Where Are They Now?
Member: Betty Gust
Featured: Spring 2021 cover story
Since being featured in the Spring edition of thrive., Betty Gust has continued to live an active life — both physically and socially. During the pandemic, she went on frequent walks, totaling hundreds of miles over a few months. She’s continued her walking practice and regularly plays games like Mahjong and Bridge with her friends. And now with four great-grandchildren, her schedule is fully booked nearly every week.
As she nears her 90th birthday in October, we caught up with Betty to find out what keeps her motivated and moving.
thrive.: Let's start with the walking. Have you kept it up every day since we last talked?
Betty: Most days. I've had a few little blips with some health problems, but I’ve bounced back and now I'm doing three to four miles a day. I walk a couple times a day and average out about three to four miles a day. I try to get in a hundred a month.
thrive.: What are some of the health challenges that you've overcome and have you made any changes from a safety perspective?
Betty: Some of it has been sciatica, and another one is with the air pollution. With all the smoke we've had, I ended up in the hospital. They diagnosed it as a reactive airway. I know how to take care of it now by checking it and either staying indoors, walking indoors, or wearing a mask. Now I know to use a mask if I go outside when the air quality is bad. Instead of just checking the temperature, I check the air quality, too!
I highly recommend that everyone has a smart watch. My kids encouraged me to wear it during the night after my episode with some sciatic pain. It's something that monitors your vitals and everything. I use it for how many miles I go and I can do an EKG on it. It's great!
I walk inside in the winter time. I do not walk on ice anymore. I'm very careful about that. I'll go indoors and I'll go to The Marsh and walk on a track or go to Eden Prairie Center or Ridgedale and walk around there.
thrive.: What motivates you to keep walking every day?
Betty: It's just something that I've done. I meet people on the trail — I call them my trail friends. It's just being social, though I like to walk alone sometimes because I can just go at my own pace.
Walking clears my head, and I love nature and the birds. I'll go on my phone and ask what bird is chirping. Right now I'm sitting on my patio … There are birds and there's deer and turkeys and geese in the spring and just all kinds of animals. It's kind of like a Disney World here.
thrive.: Do you have any goals for yourself?
Betty: Just to enjoy today and look at it as an adventure. I'm not done yet. It’s the joy of each day and it's exciting when I'm going, “Well, what am I gonna do?” I'm active and I'm going. And then somebody will say, “Well, you wanna go for a walk? Do you want to do this?”
I think 75% of the time I walk alone. Kay and I are still friends and walk together occasionally. I’ve also met other trail friends. In fact, I'm going out to lunch today with some friends — a couple that I met when I was walking!
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