• Running the Right Way - PhillyFIT Magazine

PhysicallyFITRunningthe ShowOwner of Salon Norman Dee and marathon runner, TabithaHeit, balances work, play, and family, and discusses the choicesthat we make everyday, which affects our lives.Have you ever heard the expression, “Sometimes life gets in theway”? People use it when talking about things they might wantto do but can’t because they just don’t have the time. “Soundslike an excuse,” says Tabitha, busy preparing her new salon forit’s grand opening in a few weeks. It’s 9:17 am and she hasalready run ten miles, gotten both of her children off to school,and had time to stop for coffee of her way to the new space.For Tabitha, being a positive role model for her children andstaff by living a healthy lifestyle has always been a top priority.Owning a successful salon in Northeast Philadelphia hasallowed her the platform to work with various charities, nonecloser to her heart than the National Down’s Syndrome Society.“When they first told me and my husband we were shocked.This wasn’t part of the plan,” Tabitha says of her now threeyear-oldson, Cooper, who was born with Down’s syndrome andan A/V canal defect, which simply stated means he had a holein his heart. The years leading up to this moment seemed likejust a precursor to what was about to come.Tabitha had always found a way to incorporate exercise into herlifestyle. From her time spent on the track team in high schoolto always being a member of the local gym, staying in shapehas always been a priority. She really got into running after herfirst son Reece was born in 2007. “At first it was all about takingoff the baby weight,” she admits. “And then somethinghappened. I just started loving it, not so much the running, butmore the feeling I was experiencing the rest of the day. I lookedbetter in the mirror, I was enjoying my food more, and my glassof red wine at the end of the day tasted just a little bit better.”From that moment on, Tabitha never looked back. She ran herfirst 5k that year and her first half marathon the following year.It was the Philadelphia Half Marathon and she ran it in 1:45.Well now she was completely hooked. Tabitha was averagingthirty miles a week, and started scheduling a half marathonevery six months. That’s when it happened. “I will never forgetsitting there when they told us. After giving us a detailed explanationof what Down’s syndrome was, they said that we shouldgo home and discuss the option of abortion. My husband and Ijust looked at each other, and immediately both said that therewas no chance that was going to happen.”Cooper was born on February 8, 2010, and after five days in theNICU was ready to go home and begin his new life with Mom,Dad and big brother, Reece. “Right from the start we knew hewas special. I mean what kind of baby is happy all the time.”Three months before his second birthday, it was time forCooper’s heart surgery. “We went in on a Monday morning andwere home by Wednesday afternoon. Then by later on thatevening, we were Facebooking pictures of him laughing whileholding up his shirt and showing everyone pictures of his scar.It was miraculous!”From that show of strength and pure heart from her little oneyear-oldangel, Tabitha was inspired. She and her husbandsigned up for the New York Marathon in 2012. “The trainingwas intense,” she recalls with a sigh. “We were on a sixteenweektraining program with our long runs increasing by onemile every week. I remember thinking how exhausted I wastowards the end of my first fifteen mile run, and how in theworld was I going to do additional 11.2 miles on top of this.”But she found strength in her little angel. “When I look at him,and think about everything he has endured, and how much joyhe gets out of life, I know that there is no goal that I won’treach for and no hurdle that I won’t jump to be the best MotherI could possibly be for him.”So she and her husband persevered by running sixteen miles,then seventeen miles, all the way up until two weeks before the30 I PhillyFIT May/June I 267-767-4205 I www.phillyfit.com