Best Road Races and the UjENA FIT Club is speaking with 100 people who we feel have a lot to say about running, racing and fitness We will give you background information as will as their insights into the future. Be sure to post your feedback and comments.
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Roger Wright - Interview No. 19
Friday, February 17th, 2012
"I lost 150 pounds and then ran the Boston Marathon"
Roger Wright is not your typical runner. Growing up on a rural farm in Maine, Roger's only brush with running was when his father ran the Boston Marathon in 1968. He was seven-years-old. So impressed with his father's accomplishment, he made a vow to someday run in his footsteps and complete it himself. "Training" started a few days later and it lasted for about a month. A maximum distance of approximately a 1/2 mile was achieved before calling it quits. That would be the furthest distance he would ever run for the next 40 years. From childhood, Roger was always heavy, and as his age progressed, so did his weight. By the time he was in 7th grade, weight issues became a concern for his father who was a doctor and he started on the first of many failed diets. Beyond "gym" class, exercise was usually avoided and never enjoyed. By the time Roger enrolled in college, and the social activities that go with it, his weight broke the 200 pound barrier. Diets became a running joke with friends and weight watchers was more of a game than a real desire to change his life.
Photo: Roger at his front door June 7, 2008 weighing almost 300 pounds. 1. When did you realize you had a weight issue? 4. How much were you eating at the time? How often were you eating and what were you eating? 5. Describe a typical day during this time. 6. When you looked in the mirror who did you see? 7. What daily things could you not do because of your weight? 8. When did you decide to loose weight and why? How much did you weigh? In May of 2008, right after my 47th birthday, three things happened all in one week. First, my doctor called and told me that, in addition to high blood pressure and high cholesterol that I was now diabetic. The same day my sister in law told me that my nine year old niece Julia, who suffers from Cystic Fibrosis, would be going on the lung transplant list. The following day, my wife came home from work and told me that the new season of the show “The Biggest Loser” was casting for the upcoming season. That night, I was out cooking some ribs on the grill (ironically trying to gain weight for the next season of The Biggest Loser) and I came to the realistic conclusion that I was never going to be on the show and that both my health and Julias were in serious trouble. My dad had run the Boston Marathon in 1968 (I was seven) and even though I had always hated running, I had a dream of running it. Like an epiphany, I realized I could train for the Boston Marathon, lose 50 pounds and raise $3000 for Cystic Fibrosis. I went in and told my wife who looked at me like she has never looked at me before and said “I think it’s important that you do that. If you do, I will have a friend at every mile”. That’s all it took to start me walking. 9. How did you decide running could help? I hated running so I started out walking three miles every day for a week. The first day it took me 1 hour and 20 minutes to walk three miles. I vowed to improve on that each day. After a week, my friend/trainer Rick, walked the course with me. When we had walked 2.5 miles Rick told me to run as far as I could. I looked at him in disbelief and said “Really?” to which he replied “You’re going to be running the Boston Marathon so you really need to start running!” I made it 10 yards before I had to stop and catch my breath. I looked at him with tears running down my face and asked “What am I going to do?” It took me about a month to run a half mile nonstop and another month to run a mile. 10. Did you have the support of your doctor to start running?
Photo: Roger running his first 5k 4.5 months after getting into running 11. Are you a jogger or a runner? 12. What else did you do to lose weight? 13. Did your family and friends think you could do it? 14. What did you think of runners before you became one? 15. Was it really tough to start running? Comments and Feedback
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Photo: Finishing the Boston Marathon 16. When did you think you could run a marathon? 17. You decided to raise money for your niece Julia?
Photo: Roger and his wife Mary in Toronto before he started running. 18. At what point did all your clothes stop fitting? 19. How was running changing your life? Did things change at work? 20. How much weight did you loose before running the 2009 Boston Marathon? 21. What was your feeling when you finished? Maybe I was just exhausted, had gone way beyond threshold of pain or was just in disbelief that the 10 month journey was finally over, but the fact is that if someone had offered me $5000 to shed a single tear at that moment I would have lost. It was probably 30 minutes later when I finally saw my wife Mary that I broke down in tears and let everything go. 22. Describe your life now. 23. Others like Oprah lost a lot of weight and ran the New York Marathon. But she has gained back a lot of it. Is that going to happen to you? After I ran Boston, I found myself quickly slipping back to my old ways and within two weeks, had put on about 15 pounds thanks in part to the post marathon rest where walking up the stairs was still a challenge and I was fooled into believing that I could eat anything and it wouldn’t have an effect on me. 24. Do you think about your weight daily? 25. How much are you currently running? I know right now you have a calf issue, how are you dealing with that? 26. What if you had not found running? 27. What running goals do you have? 28. What advice do you have for a person that is more than 100 pounds over weight? What is the first thing they should do? How does someone start? Just like I did, you have to walk before you run. Go out, find a three mile route and walk it for a week. After a week start at some point (1.5 miles seems to be a good point) and just run as far as you can. The next day start at the same point and push yourself to go just a little further (I added a telephone pole). Eventually you will run the entire 1.5 miles home. After that just start running before the 1.5 mile mark and eventually you will run the entire 3 miles. I like 3 miles because it’s just about the same distance as a 5K and I think it’s important to set an initial goal of running a 5K because once you run it, you will be on top of the world and ready for your next race. 29. Because you run, can you eat as much as you want now? 30 How many years do you think you have added to you life because you found running? 31. Describe a typical day now. I will always start my day with 1-2 hour of exercise. I normally do spin classes 3-4 times a week, weights and core work 3 times a week, yoga once a week and obviously lots of running. In the evening, I go work out with my wife at the club about 3 times a week for about an hour on the elliptical trainer, one of the other machines or sometimes another spin class. 32. What other interests do you have? 33. How many races do you like to run annually! 34. Is your race time important to you?
Photo: Roger and his niece Julia after finishing the Boston Marathon 35. If I gave you one wish that would come true, what would that be? 36. How do you like the Ujena Fit Club? 37. What do you think of my goal to run 50 races this year? |