When Brenda Simeoni first began what would become a distance runner’s regular training regime, four doctors had given her less than two years to live.
It was 2006 and Simeoni was 56 and hadn’t left her Saanich home for more than eight years. She was severely asthmatic, coughed constantly and was dangerously over-weight.
A friend, also a big woman, was about to try a fitness program with a personal trainer. But the friend told Simeoni she shouldn’t even bother trying.
“This friend of mine, and she was heavier than I was, said ‘You will not be able to do it because you are too ill,’ ” said Simeoni in an interview last week.
“But I kept on thinking ‘If it’s really a “personal” trainer, then I should be able to go,’ ” she said. “A week later I did.”
In Simeoni’s first session, she stood on a treadmill and it took her more than 17 minutes to pace off the equivalent of 400 metres, less than two city blocks. She was just coughing so badly. But she continued going back and progressed.
Since then, Simeoni has lost about 100 pounds and runs nearly every day. Now 65, she has completed two full marathons and finished both with respectable times, for her age, under five hours. She runs in most of the local Victoria races including Sunday’s TC10K half marathon which she completed in 2 hours, 25 minutes.
“That was the hardest half-marathon I’ve ever run,” she said.
What makes Simeoni’s times and commitment to fitness remarkable is not just the weight loss or beating back the asthma. It’s that she has also kept it up in the face of ongoing health issues and accidents.
She has undergone 10 major abdominal surgeries, some before 2006 and some after, mostly to deal with recurring bowel problems, but also hernias and other issues.
There was also a car accident in 2013 which left Simeoni with injuries that continue to nag.
She returned from a March holiday in Mexico only to come down with bronchitis within 24 hours of arriving at home.
That infection put her back on antibiotics and the steroid drugs used to treat her asthma. It was those same drugs whose side effects contributed to her unhealthy weight gain all those years ago.
There was even been two bad falls since January and an ugly accident with a gate which badly injured Simeoni’s heels.
“If I was smarter I would probably not be running the race on Sunday,” she said. “But I feel like I have to at least try.”
“I will complete it but I will just not complete it in stellar time,” said Simeoni.
“But you have to come to terms with things like that if you have been on a journey like I have,” she said. “A 100 pounds is a lot to lose then keep it off and finish two full marathons is pretty good.”
She recalls earlier on when her trainer made clear all he asked was she try to do, a little more, than she had done the previous day. It’s a pattern she has always continued.
“The poor man [the trainer] has had to pull me up so many times from surgeries, from falls from the car accident,” said Simeoni.
“He would be so upset if I went backwards instead of forwards,” she said.
Simeoni recalls years ago when she first told her trainer she wanted to run in a race. She had been a runner and swimmer up until her 20s but work, three kids then severe asthma forced her to retire and retreat.
She told her trainer she wanted to run a half marathon in the Royal Victoria Marathon in October, 2007.
“He kind of looked at me and said ‘OK,’ ” said Simeoni. “I think he was thinking ‘Maybe she thinks she actually can do it so I’m not going to be the one to discourage her.’ ”
But in August, 2007, she was diagnosed with a bowel problem that required surgery. Still, she remained committed to the race. Then, just two weeks before the race she was back in hospital with another bowel problem. Still, she remained committed to running.
“My surgeon finally said I could run although I think he believed I never would,” said Simeoni. “But I did.”
“So my first race I did just weeks after two major surgeries and ran my first race in two hours, 22 minutes, which is pretty good,” she said.
Simeoni has also never stopped. Running with asthma is hard, but it also helps the condition under control. She also now runs with her grown daughter.
Perhaps unfortunately for Simeoni, the extra weight was not the only thing she has ever lost.
She no longer shares good connections with some friends, in particular those who struggle with being overweight. That even includes that friend who first mentioned a personal trainer back in 2006.
“Somehow it’s OK to go out when you are overweight and eat salad with overweight friends,” said Simeoni.
“But it’s not OK to go out with those overweight friends after you have lost all the weight and you are still eating salad.”
