n Noholdingback Bear and Texas Chrome, but I felt like Texas Chrome certainly warranted a mention after winning the Grade 3 O

Nicole DeBlois Greene played hockey at Boston College the first year the womens team was in Division I in the 1990s -- an experience that she says couldve been a huge failure.?Now a senior global relationships manager at a financial services technology company, she said shes learned that every potential failure is a stepping stone to the next opportunity, and that finding a work-life balance has been critical to her happiness. Shes become a dedicated endurance athlete and volunteers to help current BC student-athletes connect with alumni and members of the community.?We talked to Greene, a 1999 graduate, about her transition from being a student-athlete to working in the professional world.This interview has been edited for length.espnW: How did you feel when you were about to leave college and (essentially) your athletic career? What was going through your mind? Nicole Greene:?I had a decision to make when I was a senior in college. I had the opportunity to go internationally and play for one more year; I had a number of friends who were doing that. Or I had to decide if I wanted to go into the workforce. And honestly I had a great four years at BC, but I was ready to hang up my skates for a bit and really decided that I wanted to make some money.And so I started my search really early. I had my job in October of my senior year, so honestly I was psyched, it was awesome. I knew I had a job going out of school, I was entering into my last year playing, and I was taking it all in, just, This is it. And Im going to take this time and make sure I really enjoy it and get everything that I can out of it.I was looking forward to putting a close on where I was and going into something new.espnW: How did you come across that job, and what did you do to put yourself in that position?NG:?I was thinking about it early, and I do think kids today are thinking about it as early, but people werent saying as early as their junior year, Okay, how am I going to get a job a year from now? I had been thinking about it, but even before that, I was really trying to stack up my resume.I held a job, even though it was a job on campus, I held an unpaid internship that I worked in between. It wasnt this big long-term thing because I knew I couldnt do that. So I found something that I could put on my resume that was literally two hours a week.It was these smaller things so that at least I could put some experience on my resume. And then when I went into my career search, I talked all about the fact that I had done these things, and I was a Division I athlete. I think it was a game-changer in what I could offer because I could clearly show that, one, I could take on many hats and, two, I had time management.That whole idea of having a story to tell was my biggest thing: how do I do all of these things and do them well? How do you take these small chunks and make a story out of them?espnW: How did your first couple of years out of college go? What did you do? NG:?I was a management consultant. It was a great first experience. I got into it because my dad sat down with me at the end of my junior year and was like, What do you want to do? And I was like, I have no idea. The idea of consulting was, let me go out there, Ill be able to see a bunch of different companies, do a bunch of different roles and figure out what I like. That was how I decided to pursue management consulting.What was so crazy is, I was literally working 100-hour weeks. Like, Friday night, 2 a.m., Im going home, fighting with the people who are leaving the bar for a cab to go home.It was awesome in the fact that I did get that experience. But I also went from skating and having the time to invest in working out to like, Oh my gosh, now Im sitting behind a desk from 6 a.m. until 11 p.m. That was probably the hardest part of working, not being able to find that balance my first two years out, and it took me some time to figure that out.espnW: Since college, what choices have you made to set you up for where you are now?NG:?One of the big choices was to get a life outside of work. Since college, Ive become an endurance athlete. Ive run more than 47 marathons, Ive done an Iron Man, Ive climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, Ive run a marathon two days later and won my division, Ive done a 130-mile, six-day run around Ireland. If you know me, you know that Im passionate about being able to push my boundaries, even outside of the workplace.Finding a balance for me was hard, but I came to find out that it was critical for me being happy.The other thing I do is, Im a significant volunteer at Boston College. I wanted to be able to stay involved in sports, so I got involved in BC. The whole idea of, how can I give something back to the students, specifically the athletes at BC.espnW: What lessons did you take from being an athlete that have applied to your working life? NG:?I have this famous quote that I hang above my desk, and its all about how you dont live inside the gray, and you go for it. And in everything that I do -- even though there are