Tough Girl Podcast Suzy Favour Hamilton - Olympian x3, NYT Best Selling Author - “Fast Girl – A Life Spent Running From Madness”, & Mental Health Advocate
Suzy was the US Junior Record Holder at 1500m and won 3 National Junior Titles in High School.
Competing professionally, Suzy won seven USA National titles, set two American Records, was a three-time Olympian, ran her specialty 1500m under 4:00 five times and at the time was the second fastest American Woman in history. In 2000, Suzy was the fastest woman in the world, but came last in her race at the Sydney Olympics.
Triggered by feelings of inadequacy, Suzy slipped further into darkness and was eventually misdiagnosed with depression. The prescribed drug made her high, too high in fact, and soon, she was working as an escort in Las Vegas.
Only being outed to the world and an eventual diagnosis of bipolar disorder led her to begin the slow process of recovery. Years later, she is sharing her story about her experiences with bipolar disorder as well as her struggles with life during and after running.
Show notes
- Growing up and wanting to be perfect, the reasons behind it and what drove her to this level of perfection
- Her older brother and how his illness impacted on her life
- Finding running at 11 years old
- Dealing with the pressure from a young age
- Loving running, and when it all started to change
- Being ranked number 1 in the country
- How she used food to help manage the pressure
- Dealing with an eating disorder
- When she started to think about the Olympics
- Feeling carefree while running
- Her first Olympics - 1992 Barcelona
- Not getting the support from her coaches that she needed
- Competing against athletes who were doing drugs
- No focus on the mental side of racing while competing at the Olympics
- The highlight from her running career - making the US Olympic Team and beating her idol
- Her downfall
- Going into the 2000 Olympics after having run the fastest time in the world in Oslo
- Losing her brother to suicide before the Olympics
- The 1,500 Olympic race - What happened with 100 metres to go
- The fall out and what happened afterwards
- Falling out of love with running
- Being diagnosed at 42 years old
- Her rock bottom…
- Having her daughter in 2005
- Being given drugs for depression
- Deciding to jump out of a plane and heading to Vegas to celebrate 20 years of marriage
- The spiral into destruction and how she started to cope
- Sex was becoming her escape and dealing with hyper sexuality
- Fast Girl - A Life Spend Running From Madness
- Working as an escort in Vegas - Kelly
- Your power as a women
- Hiring a male escort
- The escorting world…
- What is hyper sexuality?
- Being exposed via the Smoking Gun Website and the impact it had on her life, her husband and her marriage
- The journey of how she got from where she was to where she is now
- Taking baby steps and how life is not perfect
- How she recovered thanks to her husband
- Being bi-polar and the relief that came from the diagnosis
- Being able to share her story and be an advocate for mental health
- Dealing with shame
- Running for fun now!
- Loving yoga and how it brought out all of the pain
- Her final words of advice
Social Media
Website - http://suzyfavorhamilton.com
Twitter - @favorhamilton
Instagram - @favourhamilton
Facebook - @favourhamilton
Book - “Fast Girl – A Life Spent Running From Madness”
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