The Surprising Health Benefits Of Running Every Day With Patricia Prince

Jimmy Clare: Okay, so today I'm, talking to Patricia Prince, who is a cancer survivor. She also runs a website called Pink Ribbon Runner. And I think you will find this podcast interview inspired and fascinating interview. Thank you for coming, on here, Patricia.

Patricia Prince: Thank you for having me.

Jimmy Clare: so, before we get started, I was just curious, what made you want to start running in the first place?

Patricia Prince: Well, I, started running because my oncologist, said that I needed to do 20 minutes of cardio exercise per day. Now, he said like Jane Fonda, which I thought was funny, that's just showing our age. But I started by walking. And then, walking wasn't enough cardio. Eventually, I sort of habituated to walking and it eventually led to running.

Jimmy Clare: how many minutes do you run now?

Patricia Prince: I run every day. I'm what they call a streak runner. So I've been running every day for the past nine, hundred and 21 days. approaching three years running every day, it will be three years in December. and not everybody that runs, runs every day. it's not for everybody. But I decided to run every day because, of the bone pains, my, cancer medication causes, deep bone pains, and running really helps with that.

I didn't start off by running every day. I built up to it. And I noticed when I was running a couple of times per week, I noticed that on the days after I ran, I wasn't getting those bone pains. but they would come back if I didn't run. So I thought, why not run every day? And I average about,

Jimmy Clare: 15.

Patricia Prince: To 30 minutes per day running. And on the weekends I usually do more. I usually bump that up to an hour to 2 hours of running on the weekends.

Jimmy Clare: Oh, gee, I don't think I could run that far. I rent for an hour once, but I don't think I would ever do that again.

Patricia Prince: Yeah, no, honestly, I don't like treadmill running. It's boring. When I absolutely have to run on a treadmill. I put on a movie and I run with that. But no, I much prefer to run outside.

Jimmy Clare: when I was running on the treadmill, and this was probably four or five, six years ago before, I got into a beach by On Demand. I, was just listening to my AC DC DVD my brother got me for a Christmas present, I believe, or birthday present. So I was just kind of blasting it all in my basement, driving my parents nuts.

Patricia Prince: I love running to AC DC. It pumps you up, right. It's got a good beat and it gets you going, especially when you're on.

Jimmy Clare: The highway as well. Yeah, no pun intended.

Patricia Prince: Highway, exactly. Yeah. I was thinking of that movie, what's that movie with Milio Estavez where the, AC DC did the soundtrack to that. when I'm running on the highway and I'm listening to AC DC, I always think of that movie. And I kind of look at the cars weird, because in that movie, the cars, all the transports all came to life and were killing people. So Maximum Overdrive, that was the name of the movie.

Jimmy Clare: I had to go look into it.

Patricia Prince: It's a good movie and it makes me run faster when I listen to act on the highway.

Jimmy Clare: As long as it's not making you drive faster.

Patricia Prince: No, it doesn't drive run fast.

Jimmy Clare: do you find that running, is hard for you when you first started?

Patricia Prince: Yes, running was very hard. I still remember those first days. I started running about six years ago and still, in my mind, I remember how hard it was. I was walking for about five or 6 days by then. so I thought I was fit enough to start running.

And I was wrong. Running and walking are two completely different activities. I honestly thought in the first minute of running, I thought I was going to die. I couldn't breathe and my legs weren't working right. And it felt really awkward. And it was horrible. But I persevered. I don't really know why I persevered through that. But I think I was determined to listen to my oncologist and get fit.

Patricia Prince: Lose weight. I was, about £100 overweight when I started walking. And I lost a lot of that weight walking. But I was struggling to get the last, 20 £30 off. And so, when I took up running, I was still quite overweight. And it was very awkward to run. But I persevered and worked through that. And I ran my first five-kilometer run and run, for the Cure. It was to raise money for breast cancer research. That was my goal, and I persisted through that. It got easier. Running does get easier as you do it, but it's really hard in the beginning.

Jimmy Clare: I know a lot of people have been saying I should, run, like, a five K, but, I always keep telling them, too, if you can fit, it in my schedule and show me where I can practice and where I have time to do that, I don't, think I can do it right now. Especially with the whole coronavirus, nothing has happened.

Patricia Prince: Oh, yeah, it's really hard to run. I mean, we were restricted. We're not allowed to run with friends now. And we're really restricted, on our running, because of my run streak. And I don't want to miss a day and go back down to zero. I'm a member of the Streak Runners International, and so my run streak is listed there with them.

