The Tata Mumbai Marathon 2020 s0, over 55,000 runners sign up from the world over. We caught up with the events international ambassador, seven time Olympic medalist and gymnastics legend Shannon Miller. On the occasion, Miller shared with us during this inspiring and spirited conversation what go beyond marathon sponsor TCS theme for this year's run means to her In her personal and professional life, she shed light on her Olympic moments, her success mantra and last but not the least, her survival against cancer. What does it mean for you to be ambassador for an event like Tata Mumbai Marathon 2020? I think for me, first of all, it's such an honor to be part of such an enormous event, the Tata Mumbai Marathon and what it stands for. Because it's not just about a marathon. It's not just about those athletes that are at the top of their game. It's about really involving a country and a community and the world in health and fitness. And that's so important to all of us. And it really does bring that community together. It's such a great feeling when you're at the start line and you're nervous and you have that anxiety and you get started and people are supporting you along the way and you lend support along the way and it's just this great kind of community. But I think in a larger sense, what the Tata Mumbai Marathon has done over the years has really gotten a country moving. Gymnastics brings with it a lot of risk, especially of injury, and it also calls for overcoming of fear. Now, as a gymnast who's been at the top of her game, how do you approach risk and how do you learn to embrace it? I think risk is one of those things that. We all tend to be maybe a little hesitant at times, but I always felt like if you have done the preparation, the work that comes before. Then you don't have to be as nervous about taking that step, that risk. And So what I always talk to people about is it's not about the day of competition. It's not about that day of the Olympics. It's not about the day of the big business presentation that matters most. It's what did you do the week before, the month before, the year before to prepare for that moment. And if you have prepared, you have no reason to feel cautious or nervous about. There really is no bigger contest than the Olympics. Shannon, walk us through your preparation for it. How did you harness the abundance in an opportunity and challenge as big as the Olympics? I think preparation for the Olympics can take a decade. So it is A and the ultimate long term goal. And in many times in business it is the same way. You're not necessarily having that instant gratification overnight. You might be working for something that is years in the making and to be able to stay the course, to stay excited about something day after day is probably the most difficult part. The competition is easy, the competition's fun. It's the preparation that you have to handle and so for me. It was managing the smaller goals along the way. The Olympics was a goal, but what is what do I need today to do today in order to accomplish something that furthers that long term goal? And so that that's really what I do in life and business and in sport is focused on those goals that I need to achieve every single day in order to make it to that long term goal. You're a cancer survivor. Tell us what it means to you to go beyond, especially after coming back from a set back such as illness, injury, personal loss or professional defeat. I think for me, I feel like my life is ultimately coming down to go beyond. It's the theme for my life so much as it wants to be this marathon, it really is. And I think it is for many of us. We all face challenges and we all face that. Concern that we have hit our limit and we cannot go anymore. But what I've learned over time is that I can believe in myself and sometimes that's the most difficult thing to do, to really believe in yourself. And so I think sometimes. If you're having a difficult time believing, reach out to others that will also believe in you and help you believe in yourself. For me, that was coaches, that was my parents, it was my husband, it was people around me, whether it was my cancer diagnosis or training for a gold medal, all of those things take a team, they take a support system. You have to believe in yourself, but you need that team that reminds that you can do this. I think the other thing that helps is being able to witness others going beyond. Watching someone finish a marathon, it's never done it before. That's inspiring. It's motivating. It makes you feel like if I worked, maybe I could do that too. What are the thoughts that raised through your head just before you make your move as a gymnast in the competition? For me it was always trained like you, compete, compete like you train. So I try not to have any differences between competition and training. But for me the mindset was always visualizing my routines. In life and business, you have to visualize your success, visualize yourself doing it correctly, and then it. I mean, prayer is a significant part of my overall focus on competition, on training. What kind of music do you like working out, too? I like country music. And Michael Bublé country music, Yeah. What is the one thing that you tell yourself to set yourself apart from the competition? I think my focus was not necessarily comparing myself to another athlete, but trying to be the best athlete I could be. So. For me, when I went into a competition, I tried to keep my nerves in check by remembering that I had done the work. And if you do the work then you can go into the competition with confidence. And so that was kind of what I had to constantly remind myself of. You've done the work, so just go out and have fun. Would love to know what childhood memory do you carry with you to this day, Shannon? There are many, there are many kind of points along the way, but I think my elbow injury in 1992. Prior to those Olympics. Was a It was something that I now look back to quite often when I go through adversity and I face a challenge because it was that moment. It may be maybe the biggest moment in my career thus far, or at to that point when I really had to overcome something great, something that I never imagined I would have to overcome, and all of a sudden it was placed on me. And So what am I going to do now and what choices am I going to make and how am I going to move forward? And we hit those areas in our life and in sport. More than once oftentimes. And so that's something that I look back to often that helped me understand how to move forward. There was another time early on in my career, my very first state competition, and I fell off balance beam. And it was the first event I fell off and thought all is lost. And then I immediately regrouped and remembered what my coach had said and he said just you know, if you make a mistake, you get back up. And you try to minimize the deductions and you just keep going. Stop thinking about the fall. You can't do anything about it. Just look forward. I ended up doing that and winning that competition. It was the first ever competition I won as an athlete and I came back to that time and again in 1996 during the Olympic trial. I fell first event and it could have meant not making the team at all. And I remember that event from when I was nine years old and thought, no, I'm going to just keep going. I'm going to forget about the fall. I can't fix it now. I'm going to keep going. And again ended up winning the competition. So how did the cancer diagnosis change your life? I think for me the cancer diagnosis was I don't. I think I had a pretty good job and my parents has have helped me do a good job of having my priorities in order in life. But I think it magnified that I tend to like many people think of others 1st and I always want to do for others before myself and. I It was a very tough lesson for me that I not only needed to focus on myself, but it was OK to focus on myself and my own health because I wasn't any good to anyone else if I wasn't healthy. And that was a bit of a change in mindset for me and I still battle that cause. It's hard to put yourself at the top of the list when you want to do for others, but that was important. And then I think just the understanding that anything can happen in life. So we just have to go out and we have to live each day to the fullest and make the most of it. You can try to prevent and you can. You want to do all those things to try to be healthy. You're not going to prevent everything, so just go out and make sure you're stopping to smell the roses. Shannon, I'm quite certain our listeners would love to know what your fitness regimen is all about. I do a ton of walking. I am. I'm a big Walker. But I try to focus now on five days a week, 30 to 45 minutes a day of physical activity. It could be something like jumping rope or walking, or it could be more of a workout, or it could be swimming. And what technology do you use today in your fitness routine? So it's incredible to me to look how far sport has come, but even having the availability for someone that's not training for the Olympics, they have that technological availability just as much as anyone else. I mean, my son, you know, nine years old, has his Fitbit and he can see how many steps and he can challenge himself, and that's incredible and it's motivating. So there you go, Olympian Shannon Miller and her life story with its ups and downs and how she survived it all. So go out there, go beyond and harness the abundance that life has to offer. Every chance you get. Thank you for listening.