Unbelievable Joy

Life can be surprising, exciting, sad, exhilarating or just plain unbelievable. I can't complain about anything this year. I thought that I had a lot to complain about in January when my husband got a job transfer and we had to move from a place where I had just established myself. I didn't want to move, I still don't particularly like the location we are living, but all in all, things have worked out for the best this year and I have no regrets.

After the move, my current employer found a way to allow me to work remotely from my new location so I still have a job (even though it's not with Nike, I'm working on that)! I have the best boss in the world. I have found a running group that I really do enjoy training with. I get to go back to Roseville every few weeks to reconnect with friends, stop by work and fulfill my responsibilities as the Athleta Roseville sponsored athlete. I have flexibility in my schedule and I have had many unexpected opportunities this year.

Today it was announced that I WON the espnW #98DaysToShine contest! Can you guess what the prize was? It's perfect for me and my husband. We are headed to the US Open! All summer long I have been entering the contest daily by submitting a photo for the corresponding day. I read the rules, I set an alert in my phone so I would never miss a day, and I left the rest up to espnW and my fellow competitors. I really embraced the competition, I encouraged my friends to join and honestly, I did not expect to win. I was overjoyed when I won! I came home with a perma-grin on my face and I haven't stopped smiling since. Thankful. Blessed. Lucky. I have so many feelings right now, but the overwhelming one is joy. I am blissfully happy! Not just because I won, but because this prize is the manifestation of all the hard work I have been putting in this year and it means the world to me. I owe a lot to espnW and I want to express my thanks to them for providing this opportunity.

Winning this contest made me think seriously about how I am approaching my goals. I'm choosing to believe that my life is headed in the direction I want it to go. I have always loved fitness and sharing that love with others. This year has reinforced my belief in my ability to do this. If I can't motivate people in person it may be through my blog, Twitter or Instagram account. However it happens, I can be a voice for women in sports and women who want to achieve great things. 

Some of my friends and even strangers have asked how I am so lucky. I don't honestly think that I am a lucky person. I wish I could just say there was some magic pill you could take and you could be lucky too. It doesn't work like that. In my case, I have put in a lot of work and I have applied for a lot of jobs and opportunities and been told no. I've been told no hundreds of times, not received responses to emails, been told I'm not good enough and should have just settled for a more stable job, a more reliable job where you are guaranteed a good salary right out of college. Why wasn't I a doctor or a nurse? My response has been and will always be that I would not be happy in a job like that. That is not the life I chose and I am walking a path that I have no regrets taking. Right now I am working a job to pay the bills, but in all my spare time, I am working towards my dream career in sports. 

I do research daily. It's not a secret that I want to work for Nike. I scour their job postings and look at the requirements for becoming an employee. I have taken jobs for gaining experience in areas I think will make me a better candidate. I reach out to as many people as I can that have reached the goal I have in mind or are on the same path. I ask questions, I put myself out there and I am not afraid to fail. Have I made it to my dream career yet? No, but I am so much closer. 

My resume now shows the work I have done for the Sacramento Capitals World Team Tennis League managing all of their social media. I have had the privilege of an ambassadorship with Nike Women in 2012 and have maintained connections with influencers I have met. I have spoken with recruiters and shared my passion via social media. I have connected with women across the globe and motivated them. So tell me, do you think I'm wasting my time? I don't. I see every minute I spend working towards my dreams as time well spent. I have learned so much through the last few years and perhaps, when I do get my dream job, what I have learned now, as a consumer and brand ambassador on the outside, will serve me in ways I can't even imagine. 

If there is one thing I have learned, life is never what you expect it to be. I have had a blessed year. I am blessed with a job that I enjoy, friends that support me, a family that I can share my dreams and passions with and I can run and train without injuries. I have been lucky enough to be chosen as an ambassador for Nike, Nuun and Athleta. I won the trip of a lifetime to the US Open. I put myself out there and succeeded. 

