Real Life Runners with Angie and Kevin Brown

406: Rewriting the Rules of Age: Cindi’s Journey from First Steps to Marathon at 61

• Angie Brown

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In this inspiring episode, I had the absolute pleasure of interviewing Cindi Wachholz, a 62-year-old paramedic and runner who proves that it’s never too late to chase big goals. Cindi didn’t start running until she was 59, and her story is such a powerful reminder that age is just a number.

She shared how she started with simple walk-run sessions, built consistency over time, and gradually worked her way up to finishing a half marathon—and eventually, a full marathon! Along the way, Cindi discovered the importance of proper training, good nutrition, and regular strength work.

One of the things that really stood out to me was how Cindi learned to trust the process, set realistic goals, and believe in herself—even when society’s expectations about age and fitness said otherwise. Her journey has transformed not just her physical health but her overall confidence and outlook on life.

If you’ve ever doubted whether you’re "too old" or "too out of shape" to start something new, Cindi’s story will absolutely encourage you to take that first step. No matter where you’re starting from, amazing things can happen when you stay consistent and believe in the journey!


00:53 Cindi’s Running Journey Begins

01:22 Overcoming Age Stereotypes

01:54 Becoming a Paramedic

03:55 First Steps into Running

05:18 First 5K Experience

06:48 Joining Real Life Runners

11:02 Learning About Proper Training

17:12 Overcoming Self-Doubt in Running

17:49 Inspiring Others on the Trail

18:45 Running Accomplishments and Milestones

30:09 The Importance of Strength Training

32:59 Encouraging Healthy Aging


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Angie:

Have you ever wondered if you're just too old to start something new or to get better at something that you've never really been good at? So many women feel that way, especially when it comes to running in midlife. But what if that story I. Just isn't true. What if there's a new version of that story that you can start to tell? Today? I am talking with Cindy, one of our incredible real life runners who didn't start running until she was 59 years old, and now at age 62, she's finished her first half marathon marathon and is now training for an ultra marathon, and most importantly, feel stronger, more energized, and more confident than ever before. But it wasn't always that way, and that's why it's. So important for you to hear Cindy's story today because Cindy's story is one of rewriting the rules of breaking down those false barriers about age and showing what's possible when we stop letting fear or doubt make our decisions for us. So if you've ever thought, maybe it's too late for me, I need you to hear this conversation today. Let's dive in. All right. Welcome to the show today. I am super excited to have Cindy Ws on the podcast with me. Hello, Cindy. Thanks for being here.

Cindi:

Hey, Angie. Thanks so much for inviting me.

Angie:

I. So I asked Cindy to come on the podcast to share her story because to me, I love her story and I know that you will too as soon as you start to hear it. And Cindy has been such an inspiration for me, for the other people on our team. We've been working together for a little over a year now, right? Or two years? About two years. So Cindy, let's just start out by you telling us a little bit about yourself so we can start with, how long have you been running and how did you get started?

Cindi:

Okay I've only been running, I'm just wrapping up my third year, in fact, on April 12th, next week will be three years since I took my first step of running. That's

Angie:

awesome.

Cindi:

And I am 62 years old right now. So you

Angie:

started when you were 59?

Cindi:

Yes, I did. Yep.

Angie:

I love that

Cindi:

to the, and I want so many

Angie:

people to hear that too. And that's one of the main reasons that I wanted to have you on this podcast as well, because so many people have this idea that age is a limiting factor, that we have to stop or we have to slow down or we have to do less. And you just started this journey at the age of 59, and there's no slowing down or stopping you that I can see in sight.

Cindi:

