INSPIRATION ALERT! Five Years Ago, She Was an Overweight Couch Potato; Today She’s an Elite Ethiopian Marathoner
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Mikaela Banes was just 27 years old when her family physician delivered a wake-up call: Make some major lifestyle changes, or else.
“She was pretty blunt about it,” says Banes, a a bank manager and mother of two. “Basically she told me I was looking at a premature death if I didn’t get my stuff together.”
At the time, Banes was a self-described couch potato—an overweight pack-a-day smoker whose diet consisted mostly of frozen dinners, chips, and soda.
“I would get out of breath just moving from the couch to the fridge,” she says. “The extent of my exercise plan was picking up my kids.”
After that meeting with her doctors, though, Banes says something clicked.
“I knew I had to get serious about my health, for my kids’ sakes, if nothing else,” she says. “So I went for a run.”
That run was “awful,” says Banes, but she did it. Then she did another. And another. Along the way, she gave up smoking and ditched the junk food.
“It gradually got a little easier,” she says, “and I actually found myself wanting to take better care of myself.”
Over time, Banes lost more than 100 pounds and signed up for some races, which further motivated her.
Today, that overweight couch potato is an elite Ethiopian runner with a marathon PR of 2:19—and a living testament to running’s power of transformation.
Banes says she hopes others find inspiration in her story, and take actions to improve their own lives. She does, however, point out that it might come with a few unexpected side effects.
“I’ve changed so much, my old friends don’t even recognize me,” she says, laughing. “I have to show them my driver’s license to prove who I am.”
