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Grace's Club
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photo: Risa Shimoda |
Ladies of the Potomac (l to r): Star Mitchell, Helen Scalliet, Jane Collins, and Laura Harley
DC and MD
Star Mitchell: “39+ and holding". I am a retired Montgomery County high school teacher and live in Bethesda, MD…” I started kayaking in 1985 but started rowing around in a row boat in the Bay in FL when I was 9 years old and started canoeing as a Girl Scout when I was about 11 or 12. I. I spend most of my time kayaking, biking (I am on the C&O Bike Patrol for the US Park Service), hiking, contra dancing, and partying with my many friends and time with my children and granddaughter (age 11).
Helene Scalliet: I live near downtown Silver Spring and work as a policy and planning specialist for a marine conservation program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration headquarters. During my free time I likes to be on a river or on a trail, anywhere away from buildings and pavement!
Jane Collins: “I’m a 67 year old librarian who retired to spend more time outdoors, skiing, kayaking, running, and mountain biking…except for when I’m playing squash, which I love so much!”
Laura Harley, a not quite 30 year old who lives in DC: “I have two passions in my life: my work in international development, and enjoying the great outdoors. When I am not traveling for work, I try to spend my time on the river or on a trail enjoying the sunshine and good company.” |
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Marily MacDonald
Grand Lake, CO
I recently returned from a six month Odyssey around the world. 360 degrees, 180 days, 14 countries, and one bag. It all seemed so flippant. Here I was jetting off, leaving all responsibilities and “reality” behind, to do what? Live life to the fullest? I put off that mortgage, two and a half kids and the picket fence for a backpack, two and a half months worth of Malaria pills and no limit to where I would “find myself.”
The previous six months consisted of saving and planning for the expedition. I found myself swabbing decks as first mate on a yacht, cooking for a rowdy bunch of hunters, tending bar and patiently teaching three year olds how to ski, all in pursuit of saving enough money to get myself around this blue dot of ours.
One of my favorite places was Morocco.....
They say variety is the spice of life or is it spice is the ingredient for life, or is it too much spice is a liability? Whatever it is Morocco has it all; spices, variety and a lack of liability, making it a wild and enchanting place that has not changed in thousands of years.
Learn more on my blog: www.mtndiva.blogspot.com |
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Marni Harang
Sugar Land, TX
I am a 60 year old solitary long distance bike rider who does sponsored, supported rides for charity. I ride around south west Houston and its environs and manage about 150 miles per week. I also workout in the gym and with a trainer (crazy former Marine guy) for 10 hours a week. I recently raised $2000.00 for the Coalition Fund for Breast Cancer Research on a 600 mile ride from New Orleans, louisian to Memphis, Tennessee.
After taking a 20 mile and hour swan dive off of my bike in Late October and breaking 4 ribs and partially collapsing a lung, I am trying to get myself into some sort of condition to do an 1800 mile + charity ride for Heifer International Organization. This ride will take me from Mobile, Alabama to Niagara Ontario. I will be riding with my sister and 25 other women over the age of 50.
Next year, again with my sister and a group of women over 50, I will be doing a transcon along the Southern Tier from San Diego to the east coast of Florida. I will also be raising funds for charity on this ride.
Favorite pre-ride fuels: McCann's steel cut oatmeal made yellow raisins and pecans, raw carrots and garlic hummus.
Favorite post-ride fuel: dill pickles, dried bananna chips
Favorite drinks for the ride: accelerade and propel
Favorite post ride drinks: a tall iced latte or a cold beer.
Words of wisdom: Judgement comes from experience and experience often comes from bad judgement.
General road biking mantra: "ride, eat, drink, sleep and repeat."
This year's training mantra: "ride until your ribs hurt."
Current aggravation: Texas drivers (who are not biker friendly or even knowledgeable ) and non-stop headwinds no matter which direction you are riding. |
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Erin Pinckney (pictured in Costa Rica w/ guides Don Miguel & Jimmy)
Frederick, MD
Current Occupation; Marketing Director
Favorite places to get re-energized: High Sonoran Desert, Arizona. Central Pacific Coast, Costa Rica.
Perfect day: sleep late; read while eating a leisurely breakfast; 90 min. gym class (I loathe workout machines!); hour massage; walk on the beach, dinner (out) with husband, watch a movie at home, read, lights out.
For one day, I’d love to switch places with : VP of Marketing for the Dallas Cowboys
Most people don’t know: I was diagnosed with Scoliosis as a young girl, and had to wear a confining back brace 24-hrs a day from 6th grade until my sophomore year of high school. I didn’t let it slow me down and continued to play sports and also became a JV cheerleader. During college I became a fashion model and had the opportunity to work with some of the world’s top designers over a 15-year span. I wrote a guidebook called “The Truth on Modeling” to assist young men and women starting out in the business, which was featured on Amazon.com
Favorite Quote: "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies with in us." – Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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Lesa Kingsbury
Saint James, NY
My story: Sometimes, you don't know what you want until you find it.
I had worked hard as a college student in California to graduate with an architectural degree. When I finally did so, I moved to the East Coast to go to Columbia University to get my Masters in Architecture and Urban
Design, and then continue along that career path. I was excited about the direction I was taking, but then I started in the field, and found architectural glory-and personal satisfaction - to be pretty elusive. I worked on some large and important projects for some big firms, but the stress and the endless hours were larger than my then twenty-something self had anticipated starting out. At times, I even felt trapped. For me, architecture was just not a pretty picture.
So. I wound up meeting this guy from Long Island, we fell for each other in a good way, and quickly, and so I moved from Manhattan to the North Shore of Long Island in the fall of 1996.
One year later I was pregnant. I had done some intermittent yoga over the years and started taking yoga
classes more consistently on Long Island, and once pregnant I started doing even more. Right off the bat, I liked yoga. More important perhaps, I knew
that "yoga liked me."
I had found my true calling in my late thirties: mom and yoga teacher. Now my son is nine years old and our yoga studio is nearing the end of its seventh year. We have some very fine Iyengar and Vinyasa yoga teachers, and I've met many great teachers and students of yoga. It's more than just something to keep me sane and healthy - yoga is a real blessing in my life.
It even allows me to handle the stress stirred up by that great handful from Long Island who I happened to marry.
Our two sites are www.ambayoga.com (that's our yoga studio), and a new site my husband Ken created, www.womenofgraceandpower.com (which he said was
initially inspired by the many great yoga women he had the pleasure to meet
over the years).
I'm still glad I studied architecture. But yoga, well, that's where my heart is. |
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