Tuesday, November 19, 2013

The Soles4Souls Journey starts here

For this week's blogpost I was able to guest blog for the charity Soles4Souls. Read the blog post here and enjoy! 

http://blog.soles4souls.org/2013/11/introducing-maggi-thorne/



   Your Mrs. Great Plains International 2014,
Maggi

Friday, November 1, 2013

What my parents don't know...

There is something only a handful of people know and not even my parents. It is my earliest childhood memory. Last night as our children wrapped up their trick or treating (which should really be replaced with yelling or running, the actions of choice of our children between houses) it made me think back....waaaaay back in time to my first memory.

Although I don't have the care bear picture, this is me at 3:)

   I was 3 years old and it was Halloween. My family was carving pumpkins on our back patio and I was dressed in a little light pink carebear costume. I remember fiddling with the strap on my head to get my mask to stay on and anxiously awaiting the moment to comb the neighborhood. I don't remember how many houses we went to that night or how much candy was in my pillowcase (which is what we used instead of buckets to collect treats), but I remember my family....together.

 Every moment of the day, I try to remind myself a memory is being created for our children that will shape their future. I think of myself as a kid again and ask"What kind of memory do I want them to walk away with right now?". Are they going to learn what grace is? Will they learn impatience or patience...anger or love? Is this the opportunity for a lesson or on the contrary am I being taught a lesson?

  There is a quote on our little' "mom's ultimate planning calendar" that hangs next to our fridge  and for October it said "There is no such thing as a perfect mom, but a MILLION ways to be a great one".

This past weekend there are probably all sorts of things we could have worked on around the house, but we put it aside and carved pumpkins, put up slimy sticky Halloween decor and had ice cream in the middle of the day...just because. Later that night our middle daughter looked up at me, grabbed my hand and kissed it, then muttered "Thank you mommy for a fun day, I love you". Rest assured every night doesn't end like this and we have our share of grouchy kiddos, but that night did and I am so grateful.

 Here is to a happy Friday and hopefully a weekend full of fun memory making!

The Thorne Halloween Re-cap





Weekend workout:
  This is not for the faint at heart, but if you are up for a challenge, enjoy from the Spartan racing team:


Warmup:

Run/walk 400m with weight (sandbag preferred)

Main set: 30 seconds each exercise

Deadlift w/sandbag
Decline pushups
Axe chops (each side w/sandbag)
Squat w/sandbag
Clean w/sandbag
Overhead Press w/sandbag
Side Plank (each side)
V-up
Rest one minute

Cool down with a walk and a good stretch


Your Mrs. Great Plains International 2014,
Maggi

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Walking the Runway for Husker Greats

About a month ago I received a phone call about being in a fashion show to help raise funds for the  Husker Greats Foundation. They raise money for former athletes in their time of medical need.
  Number one, I was excited to help my Husker family, number two was excited to do another runway show. If anyone knows me well, I am actually a HUGE Project Runway fan!

  The runway show featured accomplished former female student-athletes and we had some time to chat beforehand about life, family and the Husker Greats Program. The event was well attended and we even had two Heisman Trophy winners in attendance. That is one of the great things about Nebraska in general, it is a sporty state and people love all things Husker!

   As we got ready, our outfits were picked out for us and we donned our garments, prepped with hair and makeup and got ready with a lineup posted backstage. The picture below has a snapshot of the lineup in the top right corner and a few candid shots.
  The show was certainly fun, but the funniest part was the amount of nerves backstage. You would think with all of these female student-athletes who have competed for national championships, won national awards, played in the pros, etc....nerves would be a thing of the wayside....not so! I admittingly got wobbly in my knees to before hitting the runway as well.

Below is the picture before everyone came to their seats and we were lining up doing final preps (tell each other how fabulous we look, checking teeth for imaginary things we thought were stuck...you know, the normal things ladies do)

Some of the runway looks from Christian Noble

  At the end of the night, it was great to connect with our Husker Family and help raise much needed medical funds for former athletes.  I am always grateful to have made the decision to come from San Diego to be a Husker at Nebraska. GBR

 The picture below is of the featured former student-athletes who came from all over the country to participate and the owner of Christian Noble Furs who was the hub of putting the event together. Lovely group for a great cause!

Your Mrs. Great Plains International 2014,
Maggi

Friday, October 18, 2013

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

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Every Day Matters...

A few years ago our church started a "Decade on Purpose" effort to focus on intentional living and making each day matter by living out what God has put before you.

This week's blog will vary into our family side of things. You may notice that we do not post much about our children on social media and this is a personal family decision we agreed on a few years ago. We are ok with the occasional post, but it is pretty limited. With this said, we wanted to give you a peek into our family life this week inspired by our Church's sermon on Sunday :)

One of our favorite things to do as a family is simple, just be together. It doesn't need to be anything special or anywhere special, we just love to get cozy and laugh.

Our girls room is FULL of dress up clothes. We have more princess dress's than we know what to do with. This can be crazy for me sometimes as someone who grew up with brothers and was always getting their hand me down toys like matchbox cars and transformers. I still do my best and we play barbie, paint nails, curl hair and wouldn't you believe it I let the girls (and Charlie) even do my makeup. One time I forgot they did my makeup and left the house with it on....oh boy was that day special!

