HEALTH

Diabetes:
Rowena House is Running For Her Life

Running from injections, weight problems, diabetes ... and polar bears!

By Wendy Haaf

Sure, the possibility of stumbling into a polar bear was a little scary, but Rowena House was already well on her way to outrunning an equally frightening foe - Type II diabetes.

House, of Fort Severn, Ont., was training to run Louisiana’s Mardi Gras Marathon for the Canadian Diabetes Association last winter when she was cautioned against continuing outdoor training because a few polar bears had blundered onto the streets of the tiny town 850 km north of Thunder Bay. But the story of how she took control of her own health to try and evade the disease that affects both her aunt and brother actually starts in October 2001, when House arrived in Fort Severn to manage the local North West Company store.

“At that time, I was 245 pounds,” House recalls. “I had just gotten to the point where enough was enough. Knowing diabetes was in the family kind of brought it all home to me. My aunt takes three injections a day, and is in constant fear of losing her eyesight. My brother has diabetes as well, though his is controllable at the moment.

“That winter we started an exercise club. I started working out with some friends – some teachers and a couple of nurses. It’s winter for so long here, so we just started using the school gym to do Tae Bo, volleyball and badminton, and just kept active all winter.” The local native band pitched in, using their annual diabetes budget to purchase additional exercise equipment to help residents with the disease maintain a healthy weight.

Apart from exercise, House, who turned 30 in February, also took a serious look at how she was eating. She read some material from Weight Watchers and decided to make a few simple changes that she could fit into her demanding schedule. “I didn’t follow the plan – I’m just too swamped in the run of a day. I don’t always eat at regular times because the store is my first priority, and if I don’t get to go to lunch until three in the afternoon, then that’s when I have to eat.

“The number one thing was that I cut down on portions. The number two thing: I just cut out all junk food. None. No pop, no chips, no chocolate.” (Today, she can afford a treat once in a while, she says.)

Before she knew it, House had shed more than 50 pounds. Imagine dragging two-and-a-half large bags of flour everywhere for years – until, eventually, the contents trickled away. Wouldn’t you feel ready to wrestle a polar bear or two?
“It makes a big difference in how energetic you feel,” House says.

So when she received an e-mail from her company’s head office inviting employees to participate in the 2003 Mardi Gras Marathon for Diabetes, House’s reaction was very different than it would have been a year earlier. “I thought, if I can lose fifty-something pounds, maybe I can run a half-marathon.” The North West Company, the largest private employer of Aboriginal people (who run a disproportionately high risk of developing Type II diabetes) agreed to sponsor House.

With e-mail support from an experienced marathoner and Team Diabetes coach, House began training by running the roadways within the tiny community (a full circuit adds up to only 4 km), despite temperatures of -50¾C. Town residents urged her to avoid routes leading away to the airstrip or the Hudson’s Bay coastline because of the risk of running into polar bears. When the furry carnivores were spotted on town streets, she took to an indoor treadmill donated by her employers. Indoors, she tried to replicate the warm, humid conditions under which she expected to run in New Orleans by cranking up the heat.

When the day of the race arrived, House’s experience running in frigid winter weather paid off. While other runners were huddled under sweaters due to the abnormally cool weather, to House, the temperature seemed positively balmy. “It was beautiful – I was cruising,” she says.

Despite the fact it took her four minutes from the moment the starting pistol was fired to fight her way through the crowd to the official starting line, House placed 100th in the pack of 3,000 people who ran the half-marathon. “I actually shaved a half-hour off my best time,” she says.

House’s story would be remarkable if it ended there – but it doesn’t. When word got around Fort Severn that House and her friend Susan had decided to enter the Manitoba Marathon, several local teen girls approached the pair. “They said, ‘We’d like to do something like that,’ ” House recounts. “So we decided to do a relay team.” The two friends coached five girls each, and House picked up the tab for proper running shoes for seven team members.” (The Manitoba Marathon was held June 16.)

The contagious can-do attitude that inspired these young women to get off the couch is something we can all learn from, whether or not we ever run a marathon.
“I still want to lose a few pounds, but I feel healthier than I ever have,” House says. “You have to start slow, be steady with it, and don’t give up. Even if you don’t see any results at the beginning, you will see results in the end. This time last year, I could not run 3 km – now that’s what I do daily.

“When I’m running in the dead of winter and it’s -40¾C out, and I start thinking, ‘How crazy am I?’, I tell myself what an opportunity I’ve been given to be a spokesperson, not only for the company, but for this town – to show the rest of Canada and America that this little place in the middle of nowhere can come up with a marathon runner. I was so honored to be able to run the marathon in New Orleans on behalf of my aunt and brother, and show people there is an alternative – that getting healthier can control, and even prevent, the disease.”

No matter where House places in her next event, she’s a winner who has drastically boosted her odds of leaving diabetes in the dust.