If you feel like you’re already fierce as the wind or you need a little inspo to feel fierce, pick up Fierce as the Wind by Tara Wilson Redd. I urge you! For realz! I love (like LU-HUV) the underdog and this book has the biggest hill to climb. I loved it! Let’s be fierce!
How did I find this book?
My Guy was training for the Des Moines 70.3 Half-Ironman from post-Christmas to race day on Father’s Day. Long training cycle, right?! (He absolutely dominated training and did incredible at the actual race. The training is what gives me goosebumps. Hustling like that after a long day at work, shifting to Dad-mode and then heading to the gym for tough-as-nails workouts make for long days. Lots of hunger. Pains. And he did it like a boss. Amazing! 💙) So I looked up fiction books about triathlons/Ironmans/etc.
Before you poo-poo it…
Yes, it’s young adult. Young adult books aren’t just for teens. Think of them as adult books with slightly less drama. Kinda perfect when you want to ‘ease down’ at night. Don’t knock YA books until you try them.
Not a triathlete/marathoner/Ironman? Guess what? Few people are. Go with it. Take this novel as inspo to do the hard thing in your life. Send the hard email. Do the hard physical work. Get through the tough conversation. Whatever it is, take this character’s life situation and training as fuel for that thing hanging over your head. Or the thing you’ve tossed aside and buried as ‘too hard.’
Set me up
Miho is a high school senior. Recently dumped by her boyfriend (who she *thought* was her future).
Miho lives in Hawaii with her dad (mom is out of the picture) and they aren’t well off. At all. Miho works a part-time job delivering pizzas on her bike to cover necessary items. She helps pay bills, she pays for clothes (second-hand) and she works her tail off at home keeping things running for her dad who isn’t in the best health.
Down in the emotional dumps, Miho is literally smacked in the face with an Ironman poster. As a distraction from her shock and emotional pain, her friends suggest she sign up for the Kona Ironman.
Full length Ironman, FYI = 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike then a 26.2 mile run.
😫
Amazing. Shocking. Kinda beyond belief that people can do this.
Which is exactly why Miho decides to do it!
What you’re going to get here
Talk about poverty. Classism. Racism. The idea that there’s no ‘right path’ after high school graduation. Feeling beautiful in your own way. The difficult but rewarding path of learning about our journey vs. where we started vs. where we finished.
This book is just incredible!
Fave quotes
“The problem with trying to hate people is, if you look too closely, you usually find a lot to like. I wish I could hate her. But she’s too much like me. Except, you know, better. Like she’s the brand name, and I’m the crappy store brand no one actually wants.”
“I am who I am, and there’s nothing I can do about it. And all of this is a part of who I am: the haircuts at home, the curly hair, the girl attached to it. I wish I were beautiful, but I can’t have it both ways. I can’t be me and be beautiful. It’s nobody’s fault. It’s just the way it is.”
Try on being fierce as the wind with this book. Whatever your hill is, give it a whirl. This book is total inspo (but without the guilt or shame you feel of the peeps in the running magazines who look like they could eat you for breakfast).