Over the Next Hill Fitness
Welcome! We all know, as we age, it’s harder to put ourselves first and get in enough fitness, flexibility, and nutrition. Maybe you’re new to formatted exercise, maybe we need to push to the next level or set some goals. Perhaps you’ve always wanted to run a 5K, a marathon, or even an ULTRA marathon. This podcast is designed to get you moving and headed towards those goals. You’ll have opportunities for general coaching during each episode or you may contact me for personal coaching afterward. Are you ready to get over this next hill in life? Let’s get started.
Over the Next Hill Fitness
S3 Ep 12 Run? Nah. Lisa Herron Will Power Walk Past You and Be Drinking Beer and Cheer You As You Finish
What if the greatest obstacle you faced became your greatest opportunity? For Lisa Herron, a devastating farming accident at age 40 that required her fifth knee surgery didn't end her athletic journey—it transformed it. Trading running shoes for walking ones, Lisa discovered an unexpected path forward that would lead to extraordinary achievements and a reimagined relationship with movement.
Lisa's power walking prowess shatters preconceptions about what walking can accomplish. Maintaining a consistent 10-minute mile pace, she often overtakes runners during races, playfully noting she might be "on my second or third beer" by the time they cross the finish line. Her athletic feats include walking 100 miles in under 27 hours as the only woman and only walker to complete an ultramarathon, and accumulating over 19,000 miles between 2021-2024—equaling more than 38 million steps.
The physical challenges Lisa has overcome would sideline most athletes permanently. Beyond her knee surgeries, she's endured two cervical spine surgeries requiring seven screws, two plates, and cadaver bones; endured nine foot surgeries; manages diabetes; and has undergone two heart catheterizations. Yet these obstacles have only strengthened her resolve. Her approach to health blends realism with optimism: "I'm just a well-fueled machine with some expensive drugs set in a pillbox."
Lisa's commitment to movement has dramatically transformed her health markers, with triglycerides dropping from a dangerous 500 to a healthy 88. Her daily routine typically begins with 8-10 morning miles, followed by additional walking throughout the day. Her current goal—6,000 miles in 2025—requires consistent daily effort that she embraces regardless of weather or circumstances, "embracing the suck" on difficult days.
Beyond personal achievements, Lisa channels her passion for movement into community service as a mini-marathon ambassador advocating for walkers' inclusion, volunteering at Wheeler Mission's Drumstick Dash, and training her dog for children's reading therapy. Her message resonates clearly: there are no valid excuses for immobility, only opportunities to adapt and overcome.
Ready to redefine your own relationship with movement? Follow Lisa's example by starting where you are, adapting to your circumstances, and building consistency that can transform your health. Subscribe now and join our community of movers and believers who refuse to let limitations define their potential.
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Hello and welcome back to Over the Next Hill Fitness Podcast. I'm Carla Coffey, your coach and host for today's program. I just want to thank everybody who's been giving me five-star ratings. I really appreciate that. I also appreciate you sharing the program and continuing to follow it. There is a button in the recording in the show notes that you can send me a message. I'm going to compile some of those questions and hopefully get those into the next episode. So if you have questions about running or fitness or shoes or whatever, I'll do my best to answer all those.
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Speaker 1:Today we're going to be speaking to Lisa Heron Incredible story. We talked a lot off air as well. Yeah, she's an incredible woman, so hopefully you will enjoy her podcast and get out there and do something. She really proves that there are no excuses. Everybody can get up and move, so enjoy the program. Hey, lisa, welcome to the show. Hey, carla, thanks for the invite. Appreciate it Absolutely. It's great to have you here. So let's talk running. When did you start running? Why did you start running? Let's start from the beginning, okay.
Speaker 2:Well, I had to transition into power walking, so I'm a little different in that regards than most. But I started a lifetime ago with running, you know, when I was in junior high, high school track, have always been involved in sports and then finally had to get to the point I was involved in a bad farming accident when I was 40 and ended up having to completely transition. That gave me my fifth knee surgery, and so then I started power walking, and so that was right around 2012 and set a goal that year to walk six half marathons. So I'm a little unique because I can hold my own with a lot of runners. I can easily walk a 10 minute mile. Wow, that's incredible. So totally different gate, you know, and for those that like to make fun of me being a walker, I'm going to catch you about the six or seven mile marker and I'm going to go by, and then I'll catch you and I'll cheer you when you cross the finish line, and I might be on my second or third beer by then.
Speaker 2:I love it, that's great, and I'll give you a banana. We all work hard for that famous banana.
Speaker 1:No, kidding right. So you were in track, though, when you were younger.
Speaker 2:I was yes.
Speaker 1:What was your best? Distances that you liked to run there.
Speaker 2:Great question. I did more field events, would run a 400, a 1600. I was more the kid that got the points. I wasn't going to always be the fast one. I did more with the shot put disc to do those type of field events than I did the running. But I just I did it more because I played volleyball and basketball and softball so that way you had more of the endurance because of the running that you would do.
Speaker 1:Wow, you were athletic in school.
Speaker 2:Well, and my mother made me take ballet to offset being a tomboy. So I sat in my dad's lap when I was six years old at a Cincinnati Reds game and I kind of patted him on the legs. I remember and said Daddy, when I grow up I want to be like Johnny Bench Not that I want to age myself here and that fall I started in ballet. Your mom said nope, nope, and I was actually on a competitive dance team in high school. That's how I lost my eligibility to play sports, because I blew a knee out at a dance competition which gave me surgery.
