As we
enter into a time when people are making resolutions for 2013, many of them
health related, I wanted to share my experiences with an international running
group for people with disabilities, Achilles International. It has become one of my favorite weekly
activities, and it’s challenged both my body and
my mind. I hope that you, too, will get involved in the new year.
Growing
up in Atlanta around a lot of other people in chairs, I was involved in a variety
of organized sports from an early age. Being born with spina bifida, I have
good arm strength, so a lot of options were available to me. When I went to
college in Greenville, South Carolina, I knew that there would be far less
people in chairs around, but I wanted the challenge of creating my own
opportunities when it came to needs relating to my disability, including
fitness. Just because my team sports days might have been behind me, or at
least on hold, didn't mean that I wanted to let my fitness level fall by the
wayside. It was at that point that I turned to running and never looked back.