And if I miss a day, I go, back down to zero. And I don't want to go from 900 and something down to zero. So I want to get at least 1000 days in before that happens. So I've been making sure I get out there, but without having your friends to run with and encourage you and distract you from, some of the boredom of running, then it's really hard, to run on your own. But it's doable, it's manageable.

Jimmy Clare: I know for myself, I'm not one of those, people who I could I know for myself, I can't run long, distance. I don't think that my legs.

Jimmy Clare: Are.

Jimmy Clare: Meant for running at all. It hurts too much.

Patricia Prince: Yeah, running hurts in the beginning, for sure. Your body does adjust. Just like with any exercise, your body adjusts. But yeah, running isn't for some people. Everybody finds their own exercise that they enjoy. You have to enjoy exercise, otherwise, you're not going to stick with it. So whether you enjoy, walking or hiking or running or biking or yoga, or even going to the gym, lifting weights, taekwondo, karate, all those, you have to really enjoy it. Otherwise, you won't stick with it.

Jimmy Clare: I know. I definitely joined karate. It's fun just to take the hanger on the pads.

Patricia Prince: Yeah. My husband and my daughter did taekwondo, and they really enjoyed it.

Jimmy Clare: What keeps you motivated to keep running.

Patricia Prince: Well, one is my streak. So, as I said, I don't want to go back down to zero in terms of my, day. So my streak is really a big part of my running now. I don't run, fast. I'm not a fast runner. I run for fitness. Not to win races or not, but to get a personal best time. I just run for health. so running every day keeps me motivated right now.

Jimmy Clare: I also noticed that you run your own website, pink Ribbon Runner. Can you tell me a little bit about that?

Patricia Prince: Yes. Well, running has helped me so much in terms of my, cancer. It's helped me get healthy after my cancer. It keeps some of the side effects of my medications down. I've done a lot of research when I had cancer, and I was at home recovering from treatments. All I did was read about what I could do to help my doctors, and get me better. So I followed my, doctor's advice. But then there were other things that I could do to get better myself. Things like nutrition, meditation, and exercise. And I did a ton of reading.

I poured through medical journals, I poured through scientific research articles. I bought books about the subject. And I really got into recovering from cancer. So I wanted to share that knowledge. It's good nutrition and exercise. And mindfulness has really helped me. So I wanted to help other people with that. And I'm actually very into helping other people now. I'm actually going back. I, went back to school. I'm getting my health coaching certificate so that I can do more of this.

Jimmy Clare: That should be cool. as you probably know, talking to me on Facebook and everything, I'm still in school again for motivational, speaking. And, I have pretty much a plan B and C. If it doesn't work out, that's great, but it opens up more opportunities for me. I can definitely appreciate somebody coming back to school. I even said I wouldn't want to go to college after high school. That's when I took three years off. Anyway.

Patricia Prince: I think education is very important. That's why I, set out to educate myself about my cancer and about what I could do. I think it's great that you're in school and trying to educate yourself and make fitness and make this help people, through motivational speaking and through your website and our websites, are very similar in that you're trying to help people get fit and practice good nutrition.

So you do it from a little, bit of a different perspective than I do. You help autistic people, and I'm helping cancer, patients. So I think that's all wonderful. I think people need help and they need good information, and they like, to get it from and I think they need to get it from people who have been there, who've been in that situation.

Jimmy Clare: I definitely agree on that, because it's one, thing to have it all, to get information, by all doctors and health experts. but I feel like that it's also better to hear from somebody who goes through either cancer or having autism, because they're just providing the research and facts. I was like, well, I live with it every single day. And you live with cancer every single day. Is it still there or is it gone?

Patricia Prince: Yeah, my cancer is in remission. So, luckily, there's always that fear that it could come back at any time. And it happens. People get cancer again and again. That happens. So, there's always fear in the back of our minds. So that also keeps me motivated to keep eating right and exercising to do what I can to prevent it from coming back. But yeah, in terms of helping people, doctors and nurses, and people in the healthcare industry, unless they've actually experienced it themselves.

Patricia Prince: They don't really understand those fears. they read about it and they learn about it in school, but they don't truly understand it. So coming from the perspective of people who have been there, like you with autism, and me with cancer, it's different. It really helps to come from people who have been there.

Jimmy Clare: If you don't mind me asking, how long ago, did, you create your website and how long it been up and running?

