Sometimes as doctors we’re so busy we don’t get to practice what we preach. But over the last year, I told myself, You’ve got to make exercise as important as any part of the day. So now I try to break a sweat every day.
I’ve been running since college. I have a family history of heart disease—my dad has it and his father had it, too. I wanted an aerobic activity to ward it off.
If you do the exact same thing in terms of diet and exercise when you’re 40 as you did when you were 20, you’re probably going to gain two pounds a year. I don’t want to do that. I want to be around for my kids.
And I do television. Of course I worry about putting on weight.
Last year I was in Rwanda on an AIDS story and decided to run one day. All these kids came out to look. Then they looked behind me to see what I was running from.
I also was an embedded reporter in Iraq. It was harder to run there because there were land mines everywhere.
I’ve run one marathon—San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll, in 4:13. A month before the race someone said, “Run it with me.” I thought it would be interesting. I suffered. That was nine years ago. Now I’m smarter about training.
Since I decided to run this year’s New York City Marathon, I’ve added longer runs and speed training. I want to build up to be doing several miles of 7:30s or 8:00s during training and feel comfortable. My marathon goal is four hours.
I have two hours and 13 minutes of music on my Oakley Thump sunglasses—DMB, U2, The Killers, Gipsy Kings, Sheryl Crow, even “American Pie” for long uphills. I keep adding songs as my runs get longer.
I’ve become very fond of Bodyglide. I never realized its virtue until I built up the distances.
I typically run at 4:30, 5:00 in the morning. I’m a neurosurgeon, so for nearly a decade part of my training involved early mornings. It’s programmed into my body to get up then.
My dog, Bosco, a 90-pound Weimaraner, comes with me. He’s high-energy, so we get a good twofer: my exercise and his calming down.
Several of us on the board of the Lance Armstrong Foundation have talked about running New York together. That depends on if Lance stays true to his word—he says he’s doing four hours—or if he decides to blow by us right away.
Running From Substance Abuse Toward Recovery is a writer and editor living in Eugene, Oregon, and her stories about the sport, its trends, and fascinating individuals have appeared in Runner’s World Races - Places, Run Your Butt Off! and Walk Your Butt Off!
