American Ninja Warrior

Before writing anything else, a HUGE thank you to the producers and casting crew of American Ninja Warrior for the opportunity. There are soooooo many amazing athletes and good hearted people in the world and to be selected as one of the 125 for our region our of only 5 regions is such an honor I am truly grateful for. Thank you!

Well friends, by now you have either seen my fall or this is how you are finding out that yes, the first obstacle took me out!

How did it happen? Simple....Overconfidence.

Normally in competitions I get so nervous...extremely focused, kind of off on my own and pacing around. No moment is taken for granted. Every step is one at a time.

As they called my name when waiting in the holding area, I was doing sprints, jumping up and down and finding a place to take a knee and say a prayer. Riled up more than you can imagine before competing. My mental preparation was in overdrive...I could literally see myself hitting the buzzer at the top of the warped wall, arms up in victory. Pointing at my son in the stands with tears of joy. Hmmm.  That was not reality.

I stepped up to the start. Crowd cheering, waving and greeting them back (What an awesome crowd by the way, Denver has great people and I appreciate everyone who came to watch! ). I took deep slow breaths in anticipation of my name being called as you cannot start the course until the buzzer sounds. Quintuple steps? PIECE OF CAKE I thought to myself. My legs are stronger than strong, my agility amazing and I did steps like those at Worlds Toughest Mudder for 24 hours....first obstacle, not a problem rattled around in my mind as I approached the stairs to take the helm.

Horn sounds. At the crisp cold hour of 2am with a slight breeze in the 32 degree weather, I launched to the first quintuple step, then the next...and the next annnnnnnnd......splash.

WHAT? What just happened. As my arms scraped down the side of the step, no where to grip in site I could not believe it. Fail. All the build up, all the hype and one big splash.

Overconfidence. I could find plenty of excuses if I allowed myself of why I did not make it past 3 steps, but I refuse to live in a life of looking back and not taking responsibility for a failure. Lets look at that word one second further....I also don't believe in it. As Thomas Edison said, " I have not failed...I just found 10,000 ways to successfully not do something" when he talked about his repeated attempts to invent the light bulb.  So, Denver American Ninja Warrior was just me figuring out how to successfully not do the quintuple steps. Time to keep moving forward because at the end of the day....there are millions of people that needs shoes on their feet and love in their hearts! #GiveShoesGiveLove

I cannot thank everyone nearly enough for all of the support, encouragement and belief in me to make it through the course. That course has a piece of my heart on it and next year Lord willing I will try to reclaim it and hit that buzzer for Soles4Souls....for my family, my brother, my best friend, for you.

Never ever be afraid to try something. It was a risk to try American Ninja Warrior. It was do or die in front of millions of people, but to take a chance for Soles4Souls...worth it. Falling in freezing water in front of world wide audience. yes please, because now they know...and you know of a hope for a new day tomorrow and more chances.


 A personal thank you to Noah Tal Kaufman, AKA NinjaDoc and his wife for  allowing Charlie and I to stay there along with some others while getting ready to compete. The Kaufman's are just really, really good genuine people. One more note to all the competitors I met, ALL of you are wonderful and amazing. You inspire me!

Here are a few fun pictures from the journey:

Thank you to Jesse Graff who helped me train, she is amazing, watch out for her next year on American Ninja Warrior! A Huge thank you as well to At Dunn and Chelsea Cooley Altman from Toned To Win who helped prep me physically and mentally. They are amazing at what they do!

Climbing is a must training for ANW

Lots of climbing. Lots of blisters.Worth it.

This is what hours....and hours of training late at night result in. There is not a funner person to train with than this woman!

Heading out to Denver mother's day weekend with my family cheering me on :)

Charlie and I making our way over the Colorado border

Ready for producer interviews

Behind the scenes interviews, fun crew

Denver lunch date competition prep

Training Fun pre-event

Competition day lunch with fellow competitors

"Ninja Cowboy" showing Charlie how it is done :)

Filming pre competition

Resting up before we go. We did not film until after sunset, so we had a while!

Post competition...still smiling! Until next year friends! #GiveShoesGiveLove

Advantage of not making finals....Spending the day hiking in Colorado with your son. Love Him!

Cheering on the other competitors the next night for finals with some really amazing people who are fun to hang with!

There it is....the Ninja Warrior Experience!
Thank you for your support of Soles4Souls and my family!
Warmly,
  Maggi
Your Mrs. Great Plains International 2014

Exposed Roots...

 If you were expecting a hair care lesson for this blog, this one is about some different roots.
Typically I am chomping at the bit to write another blog, I love to write and share a story of others journeys or a peek into the journey you have joined me on.

Last week was different. My mind was drawing a blank on what to write. How is this possible I thought?! We were in Honduras, had already visited many villages and children, but writers block  swallowed me like a wave in the ocean that surrounded us.

 That was until we went to one of our last village's. After traveling to TeleProgreso, we went to the seaside village of Barravieja, in northern Honduras.

