1 Hour and 4 Minutes
25 Oct 2007
I just ran 10km in 1 hour and 4 minutes. The last time I ran that far must have been in 1987, 20 years ago, when I was 18 years old. It has taken me long time to get from there to here.
Addiction runs in my family, mostly the violence, alcohol, drugs and smoking kind. Not long before I was a Christian, aged 16, I decided I needed to loose weight. This was mostly for the sole purpose of picking up girls.
Dieting severely, and exercising endlessly, fed the family addiction gene in me. I dropped 80 lbs in weight in 6 months, and ended up dating the girl of my desires. Exercise and dieting offered me control during one of the most awful times of my life.
My father disappeared (literally) from our lives, my mother had a breakdown, I had a younger brother, and 1 year old baby brother to care for. Exercise and diet, helped me have some sense of control of my life. Yet I got to the point where I was becoming bulimic.
About a year later, I had become a Christian, through a dramatic conversion experience. I had immediately lost the need to drink to get to sleep, which until then had been developing.
I remember weight training in my bedroom and fainting, coming too, lying on the floor. I remember thinking ‘maybe it was something I ate?’. Then at that moment, I realized I couldn’t remember the last time I had even eaten.
I prayed, and felt like god wanted me to deal with food, and start eating, and I did. No more avoiding eating, or throwing up after large meals. But the need to exercise was as deep rooted as ever.
This continued into my studies for my theology degree, and at one point I counted up the time I spent running, weight training, playing rugby, squash etc. Probably 15 to 20 hours a week on a regular basis.
But then I came across Vineyard Churches. I entered an environment where food was present at every meeting, and mostly calorie laden and with chocolate. I had also started to discover, mostly unconsciously that, I could feed my addiction genes with work, and church ministry.
So I exchanged my exercise addictions for overeating and becoming a workaholic. Between the ages of 18 and 28, my body weight literally doubled. As I write that, I wonder how that is possible, to put on over 140 pounds of weight in a 10 year period?! Admittedly, I was dangerously underweight at 18, but I ended up dangerously overweight.
During the past 10 years, as I have tried to deal with my work addictions with therapy, medication and lots of prayer, my life has slowly become more stable in many ways. I have exercised regularly, walking, weight training, eating better. Yet my weight has been far to high, and gone up and down, in a range of 14-20 lbs during that whole period.
So we come to the early part of 2007, another new year where I was determined to lose weight again, like I am every year. Going to the gym took so much time, with driving to the gym, training, changing and driving home. Also I was doing mostly heavy weights, which did nothing for my own weight levels!
I had an epiphany, or maybe just realized the obvious, that there was a time in my life, when I had been much lighter. It was when I went running. Running could take less time, than going to the gym, costs less, and do me good.
But where does a 280 pound plus man start his training? I bought a running book, full of before and after photos and stories of people who had taken up running. I needed this inspiration, vision, and motivation. So late March this year, I started interval training.
At first I jogged 60 seconds then walked 2 minutes, whilst I tried to not have a heart attack. Then I slowly increased each session, each week. I went through the pain of sore knees, hips, ankles, as my body protested and resisted. I stayed on schedule, even running whilst on holiday.
Then 6 months in, people I knew who saw me regularly, started noticing. They asked if I had lost weight. People I hadn’t seen for 6 months were more shocked. They noticed, the 28 pounds I had gradually lost.
And that spurred me on to keep running. So here I am, near a nuclear power station on the south coast of England, having just run 10 kilometers, for the first time in 20 years. And I realized something else today.
It has taken me 20 years to come back round to the idea of running, of engaging in it regularly, mostly because of time, and life stage. But also because I have still been fearful of what it represented in the past. An addiction and control.
Time will tell if I transplant my addiction gene back into running, or if it is something I am enjoying, and embracing, after finding healing in other areas of my life. But today it certainly felt great to run that 10km, and feel good, and enjoy a connection to my body, with my spirituality, that I haven’t had for a very long time.
Tagged: Body, Exercise, Health
40 comments
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Comment by Makeesha Fisher
8.43 pm on 25 Oct 2007
Congratulations! Interval training for running is great isn’t it?
I started a 10k running program this year as well. I have been bad with it lately but I’m determined to run a local 10k called the Bolder Boulder that takes place in the spring.
Comment by Jason
11.29 am on 26 Oct 2007
Bolder Boulder, that’s cool :-)
Comment by Jonathan Brink
9.17 pm on 25 Oct 2007
Well done.
Comment by brett jordan
11.42 pm on 25 Oct 2007
Congratulations Jason.
Comment by Jason
11.29 am on 26 Oct 2007
Jonathan & Brett: tnx for the congrats :-)
Comment by Jonny
9.22 am on 26 Oct 2007
congratulation jason,
thats an ecouragement to me. i started running agian a few months back. currently doing 3miles in about 20minutes, – so time to push it to the next level.
