Catch the Wind: Running Again
Why take up running (or as in my case – a feeble trot), out of the blue like that? After all, if a fifty- something woman says she has forsworn an activity because of her health, shouldn’t she be allowed the prerogative? For the average Jo, running could not possibly be healthy. The homo sapien biped was designed to put one foot in front of the other but certainly not for any rate faster than three miles per hour. There are too many torn meniscuses out there proving that precise point. Or so I was willing to think.
Speeding up was an unintended but inspired response to meeting up with an old friend who taught me that if I had the capacity to use my legs then I had better get going and be grateful. My original intention was to walk myself to a mildly better level of fitness. I had no ambition beyond a leisurely two and a half mile per hour pace. As the weeks ticked by, I started to fall into the evening rhythm of putting on my trainers and walking out the door with a sense of relief and anticipation. A positive attitude was beginning to replace my initial begrudging of the time requirement. I was finding that I was sleeping a lot better plus being a little more mindful of what I was eating, some benefits I had not anticipated. I also was getting some important “thinking time” out of the deal. Then six weeks ago, a funny thing happened: I had the urge to put on a little speed. A little spring in my feet, it was as simple as that, and I was running.
I literally bumped into my source of inspiration at this past year at a high school reunion . As I was turning away from a conversation to go get some refreshments, I tripped over my old girlhood friend, Sherry B., who was directly behind me in a wheelchair. Like everyone there, she had undergone some big changes from the days when acne, geometry tests and the subject of prom dominated our teenage concerns. However, Sherry’s adulthood concerns had a different shape to them than many of us. Early in her twenties, Sherry was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and had been coping with the disease’s demands over the decades while she raised and fledged a family.
Sherry had always been a forthright and enthusiastic girl and it was a delight to see that her character had not waned. She regaled me with a colorful prcis of her life happenings. Then in turn, she was full of questions about my family and life in general. When she heard that I currently was on contract with an incontinence products company, she leaned over and seized my arm. “That’s another thing we have in common, sister. Adult diapers.”, she said, rolling her eyes. Sherry told me of coming to grips with the fact that incontinence was going to be a part of her own life just as her youngest child was moving out of the diaper stage. Frightening and humiliating were the words she used. Then she told me of a Dolly Parton quote on her fridge door: “We cannot change the direction of the wind, but we can adjust the sails.” “So,” she said, “I have been busy taking sailing lessons these past years.”
Any of that half empty glass philosophy I had been embracing was embarrassed right out of me. I was aging normally and even had some genetic inheritance that was naturally holding a number of unpleasant possibilities at bay. Yet I could be aggravated by an ill timed sneeze that threatened to send me to the changing room. That is a far cry from needing adult diapers but it is a gentle reminder of what a short trip that could be for some.
Sherry unfairly had to cope with incontinence from a young age because of her disease’s progression. Women in a healthy state like mine have to blame “transient incontinence” on deteriorating muscle tone that comes with aging. The female anatomy which so wondrously accommodates all the changes of childbearing relies on two tiny sets of bladder sphincter muscles to hold back the contents of that ballooning organ. Childbearing, impact exercise (running, sky diving, etc.), along with aging can all lead to the betrayal of those muscles. That is primarily why of the 25 million or so Americans who suffer from incontinence, nearly 80% are women. With numbers like that reaching for adult diapers and various incontinence products, it is easy to see that the message of developing healthy attitudes about this phenomenon, such as Sherry’s ‘sailing lessons’, is an important one to disseminate.
Every day now, Sherry and I FaceBook each other. We’re not going to let the years come between us again. I have reacquainted myself with a very special woman, one who inspired me to run again. Today I sent her a message that read “I have a new technique for engaging ‘the wall’ [a silly concept for someone who only goes a mile or two!]. I lift my head and get my eyes off the ground. As I watch the clouds, I can breathe easier and am no longer worrying about the remaining haul. It works.” She replied with her trademark encouragement: “Set your sails and catch the wind. And for heaven’s sake, buy a good sports bra.