you serious I was like one this is such a great event for me that I could capitalize on and I don't know if you've ever ran a distance like that it is so like that's that's not an event to do alone you know not like it's just not it's not an event to do alone there's like some pacing but you can go too slow you know you can go too fast you can die you know so he told me that and then i was just like okay and you had to tell me that now. Why? But whatever. We refocused. Sabotage. It was. I was like, I thought Dave kind of liked me.

And we were like, we love the dramatics of it. He wants the drama. That's my only, I don't know why else he would have told me that. Maybe preparing me, but we weren't even at that event yet. So whatever, do the pig event. And then after, after what? I don't even know. We go back to what you took sixth place in, which you did very well in. Oh, the pig one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I had a,

I was very stressed. And so I think I made myself sick during that event. That's what I, like you threw up in your mouth. No, just like during the event. I, I, when I get, I, it's something I've learned when I do like the open thing, really stressful. Or if I like stress myself out, I make myself sick when I work out. It's like weird. I think that's just how my body- What does that feel like? Like you get a headache or your stomach-

No, like my stomach just is like, it just, it feels like I have to shit or vomit, but I don't actually have to. God, I hope you're sure about that. Or maybe not. Maybe that would be dramatic if you were wrong. Oh no. My body's reaction to stress so i just like it really like my tummy hurts a lot when i'm working out and it sounds it's so dramatic but so i was really i was glad we got through it okay and you did pretty well and so then what happened so then you you flipped your last pig you find out you took sixth and then yeah and then i go back to the warm-up area and then they're like, actually,

okay, we're going to walk you guys over to the sprint area to the beginning of the sprint to warm up, which I think we have to, we had like an hour turnaround. So we went over there and nobody really told us anything yet. We were just kind of warming up and then we were like, okay,

like let's figure out when I'm going. So I asked someone and they said, you are going to go after all of the men's heat. So you will be the first women's heat essentially alone. And you have your mask on now. As soon as you finish the pig, you have your mask on. Okay. To finish – and that workout, I mean that workout hurt.

Like that – my hammies, I thought they would never recover. And I recover very quickly. Like I think that's one of my strengths is I recover very fast. And I was like, I am not recovering at all right now. And if your hamstrings are feeling bad and the last thing you want to do. Yeah. And then, but it was, I mean, finally I like hopped in the ice bath really quick and recovered greatly, but usually I recover. Did you have your own ice bath? Did you have your own ice bath? I did. I had my own pig. I had my own rig set up. It's crazy.

But yeah, right when I finished the workout, the first thing I get to hear is, okay, now come over here, put your mask on. I'm like, okay. Thank you. Congrats to me you know is it a special mask or is it just one of those traditional like paper masks that like they give you when you walk into it's like the crossfit games one they gave us okay I haven't said like a crossfit games like the cloth one okay that's kind of special but everyone got one so not really um then we walk over to the spring like behind everybody even

when they brief the workouts i'm standing behind and then usually they have to repeat it because i can't hear anything anyways and then and none of the other girls are talking to you when you walk over do the other girls talk to you or you kind of just you're the you're the kid that no one talks to not really yeah after the swim it was like completely like i was just like i feel so uncomfortable like it was so awkward okay right after i told like right after carrie failed um i think her katina is the medic the girl that who's following me around everywhere and is it katina thornton what's her last do you know her last name I'm not sure she pretty lady long hair pretty long yes yeah yeah I know she's okay um she's very nice like if they couldn't have stuck me with a they couldn't have stuck me with a better person dude love her very positive funny

super nice like I'm very thankful for that I think she's a mother of five. I think that she is a mom. Yeah. And I think she's a physician and she runs a CrossFit gym out of her house. She's a beast. Wow. Oh, my gosh. I'll have to talk to her. Handsome boys, I think.

