Every week I’ve felt pretty inspired to write on something that I feel about. Rather It was good, bad, new, or even exciting. I want to share something with you that I really felt inspired about. I wanted to share it with you to be able to show you how important it is for you to push yourself not only physically & yet how much it teaches you mentally. The reason why I say that is because now that I am retired and have stepped out of the everyday single push, you are still able to push yourself in other ways. In everything that you do. Not just sports. For my book, I reached out to my trainer who's in Reading, PA. of where I would go spend weeks of training there. Everyone knows Apolo Onho. Not that he isn’t only the most decorated winter athlete, but most people know him by Dancing With The Stars. I would always say or tell myself, I must be doing something right, if I am able to train with Apolo’s trainer. I say that as I knew he(Mr. John Scfher) just didn’t work with anyone. Sometimes for us to always believe in ourselves, we have to borrow it. As it can be from anyone, for example, a coach is normally the biggest for someone who does sports. A parent, friend, teacher, anyone. They are the motivators for you. They know how to always push you to the next level. They teach you when you are down that you aren’t going to stay down. As for John that was his model for his training & why he is so good. He was going to break you and have you go until your legs physically gave out on you. I had already came from a very hard coach, so this wasn’t really anything new to me until it was a completely different kind of training and motivating. This was a different kind of hardness and something that I have never gone through. I mean I am sure there were days when I was a teenager & that I was probably thinking that I couldn’t go anymore until I threw up. That was the kind of coach Robb was, when I did inlined speed skating. Did any of you ever have a coach like that? He as well always knew how to push you & take you to the next level. Okay now back to where I had somewhat of a background of being pushed by Robb. John’s training was totally it’s own world. This was a kind of a push that was never going to end, at least felt like it wasn’t ever going to end. Most days, it wouldn’t until your legs gave out. If you wanted to die or even pass out from the training, that wasn’t even an option either, because I am sure if it was, I’d probably be dead by now! I knew that wasn’t going to work for me, and yet I knew John wasn’t going to put up with it either. So even though you might have had those thoughts, they were just thoughts. I can’t even begin to tell you, of how many times, I thought I am never going to see my life, because of this running that I am doing. I am seeing the stars in front of me. Yet somehow I would crave it. I wanted to be pushed to the next level. I wanted the fight. Do you, yourself ever feel that way? Where you are so hungry for the drive, that you want it so badly that it doesn’t matter how many stars you are seeing in front of you. That’s what makes a true champion within you. It's how hard you work, and how much you put into it. When I’d have John yelling in my face, I wanted to push myself even further. I wanted to prove him wrong, but yet prove to myself that I could push no matter what & that I wasn’t ever going to stop. Even if it meant falling over & having my legs give out. The blood & tears weren’t ever going to stop me. I’m used to that push of the everyday grind. I’m used to having someone push me and push me, and yelling at me. I’m used to all of that craziness. For me, it worked as an athlete, but yet also in ‘real-life’. As not too long ago, I had reached out to John to tell him about me writing my book. I told him how the publishers would always say something different. It was never just a clear answer. I’d felt put down and second guess myself. He would write back & say “And you out of anyone, are going to let someone steal your dream?” Yea, no. He was right, I wasn’t. That's when my mind went right back into training mode. I knew exactly what he meant & what he was saying. As hard as it is for me to always try to think of something to come up with about writing, I ponder my thoughts & have them come out onto my blog. Even though it is hard for me with the spelling, writing, knowing if it makes sense or not. That my background gives me the ability to always push myself, no matter how hard any of the writing is. That I would start to teach myself to use that to my ability. My point here is that. Whatever you push yourself in, that you can always push yourself in something else as well. It’s where and when it teaches you to always be stronger than what you think. When I would be running, or doing jumps on the stairs with one leg, or just being completely pushed to the next level. I knew it was not only making me stronger physically but it was making me stronger mentally. I had asked John to give me some of his thoughts on how it was during training. Below I’ll share what he said. John isn’t just your typical ‘trainer’ but as someone who knows how to break you down physically & mentally to see if you can even handle it. I’ve never worked with anyone as hard as I have with John. I can’t even express or even put into words what a different kind of training it is. Even as hard as he pushes you physically, you are so mentally strong, that it makes you want to do it over & over again. I just touched base with him actually about this blog, as he helped me a bit with it. He described to me, “it's just like another set in the gym, you do it over & over again until it's perfect. You don’t stop, and this is no different”. He was completely totally right, this is no different. It's just not in the gym anymore but for my case my writing. So here is what John had to say. I have had the honor of training many world-class athletes. I don’t judge the athletes I train by how many gold medals or world championships they have accomplished, but more by their journey to get to a world-class level. There are athletes who get to a world-class level with minimum effort, but without the journey, they never reach their true potential. No matter the accomplishments, it takes a really special person to travel that journey. Kelly was one of those rare athletes who made that journey.

When I first trained her she was coming off a very serious ankle injury that would have ended most athletic careers. I had the honor of leading Kelly on her journey. As with all my top athletes, I took her to places training-wise she never thought she could ever go - pain levels, training thresholds, mental challenges where your body is screaming for you to stop and maintaining the mental threshold to push through even though you feel like it’s not possible and the discipline to pay attention to every detail to maintain recovery and adaptation to the workouts – nutrition, rest, and timing. To me, the greatest athletes are judged not by their awards but by their commitment, effort, mental strength, to be challenged to the edge of what they feel is not even possible and still do it over and over again, just never quitting, taking these things to a level that would kill most humans. Kelly traversed that journey and is, without a doubt, in the elite group that wears the title of legit world-class athlete! John Schaeffer I share that part of my story with you. As it has been a journey, but I wouldn’t be where I am without the journey today. The parts you don’t think are worth it during that moment are worth it later. That's what makes your story YOU. We all have a story of our own. It’s ours to share it if we want too. I know there are millions of us out there in this world. How many of you, might feel lost in it or not sure how to motivate yourself? With what I am learning now not being the athlete that I once was for most of my entire life, sports have taught & shown me how to work hard. It has also shown me how to believe in others when they might not believe in themselves. It has taught me when you might not get along with a coach that you have to find your own inner strength. It's taught & shown me, that you can always do whatever it takes to go the extra mile. Most importantly it has taught & shown me that with hard work & pushing yourself, when you thought you couldn’t anymore, you always find away. Mind over matter really does work when you are pushing yourself. You find it in you to keep that drive going. When you have the best coaches and teams behind you, you can always keep going because of the belief that they have in you. So as I said above in this. If you ever need to borrow it from anyone else. Borrow it and start to learn how to always believe in you and push yourself where you thought you couldn’t ever before. You will even surprise yourself most days. I’ll share that with you, as there were most days when I was seeing the stars, blood running down my legs, tears in my eyes that I absolutely thought I couldn’t go anymore, I’d always find the extra drive & determination in me to keep pushing & keep going, as John knew how to push me. I knew I was strong within myself. I believed in me. You always believe in You! Go after your dreams!