APRIL 2024
This month’s spotlight is on the incredibly consistent, always positive and friendly, hard working gymnast of a member Karen Peach!
Karen started her Fit2Live journey in June of 2022.
In her one and a half years at Fit2Live she has kicked some serious fitness butt.
She is the definition of consistency; rarely is there a week where she isn’t in the 6am class 4-5 times.
She has an impressive 11 month committed club streak (20+ classes in a month) and is solidly in the 250 class club and is getting very close to the 500 class club!
On top of her consistency she has used her functional fitness to keep up and stay active with her 3 kids, ran a marathon, and participated in 2 Fall Brawl Competitions at Fit2Live.
You’ll never hear her complain, she takes each workout in stride and has some fun doing it, all while supporting her fellow F2L’ers.
For these reasons and many more, Karen has been chosen as our member of the month for April of 2024!
Tell us a little about yourself, where you’re from, what you do outside of Fit2Live, family, hobbies, etc.
I grew up in Michigan but lived in many places after graduating high school. Each of my 3 kids were born in a different state! We’ve lived in Ann Arbor for 12 years now. Outside of Fit2Live and my job as a cost engineer for renewable energy projects, I enjoy a plethora of activities: running, walking, skiing, kayaking, cooking new recipes, playing games of any sort! I do have a restful side as well, and capture those moments by reading and doing puzzles.
When and why did you get started at Fit2Live?
I had been wanting to join a CrossFit gym for a very long time, but as a single mom of 3, it wasn’t feasible for many reasons. I finally went to a trial class in December 2021, and in July 2022, the time was finally right for me to join. I can’t tell you how excited I was to finally join and quickly discovered it was even better than I imagined it would be!
What is your favorite part of Fit2Live, what keeps you coming back and your favorite memory at Fit2Live so far?
What don’t I love (okay, wall balls and bike cals)? But really, the community is one of my favorite parts of Fit2Live, but also it’s great to not have to think about planning out my work out and know I’ll be challenged to do movements I wouldn’t normally do on my own.
You are a regular with the 6am crew. Why do you choose to wake up before the sun rises? Have you always been an early riser? What keeps you coming back to the 6am crew?
I am a morning person and have always worked out in the morning. Even as a kid, I would wake up and do Mousercize at 5:30am (that was the Mickey Mouse exercise show). But if my morning get-up-and-go tendency wasn’t enough to keep me coming back, the breakfast club crew really sweetens the deal!
You’re a busy super mom of 3. Give us a parenting hack and a sentence of parenting wisdom from over the years.
My hack? Stop folding underwear (or whatever feels necessary but ultimately really isn’t). My parenting advice in one sentence: parent with the long view in mind. What is happening in this present moment will not feel the same 10 years from now—what do you want your kids to remember about the way you parented them in this moment?
You knocked out a marathon last April. Tell us about the race, how did it go? How did training at Fit2Live help you through marathon training and the race day? Any plans for another marathon?
I finished! Running a marathon was a bucket list item. I wasn’t really aiming for a time, I just wanted to make it to the end. I don’t know if I would have been able to accomplish it without the continued training at Fit2Live, which helped keep my body strong and built up muscles to support the aching parts of my body. I actually only ended running 2-3 times a week because Fit2Live was providing such a great cross training, keeping away any running overuse injury. I didn’t even hit “the wall” during the marathon! No plans for another — half marathons are much more enjoyable!
If you could travel to any place in the world tomorrow, where would you go and why?
African safari or Greek island hopping are my two biggest travel dreams.
If you could make the workout “Karen”, what would it look like (movements, repetitions, etc)?
AMRAP 15 of:
-16 box jumps
-8 hang power cleans
-4 strict toes to bar
-2 inverted burpees
-1 rope climb
Favorites!
I’m a middle child and I like everything and have no favorites
Movie:
TV show:
Song:
Book:
Quote:
What daily habit has changed your life for the better?
Drinking. Drinking water, that is (though wine is pretty great too). And I cut back to only one cup of coffee per day. Being hydrated and not overly caffeinated changes so much of how we function and feel.
What future fitness goal are you currently working towards?
I have been getting myself prepped for Chellsie Memmel’s adult gymnastics camp at the beginning of June! I’m so excited and I have goals for each event. I have been working some small skills during open gym in preparation. We’ll see what this 45-year-old body can still manage to do (without injuring myself of course).
THANKS FOR BEING AWESOME KAREN! KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK AT FIT2LIVE!
NEXT UP: MATT INNES- MEMBER OF THE MONTH FOR MARCH 2024!
