When you first type the word “grateful” into a Google search this is what comes up:

grate·ful/ˈgrātfəl/

Adjective: Feeling or showing an appreciation of kindness; thankful.

Synonyms: thankful – appreciative – beholden

It’s been a good week since Thanksgiving, but after reading countless facebook statuses on the subject I decided to take a little longer to reflect on what gratitude and being grateful mean to me right now. Not to make this a post of quotes but a while back my Yogi Tea gave me this little tid-bit of wisdom:

Compassion has no limit. Kindness has no enemy.

I guess what I am really trying to focus on in both of these is appreciation and kindness. Kindness is a word that evokes a feeling of selflessness. An act or gesture that is maybe unnecessary, which makes it all the more meaningful. There are so many people in my life right now that I am appreciative of for their kindness. My dream of going to the Olympics is a big one and sometimes it is difficult to keep focused on the end goal with so much going on in the present. There are many unknowns between today and the summer of 2016, however, one thing I do know is that I have a lot of wonderful people that believe in me and my goal without hesitation. Realizing this, I hope it is because of my consistent commitment and determination on which they base their beliefs. Which means I must be doing something right.

While I was home for the holiday I participated once again in the Millcreek Cold Turkey 5k. I hadn’t planned on being in town and so was unregistered for the event. Morning of I started my warm up from my house and made my way to the starting point. Once registered I ran another ten minutes to make sure I was nice and warm in preparation for the ascent during the first half of the race up the canyon, and what we fondly called in high school cross country as Heart Break Hill. The past two years I was the 1st Overall Female and therefore I felt I had a title to defend. I did my best to keep a steady pace up the hill and as I flew back down the other runners were so supportive shouting “Go Girl!”, “Nice Job!”, “First Female!” they gave me so much motivation to keep pushing towards that finish line. Even after the race, people came up to me and asked if I had been the first female, congratulating me and commenting on what a nice stride I had or how fast they thought I went. It was so amazing to have so much support from total strangers. The best part of the day was after I had received my 1st Female Overall Medal I was walking back to my friend and a woman stood up and asked if she could shake my hand because she was so impressed and inspired. I never expected to feel so loved and supported by so many strangers at just a fun local race, but when that woman shook my hand, I was the one whom was inspired.

I’m on the far left…guess my eyes are closed to visualize the race!
Photo Credit: Bob Negley

I am so thankful for the kindness the Millcreek community showed me and am beholden to each and every kind soul who encouraged, congratulated and supported me that day. Through my actions I hope to continue to be deserving of their kindness, representing them and my country well, as I pursue my goals of triathlon.

So thank you so much to everyone in my life who continually encourages me, your kindness means so much more than you know.

Three year defending, 1st Female Overall winner!