Running has changed my LIFE...

There is no doubt the impact running has had on me in the past year.  So I chose to wait about a week and add some reflections to the marathon and explain this past year.

We (me and the two others that read this) know the story of how it started but for those who don't here's the story... March 4, 2012 was the date my brother was looking for a change to his life.  He was gaining weight, was living a sedentary life and needed a change after being married the day before.  I was oblivious to the discussion he was having with my Uncle, talking with my Grandma and sister-in-law while that was going on, and then it was announced they were doing a marathon together.  I instantly jumped on board and it became serious.  Here is me that weekend, once again weighing close to 210.



Yes I would like another soda!

Alex couldn't even get his arms around me!

My usual diet for a week leading up to this wedding was, chocolate, soda, fast food, heavy dinners high in calories, low in quality ingredients.  I had allowed a very difficult year of my life and especially six months after the loss of my father-in-law to go from 188 to 210.  My eating habits, sedentary lifestyle and difficulties with coping with the issues in my life were all a recipe for things to get worse.  The LIFE challenge changed that.  It sparked the OCD, hard-working, competitive drive that I have always had.


The biggest reason I chose to never work out was excuses.  I wasn't that much overweight.  I didn't look that bad.  I wasn't that far from being at my ideal weight of 185.  I could just watch what I ate and I'd be back under 200 and close to 190 again in no time.  Yes, I seriously believed I looked like I do today at 190 and that was a healthy weight.  I coached football for two years and wrestling for five years after that.  During those seasons I would lose 10-15 lbs from some minor activity but my dietary choices were awful and kept me from really making an impact on my weight.  I would consume 4-5 sodas a day at tourneys and say it was to reward myself for not drinking them during the week.

I rode the wave of 185-215 since graduating high school in 1999.  I actually got up to 225 after my freshman year in college but within a few months was back at 190 when I dated a vegan and decided I would go on a 3-month vegetarian diet (I couldn't give up eggs and the other animal products veggie heads are allowed to eat).  The lowest I got was 185 when I coached my first year and had to be on the mat daily.

So when I started the goal last March, it was to get back to my life goal weight of 180, maybe 175.  My Uncle sat there and said if you guys take this seriously, Andy you will weigh closer to 160.  160?!  I hadn't weighed that since being a junior in HS in 1998.  I laughed at him and said, 175 would be lucky!  Then I look at my first 5k and 10k photos from May when I was between 175 and 180 and go, wow, that guy still had a ton of work to do.

 I felt great at this time.  I had learned to quit making excuses and truly embraced dietary changes and making running a part of my LIFE.  My wife tried to get me to run for years.  I always made excuses that I did not enjoy running.  I would take about 23-25 minutes to do 2 miles andthat time was better served watching a show I liked or doing something else that required no activity.  Plus, I enjoyed sports where running was something you only did because it was part of practice.  I now wish I had realized what a benefit it would have been to run 3-6 miles regularly as a wrestler.  6 minutes is short but a wrestling match is equivalent to any 3 mile run I have ever done.

When I first began running, I couldn't walk/jog 2.5 miles in 45 minutes.  If I am in a race now, I can do at least miles to a 10k in that time.  I remember the first time I ran 4 miles, I wanted someone to pick me up after 3 miles.  I got about a month into it and the best I could do was 10:00/mi.  I figured that a good goal would be to sustain just under that for 26.2 miles and finish my marathon in 4:15-4:30.  Then I ran my 5k and the Bolder Boulder  couple months later and I realized that I was faster than that and now saw 9:00/mi.  After that, it was a goal of getting under 170 for the GTIS Half Marathon and getting under a 2 hour half and maybe the confidence to do a 4:00 marathon.  I was then in a zone runnnig wise and finished with 3 runs over 12 miles leading up to it.  My goal time went to 1:55 for my half but I would have been okay with under 2:00.  1:51:52!!! 