Patricia Prince: It's been up and running since February of last year. So, in February 2019. And it's been steadily growing. I'm, approaching 100 articles on my website now through either I've written, them, or I've had guest posts. you are one of, those guest posts. And your article is great. It's a very inspiring article. so, yeah, and it's designed to encourage people, to develop a healthy lifestyle.

Jimmy Clare: I really do like the loco that you have. did you create it yourself?

Patricia Prince: I did, since I'm running back to health, and I used running to get back to health. The logo, there's an ECG tracing, and then, the runner is me, a, female runner dressed in pink. And she's running towards the ECG. So she's running back to health. And that's exactly what I did. I used running to get back into health.

Jimmy Clare: I think that's, like, it's a very noticeable logo and, you can't miss it.

Patricia Prince: Yeah. Thank you. I was hoping it was unique.

Jimmy Clare: I think some logos out there that.

Patricia Prince: Are just yeah, well, I wanted something simple and clean and something that was easily recognized. I run in pink. So the colors of my website are pink and purple. And those are the colors I usually run in because of breast cancer, I had breast cancer. And that's sort of the colors behind my website.

Jimmy Clare: At least you have colors on your website because my color is only black, white, and gold.

Patricia Prince: I like those colors. One thing I worried about with my color is being pink and purple. And I do attract a lot of women on my site. But my site is not just for women, it's for men, too. Men who have experienced cancer. so if they can get past the pink.

Patricia Prince: Certainly welcome to come to my website and poke around, but the colors are because I went through breast cancer. and pink sort of represents that.

Jimmy Clare: You know the saying, it takes a true man to wear pink?

Patricia Prince: That's true.

Jimmy Clare: I think I have only worn pink once in my life, and I haven't.

Patricia Prince: Yeah, it's definitely not a color that I don't know why. I don't know why. It's a color that men don't like. I guess it stems from when we're, babies mothers usually buy their baby girls pink stuff and their baby boys blue stuff. So I think it's sort of ingrained that pink is for girls and blue is for boys, but it should be for everybody.

Jimmy Clare: How many races have you ever, participated in?

Patricia Prince: oh, wow. A lot. Well, let's start with the marathons. I've run one marathon. I ran it last year. the marathon is 26.2 miles. And, that was tough. Before that, I had run 15 half marathons. And then I ran a number of lesser distances. So a lot of five KS, and a lot of ten KS, and some ten miles, distances.

Jimmy Clare: I still don't think I can do that.

Patricia Prince: No, it's not for everybody. But racing is so much fun. And I say racing because that's what they are. They're races. so you're supposed to go out and you're supposed to do your best. And some people, some of the elite runners, do run to win. But the majority of us, are probably about 80% to 90% of us. And I call myself a back-of-the-pack runner.

I'm pretty slow. We just run for fun. and racing provides a social opportunity for people. And so you get together with your friends and you run races, and you meet people, that like to run races. And you just try and do your best. And when you get across that finish line, it's the best feeling in the world. I got hooked crossing my very first five-k finish line. And,

it was amazing to me that I had just run 5. Couldn't believe it. And just the rush of adrenaline and just all the happy hormones and got running, and then I was hooked. I needed to do that again and again. So I've run a lot of races. They're fun.

Jimmy Clare: That sounds like me and karate, where it's all the adrenaline. and by the time when I get off the mat, I'm like, I'm drenched and everything and say, well, I just left all my feelings on the mat, physically, and mentally, but you just want more and more.

And once you punch one bag, you just want to punch more bags. And what's even nice is Kicks blasting class. You guys choose to spar with your partner, with all the pads on and everything. And obviously, you don't, like, punch each other, knock each other out, but practice on each other. It's legal.

Patricia Prince: So you know the feeling that once you get through that fight, that it feels good, that you've accomplished something.

Jimmy Clare: Eight rounds and 45 minutes. it definitely feels good. especially when they blast music, and hopefully as well.

Patricia Prince: Yeah, it gets you pumped up, and you meet people. Right. You meet people who enjoy karate, too, and you talk about karate.

Jimmy Clare: I met a lot of people through karate. Some of them are their own, bosses. My sense is inspiring.

Jimmy Clare: he's basically like a real-life Yoda from Star Wars.

Patricia Prince: Yeah, it's You know, that feeling, that connection you have with the other people, that just makes the whole, it makes it a whole sort of world in and, of itself. That's really enjoyable.

Jimmy Clare: Yeah, it really is. It's really enjoyable with everybody there. I missed them all because everything is now on, Zoom classes, at the moment with karate. And they say that they're opening up some time at the end of June. But I decided to stay in the Zoom classes, too, because I don't feel comfortable going, back yet.