I think she got it like a stable of studs. Worth noting. Oh, my gosh. I love that. Smart dudes. Yeah. Good for her. She's really

it seems like she deserves it. She got a good husband too. Good. I'm glad. I'm glad she's got a good man. He better if he wasn't I'd tell him to shave up. She can become your sweet yeah she

really has so she really has been so sorry i'm ruining this great story um by showing off people i know so then you um so so so so so you're at the uh you're at the lineup and they're telling you you're gonna run by yourself yeah and so i And so I was like, all right, like, let's do this. I think Cooper, my agent Cooper Marsh, he was like back near where the start of the run was. And he was like, Hey DB, like, what's up? Like, this is a great opportunity, you know, trying to be most positive about it. If I get to run alone, you know, and I'm like, yeah, I have to run alone. Like what? Okay. Like, we'll figure it out. Let's do it, I guess. And then I don't even know who it was. Some guy that we have not been working with for the past couple of days comes up. He was in a blue shirt. So I think that's athlete control. He comes up to me and he's like, Hey, stand over there. I'm

going to work on getting you a heat. And I was like, okay. So I'm like standing there. So I'm like here, he's like here, his back is towards me. And then all the girls are like facing him. So they're essentially facing me and him. And he's like, he's like, if you guys didn't know already, Danielle is going to be running in the heat of her own. So I would like to ask if any of you vaccinated because there's a very low risk of you contacting COVID or outside, you know, there's moving air. So any of those that are vaccinated, if you would like to volunteer to run with Danielle, I would three would be great. Like three of you would be awesome. And immediately, likeiggs was like i'll run with her and then i think it was like hell um laura laura horvath was like like fuck it i'll run with her and then thurie was like i'm in you know wow yeah like just immediately too it was like seriously like standing there i'm like okay head. Like if nobody says anything, who wants to run with the leper?

Some guy, Jason Watkins, he donated five bucks. He called your lane leper lane. Jason Watkins is a scoring guy that we're going to. Oh, the games. So that's who organized that? No, no, no. He's a friend of mine. Oh, sorry oh sorry oh continue hey was it a hand who who was it who did that was it a handsome what was it a handsome mexican guy who did it was it lucas no no it wasn't beautiful skin i know who lucas is okay all right um i want to

know who it was but so so they said they it, and you went first with those girls? Yeah. Even at one point, it was just funny. How did it make you feel? Emotional for you? I got a little bit emotional thinking. I mean, I was like, oh, my God. She's a legend and legend has like time time again just like

like yep just to do that for like to for her like not to say that i don't like deserve something like that or i'm a nobody but like essentially i i mean nothing to her i'm a competitor to her um so that was really cool you know and you know there were some athletes who kind of when they heard that they took a step backwards and that's not a dig at them everyone that really that's not a dig at them but you know when some people heard that they just fucking cringed like they were like fuck that yeah i mean i mean annie i think annie would have done it like she would she was like a little hesitant because she was like oh what's the variant of covid like do you know

and i was like he was like no we don't so i was just like i don't even know what the fuck that means like why like why i don't know why that would matter right well first of all i want to say this i'm pretty sure the vaccine does not protect you from sars cov2 even in the slightest what it does is it perfects your symptoms of it so those it's yeah it's a it's more theatrics to say who's vaccinated except for the fact that maybe they have a lesser chance of dying which they have such a small chance anyway you're more likely to fucking get hit by a drunk driver but all that being said it's the the i don't want to shit on the story the truth is is that it's

fucking awesome and that's what i wanted to hear you say. Sam Briggs is the shit. And I don't want to take anything away from Laura Horvath or Thuris Doder, but man, these girls. Like she'll talk to you. She is going to ask how you are, no matter who you are. Swim. Emma Carey, the like young teen was frantically trying to get her cap on. And I mean, like, she was just like trying, trying. And it was just like kept falling. And we were like, do you need help? Like Sam Briggs was like, do you want some help?

And she's like, no, just like kept trying. And they were like 30 seconds. And so she freaks out more. And Sam Briggs was like, do you want some help and she's like no just like kept trying and they were like 30 seconds and so she freaks out more and sam briggs was like give me your cap and like held it and was like grab the cap i'm gonna put it on you and like i couldn't even get that but then some you know the cap finally got on but just like stuff like that not many people are willing to step in and like help like that. It's just like, it's awesome. I picture Sam Briggs, like putting her foot on her chest and holding her down and just pulling the cap over her head.

It was just like, girl, we were all like, girl, you need to calm down. We will help you. So. And, and, and so you, and so you run that event. I'm going to come over here and look up at my screen here. Danielle Brandon currently sitting in fifth place with 286 points. She got fifth on the run, which is incredible because there's so many variables in the run. And I'm trying to – let me see who see who let me see did you win your heat

you did win your heat yeah which was also another i was like well i know i'm good at like an event like this but you know anything could happen maybe it was just like a shit sprint day and so i almost felt like a little bit of pressure because i was like oh these girls volunteered to go with me like maybe i should have one or two pass like, oh, these girls volunteer to go with me. Like maybe I should have one or two pass. Like, yeah, like I want to give them a good push. You know what I mean? Like so right away, like Laura's like, I'm not a sprinter. Briggs is like, I'm not a sprinter either.

