Marlene Merritt has lived a very full life, and she’s not done yet. Growing up in New York City gives you a whole set of skills for dealing with big-city life, and living in Austin, Texas has given her opportunities for a whole lot more. She lived in Europe for a period of time and speaks fluent German, but wanted to move to Austin to escape the winters of the Northeast. She liked it and she stayed, and in the meantime, has treated scores of patients, and taught thousands of students, and created a life she loves.

She started riding her bike when she was 16, and as a teenager, cycled from Virginia to Boston, camping along the way. In college, she was on the collegiate cycling team, but acquired a heart condition that required her to quit after three years. Moving to Austin, she started working in a field that had nothing to do with her major of German language and literature, and ultimately had a very successful practice as a massage therapist. During this time, she taught many classes in Anatomy and Physiology (12 years worth, ultimately), as well as business classes, and technique classes, and influenced students all over the state of Texas. At some point, she realized she wanted to make more of an impact on people’s health, and went to graduate school to become a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist. And she thought she was set.

But three years after she started her practice, she visited a naturopathic doctor who, in an off-hand and casual way, mentioned why she probably had chest pain and heart problems, and gave her some whole food supplements that completely changed her life – the problems she had had for 15 years were suddenly nearly gone, and out of that, she  studied, and finally became a certified Applied Clinical Nutritionist, specializing in whole foods and traditional diets. The effect that it’s had on her patients is astounding.

The effect on her own health was equally profound. Finally being able to ride her bike again at the level she wanted to allowed her to take on some big goals – she’s ridden across the United States in 26 days, averaging 135 miles a day.  She’s taken her bike up the East Coast, from Atlanta to Portland, Maine, down the Rockies from Montana to El Paso, and qualified in 2007 for Paris-Brest-Paris, held every 4 years in France – 1200k (750 miles) in less than 90 hours. The qualifiers are meant to separate the men from the boys (and the very few women from the girls!) and are a 200k, 300k, 400k, and 600k rides with time limits (sleep deprivation is unfortunate but necessary, and need to be done the same year as PBP. The 2007 PBP had the worst weather in the last 50 years, and contributed to her not finishing, and she credits that with her finally being able to realize what her limits are!

She has also done several adventure races – races with orienteering, mountain-biking, and kayaking, varying in length from 4-6 hours, to 12 hours, to one that was 72 hours with lots of sleep deprivation. She has a list of 50 things to do in her lifetime, and is trying to get as many done as possible – she’s already run a marathon, jumped out of a plane, been to Alaska, rappelled 1,000 feet into the earth in the caves of Mexico, learned belly-dancing, sung karaoke, visited 22 National Parks, and gotten pretty good with wine, but the whale-watching and riding in a hot-air balloon are still elusive. On the list was also how to learn to ride a motorcycle, which she did and now she’s on her second one – a Kawasaki Ninja.

She is a very proficient and motivating public speaker – the years of inspiring students to actually ENJOY Anatomy and Physiology were very good training! She has taught everything from Western medicine topics, to Chinese medicine, from business classes to nutrition, to communication skills and life philosophy. She is always looking for exciting new opportunities to educate and inspire.

She is happily married to Will Mitchell, who went to graduate school with her for Chinese Medicine, and is the Technical and Research part of Merritt Wellness Center. He loves to ride a motorcycle too, and enjoys traveling and exotic foods, and is a good match for her! They live in a small condo in downtown Austin, and always have some trip planned for the future.