That's right. Absolutely. Yeah. And yeah, when I started it was, yeah, I had a lot of people saying, oh, aren't you a little old? And oh my goodness. So I just didn't tell a lot of people in the initial beginning. Yeah. But actually it was a decision because I was aging and, and I have a job. I am a paramedic and I got into that role just a few years back. I graduated in 2017 after my husband had a, had an accident. And the EMS people, the paramedics, the EMTs, whoever were, was there to help him, did everything that got him on the road to recovery. They laid a great foundation and I was at a place in my life that. All four of our kids were grown outta the house. And I was fortunate enough that I was blessed to be able to stay home with my children and raise them up and homeschool the last two. And now it was time to start thinking about what am I gonna do to work? And after my husband's accident, I thought, wow, maybe I could. Help people like those EMS people did. And I knew nothing, and that would be probably the last job I would ever picked for myself. But I got, I went to school, I loved it. I went to paramedic school then, and I love it. And as a EMS provider, I, we go on a lot of calls. We see a lot of people that are sick or hurt. Or do stupid stuff and they need an ambulance. But what I also saw were people that were older and not much older than me, that were struggling with their health because they just weren't active. And they didn't move. And I thought, wow that's really sad that this is their health situation. And actually my mom is an example of that too. She had. Health issues and things would hurt and she'd say, oh, it's'cause I'm getting older. And then she moved less and it got to a point where she really couldn't move anymore. And I thought, oh boy, that is not what I want to do and that what I want to be. And being in EMS, you. You have to stay healthy and you have to be strong. And I'm not a very big gal. I'm barely five four. And so being strong is important to me. I, my daughter runs and she's been running since high school and cross country. She says, oh, mom, you should just try running. It'll help you to get in shape and be strong. And I thought I'll give it a try. But I'm 59, so I decided, okay. I looked up some books and a book on walking and running and so I started walking, running, and it started off, walk for three minutes, run for 30 seconds and do it again for half an hour and don't die in the process. And that's kinda how I felt that. And, but I was able to run 30 seconds and it was like, okay. And. Sooner. It gets a little, you go run for a little bit longer, walk a little shorter. But I was always on the verge of quote unquote dying.'cause I was just going all out.'cause I thought that's what you did because I'm running and I thought, okay, I'm gonna give myself a year and I think I can run a mile and a year. That was my goal, to run a mile. And about a month and a half later I ran my first mile Rock ran, but ran it and it was like. It was the biggest celebration. Yeah. That I've had a long time. And I thought, okay, I'm gonna just keep doing this and I'd run a little farther and walk a little less. And I did that and my PT gal who I saw because I was having little tweaks and little achy muscles because I was going all out every time. I didn't know any better. And also doing the eat less, move more because. Who doesn't wanna lose a few pounds. And anyway, she said you should try a 5K. And like we had a local five KI live in rural Iowa and we had a little town, 5K called Tornado Alley. And I thought, oh my goodness, I don't know if I can do it. She really encouraged me and I thought I can, I'll try. And I did. I walk around the 5K and I finished the 5K and I got a. And that was like the biggest thing. I'm not an athlete. I, okay, wait a minute, rephrase that. I was not an athlete my whole life. I wasn't in sports. I couldn't run and I say I couldn't run because I couldn't. I didn't ever, and I wasn't gonna try and being part of a team like that or a runner of any kind or competing like that was nothing I'd ever done. And it was amazing. So after that I thought, Ooh, I'm gonna try to do this a little more and keep running. So I ran all winter, ran in the Iowa snow, which I really love that. Believe it or not, I really do. And so the next year, my first race was a walk run again, it was a trail race for four miles. And I do that in April. I do a race in April,'cause that's my year anniversary of running. And I actually placed for gals my age group, which I couldn't even believe that, but I did. So cool. And I loved that. And the camaraderie and the encouragement and then. Thankfully in in May of that year of 2024 I or 2023, I found real life runners on a podcast just listening to real life runners and this gal talking about running and healthy ness of it and fueling, which is eating properly in a healthy manner. And she had such a. And that was Angie, of course. And, but I'm saying the person,'cause I didn't know her and I didn't know, I thought, okay, this is just a, some famous podcast lady and she gets to work with her husband and they have a great chemistry. And I just went back and listened to lots and then they offered to open up some training for people and I couldn't wait. And that's where it all began.

Angie:

It sounded like you had a pretty good start going into that though. You were already running five Ks and how long was that trail race that you said you placed for your age group?

Cindi:

That was four miles.

Angie:

Okay, so that's four miles. Yeah. Yeah. So you were already on your way.

Cindi:

I was, and I was very solo though I, nobody didn't run with anybody.'cause there's no one to run with. There wasn't anyone to run with. And when I did tell people,'cause I wanted people to know how, Hey, I can do this. Our bodies were created to move even at 59 or 60 and yeah. That there, but there was a lot of, pushback with, oh, you're a little old, you've never done this before, and, you're gonna get what if you get hurt and,

Angie:

yeah. Oh

Cindi:

my goodness. But that, I didn't let it discourage me.'cause I knew I felt better and it was good for me.

Angie:

Yeah.

