It seems this issue is on the minds of several of our readers as well as my own. I just read a blog over at Bicycling Magazine’s reader blog area that was a total inspiration. Not about how to be safe, but about addressing fears - check it out over at http://rodale.typepad.com/changing_gears/.

I’m responsible for putting together the monthly Women’s Adventure e-newsletter (shameless plug - click here to sign up). This month, one of the items I came across for the newsletter had to do with a fund raiser in honor of Meredith Emerson, the hiker who was killed while on an outing near her home in Georgia. I had already heard about her murder, but I hadn’t paid much attention to the details. It was probably a one-in-million freak occurrence that she caught the attention of the man who killed her. But it makes a girl think. And it wakes up all those feelings of vulnerability that some of us fight down every time we venture out.

“Can we be safe outside?” is a question that doesn’t have a firm answer. Most of us will never be in any danger, but some will be injured, some will miraculously escape, and a few will die. I personally have to overcome my worrywart tendencies every time I get on my bike and ride. The statistics are on my side - I’ll probably be coming home safe and happy, but for some of us, overcoming fear is a daily challenge.

Coming up in our January newsletter is a reader’s story by Valerie Hess about how she overcame her learned fear of the outdoors. In our March print issue, there’s going to be a feature about German paraglider, Ewa Wisnierska, who was caught in a supercell storm while racing and survived being pushed by winds up to 10,000 meters in the air - it’s an absolute miracle that she lived - and she continues to compete in her sport. I think about our founder, Michelle Theall, out running or walking in every weather, despite difficulties with MS, because she wouldn’t, couldn’t be herself without going outside. All of them are women who step outside to do what they love, knowing intimately the danger they place themselves in. They go because they must go, because they would be lessened by giving in to fears. These women are my heroes - when my fear sings out, I think about them and let joy find me in the wild.

By Tory Klementsen

The year 2003 loomed bright with anticipation. I had just lost over 100 pounds to meet my weight loss goal. I had changed from a sedentary couch potato into an active woman who infused fitness into her life in a big way. Everything looked like it couldn’t be better when I got the news. I had had a bad case of kidney stones and was sent for a CT scan in December. When I came in for the reading I was feeling fine, but the doctor was grim when he told me there was something on my pancreas that bore further investigation.

It was a pancreatic tumor. Three surgeries to remove the tumor and repair a blockage later I was lying in bed. My new active lifestyle, I feared, was going to become a memory. I got winded walking 25 feet. My only respite during the almost month-long stay was my brother-in-law’s laptop computer. A friend emailed me and said “We should do the Danskin.”

So there I was, ironically underweight for the first time in my life, I couldn’t walk 25 feet, I had just had a surgery referred to as “The Grandaddy of all Surgeries” (a Pancreatic Duodectomy aka a Whipple Procedure). I looked and felt horrible. As I lie there I thought, “When I get out of here I want to do something amazing that I never ever dreamed I would do. I think I’ll do a triathlon.”

Nevermind that I hadn’t been on a bike in years, hadn’t swam since middle school, and had that “can only walk 25 feet” thing going on. I was determined. I got out of the hospital and on my 5th day home I made my husband take me to the gym where I walked 10 minutes on the lowest speed, and then sat down on a bench and cried. I had lost so much fitness during my hospital stay, but I was determined I would not regain my weight or lose my new lust for life.

I continued to slowly rebuild my fitness and the following summer, I completed two sprint triathlons. I have gone on to complete two more, and have run in five marathons.

I have heard people say that some giant health scare was the “best thing that ever happened to them” and I always thought that was odd. Not now. I truly understand. While what I refer to as “Whipplefest 2003″ was one of the worst periods of my life, the gift of renewed lust for health, fitness, and life was the greatest gift ever. The best thing I have ever done for myself was to lose weight, but the gift of understanding how precious good health is can’t be conveyed with mere words. It is simply amazing.

I am now the woman I always wanted to be, but never thought I could be.

Have sports, travel or nature inspired you to do something incredible, changed your life forever, or touched you in an amazing way that you want to share? Submit your story to Womens Adventure Magazine and help inspire thousands of women who thrive in the wild!

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