And I'm like, 30, like you're pretty fast. Right. And she and she won like the sprint event in 2019. Right. I believe so. I think that's right at least that's when you talk okay yeah and then i was well i was like hey guys like i'm actually a pretty good sprinter but like no guarantees today like i think i am and so i'm just like very glad that i did give them a push. last day? How about a 4 p.m. late checkout? You just need a nice place to settle in? Enjoy your room upgrade. Wherever you go, we'll go together. That's the powerful backing of American Express.

Visit amex.ca slash yamx. Benefits vary by card. Terms apply. So it was, so it's like not, it wasn't a waste for them to volunteer to run with me. Wow. That's competitor talk right there. That's like pretty much over my head. That's awesome. Yeah. I felt an obligation to do your best so that they would do their best. Cause you recognize it's funny. That's awesome. Um, when, when you did pole vault, how long is that run up before you stick your pole in the ground? Is that 20 meters? No, it's like, um, I don't know, meters. We would go off feet. It's about 90 to like a little over 100 feet, just depended on how many steps you did. So 30 meters. Andrew, you're asking when we're going to interview Sam Briggs. I've been continuously courting her through the podcast

by telling great stories about her. I've been loving on her for years. I will send her a DM the very second this show is over and try to get her on that would be awesome um so it's in 2019 but she did make the final five yeah so it's 100 feet let's say 90 feet so that's 30 meters so it's way way and do you ever reach top speed when you're pole vaulting? No, no, I don't. I mean, me personally, I don't believe I ever did. No. Did you run any other events when you were on track? The 400, um, um, 200 sometimes, but I'm just like, I'm a very like meter runner too.

I could like probably have trained for and gotten better, but I like me, I'm not initially super fast. So I'm not a hundred meter sprinter. Okay. But compared to CrossFit athletes. Yes. Okay. Right. You spent years on the track. Yes. And are you happy with your placement right now in fifth place a 15th a 6th a 5th and a 16th yeah i think i mean after the first event not going great to realize what place i actually got i was like okay i can work with this

and i don't know there's just been so many circumstances that I am pretty happy of course there's some things that I wish I could have capitalized better on like the sprint like that's a great event for me that I believe I could have finished higher on but because of like the circumstances I'm put in there's nothing else I can do I I mean, I could complain more, but it wouldn't do anything. Um, the swim event, I, I actually had like an asthma attack the first, probably the first half, probably first half of really bad asthma panic attack. Um, I just, I mean, I thought about like pulling out. I was like, I don't know what to do. I was like, I could go to a medic, but luckily being a swimmer, I just like back like pulling out i was like i don't know what to do i was like i could go to a medic but luckily being a swimmer i just like backstroked i was like fuck it like i don't know what to do so i'm just gonna backstroke until i can breathe um did you see anyone else

backstroking in there i was like i probably looked so ridiculous like they were like the drone was above me at one point and i'm just like this just looks terrible i'm sure like daniel brandon is dying getting wrecked by the swim doesn't know how to swim so she's backstroking but the thing is i think swimmers or non-swimmers like they don't know how to backstroke right so i was just like very lucky i knew how to so i could actually breathe um so it's funny because on the second half i looked like a completely different swimmer like i finally would like calm down was able to breathe um and like was able to turn it on but i mean i already lost what 800 meters so, I can only make up so much. But I believe I did pass quite a few girls on that second half of the swim.

