Our W.O.W Employee of the Month for June is Kim Gilbert, Nurse Practitioner at Sheridan Memorial Hospital’s Internal Medicine practice. Kim recently completed a Post Master’s Certification program in Adult Gerontology Acute Care and passed her boards a couple of weeks ago. It is evident that life has been very busy for Kim as a student, Nurse Practitioner, wife, and mother of five. However, wellness is and continues to be a very important priority in her life.
As a young girl, Kim saw her mom as a dedicated runner. This inspired and motivated her to run with her mom and at the age of 11, she completed her first 10 K run. In January of 2020, Kim started training to run her first ½ marathon with her mom. Unfortunately, they had to cancel the race because of the dynamics of her mom’s new job. Instead, she joined her coworkers and together they ran the “Run ‘til Your Green”10K race in Sheridan in March. She is currently training to run the Crazy Horse and the Denver Rock-n-Roll ½ marathons in October.
Kim’s friends help keep her motivated and dedicated to her Wellness goals. In November of 2018, she and Amber Friis made a commitment to one another to run a mile every day until the end of the year. On December 31, 2019 they decided to continue their pact to one another and ran for 365 consecutive days.
It was difficult to carve out time to do the run, but her commitment to herself and to Amber kept her going. She looked to Liz Mahoney for encouragement and motivation. Kim was with her in Florida when Liz completed the Ironman. Liz told her, “Start where you are at, not where I am at.” That was the inspiration that she needed. Planning a week ahead and having an accountability partner also helps to keep her on task.
At Christmas that year, her kids gave her a trophy for running 365 consecutive days in a row. This acknowledgement from her family was an awesome lesson on persistence and commitment for her children to witness.
Kim struggles with her own body image and has worked hard to move past that. “You have to love yourself and give yourself the grace to accept who you are.”
Currently, Kim uses the “Couch to 5K” app and the Runners World training guide to prepare for her ½ marathons. She has engaged her daughter to train with her so she can get faster and her daughter can stay in shape for soccer. Her goal is to finish both races in October and run the entire time. Someone once told her, “It is so much easier to stay in shape than to get in shape”. How true this is…
