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Atlanta, GA | Posted: January 10, 2018
Are you interested in being the next member of the month - send a request to info@crc.gatech.edu and you could be featured next
Summary Sentence:
We are pleased to announce the January CRC member spotlight - Liz Punch.
Full Summary:
Triathlete and Georgia Tech staff member, Liz Punch enjoys the social, emotional and physical aspect of wellness that comes with being a CRC member. She uses her workouts as a way to block out distractions and focus on herself. She credits her running group and marathon running mother as her inspiration to keep moving!
Liz Punch Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I married 30 years ago and have two sons. I have one granddaughter who is almost 3. I am a construction manager working in construction for 35 years. I have been at Georgia Tech for almost 8 years.
How long have you been a member of the CRC?
I think I joined when I first got here... What got me coming was that I live in Woodstock, GA. It’s only 30 miles from here but it is I-75 and I-575 and I HATE traffic. There is nothing to me more nonproductive than traffic. So I leave my house every morning at 4:45am and I’m usually here by 5:25am. I swim on Monday and Wednesday then I run with some ladies on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. We run around campus, it is beautiful and you feel very safe when you are running with a group. Then I do spin class with my husband on Monday and Wednesday nights. It is one of the nicest facilities in the city. You can’t go to an LA fitness and pay what we pay as faculty and staff.
Which dimension of wellness do you feel most connected to while engaging with the CRC (professional, spiritual, social, physical, or emotional)?
I love the social aspect. I love making friends and getting to know people. I love the emotional aspect because it makes me forget about all of the stresses of the day. But the physical is one of my favorites because I tell myself ‘I’m giving you this hour so you need to make the best of it’. I get stronger and stronger and stronger. My husband, siblings and I do one triathlon a year and it’s kind of a family thing. This year we went to Gulf Shores. Every year we go somewhere different... my sister and brothers do multiple marathons a year, they’re big runners.
What is your favorite CRC story?
The most fun thing is the runs every morning with the ladies. Getting to know each other, and hearing different stories. We’re constantly trying to recruit more to come run with us. I just started running with them maybe 6 months ago. The running thing for me is pretty new, when I would do triathlons I wouldn’t really run I would walk. I joined the Jeff Gallaway training which is on the weekends. Then I saw some ladies that ran every day and I kind of invited myself and now I run with them...The more the merrier. You know I thought I would hate running, I absolutely thought I would hate it. But we do the run/walk, the Jeff Galloway, you know where you run for 45 seconds, walk for 30 seconds and it makes it manageable.
What else should we know that we have not asked you yet?
I think the biggest thing for me is that you just have to make a decision every day. Do I want to feel good or not? As you get older it gets harder and harder to be fit. I don’t want to not be fit, I want to feel good, I want to play with my grandkids.
My mother is my absolute inspiration. She is 83 now, but when she was 76 she ran the Chicago marathon and came in 2nd place in her age group. So I have a really really good family support mentor group.
