MaryRuth O’Neal

As a largely uncoordinated child, I spent much of my youth with broken bones, missing teeth and injured pride as I stumbled awkwardly through team sports like basketball, soccer and softball. Quite inexplicably, I made the cheer squad in my freshman year of college, but quit after just one season and made no further athletic pursuits while in school. Perhaps fubsy young writers were meant to focus solely on their English degrees and grand notions for a publishing future.

But something unexpected happened in 2007. I caught wind of the Nike+iPod Sports Kit that Nike had released not one year earlier. For reasons I can no longer recall, I decided that this fitness technology (a then-little-used phrase) deserved space in my life. I purchased my first pair of running shoes, along with the Nike+ sensor kit, and started apprehensively pounding pavement.

Spoiler alert: I was not a great runner. But I was consistent. (And, blessedly, I discovered I wasn’t quite so uncoordinated as I’d once been.) I built up mileage, ran my first 10k, lost nearly 70 pounds, and found a new sense of empowerment that led to more confident choices in every aspect of my life. While I grew as an athlete, I also grew as a professional, accelerating in my career as a writer, and as a risk-taker, at one point even pausing my career to pursue a culinary degree.

There is no question that physical feats and even the smallest measure of athletic prowess can inspire boldness in seemingly unrelated endeavors. I have rediscovered this truth throughout my adult life, and I have witnessed in others the transformative impact of leaning into an athletic identity, no matter how we define it for ourselves.

This is what I live for as a coach: Helping everyone I meet recognize and embrace not only their athletic potential but also the broad impact of training and growing that potential. We all have a different starting line, but I am proud to coach at a gym that believes in meeting every member where they are. Whether you have spent your whole life identifying as an athlete or denying all along that you possess any physical prowess, there is a starting line for you at Bluprint and it leads to a journey that is utterly worth the undertaking.

Certifications/Experience

• Bachelors in English/Communication
• Bluprint Professional Coach Development Program
• CrossFit Level 1 Trainer