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Mental Health Check-In

Mental illnesses often come with the stigmatized belief that those who struggle with depression or anxiety are weak and fragile. Many people hide mental health struggles due to shame. To improve quality of life, it's important to work through any barriers that are preventing you from addressing your mental health in a positive and productive way.  Although May is Mental Health Awareness Month, I always find November to be the most difficult month for my mental health due to the cooler weather, no more races (or planned travel), darker days and a change in pace. I am already finding myself a bit more sad as this will be my first winter without Campy in over 16 years.   Mental health isn't just about how you think. It's about how you feel and act. It includes your emotional, psychological and social well-being. It determines how you make choices throughout the day, how you handle stress and how you interact with others. Mental health is important throughout your entire life.
Recent posts

Body temperature and hydration - racing in the heat

Tomorrow is the 2024 Men's Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. The females showed us great resiliency, strength and courage on/by the mountains of Nice, France and tomorrow the men will battle it out on an island. The heat and humidity in Kona is something that you have to feel to understand. The human body can do incredible things - like race for 140.6 miles - but it thrives within a limited range of body temperatures. Muscle contractions keep the body moving but a substantial amount of energy is converted into heat. As a result, the body generates a large amount of heat which significantly raises the body temperature. To help keep the body temperature somewhat stable and to prevent overheating, the body must dissipate heat through sweating, increased blood flow to the skin and increased respiration. For the body to do what it needs to do to help you maintain a stable core temperature, you have a responsibility to keep your body hydrated. And hydration doesn't m

Feeling empty

It's been 94 days since I said good bye to Campy. As my soul dog and constant companion for over 16 years, I continue to struggle with grief, loss and sadness. And on October 10th, we said good bye to our cat Madison, who had been the mediator of our house for the past 15 years.  Since Campy's passing, I've had three incredible races. I placed 9th at Norseman XTRI and was the first American female. I was the first female at IM 70.3 Louisville and I was the first amateur female at IM Chattanooga.  It's crazy to think that I could perform so well despite feeling so empty inside. The truth is that I was avoiding the process of grieving. I was so busy and focused that I didn't have time to fully feel or think about my loss. The warm weather, the races, the travel, the triathlon community  - these amazing distractions allowed me to avoid all of the unpleasant emotions and feelings associated with loss.  Picture source I came across this picture on Facebook and I instantl

In memory of Madison

9/19/2009 - 10/10/2024 Madison passed away peacefully with the help of Dr. Haueisen at the Pointsett Animal Hospital on October 10th, 2024 around 2:20pm. Madison will now join her best friend Campy, who passed away 87 days ago - exactly 12 weeks to the day.  Madison battled Feline Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) for the past 2.5 years. In Feb 2022, Madison received a double lung tap  as a last resort to saving her life after a 5-day battle with her failing heart and lungs. Although she surived the procedure, the vet didn't think she would make it more than 6 months.  With the help of medications, frequent vet visits and a lot of love, Madison proved everyone wrong and lived another 2 years and 8 months. She always had a strong will to live as her number one priority in life was to show us love and compassion.  The story of Madison. In the summer of 2009, Madison was found by Campy in the bushes of our apartment complex in Jacksonville Florida. After several months of seeing her o