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2008 Tenacious Awards

We all need a little motivation: To start (or finish!) that project, to crawl out of bed before the sun has shown itself or to push yourself harder to achieve more than you thought possible. If not for those people in our life that inspire us - quietly or with megaphone in hand - we may never get the spark to motivate us to reach our potential.

Friends, family and complete strangers alike have the power to move us by what they say, or what they do or even the way they look. A smile or a frown can turn others down different roads in life; an interested listener or an apathetic participant can flip the light switch of brilliance on or off in others. One of my goals in life is to find those who nurture, cultivate and inspire and surround myself with them whenever possible.

I have been granted an amazing gift by having a very supportive family, an absolutely wonderful better half in Kristen and truly great friends. With support like that it's almost easy for me to share my positive energy in others; but there are so many times when it seems the car is stuck in the wrong gear or I just can't get over the next hump -- that's where my support matrix really lifts me up. The "Tenacious Awards" are my way of saying thanks to all of those who probably don't know how much they have motivated me over the last year. It's easy to give a big hug to a friend to show them how much you appreciate their support; the Tenacious Awards are a chance to give credit and a little piece of me to each of those who buoyed me in 2008.

Please add the above badge to your site with a link to this post so everyone can share in your accomplishment!

Congratulations to all our 2008 winners! I will be posting 3-5 new award winners each day for the first week of 2009! 

Category A: Folks I may never meet in person, but have motivated me:

Most Quotable Person: Alastair Humphreys (twitter @Al_Humphreys). Every day he breaks out a great quote that sets the tone for my day. His achievements as a photographer and writer are stellar, and he receives the 2008 Most Quotable Person for his daily tweets.
Honorable Mention: Zen Runner (@ZenRunner), FitFiend (@FitFiend)

Personal Best Award: Steve Spiers (twitter @britishbulldog). Steve is a spark plug, and a master motivator. His self-help fitness sites (hundredpushups.com and twohundredsitups.com) are brilliant, and he is constantly pushing himself to surpass his goals. With PR's in marathon distance all the way down to 5k's, Steve sets the bar for athletes who motivate by teaching AND doing.
Honorable Mention: Craig Macfarlane (@craigmacfarlane), Charles White (@cewtwo)

The "Woah" Award: Also called the "Just when you thought you were a busy person trying to fit in a workout and balance you life" award. Lance Armstrong (twitter @lancearmstrong). There's not much else to say about a guy everyone "knows". Determination? Unrelenting motivation? This guy is an absolute bull when it comes to pushing himself beyond the limit. The best part about following Lance on Twitter is that he's a real person and on par with so many of us, yet far exceeds our goals in other areas at the same time. Lance also gets the "Uses Twitter The Right Way" Award for his writing style and timely posts. I sincerely look forward to his tweets throughout the day.

Personal Transformation Award: Craig Barrett (twitter @craig42k) When the term "Biggest Loser" gets used nowadays, it's usually in refrence to someone who is obese and losing a tremendous amount of weight to get to a normal, healthy size. Craig is very fit and athletic to begin with, and has been driving himself full-tilt in the Real Estate's Biggest Loser competition to lose the largest percentage weight loss. Craig also is a very charitable individual, running marathons as a civilian member of the Semper Fi Fund for injured soldiers.

The Build Something Smart and Work Like Hell to Succeed Award: Peter Shankman (twitter @skydiver) Peter is the brains behind HARO (Help A Reporter Out) as well as numerous other PR-related endevours. This guy is a mover & shaker and will send a tweet from an airplane in Miami pre jump (have you tweeted during a jump yet?) or from a cafe in Los Angeles. I read his blog weekly, and he lives the type of life a lot of us would like to - the difference is he makes it happen every day. His unapologetic response to folks who say "Get a Real Job" is that they just don't get how much work it is to do it all without looking like it.
Honorable Mention: Tim Ferriss (@tferriss). Tony (@zappos)

Bring Passion to Your Life and The World Will Follow Award: James Schaffer (twitter @liveyourpassion) Sometimes the medium is the message, and James's blog & tweets are passionate about life and adventure I love LYP apparel and gladly wear his logo as a badge of honor on the TRI PHX mobile. I thought of James when I told my son "If you don't have passion for life then you're already dead". I don't know if I am the first to say it, but it makes perfect sense to me. It is a credo I live by, and I thank James for reminding me every day.
Honorable Mention: Tony (@zappos)

Jumping in With Both Feet Award: Mark Newman (twitter @marathoner) Pretty simple: NYC Marathon one week, then an Ultra Marathon the next. A superstar athlete would cringe at the mere thought of a back-to-back like this, but Mark tackled it with style, class and determination. I remember sending a "You're Crazy" tweet and he scoffed and went about smashing personal barriers. Mark motivated me to attempt an ultra in February (RAGNAR RELAY) and his blog and posts about being a better person, dad, and writer remind me that we all need to keep working to be the best person we can.

Hook-Up of the Year: Jay Boncodin (@jbone66) Jay went above any beyond to hook me up with an autograph from one of my idols - Dean Karnazes - when he was in San Fran at a book signing. Now, I'd never met Jay and we'd only been mutually twittering for about a week when he stepped up and got me Karno's autographed picture. I was in a movie with my wife when I got the TwitPic with Dean signing "To Brett; good luck on all your endeavours" and I let out a "W00T!" that led other movie-goers to shush me. Jay also was one of many of my Twitter friends who generously donated to Team Tillman and my participation in the 2009 PF Chang's Rock 'N Roll Marathon.