By Doug Brunk, San Diego Bureau
Until recently regular exercise was an afterthought for Dr. Rita Sanders.
A mother of six children who finished her ob.gyn. residency in 1996 at the age of 46, she figured she had enough demands on her time.
“I was raised in an era when women didn't exercise,” said Dr. Sanders, who was raised in New Jersey and now has her own ob.gyn. practice in Broken Arrow, Okla. “We got in trouble if we played tag on the playground.”
When she and her family moved to Tulsa for her residency in 1992, she began running “just for fun.” But a few years ago, she joined a running group and became more committed than ever to staying fit. These days she runs 20–25 miles a week and weight-trains at least twice a week. In June, she and her husband traveled to Anchorage, Alaska, where she competed in her fourth half-marathon on the heels of celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary.
“I seldom have a day go by that I don't get at least an hour's worth of exercise in,” she said.
She attributes her success to motivation and support that she finds from the other 20 or so members of her running group. “We push each other along,” she said.
Running brings peace of mind to her busy life. She describes it as “a time when I can totally get away from everything else I'm doing. I'm with people who don't care what I do. They don't ask me questions about gynecology. Everybody comes from all different walks of life.”
Running also helps her cope with the increasingly competitive nature of ob.gyn. practice. “There is so much emphasis on volume, and of course insurance companies have paid us so much less,” she said. “But I realize that it's not all about money. I want to be healthy for my children and my grandchildren.”
Dr. Sanders opened her solo practice 5 years ago, which gives her flexibility in scheduling patients. On Mondays and Tuesdays, she starts seeing patients at 10 a.m., “so I can get runs in the morning if I need to.” The evening jogs with members of her running group start at 6 p.m. “So, on some days, I finish my office work at 5:30 p.m. and then go run,” she said. “I always have my running clothes in the car.”
Dr. Sanders runs with her pager and her cell phone. She has no covering partners, but she does have someone to help in emergencies and when she's away on vacation. “If I anticipate that I'm going to have a delivery that day, I'll try to get my run in during lunch, but I would never do a long run if I had somebody in labor,” she said. “If I have someone in labor, I will often run near the hospital so I can be close by.”
“You don't have to run 20 miles a week,” Dr. Sanders said. “You can walk. It's still getting out there and exercising every day.”
'I Can Run Anywhere'
Another ob.gyn., Dr. Angela Meikle, began running more than 20 miles each week during her sophomore year at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. At the beginning of each semester, she would pore over her class schedule and other commitments and schedule time for exercise.
“That was always the first thing that came into my mind when I had my schedule: 'What time can I run?'” recalled Dr. Meikle, who practices in Brooklyn, N.Y. “When I started working, I did the same thing.”
Running “is just something that I like to do,” said Dr. Meikle, who is a mother of four children, aged 11–18. “Since I've been doing it so long, I know when I don't run because I feel sluggish. I get cranky. It's like I need my high, so I need to run.”
Residency posed a challenge to staying on track, especially the 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift. During that period of time, she would leave her post, go straight to the gym to work out, go home to cook, sleep 5 hours, wake up to go over homework, and then leave for work.
These days when she puts on her running shoes and hits the pavement, it marks the only “alone time” Dr. Meikle has in a given day. “This is the only time it's just me, because it's either the patients or the kids or something else that needs to be done,” she said.