After completing her first marathon in January, Dr. Meredith Mitchell swore she would never lace up for another one. But by the next morning, she was already strategizing how to step up training for her next 26.2-mile road race.
Despite several years of daily discipline, running has never come easy for Mitchell, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Novant Health Riverside Women’s Care in Beaufort.
“You would not look at me and think that I could run a marathon,” she said. “People think of runners as fast and thin. I am not that person.”
Dr. Meredith Mitchell
But she is persistent and patient, and much more so since she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) two years ago. The chronic autoimmune disease affects about 1 million people in the U.S., and affects each one differently. For Mitchell, MS has slowed – but not deterred – her running pace.
“I’m well-controlled, so I feel pretty good most of the time,” she said. “But when it takes you eight hours to finish a marathon, it’s hard. It did not feel great, but I did it.”
Fresh off her completion of the Daufuskie Island marathon in January, Mitchell offers pointers on how to get a jump on running and how to stick with it.
Dr. Mitchell poses with Christine Troutman, Halle Welch NP, Lynn Norton MD, and Joanna McGrath, NP at the Rose Hill Mansion after a 5K race
What’s your first piece of advice for someone who’s on the fence about taking up running, even if not for a marathon?
Do what feels good for your body, and then increase your distance slowly. Running has been a journey of several years for me. Don’t take on too much to start with, because it will hurt and you will hate it. And don’t worry about the time it takes or what your pace is. Don’t compare yourself to anyone else.
What’s the best way to get started without overdoing it?
It definitely takes time. Running puts me in a sort of meditative state. One of the nice things about living in South Carolina is that I can run outside almost every day of the year, depending on how much discomfort I’m willing to tolerate.
Find what you love. Maybe try dance or group fitness. Don’t put yourself in a box and say, “I have to be a runner to be healthy.” It’s not going to work if you don’t love it. There is no one perfect exercise. Any exercise has huge benefits in all aspects of life – cardiovascular health, osteoporosis prevention, dementia prevention, musculoskeletal strengthening, and mental health. I know my patients get sick of me talking about this at their visits!
Dr. Mitchell at a Spartan race
Which benefits of running stand out most to you?
If you look at my body weight compared to what it was four or five years ago when I started running, it’s not that much different. But my body composition is a lot different because I’m a lot stronger than I used to be.
Paying a lot of attention to strength training and mobility is really important. People often think that running is terrible for your joints. But my knees feel 10 times better now than they did four or five years ago, because I’ve strengthened the muscles around them. Your tendons and ligaments adapt to that stress, especially when you do it consistently, and that helps prevent injury. I think a lot of people get injured when they either try to go too far too fast, or they’re not running consistently.
For me, the mental health benefits of running are the most important. Being outside, moving your body, and setting and attaining goals are great ways to relieve stress and elevate mood. My medical assistant says that she can always tell when I haven’t run in a few days!
Dr. Meredith Mitchell holds her medal at the finish line of the Daufuskie Island Marathon in January
What made you decide to train for a marathon?
I’m a busy working mom without a lot of time for exercise, but I knew I needed to make a priority for my physical and mental health. So, I worked out with a trainer a couple of times a week. Also, my cousin had started a group in Beaufort called FiA (Females in Action), where women get together in the park three times a week and work out. At first, I couldn’t run around the park once without stopping.
I later downloaded the Couch to 5K app, which is a great place to start. There are walk-run intervals for you to take at your own pace. I ran my first 5K on February 29, 2020, and that was my last group activity before the world shut down (during the COVID-19 pandemic). I just kept running. Later on, I did a 10K, and thought, “Maybe I could do a half-marathon, and see how that goes.” So I did, and I worked up from there.
How does the “strength in numbers” approach keep you motivated?
It makes a huge difference. Our FiA group meets at 5:30 a.m., which is so early, but it’s nice to get your workout done first thing in the morning. Our group is very inclusive of all abilities. You can just modify any activity for what works for your body. We often sign up for races together. We don’t finish at the same time, but just having somebody else there, knowing that we’re doing the same thing, is hugely motivating.
How likely are you to run another marathon?
I was never very fast, but now I’m 47. I work the equivalent of two full-time jobs, I have kids and a family. I’m a very slow runner for multiple reasons: I am not a thin person and I also have multiple sclerosis. So that slowed me down.
I did a longer race last October, 42 miles on a 1.65-mile dirt loop. The goal is to run around it as many times as you can in 24 hours. I made it about 17 hours before I was like, “I can’t do this anymore.” But I felt way less bad than I did after this marathon.
At 26.1 miles – literally 0.1 miles from the end – all of a sudden, I thought I was going to pass out. I felt really dizzy and lightheaded. My husband, my best friend, and my kids were all able to come to me. I had to sit down on the ground for a couple of minutes. They helped me get up and I was able to run across the finish line.
I had my best friend take a video of me lying on the couch after I finished. I was saying, “I’m never doing this again.” But I woke up the next morning thinking, “Well, maybe next time I’ll do this or that differently.” Working on a different fueling strategy for my next long run would be helpful, because I probably needed to eat more than I did.
a celebratory selfie at the end of a 24-hour Ultramarathon
How should we evaluate our progress and performance?
For me, part of it is being in medicine and constantly striving to be a little bit better. Could I work a little harder? Could I tweak things and have a better outcome? You’re always thinking about that as a physician.
If I do a surgery, even if it goes well, I look back at it and consider what went well and what I could change in the future. Same goes for running.
What’s the most important life lesson you took from running your first marathon?
You are running your race. It is your race, your training, and your experience. One of the things I had to do in this race was think about where I was in the exact moment. I couldn’t think about what everyone else was doing or how far ahead they were. I couldn’t think about how far I had already gone or how much I had left, because it felt too overwhelming. That’s a good thing to think about for life in general, focusing on where you are right now instead of getting too caught up in the past or the future.