Comment by Jason
11.31 am on 26 Oct 2007
3 miles in 20 minutes, are you an Olympic runner? ;-) That’s 9 miles per hour if you keep that pace up.
Comment by Gwen Page
10.03 am on 26 Oct 2007
Very well done, Jason!
I remember the first time I ever met you, you appeared off the LBC footbal pitch in a singlet & shorts, grinning after exercise. I had no idea what was behind it tho.
I still have to face my “body demons” but have always HATED running – even when I did play a lot of sports in my youth. Would love to talk more about how you got to where you are now, but not on an open forum! :-)
Anyway – I’m delighted to hear of your re-engagement with running & hope it continues to be a positive thing in your life.
Gwen
Comment by Jason
11.32 am on 26 Oct 2007
Gwen, not many people have the memory of me !
Do you remember Colin Tapscott and I doing sprint until we threw up? :-)
Love, Jase
Comment by Gwen Page
11.52 am on 26 Oct 2007
Happily, I don’t remember that!
I used to love really pushing my body & fainted once after playing squash, having not eaten for hours but I never got to the point of throwing up!
Gx
Comment by Paul
10.29 am on 26 Oct 2007
Nice one bro, that is awesome!
i started running this yr too and so far have lost about a 1.5 stone – altho since stopping since the summer i’ve put back on 0.5 of a stone. So i’m starting to run again in the run up to the overeating fest that is christmas!
Running to me has represented learning self discipline – i love food and drink but have learnt to cut back on both through learning to exercise self control – it’s amazing what you get from your brain commanding your rebellious body to push through another mile in the cold and wet :)
Comment by Jason Clark
1.15 pm on 27 Oct 2007
Like you need to loose any weight! :-)
Comment by Paul
10.43 pm on 28 Oct 2007
lol, it’s all relative ;)
Comment by Loren Kerns
3.46 pm on 26 Oct 2007
Congrats Jase! I run as well – just 5k 4x a week. And like you, I really don’t have the time or money to go to the gym with a young family and work. Running is a great alternative. I’ll be praying that it ends up being a healing experience and not a return to an old addiction. :-)
Loren
Comment by Jason Clark
1.17 pm on 27 Oct 2007
Running in portland was great, I enjoyed to autumn leaf fall, and quite roads. I bet it’s even better where you are :-)
Thanks for the encouragement.
Comment by Paul Fromont
7.01 pm on 26 Oct 2007
Good for you mate. You’re an inspiration… just about to start back at the gymn, and would like to be able to run a few 10km’ers in six-months time. Too much sitting in an office context isn’t good for moi. Have a great weekend.
Comment by Jason Clark
1.17 pm on 27 Oct 2007
If I make it to NZ next year, we can run 10K together :-)
Comment by Jonny
7.29 pm on 26 Oct 2007
yeah that doesn’t sound right!I just check it on walkjogrun.net – looks like its 2.7miles… and i can’t believe i’m going faster than 6.5mph – which means it must be taking me 25 minutes.
Comment by Jason Clark
1.17 pm on 27 Oct 2007
:-) I thought maybe you were from Kenya :-)
Comment by andy
11.06 pm on 26 Oct 2007
Jason… I have to say as a fellow-former Big man I am proud of you for all that you just shared. Weight issues are the reason that I run (I also love running but it keeps me moving) and so when I hear stories like this it connects to my heart. It takes a lot to be so honest about something so personal too so thanks for sharing this stuff. Keep running man…
Comment by Jason Clark
1.18 pm on 27 Oct 2007
Thanks Andy :-)
Comment by Petey
12.01 am on 27 Oct 2007
I can only echo what others have said, congrats and thanks for the honesty. It takes a certain amount self-awareness to name those things “addictions,” since most people shy away from that language because of the social baggage associated with it. You’re an inspiration to those of us too lazy to run…
Comment by Jason Clark
1.19 pm on 27 Oct 2007
I wonder if we all have addictions, just some are more socially acceptable than others.
Thanks for the encouragement Petey.
Comment by Richie Rich
12.16 pm on 27 Oct 2007
I (attempted) to post yesterday about how running isnt the best form of exercise for weight loss (and can be in fact deterimental to health). If you enjoy it fine – there are worse things to be addicted to, but the sums do not add up.
NO exercise burns a significant amound of calories, here’s a great summary by Fred Hahn:
“EXAMPLE:
1 hour treadmill run = ~300 calories burned.
1 hour sitting on rump = ~100 calories burned.
300-100 = 200 additional calories burned (mainly from sugar not stored body fat).
3,500 calories in a pound of fat.
3,500 -:- 200 = 17.5 days it would take you exercising to lose one pound of fat.
200 calories is a half of a banana and a small glass of skim milk.
Oh – and as you get more fit the amount of calories burned for that same hour goes down as heart rate doesn’t go up as much and the entire hour is just easier. Easier efforts burn less calories than harder efforts for the same time frame.
So now you have to run longer or faster or both.