Cindi:

So

Angie:

what were, when you started running and the, that first year, what kind of struggles did you have? Was it sounds like and I know how positive you are of course, and it sounds like it came pretty naturally to you. Would you say that's accurate? Or would you say that you struggled a bit in that first year of running?

Cindi:

I think it was enjoyable. Okay. So I liked, and I enjoyed the, what did you enjoy

Angie:

about it?

Cindi:

Being outside for one thing, that was huge. We have a treadmill and I avoided it at all costs. I would, I didn't mind running the rain or the wind just to be outside and enjoy that. And just running. It was quiet because I don't keep stuff in my ears usually to listen to, and I enjoyed that part. And I felt like I was doing something healthy for my body and I was doing it for 80-year-old Cindy. And that's what I kept in my mind. I'm, I am running. Try and not, try not to get hurt so that I can be a strong 80-year-old Cindy.

Angie:

Yeah. So was it a lot of that inspiration from watching what was going on with your mom and kind of the other patients that you had encountered during your time as a paramedic?

Cindi:

Yeah. That was a huge motivator.

Angie:

Yeah. Yeah. Which is, so what kind of struggles did you have? Like we see you obviously enjoyed being outside. And you kept in, increasing your pace and your distance there. Was there anything that didn't really come easy to you?

Cindi:

I didn't under, it was always, I knew I would go out and I would be exhausted when I got home. And that's just how I was gonna be, because that's how you are when you run. Okay. I, so that was a, it was like a just a wall I always was coming up against and climbing over, but it did. I wasn't always in the best mood, yeah. And yeah and I wasn't eating like I know that I should have been because it was always that sea, if you can run more or move more, eat less. So I was tired and sore. I was tired and sore. Yeah. And those were big. Yeah. And I get a little bit of, maybe you're running too much, maybe you're going too far from people. That. They didn't know either. I didn't know. Sure. That wasn't doing it quite right. I was just doing what I thought all runners did run as fast as you can when you run and don't eat too much so you can lose some weight.

Angie:

Yeah, because it's the burning calories mentality.

Cindi:

Exactly. Yeah. So I'm

Angie:

going out and running to burn calories, so why would I eat more? Because then that's just undoing what I just did. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And so it makes sense that you felt exhausted and sore because your body wasn't getting what it needed.

Cindi:

So that's exactly right. What changed

Angie:

then?

Cindi:

Then that faithful day in 2023 when I fell into real life runners and I was able to become a member and the information. I am not even gonna say it was like a fire hose because it, it was just because I was not a runner. Yeah. And never an athlete. And I would never consider myself an athlete until you told me I was, and then I go, yes I am. And that was a life changer right there too. I a game changer right there, I'll tell you that. But that was terminology I'd never heard of before. Fueling and, j just, that was one big thing is like fueling and so you put in your car. Yeah. I don't know. Eating and the stuff you need to eat to fuel your body and recovery and these are things I just didn't think runners did. Yeah. That it didn't know. And then the different kind of runs, like the levels, the L two and all the, those are just the different you know how your body feels. Your effort level. Never heard of anything like that, ever. And since I wasn't athletic in anything, maybe they did that in some other sport, but nothing I'd ever heard of before.

Angie:

Yeah.

Cindi:

And it was, it made so much sense. And I love learning new things and I've learned new things on every podcast, on every zoom meeting, everybody's sharing, their their strengths and their weaknesses, their wins, and always getting some feedback that would be useful for me. I have a notebook. It's, I have many notebooks now, but there's my real life runner notebooks that I would take notes, ridiculous amount of notes, but I have them all and they, I go back to them because there's little nuggets that just stick with me that just were game changers for this. Yeah, for running in my running. Lifestyle.

Angie:

Yeah. Which is so amazing. So did you, when we started learning some of these things. About fueling your body properly and about effort levels and all of these things. Did it just immediately click for you, or was there a little bit of resistance that came up? Because I noticed that with a lot of people, when we start talking about fueling and eating more and some of these things, there's a lot of resistance that can come up in people because for so long, for decades, we've been taught to restrict. We've been taught to, like you said, eat less and move more. So did you notice any of that coming up in you or was it more of this relief of oh, okay. This is what's going on now.

