Blubber To Runner

That date was supposed to be HUGE for me.  In August of ’10 I decided, with help from my friends, that it was time for me to take control of my life, lose weight, get my head straight and and get back into shape so I would not be a pathetic mess anymore.  For those that are new to the blog, my goal was the Tough Mudder which, at the time, was relatively unknown – only 7 events across the country – and not the HUGE spectacle it is now just a short time later.  Well, I was gonna train and lose all this weight and kick ass at this cool obstacle course.  The date of my Mudder?  10/22/11.

But, as we ALL know… life has a funny way of not working out the way you envisioned.

I fell off the path and actually ended up weighing MORE than I was back in August ’10 (I was 320 at that point).  I have no reasons… just excuses to be perfectly honest.  I could try and blame a job, a girl; the list could go on and on.  But fact is they were just excuses to bury myself in a pizza or a cocktail and feel sorry for myself.  What is a fact though is that, as 10/22/11 approached things simply weren’t going the right way and I was hanging on that date as a signal of the ultimate failure in my life – 10/22 would forever signify to me that I can’t set a goal and complete it.

A few weeks before that date, my parents decided they wanted to trek down to VA for a visit.  ‘Cool… something to distract me’ I thought. As the visit got closer, for some reason I started to think about VA versus NJ, and why I’m not back home – and why I’m still in VA at this point.  So I did a list; typical… positives about staying in VA and positives about going back to NJ.  NJ won by a landslide.  I slept on it, then decided that when the ‘rents got down to VA I would pose the idea of moving back home.

Now – it takes a lot for a 37 year old to ask his parents to move back in while he moves back to NJ and get re-established, etc.  I knew it was gonna be a LONG day when they got there, b/c this conversation was gonna take a lot of talk about the logistics of such a big decision.

So it’s finally 10/22… they get down to VA, check in hotel and we grab lunch across the street.  I waste no time to start the convo b/c it’s gonna last well past lunch, into dinner and back into breakfast the next morning – and possibly into phone conversations once they get back home – before they decide what’s best.

The conversation lasted about 10 minutes.

Turns out they wanted to talk about the exact same thing.  There were still clearly things that had to be figured out, but for all intents and purposes it was done.  I was coming home.  3 weeks later, and a 90-minute pack-up at my apartment w/ the help of some really awesome people (yes, I was so prepared and had such fantastic help it it literally took 90 minutes to move) I was on the way to Jersey.

I fast forward now to April 22nd, 2012… the date of my first half-marathon, 62 lbs less than I weighed when I left (along with a myriad of other positives)… 6 months after what I thought would be one of the most depressing days of my life, and realize that I was right all along – not that it would be the most depressing, but rather what it was initially meant to be… one of the most important.

I made a HUGE decision that day; a decision that set into motion a series of events that have shown me a lot; positives, negatives and true colors (both good and bad) – about myself as well as others.  I’m not fooling anyone (including myself) when I say I have a long way to go… but it’s good to know that I’m heading in the right direction, in the right place and with the right people.

As for what’s next?  I’m working on the transition to minimalist running, with my first race in my Vibrams on 5/20.  I’m also hearing rumors that I’ve been recruited for the Color Run in NYC so once I get clarification on that I’ll let y’all know.  The Philly 1/2 Marathon in November is a definite, 18 miles in LBI in October is almost definite (It’s in T2 status for my Marriott peeps), while the Tough Mudder in October and Rock ‘n’ Roll Vegas Marathon in December are still on the radar.

We’ll see about those last two though… gotta get through Joe’s new PowerPoint presentation detailing 6 months of weight/ interval/ circuit training for everyone.

Seriously… he made a PowerPoint.  And he ended the PP with the following: