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Above is a picture of doing a half marathon Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving. During the half marathon, I thought back to the time when I was laying in my hospital bed and couldn’t walk one step by myself. At that time the all I wanted to be able to do was to take one step. There is power when you have intention, belief, and take action. At the heart of my message is that if I can go from not being able to take one step to now training for my seventh marathon on my seventh continent in Antarctica, imagine what’s possible for you! It just starts with you taking that first step. It also starts with appreciating all the things you have to be thankful for.

We have so much to be thankful for. Every day is filled with so many blessings and opportunities to be thankful. The thing that I am most thankful for is that I am still on this earth and the opportunity to share my story, message, and words of inspiration to you.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving, remember there is greatness within you, and you have a special and unique purpose that only you can fulfill. 

This is a photo from Yuma, AZ was I spoke last week for an SHRM (Society Human Resource Managers) chapter and had the privilege of doing my nine-mile training. This week speaking in Las Cruces, New Mexico and did a ten miler there. Looking forward to doing a half-marathon on Thanksgiving. As I was reflecting while doing my training today I thought how in life you don’t need to the be the fastest, strongest, or the smartest but you do have to have the tenacity to persevere in order to achieve your victory. Second thing is that you have to enjoy the moment. It is so easy in life at times to be preoccupied with a future event that you end up missing the only thing you have and that is right now. This has been a big lesson for me in my training. One of the things I try to do is stay in the moment and enjoy each mile of my training. It is easy to let me mind wonder upon completing my mileage for the day. As we approach Thanksgiving in the United States I encourage you to focus on the great things in your life to be thankful for. We are truly blessed in so many ways and things.

The above picture is ad placed by Ernest Shackleton for an expedition to Antarctic.  Sometimes I wonder what makes people dare to do great things. To go beyond the ordinary and live a life that is extraordinary. I believe that each of us were went to live a life that is extraordinary. That each of us has our own Antarctic to conqueror, our own marathon to run. That could the be the extraordinary adventure of raising a child, being the the very best in your profession, or overcoming an addiction. I believe the greatest way to be extraordinary is serve others. This can be as simple but as powerful as a smile, kind word, or a hand written note.

Update on my training, gradually increasing my mileage and did seven miles for my long run last week and for this week did nine. As the miles get longer and the temperature gets colder I am questioning my sanity in doing a marathon on Antarctic. Here is a quote from Shackleton to inspire you and me in this extraordinary adventure called life, “Difficulties are just things to overcome, after all.”

So blessed this week to have spoken for the Minnesota Home Care, Minnesota Living Age, Montana Healthcare Financial Management Association, and the South Carolina Healthcare Financial Management Association. The travel and making the time to train was an adventure but was able to get some great runs in the beautiful states of Minnesota and Montana. And thankfully no major flight delays. One night this meant getting my training done at 11:30 pm on a treadmill while speaking the next morning. Part of me after a long day of travel just wanted to turn on the TV and veg out, however the fact that set this major victory of my seventh marathon on my seventh continent and made the choice to elevate my attitude and take action! Reminded of one of my favorite quotes on success: “Successful people do the things today others won’t do, in order to have the things tomorrow others won’t have.” Each step on the treadmill I visualized my victory of being in Antarctic and knew that if I don’t do my training now I won’t be crossing the finish line in Jan!

Below is a picture of me after my long day of 6 miles. It was rainy and windy which was good training for Antarctic.

In celebration for my birthday this week I started my training for my seventh marathon on my seventh continent. This journey began in 2004 after coming out of an unconscious state when doctors did not think I would live. After having to relearn how to walk with the help of a physical therapist and my dad, as I was brought back to my hospital mind I got a vision of running a marathon. Sometimes it’s so surreal to imagine that now I am training for my seventh one in Antarctica! The fact that I went from being a three-time cancer conqueror when doctors did not think I would live, to going through a bone marrow transplant, to relearning how to walk and have been blessed to run marathons in San Diego, Rome, Tokyo, Peru, Australia, Cape Town, and now training for Antarctica is a testimony and proof what is possible in your life. I encourage you to dream big and set for yourself a vision that right now may seem impossible and got after it one step and one day at a time. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine I would be doing a marathon let alone even visit Antarctica. And I don’t even like to run, haha. Remember you have a special purpose and one life to live on this earth. Go out today and make the most of it.

I look forward to sharing with you my journey over the next 16 weeks. I am both excited but also a little fearful of the adventure. Below is a picture for my first workout of 3 miles. Remember this:

“Execution without perfection is better than perfection without execution.”