Commit to fitness

No, not another resolution but a real commitment. Not something that fades away with the waning weeks of February but something that becomes part of who we are. A commitment to make time for a fitness that feeds our body and soul. A commitment to not just make time for fitness but a commitment to build it into the fabric of our days and lives. A commitment to ride to work or a commitment to a wind-down, afterwork walk. A commitment to learn a new sport or re-acquaint with an old one.

It all starts to sound a little less daunting and a little more fun. Now that’s a commitment I can keep.

What’s your tip for committing to fitness? Share it with us below.

Happy New Year,

Missy's signature

Missy Park, Founder

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Holiday Haikus – And the winner is…

Thanks again for sending in your awesome Holiday Haikus. And the winner is, as voted by the Title Nine community, Kelly with her haiku that emanates the spirit of the season. Congrats!

fragrant mistletoe
evergreen sprig of delight
below couples kiss

Congratulations as well to the other finalists: Kris, Tania, Paula and Jody. Kelly will receive a Haiku Messenger Bag custom embroidered with her poem and all the finalists will receive a 1 year Team T9 membership.


Holiday Haiku Finalists

  • By Kelly M.:
    fragrant mistletoe
    evergreen sprig of delight
    below couples kiss
    (43%, 144 Votes)
  • By Kris H:
    Log breathes tongue of flame
    Ancient secrets trapped in wood
    Cast their magic spell
    (21%, 72 Votes)
  • By Tania C.:
    In the biting wind
    The warmth of a beating heart
    Cries out for cocoa
    (17%, 58 Votes)
  • By Paula:
    icy cold wetsuit
    snowflakes crashing in the waves
    winter solstice surf
    (12%, 39 Votes)
  • By Jody B.:
    icy sleet bones chilled
    cozy cheeks warm with fire
    home after my walk
    (7%, 23 Votes)

Total Voters: 336

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Holiday Haikus – It’s voting time!

Thanks to everyone who submitted their Haikus. We had a bunch of fun reading them and it was really hard to pick only just five finalists. Congratulations to Kelly M., Jody B., Paula, Kris H. and Tania C.! The grand prize winner will be announced on the 24th. Let the voting begin!


Holiday Haiku Finalists

  • By Kelly M.:
    fragrant mistletoe
    evergreen sprig of delight
    below couples kiss
    (43%, 144 Votes)
  • By Kris H:
    Log breathes tongue of flame
    Ancient secrets trapped in wood
    Cast their magic spell
    (21%, 72 Votes)
  • By Tania C.:
    In the biting wind
    The warmth of a beating heart
    Cries out for cocoa
    (17%, 58 Votes)
  • By Paula:
    icy cold wetsuit
    snowflakes crashing in the waves
    winter solstice surf
    (12%, 39 Votes)
  • By Jody B.:
    icy sleet bones chilled
    cozy cheeks warm with fire
    home after my walk
    (7%, 23 Votes)

Total Voters: 336

holiday-haiku-bagSubmit your original Holiday Haiku for a chance to win a sweet Haiku Messenger Bag embroidered with your poem! Click here to refresh your memory on what a haiku is. We’ll pick our favorite 5 haikus and then the Timeout community will choose the grand prize winner. The fave 5 will all receive a 1 year Team T9 membership. The gift that keeps on giving.

Enter to win by 6PM PST December 16th, voting will begin December 18th. The Grand Prize winner will be announced on December 24th.

The submission period has ended. Thanks to everyone who participated. The finalists will be posted soon. Stay tuned!

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Golden Opportunities

sue-schmidt-head-shot-tweaked-croppedAt 77, Sue Schmidt doesn’t mince words, or pull punches. She has a clear message for the older women of America: “Get out of your black pants and do something! We need to set goals and believe in ourselves…and it all starts with SPORT!”

