Nippi-Albright runs to help in fight against diabetes

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On a chilly day in March, on the narrow, winding, ancient streets of Rome, Italy, a woman breathes a quiet prayer in Saulteaux: "Give me strength." Then she keeps on running.

That woman, Betty Nippi-Albright, had trained for months to prepare herself for her first-ever marathon. Competing with more than 10,000 other racers from around the world, Nippi-Albright was in Rome not to win the race-although she finished the 28-kilometre course in a respectable seven hours, four minutes and 28 seconds-but to literally "walk the talk" in her fight against diabetes.

Although she herself does not have diabetes, eight of Nippi-Albright's siblings have been diagnosed with the disease, considered one of the leading killers of Canada's First Nation people. Her father died from diabetes complications in 1998 and in 2003, the disease took Nippi-Albright's brother as well.

She has worked for several years in diabetes prevention, including a stint educating inner-city youth, and is currently an Aboriginal community developer with the primary health unit at St. Paul's Hospital in Saskatoon.

Her work taught her about the risks, and she began to adjust her diet accordingly, but it took several years before knowledge shifted into commitment and then into action. It took her brother's death, and then in the next year, four more deaths in her own circle, before Nippi-Albright convinced herself that it was time to make a real change and do something to help prevent herself-and others-from experiencing a similar fate.

She decided to join Team Diabetes, an initiative started by the Canadian Diabetes Association (CDA) through which volunteers help raise funds by running marathons and garnering sponsorship support for their efforts. Volunteers must raise a minimum of $5,600, part of which goes to diabetes prevention and research and the remainder to assist the volunteer with the registration and airfare to go to events like the annual City of Rome Marathon, held this year on March 13.

Even with her change in heart, it took Nippi-Albright several months to work up the nerve to sign up for the marathon. "I had to go through the self-doubting. I had to prepare mentally," she said. She was a smoker and a self-described "typical couch potato" with a heavy workload and little time to exercise.

She was, however, highly motivated. Before signing up, she went to her mother, a respected Elder in their community of Kinistin, and after giving an offering, asked her mother to pray for guidance. Her mother told her, "If this is the Creator's will for you, it's going to happen." Other family members prayed in sweat lodge and rain dance ceremonies, and in time Nippi-Albright felt the assurance that she was doing the right thing.

She signed up as part of a 15-member team from Saskatoon, which also included a fellow First Nations woman, Barbara Johnstone. The team was given access to online training resources and, over the next few months, participated in three "benchmark runs" to test their progress.

They also started fundraising, which became something of a sore spot for Betty Nippi-Albright. Although her band provided assistance and she was able to raise more than $6,000 through fundraising suppers and other efforts, Nippi-Albright was sorely disappointed by the lack of support from other Aboriginal organizations.

"As Aboriginal people we need to start supporting one another ... I'm not doing this for the glory. I hurt (from the marathon)," she said. "I'm doing this because I believe that we need to raise awareness, that we don't have to wait to die ... (or) to have our feet amputated. We can do something about it. Our leaders need to start putting their money where their mouth is."

Despite that disappointment, Nippi-Albright persevered with the backing of her colleagues, family and friends. She hired a personal trainer and began training regularly on the Meewasin Trail, where the lumpy snow provided a surprising bit of prparation for the 19-km stretch of cobblestone roads in Rome. Weight training on her legs, hill training and deep water running were also part of her regimen.

She also prepared emotionally, spending time during her training remembering all those whom she had lost to diabetes so that when race day came she could concentrate solely on her task. "I thought, I don't want to be sobbing when I'm doing the marathon."

On race day, March 13, Nippi-Albright loaded up with a carb-heavy breakfast to provide her with the energy she would need and headed to the race start near the Colosseum. The competitors were sorted into chutes-"like cattle," she joked- based on their predicted finish time, and waited for a signal, which in all the noise and confusion she didn't hear. Instead, she was swept along with the crowd as the race began.

As she jogged, Nippi-Albright tried to focus on the remarkable scenery of Rome-all the tiny shops and ancient statues lining the congested streets. "All I was telling myself was, 'Take it all in, because you're not going to run by here again,'" she said. Gatorade and oatmeal bars helped her endurance, but by the 19th kilometre she had to stop for a stretch and rest as her hips were screaming in pain. That's when she took the time to pray in her Native tongue, Saulteaux, "and then I felt like I could do it again."

She met up with her husband for more Gatorade and encouragement around the 28-kilometre mark, and almost got swept off course by a bike that was careening through the masses of people on the track, both competitors and fans. "We were fighting through the crowds to get through," she said. "It was crazy."

The final stretch of the race was the most difficult, but Nippi-Albright's husband was her rock. "I was in so much pain that I was starting to cry," she said. "He was so wonderful. He just said, 'I believe in you. You've come this far-do it. He ran beside me... and I made it."

Now back in Saskatoon, Nippi-Albright said she wuld love to carry on the tradition by organizing local runs for diabetes awareness, and perhaps even doing the marathon again.

"Diabetes is killing our people, and (a person must ask herself), 'What am I doing to bring awareness. What is my part in this, to prevent diabetes? Am I just giving lip service?" she asked.

"As Aboriginal people, we need to stop giving lip service and start walking our talk ... We need to bring our numbers up (and show) as Aboriginal people that we're doing our part to make a difference."