by Candace Cable © 2010

It’s a very early Sunday morning and I’m in the Boise airport wait’n on a jet plane with my personal soundtrack softly playing in the background of my brain, “we are family, I got all my sisters with me” gently reinforcing the solidarity I felt during the last 72 hours attending the St. Luke’s Women’s Fitness Celebration. This wasn’t my first time attending the “Celebration” but every time I leave with the same feeling of being buoyant and energized. In the past I have come here as a speed racer in the women’s wheelchair racing division, but this year I am a ambassador, spreading the message of the “Celebration” in schools, on television and on the stage.

For the past 18 years during three days in September, people from all over the world come to celebrate their commitment to fitness in body, mind and spirit in the Capital of Idaho. They come for education, connection and entertainment at the Women’s Show, to walk, run, roll and stroll the St. Luke’s Women’s Fitness Celebration 5K and shine out loud at the post party in the Ann Morrison Park all because Anne Audain has a vision of wellness.

Anne Audain, (in the red sweater) my friend, whom I met 28 years ago on the road racing scene, founded the Celebration in 1993 with the mission of encouraging health, fitness, self-esteem and empowerment for women and children. Her vision was a healthy individual creates a healthy community and a healthy world. And because running is her activity of career and passion she created an event, a 5K that has now become the largest 5K for women in America. Anne’s story began in New Zealand and continues today in the USA. Anne was born with club feet and told she would never be able to run. Well, as we all know the human spirit is always willing to rise up to a challenge and find a way to play. Hers did play and play hard. Anne became a pioneer in the sport of running, creating opportunities for runners as she excelled on the international stage as a runner. To check out Anne’s story and read her book, “An uncommon heart” go here.

Back to the Celebration cuz ya’ll know by now I love a good party! The Celebration not only has a Show full of products and information and a 5K, it also has beneficiaries of the event because Anne believes in creating a support circle, too! There are several beneficiaries, but there was one that started it all and is still around, unfortunately. I say unfortunately because if this school wasn’t needed we would be living in a world focused on compassion, caring, support, love, empathy and joy. It’s the Marian Pritchett School for pregnant girls. You see, Anne and Marian were friends when Anne started the “Celebration” and decided to make the school the beneficiary. I say “were friends” because Marian has since passed on from this world. This trip I had the honor of speaking at the school, so very cool it was to connect with the ladies.

I had several new experiences during the “Celebration.” I made parfaits for the participants, I spoke to several new schools, made some new friends and I watched the start of the 5K event. I have never seen the start of the “Celebration” because in the past I was racing in the wheelchair division and we always go first! This time I watched wave after wave of red, yellow, blue, purple and orange, 12,000 women in all, take to the streets of Boise until there was no one left but a few of us and the clean up crew. As Anne, Judy and I made our way over to the cars and then the finish line party we talked about the 20th anniversary in 2 years. Judy looked at both of us and said “why don’t you two do the 20th 5K?” Well our answer was, “sure, let’s do it, we’ll join the fun!” OK, we’ve got 2 years to train and build this event to the biggest all women’s 5K in the world, are you in?
" If I'd known I was going to live so long, I'd have taken better care of myself" Leon Eldred

Blessings to all, get out there and have some fun

In Joy, Candace

© 2010 Candace Cable

Support Candace at Turning Point Tahoe

Copyright 2010 Candace Cable

I’ve created some practices in my life and one is being present when the International Space Station (ISS) crosses my piece of sky. So at 8:41pm, last night, I gazed up into the starry night sky, searching for a fast moving star. I didn’t want to miss a second so I was two minutes early. Excitement builds in me, maybe it would be early tonight? The truth is, it’s never early or late, the ISS is on time, all the time, and I can count on it. That idea blows my mind to shreds, think about it, space is a BIG place and it’s never late!

Each time I see that space station rip across my piece of pie sky, I am wide-eyed awed deep down within my, what? My spirit, my soul, my intuition, my universe, I don’t know for sure? What I do know is whenever I look at it I get feelings that I’ve felt before when I’ve witness a turkey buzzard circling on a thermal bit of air outside my window, or the Truckee River ebb and flow or snow and leaves falling or my sisters laughing or someone dancing and, yes, checking out the ISS. My body feels filled up with this warmth, as if my favorite, soft, cozy blanket has been draped around my body with a hug attached. Inside and outside I feel really good, connected to what I am witnessing and my being-ness (is that a word?) is expanded. And I feeling like crying, sometimes I do. I’ve come up with 3 kinds of cry so far; sad, happy and the connected cry. This is the connected cry. Oh and I feel like fist pumping, too!