Life was meant to be lived and I am going to live it the way I want to. I have always been one to make a goal and not stop until I reach it. Maybe I'm stubborn, or maybe I've just found out how we were meant to live. I can't give up on my dreams or passions because they are what make me who I am. I can't live your life for you any more than you can live mine. But if you can take anything from this, I want you to make a choice in your life. Don't give up on your passion, don't let anyone else define you and don't ever give up. 

You can't wait for opportunities to knock on your door. Put yourself in a place where you are vulnerable, where you have the opportunity to get to a better place. Will you fail? I almost guarantee it. But when you succeed, you will know how truly lucky you are. Amazing awaits.

~Karen

Failure is a Choice

Every day people fail and the fact is, if you aren't prepared to fail you aren't really living. Failing is something that you should never be comfortable with, but it will always make you stronger and better equipped to handle failure the next time it knocks on your door.

I have chosen to look at failure as a choice. To truly fail I would have to give in to the moment where I didn't succeed. I would let it affect me in a negative way. I watched the NBA Finals tonight and they recapped the last three years for the Miami Heat. In 2011, they failed to win the championship. They came up short. It was devastating for a team that wanted to win so bad. They had the expectations of the nation on their shoulders.

But did they really fail? In my mind they used that experience to push them and drive them to practice harder so that in 2012 they would be the champions, no questions asked. Yes, they failed to win one championship, but that failure was on their journey to win two consecutive championships in 2012 and 2013. Without that first failure, they may not have had the drive to get a win the following two years. Fighting against the odds, the Miami Heat won a battle today. They won and in my mind that is what failure is, a stepping stone to success.

You have to learn from mistakes, from missteps, from missed shots. Life won't hand you success, you have to work for it. Failure will never stop me from pursuing my dreams. Whether it be in the races I compete in, training, job hunting, or working for something better, I will always keep reaching for my dreams. The word failure only takes meaning if you accept it as defeat, if you don't learn from it and choose to change your path.

Go ahead, make a mistake, as long as you're pushing forward and learning from each time you don't get the result you want, you haven't truly failed. As long as you are living, as long as you are breathing, failure is a choice. You can choose to let it end your journey or to pick yourself up off the floor and become a success.

What will you choose?

Olympic Inspiration

The Olympics have inspired me this week to train my hardest in everything I do. I may never make it to the Olympics, even as a spectator, but I can train like an Olympian. I can do everything in my power to eat right, work hard and make sacrifices so that I can reach my goals. The Olympic dream is about reaching your full potential, about representing your country's strengths. Setting my personal goals at a high level and training to achieve success is just one way that I can live my own Olympic dream. I don't need a medal or a podium to know when I have achieved my goals. I just need to know in my heart that I have done everything in my power to reach my full potential.

Saturday, with my 5k Color Run, 13 mile training run, NTC and just general activeness I was able to finally reach 10,000 NikeFuel! I am so excited to reach this milestone. It shows how much training can do and is representative of all my hard work. I ran 16 miles and burned over 3000 calories. Saturday was a big day. Luckily today was my rest day. I went to the gym and lifted weights to work on arm strength, but I did not work out my legs. They got to rest all day!

Sunday marks the beginning of a new week of training and the end to my weekend. I am entering week six of Nike Women's Marathon training and the miles just keep getting longer. Last week I was running a lot and Sunday could not come soon enough. I needed today to rest and prepare. This next week I have four runs, hill repeats, NTC, Yoga and the final Saturday 15 miler. It is going to be a busy week, but I am ready.

Bring on the challenges! Now is my time to train like an Olympian.

Title IX Made My Dreams Possible

I have been involved in sports since grade school. I loved challenging myself and my strengths and weaknesses. I never had to fight for the right to play, I just did. Today we are celebrating 40 years of Title IX, the law that allowed women to be treated equally in sports, essentially to receive the same opportunities as men. It's a great day to celebrate life and the opportunities we are given.

My blog is called Reason to Play because to me this blog shares the reasons I love sports, participate in athletics, and workout every day. Without Title IX giving me opportunities I wouldn't be where I am today.