Speaker 1:Number two In high school you were in the second category. What was the first one?
Speaker 2:The first one I had both of them done at the same time. It was what was called a tetranatural lateral release. You could take my kneecaps and move them all around and then it's pretty much a birth defect Interesting. My brother had the same surgeries on both of his knees, so I don't know if it was kind of a genetic kind of thing. And then it wasn't. Six months later I tore the meniscus in my left knee and then it just kind of went from there and then knee surgery number six was three years ago.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow so yeah, I have less than 10% meniscus. The goal is to now make it well into my 60s before a knee replacement. And in fact three years ago I had a goal to walk 5,000 miles that year. And I show up at OrthoIndy I'm here in Indianapolis and why have a boring X on your leg? I had written 3,011.78, because they always mark your body part that you're having surgery, and my orthopedic pulls back and he goes what in the world is this? And my mom's like don't get her started. And he goes what is that? And I said my mileage. He goes how long? I said from January 1 to August 5th of this year and I have a goal to walk 5,000. So we've got a mission. You've got to get in and get it cleaned up. And so I took three days off and then was back on what I call a dreadmill and walking on. Just at least get my mileage going.
Speaker 1:Wow, what was the pain like from that three days later.
Speaker 2:Honestly, with what I had before. It was much better. But where I got into a weird space, I ended up with a blood clot and I honestly think I had the blood clot with the because I had it looked like a grenade had gone off in my knee, just with arthritis and wear and tear, and I'm a no guts, no glory. That's the farm girl that's going to rub some dirt on it and you just go and and probably at fault. So I've I've learned some valuable lessons about listening to your body.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And having some good doctors about listening to your body, yeah, and having some good doctors, I don't know. I think I scared them just with the goals that I set. So I did go on that particular year and go on and walk 5,000 miles.
Speaker 1:Wow, and so how many miles are you getting nowadays?
Speaker 2:21, 22, 23, and 24. Between those four years, I walked 19,073 miles, wow. And then last, or December of 24, was um waiting to have my second heart cath, and that was in December just what four months ago. And I'm thinking, okay, what goals do I need to set for 2025 that are going to take me out of my comfort zone, minutes away of having my second heart cath of the year? And I decided I was going to walk 6,000 miles this year, so that is 16.43 miles a day to get me to the promised land for the end of the year.
Speaker 1:Wow, so you got it down to the day, so you can't really miss any days.
Speaker 2:No, no, you could. I mean there may be, but I have a thing where you don't miss days, yeah, and I have, in the last couple of, really embraced the suck in life. So the days that really are bad, that walking means more than anything. And it may be, and I don't go out and do it all at once. It's three or four walks Sometimes I do, depending on what kind of time frame I've got, but I usually I'll get up in the morning and walk somewhere between eight to 10 miles every morning to start my day. Wow, and then every step counts. So, uh, like I said, I'm a little unique compared to some, but I've learned a lot about myself. So I'll go through a pair of shoes one pair a month for this year, because I get a new pair every 500 miles.
Speaker 1:Wow, so walking every single day. And you said there's some days. I mean that you don't miss any days. Yeah, I don't miss any days, because then you would have to add on right Correct, so you'd have to divide that back up through the rest of the week. And then you said every step counts. So do you keep a tracker on all day? Oh, I, absolutely do.
Speaker 2:I have it right down and I found a website because I liked not only I keep track of my steps, I also the mileage component of it. I also the mileage component of it. So, with what I did in that four years, that got me just over 19,000 miles. That was just over 38 million steps that I took in four years time 38 million steps. Yep, and then that was 27 pairs of Brooks running shoes. They don't pay me to say that, but if they want, to they can.
Speaker 1:There you go. It's all about calling and asking for that sponsor. Oh absolutely so. So you do wear a running shoe, not a walking shoe, though is it because of the speed?
Speaker 2:Yep, and I always. You know, people always come to cause. Now, you know, I was just at the grocery store this morning and somebody said you're the girl that walks everywhere. So the notoriety I'm I'm kind of shocked by. Um, I have those that have even come to Indianapolis to do races because of me and I've never met them. They follow me on Instagram.
Speaker 1:That's funny.
Speaker 2:But with the shoes, every year I get refitted professionally because our bodies change and so does technology, and what might work for me may not work for you, because we're God, made us all different and I. Some people will look at me and I you know, but I've also learned that, brooks, for me, you know, and their technology changes and I may not always be a ghost girl, it may be whatever, um, but I it's just what has worked for me of you know, and not everybody cause it cracks me up on social media. I'm looking for new shoes. What's your suggestion? Go get fitted. Yeah, go get fitted and get go somewhere that truly knows what they're doing.
Speaker 1:Right, I agree. Do you um find that your feet have gotten bigger?
Speaker 2:Um, to some extent yes, just because, unfortunately, that's what life has done to us. But my first cause I've also had nine foot surgeries and my first bunion came off when I was a freshman in college. Wow, so I've joked. By the time I get to be really old, I should have really young feet, while all of my friends are dealing with bunions, because all of mine were taken off when I was a kid.
Speaker 1:Wow, okay, and it was that from the ballet taken off when I was a kid.
Speaker 2:Wow, okay, and it was that from the ballet. Not quite sure it could have been on some of it. I think part of it genetics that you know. My grandma, you know, had really bad bunions, corns, hammer toes. She actually had a handful of her toes completely removed. Oh, my goodness, so mine has been. You know, I've got two more bunions to go. I'd like to buy some time. I don't have time to mess with it at this point. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Have you tried spacers? I'm sure you have right.