Cindi:

A little bit of both. Okay. Angie, it was initially, it's no, because my whole life, seventies and eighties, that's what you did and you just restrict. Totally. Yeah. And runners, every time I see a runner, they're going really fast. So why would I need to look at my pace and put my pace, all of that. Yeah. And when I was, told no, you need to eat more and run slower. I'm like, that doesn't make sense. But I, it didn't make sense. Yeah, no it doesn't. And honestly, it's very counterintuitive. It is. Yeah. But I saw it, I saw the results of it. I'm, I invested in real life runners. Wholeheartedly. And I wanted, I'm here because I wanna learn. And if I'm not gonna take my coach's advice, I'll not be here. That was what I'm thinking. Yeah, I'm gonna give it a whirl. And I did, and it did not Okay. It did not take long before I started eating, fueling more, eating healthy at the right time, and then slowing my pace down. It was like, like the scales fall off my eyes. It was like, this is amazing. I feel so much better. I'm not dragging my wagon because I don't have enough energy and need enough calories. It didn't take long once I jumped in and just, I'm going for it. Yeah. I went for it and jumped into the running. I'm gonna, I'm gonna jump into being a healthy runner and my biggest goal was, is still not to get injured. And the fueling the, that the pace not the pace, the just how do I feel about or this level?

Angie:

Yeah the effort levels and the, your training strategy.

Cindi:

Yep. That was huge. In fact, I remember talking about it, it was one of my questions on one of our podcasts, on your coaching group that was about the pace and you said, don't worry about what your watch says. Don't worry about that. So I actually, because I couldn't help but look and see what my pace was. Yeah. If I was going slow enough or fast enough, sure. I put a piece of tape on my watch so I couldn't see it. And that also just flipped a switch. It's I don't need, I'm just going by how I feel and that was. Fantastic.

Angie:

Yeah,

Cindi:

really good. That,

Angie:

so I feel like you've started to get into this a little bit, but how would you say that your training is different now versus when you started?

Cindi:

Oh, it's very boy, I almost, I wanna say intuitive, if that would be the right word. Sure. I'm just, I'm going at this is I'm training for. Something special maybe, and I need to have endurance. So it's very, it's easy, Angie. It's easy. I love that. I can just go and I won't be exhausted for the rest of the day. I even on long, hard runs I know how to fuel, I know how to hydrate and electrolyte and recover. And it's easy. And back when I started, like I said, I was metal to the PE pedal to the metal. Yeah. I'm just going, when you run, you must run fast. Yeah. That's the rule. That I thought so. Yeah. And it wasn't easy. I was look forward to going running, but I also knew how the rest of my day. Would be. But it was the price you paid to be a runner as what I thought

Angie:

it was, the price you pay, and then of course when you weren't feeling good. Maybe you a little bit, and definitely everybody in your life it sounds was like, oh, it's because you're older. Like it, it was just more proof that you shouldn't be doing this. And I think that's what makes me the most sad is when. People have that experience because you're not alone in this. There's a lot of people that start running at lots of different ages, and they get into it and they do exactly what you do because they think that's what it's supposed to be. They think that they need to go out and push hard and not fuel their body and restrict calories and they feel sore and they feel achy, and then that's evidence that. I'm too old for this. It's evidence that I'm just not a runner. Maybe my body's not just cut out for it. Like whatever story it is that we tell ourselves or that we have been telling ourselves or that other people have been telling us just gets confirmed because. That's how you feel. And I want people to know, and I'm hoping that's what they're hearing with your story here too, is that it's not your body, it's not your age, it's not any of that. It's the strategy that you're using and the skills that you have and those things you can change no matter how old you are.

Cindi:

That's exactly right and I, what I love is when, if I'm out running on a trail and there's a couple that might be my age or a little older, and if they're walking a dog especially, I stop to pet the dog and we'll chat. Then we get to chat and they'll say, oh, I could never do, because they can tell I'm older because I have silver hair, and they say, oh, I could never do that. And then I get to tell them, I just started doing this a few years ago, and they're all ears and even just. Having that five minutes with them or less just I love that I can tell them that this is not an impossible thing, that you don't have to be a certain age and then that's it. After that, you can't run anymore. If you've never run or get out and move, it's, I love that opportunity and I do hope that any gals that you, that are listening and going, woo, I could never do that. They'll go, you know what, maybe I could. And

Angie:

yeah, so speaking of, I could never do that. What have you done since you started running? What kind of running accomplishments have you achieved thus far in your running journey that you're proud of?

