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We go from the panopticon (yes, Coach Sarah is going to Harvard at us for a minute, hang on) to parental advisories and Purple Rain to MK’s amazing skin care routine and the positive vibes it creates in her life. But what Sarah really wants to know (apart from which fingers MK uses to apply her Vitamin C serum) is how MK is feeling about her recent video conference with her own coach, Tia Accetta of Run Tucson (listen in here if you haven’t already!). Having this little window into a coach’s perspective on MK as an athlete is fascinating (and exciting!) and Sarah is particularly interested in Tia’s comment about the “window” that women have for consistent hard training.

When MK asked Tia about getting back to her former level, in the days when she set her PRs, Tia said: “I think you are going to be shocked, actually, by what your body can do...if you had spent the last 10 years giving it all you got, I might say that this might be sort of the end, but … I think women have a good 5-10 year range of consistent, hard training, and you haven’t really used that yet.”

Part of why Sarah is so fascinated by that comment and wanting to know more about what Tia meant is because she wants to know what it means for her, as a 33-year-old woman who has been running for 14 years. What follows is a fascinating discussion about how MK and Tia communicate, what Tia looks for in MK’s training peaks (and what MK looks for in the elite athletes she trains one-on-one), and, finally, MK’s coaching perspective on Sarah as an athlete and what lies in store for her, should she choose to pursue it (spoiler alert: Coach Sarah is not a used-up tube of toothpaste!).

Sarah talks about dreams of qualifying for Boston someday, even as the standard drops yet again, and MK helps her see where she is now as a really exciting moment, full of possibilities for her personally, professionally and athletically. Both coaches are excited about what the future may hold. The distance between where they are and where they want to be is EXCITING to them, something to celebrate and wonder about and respect, all at the same time.