The inspirational words of former Notre Dame head football coach Lou Holtz changed the course of Todd Lewis’ life. He was 33 when he heard Holtz (who he now calls a friend) speak at a sales conference. The iconic coach encouraged attendees to write down a list of goals and make their dreams a reality. Lewis, now 46, put pen to paper that night, and his list included running with the bulls in Pamplona (he’s done it three times), running a marathon (he’s completed 40) and hiking to the base camp of Mount Everest (accomplished in 2005).
“I started with running a marathon,” Lewis says. “I had never run more than 3 miles. I just trained slowly and took it one day at a time.” He has run all over the country, including in Colorado for the Pike’s Peak Marathon, which he says was his toughest race. That was harder even than the 50-mile run he completed in 2008. “I’m most proud of the time I ran two marathons in two days,” he recalls. “It was a quick turnaround from Memphis to Vegas!” His next goal is to earn a spot in the Boston Marathon.
Lewis has tackled Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Rainier, Mount Hood, Mount Shasta, Mount Whitney, Kala Patthar and Mount Everest base camp. He hopes to climb others next year. Running and climbing stairs in hiking boots were the basis of his training. “Kilimanjaro was my first climb, and it was a very humbling experience,” he says. For the base camp of Mount Everest, Lewis says he ran 15 marathons that year to train, but that still didn’t prepare his body for the altitude changes. “I just had to go at my own pace,” he says. “We were hiking eight to 10 hours a day, and you just feel yourself become a machine.”
Most would look at the feats Lewis has accomplished and say they could never do the same, but he would disagree. “You can because you think you can,” he says. “The main drive is convincing yourself you can do something.”
[the routine]
I have to do some kind of physical activity three days a week, whether that’s going to the gym to lift weights, riding my bike or just doing basic exercises like push-ups. I’m on a regular running schedule, and I’m happy if I run 3 to 5 miles three nights a week. I’ve done 40 marathons already, but I’m going to cut back on those next year. I want to make sure I’m balanced in my workouts and not just focused on running, which is why I throw in climbing and other activities.