I can scream into a high female octave when I'm stretching.

Disney World makes me smile to the point of tears. The parades and fireworks at Magic Kingdom are magical. Belle's storytime in the Fairytale Garden is precious.

After giving a speech, a boy confined to a wheelchair had his mom call me over. He wanted to give me a high five.

I have rediscovered my passion for running.

No feeling is as incredible as seeing someone else succeed and knowing that you had even the slightest part in that happening.

I run to more "girl" music than any other genre of music.

My master is better than your master! But he wuold completely deny this fact. That is the type of man he is, what makes him the best and why I am stating this here!

Dongil means family (Dongil...aaaaahhhhh!!! *For you Mr. Eirkson) and anyone who has helped me grow or even supported me is part of my family.

I learn the most from the people who doubt, belittle and flat out tell me I can't do something. (And I have proven them all wrong.)

Love exists.

After running it for 3 years now, my marathon training course gives me a headache.

Best friends are magical. You never know how they come to be, where you find them or why, but you never question it because you don't have to and you can't live your life without them. (I love Ajay Baharani and Anuja Mehta!)

I participated in a male beauty pagent...there's a YouTube video.

Jordan is still my hero. (In reference to my post A Big Little Hero)

"Its kind of fun to do the impossible." - Walt Disney

Believing something is possible and realizing it is possible are two different things. Seeing someone's expression shift when they realize what is possible is one of the most gratifying feelings you can experience.

I am not participating in taekwondo until my marathon. I will, however, observe every class and motivate my family as they grow each week.

Embrace your childhood. Remember what it feels like to be carefree. There's a reason we were so happy as kids. Keep it around!

i figured out my career ambition during my senior year in college.

I decided to quit my job after attending an O.A.R. concert in 2009. I realized the importance of smiling!

Ubiquitous is my favorite word...and I am still thankful the ranger's horses were hungry.

Sunrise at the beach is the most beautiful sight I have witnessed.

I want to skydive, spit in all four oceans, learn ASL and hold/pet both a monkey and a tiger.

My cell phone is purple. It's an amazing conversation starter.

I am the solo Burrito Mile 2-mile relay WR holder!

I collect snowglobes. Christmas-themed and Disney park snowglobes are the best.

I sign the trinity about 10 times a day on average.

I have learned how to lock/unlock and open/close the doors to my house with my right hand.

I ate more than half a thing of Oreos knowing that I will run it off and metabolize it by the time I go to bed!

The good I personally achieve means nothing compared to the good that I see others achieve. If I play a part in their success, it's even more special.

People criticize because they care. Instead of flinching away from criticism, be afraid of silence. Silence means people have given up on you. Learn when people are willing to help you along.

Anything can happen while walking down Michigan Avenue in Chicago.

Where you end today is the benchmark of tomorrow. You cannot be weaker than where you ended yesterday. You can only grow!

Winter Lights at the state park is the best way to start the holiday season.

The best form of motivation is simply showing others how to appreciate what they already have.

Each day I learn more and more how to fly...and watching others fly in the process.

And this doesn't even begin to break the surface of what makes me happy.

So yeah, people will always wonder why I stretch 2 hours every day, why I go to the gym 6 days a week, or even why I decide to run marathons. More than that, people seem to be blown away by my diligence and the success resulting from that diligence. They are amazed by the fact that I do it and the fact that I can do it. But, truthfully, let me give you my self-perspective.

This is just a typical day in my life. To me, this isn’t special; I'm not amazing. I'm just living. I’m simply living my life. This is how I live it, and while it may be incredible to you, it’s grown into what I expect from myself.

It’s very similar to our individual limitations. We have each learned how to live by adapting the proper procedure of how things should be done by accommodating for our limitations, and thus eliminating their negative impact.

Each of us has our own disabilities or limitations. I have mine and my best friend has his own. As much as I may have to deal with, I function just fine, but if my best friend and I were to switch bodies neither of us would know how to function. I don’t even think either of us would know how to take more than two steps.

We adapt and adjust to the situations we’re presented with, but life is more than just adapting and adjusting. I lift, I run, I do taekwondo and I advocate for others for one very simple reason…it makes me happy.

No matter where you are in life, or what question you are faced with, the answer to each question can be answered the same way as answering “What makes you happy?”. I want to make a difference in my life, but the only way I will make a difference is if I am passionately working at something. Passion, and the subsequent determination it evokes, is the fuel of happiness.

