Closing Ceremony Celebration

It's hard to believe that it was almost 4 1/2 years ago when J sent out a seemingly innocent email asking friends if they'd want to try out all the Olympic sports with her.  Six of us started and four of us finished.  We didn't really know each other when it all kicked off on a cool February afternoon, playing "ping pong" in a church rec room.  A few weeks later, we were throwing each other to the ground in judo.  That's definitely one way to get to know someone!


We decided to really get into it and started reaching out to more experts in our area.  What was most amazing to me was that we were able to do every one of these events pretty close to our own back yard in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.  I mean, we have an Olympic sized velodrome less than an hour away!  We met some amazingly giving, patient and talented coaches and experts whom we never would have been able to complete this adventure without.


With new found respect and admiration for the athletes, a few of us traveled over 5000 miles to take in the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil!


We had some minor injuries to overcome - a reminder that, although we are awesome middle-aged women who can accomplish anything, we still had to take care to know our limitations.  We also had some fears to overcome - from one who managed to jump off that 5m platform, despite her fear of heights, to another whose stomach turns at the thought of distance running, to all of us seeing those 45 degree banked turns at the velodrome.  We supported each other.  We encouraged each other.  We didn't let anyone give up!


It was great to learn so many new sports and push ourselves to do every single one of them.  Although we had some folks think we wouldn't physically be able to do something (or tell us we were just plain crazy), we did it.  Best of all?  We became friends.


The day after our last event, we met for a Greek lunch.  As a memento of our journey, we each will now proudly display a replica gold medal from the 2016 Rio games.

The Fort Worth do the Olympics adventure is complete!

To those that have followed us on this journey...  Thank you!  We hope you enjoyed reading about our adventure as much as we enjoyed doing it.