ZOEY GRENIER, MISS ALASKA.
It’s a sport that most people know little about, except for possibly every four years during the Winter Olympics. It’s the sport of biathlon, a competition in which contestants ski around a cross-country trail system while carrying a bore rifle, which is used during the marksmanship portion of the race.
Zoey Grenier, Miss Alaska, is a competitive biathlete who will eventually train for the Biathlon World Cup as part of the US Biathlon Team. With a diet of 3,000 carbohydrate-rich calories per day during training, this endurance athlete enjoys quinoa and salmon to sustain her through the 15 kilometer race (9.3 miles).
It’s been said that the biathlon is 30% physical and 70% mental, and requires incredible precision and focus as the athlete steadies herself from the physical demands of cross-country skiing to the steadiness of a rifleman’s eye.
Practicing a mental exercise called visualization, (which is one of the 12 components of The Running Center’s TRC Training System), Ms. Grenier uses the technique to envision herself in a race and to enact muscle memory.
By knowing the course and movements ahead of time in her mind’s eye, she can properly prepare for the competition. Interestingly, Miss Alaska uses this method of training for her pageant events too.
“When I’m ‘watching the walk’, I use the focus that I learn through visualization to walk out onto the stage.”
Zoey Grenier’s platform entitled Instilling Responsibility in Youth Through Athletics is spot-on-target as she is also a biathlon coach, where she teaches her four elements of success: Focus, High Standards, Discipline and Responsibility. This, along with her chosen career path of becoming a physical therapist with an Osteopathic focus, will surely inspire our youth to have a healthy lifestyle.
KELLEY JOHNSON, MISS COLORADO.
As a scholar athlete in the sport of volleyball in college, Kelley Johnson, Miss Colorado, chose a career path in the health field as an intensive care unit registered nurse.
The talent portion of her competition is a monologue about her relationship with one of her Alzheimer patients. A fitting tribute to her compassionate personality is her platform issue, The Health Initiative PLUS.
Ms. Johnson created the platform to represent four areas that speak to individuals as to how they can take responsibility for their own health, with PLUS being the acronym for the following:
P = Prevention (Learning how to prevent disease.)
L = Live (Living a healthy lifestyle by understanding nutrition and exercise; understanding the myriad of medical insurance options; and being sensitive to mental health.)
U = Uncover (Uncovering disease and medical conditions by educating yourself on when to go to the doctor; being informed about screenings; learning about diagnostic services.)
S = Study (Knowing your treatment options; understanding medications; studying your situation so that you become knowledgeable unto yourself.)
As a nurse and health resource, Ms. Johnson has enabled her patients to have a better understanding of the options available to them.
“I want my patients to be proactive in their own health”.
At times she chooses to follow a Paleo diet, which is one based on the types of foods presumed to have been eaten by early humans, consisting chiefly of meat, fish, vegetables, and fruit, and excluding dairy or grain products and processed food. Through Miss Colorado’s PLUS platform, she’ll be able to spearhead her community onto a healthy path.