What Running and NTC Have Taught Me

Nike made this great picture to congratulate me on my hard work!

Running has taught me many things. Running has taught me to believe in myself, to trust my training, and that there is nothing in life that I cannot achieve. Winning is easy, rising after failure is hard. It has taught me to trust my friends and not make enemies, that life is too short to not enjoy each moment. My dreams are reachable through training, belief and assistance from my friends. I have an increased sense of confidence in my abilities and I am more connected to others that share my passion. I am a better person, daughter, wife and friend because of running. It takes discipline, strength and perseverance to become great. Goals aren't easy to achieve, dreams can only become reality if you take the steps to make them come true and when you take that first step it will start you on a journey that you never thought possible and you hope will never end. Running has taught me to follow my passion, to live in the moment and to never take a single step for granted.

Nike Training Club has given me the strength to step quicker, reach farther and test my limits in the gym. It's a different test of my strengths than running, it makes me a well rounded person and a better runner. Nike Women have taught me the importance of believing in others and taking a chance on someone, even if they are 500 miles away. Sometimes, sharing a passion is more important than keeping it to yourself. Anything is possible. A six pack, a sub 7 minute mile, the chance to work with Nike, whatever you can dream, you can achieve.

Marie Purvis, aka @NikeGetFit, is a top notch trainer and truly cares about my success. She lives her passion everyday and helps make fitness a reality for top athletes, high school athletes and everyday gym goers like me. Ask her a question and she'll answer, follow her on Twitter or around the world while training at Live NTC sessions and you will never be more proud of your body and fitness achievements. She'll push you, motivate you, and challenge you to be better than you were yesterday.

Movement is a gift, change is necessary to improvement and in order to make that change you need to become comfortable with being uncomfortable. Hope matters, dreams matter, days matter. Don't waste a single moment. Find your passion. Find your greatness.

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.