MS – Just Keep Moving

Friends,

I missed all of you last week as I went out to Kona, Hawaii with Bonnie, Jake and Sam to cheer Jerry on as he competed in the World Championship Ironman triathlon.  Jerry did awesome as he finished it around 45 minutes earlier than his last two Ironman’s and didn’t need an IV or anything.  Like Jerry said…another first!

Jake, Pat and I were proud to get a picture taken with Jerry before the event.

It was hard to get good swim pictures of Jerry as there were so many people there cheering all the athletes and the security around the athletes was pretty tight.  Here’s a picture of the swim start to give you an idea of the excitement.  Jerry’s out there somewhere.Check out how happy Jerry was to get out of the swim and onto the bike.

Here’s a picture of Jerry out on the bike course at mile 82.  As you can see he was still smiling and having fun as Jake, Pat and I were cheering him on.

Jerry was really smart on the run and paced himself very well so he finished feeling good and in good time.  It was awesome seeing him in the spot he loves to be.

And then here’s Jerry with his hardware sharing his joy of an amazing accomplishment.

IronmanI know Jerry has inspired so many of you and you were keeping Jerry in your thoughts and prayers as well as staying up and cheering him on from home.  Jerry continues to be a huge inspiration to me and I’m thankful for his friendship…I just had to share a little of this inspiration with you.  Perhaps Jerry will write a recap and share it with us when he gets back.  He’s still there so we won’t see him this week.  Perhaps next week.

I’m back and looking forward to seeing you again tomorrow morning and Friday morning.  I hope you made progress while I was gone and had fun doing it.

It looks like our Friday morning rides are about done for the season at 7:00am due to the weather being in the 30’s at 7:00am.  I would highly encourage you to enjoy fall bike riding in the afternoons when it’s warmer now.  Please contact each other on your own and get out there and ride together.  My afternoons are pretty much consumed with responsibilities at work but that shouldn’t stop you from riding.  We’ll start back up on Friday mornings at 7:00am as soon as the weather is 45 degrees or warmer in the spring.  I know, that’s a sad statement.  Get out and ride in the afternoons as long as you can.

We all need to “Just Keep Moving”!  It doesn’t matter where we start.  We can start with laughing which is great exercise in itself.  Other than that, we start with the body parts that will move and keep moving them as much as we can.  Let them rest and then move them again.

I know there are still many of us going through other life challenges in addition to our challenges with MS.  Let’s stick together, keep our chins up and keep sharing our journey.  Better days are ahead.  For those of you who haven’t been able to make it by us on Wednesdays and Fridays lately, please know you are missed and in my thoughts and prayers.  I hope you’re able to make it back soon!

I hope you’ll join us both Wednesday and Friday again this week.   Remember…consistency is key.  With MS, it takes a lot of consistent effort every day to make small improvements.  Yes, it’s frustrating so be patient and consistent and you’ll be amazed how your quality of life will continue to improve.  It’s been about 17 years of exercising just about every day for me and I’m still making improvements (encouragement, love, support, nutrition and proper rest help immensely too).  It takes time so please be patient.  It sure is better than MS getting worse.  I really don’t know what my life would be like if I didn’t do this (nor do I want to find out).  I’m so thankful you are all joining me on this journey of making progress with our MS and quality of life…THANK YOU!  We’ll continue to learn together…there’s so much power in the love and support we all share with each other.

In the past, I’ve been telling you to bring a friend.  Unfortunately, we’re going to need to start a waiting list for new people.  Please feel free to continue to share your experience and what we’re doing together.  Let me know of anyone who would like to join us.  I’ll communicate with these people through e-mail or phone and help them any way I can.  When we have room for them to join us, I’ll encourage them to do that.  If you’ve joined us in the past, please continue to join us.

We are here to help you and anyone with MS…no strings attached (well maybe an occasional story about the progress you’re making, smile, high five or a hug).  I remember how challenging life used to be when my MS was bad.  I get great joy sharing what I’ve learned and feel blessed with the progress I’ve made.  I hope you make progress in some way too!