Im not sure what I expected from Summit. Maybe some speakers & parties & workouts. Maybe meet a few new people, make some new friends, get some scoop on new Beachbody products coming out. It was all of that. And so very much more.

Since I only became a Beachbody Coach about four and a half months ago I had only heard stories from my upline coach (Stephanie Richardson- the friend who got me into all of this) about Summit. Its a HUGE gathering once a year of all Beachbody coaches who register to go. About 10,000 coaches attended this year in Vegas. VEGAS! Beachbody knows how to put on a party…there was some serious bling. I wore heels THREE NIGHTS IN A ROW!! Ok I changed into flip flops after pictures but whatever…it still counts. Sequin dresses, standing room only parties with DJ’s and flashing lights & drinks & food & Wolfgang Pucks & SHAUN T. I got my picture taken with Tony Horton AND Autumn Calabrese (creator of the 21 Day Fix program). There were also amazing speakers. Darren Hardy who wrote “The Compound Effect” spoke and he was AMAZING! If you have not read this book go read it NOW. It’s not just a business book its a life book. Its about how small, seemingly insignificant changes over time add up to big results in the long run.

Diana Nyad also spoke. That chick swam for freaking EVA across the ocean!! And for a girl that’s rough around the edges and doesn’t really like to cry I think I went through 3 tissues during her two hour talk. What an incredibly brave, resilient, stubborn, intelligent woman she is. Her story is unbelievable. I can honestly say she’s the best speaker I’ve ever heard in my entire life. I don’t do excuses- don’t believe in them. But if I did she’d be the thorn in my side. Whatever your excuse or reason or injury or fitness level or obstacle or tragedy is there is someone who has had it WAAAAY worse and did it anyway. NEVER GIVE UP. NO EXCUSES.

Amongst the celebrities and top trainers and big time coaches who made millionaires club and elite status and grew their businesses to the n’th degree there were some real people. Those people were my favorite. The guy who lost 202 pounds by starting P90X and only being able to do a few minutes in the beginning but didn’t stop for over a year. The lady who left an abusive relationship and lost 88 pounds to get herself back. The military wife who was living paycheck to paycheck and not only lost a ton of weight but turned her familiy’s finances around. There were endless stories and THOSE people were the bomb.

The entire theme of the week was NEVER GIVE UP. Its a catchy slogan and we use it a lot. But never is a long time. And some obstacles are BIG. Sometimes the hand we are dealt aint so fair. Nothing pretty about illness or cancer or despair or depression. Nothing. But it still holds true that you are just a result of the choices you make. You are not your obstacles you are how you respond to your obstacles. We all have our “stuff” its how we CHOOSE to deal with that stuff that defines us. Curl up, give up, wave a white flag and surrender OR STAND UP, MOVE FORWARD AND FIGHT. Even the prettiest packages have “stuff”. Kick your stuff’s ass and NEVER GIVE UP!

Of all the amazing things I took away from my time in Vegas one stands out. Friendship. I have been so lucky to have so many great friends in my life. Some old, some new. And Summit was mixed with both. I got to room with my fellow high school cheerleader and my new Colorado friend. Im not sure why but I knew they’d hit it off. And they did. Susie & Amy bonded for sure. We all did. I can’t quite put into words how I feel about these girls now. I do know I’d better be nice because Im pretty sure theres an incriminating video of me in their possession 🙂 And the new friends I met there- WOW! Some of the sweetest, nicest, kindest, giving people Ive ever met. Its weird what 4 days crammed together in Vegas can do to people.

Next year’s Summit is in Nashville & IT IS ALREADY BOOKED! Seriously- there’s a waiting list. 16,000 coaches have already registered! Thats how amazing it is. How amazing this company is and what they are doing to end the trend of obesity in this country. I know I cannot wait until next year. Glad I got my ticket. Glad I went this year. Glad I met some amazing people. Glad I believed in ME enough to give this thing a shot. VERY glad!

I’m headed to Vegas tomorrow. I’ve been there once before with my husband. To be honest it’s not really my cup of tea. I don’t really understand gambling, I hate smoke, I can’t stay up past 10pm anymore and my previous stay at Planet Hollywood gave us an optimal view of the pool…which was packed full of 20 year olds who had been seriously over blessed physically and were wearing strings. Literally. Strings. Awesome for this 40 year old to stare at. Great for the self esteem 😁.

So if I had to pick anywhere to vacation I’d go tropical, exotic, very few people, lush, no kids. But this isn’t really vacation. It’s work. No really. Well sort of. Beachbody Coach Summit. A once a year gathering of coaches to attend conferences, seminars, workouts & “work.” Whatever…there’s no kids…it could be held in Billings, Montana for all I care.

I’m sharing a room with two other girls/friends/coaches. For some weird reason it reminds me of cheer camp from highschool. We’d cram into the dorm rooms at SMU for a week, get up at the crack of dawn, do cheer clinics, practice, compete then go to bed after midnight. We had so much fun. My senior year a few of us even crammed 33 grapes into our mouths on a dare. Guess that proves a few of us have big mouths…not surprising. We gave ourselves the nickname “33 Grape Posse”. We were cool. No really.

