Runnning For My Existence - How I dramatically changed my body and life. Twice.

[shaker]

Today is 2 weeks and 2 days after surgery and I just got back from running 9.30 miles at a 4:15 marathon pace and felt absolutely no pain in my chest or my legs. I'm back, on the 'other side', and running stronger than ever!!! On top of the world! 

 

Sir hats off to you and your dedication.

[vegeta78]

awesome story, awesome transformation, awesome running, truly motivational and hardcore

[waves]

An amazing and inspiring transformation!  Thank-you for sharing and hope your updates continue in the future.  Marking this thread down as one to watch.

How soon until you qualify for Boston? 

[Fatboyslim]

...How soon until you qualify for Boston?  

About 30 years - I'll be 80 and the qualifying time is 5 hours!  

All joking aside (hopefully I was joking...), I have run Boston twice, both times for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (my 11 year old niece Julia has CF and it is what helps motivate me to persevere). Running for a charity (~5% of the runners) allows you to be exempt from qualifying times but must guarantee to raise a certain amount ($3000 for 2009 and $5000 for 2010). Even then you still have to get picked by a charity.

I will continue to do everything I can to raise as much money for CF research (my latest project is www.JustSayJulia.com for the 2011 London Marathon) but I have made a promise to myself that the next time I run Boston, I will qualify (3:35 for 50-55). BTW, my marathon personal record (PR) right now for a 26.2 mile marathon is 4:08 but I will do everything I can to break that at London.    

Finally, thanks again for all of the nice comments. I sincerely hope that I inspire at least one person reading this thread to realize that regardless of your physical condition,age, or circumstance you really can accomplish ANYTHING you put your mind to.  
Roger  
  

[Rocky76]

Holy Crap!! An obstacle is what you see when you lose sight of your goal.... you obviously have not. Congrats!

[waves]

...How soon until you qualify for Boston?  

About 30 years - I'll be 80 and the qualifying time is 5 hours!  

All joking aside (hopefully I was joking...), I have run Boston twice, both times for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (my 11 year old niece Julia has CF and it is what helps motivate me to persevere). Running for a charity (~5% of the runners) allows you to be exempt from qualifying times but must guarantee to raise a certain amount ($3000 for 2009 and $5000 for 2010). Even then you still have to get picked by a charity.

I will continue to do everything I can to raise as much money for CF research (my latest project is www.JustSayJulia.com for the 2011 London Marathon) but I have made a promise to myself that the next time I run Boston, I will qualify (3:35 for 50-55). BTW, my marathon personal record (PR) right now for a 26.2 mile marathon is 4:08 but I will do everything I can to break that at London.    

Finally, thanks again for all of the nice comments. I sincerely hope that I inspire at least one person reading this thread to realize that regardless of your physical condition,age, or circumstance you really can accomplish ANYTHING you put your mind to.  
Roger  
  

Good luck with Boston Roger!  Too many years of hard soccer and squash have made my knees feel like they're made of glass.  Currently waiting for knee surgery as well so hope to be running, or something, again soon.

We have 2 very good friends who have had double lung transplants due to CF.  A terrible disease...I wish your niece all the best.  We do a lot for CF fundraising as well.  There is hope...one of our friends who recently had a double lung transplant also has a twin sister who had her's in her early 20's.  She's now just over 40 and approaching 20 years with new lungs!  There is hope!

[Fatboyslim]

Holy Crap!! An obstacle is what you see when you lose sight of your goal.... you obviously have not. Congrats!

Thanks. For too many years I just accepted things and unfortunately gave up too soon at the first sign of resistance. Diets, exercise, etc. it really didn't matter. Even when it came to the decision to have G surgery, I would have excuses why I couldn't do it and put it off for far too long.

Fortunately I finally learned that if you really do want something bad enough you truly can accomplish anything if you do just focus and believe in yourself. I don't know why it took me 47 years to figure that out but glad I did.   

Good luck with Boston Roger!  Too many years of hard soccer and squash have made my knees feel like they're made of glass.  Currently waiting for knee surgery as well so hope to be running, or something, again soon.

We have 2 very good friends who have had double lung transplants due to CF.  A terrible disease...I wish your niece all the best.  We do a lot for CF fundraising as well.  There is hope...one of our friends who recently had a double lung transplant also has a twin sister who had her's in her early 20's.  She's now just over 40 and approaching 20 years with new lungs!  There is hope!

I guess I'm pretty lucky with my knees - seems like in the minority. I always tell people that my knees are thanking me for losing the weight as they were getting tired of carrying all the weight around for all those years! 

Thanks for the uplifting news about your friends as well as for raising money for CF! Julia has been on the transplant list since she was 9, which was instrumental in my decision to step up my fundraising efforts and run Boston. Sad that a 9 year old girl has to be on any transplant list and even worse that it will take her at least ~6 years to get it. I continue to keep hope that advances in research someday make lung transplants a thing of the past. Thanks again.

BTW, 4 weeks out of surgery this weekend and I ran 16 miles nonstop with absolutely no pain in my chest!

[sjr8989]

Truly inspirational.

If you get the chance, could you upload more pictures after your bruising and scarring have healed?

[texastoast88]

truly a great story. thank you for sharing your experiences - it's very inspiring to see such a tremendous transformation. congratulations on the life changing weight loss, and on the surgery too. i can't wait to have mine!