I am also thankful to my sponsor, HydroWorx, as they have helped me financially and have believed in me as an athlete and as a writer; without them I would not have the support for success. Their commitment to helping me is amazing.
I am grateful that I have been given God given ability as an athlete, but more importantly I am thankful to God for being stubborn. I think that perseverance is what has kept me at triathlon for the last nine years. Perseverance is what has kept me writing as well. Any writer will tell you that they write to write; which is true. But the other part of writing is sharing and hoping that others will find enjoyment in what you have to say. My Tri Life is a great outlet for me to write about triathlon, but more importantly life, and my hope is that someone is reading and that someone is enjoying the pieces.
One of my big goals for the new year is to continue with my triathlon training and racing. I hope to be" tri-ing" for years to come. I also want to use the HydroWorx pool as a regular( once a week) part of my training. I have said it before, the benefits of their pool surpass many of the other tools I have for training.Continuing my partnership with HydroWorx is an important goal for 2011.
Another big goal is to continue blogging and writing with the hopes to land more recognition as a professional. Writing and Triathloning aside, I really want to give back to my community, as corny as that sounds. Triathlon has empowered me in so many ways and now I feel it is time for me to give something to help make the world a little better.
So this year I am starting something to help empower women who are in shelters. Maybe these women just need a little something to know that they can do whatever they put their minds to, to get out of bad situations. I would like to start a foundation called Empower-tees. The idea is really simple; I need all of you reading to donate tee-shirts to my p.o. box. From there I will take the tees to a local women's shelter and donate to the women there. I have a drawer full of race tee-shirts from triathlons and running events. What do I need all these tee-shirts for? Usually as part of my race fee a tee-shirt is included. Why not donate these to someone who might need a new shirt, but also how many times have you been inspired by something on a shirt? I love the Nike shirts that say,"Just do it," and I'm inspired each time I see one.
I told my husband about the idea and he said,"As a kid, I was inspired by wearing a tee-shirt with a sports team on it." That is exactly what I thought my race and your race tee-shirts could do for someone suffering. Maybe it will inspire them to get out of the shelter, maybe it could inspire them to get out of a bad relationship, maybe it will just be something new and clean to wear which makes everyone feel better. Maybe the triathlon tee-shirts will inspire these women to "tri." I don't know what will come of it, but I'd like to give it a shot. I'll soon have an address available so you can start sending tees.
The shirts can be gently used. I just ask that they are clean and preferably race tee-shirts of some type. I will also accept shirts that have inspirational sayings on them; I would like to keep the theme to sports related shirts.
Sports have empowered me all of my life. I ran track as a middle school student and I was a competitive swimmer in high school. As an adult I found masters swimming and later running events and triathlon, and I know how these activities have kept me mentally and physically strong; with those skills you can tackle the difficulties in life. My hope is that with starting this charity lives of others could be inspired and improved.
There are several women's shelters in my area of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. A tee shirt is an easy thing to give so I hope you will consider and pass this along to friends and family that could donate.
Happy New Year and Happy "Tri-ing,"
One more thing...I am truly thankful for a wonderful husband, and two great, healthy kids. I am blessed with the gift of health. I am thankful for the people in my life who really love me because without love nothing positive can happen in the world.
Please feel free to post comments on my blog anytime; I love feedback:)
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