It’s never too late to redefine yourself. I spend the first 35 years doing what was easy and fun, but not taking care of myself. Now that I am in my mid-40s, I have finally found a balance of healthy that is still fun, but I am stronger and feel better than ever.

I accidentally became a runner in my mid 30s. A friend of mine put out a post in social media about meeting up for a run on Wednesday evenings at a local park. I couldn’t come up with a good excuse… so I started meeting her on Wednesdays for a few miles of walking and running. She signed up up for a 5k, and I hated every minute of it! Then, she signed us up for a second 5k (and I was so confused, I thought doing a 5k was a bucket list item, like skydiving, you do it once and check it off the list!). So I ran a 2nd 5k, and STILL hated every second of it….. but when I crossed the finish line I had dropped over 3 minutes from my last time! And…. I wasn’t out of breath like the first one. I was HOOKED! The next thing you know, I am running my first 10k, and then half marathon with my friend. (She was so persistent!)

But, I didn’t know about nutrition and I didn’t know about how to train my body. So I kept getting hurt, and not meeting the goals I should have been able to hit with my training.

For our first half marathon, my friend read we needed to carb load, so we actually ate a loaf of bread the night before our race!

I spent the first few years of running injured every year. I just assumed that was part of running in your 30s, injuries are just part of it.

But then I learned about my body, and muscles, and how important strength training and stretching were. I learned how to understand my body, and I never missed a race for injuries since.

But I still had a way to go, I had plateaued with my PR and couldn’t seem to get faster, until I sat down with a personal trainer, and he started to teach me how to eat, and fuel my muscles. It worked, and I started to get faster. My personal trainer was a man. Knowledgeable, but he didn’t really understand the differences between men and women for training. But I could start to see the differences. So I started doing research to learn more.

As I learned more, I saw how many of my friends had personal trainers, that told them what to do, but not WHY they were doing it, and how to understand their bodies. I became more convicted that we needed more women personal trainers to teach women about their bodies. My girl friends started asking me to help them with their journeys, and I really enjoyed collaborating with them.

So here we are! I made the leap to reinvent myself again. I took my hobby and decided to take all the courses and exam to become a certified personal trainer through ACE, and then focused on getting my Nutrition Specialist Certificate.

My mission is to partner with women to create a healthy eating and lifestyle to maintain wellness and health.