Demetria Washington Davis will be forever remembered as one of the most decorated track and field athletes in Cumberland County history.
At the 1998 North Carolina High School Athletic Association state indoor track meet, Davis won the 55, 300 and 500 meter dashes, scoring enough points by herself to earn the Terry Sanford team second place in the meet.

Unfortunately, because she was the only Bulldog entry in the event, she wasn’t allowed to take home the prize for second since she didn’t officially constitute a team.

Washington also won the NCHSAA outdoor 400 meter title twice, along with single titles in the 100 and 200 meters.

She continued her brilliance in college at the University of South Carolina, where she made school history by earning NCAA All-American honors 21 times and capturing six NCAA national titles.

She was the 2002 National Indoor Athlete of the Year, and in 2003 won a gold medal running in the 4x400 meter relay in the World Championships.

Now Davis has decided to share some of her motivational tips and advice to people of all levels of fitness who want to improve themselves both physically and emotionally.

Davis recently published her first book, "Parallel Fitness: A Champion’s Mindset." It can be purchased on amazon.com or at Washington’s website, getparallelfit.com. Davis will autograph any book purchased directly from her website.

“I’ve known for a few years I wanted to write a book,’’ Davis said. Ironically, this wasn’t the book she had in mind.

Davis leads a busy life and has many interests, from her involvement with fitness to cooking to being a mother and to being a pastor.
She was looking to the future to put together a work that would deal with some of those areas, but instead she found herself straying from consistent workouts and not staying in the kind of shape she enjoyed when she was in competition.

Although friends told her she was in great shape, it wasn’t where Davis wanted to be. So she went on Facebook and began posting regular motivational themes to inspire her to do better.

Those same friends told her she could put together a book using the assorted themes she had shared on Facebook. After looking back from last November until the present, she realized they had a point.

Davis stressed the book is a good motivational tool for anyone, and it doesn’t deal strictly with physical activity. “It’s motivation for so many different areas of your life,’’ she said.

The book is laid out for a 21-day period, and Davis uses a play on words for each day to get her point across about what the motivational focus for that day is.

She recently held a signing for the book that was largely attended by friends and family. She compared the emotions she felt the day of the event to how she used to feel preparing to run a race.

“The most enjoyable part was seeing my family and friends there,’’ Davis said. “They really came out and were so excited.’’
Davis is hopeful her second book will be coming out in August or September of this year. She said it will deal with specific workout strategies, nutrition and some of her recipes.