As I’ve said, I was worried that once I’d finished Rock n’ Roll Philly, I’d ditch out and start stuffing myself with bad foods and sitting on the couch again instead of running. But I arrived home from my race to a Priority Mail package on the front table. It was from my dear old friend, Kathy, my best friend since first grade even though I moved away in fifth grade and we’ve never lived in proximity to one another since. She lives outside of DC now, with her husband and two small kids, and works, as she has for many years, at the EPA. Like me, Kathy has a sweet tooth and fondness for B movies of the 1980’s, but unlike me she turned into a serious athlete in high school and has remained so ever since. First she took up ice hockey, then women’s rugby after being exposed to it during a study abroad year in Australia. At some point some of the women on her rugby team started getting into triathlon and she began training along with them and then excelling in multi-sport events. Though we have similar frames, she is lean and muscular and able to get to the podium in triathlons even after having had two kids. She is serious about sport, but does it in a kind of private way that never made me feel as if she was being judgy about my lethargy or that she was trying to foist her healthy lifestyle on me or anyone else (some gym bunnies I have known are serious proselytizers).
I opened the package and found a very sweet card, commending me for completing my first half marathon and saying “and now that you are getting ready to think about your next event, here are a few goodies to help you keep going.” Tucked inside the little box were a pair of super wicking running socks, a reflective running belt for winter runs in the dark, and a tube of NUUN tabs -- tablets that dissolve in water to provide zero calories but high levels of vitamins to runners and other athletes. This present really meant the world to me. It reminded me that the next step was to take a next step, just to keep going.
I went up to my room, plopped down on the bed, looked at the big old wall calendar and decided I needed to pick another race. I got on my computer and scanned through the half marathon possibilities. As I did so, waves of elation came over me, maybe it was some kind of delayed endorphin reaction. I was a *REAL* runner, I thought. I had just run a half marathon! I was awesome and persistent and I wanted this feeling to last forever. I wanted to do another one right away. I found a good one that was just a month away, the Runner’s World Half in beautiful Bethlehem, PA, but when I ran the idea past Kathy, she suggested waiting a bit longer to recover and then gear up for the next half. My body had been through a lot, she said, and it would be self sabotaging to go out again too fast and risk injury.
So I decided on a half that was closer to home, the first annual Trenton, NJ Double Cross Half Marathon (so named because it crosses the Delaware river two times). It was in mid-November, so I had some time to train. Moreover, it would get me through most of the fall semester at work. And Kathy’s little package reminded me that I would be running in the winter, in low light, and that was normal and to be expected and planned for and absolutely no excuse for going back to the couch. She didn’t say that in her card, but she deftly implied it with the reflector belt. I got the message. Only a really good friend can know you well enough to tell exactly what excuses you will make and then prevent you from making them without ever criticizing you. Kath is crazy tactful like that. Everyone on earth should have a Kathy in their lives.
Twist of fate
Kathy’s help was accompanied by a radical new development. Diane, who had run five miles a day every single day, rain or shine, even when she had the flu, for most of a decade, had gone for her regular doctor’s checkup and found out her cholesterol was through the roof. The doctor wanted to put her on statins immediately, insisted that running with cholesterol that high could actually put Diane at risk for a heart attack. It seemed totally unfair to run diligently every day only to find out your body was in bad shape.
Diane was crushed for about three days. Although I didn’t see it happen, I wouldn’t have been surprised to find her researching funeral homes in the area and picking out urns. But after the mourning period passed she did what she usually does, flew into action and read every piece of current research on cholesterol that she could get her hands on. She refused the statins, said that at 47 years old she had absolutely no intention of being on medication for the rest of her life. Her mom had died early after a lifetime of obesity, followed by cancer that required a leg amputation, and then kidney failure and dialysis. Diane wasn’t going down the same path.
After the research period Diane declared that she was going vegan. Gone were our old trips to the local diner for greasy burgers (burgers I was now enjoying without the bun!). Instead of ShopRite we would be going an extra half hour to the WholeFoods (and by we, I mean me, because I am the designated shopper in the family) to get organic produce. It makes sense, if your new healthy diet is going to be mainly fruits and vegies, you really don’t want it all soaked in pesticides.
Her dinners now looked something like this: a large casserole dish containing a complete head of chopped up, steamed broccoli, coated with 14ozs of cannelini beans, followed by some shredded zucchini and topped with olive oil and curry powder. She ate mountains of food, portion sizes that seemed couldn’t possibly fit inside her 5’-1” frame, but she began losing weight in a hurry. She dropped 22lbs in three months and when she went back for her follow up visit to the doctor, her cholesterol had dropped by 102 points. I kid you not.
Amazingly, Diane’s food --which I mercilessly mocked for being stinky and looking pretty unappetizing-- brought her great joy. She loved the taste, didn’t miss meat, milk or cheese (except for the occasional longing look at a slice of pizza) and said she had more energy than she’d had in years. The doctor was elated and even though our diets didn’t exactly overlap --mine being high protein and thus including a lot of meat and cheese, and hers being vegan-- it was still helpful to have a partner who was actively pursuing a healthy lifestyle. It would have been much harder to change my habits long term if she had been sitting around eating cheese fries and beer and watching TV all day.
Instead, we began going for morning runs together and I even signed her up for the Trenton half marathon with me. It would be her first ½ and on her 48th birthday. Valentine stayed home with my mom this time! Our common goal helped us encourage one another to do longer runs and to just keep getting out to exercise every day.
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