“Do as I say, not as I do” is an adage Dr. Anabelle Broadbent will never have to utter.
That’s because the brilliant food scientist, Ph.D. and nationally-ranked runner from Perkasie not only talks a good game, she lives one.
She wants you to both do as she says and, in some fashion, do as she does.
Broadbent confirmed that by competing in an astonishing 51 races in 2024. Quick math: That averages out to about one a week for an entire year.
So when Dr. Broadbent tells you to drink your (low-fat) milk, you better follow her advice. And if you think you know better, try standing next to her at the start of your favorite local race and she’ll wait for you at the finish line.
Oh, and did we mention she’s on NASA’s list of potential future astronauts?
Before we get into that, let’s discuss how the heck the native of Puerto Rico (with Latin heritage), who came to the United States at age 17 to attend college, has managed to average more than 40 races a year for the past 10 years without getting injured or even bored?
A lot of it has to do with the business she’s in, namely keeping people fit through eating habits, proper sleep and, of course, exercise.
“It’s about health,” she said in a recent telephone interview. “From a personal perspective and a business perspective, my focus has been on health. When I talk about health, I’m talking about holistic health, in terms of physical, spiritual, emotional, mental health.
“And running hits every one of those boxes.”
Even at age 57, she’s perhaps the fastest female runner to hail from the Caribbean island, which is a commonwealth/territory of the United States.
“Why do I do this?” she said. “Why do I get up at 4 in the morning and do this? Training and running by myself. Sign up for all these races a year in advance. Plan my whole year around races I want to do.
“It’s really internal motivation. No one is telling me to do this. No one’s paying me to do this, it’s not my job.”
It’s no surprise her husband, Dave, is also a highly competitive runner. The two inspire each other and that makes the whole situation twice as nice.
She operates a health firm called Verde Ops.
It’s a time-consuming career but Anabelle still finds (makes?) time to pursue her favorite activity and often has reached the 80 percent age-graded level, which is national class.
“It didn’t really dawn on me until the very end of this year when I was preparing these end-of-the-year reviews,” she said. “I took the time to sort of pause and take it all in.
“If you asked me a couple months ago, I would have said ‘oh, I haven’t had any personal bests.’ Every single race I showed up feeling not fully trained or prepared because of everything else. Work, life, lots of things going on.”
Yet with everything else happening, she still maintains a high level of competition. Even at the end of a challenging 2024.
“I would show up tired from traveling,” she said. “I raced when I was in Sweden and it was 2 a.m. my time (U.S). I was thinking “what am I doing here?”
“This was part of my design of just going beyond what I’m comfortable with. Looking back, I thought, ‘that wasn’t so bad.’+”
Broadbent’s list of accomplishments is almost too long to catalog here. Suffice to say, she’s won at practically all levels of competition, including a medal at the 2019 World Masters Cross Country Championships where she represented Puerto Rico.
It all goes back to a great diet, vigilant sleep hours and consistent run training.
“It’s all aspects of my health – physically, I feel strong and healthy just by exercising, moving my body,” she said. “If you just go out and do easy runs every day without a goal, that’s OK. But for me, it’s putting myself in uncomfortable situations. Doing track workouts, doing hill repeats, long runs, tempo runs.
“Then showing up at a race. That’s the easy part. That’s just the social part of it.”
Just a few months ago, she ran the Rothman 5K (held in conjunction with the Philadelphia Marathon) and set an age-group record for Puerto Rico.
She’s an accomplished guest speaker and her services are often requested, even at the national level. She gets asked how she’s been able to keep running this long, this fast.
“What I do is I don’t tell people what to do – I live my life and that’s what makes this possible,” she said. “Latin women are just blown away. They’re like what? My generation was definitely not encouraged to run. Or be physically active.”
The sky’s the limit if a person, runner or not, has a good plan for overall health.
“It’s about what’s possible when you eat right and exercise on a regular basis,” Broadbent said. “When you push yourself, constantly looking to feel comfortable being uncomfortable, that translates into everything you do in life.”
Broadbent attended the University of South Florida where she attained the big three all at the same school: College degree, master’s, Ph.D.
That put her only two hours away from the Kennedy Space Center, so of course she had to give it a try.
“I was an intern in the life sciences program,” she explained. Is there any chance she could walk in space someday?
“That’s still in the cards,” she said. “I’m still keeping track with my colleagues at NASA. That’s one of the reasons I became a more serious runner, the impetus was the first time I applied for the astronaut training program. There are thousands of applicants. I remember thinking you really have to be in great shape to become an astronaut.
“That’s when I went from recreational runner to really becoming more serious about it. It just stuck with me. I just kept getting faster.”
If Broadbent ever is accepted by NASA’s space program as an astronaut, it would be to serve as a microbiologist.
In 2019, she won that medal in the 8,000-meter X-C event. It was a pretty big deal.
“Something clicked,” she said. “I was no longer just running for myself but I was sort of carrying the dreams and hopes of the whole island.”
A lot of her work involves activity with food companies.
“Like how do you reduce the risks of potential pathogens?” she said. “If you’re in the middle of a recall, you’re probably going to call me. We try to figure out how to prevent this from happening again.”
It’s rewarding work. And she’s perfect for that sort of accountability.
Because when companies call, they learn to both do as she says. . .and as she does.>Race calendarSunday
That’s because the brilliant food scientist, Ph.D. and nationally-ranked runner from Perkasie not only talks a good game, she lives one.
