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Celebrating a Milestone

This weekend I’m celebrating a milestone. Two years ago I began running on the steps in front of my local courthouse. In these two years I’ve run up and down about 2,000,000 steps – between 3,400 and 5,600 steps per day, depending on how I feel and what the weather is like. On my 53rd birthday in October I challenged myself to run 10,000 steps. I did it in one hour and 38 minutes!

Why I Love Running Steps

Running steps more than anything is meditative.  I walk about a half mile from my house to the courthouse, through my alley and down a semi-busy street. I watch the sun rise every morning, listen to the birds chirping, often flying overhead. I pass by morning glories opening and alley cats that scamper as I approach. I arrive at the courthouse while no one else is there, except for the security guards. I count the number of laps I do up and down, which I like to call “innings.” I don’t really focus on counting, it just happens naturally and keeps my mind light and free.

I live in Miami, so it’s hot here – really, really hot and humid. That adds to the challenge of keeping up my energy. But it also allows for a really good sweat, providing that feeling that I’ve sweat out the toxins and have accomplished something worthwhile.  It may sound crazy, but the hard work is worth the euphoric feeling you get when you’re finished. I leave with happy, positive thoughts. Running the steps is free. No club membership! Plus it doesn’t take much time – about 45-minutes of time from start to finish.

I run barefoot because shoes cause injury to my feet and knees. Here I am running the Rocky Steps in Philly.

 What Motivates Me to Run

When I was a child I was always the last one chosen for sports teams whether at school or at play. I wasn’t an athlete; in fact I couldn’t hit a volleyball over a net, hit a baseball or golf well. But as I got older I realized that not being athletically inclined didn’t mean I had to be unfit. My father passed away when he was 40 from a heart attack and my mother had two forms of cancer suffering for 9 years before passing away at age 70.  I can’t change my genetics, but I realized I could get and stay fit, eat right and do what I can to stay healthy. Thinking about my parents’ health challenges motivates me every day. I live by my motto, “Shut your pie hole and move your ass!”

It’s Not Discipline

In the beginning, running steps was really challenging. I was already doing aerobics for years at home, but running up and down steps is really a strenuous workout. It took a lot of self-talking to get up and out of the house early every morning. But then after a few months, gradually I began to look forward to going. Now I can best describe running as a habit. It’s sort of like getting up and brushing your teeth. You just do it. I do have sluggish days when I just don’t feel like running, but I go anyway. My husband calls those “bonus days,” because although your time may be slower or your step numbers may be lower, you went out there and did something on a day when you just didn’t feel like doing it.

A white layer cake I made to celebrate.

What Running Has Taught Me

It’s wrong to label yourself in any negative way. “I’m not athletic,” “I’m too old,” “I’m uncoordinated” or “I don’t think I can or should do this or that.” Running has taught me that I can have as much energy as a 25-year-old, and that if I can stick to something athletic and challenging, then I can transfer that success to other areas of my life. The only boundaries are the ones we put on ourselves.

Five mornings per week for the past year, I run the steps at the regional county courthouse (about 40 minutes per visit). The design of the building includes two extremely wide flights of stairs (28) that lead to a large platform and many doors that happen to be locked at all times. After September 11, the courthouse changed the entrance to a ground level door armed by a security guard and a metal detector. There are signs outside the courthouse telling visitors that there is “No Entrance at the Top of the Stairs.” The problem is that at least half of the courthouse patrons do not see the sign and begin their ascent up those 28 steps.

During my year at the steps, most of the workers acknowledge me as they walk into the building, as I’ve become a “regular.” I have stopped hundreds of people from wasting their time and energy hiking those stairs in the heat only to discover they cannot enter the building that way.  I’ve stopped a pregnant woman who appeared to be ready to give birth, wearing spiked heals from walking up the stairs, a morbidly obese man who had a hacking cough, a very old lady with a cane, a woman with several tiny children, people who cannot speak English and whose language I cannot speak either. And the list goes on. Most of these people are so grateful for not having wasted their energy that they thank me profusely. I also answer countless questions while running:

• Q.What time is the courthouse open? A. 8:00 am.
• Q. What room do I go to for a new passport? A. 2nd floor. Turn left.
• Q. Is the courthouse open on President’s Day? A. Nope.
• Q. Where do I vote? A. Not here. Go east down this boulevard (as I point in that direction) one and a half miles and turn into the library parking lot on the left.
• Q. Why on earth do you run up and down these steps? A. It seems as though I like to punish myself.

And the list goes on.

Today when I saw the security guard there, I told him that I thought it would be appropriate for the county to pay me for my work, since I have assisted so many visitors. Well that generated a big laugh from him. And then it made me think about all the times I’m not running stairs and visitors are unnecessarily climbing up and down those steps and have questions but there’s no one there to help out.  Somehow these people survive without my assistance.

For the man who refused to stop blowing smoke up my nose while hovering around the steps I was running, despite my kind request, I somehow neglected to tell him there was no entrance up there.