Oh snap.  I felt good and sought my next race and doing a marathon before our marathon.  I was going crazy.  I needed another race, I needed a challenge.  My Uncle Tim helped me put on the breaks but he also knew I could run a marathon before that date.  Fortunately we waited.  For a few weeks, I did what my Uncle calls life running where you run 4 days a week with your 3 shorter 4 mile runs and then a 9-12 mile weekend run.  I needed more and my Uncle and I formulated a plan to increase the mileage quicker where I'd hit a few more 20 mile runs in my training.  I battled some ITBS and foot pain during my training for about a month but the increased mileage gave me a lot of confidence and my goal had gone from doing a marathon to a 3:45.  It didn't happen (3:47:08) as my race report blog stated, but looking back, I ran a smart race starting with a slow 10k and it left a lot in the tank and I was ahead of my 3:45 pace by about 30 seconds to a minute until the wheels started coming off the last 4 miles with my calf cramping issues.  I think back and a couple months ago, I may have said I can't deal with this pain and quit or I will just walk it in so I don't have to cramp up.  Instead I never stopped running during the race.  The only time I ever did was to rub out a cramp.  There was no doubt I was a marathoner and I was going to push through and prove it.  And here I am almost a year later with my Uncle and brother marathon weekend:

So, I now realize I have a ton to be proud of.  I weigh under 160.  I am healthier than I have every been and in better shape than ever.  I now crave fruits over fats.  I am now living healthy like I had promised myself I would for my daughter Sophie before she was born.  It took a lot of will power, direction from my running mentor/coach/Uncle and it took my drive.  If you had asked me if I would run a marathon one year ago today, I'd be making fun of you and joking around.  If you had asked me how long it took, I would say too long.  If you asked me how many miles, I'd say too many.  And if you asked me what was healthy for me, I'd say 180!  I read so many articles, so many blogs, so many stories and watched and listened to so many people's opinions on an average American diet, the marathon, BMI, running, etc. and I soaked it up like a sponge but sweat out all the fat from what I gained in knowledge.  The internet is a great thing and helped me realize I could do this and didn't have to sell myself short and my ideas were warped from years of being overweight and being unhealthy.

I have ran over 1250 miles this year.  I have ate more fruit in the last year than I have probably ate in my life.  I have consumed maybe a dozen sodas in that year and that may be a high number.  I would do that in a week at times.  The thought of McDonald's Dollar Menu does not sound appealing at all. I would eat there as many as 4x a week saying $3.25 is a cheap lunch and it's not that bad.  50 lbs are gone from me and I don't plan on letting many of those come back other than with adding some muscle.  I am healthy, I am happy.  I have plenty to work on individually, with my family as a husband and father and I know that but running has helped get me off on the right foot to realize I can achieve more and be better in all aspects of life.

So if you come across this for the first time and/or are looking for something to change your life, start running.  It will start off with walking like I did.  It will turn into a jog/walk.  Then a continuous jog that becomes a run.  Running is not sprinting, it is a jog that you do for many miles and call running because going for a jog is a mile or two.  You don't jog 26.2 miles!  The benefit of running is evident.  The myths are ridiculous.  Yes, you will have pain in your knees at times.  Yes your feet and other areas of your legs will hurt.  Yes it is a lot of impact.  But guess what, carrying 50 extra lbs and filling your body full of bad things and sitting on your rear end is far worse for your long-term health.  I have seen the difference.  And I'd rather get crap for being too skinny than being overweight because I am a strong person mentally and physically (yes, even with 50 lbs of fat that looked like muscle on my arms gone) and I know it is better for me and that person looks at me like I used to at runners and people who lost a lot of weight getting healthy, the wrong way.

I sit here today and am ready for a run.  Tomorrow I am going to test the legs out.  I also wonder what's going to be my next marathon?  I know I will have to adjust my mileage, get my lazy butt out of bed and not miss the short runs I had missed at times the last couple months of marathon training. The next marathon will be soon I am sure but a couple of my goals are a 3:45 marathon before I turn 32 in June and a 3:30 before I turn 33 in 2014.  After I talk them over with the family, I'll let you know what they are.  Until then, happy running.