Video Transcript
Wendy: I gained weight slowly over many many years. A few pounds every year and I found myself 105 pounds overweight. My health had gotten away from me. So when I decided that I needed to start exercising again, I thought well, water aerobics sounds like fun.
Elaine Mattson, Water Fitness Instructor: We didn’t recognize that first what her goal was but she started disappearing before our eyes. Her goal was to hike around Mount Everest .
Wendy: Well I thought, maybe I could do that get in shape and to lose weight and to become a person who could go trekking in Nepal into the Himalayan mountains. One of the things I had to do was I had to fit a lot of exercise into my day. So I started my bike commute it’s a three and a half mile trek from my house to my work day. We’re starting to feel better, I was starting to bike more, I thought well—I’ll try this boot camp class too.
Amy Kline, Group Fitness Instructor: One day when she first started coming to class she was very overweight, could barely do a squat, she had a really difficult time even jumping. She’s just made this amazing transformation and she’s all over that floor now and just an inspiration to all of us.
Wendy: oh the YWCA is great. People have been really encouraging to me. Once I decided to go to Nepal to go trekking, I told Amy at boot camp and she’s like “good, you can do that” and I could tell when she said that that she meant it, like that she could see a path that I couldn’t.
Amy: She touched so many lives here at the YW. It’s inspiring. It takes a lot of work and you put your mind to it. Once you wrap your mind around it, you’re capable of anything and she’s really shown that to everyone. An inspiration to each and every one of us. Oh, it’s miraculous, it’s a miracle to watch Wendy and become a whole new person. Wendy has shown people is possible.
[Screen displays photos from Wendy’s hike around Everest.]
Wendy: It’s truly possible. It’s possible to do what I did because I did it! I think everyone has to find their own path. I look at myself, I say, “oh shoot, you can do anything! [laughs] I could do anything.”