If you’re reading this, then you’re like most of us. You made an awesome resolution for 2015, and have probably already failed at it. Take it easy. You’re amongst good company. We’ve already done the same thing. As I prepared to write this #2015 Leading Off section, I spent some time on one of my favorite websites, TedX.com. This site if full of interesting ideas, out of the box thinkers, and challenging viewpoints. Check it out.

I was intrigued by this talk “Quit Trying and Triumph” by Clare Barcus. Its a must see! In her presentation she speaks about her own hurdles in life and how she used to “try” to overcome them. The difficulties she has are real, they can and did negatively affect her life, work, school, and social well being. Throughout most of her life she “tried” to overcome her hurdles, until in one certain situation, she realized that she needed to deal with, accept, and triumph over her hurdle. It’s an amazing story!

This year, I challenge all of you to TRIUMPH. Be victorious in your journey and concer. Triumph does not come easily. It is not a “try” type of an effort, and it is not a weak-sauced “resolution” that you will forget about in a month. Triumph, is a supreme process of achievement through specific and hard work. Through struggle and strive. Despite your hurdles, physical challenges, and above the ever present negativity. It takes commitment and self introspection on a daily basis.

So what will you be triumphant with this year?

Will you be a better dad – Will you make the team – Will you get a promotion at work – Will you commit to helping a charity – Will you get into college – Will you start a new adventure – Will you fix that nagging leg injury – Will you do an Ironman – Will you get in shape – Will you deal with a personal issue – Will you spend more time with a friend in need – WILL YOU____________________________________?

“Do or do not. There is no try” – Yoda

#TRIUMPH this year!

This past season has been an amazing journey. I sit here now, with my Ironman AZ first place trophy for M30-34 age group and my KONA lei, and am still shell-shocked how I arrived here.  I am so incredibly blessed to have the support crew that I have around me.  Back in the very beginning of the season I found myself at the doctor’s office. I had been pushing through some hip pain for long enough and needed some professional help. I knew what was ahead. I was eyeing a race schedule that would have anyone excited.  It could be considered the ‘Best of the Best’ of triathlons around the world- Wildflower Long Course, Escape from Alcatraz, Ironman 70.3 World Championships, and finally Ironman Arizona. My goal was to qualify for Kona out in AZ, but this was 11 months away.

I thought it was too early to think about it, but looking back on it, I was wrong. The crew at Rausch Physical Therapy were my saviors at that time, I just didn’t know it yet. I worked with Christina and the rest of the support team there as they tirelessly worked to get my body back on track. I was stretching, doing strength work and was being educated. That’s the piece that was so valuable.

Even with my injury bringing me down in the dumps both physically and mentally, I was being built up from the inside-out. I worked with the team for about 2 months and came away a healed athlete, yes, but a better educated one as well. This is something that stuck with me throughout the season. I took better care for my body and it paid off.

I showed up on the start line in AZ and had a certain kind of confidence that is hard to explain.  I wrote ‘CMO’ (my wife’s initials, and someone I can’t do these races without), and ‘BELIEVE’, on my hands in marker. I looked at them often during the race when I would start to lose focus or start to hear negative thoughts. My secret during races is recognizing those negative thoughts that come and embrace them. Every person will have some sort of negative thought that will come in their head during a race like Ironman and the best way to handle it is to treat it like a person. I always say, “oh hey, there you are. I was wondering when you were going to show up. You’ll have to take a seat now though because I am about to do something incredible”.

I had a solid swim and came off the extremely windy (worse than past years) bike course in 2nd place in my age group. I felt good starting the run and knew what I had trained for and knew what I was capable of. It was my time to execute that plan. I ticked off the miles and found myself in first place around mile 9. I tried not to stop and start high-fiving people at that point because I was so pumped. I have never been in first before in a 70.3 or full Ironman race like this. I went through the halfway point and threw up a #1 sign to my family cheering for me. I could feel their energy and feel the fact that they were proud of me. The next 8 or so miles were tough feeling like I was running aid station to aid station looking for sugar. I got a time from fellow teammates telling me I was about 5min up on second with only 5 miles to go. I was running scared but at the same time, I BELIEVED!