Deepak Chopra said “Your eyes are the eyes of the universe. When you look at an object it is the universe looking at it’s self though these eyes.” What? I take this to mean that ISS is me and I am it, we are one and the same, I am not just connected to all things, I am all things, Wham Pow Wow! That means I am on time, a huge powerful bright shining light ripp’n the sky and that there is NO separation. I dig this idea cuz the whole stigma surrounding disability just screamed separation at me when I joined the club 35 years ago after dis-ing my intuition. At that time I felt vastly separate, left out of life, tossed on the rubbish pile without hope for any future, which did not feel good.

I started looking for practices that would help me to reconnect with the world again and just plain feel good. My athletic career supplied me with many opportunities to feel really good. Abraham (one of my practices) www.abraham-hicks.com says that how we feel emotionally is in direct alignment with how connected we feel. Think about it, when you feel angry how connected do you feel? I know when I’m angry I feel isolated, contracted, alone, no one understands me, bla, bla, bla. How about when you feel joyful, connection right? Precisely my dear Watson! We intuitively know that feelings create connection but sometimes our ego digs in and gets the best of us. Albert Einstein said “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” My feeling on this quote is that the intuitive is our spirit and the rational is our ego. Our spirits expands (connection); our egos contract (separation). Whoa I’m a little dizzy from all this heady-ness, I need to sit down, and oh yeah I am sitting down.

Awareness of my intuition/spirit connecting with me is growing as I practice paying attention to the feeling of my intuition/spirit poping up. Pausing, taking a breathe helps me become mindful of that inner voice talking to me. Another one of my practices is feeding my information junkie. Ah, so hungry for that feeling of knowing! Wide-eyed curiosity possesses me like a lover’s embrace when it comes to the how, where, what, why, when of this life I live. I slurp up magazines, newsletters (on and off line) webinars, teleseminars, groups, clubs, books, and people to feed my hunger connection and self awareness.

Recently, I was listening to a teleseminar, Healing with the Masters feathering Sonia Choquette http://www.soniachoquette.com/index.php.
I liked Sonia’s approach to connecting with our spirit and our ego. Her sweet idea is to think of our ego as a pet. I control my faithful loving protective pet, I don’t want to hurt my pet and I certainly don’t want to get rid of my pet. When my ego/pet gets all jacked up, scared and barking at this new intuitive, connecting with my spirit approach, I take a few deep breathes (pet obedience training/practice) moving from a beta brain state, super active, to an alpha brain state, relaxed and focused. The alpha state relaxes me so I can pause, feel the feelings and choose my next act and not just react. Mindful practice, practice, practice.

Sonia said quite a bit I am familiar with, but the ego-pet idea and this next idea were new to me. This next one still feels really good to me and really scary at the same time. Name your spirit. Cool, that feels good, so I did, mine is
Bright Giver of Dreams. Next each morning ask “how is my spirit, today?” Cool, feels good. Now, here's the scary part, ask other people, how their spirit is, too! I immediately heard myself say “oh I couldn’t do that people will think I’m weird.” Wow, instant ego barking, instant judgment of me. The truth I discovered is when I ask “how’s your spirit today” I smile and they smile, I feel really connected to all that is so what’s my deal? The deal is how I deal with this huge clue for me to practice, practice, practice rolling my rap.

Tonight is my final chance, for right now, to connect with the space station. You can bet I will be early, hoping for a little more time with my far away fast moving star. Gazing up, tonight, I know I’ll be feeling my awesome connection with all that is, with my trusty ego by my side, fist pumping my way home.
Blessings to all, enjoy the ride, in joy Candace

“I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together” I am the Walrus, The Beatles.


Copyright 2010 Candace Cable

When we last connected I asked you to come back and find out if I had, had fun at camp. Because while packing, camp wasn’t feeling fun as I began to judge and second guess my ability to observe technique inconsistencies, discern the best way to model perfect sit ski technique for each athlete and to instill confidence in their ability to ski well. So when I get down to it, fun for me is bringing out the best in people. And as a development coach, I help athletes bring out their best, so what’s all this doubt about? Hummmm.

