Yesterday was an unexpected rest day. I knew I had to be at the United Way breakfast on the other side of Akron in the city of Fairlawn at 7:30 a.m. which in the morning time wise is a roll of the dice depending on traffic. I got there a couple of minutes late, and to be frank, wasn't really that excited about being there. It wasn't because of the people to be sure. It was something else. Namely, I couldn't go for a run which is what I really wanted to do. I'm a changed man. I was craving exercise. I mean it wasn't like I wanted skip to go to the International House of Pancakes or get the Big Ham Steak Breakfast at Bob's Big Boy. I had the purest of intentions.
When I arrived at the Hilton Fairlawn ballroom, I sat down at my assigned table with my colleagues. I got there just in time to hear most of the opening remarks. Then comes the featured speaker Doctor Tim Stover, President and CEO of the Akron General Medical Center.
I know a lot of people in the Akron area but Tim and I had never met. When he started speaking, I felt like I had known him all my life. For me it was a Bob Newhart type of natural delivery. I was almost under the table holding back belly laughs on some absolute classic natural one liners. I referred to him early in this paragraph as "Tim" because he comes across as a regular guy who just happens to be CEO. I see a guy every morning in the mirror that used to be a CEO and that was his style.
Tim drove home a couple of key points in his remarks that validated my current journey. I may have this wrong from his comments but I bet I'm close. Eight billion dollars can be cut out of health care costs if people just made better personal health choices. Anything that is not preventive health dollars, dollars that could actually could be viewed as an investment, are wasted dollars if you make bad health choices. The choices that folks make that land them in the hospital are:
- Smoking
- Alcohol
- Driving Fast
- Obesity
- Lack of Exercise
In five simple bullet points I truly understood my running mission. No need to fix the rabbit ears on the television or change the channel to find Dr. Oz, or call Dr. Phil to figure out my motivations. My frustration with not being able to run yesterday morning was driven by the fact that I blow the first three choices out of the water but when it comes to obesity and lack of exercise, I know I could do much better.
The good doctor then went on to talk about the concept of Blue Zones in the world. These are places where people live to be 100 or more just by adopting a healthy lifestyle. Cue the Roberta Flack and let's all sing together, "Killing me softly with his song..." For me his words just hung in the air like a closed caption display on the bottom of a television screen. For more than a few years, I was living the old expression, "Digging my grave with my fork and spoon."
So here's the payoff. When I got home last night, I really wanted pizza. Instead, I went to the refrigerator and got out some greens and tomatoes, corn on the cob, and some other veggies and had that for dinner with a tall glass of ice water with lemon. I went to bed early. When I got up this morning I really wasn't feeling it on the running thing. Then I thought about how I felt yesterday at the same time. Then I recalled Tim's speech and I made a choice. I got my obese and lack of exercise body out the door and killed it on the trail and roads near my home. I felt great when I got done.
So let me summarize Dr. Tim's presentation, "Eat less and move around more. Make healthy lifestyle choices and you get to hang on to the money in your wallet. You may even possibly find out who wins the 2040 Boston Marathon. Who knows, maybe you might even run in it."
So I didn't run yesterday. Thank goodness. For me, I got the golden ticket on running motivation from a non-running event. Guess that gives new meaning to "Live United" for me. People helping people. Neighbors helping neighbors. Guess I'll be writing a check. Hell, I can afford it. I'll just take it out what I won't be spending in the hospital. Hey, I made a choice, and it was a healthy one.
No comments:
Post a Comment