Suzy and I have always been inspired by “real” women and how they manage to stay fit while juggling busy careers and families. By “real” women I mean the not so rich and famous gals. As we all know, celebrities  have a definite advantage when it comes to staying in shape, because a live - in nanny, personal chef, trainer and in-home gym take a lot of the work and time commitment out of the struggle to maintain good health.

This is not to diminish the hard work, commitment and sweat that is still required to have the body Madonna does,  just that it’s more impressive to us here at *f.a.t. headquarters when women with “real” schedules are able to do it without a lot of those things; and many having full time day jobs on top of it!

 One of our main goals is to help women learn from, and be inspired by each other by seeing how other *f.a.t.tys (Fit After Thirty hottys) have accomplished fitness goals, lost weight, overcome health obstacles, or challenged themselves physically. We’ve been asking for your stories, and you’ve responded! We’re enjoying reading about what motivates you and how you make fitness  and healthy living an important part of your life. So keep the stories coming, and if yours is selected to be showcased on our site in the month of November, we will send you a Kashi “Healthy Snack” gift bag. 

Today’s Inspirational *f.a.t. friend is Heather Noonan, of San Diego, California. Her story:

My name is Heather Noonan. I am a 36  year old mom of two great kids. When I read your post a couple weeks ago about couples who “play together stay together”, it reminded me of me and my husband. We are both runners, and I can tell you that it makes the commitment to a healthy lifestyle that much easier when the person you are with, “gets it”. I’m a busy mom with a full time job, so without his support to help me fit in my exercise time, it would be very difficult.

Running has always been a part of my life. I credit my dad for introducing me to it, because he was always a big runner. One day he bet me $5 I could not run 3 miles, but I did it. I took my money and probably bought junk food with it, but at least the bet taught me how far a little determination goes in  tackling a challenge. And it also taught me that I liked the feeling that running gave me. So I  decided to join cross country later on.

My mom was also very active and she still is, to this day. She even came in second in her age group in the Hilton Head turkey trot!!! I say all of this to express what a great influence parents can have on a child’s attitude toward fitness. When I’m feeling unmotivated all I have to do is look at my mom  and I think, if she’s out there doing it at her age, I have no excuse to get lazy. Watching my mom also shows me that if I stick with it, and maintain this lifestyle over the next thirty years, I will probably remain as healthy and energetic on the inside as she has. And hopefully, my kids will do the same by watching me.

I took my running to the next level about 12 years ago after watching my friend run the Houston Marathon. That same level of determination kicked in that allowed me to win the bet against my dad when I was a kid. I decided I would run a marathon too. I have now run in a total of 9 marathons! The 10th is scheduled for April. I am on my way to Boston after qualifying in NYC last year with a time of 3:37.

I have always been inspired by other runners. Believe it or not, I ran my first marathon with a 60-year-old friend. I want your readers to think that if a sixty year old can run a marathon what might she be able to accomplish? My sixty year old friend never let me give up during that race, and ever since then I have tried to remember how important it is for me to do the same for others who are up against a fitness challenge. 

One that I hear a lot of moms talk about is the struggle to juggle a full time job, family, and exercise routine. Those concerns are not lost on me, because I too, work a full time job along with my duties as a mom. The schedule does not make it easy to fit in my runs, however, I’ve found a way to combine it with my social time with friends. I kill two birds with one stone for my “girl time” just as your article on co-ed sports had mentioned that single people should do with their dating activities.  I call it my “healthy happy hour” even though it’s a happy hour at the other end of the day than most people’s happy hour, because I run in the morning.  

I chat with my friends as we jog and before we know it, the time has flown by. We’ve charged ourselves up before we’ve even started dealing with the stress of the day, and believe me, it sure helps!