2010 03 LA Marathon

Many people did not know that Ryan decided to run the LA Marathon He was really dedicated to his training until three weeks before the race, then work got crazy and he threw me a birthday party and suddenly, race day was here! Ryan finished the race... we are so proud of him!

-Naomi

Click here for pictures

You may or may not know that for New Years 2009 my "little" brothers, Eric and Brett, talked me, Brett's wife Jen, and mom and dad into a family fitness and weight loss competition. It was really for me and dad. It was our game to lose because we were in the worst shape. You see, after ten years of eating Naomi's delicious cooking, eating with her, sympathetically, through two pregnancies, and having candy available at all times of the day at a stressful job for several years, I'd managed to balloon up to over 180 lbs. Now, my 5'6" frame shouldn't be carrying more than about 135-140. I told myself at 168, many years ago, that I'd never see 170 on the scale, then again at 175 that I'd never let it tip 180. Well around Christmas 2008, the highest number I ever saw, lit up at 182. As luck would have it I had just started a new job at Walt Disney Studios in October, and the studio opened a new gym in mid December. So I joined the gym and started eating healthier, well, cut my calorie intake for sure. On days I couldn't make it to the gym I'd go home and run at night. I started off slow and weak, barely able to run half a mile without being winded. As time progressed I got stronger, felt better, and could go farther. By the End of February I was at 175 lbs. A month later I was at 165. By the summer I was in the sub 150s where I am today, maintaining a range from 142-146 on any given day.

I continued the running and by Christmas 2009 I decided to check an item off the ol' bucket list by running the LA Marathon. Eric had run it three times in the past and Brett trained for it one year but was forced out due to injury. 2010 was my year. (I've never considered myself any kind of and athlete compared to my bros, but I felt like this was something I could accomplish, to put my name up on the board with theirs. So I started a distance regimen in January. As Naomi wrote above, I tried, but "life" had some other plans for me.

Physically ready or not, March 21st arrived and I was mentally prepared. Truth be told, I wasn't worried or scared at all. My attitude was, "What's the worst that could happen? I go too slow and get picked up by the draggin' wagon? The race started and though I anticipated a better time than I actually ran, I still finished, and that was good enough for me. You'll understand especially after seeing my video log.

Marathon video coming soon. I recorded a video log at every mile marker. It would have been up already but YouTube has a 10 minute limit, so it'll be a 2 parter. Watch the whole thing. Naomi really started laughing during the second half of the race, when I was dying. Apparently I'm extra funny when I think I'm about to keel over.

Enjoy,

Ryan