February 2012

Name: Shellie Edington
Age: 47
Occupation: Owner of Tumblin4Kids Mobile Gym, Mother of 3, CrossFit Games Competitor 

"Tumbling, swinging, jumping, has always been a joy to me. I am still amazed at what feats the human body can do and I believe anyone can do it. I understood at an early age that in order to do all those cool tricks I had to eat, sleep and train smart."

Q. What is your Earliest athletic memory?

A. Impossible to say, my parents hung me from the clothesline while they hung laundry and I have pictures of myself at age 18 months standing on my tricycle seat. I always had a ton of energy and my parents were constantly challenging me, believing in me when other parents would have fainted. My parents enrolled me in dance and acrobats at the age of 3. I wanted to go every night!

I was consumed by a drive and passion to be Olga Korbut! To do the cool things they did on TV. No matter what it took. I was unable to get into a gymnastic center until age 13 but began competing 6 months later. I went from school to dinner to the gym everyday M-F and Sunday for 4 hours each day. I loved it, it was what I desired. When you love something, discipline comes easy.

Building Her Family

"As I grew into adulthood, I married a wonderful man, and we had 3 beautiful daughters in less than 4 years."  

January 2012

Name: Amy Albert
Age: 31
Occupation: Firefighter, Palm Beach Fire Rescue

As a mother of two, an accomplished athlete, and a Firefighter, it is easy to see why Amy is the perfect choice for Fashlete of the month.  But what makes Amy's selection extra special is that she was nominated by her twin sister Amber. As tough as this duo is, Amber's pride and love for her sister is touching and even brought a tear to my eye (okay fine, more than one tear). After all, success means so much more when you have someone you love to share it with...  Amy and Amber have the LIVE LOVE LIFT thing down! Here is Amber's tribute to her sis...

 “You don’t always have to give 110%” our mother would say to Amy all the time while growing up.  My identical twin sister Amy is by far one of the most remarkable athletes and human beings I know.  As long as I can remember Amy has been the most determined, compassionate, and hard working individual.  There are many stories of Amy’s athleticism that I could share, so I will give you a few examples of some of the good ones.  Amy is like a pit bull, she has no cut off, a high threshold for pain and will go to complete exhaustion.  Our mother would always tell her that “you don’t have to be the best” Amy would just smile and do her best, which was always above and beyond what most could accomplish.

Amy and I played water polo in high school, when we arrived at Florida State University our freshmen year we both realized that there was no women’s water polo team.  So you ask yourself, what did Amy do?  Amy played with the men’s water polo team, not an easy feat.  Amy took it upon herself her sophomore year to help establish the FSU women’s water polo team and become the first President.  After many water polo games Amy would complain that her arm would become numb, most would probably stop whatever physical activity they were doing if something like that occurred, not Amy!  In fact Amy was swimming half the game with her shoulder dislocated!  She would just push past the pain.  

September 2011

Name: Jackie Cheney
Age: 35
Occupation: Mom, Medical Assistant at Primary Health Medical Group • Boise. ID

A few weeks ago, my sister Natalie introduced me to one of her readers, Jackie Cheney.  Natalie receives a lot of emails from men and women who have been profoundly affected by her memoir, Signs of Life.  This book deals with a universal emotion that I really wish wasn’t so universal: Grief.  That little word, a single syllable just sitting there in black and white, has the power to sink my heart to the pit of my stomach.  But the stories from women like Natalie and Jackie are ultimately about what lifts our hearts, not what makes them sink. There is a much better monosyllabic word to describe what I feel when I think about the Natalies and the Jackies of the world. It looks better in black and white and it feels better to say. That word is Hope.

Jackie lost her second son, Elam John Cheney, on May 22, 2009.  Elam was stillborn due to an abrupted placenta.  Not only was Jackie dealing with the loss of her son, she was dealing with the failure of her own body.  Jackie was able to get pregnant again but continued to be confronted with the fragileness of her body and her baby.

"There is something very defeating to have your body fail and lose your child.  I was far from a physically, mentally healthy person."

When Jackie picked up Natalie’s book, she found herself forced to live through emotions and grief that she had been ignoring for years.  But what she also found in that book and within herself was overwhelming inspiration to truly rehabilitate herself mentally and physically.  The aspect of recovery that Jackie discussed with me was the implementation of an exercise regime and goal setting.  Jackie set out to train for and complete a triathlon with her friend and constant support, Chelsi.  In our interview I asked Jackie to elaborate on her mental and physical transformation. Here are some excerpts from our talk that I hope will be helpful to others open to finding mental well-being through physical means.