In medias res

I confess that I have really been too embarrassed to begin this story ab ovo (at the egg - from the start) for reasons that will soon become apparent.  I have instead begun in medias res (in the middle of things) so that I don't have to be so confrontational with the first part of the story.  I get to gloss over the unpleasant parts, the embarrassing parts, and the sad parts - I get to highlight without reliving.  The story is my own.  It is the tale of how I went from being someone that walked a scary asthmatic wheeziness, dragged a foot, and couldn't see his own feet - to being a world-ranked professional athlete and trainer.  I am only in the middle of things and some days progress ain't linear.  If you want to read about what records I hold, who sponsors me, and see the list of my high profile clients... come back in another year or two.  I am copying Virgil, my own Aeneid begins in medias res.

One year ago I weighed 240 lbs.  At 5'8" (even on a fireplug-like framed guy like me) that is obese.  I did not carry it all as badly as I might have.  That is about all that can be said though.  Two back surgeries and all of that tonnage created some serious aches and pains, as well as some major mobility issues.  I could run to the mailbox but probably not back from it.

I smoked a lot.  I ate compulsively.  I did not exercise.  I told myself a story that it did not matter.  In short, I was about 55 yrs old at 41.  It was not a good place to be.  There is a lot less of me now; and, what there is moves a hell of a lot more quickly and comfortably.  I will tell you how that came to be when next I sit down to write.

-john

 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_medias_res)