This tough love is based on understanding and experience. “Women my age didn’t have team sports growing up. I am so thrilled that this has finally happened to women. Women who have had team sports in their background are going to rise to the top, there’s no question about it.” For her generation, it’s more a matter of will and, often, bravery. Sue hadn’t been athletic at all until, at the age of 42 and in the face of resistance, she took the leap and headed into the woods with Outward Bound. She assured her husband and three children that they’d survive her two-and-a-half-week absence and walked out the door. “I didn’t know how to swim. I didn’t know how to do anything. It was the greatest thing I’ve ever done!”

Thus began 35 years of “adventure and travel.” She’s biked across the country, earned a black belt, run the Boston Marathon, climbed Kilimanjaro and to Everest’s base camp, hiked the 100-mile Mont Blanc circuit, ran a half-marathon in Antarctica, and was the third woman to reach the North Pole without mechanical aid. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg (no pun intended): she’s spent the last 7 years of this incredible life living with cancer. Certain things have changed—immune system problems have cut back on her globetrotting—but she hasn’t slowed down. “Next week I have a 5-hour chemotherapy session. I’ll leave the hospital and go directly to the gym.”

The most fascinating thing is how easy she makes it all sound. When I asked her tosue-schmidt-athletic-tweaked describe fitting what I imagined to be a grueling training regimen into her daily life (which currently involves owning a Girls on the Run franchise, a self-esteem program for 8-to-11-year-old girls that culminates in a 5k run), she said that the crucial thing is simply deciding to do it. She does work out every day of the week, but she also insists, “I’m a weekend warrior. I’m not good at anything. I’m a hacker, always learning.”

Maybe it’s humility. And maybe it’s the life-lesson Sue wants to share: “Women are wonderful and they don’t always know it. I’m always telling them they should be a lighthouse or a ladder for other women. When they say to me ‘Oh, I couldn’t do that,’ I say, ‘Yes you can. You really and truly are smarter and stronger and more powerful than you could possibly ever imagine.’”

Here’s to Sue fulfilling her next dream: running the New York Marathon at 80.

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Home: York, PA

Occupation: Retired from a lot of stuff. Now I volunteer.

Education: 6 months shy of my college degree.

Partner: John, husband of 53 years.

Children: Three…and four grandchildren.

Age: 77

Height: 5’7”

Weight: 130

Sports, past and present: yoga, running, biking, hiking, climbing, dragonboat racing

Little known fact about you: I’m frustrated that I’m not president of Saks Fifth Ave. I’m a fashion freak.

Guilty pleasure: Don’t ever take my wine away from me! I love to talk and eat dark chocolate and drink wine. I really love to eat, which I guess is another reason I’m in the gym all the time. Though it’s not guilty!

Greatest Triumph: Getting to the North Pole. I was the third woman to stand at the North Pole and get there by unsupported means. And it was tough. We were on cross-country skis and it was dangerous. It was the first trip they’d done with amateurs. I was sixty and I wasn’t feeling tip-top, but I couldn’t turn it down when I had the opportunity to go. Getting there alive was probably my proudest accomplishment.

Favorite thing to do when not working or working out: Reading. I never watch TV, but I love movies. I’m a real flick chick. And I think I’m the only person in the world who still writes letters.

Favorite Quote: “Life is a permanent boot camp and we must always be in training.”
workout_hdr

MWF: 1.5 at the gym.
T TH:  Go to the track
Sat: Walk and run in the park
Sun: Biking

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Holiday Haikus at Title Nine

holiday-haiku-bagSubmit your original Holiday Haiku for a chance to win a sweet Haiku Messenger Bag embroidered with your poem! Click here to refresh your memory on what a haiku is. We’ll pick our favorite 5 haikus and then the Timeout community will choose the grand prize winner. The fave 5 will all receive a 1 year Team T9 membership. The gift that keeps on giving.

Enter to win by 6PM PST December 16th, voting will begin December 18th. Winners will be announced on December 24th.

The submission period has ended. Thanks to everyone who participated. The finalists will be posted soon. Stay tuned!

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