Hi, I’m Stephanie Samudio! I’m an army spouse and proud mama to our baby girl, Ava. My SLAM journey started in the beautiful city of Monterey, CA. My husband and I moved to California for a (very) short two-year school. Monterey was beautiful! Upon arrival we were 20-weeks pregnant with our little one, who finally decided to join our family after three years of fertility struggles. We were overjoyed!

I’ve always been active but I never perfected the art of solo play. Throughout my grade school years I danced competitively and found friends that would last a lifetime. Moving so frequently (as we military spouses do) isn’t easy and I found myself longing for those friendships again. I joined a local running group and felt like I was getting closer, but I’ve always loved weight training so running alone wasn’t filling my exercise cup. Until one day my friend Kelly told me about SLAM, “It’s a stroller friendly workout that has both weight training and cardio, Alexa will kick.your.butt!” “Where is this magic group and how do I sign up?”. That feeling after a good workout with friends by your side is my jam, all the way! I signed up that evening. Much to my surprise Ava did well in the stroller and my cup runneth over in terms of meeting new Mom friends.

Coincidentally, my first class was the first day of their January 12-week challenge. Motivation – yes! I met friends that first day of class that I will have forever, near or far matters not. I now had other Mamas to laugh with, cheer with, greet with a smile each morning, and share wine with at MNO.

stroller_strong_moms_quantico-stephanie

I had only been a part of SLAM Monterey for four months when my husband received orders to Northern Virginia. I knew it was coming but the news hit me like a ton of bricks. I had just found my tribe and I was NOT ready to give them up. The next two months I held on to them tightly. Now I want to bring the joy of SLAM to Quantico, where I know the Mamas are fierce and fantastic. I’m looking forward to all the burpees, weights, sweat, cheers, friendships, slamkids, and hills we can find to sprint up. Let’s build a new tribe and make them family!

Check out more information on Stroller Strong Moms Quantico on the webpage, Facebook, and Instagram!