Alex Baker

I am a 39-year-old widower with a 9-year-old son. My wife, Amanda, was diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer in 2017 at 35. After a 16-month battle, she passed in February 2019. Her loss inspired me to make a change. There was no reason my son should have to lose another parent because I couldn’t take care of myself.

I have been overweight most of my adult life. I had always dreamed of running a half marathon, but I had accepted I was never going to be able to do it because I was so out of shape. In June 2019, a few months after her passing, I started to work out with a trainer to start to lose weight and gain muscle. It was working well; I lost nearly 30lb. That program helped a ton until the pandemic hit and then I was stagnant.

So, in July 2020, I decided to accept a challenge to walk 500 intentional miles in honor of the Indianapolis 500. During that time, I lost another 50 pounds and completed that challenge in 101 days. After that, I figured if I could walk that distance, I wondered if I could run. So, I accepted a 100-mile running challenge and completed that over the course of a month. From there, I haven’t stopped. Logging more than 3,000 intentional miles since July 2020.

While training for my first full marathon this past November, I knew something was wrong. I had to full stop during a 12-mile-long run. Terrible pain in my leg, knee, and hip. After struggling through a half marathon and my first full marathon, I knew I needed to get help.

After seeing a post from the Indy Monumental Marathon, I reached out for a free assessment. The amazing staff at Athletico Brownsburg reached out and scheduled me the next day. Almost immediately during my assessment, I learned I had significant trigger points in my left leg and that I had been favoring my right leg causing some atrophy in my left leg.

After my first round of treatment, I felt better enough to run with a knee brace. Because of the amazing hospitality and patient experience, I was encouraged to come back if I felt like I needed a “tune up.” I then ran several more races and was deep into my training cycle to run the 2023 New York City Marathon. The nagging pain started to come back. So, I decided to come back for a second tune up. During that assessment, my physical therapist found I had mobility problems in my big toe, my knee and my hip from all of the miles I’ve put on over the last three years. After a few adjustments in my hip, all the trigger points went away. Each week, we worked a bit harder, stretching and building muscles to help me run stronger.

A run was easy again. Pain free. Without a knee brace.

The real test of the outstanding therapy was running the New York City Marathon in November 2023. After 26.2 miles, I crossed the finish line with my fists in the air and I felt amazing. Athletico is a huge reason for that.

Because of Athletico, I was able to run the New York City Marathon, the world’s largest marathon, without pain. I appreciate the attention to detail, listening to my concerns, teaching me ways to help strengthen my muscles and most importantly, making it an enjoyable experience. I cannot speak more highly of the patient experience here at Athletico Brownsburg.

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