I did gymnastics in grade school, basketball and volleyball in high school and played basketball on my university team. My right to play was never questioned. I want to thank all those who went before me and sacrificed to make the right to sports equal for women.

Now I am out of college and into the workforce. I work for the World Team Tennis League, which was started by Billie Jean King to promote equality in sports. I am always amazed at how much she has done for every woman out there who wants to be involved in sports. I am glad there were women willing to sacrifice for the future, to fight for a better world through sport.

I was recently given the opportunity to train with Nike Women as an ambassador for the Nike Women's Marathon. Without Title IX creating opportunities for women this race may have never come into existence and I may have never had this opportunity. Thank you to everyone who has supported Title IX and to the Nike Women team for embracing everything that Title IX stands for and providing an opportunity for me to excel in sports. I am forever grateful to you all for giving of yourself to #maketherules of sport change for the better.

Motivational Monday

Kara Goucher wins US Half Marathon Championship!

My favorite runner, Kara Goucher, won the US Half Marathon Championship in Duluth, MN this past weekend. She is my absolute favorite runner and I was excited to see her win and set a course record! Since that race I have been looking for some great quotes to pump me up for training and inspire me to run faster and stronger. Here are my favorites:

"I've had to learn through experiences not to be afraid to fail. You don't know what the future holds for you. You can hope your dreams come true, but you have to be fearless. I don't want to look back and think, What if?" -Nastia Lukin

"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Like the marathon, life can sometimes be difficult, challenging and present obstacles, however if you believe in your dreams and never ever give up, things will turn out for the best." -Meb Keflezighi

Have a dream, make a plan, go for it. You'll get there. I promise." -Zoe Koplowitz

Do you have a favorite motivational quote that you would like to add? Shoot me a comment below. I would love to read it and add it to my list!

Bay to Breakers!

I had a great race weekend! This sunday I ran the 101st Bay to Breakers race in San Francisco. I just found out I was racing the thursday before the race so I wasn't sure what to expect. Luckily I have been running and training quite a lot these past few months so I was able to post a fairly good time. I finished in 1:13 minutes. I was really proud of myself for my ability to run the race, conquer the hills and have a great kick at the end. I will definitely be back again if I get the chance. I also reached the blue level of Nike Plus which is really exciting! I thought it was an awesome way to conquer a new level of running and my Nike+ Mini couldn't agree more!

The race itself was less of a race and more of a 7 mile costume contest. I chose the more serious route but was not disappointed by the costumes that were in seen along the course. We even were able to spot a few Waldo's from the popular children's book "Where's Waldo." I had an awesome time and would recommend that everyone do this race at least once in their life. Next time I may pull out a costume to really show my race day spirit.  

What is the most creative or fun race that you have run? Was it Bay to Breakers, a mud run, the Color Run? I'd love to hear about them and find some new races to try. Leave a comment below and I'll be sure to check them out. 

Motivational Tuesday

Dreams are sometimes hard to reach. But most of the time it is the journey that makes it all worth it. Whether you reach your goal or not, the journey is where you learn and grow the most. The ups and the downs make you a stronger person. Struggle, determination, focus, they all make you stronger. Sweat, tears, success and failure have made me know that I can handle whatever the world throws at me. Here are a few motivational quotes to spur you onward towards your goal and into Beast Mode! 

Hard work will pay off, I promise. You just have to give yourself time. 

Always think positively.  

Live each day to the fullest and don't let anything get you down. 

What I Learned from Baylor

Did anyone see the amazing championship basketball game that Baylor played to with the NCAA National Championship? I'm sorry to say that I missed it and I will be looking up highlights and replays online to catch myself up.

It was an amazing accomplishment and one that teaches lessons I hope to apply to my life. There are many lessons to be learned from this team. They reached perfection and completed a record perfect season. But it's not about the perfection or even the incredible coach behind this team. It's about how they played the game, how they practiced and how they sacrificed to reach a common goal.