There were moments where I wanted to walk and give up. But there were more times when I felt like I was floating and had visions of what I would do going down the finishing chute as an age group champ.  It’s funny how things really play out though. That last mile was damage control and even tunnel vision. All I had left when I crossed the finish line was me putting my hands on my head in shock- I couldn’t believe what I had just done. I wanted to share my excitement with my family immediately. I wanted to hug them. I was just too crushed to do so. It would have to wait until a later time. I was KONA bound. But better yet, I was a changed athlete, and I truly believe it was due to the education I received early on from the crew at Rausch. They laid the foundation, I built it up. They believed in me and I am forever grateful. Thanks for reading.

You probably know already that I am a sucker for inspiration graphics. Especially those that rock the boat and stimulate action. I saw a great one last week on The Instagram, “The Dream is Free, but the Hustle is Sold Separately” – Aaron Brougher.

Folks this one is right on the money… Everyone has dreams, but only a select few can put those dreams on paper and make an action plan. Put it all on the line to accomplish their dream and turn it into a reality.

So what does “hustle” look like to you? Last month we spoke about the little things that you can do to better take care of yourself in between workouts. These little things are the “Hustle”. But hustle comes in so many different forms. And its different for all of us in our unique situations, goals, and dreams. The bottom line is “hustle” looks like this: hus-tle- “obtain by forceful action or persuasion”.

So act. Make a difference. Get after it. Get on it. And move forward already. Its there waiting for you, but its not waiting patiently. Its moving, its dynamic, and its always changing. So should you.

So what’s your dream?

Ironman, Varsity, 10k, Lose weight, Build a business, Travel, Olympics, Serve in the Armed Forces, Help children, Be on TV, Pro baseball, College, Grad School… All of these are amazing dreams, but they don’t come by chance. They don’t even come by luck. In fact, they all have one thing in common, work. Thats the cool thing about it though, its just work. Albeit, hard work but we can all do it. And so can you.

Put your dream on paper, make your plan, and get to work.

On a related note, thanks for supporting my dream. Rausch PT has been years in the making and it exists to serve you, our patients. But you all are more than that. To us, you are the reason why we are here, you are the reason why we work so hard, and you’re the reason why we strive to be the best. For you. Thank you for your support. Thank you for your amazing Yelp reviews. Thank you for telling your friends and family about us. We’ve been so blessed this year to have you a part of our office. Thanks for choosing Rausch PT & Sports Performance.

Best to you and your families this Thanksgiving Season.

 

There are few things in life more rewarding than doing something special for others. Some people donate clothes to the Salvation Army, some help feed the homeless at a local shelter, and some do something special for a family that is struggling to make it. In 2010, Chrissy and I (Kevin) decided to make a mark based on my passion, the ocean. You see I simply love fishing, but more than that, I thoroughly enjoy watching kids catch their first fish. Especially kids who don’t have an opportunity to do so on our ocean.

The Waypoint Children’s Foundation, created in 2010, serves the youth of Orange County. It provides fishing trips, whale watching trips and educational experiences for our youth. We seek to help kids in need, youth in tough times, and to be a waypoint on their lives journey. This year we’ve provided fishing expeditions for BoyScout Troops, Adventure Guides, Military kids, Veterans, and so much more. We are a small charitable organization that exists on donations from local supporters and friends. We are a 501 c3 charity organization based out of Dana Point Harbor.

This past year we were able to take kids on 6 fishing and whale watching trips. Next year we want to take more! You can help. Your donations go directly to our operation costs to get kids on the water. But you can donate more than just money, your time, expertise, and fishing gear all help our cause. We use #4 and #6 light wire hooks, 10 pound test line, and ¼ ounce egg sinkers during every trip. And if you’ve been fishing in the past, you know how fast you go through things like weights and hooks.

Thanks for your support,

Kevin Rausch
President, Waypoint Children’s Foundation

Be sure to connect with us on Facebook to follow our trips and happenings: @WaypointKids

And to donate to the charity please visit our gofundme page for Waypoint kids.

Keeping the Challenged Athlete spirit alive. This month we are highlighting a very talented and inspiring individual, Billy Lister. He has seen life on both sides of the spectrum, spending half his life as an active athletic child and adolescent to having his world drastically changed and rediscovering his new potential and strength. Having earned a spot on the USA Paracycling team, Billy left his east coast home to make sunny southern california his new training grounds.

What kind of kid were you?

I was an athlete growing up, playing anything that would get me on a field. Sport was a lifestyle, and I was good at it.

At 15 your life took a bit of a turn….?