What a crazy thing to have a thought go through your head as a games athlete in the first event. Maybe I should pull out. I mean, that's intense. It sucked. Because I think just everything with the carry thing. Because that was immediately after the carry process um katina was like okay we have to go like we have to take you to the swim and i was like obviously very emotional because i was like wow like they're actually pulling both of my teammates and it's like it's emotional especially because they sacrifice so much and not to say that I don't sacrifice as much as them but they do like

they sacrifice more than me they put in so much effort like in and outside of the gym more so outside of the gym than I do you know so it was just like why am I the one here? Like why, you know, it's like, why am I deserving to be here right now? Like that was really hard to accept that. As much as you really want to go to the games, as much as you really want to compete in the games, as much as you really want to do well in the games, was there any part of you also that like was because it is so painful and it is so much work that it could creep into your

psyche that well hey maybe here's an easy out they dropped and now i'm gonna drop do you think there's any of that going on or is that just ludicrous no i mean like at one point i was just like oh yeah like at one point i was like hmm if because i'm not like my most healthy right now like I am dealing with some injuries so I was like if if I did test positive and granted like I don't like I can't put myself there emotionally you know I can't I can't put myself there so I don't know exactly how I'd feel but it did run through my head like hmm I can't capitalize as well as I want to on this year's CrossFit Games just because of some, you know,

what everyone goes through it, but because of injuries. So that's like in your head, I was like, hmm, it wouldn't necessarily be the world. Like that small thought does go through your head. You like, you know, not because of how hard it was going to be but just from like a a competitive viewpoint of like dang am i my best this year can i really show my best this year yeah thoughts creep in yeah yeah but it's crazy it's crazy what you're doing and every day

like we started this podcast saying like you're you're walking a tightrope every day you're just sitting there wondering is today my last day is this my last event is this and it's going to be like that until you until you get in your car and drive home exactly and not i wonder if during that first event i was like that go um i think the easiest thing that i mean during the swim when like i was having like i was like there's no way after all of this am i pulling out because of that like i was like i get to i actually get to be here and two of my teammates like don't winner mindset good job it's just like i was just like there's no way like i get i actually get to be here and two of my teammates like don't winner mindset good job it's just like i was just like there's no way like i like i'm like i'm don't know what's happening right now i'm freaking out but like i have to push like and it and on it

like that last that last event the fourth event i that was the first time i felt really alone like separated in the coliseum just like suffering and dying and like it kind of all hits you at once like i was just like dang like i'm alone i'm suffering carrie and bethany aren't here but like i have to keep going like i have to feel any better 80 of the fans are staring at you um um do you have a history of asthma i do yeah and when's the last time you had an asthma attack um probably when i when i moved to vegas i was having really asthma and then because of how dry it is i don't know i think because um they say pollen in the air or something i've heard of that can be really bad i don't and then in sacramento

i didn't know they had pollen and i didn't know they had pollen in vegas it's pretty much just concrete everywhere it's like the something on the is it? I don't know, cotton or something on the trees like it's really bad. I'm not sure. And then in Sacramento, the air there was pretty bad. And with all the fires that with all the fire, I was around stage one of the games, I was having a lot of asthma issues. So I was really taking my inhaler almost every day. But then I just kind of stopped because I was like it wasn't as bad um so I just stopped using it yeah I could imagine it being really bad in Sacramento I mean anything can grow there you got so many trees yeah um did Con Porter come out and fly out to train in Vegas? He did, yeah. And I don't know if I should beat around the bush about this. No, I won't. Did he come out there to train or did he come out there to court you? I don't think so. No.

Because he's a beautiful man and you're a beautiful woman and so just right away a lot of smart people or dumb people or nosy people. I can see this. Tell us what you want. We're like, oh, shit. We're seeing the bull walk across the field and talk to the cow over there. No, I don't think I'm his type.

I don't think I'm his type. All right. And actually. If you say so. All right. Why did he come out? why did he come out? Why did he come out there to train? So actually, Justin used to coach him.

I think Justin coached him for a couple of years. And then he came out there to see him. Is Justin an Aussie? Is Justin an Aussie? No. We were thinking, we were like, how do they know each other? But. Yeah. Yeah.han used to do grid

i believe okay is that correct i think he did so but then justin was actually but but justin was crossfit coach for a couple years okay and then um i think he only stopped coaching him because khan just i think khan didn't listen very well and just was like i'm not even following so i'm gonna just like do my own thing but they've maintained a good enough relationship that he can yeah i think they're like friends i think they were friends before he coached him probably is he fun he seems like he's so fun i've only met him a few times he is we didn't really get to like be in an environment for that to like shine through really i felt so i don't want to say he's not fun because we've chatted on instagram a lot and i was

like he seems so fun but then like the circumstances we were in like it was in the gym and then he actually which is so funny we had been practicing we bought paddle boards like we bought these really nice prone paddle boards to practice on had him come out and help us and we all like got on our knees very easily you know like the knee technique and then dave pulls out a fucking kayak and i was just like, we literally spent... Are you going to keep the paddle boards? Hell yeah. Yeah, you should keep them in practice on rest days and stuff.

