I’m 5’6″, 5’8″ with my hair in its signature messy bun. I stared at the bar ahead of me, three inches shy of my own height, hair excluded. It was the highest I’ve ever attempted. Each time before I’d failed, knocking the bar down with my arm or back. But there was something about that day, that meet. The sun was setting and athlete shadows surfaced on the turf, everyone circling certain events to cheer on their teammates. I was a freshman, a newbie, but my legs felt good. It was our conference track meet, and I’m a high jumper. I’d been running track and jumping since the 4th grade,…

Let’s talk about setting goals! I’d love to hear from you if you feel the same as me, but this time of year gets me so jazzed and motivated. I absolutely love the holiday season and I’d never want to rush past it, but after they’ve stopped playing Christmas tunes on the radio and the celebration is a few days removed, I can’t help but look forward to January first. Does anyone else feel empowered, cleansed, and alleviated once the holidays are over and you can start to reorganize your life that was scattered about during December? It’s like a big satisfied sigh. We can now reset, clean up, think…

I’ve always been an athlete. Always. I started running track in fourth grade; pretty sure someone pulled strings for me to start that young, probably because I begged to be on the team. I dabbled with volleyball and basketball for my early years but stuck with track to run competitively in college. I even met my husband through our university team.   Training was second nature to me. I was active even in offseasons in preparation for the start of March, the days where rain and cold temps just felt like “track season”; any track athlete would know. High school practices were all sorts of brutal, but I felt the…