Spotlight on the Camper: Tabatha Michel

TabathaHave you ever won­dered who brought the bour­bon breeze that swept in from the Big Easy and rocked Pied­mont Park like a hur­ri­cane? That would be our own Tabatha Michel! Orig­i­nally from New Orleans, Tabatha will throw you some beads if you ask her politely.

Out­side of boot camp, Tabatha is a Major Gift Fundraiser at the National Office of the Arthri­tis Foun­da­tion. She is the proud (and the coolest) aunt to two teenage nephews and an adorable 7 year-old niece. Her extended fam­ily includes over 70 first cousins on her mom’s side alone. She couldn’t begin to count the 2nd and 3rd cousins! We assume she is prob­a­bly related to every­one at BC4C.

Tabatha blames Robin for get­ting her involved with BC4C. They worked together and Robin tricked her with pos­i­tive pro­pa­ganda about her boot camp expe­ri­ence. To our advan­tage, Tabatha signed up with­out even com­ing to Bring A Friend Day. Tabatha loves BC4C because it com­bined two things that are a big part of her life: phil­an­thropy and her new-found com­mit­ment to get­ting healthier.

Grow­ing up, Tabatha was a dancer. Her fam­ily had a dance school, so fit­ness in the form of dance and acro­bats was part of her every day rou­tine. And it all came to a screech­ing halt after high school. Tabatha had many false starts through­out the last 15 years try­ing to get back in shape.

When Tabatha first started boot camp her ini­tial goal was pretty sim­ple… lose weight by get­ting in shape. She wanted to become a run­ner again, and she couldn’t get any momen­tum on her own. When she started boot camp, she could NOT do one sit-up on her own; only mod­i­fied push-ups; and she couldn’t run the PT loop with­out stop­ping. She is pretty sure she cried when she left the first day, because she wasn’t sure she could ever get fit again. But then she thought… if not now, when?

When it comes to diet and fit­ness Tabatha’s biggest chal­lenge is her of love food and adult bev­er­ages! It’s what them Cajuns do for hob­bies and enter­tain­ment! Tabatha loves to cook and enter­tain. She can find a rea­son to have a party any day or time of the year. After nearly two years of boot camp, she is just fig­ur­ing out how to bal­ance the two lifestyles a bit better.

Tabatha has made tremen­dous strides since start­ing BC4C. In 2010 alone, she ran her first offi­cial 5K, 10K and half-marathon! And now, she loves to run. She never thought a 6–12 mile run would be a part of her Sat­ur­day morn­ing rou­tine, but now it is. It keeps her focused, even if her week has been crazy. In March, Tabatha ran her sec­ond half marathon and sur­prised her­self with a PR of 2:18, which was 16 min­utes faster than her first in November.

As for diet, this year, Tabatha decided that if she going to play hard, she would have to work harder to stay fit. Since late Jan­u­ary, she started track­ing calo­ries in vs. calo­ries burned. It’s really work­ing for her and she’s dropped 15 pounds in less than 3 months. She already feels the dif­fer­ence when work­ing out or run­ning. She still throws par­ties… she just runs a lot more!

Tabatha’s Fun Facts

Favorite exer­cise: Tabatha prefers lower body exer­cises — squats, lunges, jump-ups. But ab work is finally grow­ing on her!

Favorite work­out: Tabatha likes the dis­guised run days the most. She likes any work­out with a good bal­ance of run­ning and work­out sta­tions. She loves the dice game, even though she is always on Lauren’s team and they lose. ;-)

Advice to brand new campers: It will get bet­ter! Just go at your own pace. And let the Train­ers know when you’re try­ing to accom­plish some­thing new. They’re great at help­ing you get there.

The best thing a boot camp Trainer has done for Tabatha: ALL the instruc­tors have helped her meet her fit­ness goals. Each Trainer seems to know what she needs for inspi­ra­tion at the time. Early on, she was so frus­trated that she couldn’t run. She remem­bers that Andy and Susan really helped with her with form. For months, they would lag behind and just keep push­ing her and telling her it would get bet­ter. It really made a dif­fer­ence then. And now, she was so inspired to see them before the half marathon. It was an eye-opening reminder of how far she has come. And right about the time she was start­ing to feel the race in her legs, Lau­ren jumped in and ran with her. It was just the jolt of energy she needed!

Did you know? Tabatha is a poker player and you can occa­sion­ally find her in a casino at a Texas Hold ‘em table. She has placed “in the money” in two World Series of Poker cir­cuit events. Her best tour­na­ment fin­ish was 3rd in a women’s event… she won $5,500. (Note to self: do not ever get roped into a poker game with Tabatha.)

Next time you see Tabatha, be sure to give her a big high-five for her accom­plish­ments in the park… and beyond!

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