Spartan Special Ops 2014

What's up party people!? I am just chilling myself. Just got done with another session of DDPYOGA that is helping me change my life to get me ready for these Spartan Races that I have coming up.

So guess what guys? One of the coolest things is happening on Feb 15, 2014. The REEBOK SPARTAN RACE SPECIAL OPS TAMPA!!!! WOOOOOOOO!!!!! I am talking about some of the gnarliest obstacles SPARTAN RACE can throw at you with an influx of Special ops maneuvers thrown in for good measure! Doesn't that sound fun? Oh come on, You might have your Trifecta medal or even striving for it this year, but I wouldn't miss this race. Promised to be one of a kind. Even a cool one-of-a-kind Finisher's Medal.

So, what's it going to be? Another year on the couch where I was last year, or is this the year you get off your excuses and make a change? Prove it to me if you want to change and sign up, show up, and never give up! SEE YOU AT THE FINISH LINE!!

Spartan Race World Championships

So guys, guess what? The sport I love is going to be broadcast on NBC Sports on December 7th. There will be several bars around town that will be showing it.

As you know if you have followed my blog any Spartan Race and Hobie Call helped me change my life. Take some time out of your schedule on Saturday and check it out at 4-5pm on NBC Sports. I promise you won't be bored.

Check out more information at www.Spartanracemedia.com and if you are ready for a REAL CHANGE in your life join me in the March 8th Georgia Spartan Sprint. Have a blast watching!!!

50 lbs!!!!

So I step on the scale this morning. You go it! I am down 50 pounds since March 9, 2013. Maybe I didn't get there the fastest. I have definitely had a fun ride. Finally, taking control of my life and making the healthy choices I need to live a complete life. Hundreds of people that I could thank for helping me stay on course these past months.

Lots of people ask me, "What's the secret?" There isn't a secret, but there is a formula that I have used that has helped me stay successful.

• Drinking water
• Watching portion sizes
• Moving around
• Advocare Supplements

Those are my big 4! There are others, like getting enough, that I try and abide by. As far as eating, I eat a lot of protein and veggies.

I got The Mud Crusade coming up this weekend on June 1st. A lot of my muddy brothers and sisters will be there. Take care of yourselves and see you in the mud!!!

Spartan Race 2013

The Day That Changed My Life Forever

Yeah, that's me in the mud under some barbed wire. I don't even know where to start. By the way that is Chris Davis in the picture behind me. He started his weight loss journey at 696 pounds; I know the camera adds 10 pounds but I am sure that he is not even remotely close to what he used to weigh. I think he is close to 260 lbs now. Inspired? You should be.

Friday March 8th @8:00 pm

Hobie Call is in town! What a great day it is! Perhaps the greatest obstacle racer this generation has ever seen is in my little ol' town of Winder, GA. I go over and get to talk to not only a hero of mine but a great friend. I told him that I was volunteering for the Spartan race again and he had this "weird" look on his face. You see, Hobie knows my situation, some of you may not. In May of 2009 I had one of the most excruciating back injuries happen to me out of NOWHERE. I have a cyst in my spinal column between T-12 and L-3. Well, no big deal right? Except sometimes it decides to move. When it does, I will be frank with you things HAPPEN. My legs have gone numb, shooting pains down my leg, my whole leg has felt like it disappeared and I have fallen. All at 33 years old. So you could say since 2009 I had a "little" bit of depression going on. Being out of work since then has made me LAZY and DEPENDENT on my wife which isn't fair to her. Back to Hobie: Hobie looks at me and says " you need to do the race". Mind you, I had not done ANY kind of exercise in 6 to 8 months and I weighed 428 lbs that Friday night. I told him that I would love to do the race but I am JUST NOT IN SHAPE. What an excuse right?

Now Hobie being Hobie was not going to take NO for an answer. As Hobie laid it out there about how I would finish the race I kept looking over at Steve Power hoping he would bale me out of this predicament to no avail. Then Hobie says a phrase that changes my life. he said Matt " You can DIE on this couch, OR You can DIE ON THIS COURSE". Right then I knew a moment of destiny happened because it SPARKED that athlete that played football and baseball when I was younger. It resonated with The FAT GUY MENTALITY that I could be more than what I WAS, I COULD HELP PEOPLE. But first, not to be called out and not accept the challenge, I told him i would see him at 9:30am Saturday morning.

