For Kelli Kilpatrick, fitness is a family affair. The 50-year-old Albany, GA resident and mother of 6 travels the country with her husband, John, racing in 100-mile ultra marathons. Her kids are also active, participating in sports such as swimming, hiking and trail running and many of them have run 5 & 10k road races. In fact, her oldest daughter has run several road races with Kelli and has signed up for her first 50k in Albany. One of Kelli’s biggest goals is to live life to the fullest and be an inspiration for her kids so that they will choose to be active and healthy—not just today, but for the rest of their lives.

Kelli knows firsthand what happens when one loses connection to the personal fulfillment that sports and competition can bring. She was a competitive swimmer for 10 years but stopped racing when she had her kids. Then one day 14 years ago, at age 36, she was pushing a stroller while passing a line of store windows. She caught a glimpse of her reflection and noticed something else reflected behind her. When she turned to look at what it was, she realized it was her own behind! That was a wake-up call for Kelly, who was 50 lbs heavier than her normal weight. She was tired of being out of shape, having low self-esteem and living a mediocre life—so she decided right there by that store window to make a change for the better.

Kelli started swimming again and improved her diet —and it wasn’t long before her competitive spirit awoke once more. With a triathlon race in her sights, Kelli added running to her workout regimen. Now running has become her primary sport of choice. She runs at least 6 days a week and says she just doesn’t feel like herself now without it.

In the 14 years since that moment by the store window, Kelli has reconnected to her passion for fitness and her competitive spirit keeps her aspiring for new goals. In fact, she believes the more out of reach the goal, the more empowered she feels after crossing the finish line. After she fell in love with running, she set her sights on completing a marathon, which she did in 2007. The next year she qualified for the prestigious Boston Marathon—which she ran for 8 years straight.

After having completed over 50 marathons over the course of 9 years, Kelli and her husband attempted their first 100-mile ultra in 2016—the Bighorn in Wyoming.  While they didn’t finish that one, Kelli’s competitive spirit rose to the challenge and she completed her second attempt at a 100-mile ultra. She now has several 100-mile ultras in her sights—including the Pinhoti and, not surprisingly,  the Bighorn. Kelli’s commitment to ultras is fueled by her love of running as well as by sharing the adventure of travel with her husband and serving as a role model for her children.

In fact, wanting to ensure the health and well-being of her family was one of the main reasons she chose to get life insurance. Kelli’s commitment to competitive endurance sports for the last 15 years was what drew her to Health IQ. Health IQ has spent years gathering science and data to convince life insurance companies that health conscious people, including runners, deserve lower rates due to their lower risk of conditions such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

We salute you Kelli for your commitment to your health, your family and for being a living example of the power hard work, personal empowerment and living life to the fullest.

ABOUT HEALTH IQ

Health IQ’s mission is to improve the health of the world by celebrating the health conscious through financial rewards. In a recent feature in Forbes, Health IQ explained how their data-driven approach to underwriting rewards healthy people rather than penalizes them for red flags such as family history (out of one’s control), low resting heart rate (often found in runners) or diabetes (which can be well-managed).

Health IQ delivers better rates and underwriting, and partners with top-rated insurance carriers such as SBLI, Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. and Assurity Life Insurance Company, and reinsurer partner Swiss Re to offer health conscious people between 4 and 33 percent lower rates on life insurance. Founded in 2013 by a team of health conscious entrepreneurs, the company is a licensed life insurance company in all 50 states and has helped tens of thousands of individuals secure a total of $5.3 billion in insurance coverage.