Welcome to my Blog!

Welcome to my Blog!

My name is Shmarya Richler. I live in Montreal. 

In March 2016 my doctor prescribed medication for my elevated blood pressure. I was 59. At the time I was also suffering from a hiatus hernia and gout. The hernia was causing severe acid reflux. The doctor also told me that my sugar numbers were creeping up. I decided that I really did not want to take pills because I felt that once I start one pill begets another. At the time I was doing some power walking but was very inconsistent. I was not watching what I eat so my weight was high. I read that running revs the metabolism better than walking. So, I started doing some running and changed my eating habits. When I started I couldn't run 200 yards without stopping. So, I started slowly by running a little and then walking. Slowly but surely, I built up endurance to the point where I could run 5K without stopping. From there I kept building mileage and in June 2018 I ran my first full marathon. I’ve done a lot of running since that day in March 2016. I've done almost 150 runs of 13.1 and higher and have run more than 10,000 miles since I started my journey. Along the way I shed 75 pounds, got my blood pressure under control, stopped the gout, and the acid reflux completely disappeared. I’m 67 now (68 in September) but I feel like I am 40.  And the pills. I threw them in the garbage at the finish line of the NYC Marathon on November 7 2021.

I've started this blog to motivate you to adopt a health lifestyle through better eating habits and exercise. I'll be posting articles that I've had published, relate some of my running stories, and try to show you how you can do what I did.

One thing I will not do is give you advice. I'm not a doctor or nutritionist so I am not qualified to do that. What I will do is tell you what I did and hopefully from that you will realize that you can do it too!

Please feel free to comment or send me an e-mail at health@richler.org

Shmarya Richler