Terri King Speaks

Today, I ran the Diva Half Marathon in N Myrtle Beach SC. I was so pleased to see over 4,000 women of all ages, shapes, and sizes powering up for their wellness, many of them setting great examples for their children who were cheering them on from the sidelines.  It was a good experience for my daughter, Jewelian, who was there to see her Mama off and watch her come back in. She made a great cheerleader.

I was running the race solo until about mile 11 when I picked up a young kindergarten teacher, 27, from Chapel Hill NC. She was struggling with knee pain. She told me her name was Sarah. I said, “Well Sarah, I’m Terri.  Its only a 5K from here and we’re going in together.” She looked at me, smiled, and said “OK”.   I offered the distraction of conversation and we pushed on together for the next 2 miles. At mile 13 I said “We’re almost home and we’re gonna finish strong so give it all you’ve got from here”. I turned the corner on the last 0.1mile stretched out and running. I crossed the finish line at 2:20 on the clock with Sarah…right behind me! I was so proud of her.

Jewelian and I after the race. She loved the boa and tiara.

Here’s to all the Sarahs of the world with the moxie to make it to the finish line.

These are the makings of a warrior princess.

Terri King

Betty Kindley and me

For most of her life, Betty Rhodes Kindley has enjoyed one of life’s greatest gifts, that of a friend.  Only for Betty it was times 6.  Seven girls, the best of friends since childhood, have celebrated birthdays, weddings, divorces, children, and vacations complete with humorous newsletters to cap the events.

On a Sunday in 2006 Betty’s life was changed forever.  The girls had gathered at Sullivan’s Island, SC for a fun day of hunting sea shells when tragedy swept Betty and Judy, one of the 7,  out to sea in what’s called a “rip current”.

In a moment, Betty found herself more than 200 yds off shore, in water well over her head, rough waves, no land in sight, and fighting to keep Judy, who couldn’t swim, above the water.  “The waves kept crashing on us and breaking us apart.  I would swim down and grab Judy and bring her back up,” she said. Betty held on to her friend and hope that help would come.

Many attempts had been made from shore to get out to Betty and Judy, but only 2 women had managed to punch through the rough waves.  An off duty lifeguard named Kenzie and a breast cancer survivor named Kary.

Betty had been treading water for more than 30 minutes.  She had gone from talking to Judy and trying to keep her calm to silence and trying to deal with the reality that Judy had taken in too much water and was in trouble.  Betty refused to let go. “I knew she was gone, but I kept thinking if someone would come soon maybe they could resuscitate her.” 

Her rescuers helped her accept that she would have to leave Judy’s body behind and swim in without her.  Kenzie told her, “if we’re gonna make it, you’ll have to leave her here.”  Betty had done all she could, so, flanked on both sides by women who had risked their lives believing they could make a difference, Betty swam back to shore.

Can you imagine the emotional trauma?

 After being swept out by tragedy, kept afloat by hope, and carried in by faith, Betty has come to believe that everything happens for a reason and is part of God’s plan even when we don’t understand it, that life is too short to squander, and everybody should LEARN TO SWIM!

 The commitment of friends and the courage of strangers; these are the makings of warrior princesses.

Terri King

In the book, Secrets of Six Figure Women by Barbara Stanny, she talks about what she calls Six Figure Traits.  One of those is the need for “nonattachment” which means letting go of your chains.  You know, the baggage, the things that hold you back like childhood issues, bad marriages, etc.

Whatever those things are for you, they’re in the past.  They have no power over the present or the future except what we give them.  I was talking to a woman this morning who has a great business idea for a product that she developed but she just can’t seem to move forward on it.  She’s literally afraid to be successful because of past negative experiences.  This is what I’m talking about.

We ALL deserve the opportunity to be successful.  Let’s take it!!Secrets of Six Figure Women

Terri King

Some days, when you’re feeling wounded, weak, and discouraged, you just gotta hunker down and try to hold what you’ve got.

Understand that on these days no forward progress may be made and that’s okay.

The goal is to keep the ground you gained yesterday.  Fight for that alone today.

Do this, and the day is counted a success and the battle not lost.

Tomorrow we will rise and fight again for a chance to advance and win!!

Terri King