Michelle goes out for a "treat" with her trainers Gina and Devin. For the record... Moxie's has nothing on Gina's nachos... hmmm Gina... do you make deliveries (like to my house)?

My entire life... my Mom has said to me... "Tell me who your friends are... and I'll tell you who you are!" If you think about it... it's true... we generally gravitate towards people who have similar interests to us (not always but most of the time).

There is no question... that over the last two years the people I workout with have become my closest friends... my trainers Devin and Gina are no exception... so much so... I'll even eat around them now and enjoy working out with them too!

Don't get me wrong... I haven't traded in my old friends... I've just made new ones... and the old friends I continue to hang with... but our relationships have changed... instead of getting together for bbqs, movies or parties... we exercise together regularly... and our telephone conversations aren't about work... it's usually about our latest exercise conquest or an amazing healthy meal idea we want to share with each other.

Yesterday... my friend Katrina came to visit me. As we sat on the deck enjoying the sunshine and fresh salt air... our conversation drifted onto how much my life has changed over the last 2 years. When I met Katrina 5 years ago at pre-natal class... she was the woman I wanted to be (she just didn't know it and I didn't tell her). I'm pretty sure that's what gravitated me towards becoming her friend. She had a fabulous career, a busy personal life filled with friends, she was confident, intelligent, beautiful, she exercised a lot (as a result had a smokin' body and still does)... and she pulled off that sporty surfer chick look like no one else could!

Kat and I agreed that when we met... we couldn't have been more different and it actually is surprising that we made a connection considering how different our lifestyles were. At the time... parenthood had changed my career path dramatically (and I wasn't sure I liked the change)... I had just left a corporate career filled with travel and responsibility to become a freelance web designer filled with the unknown and I was filling any void and reducing stress in my life with food (lots of it)... exercise for me consisted of walking around the house (even that got me winded). I didn't care about what I was wearing (or if my legs were shaved for that matter)! When we met... I actually weighed twice as much as Kat... it's hard to believe that now I'm only about 20 pounds away from borrowing her clothes (or at least requesting her hand-me-downs)! Yesterday I told her I'm wearing size medium now and she told me that's the same size as her (I really liked her hoodie... she's lucky she got out the door with it)!

When we first became friends, we were on mat leave together. Often times when we got together it would involve copious amounts of junk food (my suggestion not hers) and watching Sex in the City episodes... yesterday our time together revolved around discussing business, drinking a non-fat chai latte and the possibility of us starting to run together (I teased her that she will need to qualify by me timing her speed (to see if she can keep up with me) before I make a commitment of being her running partner! LOL). There is no question, the two of us are going to look totally adorable running the trails in our Underarmour gear and color coordinated LuluLemon head bands! I can't wait for our first run together!

Definitely having friends to workout with makes it seem more social then a task... if you get your friends involved in our workout routine you'll be surprised at how much more you look forward to it, you'll see your favorite people more often AND you will be more likely to stick to your workout routine if you have someone with you!