On February 28, 2013, I did something I've been trying to do for about a year and a half: weigh under 230 pounds.
The days leading up to the that day had all signs pointing to breaking the plateau I've been working on for months. Even then, I didn't want to get my hopes up because I have been hovering around 230 for months and have yet to break the barrier.
When I looked at the scale that morning and it read "229.2" I almost whooped with excitement. I refrained since it was only 4:00 am and my family was still asleep.
Even after seeing that number, I couldn't believe it. I stepped off the scale and immediately tried it again to see if it was a fluke. 229.2!
After that, I drank a large glass of water and went to my basement to workout, still thinking that the scale was probably broken or something.
After working out, I went back into the bathroom to take a shower and checked it one last time. 229.2!
Since that day, I have hovered around 230 again - this morning was 230.6 - but now I know the barrier can be broken, it's given me more hope.
It reminds me of John Landy, Roger Bannister and Wes Santee. They were all trying to break the four-minute mile, yet no matter how hard they worked their tails off, they couldn't seem to reach that goal. (For an excellent book on this, check out Neal Bascomb's The Perfect Mile.)
On May 6, 1954, one of them finally broke the four-minute mile barrier with a time of 3:59.4. (I won't say which one - even though you could Google it - because I don't want to spoil the end of Bascomb's book.) That opened the floodgates and many people have been able to run a four-minute mile since then. (Including the current record holder, Hicham El Guerrouj of Morroco, who ran it in 3:43.13.)
This is what I'm hoping happens to me. Now that I know I can get below 230, I plan on leaving 230 in my wake as I work my way to 170.
The days leading up to the that day had all signs pointing to breaking the plateau I've been working on for months. Even then, I didn't want to get my hopes up because I have been hovering around 230 for months and have yet to break the barrier.
When I looked at the scale that morning and it read "229.2" I almost whooped with excitement. I refrained since it was only 4:00 am and my family was still asleep.
Even after seeing that number, I couldn't believe it. I stepped off the scale and immediately tried it again to see if it was a fluke. 229.2!
After that, I drank a large glass of water and went to my basement to workout, still thinking that the scale was probably broken or something.
After working out, I went back into the bathroom to take a shower and checked it one last time. 229.2!
Since that day, I have hovered around 230 again - this morning was 230.6 - but now I know the barrier can be broken, it's given me more hope.
It reminds me of John Landy, Roger Bannister and Wes Santee. They were all trying to break the four-minute mile, yet no matter how hard they worked their tails off, they couldn't seem to reach that goal. (For an excellent book on this, check out Neal Bascomb's The Perfect Mile.)
On May 6, 1954, one of them finally broke the four-minute mile barrier with a time of 3:59.4. (I won't say which one - even though you could Google it - because I don't want to spoil the end of Bascomb's book.) That opened the floodgates and many people have been able to run a four-minute mile since then. (Including the current record holder, Hicham El Guerrouj of Morroco, who ran it in 3:43.13.)
This is what I'm hoping happens to me. Now that I know I can get below 230, I plan on leaving 230 in my wake as I work my way to 170.
FREAKIN' AWESOME! congrats. I love the perfect mile book.
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