The National Abilities Center, (NAC) our United States Disabled Ski Team (USDST) camp home for the week, sits on the topmost point of a hill reigning over the United States Ski Associations (USSA) Center of Excellence which houses USSA offices and a state of the art indoor training facility for US ski team, the Ice Rink, the new hospital, the dog park and the baseball fields all encircled by miles and miles of bike trails contained in the rolling foothills of Park City, Utah. Perfect training ground.

Sitting in the parking lot of the NAC, memorizing the view and expressing well wishes to athletes and coaches departing camp, my eyes catch sight of 4 small juvenile hawks, perched on fence posts that flank an archery range. They are watching a large hawk, the mother I suppose, circling effortlessly on thermal drafts in the blue sky. Suddenly, the airborne hawk dives plunging toward the earth disappearing behind sagebrush, instantly reemerging with quick ground hops, one, two, three airborne again, now flying straight for the kids calling to her in a loud chorus. As she lands among them, they excitedly investigate her captured treasure. Could this be a family of hawks in the middle of a training camp? I believe so. Summer ski camp ends, hawk camp begins.

As an athlete development coach, I imagine myself the keen eyed mama hawk as we roller ski (sit skis are mounted to mountain boards for roller skiing) I connect with my 5 development athletes, the kids, observing their strengths and their weaknesses. My joyful challenge is pin pointing weaknesses, uniquely relate the best way for each athlete to adjust into perfect, powerful, efficient poling technique. I am good at this and it’s more fun for me then being the “athlete.” Admittedly, I have a few moments when I lust after being “uber athlete”, immersed into a world of training, fitness and competition, the seductive and surreal lifestyle of a full time athlete I lived for 27 years. My chance to dip into the “uber athlete” mindset comes with 2 time trials (TT’s) wink, wink.

Cross country skiing is an individual sport requiring self motivation. One of the objectives of camp is to test the fitness of the athletes. (TT’s) are a perfect test. TT-ing is all out, going as hard as you can for a measured distance or time fully depleted at completion. A 1000 meters (m) TT on the ski erg, a double poling machine, www.skierg.com, is my first TT in four and half years.

My fitness is, well let’s just say, OK. I don’t know how hard I can go, but what I do know is what it feels like when I’m about to blow up, my arms feel incased in concrete. The term, Blow Up, refers to the point when lactate acid has built up in the muscles faster then the body can clear it. Once this happens the athlete must slow down, allowing the body to catch up or blow up. Once the body catches up the athlete can pick up the pace.

Negative splits are one of the goals of this TT. A negative split is the last half of the TT, faster then the first half. Watching the athletes TT, their times and stroke per minute rate gives me some idea of what to shoot for. As I begin I notice immediately that my hand speed is, well, not so speedy. I must switch to power, ouch, to have any hope of achieving the stroke rate and time I’m expecting. This reminds me of line from the movie Top Gun, “switching to guns too close for rockets”. First TT results are respectable, time: 5:35, achieved my goal of a negative split and finished 3 out of 6 development team-er and that was fun.

Camp flew by with roller skiing, biathlon (roller skiing and shooting) tabata circuit training (grandfather of cross fit) core strength training, ski erg TT, sled hockey, weight training, contrast baths, lectures on nutrition, shooting, stretching, video review, concert and a movie. All week, “Perfect practice makes perfect” my mantra, was heard echoing across the hills. Days resembled a surreal portrait of eat, train, eat, train, eat, train, eat, hang out and sleep in a compact universe.

I discovered at camp where my doubt comes from. When I achieved super model status with my perfect technique, and it felt good, I knew the jig was up. Outside affirmation of my ability creates inside conformation, more than I have admitted to myself. Note to self, explore this deeper, could take me somewhere. As for my juvenile hawks, they felt the “plant, set, crush” (insider language) actions when practicing perfect poling in flight technique as they take off on their journey. And me, camp was the most fun EVER now that I know I know what I know.
Blessings to you, In Joy Candace

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.
-Helen Keller


Copyright 2010 Candace Cable