Ron and I connected through the LHRL Podcast and since then have become fast friends. It amazes me that he ever lived the life that he did before fitness. Below is his story. Check it out.

 

May 24th, 1996 found me lying in the floor of my house, writhing in pain as the two little female paramedics was trying to figure out how to get my 270+ pound butt loaded in the ambulance. Fortunately, there was a volunteer fireman in the neighborhood that answered the call and was able to handle one end of the gurney. It was a kidney stone; passed it in the same night in the ER.
Two years prior I spend the night in the ER with a heart condition. You would have thought the heart scare would have been enough for me, but it took the pain of that stupid little stone to change my life.  Within a month, I started playing racquetball and lost most of my weight by eating better and drinking a LOT of water. Somewhere around 2001 I started running a little to help my racquetball game and running was what we did in high school basketball so I thought it might help. In early 2002 my sister-in-law ran a marathon and since she was never really the picture of health I thought if she could do it so could I.
I signed up with the Arthritis Foundation to run in honor of my 7 year old niece who was born with Juvenile Rheumatoid arthritis and in June 2002 I ran my one and only marathon.  My body just must not be built for running (I thought) so I went back to racquetball and played fairly competitively for 14 years.
That’s when it happened. In 2010 I saw some people flipping tractor tires across a parking lot in an industrial park and I dropped in to see what it was all about.  On May 28th, 2010 I performed my first Crossfit workout which was something called the “filthy fifty”. I had to use handicapped bathrooms for a week after that and I was hooked. I tried running again and my max was 15 miles a month. After 6 months at Crossfit I was able to run injury free at nearly 100 miles per month proving how important core strength is to running and everything else.
Since then I’ve completed another 10 marathons including Pikes Peak, 1-50k, several triathlons and around 30 half marathons. I added cycling early on and have ridden a half dozen century rides (100 milers) and in 2016 I qualified for Nationals in the Duathlon. For 2017 I’m getting the family involved and my 3 boys are participating with me in our first Tough Mudder in October. We even built an obstacle course on our property to help train and it has been crazy fun! My wife cycles and does some weight training with me and I’m hoping my daughter gets interested soon.
I’ve got so many stories I could tell about the people that have helped me on this journey it would fill a book. One inspiring story I will share is about my 7 year old niece with arthritis. Her arthritis went into remission and 10 years after I ran that marathon in her honor I had the privilege of running alongside her as she ran her first half marathon and she had a time right at 2 hours. She’s gone on to run more miles than I ever will and it’s really cool to see the positive impact that athletics has had on her life.
There’s a good reason for everything we do and then there’s the real reason. I tell everyone that asks that I like to be fit to enjoy life with my family and to compete from time to time. But you now know that stupid little pebble and my aversion to pain is the real reason.


***At Lift Heavy Run Long®, we are in constant search of inspiration. We are fortunate to have a Facebook group which involves people who have, for one reason or another, decided to make drastic changes in their life, in order to lead a more fulfilled existence.

We want to share with you some of the encouraging stories that have come from the people in our community. We would love for you to be part of the group.

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Feel free to contact me anytime. I would love to hear your story.
wilson@liftheavyrunlong.com