COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—An 88-year-old woman who walks laps around a nursing home in memory of her deceased husband has hit a major milestone: 10,000 miles.
Martha Michel walks laps daily around the lake at Namaste Alzheimer Center. She started walking the lake with her husband, Lester, who was a patient at the center. After Lester Michel’s death in 1998, Martha Michel kept up the walking in his memory.
“We walked around here many times together,” Martha Michel told The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. She said the lake became a touchstone for the couple as her husband’s health deteriorated. The last time Lester Michael talked to her was on one of their lake walks.
“His arms just hung down, and his face was just expressionless. We stopped over on the other side and he said to me, ‘I want to hold you.’ And I picked up his arms and put them around me,” she said.
The two were married 56 years and enjoyed hiking Colorado peaks until Lester Michel got too sick. He had climbed all 54 of Colorado’s “Fourteeners”—mountains higher than 14,000 feet.
Martha Michel keeps meticulous records of her walks around the lake using a wrist timer, and on Saturday, she hit 10,000 miles. That’s about the same as walking across the United States three times.
“Whether it’s raining, snowing, sunshine in 100 degree heat, Martha is out with her red umbrella and jacket, doing her 15 laps a day,” Namaste administrator Janice Fisher said.
Martha Michel said the memory laps keep her healthy. She has no plans to stop doing lake laps.
“Tell your children to stay active and don’t become couch potatoes,” she told the newspaper.
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Information from: The Gazette,
