My name is April Rebecca West and I have been a member of the Stroller Strong Moms in Columbus, GA for almost 5 months. It has not been long as most, but I am so grateful that Nicky Neveau and Jamie Franco led me to the program and this great group of girls because this program is AWESOME and it truly WORKS!
A little bit about me: I was born and raised in Rainbow City, Alabama. Growing up I took 10 years of dance, played soft ball, and was trying out for my high-school track team when a hit-and-run accident derailed all of that. I was told that I was lucky to keep my leg, but having a surgically-emplaced steel rod in my leg crushed my dreams of ever making the track team. Being on crutches for two years also slowed me down a bit but, I survived, and eventually lost my nickname of "CRUTCH". During college I tried to stay active but..... I remained more of a casual walker. After finishing my degree in Elementary Education, I began teaching Kindergarten and tried to keep up with their high-intensity levels. Kindergarten proved to be my favorite age group to teach because they are so wild and active but you can literally witness all of their accomplishments from the beginning of the school year until the end. While teaching school and trying to keep up with my husbands active life-style in the military, I tried to get back to challenging myself physically. I began with aerobics, yoga, cross-training, swimming and doing a lot of run/walk races. Over the last couple of years I have ran 5K's and 10K's wherever we are stationed and hope to complete many more when we get to Washington state (we are about to PCS to Ft. Lewis, WA).
Larry and I also have a sweet little girl named Lily who is 14 months old; she has also loved attending SSM and has had a wonderful time with the other SSM babies! Hopefully, our love of the outdoors and physical fitness will inspire Lily.
Our upcoming PCS will be bittersweet for me because this means that I will be leaving a great group of girls who have motivated me to push myself and to try to get better every time I am around them. This move wasn't surprising as we knew our time in Columbus was short; my husband was only here to attend a course at Ft. Benning from August thru January. But, I never anticipated finding a program like Stroller Strong Moms or meeting such friendly people. Thank you all, Lily and I will miss all of you.
Keep on S.L.A.M.ing!!!
All Smiles,
April R. West