Discipline is what it takes to make a great basketball team. This team was incredibly talented, disciplined and trained. They had the drive and fire to win. I wish my college basketball team would have had even half the discipline that this team had. Winning and success take sacrifice and this team was willing to give their all to reach that. The practiced, they played, they bonded and they believed.

To be honest, I haven't watched much women's basketball recently, but Baylor's win has made me realize my error. I plan to read more about this team and put into practice their approach to teamwork and discipline in my training and workout routine. I may never have a chance to play for a National Championship or play for a perfect 40-0 season. I can, however, work hard in the gym and train with the mentality of putting everything on the line. Giving my all 100% of the time.

Thanks Baylor for teaching me that success comes with discipline and making me a believer in in the power of practice.  

Shawn Johnson NTC Challenge

It's April 1st today and that means many different things for many different people. For some, it is a day where they prank their friends mercilessly. For others, the mark of the beginning of the second quarter of the year. For me, the beginning of April means the end of my March Shawn Johnson stretch challenge. As promised I will share my results from stretching faithfully for an entire month. 

Surprisingly enough, I was able to complete my challenge right where I wanted to. I only missed 3 days of stretching the entire month of march, leaving for 28 days of intense, 15 minute Nike Training Club stretching. I missed two days while away on vacation and at a tennis tournament in which my schedule was switched around and I was unable to fit the stretching in and the third day was due to taking an extreme rest day and not doing any exercise, even stretching. 

I am sure you are wondering how it went, did I gain any physical benefits or am I still where I left off? The truth is that about the second week in I began to feel like I could more easily reach my toes and extend my body farther than before. Week 3 I hit a bit of a stagnant spot of just going though the motions. The final week I really noticed my work paying off. I felt like my muscles were longer and more flexible and noticed a difference in my runs. 

I don't get as tight as I used to, and when I do get tight I immediately do some stretches to loosen my muscles. I have learned some great ones and now have a stockpile in my memory bank to pull out when I am feeling stiff. I have begun to make stretching a significant part of my daily workout routine and know that I will be feeling the benefits far into the future. 

I also treated myself to a professional massage during my final week as a reward for my hard work. I usually foam roll my muscles twice a week, but having a professional massage was a real treat. It's always good to have a reward planned for putting in the hard work and a massage was just the thing that I needed. 

This is my 100th blog post, as well as the completion of my first challenge, so today is a huge day for me. I am excited to be sharing my fitness journey with you and hope you are learning some valuable information. I have a new challenge for April and hope you will join me in pushing yourself and seeing how far you can go and how many goals you can reach.

April Challenge

Run 80 Miles 

Complete 1000 minutes of  NTC drills 

Share your fitness goals with me or join me in my monthly challenges. Remember that you are the only one with the power to change. Make something happen today and remember to Make Every Move Count! 

Perfect Pull-ups

Pull-ups are often thought of as an exercise that women cannot do. This could not be further from the truth. All you need to do to master the pull-up is put in a bit of practice. I recently put this statement to the test and could not have been more happy with the results. (No, that isn't me in the photo, but my arms are definitely looking more toned and defined.)

Step 1: Decide that you WILL do a pull-up. It is always easy to fail when you don't believe in yourself and tell yourself that you will do something. So let go of your fear and tackle this head on.

Step 2: Get the help of an ambitious friend from the gym or a pull-up machine with an assist bar for you to step on. Do 5 to 10 reps with assistance, repeating the cycle 3 times.

Step 3: Perform "negatives." To do this get a friend to give you a hundred percent assistance on the upward pull of the pull-up and then lower yourself as slowly as possible until you are hanging from the bar without assistance. Repeat for 5 to 10 reps, repeating the cycle 3 times.

Step 4: As you begin to feel stronger begin attempting 1 or 2 pull-ups on your own. After doing these drills for a few weeks you will be surprised how easy one pull-up becomes.

