my story
By Sharon DuBois
Editor’s Note: “My Story” is a first-person column OR a Q&A feature of a New Albany community member that centers around health. Have a story to share? Email bklein@cityscenemediagroup.com. Submissions should be no more than 1,000 words.
Getting Back Up
Sharon DuBois never lets an injury keep her down
I
DuBois with an elephant in South Africa. 10
Sharon and Al DuBois in China in Fall 2019.
physical therapist were located. After working my way back to walking around
my neighborhood for one to three miles at a time, I sustained a stress fracture in my right foot again. Once the right foot fracture healed, I was looking for a group to walk with and found the New Albany Walking Club website. I joined the club in October 2013 and have been an active member ever since. The walking club walks yearround, and I followed the training schedule for the New Albany Walking Classic half marathon. Race day, I thought I was ready for the half marathon, even though my pace was slow. I did manage to stay ahead of the pacer and was OK to continue on to the half marathon course. However, once I passed the 10K mark and started the back half of the route, my left foot started hurting, so I turned back. I limped for about four weeks and went to see a physical therapist in Pataskala for gait training. www.healthynewalbanymagazine.com
Photos courtesy of Sharon DuBois
n 2000, I began walking to lose and maintain a healthy weight and improve my fitness for quality of life. When my oldest grandchild was born in 2009, my weight was down to an optimal level for me. I was walking on my own and attending Zumba classes in eastern Ohio. Later that year, we moved to Pataskala to be closer to my son and his growing family, and the Zumba classes stopped. I looked for a place to work out and maintain my exercise level from before but didn’t have much luck. I was still riding my bicycle 10 to 15 miles on a regular basis and started walking with Walk with a Doc at several different locations. Unfortunately, I fell while riding my bike on a path through The Ohio State University campus. This resulted in the first of four fractures in my feet. The next summer, I stepped in a small hole in my son’s yard and broke my left foot for the second time. After rehab I continued working out with a trainer at Orthopedic One, where my surgeon and