Cindi:

Like every one of them, but the, in in 23, I. After I joined Real Life Runners and I thought, wow, I can run a, I ran a, I've run a 10 K before, and I thought could I run a half marathon? Because that's 13 miles and my goodness, and yes, I could. You said yes I could. I still remember that call. Do you? Oh yeah, I do too. I do too. I still remember

Angie:

that call.

Cindi:

You know what I, at that moment, I needed someone to tell me I could,'cause that was a number I. 13, 13.2. It was a number. I, how can I do that?

Angie:

Yeah.

Cindi:

Because I never, because I didn't think I could. And you said I could. And if you thought I could,'cause you saw all the work I was doing. I could. So I had the plan and I did the work and I did that half marathon and I did it and I finished with a smile. I had a blast and I couldn't wait to say I think I wanna do a marathon. And I did it the next year. It was the same half marathon. I ran my, the one, I ran my half marathon in Okoboji. I wanted to do the, it was a beautiful place and I'm sorry, not Okoboji. It was Mankato. The, my first half marathon was in Mankato and it was so beautiful. I wanted to run my full marathon there. And

Angie:

at what point did you decide that you wanted to run a marathon? Was it like right after you finished the half or did it take a little time?

Cindi:

Right after I finished the half. Right after. Right after. Yeah. Because, and one of the, one of the things that you had us do at the end of our year, that year was to write, what are we gonna be saying at the end of next year? And I wrote about completing my first marathon and I did, I finished my first marathon last year. I did it and I finished with a smile and I. I had a great time. It was a lot of work going into it. I had work, the whole summer going into it, and that, that has got to be one of the biggest accomplishments of my life of being able to run 26.2 miles. At 61 years old, and I did it.

Angie:

Yeah. Yeah. And I

Cindi:

wouldn't have been able to do it without knowing how to do it. Safely and healthy, except if I wouldn't have had real life runners to, to coach me and to answer all of my questions and to just encourage me and Angie and Kevin, you're, you guys are amazing. And every person that's been on every call with us is they've, they're just like. They're like my family. They encourage me to what I, that I can do it too. And they're right. So those, the first marathon last year was, that was a huge accomplishment. A lot of work, but I was able to do the work in a very healthy way, injury free. I've been, I'm injury free. Yeah. Yeah. So great. And the best is yet to come.

Angie:

Odds. It's, I love that. Tell me what that looks like. You've already done amazing things and I love that you are breaking down your own beliefs in what is possible and other peoples as well.'cause I think that, I know you're such an inspiration to so many people on our team as well, and that's why I wanted to have you on the podcast because I want more people to hear. Just how inspiring you are be and what I really want people to hear from you. And the thing that keeps like yelling and standing out to me and listening to you talk is your trust of the process. And I think that's so critical and so important. There's so many people that go into running or set a big goal and. They question it the whole time. They're, am I doing this right? Maybe I need to add more mileage. I need to do this. And not to say questions are bad because I love questions. I love curiosity. It's one of the most powerful emotions that I think that we can tap into. At the same time, there needs to be a level of trust in the process because that is what will. Allow you to actually do the work to get the results that you want. And that's what I keep hearing from you is I decided I was gonna do this and I decided I was gonna trust my coaches. I was gonna trust my plan. I was going to do what they told me to do because clearly I'm choosing them as my guide. And that has led you to a good place. And there's a lot of people that think, okay, it's not enough, because when. They get into this new way of training that we teach people. Like you said, it's very counterintuitive of running slower, doing less, eating more. Like all of these things are the opposite of what we've been taught for a long time. So it can be really hard to accept that mentally, but I really want. To have people see that's what you did is like you said, Nope, this is what I'm doing. I'm gonna trust it. And then obviously if it doesn't work out, like once you actually trust and go through the process, if it doesn't work out, we make changes of course, but you can't tell if a process works until you actually do it. Hold on. Go ahead.