I did this workout at my gym for a few months and now I can do 10 pull-ups without stopping. It's an amazing feeling to accomplish this task and I know with some practice you will be a pro in no time. Good luck and happy training.

All the best,

Karen 

The Passionate Pursuit

Passion. Drive. Desire. These are all a part of the pursuit. It is the pursuit that makes reaching my goals so rewarding. It's the challenges that come up along the way that make the pursuit so great. I can think of no greater team to demonstrate this than the United States Women's National Team (soccer). They have been pursuing greatness for so long and just recently their regular season was cancelled on the heels of an incredible season ending in a heartbreaking loss to Japan in the World Cup.

The funny thing is it's the loss that defines this team more than a win would have. The USWNT went on to share their story after the games many times and the fire in their eyes shows how much they want to come back and win in 2012. The team practices unrelentingly and works so hard every day. Each girl on the team is inspirational to me and Hope Solo is my absolute favorite player. In every game she is the last defense and always sacrifices herself for her team. She is strong and passionate about the game, always pursuing perfection. But a goalie can never be perfect, they can only pursue perfection, and in that pursuit she finds her passion.

No matter what I do and how many times I succeed or fail, it will always be the pursuit that makes my dreams truly worth reaching for. 

Blood, Sweat and Tears

Dreams aren't born of nothing. They are made of blood, sweat and tears. It takes discipline, faith and a little bit of luck to truly reach your grandest and most challenging dreams. The beauty of having and maintaining a dream is that there is always the chance that that dream will come true. Don't give up on your dreams, never let them go because you never know when you may get a chance to pursue exactly what you have been dreaming about.

No one ever achieved success without failing a few times first. Steve Jobs was asked to leave the company he founded and he did. But he came back even stronger, he never gave up hope and never gave up on his dreams. He had every right to just walk away and forget about his company, but he didn't give up - he believed.

Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. H didn't give up, instead he went and practiced, believed and worked. He would not give up on his dreams and it paid dividends for him. He became arguably the best basketball player of all time and has an entire brand at Nike named after him (Jordan Brand). Not too bad for someone who wasn't even considered a good enough player to be on high school team.

Everyone falls, everyone fails, everyone has dreams. The difference between success and failure is how may times you get back up. To fail is to experience life. There is nothing to be afraid of. In fact, we should embrace failure, because with failure comes success.

I don't want to live someone else's dream. I want to live my own dream and that means traveling into uncharted territory, charting my own course and having my own failures that will lead to my ultimate success. I have been turned down by Nike a few times, which is my ultimate dream company to work for, but I won't ever stop trying, because each of those failures have taught me about myself and helped me to learn more about the company I admire. When the opportunity presents itself, I will be ready to embrace my dream, because I will know that I have put in the hard work and I deserve to be successful and live my dream.

A motivational video to give you some inspiration.

Failure Brings Success

Jubilation, determination, motivation, whatever you call it, when you achieve something in sport it is an amazing feeling and something that is hard to repeat. I can't think of many other things that can bring about such heartache and such joy. Having the drive and the discipline to work towards that incredible feeling of accomplishment is a gift in itself.

In my tennis match tonight I kept getting ahead in the game and then giving away crucial, game winning points. It was frustrating and I couldn't figure out why. That's when it struck me that even professional athletes suffer setbacks and heartaches, sometimes by as little as losing a race by 1/100th of a second. But that is what makes them become great, learning from those failures, remembering those failures and using them to push themselves in their next big event. It's those moments of failure that give them the strength they need to find a way to get to those moments of pure joy.

I may fail, I may not always put my best foot forward in a match, but as long as I get out there and keep taking those steps to make myself better and learn from my mistakes, I will get to that moment of pure joy, that moment where I achieve great things. It may not be in front of a large crowd, or any crowd for that matter, but that won't change my achievement or take away any of it's power.

I've learned to embrace failure, to let it become a part of me. Failure seems to breed success and if that is what it takes to become the best that I can be then bring on the failures and frustrations because I have learned how to turn them into success.