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What is possible? It’s hard to say. Man has stood on the top of the world, gone under 9:25 at the Hawaii Ironman, climbed El Capitan, paddled Alaska’s Inside Passage, swum across the English Channel, completed the Boston Marathon in under 1:18:30, rowed across both the Atlantic and the Pacific and cycled around the world. Oh yeah, did I mention that these accomplishments were completed by men (and women) who are disabled? Think about it. Now catch your breath.

Life is about more than accomplishing extraordinary things. It's about living, loving, learning, listening, sharing, communicating, creating, taking chances and making the best of whatever comes your way. It's about finding yourself and creating yourself. Life is what happens when you follow your heart and go after your dreams. How do you feel right now? Life is how you choose to live every day.

Welcome to a site about possibility, living out loud and overcoming adversity. You might find a little inspiration in here, too. By sharing my successes and failures, I hope to help redefine convention and shift the paradigm. Perhaps you will leave here with just a bit more motivation to make your own goals and dreams come true. At the very least, I hope you question the definition of “disability” and think about the indomitability of the human spirit. This site is about me. I’m trying to do my part. Are you? 

Mike Savicki – C6, 7 quadriplegic – Athlete, advocate, entrepreneur
● Founder and Chief Thinker, Scratching Post Communications, Inc.

● 2012 Spokesperson for National Mobility Awareness Month (National Mobility Equipment Dealers Assoc.)

● Recipient of the 2011 Tufts University Athletics Distinguished Achievement Award

● Winner - 2005, 2007 - 2010 Boston Marathon Quad Wheelchair Division (18 time finisher)
● Only person to ever finish the Boston Marathon both on foot and in a wheelchair

● US Navy team member and Bronze medalist, Inaugural 2010 Warrior Games
● Featured nationally on a limited edition Cheerios box in 2009 honoring disabled veterans in sports
● 2009 Beach to Battleship Half Ironman - 2nd place PC athlete (first complete quad ever to finish the distance)
● Overall wheelchair winner – 1994, 2003-2007, 2009 Jacksonville Marathon
● National Veterans Wheelchair Games – 69 gold medals (1991-2011)
● Winner – 2004, 2006 Myrtle Beach Marathon
● Member of US Paralympics Quad Rugby High Performance Training Program (2001-2003)
● 1st American to finish a marathon in the new millennium (Millennium Marathon, New Zealand, 1/1/00)
● Organizer, Face of America.  Cross country cycling journey to celebrate America’s diversity in 2000
● Tufts University 2000 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient - Global Games:  Sports, Politics and Society
● United States Handcycling Federation 1999 National Criterium Champion – Quad Division
● Organizer/participant, Vietnam Challenge. 1,200 mile cycling journey from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, 1998
● Co-founder of the USQRA Carolina Crash wheelchair rugby team in 1996
● Overall wheelchair winner – 1996 Hawaii Windward Half Marathon, Kailua, Hawaii
● North Carolina Wheelchair Athlete’s Foundation 1994 Athlete of the Year
● Finisher of over 75 national and international marathons and half marathons
● US Navy veteran (Naval aviator) and PVA life member

● Triathlete, skier, sailor, golfer, writer, photographer, aspiring drummer
● College and semi-pro soccer player (Tufts University and Cape Cod Amateur Soccer League), 1987 - 1989

 

 

 “There are three things you should always know about yourself – where you started, where you are and where you want to be. Have a goal and have a dream.”
– Jim Valvano