Why do I run?

Because I can ... of course given the blog title that should be no surprise.

Just a little over a year ago I was 80 lbs heavier and in pretty poor shape. My wife and I had just finished our first year of racing/sailing in our Flying Scot. We used to race Rhodes 19's in Hawaii back in the early '90s.

Boat weight seemed to be a big issue in light air and I thought I should loose weight to be more competitive.

That was, as I said, some 80 lbs ago.

I started seeing a nutritionist because I did not want to loose weight by some fad diet and only regain it and more when I went off the diet. The nutritionist used medically based information and "real-life" food. No lo (or no) carb, high fat Atkins for me! Needless to say it worked like a charm.

I started walking 30 minutes a day and eating 5-6 small nutritionally balanced meals and the weight started to drop, 2, 3 sometimes 4 pounds a week! I never had a plateau.

I then started to run slowly on a treadmill and liked the feeling. I think it was February when I started to run outside. Our neighborhood is rather hilly and I have to run up a hill for about .3 miles no matter where or how far I run. Of course, I couldn't do that at first; I could get about 2 miles in but walked much of that. Slowly I began to run more and walk less.

My wife began to run too! She has also lost weight, although she did not need to loose much.

I entered a 5K, then an 8K, now I am training for a 1/2 marathon! My longest distance so far is 16 miles, more than I'll need to complete a half marathon.

This summer when our yacht club reopened for the season, people did not recognize me. Ones that did thought maybe I was ill, since I had lost so much weight. Now everyone has been reassured that I'm ok.

I went to summer camp with my son's cub scout pack and was able to enjoy water activities without feeling self-conscious.

We did not get much sailing in this year because of vacation travel plans, but the sailing we did get to do was good. I can move around the boat easier and I think the boat moves better in light air. Last week we bought another sailboat this one is single handed, a laser. I probably would have had a hard time sailing it last year, this year, it is a blast!

So ... Why do I run? Because I can ...

Oops, Gotta run ...

Kevin