November in Review
November 3rd – New York City Marathon
Mia has run a handful of marathons in the last few years. She was in great shape for a huge PR going into Boston a couple of years ago but illness and weather interfered. We are very pleased that she was able to put together a great race in New York for a 37 minute PR. Mia was diligent throughout the training cycle, emphasizing her recovery efforts, and getting workouts in at odd hours of the day to train around a busy work schedule. She is half way to completing the six Abbot Major World Marathons. Tokyo, Berlin, and London await.
November 4th – Evening Adult Classes begin
Thanks to Kyle’s consistency and growth over the last five months, we are able to expand our hours and class offerings to include an evening adult class. It has worked out great so far, allowing members who miss morning sessions or have a conflict an opportunity to train later in the day. I anticipate it also coming in handy once the weather worsens and schools/work are delayed in the morning.
If you’re interested in learning more about our adult group classes, visit www.unifiedhp.com/adult and reach out to us at uniifedhp@gmail.com.
November 7th – NEACSM Conference
Dr. Jason Talanian from Fitchburg State University and I were able to present a poster for our research project on Cerebral Palsy and fitness at the New England Academy of Sports Medicine conference. I was able to share what we do with dozens of new grads and professionals. We are seeking more participants for the project to make the statistics more significant.
November 9th – Six Week Nutrition Program Starts
Thanks to the help of two former interns, we have been running a 6 week Nutrition Program for our adult clients. They receive InBody body comp scans before and after the 6 weeks as well as weekly nutrition lessons and challenges. We hope to be able to run the curriculum in this program consistently throughout the year.
November 13th – National Signing Day
We had four current and one former athlete sign their National Letter of Intents to play sports at the Division 1 level. Caylie will be playing field hockey at Stanford, Gigi will be playing field hockey at UNH, Erica will be playing field hockey at Merrimack, Reed will be playing baseball at UMass Lowell, and Mason Jones will be pole vaulting at Bryant University. We’re looking forward to the following months of training to prepare for the increased demand of NCAA sports.
November 19th – Arc Tank
Our new business, AdaptX, was a finalist in the Arc Tank, a nationwide business competition for companies working in disability services. Unfortunately we weren’t chosen for funding but I learned a lot in the process and met a bunch of great people in the process.
November 20th - Inclusion in the Workplace
A few months ago a camera crew working for Special Olympics followed our athlete Sydney Meininger around as they took them to her job sites and sport practices. We were fortunate to have them highlight the work that Sydney does at Unified and allow me to mumble something coherent on the importance of inclusion in the workplace. You can view the video at: https://vimeo.com/371927439/840e550901
November 21st – Nashoba Unified Basketball finishes season undefeated
Several of our athletes participated on the first Nashoba Regional High School Unified Basketball team. The team finished the season 6-0. We’ll be kicking our Special Olympics basketball season off in the coming months.
November 22nd - Egan Bachtell Second Team All Conference
If not for an injured foot, Egan was in a great position to be named to First Team All-Conference but he was able to finish the season and secure a spot; a great honor for someone who has worked incredibly hard to get to where he is.
November 23rd – SMILE MA Road Race
We had a few members run the SMILE MA Road Race; an organization with goals similar to ours, to create more inclusive sport and recreation opportunities. Kate and Missie both picked up age group wins.
November 24th – Overnight Hike at Zealand Falls
As documented in previous posts, Carolyn will be hiking the Appalachian Trail, starting in Georgia this Spring and finishing up the 6 month endeavor in the Fall of 2020. She has been “hiking” on the treadmill with her 30 pound pack for the last few weeks in addition to strength training 2-3 times per week and running another couple of days. She was joined by a handful of gym members this weekend for an overnight hike at Zealand Falls. We are very fortunate to have such a supportive community and it means the world to me to have been a small part of bringing it all together.