The essence of your exercise program is your commitment to make changes and to follow your plan. Taking a pill won’t magically make you physically fit. Is medication an option for controlling weight, but is it a long-term solution? There is a special feeling that you have after you finish a workout. 

I would love to ask the questions: What is your why? and What matters to you? You do not have to be the fittest, no matter what your form of exercise.

At MISSION:Milspouse we want to bring information to each of you because we want to play a part in your fitness journey. The comments below are a testament to the longevity of how fitness plays in the lifestyles of others.

A friend, George Yannakakis stated the following about his running career, “Being at peace with yourself.” In 2022 Yannakakis was running a 10-mile event (Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10-Mile) for his 29th time in a time of 2 hours 33 minutes 4 seconds, which is a new American male age group record for ages 90-94. The first year of running that event was in 1984 at 52, with a time of 1:12:36.

The following athletes share their responses to the questions.

Steve ……What is your why?   

“Physical exercise is not merely necessary to the health and development of the body, but to balance and correct intellectual pursuits as well. The mere athlete is brutal and philistine, the mere intellectual unstable and spiritless. The right education must tune the strings of the body and mind to perfect spiritual harmony.” Plato 427-347 BC.

What matters to you?

My well-being surrounded by my loved ones and connected to the community.

Michael.……What is your why?   

I want to see if I can and to challenge myself to continue to get better. 

What matters to you?

 I think what matters most to me is to always chase my dreams. I want to keep pushing the boundaries and growing what I can do and gain experiences. 

 Kathleen ……What is your why?   

My primary exercise is cycling although I should do more weights in the gym especially for my arms. I try to run once in a while as well. I fell off my bike last August and shattered my left elbow, but now it’s repaired, so I’m all patched up and back on my bike. 

I try to exercise every day and most times it’s cycling, sometimes on Zwift in bad weather/inside and mostly outside with my cycling group. I need to do more gym stuff like lifting weights and other exercises to build my bone density- still working on this.  

Why? it’s my life MOJO – if I exercise no matter what I do I feel much better about myself… mostly it’s my mental positive feeling about myself …keep my weight at a good level …I like to push myself and compete with others on my bike plus the social aspect about being with others on a bike is great – we had that when we ran together with Harry right? Keeping my competitive juices going, pushing myself, and sometimes just socializing with others helps me feel great in my “old age!”

Finally, I have so many friends like you who I would never have met without running or biking – an amazing opportunity to meet others! 

Joe ……What is your why?   

I was 36, in a high-pressure job, working long hours, eating poorly and getting little sleep. I gained a lot of weight and, with heredity as a factor, I recognized I was going to end up with a heart attack at some point. I went to a cardiologist who put me on a low salt / low-fat diet and recommended that I get some exercise.

This was in the early days of the running boom in the late 1970s, and I used running as a form of exercise. I started off gradually and worked my way up to doing 3 miles after 6 weeks. Then my sons saw this advertisement for a charity 10K race, and we entered. 

I had never run 6 miles but could finish it in 48 minutes and got hooked on racing. I started running 10K races every weekend and eventually got my time down to 39 minutes after three months. In the meantime, I reduced my work week to a more normal 40 hours and, along with a better diet that my wife made sure I had, I lost 50 pounds.

At the time, I also found other runners to train with who talked me into signing up for the Marine Corps Marathon that November. That pushed my training to a higher level. 

I decided I wanted to test myself at a marathon in the mountains in September. Even though I finished 5th out of 17 runners, I felt disappointed with my time of 3 hours 24 minutes. So I ran the Greensboro Marathon the next month where I finished 9th overall with a time of 2:55. My running buddies then started psyching me into trying to go for a Boston Qualifying time, which for my age was sub 2:50. 

I ran a marathon each month to get that elusive sub 2:50 and finally hit it in February at the Carolina Marathon in Columbia SC, where I ran a 2:57. I ran the Shamrock Marathon in March and ran my first of eight Boston Marathons in April, in 1980.  

Catching the racing fever and finding that it could be a rewarding experience kept me continuing to challenge myself at various distances from the 1/2 mile and my favorite the mile (Personal Record 4 minutes 40 seconds), winning a local 10K, and various age group 1sts, kept me maintaining a fairly high intensity training schedule. 

