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At the Edges of Jimmy’s Heart

Jimmy T. Martin lost his first wife Linmarie to cancer. She was only 29 when she died, leaving him heartbroken, lost and his childhood faith and belief in God in shambles. What did remain was his commitment to the dream of a business called Brrrn. She said of his entrepreneurial endeavor as it was unfolding in the last months of her life that it was the proudest thing that he created that she wouldn’t live to see. And not soon after that statement, she was gone.

It was with the help of his family, his friends, therapy, and his wry sense of humor, that Jimmy was slowly able to rebuild a life for himself, and with his business partner Johnny Adammic find a way to bring Brrrn to life, not once, but twice. As Covid-19 gripped the world, Jimmy and Johnny had to shutter their Brrrn Fitness Studio located in the Flatiron District in Manhattan. Another death for Jimmy to endure. 

This story, however, does have a happy ending. He finds new love with Rachel – his and Linmarie’s friend from their college years who eventually becomes his wife. He and Johnny transform their once in person studio into a thriving online fitness offering with the Brrrn Slide Board at its core. And there is even a son. Miles. A living, breathing embodiment of a life and a love that had to travel many distances to be found. Even his lost faith has been re-found as a belief in a higher power that calls him and Rachel to serve other people and believe in themselves. But there, at the edges of Jimmy’s heart, is also the wisdom of experience and loss that filters through his life that you cannot help but see, hear, and feel. It is there when he remembers Linmarie. It is there at the mention of the 23,000 people who will no longer walk through the doors of his and Johnny’s fitness studio. 

More than giving up and feeling sorry for himself, Jimmy leaves us with a compelling question that underpins our conversation and his life: What happens when you show up and start living your truth and navigate all that life is? Jimmy’s answers are quite profound. When you show up in truth you choose to be made better by the painful experiences, not to be consumed by them. When you navigate all that life is and will be, “You really find out who you are by the obstacles that you’re facing.”

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