The only opening picture you’ll ever need

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Lately, I’ve started to play a game. Its a simple contest of chance with two outcomes: after telling someone I’m training for 26.2 they either 1) Shake their head from disbelief, disgust, or incomprehension OR 2) Give an immediate word of encouragement. What I do is guess which way whoever Im talking to is going to react. Most of the time option 1 wins. Either way there’s a follow up question along the lines of “Is this a personal goal?” (thats an option 2 type) or “why in God’s holy name would you do that to yourself? (an option 1 person). I would answer Yes it is and because…well….see for yourself:

Oh baby! Summer 04 - and this after already shedding some 45lbs.

I never set out to run so far and so long. I never set out to run at all. I set out to play ultimate frisbee with friends every saturday of high school. I didnt count on getting competitive or eating any less. I probably started going cause there was a Chinese buffet awaiting me when we quit playing. Nevertheless I played. And it was fun. Almost as much fun as eating.

People knock fried PB&J’s but can you honestly say you’ve ever had one? No. So zip it. If you had you’d completely understand that nobody wants to stop eating those. Trouble is eating stuff like that eventually makes he needle on he scale tip over the 300lb mark. Such massive (but beautiful) girth comes with all sorts of other lovely things - constantly rapid heartbeats, headaches, snoring, diabetes, needing double the storage and luggage space for all your XXL-sized clothes & the worst: general smelliness.

Eventually its 2005 and my illustrious college frisbee career is over. In 4 years of school I’ve managed to elude the Freshman 15 and drop approximately 100lbs. In the weeks and months after graduating I find myself getting a bit heavier and missing physical activity. What. the. hell? So I sign up at the Y and hit the treadmill. Most know the story from here - pushing to get to the 3mi mark on the ‘mill, then signed up for The Race for the Cure and established a 5k time. Then get pushed by my best buddy to race again and we smash that time, then addiction to beating previous 5k times is born. All the while I keep dropping the chub (that sounds dirty, huh?). So here we are, days before the run, weighing in at 170lbs. People ask me is this a personal goal. Yes, but not to lose another pound. Rather, to keep from going back up. To maintain the plateau. To maintain.

I hope to get in one last short entry before Sunday but if I don’t then let me now list publicly all those who’ve helped me along this path. Their encouragement, prayers, pushiness, cheers, friendship, and love have been the spark in my transformation. Without them I’d have broken a sweat just trying to type this much.

-Adam, Newsome, Jess, Christian Carlo, Rick, Rick’s Fam, Bode, Beckster, Lindsay, Lindsay’s Mom & Dad, Promo Dave, Promo Sarah, Summer Hasty, Bobbi Carter, Sandy Neff, Romulus Gregory, Allison Ealey, Sara Cullinan, David Duvall, Rob Satrom, Dana Smith, Candacee White, Casey Wright, Jonathan Curth, Richard Walton, Eric Newman, Heather Hall, Chris Birch, Cathy Goddard, Terri Lee, Stephen Kauble, Ken & Myra McLaughlin, my fellow M2B’s, Coach Kathryn & John, my H3 teammates!, Grandma, Uncle Jim, Dory, the rest of the Fam, Schmenifer, and most especially Judy & Ken Miles - the two greatest examples of determination a person could have.

See you soon.