For months, I have written about my personal experience of training for Ironman. You have heard a range of emotion from me...everything from confronting an eating disorder to elation at finishing my third Half Ironman. My feelings about life in the tri-lane have run the spectrum.
What I don't talk too much about here is that I AM a Certified Personal Trainer and I own half of a Fitness Boot Camp here in the Central Florida area. We are one of the oldest boot camps in the Metro Orlando area. We started almost 8 years ago with the idea of fashioning a boot camp program from Navy Seal Training Techniques minus the cold water and the yelling in your face.
I did this program one on one with my business partner for one year. He (Rick Stafford) also helped me train for my first sprint distance triathlon. Its interesting now how I look back and feel the same way I did after doing a boot camp workout. My Ironman training leaves me exhausted just as my boot camp training did. I had to take naps in the afternoon..just like I do now. I was hungry all the time but i was losing weight..just as I have started to now. I remember the difficulty I had finding a trainer back then (I was blessed to find a trainer who was a physical therapist at first but she moved out of town and on to other opportunities). It was hard to find someone who would even take the time the help me or thought I had a shot at becoming a fit person. I remember walking into a gym and having the fitness staff look at me as if I was a lost cause.
And now you know why I'm a trainer.
Today, I met with an old friend from high school and her good friend from work. They are both nurses and they work really hard taking care of other people. Now, they have decided to take care of themselves. They are starting where I did AFTER I had already lost 100lbs. They have so much drive. They possess so much heart. Their goals sound so familiar: I wanna be able to get up the stairs without feeling winded...I wanna wear a nice bathing suit. The difference now was that I was the one that was doing the helping....not needing the help.
As I helped them complete their 19 minute mile , I remembered....this was me. This is where I started (actually..my first mile took me 21 minutes). Don't laugh at them though...they have a desire to succeed...and they believe in that dream.
Sound familiar?
I got in my car after completing their paperwork and fitness assessment and I cried. I spent an hour looking at what was my mirror image. Look where I have come from. Look at the things I can do now that simply would have been impossible just a few years ago. That 21 minute mile turned into a 5k...that brought me to a 10k....then a half marathon...then a marathon...and then....well....you KNOW how I want the story to continue....
God puts people in your life to appreciate all the things you have....I am so blessed. And yes...THIS IS WHY I became a trainer. I am in the fitness business to give that plus size woman or man hope. Remind me to thank the man upstairs for this amazing experience I get to call....LIFE!!
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5 comments:
You rock! As of September 2008 when I started my own journey, I could only run 2 minutes (slowly) before I had to walk. We all have to start somewhere. I think it's awesome and I know these ladies will appreciate you for all you do for them!
And that is why I am becoming a trainer too! It feels intimidating to enter a world full of sports people, but at the end of the day it is about health and quality of life - not size..... that's what I want it to be about.
I too have had the pleasure of meeting someone who has reminded of what I have achieved - it is really awesome to help people reach their goals, but along the way I am finding that coaching helps me too.... it's a win win situation really. What more could you ask for in a job?
I think it's great what you are doing. I get more excited to see people like that strive to reach their dream than I do when I see a fit person take up a different activity. Keep up the good work.
Funny how God leads you places and it's up to you to open the door. I've been wanting for quite a long time to go back to school and study nutrition, then a year ago I began training for Danskin 2009 and in my wildest dreams, I NEVER thought I'd fall in love with fitness and endurance sports. Recently, I've been thinking that, although I still want to study Nutrition, I could begin my journey by becoming a Personal Trainer. About a week ago I stumbled across this boot camp web site about this amazing lady that wanted to be healthy and couldn't find anyone to help her and is now co-owner of this boot camp. Either this is just such a small community or God is trying to tell me something!
It is always good to look back and see how far you have come. When I do that I don't feel so bad because I've been working my butt off and even if the weight isn't dropping that is o.k.
....this post was very inspiring
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