Speaker 2:I have, yes, yeah, and I've got some wires and things that help hold especially my left foot together, some wires and things that help hold especially my left foot together. Wow, crazy, I tease. If I'd keep my foot out of my mouth, I might not have near the problems I do. But that's why the importance of having good shoes matters and I, I, I love a good stiletto, so that may more. I've noticed my toe boxes have gotten bigger on my stilettos. Just to you know, can't you go from Brooks to stilettos? It's not a bad thing.
Speaker 1:That could be part of the bunion problem too.
Speaker 2:It could possibly be.
Speaker 1:Yes, so you're in Indy. Do you walk outside all year round?
Speaker 2:walk outside all year round. I have a girlfriend that let me borrow her treadmill back three years ago and it stays at my house because she never uses it at her house. So she comes to my house hangs out with my dog. She works full time from home so I will get on the treadmill if needed, but I will tap out when it gets about 20 below zero. But I will walk all weather. Yeah, I'm the same way 20 below is you just can't.
Speaker 1:no matter, I don't care. They say oh, if you have the right clothes, trust me. I have a lot of clothes and I can't keep my feet and hands warm, no matter what, even with those electronic hand warmers.
Speaker 2:You get, and I got in a weird space. A few years ago I was going to go walk 10 miles. I went out, tapped out at six and it was probably closer to 30 below that particular day with. The winds were crazy and there was actually a local police officer that stopped to make sure I was okay. Nope, I'm good, I'm just out walking. And he's like why? Because I can't.
Speaker 2:And then I did a really dumb thing, tapped out at six, and then I thought I'm going to go to hot yoga and I'm not that one that'll sit down. I had to sit down for most of that class. I had body parts turning colors from being outside and I thought I have to be. I'm smarter than this.
Speaker 1:And I thought I have to be, I'm smarter than this. Yeah, wow, yeah, we had a day a couple years ago the wind chill was probably 30 below, something stupid, and I went out to try it because, you know, same thing, I'll run in anything, I don't care. I got a mile and everything was still so cold that I turned around and I'm like, okay, that's it. You know, I'm just going to pull the plug on this one, because I could not keep my fingers warm and I had, you know, the gloves a good, you know windproof gloves and things over my shoes and I'm like, yeah, couldn't keep it warm.
Speaker 2:It's not worth it. Well, and that was like today. We've had so much rain here in Indiana over the past few days so I did six miles, went to mass, then went and did an Inferno Pilates class and then we had our, we had a tent, we've had a mile, a miler series, getting ready for the mini marathon and they our 10 mile yesterday went virtual because of these bad storms that we have, and my feet got wet. And that's when I start. I can take it all, but when my feet get wet, that's when I start getting whiny. Oh really, oh yeah, I don't know why, it's just one of those weird things of mine. So the last picture I took at the park I had actually, by that point, taken my shoes off and I was standing in the when my girlfriend took this picture and I'm barefooted. I would have rather been barefooted than wear the cold shoes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, None of that bothers me, as long as I'm warm enough. You know, usually, even if it's raining, if you're running or you know working hard, you still stay warm, right? Oh yes, Keep your core and your fingers warm, Because once my core gets warm, usually my hands will get warm and so I'm fine even in the rain. You know, it doesn't bother me. But yeah, I hate to be cold, that's just I mean. So I wear a lot of layers for a better part of the year and all my friends are running in shorts and tank tops and.
Speaker 1:I'm in a jacket still.
Speaker 2:Well, and I also think I've gotten into a lot of the trail races and that changes things as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Of what to wear and I did a race. It's Nalbone and it's a big thing here in Indiana. It's done down in Southern Indiana and they have claimed to fame about how rough it is and it was equivalent to like 256 flights of stairs, type race Nice. And somehow I got third in my age bracket as a walker, which I thought when I thought, oh God, I did something wrong. They're like don't wait, we got something for you. And I thought, oh, I've done something wrong and never in my wildest dreams thought I would have placed in that race.
Speaker 1:Wow, and it makes sense if you think about it, because you're walking the whole way, so you're not getting as exhausted as those who are charging up the hills.
Speaker 2:Oh well, I played in the woods enough as a kid. I would crawl up because some of these got so slippery, because it was so muddy, we'd had a bunch of rain. And I looked at my girlfriend and she goes, but you're doing it wrong. I said no, nobody said we have to do it right there. Everybody's used that Come over here. And before she realized I had crawled up on my hands and knees. Yeah, and she goes bye. I said love, you See it at the finish line. And off, I was gone. Good for you. But I had actually duct taped my shoes because you get into a lot of that mud, the suction will pull your shoes off.
Speaker 1:Oh wow, I didn't think about that, yeah.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I just wore an old pair of Brooks that day and duct taped and off I was gone, cause a lot of people you would see that their shoes coming off, and there was even a handful of people that had done the race barefooted, which is okay. That's a little on the crazy side.
Speaker 1:I couldn't either. I mean because you don't know what you're stepping on in those mud logs, and some of it even took you down river beds.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they could have been glass or anything it could have been anything so, but you learn a lot yeah so your favorite, oh, go ahead I was just gonna say so.
Speaker 1:Your favorite distance, though, is a half no good question.
