Day 7 - Team Buckeye Gym and a Can-Am Gym Connection

Today was suppose to be a cross training day but I will leave that until tomorrow to go along with my three mile run.  I will be at the Buckeye Gym adding an extra set to all of the scheduled events for tomorrow. This means that like the Jeffersons, I'm moving on up.  Instead of 30 reps on the lat machine, it's now 45. Instead of 30 reps on the sitting press, it's now 45. Hey!  I think I see a pattern developing here. I'm not adding weight. I'm adding repetitions. Julie Oliver is the co-owner of the Buckeye Gym with her husband Mike in Tallmadge, Ohio. I like Julie.  I like her a lot. She's a great friend. For me she's "Gym Boss." I am accountable to her for strength and nutrition matters.  Conversations are fun and funny but that's the same as a forest hiding a wolf in a blizzard. Behind the smile and talk is a coach rooting for you but not given to providing false praise.  Julie is a 100% on my side and has always been so since the summer of 2007 when we first met. As I have drifted away, no, that's not quite accurate.  As I quit giving my best at the gym she has always believed that I would find my way back. Julie has numerous roles in her life such as wife, mother, business owner, business executive with Testa Companies, mother, grandmother, first Home Builders president in the Akron area that was a woman and also not a contractor, and she's also a professional fitness model competitor.  She just plain rocks the house. Everybody respects and admires Julie.  She started out working out at Buckeye Gym to lose weight and ended up buying the business and inspiring hundreds to embrace fitness.  Here's a couple of pictures of Julie. The first one is with me during winter.

The picture below are a couple of Julie in her corporate role.

The picture below is Julie in her successful fitness competitor role with her daughter Megan who manages Buckeye Gym and is also an extremely successful fitness competitor and model in her own right. Both advocate cardio and proper nutrition and healthy lifestyles. (I'm still a work in progress!)

Then there are all the gym regulars at 5:00 a.m. in the morning that I see who train at least five days a week and are hardcore but welcome everybody.  Two of my favorites are Chip Warner and Anne Crum who have been together for a while now.  When I first met Anne she couldn't believe I went out in the dark to run. She now runs ten miles or more with Chip at all hours of the early morning or night. If not with Chip then with Jodie Brewer. All three of them started running not knowing much about it but becoming masters of their craft.  This is a picture of Anne and Chip in the 2013 Akron Marathon.  They each ran their first marathon, and it was together the entire way. Their time was 4:23:13.  Did I mention Anne smoked and still does from time to time? I'll get to that in a minute.

Below are a couple of photos of Ken Anderson from Canada. Ken was about my size when he started his commitment to fitness about five years ago.  Along the way he beat cancer and stayed true to his goals. Ken is in his seventies and is about as inspirational as a friend can be.  Oh, Ken worked his butt off to qualify for Boston, qualified, and then was not allowed to finish due to the tragic events of the 2013 race.  And I forget to mention he qualified for the 2012 Boston Marathon but didn't make the cutoff that year because of the fungible standards. Depressed? Downhearted? Nope. His words, "I don't like it but I'll show 'em next year." Boy did he ever. His gym work was part of his road to success.

So there's my team from Buckeye Gym.  Headed by Julie who overcame her weight issues, then bought the business and is quite successful, and who has gone on to inspire many. Chip and Anne and their friend Jodie operate at a running level four years after they began that many hope to achieve sometime. Anne who fights her smoking habit and yet still performs at a high level.  Her commitment will eventually help her shake the smoking. I'm sure of it.

Then there's Ken who made a commitment to fitness and then followed through and on the way beat cancer and got screwed out of Boston kept it positive. Ken did so by going to his gym in Canada as often as he could and at times working out four hours a day which included lots gym work and miles on the roads.  If I cannot get visualization of my goals from these friends and try just a little harder each day, then obviously, I am going to need stronger glasses.

The constant whether it is in Tallmadge or in Canada is adding strength training.

I was a CEO for 34 years. I know management. The key to being successful in business is to surround yourself with good people.  These folks I know aren't good.  They're the best. They're 300 miles a part but they inspire me. Wait until you meet my running coach later on. If I was an I.P.O. (Initial Public Offering) then you should invest in my stock on me achieving my goals. I refuse to back down. My team won't let me.