Let me first say
THIS SITE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION!!!
Somehow fitting as so is the rest of my life.
My name is Stuart Kirk, and I am a hot mess. Most of my life I have been overweight, obese, whichever. Most of the time noone can guess how heavy I am, and that's where we will start.
As of June 21st, I was 326 LBS.
I tried losing weight on my own once before, I didn't have the knowledge to bust through plateau's though. Fail.
Got a personal trainer for a short while, she taught me ALOT, but the intensity I needed, the push, the coach I needed barking in my ear when they knew I wasn't done wasn't there. Plateau. Fail.
Tried working out with a couple different friends, one had a workout that just didn't work for where I was at. The other probably was perfect to go with, but one day after a workout, my shoulder... just quit working(bursitis) and I got lazy again. Fail.
Some of you are then familiar with the insane wedding push I made. I got a new trainer, he got me into kettlebells and on the Adkins diet from hell. I lost 40lbs in just over two months. Then I got frustrated because I didn't understand what his plan was, and when my wisdom teeth gave me a little 'hello', I used that as an excuse to bail. Fail.
Fast forward to Columbus. I get my first job here in a retail mulch company and every now and then I am out delivering it. What do I see?
Walkers. Effing walkers are everywhere. Not like walk to the corner store and get a carton of smokes and a Slim Jim, but Tom, Harry, Sue and that new kid in the mail room could all stand to shave five pounds off, so lets use our hour lunch to walk a mile to Subway for some apples and back.
Bikers. Effing bikers are everywhere! Not like little wannabe hood gangsta's riding their huffy's up and down Alexis, we are talking 16 speed, fi'zi:k emblazoned health nuts. Packs of them too, not just one, sometimes five or six, like a mini Tour de France team.
It all gets me thinking, WHAT THE F*** IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE???
Oh, and people fishing. Sweet mercy effing everywhere there are people fishing. It's not even done raining and people have a line cast in fresh puddles. I had an 18yr old kid ask me if I wanted to go fishing with him, and then asked me to help get worms out of some old broken bags of compost. Really? Don't you play video games?
Spring and summer come. 5k's every weekend. What the hell is Pelotonia? What do you mean I have to hike up 57 stairs after two games of softball in a miserable heat?
It all gets me thinking, WHAT THE F*** IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE???
My wife wants a great Dane.
It gets me thinking, WHAT THE F*** IS WRONG WITH YOU???
But that right there may have been the moment that set things into motion to put me on a path to today.
My babygirl, Bella. But this ain't about her, she is always the center of attention.
One day, Porkchop, Bella and I head to the park and are greeted by some girl jacked up because I have a Dane and she is minutes away from meeting her friend's Dane that they just got. And in come the friends. Awkward moment at least for me, I am being introduced to people by people I've never met based on the breed of dog with me (Little did I know at this time, owning a Dane is a special membership). Yeah, Ok, exchange numbers? Sure. If that's what you people do down here, ok. You already know what I'm thinking at this point.
Well, we hung out a few times, our Danes have become exact physical opposites of each other, and one day we get invited over for a small, relatively quiet, cookout. During dinner I got all inquisitive and asked
"So, Chelsea, what are you in school for?"
"Bachelors in (some program I have never heard of, never imagined some of these words in the same sentence, what the f*** field of work do you go into with that) science"
Come on brain, react! Do something besides give her the WTF look! My brain failed to react. It sounded something like "What... uh..."
She explained how it would relate to her job, and then explaining what her job does. "We help people". A retail shoe store that helps people. Wait, what?
It all gets me thinking, how many times do I say what the f*** is wrong with you people before I ask WHAT THE F*** IS WRONG WITH ME??? What the f*** is wrong with Toledo? In Toledo, we play video games, they fish here. In Toledo, we go to bars with friends, they walk and bike here. In Toledo, its in the culture to be sedentary, but not here. These people are happy here, they enjoy these things that don't make sense to me. Why does waking up early, sweating, being out of breath, running in a very big circle sometimes repeatedly just to finish where you started entice these people.
On April 24, 2011 a seed was planted, and I'm betting the gardener didn't even realize she did it. Noone took care for this seed, noone knew it was there. But nature ran its course, and on June 20, the wife and I are watching a Biggest Loser spinoff, and at the end I heard her say one word;
Wow.
The seed exploded at that moment.
She will say that about me when I am done!
June 21, I informed my friend Tori I was about to do something stupid, and I wanted her to "join me in a epic journey of epicosity. There's this shoe store called Fleet Feet. They have a Couch to 5K training program. Let's do it" "Ok".
So here we are.
I am currently walking the dogs for 1.6mi Monday through Friday, and then going for additional 2.5mi on my own walking and jogging. On Saturday, we go for at least 3.5mi in this training group. And I understand now. You do it because your body says 'Free me. I want to do these things, it is what I was made for'. My body is all the trainer and coach I need.
Every morning after I run, I look towards the sunrise over Antrim Lake(below) or Thomas Worthington HS and thank God for this city, the people I have met, reconnected with and the encouragement from people running in the opposite direction who know where I am right now and what I need.
As of June 21st, I was 326 lbs.
As of July 14th, I was 307 lbs
Thats all I got for you, get back to work.
