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Showing posts from 2016

Goals....

Its always so hard to start something that you are out of the habit of doing.... diets, exercise, meditation and yoga, or in my case, writing in this blog. To say that our life is in a constant state of busy is an understatement. In fact, by many people's standards, it is downright manically chaotic. A quick follow-up from April's blog post (oops- it really has been awhile!)... switching employers worked out and my new agency I work was worth all of the pre-employment frustrations. My neighbor who cut down the big, beautiful evergreen next to our fence attempted to create a level area with terracing, ended up planting 5 trees along the fence (which will be a bit cramped in a year or two) and determined that a playset would not fit in the space. Hayden got a scholarship to attend camp this summer - but was not a happy camper when I dropped her off every day. She craves the stimulation of being surrounded with typical or higher functioning kids and at this camp, so many of them f

Life isn't always a race, its more of a boxing match

Do you ever have those times where you feel like you need to strap on boxing gloves as soon as you step out of bed in the morning, ready to take on the battles of the day? I feel like this has been my life lately and quite frankly, I am tired of it. I am tired of smiling and saying that having a child with Angelman Syndrome has changed my world and that because of her, I have more purpose and meaning. The reality is, yes, my world has changed. Yes, I am fortunate to be able to stay at home every day so I can work out while the kids are at school and be there for them when they get home. What a lot of the people who comment that to me don't know is that most days I am also dealing with the issues that come along with raising a child with special needs. I deal with stupid people... a lot. Seriously, people who just can't do their job or think because I am a mom who doesn't have a career and I don't have a brain worth anything. I try over and over again to put on my Southe
2015 XTERRA World Championships... the race For big races, I love to find a song... or have a song find me... that becomes my mantra during a race. I can usually pop it into my head when I am struggling and for a few minutes, it gets me over the hump of mental weakness and pulls me toward the finish line. I was beginning to stress that leading up to Maui, I couldn't find a new song that spoke to me, lifting my feet up and making me want to push harder during those final tough workouts as the seasons began to change in Colorado. 2 days before the race we were cruising around downtown Lahina when I heard it, my new mantra song- "Could Have Been Me" by The Struts. Now, if you check out the YouTube video you might think I am whacked because the video is not the most inspiring, but the lyrics spoke to me. I downloaded it onto my phone and played it on repeat to let it sink in. It really is a great, fun song, but what I didn't plan for was which lyrics would get stuck o

XTERRA World Championships 2015

Ever have one of those races (or even seasons of life) where it takes stepping back months after to fully reflect on it, learn from it, and fully appreciate the experience? The XTERRA World Championships this past November 1st in Maui was such a race to me. Up until this point, I had been living an unexpected dream-come-true season, winning both the XTERRA Mountain Regional Champion award and my age group at the XTERRA National Championship at Snowbasin Resort in Ogden, Utah. My goals were high for Worlds even though I was a first timer on the course. Moving to Colorado from Georgia last fall, Dave and I were new to the off-road triathlon scene in the Rockies but felt that if we could hold our own with the competition out here, the World stage couldn't be too much tougher. Racing XTERRA Lory in June helped me realize that I could hold my own against Colorado off-road triathletes (honestly, I have been so intimidated by the caliber of athletes out here -at every race, either a pr