2023 The Run to Break Through

Resilience (noun) : the ability of a person to adjust to or recover readily from illness, adversity, major life changes, difficulty, and/or challenges.

There is a difference between hope and belief and I think it’s critical to have both. It’s important to hope for more, but it’s also important to believe in possibilities.

There’s a certain “rule” I follow when it comes to dreaming up ideas. As an entrepreneur, I constantly have ideas and things I’d love to do to help serve our overall mission and community. That being said, if I tried implementing all of these ideas, it’s likely that nothing would actually get completed. So, my “rule” is that if a theme, idea, or whatever it may be, comes to me at least three times, I take it as a sign to pursue it. The amount of times that the term “resilience” has been an active discussion brought on in many conversations, podcasts, documentaries, meditations, etc. has been much more than just three times…and it has been an overwhelming theme and sign in my life as well.

I’ve chosen it as this year’s Run to Breakthrough theme for multiple reasons. Just about a year ago, life threw a challenge at me that tested my ability to persevere and forced me to dig much deeper than I ever have before. Being a business owner and leader of a company, you learn more about yourself than you could even imagine. Each day you’re forced into unknowns and forced to constantly be in a space outside of your comfort zone. That comfort zone is a place I haven’t seen in a long time…but it’s the part I appreciate most about my journey. I was in a position where I had to make hard decisions and thought that everything was generally “figure-out-able” and still on track until it felt like my world collapsed. I had lost all of our clinical team and the big plans I had for 2022 were suddenly what felt like a distant and unrealistic place.

It was a hurdle that the only way to get to the other side was through.

Thanks to other major circumstances while running the business, I’ve learned to pivot well so while it was so far removed from what I thought 2022 would look like, I adjusted my sails and set course to rebuild. It felt like a whirlwind of a time where I was in constant reflection, work-mode, and fueled by a greater desire to persist through to continue to make the impact in the community that I so greatly believe in.

Leadership puts you into a lot of uncomfortable positions and you’re often learning through mistakes, miscommunications, people’s judgment and perception of you, and ultimately still trudging forward with what you believe in your heart are the right decisions and knowing you’ll have hiccups; Knowing that it won’t be perfect but appreciating that as part of the journey.

Well, you know how your biggest challenges turn out to be your biggest blessings?

When reflecting on my own journey, whether through running or leading, I often find the lessons and themes relate so much to our community and our families as well. And that’s why resilience is this year’s theme…

These children and their families don’t get to choose their challenges. They face adversity every single day; worrying about medical procedures, medication changes, disruptions in services, advocating for their child’s rights/being their child’s voice, long hospital stays… the list can go on and on. These families define resilience. And damn, sometimes it’s tiring and you don’t want to go on this way another day and you hope for it to get easier.

As I’ve said so many times in the past, our families and clients have taught me more than I could ever have given to them. 2021 was an 85 mile journey that although I may have been physically carrying our families through, they carried my heart. How?

Because they taught me that when it gets really hard, like really really hard…that you can’t stay in that forever. They reminded me that challenges help us find the best versions of ourselves; They are what help us stay present, grateful, and remind us to continue to believe.

So thanks to our community for that reminder, this September 9th and 10th, I will be running 100 miles within 24 hours while wheeling our clients…to not only allow them to feel again what it’s like to be part of something much bigger and the feeling of independence, but to demonstrate that if you hope, if you believe, and if you never give up, that no matter what you endure, the “impossible” becomes quite possible and you can demonstrate just how resilience really works.

My mantra as I said before in our running journey in 2021 together, “Strong Legs. Strong Mind. Strong Heart”. Strong legs to push our clients; A Strong Mind to overcome challenges and self-limiting beliefs; And a Strong Heart to pour into every ounce of this mission.

Serving this community is my life’s mission and I will always be here to remind families - you are strong, but more importantly you are resilient… and there is nothing we cannot do together.