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On December 27, 2014 Allison and I left the kids with my brother-sister-in-law and sister-in-law in Hilton Head where we were all vacationing and she and I drove to Jacksonville, Florida for the Jacksonville Bank Marathon.  We arrived after 1 AM with the need to be at the starting line by 6:30 AM.  Suffice to say we didn’t sleep much.  Allison was also running the 5k so it would be a nice day for both of us.  Jacksonville was a flat, nice course through nice neighborhoods.  We had a nice time.  I would love to run it in 2015.

When I finished my first marathon, I could barely walk.  People had to hold me up.  I was cold and shaking and wanted to put long pants on but could not even do that without help.  NEVER EVER AGAIN I thought.  For about 10 hours.  After a dinner at Olive Garden (I earned it darn it!), I went to bed.  Woke up around 2 AM and started looking for my next marathon.  It would be in the NCR Trail Marathon in Maryland – Sparks-Glencoe MD, on November 29.

I was barely a runner at this point, having only run for 6 months, and certainly not a runner on an unpaved trail, but it was a reasonably close race, a slightly warmer temperature, so we went at it.  Allison, the kids and I drove to Maryland, stopping at a Cracker Barrel on the way down.  We stayed at the hotel and the next morning went off to the race.  Parking was a challenge but Allison and the kids saw me start; then it was basically down a hill, around the bend, and out 11 or 12 miles (and back those same 11 or 12 miles) up that hill I started out going down and across the finish line.  2 marathons in 2 months.  Was a pattern developing?

Given that i was morbidly obese 16 months ago, the prospect of running a marathon sounded absurd this morning.  But why not try.  I drove the 7.5 miles from my house to the start of the Hambletonian Marathon (www.HambletonianMarathon.com) and met my running partner, Michele.  Now, I had multiple advantages here.  First, the marathon started 7.5 miles from my house – no crazy drive in the AM.  Second, it ran the last several miles – the hardest mentally – on the heritage trail, which is my regular running trail – so it really felt at home.  Third, I had an honest to goodness real doctor, Michele, who my wife and I went to college with (along with her husband) and had been a good friend for over 20 years.  Hey, if you are going to run a marathon, you might as well do it with a doctor by your side!

I was blessed to have my wife, parents, in-laws, heck, even the County Executive, who happens to be my client and a good friend, showed up to cheer me on, along with other running friends.  How lucky I was.  Here are a few pictures from that day.  I figured it would take me about 6 hours (the course time limit) to finish.  In the end it was 4:39.  I was thrilled.  To have gone from morbidly obese to marathon runner in 16 months – just through diet and exercise – no surgery, was an amazing feeling.

In July, 2013 I remember this guy FLYING on the treadmill next to me in Disneyland California.  I was around 260 LBS. I thought, dreamed . . . maybe next summer when I step into the same exercise room I can be 175 LBS.  Maybe.  I doubt it.  Maybe.  Well, I was back at the Grand Californian, but I wasn’t 175.  Wasn’t even close.  It was 154!  What a difference a year makes.  So that year, that hotel, a year later, I stepped on the treadmill and RAN.  It wasn’t quite 7.5 MPH, but it was running, and it felt great!

On June 23, 2014 I stepped on the doctor’s evil scale.  The same scale that scared the heck out of me a year earlier.  The same one that foretold the warnings I had received moments later of being a pre-diabetic, of being morbidly obese.  Now, a year later it told a completely different story – it was the story of “normal”.  Weight is measured in pounds in the USA, but healthy weight is measured in part by BMI – body mass index.  Mine a year ago was “morbidly obese”, then it climbed (down) to “obese”, then to “overweight”.  Now, on this day, one year from when I started, I was in the “normal” category for my height for the first time since probably 7th grade.  Few people I know would call me “normal”.  For once though, I was happy to be “normal”.

