Karen walking the Inaugural Fall Walk in October
Walking changed my life. More importantly, walking saved my life. I have lived with constant, chronic pain in my lower back, hips, legs and knees since the age of 24 as a result of a bone infection in my spine that was misdiagnosed for 5 months. The infection caused a disk in my spine to collapse and disintegrate. I have degenerative arthritis and bone spurs on my spine, very near my tailbone, so even sitting becomes painful.
Over the years, it became increasingly difficult for me to manage the physical demands of working, raising my daughter and step-daughter and taking care of my home. Food became a way for me to find solace from my problems. I ate to deal with the physical pain. I ate to deal with the emotional pain caused by my physical pain. I ate to deal with the depression that developed as I became increasingly home-bound, just trying to get through each and every day.
At age 40 I weighed 280 pounds. I could no longer walk up a set of stairs normally. I had to bring both of my feet to each individual step before moving up to the next step and my knees still screamed with pain. I felt like a 70 year old. When I could no longer walk down a set of stairs normally, I knew that I was in serious trouble. I was also tremendously scared by the very real feeling that I was dying. I know that this sounds dramatic, but it is none-the-less true. I desperately needed to take better care of myself.
I decided to get off of my couch and start walking. It wasn’t easy at first. In fact when I started, I could only walk for 5 minutes. Before long, my 5 minute walk became a 10 minute walk. My 10 minutes of walking then increased to 20 minutes and within a few months I was walking for a full 30 minutes.
Jennifer Schiff, co-owner of Step and Stride lives across the street from me. We lived across the street from each other for several years without meeting because I was virtually home-bound. That changed when I started walking.
I frequently saw Jen as I was starting or finishing my daily walk and she always called out words of support and encouragement. Hearing Jen’s, "You go, girl," or, "Woo hoo, good job," gave me that extra bit of motivation when I was struggling with my commitment to walk every day. Jen’s gift of motivation played a big part in helping me persevere.
Jen and I have become walking buddies. Walking with Jen helped me to increase my walking time from 30 minutes to 1 hour and then to 1 ½ hours. It’s wonderful having someone to walk with because I don’t notice the aches and pains as much when I’m engaged in conversation. This fall, Jen and I will be walking in the New Albany Walking Classic, a 6.2 mile event. Jen has become one of my dearest friends and I am so very blessed to have her in my life.
It has been 2 ½ years since I started walking. I have lost 80 pounds. I am 49 years young and have been able to stop taking the cholesterol medication I had been on. My blood pressure is textbook normal range. The pain in my back, hips, legs and knees has dramatically decreased. I’m also experiencing something quite unexpected. I haven’t had the flu, or even a cold, since I started walking.
I no longer feel like I’m dying. I feel tremendously alive. No, I feel even better than that, I feel full of life because now I am. Sometimes I even run up the stairs in my house -- because I can.
