The mouse that roared

I am a member of a very special group. We all met online during Michelle Bridges Lean and Strong  12WBT programs over a year ago now. We 'talk' every day. Mostly about health and fitness but also about general life stuff. We've seen each other achieve so much, the highs -  marathons, body building contests, personal bests in cross fit and even a couple of triathlons, and the lows - life threatening illnesses, operations, redundancies, unrequited love and marriage break ups.

When I did the Noosa triathlon last year, they were all online watching and commenting as I completed each leg.

So it is no wonder that we were all online following Karen Dunick's progress last night as she walked on stage and picked up the trophy for winning this round of the Lean and Strong program.

Karen must have always been a member of our online group, but she was a quiet member. Maybe she felt she didn't have much to contribute, or maybe she was intimidated. And then one day she posted. She had a new goal. She was going back to do Lean and Strong. And she was going to win.

As Karen got stronger, physically, she began to post more. And also, to start to give advice on other people's posts. Karen achieved much that round, but she didn't win. It didn't phase her.

She came back, she was going to do another round, and she was going to win.  As the round went on she got stronger and stronger. It was obvious to us that it wasn't only Karen's body that was transforming, it was her mind. Her focus was incredible. She worked out  and ate clean. When she had a girls week away, she took her own food.

To win Lean and Strong had once been a dream of many of us in the group. To watch Karen grow and transform was the greatest of pleasures. To watch her win, made the rest of us feel as if we'd won too.