Born Champions

We are born champions, we just need to find it somewhere deep in ourselves, because the world will tell us we are “losers” but we can choose to believe……who you are and what we can do. We have one life and I choose to live it to impact the world, no matter what life has thrown at me, my disability, will try to disable me, but I am choosing to DIS-able it.

 My aim in life is turning the DIS in dis-ability, to the words DARING INSPIRING STRONG. I am daring to take on the stigma behind beliefs of what disability has been seen as, I am wanting to inspire a generation of people with disabilities to just do what they love, knowing that my strength in life comes from God being my stronghold, and as long as He is strong I can be strong, because this at the end of the day is All for His glory not mine!

 I have dared to take on triathlons with just using my arms, on the 22^nd August I tried my first one, this would mean I was going to swim 1.5km, hand cycle 40km and run (in my race wheelchair) 10km. I didn’t choose the easiest triathlon, I just choose the first one that was there for me to do.

Did I finish the full course…no, I could only do 20km of the cycle (1 lap of the 2 lap course), due to time constraints and the cycle course being closed after 5pm, but the amazing race organisers and referees allowed me to keep going on the run to cross the red carpet to the finish line.

I will spare you the gruelling hills of the cycle part of the race, but let’s just say when I checked the stats on my Garmin watch, overall I had climbed nearly 1200meters, at one point I climbed a hill with my arms for 40 minutes consistently, and coming back down I hit speeds of 60km/hr.

 At the end of the day I had done more than I thought I could ever get to…I had swam 1.5km, hand cycled 20km and pushed myself on the run 10km, in total 31.5kilometers with just my arms.

 It has taken me nearly 5 days to recover, to a point where my arms are not stiff, sore or fatigued and my energy levels are ok again, ready to start training again to dare to take on the next race.

 My dad came with and worked tirelessly for the whole day and even the long 2 day journey to the race, and for this I was grateful and love the fact the he can spend his retirement assisting me pursue my dreams. I learnt a lot about what works and what doesn’t, I fought many mind games during the race, especially the cycle, you know things like “what on earth am I doing this for” “I will never get through this” “another hill, really my arms can’t do this” but then another gentle still voice comes in and says “keep going” “you are strong in God” “this is all for His glory so keep going” “you have trained tirelessly for this, don’t give up”. And then we just keep going and we did keep going, why because we choose to believe we can take the DIS out of disability.



Overall my times were swim 34 minutes, cycle 2 hours and run 1 hour

  

The past year has been crazy, in one sense and I am amazingly grateful to my sponsors and supporters who have made my journey possible, CBM Italy, Challenge Athletes Foundation, CE Mobility, James Grieson, and Motivation Sports Chairs. My coaches, Neil McPherson (Dinamic Coaching – Triathlon coach), Brian Button (swim coach), Greg Hyson (Biokentikist), and Sports Science Institute of South Africa (My second home, my gym). My friends, you know who you are, who have walked me out of some deep dark places, my family who have put up with my very early mornings and my very early nights, my nieces who are my cheerleaders and my puppy, who loves me no matter what.

“For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.” Romans 11:36

I leave you with the lyrics of a song I had playing a lot the past few days……

“Like a small boat, On the ocean, Sending big waves Into motion
Like how a single word Can make a heart open, I might only have one match
But I can make an explosion

And all those things I didn't say, Wrecking balls inside my brain, I will scream them loud tonight
Can you hear my voice this time?

This is my fight song, Take back my life song, Prove I'm alright song
My power's turned on, Starting right now I'll be strong
I'll play my fight song, And I don't really care if nobody else believes
'Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me” Fight Song – Rachel Platten

UNTIL THE NEXT RACE – I REMAIN DARING INSPIRING STRONG!