Fat Guy Running, A Brief History....

I am a fat guy. Not morbidly obsese, just fat. At first glance you'd might not even notice, but I am overweight. At 6'2'', I have been as high as 260lbs. My 38'' waist were feeling very snug and I'll be damned if I go up to the 40''. Therefore I decided that I should do something about it.

I decided to take running seriously this year. I have done some running on and off throughout the years, but never took it seriously. I easily got bored or found something else to occupy the time.

I have done a couple things to keep me motivated. The biggest motivator in my life is my wife. I want to look good for her. She has lost a bunch of weight and I owe it to her to support her weight loss by making a committment of my own. I also bought a GPS watch, the Garmin Forerunner 405CX. I am somewhat of a gadget nerd, so this is right up my alley. I am keeping track of my food consumption using the Weight Watchers point system. I've never gone to the meetings (and probably never will, too proud), but the point counting system seems to work well. Also, I downloaded an IPhone application that helps me track the points (again, NERD ALERT!!!)

Finally, I have been reading quite a bit online and talking with a friend who is a runner to guide my progress and development from a fat blob to a svelte, sleek running stud!

My official race history (pretty lame!) **these races are after I had started taking this seriously:

06/13/09 Susan G. Komen (5K) 25:14/8:05**
06/04/09 Corporate Challenge (3.5mi) 30:08/8:37**
11/27/08 Turkey Trot (8K) 46:23/9:20
11/22/07 Turkey Trot (8K) 46:33/9:22
06/13/04 Run for Education (5K) 27:11/8:45
06/04/04 Juneteenth (5K) 27:22/8:49
06/25/03 St. Theresa's (2.2mi) 19:44/8:58
06/21/03 Kyle Reid (5K) 28:00/9:02
06/20/03 St. Greg's (5K) 27:48/8:56

So....My goals?

1) Lose weight! Being as high as 260lbs, I would like to get under 200lbs. Ultimately, if I keep the running thing up I think my ideal "running weight" would be 180. We'll see....

2) Improve time. 8 minute miles are slow, 9 mile miles are slower. I'd like to get around 7-minute miles and even lower.

3) Increase distances. To date, the longest I've ever run at one time is 7 miles. My first "long-distance" will be in September, the Rochester half-marathon. From there, completion of a marathon will be the next goal.

4) Ultra Running. I have found this facinating and think this would be a huge personal achievement. Looking ahead, I am thinking a 50K in the summer/fall of 2011.