Kari and I before the 40degree and raining Get in Gear run this year.
Those of you who know me know that I’ve been quite dedicated to working out, especially the past year and a half. That’s when I began running, taking boot camp class at the YWCA, and setting fitness goals for myself. That’s when I started feeling confident in my body again. That’s when my transformation into an athlete really began. That’s also when I formed an extremely important partnership with Kari Kelly.
We decided to be teammates in a fitness competition at the Y, the Meltdown. For 6 weeks we earned points for working out, tracking our food, taking part in clinics on topics like nutrition or stress management, and also for pounds of fat lost and muscle gained. That was great and all, but the most awesome part of that Meltdown was that we got a free session of a small group training class and we were fortuitous enough to choose Boot Camp, 6pm Wednesday, downtown, with Tim Pearson (I’ll be blogging about that community in my next post…man, we’re lucky!). The rest, as they say, is history. An exciting, proud, obstacle overcoming, still kicking ass and taking names history!
Let’s rewind a little bit though…I’ve got to tell you all about my most awesome and inspiring workout buddy. I first met Kari in 2006 when I cast her in Tallgrass Gothic, a show I directed for Emigrant Theater, the company I ran from 2004-2009. She was a solid collaborator, very funny, and a joy to work with. Hell, she even learned how to swallow a sword for the show (you’ll have to ask her how she did it…I’m not telling!)! We had a great time working on that show and to date it’s one of the Emigrant projects of which I’m most fond. But as shows come and go, so goes the time spent with people in the shows.
A few months later I was looking for a new apartment, and Kari mentioned that there was an opening in her building. I checked it out, it seemed like a good fit, and I moved in and spent the next two years living two doors down. For some odd reason, we only hung out a handful of times over those two years. Weird. Flash forward to 2011. Kari and I keep running into each other at Zumba class and decide to team up for the aforementioned Meltdown challenge. We didn’t win anything, but in those 6 weeks we got hooked on bootcamp and formed a partnership that to this day keeps growing stronger.
I ran my first 5k with Kari, I did my first bear crawling up ramps and across fields with Kari, and I really began to uncover my inner athlete with Kari. She’s the person I text when I don’t feel like working out, when I’m frustrated with the scale not moving (or moving in a direction I don’t want it to!), when my knee is bothering me and I feel guilty about taking a day off. Our partnership is so strong that I trust her enough to hop on her back and have her carry me up that big ass hill by the Walker (that’s a LOT of trust for me!). It’s so strong that some of our boot camp comrades believe us to be a couple (we have yet to refute this…why ruin a good thing, right?!?). It’s so strong that we’ll get up at ungodly hours to workout just because we’ve said to each other that we will (6am workouts in midwinter…I mean really!).
Support…that’s what community is all about, right? Helping each other be the best we can be. Enhancing each other’s lives. So if you ever hear me talking about my workout buddy, that’s Kari. I’m proud to report that we ran our second Get in Gear 5k together this year, we finished 2nd in the Meltdown challenge this year, we’re enjoying our first Community Supported Agriculture share together this summer, and we’re always looking to improve our health with each other’s help. I’m so grateful for her energy, her enthusiasm, her realness, her friendship, and her unending support. I know she’ll be on the sidelines August 12th, cheering loudly and helping me be the best I can be. I’m so lucky to have her in my community. Thank you, Kari!!!!
We decided to be teammates in a fitness competition at the Y, the Meltdown. For 6 weeks we earned points for working out, tracking our food, taking part in clinics on topics like nutrition or stress management, and also for pounds of fat lost and muscle gained. That was great and all, but the most awesome part of that Meltdown was that we got a free session of a small group training class and we were fortuitous enough to choose Boot Camp, 6pm Wednesday, downtown, with Tim Pearson (I’ll be blogging about that community in my next post…man, we’re lucky!). The rest, as they say, is history. An exciting, proud, obstacle overcoming, still kicking ass and taking names history!
Let’s rewind a little bit though…I’ve got to tell you all about my most awesome and inspiring workout buddy. I first met Kari in 2006 when I cast her in Tallgrass Gothic, a show I directed for Emigrant Theater, the company I ran from 2004-2009. She was a solid collaborator, very funny, and a joy to work with. Hell, she even learned how to swallow a sword for the show (you’ll have to ask her how she did it…I’m not telling!)! We had a great time working on that show and to date it’s one of the Emigrant projects of which I’m most fond. But as shows come and go, so goes the time spent with people in the shows.
A few months later I was looking for a new apartment, and Kari mentioned that there was an opening in her building. I checked it out, it seemed like a good fit, and I moved in and spent the next two years living two doors down. For some odd reason, we only hung out a handful of times over those two years. Weird. Flash forward to 2011. Kari and I keep running into each other at Zumba class and decide to team up for the aforementioned Meltdown challenge. We didn’t win anything, but in those 6 weeks we got hooked on bootcamp and formed a partnership that to this day keeps growing stronger.
I ran my first 5k with Kari, I did my first bear crawling up ramps and across fields with Kari, and I really began to uncover my inner athlete with Kari. She’s the person I text when I don’t feel like working out, when I’m frustrated with the scale not moving (or moving in a direction I don’t want it to!), when my knee is bothering me and I feel guilty about taking a day off. Our partnership is so strong that I trust her enough to hop on her back and have her carry me up that big ass hill by the Walker (that’s a LOT of trust for me!). It’s so strong that some of our boot camp comrades believe us to be a couple (we have yet to refute this…why ruin a good thing, right?!?). It’s so strong that we’ll get up at ungodly hours to workout just because we’ve said to each other that we will (6am workouts in midwinter…I mean really!).
Support…that’s what community is all about, right? Helping each other be the best we can be. Enhancing each other’s lives. So if you ever hear me talking about my workout buddy, that’s Kari. I’m proud to report that we ran our second Get in Gear 5k together this year, we finished 2nd in the Meltdown challenge this year, we’re enjoying our first Community Supported Agriculture share together this summer, and we’re always looking to improve our health with each other’s help. I’m so grateful for her energy, her enthusiasm, her realness, her friendship, and her unending support. I know she’ll be on the sidelines August 12th, cheering loudly and helping me be the best I can be. I’m so lucky to have her in my community. Thank you, Kari!!!!