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Walter Bishop Runs Again

Walter Bishop has always been a runner. “Thirty years ago I used to run a lot – half-marathons, all kinds of things,” he said. But as he’s gotten older, it’s gotten harder. When he started training solo for a 5K in 2021, he ended up injuring his hamstring. His do-it-yourself rehab attempts were unsuccessful, so he contacted JCC staff (he and his wife were already members, having joined for the Eskenazi Water Park when it opened in the early 2000s) and began personal training with the JCC’s Lindsey Jay.

Stick To It

With Lindsey’s help, Walter was able to repair his hamstring (or at least get it to not hurt as badly), enough so he could complete the 5K on Thanksgiving 2022. While he’s reached his initial goal, he’s hoping to refine his run for the next time (though he beat his target time, he admits he started too fast this go-around, which meant he burned out early and had to walk more than he wanted) and already has his sights set on a 10K.

“Lindsey’s a very good motivator,” Walter said. “In order to work with her on Mondays, I have to do things on my own during the week. It’s accountability, and it’s desire to get better. With fitness, the best advice is to stick to it, which is the hardest thing to do.”

More Than Running

Those “things on his own” Walter does are often replicas of his and Lindsey’s training sessions. “[At each session] she has a sheet of everything we’re going to do, and at the end she hands it to me, so on occasion I pull one out and follow along,” he said. “I realize I have to incorporate more than just running into my exercise regime, and [Lindsey] has helped with that. I always use the treadmill, and because of my experience with [Lindsey], I’m now more familiar with some of the other equipment.”

Visit the JCC’s Personal Training webpage to learn more about the program and schedule your session.

Hanna Fogel