Miesha Tate won the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship in 2016 by beating Holly Holm, and within two weeks she realized it hadn’t fixed anything. By the end of that year she had lost the belt, fought one last time at Madison Square Garden and walked away from the sport, depressed and still tied to a controlling relationship she’d been in for nine years.

On this episode of Sons and Daughters, Shannon Spake sits down with the former UFC and Strikeforce champion to talk about how she got there and how she found her way back. It starts with her first fight at 19, when she broke her nose, watched her own blood pool on the mat and kept fighting until her coaches threw in the towel without asking her. It goes through wrestling the boys in high school, where she decided a win meant not getting pinned, and a pro debut the judges couldn’t score, which sent her back out to fight another round.

Miesha talks honestly about hitting rock bottom after her last fight, the question that turned things around, and how faith, family and a two-week road trip up the coast helped her rebuild. She also explains why she treated her first labor like a fight and lost, how a new mindset made her second birth two hours long, and what she wants men to understand about women’s hormones.

Now 40, nearly six months pregnant with her third child and having just launched her own micro school, Miesha is living on her own terms. Her advice: question everything, get good at hard things, aim to be happy about 2% of the time and fulfilled the rest, and be a good best friend to yourself.

This episode includes discussion of suicidal thoughts. If you’re struggling, call or text 988 in the US to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

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Kenny Wallace has spent his life around race cars, but his story is about a whole lot more than racing.

On this episode of Sons and Daughters, Shannon Spake sits down with Kenny for a wide-ranging conversation about growing up in Arnold, Missouri, in the Wallace racing family, working as a mechanic and crew chief, the day he found himself back home fixing vacuum cleaners, and the moment he decided he was going to become a race car driver.

Kenny also gets candid about Rusty and Mike, the role his family played in his career, making it to NASCAR on his own terms, the people who helped him along the way, the biggest regrets of his career and why he never let the setbacks keep him down.

From fighting for his dad in the grandstands to building a racing career from almost nothing, Kenny’s story is full of family, determination, heartbreak, plenty of laughs and a few things he’s never really talked about before.

Subscribe to Sons and Daughters and let us know what you think of Kenny and Shannon’s conversation in the comments.

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Lucy Charles-Barclay thought her swimming career was over at 18.

She had been next in line for a spot on Great Britain’s Olympic team for London 2012, but only one swimmer was selected. After finishing fourth in Britain and realizing she felt almost nothing about it, Lucy walked away from swimming and stayed away from the Olympic pool for five years.

Then she signed up for a full Ironman despite barely knowing how to ride a bike or run.

Today, Lucy is a Red Bull athlete, an Ironman World Champion, and the Kona course record holder with a time of 8:24:31.

On this episode of Sons and Daughters, Shannon Spake talks with Lucy about the Olympic disappointment that changed the direction of her career and the unlikely path that followed. She shares the letter she got as a kid telling her she was too good for her swim club, why she avoided the Olympic pool for years, and how her swim at her first Ironman World Championship was so fast that a pro thought she had cheated.

Lucy also talks about her rivalry with Daniela Ryf, the heat training that ruined saunas for her, running 35K on a treadmill during a sandstorm, and what she'd tell her 18-year-old self.

If you've ever had something you've worked your whole life for suddenly disappear, this one's for you.

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