You Never Know Where You'll Find Inspiration

I’m one of those people who will, as my friends and family say, “talk to anyone.” Which is how I found myself engaged in an unexpectedly inspirational conversation with a petite, white-haired lady during my layover at the airport in Houston, Texas yesterday. What, you may wonder, does my brief chat have to do with the art of “doing stuff?" Quite simply, it reminded of two things: (1) that a fresh wind in our sails is a good thing, and (2) that goal setting and longevity surely are related. When I walked away from this amazing woman one of my first thoughts was, “I’m not done yet.”

. . . .because yesterday I happened to meet Colonel Mary Feik of the Civil Air Patrol.

Colonel Feik, at the hardy young age of 87, stood ramrod straight in a blue blazer and matching trousers. Her neat, close-cropped white hair and over-large glasses framed her glowing face. As I neared the departure gate – so recently changed that our Baltimore destination did not yet read on the illuminated sign at the ticketing desk, Colonel Feik approached me to confirm her own gate change with assurance that I also was Baltimore bound. My eyes quickly registered her nametag over her right breast and a single row of ribbons over the left. I introduced myself as a sister officer and inquired of her background. Her modest yet joyous recounting of her past was marvelous.

She was so obviously authentic that I knew I was in the presence of an accomplished woman of great history and service. Here’s a thumbnail of what you’ll find if you go to the Internet to research her name:


• She overhauled her first automobile engine at 13 (in her father’s repair shop).
• She was working on aircraft engines and military aircraft by the time she was 18.
• During WWII, she was the first and youngest woman to test fly military aircraft for research and development at Wright Field.
• Col. Feik flew more than 6,000 hours as a pilot in Fighter, Attack, Bomber, Cargo and Training Aircraft.
• She restored aircraft for the National Air and Space Museum.
• She was the first woman ever to receive the FAA’s Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award (named for the mechanic and builder of the first aircraft engine used by the Wright Brothers).
• She still flies.
• She travels the country speaking and consulting;
• and this summer, she’ll travel to Alaska for her twelfth visit to personally award the Mary Feik Achievement Award to two Civil Air Patrol cadets in the tiny Alaskan village of Galena

Thank you, Colonel Mary Feik, for taking me airborne with your amazing spirit and for reminding me . . . I’ve so much more “stuff" to do.

Snowman Training Notes: Catch-up notes from my Oklahoma City weekend. Run plus strength training on Friday (1:10). Long walk-run with my pal, Chip on Saturday (1:10). Long flight back yesterday and we were back on the training hills today for three hours (quadrupling our hill work again). This is our final week in intensity training phase -- peak here we come!

Thought for the day: "If you find purpose in life, if you find your life is meaningful and if you have goal-directed behavior, you are likely to live longer,"~Dr. Patricia Boyle, neuropsychologist at the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center and assistant professor of behavioral sciences at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.