Couch Potato to Marathon: My Life on the Run

I recently completed my first Marathon, due in large part to Facebook and a young girl named Mari.  

Now, as you're reading, please don't take my story as bragging or showing off or anything like that.  It's quite the opposite, actually.  I'm just telling a personal story about an adventure in my life--how it benefited me and how it could benefit others.  I make no claims of fitness expertise. I'm just saying this is how it worked for me.

My story--this story--starts out about 5 1/2 years ago.  I found myself overweight and out of shape, largely from a sedentary job and lifestyle, a complete lack of exercise, and a hearty appetite for junk food.  At work, it was not uncommon for me to consume a dozen Oreos and a can of Pepsi at a 7:30 AM break.  OK, you got me...I did that every day, actually.  I'd have more soda and cookies with lunch and after work I might have half a bag of Doritos

Doritos

or Fritos for a snack before consuming a huge supper packed with massive carbs.  I live in an Asian household, if you will, so there was never any shortage of rice on my plate.  Later in the evening I'd have more chips and soda or maybe some ice cream.   The fast food drive-through was a staple in my life. Ultimately, I had ballooned up to 225.  I looked grotesque.  Physically, I would get winded simply standing up from the couch or walking up a few stairs.  

I was a couch potato.

Couch Potato (not me, an actor)

One night I woke up gasping for breath.  I don't know if I had stopped breathing or just dreamed it but it didn't matter--I believed in my heart that I almost died in my sleep and I blamed it on my own poor diet and lifestyle choices.  I tossed and turned the rest of the night--actually it was pre-dawn on a Saturday in June.  When I got up I immediately wrote out a determined and do-able diet and exercise plan. 

For starters, I committed to reducing my food intake by more than 50%, eliminating all junk food (pizza, ice cream, chips, cookies, soda, etc) as well as high-carb foods (pasta, rice, etc).  I went out and bought a treadmill and immediately began walking on it every day, without fail. 

That is:  EVERY DAY, WITHOUT FAIL.

Two miles a day turned into 3 then 4.  I set it up so I could watch TV while on the treadmill which made walking for an hour almost like I wasn't walking at all.  It was mid-baseball season at the time so I would usually walk the treadmill during a Red Sox game.  

Sox

When the season was over I became a fan of syndicated television hits such as Bones and NCIS.
  

The NCIS Team

After about a year on the treadmill, walking inside turned into walking outside--four miles every day, rain or shine. Literally every single day, rain or shine.  More than one day found me walking the Linear Park at night, in the rain, holding an umbrella while the tunes of Dagwood or the Big Fat Combo or the like played through my iPod.
  

Big Fat Combo

(The Linear Park closes at sunset so please don't squeal on me.)

By then I had lost 35 pounds.  I felt great and I looked great.....uh, at least people told me that I looked great....I mean, I'm not just saying that on my own.....uh, uh, uh....you know what I mean.  The funny thing is I had numerous people ask me how I lost so much weight and when I told them my system they all, without fail, said something like, "I don't want to do that.....I like soda.....I like ice cream.....I like pizza....."  You get the picture. Well dammit, I like all that stuff too.  That's why it's called a sacrifice.  I'll have a soda about once a year now but honestly I can live without it.  I really have no desire to drink soda, I don't miss it, and I'll only have it in a dire pinch.

I would have been content to go on walking like this probably forever.  I had no interest whatsoever in jogging or running.  I had run a bit of cross country in middle school

Dodd Cross Country 1979--I'm back row, third from right

and high school and had run in the Service (because I had to) but nothing too serious.  I think back then it was more of a chore than anything.  

BUT.....in 2010 my CHS '84 classmate Matt Hall and his wife Lisa inaugurated a charitable foundation named after their young daughter and devoted to Autism Spectrum Disorder Early Intervention--The Mari Hall Family Foundation.  Their main fundraiser is a 10K road race in Cheshire.  

MMOS

This is where my opening line meshes up with history.  Had the Halls created their foundation pre-Facebook I may well have not given it a second thought--or  first thought, for that matter.  It would have been announced with a small blurb in the local paper--I would have read it or not--and I may or may not have reacted to it.  However.....since we did have Facebook by then, I got a Facebook invitation to attend a charitable fundraising 10K named after a little girl in need.  It's called Mari's Miles of Smiles.  

I clicked the "will attend" button and was at that very moment committed 100%.  (Side note in parenthesis and italics:  I would like to point out at this time that one of our other classmates also committed to attend, commenting on FB that he was going to start training for the run but then didn't and to this day remains his same old doughy, out-of-shape self.

