Starting To Run At 60- with AFC member Darlene Faust

She wakes up to four paramedics at the foot of her bed, then ends up in a full cardiac arrest in the ER. Most people would assume the finish line is behind them after that. My guest Darlene “Aunt Dee” Faust chose a different story and she tells it with the honesty you only get from someone who’s lived it.

We talk about how she started running around age 58 to 60 after a simple 5K push, then steadily built herself into a marathon runner with roughly 12 finishes, five world major marathons, and even a Boston Marathon qualifying time. If you’ve ever wondered how older runners improve safely, how to train without burning out, or what consistency actually looks like over a decade, you’ll hear the real details, including why she fell in love with longer distances and the role strength training plays in staying durable.

Then we get into the turning point: August 2024, open heart surgery, and a pacemaker defibrillator implant. She breaks down what recovery really feels like, how medications and device settings can change your running overnight, and why identity can be both a burden and a lifeline when you’re trying to come back from a life-changing health scare. We also cover the mindset shift that helped her return to racing, finish a half marathon eight months later, and run the New York City Marathon about 13 to 14 months after surgery.

If you’re starting from scratch, coming back from injury, or rebuilding after a major setback, this one will give you a practical path and a bigger reason to try. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs a push, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway or your own comeback goal.

Transcript

Meet Aunt Dee The Runner

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome back to the Better Fitness Podcast. Today I have a very special guest with me. I have Darlene Faust. She's also my aunt. She goes by Aunt Dee throughout the family. And she's here because she has a pretty awesome story. She's an inspiration to a lot of people. And I think it was just a really good idea to have her on today's episode because I think that she can inspire anyone who listens to this. So a brief intro. So, Auntie, how old are you?

SPEAKER_00 0:38

I'm 70 years old. No, I don't mind at all. I'm I'm 70 years old.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

Okay, so she's 70 years old, and she started her running journey. Now she's a marathon runner. She started her running journey only 10 years ago. Yeah, it might be might be like 12 or so. Yeah. That I actually like started. Okay. So you started like 58, 60, and you started your marathon running journey. So walk us through like walk us through that. Like what got you into this whole running thing? Like, why did you start doing it? Were you active before?

From One 5K To A Habit

SPEAKER_00 1:17

Okay. Um, so um, yeah, what got me started was, I mean, I actually ran a little bit of track in high school. So that was way back in the day. And I only did it for one year because I had to get a job and you know, life moved on. Um, you know, then I had two kids and never ran again. And so, you know, fast forward, you know, probably like 35 years or so. Um, my son's uh church group was having a 5k and he's like, Mom, I signed you up for the 5k, you owe me 20 bucks. And I'm thinking, okay, well, if I'm gonna run a 5k, I better like practice like a little bit. Like I don't want to like be terrible. Right. So um I did, I practiced a little bit and ran around the block a couple times, and and I did the 5k, and I thought, well, you know, that you know, I didn't do good, but I I ran the 5K and I was like, well, I, you know, this was kind of fun. Um, so at the time my son and daughter um were both kind of runners, and and I kind of wanted something uh to do that they were doing, so that kind of started my running journey. And uh, you know, when I first started out, it was like, okay, I'm gonna just try to run a minute, see if I can run a minute. And then, you know, it gradually was like, well, maybe I can do two minutes, and then maybe I can do three minutes, and then it kind of just gradually progressed. Um, and that's how I started.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Yeah, and uh, Shelby was a pretty big influence. Yeah. You you both were are the reason why I started running too. My first half marathon was with you guys. Yeah, you're like, Sarah, you wanna you want to run a half marathon? Sure. Sure, I I can do that. Sure. Only ran seven miles, yeah. But it was that was pretty awesome. So after the 5K, what did you do after that first 5k?

The Most Novice 5K Moment

SPEAKER_00 3:08

Um, it it's funny because my first 5K um was actually um at Greens Mill, and and I was on Facebook that morning, and I'm sitting on my sofa and I'm like, oh, there's a 5k today. I I can probably get over there in time. So I go over there, and of course, I know no runners at all that are there. Well, I really didn't know any runners. And so, you know, I pay my money at the table, the girl's sitting there and she hands you your your thing with your number on and the pins, and then I'm like, okay, well, what do I do with my car keys? Like, I didn't know, like I'm looking around and I'll I say to this person, okay, what do you do with your keys? You know, it's because I didn't have any pockets, I didn't know where to put them. So I took, you know, one of the pins off the bib and pinned my car key to my to my shorts. But um that's kind of just to show you how how novice I I was, and you know, I had a pair of sneakers and a pair of shorts, and that was the first 5k.

