Thursday, March 9, 2017

from Dad Bod to HOT ROD!

Fatness to Fitness Elite
60,000 people run the Peachtree Road Race. 99% line up in waves from A-Z. The top 1% start up front with Pro Runners. Cliffy ran a 18:48 5k to qualify as a seeded runner. He is the top 1%.

Cliffy's words:

I have always identified myself as an active person since I was a kid but the level of activity declined over the years as I became a young adult.  Starting a career, pursuing social interests, and getting married/starting a family took priority over my health and well-being.  It was not until the birth of my son in 2007 that I realized my life had to change if I was going to be around for my family for the long term.  At that time, I was drinking heavily to avoid coming to terms with being overweight and depressed.  It was a dangerous path I was on and the only thing I could think to do was literally start running away from it.  I started off running every couple of mornings out of necessity so that I would be less inclined to drink the night before.  The more I ran, the less I drank , the better I felt.  The weight started to come off from a high of roughly 230 pounds when I started (2008), down to 200 pounds by my 40th birthday (2015).  At 40, I thought this was the best I could be in terms of weight, strength, and fitness.  It wasn't until I received an invitation by a good friend, Jim Woodward (Woody), to join the Peachtree Road Boot Camp would I come to understand I was just scratching the surface.  Between the challenging workouts and the fellowship I was enjoying with others, it ignited my passion to show up every day and embrace a different approach to fitness.  I started to realize that I was capable of much more as fellow campers gave encouragement and challenged me in ways that I could not have experienced on my own.  Boot Camp offered an unique opportunity to share my goals with others and then celebrate when they were reached.  I lost another twenty three pounds over the past year and now weigh 177.  I also achieved another fitness goal that I never thought would be possible a couple of years ago.  I qualified for a seeded position at the Peachtree Road Race and will race with some of best runners in Atlanta and the US on July 4th.  Here I thought that 40 would be the peak and now who knows what it is.  It gets me excited to think what is possible over the next several years with showing up, putting my best effort forward, and being part of the Atlanta fitness community.

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