No names, and I say this with the fondest admiration of this gentleman.)  So I registered for the 10K and my daily walks turned into daily jogs in order to train-up for the race.  My first 10K was my first road race and was more of a painful run/walk.  I was not adequately prepared.  I finished in about an hour and a quarter.  I think it was 1:13.  While I was satisfied with completion, I was also determined to "do better next year. " It was at that time I made running a focal point in my life.  

In the ensuing years my regular training run has turned into a minimum of 5.2 miles--usually every other day.  If I do anything less I feel like I haven't done anything at all.  I'll do a 6.2 once a week and throw in an 8.5 or a 10 every 2 or 3 weeks.  It never ceases to amaze me that at my age stepping out in the afternoon to run 10 miles is a breeze and it feels great! 

Let me say that again: IT FEELS GREAT!  

Sometimes I bring my iPod, sometimes not.  Sometimes it's dark, or cold, or hot.  Sometimes not.  Sometimes it's raining or snowing, sometimes not.  Sometimes my legs feel heavy, only to find at the end of the run that I've bested my regular time.

Other times, I feel like I'm flying only to find at the end I'm behind my regular time by minutes.  But always, it feels great.  I've been blessed with good health throughout this journey, having only a couple of minor injuries or pains. Even the soreness which accompanies my running feels good.  It's hard to explain but I guess the movement and the rhythm is soothing and relaxing.  It's peaceful.  It feels like my mind is just along for a ride on my body and it generally doesn't even feel like I'm exerting any effort.  I'm not even tired when I finish a regular training run.  It's a craving. Sometimes I'll be at work thinking, "Man, I can't wait to get home and go running."  If, due to schedule, I go a couple of days without running, my knees start to ache.  That's just my body saying, "Hey, jackass!  What's more important here?  Get back out there and run!"  In a pinch, I'll jump back on the treadmill if I need to but it's not the same as the great outdoors.   

Since the 2010 10K I've bettered my time in each subsequent year with my most recent finish at 49:38.  The last 2 years my home town has also hosted the Cheshire Half Marathon.  

Lady finishing Cheshire Half

I've run both with times of 2:05 and 1:59.  I remember thinking after my first Half Marathon, "There's no way in hell I could ever do a Marathon."

Nevertheless, the next logical step was to run a Marathon. Luckily for me the Hartford Marathon is less than 30 minutes drive from my home.
  

Hartford Start

As a first-timer, I gave myself the modest goal of finishing in "under 5 hours."  I was psyched and pumped leading up to it and it did not disappoint.  It was a thrill.  A painful, numb thrill.  It turned out to be one of the top five experiences of my life.  Yes, I keep a list.    

On race day, in keeping with my strategy, I ran as far as I could without stopping, which turned out to be 15+ miles before my knees began to hurt.  I quickly descended into a run-walk-run-walk routine as my knees would permit. Everyone who finished around my time was utilizing the same strategy.  At times I could run for 5 or 7 minutes before going back into the walk and at other times it was only a minute or two. 

In the high teen miles and into the twenties the pain was excruciating, particularly in the ball of my right foot, my left knee, and my left groin.  This puzzled me because leading up to the Marathon my right knee and right hip had been bothering me but turned out to be non--issues during the race.

Near the end it got weird.  With about half a mile to go (the course comes over a bridge from East Hartford and right into downtown) I guess I started thinking about my accomplishment and how far I'd come not only on this day but over the course of the last several years.  A sudden wave of emotion came over me.  For reasons still unknown to me, I burst into a sprint.  I don't even know if "I" was in control.  It was like my body took over without conferring with my brain.  The pain was gone as I blew down the last hill and around the corner to the finish line, passing a bunch of hobbling racers along the way. 

Actually, I'd say I couldn't feel anything in my legs during the sprint--no pain, no numbness, nothing.  It felt like I was flying.  It was euphoric.  Then, as soon as I crossed the finish line (4:55) and went into a walk, the pain came rushing back and I could barely stand, let alone walk. I limped very slowly through the chute--receiving my thermal blanket, medal, and water bottle--and into the food tent where I took some much needed nourishment.

I must say that this adventure in running has been life-changing for the better.  And if I can do it, you can do it.  I continue to run and look forward to many more Miles of Smiles, Half Marathons, and Marathons.  Now that I know I can do it, I'll do it as long as I can.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  Will you join me?  It's worth every step.

Couch Potato to Marathon.  

Facebook. 

Mari.