Patricia Prince: Yeah, it takes time. We're sort of allowed to run in small groups now, and I haven't, because there's still that worry about covet still out there. So I prefer to kind of run on my own right now, so I understand that.

Jimmy Clare: What do you think is the most challenging part about running?

Patricia Prince: Actually running? Yeah. it's hard. And with running, you don't need to run fast all the time, but when you're starting out running, it's just hard all the time. And getting past that feeling of not being able to breathe, get enough oxygen in, and just the tired, sore legs, it can be really tough.

I know I'm making it sound great, so the actual running part is probably the hardest part, but the feeling afterward is so worth it. It's so much that you feel you get your adrenaline going and your happy hormones flowing, and you just feel and you feel like you've accomplished something. so the running part is the hardest part.

Jimmy Clare: Do you run the same trail every single time or do you do different trails?

Patricia Prince: Well, since Covet has been here and we've been restricted, on where we can go and who we can go with, I've been sort of running my neighborhood over and over again. I'm getting kind of sick of it. I want to go out and find other places. My favorite thing to do is run when I, travel. So to find new areas to explore, that's my favorite thing. and I've actually written a few blog articles on some of the places I've discovered with running and traveling. It's really a great way to.

Jimmy Clare: See.

Patricia Prince: A place,

Jimmy Clare: Are, you there that you feel like you don't want to run?

Patricia Prince: Oh, yeah. There are days when I really dread it, and I leave it until about 10:00 at night because I really don't want to go for a run. But then when I get out there, because of, my streak, I don't want my streak to end. I'm so glad I did. I feel so much better. once the runs over, I feel energized and healthy and happier when I get out there.

Jimmy Clare: Well, I don't know if any of my friends from karate ever listen to this podcast, but if they do I'm sorry to admit this, but on Monday, I didn't really, feel like going But I still went anyway.

Patricia Prince: That's good.

Patricia Prince: Yeah, sometimes you just have to push yourself. But then once you do it, then you feel much better.

Jimmy Clare: actually, I don't know. I should know. It wasn't Monday. It was Wednesday. The day is burned in.

Patricia Prince: Oh, yeah. But you did it, right? You went out there and you did your karate. How did you feel afterward?

Jimmy Clare: it felt great. I felt like I could conquer the world. not that I would, but I felt like I could do anything that's up my mind, too. It also made for a better actually, no, it wasn't Wednesday. It was Monday.

Jimmy Clare: I don't know. I lost track. But anyway, it felt good. And, maybe for a better Thursday.

Jimmy Clare: I'm, still going with momentum today, which is awesome. I always need extra momentum. It's kind of like coffee for some people. But I don't drink coffee, so I wouldn't know that.

Patricia Prince: Yeah, coffee is my bad habit, one of my bad habits. I drank a lot of coffee. But you're right, exercise is, a great way to start your day. And it's a great way to finish your day. It just leaves you feeling so much better. But, yeah, it can be really hard to start. It can be really hard to get out there. So I will say putting on my so maybe actually I can change my answer to your last question. Putting on your running shoes is probably the hardest part.

Jimmy Clare: I would have to say that's, kind of like with karate, if you're not in your karate uniform ahead of time, you kind of feel like, well, I was like, can I skip? Or is that possible? But then I remind myself, that the whole coronavirus is going on. what excuse do I have? And it's like, I'm in my own house, I have Internet, and the only two excuses that I could see possibly fit that I can't make it, is either my Internet is out or I'm sick and I have to stay in bed. but I don't have any other excuses.

Patricia Prince: Exactly right.

Jimmy Clare: Especially now that it's on Zoom, and it's like, I don't have any excuse to not go or to not show up.

Patricia Prince: Yeah, when you, work out in your own home, you're really obligated. But it can be really hard to motivate yourself to actually work out when you're at home.

Jimmy Clare: How I got myself motivated, is that I see it as like, okay, let me use karate as an example since I'm on a role. Anyway.

Jimmy Clare: For me to keep myself motivated I know that it's 45, minutes all to myself. No one can interrupt me, no one can enter. Well, except for my son's Day and my Joshua, who can interrupt me if I'm doing something wrong to help me correct myself. But no one in my family can come down and interrupt me, either during karate or even, just when I'm working on beach buying, demand. It's 45 minutes or 30 minutes or 23 minutes to myself knowing it's. Meantime.

Patricia Prince: Yeah, that's another thing that I love about running. I can just go out and do my run, and I can just leave the world behind. I can either listen to the sounds of nature when I'm running on a trail, or I can put my earbuds in and just run to the music. It's really great.

