Super Nova of The Month: Sandra Hurl-Smith
Congratulations to Sandra Hurl-Smith, Our February SuperNova!
Sandra has been a Nova member for almost 9 years and as long as we’ve known her she’s always been consistent with her training and her pursuit of optimizing her health. That is why she has even been recognized as Supernova in the past.
As any lifelong student who is committed to being their best, she has experienced the highs and lows that come with journey.
She has achieved many personal bests and accomplishments with her health and fitness over the years such as 2 marathons, multiple half marathons and ran/biked every street in Oakville in a 9 month period that covered 2300km!
And because the journey is never an upwards linear line, she has also experienced her share of adversity too such as running injuries and throwing herself down a flight of stairs (torn muscles)...
This time around we are recognizing Sandra not only for her consistency in fitness and hitting new fitness goals such as hiking peaks in the Rocky Mountains, keeping up with her kids on all “hard” hikes…. but for approaching her health from a new perspective by looking at the other pillars of health outside of fitness - sleep, stress, nutrition and mindset.
In September 2024 she joined our Femme Fusion program to work on these new pillars and has since been able to reach new goals that fitness alone could not do.
Read our interview with Sandra to hear her story including specific strategies she put in place that allowed her to reach a new level of health and fitness.
1)Success is inevitable when you stick with it but many people struggle to stick with it because of motivation… What is your WHY behind your actions, or in other words, the deeper motivation that fuels your consistency?
“My family. Both generations. My goal is to keep up with my kids ages 21/23. They are active and I’m not one to be left behind. Kris and I want to remain healthy and active so we can enjoy our years now but also retirement.
My motivation is my parents and grandmother. GGK as she was affectionately known, just passed shy of 103rd birthday. So that means I have another 50 years to take care of my body!
My mom (80) is currently with me in Honduras with Ethan on our dental brigade. I too want to be healthy enough to travel with my kids and future generations.
My dad (82) works in his woodworking shop daily.
I have good genes and plan accordingly.
I also have three auto immune diseases, and wanted to be on the minimal amount of drugs possible to control. Providing myself with the knowledge from Femme Fusion, I wanted to implement an anti-inflammatory lifestyle that was going to help achieve this goal.”
2)For someone who has been on their health and fitness journey you have likely experienced many changes on how you view health. Over the last 10 years, how has your perspective towards health and fitness changed?
“The past was about fitness accomplishments like marathons, and while who doesn’t enjoy a good challenge I’m focused now on keeping strong and injury free so I can enjoy life which may or may not still hold a few races (even if it’s just a race to the top of mountain against my kids).”
3)As long as we’ve known you, you have had healthy systems in place like nature, community involvement, running, lifting weight and eating healthy food. What new systems or habits, whether in nutrition or other areas of health, have you integrated lately that have helped you reach new levels?
“While I’ve always been active and a healthy eater, Thanks to Femme Fusion I have now implemented many habits that have been known to be good, plus new ones.
I was also a self proclaimed, baking and sugar addict, and now enjoy both as an occasional treat, not as a daily addiction . Now eating protein and drinking water, like they are competitive sports, which is not easy as a vegetarian but doable once you commit to it. Thanks to Heather (and the other ladies) in Femme Fusion for great coaching and tips to accomplish all my goals. If you had said to me in August, I was going to live a sugar-free, gluten-free, soy-free, corn-free, processed oil-free, lifestyle; without feeling deprived and miserable, I would’ve laughed at you! But here I am, living my best life and not feeling deprived at all. (I did keep dairy, for the protein factor). Not to say it was easy, but it definitely was not as hard as I thought it would be.
Recognize that strength training and nutrition are now more important to me than hard cardio. (Tho I do miss my running buddies from Oakville, as I’m now in Calgary).”
4)We see the list of tangible accomplishments you have made but in your own words, how would you say these accomplishments have allowed you to improve your quality of life? For example, have you been able to do new things that you could not before or has it positively impacted the lives of others you care about?
“While weight loss wasn’t my primary goal, fitting into your skinny jeans is always a good mental health accomplishment. Shedding extra weight is going to help me keep up with my kids on the mountain! As well, I am looking forward to the summer and digging my golf clubs out of storage, and joining Kris on the greens!
I also have been working towards better sleep. I have struggled with insomnia for about 17 years, and while I was making progress to correct this issue, Femme Fusion provided me with additional tools to further accomplish this goal.
Eliminating sugar was a huge component in leveling out my day. No more sugar spikes, and relying on eating sugar to get through my day. I have less brain fog, and sleep better at night.”
