It’s hard to say when an idea first begins to brew in your brain. What sparks the thought that just maybe “this” could work.  Why leave a job where I had been successful to start out on my own?  Can I really make “this” work???

Hi! My name is Sue Barnes …. let me tell you my story from lone runner to Director of Social Wellness here at Socially Motivated Wellness.

Socially Motivated Wellness has been in process for many years.  Without realizing it, a seed was planted in Kokomo Indiana in 1985 with a group of runners who met very early every morning at the Kokomo YMCA for a group run.  Many thanks to Dave, Bruce, Dan, the Judge, Ron, Lynn, Paul and Jim, my first group of running partners who taught me that it is always better to run in a group than alone.

Fast forward to August 1997 and I went out for a run by myself, I made it almost a whole mile before I had to stop and walk back to the house.  I had four kids under 6 and I was never alone, I thought the best thing in the world would be to be alone for my run.  I soon found that it was hard to run alone so I went on a hunt for running partners – where else but online. I had a great online community of people who would meet up at races, I was running by myself but racing with people.  Not too long after that I actually met up with some of those people and I went from a solo runner to a co-dependent runner.  I found that with a group I could go faster and further. This led to my first marathon and more.

In 2008 I had the opportunity to be a Group Leader for The Brooksie Way Half Marathon.  Not only did I have a group to run with but I also found INTERVALS!!!  What a great combination.  After 8 years with The Brooksie I started to wonder how could I get more people active.  Could I go on my own and bring more people to running and walking?

The seed that was planted in 1985 bloomed in January of 2016 with Socially Motivated Wellness.  A chance to introduce more people to group running or walking … and to intervals. A chance to help people take charge of their wellness, giving them the tools, support and motivation to reach their goals.  The name represents what I want for this company.

• Socially – we meet in groups, we work out in groups, we become friends, supporters, cheerleaders for each other.
• Motivated – we expect you to show up, we encourage each other through the hard days when running or walking seems impossible. We motivate those who see us out training in all kinds of weather.
• Wellness – we are concerned with more than fitness, more than just running or walking, we want you to be well, to be active and care for your health and wellness.

Transform your life while having fun and making friends – that’s us!