Wilmington Resident Wins Under Armour Competition

Brittany Joyce and her kids at a race. Photo provided.

Wilmington resident and mother of two, Brittany Joyce, is one of four people across the nation who won Under Armour’s “What’s Beautiful” competition, which aims to “redefine the female athlete”. Women documented their daily workouts, set personal goals and challenges, and empowered each other by posting videos, photos, and diary entries detailing their journeys. Under Armour awarded Joyce because she “set out to accomplish her goals while supporting other women in achieving their fitness aspirations and documented one of the most impressive and monumental stories.”

Joyce played field hockey and ran track in college, but like many people, stopped playing sports and starting working and traveling. Two kids later, the now 28-year-old says, “Finally after baby number two I decided to workout again. I originally saw one of my college friends posting their challenges on Facebook and I was jealous. I hadn’t played sports since college but I thought, ‘I’ve had two babies and I can still do what they do’,” Joyce says. “I was not as good as I remember.”

After starting to work out again nine months post-baby, Joyce began logging on her entires on the competition’s website. “I just wanted to get back in shape and be a good example for my daughter. I wanted to run one race a month during 2013,” she says. And Joyce crushed that goal.

“At first, the completion comes off a little intimidating because you have to videotape and record yourself,” she says. “At first I looked at it as a competition but I soon realized that I’m not competing against [these women] I’m just trying to make myself better. Competition turned into a community I could draw on to becoming a better athlete.”

But it hasn’t been easy. Joyce gets up at 4:30 a.m. to get in a workout and be able to see her kids off and then get to work on time (she works full-time in finance). And even though the is contest is over, Joyce’s fitness journey will continue because she just started yoga teacher training, as if her schedule isn’t already busy enough. She says that her employer, Demandware in Burlington, is really supportive of her fitness efforts and that they’re becoming a health-minded company. “We have three treadmill desks, we did a 90-day fit challenge, and we have yoga on Thursdays,” she says.

Joyce’s prize is a four-day yoga and surf retreat in Costa Rica.

Brittany practicing yoga. Photo provided.