Falling For Longer Distances

SPEAKER_01 4:02

And then after 5K, did you run a half marathon?

SPEAKER_00 4:06

Yeah, that was probably a little bit later, like a year or two later. Again, my son was the kind of the influence, and he's like, you know, let's, you know, he lived in North Carolina and he's like, you know, my my local community is doing a a half marathon. Do you want to do it? And I'm like, well, I don't know, that's pretty far, right? But you know, I kind of set my mind to it and and I accomplished it. And um that was my my first half, and then I kind of got the bug from there. I I I kind of like the longer distance because I didn't have to go real fast. I just had a I just had to keep going. Keep going.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

Yeah, and for anyone who doesn't know, half marathon is 13.1 miles, which is pretty far. It's far, yeah. Um, so since then, how many marathons have you run?

SPEAKER_00 4:54

Gee, I I should have researched that, but I think I've ran like 12 marathons. Yeah, I was gonna say like 13 or 14. That's why in 12 years.

Majors And A Boston Qualifier

SPEAKER_00 5:06

Yeah. And I've done, you know, that there is a run three. There's there's a there's a thing called like the major marathons, you know, it's like Boston, London, New York, Chicago, um Tokyo, Tokyo. Um, so it's like six majors, and I've done five of those. Um, I've done Boston twice. Um for those that that you don't know, that's kind of like the Super Bowl of the marathon.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

Yeah, for those that don't know, you have to qualify for Boston. What that means is you have to run a fast time for your age group. So you ran your first Boston qualifying time. I think I was there, it was in Chicago. I was there. It was what 20, it was 2019. And you, I think you ran what, a 420? 430?

SPEAKER_00 5:58

Yeah, I think it was like, I think a Boston qualifier over my age at that time was a 435, and I ran like a 432.

SPEAKER_01 6:06

Yeah. And yeah, so that like for for just like to put that in perspective, that's 26.2 miles at a I think that's like a 1030 pace.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

Yeah, something like that.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

At like 65 years old. Yeah. So for only running, you know, a couple years at that point.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

That's pretty awesome. Although somebody did say to me one time, um, because you know, being an older runner, and I'm like, you know what, I'm just like starting out, and they said to me, Well, you know, that's kind of a great thing and a good thing because your legs aren't shot. You haven't been doing this for 50 years. You're kind of like a novice, and your body's kind of fresh and ready to go. So you didn't really um destroy anything, you know, you didn't like work your bones down. You, you're you're ready to go. You're you're a fresh start.

SPEAKER_01 6:58

Yeah, that's true. So, what's your favorite part about this whole running thing?

SPEAKER_00 7:04

Um, oh wow. I think for me it's um the challenge because if somebody says you can't do something, I'm like, ah, yeah, I think I can. Um, and it's the camaraderie. You know, when I first started, I didn't really know anybody that ran other than you know, maybe you and my son and my daughter. But since then, I've got a lot of people into running, people that I worked with. Um, they started coming out. I got into some running groups, you know, your local um running store, you know, it it locally it's fleet feet, you know, they do a lot of uh stuff, and and I met a lot of people. And um I I just kind of like to be in that group. I like to be one of them. Those are your people, those are my people, yeah.

Strength Training Keeps Runners Durable

SPEAKER_01 7:50

And you do strength train everyone. She does strength train with me. She comes in once a week with a group of other runners, and I know you you do another at least one other day of lifting. So she's she's doing all the things, guys.

SPEAKER_00 8:07

That's that I mean, I'm not just saying it because Sarah's here, but that has really helped. I mean, if you run, you just run and you kind of use your legs and you, you know, you do what you can, but you know, strength training does so much more for your body, you know, your core work, your your arms, your muscles, your breathing, like um it kind of covers everything. And then it definitely is an adjunct um to your running and and to your total body fitness, you know. Um keeps you more resilient for sure. Exactly.

Cardiac Arrest And Open Heart Surgery

SPEAKER_01 8:40

Um, okay, so the main the main part of this story is coming up. Um what tell us about what happened. Oh, okay. That's that and uh yeah, this is a big part of the story. Um, so tell us about what happened in what was it, August 2024?

