Get to know Summer N. Sides (Founder of GXunited) with these 12-fun facts.
Since I’m celebrating another year around the sun this week (yup, 11/12 was my birthday), I thought it would be fun to celebrate with you by sharing a little of my story…
As most people know, my story involves a love for the mountains and puppies, an amazing family, a brain filled with exercise knowledge, and a desire to create change in the group fitness community.
But there’s more to me than just mountains, puppies, and exercise.
Here are 12 fun facts that aren’t on my About Page, in my LinkedIn profile, part of my story of overtraining syndrome, or listed on my resume. Because it’s these fun little tidbits that make me who I am – and probably shape all those professional accolades.
So whether you’re an old friend of GXunited (or mine) or new to the community, I’m excited for you to get to know me just a little deeper with these 12 fun facts. (yes, I played off my birthday being November 12th).
- I’m an only child.
Maybe this is why I love puppies so much! I grew up with a wonderful 4-legged brother named Prancer. He was a fun sheltie dog who followed my mom everywhere she went. I had 17 wonderful years with my brother puppy.
- I grew up in a town of 500-people.
For real. Scottsville Virginia has a population of ~500 people. There are no stoplights, there’s only one main road, and everyone really does know everyone. Needless to say, I got out of there as quickly as I could after high school. (But maybe growing up in this small southern town explains why I love Carrie Underwood and have a country playlist going as I type this!)
- My BFF is pretty awesome!
When you grow up as an only child in a town of 500-people finding a great friend is priceless. I’m lucky enough to have found my BFF in elementary school. To this day Margaret is the closest person to a sister I’ll ever have, and no matter the distances between us, we still stay super close. <3
- I only applied to 1 college.
When we visited UNCG (University North Carolina Greensboro) I fell in love with the campus and knew it was the school and programs for me. Plus I really hate paperwork, so only applying to 1 school meant less paperwork for me. And I liked it so much I went back to get my Masters degree.
- I’ve been married for 12 years.
Yup, that’s right! I’ve been married to the same guy for the past 12 years, and this month we celebrate 17-years together. And NO, we were NOT high school sweathearts!!!
- In our 12-years together Michael and I have lived in 3 different states; 7 different cities; and 11 different houses.
What can I say, I like to move! States include North Carolina, Florida, and Colorado. We just moved back to North Carolina from Denver Colorado. While NC is home, we really love Colorado.
- We had 20-30 pet spiders at one point.
These 8-legged creepy crawly friends were all Michael’s, but I did enjoy watching them build their webs and jump over the crickets when Michael would feed them.
- Pizza and a movie night is still a family tradition.
Mom started this tradition when I was a kid, and Michael and I still continue to eat pizza every Friday (or Saturday) night and watch movies.
- I LOVE scary movies & Halloween.
I love scary movies so much that Michael has limited me to only watching them during the month of October. So every October we have ‘scary movie month’ in which we watch only scary movies. It really is lots of fun!
- I’m a night owl.
Being in the world of fitness has forced me to get up before the crack of dawn for all my years in the field. But the truth is that I’ll sleep until 10:30am (or 11am or 12pm) if given the opportunity. I say this is because my mom was a night nurse and she gave me the night owl gene!
- I’ve had 7 surgeries since 2005.
In a way I’m a bit bionic! The stats are – 3 knee surgeries; 2 ankle reconstructions (this is the one that is my biggest challenge); and 2 head surgeries. Aside from debilitating migraines due to a rare fungal infection (head surgery 2) and a really fucked up ankle, I’m pretty good!
- My clothes drawers are color organized.
Thanks to my elementary school teachers for teaching me the colors of the rainbow (ROY-G-BIV). Now all my clothes follow this organizational scheme and it’s super easy to find what I want to wear on a daily basis.
That was fun! Now I want to know something fun about you. Share one of your fun facts and let’s get to know each other better!
