Ron has been a great addition to our boot camp. He gives it 200% and it's always my goal to have him sweat through his entire shirt (sorry couldn't resist). He is encouraging to others and inspires them as well. You really can't get more dedicated people than him and his wife. I have watched him challenge himself in tough mudders, mud runs, and a half marathon. Nothing stops him! Still waiting to see what he does next. From where he is now and what he's accomplished, he should be very proud. I know I am. Don't think you can do it; read his story.

Here is Ron's Story…

I am 45 years old and I’ve been working out now for about 4 good years. I worked out a little before that, but I just kind of half assed it. I really kicked it up after my coworker Ray died of a massive heart attack getting ready for work one morning. Ray was only 46. Not only did I start working out like it was my job; I changed the way I ate as well. It was quite a few life changes in a short period of time. I had found a program that made sense to me and was able to stick with it.

The reason I had to change my habits was because my blood pressure and cholesterol was high and I was overweight. My doctor wanted to put me on medication and had even written me a prescription and gave me some samples. When I got home and started reading the side effects of the medication (and there were a lot of side effects) I decided that I was going to try something else; I just wasn’t sure what it was going to be. I went to the library and starting reading a couple healthy eating books. They were basically focused on whole foods, but still allowed me a cheat meal or two, which I could live with since a big ol’ greasy cheeseburger sounds good once in a while.

I had joined a gym and decided that I was going to start running. The first time I went to the park to run, my goal was to just make it half way around the track.  So I took off, a woman pushing a baby stroller passed me, so my new goal was to just keep up with her, but she cruised right on out of sight in no time. I did make it half way even though I thought it was going to kill me. I kept coming back and running. trying to go just a little more each time until I finally made around the track one full lap. The track is one mile long.

I was pretty happy to start seeing results. I was losing weight, 47 lbs, and I had more energy. I went back to the doctor and was told that my blood pressure and cholesterol were both normal.

I ran in a 5k and did fairly well, and then my wife’s friend let her know about a 5k with obstacles and mud to crawl through and wanted to know if anyone wanted to join her and her friends. And it just so happened that I did want to try it. It was tougher than a regular 5k but it was a lot of fun. I’ve since participated in quite a few different 5k’s, mud runs, trail runs, and my first half marathon.

My wife, Jamie was going to a boot camp in Brandon and really enjoyed it and kept asking me to try it, but I didn’t think I’d like it. I didn’t want to do group exercise, I was just going to keep going to the gym and running by myself. It was working for me and I didn’t want to change. I had signed up for a Tough Mudder challenge and my wife told me that Carrie was going to be holding Tough Mudder training. So I attended one of the trainings and really enjoyed the workout, even though it was in a group setting to my surprise.

I’ve been attending BootCamp in Brandon 3 days a week ever since. If you told me a year ago that I’d be getting up at 4:40 in the morning and driving twenty miles to go to workout 3 days a week I would have said you were crazy, but that is what we do. My wife has been doing it even longer than me. We love the workouts and the camaraderie with the other boot campers. Carrie does a great job of mixing the workouts up, so that they are always challenging. We never get bored, because we aren't  doing the same workouts over and over agian, we never do the same workout twice!

I truly believe that it has increased my endurance and even though I haven’t seen her, I’m sure the lady in the park with the stroller, couldn’t out run me now. It’s nice that Boot Camp is something that my wife and I both enjoy. We have hectic schedules and it’s nice to spend a little extra time with her working on our health.

Congrats for taking responsibility for your health and moving on to accomplsihing BIG Things! Kudos to You!