I felt a little like Jerry Maguire while writing this post

To wrap up the Booties and Burpees December challenge, I wrote a "see you later" email to the participants. I felt a little like Jerry Maguire writing his manifesto while doing it. (And now I really want to watch that movie again! Maybe over the holiday weekend while we sit around in our Christmas jammies?)

Here is an excerpt from the mini manifesto I wrote for my Booties and Burpees challengers:

In 2018, I want to help more people learn to think like champions. You don't need to be an elite athlete to benefit from this mentality. In fact, this has nothing to do with actual athletic ability. Thinking like a champion is a way of life, a way of thinking and behaving that leads to success. Champions believe in themselves, support those around them, and put their hearts into whatever they choose to pursue. 

The January Challenge is called "What's Your Word?" and it's the kick off for introducing this idea to my Power of Run page and social media channels (@powerofrun on Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest).

 In that challenge, each participant will choose a word that represents what they want to do or achieve in the coming year. This word is the theme for the year and will help guide each participant's focus and direction. Of course, there's also a fitness challenge, but the WORD part involves training the mind to achieve all year long.

My word for 2018 is CHAMPION. I've thought a lot about this as I've worked with my December challengers, as I've planned for our January challenge, and while thinking about who I am and how I want to lead and influence the Power of Run community.

 Some of you fall out of this range, but the majority of the people who follow my Power of Run page and who train with me are women between the ages of 45-64. Some have grown kids, some have kids still at home, others have pets and friends who have become their extended family. We enjoy movies and live shows, dining out, travel, and the camaraderie and sisterhood we find with our running and healthy lifestyle friends. We realize life has ups and downs, but that we are strong women, who surround ourselves with other strong women, and we lift each other up and can rally together and conquer anything we set our minds to.

The words we tell ourselves matter. We spend more time in our own heads--listening to our self talk--than we do with any of our friends. That means we need to learn to be nice, to be understanding and supportive... and to stop being so harsh... when we talk to ourselves.

With all of this in mind, I kept thinking about the word CHAMPION. You are all champions, and I want to continue helping more women so that they can think, feel and train like champions. You'll see these themes come up a lot on my social media content in 2018, so continue following my Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest accounts. You can follow the links, or search @powerofrun and you'll find me. 

 Let me help you add an extraordinary chapter in the story of your life!

1) Choose your adventure. Where do you want to go? What do you want to do? Do you want to complete a first 5K? Run a first or fastest half marathon? Explore the world of triathlon? Focus on strength or speed?

2) Enroll in one of my programs. I have online programs that will walk you through the process, every step of the way. Each program includes videos, lessons, pep talks, and lots of interaction so you can connect with me (your coach) and your tribe! Don't see what you want? Let's design a custom program together!

3) Live like a champion. I will guide you as you learn to think and train like a champion. You don't need to be an elite athlete to train like one. I will show you how the average, everyday woman can transform her life and do the things she's always dreamed of. This is not about athletic skill. This is about believing in yourself, using positive self talk, supporting yourself and others and giving 100%.

Stick around, in whatever way suits you, whether it's in a challenge, with one-on-one coaching, or by tuning in to my social media channels. I want to build a tribe of strong women who think like champions, who support each other, love themselves and believe anything is possible.

If you want to watch a little Jerry Maguire, here's the "you had me at hello" scene.  I hope something in this post resonated with you, and  that maybe I had you at hello :-)