Molly is a nickname I was given 25+ years ago when I was a rower (yikes, 25 years!!!). When I was developing Molly’s Forum, I decided to bring Molly back to life because Molly is also a beautiful fish that is known for being resilient and strong.
I am married and we have 2 dogs that I love to train. It was a lifelong dream of mine to train dogs. I’ve always taken an interest in learning by reading and hiring trainers to help me. I look forward to sharing progress and thoughts as I learn to work these beautiful animals.
My career takes the majority of my time and I love what I do. I started this blog to share stories about learning to train dogs, and also take you through my journey of becoming a leader in a very complex, evolving industry. I invite you to join me as I learn.
If you are interested in our motorcycle adventures, check out my husband’s site:
A Little Bit About My Background
As I was growing up, I was on a continuous search to find the motivation I needed to try new things and put my imaginations to action. As I reflect back, I realize that everything I have done has come from people who have taken the time to help me or from my observations of how others have done things. It’s also come from something within me – from the core of who I am – a sheer determination and desire to learn, persevere, try new things and soak up life!
I like to reflect back to when I was a teenager and I was having debilitating headaches. My mom took me to an eye doctor thinking it was my eyes. The doctor examined my eyes then sat back and looked at me and said “there’s nothing wrong with your eyes, but you are young and out of shape and you need to lose some weight”. He was kind, but direct, and he proceeded to give me a list of ideas on things I could do to make myself more healthy. He was very encouraging and in the way he said, it he motivated me to take action the next morning.
I got up early in the dark, Canada snowy, morning, and I got dressed as warm as I could and I tried to go for a run – I didn’t make it around the block that morning. Each breath burned my lungs, my feet hurt and the skin on my thighs felt like fire, but I didn’t give up – I knew I could figure out how to overcome. Every day after this I got up early and trudged out into the snow and tried to run around the block – soon I was adding blocks then miles to my runs. Those first days and weeks and months were difficult. I learned a lot about running, stretching, what to wear, what not to wear, how to dress for the elements, what to eat … the list is long. I learned through trial and error and talking to people (no Internet back then!) Sometimes I came home with blisters so big I had to soak my feet in epsom salt and go shopping for new shoes – the store salesperson would look at my blisters and provide me with advice for the right shoes and socks. In the summer my thighs became chaffed and sore so I went to a sports store and bought compression shorts. I eventually joined my cross country team and my coach taught me even more about my gait and pacing and what to do with my arms when I run!
I grew to love running. It was my private time and escape; I also discovered that I had very natural athletic capabilities. I had no idea that genetically I had the ability to grow as strong as I did. The headaches went away and I challenged myself with all the local races I could find. Soon I was winning or placing in the top 3 every race. I even added push-ups to the end of each run and watched the strength in my body grow. It was very motivating and changed my life in so many ways.
Then one day I came home from a run after school and a developing pain in my ankles overtook me – I could barely walk. It was a pain I had been ignoring for a long time (as a child I had sprained my ankles easily and often so it wasn’t a surprise). Soon after this particular run, I started spraining my ankles time and time again until I finally went to the doctor. He told me that my weak ankles were not “fixable” and if I wanted to walk I needed to STOP running. I left the doctor’s office in tears and went back to school that afternoon completely disheartened – in the moment, running was all I had!
That very same day I met someone who rowed and thought to myself, “I need to try”. The next day after school I walked down to the rowing club alone, shy and nervous, and I asked to try rowing. I’ll never forget the feeling of walking into the boat house – I was intimidated and did not know anyone. Running was a solo sport – I could just go out my front door and run. Now I had to be around people that I didn’t know and it terrified me! A voice from within told me to push past the fear and know that one day I would look back and that moment would become a good story in of itself. Little did I know that would be the start of a very successful rowing career for me. My rowing days brought out the person I was and turned me into a physically and emotionally powerful person. It challenged me to the core and I loved every difficult bit of it.
After rowing my world opened up – next came the world and horses and hiking, climbing and mountain biking, skydiving and dancing, motorcycles and traveling- the list just keeps growing. Anytime an opportunity presents itself, I try it. Concurrent to all of these experiences, I was navigating through a very difficult life – someday I may write about this part of my life, but for now I choose to keep it personal.
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