Growing up I was the kid who couldn’t run the mile. The one getting a pass in gym class because I had a heart defect. The girl letting my diagnosis dictate what I thought I could and couldn’t do. I accepted that my physiology made me physically “less than” and left it at that.

Five years ago, I realized that my heart is already at a disadvantage, and I needed to do everything I could to strengthen it going forward. I started eating healthier and walking 3 or 4 times a week. From there, I slowly started building an exercise regimen. Enter 2020 and the Covid-19 lockdown. Working remotely and isolated at home I turned to an online fitness community and decided to level up. At the end of March 2020 I did my first ever Instagram live workout with one of my favorite trainers. I was so sore I could barely move for days afterwards. 5 pound weights were heavy. Any sort of HIIT workout seemed impossible. A burpee? No way!

Fast forward to today. I can do multiple HIIT workouts in a day. I do burpees. I’ve jogged a 5K. I lift heavy. My cardiology checkups are the best they have ever been. In October, I went to my first ever real life fitness event (with heart healthy women) and crushed it! This heart of mine did that! It felt incredible.

WE CAN DO HARD THINGS! And we can do them together.

-Kelly, HLHS Warrior

(***tanks run small)