The Journey: Part I

Eight weeks ago, I embarked on a "epic journey of epicosity" with my friend Tori and a group called No Boundaries (NoBo).

The NoBo group consists of about 18 people all taking their first steps towards becoming active and healthier. We train for 5K's. There is a second, much larger group called the Marathoners In Training, or MIT. They are training for 10K's, half and full marathons. This group is probably close to 200 or so people, alot of which started in NoBo. They know what we are doing, going through and striving for.
NoBo was already a month in when we joined, so we, moreso me than Tori, had some catching up to do. They were running for 2:20 and walking for :40. I on the other hand was starting at :45 and 1:45.
To start, I was trying everyday to get out and run, waking up a little earlier to walk the dogs, trying to run a little farther, wearing myself out a little faster.
July 17th. It's around this time that I decided what my goal will be for the 5K. I was up to :55/1:35. At the pace I am increasing, I think I could do this race in under 40 minutes.
Then the heat and humidity struck. I can't run in this, so I missed a couple days. Then I tried going at night, and that felt much better the first couple nights. But now I'm up a little later, with all that other stuff.
I came across an article on SparkPeople on The Habits Of Fit People: Listen To Your Body. Turns out everyday is not the best way, which I knew to be true for strength training, but running didn't seem like something that would require the same rest phase. So I tried it out, and my runs got better. Found myself saying why not five more seconds, I'm recovering quicker and lasting longer. Things are looking good if I may say so.
August 6th. Final NoBo training run. No Tori this week. I get there and it's not the normal huge crowd but I can still hear them somewhere. I walk up to someone and ask what's going on, just as Jeff Henderson, the NoBo and MIT organizer, came across the loud speakers in the Thomas Worthington HS football stadium.
MIT was in the stands. NoBo was on the track. I start running down to join them for whatever mysterious fate lies ahead.

"12 weeks ago, these people took the first step towards changing their lives, and we are here today to recognize that accomplishment" The MIT-ers cheer. We were given shirts and jackets.
It has been an amazing thing to be apart of. The sporadic bits of encouragement thrown out by the MIT-er's going in the opposite direction, rewarding feeling be greeted by people you don't know upon return for just being out here, the chocolate milk from Snowville Creamery, everything.
But now its the final week. I just increased my time 1:05/1:25. I'm pulling around a 15min/mi. I decide to adjust my goals, under 40 is gonna be a huge letdown. At this point I am begging to break the 15min/mi point.
The night of August 10th, one of the two apps active on my phone while I run, RunKeeper and Doubletwist, are not playing nice with each other and resetting my phone when it goes dark, so since then I have been without my interval trainer. Who knew that would be a good thing? The run that night turned out to be one of my fastest runs to date, posting 2.43 miles in 38 minutes, partially due to a surprise all out sprint near the end of it. I don't know what happened but it felt really good to open up like that.
August 12th, Tori and I embarked from TWHS, and made it to Antrim much faster than our(my) usual, but not without a struggle. Legs were stiff, knees were achy, feet were flat, hamstring in my right leg was telling me I may be in for a rude awakening. Saturday was not looking good.
August 13th. 2011 Pancreatic Cancer Purple Stride 5K. Kinda chilly and a little bit of rain, just how I like it. You know me, if it ain't rainin... Just let me finish under 45, that's all I want.
Tori and I take off. Long first run for me, but somehow we ended up in the middle of the full run group, and I'm a little afraid if I stop, I'll be that one that starts the epic crash and 20-30 people will be piled on top of each other before anyone knows what happened. Eventually I drift to the side and let the masses pass us. Then two girls from the MIT group pass us, with words of encouragement, then two from NoBo. Ok I'm ready, we pass them, need a break, they pass us. I tell Tori not to worry about me, go if she wants to, and she does. She ends up sandwiched right between the two pairs. I eventually catch up as the NoBo pair decide to pass. Tori says to me "I'm drafting! These two are perfect to run behind" and they laughed about it... but they were. So we drafted, but I don't yet have that endurance and neither did two girls from NoBo, so when Tori and the MIT pair passed them up I dropped back. I drafted these two and it worked quite well from mile 1 to 2. After mile 2 though, oh buddy, the sun and humidity just exploded, I started drifting back from the girls. I'm getting a bit tired. I need something to get back in.
Bjork!
I was gone! I passed them. I passed a few others, I'm thinking at this pace I should get in close to my 45 min goal if not a little over.
I run under a train and come to a break in the trees and get a beautiful view of the Downtown Columbus skyline, right as 7'100" Jeff comes strolling by on his bike, checking in on people. We both stop for the quick photo opportunity, I tried drafting him on his bike, didn't work so well.

