This story is part of health #RealLifeStrong The series, where we are celebrating women who represent strength, flexibility and grace.
Misty Diaz was born with Spinna Biffida, but until then she was not until she was 20 years old to meet someone else with this condition. She says, "I was thinking that I am alone, whose inability to do it." Now at 30, LA-based athletes are running race all over the country and inspire others with (and without) disabilities.
Spina bifida is a birth defect that affects spinal cord and spinal cord. In the case of Diaz, he damaged his L5 vertebra. "It affects my walking, my growth, and my bladder," she says. Consequently, Diaz stands at only 4 '4', the weight is 80 pounds, and uses the crawl to rotate around it, it has made it 5, 10, half marathon, and even the heaviest obstacle The courses have not stopped fulfilling.
Two years ago, Diaz became the first ever adaptive athlete to finish Red bull 400, A 400 meter sprinter on the ski jump in Utah's Olympic Park in Park City When he first heard about the race, in a video on Facebook, he immediately knew that he had to try. Diaz started to train his upper body with lots of rowing and lat pulldown so that he could make it a near-vertical curve on the crab. She reached the top in 35 minutes. In 2018, he shaved 10 whole minutes from his time.
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Diaz was not always an athlete. After her 28th, 28th-Surgery, a fight with a bad break-up, and serious depression, Diaz had a great desire to change life. She thinks, "I can either expect a different outcome in this situation, or I can take it [discomfort] That I am going and feeling, and I can try something completely different. The & # 39; When he discovered fitness
Diaz started with small, practical goals: his first milestone was making him in his mailbox from his apartment. Then she wanted to walk on her entire block; Then on nearby beach. "I was persistent, and I was strongly about my progress," she says. "Positive energy has motivated me to continue doing a bit more."
Eventually a little Dan 5K became a walk. She showed up for a purple tuute, red lipstick, and a collar shirt race. She says, "I did not know what I was doing," but I never once thought that I had a crush. I started when everyone started, when all stopped, then closed, and crossing that finish line was like the limit of starting my life again. "
Mike Titel / Red Bull Content Pool
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That first race prompted Diaz to sign up for another- and this time made little effort in training. "I was never in the gym, but I got a gym membership," she says. She says, "You can not do just Google if you are on the crab, how do you use the treadmill - you are not getting anything." It was tremendous to take a step in a gym, but the way he interrupted, resolved it: take things slowly, what non-adaptive people are asking, ask questions, and use the skills to solve their problems so that He could duplicate the movement
Being super-friendly does not hurt either. "I'll be just like, 'O friends!' & # 39; He says in a bubble shrimps. "I became friends with Jim Man who could see that I had trouble reaching luggage." The manager passed his guest so that friends could come to work with him. "I was very grateful," says Diaz. "Many people will leave their first and second trip, but I found out what worked for me."
His second 5K half marathon, and finally turned into a race with hurdles. Now, she says, she has done 70 in the whole world. The race gives them a unique way of connecting with other people who can usually be cautious about someone else around anyone. He recognizes, "People can be scared around me." This is one of the reasons that its trademark red lipstick became such a racing headgear. "It was a snow breaker for the people." A compliment was an easy conversation starter, and he said that he has made racing friends away from a simple, "I like your lipstick."
Thanks to the connectivity of social media, he has created virtual friends worldwide. Parents will contact him, Spino Biffida will be inspired by the race on behalf of his child. He also advises children with this condition. "I call them spina pretty," she says. I had never spoken of being a girl with 'spina bifida', but I knew if I kept racing slowly, but of course I would start highlighting things about myself, and maybe I can help other people. "
Mike Titel / Red Bull Content Pool
Diaz says, "When I meet anyone with Spina Biffida, I want to know that anything is possible." "You can still fulfill whatever you want to do, you just have to make a little hard effort."
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