At 35, my doctor classified my weight as obese. I come from a family of unhealthy Americans, and I could see exactly where that road went. So I started walking.
Walking turned into running. Somewhere in there I lost 80 pounds. Running got faster. At 40, I qualified for the Boston Marathon.
Then the injuries started stacking up. Turns out marathon training doesn’t just build fitness — it’s also excellent at finding every structural weakness your body’s been quietly ignoring for years, and filing a complaint about each one. So I picked up strength training to fix what running alone couldn’t. That’s where the real work began — and where I ran into a pile of conflicting information, none of it written for a woman balancing endurance training with strength work, let alone accounting for her actual hormonal profile.
I’d spent years in IT and data analysis before any of this, so I did what any analyst does with a mess like that: researched deeper, tested what I found against my own body, and kept only what actually worked. What was already out there was mostly built for men, by men, or so narrowly focused on one aesthetic goal that it was useless for a woman who just wanted general strength work, plain explanations, and programming that accounted for what a body over 40 actually needs.
In 2023, I lost a parent to a stroke, after years of dementia — obesity was part of what got them there. Watching that unfold made the stakes of this work concrete instead of theoretical. I was exhausted from the mental work of running data sets to account for widgets, and I wanted to do something that actually mattered.
I’m NASM certified, and split my time between Featherweight Fitness — virtual and in-home personal training for women over 40 building strength from the ground up, based in Chesapeake, VA — and writing for EmpoweringAthena.com.
I still do freelance data work occasionally. Most of my time now goes to training clients and writing everything you’re reading here — and personally negotiating with my joints over what deadlifts are and are not allowed to feel like this week.
Quoted in: Bustle, US News, Eat This Not That
EmpoweringAthena gives you the framework — free workouts, nutrition guidance, and equipment picks built for exactly this stage of life. What coaching adds is someone adjusting it to your body in real time, catching problems before they become injuries, and staying in your corner on the days it’s hard — from someone who’s actually been where you are. That’s what Featherweight Fitness is for.