Life Inspired Fitness: Inspired by de Tour
Watching the Tour de France last month inspired me. I’m not out biking every day in a yellow jersey, or trying to be King of the Mountain, but I had fun following the stages and learning more about the race. And it got me excited about pulling out my bike the next sunny day. I of course know about the race, I know of Lance Armstrong (his cancer, his comeback and the controversy around him) and I’ve watched parts of the race over my lifetime. I know that the race has many stages (twenty-one to be exact), and that the winner of each stage gets to wear the yellow jersey. But that was about it.
This year I checked the leaders each day (2020 overall winner was Tadej Pogacar), and learned that with each race, a rider can win the green jersey as well as a polka dot jersey. The green jersey goes to the winner of the points classification, a secondary competition, which started in 1953. Points are given for high finishes in a stage and for winning intermediate sprints, and these are recorded in the points classification. It is considered a sprinters’ competition. And the polka dot jersey goes to King of the Mountain, a secondary competition that started in 1933. It is given to the rider that gains the most points for reaching mountain summits first. The leader of this classification is named the King of the Mountains, and since 1975 wears the polka dot jersey (white jersey with red polka dots).
I’m no cycle enthusiast; in fact I’m not much of cyclist at all, I won’t even clip in. But there are times when I grab my bike and do hill sprints or put in some easy miles around the neighborhood. Occasionally my husband and I go to trails to mountain bike and we love to ride to our […]
PEN TO PAPER: Reboot
I used to post a pen to paper, that included a writing prompt, every Monday. It was always a good way for me to kickstart my writing for the week, so I’ve decided to go back to that routine. If you’re a writer please join me. If you’re not a writer, you can join me too. It can be fun to ponder writing prompts even if you don’t have time to write (though it only take 5-10 mins).
I like to give a couple of prompts, but if the prompts I give don’t spark your interest, feel free to use your own. Or if you can’t decide, my friend Jenny and I often grab the nearest book, open it up and set our finger on the page and go with the closest word or phrase. The key is to simpy write.
Write on!
WRITING PROMPT #1: What does reboot mean to you?
WRITING PROMPT #2: Write about a time that you truly felt the most alive.
WRITING PROMPT #3: Sandra set down her computer, picked up her pen and…
PEACELOVEBASKETBALL: Can I Play? Dreaming In The Wave Of Title IX
The recent loss of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has left me heartbroken. I didn’t have a personal connection to her, but what I know of her, I love, and I am grateful for how she fought for women’s rights and equal rights.
It is because of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (and many other strong women before my time), that I have the right to vote, that I have access to birth control, that I was able to get a credit card before I was married and that, if I want, I can buy a house without my husband’s signature, to name a few.
And of course there’s Title IX (which bans sex discrimination and sexual harassment in federally subsidized educational programs, including athletics). This 1972 Education Amendment is what opened up doors for me to play the sport I love at the next level and get a better education, and for that I am grateful. Had I been in school a few years earlier, before Title IX, things may have been different.
Can I Play? Dreaming In The Wave Of Title IX is an article I published several years ago about how lucky I was to grow up after Title IX was enacted, and how it allowed me to pursue my dream of playing college basketball.
Can I Play? Dreaming In The Wave of Title IX by Sonya Elliott
“Mom, I want to play basketball,” I said as I watched the boys move up and down the court, dribbling around each other in an effort to get to the hoop. I was seven at the time.
My mom peered at me through the bottom of her glasses and explained, “They don’t have basketball for girls your age, Sonya.” But when I narrowed my eyes and huffed, she gave me an exaggerated wink and said, “That doesn’t mean […]
PEN TO PAPER: Wants & Needs
There’s a feeling in my soul right now that has inspired me to blog again. Maybe I’m working through anger and frustration about what is happening in the world with the pandemic, the coming election and the onset of fires across the west coast. Or perhaps it’s simply the fact that I’m at home a lot these days. Whatever the case, I’m finally doing more writing. And I like it.