SPEAKER_00 9:03

It was August 2024.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

A year and a half ago now.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

And I was um training for a marathon that was supposed to take place in October. This is August. Um, I went for a long run. Um, and at this point, I mean, I'm thinking I'm pretty fit. You know, I'm like, you know, 68 years old. Uh, you know, I run marathons, I eat pretty healthy, I strength train, um, I do all the good stuff, um, build up my my progress uh gradually. And I went to bed one night and um I was supposed to go to the beach the next day, woke up in the middle of the night to four paramedics standing at the bottom of my bed. And um my husband said I had stopped breathing, I was making noises. So they took me, you know, by ambulance to the hospital. Once I was in the emergency room, I had a full-blown cardiac arrest. I had to be defibrillated. Um, long story short, I had open heart surgery um and a pacemaker defibrillator implanted in August of 2024.

SPEAKER_01 10:10

So yeah, a lot.

The Long Road Back To Running

SPEAKER_01 10:14

So what was your recovery like?

SPEAKER_00 10:19

Um recovery was tough in the well, first of all, I did get the green light from my cardiologist and my cardiac surgeon that I could begin running again after a certain point of, you know, sternal healing time and that kind of thing. So I did get the green light that it was um okay for me. Um the hard part in the beginning was that I was still on some um medications to, you know, control the heart rate and some other things uh for my heart, and and that made it extremely difficult. You know, when my body said, Yeah, we want to go, go, go, and there was something that was saying, um, no, that's not really gonna happen because you know, this is where we are. So it was um a little tough in the beginning till they um did some adjustments to my pacemaker and my medications, and once that happened after some trial and error, um I started to slowly begin to feel like um my old self again, or a little bit like my old self, I should say.

SPEAKER_01 11:26

Did you ever think that you were going to run again? Did I yeah, like after all that happened?

SPEAKER_00 11:32

Like was like did the thought ever come into your brain like um I was pretty determined, like when you know, it it when my cardiologist said because you were training for a marathon at that point, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:45

You were supposed to run a marathon in November, right?

SPEAKER_00 11:50

Right, in California was supposed to go. So I did, of course, I couldn't do that because I was laid up. Um, and then I had also um just found out as I was in the hospital that I had gotten in the Tokyo marathon in the spring. And of course, I'm thinking, oh, that's like pretty close. I don't know if I can do that. That's kind of crazy. Um, so I kind of set my sights on a half marathon. Maybe I could actually do do that. And so that's that's what I did then.

SPEAKER_01 12:21

Yeah, so okay. So you had a half marathon then on the calendar for I think that was April. Right. So that was how how long after your surgery?

SPEAKER_00 12:33

Well, I had surgery in August.

SPEAKER_01 12:37

Eight months?

SPEAKER_00 12:38

Yeah, maybe eight months.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

Eight months. Yeah. When did you when was your first run? And what like when was it and like relatively and what did it feel like?

SPEAKER_00 12:49

I like that first run. I don't know when the first one was. I I do remember I was in North Carolina at my son's, and they have some lovely um running venues there, some um lovely, you know, trails and and uh so I was on this trail that I had run many, many times, and I thought I'm just gonna do, you know, like a mile or so. And I don't think this was my first run, but this was my first time in like North Carolina, and like this was my place. I was pretty good there. And um, I remember trying to run and thinking, I can't go. Like I would go, you know, I would do maybe a minute, and I thought, I don't think I can I can do this. Like something is wrong.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

What did it feel like? Did you feel like out of breath?

SPEAKER_00 13:32

Like, did you just feel like I felt like I was on mile 24 of a marathon and I was in the first two minutes of a run. Like my legs were heavy, I couldn't breathe. Um, I just felt like somebody who had never taken a step running before, like somebody who just completely went out there for the first time and said, Oh, I'm gonna start running. Um Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

I mean, well, if you think about it, your body just went through like so much trauma.

SPEAKER_00 13:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:59

So much trauma. And then also on top of that, just like not doing any physical activity really whatsoever, besides maybe like cardiac rehab, but right, right. But it's not like you're really like working your legs and working your muscles.

SPEAKER_00 14:14

So it was tough in the beginning. Let me tell it it did not come back, you know, right off the get-go.

SPEAKER_01 14:20

What made you like keep going when it was so hard?

