Bouncing Back and Charging Forward

By Nicole Odell
Bouncing back. Moving forward. Getting on with my adventures after life threw some interesting challenges my way. On May 17th, I gave a presentation at the Ute & Yeti in Colorado Springs for UpaDowna’s Adventure on Tap Series.
When I was putting the talk together, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. But with the help of Michael Port’s Steal the Show, I pieced together a presentation of my story in the hopes to inspire others to keep doing what they love, even if it gets disrupted by a “life glitch.”
I was speaking to an audience of my friends, acquaintances, and people I’d never met. They learned a bit about my background and the path I took to get into endurance sports. Then I talked about the “challenge years” – the time period of 2013-2015 that was a bit rough. How would you handle a layoff, two hip surgeries, getting diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and a divorce in the span of a little over two years?
I could be in a deep depression. But I chose to respond by doing what I could to get back to what I love, endurance sports. In this realm I have so many people to support me when I needed it.
A week prior to giving this talk, I went to a presentation by my former TaeKwonDo instructor, Master Barb Kunkel, who has recently been through a battle with breast cancer. Her message was similar – “It’s not if, but when.” We are all going to have tough times thrown our way. How are you going to deal with them?
I always have been one to try new things just to give it a try if it sounded neat. I started TaeKwondo because a college roommate wanted to start and asked me to go with her to check out a martial arts school. (I think she lasted six months, I trained for decade and earned a 2nd degree black belt and certified instructor.)
I got started in triathlon from a flyer in the mail from the Team In Training program and thought that it seemed cool to try and for a good cause. Look what I do now!
The “challenge years” reinforced that I need to keep doing things that I enjoy. So I will keep coaching, training, racing, and traveling to events to experience new things, and help others achieve things they think not possible.
The presentation was filmed so you can watch it below: