Keep it Simple, One Step After Another
A few years ago, I had decided that my running days were over. I hadn’t been an avid runner since high school but I had always kept in good enough condition that I could run a 5K if I needed to. I had spent my early adult years feeling pretty good and thought being healthy was easy, just be moderately active and eat whole foods, right? But the previous 10 years had made it clear that I was getting older. It started with food. I just didn’t feel good after I ate sometimes and would have to lie down until the bloating and belly pain passed. I was also starting to have joint pain and I didn’t feel like my body could handle sugar like it used to…Hmmm…I spent some time exploring my diet, looking for food sensitivities and cutting back on sugar and gluten. That seemed to help a little bit and I learned through this that chronic inflammation was probably an underlying factor. But I didn’t look any deeper. I thought these were all just the normal aches and pains of aging so I better get used to it. And I had plantar fasciitis in my foot again. That felt like a dealbreaker as far as running was concerned. I had recovered from it once before in my 30s but now I was in my 50s. Maybe you just can’t come back from injuries at some point? So I crossed running off the list and thought: It’s okay, I love walking.
But then something changed my mind. Earlier this fall I was visiting my son. All of my kids are great runners. I used to love watching them race in high school, even the cross-country races which require spectators to do a little running themselves in order to get a glimpse of the racers as they make their way around the course. My son was recounting his latest race which was an ultramarathon in Wyoming. Ultramarathons are trail races that can be 50 to 100 miles long. Super intense! And he was talking about the other runners who were near him as he ran the final miles. Well guess what? Two of them were an older couple in their 70s! It was like I suddenly saw a break in the clouds that had been obscuring my potential. I started to imagine that it was possible for me to train for something like that. Is there such a thing as a “couch to marathon” training program for women in their 50s?
Before I finish this story, I need to add a few other critical moments that brought me to the place where I actually thought this was possible. The biggest one was getting diagnosed with breast cancer. This could be crushing, and it was, but it was also motivating for me. I’m still navigating treatments and decisions and the underlying health issues that made this happen and I don’t recommend waiting until your body holds up a CANCER AHEAD signpost to start to make changes, but it’s definitely a kick in the pants that tells you to wake up and start giving yourself the care that you need. Even before the diagnosis, I had been working toward these changes. I had finally made it to the doctor, had some bloodwork done, and received some supplements that improved my energy. Enough so that I had gotten myself to do the 75 Hard Challenge the previous year. So many small accomplishments. At the time, I thought that was as good as it gets after 50. I was walking a lot and eating more vegetables and I felt pretty good. Little did I know, life could be better, even after cancer.
When I came home from my visit to my son’s house, I ran a mile around the track at the high school in my neighborhood. Woohoo! I made it! Running one mile felt like such an accomplishment. I gave myself a new goal. I decided to run one mile at a time for a few weeks to make sure my body could handle it and planned to run 26 miles total (my version of a marathon) before I chose the next goal. At the time of this writing, I’ve run 15 of those miles and my body is accepting it. I was even able to run a 5K Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving with my daughters!
I know this sounds like a small accomplishment but that is my point. These changes we are making toward better health are a series of small accomplishments, one small step after another. You only see the next step after you’ve taken the last one. Today on my run, a woman called out to me saying “Yay! Taking baby steps! You got this!”. How did she know? Maybe she could see how slowly I was running but it was exactly what was going through my mind at the time. Just keep doing the next thing, one small step after another. You can reach your goal. And then you'll see another.
Julie Alessandra is a holistic health coach specializing in cancer recovery and prevention. She has degrees in biology and education and is certified as a practitioner through the Institute of Integrative Nutrition and the Institute of Applied Quantum Biology.