Hello there! I’m Dan and I’ve been overweight and mostly obese my entire life. When I approached the age of 40 I told myself that something needs to change in my life! That’s when I started to lose weight. A lot of weight. 51 kg and counting.
But that’s not all! I was well aware that losing weight needs to be just the beginning of a healthier lifestyle. The natural step to follow was to become more active. Therefore I started to do some physical activity almost every day. I started to run (mostly), but also ride a bike on longer distances and a lot of walking. And that’s not all, as you’ll see later!
Motivation comes and goes. So, I needed to find ways to keep my motivation high and therefore I needed some mechanisms to keep myself accountable. The very first thing that came to my mind was that I could post a story on Instagram and Facebook whenever I do an activity.
To my surprise, people around me started to write me, cheer me up and tell me that my consistency inspires them. Some of my work colleagues started to run themselves soon after. I also have a good friend that runs ultramaratons. I also got a lot of advice and support from him. All of them told me that it might be useful and inspirational for others to document my journey as (by the time I’m writing this) I just completed my very first month of consistent physical activities.
Breaking Boundaries
Even tough obese, I was not a total stranger to physical activities. I practiced Karate for a fairly long time, played footbal and used to hike. However, due to my obesity I was never able to do those activities on a very consistent basis and with the aim of constant progress.
This has changed now! Breaking boundaries is what I do every day. A new PR (personal record), a faster pace, a longer distance. All these are boundaries that I want to break. And there are a lot of them! Going from mostly couch potato to amateur athlete is not something that comes easy. Believe me, there are a lot of boundaries to break. But this also gives a lot of motivation. This entire blog is nothing else than my story to break them. I know, I’m old and I’ll never become a great athlete! But I can still grind to be a better version of myself each day!
Tales of Transformation
Everything here is about transformation. The stories I live, the challenges I face, the lows that swallow me and the heights that elevate me. There are plenty of all of them! But they transform me into a better athlete and this entire process is what I want to document here.
But it’s not only about my transformation! My hope is that the humble lines you’ll read on this blog will inspire and motivate you to go through this transformation as well. If I can do that, then literally everybody in the world can do it as well!
My Goals
Such a transformation doesn’t come easy. Setting goals is a useful way to keep the motivation high. Here is a list of my goals. I’ll check them once they are achieved.
- Run a 5km cross
- Run a 10km cross
- Run a halfmarathon
- Run a marathon
- Trail run 5km
- Trail run 10km
- Trail run 21km
- XCO race
- Cycling race
- Complete a Triathlon
If you have any ideas for other goals, please let me know in a comment.
I’m Not An Expert
I’ll share on this blog a lot of my personal thoughts on different subjects related to sporting activities. Remember that I’m not an expert in this area and everything I share is my personal opinion or view on that topic. Never take it as an expert advice! Read eat, filter it through your own critical thinking and take decisions based on that.
