When A "Hill" Pushes You, Push Back!!

When a “hill” pushes you, push back!!

That’s the advice of my bike coach but it applies to life as well. The “hill” can be an obstacle or an opportunity. It really depends on your paradigm. Training on “hills”, whether biking or running, will make you a better competitor. Where I live in Maryland, it’s hard to travel a couple miles without going up or down a “hill”.

This picture was taken early in my 2016 training season. When I see the "hills" in Lake Placid, NY in two weeks, I will hear my coaches words: shift early, but not too early, keep up your 90+ cadence, good pedal stroke, push, pull, push, pull, keep those heels down, find the smooth part of the road, recover at the top but keep pedaling, watch that heart rate zone……and on the run up the "hills": pump those arms, stand up straight, dorsey-flex those feet, and relax that right shoulder. Yes, I am ready to push back on those the "hills".

As with life, it’s hard to go a couple of days or weeks without some kind of obstacle getting in the way. But depending on your paradigm, obstacles can actually be the "way" towards strength, growth, and improvement. Obstacles show up everywhere and all the time. We are all better for the things that we have endured. But we did not know that at the time we were enduring them.

On July 24th, I will be on the starting line for my 11th Lake Placid ironman. More importantly, this is my second year racing for a purpose with 100 other athletes that make up the MMRF “2016 Team for Cures”. As a team, we will “push back on that cancer hill” and raise more than $750,000 towards research for Multiple Myeloma, a blood cancer, currently without a cure. My wife, Kathy, was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma in February 2014. She has been positive, brave, patient, and proactive. She has pushed back. She is controlling the things she has control over. She has kept up her cadence. She has gone "From Rust to Trust".

I like the MMRF organization because 98% of the donations go towards cancer research and they share their research with other cancers. Please join my mission to find a cure for Multiple Myeloma. It’s not only for Kathy but for all cancer patients. Today, just about everyone knows someone that is or was on the cancer journey. Please support them and Team O’Dunne at the following:

Donate: http://support.themmrf.org/goto/podunne