Dear Blog-Followers,

Have you ever been completely overwhelmed by what God has done?

   God did that for me on July 4, 2013.  That day I was participating in the Bluegrass 10,000, my first 10K.  I was unsure if I was going to be able to finish the race because my hands had been hurting so badly that during practice that I had never done the full 10 kilometers (6.2 mi) of the race.  I was nervous about the rain that I had previously had trouble with due to slick rims and brakes.  I was happy that for once there were other wheelchair competitors, but then my competitive nature came out and I was pushing myself to hard.  Even though I had a lot against me, God used all those thing for His glory.  

   That morning I had told God He could have this race, and He blessed me in a very powerful way.  First of all, I finished the race!  Also, I now have the second fastest time for the women's push wheelchair division in the history of the Bluegrass 10,000.  Besides all of this, I had been looking for someone who knew what they were doing when it comes to wheelchair racing, and God blessed me with meeting Paul Erway, who is willing to help me get started with track racing.  To top it alI off, I received $250.00  in prize money which I have used to buy new tires I was desperately needing.  I was overcome with all of these blessings and found myself in tears more than once that day!



For more check these links:
An article I was mentioned in:
http://www.kentucky.com/2013/07/04/2704340/women-frith-wins-by-144-margin.html

Click on my name:
http://results.bazumedia.com/event/results/event/event-4608

I'm in pictures 54 and 63:
http://www.kentucky.com/2013/07/04/2703639/bluegrass-10k-2013-race.html

David Trimble, a friend who also ran in the race

Paul Erway 

Taylor West in her crank wheelchair

That is how bad my tires were

I was interviewed by the Herald Leader 

My awesome time

My grandparents 

  

This is the letter I got

Dear blog-followers,

 These pictures are from my second race which was in Somerset KY.  This was a hard race!  I had just bought my specialized gloves and had not gotten used to them.  Also, I was not very good at going up hills, and there were a lot of hills (a.k.a. mountains).

Dear Blog-followers,

It's me, Aerelle!

I have a lot of catching up to do, and I want to give you what I learned from each race and different tips and techniques I use so that if you decide to be a wheelchair racer, you'll have somewhere to start. . . but, for now,  here's a basic overview of my journey so far.

• July-August 2012:  Begin to think about racing
• September 2012:  Join Jessamine County Public Library Driveway to 5K running group trying to train with an everyday (slow) wheelchair
• October 2012:  God gives me a racing wheelchair and rollerbar for an affordable price (via Greg Insco!!)
• November 2012:  Learn how to steer the Tuesday before my first race and complete my first 5K (Jessamine County Parks and Rec. Turkey Strut)
• December 2012:  Follow advice from Tatyana McFadden and purchased a pair of harness racing gloves; Find article on proper push technique; Complete 5K in Somerset, KY (where hills are really mountains); Race in Kannapolis, NC where my grandparents get to cheer me on
•  January-February 2013:  Continue to train with my dad/coach while beginning search for a "real" coach
• March 2013:  Race my best time yet at RJ Corman railrunner 5K
• April 2013:  Unexpectedly travel to Greenwood, IN to race in a walk/run for orphans to support the Boaz Project; find out just how many hills Kentucky has (as compared to flat, flat, flat Indiana) and how bad I am at pacing myself without hills to climb and then fly down!
• May 2013:  Learn to pace myself; compete in RJ Corman run for the Chrysallis House along with my dad who decided he needed to be in better shape in order to keep up with me
  

So, there you have it!

I'll write again soon,

Aerelle

Hello, everyone!

Aerelle is finished with (most of) her schooling for the 2012-2013 school year.  I have officially handed off this blog to her.   She has already made some changes to the background and mission statement to better share her vision of what this blog should accomplish.

I have also challenged her to do a better job than me in keeping new pics posted from her races and training.   Her first job is to catch you up on what has been happening while the former blog-poster (that would be me!) was off sleeping or something!  

She also wants to teach you about the things she is learning about wheelchair racing, herself, and her Savior.
Soooooo, stay tuned and see what she comes up with!

Signing off,
Aerelle's mom (otherwise known as Della)

The front wheel is fixed!  Thank you to those who gave.

News Flash!  We are training the next generation of wheelchair racers.

In the cold and snowy weather, Aerelle trains on her "roller bar."  (It's sort of like a treadmill for a racing wheelchair.)  Guess who Aerelle got to try on her equipment?  Well, as long as someone has on the helmet and gloves the may as well get in the chair.  He's little on technique but big on cuteness.

The Fire is Flat!

Training today and Aerelle skidded to a stop.

That stop wore away the last layer of rubber on her front tire.  You'll never guess the cost for fixing that tire.  It seems that the front tire on a racing wheelchair is made especially just for racing wheelchairs.  Who knew?!  For the tire and installation: $120.00.  We can get the whole wheel (tire included) for $195.00.  We need a pit crew.  Can you give and help her get back on the road?

She's hooked!  I knew it would happen.

Aerelle received a cycling computer for Christmas thanks to family who chipped in.  We wired it up to her wheelchair and got her going with it.  The computer tells her, among other things, her SPEED.  More importantly it stores your maximum speed.  She started pushing really hard in a parking lot and got it up to a pretty good clip.  What do you suppose was next?  . . . the Hill.

Let's just say that the hill in front of her grandparent's house is steep and a decent enough distance to get that little orange flag "flapping in the breeze."  I blocked traffic and let her take off down hill . . . this time without using her brake.  (I have been waiting for Aerelle to lose some of her inhibitions about speed in that chair.)  I could see her from the back when she came to a stop at the bottom of the hill.  Both hands went up as she shouted "Woohoo!" at the top of her lungs.  By the end of the day Aerelle had pushed her max speed to over 22.4 miles per hour.