Jimmy Clare: Do you use any running apps?

Patricia Prince: There's that run, zombie run. that I haven't tried yet.

Jimmy Clare: That sounds more like a game.

Patricia Prince: it is a game. It's a game with running. So you get chased by zombies and you have to outrun them, and it's when you're actually running in real-time when you're running. No, I haven't really used an app, but that one sounds like fun.

Jimmy Clare: What were you saying again before this whole thing happened?

Patricia Prince: we were talking about apps and running. And I was talking about the zombie run app.

Jimmy Clare: Oh, yeah. I was going, to say.

Jimmy Clare: Is.

Jimmy Clare: Are there any other places that you are there any other apps that you use to, track your running and everything?

Patricia Prince: I have a Garmin watch. That is a Garmin  I use that to track my runs. so I use Garmin connect. I have used MapMyRun in the past, but I found it wasn't that accurate. and then a lot of runners, use German. so I got my first German watch. I got a German Forerunner 15, I think was my first watch. And then my next watch was the Vivo Active. And I think after my Vivo Active conks out, I think Forerunner 35 will be my next watch. My husband has that one, and I really like it.

Jimmy Clare: I can't pronounce, this brand name, but, I think it's called the Xioami What I liked about it is that it just, kind of tracks all my steps, tracks running and weightlifting. I believe it can track weightlifting. but it can track pretty much a lot of exercises. It can track pretty much, a lot, of things. And, plus, it was the only thing, after my last time, and I had just kept on dying and dying and dying. I was like, I'm done with this thing. And so I got this. And it was more affordable than the other one. The Garmin one was, like, $100. And it's like, this is $100. I was like, I could go something more with, like, $30.

Patricia Prince: Yeah, Garmin is expensive. Yeah, I was reading about that on your website, and I forgot about that one. I was going to look into that. My Vivo Active has to conquer first before I buy my new watch, though. I can't afford a new one right now. But yes, I was reading about that on your site, and it looked pretty good.

Jimmy Clare: Check it out. If you are ever interested, if you have any questions, I can definitely point you in the right direction. I like it so far. Great. Some people don't like the company, but I don't have any problems. I was just looking for something that I didn't, want to spend another $100 on something. And I was like, I'll spend another few hundred on a new phone if I have to replace my phone. But I really don't want to spend any more money on an expensive fitness tracker.

Patricia Prince: No, I'll definitely check it out. Sounds like a good watch.

Jimmy Clare: Where can people find you?

Patricia Prince: On Pinkrivenrunner.com. So that's my website. you can find me there. I have an email. I'm also on Facebook. at Pink, Ribbon Runner, Instagram. and Twitter. I'm on Twitter as well.

Jimmy Clare: how would you recommend people, to start off running.

Patricia Prince: Joining. An exercise. the class was probably the run class is probably the way that I would recommend it. Just to put on a pair of shoes and, go out the door is one way a lot of people do it. But when you join, a run class with people who know about running, you can do it properly. There are so many things that can go wrong with joint injuries. And you need proper running shoes. So you, need to know what to buy for running shoes.

You need to know what clothes to wear because there are things, like chasing and blisters. One thing with a run class, too, is you have other participants going through the same thing that you're going through and struggling just like you're struggling. I don't think I'd be running if I didn't make a run class and have those people we all encouraged each other to continue on, despite how hard it was. So social running is really important to get going.

Jimmy Clare: That'S really good advice.

Jimmy Clare: You make some running sound very easy.

Patricia Prince: Well, it sort, of is, because some people think we were born to run and that were designed to be runners. And that's true. We were designed to be runners. And it's just our lifestyle that has made us more, sedentary and taken away the ability to run most people. It's a natural thing for us to do. but it is hard to get started. So having encouragement from other people and taking a run class and learning how to do it properly without getting injured is really important.

Jimmy Clare: It sounds like it works.

Patricia Prince: Yeah. And then soon I'll have my own little running program started on my website. I'm in the works on Building a Couch to Five Kids program, for cancer survivors. And it's going to be a really gentle program. I taught running to cancer survivors with other programs, and I found that they were hard for cancer survivors whose body has been weakened by chemo and treatments.

So I've actually developed a program that, is really gentle and, it will help get runners to help get cancer survivors running. Take them from walking to running. So that's coming. That's in the works. I hope to get that up on my website soon.

Jimmy Clare: You should send it over to me so I can check it out when it's done.