Speaker 2:I I mean, I've done a handful of full marathons 2021,. I did my first ultra, so I walked 100 miles in 26 hours and 53 minutes. I actually want to do that one again, just so I can do it better. Which one did you do? It was the Indy Piston. It was done right here in downtown Indy. I don't know if I ever want to go to the White River State Park again after that, but I don't know you ever want to go to the white river state park again after that. Um, but I don't know. You learn a lot about yourself, especially in a race like that. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's cool, though, that you did a hundred miler yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was the only woman that finished and the only Walker.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So, and I and you have to be careful with some of those races because some won't allow walking. I've never heard of such a thing. I hadn't either, but after some guy called me out on social media and about 400 posts later of my friends coming, I didn't have to say a word because he didn't feel that I had bragging rights, that I completed an ultra marathon. I did, I completed it, yeah. Yeah, and I still had four hours to go, so it wasn't like I had 45 seconds to cross the finish line.
Speaker 1:But even then, you still completed it. I still absolutely.
Speaker 2:So I think for me then that's when I have owned walk, run, crawl just show up, Because to walk it, to crawl it or run it, it's the same 100 miles, same 3.1, whatever distance. It's the showing up and for me I was an elite athlete at one point in life and now body parts and I'm a repeat offender at OrthoIndy and it's the middle, to the back of the pack that tells the story and that is something that the journey and the story that I own and I share and I try to rise others up, to get up and move, Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so is that a road or a trail race at 100 miler?
Speaker 2:It was all on a trail, but it's not. I mean, you did get into some gravel, but most of it was concrete.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:So it was a good one to get put your toe in to try it yeah.
Speaker 1:But it was still a lot. Yeah, a hundred miles is a hundred miles.
Speaker 2:It absolutely is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my hundred miler was a road race, right, so it was all pavement the whole way and I had a coach who used to be local here tell me, you know she was real big on, well, what was the elevation? I'm like I don't know. I didn't measure the road, I just went right and she said, well, it wasn't on a trail, so it doesn't really count.
Speaker 2:Excuse me A hundred miles is a hundred miles it absolutely is. So, yeah, good for you for sticking up for that. Well, and I have you know because it's just, it's amazing how people pass judgment. 90% is getting your butt up out of bed and showing up. The rest is gravy at that point.
Speaker 1:That's why I really appreciate Sherry always posting stop apologizing that. You walk, you run, you walk. We're getting it done.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Well, especially, I think, for me. I've started owning. You know I'm diabetic now, so that changed everything. And you know, am I eating? Am I, did I fuel up right? Did I feel too much? And it's really made me more present in what I do. And it's about encouraging people because with obesity and all the illnesses that are out there the last couple of years, you pick a body part and I have a specialist that backs it up and it sucks.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that sounds. You said you're a repeat offender at the ortho. I was like wow, Well, um 2018,.
Speaker 2:I had two cervical spine surgeries. Five months apart and almost a year to the day of getting released from ortho, india, on July 1st of 2019, I did my first sprint triathlon and on that July 1 of 2019, I, when I got released, I went out and tried not to cry. I sat out for two hours and cried in my car because I could barely walk 2000 steps a day and I thought I'm not this girl, I'm not the big whiner and I'm going to have to find a way to get up and own this, not only for me. I have two cadaver bones that help hold this all together. So I not only walk for me, I walk. I don't know who they are, but they're my angels that watch over me and I walk on their behalf every single day.
Speaker 2:And I you know I'm big on the donate for life. I have a um. I have recycled body part t-shirt that I will wear. Sometimes my mom hates Um, but I'm grateful for those two individuals. So it when I talk about the give back and to encourage people, that really defined me. And so that's where this craziness over the last five years with the mileage and doing things that take me out of my comfort zone, has come from.
Speaker 1:So were the C cervical spine surgery and the hearth catheter. Were those things from injuries accidents?
Speaker 2:I like to tell over the neck is that I have so much brain power. My neck couldn't support all this power. That's right here.
Speaker 1:Okay, I love it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I honestly think a lot of it came from poor ergonomics when you work in an office for years of it came from poor ergonomics when you work in an office for years you know we weren't allowed to have headsets, you had to use a phone and a lot of this for years and I can't say that's it. But it was C3 and C6. So I have seven screws, two plates and two cadaver bones that hold all of this together. And when people you know if they the scars have faded, if you get up close enough, I like to tell I got cut in a bar fight.
Speaker 1:I love that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it sounds. It sounds more exotic, Absolutely, and you should see, the other guy Exactly Destroyed him mentally. It didn't take as long. And then with my heart issues, a lot of that's genetic.
Speaker 2:My maternal grandmother died when I was, or she was, I was six, she was 55. So my age, I'm now 56. I spent the night with her and she passed away in her sleep and I found her the next morning. So it's been really hard over this last year because if she had the technology that we have today, where would she be Right, you know? And last year I failed a stress test and I was within 43 seconds of maxing it out and I just, it's been a rough haul. I even travel now with a blood pressure cuff and they found a congenital heart defect. I have crazy low blood pressure, have passed out a handful of times. So I'm just really careful about when I'm out and even with the trails or the you know the, the paths that I take to go walk, I'm just and I have a tracker, I use Strava and then once I started, my friends will check in, especially if they've not heard from me or watch that I made it back home.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, that's smart that you let people know where you're at and what you're doing.
