Hey everyone. Happy Cinco de Mayo. This is kind of a weird little podcast, just a podcast I wanted to make really fast because I just had some thoughts and some feelings that I really wanted to share today. 

I just got done with my run this afternoon and was taking a shower and, you know, reflecting on just the things about my body that I wish were a little bit better or things that I am trying to achieve or the weight I’m still looking to lose, or the body fat I’d still like to lose, and I’m sitting there looking at my…I have a lot of excess skin. This is what happens when you lose in excess of 200 pounds. You’re going to have a lot of excess skin afterwards, especially if you’ve held on to it for a while. But I’m sitting there looking at myself and I just was overcome with a immense amount of gratitude because I started thinking about it and I currently run in excess of 40 miles per week, my shortest runs, except for my rest day, which my rest day runs are 3 miles, but my shortest runs right now are 5 miles long, and I do that every single day. And my long runs are 13, 14, 15 miles long right now, and I am now on, what is it, day 88 of my run streak? 

I just looked at my body with all of its flaws and all of its imperfections and it just hit me so hard that my body is incredible. It’s just an amazing, amazing piece of evolutionary achievement. And I was reflecting back, and this isn’t to brag, I actually want to illustrate a point here. I was looking back a year and change ago and if you had looked at my body then, you would have seen something that you would have immediately deemed to be broken. I couldn’t walk without a cane, I walked with great pain and difficulty, I could barely walk at all to begin with. I would only stand if I absolutely had to, but mainly I was reclined or sitting all day, every day, because it just hurt too much to be upright. I couldn’t walk up a few steps without being in pain and extremely out of breath, and you would have looked at me and you would have said ‘That is an absolutely broken body that, that poor thing, there probably isn’t a whole lot you can do for it. Maybe you could lose a little bit of weight and get a little healthier, but could you really make anything of it?’ I don’t know, maybe that is just my pessimistic mind thinking, but you’d look at it that way, and then a year and change later and I think you’d be hard pressed not to call my body athletic. I think you’d be hard pressed to not look at me and say ‘that guy is in shape’ and ‘that guy is physically active and fit’. That’s amazing!

I firmly believe that virtually every body in this world has the ability to make a similar transformation, no matter where you’re starting from. You have the ability to take yourself from where you are and completely remodel your life and completely remodel what your body is capable of, because these bodies that we have right now, regardless of their limitations, regardless of the damage we’ve done to them over time, regardless of how we feel about them right now, they are capable of doing incredible things. I mean, mind blowing things. 

I’m so grateful for this journey that I’ve been on, and I’m grateful that I’m now engaged in a cause of helping others to try and realize that same potential as well, and to try to learn from the things I’ve learned and the successes I’ve had, as well as the failures I’ve had in the past, to be able to navigate this journey of taking something that someone deems to be maybe worth less than what it really is and turn it into a masterpiece. Turn it into something incredible, regardless of what flaws it has in the end. My body is not perfect, like I said. I have a lot of excess skin, I still have some pound underneath that flappy skin that I’m trying to lose. But if this is as far as I got, it would still be incredible, and it would still be a miracle, and you guys can do the same thing. Anyone can do this.

I don’t know, I don’t really know where I’m going with this. I just was filled with enough gratitude and energy and thoughts around this that I thought I’d record them and put it out into the world. Maybe this gratitude might inspire somebody to get out there and strive to accomplish their dreams. To strive to change their life and turn their physical fitness and health around. It’s possible, and it is worth it. It is a lot of work, it is a lot of work. But, I am so grateful for who I am today as a result of this process. I’m grateful for what I’ve endured, the challenges I’ve had, and how they’ve shaped me as a human being and as an athlete. I’m grateful for the journey I still have ahead of me, whatever that looks like. It’s going to be a wild ride, and I’m going to continually push myself to do new things and to challenge my body in new ways. 

Yeah, anyway, Happy Cinco de Mayo! It’s an awesome day! Spring has sprung, and we have a great summer ahead of us, and a great year ahead of us. Go out there and make the changes that you hope to see in yourself. There is nothing that you can’t accomplish, I firmly believe that. 

Anyway, thanks for listening to my little mid-day random rant. I believe in all of you guys. Everyone who is listening to this podcast I know is someone who at least has some modicum of focus on their health and wellbeing, otherwise I don’t know why you’d listen to a health and fitness podcast. But all of you guys are engaged in this work in some way, shape, or form. I just, I’m your cheerleader, man. I believe in what you want to accomplish. I want you to accomplish all those things, and I really hope that you get there and I hope that you stick with it. Remember, again, that it is consistency that wins the day, here. Just go out there and just start swinging at those goals. You might not land a hit every time, and that is ok, but just keep swinging, keep chopping at that tree and at some point that tree will fall and that goal will be realized. You’ll look at this giant tree that you just chopped down with that consistency and you’ll realize that you can do anything. Then you can set your sights on another tree and chop down that even bigger tree. Just keep swinging and swinging and this will become a pattern that you can repeat in your life in a variety of circumstances. Not just health and fitness, but in your professional ambitions, and personal lives, and social strivings, and in your seeking out of knowledge. Just be consistent and keep chopping, and I know that sometimes that is boring and sometimes you don’t feel like you’re making any headway, but that consistency wins the day! It does win! It does pretty much rule everything out. The Grand Canyon wasn’t carved with a few big swipes of a galactic pickaxe. It was a river slowly, over millions and millions of years, carving away small particles of sand at a time until you’re left with this enormous, gorgeous, incredible canyon. That is what consistency does! That is a perfect example of consistency. You don’t feel like you’re making very much movement or headway, but that consistency rules everything. 

Anyway, just my thoughts for this Friday afternoon. Go out and have a wonderful weekend, have a wonderful day. No matter where you’re listening to this or in what situation you’re listening to this in, know that you can accomplish huge things. I’m in your corner, and I know you have other people who care about you whoa re in your corner as well. Just go out and get it, guys. Bye.