OMG!

"How did it come to this? Two-hundred pounds and the worst shape of my life. I am getting too old to let myself go this far." That's what I thought as I looked at the scale feeling sorry for myself last week. Only five months ago I was in good shape and training for a summer of triathlons. Then a bombshell went off at work and my work day grew by four to five hours. Working out was out the window and motivation was fast on its heels.

So, this week I decided to run the Marine Corps Marathon on October 25th in Washington D.C. Yeah, less than four months to go from a two-hundred pound slug to running a marathon. And not just running and surviving but I want to actually PR. The last time I ran the MCM in 2007, I ran it in 4 hours and 8 minutes, a time I was happy with considering I barely trained specifically for the marathon. I was heavy into CrossFit then and I would guess that I was in the best overall shape of my life. After Christmas of 2007 I fell into a slump that took me a year to start to turn around. I was well on my way out when this past February work happened.

So here I am, about 106 days until D-Day, fat but motivated. I am motivated not just to get into better shape and survive the marathon with diginity and bowel control in tact but I am now running for a great cause. I am running and fundraising for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is internationally recognized for its pioneering work in finding cures and saving children with pediatric cancer and other catastrophic diseases. With research and patient care under one roof, St. Jude is where some of today's most gifted researchers are able to do science more quickly. All patients accepted for treatment at St. Jude are treated without regard to the family's ability to pay.

Please follow along as I chronicle the pains and tribulations of the next three and a half months. While misery may love company it will settle for spectators. I will post regularly with pictures, workouts, nutritional info and progress in general.

Please also support me and St Jude. You can visit my fundrasing website at www.www.mystjudeheroes.org/andrepardo