Our Team

REBECCA GUENTHER
Fitness Instructor

Hometown: San Jose, CA. Where did you attend high school, college or gain other relevant professional credentials: I attended West Valley Community College before transferring to UC Berkeley, where I hold associate's degrees in Biology and Chemistry and my bachelor's in Molecular and Cell Biology, respectively. Understanding human biology and how the body functions optimally is a major aspect of preventative healthcare, which is my passion. Another aspect is understanding environmental influences such as community, cultural traditions and access to healthcare. As such, it is my hope to further my education in a public health graduate program so that I can best serve to promote health and equity in healthcare. Fit Kids provides me the opportunity to serve in this capacity and to learn about how to better meet the healthcare needs of our underserved communities. Day job: I'm currently working as a tasting room associate at Big Basin Vineyards. Favorite sports to play as a child and/or now: I played soccer from age 5 to 14. Favorite workout: Running! I started running after high school as a way to keep up my fitness and to teach myself discipline and commitment. I actually hated running more than any form of physical fitness. I was looking to re-introduce structure in my life as I was trying to navigate my way through college. The idea was that if I could learn to master my aversion to running by committing myself to doing it consistently, then I could apply the same mental fortitude towards other difficult challenges that I faced in my life. That was 22 years ago, and I am still an avid runner to this day! I am always learning from running, and now I also find joy in it. Proudest achievement in sports or fitness: I have a few, so it's hard to pin it to one. My first ever race was the Golden Gate Headlands Marathon, a trail marathon that I ran while I was a student at UC Berkeley. I was struggling to adapt to the rigor of achieving at the university level and used my training as an outlet to alleviate stress and instill self-confidence. I not only completed the marathon but also took first overall female. That achievement rejuvenated my sense of confidence in myself, knowing that I was capable of succeeding with hard work and believing in myself. Second to that would be my first 100-mile ultra-marathon and my marathon PR (a 3:11:30) in March of 2020. Those achievements have their own stories :). Why fitness matters to me: Fitness has been an important tool in my own life for self-care. I use fitness as a way to maintain my physical health as well as my emotional health. Fitness allows me to practice and to develop qualities such as commitment, perseverance, patience, organization, mindfulness, self-awareness and compassion. By choosing to get out of my comfort zone, I'm forced to learn about my own limits and what it'll take to improve. It's both an empowering and humbling process that teaches me about what I need to do to get stronger, and at the same time how to be patient with myself and show myself grace. This in turn shapes me into the kind of person I aspire to be to myself and to others. Furthermore, it is a gift to be able to extend my support to others towards their own fitness journeys. I can share what I've learned through my own experiences while also deriving inspiration through sharing in others' experiences. Why fitness is important to kids: Kids have the greatest potential for influencing their health outcomes. What they do now to ensure they live healthy lives will have the most impact on their longevity. Fitness is an important component of this effort. Fun fact or anything else you'd like our community to know about you: I have a long-term goal of running a marathon in every state. (This includes ultramarathons and full Ironmans.) I've completed 29 states so far.