So why do I do what I do? It makes me happy! It’s as simple as that. I just take a step back and breathe. If it makes me happy, I keep going. If it doesn’t make me happy, I find the path that does make me happy.

That’s not to say that I avoid boredom or uncomfortable situations. More often than not, you have to go through your fair share of undesired situations before you are where you want to be. All I’m saying is to make sure the path you are on now will lead you to that destination. If it doesn’t, get off and pursue what makes you happy. Don’t let others force you down a path that they are telling you is right. Don’t live your life in fear and doubt. When you feel any of those emotions, take a step back, breathe and remember what makes you happy =)

Being happy will inspire you to work, and that determination elicits the highest of success. I know I am successful and I am going to be successful. What’s most important to me is heading where I want to go. I’m doing that now. That’s why I have such a carefree attitude and approach towards life. I have no worries because I am pursuing exactly what I want to pursue. I may have to deal with a lot of undesirable situations to get there, but I stepped back and breathed. I found what made me happy, and that is resulting in my utmost potential being given to the world around me.

I want to make this world a better place. What better way to ensure I do that than embracing my passion and letting my determination carry me towards a career that embodies that drive? In other words, just by taking a step back and breathing I am discovering a career that makes me happy.

Yeah, it’s amazing. And let me tell you this…life is so much better when you are happy and carefree.

*This post is dedicated to Ajay Baharani, my best friend, who figured out what makes him happy after our 3-hour conversation Sat. night. This post is a summary of what was said and what he discovered. After we talked, he stepped back, breathed and is smiling more than I've seen for a while.

For me to be successfully prepared to run my marathon in 29 days, two things must happen. My right leg must get stronger and my left leg must get looser. So here is my schedule from now until Boston.

1. Wake up
2. 2 sets of 25 one-leg squats (each leg) with two one leg squat holds sandwiched in between
3. Stretch out my quad while laying on my side (pulling my foot to my butt), repeat stretch while laying on my stomach (again pulling my foot to my butt), repeat stretch while laying on my back (pulling my bent leg to my chest), repeat the sequence again. Each stretch is held for 45 seconds
4. Hamstring stretches!!! Sit on the ground with legs extended and reach for my feet without letting my knees bend, spread my legs and put my feet upward against a wall and reach for one foot at a time, extend my leg vertically along a wall and hold the stretch without bending my leg, and finally 10-15 straight leg kicks (my only dynamic stretch). Repeat the sequence twice and each static stretch is again held for 45 seconds.
5. Lay down and heat my legs with heating pads
6. Repeat steps 2-5 four times a day.

Stretching completely one time through takes a half hour. I am stretching for 2 hours a day now. It seems extreme and excessive, but it’s what I have to do to combat my disability.

I’ve been doing my stretching this religiously for a few days now. My left quad is no longer tight on my runs, my left hamstring isn’t tense and my right glute is getting less and less sore.

The point is that by stretching two hours each day I can run without my body forcing me to stop. The strength training and stretching cycle is giving me back the body I knew when I started running seriously. My disability affects each and every run I do. My left side is constantly compensating for my right. Each run results in my left side tightening up again. Each run reveals to me the need to continue to strengthen my right side.

Eventually my stretching will help me gain leverage. Truth be told, it probably already is, but more importantly than gaining leverage is pushing my disability out of my body and giving myself the opportunity to perform to my utmost ability.

If stretching for 2 hours a day helps that ability emerge, I’m stretching for 2 hours. I am doing whatever I must to reach that ability. I know I have it and I’m refusing to lose it. I have the opportunity to do something amazing. I know I can run a 3:30 marathon, but I want to actually run a 3:30 instead of knowing that I can run it.

Others see me as a leader. I owe it to them to display my full potential because oddly enough just showing others what is possible inspires them. All this prep I’m doing will make my 3:30 run possible, but nothing will stop me from running that time. I don’t care how painful it is for me because people are counting on me. They all deserve to see that an ultimate goal can be achieved. This isn’t about my life. Crossing the finish line in under 3:30:00 means giving life to people who feel their disabilities limit how they live.

Three to four times a day I am making myself do 2 sets of 25 one leg squats on my right leg. Between those two sets I am doing 2 single rep holds, where I hold the squat position for as long as I can.

