I. am. inspired.: regan lauscher

regan is a luge athlete that i discovered again on the back of a lu lu lemon bag. i just had to know more about her. as i was doing my 'research', and learning more about regan, just like any other athlete, i was inspired. regan has passion and love for luge, and after encountering many setbacks, she is still stronger then ever - and proved it to the world!

i love the paragraph in one of her blogs:

With the 2008/2009 competitive season more than a month behind me, I have returned to the part of all sports that athletes outwardly dread but secretly crave – off season training. Yep…. we’re the ones who, in our appallingly short amount of ‘time off’, continue to train so that we are ready to begin…well… ’training’. Us athletes never claimed to be clever, only somewhat brave and a tad obsessed! But we call that ‘commitment’!

regan is a seven-time canadian champion, a two-time olympic champion,and a ten-year veteran of the canadian luge team. She is the only Canadian to win a silver medal in the world cup. She currently ranks 23rd in the world.
regan explains on her blog, the year leading up to her training season for the olympics has been filled with setbacks, surgeries, recoveries, and catch-up time from lost training.
in the summber she underwent a major bi-lateral shoulder surgery to repair the ribs and tears in both her shoulders as a result of 15 years of luging and training. instead of strugging her shoulders and admitting deafeat, she kept the faith. she missed the whole summer and the first half to the competative season. she explains what it was noticable, just those few split seconds at the beginning of the race.
she stayed positive, and when she went back to finish the season, including the world chamionships, which the medical staff were not convinced would be possible at all that season. And she still finished just outside the top 10 and within striking distance of the top woman - she was going in the right direction for mid recovery.

another line from her blog that i love:

Challenges are merely placed in front of us to help us grow and learn…not to stop us. Because without sour, there wouldn’t be sweet.

i love that instead of being disappointed and loose faith she became stronger than ever, and had confidence that no one else would be able to find. the surgery had to happen, but she still waited paitiently during the recovery, anticipating to get back to the sport she excels in, and indeed loves. to work out - get back in the weight room to get those sholders stronger. she kept her eyes on the gold medel and knew it was worth fighting for. that sure inspires me to keep my eyes on the prize. and end reward. what i am going after. sure there is going to be some bumps and bruises along the way. some setbacks. some times to be patient. i want to go far with sports - excel and achieve goals - well worth it!