Hello world!
After nearly six years I decided to come back to Blogger. This site will be where I chronicle my running adventures, seek encouragement from readers, and encourage other oversized folk like me to get off the sofa and get running. It's a passion and an addiction, believe me.
I started running (this means distance running) when I was getting ready for Marine Corps boot camp. In the Marine Corps I grew to hate running, probably because I was required to do it. I ran off-and-on again after I got out. I was serious about running, but not committed, so I'd let it slide a few months, then get back at it again.
Meanwhile, my weight was an up-and-down roller coaster as I desperately tried to cling on to the shape I had when I was younger. I eventually stopped giving a shit about the numbers, at the advice of my wife and many experts I encountered in real life and on the Intarwebz, and began focusing on making personal fitness fun. I had been playing with the idea of doing a 10K or a half-marathon for a few years. Finally, I signed up for the Las Vegas Half-Marathon in August of 2007. I trained like a mofo for this event, and damn near broke down crying when I finished, after having laughed to myself after every time I propelled by 225-pound (at 5'9") ass past one skinny person after another between miles 11 and 13. I was stoked and proud of what I had accomplished.
I had been bitten by the running bug.
Meanwhile, I had been to the doctor for a physical because I wanted to see how my new *habit* affected my health (and to find out what was going on with my GI tract: lactose intolerance). Turns out that at 5-feet, 9-inches and 228 pounds I ran 116/74 blood pressure, cholesterol at 124, and low blood sugar (don't remember the number) - a picture of health - better numbers than most skinny folk, might I add. I had been eating healthily and still do, scarfing down just enough to help me with the pounding my body was taking at 35-40 miles a week.
As of this post I'm doing a 10K this Saturday and training for another half-marathon that's being held on April 26. I'm putting in about 24-28 miles a week, increasing as I get closer to the Big Day. Since April 26, 2008 is the 110th anniversary of my great-great-grandmother's birth (she died when I was 13), the race will be done in her honor. Coincidentally, the race is called the Labor Of Love. Nice ring to it.
Wish me luck, encourage me, give me advice, whatever. This blog is for the oversized runners out there who are living proof that skinny is not synonymous with fit. I don't mean runners who are over 200 pounds, but happen to be seven feet tall, either. I mean overweight, healthy, endurance athletes, so yes, this is a fat acceptance blog.
Oh, and yeah, I said A-T-H-L-E-T-E-S. Get used to it.
By the way, I have folks like Sarah at fatgirlonabike.wordpress.com to thank for the inspiration in starting this blog up. Solidarity, sister!
I started running (this means distance running) when I was getting ready for Marine Corps boot camp. In the Marine Corps I grew to hate running, probably because I was required to do it. I ran off-and-on again after I got out. I was serious about running, but not committed, so I'd let it slide a few months, then get back at it again.
Meanwhile, my weight was an up-and-down roller coaster as I desperately tried to cling on to the shape I had when I was younger. I eventually stopped giving a shit about the numbers, at the advice of my wife and many experts I encountered in real life and on the Intarwebz, and began focusing on making personal fitness fun. I had been playing with the idea of doing a 10K or a half-marathon for a few years. Finally, I signed up for the Las Vegas Half-Marathon in August of 2007. I trained like a mofo for this event, and damn near broke down crying when I finished, after having laughed to myself after every time I propelled by 225-pound (at 5'9") ass past one skinny person after another between miles 11 and 13. I was stoked and proud of what I had accomplished.
I had been bitten by the running bug.
Meanwhile, I had been to the doctor for a physical because I wanted to see how my new *habit* affected my health (and to find out what was going on with my GI tract: lactose intolerance). Turns out that at 5-feet, 9-inches and 228 pounds I ran 116/74 blood pressure, cholesterol at 124, and low blood sugar (don't remember the number) - a picture of health - better numbers than most skinny folk, might I add. I had been eating healthily and still do, scarfing down just enough to help me with the pounding my body was taking at 35-40 miles a week.
As of this post I'm doing a 10K this Saturday and training for another half-marathon that's being held on April 26. I'm putting in about 24-28 miles a week, increasing as I get closer to the Big Day. Since April 26, 2008 is the 110th anniversary of my great-great-grandmother's birth (she died when I was 13), the race will be done in her honor. Coincidentally, the race is called the Labor Of Love. Nice ring to it.
Wish me luck, encourage me, give me advice, whatever. This blog is for the oversized runners out there who are living proof that skinny is not synonymous with fit. I don't mean runners who are over 200 pounds, but happen to be seven feet tall, either. I mean overweight, healthy, endurance athletes, so yes, this is a fat acceptance blog.
Oh, and yeah, I said A-T-H-L-E-T-E-S. Get used to it.
By the way, I have folks like Sarah at fatgirlonabike.wordpress.com to thank for the inspiration in starting this blog up. Solidarity, sister!
posted by Jim at
12:45
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home