In January 2010 I was 260 pounds and I was a mess not only physically but emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Exercise to me was getting out of the golf cart to go hit my next ball and even that was done with lots of huffing and puffing. On the outside I probably looked pretty successful as I was closing lots of good sales on my job but at night my wife and I were downing a bottle of wine a night and drifting away from each other. Spiritually I went to a really good church and went through the motions so it mainly looked like I was engaged but I was angry with God and didn’t want anything to do with Him. As is fairly obvious I was going nowhere fast.
Then one day I made a choice and that choice was to take back my life. I joined a gym with my wife and we went through a ten week boot camp where we changed our eating habits and sweated off some pounds. I began to feel alive again. That November I started running, sort of. I ran in Kangoo boots and looked a lot like an overweight Tigger but I was running. In December I completed my first 5K and in January I signed up for my first marathon and life began to change. Running is a large part of what it took to rescue my life and it continues to this day and I am convinced that other people can live this life also.
John 10:10 “The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows.” (Amplified) Many of us allow the thief to break into our lives and steal, kill and destroy and I want to emphasize the fact that this passage is about our lives, it isn’t about our homes or cars or businesses. The thief loves to destroy lives, to take lives apart and cause people to live a life of just getting by. Why is it so many bury themselves in TV programs, romance novels, working long hours, drinking and even hiding behind a religious veil? Because it doesn’t take any effort to not live a full or abundant life. Choosing to live a full, abundant life means you and I have to step out of the comfortable and begin to climb some mountains so that we can fully grasp the life that Jesus has for us.
When Jesus said he came that we may have and enjoy life and have it in abundance He was saying that a life that is full is a life where we can set aside the distractions that keep us from living that life and really begin to live. For me the way that I began challenging myself to go further and harder at life was to abandon the short races and go after races that challenge me physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. I knew I could go marathon distance and felt elated so it got me wondering how far I could go. So In January 2014 a mere four years after being 260 pounds I decided that I would get my weight down to 185 (I was 200 pounds at the time) and for my 50th birthday I would run 50 miles supported by my forever girlfriend and fantastic best friend. And I completed it in about fourteen hours and was elated and hooked. Ultra marathons became my new challenge and living an ultra life became my new motto.
An ultra life is simply a life lived to the full, a life of abundance and enjoyment. Living an ultra life is an opportunity to take part in the best that life has to offer us. It is an opportunity to take back what the thief wanted to steal from you. Living an ultra life is an opportunity to get your life back and isn’t that worth it? Come with me as we take back life and live it to the full. It is going to be an awesome adventure!