Get Inspired

Quiet day in Atlanta, except for the thunder. This afternoon in Midtown there were lighting strikes like those in "War of the Worlds," plus torrential rain. Great day for catching up on emails.

One inbox message unlocked some inspiration: A note from an old friend who now lives in Denver.

I first meet Tricia Downing while we interned at the U.S. Olympic Training Center during the summer of 1995. For three months we lived, with about a dozen other interns, in the former military barracks on the southeast corner of the USOTC (steps away from the nation's best athletes-in-training for Atlanta 1996, and in the other direction just a few blocks from "The Jock's Trap" bar).

Tricia, the other interns and I worked hard that summer. Fortunately, one of the perks of living at the USOTC was free access to the dining hall. And except for a couple of intern excursions or crossing paths in the dorms, visiting over meals was the main time Tricia and I got to chat.

Five years later, got a call that Tricia was involved in a terrible cycling accident, leaving her paralyzed from the chest down by a driver making an improper turn. Fortunately, a few years later on her visit to Georgia, a mini-reunion for four of us former interns proved that Tricia persevered through the terrible challenges she faced at age 32.

Today's email announced Trish recently completed a published book telling her story. I ordered a copy immediately after reading the first two chapters shared via her website, http://www.trishdowning.com/.

Also got some additional inspiration from this Oct. 2007 Muscle & Fitness feature on Trish.

I hope you will join me in supporting Trish by purchasing her book and looking into Redefining Able, Inc., which she founded. Go-Trish-GO!

Photo via Amazon.com

USOTC Internship

Just stumbled upon the new U.S. Olympic Training Center summer intern blog. Looks like they are off to a great start with stories from the Olympic campus in Colorado Springs.

I, too, was a temporary USOTC resident via the intern class of '95 (summer). One fellow intern went on to achieve greatness at the American Junior Golf Association, and another is now married to a Major League Baseball player. Others are living the American Dream in California, New York (now an Emmy winner for Olympic coverage!) and even Vancouver. What a great summer it was, living just east of Pikes Peak!

Will be fun to recall the past intern glory days ("back in my day, we lived in some dated military barracks at the USOTC ...") while reading about the new Class of '09 adventures. Will also be interesting to see if the current class makes it to some of the past intern haunts (it appears some are the same while one of the most popular is now a car repair shop rather than a sports bar).