The Occasional Exerciser | Olivia Watkins

I hate running. When I was a child, my mother frequently said that the only reasons to run were if a man with a gun or a large dog were chasing her. I took that advice to heart and even when I trained for Army officer training tests in college ROTC, I hated hitting the pavement. I’ll take weight training, walking or a fitness class any day.

I’ve not been taking care of myself lately. Work is stressful and consuming. We are still short on team members after months of trying to hire people and I always feel like I’m behind on projects. When I get home from work at the end of the day the last thing that I want to do is, well, anything at all. 

Though I am a certified yoga teacher, I haven’t been going to class or teaching it. I’m not walking or biking. In essence, I’m a work/couch potato. With the start of this blog, that is all about to change (I hope).

The Louisiana Marathon recently approached DHH Secretary Kathy Kliebert and our team about collaborating with the Marathon on ways to promote running and physical fitness. Given that we are trying to help Louisiana worksites, schools, colleges, hospitals and other organizations make small, sustainable changes to promote wellness, a partnership to promote getting up off the couch makes perfect sense.

This fall, DHH will be working with community partners and the Louisiana Marathon to help educate our employees on how to start a healthy practice like running. We’ll be providing training in our building during lunch and we’ll have a kick-off run to celebrate the change.

We’re also challenging our employees to hit the pavement as part of a DHH team for the Louisiana Marathon. Working together, we’ll have four groups training for the January races, a 5k team, a quarter marathon, a half marathon and the full marathon.

Despite my disdain for running, I’ll be aiming for the quarter marathon — that’s a little more than a 10k. As I train, I’ll be posting here about my experience. This isn’t going to be easy, but I’m excited to challenge myself and I’m hoping you’ll be willing to join me.

Olivia Watkins
DHH Director of Communications

Olivia is a lady constantly on the go, making time for her first Louisiana Marathon Quarter Marathon race. Follow Olivia on twitter @Sweet_Olive