I am so excited that this company and this opportunity has come to me. How crazy cool is it to love what you do and get paid for it. And once a year your company throws a massive 4 day party in Vegas for its employees. And perhaps one of the reasons I’m reminded of cheer camp is that one of the friends that’s going to Vegas was AT cheer camp with me 23 years ago!!! We might be older now but I guarantee some fun will be had. Nothing like a bunch of girls and their clothes, shoes, hair dryers, curling irons and makeup all crammed into one room. I cherish the memories from cheer camp. And I’m pretty pumped to make some new memories with my closest 10,000 friends and co workers. Here’s to adult cheer camp in VEGAS! Wow….that kind of sounds like the plot to a porno. Ya that’s not happening!

When I started driving in 1988 there was such a sense of freedom in it. I could go wherever I wanted to go and whenever I wanted to go there. Getting your drivers license is like a license into adulthood. There is no greater freedom than being able to drive yourself somewhere and not rely on anyone to get you there. I no longer needed my parents- I COULD GET MYSELF PLACES! And along with my freedom to drive came my freedom to listen to WHATEVER I WANTED TO ON THE RADIO.

I’ve written quite a bit about music and how much it influenced me. My Dad actually had great taste in music (sorry Mom- Michael Martin Murphy just wasn’t my thing). HOWEVER…my free living, outgoing, rock-listening-to Dad thought one genre was ridiculous. RAP. And he wasn’t alone. Out of one side of his mouth he’d talk about how the older folks didn’t approve of the long-haired hippie Beatles when he was growing up and how old people just didn’t understand rock. The other side of his mouth hypocritically said “rap is dumb and won’t last”. Eventually my Dad came to appreciate that most rap was just poetry set to beats and that it had meaning…though he never liked it thats for sure.

I don’t really know why this white girl from the suburbs was drawn to rap music. Maybe it was the beat. Maybe it was the poetry, the stories being told, the hardships of kids forced onto the streets with little supervision at a young age that was so foreign to me. I could not relate in any way to these storytellers. I was pretty safe in my neighborhood-watched suburb. I could not have been further from the lifestyle most of these rappers lived. Maybe it was just intrigue- who knows. But I liked it! I bought every tape I could. I had a cassette/tape player in my car and turned up Luke Skywalker, Public Enemy, Slick Rick and Ice T as loud as I could get it. And I didn’t like soft rap. There was no Will Smith goin’ on. Nope. Hard core gangsta for this little white girl. Too funny. One of my favorites was a song called “Life Is Too Short” by a rapper named Too Short. I played it so much and so loud that my friends called it my theme song. It stuck. I mean the double meanings are endless. Im only 5 feet tall so there’s that. And I do believe in living life to it’s fullest…life is too short.

I’ve even named my fitness page on Facebook “Too Short Fitness”. There was a point to this post- Im getting there :). Recently I was reading a success story from a girl who used a Beachbody workout program called Insanity to help her get fit. She incorporated it into her running schedule along with an eating plan and it drastically changed her body. I read a lot of these stories- great stuff. But it wasn’t her story that caught my eye it was one of the commenters. I guess he was what you’d call a hater. He said that buying workout programs was a total waste of money and if people would just exercise and eat right they could lose weight/get healthy for free. He even accused her of doctoring her before and after photographs. A few more comments about how Shakeology was nothing but an expensive gimmick and I was mad. Not sure why. I don’t know this guy. But I stopped to think….I have to stop and think…cannot move and think because Im old and have kids and cannot multi task super well. Whatever. I stopped to think. He’s partly right. If people just exercised and ate right they could get healthy for free. But they don’t. Most people don’t anyway. Some do. And there are a bazillion different shakes and workout programs and supplements and weigh-in programs and gym classes and on and on and on. Maybe some people have the discipline to stick to an eating plan and workout all on their own. I don’t. And thats ok.

Every single person on Earth is different. What works for some may not work for others. I cannot run. Dont want to run. Look like an idiot when I run. Running- not my thing. But I know some amazing runners with fabulous legs that I am jealous of. Jerks. Running is their thing. Zumba. Lord have mercy if anyone videos me doing Zumba. I think I look like Sophia Vergara as I salsa. Honestly its more like Curly from the three stooges. Love dancing- don’t look great doing it. Spin class- These people are just plain crazy. Their legs look amazing. Im going to go ahead and put this in the running category for me. I don’t run unless someone is chasing me and I don’t peddle a bike unless its going somewhere. But running, Zumba, and spin work great for some people. And that’s their thing! And good for them. My thing is working out at home right now and hiking. Works for me. So I feel sorry for the guy who poo-poos other people’s methods of getting healthy. May he find what works for him and not belittle others.

Life is Too Short to not try new things. To stick to whats safe. To be stuck in a rut. I still Zumba. I might try spin again. I will not be running. But trying new things makes me feel happy. Makes me feel challenged and young. Different stuff works for different people. I hope each of you finds what works for you and makes you happy.

That silly little rap song still plays in my head all these years later. Funny that my Dad never liked rap but lived his life to the very mantra that “my song” talks about.

Life is too short
Too short
Life is too short

You can take back all the things you give
But ya can’t take back the days you live
Life is to some peole who’ve been on earth
Livin’ every single day for what it’s worth
I live my life just how I please
Satisfy one person I know, that’s me
Work hard for the things I achieve in life
And never rap fake when I’m on the mike
Cause if a dream is all you got, homeboy
Ya gotta turn that dream into the real McCoy
Not time to waste, just get on that case
Ya can’t be down ’cause ya need to taste
A good life livin’ like a king on a throne
Gettin’ everything ya want and tryin’ to have all your own
So life
Don’t be stupid though
Cause when ya waste it, you’ll know

Life Is
Life Is
All right, that’s it
~ Too Short, 1988