What's Your "Peachtree"?

Man I love cashews. That's random, but so am I. There are quite a few reasons I have decided to write this note. They include: 1) It's something to do while I cool off from a workout 2) If this gets just one person to go after something they've been "thinking" about doing, then that would simply rock 3) Writing is one way I express myself.

Sunday, July 4th 2010, was a special day for me. As alot of people know, I was at one point almost 300 lbs. I wore 46" jeans in the waist. I kept one pair as a simple reminder of where I've been. In 2003, I started on what was one of the biggest journeys of my life. I jumped on the New Year bandwagon wanting to drop some weight. Just 12 weeks into it, my awesome 2 friends, Dan and Amanda talked me into signing up for the Peachtree Road Race, which is 6.2 miles. I was very skeptical and a nervous wreck considering that my first walk in January was one lap around my old high school track and I was gasping for air. But I took a leap of faith. After all, they had faith in me... (thank you Dan and Amanda by the way). I signed up... big eyed and scared to death, definitely out of my comfort zone.

July 3rd, 2003. Gut check time. Was I ready? Not really. But knowing what I was up against and wanting to actually jog the whole thing... that kept me focused. My goal by July 1st was to drop 50 lbs. On July 1st, I was at the 75 lb mark.... I absolutely crushed it through the help and support of God, my friends and family. One day I was in the dressing room of JC Penny and I fit into 40's. I was so ecstatic I called a buddy of mine right then and there. "Dude... 40's! I'm in 40's!" I'm sure my voice echoed but I didn't care. My body was changing, but more importantly, my spirit and attitude was changing. I finally had some self confidence. Transforming my physical body was just scratching the surface. I was becoming a better person, and that excited me. Oh cool, look at that. I started talking about July 3rd and went off on a tangent. Isn't that funny? It's like when you.... uh oh. I'm doing it again. I'm just going to hit enter twice.

There. That's better. July 4th, 2003. I had butterflies in my stomach. I was excited. I was nervous. I was out of my comfort zone. My friends that invited me and I were in different groups. I was on my own and in a way, that excited me. And away we go... it was the first race of my entire life. I stopped at the first water station and poured water all over my head as if I had been running for days. I didn't care. I felt like Rocky. Before I knew it, mile 6 was approaching and I thought to myself, "Dude... you haven't walked at all yet. You're going to do this!". I am a little hesitant on sharing this, but as I approached the finish line, my eyes were filled up with tears. Tears of joy. Tears of past frustrations. Tears of exhilaration. Tears of determination. Tears of "finally... I've made it". "You did it! You did it!" was all I could think as I crossed the finish line. All the hard work, all the sweat and all the sacrifice was worth it for just that one moment in time. I will never forget that day.

July 4th, 2003. That was over 100 lbs and 7 years ago. But now you can hopefully see why July 3rd is like Christmas Eve to me. The Peachtree Road Race is very sentimental to me. That's when I discovered that with some determination, discipline, sacrifice, and stepping out of my comfort zone, anything is possible. So my question for you is, what's your Peachtree?...