Forward is a pace
My name is Scott. I was born and raised in New York and currently reside in South Florida where I work as a contractor for a top hospital in the New England area. I am what you would call a late bloomer. I was never into sports or competition growing up. I played soccer and swam but I wasn’t particularly good. I had my family feign notes about my health just to get out of gym class during my formative years. Despite not being physically active, I remained relatively thin until I hit my bottom in my 30s. My metabolism caught up with me. My diet consisted of a cocktail of high sodium, sugar, and processed foods. The two hardest things in my life have always been starting and stopping.
I had to accept that my way was not working and I had to make some major changes in my life starting with my thinking. This involved changing the relationship I had with food while cultivating a zero options mentality. To me that meant showing up for myself regardless of whether I felt like it or not. Excuses make today easy, but tomorrow is hard. Discipline makes today hard but tomorrow easy.
I spent most of the quarantine working out, learning what foods to avoid, and asking suggestions from people on and offline. It was through this that I found running. Prior to this point, I had spent some time on the treadmill and running one or two 5Ks but nothing serious. The world was shut down so I used it as an opportunity to become mentally and physically stronger. It became a compound movement. This continued until I set the big hairy audacious goal of completing my 1st half marathon on Christmas Day 2020. I trained hard and on that Christmas morning I completed my 1st Half Marathon.
I raised the bar even higher and in January 2022, I completed the Walt Disney World Dopey Challenge (5k, 10k, Half Marathon, Marathon). 48.6 Miles over the course of 4 Days. Since that day, I have completed 3 more marathons (Chicago, Boston, Dopey Challenge 2023). I have New York and Chicago again this year, and I hope to complete my Abbott World Majors before I hit 50. I am already thinking about Ultra Marathons in 2024. My Thersipo band is a reminder of how far I have come.
If you’re looking for the time to change your life and become an entirely different person, the time is now.
Finishing 26.2 miles doesn’t require any special abilities — just the willpower to put in the effort. When you do cross that finish line, you’ll learn more about the power you have within yourself to achieve race-day success.
These are teachable moments, and if you learn to endure the discomfort and try something new, you are that much closer to obtaining anything and everything you want. Once you get a little slice of progress, you know it was worth it and the sacrifice well paid. Say yes to yourself.
