From Obese to Triathlete and Marathon Runner

I have always struggled with my weight. When I graduated high school I was about 145 lbs. I ballooned to about 300 lbs by 1996, then lost to about 200 lbs by the year 2000.

I stopped running in 2000, then gained to 273 by January of 2012. I hated myself when I was fat. I did not want to eat in front of other people, because I thought the sight of me eating must be disgusting to other people. I had to wear size 48 pants, XXL shirts, and pretty much XXL everything. When on airplanes, I could not even put the tray table down in front of me, because my gut was so huge there was not room.

In January of 2012, while sleeping, I herniated cervical disc c6/c7 in my sleep, and was paralyzed in my right arm for six months. I was in excruciating pain the entire time. In June 2012, after three procedures to inject steroids directly into my cervical spinal cord, the herniation resolved, and my pain went away.

After this event, facing my poor health, I decided that I had to make some serious changes in my life. In June of 2012, I started working out with weights, and started running. At first, I could just walk. After awhile, I started using the stair climber, and got pretty good with it, but running was just not an option.

I started losing weight, and then, in the fall of 2012, started running. At first, I could only run about one minute, and then walk for 2 or 3 minutes. By January of 2013, i could run a mile at a time, and by that summer, I was up to a few miles per day, several days per week, and down to about 228 lbs.

By January of of 2014, I was running regularly and decided it was time to train for something serious. I picked the Marine Corps Marathon, and started slowly ramping up my mileage. Along the way, I did three half marathons, two triathlons, and lost down to 168.

On 10/26/2014, just a week ago, I ran the Marine Corps Marathon. My goals were (1) to finish, even if I was crawling, (2) to run every step, and not walk any of the race, and (3) to break the 10 minute per mile mark. I accomplished goals one and two, finishing at a 10:32 pace, and running every step. It was a wonderful experience, and I achieved my best time, ever - at 45 years old I beat my best marathon performance ever, which I achieved when I was 14 years younger.

I don't hate myself anymore. I don't look in the mirror and feel disgusted. I don't get on an airplane and feel embarrassed because I cannot put the tray table down. I don't feel ashamed to eat in public for fear that other people are looking at me, thinking "why doesn't he quit eating?"

I can run, hike, fit into normal clothes (actually clothes in my size are a little difficult to find because I am smaller than average), and walk around knowing that no one is looking at me because I am disgustingly fat. I even have moments where I look in the mirror and think, "wow, I am good looking!"

My doctor is happy with me. My blood pressure is 110/60, and my resting pulse rate is in the high 40s. I take no medications, and haven't had a pain pill in over 2 years.

I still have about 20 lbs to go to get to my goal weight of 150, which will put me at an "athletic" weight and body fat percentage. Weight loss is slow when you get close to the ideal weight, so I know it will take some time. One thing I know - I will never get fat again. I hated myself, and never want to feel that way again.

I am happy to be a 45 year-old marathoner!