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COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- A Colorado Springs woman has reached an amazing milestone in memory of her husband. Martha Michel walks almost everyday in memory of her late husband.
She says she feels closer to him when she's walking. The 88-year-old has been walking three miles a day for 12 years. She's kept track of every step she's walked at the Alzheimer center where her husband died.
Michel has walked 10,000 miles around the pond at the Namaste Alzheimer Center. She knows because she keeps track of how much she walks everyday on a calendar.
"Five laps around is one mile and I have a golf counter that I count the laps that I walk so I don’t forget," said Michel.
It started in 1997 when her husband Lester was a patient at Namaste. The walks around the pond were part of his treatment and a peaceful escape at a time when Alzheimer’s was ravaging his brain.
"We walked around here many times together," said Michel.
Lester died in 1998 but Martha kept right on walking.
She said it makes her feel closer to Lester and reminds her of golden afternoons when they would walk this path together.
"One time when we were walking around here he was pretty far along with the Alzheimer’s and his arms just hung down and his face just expressionless. We stopped over on the other side and he said to me, 'I want to hold you,' and I picked up his arms and put them around me"," said Michel.
Year after year, season after season, in all kinds of weather Martha walked.
"It just seemed like a good go -- after I had 9,000, I thought, 'Good grief, maybe I can make 10,000,'" said Michel.
And on Saturday she did.
At 88, Martha now has five children, 18 grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren. Many of them walked with her on this final trip around the pond that brought her to 10,000 miles.
"I walked 15 times around for six days a week for many years," said Michel.
And she has this message for people who are caring for loved ones fighting the slow but persistent effects of Alzheimer’s.
"Just keep loving them and caring for them that’s all you can do," said Michel.
Keep in mind 10,000 miles is like walking from Los Angeles to New York and back again.
Martha says she plans to keep on walking -- just not as much as she used to.
