Fitness

It Started With A Corn Muffin

Tracy Byrne

It was Spring 2005, a few months after my husband Ed and I, along with our 3 young children aged 4,3,  and 8 months had moved to Hingham, a beautiful town on the South Shore in Massachusetts.  We had taken the decision to move, when Ed was offered a great work opportunity in Boston.  It seemed like a great place to spend a couple of years and there was the added bonus that my older brother lived close by.  On paper it was an easy choice, the chance to expand our horizons and to experience a different way of life in a new place.  The reality in the first 6 months was not quite what I was anticipating.  For a start, Ed ended up traveling home on multiple occasions during that time-period.  Secondly and even more impactful, was the fact that because we had moved in the middle of the school year, neither of the older two kids could get a place in a nursery.  They were both used to going to their respective little schools each morning and really missed the routine and their friends.  The days were very long, there are only so many times you can visit the playground and library and I felt pretty overwhelmed.  

Luckily, a kind neighbour organised a welcome coffee morning (something the Americans are absolutely fantastic at!) and at that, I met another lady who told me about a leisure centre not too far away that offered free babysitting for an hour each day.  I was sold!  The next day I headed over, joined on the spot and booked the kids in for an hour.  I wandered around the gym floor for half an hour attempting to muster up the enthusiasm to actually do some exercise.  Then I had a very quick shower, went into the on-site café and ordered a cup of tea and a corn muffin.  The corn muffin was huge but I enjoyed every single morsel.  It was such a treat, to be able to sit in peace and just be.  Those stolen hours of “me time” were exactly what I needed after the stress of a transatlantic move and the general day to day demands of motherhood.   The story could have ended there with me consuming more calories than I was burning during my workouts but thankfully there was a twist in the tale.

The same lady who had told me about the Weymouth Club, approached me some weeks later to ask me if I wanted to use up the last 3 of her 10 pack of Personal Training (PT) sessions.  She was running the Boston Marathon and wanted to taper off her training as the race date approached.  My answer was a swift “No, thank you!”.  Fortunately, she wasn’t prepared to take no for an answer and a week later I found myself walking in the door of the gym for what was to be a life changing PT session with a trainer called Barry Bourassa and another client of his called Mel.   How I got through that initial session, I will never know.  It was sheer willpower and an indomitable desire not to give up or lose face.  The next few days were excruciating, as I literally cried walking up and down the stairs – the DOMS was real!  On some other level though I was hooked and I went back for more, 8 years more, week in week out.  Those sessions changed my entire outlook on training and I became focused on the importance of resistance training and muscular endurance.   I also made two lifelong friends.

When we moved back home, I met another trainer called Anthony Doyle who suggested that I should become a personal trainer myself.  With his encouragement and the support of my family, I signed up and gained First Class Honours in the University of Limerick accredited Certificate in Exercise & Health Fitness through the NCEF.  This gave me the confidence to set up my own health & fitness business Burnzone, which I have built up over the last 6 years.  My mission is to spread the word about the overwhelming benefits of training for all women but most especially those of us who are always focusing on our families, friends, work etc.  You will never regret starting, even if it does require sampling a few corn muffins along the way!

Tracy Byrne
Fitness
It Started With A Corn Muffin
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