You’ve probably heard it said that “exercise is medicine,” and Wylde Parnelle is living proof of that.
He had a heart attack at the age of 47, packed 210 pounds on his 5'4" frame, and had a resting heart rate of 90 beats per minute, blood pressure of 210/115, and was on large doses of blood pressure and cholesterol medication.
“I used to joke that I was in shape—and that round was a shape—but it was no longer a laughing matter,” he says. “It took the heart attack to make me see the damage I had done to my body and decide it was time to change. I want to live a long, happy life. And I can’t do that if I am overweight. Or dead.”
Less than 4 years later, he’s more than 65 pounds lighter and down to the smallest doses of cholesterol and blood pressure medications. He’s run more than 4,300 miles and has finished 15 half-marathons and a full marathon. Now his resting heart rate is 55 beats per minute. His average blood pressure is 115/75.
“Running has changed me in ways I never imagined,” he says, “and I will never stop.”
Indeed, exercise is medicine. A raft of scientific evidence proves that a regular workout routine (150 minutes per week, which is about 30 minutes five times per week)—and running in particular—has health benefits that extend well beyond any pill a doctor could prescribe.
Studies have shown that running can help prevent obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, some cancers, and a host of other unpleasant conditions.1 It will lower cholesterol, increase energy, and improve depression and anxiety.2 If you’re older, being fit will lower your risk of falling, mitigate age-related cognitive decline, and improve your quality of life. If you’re overweight, it will help you shed pounds. If you already lost weight, exercise will help you keep it off better than diet alone. What’s more, scientists have shown that running also vastly improves the quality of your emotional and mental life and even helps you live longer.
In the next section, you’ll find all the tools you need to get started on an exercise routine, stick with it, and get fitter. Step by step, we’ll walk you from where you are now—even if that’s the couch—to your first 5-K and 10-K. Most important, we’ll show you how to enjoy it. Along the way, you’ll hear stories of people like Parnelle who reached their breaking points, drummed up the courage to take their first steps, and just kept going, despite embarrassment, fear, setbacks, injuries, and their own deepest doubts about whether they could do it. We hope that all the tools in this chapter—and these moving stories—will give you the inspiration and the know-how to take this journey yourself.