As I said in my last post, my disability makes running a little bit tricky this go around.  Actually, my disability has always made running tricky, but it's been tough trying to restart running after a 9-month lay off. The rest gave my left leg the time it needed to unwind and stretch out. Unfortunately, 9 months of rest has resulted in my disability leaking back into my right leg.

Overcoming a disability is a constant battle. It becomes a lifestyle after a while. Attacking my disability takes every ounce of effort my right side can muster. By the time I finish my sets or my workout, my right side is completely spent because the only way to overcome my disability is to push beyond my current ability. I have to exhaust my right side in order to make it stronger. Otherwise, my disability will continue on.

My disability was injected into me. The only way to get rid of it is to push it back out. To push out a disability that is overriding my system can only be pushed with every ounce of strength I can muster. So that is exactly what I have decided to do.

Even though my marathon is a month away, I won't perform to the ability I want to unless my right leg is the strongest it has ever been. I'm trying to run faster than I have ever run before. The only way I will achieve that is to have the most body strength I have ever had.

Doing these one leg squats may be taking every ounce of energy out of my right leg, and my leg may want to fall off, but the recovery is going to make me even stronger than before. I'm that weak because Im pushing beyond my disability. The reward is newfound, and uncharted, strength.

Do I try and figure out how to avoid the soreness I have been feeling in my butt, or do I attack it head on? It was your classic easy way versus the right way scenario. 

Today's soreness is going to result in tomorrow's strength. In fact, I have already woken up sans butt soreness. I'm isolating my right leg to strengthen it, and I'm stretching out my left leg religiously. Both are relievingly painful. It may impact how effectively I can run this month, but as long as I keep it up, I'm going to be solid and at my absolute strongest by the time race day comes on April 19th.

All that matters is what happens on race day. As long as I stay focused and keep pushing out my disability, everyone better expect big and amazing things. Here we go!

It’s hard. My right hip and butt area are constantly sore and I must repeatedly stretch out that area. My right foot is numb. I can’t feel when blisters form on my foot or if the tongue of my shoe is digging into my ankle. All the while, my left side feels perfectly fine and is as strong as ever. With one month to race day, this is putting a major hamper on my training. With a month left, I can’t afford to be wasting time.

This is the major struggle about my disability. I can only do as much as my right side is telling me it can do that day. If my right side felt like my left side, this marathon would be so easy…but that’s what is going to make my run in Boston so incredible.

My right side currently feels weaker than my left. My left foot feels absolutely fine, while my right feels tight, about to cramp and weak all at the same time. When I’m not running, I am at the gym trying to strengthen my right glute or stretching out my body 3 to 4 times a day.

After I have finished stretching, I lay on the couch with a heating pad on my left quadriceps, doing everything I can to keep it loose as possible. See, no matter how well I strengthen or stretch my right leg, it is weaker than my left side. My left side compensates for what my right can’t do by taking on extra force that my right side cannot withstand. Being able to leg press 1170 pounds, my left leg can surely take on the additional brunt.

The problem that happens is each stride puts that much more strain on my left leg. Every mile causes my quad to tighten up just a little bit more, or even worse, tightens my IT band to the point that it impinges against my knee cap, forcing my leg to buckle and restricting me to a pathetic limp.

If my left leg is tight, I can barely go anywhere. More than half of my force and acceleration is generated from my left leg. My right leg simply follows suit. However, if my right leg is either too tight or too weak to be drug along, then that’s another reason I have to stop.

Either my left leg can’t carry me the distance I want to run OR my right leg isn’t conditioned enough yet to keep pace. One way dictates how far I’m capable of running, and the other tells me ho much energy I have left until I’m forced to stop.

It’s like my energy storage is an hourglass. I’m either trying to fill up the hourglass by ensuring that my left leg is prepared to withstand the excess force, or I’m trying to judge how much energy I have in the hourglass depending upon how depleted my right leg feels.

It truly is a battle of opposites. It’s a battle I stretch 3 to 4 times a day, lift twice a day and try and run through every chance I can. We’ll see how it feels in one month. I’m confident though. If I don’t have the full strength on race day, my adrenaline will carry me through. That day in Boston will be gut check time. As I said before, I plan on leaving everything on that course if I have to, disability and all.

I know what I’m capable of. April 19 is a day to show everyone that. Hopefully by doing that, I’ll inspire others to reach where they have only dreamed and still find the strength to reach even further.