Thank you Connie! The person who started it all for me.

I wanted to let you all know who inspired me to start living a healthy lifestyle. Here is the person who started it all for me. This is my friend Connie. Without her this group wouldn’t exist. Connie and I met back in 2007 when our husbands were playing baseball together. She was in amazing shape and had just started competing in a fitness competition that was for the everyday athlete. She was telling us all about it. Knowing how similar our backgrounds were in this area she had me try it out the following spring while we were living with she and her husband in FL. About 1 month later I found out I was pregnant. A few years ago after having my son she called me up and tried to convince me to do the Tri-Fitness Competition which was only a few months away. The thought of standing on stage in a bikini was mortifying to me. I did not look like her at all. She assured me that she would help me through it and ,jokingly, said that she was going to pay for my entry fee and that it was non refundable so she was going to be mad if I didn’t do it. LOL! Well…I drove her nuts everyday as I did Insanity, started strength training, speed training and learning about how to cut out the crap and eat clean. She was my “coach”. She introduced me to clean eating magazine and taught me the basics. I even called her one night at 10 pm to ask her if I could eat a skinny cow ice cream sandwich because I was craving ice cream so hard. I was not the cleanest of eaters at the time and the lifestyle change was getting the best of me. I committed to the competition, to Connie, and to myself. If I was going to do the competition I was going to do it all the way! I was ALL IN! I put a picture of Connie in her Grace and Physique bikini on my phone’s screensaver and on my fridge so When I was feeling like making an excuse I would see it and say to myself…”I do not look like that yet…get up” or “don’t eat that” or “go work out”. She is one of my closest friends even though we live so far away. She is so supportive and always there for me. She is a wife and mother of 2 beautiful babies who are just as athletic as she is and such sweet kids. She is strong not only in body but in every aspect of her life. I look up to her in so many ways. She inspires me to be a better coach, mentor, athlete, wife, mother, woman of faith, and friend. Love You Connie! Thank You for pushing me to be the best that I can be back then and now.