Page 99 - HCPVitalityChronicles

Vitality Wellness Champ ReeAnn Zamora, RN,

Encourages Everyone to Push Past Their Limit

Completing her Half Ironman in July 2015 seems like it was wore layers to feel the effect of
just the start of great adventures to come for ReeAnn heat.
Zamora, RN, Care Manager, HCP Costa Mesa.
“On this team, the women don’t
This year she is planning to do five half marathons (she al- look like your stereotype of an ath-
ready completed the Star Wars Half Marathon at Disney- lete,” Zamora explained. There are
land in January). For the third consecutive year, she and 60-80 women on the team, with an
her two kids (ages 25 and 26) will participate in the Hot average age of 48. “We’re all middle
Chocolate 15K in San Diego in March—at the end of the aged women with the same goal.
run, you get a bowl of chocolate in which to dip fruit. We’re not professional athletes but
we have the same passion they have
Her ultimate goal is to complete a full Ironman in 2020 in to complete a goal.”
Arizona.
The build-up for the race was in-
For now, she is plenty busy. She just started serving as Vi- tense, and Zamora wept at the fin-
tality champ in the HCP Costa Mesa office in January, after ish line. She completed the event in
transferring from Arcadia. She is soon hoping to start a 8 hours, 28 minutes. Her short-term
walking group fitness series at the office, so that she and goal is to improve her pace, to get
her colleagues can walk three times a week during lunch faster in preparation for her ulti-
or breaks. For now, she is busy encouraging teammates ReeAnn Zamora, RN, mate Ironman goal.
after completing her
who are eligible for the Vitality wellness program to com- first Half Ironman this
plete their Vitality Health Review online. past July. As someone who struggled with
weight her whole life, she revels in
Through the Vitality program, Zamora qualified for a sub- the fact that she can say she is an athlete. “When I was
sidy rebate for Weight Watchers. She lost the weight she overweight, I tried to play it off but I was embarrassed,”
wanted to about a year ago, and continues to go to the Zamora recalled. “Now I have a new respect for myself. I
meetings every month—“It keeps me accountable,” said have the confidence to do bigger and better things.”
Zamora, who had been exercising for some time but was
not losing weight. She encourages wellness and healthiness for everyone, re-
gardless of whether you can join the Vitality program. She
In 2013, she joined Tri La Vie, a triathlon team for women. brings all of the components for salad for a week to the of-
Through training with this team, she competed in Barb’s fice, where she prepares her lunches fresh every day. As a
Race Half Marathon in Sonoma County last July. The race Vitality coach, she enjoys answering people’s questions
consisted of a 1.2-mile swim, a 56-mile bike ride, and a about eating healthier, serving as a mentor. Because she
13.1-mile run. Her training for eight weeks consisted of understands the struggles of being overweight, she can
four hours a day during the week and eight hours of train- offer true help to others. The lifestyle changes she has
ing on the weekends. Because this particular race typically made in the last few years remind her of one of her fa-
takes place in hot weather, she and her fellow trainees vorite inspirational quotes: I don’t know where my limits