The winter of 1976 I took a Fitness for life class at Ricks. It was a turning point in my life. The first thing we timed, how long it took us to walk or run a mile. I had to walk most of the way. We had a choice of various things to do, to improve our physical fitness and we had to do it four times a week. At first I walked five miles in an hour, but I didn’t have an hour to lose so I decided to run two miles. That wouldn’t take as long. At the end of the class we again ran or walked the mile track. This time I made it in decent time. We weighed each class and my weight did not change. Jim Lamph measured us for body fat. He said mine measured the same as a gymnast. I hadn’t lost any weight during the running because my body had not stored any fat previously. I decided a long time ago I wasn’t going to be fat.
People say that I am lucky that I don’t gain any weight. I’m not lucky, I work at it. I watch what I eat, and don’t eat any sugar when my Levis get tight and I drink a lot of water.
It took me eight months to run two miles without stopping. At first I would run the distance between two telephone poles and walk for three. Later I walked one and ran one. The first time I ran one mile I had the feeling of floating. I had a high from running. The next year I didn’t run for 5 weeks and when I started again it took me a week before I could run two miles. I am angry at myself when I don’t take time to run. I enjoy it. It is my time to meditate and sort out my emotions. It is impossible to be discouraged or blue, when I run regularly.
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