Up until my junior year of high school I avoided exercise pretty much at all cost, but it was toward the end of that year that my baseball coach told me that if I wanted to play college baseball I needed to drop some pounds. I was a 5'11" 200 lbs shortstop and very little of that 200 lbs was muscle. I guess that got my attention. I lost 40 lbs between my junior and senior year. Simply eating less and working up to running one mile a day. I had just injured my knee and couldn't run at first so I started jogging in place on one of those little exercise trampolines. That is how it all started, I felt great, not just physically but mentally as well. It gave me confidence that I could do what I set my mind to.
That one mile turned to 2 in college. I even ran the Peachtree Road Race, a 10k, while in college to keep up with my girlfriend (future wife). After a family reunion, my wife's, I decided to up my runs to 3 miles because there were too many people older than me running farther and faster than me. I was going to be in better shape for the next reunion.
In 2006, the idea of a marathon popped up. I had entertained that idea before but quickly let it go because it was a "crazy" idea. 26.2 miles!?!?! But, in 2006 I heard Dan Cathy talk about his marathon experience and then a friend said he was thinking about one. So, that spring I signed up for the Marine Corp Marathon in DC. The training was brutal. Many aches and pains. But also many memories, the beautiful sunrises over foggy fields along NC 10 (The background of this blog reminds me of those mornings), running to my store from home, eating at Q-Shack after a 23 mile training run. That was some awesome BBQ. Then came the marathon. I hadn't had "pregame butterflies" like that since playing baseball in college. Unfortunately, being a novice marathoner, I let those butterflies make me fly the first 6-8 miles. I couldn't slow down. It came back to hurt me around mile 15 or 16. I was hurting and had to stop and walk frequently the rest of the race. But, eventually, I got to that last mile. I was going to finish it running. The last .1 or .2 was up a steep hill. I remember looking down at my legs as I was going up that hill. I was facinated with my calf muscles because they were cramping every step up that hill and it looked really funny. It even felt "funny". The feeling crossing that finish line is impossible to describe. I had just completed a marathon. Sure, I walked some but that was because of foolishness at the beginning not fitness. I had run 23-24 miles in training so I knew I was fit. The only goal that day was to finish and I had.
The theme that CFA uses for exercise is "Fit to Lead". From my senior year of high school till that marathon I think exercise was simply to help keep the weight off, sometimes more effectively than others. In 2006, exercise took on more meaning. I realized I needed to be "Fit to Lead".
