by Missy Votel

A little more than a year ago, Sandra Lee strapped on snowshoes for the first time. Today, she is making strides, not just in her newfound sport of snowshoe racing, but in her mission to bring attention to the epidemics of diabetes and obesity among her native people.

Lee, a Navajo, will be the first Native American woman ever to line up at the starting line of the U.S. National Snowshoe Championships, which take place March 16 in Bend, Ore. She is hoping her historic appearance will not only call attention to the diseases plaguing native people everywhere but inspire them to take an active role in their own health.

“My message is to raise awareness of the crazy huge rates of diabetes and obesity across the reservations,” said Lee.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 16.1 percent of all American Indians and Alaskan Natives suffer from diabetes, nearly twice the rate of the general U.S. population. The majority of these cases are type 2 diabetes, which is linked to genetic and lifestyle factors, such as poor diet and obesity. Furthermore, the trend only seems to be getting worse. Between 1994-2004, there was a 68 percent increase in diabetes in native youth aged 15-19, and 30 percent of the adult population is estimated to have “pre-diabetes.”

Just the Facts What: Fund-raiser “High Performance” yoga class When: Wed., March 13, 5:30 - 7 p.m. Where: Smiley Building 2nd Floor Dance Studio Why: Donations will help offset costs for Sandra Lee to travel to the USSA National Championships in Bend, Ore., on March 16.

Growing up in the small village of Beclabito, N.M., near Teec Nos Pas, along the New Mexico-Arizona border, Lee, 46, said she was always an active child. “Back then we just called it play,” she said.

However, she recalls a disturbing trend, even back then. “I would always be outside, and my sister  would be inside watching TV,” she said. “I was always trying to motivate people to exercise and go outside with me.”

Today, Lee, who is the second-youngest among nine children, says several family members are obese or suffer from diabetes. “Some nieces, nephews and my mother have diabetes,” she said. “There is one niece who has it, but is trying to keep it a secret. She spent eight months in the hospital and has been in a nursing home twice, and she’s only 39.”

According to Lee, there is a certain shame attached to the disease, and many people afflicted don’t want to acknowledge it, let alone address the underlying issues. “They just don’t understand. There is a stigma, but there should not be,” she said. “We can treat it with such things as nutrition and consistency with working out.”

“Working out” can be as simple as taking a hike or going for a walk, she said. “I try to get my natives outside, to take a walk or hike with me,” she said of the native community she has become a part of since arriving in Durango to attend Fort Lewis College several years ago.

Although an avid walker – “I am my car” she says – Lee first stepped foot into a fitness class just three years as a way to alleviate neck issues. It was the “High Performance” yoga class taught by Steve Ilg.

“I had no idea what I was getting myself into,” recalls Lee. “I told myself ‘find a clock, stay for 30 minutes and I’m out of there.’”

Of course, Lee not only stayed for the entire 90-minute class, she also managed to find a new fitness trainer and mentor in Ilg. A world-class climber, skier, cyclist and snowshoer who lays claim to participating in seven national championships in five different sports – a feat that earned him the dubious title of “multisport mutant” and “America’s outdoor athlete” from Outside magazine – Ilg gets full responsibility for introducing Lee to snowshoeing.

“I won the HP Yoga ‘Yogi of the Year’ for 2011,” said Lee. The prize: a brand new pair of snowhsoes from Flagstaff-based Kahtoola, one of Ilg’s sponsors.

“This woman is an icon of Durango, she walks everywhere,” said Ilg. “I wanted to make sure she had a vehicle for traveling in winter.”

Soon after, Lee was off and running – quite literally. She entered Ilg’s Winter Warrior 10k snowshoe race at the Durango Nordic Center in 2012 and went on to complete the Kennebec Pass Run as well as one of Ilg’s three “sacred sweats:” the Imogene Pass run. (The other two, the Mount Taylor Winter Quadrathlon and Iron Horse Bicycle Classic, are on her bucket list.) She also competed again in the 2013 Winter Warrior, held Feb. 9, during which she qualified for Nationals.

Looking back, Lee said she’s not sure what drew her to Ilg’s classes at first. “I don’t know why I kept going back. I would sit there and say to myself, ‘I don’t know what the heck this guy’s talking about,’” she said.

But eventually, Ilg’s approach – which blends Western training methods with Eastern spirituality –  began to speak to her. She started attending yoga classes, yoga workshops and body work sessions regularly. “Every time I attended, I learned something new,” she said.

In preparation for the Nationals, she has been practicing yoga nearly every day and hitting the trails around Durango.

“I get up early, get bundled up and get on the trails and do intervals,” she said. “It’s cold in the morning, but I love the cold, the sound of the snow crunching. It’s so beautiful. Why wouldn’t you want to do it?”

While yoga and showshoeing may not seem to go hand in hand, Ilg said unlike many modern sports, they both have roots that go back thousands of years to Asia. Ironically, snowshoeing is actually rooted deep in the Native American culture, with many tribes having their own versions for hundreds of years. “Snowshoes were first used in North America by the Eskimos and Athabascan Indians,” he said. “Native Americans are responsible for what we recognize as showshoes today, and here we are, sending the first Native American woman to compete.”

Lee’s story has not gone unnoticed. She has garnered the attention of several media outlets and is scheduled to appear on a TV talk show in Bend. A documentary on her is also in the works.

And while Ilg has been central in getting her physically and mentally prepped to “tow the starting line,” he’s also been working on getting her there literally. He has set up a donations web site to offset Lee’s travel costs and will hold a special fund-raiser class for her next Wed., March 13, at the Smiley Building. All proceeds donated during the class will go toward getting Lee to Nationals.

For Lee, it’s not a question of “if,” but “how” she will get there. “I’m going to Nationals, even if I have to hitchhike and hunt beaver along the way,” she said. “I’m doing this to re-inspire my Diné Tribe … we didn’t fight for this country to remain free just to become lazy.”

And, as Ilg points out, the journey to Bend is only part of a longer pilgrimage ahead. “The dreamspeak is to use Sandra to re-instill that Native American warrior spirit, to radiate health and wellness in a way no one else can,” he said. “We’re just trying to make ripples. But ripples make waves.”

To donate to Sandra Lee’s USSA Nationals bid, go to: www.wholisticfitness.com. Click on Lee’s story at the bottom of that page and follow that to the “donate” link.