Page 58 - HCPVitalityChronicles

The Thrill of Crossing a Finish Line Inspires Vitality Member
ReeAnn Zamora, RN, in Her Fitness Goals

ReeAnn Zamora, RN, BSN, Care Manager, swam from Cuba to Florida at the age of
Region 1, HCP Arcadia, is decidedly not a 69: Find a way.
morning person. So what motivated her to
set her alarm for 4:52 a.m., five days a Prior to the big race, she competed in
week, for months on end? The desire to two smaller super sprints: in August, a
push herself out of her comfort zone and 200-meter swim, 9-mile bike ride and
complete something out of her comfort 3.5-mile run, and in October, a 400-
zone. meter swim, 6-mile bike ride and 1.6-
mile run. These events geared her up for
In June 2012, she decided to “get off the the Turkey Tri, and on race day, Nov. 24,
couch.” She joined the gym and started 2013, she did indeed find a way. And not
doing both cardiovascular exercise as well without the support of close friends and
as weight training. At work, she joined the family, including her friend who waited
Vitality wellness program as soon as she for her at the two-mile marker during
could, in March 2013. Her brother-in-law the run and her daughter, who met her
had done the Turkey Triathlon—a half-mile 100 feet outside the finish line.
swim, 15-mile bike ride and 4.6-mile run— ReeAnn Zamora with her medal from
in 2012. “He is not really an athlete either, the Turkey Tri, just before Thanksgiving. The intensity of the accomplishment is
and he did it, so I thought, why can’t I?” Zamora recalled. the reason for competing, Zamora said. “That’s why you
do it; it’s the carrot that gets you up in the morning.” Now
Twenty-five weeks before the 2013 Turkey Triathlon in San that the Turkey Tri is done, her new carrot is HCP/Vitality’s
Dimas, Zamora decided she needed help training. She Last One Standing competition, which goes on until Feb. 2,
joined a women’s triathlon team based in Irvine. Her com- 2014. “I was so excited when I heard about this competi-
mute from Glendora was well worth it. “I needed guidance tion; it’s my new motivation,” Zamora said. In September
on what to do,” she said. “It’s very different only running 2014 she wants to participate in a more difficult triathlon
on an elliptical or treadmill; I had to learn how to run with competition at Crystal Cove. “It would be an open ocean,
endurance.” She also had to learn to overcome her fear of where the bigger creatures are,” Zamora joked.
swimming in a lake or ocean. “I’m afraid of lagoon crea-
tures,” she joked. In addition to being inspired by her brother-in-law who did
the Turkey Tri in 2012, Zamora pointed to The Penguin
In July she started training in earnest, although she laugh- Chronicles by John Bingham as a source of inspiration. “I
ingly recalled her workout gear and equipment. She don’t look like an athlete; I’m an average-looking 49-year-
started bike training on a beach cruiser, she used a cheap old woman,” she said. “When I read his book, and he men-
pair of tennis shoes from Payless, a Wal-Mart helmet, a tioned he runs like a penguin waddling, I thought,
borrowed men’s surf suit for swimming. “I didn’t want to ‘Hallelujah!’ That’s how I run, too. You don’t have to look
let not having fancy equipment stop me,” she said, adding like an athlete. You just have to believe you can do it.”
that she was motivated by the words of Diana Nyad, who

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For more information about Vitality, visit www.powerofvitality.com. Contact Janet Galli for further program information.