An amazing woman's strength to keep running

About a year and a half ago I met Kathy at Planet Fitness. 
She wanted some help staying active as she just could not find the motivation or time to do it herself. 
I met with her only once before we had to part ways due to some medical issues she had to take care of. 
About 5 months later I never thought I'd hear from her again, but I did! She called, and asked if we could still meet to get her active. 
I was more than happy to hear from her! 
We would do the common things; core stability, balance, some weight training... but the more I talked to Kathy the deeper into her athletic background I learned.

Kathy has always been a runner- I think she could even run laps around me at her peak. She doesn't just run because she loves to push herself- there has always been an even deeper, and even more humble reason for the three marathons and countless halves and triathlons she has done. 

Without giving away too much of her personal life, there has been some extremely devastating events happen while she was training- and one would think that she would just give up, do the next marathon to come around but no-it only pushed Kathy to train harder and do her absolute best.  

Knowing this I knew I couldn't just let Kathy do bicep curls and not run again. We built up slowly; from running for 30 seconds at a time all the way to almost an hour! She would plug her headphones in and just run, occasionally take them off to she how she was doing or to see what I wanted her to do next. 

July 4 was the first 5k she had done in almost a year and it only grew the fire more! We spent all summer running and training for a 10k. 
Now I told you something would always get in the way of Kathy training. On December 30 Kathy left the gym telling me she was going ice skating. Later that night I got a phone call from her husband to let me know Kathy had shattered her left wrist and was in emergency surgery. 

Flash forward 2 months. It is now February and she has been held up for 10 weeks without being able to use her left arm, or do anything more than walk. Kathy comes back to the gym for training, completely bummed out that the endurance she had built up was gone. 
I'm not exaggerating when I tell you I have never seen this much motivation in anyone. 
Now we're training again, and on a great path. 
One month in... Kathy learns her 11 year old dog and best friend has aggressive cancer. Anyone with a pet can relate; it's the end of the world when something bad happens to them. 
Again, you'd think that she would give up and be defeated by this news. She is not. She keeps pushing. Two days a week Kathy is here running better than the time before all while taking care of her (almost cancer free dog) and working her job.

She is a true inspiration to anyone who ever thought the saying "life gets in the way of life" is true. 
We all have things happen to us- but you need to pick yourself back up and not quit. Ever.  

I'm super excited to announce Kathy will be joining our team in the Run for Charlotte 5K on April 26 as her first of many runs of the summer. 

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