Cindi:

There are. A million training plans out there, you can go online. And I did that before my daughter said, Hey, you should just try running, go find a couch to 5K. Yeah. And I'm like, okay. So I did, I went out there and there's a million of'em. I'm like, how do I know which one? Yeah, okay, I'll pick this one. And you still, it wasn't quite right. There's no way I was gonna run two miles, week two. Are you kidding me? And that it wasn't right for me. And how in the world would I know what's right for me? And unless I know. My way of running and my needs and all the things that make me a different runner than you and everybody else. Yeah. And that's what I love about our, the program and the plans that you have, is that they are all tweakable and it's, I can run a plan, it's gonna be different than your 30-year-old. Runner gal who's been running since high school. We still might wanna run the same distance. Yeah. But the plan's gonna look way different. But it's gonna work for me. And that's how you've created it so that I get the plan that's just right for me and you bet I'm gonna trust that plan. Yeah.'cause it's I am proof that it works and I proved to the people who used to say, but you're too old. Proof to that.

Angie:

Yeah, you are. So you said the best is yet to come. What are some of your current running goals that you're working towards? You've already got your half marathon under your belt. You've got your full marathon under your belt.

Cindi:

I know. I know how I like to run and I like to run. E enjoyable effort is easy and and I can pick it up and I can go up. Hills pretty okay too, but I like the easy and I don't have a problem running easy for a long time. So I'm looking at I. I dunno how far can I run? And there's this thing called ultra marathons that's anything over 26.2 miles, but that's a whole new word I didn't know before either. And I, my goal is to do this year a 50 k, which is around a little over 30 miles, I think

Angie:

31.

Cindi:

That's okay. Yeah. And more or less.'cause they're always more or less. Yeah, that's true. And so that is something I'd like to do. For sure. One of those this year. And oh gosh I like the idea of doing a 50 mile maybe next year. And there's things called backyards that you can go, it's like until you go a certain amount of hours and or you go a certain amount of miles and last man standing, all sorts of different types of running. Yeah. Adventures. And I don't know, I never wanna get to a place in my life that I say, oh, I wish I would've. And I don't wanna do that. So I'm gonna, I'm just gonna keep moving on and see how far I can go, see how far I can go. That's what I'm, that's what I say.

Angie:

Yeah. And to do so in a very sustainable and healthy and strong way, because I know that is always your priority.

Cindi:

Absolutely. Yeah. Because if I get hurt or do something that is, is really not good then I'm, I don't wanna be done. Yeah.'cause then what would I do?

Angie:

Yeah,

Cindi:

it wouldn't be good.

Angie:

Nope. I just love all of this so much and I love just watching your whole field of possibility expand. It's so fun. And thank you for allowing me to be a part of your journey because it's I love watching it. I know you've started to touch on this a little bit, but what kind of positive effects has running brought to your life? Maybe in other ways'cause obviously you're stronger and you're healthier, and you can speak on that if you want to expand on that in any way, but also the ripple effect, like how has your life outside of running improved because of it?

Cindi:

I'm, I would say for one thing, I'm more confident that I can do something that maybe I've never done before and I'm not afraid to try it. And I'm very thankful for that. It's okay to be, get outta your comfort zone and think outside the box, even if other people don't think it's such a good idea.

Angie:

Yeah.

Cindi:

And I am, that used to impact me a lot. If people said, oh, that's not a good idea, I'd go maybe you're right. Maybe it's not such a good idea. But I, I. Can have crazy ideas and do'em, and they're not so crazy after all. And you can find people to support those ideas too. Like you're right. And people that are just as crazy as me.

Angie:

Find

Cindi:

your people. That's right. Yeah. Actually I've got a, and a few friends are encouraged by it now that they've seen me do this for a couple years. Still doing it.

Angie:

Yeah.

Cindi:

And even my husband has started to. Get outside more and do some walking, running, and he's coming on board slowly. Ooh, that's fun. Yep. And I'm hoping that someday there'll be the group of gals in our little town that will wanna go for a little run with me sometime. And they're listening to me and they're seeing that I'm not hurt. And that's a huge thing. I think that's everybody's biggest fear and

Angie:

Yeah.

Cindi:

And it's not if you do it right. I'm

Angie:

doing it right. Yeah. So you're expanding not only what's possible for you, but for other people as

Cindi:

well. I'm hoping so. I would like to have that impact on people so that they can age health in a healthy way, and that their body's doing what God made'em do, and they're able to move and, yeah. Be healthy.

Angie:

Yeah. So we here obviously are real life runners and we believe that running is a part of your life, not your whole life, but so how does running fit into your life now?

