This lead me spend a number of years living a very sedentary lifestyle. I carefully groomed and nurtured my new beer belly eventually allowing it to grow to mammoth proportions. One day while I was feebly attempting to tie up my shoes I was struck by the thought that it really shouldn’t be this hard to reach your feet. Plus my jeans, which I had come to call my fat pants no longer fit. I had a major dilemma... either buy new pants, again, or get off the couch and back in shape.
So began my reintroduction to running. I spent the first 6 months on the dreaded treadmill (oh how I have come to hate you) before heading outdoors in Dec. 2007. Yes that’s right, like any good Canadian I spent the hot summer months running indoors and waited for a good cold snap in the middle of the winter to start running outside.
I spent most of 2008 building a good mileage base and racing way too often. I had run regularly in my 20’s and early 30’s but running had always been an activity to keep me in shape for other sports. Honestly it had never dawned on me that racing could be an activity in itself. Besides I am kind of slow relatively speaking. Fortunately (unfortunately?), I discovered distance racing and was instantly hooked.
I plan on doing a number of marathons this year and am getting ready to attempt my first Ultra. I am hoping to get a lot more trail running / racing in this summer. Currently I run a few times a week with the Longboat Roadrunners, a Toronto based running club, and train the rest of the time on my own. I also somehow managed to spread my running madness to my spouse who is about to run her first marathon (yes running is an infectious disease).
Me just after my knee injury
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Porking up nicely during my lazy years
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Finally starting to get back in shape
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Hey there, thanks for the "dream of the possible and make it happen"!!
ReplyDeleteYour story and blog are very inspiring. It's funny too, because at the Mississauga Marathon, my favorite sign that someone had was "Suck it Up Cupcake"!