Charlie's room we are usually lucky if we can see the floor. He likes dress up too, but on the end of Ninja's, Darth Vader and Transformers. As he get's more in to sports, shin guards and cleats are capturing some floor space as well.

As we went to the park the other day and we were playing chase (aka Tag) I tried to capture some of the moments of our laughing and smiling.

It would be fair to say Charlie is a total mommy's boy and Fiona is a Daddy's girl. Ellie is at the age where it is whoever is convenient at that time :)






As I think about making each day matter I am motivated to inspire others around the world...but God is very quick to remind me that it starts at home with our family. Do I fail some days...yes. Does Fred fail some days...yes. But number one rule in the Thorne house...show Grace.

For us, making each day matter at home is about showing our kids God's love for them by the way treat them and our intentional family time. 

Is our life just plain nuts some times...oh yes. Would we have it any other way? NO WAY! I am grateful for a God who would entrust me to be a parent...now I just need to make EVERY DAY Matter.


To find out more about a Every Day Matters, visit Every Day Matters
From this link, you can also get the 1 second every day app to help capture life's memories :)
Enjoy!

Warmly,
  Your Mrs. Great Plains International 2014
Maggi

Thursday, October 3, 2013

The Tough Mudder Experience

First and foremost before the tough mudder experience, I want to introduce you to a great organization I am so excited about I feel like getting out there and running right this instant!! If you are anxious, here is the link to their website: http://www.girlsontherun.org/



The other weekend was what started out to be what I thought would be a once (emphasize the "one time") in a lifetime experience competing in the Tough Mudder race. I walked away (slightly limping) from Tough Mudder in Kansas more motivated than ever though to run races that are longer than 5k and challenge myself more than ever thought possible. The dots really connected for me though when going over obstacles on the race course and I think about all of the obstacles in life young women can face. I was fueled with energy thinking about Girls on the Run International and how after all of these years of running, to meet such a wonderful cause was a blessing.

One item of note in case you were ever curious, false eyelashses can survive a 12 mile obstacle course race!

The Tough Mudder went well and I was able to win the UnderArmour #IWILL challenge. In light of this experience, the opportunity arose to compete in the Worlds Toughest Mudder, the world championship race with runners from all over the world. It is a 24 hour race from noon on Saturday to noon on Sunday with each competitor charged with the task of competing as many laps as possible, each "lap" being 10 miles with obstacles.  Honestly, I have lots of fears when I think about the race, so I just try not to focus on the race itself, but the preparation leading to it. If I prepare right, the race will take care of itself and a charity will get great visibility. Prayers for my body to stay healthy as I pick up my current training load would be great, thank you!


Pre-race

Our race numbers were written on our foreheads

Post- race




Warm Regards,
Maggi
Your Mrs. Great Plains International 2014

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Living Your Dreams

Have you ever had a dream that you thought was impossible or far fetched?

  I am excited this week to see my college roommate and teammate Jessie Graff being spotlighted in her career of a Hollywood Stunt woman on "CBS This Morning". Since she was little she wanted to be an action hero and she has not only achieved her dream, but is loving every minute. When we were in college, we watched the show Alias constantly and had many action packed adventures.She even talked me in to climbing a 50 feet tree (which she also had a to talk me down because I was scared after hanging out on a limb!)

  This week she was featured on CBS this morning about a recent clip she made on YouTube which has now reached over a million views! She wrote and produce the video based on a Family Guy parody.
Link to Video and article on video
CBS Interview

  In college sometimes people thought Jessie was crazy or off the wall for her constant "stunts" whether jumping on moving trains or practicing crashing, but when I think about how focused she always remained and how much effort day and night she put into her dreams, to see her succeeded as a Hollywood Stunt woman is so exciting.

  Recently Jessie visited Nebraska and we were able to spend the weekend together. We talked goals and life followed up by a good body whipping workout. She took me through a stunt woman workout and I was aching for days afterwords! I did get to run her through a workout of my own, so I think we ended up even.

The above is our picture from her trip in one of our body balancing poses from way back when. When we were in college we performed all over Lincoln body balancing acts.
Below is our picture from college after a performance. I am just glad after having 3 kids I can still lift another human being up on my shoulders :)



  So, we may not all have dreams of jumping through windows from tall buildings and crashing motorcycles on movie sets, but we do all have dreams and goals. We have all heard nothing is impossible, but do we believe it? Maybe it is opening a business, a large community effort, inventing something..or even competing in a pageant to change lives;)
   Whatever it is, you CAN achieve it. Will it take time and effort...Yes. Will there he hardship...most likely. Final question....Will it be worth it....Absolutely, every minute of it. If you know you are made to do something and your heart longs to achieve that dream....don't wait. If you listen to Jessie's interview on CBS, there is a key sentence for me...she highlighted that she loves what she does.

I leave you with a quote today from a great athlete that I am sure all will recognize...


Jessie's full Hollywood Stunt Bio can be found here: www.jessiegraff.com

Workout Tip:
   Just like you would write down your dreams, write down your workout goals. Make copies of them and keep them in multiple locations. Anytime you want to relax off of them, take them out for a quick reminder of the path you drew out and keep trucking!

Have a great week!
 Warm Regards,
Maggi
Mrs. Great Plains International 2014