After chatting with a friend, Chris decided to get involved at a gym with the help of a personal trainer. Three days a week, she’s lifting weights, doing cardio and other work in the gym to lose weight and strengthen her body. Expert help and encouragement have made all the difference: “I credit Ryan (her personal trainer at Grand Traverse Athletic Club) with being the biggest influence in my journey to get healthy. He keeps me motivated, makes my workouts interesting, and pushes me further than I could do on my own,” Chris comments. Other days, she hits the open road for some running, a practice that led to another challenge.

In addition to working out as much as six times a week, she’s also made massive changes to her diet. “There is no comparison in the diet I have now compared to what I used to eat, which was anything I wanted, whenever I wanted. I also used to only drink Diet Coke. Now I might have Diet Coke once or twice a week, but usually just drink water.” Cutting out soft drinks and excess snacks have paid huge dividends in Chris’ weight loss and training, but it has also refocused how she reacts to the stress of daily life. “I have been trying to limit the negativity around me and find that after a stressful or negative day at work, the gym is such a better way to deal with it all, rather than eating, which was how I handled it all before I started exercising again.”

With her health on the right track, her expectations changed as well. She created the goal to run a 5k before her 60th birthday, coupling two huge events together and making both positive, meaningful events to look forward to. With her daughter-in-law, Kristi, enrolled as a support runner, she signed up for Endurance Evolution’s Glen Arbor Solstice Half Marathon & 5k. They will also be joined by Chris’ sister Karen, making the run a family affair, which is more than fitting. The race, set around one of the most beautiful areas in the The United States, provides a picturesque setting for a life-changing experience for Chris and her family. She wants just one thing from the day as a sort of souvenir, and it isn’t a medal. “I told my husband and son who will be there that I want to have a picture at the finish line to go in the scrapbook journal that I have been keeping, tracking my progress toward my goal.”

Perhaps Chris’ next project will be to get her husband, Jim, on board with all the running and exercising. She has tried to coax him along, but as of yet, Chris says, “So far, no luck!” After seeing his wife hit the line in Glen Arbor, however, Jim may just be up for joining her in 2013.

While it’s a race, the results on the finish line won’t tell anything of the true victory of Chris Sheffer. Her time won’t say where she has really come from, and that is Chris’ biggest achievement. The mother of two, flirting with 60 years of age, is now a staggering 82 pounds lighter than she was just a short time ago.