He was sad and depressed.
His girlfriend left him.
He was lonely and his life was not what he wanted it to be.
One day he went for a run. 358 pounds and he went for a run. It wasn’t a long run. It wasn’t a fast run. It was what a 358 pound man could do for a run. It was slow and painful.
The next day he did it again.
Ben became inspired.
By February 1st he had lost 24 pounds. Whatever his inspiration and motivation was didn’t matter. Ben had the fire. He had the desire.
He ran a 5k and was so happy and proud that he did more races and eventually completed a triathlon.
Ben was not done. In 6 months he had lost 100 pounds. He had lost the weight but found himself. Now he wasn’t satisfied and wanted more so he became a marathoner. Yeah, the 358 pound guy lost weight and did the Boston Marathon. That’s just awe inspiring.
Then something happened.
In 11 months he lost 140 pounds. Then came the setbacks. He gained almost 30 pound by the first of the year. In one year he had lost 140 pounds but gained back 30. He was going in the wrong direction.
Ben became inspired again.
So inspired in fact that he signed up for an Ironman.
On August 29th, 2010 Ben, as a 245 pound man who was 113 pounds lighter then he used to be, stood on the starting line of Ironman Louisville with 3000 other people. Of course one of them was me. For the next 17 hours one by one 500 of those 3000 people would quit. For whatever reason all these people didn’t make it to the finish line in 17 hours.
I made it.
About 6 hours after I finished…. Ben made it.
On this proud day I heard the words “…you are an Ironman”. The words were sweet. I cannot fathom how sweet they were for Ben.
A man who overcame the odds to finish the hardest race in the world. Ben went from a depressed 358 pound man to an Ironman in 22 months.
What a fantastic story.
Wow.
Click here to watch the video. Be inspired.
I have goosebumps and tears in my eyes. This is very inspiring.
ReplyDeleteWe are capable of anything.