Where is that orthopedic doctor’s phone number?”
Comment by Jason Clark
1.21 pm on 27 Oct 2007
Hi rich, despite this, and I used to believe it, a large guy like me who spent 4-5 hours a week weight training, just go larger and larger and larger.
I need to burn calories, and increase my metabolism, and then go back to weights gradually.
Body type and metabolism are important factors, as well as energy expended! But I know you know that.
Comment by Richie Rich
6.22 pm on 27 Oct 2007
How did you weight train Jason? What style?
No amount of exercise burns a hug amount of calories – unless you’re running marathons. Have a read of Dr Doug McGuff’s article ‘Body fat – hard facts about soft tissue’ it explains it perfectly: http://www.ultimate-exercise.com/
Metabolism is dictated by how much muscle you have…
Diet is the most important factor…
Comment by Jason
6.28 pm on 27 Oct 2007
Sorry Rich, at present regular running, has helped me lose far more weight than weight training did for the past few years.
That may be down to many factors, but for me this is working, and I’ll stick to that for now :-)
Comment by Richie Rich
12.53 am on 29 Oct 2007
I hope it does continue to work for you Jason, but just be aware that in your knees you have cartilage discs called menisci, and that once they are gone it is problem time.
You can wear joints out by repeated stress – I hate to sound like an arrogant mug, but don’t say you havent been warned! Ignore Newton’s second law at your peril.
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Comment by Richie Rich
12.17 pm on 27 Oct 2007
Dont you find that you have more motivation to eat right when you start running?
Comment by Jason Clark
1.21 pm on 27 Oct 2007
for sure, after running hard, why blow it all on crap food. I’ve eaten somewhat better since taking up running.
Comment by mg
7.23 pm on 27 Oct 2007
congratulations. thank you for sharing this. peace to you.
Comment by James Prescott
1.01 am on 28 Oct 2007
Jase,
I myself am trying desperately to lose weight (4 stone of it) and have been struggling to find a way to do it. I’m not sure if I have the addiction gene you say you have, but running is the one thing I’ve never actually tried. I guess I have this inbuilt laziness and also don’t really beleive that I could do it.
I hope that I can somehow find the inspiration and have the epiphany you had, and be able to motivate myself to exercise. If you lost two stone in 6 months thats brilliant. Maybe you can recommend some good books?
Thanks for sharing
Comment by Marc
4.56 pm on 29 Oct 2007
Well done mate…I was onoy saying to someone the other day that you were looking a bit trimmer:)
Comment by Peter
9.30 am on 30 Oct 2007
Congratulations! Is the half-marathon already planned? :-)
Reminds me that I still have to schedule my running this week.
Comment by Ger
9.26 pm on 11 Mar 2008
Hi
gosh reading your story, reminds me so much of ME! I to at a very young age was a little pudge, realising how big i was i lost all the weight plus some. I was extremely underweight and exercised, i.e. running and cross training for endless hours on a daily basis. I had exercised to a point where I just couldn’t do it anymore so swopped one addiction for another, i.e. running for eating. I am now 2 stone overweight and don’t no where to start to regain my fitness or to feel good again about myself. Maybe interval training is the way forward again.
Good for you to pick yourself up and start running again. Keep with it, its sounds like you are now on the road to regaining ur fitness and i am sure a great confidence with it.
Best wishes
Comment by Ger
9.26 pm on 11 Mar 2008
Hi
gosh reading your story, reminds me so much of ME! I to at a very young age was a little pudge, realising how big i was i lost all the weight plus some. I was extremely underweight and exercised, i.e. running and cross training for endless hours on a daily basis. I had exercised to a point where I just couldn’t do it anymore so swopped one addiction for another, i.e. running for eating. I am now 2 stone overweight and don’t no where to start to regain my fitness or to feel good again about myself. Maybe interval training is the way forward again.
Good for you to pick yourself up and start running again. Keep with it, its sounds like you are now on the road to regaining ur fitness and i am sure a great confidence with it.
Best wishes
Comment by Paul Tilley
11.02 pm on 23 May 2008
Hi Jasion,
First time contributor, long time reader.
I read this post when you first wrote it. At that time I had just started running and could not imagin running for an hour. I was just doing 2 min run/1 min walk and building it up. Cheesy I know, but this post gave me some hope.
Since then I have lost 2 stone and last week ran for 80 mins, about 8 miles. This monday I am running my first race, the Chagford 2 hills race.
Coudl you give us an update about how you are getting on!
Comment by Jason
7.06 am on 24 May 2008
that’s great to hear :-)
Thanks for letting me know, and enjoy that race.
I am running a half marathon soon :-)
Warmly, Jase
Comment by Jason Reid
10.43 am on 26 May 2008
Jason
I finished my first half marathon yesterday (2:20). Thank you for your story,
Jase
Comment by Paul
7.28 pm on 26 May 2008
As a running resource i can recomend: http://www.mapmyrun.com
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