Cindi:

Oh gosh. It is just, it's part of it. I, it doesn't have to fit in, it's just part of it. I have my regular schedule of running that. My work schedule changes every week, but I always, running is something I look very forward to. It's, even after rough days at work or something. It's a nice way to just get out, clear my head. But along with the running it's joint with strength exercise. And strength training and it's not, I can't separate the two because I won't be good at running unless I'm strong physically. Yeah. And I didn't really talk about that very much, but the strength portion of it is something also I've never had experience with. And. That now they're just one thing I do running and I do strength and they're one thing for me, and it's part of being a strong, healthy gal in her sixties. And I'm very thankful for that because again, what I'm learning about how our body ages and especially after menopause with our strength and our bones, and. We exercising with weights and is crucial to being healthy and strong and being able to run as far as you would like to run.

Angie:

Yeah, absolutely. And having those, I lo I love so much that you say they're the same because it is they have to be connected and I think that's where so many runners feel lost because they have their running over here and then they're not really sure what to do about strength and maybe they do some random videos or something like that, but it. Does it all work together in a cohesive way? And that is so important for you to feel good during this process and actually get the benefits of the hard work that you're putting in.

Cindi:

Absolutely. In fact, the few people I know that run like my daughter's, one of'em, and a couple other people, they, they don't include strength at all. It's, yeah, it's not running. And I guess I would've had the same mindset until I've learned Yeah. Through real life runners that. They are one and and once, once you make that, that clicks in your brain that yes, these are one thing. And if I wanna be a strong, healthy runner, I need to be a strong, healthy gal. And I'm,

Angie:

yeah.

Cindi:

And I am both.

Angie:

Yeah, you are for sure. And I think that, especially younger people,'cause obviously your daughter is younger we can get away with things when we're younger that. Our bodies like stop responding as well too when as we get older and our hormones start changing and so we can't get away with neglecting some of these things as we get older, where a lot of younger runners, they don't really understand the importance of it yet unless they've been injured because. They can get away with just running. They don't have to strength train necessarily. They would still benefit from it for sure, but a lot of the times they haven't seen the negative consequences of it, and that becomes much more evident as we get older and we start to have some of these hormone changes.

Cindi:

Absolutely. I That is absolutely true. And back in the day when, for example, when she was in high school, I don't think weights were even a part of their training, so that wasn't something she ever was introduced to. And she was doing fine back then exactly. I absolutely understand that.

Angie:

Yep. Yep.

Cindi:

But I'm still telling her she needs to do it

Angie:

as you should. She'll keep hearing it. And she'll, it is very important and she'll realize it at some point in time, hopefully. Okay. So Cindy, I've absolutely loved this conversation with you. What is one thing, or you can give us multiple, but what's something you want listeners to take away from this episode?

Cindi:

Oh, gosh. Primarily that you are not ever too old to take that first step and you're stepping into a whole new journey and you won't regret it. And don't be afraid. Don't be afraid because you got real life runners here to back you up. It's true. It's true. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, don't take that first step and just don't listen to other people. And if it's just walking to start, just take that first step. And think of your 80-year-old self. And or your 90-year-old self if that's 10, 20 years down the road. Yeah. Think about how you're gonna benefit that person. That's so good.

Angie:

I have a friend that says, there's two people I think about when I'm making my health choices, my 8-year-old self and my 80-year-old self, and I love that. Are you making 8-year-old version? Of Cindy proud and are you making an 80-year-old version of Cindy Proud? Because what you do today determines who 80-year-old Cindy is and who, what she will be capable of. So 80-year-old Cindy is definitely gonna be saying thank you to 62-year-old Cindy for, and definitely for 59-year-old Cindy that chose to take that first step because that is a scary place for a lot of people of that. I don't wanna get hurt. I don't wanna fail. Is this gonna be really hard? That is a hard hump to get over. So 59-year-old Cindy really set 62-year-old and 80-year-old Cindy up for a lot of success. Yes, she did.

Cindi:

And I'm very thankful for her. I love, but yeah, and I'm, and that's, and my kids I tell them the same thing. You're all in your thirties Yeah. Almost. And forties. And what you do now, what you, how you move and. What you eat all is gonna affect your 60-year-old self. And you're my age. What you do now is gonna affect that. Yeah. And the end. And I want them to be strong, healthy, older people.

Angie:

Absolutely. Cindy, thank you so much for coming on and giving us your time today and sharing your story. I know, without a doubt, that's going to inspire a lot of people. So thank you for being here.

Cindi:

Oh, thank you, Angie, for inviting me. This was totally a privilege.