~This is an article written for an adaptive sports magazine~

It is often easier to accept familiar failures than to face unknown successes. Chances are, though, if you are reading this magazine you are in that growing percentage of minds which constantly reach outside of their comfort zone to pluck the fruit of a new flavor. If that’s the case than you are a part of something you may not have even known about.

Physically challenged athletes are tearing the walls out of that box that others try to put us in. In the last five years the tallest mountain in the world has been conquered by a blind man, Kilimanjaro and the great El Capitan have been scaled by a double amputee, an AK amputee went from dreaming about riding a snowboard to winning medals in national half pipe competitions, 100 mile races and iron man competitions have been successfully completed, and many other impossible accomplishments have been realized! This list goes on and on but what matters most is that challenged athletes are doing things that many of us were told would never be possible.

Tommy Larsorda said that "The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person's determination." I like to think that the impossible just takes a little more effort. Indeed history has shown us that anything is possible. Teddy Roosevelt put it this way: “Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in the grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”

Every new barrier broken by athletes, challenged or not, raises the field as a whole, to a higher level of possibilities. In 1957 Roger Bannister became the first runner to break the long standing four minute barrier for one mile on foot. Bannister broke a physical barrier for himself but perhaps more importantly he shattered the worlds phsycalogical barrier on what was considered impossible and even physically dangerous at the time. Within less than two months from that time John Landy became the second man to do the impossible. By the end the year Bannister and Landy had both run several sub-four minute miles and a total of sixteen runners were turning the impossible into the standard.

Although challenged athletes are not yet at the same level as able bodied athletes on many planes, it is rare to find an adaptive athlete who would rather be fully able. That’s a striking statement which may take some soul searching to find where you fit in to the idea, but I believe there is a good reason for this. Challenged athletes are part of an aggressively advancing phenomenon. Although able bodied athletes can still run faster, challenged athletes are progressing faster in their sports. When I lost my leg to cancer 1993 I was told I wouldn’t be able to run with my prosthesis because I was an above knee amputee. Now we are seeing double AK amputees running Iron Man competitions and 100 mile races! I was told that skiing with an AK prosthesis out of the question. I questioned it and now I am landing back flips on telemark skis wearing a prosthesis. I was told that snowboarding was impossible. Well, if you’re reading this magazine than I don’t even have to go into that. The point is that I believe it is more important to most of us to play a part in advancing the field towards competing on the same level as able bodied athletes than it is for us to be able bodied athletes.

Despite the missing limbs, paralysis, blindness or any other so called disability, we are proving that the true source of ability is not the physical body but the spirit and the mind, and that it is often more rewording to accomplish the impassible than to meat the standard.

It is more important to me to be the first to accomplish something than to be the best at something. I was the first ak to telemark ski. I won’t always be the best but I have paved the way for others to participate in the sport and build on what I have accomplished to go beyond my accomplishments to new levels. I would rather be the first amputee to run a hundred mile race than to be the fastest able bodied racer to cross the line because it means more to break new ground than to pass over the same ground with the greatest speed. All of you are a part of doing just that! You may be the first adaptive snowboarder to do a 720. Before you know it, everyone will be doing a 720 and you made it possible by opening their minds to the possibility. There are many firsts up for grabs in our little world. Which ones will you claim?