Wings to Fly

I am sure I will get a bit of grief about this post as some people might take my thoughts personally and feel the need to justify themselves. I am fine with that. It means I got you thinking about yourself, your excuses, and outlook. Here's the thing... You can live your life fully, throwing yourself into whatever it is you choose to do, or you can walk around full of excuses as to why you can't do something. Back in my mid-20's, I worked as a personal trainer for a spell in an affluent upscale fitness center. I quickly learned that people would pay what I considered a ridiculous amount to spend an hour with me supervising them as they lifted weights, ran up and down stairs, or worked through plyometric exercises and stretching routines. I would give them "homework" ranging from cardiovascular exercises to diet modifications even as simple as drinking more water each day, and things they could do in their daily routine to help them achieve their goals. The nex...

2017 race results: Xterra Southeast Championships, Pelham, AL- 1st Overall Amateur Female USAT Off-road National Championships at Xterra Gator Terra, AR- 1st Overall Female Xterra Mountain Championships, Beaver Creek, CO- 5th Overall Amateur ITU Cross World Championships, Penticton, Canada- 5th Overall Amateur, 2nd in age group Xterra Pan Am Championships/USA National Championships, Snowbasin Resort, Ogden, UT- 1st Overall Amateur Xterra World Championships, Maui, HI- 1st American Amateur Female, 4th Overall Awarded Ms. Xterra 2017 USAT ranked 1st overall in the women's 40-44 age group for off-road triathlon for 2017 Selected to be part of Pearl Izumi's 2017 Ambador team Sitting on the couch with my feet up while snow falls outside the window makes me think the race season above and results were just a distant dream rather than only ending a little over a week ago. I don't feel out of shape quite yet, but I have been indulging in chocolate, lattes, beer and wi...

How do you do it all? I always laugh when I get asked that question. The self critical side of me never feels like I am doing enough. As moms, we compare ourselves to other moms and feel the eyes of judgement on us all the time, waiting for us to screw up. As special needs moms, even more eyes are watching our every move. Will we lose it completely in the grocery store when our child is having a meltdown and destroying loaves of bread beyond recognition or knocking over an entire shelf in the checkout line when we're creatively trying to block everything from their reach while we unload our cart and pay for our mangled groceries? Picture taking with an Angel... always an adventure. Can someone this cute be so challenging? I am fortunate. Not only do I have an amazingly supportive husband who takes the night shift with our daughter when she chooses to have a party at 2am instead of sleep (that is what we Angelman Syndrome parents call the bewitching hours when our sleep disorde...

In 1988, Nike advertisers coined the phrase “Just Do It”. This slogan captured Nike's desire to associate their clothing and shoe company using professional athletes and motivational slogans emphasizing sportsmanship and health to drive success. Customers flocked to stores to purchase “Just Do It” apparel, which catapulted Nike sales for the next decade and making the “Just Do It” slogan one of the top two taglines of the 20th century. Nike’s advertising campaign was in a word, brilliant. Those 3 simple words inspired the American public to get off the couch and attempt challenges they once thought impossible. Many people began to realize that completing a 5K, a marathon, a century (100 mile) bike ride, or even a full Ironman triathlon were not events merely for the elite to race. The goal of completing an event did not have to be winning, but rather taking on the challenge and finishing. While watching one of Nike’s motivational commercials might motivate some to lace u...

"I say to you today, my friends, though, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream." -Martin Luther King, Jr. Do you ever wonder what life would be like without dreaming? Day to day, just going through the motions, no goals, ambitions or hope for the future? When you turn on the tv and you hear all the negativity surrounding us from politics, violence, discrimination, disasters both natural and man made, it can be disheartening to say the least. As a society we are inundated with such negative talk. The reality is, negativity sells. People are drawn to reading disturbing news way more than hopeful, inspiring, promising articles in the media. I see it daily in my Facebook news feed, the spun propaganda feeding our brains with disheartening news... Trump has now done or said this or that to ruffle people's feathers, health care reform and the possible dissolvement of Medicaid rep...