Erin's Story
Erin's Story
Erin's Story
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” ~2 Timothy 4.7
For the last several years my wife and eldest son have been pushing me to get into shape. After living a sedentary lifestyle for over two decades, my weight had ballooned to 219 lbs. That’s more than sixty pounds over the ideal weight for a male my height. On multiple occasions since then, I’ve tried to heed their exhortations to lose weight through both exercise and diet. But they were always short-lived efforts that ended in failure. Until a year ago.
I don’t know how it happened. Somehow I stumbled upon a gambling program. Yep, I said gambling. It’s called Healthy Wage and you choose how much weight you want to lose, how much time you want to give yourself, and how much money you’re willing to bet that you’ll meet your goal. So I made a bet. I put $50 a month into the pot for eleven months. If I failed to meet my goal, I lost $550. But if I met my goal, I would double my money.
So over the course of the last year, I’ve added all sorts of exercise: running, weight lifting, jump roping, rowing, and cycling. I also took the Church’s tradition of fasting more seriously, fasting strictly on Wednesdays and Fridays. And I paid attention to carbs, but not fanatically (every Sunday I enjoyed a hearty high-carb post-liturgical brunch with my family, as is our custom). The fruit? I lost 43 pounds, hit my goal, and received a check for $1,100.
I know myself. I know my propensity to ease up. I met my goal and now I need a new one. If not, I know I will fall back into the old sedentary routine and put all that weight back on. So my new goals are threefold: 1) run a half-marathon; 2) run a marathon; and 3) complete a half Ironman triathlon.
So it’s time to train for goal number one. It’s time to run a half-marathon. I’m going to do it with my son in Chicago on September 29. There are already five other Eighth Day Members who are going to run with us. I’d love for you to join us. There is also a 5k option, if 13.1 miles is too far to tackle. If you can't join us, please consider supporting the Eighth Day team's cause of “running for renewal.”