Sha’Carri Richardson’s Incredible Journey

MARJON CARLOS It’s so inspiring to hear you talking about focus and creating inner peace. I’m really curious about how you found and maintain it. 

SHA'CARRI RICHARDSON A lot of people don’t realize inner peace is something that you have to literally create for yourself. It’s easy to have something, but it’s not easy to keep it. My inner peace comes down to keeping what matters to me my focus — meaning my team, my career, my family, my faith. I purposely submerged myself into those different categories of my life. That way, l’m able to generate that peace, knowing those areas of my life are okay, they’re taken care of. 

It may sound very random, but another thing that helped me is my breathing. When I control my breathing, I’m able to slow down my thoughts, and by being able to slow down my thoughts, I’m able to properly choose what I want to say. So I intentionally say things that I want to say rather than just reacting from what I feel.

MARJON Do you incorporate that breath work into your training as well? 

SHA’CARRI Oh, absolutely. Honestly, I incorporate breathing work into every aspect of my life, but especially on the track. That’s probably one of the biggest and one of the only things I can do that can actually calm my nerves, especially in that moment [before a race], in those buildups of knowing what’s to come. It’s taking a moment and catching myself [to] just slow it down. It is almost ironic for me to say “slow down” because I would never. But honestly, taking a moment to actually know, “Okay, you can sit down, you can slow it down, you can breathe, you can let it go. You can take it in, but you got to let it go. No matter what you take in, you have to let it go.”

MARJON How has your inner work helped your performance on the track? 

SHA’CARRI Once I step on the track, it’s literally another level of intuition. It’s another level of commitment to that inner peace. Because once in that moment, there’s literally nobody else. Yes, there’s so many other women on the track, there’s people in the stands. But in all honesty, it’s nothing but you and your star player. If your star player inside is all jumbled around and not focusing when you are on that [starting] line, you have already lost the race. At this [point], there ain’t no other drill I can do, there’s nothing more I can say or tell myself. 

So right now I just have to be with myself. What helps me with my inner peace when I’m on that line is actually knowing and telling myself that I’m my biggest fan. I’m my biggest fan, I’m my biggest critic. I’m prepared to criticize myself, I’m prepared to congratulate myself, I’m prepared to uplift myself. 

At the same time, I’m prepared to hold myself to a different level of accountability on that line before l take off. 

MARJON How do you block out the noise and the distractions? Is there a place that you go to physically, like a retreat or a city that just helps you really focus when you’re training, or is it a mental place? 

SHA’CARRI Oh Lord, I wish I had that opportunity during training to go fly off. But no, honestly, I feel like when it comes to being an athlete, it takes a different level of discipline and commitment and sacrifice. 

When I start training in November and I say I want to do this by the end of the year, I have to make that choice from then up until that moment to do what I’ve actually committed to. I like to talk to my family. 

I talk to my team just as much and the people that I know that make me feel comfortable. I like being in my house. I like to come outside and sit by my pool. 

I like to be able to put my feet in the ground and by water. I like to take hot baths. I definitely enjoy water though. That’s very calming for me. 

MARJON I loved seeing you literally giving your grandmother her flowers after your latest win. That was really a touching moment. I was looking at your Instagram post where the caption read, “Keep the main thing the main thing.” I was curious what that meant for you. 

SHA’CARRI That came from being around like-minded people that I know have the same journey as me and them reminding me to stay focused on what has gotten me here. Staying focused on what you need to take care of: your family, your mother, your cousins. That’s where that comes from: listening to the ones around me that see the potential in me that I’m still learning to see for myself. 

MARJON What advice would you give to other young Black women who are also seeking inner peace? 

SHA’CARRI It starts with a level of more acceptance of myself — meaning all of myself, not just the parts that I can tolerate. I would say a lot of people forget that in healing, you have to be able to take a certain level of accountability and self-reflection as well when you know you want to go forward. Because if you can’t let go, you can't go forward. 

MARJON I love that. 

SHA’CARRI I’ll say that! 