She wants you to both do as she says and, in some fashion, do as she does.
Broadbent confirmed that by competing in an astonishing 51 races in 2024. Quick math: That averages out to about one a week for an entire year.
So when Dr. Broadbent tells you to drink your (low-fat) milk, you better follow her advice. And if you think you know better, try standing next to her at the start of your favorite local race and she’ll wait for you at the finish line.
Oh, and did we mention she’s on NASA’s list of potential future astronauts?
Before we get into that, let’s discuss how the heck the native of Puerto Rico (with Latin heritage), who came to the United States at age 17 to attend college, has managed to average more than 40 races a year for the past 10 years without getting injured or even bored?
A lot of it has to do with the business she’s in, namely keeping people fit through eating habits, proper sleep and, of course, exercise.
“It’s about health,” she said in a recent telephone interview. “From a personal perspective and a business perspective, my focus has been on health. When I talk about health, I’m talking about holistic health, in terms of physical, spiritual, emotional, mental health.
“And running hits every one of those boxes.”
Even at age 57, she’s perhaps the fastest female runner to hail from the Caribbean island, which is a commonwealth/territory of the United States.
“Why do I do this?” she said. “Why do I get up at 4 in the morning and do this? Training and running by myself. Sign up for all these races a year in advance. Plan my whole year around races I want to do.
“It’s really internal motivation. No one is telling me to do this. No one’s paying me to do this, it’s not my job.”
It’s no surprise her husband, Dave, is also a highly competitive runner. The two inspire each other and that makes the whole situation twice as nice.
She operates a health firm called Verde Ops.
It’s a time-consuming career but Anabelle still finds (makes?) time to pursue her favorite activity and often has reached the 80 percent age-graded level, which is national class.
“It didn’t really dawn on me until the very end of this year when I was preparing these end-of-the-year reviews,” she said. “I took the time to sort of pause and take it all in.
“If you asked me a couple months ago, I would have said ‘oh, I haven’t had any personal bests.’ Every single race I showed up feeling not fully trained or prepared because of everything else. Work, life, lots of things going on.”
Yet with everything else happening, she still maintains a high level of competition. Even at the end of a challenging 2024.
“I would show up tired from traveling,” she said. “I raced when I was in Sweden and it was 2 a.m. my time (U.S). I was thinking “what am I doing here?”
“This was part of my design of just going beyond what I’m comfortable with. Looking back, I thought, ‘that wasn’t so bad.’+”
Broadbent’s list of accomplishments is almost too long to catalog here. Suffice to say, she’s won at practically all levels of competition, including a medal at the 2019 World Masters Cross Country Championships where she represented Puerto Rico.
It all goes back to a great diet, vigilant sleep hours and consistent run training.
“It’s all aspects of my health – physically, I feel strong and healthy just by exercising, moving my body,” she said. “If you just go out and do easy runs every day without a goal, that’s OK. But for me, it’s putting myself in uncomfortable situations. Doing track workouts, doing hill repeats, long runs, tempo runs.
“Then showing up at a race. That’s the easy part. That’s just the social part of it.”
Just a few months ago, she ran the Rothman 5K (held in conjunction with the Philadelphia Marathon) and set an age-group record for Puerto Rico.
She’s an accomplished guest speaker and her services are often requested, even at the national level. She gets asked how she’s been able to keep running this long, this fast.
“What I do is I don’t tell people what to do – I live my life and that’s what makes this possible,” she said. “Latin women are just blown away. They’re like what? My generation was definitely not encouraged to run. Or be physically active.”
The sky’s the limit if a person, runner or not, has a good plan for overall health.
“It’s about what’s possible when you eat right and exercise on a regular basis,” Broadbent said. “When you push yourself, constantly looking to feel comfortable being uncomfortable, that translates into everything you do in life.”
Broadbent attended the University of South Florida where she attained the big three all at the same school: College degree, master’s, Ph.D.
That put her only two hours away from the Kennedy Space Center, so of course she had to give it a try.
“I was an intern in the life sciences program,” she explained. Is there any chance she could walk in space someday?
“That’s still in the cards,” she said. “I’m still keeping track with my colleagues at NASA. That’s one of the reasons I became a more serious runner, the impetus was the first time I applied for the astronaut training program. There are thousands of applicants. I remember thinking you really have to be in great shape to become an astronaut.
“That’s when I went from recreational runner to really becoming more serious about it. It just stuck with me. I just kept getting faster.”
If Broadbent ever is accepted by NASA’s space program as an astronaut, it would be to serve as a microbiologist.
In 2019, she won that medal in the 8,000-meter X-C event. It was a pretty big deal.
“Something clicked,” she said. “I was no longer just running for myself but I was sort of carrying the dreams and hopes of the whole island.”
A lot of her work involves activity with food companies.
“Like how do you reduce the risks of potential pathogens?” she said. “If you’re in the middle of a recall, you’re probably going to call me. We try to figure out how to prevent this from happening again.”
It’s rewarding work. And she’s perfect for that sort of accountability.
Because when companies call, they learn to both do as she says. . .and as she does.>Race calendarSunday
Bucks County Roadrunners Club Winter Series Wild Card (4-6 miles), 9 a.m., Tyler State Park, Newtown-Richboro. Contact www.bcrrclub.com
