The Everyday Athlete

Western Nationals starts today in Salem. We got a 3:00pm draw and my parents are driving down from Seattle to see the game. It’s a massive three-day, double elimination tournament. Winner goes all expenses paid to World’s in Oklahoma.
No pressure.

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Sometimes the best birthday presents come from the least expected places.
Sunday, the best birthday present came from the opposite field.
My party on Saturday was a smashing success. I had friends in from far and wide - we drank and ate and made merry. My best friend Maggie’s parents showed up late in the […]

To be honest, I hate purple. And pink.
Pink more than purple, but that’s beside the point. Nevertheless, purple turned out to be lucky in the tournament this past weekend (my team has a choice of either red or purple uniforms).
Since my camera body is in the shop (it died while I was shooting […]

It’s the top of the 7th and we’re tied 3-3 in the championship game. Julie has just driven a scorching line drive up the middle for a lead-off single.
After a demoralizing 0-for-Saturday showing, my bat has finally come ’round and I step into the box with a mission to drive something down. Pop-outs […]

Big.
Everything is big right now.  Life is huge and expanding.  Explosive.  On fire.  Pounding, pulsing, pushng.
My work life is as challenging, energizing, and inspiring as it has ever been.  Limitless.
In the face of a week so incredibly professionally taxing, my body has found the point of exhaustion, rejected it, and moved on.  I’m napping strategically […]

Welcome to the first-ever edition of Gear Friday - my weekly dish on all the gadgets, gizmos, and gear that are currently rocking my world (and should be rocking yours, too).
In 2003, I played just over 100 softball games. I was on 5 league teams and a tournament team that played 1-2 times per […]

I play competitive womens softball tournaments with the most talented team that I have ever been lucky enough to be a part of. Almost all of the women on my team are former All-Americans, some of them several times over. They have won national championships together, traveled across the country together, and spent […]

I’m an athlete. I play sports. I compete.
First and foremost, that’s how I define myself. That’s where I find value in physical activity. My heart believes that it (the activity) should serve a purpose as a means to end toward a greater goal.
For years I considered myself a purist in this […]

Center field is a wide stretch of green with my name on it. We are two outfielders short so I am playing right, right-center and left-center. My team is full of well-trained place-hitters and I am fielding batting practice. Because I’m the youngest they like to toy with me so just after […]

I realize that I’ve been talking about the Hood to Coast as if everyone should just know what I mean.
Basically, the HTC is a 195 mile race from Mt. Hood down to the breakers at Seaside, Oregon. The race is run relay-style by teams of 12. Each team has two vans carrying 6 […]