Speaker 2:So I know the second heart cath. I actually went out and walked 10 miles that morning before I drove down to Cincinnati to have a heart cath. I just again, I'm not going to let it define me and I have the green light to do all of this because I've done it forever. It's not like, oh, I'm going to have two heart caths and now go walk a full marathon. I've been doing this long enough that you know. One of my cardiologists said he didn't, he doesn't want the weekend warriors, the person that only has time to go walk or run on a Saturday and then ends up having a heart attack or a stroke because they're not training every single day.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:I love that you've conquered all that and you just don't let it hold you down, because more people need to hear that I feel like some people oh, I got a hangnail, I can't run, I, I, I can't run, I get hangnails. Okay, well, let's listen to lisa's story. Yeah, no, so don't run, go walk fast yes, go I.
Speaker 2:And it doesn't even have to be fast. No, no, you know you don't have to do a race, you don't it. You know you have. And again, if there's I you know I'm big on disclaimers If you feel that you know you've not ever worked out, or it's been years, at least talk to your doctor. First go have a physical, make sure you're somewhat in a place you know, and maybe that's where you get a personal trainer or you start working with a dietician, or or it could be a whole combination of things to help get you where you need. And with the walking adventures, this year is my fourth year as a mini marathon ambassador. The first time the 500 Festival has had a walker. So they've had a couple in between, because I did three years in a row and then a couple years off, and then this year got chosen for a mini ambassador, so it makes it awesome to be able to get out and talk about walking.
Speaker 1:That's great. Yeah, you know it's cause, like you know, you were saying you don't have to do a fast, get your doctor's approval, just move, just move. Yeah, you know, get up and you know, during a commercial walk around your house you ain't got to go out and kind of big things. You just need to move, move.
Speaker 2:Well, and we found that out right at the beginning of COVID. And you know, people wonder why I'm the way I am. Well, when you're raised by one of the original pioneer women in life, my mother broke both of her ankles putting her Christmas tree up, had all kinds of offers to help, and she just decided. And she ended up climbing up a flight of stairs by herself, got cleaned up, put on compression socks, put on clean pajamas and waited three hours to call me. And then people wonder why I'm the way I am. But I I at that time, you know, everybody was working from home, and so I was able to go home to help her, which I, you know. I'm so happy that, and we survived.
Speaker 2:We didn't kill each other, and but it was about keeping her in a place. You know, all of my weights were here in Indianapolis. She's at 90 miles away at our family farm. She was literally using cans of green beans to stay, you know. So she didn't lose muscle in fear if she had to have surgery. So if there's a way, do it. It doesn't have. You don't need all the fancy stuff. And we learned that the hard way, because she still jokes about it. You know who who? Because I started cooking and you know how do you cook to build back bone, and so we just ate healthier and she actually lost 18 pounds. So she likes to tease you know who breaks both ankles and then loses 18 pounds.
Speaker 1:Well, it's just because she was eating healthier. Yeah, yeah, that don't happen, it never happened.
Speaker 2:So, but it's just and, and you know, I've got a yoga instructor I had met many, many years ago and our paths have crossed again and, of course, now we've teased our evil. Twins are much older now, but she teaches different and talks about what we need to be doing now, for 20 years from now, about having strong ankles and strong feet and strong wrist, because those are all the places, as an older person, that you fall. Many break a wrist or they break an ankle, and I thought, okay, ingenious, but I don't know. In my heart, I'm still 23. My kids are older than I am now.
Speaker 1:Right. And if you walk or exercise with younger people, so all my running mates are 40 or younger, right, there's a group of about five of us now. So, yeah, I feel like I'm in my 40s and I'm not in my 40s or 50s anymore. So you know. But you know it's who you hang out with, with the things you do and how you look at life.
Speaker 2:Oh, it absolutely is. And again, it's about owning the body you wake up to every single day, because it's going to be different.
Speaker 1:Yeah, indeed. So what was it like? Do you? You're fueling for this walking when you do the halves and stuff? Is that different than what a runner would do? Do you feel like you burn the same amount of calories?
Speaker 2:Oh, great question. I feel it does, but it changes. Now about being diabetic.
Speaker 1:Oh yes.
Speaker 2:And I wear a Dexcom. I did the Purdue half last fall and last year that would have been at that point, the best half that I was on track to do. I was right at an 11-minute mile walking Nice that was still horsing around doing little videos at the beginning of each. My favorite was mile three because it was three weeks and getting to love on my new granddaughter. She was three weeks old that day, so she mile three was for my granddaughter, indy, and so each mile was either a mantra or given back to somebody that might be going through something. And I hit, and so hit mile eight and I mean just oh, I was so excited I have the grooves there and I started feeling off and Dexcom had a national outage and I couldn't track. And I carry all kinds of electrolytes on me. I've really gotten into dried apricots just because they've got more potassium than a banana. You can carry them on you.
Speaker 1:They don't squish up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they don't squish up, sometimes it's a texture thing, but honestly they're not that bad. I think they're better For me. I'm not big into the gel packs, but if I have to do one, I'll do a gel. I do the electrolyte jelly beans. That's a go-to for me, I try. What I try to do is especially on the longer races, and this is just again what works for me.
Speaker 2:I kind of switch it out just because of the diabetic component. Thursday night is carb night, friday is my protein day, okay, and then that. And then I try to have a peanut butter sandwich right at midnight leading up to the race day and then I've got kind of the snacky things to get ready because I just I try to be a little higher with the blood sugar. So again, that's what works for me. But I, but I, I could tell it at that Purdue half that, when it hit hard because you could tell with the videos I started slurring my speech and I sounded like I was drunk and it wasn't, it was my daggone blood sugar, crashing, crashing, yeah, and I had done everything.
