Senior in training

Charlotte Conrad of Sturgeon stretches after her Sunday morning walk. Mrs Conrad is training for the half marathon in Ottawa on May 30.

Charlotte Conrad of Sturgeon starts out on her daily walk on a sunny Sunday in April. Mrs Conrad is training for the half marathon in Ottawa on May 30.
Senior in training





By Charlotte MacAulay

She can be seen walking the roads around Sturgeon, but she’s not just taking a leisurely stroll, she’s in training.
On May 30, Charlotte Conrad will join her two daughters and thousands of other people in Ottawa to participate in the 35 annual Ottawa Marathon, which is a fund raising event for the Ottawa region hospitals.
Mrs Conrad, a retired teacher and her husband Sterling who is retired from the Air Force lived in Ottawa before they retired in 1996 to Mr Conrad’s old stomping grounds on the Old Wharf Road.
The Conrad’s still have family in the Ottawa region and when they go visit Mrs Conrad and her daughters often take walks together.
It was on one of these walks that they decided to participate in the marathon.
Mrs Conrad will be participating in the half-marathon leg of the event, a total of 21 km.
Most days Mrs Conrad goes for a walk, but since February she has been on a strict training schedule that rotates from day to day.
One day she will do a 14 km walk from her home on the Old Wharf Road to Ferrez Farms and back. The next day she will do a shorter more intense walk and the third training element is hill training. Mrs Conrad usually goes to Cambridge to do this. She has to go up and down the hill seven times at a fast pace.
“It’s good to follow a schedule.
“I think I will be in good shape for the Marathon this year.
“Last year when I finished the race I could have kept going I wasn’t tired at all,” Mrs Conrad said.
This is the second year Mrs Conrad has been in the marathon, but she has always been competitive and physically active from a young age.
“I can remember when I was in elementary school we use to practice for the track and field meet by the wood pile.”
The saw dust was a good soft place to land when practicing for the ‘hop, skip and jump’ and the long-jump she said.
She has a shoe box full of ribbons from winning meets in school. In high school she was an avid softball player and she broke the javelin record one year.
During her teaching years Mrs Conrad always stayed active and encouraged her children to do the same.
She participated in numerous 5km runs over the years.
Mrs Conrad’s zest for a healthy lifestyle goes beyond her own physical well being.
Since moving to PEI she has become active in several community groups.
“When I first came I thought it would be a good way to meet people.
“You could sit home and knit all day, but you can’t meet anyone that way,” Mrs Conrad said.
Every week Mrs Conrad holds an exercise class for the residents at MacKinnon Pines community care.
“It gets them out of their rooms and moving around.
“Everyone should be doing whatever they are able to do,” Mrs Conrad said.
Mrs Conrad took part in an Island annual event in the past.
She is a breast cancer survivor and was a member of the sunflowers relay team and in the past has participated in numerous relays.
These days she is an active member of the 50 plus club where she teaches crafts and helps with the line-dancing class.
Gardening is another favourite pass time of Mrs. Conrad. It’s good for the body and the mind she said.
Mrs Conrad’s words to live by “Always stay active, you can’t spend your life moping around.”