times when I go for things and I might fail completely -- it always leads to something else, and theres a stepping stone.I will tell you that I learned that from being an athlete. I learned that you just give it your all, there are times you are going to fail, but at the same time, youre just going to keep going. It allows for some really cool things. I always say that, when youre living outside the gray, youre uncomfortable, thats when the magic happens. Thats when you get to meet really cool people, thats when you get to do really cool things. Those are the times you get those butterflies in your stomach, and I learned that from being an athlete and pushing forward through the failures.When I went to BC, we were the first year in Division I. They were recruiting, and they said, Youll be our first recruiting class in Division I, itd be really cool, and Im like, This will be awesome! Of course my dad in the back of his mind was like, This is going to be a lot harder than you think.So we show up on the ice Oct. 1, we get on for captains practice, and three people show up in figure skates. And I remember being like, What did I just do?. We maybe won four games of my freshman year, and I just remember being like, Oh my god, oh my god. But honestly, just sticking with it through that and the experience, and now I see where the team is, and its just such a cool thing to be a part of and to look back on 20 years ago.You couldve looked at it as a failure, but at the same time, when you look back over the span of it, its great to see what theyve accomplished.espnW: Whats unique about BC thats helped you in your professional life, or what advice would you give to your college-aged self? NG:?I do have the advantage that I stayed in the Boston area. But I will tell you, people who have gone to BC bleed maroon and gold, and I have taken that and leveraged the crap out of it -- from a networking perspective, from a volunteer perspective, you name it. And I have just met the coolest people by doing that, by saying I went to Boston College and being involved. And I believe that is semi-unique about Boston College, that people who went to BC want to talk about the fact that they went to BC, and it really has opened up some doors.espnW: What do you wish you knew before graduating that you know now? NG:?To trust myself a little bit more. To trust that I know who I am and that I wasnt alone in that. If I just couldve spoken up a little bit more -- not in the sense of I didnt talk in the classroom -- but I really was trying to figure out who I was.When I think back now, the things that Ive learned over the last 20 years is that I do actually know myself and that there are people going through anything that youre going through. And speak up about it, rather than take it all in and wonder, I dont know if this is right. Air Max 90 Black Gold . Takahashi, who had a 10-point lead after the short program, received 268.31 points after the free skate to finish 15 points ahead of second-place Nobunari Oda. Air Max 90 Black Buy . - Oakland Raiders running back Rashad Jennings was speaking to a group of local high school students earlier this week when the conversation turned to the importance of being prepared when opportunities in life arise. http://www.outletairmax90cheap.com/outlet-air-max-90-white-cheap-411.html . "Trying to breathe," he said with a grin. Bernier stopped 42 of 43 shots on Monday night, including all 22 in a hectic middle frame, his heroic performance propelling the Leafs toward an undue point in their final game before the Christmas break. Air Max 90 Black Royal Blue . If ever they start actually putting pictures beside words in the dictionary, the Blue Jays left-handers mug will appear beside “Consistency. Fake Air Max 90 2019 . No. 13-seeded John Isner and No. 21 Philipp Kohlschreiber were among six players who dropped out of the tournament on Tuesday, joining No. 12 seed Tommy Haas and two other players who withdrew on Monday. The path to the 2016 Breeders Cup is a road with plenty of ups and downs as talented racehorses vie for a spot in one of 13 championship races. This blog provides a capsule look at three horses who are heating up on the Road to the Breeders Cup World Championships and three horses whose Breeders Cup chances are not quite as strong as they were a week or two ago.For this weeks edition, the two major races were restricted to 3-year-olds and thats where the results took us for each of the names below. I think we can say at least one sophomore emerged as a probable favorite for a race on the Breeders Cup World Championships card, while quite a few other 3-year-olds came up empty.Heating up1. Songbird Originally, I planned to make Songbird an honorable mention. She was already the dominant leader of the 3-year-old filly division and one of the clear favorites for the Longines Breeders Cup Distaff, so she had no room to move up significantly. But ultimately, Songbird is without question the most likely Breeders Cup winner to come out of the racing action last weekend. In the Grade 1 Cotillion Stakes, she defeated a couple of highly regarded opponents in Carina Mia and Longines Kentucky Oaks winner Cathryn