Success Story
Fitness is for Any Age” and Age is Simply a State of Mind and anything is possible. Do you believe this? I sure do. I grew up in a very poor family in Nashville, TN; we never owned a car until high school, so we walked everywhere or rode the city bus. Mom worked three jobs just to make ends meet so we could eat. In order to entertain ourselves, we rode our bikes, played tetherball and shot hoops at the church parking lot. I utilized the gym at the junior high school to practice on the balance beam and uneven parallel bars, even though I never had formal training or a coach. Because I was so active, I became stronger and stronger – still the skinnest girl in school. The other kids made fun of me. We couldn't afford any school sports such as cheerleading, gymnastics, or anything except school sponosored events. I recall playing tennis on the weekends with my friends with a borrowed racket and throwing softball with my brothers in the street. I continued my quest for fitness as I grew up in spite of challenges. I have been working out for over 35 years never letting anything stand in the way of that important part of my day. It is something that I do for me. It makes me a better person, and I feel like I could set the world on fire. That is why as I approached my 50th birthday, I wanted to further challenge myself. I had a defining moment and made the decision to participate in a fitness competition. I trained for a year with a personal trainer, ate a healthy diet of non-processed foods including lots of fruits, vegetables, lean chicken and fish, and worked very hard to learn a fitness routine from an incredible choreographer who believed in me. I failed to mention while training for the competition, I also worked full time, completed my Master Degree in Organizational Management, and took care of my family and Miniature Schnauzer. You can see from my motivation that I have a lot of energy. Never allow anyone to set your limitations – believe in you! If you don’t do it now, you’ll never know. I get asked the same question all the time about competing -- “Why do you do it?” Because I can! I am living my dream; are you?
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