May/June Member of the Month

Meet Marleny

Hola a todos!

My name is Marleny Lyla Caso, I’m originally from Lima, Peru.
I started Stroller Strong moms when my baby, Lucas, was 5 months old.  Hard to believe he is now 1 year old!

 I’ve been a Stroller Strong momma since September 2013. One of my friends from Germany who was living here told me about a group of moms she always saw working out in the park.  So when we moved here in September, I decided to check it out…so glad I did! 

 

Honestly I had never been very active growing up because there is not a strong sports culture in Peru, when I was in the high school I used to play soccer and volleyball, but after a few years I had no motivation at all.  I was thinking more about my future and career.

5 years ago I moved to Germany to learn the language and to begin a new career over there. There I was destined to meet my amazing husband Shane Naniot.  He American and me a Peruvian living in Germany! Beautiful memories come back to my head…we had great adventures over there enjoying and learning more about Europe.  I used to bike a lot over there because it is a common mode of transportation.  After I met my husband we also did quite a bit of hiking.  I tried jogging a few times in Germany but found it boring.  I wasn’t too crazy about it and stopped altogether once I got pregnant in 2012. 

A few months later we moved from there to the US with a half-cooked first baby in the oven!  I gained a lot of weight while living in Columbus, GA because of the change in cultures, baby blues and different types of food (Fast food and big portions) It was hard to lose weight, so when we moved from Columbus to Richmond Hill I really wanted to try and do something different...

Thanks to my husband for being my biggest motivator! He always pushed me to try to keep running or just go out to take a walk.  He wanted to do a marathon in 2013 but unfortunately he did not because we had too much to do with the arrival of our son. Everyday that he was training for the marathon I wanted to run too but Lucas was so little at the time.  So after we moved here, I joined SSM to try to lose some of that baby weight, with the added benefit that I have since met a terrific group of friends (for me and Lucas!) and enjoy working out more than ever, especially running.  The motivation I get from this group of amazing ladies is phenomenal. After joining SSM, I went from having run hardly at all to completing several 5Ks and two 10Ks with my family.  My First 5k was in October with a slow PR 40 minutes.  After 3 months, my 5k PR was 27 min and I ran my first Savannah Bridge Run 10k  in November 2013.  I thought it was going to be too much for me but I did it! So I trained more and decided to do another 10k, the Savannah Hot Cocoa with a PR of 56 minutes.  I was proud to participate in the Get Fit Challenge 2014. I lost many pounds, became stronger, and I am totally loving my body and myself! My goal is to keep building up to a marathon. My husband and I  

were planning to run the Savannah Rock and Roll Marathon in November 2014, but since we are expecting  baby number 2  we  might have to hold off on that for now, but I’ll get there! 

I have loved being a part of these amazing ladies who push themselves to new levels and work so hard to accomplish their goals. Thank you SO much to Alexa for creating such an awesome fitness plan for both babies and mommies, and to Cassie and Kelli for the awesome workouts and MOTIVATION!  Don't forget to Sweat Like A Mom!