The final curve, then up the hill to the finish line. Why uphill? A crowd of people sit along the finish line cheering and clapping for thsose coming in. That clock can't be right. There's no way that clock is WHERE IS THE WATER??? Why is there no water at the finish line? It's all across the field? WHY???
I got my water, stretched, and went to talk to Jeff.
"When can we find out our times?"
"Right now... 38:25. Good job man! How do you feel?"
I looked at my hands, they were shaking. I looked at him and said "I was aiming for 45min."
"Holy crap, you beat your goal by over six minutes! That is awesome!!!"
It is. I wanted to cry about it, talk bout it, wonder about it. I just... Don't know what to say, how to feel. The overwhelming sense of accomplishment was more than I expected.
I posted a quote the other day- "Don't forget to smile, and put your arms up in the air to celebrate when you've crossed the finish line - You've earned it"
38:25.
I did it!

Army Of Me

For special effect, PLEASE press play on the video, listen to Dr. Gorski inform Babydoll of what she needs to do, when the music starts please begin reading.

Well, it is August 5th and I am at the end of the "First 10% is the easiest" phase, which means a plateau is on my horizon. Sucks to be a plateau.

As of June 21st, I was 326 lbs.

On August 4th, I am 297 lbs.

It is different this time. That's something to note to all who are following me. This is different. As I have said before, I need a trainer, I need friend with me, no a different friend, importany day coming, I need another trainer, wah, wah, wah, cry, bitch, boohoo.
I need none of it this time.
This time it is all me!
I woke up and decided I will end this. I will bring friends along if they want, and I am more than happy to have one with me now, but this is my battle. No trainer, friend, wife or dog is gonna lose this weight for me.
I have noticed through my own experiences and seeing the 'One Year Later' stories of The Biggest Loser, the dive bomb weightloss through extreme dieting and workout is good for a contest, but the weight they and I had lost was suffering from seperation anxiety, and was desperately searching to reunite with us. I am more interested in being the slowest loser this time. I am going to peel this weight off pound by pound, shoot it and leave it on the side of the road. I figure if any of this weight gets seperation anxiety, it will know the direction I have gone, it won't have to search, as the direction will be riddled with 126 other pounds affected by my fury.
I am doing it right. I have eliminated the fast food, most pop(pepsi max still, weird thing with welding, I dunno), I have increased my fruits and veggies, more wholesome meals, less snacking, less fried. It's not a diet, a diet implies a short term change before resuming as normal. It's a change to my life. I am not eliminating this or that to get a secret edge on dropping a couple more pounds. I'm just eliminating the junk.

As for my running, every time out is an adventure. Between people leaning out of their cars screaming or honking their horns to scare me on Sawmill(don't worry, you all know I have nerves of steel), or dodging crazy drivers taking short fast turns on the residential streets, ducking low tree branches and other hanging foliage , OR the pack of skunks that live nearby that hiss and are prepared to defend themselves as I run by, in my head its my own battle, avoiding missles, gunfire, and landmines weaving through an urban jungle.
I have nights where it is easier, like two nights ago, where I had a smile on my face the whole time and debated whether or not I should stop. I have days where it is tougher, like this morning, where I wondered how I was going to make it down the street let alone 2.5 miles. I have mornings where I dont want to get up, wishing I could get one more hour of sleep. I play this fantastic song, and I stop wondering, I stop smiling, I stop wishing, I just destroy.
I have the knowledge.
I have the plan.
I have the desire.
I have the drive.
I have an army of me.
And Bjork.

Welcome...

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.