CAN and Dick and Rick Hoyt

Dick and Rick Hoyt have inspired me to reach my highest potential, when I first heard about them a few years ago. They are the true meaning of "I CAN! and more importantly I WILL!" I hope they give you some inspiration to really get out there, no matter what it is you want to do. Let go of whatever it is that is holding you back- and KNOW that YOU CAN! I got this from http://www.snopes.com/glurge/teamhoyt.asp


Be ready.....you WILL cry!

This is the most unbelievable thing I've ever seen. I am absolutely in AWE of this man. Please watch the video, too — I am sitting here at my computer at a loss for words. There are no words for this, only tears filled with emotion.

A MUST Watch Video

This Father does it all just for the purpose of seeing the smile on his son's face. If you want to see the most profound reflection of the Father's love for us that you've ever seen ... watch. Time taken to watch this is the best time you've ever spent on email.

Read this and then watch the video (the website link is at the end)


I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay for their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots.

But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.

Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars — all in the same day.

Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. on a bike. Makes taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much — except save his life.

This love story began in Winchester, Mass., 43 years ago, when Rick was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.

"He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life," Dick says doctors told him and his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. "Put him in an institution."

But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was anything to help the boy communicate. "No way," Dick says he was told. "There's nothing going on in his brain."

"Tell him a joke," Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a lot was going on in his brain.

Rigged up with a computer that allowed him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? "Go Bruins!" And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the school organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, "Dad, I want to do that."

Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described "porker" who never ran more than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he tried. "Then it was me who was handicapped," Dick says. "I was sore for two weeks."

That day changed Rick's life. "Dad," he typed, "when we were running, it felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!"

And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.

"No way," Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite a single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then they found a way to get into the race officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the qualifying time for Boston the following year.

Then somebody said, "Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?"

How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick tried.

Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii. It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you think?

Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? "No way," he says. Dick does it purely for "the awesome feeling" he gets seeing Rick with a cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.

This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best time? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992 — only 35 minutes off the world record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the time.

"No question about it," Rick types. "My dad is the Father of the Century."

And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries was 95% clogged. "If you hadn't been in such great shape," one doctor told him, "you probably would've died 15 years ago."

So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.

Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass., always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's Day.

That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.

"The thing I'd most like," Rick types, "is that my dad would sit in the chair and I would push him once."


Here's the video ...

Calling for guest bloggers!

Yes- that is right! I want to hear from YOU! I want you to be a guest blogger on my blog:) Now, this is all for free- and just to share knowledge. I feel that we can all learn a lot more, if there are a lot of people joining in a expressing their thoughts or stories. So- come one, come all to the achievement ball:) E-mail me at bertieranger4@gmail.com and let's get your post on here!! I don't care if this is the first time you have read my blog, if you are a blog lurker, or are an avid commenter... I still want to hear from YOU:)

Act AS IF

I recently just finished "The 10 Minute Coach" by Dan Lier. It was a really good book. Very to the point and had a lot of good information. One of my favorite "do's' in his book was the Act AS IF principle. He says,

"You're the same person, with the same talent and skills, yet often it's what's going on inside your head that limits your potential..... so act as if you are that person you really want to be. Show up strong, confident, and full of certainty. Great job! This is the day you make the decision to act as if you are the person you want to be. Think about yourself and where you want to be in the next five, ten years. Act as if you are that person today. Walk that way, talk that way. "

So, today my advice is Act AS IF you are the person you want to be... and you will see a change, and get things done!:)

We are all the same!

My husband and I have watched a few movies over the past couple of weeks. One of those movies was Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix and another was Pursuit of Happyness. In Harry Potter, Harry, said something very profound. He was giving a mini "peptalk" to the other wizards in his class, and he said, "Every great wizard started out as nothing more than what we are now.......if they can do it, why not us?"

Exactly!! Then why not us?? We all started off in the same exact place- we all start out as little babies, who are innocent, loving, happy, and have joy for life. Yet, some are able to carry out their dreams, and others don't. Yes, we can say we all start out the same, but we all grow up in different circumstances, and we have different backgrounds, different people in our lives, etc.... While all of these definitely play a part in who we are and in our story- it does not determine what we make of ourselves and where we go from here. That is up to you- not where you lived where you were growing up, if you grew up poor or rich, etc.... You just have to put the work in, you have to really want it to get it, you have to really believe in what it is that you want and then drive it home. I'm sure we all know someone who grew up with very important parents who were both Doctors or scientists, etc.... and they got everything they ever wanted and yet that have not done anything with their life, and just taken everything for granted. On the other hand- I'm sure we all know someone who came from a background where you would never imagine them in the prominent place they are today.

This brings me to the Pursuit of Happiness. Chris Gardner was a man who invested into a business that seemed very promising at the time. He lost practically everything he had... and you always wonder, where do I go from here- how can I get to being "on top" again. The good news- is, when you are down like that, there are only 2 options, stay where you are, or get back up, dust yourself off and get hustling. Chris decided to do just that- he went above and beyond what any normal person would do. He waited every morning and said hi to the man he was trying to impress, etc...

In "Living Life on Purpose" by Greg Anderson he quotes Robert Brown saying, "You have to become what I call a 'tenth miler.' If anybody wants you to go an extra mile, in terms of hard work, go ten miles, and most of the time you're not going to have anyone even close to you." That is what Chris Gardner did- that is what most successful people have to do, they have to put themselves out there and out on the line and just keep going when the going gets tough.

So, remember- that YOU can be whatever You want to be, YOU can go wherever YOU want to go. We all started from the very beginning- and it is up to US, to where we will end up. Where are YOU going to end up? Decide today- and TAKE ACTION!! Good luck and HAVE FUN!:)

212 degree attitude!

I subrscribe to a daily motivational quote through Nightingale Conant. A while back I got one that said- if you watch this 3 min. video it will change your life. I just now got around to watching it... while, no- watching it will not CHANGE your life- because that is something YOU have to do- it did give me the extra boost I needed, and to take that extra step! Enjoy:)


http://www.nc212movie.com/2/


(if you can't click on it- you will have to copy and paste it in your browser... sorry!)

Getting back to my own advice:)

Wow- has it really been nearly a month since I last blogged? A lot has happened in the last month, and every time I sat down to start writing- something would distract me, and I would never finish. I'm getting back to my 15 min. rule and am going to do as Nike has always said and "Just do it!" So, expect a spectacular post tomorrow... that I have been trying to finish for a month:)