 Ten at junior grade Laura root a member of the Navy's cycling and sharpshooting teams at the 2013 warrior games was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy in December 2011 muscular dystrophy is a progressive disorder that involves muscle weakness and loss of muscle tissue Having a muscle illness is a little bit different from other injuries or illnesses so you want to find a balance between Staying strong, but you don't want to overdo it because that's where the damage comes in for root One of the most challenging parts of competition is knowing and staying within her physical limitations A lot of it is mental training, you know get out there and don't get psyched out You have you've got your teammates in cycling you have your strategy And you're there to support each other and have a good time Root admits that the psychological aspects of being diagnosed with an illness or sustaining an injury can be extremely challenging There are days that all of us face that are good and bad and at the beginning you're trying to cope with something that does completely change your life and then You keep living your life. You can't go backwards. You can only go forwards and to have the support of a team and all of these people who are Exposing you to incredible things that you would have never encountered otherwise. I mean there are a lot of positive Things that actually came out of an illness or an injury I mean if anyone had told me that I would join the Navy and come to the Olympic Training Center and Colorado Springs to do this I would have thought that they were crazy Knowing her limitations in embracing her positive outcome life led route to the gold medal in the 10 meter prone air rifle competition And to an eighth place finish in the women's 10k upright open bike race from the defense media activity I'm petty officer Joshua Shepard