A Living Invitation

As I sit down to write a blog post this morning, my mind is racing with thoughts of ZOOMA. This is an incredibly exciting time for us. Since January 1, ZOOMA has taken on a wonderful new staff member, re-launched zoomarun.com, staged a successful training kick-off for ZOOMA Austin, initiated planning for the inaugural ZOOMA Denver, and entered discussions about a future ZOOMA San Francisco. Indeed these are exciting times. Every day at work is fast-paced, with big decisions to be made and exciting news to share with friends and husbands at the end of the day.

As the founder of ZOOMA who has been working full-time on building these women’s events for almost two years, I feel lucky to have this job and grateful to all of you who have confirmed that ZOOMA is important to you, too. Every day I am motivated by my mission to create fun events for women that inspire and challenge, and that give the opportunity to have a healthy, fun, and proud day with your friends. We receive emails daily from women affirming that ZOOMA has meant that for them, and I am urged on by the idea that there are still women out there who are desperately seeking a little “ZOOMA” in their lives.

My friend Kristin Armstrong, who is a wonderful person and, lucky for us, willing to share her uncommon gift with words, said it well. At the ZOOMA Austin Training Kick-off, she spoke to us all about the importance of running in training us to endure, live our best, and be strong for ourselves and our family and friends when they need us most. This is something I believe ZOOMA has to offer women – the power to be who you most want to be. Kristin went on (and this is my favorite part)…

“I’m telling you this but guess what? – you’re already here, you already get it. What about the women who aren’t here? The ones who haven’t already opened the gift of running, who don’t already know the fun of fit friendships, who don’t even know enough to know that they need a release, a reset, or a refill? What about them? Let’s find them, seek them out, and invite them. I encourage each of us to think of five people who might need to replenish their source, who might just try something new because we tell them we believe they can. This is what’s called being a ‘living invitation’ – calling others to be more than they perceive themselves to be.”

Ahhh.

What a wonderful concept – to be a LIVING INVITATION. We’ll keep working hard to make ZOOMA events more fun and more exciting, and I’d like to challenge all of you to use ZOOMA as an opportunity to invite beginning runner/walker friends to experience the joys of running, to be better than they thought they could be, and to deepen your own fit friendships.

ZOOMA Austin Training Kick-Off

We all had a lot of fun at the ZOOMA Austin Training Kick-Off on Thursday, January 8th at Rogue Equipment in east Austin. Kristin Armstrong inspired us all with great advice about the new year, and Susan McDowell of LifeWorks encouraged us to fundraise for their awesome programs. A big group of women ran en masse to the Capital, laughing and chatting all the way. Thanks to everyone for coming! See you in April...




















Runners received freebies from ZOOMA sponsors like New Balance Love/Hate socks, a Women's Running magazine, and LUNA bars.























We all piled in to hear Kristin Armstrong's advice on the new year and Susan McDowell's inspiring words about LifeWorks, the ZOOMA Austin Official Charity Partner.

Thanks to Rogue Equipment and Rogue Training Systems for hosting, and for all of you who came out. It was great meeting many of you, and we'll see you in April!

*Email us at info@zoomarun.com with any questions about the training kick-off.

Weight Loss & Love

Yesterday, Oprah aired a show about her weight gain over the past year. Working in the fitness-and-motivation industry, I eagerly anticipated the heavily advertised confession. After seeing it last night (I DVR The Oprah Show), I realized that Oprah’s words and expressions felt very familiar. Oprah’s expression told me she felt awkward and slightly embarrassed telling the world about her failures and inadequacies.

I know how she feels. After all, who hasn’t felt pain and embarrassment about her inadequacies at some point in her life? Don’t we all wish we were better at something – more disciplined, thoughtful, patient, etc? Haven’t we all reached a point where we’ve nearly or completely fallen off the cliff to the point that drastic readjustments are required? I’m sure Oprah’s revealing words will resonate with many women as they did with me.

But to me, the most interesting part of Oprah’s show was her conclusion that it’s all about LOVE. She asks herself– What am I hungry for in life? It’s not food. Oprah is hungry for balance and love. Self-love.

I came to the conclusion years ago that no one can be happy, or make anyone else happy for that matter, if she doesn’t have unconditional love for herself. For some, that can be a controversial outlook… Women in particular are often expected to put lots of people and things above themselves, but I am a firm believer that I will never truly succeed with any relationship or job if I don’t truly love myself. That means prioritizing myself from time to time to the exclusion of others. This can come off sounding selfish, but I don't think it is. It's very easy to put everyone else's success and happiness above your own, but to me, it is not always the right answer.

There are plenty of ways to love yourself. But for me, being healthy is the ultimate way. Making fitness goals and having the discipline to stick with my workout plan. Setting aside time to buy fresh food at the grocery store and to prepare healthy meals. Scheduling a mani/pedi if I need to relax and feel pampered, and cutting out of work in time to make yoga class. Spending money to sign up for a race and working hard for months so that I can experience the high of race day. These things can very easily fall off the schedule in the face of household, work and family obligations, but I try to make "loving myself" a priority, too.

My sincere hope is that ZOOMA serves as an opportunity for women to “love” themselves. By taking the time to train for races and enjoy workouts with friends, we can prioritize our health and ultimately our happiness. I am convinced that this is the best way to lose weight, be healthy and be the best we can be – to love ourselves.

Click here if you want to watch Oprah’s confession: http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/20081030_tows_bobgreene