Orange County is blessed with many recreational opportunities, chief among them is the County Heritage Trail.http://www.orangecountynyparks.com/heritage-trail/  Returning from Hawaii I found myself on that trail jogging on a regular basis, which by June had become full scale “running.”  I decided in June of 2014 to “go big or go home”.  That meant one thing:  I was going to run a marathon.  Where better to try one:  Goshen, NY of course.  So I set my goal – don’t run a 5k (which is 3.1 miles I now knew), not a 10k, or a half marathon.  Nope – it was GO BIG OR GO HOME.  I was going to run the Hambletonian Marathon in Goshen that October.

Where else to start running than paradise.  I had been walking since June and occasionally would take a few steps at a harder pace but in April of 2014 we went to Hawaii. 5,000 miles away from home I decided nobody could laugh too hard as I started to jog along the Ko Olina waterfront about 25 miles outside of Honolulu.  There is a 4 mile or so waterfront part so I sent out of my hotel, put one foot in front of the other, and started running.

 

January 1, 2014.  If you are doing the work yourself, success can come at a price.  I found that out the hard way by spending all of my time at the office and none of the time on my family or myself.  While on my November cruise, I made the choice to change careers.  I went from a very successful career in the private practice of law to a more personally rewarding but less financially rewarding practice in a new position effective January 1, 2014.  The change has definitely had its plusses and minuses, but here’s a big plus:  I’m much more likely to (a) be alive when I’m 50; (b) not become diabetic; and (c ) not see my weight go up to 300 pounds, all of which were fairly likely on June 24, 2013.  Changing up my law practice was a significant choice for me, but as a result, I have more time with my family, more time to exercise, and stand a much better chance of being alive for many more years.  Had I not started to get in shape, I undoubtedly would have stayed the career path I was on, made more money, but been less healthy and less happy.

NOVEMBER, 2013:  SO, can you lose weight on a cruise?  The answer is OF COURSE YOU CAN!  Cruises are great opportunities to see whatever it is you are near (islands, historic sights, scenic views, whatever).  BUT they are also great opportunities to exercise.  As I pushed toward the two-hundred mark in late November, 2013, I joined my family on a Thanksgiving cruise.  My wife and kids, parents, and in-laws all went.  I ate at every meal with the rest of them – you can’t starve yourself thin.  However, I skipped THE BREADS and I skipped DESSERT and I skipped the Caesar dressing on the salad and opted for a fat free substitute.  Now, skipping dessert was the hardest part with the easiest solution.  When you finish your meal, go back to  your room, change into some gym clothes, and go walk on the treadmill.  Bam! Done.

To say that the period from July 13 to October 13, 2013 was easy and that the pounds magically dropped off would be a complete lie.  The pounds did drop, but not one bit of it was easy.  From ignoring my favorite foods at Disney to ignoring the desserts on a cruise, to walking from 1 to 3 miles a day, it was horrendously challenging.  It paid off though on October 13.  When you see yourself everyday, you notice some change but can’t quantify it other than on a scale.  However, when I rambled into Middletown Medical for my 3 month “after exercise started” checkup, the nurse immediately noticed I was down some pounds.  I stepped on the scale and it was said 213 lbs.  Down a straight 50 lbs over a straight three months.  Sitting waiting for the MD to come in (undoubtedly sending/answering emails while smiling that yes I was down 50 more LBS), I reflected on the start of the journey.  I was still obese.  Not just overweight.  Obese.  Still.  I could drop 65+ lbs and still be “obese”.    MD walked in and took a second look.  Looked at chart.  Turned to me and said the words that over 1.5 years later stick in my mind and gave me tremendous personal satisfaction:  “DID YOU LOSE 50 LBS???!!!???!!”.  Darn straight!   Normally when a doctor would cry it would be because they had another unhealthy, unsalvageable patient.  This one shed tears of joy.  “I’m so happy for you.  You have taken control of your life.  Tell your wife you made me cry.”  Those were great sentences but the middle one stuck with me – YES, I HAD TAKEN CONTROL OF MY LIFE.  I was no longer dependent on letting bad foods drive my decisions.  My movement no longer consisted of walking from my car to an office chair and back.  Did I lose 50 more lbs?  Darn straight.  And you can too.