Welcome to another installment of Monday Motivation! I am so thrilled to introduce the gorgeous Jen today. She is a smokin' hot mom, working toward a smokin' hot body, all while running her booty off. Enjoy!
Name: Jennifer Taylor - Age: 32 - Career: High School Math Teacher
Tell us a little about yourself:
I live in Lees Summit, Missouri, which is a suburb of Kansas
City. However, I was born and raised a
farm girl. My father is a corn, soybean,
wheat and beef cattle farmer. I moved to
the “city” for my first teaching job, which is where I met my husband
Justin. We have a 16-month old daughter,
Delaney, and two yellow labs.
Who or what is your fitness inspiration?
My inspiration to take control of myself and get fit came
after having my daughter. I wanted to be
able to be an active mom and set a good, healthy example for her. I had always been very active all my life,
and was always in shape until about 4 years before I got pregnant with her. After I got married I stopped working out,
fell into my husband’s bad eating habits, and became overweight. I was 210 when I got pregnant, 228 when I had
Delaney. Currently I’m 166, with 150 my
goal by summer.
What are you doing know to stay active? How did you decide
to start running?:
Last spring I started to train for a 5K. I had run a couple before I got pregnant, and
wanted to get back into running again. I
had two girlfriends at school that trained with me after school, so it helped
to have that support. When I showed up
to run my 5K, I was taken aback by all the different kinds of people there
running the half marathon. It became a
personal challenge for me at that point to achieve that as well. That was a turning point for me. I can remember standing there in the corral
and making that decision like it was yesterday!
I started training for my first half marathon and haven’t stopped
running since. It is something I do not
only to be fit, but also to release stress.
I went from hating running to loving it.
It’s my “me” time. It has
certainly become a permanent lifestyle change for me.
Right now I’m running 4 times a week. A 4-miler, 6-miler, “fast-paced” 5K, and a
long run on the weekend. I have a half
coming up in New Orleans in February, and another here in KC in April. When I’m not “in training,” I will usually
run 2-3 times a week and try to incorporate something else. This past fall I started Insanity. Though I’ve put it on hold until I’m past the
two half marathons, I loved what it did for me.
It definitely works and I saw results.
I did order 30-Day Shred and plan to incorporate that a little as I’m
training, since it’s not quite as intense as Insanity.
Foods, meals, or snacks you recommend:
Recently I tried quinoa.
I made a pumpkin quinoa recipe for breakfast. I tried it before a 7-mile run and felt
wonderful. I highly recommend it! I also made homemade protein bars for the
first time yesterday. So easy and so yummy!
A sample menu for me:
Yesterday I had a granola bar and my coffee (a must) for
breakfast. A mid-morning banana. A fresh salad and yogurt for lunch. For dinner we had spaghetti and baked zucchini
and squash.
One fitness item you absolutely have to have:
My Ironman headphones.
They are freaking incredible. I
will never use another kind of headphones again. They
actually stick down in your ear canal a little bit and are guaranteed not to
fall out. I’m a big music lover so I
love rocking out while I run.
Your best piece of advice for someone struggling:
Though it may seem cliché, I would say just to not give
up. There are going to be bad days and
even bad weeks. Just the other day I ran
and felt absolutely terrible. But we
have to keep our eye on the prize and remember that the struggles will look
really small when we’ve finally achieved our goal. And the struggles will actually help us be
stronger in the end.
Your favorite, feel good beauty product:
I would probably have to say my tanning lotion. When I started running (and after
breast-feeding), my skin was kind of a mess and my back was really broken
out. I started tanning again recently
and it’s cleared it up completely. Oh,
and my mascara. I can’t live without
mascara either.
Outside of health and fitness, what accomplishments are you most proud of?
Well my daughter, of course. I also graduated from college with a 4.0 GPA. Then again with my masters too. I guess I’m pretty proud of that.
Thanks a ton Jen! You're pretty awesome!
If you would like to be a part of Monday Motivation, please send an email to cassie.baillie@gmail.com or message me on Facebook.
-Cassie
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