The Nomination By, Kevin McKee

My nominee, Jana McKee, works insanely hard. She regularly puts in 60+ hour weeks working at her job as an elementary school teacher. Her class this year is a 3/4 combo of "at-risk" students, those kids who are in the process of falling through the cracks. She pours her heart and soul out to these kids! I am sure you have read in the news how teachers are overworked and underpaid; I will vouch for that! Her life is completely wrapped up in her students, both their success and and their failures consume her.

In addition to her all-consuming life as a teacher, she is a loving wife and mother of two great kids, and a competitive distance runner. She sacrifices a lot to pursue her passion for running. She foregoes evenings with her family to make that 0430 wake-up call to put in the miles. She scrupulously avoids certain activities the rest of her family enjoys, such as skiing, so as to minimize her risk of injury. She often is so spent from the grinding combination of training and work that she has precious little, if any, energy for her friends. Yet through it all, she runs and runs, trains for marathons (15 and counting, including 4 Bostons), and runs some more. Miles feed her life, and fitness feeds her soul. Now, well into her 50s, those years of running are catching up with her. Like many aging runners, years of pounding the pavement is slowly, inexorably wearing down her joints, bones, and tendons. She sees the light at the end of the tunnel of her running career, and it is the light of an oncoming train labeled “Age.” The thought of a life in her 60s and 70s as a sedentary person haunts her nightmares, so she carries on with running. Year after year, mile after mile, knowing that sooner or later her fascia or meniscus or tendons will give out and she’ll be relegated to couch-surfing and potato-hood.

But not if she has an Ellipti-Go! With an Ellipti-Go she could continue to log in the oh-dark-thirty miles and have the energy for her students and her own family that only fitness can give! Of course, a premium product like an Ellipti-Go commands a premium price, one that is all-to-often out of reach of a simple schoolteacher. For these reasons, it is with great pride and joy that I nominate Jana McKee for the grand prize of the Bow-On-A-Go contest. I cannot think of a more worthy recipient.