Wellness Champion!
Mel Kalkowski, the Director of Military Programs at UAA is running his way to better health. Here's his story in his own words...

I’ve always been active, but it took a rising Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) and two biopsies (both negative) to get me rethinking my lifestyle. That was five years ago. I realized that I’d gained almost 20 pounds from my weight at age 20 and that I’d become progressively less active. I’d been a dog musher for years, but when my family and I sold the kennel in the mid 1990s, I didn’t replace that exercise.

In truth, I was never that heavy. I topped out at 185 on a six foot frame, but it was obvious to me that I needed to become more fit. I did not join a health club, hire a trainer, or buy a book. I went out the door and started running and walking. At first I just did a mile, then went farther and farther. I started looking into lower fat diets and nutrition. Then my daughter suggested the book The Courage to Start by John Bingham. I read it.

My daughter joined the Air Force and started running in local races in Florida during tech school. I thought I could do that too. So I signed up for the Heart Run. Pretty soon, I was running the Mayor’s Midnight Sun Marathon 5 miler and other short races. In a year I moved up to a half-marathon. I’m not fast. Like Bingham, I am a “Penguin.” I’m not even fast in my old guys age group. But I can finish a race and haven’t been last (yet).

Through out this time I dropped 20 pounds by diet and exercise, and I discovered I liked the discipline of training. I joined the Alaska Club, which offers UAA sign-up "perks" and a refuge during the long winters. I started to meet other people who were also interested in staying healthy. I made new friends. I found I had a new interest in work and life. I no longer just looked forward to retirement but put in for a new job (and got it after 30 years in the same division.)

Shortly after that change, my daughter, Melody, came home from a two-year overseas tour and was assigned to Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho. Less than two weeks after coming back to the states, a young driver made an improper turn on the 65 mile an hour highway leading to the base and hit her head-on. During a long stay in Idaho while she was hospitalized, running kept me going. I’d go to the parks or foothills and run to take breaks from the hospital.

Melody is now home, a disabled veteran still dealing with some of her injuries, but she is back to running. This spring we traveled to Rome, Italy and ran the Rome Marathon together. Well, we started together. She finished an hour ahead of me. In the meantime, UA and UAA have become much more interested in wellness. This means there are more and more folks to talk to and run with. Running and fitness are fun and good for you. Not everyone wants to run a marathon, or even a race, but everyone can find some exercise they enjoy. In the end, we must all be our own wellness champions and in the words of author John Bingham, we must have the “courage to start.”

If you, or someone you know, have realized the need for a healthy lifestyle and have taken steps to make it happen, we'd like to tell your story. Tell us your Wellness Champion story.