It was the spring during my freshman year of High School, of which I was newly entered into and was just getting to know my classmates; Springtime on Long Island, NY meant Lacrosse season.

A few weeks into the season, I started getting really bad headaches after practice. These were not garden variety headaches, and often forced me to go straight to bed once I got home. My parents took me in to see my doctor; but after multiple routine tests, nothing out of the ordinary showed up. Until my doctor decided to get an MRI scan of my sinuses, which he thought might be a major infection causing the headaches. Now, when you get a standard sinus MRI scan, it actually partially shows the lower hemisphere of your brain stem; and with nothing short of pure genuine luck on the uppermost corner of the scan is where they found the abnormality in my brain. To create a perspective of analogy, it’d be like falling into a haystack and finding a needle with Babe Ruth’s rookie baseball card attached to it.

What was the abnormality?

AVM is short for Arteriovenous Malformation, which often refers to a blood vessel in your brain that shouldn’t technically be there. It is something congenital (though not genetic), but serves no cerebral function. The danger it poses however, is very real; as at any time without warning it can rupture and can cause a brain hemorrhage. Many people can live a full and healthy life with an AVM and will never know the threat they face, while the fate of other less fortunate is marred in tragedy.

It only took a few days before I was sitting in front of the World’s leading Neurosurgeon at Beth Israel Hospital in New York City being told about my diagnosis. The most beyond imagination aspect of these chain of events was the headaches I was getting were completely unrelated to my diagnosis. It turned out I was just a stressed out High School kid.. go figure

To correct the malformation, I underwent invasive brain surgery at the age of 16. The surgery was a success in treating the AVM; however as a complication I started experiencing some swelling in my brain several months post op. The swelling led to some loss of function on my left side. I immediately underwent intensive physical rehab and was making strong gains, but then in June of 1999 at the age of 17 I suffered a stroke. My stroke was a very atypical event, where it actually was a slow and regressive process. Each day I woke up and couldn’t do something I could the day before; type on a keyboard, tie my shoes, brush my teeth, and eventually the ability to run. After about 4 weeks the episode had finally ceased leaving me in the full left side hemi paresis state I’m in today.

I’d been an athlete my whole life, playing everything I could find the time for. So when sports were slowly taken away from me, it was a tremendous burden to cope with. For many years I was coasting through life, going through the motions as a kid learning how to survive with a disability. And in that is a monumental point; I was only surviving life, I wasn’t living it.

What was the turning point that made you go from “just surviving life, to living it”?

There are certain junctures in life that shape the individual and person you become, and the path that you journey on. My stroke was obviously the first such moment, altering my future and the challenges I would face for the rest of my life. Other moments point you in a direction to where you belong in this world, and can be an awakening to what is possible. That second such instance was in August of 2011 when I attended a Paratriathlon camp for the Challenged Athletes Foundation, and got on a bike for the first time since I was 17 years old.

Since getting involved with CAF, where has life on two wheels taken you?

In the past 3 years since learning to ride a bicycle, I had competed in over 20 triathlons; reaching the podium in several of the National Paratriathlon races, and ultimately winning the points championship in the 2012 USA Paratriathlon series.

After relocating to Southern California, it didn’t take long to realize that my true athletic passion lied in the form of 2 wheels and a saddle. Only a few months after my relocation, in November 2013 I fully dedicated my training to the realm of Paracycling; and in less than 10 months managed to accumulate an abundance of highlights and growth trajectory potential.

In my very first cycling event, I entered into the US Indoor Track Paracycling National Championships at the LA Velodrome at the end of November 2013. Having only ridden a track bike twice in my life the week prior leading up, I came away with the victory in both of the events I entered. By the end of the weekend I had become a two time National Champion in the Men’s C2 Division, 3 Kilometer Individual Pursuit as well the 1 Kilometer Time Trial.

Once my target became racing on the Road, huge results quickly came into line. Based on my 1st place performance at the selection race in conjunction with US Pro Championships, I was named to the Team USA roster for the UCI Paracycling World Cup in Segovia, Spain.

Additionally given my times and ranking held throughout the US Paracycling National Championships weekend, am proud to announce I was also chosen to the World Championships team to represent Team USA on our home soil, a once in a lifetime opportunity. My ascension onto Team USA Paralympic Cycling has been explosive, but my growth potential is seen as an even greater advantage. With the ultimate goal to compete for the United States of America at the 2016 Paralympic games in Rio de Janeiro.