From a slug to a runner - your story! (Read 7421 times)

Hi Greg, that's a great accomplishment! Excellent photos too!

I never thought that running would become a sport or hobby I would indulge in. I played football in high school and always thought it was funny to see the track & field kids running. I was a def/off lineman in high school and as you can imagine was a pretty big kid. Of course I did run for conditioning, but running was hardly something fun. My legs, ankles and calves would always hurt. Lifting weights was another story....I loved it than and still love it now. My senior year I played with a weight of 290 lbs. When I graduated I was up to 300. I was lucky to get a scholarship to play football in college for the University at Buffalo. I toped at 310 lbs in college. On my second season I sustained a tear on my left ACL. That is when I decided to stop playing football. Without football I needed another challenge (and a way to pay for college), therefore I decide to join the Army ROTC program. When I went to see the enrollment officer on the fall semester he told me there was no way I could be in the Army weighing as much as I did, I would never pass the physical. He pretty much told me to forget about it. I didn't like his tone very much and decided to prove him wrong. I told him I would shape up and come see him next semester. In order to lose weight I started doing exactly that which I hated the most: running. This was around October or November 2002. At first I was running about 1/2 mile everyday with the plan to working my way up to 2 miles, the Army's physical fitness test distance. My legs and knees hurt like hell at first, but I kept on going. The hardest part of running for me at that time, and still now, is the instability and pain in my left knee, but I just keep of driving on! I kept on lifting weights which helped alot. In terms of nutrition I went into the soup and salad and water diet. The botton line for me was exercise much, much more and eat much, much less. By the next summer I was down to 240 lbs. I passed the Army physical and joined ROTC. For the next 2 years I kept on running and exercising, and went as far down as 183 lbs. I have since been maintaining my weight between 190 and 195 lb, and I haven't stopped running ever since. Rei Manneck

excellent stories Greg & Rei...more great inspirations for all of us..

Yeah...wow...you guys are truly amazing! I guess I could show what I looked like at my all-time high adult weight (not including when I gave birth, which was right around 225 very bloated #s on my 5'3.5" frame) of ~185: Note in the picture on the right that my hubby's aunt is HIDING behind me. I am very proud of the fact that she can no longer do so, and she is in no way a svelte woman, herself. At one time I got myself down to 124#s, but I just couldn't maintain it with diet alone and got myself back up to 142 or so. I struggled to get back down to the mid 130s, but am back up to the low 140s, again. But this year will be different. This year I am not a newbie runner and I am determined to get myself back down to a more reasonable size (120-125#s is my goal)...after all, the less I weigh, the easier and faster I should be able to run....and I need all the speed I can get! This is about what I look like, now: In addition to running I am doing some kickboxing and strength training with Cathe Friedrich DVDs. I don't just want a smaller # on the scale, I want a dimple-free body with visible muscle tone! k

Kirsten, that's phenomenal! WAY TO GO!

T In fact, I wish I could post some pictures of a certain someone who's gone from slug-to-supermodel ... but I'd be shot, and that sounds painful.

oh please do post...we'll have to do with you getting shot..hopefully it'll just be a flesh-wound. Kirsten, way to go, amazing stuff. aloha, steve

What an inspirational thread! This is my first post -- I've been lurking for a month or so. I'm a former slug who's working her way up to being a runner. I still have a hard time calling myself one. I've never been athletic, and I've been very overweight for all of my adult life. In July of 2006, I decided to change that. Since then, I've lost 74 pounds, signed up for my first 10k (it's on March 31), and I'm now obsessed with running. In July, I weighed 275 pounds and couldn't run for more than two minutes. Now I can run 4 miles without stopping, and I even did 5.4 this past Saturday but I had to take a few walk breaks on hills. My pace is still slow, about 12-minute miles, but I'm still astonished that I can run at all. I still have weight to lose, and lots of progress to make, but I'm hooked and I don't think I'll turn back now. I'm 35, by the way, and my husband is a running coach! Not sure why it took me so long to get inspired by him...

Steve: Thanks for starting this. I just found the thread today and am impressed with the responses. I would comment on a few, but I don't want to leave anyone all out. Needless to say, you all are inspirations to me. I look at my running logs and am ashamed of getting caught in the wintertime blues (not that in Hawaii, you have to worry about that much, huh?) in contrast to the rest of you. But I also know there is hope. So thanks. I used to think my own story was pretty good, but I'm learning from reading here, on Runner's World and SparkPeople, that my story is only a blip on the radar. That said, here's my story: High school: ran cross country, always finished last on team, sometimes last in race. Eventually quit team after two years. College: No running. Post-college: 2003: at age of 34, at 5 foot, 7 inches, I find myself at pushing 280 pounds. Combination of sedentary job as a weekly newspaper editor, genetic makeup, lack of good diet (too much McDonald's), lack of exercise (it's an effort to walk the stairs to our second-story apartment), etc. Late 2003: My wife begins Weight Watchers and encourages me to join. She doesn't push me. After several months, I do, begin losing weight, but not enough. Early 2004: Start exercise program: using walking videos (I know not very manly, but hey, it works). Get bored. Start going outside to walk around development. Eventually build up to run. In process, lose about 100 pounds. Run in first 5Ks. Summer 2004: run personal best in 5K in race in Maine. 28:29. 2005: Up and down with running, mostly down. 2006: Year starts out with developing condition similar to acid reflux, running begins to falter, because not enough fuel. July, August, September, no running. October, begin slowly. December: start training for first half marathon at the end of March in western Pa, using training program from Runner's World website. 2007: January: start out decently, with combination of running and strength training, but then falter going into February. Trying to get back on track here on March, using SparkPeople.com (free site) as a tool to help me get there, both with fitness and nutrition. Only a few days in, so far, so good.