Some people see exercise as a chore or game. For Emily Ward, it’s so much more. It’s adventure, community. It can be life-changing, especially when it involves surpassing limits and accomplishing the unexpected.
“It helps us get beyond our self-imposed limitations, to be someone we might have been keeping ourselves from being and doing things we never imagined we could — and the end product is such personal joy … and physical health,” said Ward, a seasoned marathoner, ironman and former college swim coach.
Would you like to have what she’s having? She says it just takes two people and an adventure.
Ward discussed Women With Will, a group she started 14 years ago to help women in her church congregation train for a triathlon, during the TEDxBloomington talks this spring.
She talked about how the weekly training sessions grew and turned into so much more – countless firsts (for me, first 5K, half-marathon, diabolical trail relay, Hilly Hundred bike tour), meaningful friendships, a safe and supportive community where conversations are as varied as the women, who range in age, occupations and running/walking/cycling/swimming speeds.
“There’s something about working out in community that pushes us to show up,” said Ward during her TEDx talk. “And there’s something about bearing witness to other people’s lives that helps us live our own. There’s something about meeting physical challenges that helps us feel more resilient to life’s challenges.”
Sadly, there’s still something about being a woman that can inhibit our physical activity and acceptance of our own bodies. We sometimes feel guilty about prioritizing our own needs. But there’s power in numbers, baby! And in movement.
“Everybody deserves this in their lives and anybody can do this,” says Ward, program director for aquatics, informal sports and student development at Campus Recreational Sports at the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington. “All it takes is two or more people willing to go on an adventure together. All it really takes is a willingness to get off the sidelines and jump into the game.”
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