Fitness came first for Woodbury prom-goer

• Mollypat Horan

Mollypat Horan competes in the Life Time Fitness Alpha Showdown. Submitted photo

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While most girls going to prom were getting pampered at hair salons and spas, an East Ridge High School student was competing in a fitness competition.

Mollypatt Horan woke up at 5:30 a.m. the morning of prom this year and headed straight to Life Time Fitness to compete in the Alpha Showdown.

After working out with a trainer for almost a year, Horan was ready to put her speed, power, strength and endurance to the test. She finished the challenges in 11 minutes and 9 seconds.

Horan has been working out with a trainer at the gym when she noticed she’s gotten a lot stronger, she said.

She began training for the competition about two months ago.

“And then I found out it was the morning of prom so then I just did it anyway,” she said.

It was a lot of running with weights, pushups, power throws and squats, she said.

She was timed from start to finish. Going through all the challenges wasn’t always so easy.

“My weight fell off twice,” Horan said. “I knew the minute I stopped I wouldn’t want to keep going.”

So she kept going and didn’t get done until around 11 a.m. Then she was off to get her hair done for prom, was taking pictures by 2 p.m. and at the grand march an hour later.

All the while, her friends were watching movies, getting their nails done and relaxing the morning of the dance.

The high school junior didn’t miss any of the pre-prom preparation one bit.

“I felt really good all day knowing what I had done in the morning,” she said.

And she got to enjoy the work she did decorating prom as well.

Horan was part of the prom committee that designed the grand march and decorated the prom center for the East Ridge dance.

In addition to being captain of the swim team, the teen is preparing for a Special Olympics camp counseling role this summer.

The competition gave her even more motivation to continue and surprised her mother Mariclaire Horan right from the get-go.

“I actually was really shocked at the level of competition and how difficult it actually was,” Mariclaire said.

Preparing for the competition didn’t stop her from planning the dinner and after party at her house on prom night, Mariclaire added.

Mollypat plans to compete again next year – she’s still working out with her trainer twice a week and on her own four days a week.

And if next year’s Alpha Showdown falls on prom again:

“I would still do it,” she said.

Tags: area news, news, woodbury