When I reached my mid 40s, I realized I had good endurance, and it was when 100-mile races were appearing in running magazines.

With a new 100-mile race in Vermont appearing on the horizon in 1989, I trained for and tackle the ultra-distances. But first I had to have a 50-mile race under my belt as a qualifier to prove that I could handle the ultra-distances. 

I ran my first of 10 JFK 50 milers in 1988. I was able to run an 8:15 PR on that course in my early years. I ended up running the first 18 Vermont 100 Miler with a best there of 20 hours 13 minutes, finishing 12 of them while I was also doing their results for them.

After many years of running the ultra-distances, I recognized it was getting more and more difficult to finish these distances within their time limits. So, it became less appealing to spend the time to train for them and not have time to finish within the time limits.  

One of the limiting factors affecting training was health issues that cropped up in my middle 60s which had a dramatic effect on my ability to push my limits. One can say, Oh Well, I guess that’s the end of my running career and hang up the shoes. But that’s not in me. 

Several years ago, a race came on the scene that gave the older runners a chance to still finish 100 miles by giving them as many hours as they were old to get as many miles as they could. I’ve tackled this race up to 80 and have accumulated over 1000 miles on their certified 1-mile circuit in a city park in Tennessee. 

One year I ran and walked over 157 miles, finishing 9th overall. With over 100,000 miles in my record book, I hope to keep adding miles as long as the Good Lord allows me to.

What matters to me?

While I started to run for my health, I have found that it is probably the reason that I am still alive today and able to continue getting out the door to get in 1500 miles a year and an occasional race or two.

It’s the camaraderie of other runners, it’s spending time alone in the woods, it’s feeling better when I’ve had a good run and it’s knowing that many people have come up to me and said I’m their role model and they want to be like me one day, it’s being able to give advice to new runners and sharing the knowledge that I’ve gained over the years with others. 

But it’s knowing that on any day I can go out and tackle physical jobs without question. My wife and I have been married for 61 years in April and we are both still pretty active at 81. I think having an active lifestyle has kept us both young and we are thankful.  

As I wrote, I realized it wasn’t just about getting started, but what was the reason for continuing over 45 years despite injuries, surgeries, and health issues (blocked arteries and prostate cancer).  And let’s not forget about old age.

Tina ……What is your why?   

My form of fitness: Running, and for cross training Pilates, including Water Running.

 Running releases my stress, promotes my endorphins and gives me the ability to focus on specific workouts for different races. Either track, cross country and/or road racing. This changes my outlook on training and pushing my efforts. 

For example, speed and leg turnovers for track racing; terrain training on cross-country trails to help me build turnover on uneven terrain along with mental toughness when running hills or on gravel; then there’s road racing. Learning to run hill repeats or long flat surfaces on asphalt.

What matters to you?

 My healthy lifestyle and the friendships that have been developed through my fitness along my journey are what matter to me.

 
Kelly ……What is your why?   

I am grateful for every step! After breaking my neck in 2020, it was unclear whether I could ever run again. I was extremely lucky that, after enduring three months of bed rest, I returned to running and ran my second fastest marathon ever 2:39 in the fall of 2022! I haven’t stopped there.

I’m the reigning Queen of DC, which I earned by winning the 2024 Chase the Throne, I earned a bronze at Armed Forces Cross Country 2024 and helped lead the All Army Team to victory two years in a row, and I helped my local Georgetown Running Club team to a third-place finish at the National Club Cross Country Championships 2023. 

 What matters to you?

As I approach my 40th birthday in April, what matters to me is having fun while racing and also continuing to push myself to give 100%! I spent a lot of years stressing and putting a lot of pressure on myself to perform, but now I try to have fun and see every race as a gift. I also believe in sharing my knowledge and experience with younger runners, which is why I Coach at Langley High School. 

Mike……What is your why?   

The TRIATHLON: Because it’s a puzzle, a balancing act of not only three disciplines but also home life & family and work. The sport is the “easy” part. The balancing act is the hard part, and it takes a LOT of give and take.

What matters to you?

Performing at a HIGH LEVEL for all of those disciplines in no particular order except for # 1 – Home life & family. The following order: swim, bike, run, and work.

*For more inspiring runners and hmans, Visit George’s M:M expert Author Page.