SPEAKER_00 14:25

Because it was kind of to me, it was my identity, like that's who I was. I mean, I'm a I'm a nurse and I'm a mom, and I, you know, I have a lot of friends and I do a lot of things, but running was my thing. Like, you know, like I don't even have real shoes, you know. I just have running shoes. I don't have real clothes, I just have running clothes. So, like if I wasn't going to be a runner, it was I kind of asked myself, well, who am I really gonna be? And I think, you know, I think I could have figured it out, but as long as I could keep trying, um, and another thing was the um the determination to want to do it. Like I I just felt like I might not be good. I might not be as good as I was before, or maybe, you know, but I I think I can do this in some capacity. There is a way to make this work.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Right. And it's pretty amazing that you did make it work because I mean, just by running marathons, you're already in the 1%.

unknown 15:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

Or even qualifying for Boston as like 0.1%. And to layer on all the the hard stuff and coming back from that and running races after that. I mean, that's pretty incredible.

Racing Again With A New Goal

SPEAKER_01 15:47

Um so you ran your half marathon in April. What like what did that feel like completing that?

SPEAKER_00 15:56

Um well, a friend ran with me. You know, she said, I'm gonna run with you the whole way and I'll be here for you. And I really didn't have like you know, if you're a runner, you're a pretty type A competitive person. So you always have like a goal, right? You want to do this, and you you have these benchmarks that you want to reach. But my benchmark was just um, I just want to do this race. I just I just want to be there. And I remember being at the start line, and all these runners were around me, and I and I remember thinking, I'm so happy to be here. Just to be one of these people that's running this race, no matter how I do it, how I finish, how fast I go, I get to stand here and be a part of this event with all these people. So, and that that was that was enough. That's what I wanted.

SPEAKER_01 16:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

And you crossed the finish line. And I you made it. I did. I actually exceeded everything that I thought I was gonna do, which you know you kind of um do a lot of times in races, it goes better than you think. But um, you know, I had no expectations other than to want to be there and participate.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

Yeah, and I think that's like a really good way to look at goals sometimes too. Cause sometimes if we just set our goals way too high, which can be good, but also too, it kind of just you know, not sets you sets yourself up for failure, but kind of puts a lot of pressure on yourself. And then when it doesn't start working out your way, it just takes the enjoyment and the fun out of it, too.

SPEAKER_00 17:39

It does. Um I think that's something I've really had to learn over the years because everything was always about um, you know, what's your next goal? How fast can you go? Can you qualify for this? Are you gonna be in the top third of your age group? Can you get an age group qualifier? You know, how go, go, go, go, go, and be the best that you can be. And and that's all good to have um goals. Goals like that. Yeah. Goals. But you know, as I'm getting older and I've been through um some recovery processes, um, to me now it's just being able to get out there and put one foot in front of the other and to be um to be able to participate and to be able to be a part of it. And um, you know, in the back of your mind, you still kind of want to do maybe better than you did the like the last time. But it's hard not to compare yourself um number one to other people and number two to your um to your former self. That's a big one. Because you know what I mean, not only are we getting older, you know, I'm 70 years old. I started when I was 50, so 50 something. So, you know, it's gonna be harder, you know, and then you throw in top of that, you know, open heart surgery and antifibrillator and you know, all this other stuff that I've been through. And um, you know, you're not really comparing apples to apples anymore, you know, things things change. And I think it's just good to be who you are, where you are.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

Yeah. And sometimes you just need to take a step back too and like look at yourself from like maybe someone else's point of view. Like like you're doing like pretty awesome. Like I might not feel that way, but you're doing pretty awesome.

New York Marathon After Surgery

SPEAKER_01 19:28

And so awesome that you didn't just do a half marathon after your open heart surgery, but you did a full marathon as well. You ran the New York City marathon, which is wild, like just like a year after your surgery.

SPEAKER_00 19:44

Yeah, I did. Yeah, that that was an incredible experience. That was like 13 or 14 months after my open heart surgery. I ran the New York City Marathon. Um, if you know anything about marathons, it is a um kind of a difficult marathon to run. In fact, that it's very hilly, but it's also a very inclusive marathon, and they kind of embrace um everybody from the elitist, fastest runners to the slowest runner that's gonna come in, you know, 10 hours later, you know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:18

Yeah, New York is on my bucket list. Yeah, it's pretty sweet. Did that feel like how did that feel after crossing that finish line? Did that feel any different from your half marathon that you did?

SPEAKER_00 20:31

Yeah, it it it was the epitome of uh, you know, of all the ones that I've done, it was the most special. Um, first of all, I ran it with my daughter. So she ran the whole thing with me. Uh I think she was afraid if I was gonna keel over anything. She wanted to be there. Um, but so she ran it with me and I just um I just loved it. The crowd was great. I felt strong, you know, for the first time, it's like, you know what? I I think I'm like me again. I feel like a runner, um, even though I wasn't as fast or near as fast as I used to be. I felt like I belonged and um it was the most special marathon like ever.

