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My Fitness Journey

My Fitness Journey

By: Julie Wilcox

It seemed like a normal evening, I was upbeat, had great energy and we had a great sales day. I was the manager in charge that evening at the Nordstrom in Fashion Valley. As I was making my rounds before store closing I decided to help some of the departments out by taking their alterations downstairs to the lower lower level.

As I entered the back staircase, I placed the clothing in one arm and proceeded to take my first step. As the high heel of my fabulous pump entered the cuff of my so fashionable pant leg, I knew there was nothing to do but throw the clothes in front of me. And then something happened I couldn’t control, I plummeted from the top of the staircase down to the bottom.

I hit head first, then left arm, followed by my left leg smashing against the cement staircase. As I lay there very unsure of what just happened, I asked myself a million questions. Am I hurt? Can I get up? Not sure of the answers to any of the questions I had, I crawled down the next staircase to get help.

After several months with physical therapy and rehab for a broken radial head in my left arm, my back became a major problem as well. At least once a month I was unable to get out of bed and reality set in, I am 35 and in bad shape. So I had one of those talks with myself and asked the question, do you want to live the rest of your life like this? The pain was really causing me to look at the quality of my current situation and how I wanted to spend the rest of my life. The answer was very apparent to me, I wanted to be HEALTHY!

Within 3 weeks I started working out, previously all I did was run, and running in addition to everything else, made my situation and pain worse. I began strength and conditioning classes and soon after, I saw great results and hired my very first personal trainer. I became strong, confident and had so much energy, but something else was missing. I realized that I needed to take some time to focus on me. After 14 years, I made a big decision, I decided to leave my career at Nordstrom. This was the beginning of my new journey. After leaving, I spent 2 glorious years taking care of me! I learned what made me happy and what I loved about each day, I spent time with family, friends and made time to workout.

The realization that I loved health and fitness drove me to find healthier alternatives when cooking, one of my favorite passions. Food became my source of energy vs. my enemy and I loved creating healthy versions of the foods that I loved.

Within a few months I discovered Fitness Quest 10 from a former Nordstrom client who had been training there. I’ll never forget the conversation, she said, “Julie I can’t believe you drive all the way to Point Loma when the best workout facility is within 2 miles of your house.” Not only did I drive 20 miles to train but my sessions were becoming sub par. In 2004, I made the journey to Fitness Quest 10 and thrived in my new environment. After about a year Todd and I had a conversation that sparked a new level of excitement for me. He was looking for a GM and I was looking for the next step in my career. Knowing nothing about fitness, other than I loved everything about it, I asked myself could I do it?

I realized that the answers was “Yes!” Yes I could because Todd was looking for someone who really did not have a fitness background but someone who had a dynamic and diverse skill set, someone who got customer service, and I knew after my years of retail and restaurant experience, that someone was me. And most importantly, Todd believed in me.

With my new found life I have blossomed and feel so blessed that I am truly living a healthy and happy lifestyle. The culture and team at Fitness Quest 10 provide me with energy and purpose to fulfill my dreams. My passion for cooking led me to write my first e-book on healthy fresh recipes and I continue to share the joy that cooking brings me.

Magic happens, things do fall into place, and I am a living example of that every single day. Every day I go into my dream job, 8 years and going strong!

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