Working at Garmin doesn't just allow us to tell others about our amazing products and to live active and healthy lifestyles, it provides us the opportunity to get out and "Live", ourselves. Below is a pretty cool story from Garmin employee, Bethany, who, like so many out there, juggles work, family and staying fit and somehow manages it all!

There are two things you can count on me wearing during the day – my daughter in one arm and my Garmin FR 70 on my other. I am the type of person that will ask, in day-to-day conversation, what kind of protein you had in your breakfast and will encourage you to lunge to the time clock or up the stairs to a meeting. I thrive on doing at-home workout programs like Insanity and Asylum (these are exactly how they sound) and need a way to hold myself accountable both during and after. I am proud to say that my daughter has watched me work out every day of her life (unless, of course, she is asleep) and I look forward to the day she is mocking me.

I gave birth to my daughter thirteen months ago (man, I wish I had my FR and heart rate monitor on that day) and wanted to get back to my active self as soon as possible. My life changed from being all about me and staying healthy and in sassy shape, to doing so for my daughter as well. I spent a few precious months smothering my daughter and embracing my new life, then I made time for myself, work and my Garmin. Every morning, I strapped on the FR 70 (my favorite because it tracks and records my indoor workouts including calories burned and heart rate) and it gave me the motivation to get back into working out. I found a routine, stuck to it, and have seen the results.

The fantastic thing about doing my workouts and using my FR 70 is that I can watch my heart rate climb and my calories burn. I can challenge myself to push harder and I can pull back when I see I have gone too far (rare of course). Then, I can spend a few minutes before heading to work to upload to Garmin Connect and squeal in excitement as I customize the name for each workout and see my progress daily. I can write cute notes such as, ‘quick 15 minute heart rate plummet due to rocking/feeding my daughter’ and I can share my profile and work outs with friends. I get to gasp at the colorful graphs for my heart rate and calories and know that I am staying healthy for myself and mini-me. There are times when my daughter was sick, or I was tired from working full time, or I was just plain mommy-exhausted but I knew I needed to stay active. So, I would take my daughter for a stroll, quick runs, or do a shorter workout at home because I knew Connect was waiting for me to upload. I have run four 5Ks in the last four months and am not looking back (unless it is to make sure at least some people are behind me). I look down at my Forerunner (sometimes a 610 during those events) that is telling me to push harder and to keep going. I can also set it to nag me (beep or vibrate) to go faster when it knows I can.

My advice to other mothers is to make time for yourself which, in turn, keeps you healthy for your family. During most of my workouts my daughter was either in her bouncer cheering me on, is crawling around me as I am doing suicides (making them even more intensified), carrying my workout equipment (jump rope, resistance bands, DVDs) from one side of the room to the other, or re-filing papers in the cabinet. If I plan it perfectly, she is napping or in bed! I spend about 30-60 minutes a day doing my work out, all day feeding/planning healthy meals for my daughter and me, and then I go to work. My relationship with my Forerunner is reliable. It waits for me every day to press start and I depend on it to keep track of my fitness, progress, goals, and time. It is like a best friend on my wrist that believes I can do better, keeps me on track, and helps me achieve results (not to mention it remembers our history even if I forget). :-)