Haha. Why am I laughing? You don't know the ruckus this caused at my house when I informed my wife when I woke up early on a Saturday morning I was going to race. "You're gonna hurt yourself", You could paralyze yourself, Don't you end up in the hospital", You know the caring and loving part of our wives that don't want us to hurt. But I NEEDED THIS. I NEEDED MY PURPOSE BACK. I NEEDED TO HELP OTHERS, That is just what I am hardwired to do.

So I get to the Conyers International Horse Park, home to Georgia Spartan Sprint. I almost threw up. My nerves were going so bad when I got there. Got to registration, got marked up, pinned up. Got to see Chris Davis, Matt Davis, Steve Power, Stacy Shuler, Chris Freeman, Ronnie Roberts. Major part of my support team. Finally got to see Hobie right before he ran and WON the Elite Heat. He told me to go see Chris Davis. So I went up and met Chris, we had a great talk. He asked me if I wanted to do The Biggest Loser Heat, which at the time I didn't know anything about. But if he was doing it, I was doing it.(Why wouldn't I? He has already lost as much as I weigh???) So at about 9:45 we are off. I stay in the back out of everybody's way because I KNOW I am the slowest walker. First couple of obstacles are pretty easy. Into the 2nd mile these hills come out of nowhere. (SIDE NOTE: I now know is in hell for fat people: HILLS). I had to really slow my pace. People were passing me left and right but I didn't care I was still moving.At about this time one of my greatest childhood friends found me on the course. I had no idea he was there and he didn't know I was there. He stopped right when he found me and just forgot all about his time to help me. I will be forever grateful for that Chad Sauls. I think it was about this time also I met another great friend Delaine. We had great talks about being over comers. She really helped put things in perspective about the journey I am on to lose this weight and be healthier. Then there was this crazy guy with a red Mohawk  Justin Matson, my brother from another mother. Between that crew I had, there was no way I was failing. Mile 3 and 4 were terrible for me. I am diabetic, my sugar dropped. I thought the race was over. Chris pulled out some jelly beans and told me to eat them. I was like "The WHOLE BAG"? So I got them down and instantly felt better. That mile 3 hill and Sandbag carry beat me down. I would have to say the biggest accomplishment during this race was getting over the 8ft wall with the help of MUDRUNFUN!!!!!!!!! Those guys were the best. They really encouraged me to keep going. I love those guys. MUDRUNFUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The mud crawl was a beast for me because my belly is so big, my head is right at the dag gum barbed wire! I could SEE the finish line. NO WAY was I giving up now. Through cramps, exhaustion, dehydration, pain, diabetes, depression, and just being "OUT OF SHAPE", I CONQUERED THE SPARTAN RACE!!

It ended up being 4.2 or 4.4 miles, I can't remember right off. It has changed my life. Now my wife and I eat only organic or natural meats. Trying to incorporate more veggies in our diet. Walking EVERYDAY and drinking plenty of water. But most of all, TRYING TO INSPIRE OTHERS!!! 

IF I CAN DO IT, YOU CAN DO IT!!!

IF YOU CAN SEE IT, YOU CAN HAVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Join me in a Mud Run or Obstacle Race Near You!

Peace Place Race for Domestic Violence

First Trail Race

6/11/11

After completing my first race, a little confidence is carried over into this race at Fort Yargo.  I don't really know what to expect. So Stevie agrees to walk with me. Come to find out later I might have died had he not been with me. We get to the registration table and Stacy picks up our numbers. Number 105, not so ironic. Now I have grown up in Winder my entire life and even been to Fort Yargo numerous times. Something was telling me "this can't be that bad". I see some other guys I went to school with, Ronnie Roberts and Mike Headrick. It was great seeing those two. We wished each other well, all the time letting them know I would be towards the back.