SPEAKER_01 21:11

Yeah, I think I got a little emotional when I was watching you cross the finish line, just like on the tracking, and then you know, you had all your friends there who were videotaping you, and it was pretty cool to see. That was pretty sweet.

Resilience Advice For New Runners

SPEAKER_01 21:29

Um what has running taught you about resilience?

SPEAKER_00 21:35

Resilience? Um it's kind of like never say die, you know, unless you actually die, which I kind of almost did by but it it kind of and and believe me, you know, there have been times in in through all this that I thought, you know, why am I doing this? What what is my why? Why, you know. I could like do something else, you know, but like it's it's my it's mine. Running's mine. It's not yours, it's not this person, it's it's mine and it's personal. And it's taught me that um if you want something bad enough, you know, you can do it. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 22:23

Um what would you say to the person? Now I know there's a lot of people that kind of have similar backgrounds to you, maybe. Um, what would you say to the person who wants to start something totally different, like out of their comfort zone, but not really sure how to do it? And also what would you say to the person who is coming back from an injury or some sort of setback? Like what advice would you give to that person?

SPEAKER_00 22:58

Well, for the for the first time timer, like it's kind of like you never know until you try. Um, and I would I would say, you know, if you're starting out and you want to try to be begin running as an older runner, I would say um, you know, get the okay from your physician. Um, you know, get a get a workup, get a uh, you know, check out your cholesterol and your blood pressure and your and your um, you know, make sure you don't have uh uh osteoporosis or something wrong with your bones. But if you know, if you get a clean bill of health and they're like, yeah, you know, you could try if you want to, um, I would say, you know, find a friend. You know, it's so much more fun to like go with somebody else and and begin a journey and and see where it takes you. And I want to tell you, like, it's not for everybody. Like running is hard. You know, it's not all, you know, rainbows and butterflies. It is hard. Um, but I think that's like the beauty of it, because like most people can't do it. And if you can, if you can, you know, run a little bit, or you know, if you say I ran a 5k, well, people don't know what a 5k is. Like they call it a 5k marathon, and it's not really, but you know, if you can do it at all, you know, if you can run part or run walk it or just begin it, you know, just just start, you know, you got to start the journey somewhere. Yeah. Um, and I'm sure, you know, you probably know some runner that can help you out. You know, everybody knows somebody at work or somebody's, you know, your kid's boyfriend's sister, or you know, somebody runs. Um, runners love to talk about running. So if you have questions or, you know, like, you know, what kind of shorts do I wear? Should I get a bra? Like, what do I, how do I do this? Where do I start? Where should I go? I don't even know where to go. You know, I don't know what to do. Um, you know, go to your running store or find a friend or, you know, somebody that has run a little bit, and you know, believe me, they'll they'll be glad to talk about running

Local Community And Coaching Invite

SPEAKER_00 25:05

with you.

SPEAKER_01 25:05

Yeah, and we have a pretty good running community here in Berks County. Yeah. Um, even even at the gym here, I mean, there's four of us who who run pretty pretty competitively. Um, there's Elijah, he's the um Y Missing cross-country coach assistant. There's also Adrienne Hoke. She also works at Fleet Feet and works with Elijah as a Y Missing cross country coach. Um, we have Karen Tersak. Um, she's she's a beast. She Yeah, she's phenomenal. Yeah, she's ran like a hundred mile races, which that is just something that is just like way over my head. I think she's uh born to Boston in a couple days, actually. Oh no, she's going to um she's in Broad Street.

SPEAKER_00 25:54

Okay, I'm thinking of somebody else. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:56

Yeah. Um, and then we have myself. Um, I'm also a running coach, and I would love to answer any questions anyone might have about running or just you know, the community, how to get started, um, any questions like that. So yeah, any any final thoughts?

SPEAKER_00 26:14

Um no, just um give it a try. You know, you you won't know unless it if you know, if you're saying to yourself, I hate running and I never want to run, and you know, well then that might not be for you. Maybe you want to be a walker, or maybe you want to just do some strength training or you know, try something else. You know, running is not for everybody. Call me say rock climbing, try rock climbing. Yeah, rock climbing, you know, there's you know, uh country line dancing, like whatever. You know, there's something out there to to stay fit. Um, running is hard, um, but it is also very challenging and it's also very rewarding. Um, but it might not be for you, but there might be something else out there that that would be for you.

SPEAKER_01 27:00

Yeah. Love that. All right. Well, thanks for having me for chatting with us. And we will see you guys next time.