In 2000, I began walking to lose and maintain a healthy weight and improve my fitness for quality of life.
When my oldest grandchild was born in 2009, my weight was down to an optimal level for me. I was walking on my own and attending Zumba classes in eastern Ohio.
Later that year, we moved to Pataskala to be closer to my son and his growing family, and the Zumba classes stopped. I looked for a place to work out and maintain my exercise level from before but didn’t have much luck. I was still riding my bicycle 10 to 15 miles on a regular basis and started walking with Walk with a Doc at several different locations. Unfortunately, I fell while riding my bike on a path through The Ohio State University campus.
This resulted in the first of four fractures in my feet.
The next summer, I stepped in a small hole in my son’s yard and broke my left foot for the second time. After rehab I continued working out with a trainer at Orthopedic One, where my surgeon and physical therapist were located. After working my way back to walking around my neighborhood for one to three miles at a time, I sustained a stress fracture in my right foot again.
Once the right foot fracture healed, I was looking for a group to walk with and found the New Albany Walking Club website. I joined the club in October 2013 and have been an active member ever since. The walking club walks year-round, and I followed the training schedule for the New Albany Walking Classic half marathon.
Race day, I thought I was ready for the half marathon, even though my pace was slow. I did manage to stay ahead of the pacer and was OK to continue on to the half marathon course. However, once I passed the 10K mark and started the back half of the route, my left foot started hurting, so I turned back.
I limped for about four weeks and went to see a physical therapist in Pataskala for gait training.
I learned then that I had, in fact, sustained my fourth fracture!
So, I was back in the boot with physical therapy. I still went to the walking club but couldn’t walk any distance for several months.
This was about the time that the Philip Heit Center for Healthy New Albany was being built. Executive Director Phil Heit shared with me the many services available at the center, so once it opened, my husband, Al, and I were among the first members. At that time, you could join with the option of a health coach and so we did. I was in the muscle-skeletal track with a physical therapist/advisor overseeing my program.
I worked out daily at the Heit Center while also watching my diet closely; I adopted a whole food plant-based diet for health reasons. This, combined with exercise, helped me lose about 40 pounds!
After the last foot fracture, I changed my walking focus to 10K and rode my bike as much as possible. I participated in the New Albany Walking Classic 10K for two years. In June 2017, while on vacation in Hilton Head with my son and his family, I tripped and fractured my right ankle. Later that summer, after it healed, we went on a safari in South Africa and Botswana.
In April 2019, I fell and fractured my left hip. Sadly, this resulted in a total hip replacement. I decided to volunteer for the Walking Classic in 2019 instead of walking the event.
Fortunately, after a lot of rehab, hip exercises, working out with my personal trainer at the Heit Center and training in water aerobics classes, I was able to walk well enough to visit Japan and China in fall 2019.
I can’t say enough good things about the Heit Center. The facility is clean and the equipment is well maintained. All the personnel are very helpful and knowledgeable, and we have met so many wonderful friends there. Our water aerobics class has had some of the same members for five years.
I was planning on walking the New Albany Walking Classic 10K this year, but while volunteering at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium I fell and refractured my left femur. I’m scheduled for therapy again soon.
I don’t know that I’ll be walking a 10K in September, but I’ll definitely be back at the Heit Center soon getting ready to continue with life!
Sharon DuBois is a member of the New Albany Walking Club. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