Speaker 2:It was just. And that's where it gets frustrating, because every day with that is there and I mean all of our bodies are different because what might work for you, and so that's been a lot. We've got an indie mini Facebook page, much like you know we do with our, you know our group and you know those, and I tell people if you need to play around with it now, you don't wait, especially if you're new to this. You don't dare wait. Don't go out and buy new sports bras, don't go out and you stay the course, and the same way with your food, especially as you get closer to race day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and you need to keep a good record of OK, this did not work or this worked really well.
Speaker 2:So yeah, yes, or this tasted good, or you know, this gave me heartburn, or I, you know, and I I'm. I cannot stand the yellow Gatorade and that's all they. I don't know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree, I don't. I'm not a big fan of Gatorade, anyways, but I know that's what you get, you know. So, I take, I take what I like with me, but then when it runs out, then I use.
Speaker 2:Yeah, then you're stuck, you got to get but yeah, I hate the yellow. Yeah Well, anytime I do a colonoscopy. That's why I use the yellow that way. I don't want to do a flavor. I like when you're getting ready to have a colonoscopy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you condition your brain to hate it regardless, and that's what it makes you think of.
Speaker 2:I know that's awful, but it just I don't know. There's so many things that are out there and that's something special, and I'm also an ambassador for Wheeler Mission Drumstick Dash, which is done at Thanksgiving here in Indiana, is that? A fun thing that they have it. It's the biggest fun Wheeler mission Um. It's just a locally owned or locally sourced um men's and women's shelter. That's here, and the the dash is their biggest fundraiser that they have for the year Nice.
Speaker 1:And that's on Thanksgiving. You said.
Speaker 2:It's done on Thanksgiving. So, and then I finish up with the race and then I head back downtown and I've got a group of friends of mine. This'll be our this year. I quit cooking at Thanksgiving and we started serving lunch at the men's shelter after we get done with the dash, so it's been a fun way to give back. Yeah for sure. And then there's another get to talk about walking and the importance of one giving back to our community, but also I get to use my steps to make our community a little better.
Speaker 1:Very cool. Yeah, I like that you're so involved. That's really nice. Now have you started any walking groups in your area, that's, you know, to get people out.
Speaker 2:I well, I work for One America, an insurance company downtown, and they were the key sponsor for the mini marathon up until this year and it's Indiana University Health, iu Health. We're still sponsoring some, but not that flagship. So through work it's been awesome. We have some walking groups and a lot of that has been speared by my craziness and it's neat that I have coworkers that I it's what I call a walkabout meeting and we might get around to some work related. But our building is kind of an octagon and you can walk on the first floor in a big circle and we might walk two or three steps or two or three laps to talk a little bit of work and then we go back to our desk. But it's a good. I try to set those type even if it's just me between every meeting that I have every day.
Speaker 1:That's great.
Speaker 2:And then the days I work from home I will. Monday's is plank day, so I'll do planks between and I started this when we were all hunkered down with COVID and then it got crap. That's five days a week I'm doing all this extra stuff and then I thought I can't handstand day I can't do in the office. It won't be very HR. That's great so, but it's been a great way of getting folks up and moving and and my company has been awesome about supporting it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And it has morphed a little. But just, I need to do better with some of like the walking groups and the running groups. I've gone a handful of times. I, a couple of years ago, was an ambassador for the store fleet feet and there weren't a lot of walkers, but again it was about promoting the store and you know, and it did help get some folks up and going that are walkers, but it's again, it's that weird space and it's that way, even with some of like the Facebook groups, because most are runners and I've been bitten back more than once because I walk and don't you get it? It's called like running, whatever the rest of the name of the group is Yep, I can read, yeah, used to be one, but I guarantee you I will bury you in mileage and it shouldn't be that way.
Speaker 1:That's okay, though, you know, because I know probably the last, probably since 21, so probably the last four years I've been doing a run walk. So my coach that I had for my Ironman and my 100 miler. When I got to the 100 miler, he said, okay, you're going to run seven minutes and walk three minutes. I'm like I'm going to walk. And he's like you can't run a 100 miler the whole way, you're going to have to walk because you need to take in enough fuel, right? And I went all right, well, I loved it, and so I at that point was, I think, starting to hear about Jeff Galloway.
Speaker 1:And I thought well, maybe I'll try this on my marathons. And so since then I've done the run walk for my marathons and I still can, if I'm not injured, keep the times that I was doing when I was only running, and I recover so much better afterwards. I can still walk the next day where a lot of people can't get up and down steps, you know. So yeah, I'm a firm believer in the walk. And those people that say, oh well, you walked part of your marathon, uh yeah, but I still covered the distance and I probably outran you.
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely. You know, I just and I've wanted. I don't want to kill myself anymore, I want to have fun and I, two years ago, I earned my angel wings. I was a chariot racer with Ansley's angels.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I am too, I love it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I am forever changed because of my angel Peyton, and about being present. And you know, we don't need to play around on our phones, we don't need to listen to music, we don't. We have the best orchestra in the world outside, with all the birds and bugs and whatever you know with nature, and so I have really gotten away from listening to music. When I walk and I, just I go and you know I, I still, you know, do a lot with Ansley's Angels and it just, you know, I, I was forever changed in a good way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's great. I um, I, I run with them as well. I do the five.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's great, I run with them as well. I do the five, not more than a 10K. But yeah, it's great't care if it's one or it's 10, you're still giving back, you're still helping. And then our little aches and pains didn't really mean anything when you look at what some of these kiddos and parents are going through especially and then I sat back and look at the parents I I was actually felt guilty because God blessed me with two normal, healthy kids and what they go through to give their kid normalcy. Yeah, and so the importance of walking or running, because they can't you give them wings for a day.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's phenomenal.
