A little over a year ago in the heat of July, exhausted already after 2 weeks of summer taking care of 3 kids, to the point I wasn’t taking on outdoor adventures as much as I’d like, I decided to force myself out of bed a bit earlier, down a dose of caffeine, and get a run in. I was already exhausted for some unknown reason – really, I had been for a while. Dizzy, in fact, to the point I’d fall on occasion, and I couldn’t figure out why. It became obvious to me pretty quickly I couldn’t be the mother I wanted to be that summer… especially not without turning my health and fitness around.

So, I pushed through as best I could, setting my alarm to 7 a.m., downing far too my caffeine to get me moving, and running only 4 times a week, sometimes a 30-minute walk/run/walk working up to a slow 3 miles. In the fall, I went to a new general practitioner with very high ratings and wrote out my symptoms in detail. She ran some blood tests, as all the doctors before had done previously. Then, she ended up concluding it was merely high vitamin B12 from multivitamins or could have been the nutritional yeast I’d eat that I thought gave me a burst of energy. It turns out it interfered with the absorption of other nutrients.

I kept running and dropped all the supplements. Within a few months, the dizziness went away.

And now after running for over a year very consistently, though not a ton of mileage, and only taking a week here and there off if I start to feel pain, I can run 8 miles at a go for the first time in years! I’m not breaking any records, of course, but I’m getting the miles in and can feel my energy level and agility improve – plus all the little aches and pains I was starting to feel (some would say due to aging) nearly completely disappeared. My ankle and knee strength has improved, preventing injuries while running and in daily life.

I’ve found there are 3 super important things with this. Number 1 is to stretch a bunch. I have a series of stretches I do every night before bed and it only takes 5 minutes, but it prevents pain whether I’m running or not.

Number 2 is diet. I’m much more in tune with my diet now than when I’m not running because if I eat poorly one day, I either can barely run the next day or cannot at all. Some people might operate differently, but that’s how I am. For instance, if I eat too much fat and sugar, not only have I blown my calorie budget for the day, but then I can’t even get the run in I’d planned for the following day. Also, veggies, fruits, and lean proteins are your friend – and even I am shocked at how much they help my ability to run. Whole grains are great, but for me, for a bit, I thought I had to load up on them to get a good, long run in…but it turns out, I don’t need to at all. Just some beans and normal portions of whole grains is enough.

Finally, hydration is super important – and I now realize I’d been doing it wrong for years. Hydration is not just drinking tons of water. You need to be aware of your salt and mineral intake as well because you can overconsume water and flush all the electrolytes out of your body. I had been unknowingly doing this for years and feeling sluggish until I started drinking some high-quality, low-sugar electrolyte drinks.

Running is a huge commitment and takes a bit of time. I’m unable to just wake up an hour earlier to go for a run without then going to bed earlier. I have more energy than previously overall, but there are some days I just feel awful anyway – maybe due to running or too much caffeine. Of course, I feel like that’s going to be the case no matter what and I always feel the worse the 3^rd day without either running or a lot of hiking. Obviously another cardio type of workout would be fine. I just seem to be the type of person who needs a lot of cardio to function at a very basic level – always have been. I can see in my middle child and son, that they seem the same way.

Now after a year of lots of running, I can run 4 miles in the morning, take the dogs for a 30-minute hike, then in the afternoon, take my kids to soccer and run up and down the field with them, racing and kicking the ball for an hour – without feeling overly winded.

Oddly, the days I feel best all day until bedtime are those days I get a nice, good LONG run in. I know – it’s odd. You’d think it’d be the opposite, for sure.

This summer (2024), we had an amazing summer with WAY more outdoor adventures than the previous summer. We joined an outdoor pool, went to parks, played in the woods, went car camping once, and even backpacking!  We even had a huge tree fall on both our sheds, one log on the fire pit, and one in the garden PLUS then had our water heater leak all over our kitchen requiring us to redo the entire kitchen. It was a lot of work – all during the summer while working in family time! Without improving my health, obviously, none of this could happen because I seem to be the primary gear that makes the household turn.

So don’t underestimate the power of lots of cardio – that’s my point of the post. It will likely, over time and with mindfulness, improve your diet, your energy level, your hydration, and your mental state.

It DOES take time, especially at first as you get your fitness level improved. And it’s super important to build up gradually to prevent injuries so you have the energy for all the other demands on your time. If you have kids, sometimes the best thing is just a family run or walk. Taking them to a park or even a school to run around the track and play is a great family activity. We also take the kids to our gym which has a track where we’ll run and then lift weights together so we’re all fit enough for our backpacking adventures.