Blue Ridge Women Who Dare: The Teacher-Trainer-Artist

Ever met someone who’s game to try anything at least once?  Who’s not afraid to fail because she knows regret is so much worse than failure?

Meet Lisa Dowdell, a mother/grandmother/teacher/trainer and artist who has perfected the art of leaving her comfort zone behind.  Whether she’s riding her Harley, running marathons, or becoming a certified NASM Group Fitness Instructor, her curiosity and love of learning never subside.

Her story proves that getting older means caring way less about what other people think and having the courage to take a swing at what you love, even if you miss.  As she describes, “hitting .500 is a great batting average, even though it means that you miss half of the pitches.”

Lisa is from a small town in western PA called Greenville, where she was an only child “spoiled with affection” by her parents, who still reside there. After graduating from college with a degree in Psychology, Lisa worked in Public Relations, including as a ghost writer, before moving to the Washington, DC area to be with her future husband, Tom.

When she became pregnant with their first child, she decided to move to part time. And when the PR firm responded by cutting her salary in half with no benefits, Lisa knew it was to walk away to focus on raising her family.

Lisa’s daughter, Sammi, was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in the 7^th grade. Although Sammi is now healthy and the mother of a beautiful baby girl who has her mother’s and her grandmother’s infectious smile, it was a stressful time for the family.

Lisa shared that while she was worrying about her daughter’s health, she happened to hear a radio commercial advertising a marathon to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Lisa decided to run the marathon herself and completed it, her first and only to date. She was just a few months shy of turning 50.

Running is a sport that Lisa took up in her 30’s challenged by her high school girlfriends, her “sisters” with whom she stays in close touch. Lisa’s mom had taken up running in her 40’s and remains active even now at age 89.

Lisa is so passionate about the sport that she volunteered in a local chapter of Girls On the Run, a group that teaches girls in grades 3-5 how to run or walk a 5K. More than that, Lisa is proud of the values and bigger life skills that the group promotes, including how to be a good teammate, how to pace yourself, and how to set goals with a positive mindset.

Lisa is very much a natural teacher, sharing that she might well have decided to become one herself after college. Instead, she later channeled those talents into substitute teaching and tutoring children, including teaching a bored two-year old little boy how to read by the time he was three.

Lisa credits her two children as the impetus that pushes her out of her comfort zone. In addition to Sammi, Lisa has a son, affectionately called Red. While Red was in middle school and laser-focused on a career in professional baseball, Lisa would take him to the Student Athletic Performance Training (SAPT) center for rigorous strength training. After watching a few sessions, Lisa decided to jump in herself and took her daughter as well.

Lisa wasn’t afraid to ask questions about the mechanics of the exercises, the muscles involved, how it should feel, etc. Little did she know this would lay the foundation for her to become a certified group fitness instructor working alongside Red two decades later.

Lisa and Tom were the first in the family to decide to leave Northern Virginia to settle in Lexington. Red, after suffering a shoulder injury that ended his professional baseball aspirations, had become a very successful strength and conditioning specialist, coaching the Washington Nationals baseball team and the DC United soccer team.  He was also a graduate of the Lexington-based Virginia Military Institute and saw an opportunity to build his own business in his former hometown, a gym called Rockbridge Barbell. He decided to relocate there himself.

Lisa jumped in to help out however she could, especially in the gym’s early months when Red was working 13-hour days. As the business grew, it became clear that Red needed more certified instructors to teach some of the classes, and Lisa obliged.

After working hands-on with Red for several months, observing and asking questions, Lisa passed the online exam to become a certified group fitness instructor. When I asked if she had been a little nervous taking the test in her 60’s, Lisa said “not at all”. She is someone lucky enough never to have suffered from testing anxiety and actually managed to fall asleep while taking her SAT college entrance exams.

Lisa was eager to step into the role of fitness instructor as a self-described “old lady.” So often at gyms, she observed, you see only “beautiful, young people” with perfect physiques, and “it can be intimidating” if you are older. As an avid client of Rockbridge Barbell myself, I love that in any given class you can work out next to a local college student or a retiree. Seeing Lisa step up to lead classes was definitely inspiring.

Finally, I asked Lisa about that Harley I heard she owned. Again, she credits her children for introducing her to the fun of motorcycles. Red surprised his parents while they were still living in Northern Virginia by announcing he had bought a motorcycle before he even had a license to ride it. When he signed up for the weekend training, Lisa was a bit concerned as he had recently hurt his shoulder. So she and her husband decided to join Red and take the training. Lisa took to it right away and ended up calling her husband from a Harley dealership to ask which model he preferred.  She still loves to ride and is quick to add that she is always the driver.

I can attest that Lisa takes a back seat to no challenge. She embraces all that life throws her way, the fun stuff and the hard stuff. She is devoted to family, friends, and pursuing her art. Taking an art class recently, she said she looked at what she painted and realized that she’s actually not bad at all. For too long she had paid too much attention to the critical voices of her old college professors who were not supportive.  Now being an artist brings her joy.

And that is why Lisa is a real Blue Ridge woman who dares. She steps up to every challenge, knows that if she fails, she’ll learn to fail smarter next time, and she has learned to trust her gut. I am proud to say she is my friend.

P.S. If you are ever looking for the best gym in the Shenandoah Valley, go directly to Rockbridge Barbell.  It’s hard, and it’s fun, and if you are lucky, you might just see a beautiful “old lady” leading the class.