THIS SITE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION!!!
Somehow fitting as so is the rest of my life.
My name is Stuart Kirk, and I am a hot mess. Most of my life I have been overweight, obese, whichever. Most of the time noone can guess how heavy I am, and that's where we will start.
As of June 21st, I was 326 LBS.
I tried losing weight on my own once before, I didn't have the knowledge to bust through plateau's though. Fail.
Got a personal trainer for a short while, she taught me ALOT, but the intensity I needed, the push, the coach I needed barking in my ear when they knew I wasn't done wasn't there. Plateau. Fail.
Tried working out with a couple different friends, one had a workout that just didn't work for where I was at. The other probably was perfect to go with, but one day after a workout, my shoulder... just quit working(bursitis) and I got lazy again. Fail.
Some of you are then familiar with the insane wedding push I made. I got a new trainer, he got me into kettlebells and on the Adkins diet from hell. I lost 40lbs in just over two months. Then I got frustrated because I didn't understand what his plan was, and when my wisdom teeth gave me a little 'hello', I used that as an excuse to bail. Fail.
Fast forward to Columbus. I get my first job here in a retail mulch company and every now and then I am out delivering it. What do I see?
Walkers. Effing walkers are everywhere. Not like walk to the corner store and get a carton of smokes and a Slim Jim, but Tom, Harry, Sue and that new kid in the mail room could all stand to shave five pounds off, so lets use our hour lunch to walk a mile to Subway for some apples and back.
Bikers. Effing bikers are everywhere! Not like little wannabe hood gangsta's riding their huffy's up and down Alexis, we are talking 16 speed, fi'zi:k emblazoned health nuts. Packs of them too, not just one, sometimes five or six, like a mini Tour de France team.
It all gets me thinking, WHAT THE F*** IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE???
Oh, and people fishing. Sweet mercy effing everywhere there are people fishing. It's not even done raining and people have a line cast in fresh puddles. I had an 18yr old kid ask me if I wanted to go fishing with him, and then asked me to help get worms out of some old broken bags of compost. Really? Don't you play video games?
Spring and summer come. 5k's every weekend. What the hell is Pelotonia? What do you mean I have to hike up 57 stairs after two games of softball in a miserable heat?
It all gets me thinking, WHAT THE F*** IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE???
My wife wants a great Dane.
It gets me thinking, WHAT THE F*** IS WRONG WITH YOU???
But that right there may have been the moment that set things into motion to put me on a path to today.
My babygirl, Bella. But this ain't about her, she is always the center of attention.
One day, Porkchop, Bella and I head to the park and are greeted by some girl jacked up because I have a Dane and she is minutes away from meeting her friend's Dane that they just got. And in come the friends. Awkward moment at least for me, I am being introduced to people by people I've never met based on the breed of dog with me (Little did I know at this time, owning a Dane is a special membership). Yeah, Ok, exchange numbers? Sure. If that's what you people do down here, ok. You already know what I'm thinking at this point.
Well, we hung out a few times, our Danes have become exact physical opposites of each other, and one day we get invited over for a small, relatively quiet, cookout. During dinner I got all inquisitive and asked
"So, Chelsea, what are you in school for?"
"Bachelors in (some program I have never heard of, never imagined some of these words in the same sentence, what the f*** field of work do you go into with that) science"
Come on brain, react! Do something besides give her the WTF look! My brain failed to react. It sounded something like "What... uh..."
She explained how it would relate to her job, and then explaining what her job does. "We help people". A retail shoe store that helps people. Wait, what?
It all gets me thinking, how many times do I say what the f*** is wrong with you people before I ask WHAT THE F*** IS WRONG WITH ME??? What the f*** is wrong with Toledo? In Toledo, we play video games, they fish here. In Toledo, we go to bars with friends, they walk and bike here. In Toledo, its in the culture to be sedentary, but not here. These people are happy here, they enjoy these things that don't make sense to me. Why does waking up early, sweating, being out of breath, running in a very big circle sometimes repeatedly just to finish where you started entice these people.
On April 24, 2011 a seed was planted, and I'm betting the gardener didn't even realize she did it. Noone took care for this seed, noone knew it was there. But nature ran its course, and on June 20, the wife and I are watching a Biggest Loser spinoff, and at the end I heard her say one word;
Wow.
The seed exploded at that moment.
She will say that about me when I am done!
June 21, I informed my friend Tori I was about to do something stupid, and I wanted her to "join me in a epic journey of epicosity. There's this shoe store called Fleet Feet. They have a Couch to 5K training program. Let's do it" "Ok".
So here we are.
I am currently walking the dogs for 1.6mi Monday through Friday, and then going for additional 2.5mi on my own walking and jogging. On Saturday, we go for at least 3.5mi in this training group. And I understand now. You do it because your body says 'Free me. I want to do these things, it is what I was made for'. My body is all the trainer and coach I need.
Every morning after I run, I look towards the sunrise over Antrim Lake(below) or Thomas Worthington HS and thank God for this city, the people I have met, reconnected with and the encouragement from people running in the opposite direction who know where I am right now and what I need.
As of June 21st, I was 326 lbs.
As of July 14th, I was 307 lbs
Thats all I got for you, get back to work.
