Let’s Start at the Beginning…

It all starts with a goal or dream…

That’s how simple it is. You come up with an idea, goal, or dream and then it is up to you to make it a reality. So here is where my tale started and where the foundation of what is now Wild Stride Strong got started!

I will be the first to admit that I used to not take that great of care of myself in my earlier years. I was not in the greatest shape, nor was I very athletic by any means. I had strength from years of growing up living the ranch life. I trained colts, loaded hay, and worked hard for a living even in my early teens. It wasn’t a bad lifestyle by any means but I definitely did not have much in the way of healthy habits. I most definitely didn’t have any healthy habits taught to me by my parents, that’s for sure. But after I started dating my now husband, I slowly started to see how my food and other habits had heavily impacted my health and amplified anything I had going on that was holding me back. Things such as being overweight and having asthmatic issues seemed to be my biggest fall backs as an excuse when it came to hikes and adventures. I was the queen of excuses back then, not going to lie about that one at all. Hiking far was never on my radar, my weight made going distance’s uncomfortable and and little did I know that my weight was also a big influencer of my asthma at that point in life. I also didn’t realize at the time that my weight was the reason my joints, mostly knee pain, existed. I tried to blame it on my many horse wrecks (definitely had a few of those in my day!) and such, but it was me being heavy that actually was the issue.

Now the transformation from the Queen of Excuses to a “Kinda Fit Chick” was not overnight by any means. It officially started on a specific adventure when I told my husband that I “wanted to hunt like him” that kicked off the very slow transformation that brought me to today. Those five words changed a LOT of things. That late season hunt meant snow, and that plus trying to keep up with him kicked my ass so thoroughly that I very nearly thought I was going to croak on the mountain that year. I was lucky to be able to move in 20 yard bursts through the snow, which were promptly followed by several minutes of trying to catch my breath and to get my legs to stop shaking. Tag soup was the result of that hunt, but a shifted mindset also came of that season.

After that I envisioned a different version of myself for future adventures and hunts. I didn’t want to be the reason I couldn’t succeed, but even with that it took a little bit to get started and to stick to trusting the process. I probably spent at least another year of “Start-Stop” with workout programs, dvd’s, etc before I finally stuck to my guns and started to see change. I was one of those peeps who would get motivated, start something, then get discouraged and stop after bout four weeks cause “I didn’t see a change”. This is where the lesson that motivation does not trump discipline comes into play. After about four or five different times that I started and stopped workout programs, I finally stuck to it. I found pure enjoyment with weightlifting with my husbands old old old weight set that only totaled up to having about 90lbs worth of weights if I remember right. I will always remember when I finally had worked up to putting all those gold weights on that little bar and had to have my husband help me get it up onto my shoulders (at that time we had no squat rack) to squat the full 90lbs for the very first time. I was so damn excited that I didn’t know what to do with myself!

The lesson there is, we all start some where! It took time to work to that weight and to be able to move it properly! But that was the beginning of the road to now! We saved up not long after that and got a little bench, squat rack, and 300lb Olympic weight set that we still have and use today. Once I got snagged on the joys of weightlifting and feeling my strength grow, I took another leap into the next realm…. competing on stage. I may have only done it once, but it was a hard road and definitely one that was different than anything else I have experience. In early 2018 I decided to self coach myself through a 25 week prep that landed me in 5th place at the Colorado NPC Cup in Women’s Novice Figure. I spent my mornings getting up at 4:30am to lift before work, which was fulltime at a veterinary hospital that worked on both large and small animals (easy days were not in my work vocabulary), and I crunch down on my calories and macros as I build and cut. I was all about that tupperware life that year, and I most definitely did not share my snacks with anyone!

