Mady Howard isn’t ready to stop now.
The ICU nurse may have gotten knocked out of competition during the finals of “American Ninja Warrior,” but she’s psyching up to come back for more.
Her downfall? The Double Dipper—where contestants must slide down a track hanging on a metal pipe and time their release just right to grab a rope ladder—on the second of four episodes of the finals, which aired Sept. 2 on NBC.
Howard, an employee of Intermountain Healthcare’s Dixie Regional Medical Center in St. George, Utah, says the schedule was grueling. Previously she’d competed midday, but the Las Vegas finals were held late at night. She didn’t even run the course until 3:30 a.m.
“I was trying to stay awake,” Howard said, laughing. “I tried to take a nap around midnight, but that didn’t happen.”
She plans to continue training and apply for the next season, the 12th of the popular show’s run. It’s been a growth experience, she said, and it pushed her to be more outgoing on the job.
“At work, I feel like I’m walking out of my comfort box more, talking to people I normally wouldn’t approach,” she said. “I want to put myself in situations where I will keep growing.”
