Welcome to The Clydesdale Challenge! I created this blog to share my journey as a Clydesdale runner (a runner over 200 lbs) aspiring to qualify for the Boston Marathon. I’ll take you through some on my past adventures and continue to share personal experiences throughout my journey. This blog is dedicated to my family, friends and running enthusiasts.
First I’ll start with a little background on me. Throughout my entire life, I’ve always been an athletic person. My main focus during adolescent and college life was football. I played offensive and defensive line at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire from 2000 to 2003. After college, I stayed active in sports and worked out regularly but I couldn’t seem to keep my weight under control.
My breaking point occurred in January 2007 when I went to my doctor for a routine physical and saw that my weight rose to 325 lbs and my blood pressure was 140/80. The doctor informed me that I was borderline high blood pressure and that if I didn’t change my eating habits soon, he was going to have to prescribe blood pressure medication. Wow! Talk about a shock. The last thing I wanted to do at 25 years old was start taking blood pressure medication.
A few days later, my wife and I joined Weight Watchers. After that first meeting, I realized I could do the program and away I went on my journey to better health. I had been eating healthier for few weeks and added cardio training to my workout but I didn’t feel challenged enough so I started running. I liked running and next thing I knew, my wife and I were signing up for a 5k. The Bastille Days 5k in downtown Milwaukee was my first race. The race went okay but my time wasn’t great and I knew I could do better. A few weeks later, I ran another race and my time improved. From then on, I was hooked. All of the sudden I was doing 10 & 15km races but said I wouldn’t do any further distances.
Running and Weight Watchers was working well so I went back to my doctor in order to get approval for my weight to become a lifetime member of Weight Watchers. In this visit, I learned that I lowered my weight from a robust 325 lbs down to a much healthier and more fit 245 lbs. He was shocked with my transformation and had no problem signing documentation to okay my weight as healthy for my height and build. I lowered my blood pressure to 118/60 and drastically decreased my bad cholesterol levels.
The next summer, after doing a race a month for over a year, my wife and I decided to train for our first half marathon; the Tyranena Beer Run in Lake Mills, WI. The run went well but after the race I vowed that I wouldn’t run any further than 13.1 miles.
Call me a liar because in early Spring 2009, my wife and I signed up for our first marathon; The Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon.
For three months I prepared for the race and when the big day came, I was ready. I started out strong but by mile 21 started to slow due to cramping issues. I was still able to finish in a modest 3 hours 24 minutes and 32 seconds. My time was good enough to finish 4th out of 95 competitors in the Clydesdale division.
Again I started out strong but I as approached the 20-mile marker, I began to realize that I wasn’t prepared to seriously challenge the qualifying time for Boston. Despite not qualifying, I was still able to set a new personal record of 3 hours 23 minutes and 55 seconds.
Little did I know that this would be the beginning of my on-going obsession to qualify for the Boston Marathon. The following spring, my wife and I waited too long to sign up for the Lakefront Marathon. My wife and I wanted to do another marathon so we found a different fall 26.2; The Fox Cities Marathon in Menasha, WI. Again I trained hard prior to the race and felt prepared to make a serious push to qualify for Boston. I knew I would have to run a great race to shave off 15 minutes from last year’s time.
Sometime in mid-December, my wife and I made the commitment to run two marathons in 2011. Our first race of the year will be the Eau Claire Marathon on May 1st and then we plan to wrap up the marathon season with our second attempt at the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon. I look forward to continuing with my blogs as the upcoming marathon season approaches. Join me again next week for an update as I continue my training for the Eau Claire Marathon.