During my prep, I had the strong urge to help others achieve their own fitness and health goals. This lead me to purchasing my ACE Personal Trainer course that I only recently completed. I dove head first into it in the beginning, but my career path as a Vet Tech/Nurse took the lead shortly after. I continued to work on my strength and eventually picked up on another thing I did not EVER see myself as doing for fun….. Running. By this point, I had already incorporated short runs into my cardio while prepping for my competition. But as the years rolled on I slowly got the itch for distance and run trails all the time. Now, growing up asthmatic I absolutely hated running. When I first started to try and run regularly, it legit was for only 20-30 yards at a time and then walking back. I kept working at it though and eventually built up to running a quarter mile and walking back, then went beyond that to walk/ran a mile on a regular bases. And once I did that over an extended period I started going for a little more distance sometime around 202/2021. By 2022/2023 I had build up to enjoy running 5k’s and was thinking about running a little farther. So in 2023 a few friends and myself signed up to do a virtual 10k together for my very first six mile run. I ran my three miles regularly and bumped up to four miles here and there. Late that year we all gathered on a snowy morning to hit a trail loop I found to run our full 10k distance, when we took off from the vehicles it was a whopping 17 degrees outside with a nice brisk breeze! It may have been a chilly one, but we trudged our way through the snow while using AllTrails the entire time to navigate our venture due to the snow hiding the path from us here and there. It honestly felt great to complete that first longer run, and I felt very accomplished that I did it and did not die!

That trail was enjoyable enough that I went back to run it a few more times that year, regardless of the snow! And as my last run there around Christmas 2023 lead us into 2024, the following year looked VERY different! It was maybe two weeks after my last 10k run on that loop that I found out I was pregnant with our son! It was a shocker but a wonderful surprise. I had full intentions of keeping up a solid workout routine and gentle runs throughout my pregnancy, but plans aren’t always a guarantee I learned. By the time I was about 7-8 weeks pregnant I was so nauseous all the time that it was difficult to do much. I slowly became inconsistent in my workouts, and by the time I was 17 weeks and showing a pretty good baby bump running was super-duper uncomfortable. Being a short gal, I carried my entire bump waaaaaay out front making things tough. I know that is an excuse in itself, but pregnancy was definitely a learning curve for me!! My pregnancy was smooth an uneventful thankfully, just was hard to do much and uncomfortable. But regardless we are ever grateful above all things because even though by the time I had a c-section(which was not the original plan) I was nearing 42 weeks. Our boy definitely got my stubbornness, and we had to make a choice and change directions to alter our birth plan. But it all turned out wonderful in the end and are above the moon with our happy healthy munchkin! I knew having a c-section was going to slow my recovery, but I was eager to get to work and get back to feeling like my body was my own once again. I believe we were only home a few days when I voted we go for a walk. We had been gifted an amazing BOB stroller and our carseat has an adapter to plop our munchkin right onto it safe and soundly, so my husband, mother-in-law, munchkin, and myself ventured down the drive. That pain sensation was a whole new experience to me, and different from anything else I have encountered in life. By the time we mad it to the point I had deemed the distance I wanted to achieve, my husband had taken over the stroller for me. And I significantly slowed pace after turning around to go home. But I was determined to do it with my own two feet and if I remember correctly it was around 30 minutes or so by the time we made it back, making the total distance achieve from the door and returned a whopping quarter mile.

That was an eye opener for sure…. So I took things slow, and focused mainly on my food and taking care of our little one. Which when you take a moment and look at things, food can be the hardest part of any health endeavor. And the nutritional needs after having a baby are just as important as your nutrition during pregnancy. So I made sure to stay hydrated, eat plenty of protein, and just kept doing my best. Once I was released to start working out again, the slow process of coming back began. And I will tell you now, I am no where near where I want to be yet just over a year postpartum. But that being said, it does not mean that I didn’t make any positive progress. I have continued to work on keeping my nutrition on point the best I can, I workout when I can, and I try to walk or run as much as I can. Is it super consistent yet? Nope. I’m I slowly getting there? Yup. I am presently 36lbs down from my weight when I checked it one week after my c-section. I am actually at a lower over all body weight than I was when I found out I was pregnant. But my strength isnt back to where it was quiet yet, it will get there though!! I was determined (and I still am) to keep doing my best to take care of myself, because its not just me relying on myself anymore. I need to be strong and healthy for my boy and family. Because if you can not take care of yourself, you can not say you are doing your best for them. The choice is to LIVE for your children and family, so take some time to work on yourself and focus on your health!!

Well I hope this gives you a quick little peak into how I started my venture to become the healthiest version of myself, and the road is far from over. Be each and every day is a blessing and a chance to make a choice. Don’t forget get that even the smallest consecutive victories can add up to a big win!