I haven’t felt such a strong urge to write for a while. Not like this. Other than my Thursday’s with Jenny, my writing time has been more of a grind. Sonya, you should work on your book. Sonya you should blog. I want to finish my book, so I sit down and write and rewrite and write some more, and I’m always glad that I do, but it’s been hard.
I love the feeling that I have right now, where I can’t think of much else, so I’m taking advantage of the fire in my belly and getting to work. It’s a little bit of a problem because it’s been keeping me up at night as my mind whirls with ideas, but honestly, I prefer it this way. The urge to write is always inside me, it’s just hidden at times, but when it surfaces like this, it reminds me that not only do I want to write, I need to write.
Set your goals and work like a turtle if you need to, in order to reach those goals, and when you feel the urge to write, take advantage of every minute and write on!
WRITING PROMPT #1: What are your wants & needs? Or simply put WANTS & NEEDS at the top of a blank page and start writing and see […]
Meet Sonya
Meet Sonya
Sonya Elliott’s memoir, Back on the Court: A Young Woman’s Triumphant Return to Life, Love & Basketball, is her story of finding hope in the wake of tragedy after she and her fiancé were hit by a train. She blogs about writing, basketball, and life and is currently working on a Young Adult Novel and a Non-Fiction Coaching book. Stories of her career as a fashion model are woven through her memoir, as both the Soloflex and Easy Spirit Shoes commercials were filmed during that time period, and this unique and intriguing business continues to be a part of her life.
Sonya played basketball at Eastern Washington University and was a starter for the Big Sky Champion team that went to the 1987 NCAA tournament. She coached for almost 25 years and was voted Seattle Times Coach of the Year, Seattle Officials Women’s Basketball Association Coach of the Year, and twice voted Metro League Coach of the Year. She loves the game of basketball and is thankful, not only for her husband and kids but for her ability to continue to get back on the court.
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PEN TO PAPER: Reach Out
…And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us
but what stands before us
We close the divide because we know, to put our future first
we must first put our differences aside
We lay down our arms
so we can reach out our arms
to one another…
– Amanda Gorman (excerpt from “The Hill We Climb”)
Today I’m talking poetry, something I know nothing about. I appreciate it and occasionally make an effort at it, but that’s about it. And I really like it as way to start a freewrite. In fact, after hearing Amanda Gorman read her poem “The Hill We Climb” at the Presidential Inauguration, my writing partner Jenny and I, were inspired to write poetry. Read the “The Hill We Climb” in its entirety to get inspired for today’s writing prompts, and then take a deep breath, and go…
WRITING PROMPT 1: What inspires you? […]
LIFE INSPIRED FITNESS: Happy Hill Day
I’ve talked about how I like doing stairs. It’s a good way to get a workout in a short period of time and the set near me has a beautiful view of the city.
Yesterday I ran (okay maybe jogged is the right word) to a spot where I planned to do a few sets of stairs and run some hills. Well as I was doing my slow warm up jog, I came to a hill and it was so hard to go up it that I stopped and walked. And let me tell you, the hill was not steep!
I’m not sure what it is for me, but it’s easier to go a shorter distance at a faster speed, even up a hill, as opposed to a longer distance at a slower pace (except walking). That’s probably why marathons don’t sound very fun to me. The crazy thing is, last year […]
PEN TO PAPER: Fingers To Keys
It’s been a while since I’ve written by hand. I wrote the first draft of my memoir, Back On The Court, by hand. At least a majority of it. I wrote it in journals, the cheap black and white ones that college students get for class notes. It worked great, because as I transferred the writing from the notebooks to my computer, I edited the work. I even felt that I was more creative when I was writing by hand.
Now I write almost exclusively on my computer. Maybe I’m just lazy, or maybe it’s because it’s so hard to keep up with my thoughts when I write by hand. Or it could be that because my writing is so sloppy these days, I can’t read half of what I’ve written. I’m not sure, but even though I do enjoy writing by hand from time to time, other […]
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