Just go out and get out there on the lake or whatever. Oh, yeah. And I think in my off season, because I don't think I will be doing... I would like to just do more conditioning. So I'll probably just swim and paddleboard more. Are you excited to get home, a part of you excited to get home and see your girls, to see Bethany and Carrie and give them a hug and get in the gym and play with them? I am.

I'm, yeah, it's, yeah, it's really like, it's just very emotional. So I just, it's hard to think about that because I don't want to feel like I'm rubbing it in their face oh I don't think they're going to think that no I would have to think they're happy even that they're hoping you do the best

they're hoping yeah I think they're hoping you do too because you're representing all of them now yeah and we've talked about that but i just i know if it was me it would probably be very hard to hear someone talk about it at first right did you uh did you notice last night in the coliseum how loud the crowd cheered for you? For when they announced my name? Yeah. Yeah, that was really cool. Yeah.

It's really cool. It was clear. It was cheer. It doesn't make any sense. She only has 160,000 followers. It doesn't make sense. I'm not believing it. Do you have a recording to prove it?

Yeah, it's very like, it's very. It's got a pod prove it? Yeah, it's very like it's very podunk account. Yeah, it makes it like much more emotional, you know. So what I'm I'm I'm picturing you spending basically a lot of time alone that there's definitely you definitely know that some of the girls definitely have your back. You're taking it fucking minute by minute. It's nothing like any games anyone has ever experienced before. And that you probably will never be able to share with anyone else because no one else has had this experience of being there like this. That being said, I want to talk about how great you're doing, that you're in the top five, and that you are – let me see this, put this in the ranking order here. We know you made it to regionals, what was it, three, four, five times that you didn't go yeah i think it was like

15 16 17 18 okay crazy and you didn't go because you had to you had obligations to your university because you had a track and field scholarship there and now this is really you can correct me if i'm wrong ryan or daniel this is your first time in front of the community, right? Besides 2019. And how did you do in 2019? I got 10th, but I got cut.

She got cut in 11th. But I shouldn't have got cut. Someone in the top 10 had ultimately failed the drug test, and so she's listed as 10th, but she only got to do half of the workouts. Oh shit. I remember that story. I mean,

you can, you know, you can say how good you would have done all you want, but a lot of those last day workouts were much better workouts for me than the first half of the games. How are you treating yourself right now being in fifth place? I mean, I mean, and you could almost say it's fourth place because you have this fucking outlier to you, Claire, to me. Or by the way, I noticed she had a store or to her name on her Instagram.

Oh, wow. But not on the game set. It's kind of strange. It's like. Not everywhere. Oh,. But not on the game set. It's kind of strange. It's not everywhere. Oh I didn't even notice that. I heard Shane threatened to stop coaching her. If she didn't add or on there. That's just a rumor.

Yeah right. She is definitely the dominant one. In that relationship. So tell me it's Shane Toomey. Shane Toomey. Yes. He wasn't even allowed to keep or.

It's not even Shane or Claire Toomey. Shane, you gotta come on. Come on, buddy. Come on, Shane. I'm just playing. I'm just playing. Be cool, man. So are you happy with this fifth place going into day two there's so many more events

so I I'm not I don't care you're just worried about your test that's it you're keeping all your stress in one basket yeah I'm not even really stressed about that good i think i've like had covid before and i don't know talking like bethany and carrie are very dialed in with everything that goes into their body

like everything you know what i mean if so not to say like they are very healthy but you know sometimes when you're like too healthy that if one wrong thing enters your system your body's like what the fuck you know like it's the same shit every day all the time same with carrie i think but bethany like bethany eats a cupcake like her stomach's jacked you know what i mean like not yeah yeah i i told someone i was gonna give up dairy once that they'd given up dairy and they told me how good they felt and i was like oh i'll try that and they go i wouldn't do it if i were you and i go why they go once you give up dairy and you try to come back to it, you're fucked. And I was like, whoa.