Speaker 1:It truly is. It truly is. What other wonderful things would you like the audience to know about you that you do? You do everything.
Speaker 2:I can't make jello and I can't sew.
Speaker 1:Okay, I can sew, but I can't make jello yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, who needs jello anyway? Who needs jello? No, and I can take the sewing machine apart. I just can't put it back together.
Speaker 1:So no, well, I can't sew with a sewing machine, so I can only do my hands. Yeah.
Speaker 2:No, I just I don't know it's been crazy, but it's been a good crazy and I just I can't imagine what my health metrics would be, you know, coming off of having the two cervical spine surgeries, had my first physical done a couple months after the second one and my triglycerides were 500. And it just really has been eye-opening for me. And about really owning, because I really hoped to not have to do a statin and some of the drugs that and unfortunately that wasn't the case. And you know I keep I'm old, now I have a pill box and it kills me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, get the rattler, do you yeah?
Speaker 2:And it is what it is. I look that it's a well-fueled machine that's got some expensive drugs that's set in a pillbox. So it's kind of like having a great craftsman tool chest with some really expensive tools that keep you going.
Speaker 1:But, you know, if you go down to the Daytona 500 and you look at those race cars, they've got the STP oil, this and the oh yes. So that's what you have in your.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, and that's the weird mindset that I had to finally go down a path. You know that was I worked with an endocrineinologist and with some thyroid stuff and then when she had done some blood work and it came back, I knew, when she walked in and said, you can take your shoes and socks off what was coming. And I'm like, I'm not taking my shoes and socks off because she takes the picture of my feet every time I come to see her lover. But I just, and I well, we argued and I knew I didn't even want her to say it, it was the big D word, diabetes, and I, you know, got to love our family. But when you look to what's in with genetics and so it just I think it has helped with mind, body and soul of just getting up and moving. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I don't know People you had asked earlier about the groups. Honestly, there's times I like just being by myself too. I mean it's fun doing groups and it's fun probably more so with the tailgating kind of thing. It's fun doing groups and it's fun, probably more so with the tailgating kind of thing. A girlfriend's husband set up a table for the four of us that were either walking or running to do our virtual 10-mile race today. He had cowbells God love them. Somebody had to drive him home. His wife had to drive him home because he had a Bloody Mary bar going. That's awesome. He had to drive his drunk butt home. But you know, I told her he should at least get 50 extra brownie points for setting up snacks and being there out in the rain.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, I thought it was funny and I gave him 50 extra because I don't drink anymore and he had a virgin Bloody Mary for me and had it marked so everybody would stay out of it. So I don't know, you've got to have fun, and yes it's work, but when you're having fun, honestly you don't know you've worked or walked or ran and you've got bragging rights.
Speaker 1:You truly do and think about where your health would be if you weren't moving. You know you would still have all these things, but you'd be so much worse off because you're not moving. And you are probably cutting all of that in half just by the activity, just by all those 30 million steps you're taking every year.
Speaker 2:Yes, well, and that was even. Triglycerides were 88 this last go around compared to 500. They were so high five years ago. Technically they were probably higher than the 500, because you get to a point it can't yeah.
Speaker 1:And I got nothing, yeah.
Speaker 2:But it's made me more aware of you, know what you put in your mouth and what you do, and and I know this isn't for everybody, but it's also what works for me- and clearly it is working.
Speaker 1:It is working.
Speaker 2:Yeah and it. But you know, I don't know it gets frustrating when you know something else pops up or this or that, and but it's just you know to have. And it's funny to set back because when I was um in Cincinnati, get or you know, they're doing the heart cath and I'm now part of um, a trial program with, uh, it's a female cardiologist out of Cincinnati and she's got a um where she's studying women's heart health and Addie and she's got a where she's studying women's heart health. And so a question she asked cause I was completely awake for this heart cath and she had asked my doctor, does she work out? And my nurse beside me he said she can't answer but I'm going to. She's made us all feel like losers because she walked 10 miles before her heart cath today.
Speaker 1:So there's your answer. That's awesome. Her calf today.
Speaker 2:So there's your answer. That's awesome, but it's for me, it's not about shaming. And you know, if I can get somebody up, and I had a girlfriend last summer and she's lost quite a bit of weight and her she falls into that. She's too busy looking here that I need. No, you don't. You don't because you're killing yourself here. You got to build the endurance. Quit that, quit it. And I'm bad for it too. We all are. That's human nature and you know I think she's lost close to 50 pounds now. That's great. And I doubled back and on a 5k and walked with her and she was in tears that it sucks. This is hot. Walked with her and she was in tears that it sucks this is hot, I'm sweaty, I'm dirty, yep.
Speaker 2:So what? Yeah, it beats you know, laying up in bed half the day. Look what you're doing.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And there are showers.
