Gary P's Running and Weight Loss Progress Site

Growing up as an overweight child, I always hated running because I essentially could never do because my weight. When I first my weight loss journey, I used the elliptical trainer as my main source of cardio workouts. Then one day when the gym was full and there were no free elliptical machines, I figured why not go for it and try the treadmill. I thought to myself if you can hour on the elliptical machine, you can most definitely do half an hour on the treadmill. I never really enjoyed the treadmill because I always found it to be boring and I would always subconsciously worry about falling off of the treadmill. Then on cool spring afternoon, I decided to so nice outside, why not go run outside and since then I've been hooked. I love running outside because it gives me some alone time, a time for me to reflect on what's going on in my life. Since then my love for running has only increased and now I'm training to do a marathon. If you told me that I was going to be a runner a couple of years ago, I would have laughed and told you were crazy. 

2006 was really a year when I just started running again and I usually did most of my runs on the treadmill, so I hadn't yet developed a love for it yet, it was mainly a another way to do cardio. 2007 on the other hand was a completely different, I discovered my passion for running somewhat then, but still I wasn't hooked like I am now. Here's a table of my 2006 and 2007 Mileage:

The beginning of 2008 running wise started out similar to 2007 when I just wanted to use running as another form of cardio. In the early months of spring, a friend of mine suggested doing the Marine Corp Marathon and I thought to myself why not, I'm physically fit enough and with my experience in weight loss I know I have the kind of determination and work ethic to do it. Plus I figured it would be a once in a lifetime thing. So I started training for the marathon. One of the best running related purchases I made in 2008 was the Nike Sportband, I really love this thing and I refuse to go for a run without it. All of graphs/data that come from my runs plus the community aspect of Nike+ really kept me motivated. In the end though, I slacked off with my training during the summer of 08 and ultimately decided to defer the Marine Corp Marathon until 2009, because I hadn't put the appropriate level of training required for the marathon and I didn't want to risk injury.

Here's a table of my 2008 Mileage:

As you can see in 2008, I made alot of progress with my running especially in the pace dept, but I still wasn't as consistently as I wanted to be. 

The beginning of 2009 marked a new start for me with my running.  After gaining back alot of weight during the 2008, I was very determined to lose this weight for good and I also decided that this would be the year that finally ran a marathon. Using these two motivational goals, I have since then started running 4 days a week and I have improve my health and running ability by alot.

Since running my first half marathon at the end of May 2009, I've started training for my first full marathon. The summer training has actually gone really well with running 5 days a week and I have no doubt that I will do the marathon this year and finally get to my goal weight and stay there.

Here are two graphs that illustrate the progress that I've made since 2005 with my running speed/pace