Professor Jean Cadet and the NYC Marathon

This week, I visited Professor Cadet to ask about his experiences running a marathon. He told me about the training, motivating factors, and further plans for keeping in shape and running various marathons around the world. For those looking for fitness inspiration, look no further than our own Andrews campus and the faculty that set admirable examples for students. 

Please introduce yourself to us!

My name is Jean Cadet. I am the Interim Chair for Population Health, Nutrition and Wellness. I'm a program director for two programs and the Master of Health Care and Nutrition program, and recently became the director for the Undergraduate Public Health program.

And what was this marathon that you ran recently?

I ran the New York City marathon last November. It was, as you know, 26.2 miles. I ran for World Vision, as they were the organization that supported me to run it. 

How did you prepare for it and what made you decide that you want to run this one?

Exercise is always a good thing to keep to help people stay in shape. And at my age, I knew that if I don't keep exercising a lot, I will lose more and more muscle mass, so that was the motivation to get into exercise. And the marathon was just a challenge. My sister challenged me to run the marathon with her. And I just said, yeah, why not? And I started training about 10 months before the marathon. 

Was this your first marathon?

My first marathon, and I just started training and used different running opportunities like 5Ks and 10Ks in this area and elsewhere. Every time I heard about a run I registered for it because it motivated me to keep training. 

How did you like the experience of your first marathon? 

Oh, it was brutal. It was tough. At one point I wanted to quit but when I remembered everybody waiting to see the results, that kept me motivated and thank God we made it. I trained with an app called Nike Run Club, but any marathon runner can use any program and can use someone as a trainer. I just decided to go up to action on an average about five days a week, four to five days a week. I do mostly my short runs during the week and my long training on Sunday would be an hour, an hour and a half, or two hours of training. 

Would you do it again next year?

Yeah, sure. I'm planning on doing it. My goal is to do the six major marathons out there. I believe the six majors are New York City, which I already did, then Boston, Chicago, Berlin, Tokyo, and there is a sixth one that I forgot, but they are the six major marathons out there. And next year in October I started studying and training to do the Chicago Marathon

You've already started preparing for the Chicago Marathon as well?

I registered two or three days ago. My preparation started very slow, but I’ve been going to the Wellness Center. It's a good place to start training when it's getting cold like this. I plan on going to the gym this afternoon as a part of that training.

For students at Andrews who want to try running a marathon, what would be your advice?

My advice is that it's definitely possible. It requires determination, but it's possible if you do slow training on yourself. It's very rewarding, besides the pain. The marathon was one of the best activities I've done for the year, and I did get my reward medal for finishing it. So that was the encouragement. 

Besides running marathons, what are your favorite ways to stay active and stay healthy?

One thing I usually do is put my computer up on a stand. I usually work standing because that allows me to keep moving around. Technically 90% of my time in the office I spend standing and walking. I also use the Wellness Center as a motivation because I have my membership there. If you are determined and you see the benefits of remaining active, even in our busy lives you can find ways to stay active. 

What started your passion for health and fitness?

I've always worked in the health field so I always knew about the benefits of exercise or the danger of lack of exercise. So that has always motivated me but I was not always an active person, especially when I was in school or in college. You're so busy with homework and assignments, you neglect everything, even if you know it's not the right thing. So health education really helped. I’ve noticed that when students know the benefits of being active, they tend to do something to stay active.

How do you keep your motivation up?

I told the people who asked me about the marathon that due to my role here in the Population Health, Nutrition and Wellness department, if I don't keep up with a good healthy lifestyle then I'm not practicing what I'm encouraging other people to do. That's another motivation. I said, you know what, as the director of this program, or the interim chair, I kind of set the example. If I don't feel like it, I still just have to do it because it fits the role.