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Laura\u2019s guests on the podcast today are Olympic runner, Abbey Cooper, and her sport psychologist husband, Jacob. Abbey\u2019s impressive college career includes being seven-time national champion, 16-time Ivy League champion and 12-time All-American. In 2012, she became the first Dartmouth woman to win a national title, and in 2013 she became the first Ivy League student-athlete to win the cross-country title. Currently running for New Balance and pursuing the Tokyo Olympics, Abbey is perhaps best known for her inspiring performance at the 2016 Rio Olympics, which she describes in full here today. Highly talented in his own right, Jacob was a scholarship athlete and four-year starter on the football team at Taylor University. This experience led to his interest in the field of sport psychology, and currently, he is the Director of Sport Psychology Services at Appalachian State University and a member of the Mental Health Registry of the USOPC.

Their conversation with Laura today explores not only their story in sport and in their personal relationship, but also of their unwavering faith, and the role that God plays in their lives. Along the way, they touch on Abbey\u2019s experience at Dartmouth and the beginning of her faith journey, God\u2019s grace in her life, His transformation of Jacob\u2019s heart, and how He has taught them lessons about hardship, suffering, and what really matters through His ministry to them. Of course, Abbey\u2019s historic and inspiring performance at the 2016 Olympics is recounted from both of their perspectives, and they also share details of their unique dynamic, what the past four years have been like, what they\u2019ve been working on during the pandemic, and the dream that they have for helping other athletes. Having been through so much, and having faced it all together, supported by the power of their faith, Abbey and Jacob have many lessons to teach about making meaning out of experiences, and they do precisely that here today with extraordinary grace, humility, and sincerity.

Episode Highlights:

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• Abbey\u2019s experience at Dartmouth
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• The beginning of her faith journey and her transitional moment
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• God\u2019s grace in her life
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• Jacob\u2019s athletic experience
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• God\u2019s transformation of his heart
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• Jacob\u2019s transition into sports psychology
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• How Abbey and Jacob\u2019s relationship started and built
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• Abbey\u2019s 2016 Olympic experience, and how God prepared her for the moment
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• Jacob\u2019s perspective of it
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• God shifting Abbey\u2019s perspective on the meaning of hardship
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• What really matters
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• How God ministers back to us
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• What their past four years have been like
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• The dynamic between Abbey and Jacob
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• What they\u2019ve worked on during the pandemic and Tokyo Games postponement
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• Understanding the purpose of suffering
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• The importance of acknowledging grief
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• The unique fulfillment of inspiring and lifting other people up
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• Jacob and Abbey\u2019s dream to help other athletes rehabilitate their relationship with sport
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• runningwithheart.org (coming soon)
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Quotes:

\u201cGod had other plans.\u201d

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t go back and change it, because it really brought me to the end of myself, and introduced me to this need for the Lord in my life.\u201d

\u201cIt was the peace He gave you inside.\u201d

\u201cIt was definitely a pretty humbling and arduous path from there that God really used to kind of transform my life.\u201d

\u201cIt was this gift to glorify Him.\u201d

\u201cLuckily, God surrounded me with great friends, coaching, and mentors that helped me make meaning of my experience.\u201d

\u201cIt was the fastest mile of my life, and probably the slowest of Abbey\u2019s.\u201d

\u201cIt was like God\u2019s hand was over the whole thing.\u201d

\u201cI know that I\u2019m here for a reason, but none of this makes sense.\u201d

\u201cThat is so unnatural to me to respond in a way that isn\u2019t selfish that I am so sure that it was just the Holy Spirit.\u201d

\u201cAbbey tried to get up like two or three times and run, and just kind of collapsed.\u201d

\u201cIt was one of the most memorable and uplifting stories of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.\u201d

\u201cNow to him who is able.\u201d

\u201cWhen I crossed the finish line, I was already so amazed by what God had done.\u201d

\u201cLord, bless me with wisdom, bless me with humility, and bless me with a godly wife someday\u2026He gave me all three combined into one.\u201d

\u201cGod\u2019s given me a lot of hardship to walk through, and so I\u2019ve picked up a few things along the way about what\u2019s helped me.\u201d

\u201cI hope and pray athletes will feel less alone in their struggles.\u201d

Links:

The Pursuit of Gold homepage: http://thepursuitofgold.com/\nMental Training: https://www.laurawilkinson.com/learn \nLaura\u2019s Social Media:\nInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/lala_the_diver
\nFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLauraWilkinson

Connect with Abbey and Jacob:

Running With Heart homepage (coming soon): https://www.runningwithheart.org/\nAbbey\u2019s instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbey_dags/