A Big Thank You to EspnW and a 98 Days to Shine Finale Recap!

Most of you know by now that I was in New York, courtesy of espnW, the last week of August. I won their grand prize in the 98 Days To Shine Twitter and Instagram contest they were running to promote women in sports. I was privileged to experience New York, the US Open and an exclusive summer finale event. Many of my readers participated in the contest and are one of the reasons it was so successful. Thank you for sharing your motivating photos all summer long! 

Me next to the wall of 98 challenges!

On Wednesday, August 28, I attended the US Open in the ESPN suite at the US Open. I'm telling you, this is the way to watch a tennis match! The seats were great, the view was perfect and the hospitality was top notch! My husband and I saw Li Na, Agnieska Radwanska, Juan Martin Del Potro, Rafael Nadal and many more tennis players throughout the day. The fun thing about the US Open early rounds is the amount of matches around the grounds. We could see so many players up close. Inspiring!

Can't complain when enjoying the ESPN suite!

There were a few rain delays throughout the day and we even saw a few lightening strikes in the sky, but the tennis was still amazing! If I ever have to sit through rain delays, I will gladly wait them out in the comfort of the ESPN suite. With couches, TV's, food and charging stations for electronic devices, a rain delay is definitely not a hardship I can't handle. 

Juan Martin Del Potro's match after two rain delays. 

Did I mention that we felt pretty important with our ESPN bracelets. Branded! I really didn't want to take it off all week, but alas, all good things must end. Though I refuse to believe that this will be the last time I see the wonderful people I met at espnW and their partner agency. After all, the espnW Women + Sports Summit is just a month away! 

Branded! I like the way this looks. Yes, I think I would be happy working for espnW!

That evening was also the summer finale event for the 98 Days To Shine contest and I was invited to attend. EspnW had rented out a gallery for a showing of the best pictures of the summer, hosted a special event for young girls and had a cocktail hour at the end. They also had some of their featured athletes at the event. I got to meet Julie Foudy and Lakey Peterson! They were so down to earth and awesome. I could really tell that they enjoyed being at the event and promoting female success in sports.

98 Days To Shine Open House in NYC

I arrived at the event after a day of tennis and met many of the people who were working behind the scenes of the contest. I wish I could list all their names here and thank them for all the work they did and the great contest, but alas, I am afraid I would forget someone important! I will say that I owe this experience to their creativity and relentless pursuit to elevate female athletes. I was honored to be included and treated as a VIP! It truly was a great presentation, event and summer long contest and I felt like I learned a lot about my self and met some inspirational female athletes via social media because of the contest. I will be reaping the benefits of my involvement long after my trip to NYC. 

Inside the Gallery!

The gallery itself showcased some of the best photos from throughout the summer and I found so many of my photos displayed! I can now say I had my photos up in an NYC gallery showing, pretty cool right? I also saw a lot of photos from some of my friends and new acquaintances via the contest pictured along the wall. I tried to take photos of as many as I could. It was exciting to see so many female athletes featured in one place. These are everyday athletes like myself who are pushing themselves to be better than yesterday and achieving great goals. 

I got the meet the amazing Julie Foudy, Lakey Peterson and Laura Gentile!

The highlight of the evening was meeting Olympian Julie Foudy, Professional Surfer Lakey Peterson, Laura Gentile and Laura Suchoski from espnW. These ladies were so sweet, down to earth and genuinely excited to be promoting the growth of female athletes. They really took an interest in the contest and the gallery showing. I have a lot of respect for everything that each one of these ladies is doing to elevate women in sports and I can only hope that I can help them with the cause and give women the ability to believe in themselves and elevate their lives through sport. 

A huge thank you to espnW for everything that you have done for me this summer and for women in sports. I am excited to have been a part of something so special. Being among women who are as passionate about sports as I am really helped to push me in the direction of finding a career that allows me to help empower women in sport everyday. What's better than that? Whether that career becomes my childhood dream of working with Nike or perhaps I become a writer or social media guru for the WTA or maybe even espnW, I'm sure an opportunity will arise as long as I continue my relentless pursuit of my passions. After this past summer, I know that anything is possible and that the sky is the limit. 

We were meant to have dreams and goals for a reason and these past few years I have learned more about myself through sport than any other area of my life. I want to share that passion with others and continue inspiring women to go for their dreams. 

The 98 Days to Shine contest may be over, but I intend to continue to shine throughout the coming years. This is only the beginning.

Don't You Want to Run Ireland with Me? #RUNIRISHLUCK

I have been traveling the last few weeks so this post is coming much later than I would like. I have so many updates to share about running Hood to Coast with Nuun Hydration, NYC with espnW and the US Open and more, but this post is time sensitive! I was chosen as a finalist in the Nike Running Free Run competition. I created the run of my dreams in Phase 1 of the contest and now I need your help in Phase 2! All you have to do is log your runs with Nike+ from August 20 - September 13 and share them on Twitter with the hashtag #runirishluck and your miles count as a vote for my run! At the end of the contest, Nike Running will pick one run as the winner and the creator of the dream run and the top contributors get to go on an all expenses paid adventure! Excited yet? This would absolutely be my dream! For more information simply click on this link. 

What my run looks like so far.

I created my dream run through Ireland and am in awe of what an opportunity this would be. Any runs that you can contribute, friends that you can recruit and tweets and posts that you share would be a great help! As you can see, there are 74 contributors at the time of this post who have already logged 381 runs! Thank you so much if you have contributed and if you haven't, what are you waiting for? Your miles not only help me reach my dream run, but they could also get you to Ireland as well! Nike is creating the opportunity of a lifetime and I do not want to miss out! If you don't believe me when I say what an awesome opportunity this would be just search #montaukproject on Twitter and Instagram and you'll see what great adventures that Nike Running plans for consumers. 

Short Clip from My Free Run!

Running through other countries and on other continents throughout the world would be a dream for me. Please help by logging your miles towards my run! After all, if you are already running or training for a race you might as well make those miles count! 

The Nike+ App is free and you can easily log your runs from there and tag them to Twitter directly from your phone. If you don't have the app be sure to download it today and start running! I wish you the best of luck in your training and running journeys and hope we get to #RUNIRISHLUCK together soon! If you have any questions for me just ask!

Happy Training!

~Karen

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