I don't like, you know, it's just like it's just like something thrown out there. But you're saying you eat more dirt than they do. And so, of course, they're they know their bodies so well. But I don't know. I'm not too stressed about that. um but i don't know i'm not too stressed about that and on a much like deeper level i was just like i was like so much thinking of just like why me why me like why am i the only one like ultimately with the work put in like they deserve this spot so much more than i do and like they they're in such a better position to capitalize on this year's crossfit games than me like they deserve

this chance i deserve it too but you can't help but feel like they deserve a little more from my viewpoint of seeing the work that they put in i'm glad i'm glad too because you definitely do yeah i do but it's been it's been are you allowed to go into vendor village are there rules about you wandering around i don't think so i don't know they haven't told me anything but i'm like it sucks because i can't even like do or watch anything right but whatever and and is will this will this continue for all for the remainder days or will there be a point when they're like okay you're in the clear hopefully they listen to this podcast and they really help you take into my consideration of testing every athlete. And they're going to be like, we can't do that.

All right, Danielle, you're good. Or just give me the PCR test. I don't know. That seemed to do it for Cara. They gave her a PCR test and they're like, you're good. You're Gucci. We don't have to test you every day. Oh, that's interesting.

I didn't think about that what is the distinction between your guys's circumstances that makes it because bethany tested positive earlier than dan bailey did oh i guess which is like or maybe later or later sorry dan bailey but i get what you positive one day later day later. Okay. I guess. I don't know. Not that I care to hang out with someone else. I'd rather hang out with Carrie Bethany, but it's fine. Do you know what –

You're obviously in fifth. You would normally be in the final heat. Do you know if you're going to be able to compete against the final heat in the events tomorrow or if they have other things in store for you? compete against the final heat in the events tomorrow or if they have other things in store for you well since we don't really know i mean we know for sure i believe the handstand walk event is tomorrow you guys should be tomorrow a ski rope climb one is tomorrow that should be the first one and then i don't think oh and then no that's all the events now i believe because i think saturday's first event is the running toast bar one because we have five said five events no they haven't said yeah

five events tomorrow is great but okay so you don't know i'm just i'm you know it's like uh obviously they're trying to take precautions but but I hope you can still compete against, because it's really tight. It is. The top four through ten is like 23 points or something. So I feel like you should be able to compete with those women in the same heat because they're the immediate competitors. If you have to compete and they all get to go against each other that seems like not not right right i want to see i want to see them like i want to see something really dramatic like after she does the handstand walk like a hazmat team comes out there with a flamethrower and burns the mats or they just blow up a huge bubble and she has to

do her entire event like like a giant fucking bubble well okay that would be awesome i would love to just totally whack a doodle on it that'd be amazing i mean i'm moving all together as a master yeah but nothing can live in that nothing can live in that apparently i'm surprised half i'm surprised half of you came out I'm surprised half of you came out. I'm surprised all of you came out alive, man. Who did we interview yesterday? Colton Merton said he swallowed a little water on training day and, uh, he said he didn't feel right for like an hour. Oh no. Um, what's his name? Who's having GI issues? i don't know if anyone's having them now oh he is yeah you have all the good information what does that mean what's gi issues is that code for diarrhea

probably yes uh that seems like something that could easily happen if you got a mouthful of lake water. Hey, is that going back to the period thing? Is that better? Is there there's always been like this debate? Well, no one ever talked about it before. But but are you stronger? Is it better? Like at first I thought the conventional wisdom is, is you didn't want to compete when you were having your menses. And then lately I've seen some articles where it's saying no actually you're having like a hormonal

surge and you're actually better it's like it's like natural juicing have you heard i know there's like different times around your period that are better to train but i thought it was like right after is the best time okay i don't know i haven't had a period in years. I haven't either. Oh no. Oh no. Awesome. All right. Good.

I love it. We're on the same page. Speaking of female bodies, how is your body? Are the first four events a beat down or are you feeling good I do I mean for the events to come

I'm not too worried there's a couple that I'm we're going to get through it but i feel fine are you getting body work done yeah okay well that's good and um have you seen any signs of biking in this year's um games yeah yeah there was a video dave took really yeah i believe he took it on saturday and it was on a bicycle it was videos of he was just like filming bikes like uh-huh and dumbbells that'd be cool wow that'd be a cool i was like that's a very interesting combo. And how are your biking skills? Fine.

