Just before I turned 30, I clocked in weighing 330lbs, the heaviest weight I had ever been and thankfully, the heaviest I’d ever be. For context, I graduated high school at 245lbs, so weight had always been an issue for me. I dabbled and found success in weightlifting that would carry into my adult life, but I was inconsistent at best and I never really was able to dial in my nutrition enough to actually lose the weight. So at just 30 years old, carrying around the equivalent of a three-seater sofa every day, I end up with severe, debilitating back issues. Multiple bulged discs, a few pinched nerves, it got so bad that after just four weeks I couldn’t tie my own shoes. It took six months of physical therapy to be able to walk normally. While dealing with it all, I had a sobering fear that I was at the half-way point of my life, at best. Despite my lifestyle, I somehow managed to never have bad blood work, which is how many people get triggered to evaluate their life choices. Instead, I just had slowly gotten to the point of feeling and moving like absolute garbage, and I looked awful. During all of those months of PT, I learned a lot about the body, what caused my back issues, how to keep getting stronger and ways to prevent it from happening again. I also saw a dietician that really opened my eyes up to portion size, as I didn’t necessarily eat “terribly,” but the volume of the food I put away could be staggering. So, I began to pay more attention to my diet and really dove deep into the concepts and science behind diet and nutrition like calories and macronutrients (protein, fat, carbohydrates) and how important the decisions I made were when fueling my body. The weight steadily started to come off, getting just below 300lbs before the adventure really began.

I can’t recall how the conversation even started, but I found myself with a handful of friends talking about running a 5k event that was happening later on in the spring. I never hesitated to commit to doing it as it felt like an amazing and scary thing to do with friends and I never shied away from competition and a good time. Sadly, up until this point my experience with running was back in gym class, where I wasn’t even able to complete the one mile run before the 20 minute time limit expired and we were all called back to the locker room. So, here I was committing to 3.1 miles….wild! I used a program called Couch to 5k as it guided me to slowly build up the ability to run consistently. I’ll never forget using that app, the confidence it gave me with a solid plan, and my friend Doug running by my side on the treadmill at the gym. Had I never made those changes in my eating habits, starting losingthe weight, had the health/life scare, or had an amazing support system there would have been no way I could have even entertained the possibility of running a 5k. I will NEVER forget the day I was finally able to walk out my front door and run one full mile without stopping. My grade school age self would have lost his mind if I told him!

I finished that 5k on May 5th 2013 in 46 mins. It hurt…alot. I walked…alot. I remember even now, how badly everything burned and hurt halfway through. Unbeknownst to me, I was running in the wrong shoes for months, faced a few rounds of plantar fasciitis, but with each experience great lessons were learned. There was a huge group of us that ran that 5k and I laugh hard now thinking back because we all went out for a big pasta dinner the night before to “carb load.” For the majority of that group it was mostly a one and done. A few did a few more 5ks here and there, but it was short lived. It took me at least a year to do another one, not sure why, but I think how difficult it was scared me. It really hurt, at 290 lbs at the time, that wasn’t exactly fun. The weight kept dropping and I kept running a little here and there, but I still wasn’t expecting it to turn into what it would.

On May 3rd, 2015, almost two years to the day of my first 5k, I completed my first half marathon. I’ll never forget both the finish line feeling and how hard the last few miles were, but I was officially hooked on running. It being difficult no longer scared me off, it got me motivated to keep pushing. In some aspects it got easier, but in others it only got harder. I ended up averaging about two half marathons per year for the next 4 years and countless distances in-between. It took me getting to ten half marathons and some heavy motivation from friends to finally tackle a full Marathon. In October 2019, just weeks before my 40th birthday, I competed in and finished the Wineglass Marathon in Corning, NY. A decade after feeling hopeless, heavy, and unable to tie my own shoes, I had a new lease on life. I was no longer thinking about a life half over, but a life only just begun and I was making decisions to live it on my terms and with adventure and health in mind. In the fall of 2021, in very similar circumstances to that first 5k many years earlier, I mentioned considering doing a triathlon someday. Next thing I knew, I was registered for a half-Ironman (1.2m swim/56m bike/13.1m run). I conquered that Half Ironman in 2022, and then the following year I completed a full Ironman in Lake Placid NY, considered one of the hardest courses with its elevation. An absolutely life changing event.

Weaved through all of these events and milestones over more than ten years was an amazing support system of friends, family, coaches, mentors, athletes, and a gym community that guided me and held me accountable. With them on my journey, I’ve been able to make consistent improvements in my health, endurance, strength, and beyond. In fact, surrounding yourself with like minded people and support helps make the experience what it is, pushing through more challenging days and celebrating the wins along the way. Beyond any physical improvements, the people I have met and relationships created while doing these events have been some of the most impactful parts. The discipline to the training and nutrition is the process and the experiences and the people are the by-product. I had to buy-in to myself and accept that changes needed to be made, then others helped keep it going. There have been soaring highs and difficult lows, but those lows were always brightened by the people who have helped me get back up. It's because of my journey that I want to now help others realize their potential and support them in whatever way to achieve any dreams they think are impossible.