Dawn’s Journey to Health and Helping Others

Today I want to share the story of personal trainer Dawn Zaczkiewicz. Her story isn’t about loosing weight but it is about becoming a healthier woman and now helping others.  She is the owner and lead trainer at Achieve Fitness San Diego, a military wife and proud mother of 4.  I’m posting this story because no matter how happy you may be with your current size, you may not be as healthy or fit as you would like to be.  So many of us aren’t interested in being any smaller, but most of the time we want greater wellness.  I also think she story could inspire a few of us, especially those who are moms and/or business owners.

Here is what she shared with us:

Before I became a trainer, I worked out simply because I wanted to look good. I didn’t really care about what I ate or my fitness level. I only made sure I worked out enough not to be considered fat. One day, around my 30th birthday, I went to the track with my husband and 4 children. I tried to run and couldn’t even finish a full lap. I chalked it up to the fact that I  smoked in the past, so decided I’d try again the following week. The next week, I went back to the track with my husband and this time I was actually able to run a whole mile without stopping. It was a really slow mile but I was so happy that I did it. The following weekend I went to the track by myself and ran 3 miles without stopping. This was something I hadn’t done since I was in the 6th grade. I was so excited I called my mom from the track and told her what I had just done. She totally busted my bubble when she told me, she was running 5 miles everyday when she was my age. I took that as a challenge and said to myself, if she could do it, I can do it.

The next week, I went out and ran 5 miles without stopping. I was so excited I could do it, I started running 5 miles 3 days/week. At the time, I didn’t know anything about running and two weeks later ended up with “Runner’s Knee” because I started doing too much running too fast. Once my knee healed, I eased back into my running. I did my first 10K four months after I started running and I did it in under a 9min/mile pace. Six months within starting to run, I ran my first half marathon and finished in just under 2 hours( pic to left). To date, I’ve run 12 half marathons, and serval other running events. Besides being the first in my division a couple of times in small events, I usually rank within the top 3-10% of my division in really large events. I started off really small, stayed consistent and turned my running into something big in my life. Running made me start to pay attention to my diet and other things such as my heart rate.. I learned the better I ate the better I felt during a run. I also learned something as small as paying attention to my heart rate would help me keep track of my fitness level.

I am a military wife and the mother of four, soI know how hard it can be to workout and pay attention to your own health. In the beginning I didn’t care so much about my health. I only cared about how I looked. Then I found something I liked to do that helped me improve my health. I realized I had to maintain my health to keep doing what I liked to do.
What I like best about my success story is, not only do I love the way I look and feel, now I help others achieve their health and fitness goals too.