I mean, I've literally only been on a road bike. I did it. At the games. If you knew that there was a biking movement, what would be your dumbbell movement of choice oh dumbbell overhead squats oh double dumbbell overheads he's not going to do thruster though because he already did the bench press i'd be down oh well bench press combo.

That'd be interesting. When's the last time you bench pressed? I don't know. Just accessory work. Dumbbell bench all the time. It's funny you say that because I called Brian this morning and I said, hey, I need to get a bench. I haven't bench pressed in years.

All I do is push-ups now. And Brian's like, oh, I've been benching a bunch at the gym. I mean, it's always fun. It's never a bad time. I'm different if you throw it in with a little Metcon. I did it with some strict pull-ups and some kettlebell goblet squats. And it was just a little bit different stimulus. It is.

So when I was doing Mayhem, we had to do rope climbs and dumbbell bench, dumbbell bench and pull-ups. So I've done those combos before. It's fun. I actually really enjoy doing bench under fatigue. When did you do Mayhem? Did you train actually there at the mayhem empire or you just no i was i was invited to um go out there for a couple camps but i think i believe it was like around covid time when covid was first you know around came around when covid

decided to show its face and i was like i'm not going to go during covid and sit in a hotel room by myself like it just i was like this doesn't seem enjoyable and yeah i was like i just don't want to and so i was doing it before i moved here with justin before i moved to vegas and actually got like free programming because I did like their competition I mean I always posted about them I really did do their training like all the time I did a lot so but never with them gotcha I'm reading this comment by someone about about the delta variant and COVID and I'm trying just to like bite my tongue. I'm trying to be cool. Brian,

we've now had an hour of Miss Danielle Brandstein. By the way, this is crazy that you're doing this interview with us. The athletes have been just remarkably kind. I thought all of you got... Pat Vellner did one with us earlier. The Jukic brothers did it with us. By the way, if you can meet those Jukic brothers. You would love those guys.

Who are they? Lazar and Luka Jukic. They're both qualified out of Serbia. One is 25, one is 20. They have the great personalities. You would love them. They're so fun like you. They're really shit.

That's what's so sad is i don't even get to mingle with athletes so it's just gonna be another year of not making any friends you can't miss them they kind of look alike they um they're handsome they're cool they're so funny and they're so easy going but anyway a bunch of you guys have done the podcast with us today and um i i just really appreciate it because brian and i are just stoked and we're stoked to get a chance to interview you guys during the middle of this fucking crazy week so thank you yeah thank you it's exciting it's fun and it's really easy to talk with you guys so i'm glad that we got to do it. I just, uh,

when you could use some company today, I could use some, like I could talk to people other than Katina and the people who walk by. I couldn't believe it either. Brian texts me this morning. He goes, do you, do you want to, um,

see if we can interview Danielle Brandon today? And, um, I was like, Oh, that would be fucking amazing. And then I thought he was going to say, okay,

DM or text her. And he's like, okay, I'll do that. And he never does that. Usually he's like, I don't want to bother anyone. And he did it.

I was like, Oh shit. He's, he's charging. I have a welcoming enough personality that you could reach out and not be scared. I think don't talk to me. I'm in the middle of the competition.

Well, we've been having a couple of Instagram exchanges in the past week. So I was like, man, she's by herself right now. I'll just ask her. Man. Oh, that means a lot. That's really cool. That's fun. Someone said Tamas Radnai i said let her talk dude

dude or is that a girl when she take you you got to take turns talking that's what keeps the show interesting either way dude dude dude all right um thank you very much uh hopefully just because you returned one of brian's dms he doesn't start just bugging the shit out of you non-stop if he does uh let the executive producer matt susan know we'll tie brandon brian back up in the basement oh no she doesn't want that she knows what it feels like to be secluded in a room exactly i would never want to put that on somebody else now Exactly. I would never want to put that on somebody else now. Kick ass tomorrow.

Keep your, you seem great. I wasn't sure how this was going to turn out. I didn't know if you were going to be down. There's, there's, you said everything right. You sound like you're just waiting to go for tomorrow. Good luck to you. We'll be cheering you on. It's awesome to see that the fans in the stadium are going apeshit when see you so that's cool and uh yeah if you see sam briggs tell her that brian and i think she's the coolest chick ever and you're saying yes i i think she's really it's okay i'd put her over me right now too another 10 years all right cool all right thank you thank you guys thanks daniel we'll see you out there tomorrow of course bye bye