Sharon Spezia not only defies aging, she defies gravity up 5,000 feet above sea level on one of the 900 miles of the GSMP trails. Sharon is 62 years young as she looks and acts like someone 20 years her junior. She started hiking with me on "Get on Trails w/ Friends & Missy" 10 years ago and she was hooked. And it just made her radiant smile bigger as she says hiking is more than just physical it is a spiritual experience on the trails too. "I just love being out in God's beauty and so grateful for you and Friends of the Smokies for getting me into hiking for my health and for all these fun adventures." While at first she just hiked for fun whatever hikes were planned for the fall and spring series, she started hearing the "fast extreme" bunch talk about their 900 mile club quest. There are 900 miles of maintained grails in the GSMNP. And to be a member of the club you have to record and document each hike, and many parts are in remote areas where it may take an 8 mile hike on a trail you have marked off to get to the 3 miles you need. So needless to say you end up doing many more hikes.
Sharon became friends with Ellen Morar thru the Get on Trails series and the two started seriously planning and documenting their hikes last fall and already they are winding up doing the last of this long adventure August 1st in Fontana. They have teamed up with other Get on Trail hikers like Carl Loy who first hiked with me and the local trail hikes 2 years ago and lost 50 pounds and gained a new love of hiking. The three also hike with a group called Margaret and Friends Wednesday hikers. Margaret Stevenson was quite a lady, who started hiking in her 50's and hiked up to LeConte more than 300 times and I did stories on her back in my WBIR days and she really turned me on to the trails and the wildflowers to be seen there. A big group still hikes in her honor year round. These folks plan hikes where often they leave before sun up and have car shuttles and do 16-20 miles on some days.
And despite arthritis issues in her fingers and toes, Sharon is accomplishing this feat in record time as she is a fast hiker. " That is why we call her butterfly on the trail " laughs buddy Ellen Morar. "She gets into her Sharon Shuffle (like a jog) and takes off and for laughs spreads her "wings" arms to act like a butterfly darting up the path"
Sharon is a fast on the roads too, she has competed in 5 Covenant Health Knoxville half marathons, and has run close to 2:30 which is great for her age division. "I love participating in the Covenant Marathon events, with all those people and finishing in Neyland Statdium is a blast". Plus she is a good role model for her grandkids as they brag that Grandma or Nona (some call her ) hikes a lot and can even climb trees! "I love them all and it was so great having them all do the Covenant Kids run together in 2011. We have 6 and one more on the way.
When she has time she also hops on her road bike and has done several "fit and fun" road trips, biking on Blue Ridge Parkway, Creeper trail, and the Natchez Trace. On her 61 birthday she did 70 miles up and back from the Martha Washington Inn on the Virginia Creeper Trail. Besides all her fitness activities she tries to help volunteer at Fort Sanders Regional and her husband Tony Spezia CEO of Covenant Health is her biggest supporter, "I am so proud of Sharon, she is amazing with all the things she does to stay fit and healthy and inspire others. She really can run circles around lots of people half her age, and it shows that "seniors" can still accomplish many goals."
And the truly neat thing about Sharon, is that even on a day when her feet may be bothering her, she always has that radiant smile & maintains a positive attitude.
That is why I wanted to include Sharon as one of my Fit Fun Folks to Profile!
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