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I am strong because I have children, not despite the fact
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Arianne Brown accepts her third place award with other top finishers at the 2016 Utah Valley Half Marathon as she holds her 6 month old son. - photo by Arianne Brown
Each time I sprint to a personal best time, max on a particular weight lift or rep, or fit into the pair of jeans that has been evading me for months, I have a sassy little voice in me that says, I have seven kids, hear me roar!

Over my childbearing years, I have often felt proud because I have been able to race personal best times and be in the best shape of my life many times over, despite the turmoil my body has been through.

I have even toyed with the idea of having a shirt made that has the number of children I have printed on it for all to see. I have imagined zipping past people on the racecourse with them looking up to see the words Mom of 7 on the back of my shirt, leaving them in utter amazement as they eat my dust.

OK, maybe it hasnt been quite that extreme, but needless to say, I have been quite prideful about my physical abilities despite my title as mom.

Recently, I had a humbling experience that changed all of that.

I was nearing the end of a race where I was close to reaching a personal best time. I began to have those prideful feelings, when out of nowhere I hit a rough patch. My body began to hurt, and I began to shut down mentally.

During my struggle, I started to forget about all that I had overcome to get me this far, and those prideful feelings were replaed by thoughts of my children.

I thought of my daughter who was behind me on the racecourse, waiting for me to finish so I could go back around and get her. I thought about my other kids, who were waiting at the finish line, and of my husband, who was no doubt juggling the two youngest kids alone.

My mind flashed to the countless hours I have spent chasing after and lifting kids and other child-related heavy objects, often taking the place of my daily exercise regimen.

Finally, I thought of the reason I do all of this crazy running: to be the best version of me I can be for my children.

Sure, I have a lot of kids, and my body is able to do some pretty amazing things. But my ability to reach highs I never thought possible has never been despite having children; it has always been because I have children.
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From the book 'Outliers' comes proof that good health is more than just genetics
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Friends Jim Young, left, Mike Natale, Jeff Natale and Ryan Kiernan were on Greenwich High School football team together and Jim and Mike were captains. Jim, who was the youngest in Sherry Young's family, was welcome in the homes of the other three boys who still had siblings around and grandparents near. - photo by Sherry Young
As I look back on my life and the lives of others, both personally and in the reading I have done, I am convinced of the necessity of positive human contact in our lives. We are doubly blessed when we are able to make good friends or are a part of a family where we are accepted and loved.

Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers tells of a time in the 1950s when Dr. Stewart Wolf met a physician who practiced in the area of Roseto, Pennsylvania. Roseto was settled by a group of Italian families from Roseto, Italy, who re-created their life again in America.

This was in the 1950s before drugs and measures to prevent heart disease became important. In their conversation the physician said, You know, Ive been practicing for 17 years. I get patients from all over, and I rarely find anyone from Roseto under the age of 65 with heart disease.

Wolf was surprised by these words as, It was impossible to be a doctor, common sense said, and not see heart disease.

Wolf enlisted the aid of a sociologist and friend John Bruhn to help him. They found, There was no suicide, no alcoholism, no drug addiction, and very little crime. They didnt have anyone on welfare. Then we looked at peptic ulcers. They didnt have any of those either. These people were dying of old age. Thats it.

They checked into diet, genetics and possibilities of something in the foothills of eastern Pennsylvania but nothing made sense.

What they found was that Rosetans visited one another, stopping to chat in Italian on the street, say, or cooking for one another in their backyards. (Researchers) learned about the extended family clans that underlay the towns social structure. They saw how many homes had three generations living under one roof and how much respect grandparents commanded. They went to Mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel and saw the unifying and calming effect of the church. They counted 22 separate civic organizations in a town of just under 2,000 people. They picked up on the particular egalitarian ethos of the community, which discouraged the wealthy from flaunting their success and helped the unsuccessful obscure their failures.

What they found eventually convinced the medical establishment to look beyond the individual and understand the culture people are part of their friends, families and town they came from. They determined that the people we surround ourselves with and the values of the world we inhabit have a profound effect on who we are.

Likely, this study could have been done with other ethnicities. However, my family's experiences with the Italian families in Connecticut ring true to the study. Our hungry and growing sons, especially our youngest son, Jim, who was left home alone with two beady-eyed parents, all had some memorable experiences being fed and loved in the Cos Cob multigenerational families. Proof of the African proverb, It takes a village to raise a child.

We live in an age when the contact we have with people often is on the internet, and many of us live among strangers. Unless we make the effort to reach out, we will become isolated, especially as we age. The Rosetan study is proof that reaching out and communicating may be good for our health.
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