A Huge "Thank YOU" to my first sponsors!

I designed the logo!

Message Aerelle's Wheels of Fire! on Facebook to find out how to get your T-Shirt.

I just wanted to brag on my girl for a moment.  

This wheelchair racing deal--it is her dream.  She brought it to us.  She started training.  She haggled for a good price on her chair.  (Thanks, Greg!)  She ran each week with the library running group.  She did the hard work and ran seven 5K's and a 10K in her first year!  It is her dream.  We just get to watch and encourage her (and drive her to training and races, and lug her equipment around(!).

Finishing the United Way 5K

Last March (2013) she wrote this in a draft for this blog:  
"00:25:38.8--This was my time.  My time in my other races has been around thirty minutes.  I did my first mile in 8:15"

June 21, 2014, she ran the United Way 5K on the runway at the Lexington Airport.  Her time?  00:20:27--Twenty minutes, twenty-seven seconds!  That averages to a 6:35 mile! What a difference a year of hard work makes!

First Place--Wheelchair Division

This past Saturday she ran a 5K in Wimore that she decided to do at the last minute.  It was not her best time, but with all the hills, it was great training for her 10K coming Friday, July 4.  On the same day, Tatyana McFadden, one of Aerelle's heroes, ran a 5K in 00:11:10.  Aerelle's response was giddy excitement for Tatyana, and then a quick, "Wow, now I've got to run one in 00:10:00!"

Wilmore start line

 What really makes me smile, though, is Aerelle's heart.  This dream isn't about winning gold in Rio or Toyko.  At its base, it is a dream to build a platform to tell others about a God who loves them desperately and died to made relationship with the God of the Universe possible then rose to give us life!  She remembers to keep things in perspective and uses all of it as worship.  She told me just yesterday, "Some of my best time to reflect on God and his Word is while I'm out in my chair."

Near the End of the Wilmore 5K

University of Illinois

Dear Blog followers,

Never did I think that I would be fifteen and looking at a college!  (This post should be in orange and blue, but since orange is hard to read, we'll just have to settle for blue and black.  You can look at my orange background once-in-a-while :)

In December, my parents gave me the opportunity to go to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as a birthday present.  We were able to go for spring break and spend two days there.  On Thursday we went on a tour of the campus.  As we walked we found why it is in the BIG 10.  Friday we met with Adam Bleakney the coach of the University of Illinois wheelchair racing team.

Coach Bleakney showed us the training facility, introduced us to athletes and gave us tips to improve my performance.  One of my favorite moments was when we rounded a corner and Garrett and Iannah, who were walking behind me, said in unison "Whoa!" at the sight of a room full racing wheelchairs.  For me the greatest thing in being there was meeting other wheelchair racers.  

I explained it to a friend like this: imagine that your favorite color was purple and you did everything in purple.  You had heard of professionals doing everything in purple, but you rarely got to meet anyone else who did everything in purple.  Then one day you were invited to the purple club. 

When I met  Susannah Scaroni, Ray Martin and Brian Siemann, who were all in the London 2012 Paralympic games, I was very excited, and my dreams of representing my country on a world level did not seem far away.  God so kindly used the trip to encourage me to keep going after my goal of sharing the good news to other impaired athletes.  Thank you to my parents for the trip and to coach Bleakney for his time.

Now, I am looking forward to track camp at the University of Illinois in just two weeks!