Celebrating Sushma!

Meet Sushma!

There’s nothing nearing a milestone birthday to add some urgency and motivation to our goals! For Sushma, she always wanted to run a half marathon before turning 40. Her main obstacle was the thought she had “how and where do I begin?”

When FUJIFILM FIT launched the onsite program with bodyfit and yoga classes, it seemed like a really good first step. So, with a finish line vision in mind, she jumped right into the classes and program.

Then, in early 2016, Sushma’s goal was further supported with the announcement of the Couch 2 5K program. With the encouragement and guidance of the leaders, she worked on core and strength training to supplement the outdoor training runs. This set her up with a great foundation for her moving into longer distance running in a healthy and sustainable way.

The Couch 2 5K race selected was the Mercer Island 5K in Seattle which weaved through beautiful wooded neighborhoods and included a couple challenging hills. Feeling prepared and excited, Sushma crossed her first-ever race finish line in stride without walking any sections. At that point, she knew the running bug had bit her!

Over the course of the next few years, Sushma continued to build her fitness and stamina steadily by taking yoga and bodyfit during the week and running on the weekends. At the beginning of 2018, she took the leap and signed up for the Seattle Rock and Roll Half Marathon. With a 10-mile training run under her belt she felt confident she’d be able to complete the entire 13.1 on race day. In June, she achieved her bucketlist goal to run a half marathon before her 40th birthday! The joy and sense of accomplishment she felt running through the finish line is something she still savors today.

This year she improved her half marathon time by 25 minutes at the Virgina Mason Mother’s Day race and has opened her mind to a possible full marathon in the future!

Her big takeaways from this fitness journey have been the power of eating right, exercising and losing over 20 pounds. Her dedication has inspired her family to get on board with the lifestyle as well. And, while completing the races and crossing the finish lines have been huge achievements for Sushma, she says, “it’s the beautiful journey it takes me on not the destination.”

Sushma, way to set a goal, seize the opportunities around you, and go for it! We are so inspired by your simple message to start somewhere and take the first step. That first step has lead to many many more and we will be cheering you on at your first full marathon!

Happy strides!