It was early May 2010, and I woke up with pain in my chest, and a pounding headache. I sat up, took a swig of water, stood up slowly and ambled off to the restroom. I looked into the mirror and what I saw there absolutely scared me to death. I knew I was in bad shape, but I was white as a ghost, eyes were bloodshot, and I looked a very sick Pillsbury Dough Boy. Later that evening I was channel surfing and decided to watch the Biggest Loser. Somewhere in that show I saw a guy, older than I was, much heavier than I was working his butt off. It inspired me and at that point I decided I needed to make a change.
The next day I headed over to Wal-Mart and purchased the Biggest Loser Cardio Max workout DVD. I started that evening. Man, was it tough. I figured if they could do it, then so could I, but 12 minutes into the DVD I had to turn it off. But... I was NOT discouraged and kept at it, and started working on my eating habits. I found http://www.myfitnesspal.com/ and started logging my food. Sometime during the first two weeks I saw the P90X infomercial and I knew my daugther had it. I borrowed it and attempted some workouts, and could do some but not all of what they were doing. I decided to jump in and purchased my own copy. I struggled at first but started making some great headway. Toward the end of the first 30-day phase I noticed a lump on my stomach and went to the doctor, who sent me to a surgeon. It was an umbilical hernia that needed to be immediately repaired. Up to this point I had lost 22 pounds and was starting to feel alive again. I was extremely disappointed, but decided that if all I could do was walk I was going to walk my butt off.
Somewhere along this timeline, in talking to my triathlete brother, the subject of Cycle North Carolina came up. He and my other brother had done the CNC ride in 2009. This is an amazing adventure. 7 days of riding averaging about 65 miles per day. It sounded fun. I had cycled years ago, and in fact, my brother borrowed my bike to use in his first 3 triathlons. Only problem.. I currently didn't own a bicycle. My other brother had a Trek 2.3 frame that he gave me, but that meant I had to get all the other components together. Due to financial restraints that took me until February 2011 to get it all together. I started working out again just before this, because I knew October was just around the corner and I knew I definately needed the work.
We took a trip to Alabama to my triathlete brother's (my mom lives behind him) home. My other brother came down and we went for a ride. It was a blast! It was only 12 miles but I felt good. While there and looking at some of my brother's finisher medals and other items for doing triathlons I kind of got the itch.
So, enter April, and the journey is taking off. Prior to my bicycle ride with my brothers I had lost 30 pounds total, and am now down 42 pounds total. I have 43 or so to go, but I'm not overly concerned with weight loss, but more focused on being able to ride Cycle North Carolina, and also in completing my first triathlon.
Come along for the journey.
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