Making a life change can be a big decision, but it’s one that has made a positive impact on Cathy Burton of Arcola.
Burton decided in her late 40s to begin living healthier by changing the way she ate and becoming more active.
“Pushing the end of my 40s I wasn’t feeling good,” Burton stated. “I thought it was time to do something for myself, the kids were out of the house, and it was time to put myself first, to make myself healthier and more active.”
Burton found that some of her friends in Arcola wished to become healthier and more active as well.
“A couple of us gals were nattering as school started for the year that we have a great gym facility at the school, so we should do something to get into shape and lose weight,” Burton explained. “I work at the school so it was easy to access.”
“I got a hold of Eugene Brown [the Vice Principal in Arcola as well as the track and boys volleyball coach] and told him ‘I can’t stand myself, where do I start?’”
Brown’s response to Burton’s question was, “You have to start running.”
Brown met with Burton and her group of friends one evening to introduce them to a walking program and a weight program as well as giving tips on eating better, such as cutting out half of all the bad foods like soft drinks and junk food.
“He met us one evening and we walked through the cardio program and the weight program,” Burton said. “The next day or two we couldn’t even move.”
Though it was challenging, Burton had the support of friends and family, which was important in motivating her to continue.
“The school hallway is 1/10 of a kilometre, so on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays I did cardio, then on Tuesday and Thursdays I did weight training,” Burton explained. “I would do three loops around the school, so 3/10s of a kilometre and I’d feel like I was going to die.”
Working in the school alongside Brown was good for Burton who would complete her session for the day and would have someone to check in with her about how the work out went.
“I found it great to have someone check in with,” Burton stated. “He’d see me in the hall and ask, ‘How did it go? Did you have any troubles? How are you feeling?’ Then every six to eight weeks he’d bump it up because it was getting too easy. Some days he’d say do a warm up, 10 laps, and a cool down, and that seemed like so much.”
Now, however, a kilometre is very little to Burton who has completed numerous half marathons. It was that first time out and that first year that Burton struggled with, but found that what she was doing was making her feel better and become healthier.
“I spent that school year faithfully in the gym from Monday to Friday and by the end of the school year I had dumped 50 pounds,” Burton explained. “Running had gotten into my system, into my blood, and that first run that summer outside, you just thought you had made it.”
“And all through summer you’d make it a little further, and a little further. That fall I turned 50 and I did my first half marathon, the Queen City in Regina. Nora Houston came with me and as I stood at the starting line I remember I had tears as I thought, ‘What have I done?’ Nora kept telling me, ‘It’s just another Sunday run.’”
Burton remembers that first day as being the toughest, but that throughout the years she has had good days and bad days: “Some days you didn’t feel like you accomplished much, but your friends and family keep you going and motivated. It’s like with anything though, you’ll have a bad day where you wonder ‘Why you’re doing this?’ Then you’ll have a good day where you think ‘I’m doing this for me, I’m putting myself first.’”
During the winter Burton isn’t always able to get out for a run in the cold, but she exercises in other ways such as shoveling the walkway in front of their house and all the way from it along Main St. in Arcola to Buddy’s Pub.
This stems from her love to be outside, which also comes with enjoying pushing the lawnmower in the summertime.
Becoming active has also given her the drive to help encourage others to begin running and to use her position at the school where she organizes the Terry Fox Run to not only teach youth about what Fox accomplished and dealt with, but to instill the benefits of a healthy lifestyle in the students of Arcola School as well.
“One thing led to another and a few of us started the Moose Mountain Marathon,” Burton explained. “Younger people are out running and are getting more involved now.”
As for the Terry Fox Run, “We literally drop them [high school kids] off 10 km from town and make them walk back, while the elementary kids do laps around the track at the school which has turned into a competition because they get their little card on a string and get a stamp every time they do a lap.”
“So many kids are busy on their phones or computers that it’s important to get them outside doing stuff.”
In addition to falling in love with running, Burton has also made changes to the way she eats.
“You clean things up,” Burton explained. “You eat more balanced meals and we’ve swapped to whole grain foods as well as lots and lots of fruits and vegetables. You eat well-rounded meals and just watch the snacking.”
“I still make cupcakes and pies, but I’m not eating them every day. It’s nice to splurge every once and awhile though.”
Overall Burton says the change she made in her life has had only positive effects: “I feel amazing! How can you not? I have more energy to keep up with my grandson and I just feel better all the way around. When you carry that extra weight you don’t know until you lose it and become active just how awful you actually felt.”