Speaker 1:Imagine that.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, and you know, and I've tried to, I've even gone down a path about you know, go buy some cute, you know, workout clothes. She loves to shop, so I've tried to find things that she will relate to. But quit beating up on yourself. Yeah, love yourself first, and I think, especially as women and moms, that's hard because we put everybody else before us. And now you know, I got tagged with a nickname of Mama Gangster, mama G in the house and I was listening to an Eminem song, baking Pies. One day and my daughter and her friends walked in the house and I was listening to Eminem song and I moonwalked across the floor and kind of threw my gangster sign. And that's when Mama Gang or mama G nickname. And now I am gangster granny or Gigi in the house after my granddaughter was born. So I don't want to be the traditional grandma. Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 2:So you just you gotta have some fun.
Speaker 1:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And even last year with the our, especially with the mini, I actually stopped and did some line dancing, Nice Cause we'll have little bands or little dance groups or whatever, and I thought I, who cares if it ended up being a 14 minute mile by the time it was said and done. Look what I've accomplished.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that was fun it was more fun to do that.
Speaker 2:Well, and it was two weeks after having my first heart cath, so it meant more about being grateful and walking in grace and stopping and shaking it like no other at some of the little groups than it did having a 10 minute mile.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I at one of my races, um, I think that in Washington state we ran by this park. It was some like out and backs and there was this thing the kids at the park, they would sit on and ride it down. Um, I can't think of what they call those, like a. It's like a. My mind is blanking. Anyways, I asked him. I said I'm in the middle of this race, but can I cut in front of you and ride that thing? And he was like yeah, I said will you video me? So I got my phone out and it was during the race. I'm like I don't care.
Speaker 2:I love it.
Speaker 1:I was like I don't care.
Speaker 2:I just that thing really bad. So, yeah, you gotta, you gotta do the fun stuff. You've got to do the fun stuff and I, you know, and I've because, trust me, I have been that one that you'd haul it and you do it until there's nothing left. And sure, I do a lot of mileage and it's a commitment every single day and I don't know I, as of yesterday, I'm 1,772 miles into this year.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's fantastic and that's even having COVID.
Speaker 2:At the beginning of February I was really sick and I was still out walking. There might have been a couple of times there might have been a local police officer. I was sitting down and I'm like, I am not drunk or on drugs, I have COVID and I'm running 104 fever. I'm fine, I just need a moment. And he goes what are you doing? I said I'm not power walking, not so efficiently.
Speaker 1:And he said stay home on that day with the fever. But that's just me.
Speaker 2:And well, but that's part of again listen to your doctor. But there's parts of it too, about getting up and moving when you have COVID to offset Cause. Now I have the potential of getting other blood clots because I had the one.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, for sure, yeah, so, and that may have been because I've had COVID now three times and it that could have been part of the COVID issue from the first go around. We don't know, but nonetheless it would just, and it was snippets of maybe two miles, but, but again of maybe two miles, but again I should do better. But it's also even though I lay there a hundred and four, a hundred and five feet, I just think, oh, my God, this is killing me. I'm going to have to lay in bed and it's not in my wheelhouse.
Speaker 1:Well, that's good to hear. I mean, it's fantastic all the things that you're doing and what you're doing in your community and for yourself and now for others to hear. So we donated a couple of local hospitals and my second.
Speaker 2:they're actually sisters, different litters, same mom and dad. So they're my redneck series of dogs. They're Lulabelle and Ellie Mae. So Ellie's got one more exam and the hope is that we will be working at a local library where kids will read to her.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's so great. You're just in it everywhere. I love it.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so really honestly, there's no excuses. People, they can reach out in so many different ways to help others give back and plus do things at the same time for themselves.
Speaker 2:Well, that was like with Wheeler Mission. I got an email letting me know I'd been chosen as volunteer of the year in 2023. I emailed them back and said I think you sent this to the wrong person. And they emailed me back and said this is why we love you You're one in a million that would resend their congratulations email. I honestly did not think it was me. I honestly thought they had sent it to the wrong person. That's really great. It's a wonderful organization and the thought of being able to give back and especially to go in on a holiday and serve lunch to those that wouldn't have a meal otherwise will forever change you.
Speaker 1:That's so great.
Speaker 2:And I get to use walking to get there.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, there you go. That's great. Well, thank you so much for being on the show, Lisa. It's just been incredible listening to you. You have just a wonderful journey and I hope that one person that listens to this will, you know, start their journey. You know, whatever it may be If you just change one person, if you change a dozen, great, but if you just change one person that's listening to this to get them up off the couch Just when you think you can't.
Speaker 2:You know this would have been the beginning of 2023 was hard for me, that I only walked 4,000 miles that year. I was diagnosed with melanoma again, let's, and I have an eight inch scar on the inside of my right. So as you're up and out walking, especially for us girls or folks that love to be outside, wear your sunscreen, yeah, but just when you think, I don't know, when you get thrown one more curve ball, there are people you know that will listen and will talk to you and encourage you and find those not the Debbie Downers, because that particular year it was time to really clean up closets about being with people who walk in grace and extend grace to others. And I mean, it's been a rough haul. It truly has been, but the walking and giving back is two of my love languages, so this was an honor, thank you.
Speaker 1:My pleasure. Have a great day.
Speaker 2:All, right, now I'm going to cry my eyes out.
Speaker 1:Thanks, bye bye, it's all about sharing the love.
Speaker 2:Take care.
Speaker 1:You too. Bye-bye. It's all about sharing the love. Take care you too. Bye-bye, all right. Well, thanks for listening to the episode. I hope you enjoyed it. Please continue to follow, share and rate the program. If you're needing that coach, reach out to me. There's a button in the show notes that you can contact me directly. Share it with a friend. If you think their story needs to be on the podcast, I'd love to hear from them. So thanks again and have a great day.
