You've Got to Start Somewhere

So I've thought about starting a blog for Grace Fitness for a while and just sharing stories about my fitness adventures, answering any questions people may have, and giving tips and knowledge on workouts and nutrition.  So here goes nothin.  I probably won't get to a blog every day so bare with me please!

~Me~
Just to give you a little background on myself...
I am original from Charlotte, NC but moved to a wonderful job opportunity to work with the military.  I have always kind of hard that hard core personality I guess you could say, since my mom always told me I would be a great DS (Drill Sgt.).  
Well every since I can remember I have been involved in sports. I was climbing the door frames with I was little and standing on my head according to my Mom.  So, when I was 4 years old she threw me into gymnastics.  I started competing when I was young and with my Type A personality I have alway been competitive.  I loved that I could keep up and even bet the guys in PE class in elementary school doing push ups and sit ups, and even my 3rd grade teacher Mr. Drye.  I will never forget out pull up contest during recess.  I was in gymnastics until I was 12 years old and competed all the way through Level 8.  I remember going to watch some of my old teammates compete a couple years back and man have the skill levels for each level changed.  They are more difficult for my old Level 8 than what they used to be.

Gymnastics with Southeastern.
I am in the back row, second from the right.

After quitting gymnastics at age 12, and taking about a year off from any sports whatsoever my mom put me in dance.  To her it just made sense because I was always dancing to everyones floor routine music when it was playing.  I started dancing at 13 and continued dancing with Steps 'N Motion until I was 18 and graduated from high school.

Trying on my recital costume.

Also, while I was 12 years old my mom begged me to try swimming.  She was a swimmer when she was younger, and also a gymnast so I was kind of following in her footsteps.  I tried swimming and ended up falling in love with it.  Swimming has turned out to be one of my therapeutic exercises these days.  I swam until I was 18 years old in summer league and also my freshman-junior year in high school. 
Post high school, dancing still stuck with me but only after I transferred to UNC Charlotte.  I spent two years at Central Piedmont Community College not knowing what I wanted to do with my life and just taking general education classes.  After sitting down with a counselor and her telling me if I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life I shouldn't be in school I finally transferred and on a whim, with my Mom's help, registered to get a BS in Exercise Science.
Post high school I attended CPCC (Central Piedmont Community College) for 2 years and then transferred to UNC Charlotte. Where I completed my BS in Exercise Science with a minor in Dance.  
UNC Charlotte is where I started my running. I wouldn't even run for my 5 minutes straight during gymnastics warm-ups!  There were 5k runs on campus twice a year and my friend Meghan joined me for my first one and we walk/jogged the whole thing.  We finished in 35min and some odd seconds that I can't remember.  From that point on I started practicing my running more.  With running on a regular basis, my next race I did was a trail race at the local church I attended and dropped 7 minutes off of my time from the race at UNC Charlotte. That completely made my day.

My very first 5k!

Well from being a swimmer and starting to run on a regular basis my neighbor talked me into doing my first triathlon.  I started training for my first triathlon my sophmore year in college.  I had never been on a bike before, besides the stationary one at the gym, so of course my bike leg of the race was horrible and I didn't realize it but when I was in the water I hit two jellyfish and my run was really slow.  But I continued doing triathlons for two more years.  In the process I had goals for running, one being completing a half marathon which didn't come until 2 years ago.  While still in school I was introduced to CrossFit by my dear friend Nicole and only after trying it 4 times she had convinced me to go get my Level 1 Certification.  I passed no problem and came to love CrossFit.  And I still love my endurance sports (swimming and running).

Checkers CrossFit Shootout
December 1, 2012

RaceFest Half Marathon (my first)
April 14, 2012

I still continue to swim, run, and CrossFit.  I still have my bike but it doesn't see the light of day half the time and has only been out of my closet for a spin around the neighborhood once this year to say the least.  

Sorry this blog was kind of long, but just wanted to let everyone know a little bit about me.