At the start of this race I weighed 396. I am a little lighter for this race, but I have hills to conquer. AND WE'RE OFF! Something inside me says Matt you can "jog" a little bit and be ok. So the situation takes over as I try to keep pace with everybody LOL. I last about 3.2 seconds and I can't breathe. Stevie keeps checking on me, I think he thinks this is gonna be a bad day, but continues to push me. All of a sudden we are just walking the paths and I get SICK, S.I.C.K.  No aid station in sight, my only help is in Stevie's bag of tricks. I knew what was happening, my sugar dropped. Granted I haven't had many problems with my diabetes, but this one stopped me dead in my tracks. Stevie pulls out some trail mix and a Protein bar that tasted like peanut butter and jelly. Feel free to buy me any for Christmas!! We waited about 15 minutes and I started to feel a bit better. So we started a slow pace back on the trail. Getting passed by people I think took a wrong turn, enjoying the sunshine and not so much the wildlife (mosquitoes). Stevie and I make it to the first aid station. It's right by the lake. A cool breeze is coming off the lake that is wonderful. By now i have recovered and start getting my stride back. We finally make it through the woods and there is this MONSTROSITY OF A HILL in front of me. I dig down deep, KNOWING this has been longer than a 5k. Three- quarters of the way up this hill my legs begin to fail me.  DON'T FAIL ME NOW!!! I remember a technique Stevie had told me, so I turned around and made it up the rest of the hill, WHEW! 

From a far way off I can see the clock, it's at about 1:28:15. I do NOT want this to take me and hour and a half! So I PRESS and PRESS. Maybe even a "JOG" came out of somewhere and I finished the race at 1:29:57. My cousin Pamela was at the finish line and ran up to me and gave me my first medal that I treasure today, A Peace Place Dove. BOOYAH!

p.s. The race was 3.8 miles and my feet were killing me!

Exercise Tip: Always eat before strenuous exercise if you are diabetic.

Chik Fil A 5k

Say WHAT?!?!?!?  You are telling me that YOU are gonna do a race? (hahahahahahahahaha).

Yeah, I am pretty sure that is what all my haters were saying :-). Nevertheless, just walking is fun but racing gets you T-SHIRTS! Ask my wife, I am a t-shirt junkie. I'm not there EVER to finish 1st, because I did that when I signed up. So back in May, Stevie walked with me on my 1st 5k. The Chik-Fil-A Connect Series Race. Guess what they had those COOL t-shirts that weren't cotton, like ummm, Dri-Fit or whatever!! I told you I was addicted LOL.

  The day of that race I weighed 405, my number was also 405 :-).

Yeahhhhh boyyyyyy!!! I just figured out how to do pictures!

So the race starts and I'm off like a lightning bolt(haha). Stevie is walking beside me. I'm out of 

breath by the first mile. Can anybody relate? Stevie had his secret backpack full of water and other 

treats. This was supposed to be an easy course!!!! As I walked I watched all the other members of 

our family (GYM, CoreFit Rx and Power Thru) pass me as I hadn't even got down to the turn 

around but I wasn't worried. I kept my composure and remembered that I was there for me, not 

anybody else. It was amazing at the end, everybody that ran came out and met me at the 3rd mile, in 

the home stretch. WE ALL CROSSED AT THE SAME TIME. I wasn't last, Stevie was by .02 

seconds :-)

One of the coolest things that happened that was that one that inspired me to really give weight 

loss a try without the gastric bypass(not knocking anybody who has or is going to have it) was 

waiting at the finish line after working all night at the fire department (Chad Sauls).

Well I will guarantee you one thing. I wasn't 405 after this race, only in the race results!

After the race, it was like everybody wanted to interview me. I was thinking I might not be 405 anymore but I'm still in the high 300's, LET ME CATCH MY BREATH!

I RAN THIS RACE IN HONOR OF MY UNCLE, BILL HEALAN, WHO LOST HIS LEG TO COMPLICATIONS FROM DIABETES. LOVE YOU, UNCLE BILL!

Finish time 59:47

Planning the journey

In all of the athletics I have been involved in, I am the most excited about this change.  Sure, I loved the Pinewood Derby in the Boy Scouts, playing All-Stars in Rec ball, and even playing Varsity football.  I think it is because this journey is not so much about a team, but for me. Now don't get me wrong I still need a team to get through the harder times.

I am finding out that making time for exercise is time consuming in itself. I guess this is where you have to "dig" to get to the gym or just outside to walk around the block. I certainly hope I am not the only one that struggles with this :-).  So I have started walking, realizing that 2 years of inactivity have left my leg muscles in pretty bad shape.  Finding encouragement in some locals, we started a "Walking Club" at the gym. 

Walking around the block almost immediately started working on my depression symptoms. The more I was outside in the fresh air and enjoying the sunshine, my attitude had gotten better. Oh and what I forgot to mention in my first blog, I am on 18 pills a day, from blood pressure to morphine for pain.  I adopted a new phrase, "Walking is Therapy".

Go outside today. Be thankful that you made it that far.

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with 1 step"