Meredith Atwood's Blog, page 23

Five Things from One Second

This is a story of cause and effect. This morning, I clicked “Buy Tickets.” 1.   I decided to order tickets to a baseball game. In that “Buy Tickets” single-click moment of decision, I could feel the almost-fall air in the shiny-new SunTrust Stadium for the Atlanta Braves. (Atlanta being the keyword in this story.) I was so excited to have a

Running after a Half Ironman

Marathon Training Update With Ironman 70.3 Augusta quickly in the rear view mirror, I was jolted back to marathon-training reality with a 6 mile run yesterday—four days after 70.3.  For some, that might not be a big deal, but that’s the soonest I have done any sort of speed interval run after a half iron. Mostly because, in past years

Ironman 70.3 Augusta 2017: The Swim Bike Mom Race Report

I am at a loss for words on my fourth Augusta 70.3 experience. (Long pause… okay, nah. I am never at a loss for words.) As I scooted down the last two miles of the course, I was overwhelmed with this amazing sense of peace and happiness, because I was certain it would be my last 70.3 race. (Of course,

Race Photos Be Damned

Since the dawn of my triathlon journey, I have learned to take race photos for what they are—frozen images that hate me and want to make me hate myself.   Can we just all take a moment and appreciate how race photos are the absolute worst? I felt the consensus run through social media and messenger today as they were

Gratitude and Dabs

Today was one of those perfect productive days.  I have noticed that these types of days have become exceptionally rare.  Like, I don’t know how many times in the past two years I have had a day like this.  During the moment, I didn’t see what was going on… but I soon realized I could trace it back to gratitude.

Tribe Conference 2017: Creative Gratitude

“If we set goals that are too big AND we continually fail at them, then goal-breaking becomes part of our identity. Give yourself smaller goals and crush those first.”  – Jon Acuff Back in 2011 I had a friend, Susan, who told me write your damn book. I had complained that I wanted to write a book, so she said, write your

The Freak in the Room

Sometimes I feel like the freak in the room.  That’s probably not a surprise to many of my readers. But you know what I mean: When you’re in a room full of non-triathletes, it’s weird to be a triathlete. When you’re not a writer, in a room full of writers, you feel like an outsider. Even when I was in

“Starting” Actually Isn’t the Hard Part

Everyone has probably heard the “courage to start” quote at this point in our lives. Jon Acuff has a new book out called Finish, and it’s all about how the courage to start isn’t really the game at all… it’s about how we must not only start—but also keep going and then FINISH what we set out to do. (Sounds a

Original Vintage Bike Tees

I met Michael Lax in Franklin, Tennessee and I had to have his shirt! After chatting with him, he’s doing an EXCLUSIVE run of the shirt in this design and colors for Tri Fe Tri. Because he does unique runs, he doesn’t have it in the COLOR that I am wearing, but I am posting so you can see the

Multi-Level Marketing for Life

As I drove home from Franklin, Tennessee last night, I felt compelled to call my triathlon coach, Gerry.  I was secretly hoping for his voicemail, because I felt like what I was going to tell him was super-awkward. So I got my wish. I had a realization as I was driving that he was one of the big influencers in