About

This whole thing started as an attempt to lose weight and get in shape. I didn't really know what "in shape" was at that time. In 2009 tried the South Beach Diet (with my wife, and several friends) and lost a lot of weight. Dropped from 200 lbs down to 160. We rebounded from it terribly, and tried again but never lost more weight from it. That was disheartening.

In 2011 I was hired for a new job (my first teaching job) and over the course of the year gained a ton of weight (stress eating, mostly, and doing no exercise). I had a lousy boss, and no support. Coupled with two years of being unemployed, which took a real mental toll, I had a hard time really kicking into gear.

In June of 2012 I topped the scales at 220 lbs. Combined with an incident where I passed out on a kayaking trip, I was scared into action. I started logging all of my food on MyFitnessPal, and started a walk/run program. I didn't expect much to come from the workout program at the time, I just wanted to "burn calories."

I started a running journal. I looked at the numbers at the end of three months, and figured "What the heck, I'll start a 5k plan. We'll see what happens." Two months later I ran my first 5k. Then another 5k. Another after that. Then a 10k, a half marathon, and a full marathon. I've gotten hooked on distance running, and I have  never felt better in my life than I do now. Coincidentally, about the time I took up the sport my life changed for the better. I have a great job, a growing family, and we have a house (something I thought would never happen for me.)

Through logging calories and following a running schedule I lost over 60 lbs. As I continued to pursue endurance sport I decided I wanted to take the opportunity to see some places I had never seen. I've run in the Marine Corps. Marathon in Washington, D.C., I've run in Leadville Colorado (only the 10k, though. Maybe someday a longer race there!) I ran the Big Sur Marathon in 2016, and the NYC Marathon in the fall of 2017.

In mid 2015 my wife and I learned that we were expecting a new addition to our family in the form of a little girl! We were both very excited, and being the kind of person who likes to consume all the information he can on a topic, I immediately began looking around for literature on the subject. I found a real lack of materials for new dads, and what I found was fairly disappointing to me as I wasn't the target audience. I'm not interested in selling anything, but I'm parenting-positive and like to read about and discuss ideas.

We're now expecting our second child, and I've grown very fond of the online community of parent-bloggers sharing the digital space. This is a crazy journey we're on, but I'm encouraged by how many people there are putting positivity, humor, and love into the space.

I'm odd. I have a dry sense of humor. I believe the Opossum is my spirit animal. Except I'm more like a hyper-social Opossum. If you are a weirdo who identifies with hyper-social feral creatures that play dead, or if you're addicted to pizza, we'll get along fine.

If you have made it to the end, then I congratulate and welcome you to my new blog. I hope to share information on fatherhood as I learn about it, as well as race reports and information on how to maintain an active life as it relates to these changes in the family dynamic. There is quite a bit to learn, and even more to experience in the huge world and ever changing laboratory of life.

Onward! The adventure awaits!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments are appreciated, but will be moderated.