MARJON You have incredible motivating mantras. “I just want the world to know that I’m that girl,” went viral, and then, “I'm not back, I’m better,” and now, “If you can't let go, you can’t go forward.” Are these conversations going in your mind when you’re preparing for a race? 

SHA'CARRI Oh, absolutely. Especially in those moments where you have been imagining and working and saying you’re prepared, but you’re never really prepared until it’s right there in your face. I almost have to remind myself, “Hey, you are that girl. You have done this before!” As well as, “I’m not back, I’m better.” Meaning, yes, I may have been younger, immature, but I feel like I’m now better. My talent has always been what it was, if not better. 

I’m still the same girl, but l’m a better woman. “I’m not back, l’m better” just sinks into my head on race day. 

In order to go forward, you got to let go. In that moment I’m about to get down on the line or [l’m] warming up, I have to let go. I have to let go of that last race, even if it [was] a good last race. What I did a month ago is not going to contribute to what I get done in the next half hour. I was listening to GloRilla this past weekend [at the Prefontaine Classic], and there’s a lyric where she was saying, “Stop overthinking.” And that lyric right there in that moment resonated. 

MARJON When you’re competing and you’re training for this summer and you’re competing at such a high level, what do you sacrifice? What do you say no to? What do you say yes to? 

SHA’CARRI I sacrifice time with my family so l can train, travel, and ultimately to just go off to this summer and have a great season. I feel like I spend a lot of time away from them. I will also say I sacrifice making certain choices, even diet-wise, not eating certain things that I necessarily would give myself a little bit more of if I was in my off season. I don’t go out a lot to put myself in the best position to align with my ultimate goals at the end of the summer. I still have a good time. I just don’t do too much. I keep it at a minimum because it’s nothing to celebrate right now. Not yet. Not quite. 

MARJON Obviously you have a huge summer ahead of you, but you also have a huge career ahead of you. What, for you, does your legacy look like? 

SHA’CARRI I would say my legacy looks like showing people that no matter what happens, it’s a matter of what you decide you want to happen. No matter what happens in life, you have to be able to get up and dust yourself off. I’m not even just saying it in a negative way. More so, no matter what is going on, you have to be able to stay level with yourself. Don’t get too high, don’t get too low. 

When they see me, they know that I was a human first rather than an athlete. You’re able to take something from my journey to be able to enlighten and help your journey. I ultimately want people to take that away from my legacy. 

MARJON You’re also competing during a really interesting time within women’s sports. There’s so much attention being given to you all. How does it feel to be performing and existing at this time? 

SHA’CARRI I’m honored to see that women [athletes] are getting the recognition. Not even comparing it to men, because the men are phenomenal athletes. They deserve the attention that they get. But now women are getting that same level of attention throughout the world, not [just] amongst [other] athletes. 

The world is wanting to get to know us more. I am glad and I feel more appreciated being a part of this era. 

We’re also showing more personality now. We’re also saying we’re really women. When we step on the court, when we’re on the track, when we’re in the field, no matter what event we’re doing, we’re going to still bring that same level of competition, skill and discipline into whatever we’re doing. 

But also at the same time, being able to show, “Hey, we live lives too!”

MARJON It’s very exciting to see you broaden your work beyond just the track. How do you define success beyond winning a medal? 

SHA’CARRI I’m glad that you asked me that question, because I feel like my answer is “never.” Success would never be to win a medal. I define success as being able to accomplish everything that I’ve been working on. No matter how small it may be. It may be that l’ve been trying to plant this plant for a month now and I finally get around to it. That’s a win for me. If I’m just applying myself to what I said that I want, I feel like it’s a win. Putting myself into something and actually getting out of it the work I put into it, I feel like it’s a win for me. 

MARJON Last question: I am curious about how you put your looks together for the meets? We are all anticipating your speed, but also your looks and your style. 

SHA’CARRI Any of my styles, they’re very spontaneous and they go highly based off my emotions and around the timing of what I’m preparing to do. You guys find out only a couple hours after I do! 

Words and images from the Nike Women Zine, Volume 1.