Most might call it primitive in a comparable sense to "our" culture, but I prefer simple. They were genuinely some of the happiest people I have ever seen. Their homes were small straw shacks, one community vehicle to take children to school and of course, one soccer field (soccer fields are everywhere in Honduras!)

 

The village soccer field. It was amazing to play soccer with these kids next to the ocean!

As we prepared to hand out shoes, our guide Raul pulled me aside and signaled for me to follow him. As we tromped through what was undoubtedly someone's yard, as the slope of the hill came to it's peak, just yards away waves were crashing at our feet. What Beauty!

Their daily diet? Fish, rice and fruit or vegetables they harvest. Their focus? Community togetherness

Everyone was accepted and treated equally in their community. They spoke 3 languages, Spanish, Garifuna and some English. This little piece of Heaven was so tucked away and defenitely off of a beaten path, so how did they get there?

We met the community "mama" and she shared their story with us.....

Originally slaves brought over by the British in the 1800's, they were traded to the French upon nearing the Carribean. The french decided to keep the ones with light skin and light eyes and exhile the others. This is where they landed and have been since.  A simple story, but they all knew their roots.

As we distributed shoes, the children, even ones who could barely walk were patient and ready to let the youngest goes first.

Our guide Raul and the Village Leader explaining the plan of action

Children lined up anxiously awaiting new shoes

This little cutie just captured my heart, so sweet!

Some young ladies patiently awaiting their turn to get fitted for shoes

Here it comes...the village leader as a thank you took us out on a boat on a beautiful lake. The lake where they fish or just have fun. As other villagers prepared the boat adding seats, wiping it down. some pretty royal treatment, we squeezed in to child size life vests one by one slipping in to the boat (some of us literally).

As the boat treaded water and the Honduran sun kissed my skin, my attention drew to the roots of the surrounding trees. All of the trees roots were exposed. It was beautiful, peaceful and they were flourishing!

That moment I realized why I had writers block...this minute had been waiting to happen!
  Isn't  that like us, the moment we realize who we really are and expose our roots so to speak, we flourish.

 The village we visited, all of those people, they know their roots, who they are....and they are happy!

 How wonderful is it to live a life being your genuine self? Are yours roots exposed? Are you flourishing?

Flourish on friends!


Warm Regards,
 Maggi
Your Mrs. Great Plains International 2014

How to train for the Worlds Toughest Mudder (and throw on a pair of heels after!)

As the Worlds Toughest Mudder competition approaches, my biggest point of preparation has been my mind. There is only a point that you can take your body before your mental mindset needs to become stronger.

Before getting in to a few tips, I want to share a moment from the weekend that was super exciting for me...I got to meet Juliana Sproles, the very first female Worlds Toughest Mudder Champion! The below picture was taken post race. She was kind enough to share some tips with me for what it takes to last through the Toughest Mudder. She is truly amazing :)

When your body will physically want to give up and you have to be your biggest cheerleader each and every step of the way, your mind better be tough. Toughest Mudder has a rule of no music, etc while running in the 24 hour competition (among many other strict rules) So how am I getting my ready to compete there?

1. Any time I am in a car alone, NO music is playing. You have to have the ability to basically entertain yourself during a repetitive action that can be mind numbing if you allow it. This weekend I traveled to a few states and spent several long hours in the car. I played one CD at one point and that was only because it was a gift from Singer Tiffany Johnson who is donating 100% of her CD sales to soles4souls. It was a great CD!!
2. Even though I am fairly used to sleep deprivation (how else can I get so much done :), I have increased it. When traveling I chose to not stay in hotels 2 of the 3 nights to force myself to keep going and be able to perform while physically and mentally exhausted. After landing back in Omaha, I had to go speak right away to a room full of contractors and am pleased to say my mental acuity was in tact (There was lots of good feedback to verify it really was and I am not purely delusional that the presentation was great!)
3. Eat right! For our family, this is a given whether it is the worlds toughest mudder or just living life. With Heart Disease as the number one killer for women and heart disease running in my husbands family, we just focus on a balanced meal plan and stay consistent. 
4. Train with intention. I don't want to wait for race day and the decide to push my hardest, just like when we ran track in college, we laid it on the line daily.  

A sample workout is as follows:

• 4 mile run 8 mile pace in full wet suit
• 800 yards of lake crawls full submerged
• 30 fences hops
• 30 fence ducks
• 10 50 yard hill runs

This either has you excited to run in a obstacle race someday or terrified. I would suggest you try it at least once, it is such a great way to conquer fears and challenge yourself to see what you are really made of!

A few highlights from last weekends spartan race:

Top 3 finishers make and females Spartan Elite Heat

Our son Charlie ran in the Kids Spartan race

They even had a sign that said Never Give Up!

Have a great weekend and thank you for sharing this journey!
Your Mrs. Great Plains International 2014
Maggi