What do you get when you mix St. George, Utah redrock slot canyons, horned lizards and two female athlete business women? Another brilliant day in the office for this Utah fitness trainer.
This week I met up with ultra-runner and business woman Nicky Schmidt, who has set up base camp in St. George with her young family while training for the Red Mountain and Zion National Park 50k races. Nicole has been running long distances since before Badwater, Pike’s Peak and Mexico’s Tarahumara Indians were household names. Now in her prime, Nicole is ready to make her mark on the racing world.
I’m always inspired by people like Nicky, who have a way of channeling the success they’ve created in their careers into their athletic pursuits. Or is it the other way around? Do athletes have the ability to transfer that same discipline which makes them great at their sport into their chosen professions? A continuous flow of energy seems to flow from one realm of life to the other.
In Nicky’s case, it was her ability to turn tragedy into triumph. Her non-profit organization, The Baby Alex Foundation, was started after her own infant incurred brain trauma and raises money to fund research for infant brain damage. The foundation funds critical, ground-breaking research that would otherwise not be funded by government organizations like National Institutes of Health.
Best of luck to Nicky in next week’s big race!