Couch to ATHLETE!

There's this trail in Johnstown, Ohio and every time we ride this trail there is some story... typically not a good one. As a result I call it the trail of doom !!! Basically, the trail is cursed... Once again, my friend and I headed out to the trail of doom for a ride, not even considering the curse! It wasn't until we were almost to the trail head that we reconsidered our trail choice. You see, it was overcast and cloudy with a 100% chance of rain in about an hour, we were frantically checking our cell phones to see if the ride was even going to be worth it when I looked down and noticed I was almost out of gas. This should have been a sign, right? Wrong... We trudged on, got to the trail head and unloaded our bikes. A nice gentleman in the parking lot made note of the clouds and casually asked if we thought we would get rained on. Of course!!! So, off we went, trailing behind the speedy dude, while chit chatting about the trail, weather and cow crap we could smell every...

After a 4 miler with my best buddy. I smile when I'm sad, and cry when I am happy... That is just wrong, right? Being a people pleaser, I'm always trying to make sure people around me are getting what they need first, sometimes with error and other times with grace; just depends on the circumstance. One thing, though, is that I will always do everything with good intentions. And I think it is safe to say, most people do what they do with good intentions. So, I had a pretty awesome week this past week. I spent some time in Illinois with my family, and got to participate in the Soldier Field 10 miler. What a great race!!! I'll likely go back again for this one, but maybe not for a couple of years. We will see. Like the Glass City Half Marathon, I contacted the race staff for some assistance at the finish line of this race. Basically, I requested to leave my cane at the med tent, let my sister wait at the end for me, etc. Unlike the Glass City Half Marathon, the proce...

This is a blog about athleticism. Who is one of the best athletes of all time? Bruce Jenner. And so this post is totally appropriate for this blog. I just finished watching another Bruce Jenner special and this is what you get... I always wanted to be an athlete. I looked up to my high school English teacher because she was an avid softball player. I looked up to my friend from my high school job because she would go for bike rides, like on roads and stuff, who did that back then? Athletes. I admired my sister who was an avid water polo player through high school. Basically, I stared this idea of athleticism in the face for years and yearned for a place on that team. But I was always too fat, too slow, too scared of others, too afraid of the stares, too self conscious, too focused on the fact that 'I can't' and so I never tried... Until one day, I decided I could, and then my journey began. On a very basic level I can empathize with Bruce Jenner, and I can honestly...

One of the hardest things for me, when training for an event, is creating a workout schedule. I can hazard a guess as to why it is so difficult. Reasons include: So many people have their opinions on the correct way to train, but when your goal is simply to get across the finish line, the training can take many different forms. So, who do you take advice from? Well, I only take advice from people who have similar priorities and are successful maintaining balance with all of their priorities. Those types can be hard to find. Adjusting my life schedule to work within my training goals sometimes throws me a little off balance. Maintaining balance between life and training gets extremely challenging, because I get fatigued and exhausted from training. All people have this problem when training, but I experience fatigue and exhaustion without movement, adding movement only exacerbates these feelings.  'My People' energize me, and if I don't have time with them I find myse...

Pedal to the Point 2014 After one accomplishment, I immediately start plotting my next adventure. If you have been following my blog, you likely saw that I ran the Glass City Half Marathon last week, and now I'm moving on... What is it the next goal for this year? I'm shifting gears, literally, and refocusing on riding for the summer. Once again I will be taking on a Bike MS event. I have to admit, this past week has been a week met with some mixed feelings. Finishing a huge race comes with this immense feeling of accomplishment, but then I start to think about how I can meet that accomplishment, and do I even need to? I was talking with my mom today and I was telling her about how I feel I have built some of my adult identity around my athleticism, and I sometimes wonder about the 'what ifs' that likely will NEVER come. For instance, what if I can't ride my bike anymore; what if I can't run anymore; what if I can't swim anymore? Because it is part of...

Well, it has been about a year since I have run a half marathon. I have made a decision to do a half marathon every year because running long distances in the heat is just not fun right now... So, this weekend I went out and took on the promised 'flat' course in Toledo. We will get to the flat situation in a few minutes, but what I will say is that this race was fantastic on so many levels! First, and most importantly, I got to spend another weekend with my closest friend prepping for another race that we would again start and finish together. Her with patience of steel as I bought and lost items within minutes of each other, and me crying for no reason minutes before the race even started... But what else made this race great? Another very close friend of mine came up to take on Toledo!!! The awesome thing about Chris doing the race is that she ran my very first half marathon, ten half marathons ago. Those are just the starters!!! This race started out with dogs on t...

The heat hit Columbus today... This is a big deal to the runner who has Multiple Sclerosis. First, I have to admit that had a video been taken during this run, that video could have been placed next to the word whiny in the dictionary to demonstrate the meaning of the word. I tried wearing cooling bands on my wrists to keep me cold, but they were warm within the first two miles. I also announced two miles into the run that I was only going to run five miles instead of the intended six... To say I was a pleasant running buddy is an understatement! Here are a couple of interesting facts about heat and multiple sclerosis: 1) In the early days, people were diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis by taking a bath. I'm not kidding either!!! The idea was, submerge a person in a hot bath and track their neurological symptoms, and if they worsen, the person probably has MS. This explains a lot!!! When I take baths, the chapters of the book I was reading often have to be re-read after the f...