Sophia and also recorded a new career-top 122 Equibase Speed Figure, a 10-point jump from her previous career best earned while winning the 2015 14 Hands Winery Breeders Cup Juvenile Fillies. Sure, three-time champion Beholder would present Songbird her toughest challenge to date in the Distaff, but this is an absolute superstar at the pinnacle of her game.2. Connect While many of the other elite 3-year-olds are heading in the wrong direction, lightly raced Connect just seems to be finding his best stride. He had won three of his first four starts, including a stakes win at Saratoga Race Course, before a troubled sixth-place finish in the Travers Stakes. But Connect bounced back in a big way on Sept. 24 in the Grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby, outfinishing Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands and Travers Stakes third-place finisher Gun Runner and beating both Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist and Preakness Stakes victor Exaggerator. By two-time Horse of the Year Curlin, Connect seems to be improving as his 3-year-old season progresses, much like his sire did in 2007, and he earned a new career-best 108 Equibase Speed Figure for the Pennsylvania Derby victory. Connect has consistently been fast since his debut and, while hell face a tall task in the Breeders Cup Classic, he is in terrific form.3. Noholdingback Bear Before a third-place finish in August at Saratoga Race Course in the Grade 1 Ketel One Kings Bishop Stakes, Noholdingback Bears best races had come on synthetic surfaces. But after pairing a strong Kings Bishop with a 1-1/4-length win in the Grade 3 Gallant Bob Stakes on Sept. 24, this Put It Back colt looks like a legit threat for the Twinspires.com Breeders Cup Sprint. Three-year-olds historically can compete with older runners in the Sprint -- Runhappy last year and Trinniberg in 2012 won the race at 3 -- and, while there are some talented Sprint contenders, there are no true standouts. With 111 and 113 Equibase Speed Figures in his last two starts, Noholdingback Bear could pack a nice surprise on Breeders Cup Saturday.ddddddddddddHonorable MentionTexas Chrome It was a tough call for the third spot between Noholdingback Bear and Texas Chrome, but I felt like Texas Chrome certainly warranted a mention after winning the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby for his third straight victory. Looking back even further, hes actually been strong all year. Texas Chrome has not finished worse than third in seven races this season and has four stakes wins. Hes recorded Equibase Speed Figures between 101 and 106 (the career-top he earned Saturday) in his last five races, so hes also very consistent. He reportedly will target the Breeders Cup Las Vegas Dirt Mile, a race in which he figures to fit well. Sure, Runhappy would be a heavy favorite should he make the Dirt Mile, but he has not yet raced once in 2015. Take Runhappy out of the mix, and the Dirt Mile is wide open.Cooling down1. Exaggerator Its easy to forgive one bad performance, but back-to-back duds indicate to me that Exaggerator has either gone off form or hit a wall this season. One race after he finished 11th, beaten by 33 lengths, in the Travers Stakes, Exaggerator never fired in the Pennsylvania Derby and ran a nonthreatening seventh. Beaten by 12 lengths by Connect on Saturday, this is not the same horse who won the Preakness Stakes in May during a stretch of 10 straight races in which he either won or finished within three lengths of the winner. Theres no doubt Exaggerator is a gifted racehorse. Lets hope trainer Keith Desormeaux can find the key to get him back to his best.2. Cupid Hall of Famer Bob Baffert is as good as any trainer in bringing a 3-year-old back after the Triple Crown trail for a great second half of the season. After Cupid won the Grade 2 Indiana Derby, I had great confidence he was poised for a huge second half. His four-length runaway in the Grade 2 West Virginia Derby reinforced that confidence, but in the Pennsylvania Derby he came up empty when eighth, beaten by more than 14 lengths. It feels like Cupid is just a cut below the best of his division. Hes a very nice racehorse, no doubt, but at this point it would be tough to see him being competitive in the Breeders Cup World Championships when hes struggled against the best of his generation in the 3-year-old division.3. Nyquist Seeing a trend here? The romance is over for this years class of 3-year-olds. Nyquist didnt run a terrible race in the Pennsylvania Derby, but he wasnt the gutsy, powerhouse racehorse who opened his career with eight straight wins, capped by a clear win in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands. Hes now lost three straight starts and, even though he hasnt been beaten by more than five lengths in any of his defeats, he doesnt resemble the beast who took Mohaymens lunch money at the top of the Florida Derby stretch. Nyquist reportedly came out of the Pennsylvania Derby in good order, and trainer Doug ONeill and owner Paul Reddam will meet to discuss whats next for the 2015 champion 2-year-old male.For more stories like this check out Americas Best Racing. ' ' '