THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF YOUR LIFE

On June 2, 2008 it was a Monday at 8:00 am, I walked out my front door and into the pages of history, my history. I just went for a walk around the block and at that time I had no idea just how far I would go. On that morning I was only thinking about walking around my block, now my block is on a hill, it is kind of steep but only for a short distance, the steep part is about a 15% grade for about 0.15 mi. I had to stop 3 times on the uphill part to rest, it took me a total of 20 minutes to walk 0.35 miles. That was all I could do on that Monday morning, my weight, 355 pounds! The next day I got up and walked around that block twice, this time it took me 40 minutes. On Friday I walked 3 times around that block and on Sunday 4 times. By the end of June I had walked 26 days out 30, for a total of 35.5 miles. In July I walked for 50 miles and in October I did 100 miles for the month, ditto for November and December. For the last 7 months of 2008 I walked 524 miles, and I have continued walking to this day. June 2, 2012 Saturday at 8:00 am, I walked around the block, this time it took me 6 minutes and 30 seconds! I then went on to walk 6 more miles and then RUN, yes RUN an additional 3 miles. In the last four years I have added cycling and swimming to my training routine. I have done a half marathon and 3 full marathons. I have also completed 5 sprint distance triathlons, and have 3 or 4 more planned for the rest of this year. OH! I almost forgot, I have lost total of 172 pounds. Sadly I have gained 20 of it back, but I am working on losing that, AGAIN!! If you are wondering what is next,

what will I do in the next 2 to 4 years, the title of this blog has your answer!!!!!!!!!!

MY SECOND GOLD MEDAL

One week after doing the "Bataan March" I had the Senior Olympic Triathlon for Dona Ana County. My main goal was to just finish, since I was not anywhere close to being recovered from doing the 26.2 mile walk in the desert last week. For some reason they did not have timing chips, which means that I would not be getting any breakdown on my run time, bike time or swim time. I forgot to bring my own watch, thinking that I would have a "chip" that would tell me all of those different times. They just had an overall time, and since they had no way of knowing when each contestant crossed the start line they did not have very accurate times at that. Not that it really matter in the end anyway, by finishing you are able to go on to the next step the State Senior Olympics. Like last year I was the only one in my age group that entered in the Senior Olympics for Dona Ana County, so just like last year I won the "Gold Medal". The State games will be here in Las Cruces at the end of July, and there WILL be others in my age group doing the triathlon. These other guys are fast, a couple of them are very fast, so the chances of me winning a "Gold Medal" or any medal are slim, very slim. I am currently working very hard to be faster for the State Games, my run is the weakest event, and the bike is where I can make up the most time. So my focus is on running and cycling. I will also be losing the weight that I have managed to put back on. For now I am the " Gold Medalist" in the Triathlon in my age groupe for Dona Ana County two years in a row.

BATAAN # 4 is FINISHED

My fourth Bataan Memorial Death March is done, this one, like the others before it, was very different. The 26.2 mile route was the same, but the "march" it's self was very different. First, this time I did it as a member of a team, that means there were five of us on the team and we all had to finish together. I was not only on the team I was the team captain, I was also the coach for the whole LCAR team. There were 7 others who did the 14 mile route. Of the 12 people only one had done the 26.2 miles before and one had done the 14 mile. All the others had never done any kind of endurance event prior to doing this, except for one, he did marathons in college, of course that was back before they had running shoes, they were just called tennis shoes. I set up training sessons and team meetings, where I explained the difficultes involved in doing the Bataan March. It was great fun and I really enjoyed helping these people get ready for this event. They all finished, and had a good time doing it, some are already talking about next year, and a number of those who did the 14 mile march are thinking doing the 26. This was my slowest time so far, mainly because I developed some blisters, 6 to be exact, and a couple of them where huge. If it was not for the Army Medics I proably would not have finished. So what is next you ask? I am currently working on improving my run, that is my weakest event in a triathlon, so I am training to do do a marathon where I RUN the whole distance. Iam post a few photos of the LCAR Race Team.