The Beginning

Every journey has a first step, mine started in 2006 when my weight ballooned to 240 pounds. I wore size 44 slacks and they getting tight ready to go into 46’s. My triglycerides were over 400 and my blood pressure was high, I was already on Lipitor and the doctor was threatening to start me on hyper-tension medicine. I remember climbing a flight of stairs completely winded me. I finally got sick and tired of being sick and tired.  Below is a picture of me at close to my peak weight.

I started walking, watching what I eat, and even hired a personal trainer. My weight loss was going well and eventually I was able to lose close to 40 pounds. I felt better. I was capable of walking 4.5 miles in an hour on the treadmill, I was doing sit ups, push-ups, planks and crunches. No longer did climbing a flight of stairs wind me, I was down to size 40’s in slacks.

This picture was taken in late 2006.

In 2007 I plateaued at 200 pounds and could not break through it. I researched online and learned one way to break through a plateau was to increase the intensity of my exercising. I started walking briskly then running short bursts and back to walking. My girlfriend/cheerleader challenged me to train for the Komen Race for the Cure 5k in Evansville.  I found a C25k (couch to 5k) plan on the Internet and trained for and successfully completed my first race. I remember the elation that I felt at being able to run 3.1 miles without having to stop and walk. Here is a picture of me taken at the Komen 5k in 2007.

Coming off the elation I felt at completing my first 5k another friend challenged me to run a slightly longer distance, the Cincinnati Flying Pig, a full marathon. On 9/16/2007, I had just run the longest distance of my life 3.1 miles and by 5/4/2008, I had to be ready to run 26.2 miles. Eventually I will tell you about my first 10k,  then my first ½ marathon, and finally the full marathon.