” For me, it has just been about learning to do things the proper way. I am experiencing loss of bone density and mild to moderate arthritis. I know that strength training and diet are key to managing both conditions.”
Meet JCCF Vitality member Doris, 56 years young approaching 57 on August 31. Married 37 years to her husband Dale. “We got married when I was 19 (crazy, for sure). But, I guess we were soul mates because it has worked and I don’t see any change in plans for the future. Dale’s birthday is the day before mine and he will be 59 this year! We always take off and make a long Labor Day weekend to celebrate our birthdays. We used to stay up and celebrate at midnight, but those days have passed. LOL! “
She has three kids – Jason, married to Courtney. Katie, married to Wade, and our youngest, Riley, who is 20, one of those late in life blessings.
Doris has her own company with a long time business partner. We celebrated 18 years this past July. We are a consulting/solutions-oriented firm that does a lot of different things to support non-profit organizations, most of which are located in rural Missouri, but we have clients in other states as well. Our primary interest is in health care (broadly defined), and we do a lot of resource development/grant-writing to bring resources to Missouri to support underserved populations.
Now when you ask her about her Grandbabies, her face lights up!! She has Faith, who just turned 6 and Deslyn, who is already 8 months old. Her words: “They are the light of my life.”
Doris is a pretty amazing woman, and some of this story will give you some hind site into this fact. Some adversity she has had to face in her life: “I lost my mom to breast cancer when I was 18 and was her primary caregiver from age 14 until her death. She was 39 when she was diagnosed and left us at age 43. I raised my younger brother (he was 11 when she got sick and 15 when she died) because my dad didn’t adjust initially and mostly worked to cope and pay bills. It was a hard time for me as the only girl (probably why I married so young), but it molded me into the person I am. It made me strong and independent, and I’m a much better parent and grandparent as a result. I cherish the little things and just being available for my kids and grandkids. I’m super close to my younger brother, especially since we also lost my brother at age 57 to mesothelioma lung cancer in 2015. Being healthy and doing what I can to maintain my health is important to me so I can be there for them and is why I’m a Vitality fan!!
Everyone loves a great love story! Dale and I first met as a blind date and I was not a happy camper about it. His best friend and my best friend at the time were married and they arranged it without telling me the plan. So you can imagine how well that went over with me. But I suppose Dale had a lot of tenacity because we did finally connect months later and hit it off. LOL!
What is the staple of your nutrition and you favorite meal? Meat and veggies are truly the staple of my diet. We garden, can a lot of our own produce, my brother raises chickens so we eat farm-raised eggs and chickens and we butcher our own pork and beef. Next year we will be raising our own beef – a new experience for us. We own 108 acres north of the river and our favorite pass-time is to work on the property and ride the wooded paths in our ranger looking for wildlife.
I love eggs for breakfast with spinach or some other green (peppers, okra or broccoli). I usually sprinkle a little cheese and may add bacon. Omelet and side: Two farm fresh eggs, with okra and spinach sauteed in salt-free butter, a little crumbled uncured bacon (fixed in the air fryer), and a touch of shaved parmesan, seasoned with cracked pepper and our own dehydrated lemon basil (my brother is an herb fanatic, so I benefit from his green thumb and dehydration skills)!
How has JCCF Vitality impacted you?! I was never an athlete because there just was no opportunity so I never experienced a lot of the types of workouts some young people experience in high school or college. I was a late in life college graduate. While I have a lot of confidence in business and am an extrovert, I do not have a lot of confidence in strength-training. I was always a runner until about 8 years ago and that was my outlet. Of late, I am experiencing loss of bone density and mild to moderate arthritis. I know that strength training and diet are key to managing both conditions. I am so busy and my schedule is very unpredictable so having both the peer and instructor support are super helpful. The reminders and just general encouragement help me be more disciplined – to make the classes a priority. I put them on my calendar and schedule around them. I am always disappointed when something must override a class because I know I am not disciplined enough to do a workout on my own – I need to get better at that, but it is just not the same.
What do you look forward to about the CrossFit Vitality Class? For me, it has just about learning to do things the proper way. Stretching learned from the classes have become pretty routine for me at home, but I still need that prodding to keep it up! The classes are also a way for me to focus solely on me and forget about the daily grind. When I’m in a class, I am fully engaged in the class. There are few things that fully engage me in that way…so that my mind turns off for just an hour to let me focus on me. We all need so much more of that in our over packed lives. I know that making progress is important, but for me it is less about that and more about the release that I get from the exercise.
Doris, thank you for being a part of our JCCF community.