Grim Reaper Fitness

I have long been fascinated by the blogging world an am happy to join now that I have something to talk about.  Grim Reaper Fitness is my passion.  So what actually is Grim Reaper Fitness and why the creepy name?  Please let me explain…

I have always been an active kid.  In junior high and high school I was a workout freak.  I love the feeling of lifting weights and truth be told, I loved the attention I got from looking the way I did.  I even graduated from NCHS winning the Best Body award at our senior dinner (I typically leave that off the resume).  When I went to Illinois State I was approached by a friend from high school that was a college cheerleader.  She asked if I would like to join the team.  Wait, what?  Cheerleading?  Like guys in bad polyester uniforms doing flip flops?  No way, I lift weights, I am tough.  I can’t be a cheerleader!  So she says to me, do you like sports?  Check.  Do you like attractive girls?  Check.  Where else can you have both the best seat in the house, working with some of the most attractive girls?  I was sold.

The world of college cheerleading was awesome (words I still cringe at admitting).  I made great life long friends and found myself being athletic in college.  But when I started cheerleading I was a smaller guy.  So I needed to gain weight.  Some of the guys showed me how this was done and I went on a “base” building binge.  Like many other Americans when I started to eat like a pig, I forgot how to stop.

Fast forward to life after graduation and I had a solid career, a beautiful wife, a gorgeous daughter.  I decided to run for a local political office and neglected myself even more.  I was fortunate to win that election and find out my wife was pregnant with our second bundle of perfection (Alexis).  Feeling run down, ISU had offered a wellness check up that I thought sounded like a good idea.  Boy was I right!  I found out that my cholesterol was at 315, I was 215lbs (more than 50lbs overweight) and was on a collision course with a life full of medical sadness.  I made an appointment with my doctor that day and dedicated my life to fixing this problem.

I woke up the next morning at 5am, ran one lap around my block (approx. 1/2 mi. and running is loosely defined) bent over and started crying.  Oh my God this hurt!  What had I done?  I was an athlete, and now I cant run a lap?  Enter THE REAPER!  I literally felt like the Grim Reaper was on my back.  I had a wife and two girls that depended on me and i was not going to let The Reaper make me a statistic.  From that day forward I pledged a different life and went about it, one painful day at a time.

I had never run amore than a mile straight ever (why would you if you weren’t being chased by a bear). Each day I added a little more.  My wife helped me to sign up for my first running event, The Lake Run (4.37mi) jog around Lake Bloomington.  That number seemed huge, and it felt huge that day.  I finished in the back, out of breath, and wanting more.  More i got.  I signed up for my first multisport event, Hopedale Duathlon, and did ok.  But the proverbial hook was in my mouth.  I was seeing results and feeling better.  By the end of the year I had dropped over 50lbs. and had gotten my cholesterol under control. I got my life back!

But it didn’t stop there, I kept wanting more!  Triathlon after triathlon and any running event I could find.  By the end of 2011 I had completed multiple sprint, olympic and half ironman’s.  I ran the Chicago Marathon while raising money for cancer (Team Livestrong), and secured two sponsorships (Honey Stinger & 2XU) for the 2012 season!  But I still want more.  I want to give the life changing feeling of accomplishment I learned through triathlon to others.  I want to go back and free others from their unhealthy lifestyles and allow them to live the way we are all meant.  Thanks for reading and if you are interested in out running The Reaper, give me a call and let’s get to work!