Shaneen's story

Posted on 5/30/2008 at 5:18 PM
Last edited on 5/30/2008 at 5:18 PM

Jake and Chris~
First off I would like to thank you for honoring me this weekend, I am very excited to represent the city of Austin as 'the jester'.

Secondly I would like to tell you a little about me and why all my friends and family voted for me, and therefore believe I deserve this honor. I am not really sure where to start, but I will see if this works. I was born into a family with four brothers, and growing up we where all very active and played several team sports, soccer, basketball, and baseball. I then went on to play high school soccer, basketball, tennis, and my senior year became the first female to play on my high school varsity football team. My original plan was to go on to play college basketball, but after tearing my ACL my junior year and going back to play my senior year, I just didn't have the same love for the sport. I went onto college at Sam Houston State University where I walked on to their tennis team. I played tennis for them for a year. While going to school there I was scouted out by a modeling agency in Houston, and decided to give it a try. I spent the next year pursing a modeling career, which might I add be so into sports my whole life I had never really owned a pair of high heels, I will say that it is DEFFINATELY difficult to walk in those things. Unfortunately in pursing this career I developed an eating disorder known as bulimia, my wake up call came when I traveled to Los Angeles to meet with several agencies, at this point I was down to 108lbs at 6'1'. One agency let me know that if I got down to 100lbs they would be willing to send me to Milan. At this point I realized that I was no longer healthy and I was pursing something that I never even really wanted to do in life. I moved back to Austin (my now home) where I got a job went back to school, got help for my bulimia, and started my life over. During my recovery I was allowed to go to the gym only to build up my strength and was slowly allowed to start putting cardio into my workouts. My love and passion for athletics allowed me to have something to look forward to. About six months into my recovery I got a job at Lost Creek Country Club as the Athletics front desk attendant. Two weeks later I got my Cyle Certification and became an instructor at the club. I then began to set goals doing 5K's, then 10K's, and then did my first triathalon. Then one of the personal trainers that I worked with was preparing for the Hotter Than Hell 100, to make a long story short, he talked me into doing it. I then bought my first ever road bike and started training. Come August 2006 I was ready, or so I thought. On August 16th I got on my bike for what I thought would just be another ride in training. Not more than 5 blocks from my house as I stopped at a stop sign, clipped out of my left pedal, like always, my bike started to lean to the right, clipping out as quick as I could my right foot hit the pavement at a weird angle causing me to shave the head off of my right femur. I hit the ground which then caused it to shatter. Quite honestly I am very stubborn and thought that I had just a regular fall and was going to get back on my bike and go for my ride. After being on the ground not being able to move my leg for more than 20minutes a young man and two women who so kindly stopped to help convinced me to go to the emergency room. I now have a metal plate and six screw in my hip for the rest of my life. When then doctor put my hip together he wanted to make sure that the bone did not shift at all, otherwise I was most definately going to spend the rest of my life walking with a limp. So for two months I was not allowed to make any contact to the ground with that leg. This is where swimming became a major part of my life. I knew I couldn't go two months without some sort of cardio, so I bought a pool buoy, and swam everyday for the two months, not using that leg at all. As soon as my doctor let me off the crutches I started walking everyday, and slowly brought it up to a jog, I did my next 5K a month later. Unfortunately in January I experiecened a stream of unfortunate events, within one week I had my wallet stolen, got in a three car pile up, and lost my house and belongings in a fire. I was determined not to let this get me down, so I registered for the half marathon. After completing that I registered for the full marathon. This kept me focused on a goal, keeping my mind off all the tragic events. So 6 months after shattering my hip I completed my first marathon, trust me not in any record time, but I did it.
I continue to set goals for myself, the difference is I now do it for nothing but the pure love of the sport. Since my accident I have comlepeted many different runs, bike rides and triathalons. During everyone I grow a little bit stronger and learn a little bit more about myself, and one of my favorite things is learning about others and their expericences and what drives them to be there. The support of my friends and family has been tremendous and has helped me to be where I am today. Most of them don't understand the level I am willing to take my body for simply love of sport, but they also don't understand what it feels like when one event could take it away forever. I am so incrediably fortunate that I was able to come back to this level. I am registered for my first full ironman, November 9th in Henderson, NV. I am so excited and have even more motivation now as I am able to represent Austin as the Jester. I promise to take the award and honor and make Austin proud. I look forward to meeting and encouring everyone I meet over the next year as 'the Jester'. Thank you again for this opportunity!!

Okay so I just looked back and saw I said I would tell you a 'little' about me, I think that was probably a 'lot' more than I planned, but I hope you now understand that I didn't really bribe anyone to vote for me. Once somebody read about this award and let me know, everyone got together to make it a point, that I get the opportunity to represent Austin(my home) with such pride and enjoyment in the sport of the triathalon.

Thanks for your time,
Your new 'Jester',
Shaneen Ludwig