Those who run marathons do it for their health – you’ve got to have health to be able to survive a 26.2-mile trek on foot.
Carolyn Tremblay, a licensed physical therapist and center manager at Brooks Rehabilitation’s Osceola Crossings Outpatient Clinic in Kissimmee, has now run 10 of them.
Just a few weeks ago, she ran No. 9 and 10 – over back-to-back weekends.
Tremblay took on the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 30. A week later, she ran the five boroughs of the Big Apple in the Nov. 6 New York Marathon.
She ran to complete rather than compete – her personal best time is right around six hours.
Her ups and downs of training, and a role reversal where the physical therapist has had to depend on others to treat and care for her, are balanced by what has been motivating her: training and fundraising in honor of a young boy named Asher with two rare genetic brain disorders.
Asher’s parents were told that it would be unlikely for him to walk or speak. But thanks to early physical therapy and occupational therapy, as early as at the age of six weeks, he is walking, playing and chasing his siblings!
This hasn’t always been Tremblay’s path. She came to Central Florida in 1996 as a sommelier and member of the hospitality industry, to work at Walt Disney World.
An injury on a horse that required therapy prompted a career path change toward being a licensed physical therapist.
“I’ve always wanted to care for others and be of service to my community, it just happened to be a happy coincidence that I could also use my passion for running to do some good in the community,” Tremblay said in an August blog post. “As a physical therapist, I can help my patients move better, feel better and live better. As a runner, I contribute to those that I might never meet by running to raise money for charities that provide patient assistance and fund research to make lives better. “
Her athletic career consisted of Olympicdistance triathlons, which feature a 6.2-mile run at the longest, until a triathlon teammate convinced her to try a marathon, in 2007. By 2018, now in physical therapy, nagging leg injuries caught up with her – a tibia stress fracture, a broken foot, multiple DVTs (deep vein thrombosis).
It was a speed bump in her fundraising efforts, and forced others to care for her as she’d been doing for patients.
It also provided a message for those who suspect injury to seek out therapy, even without consulting a general doctor first, thanks to Direct Access, a Florida law.
It allows for people to see a physical therapist for up to 30 days without first getting a referral from your physician. This allows their start physical therapy sooner, which can speed up recovery and decrease spending on healthcare costs.
“Therapy is for everybody, not just athletes,” Tremblay said.
Her next marathon is May in Cincinnati.
