Well, here we are, 5 years from the day I decided to change my life and have Gastric Bypass Surgery. SOOOOOO much has changed, and for the sake of not reitterating all of my accomplishments from years prior (which can be found in previous posts on this blog), I will simply tell you about what has occured in my life in the past year both personally and athletically.
My first race of the season was in Keller, TX in March where I took 3rd in my Division. Nothing spectacular about the event except it was FREEZING cold, but I swam well, averaged around 20mph on the hilly bike, and ran 7:40s on the run. I competed in my 4th Ironman in The Woodlands Texas and had a rough day, but finished and was grateful for the experience. I also raced in several other Sprint and Olympic Distance races and won my division (Clydesdale). I also finished the Dallas (Whiterock) Marathon and a few other shorter run races. The highlights for 2012 were finishing the 100EC 100 mile endurance run in Southern California, which was a grueling day for me, but I finished in under 30 hours. The second highlight for me was completing the Prairieman Half Iron Distance (70.3 miles) and winning 1st place in my division with a time of 5:46:01 on a very windy day. By far, the pinnacle of 2012 was competing in the 72 Hour Ultracentric Endurance Run in Grapevine Texas. I ended up completing 164 miles, which was enough for me to win my Age Group and put a stamp on amazing breakthrough year. I say breakthrough not because I beat any speed records, but because I completed another 100 mile run, and then almost doubled that distance a month later, when up to a year ago, I was not able to hit the 100 mile goal. I have far suprassed that and am ready to take on the next challenge, I'm just not sure what that is yet...
On a personal note, I was happy to see Ava enjoy her first year of cheerleading as she rooted on her bigger brother, Ayden, and the Saginaw Junior Fighting Irish. I was grateful for the opportunity to coach Ayden's Soccer team, watch his football team go to the Super Bowl again, and watch him become a Cub Scout while excelling at school and getting recognized at school for his awesome behavior and citizenship. Austin began preschool with the "Mommy's Day Out" program, giving Christie 2 days a week to enjoy some time to herself and at the gym while ALL 3 kids are in school.
The past year I recieved a promotion at work and took on additional responsibilities supporting the entire Southwest Region and am loving it. Christie and I have never been better, and I am so grateful to have her as my wife. It is hard to believe that here we are, 37 years old, and have been together since we were 16. Time just flies by!!! I used to think my journey away from Obesity was just about what the scale says, but honestly, I could care less about what the scale says now.
I no longer hide in a corner and eat by myself. I no longer avoid looking people in the eye because of self-esteem issues. I no longer stand on the sidelines and watch my family grow up. I no longer am ashamed to be intimate with my wife. I am no longer required to shop at the Big N Tall stores. I am no longer effected by what people say or think of me. I care about myself now, and because of that, I am able to care more for others. How can anyone care for others when they dont care for themselves first? I have been through all the emotional Highs and Lows of the weight loss physical and pyschological roller coasters. I have made good and bad decisions, I have learned to give more than I recieve, and I have learned how to deal with my problems head on rather then letting them fester inside and eat me up. I have a backbone now, and am NOT affraid to stand up to people when me or my family are getting the raw end of ANY situation. I have learned to be more tollerant of others and have tried to become more patient in everyday situations. I have truly learned that I will never be handed anything I cannot overcome, but most of all, I have learned what it really means to LIVE life, and to LOVE life!
I cannot put into words how grateful I am for an incredible wife. I would literally be NOTHING without Christie, she is my everything, and I owe everything I have and that I am to her. The statistics are staggering when it comes to divorce after significant weight loss. I would be lying if I said that the past 5 years since surgery has been without trial, there have been ups and downs, but in retrospect, the only downs there ever were pointed back to my selfishness and a sense that because I had lost weight, I "Deserved" or was "Entitled" to things that required a lot of time a way from family. After evaluating things, I suddenly realized that I was on a selfish path, getting consumed with chasing media and public fame, pursuing the "Lime Light" and was so wrapped up in my own Hype, that the things that really matter in life had somehow become less important to me. I would miss practices or birthday parties for the sake of training, I would spend hours away from my family to train, including dinner time, to follow the road that ultimately leads to nowhere. I used to do races and events to gain the praise of men and be the guy that everyone talked about. Now, I simply race and train because I truly love it, and do not pursue media or fame. If I am approached, I will be happy to share my story in hopes that one day I can encourage or motivate someone else, but I will not seek out the "Glory of Man" and will just keep on pushing my body and spirit. The past five years have been so incredibly awesome, and I look forward to many more. I am thankful for the many lessons I have learned on this journey, but the main lesson I have learned, which it took losing 200 pounds to realize, is that life is so much more than what the scale says. We cannot measure our worth based on a pound on a scale, nor can we ever believe that we were sent to this Earth for anything other than Happiness, peace, and success. I am grateful for where my life is headed and so thankful for the many blessings I have. Blessings do not come in the form of trophies or medals, they come as friends and family that come in to our lives and help make us better. I am so thankful for all of you and for your unceasing support and friendship shown towards me and my family. I am blessed beyong measure and I hope I can spend many years reciprocating the goodness that has been shown to me. Here's to another incredible year y'all...
Your Friend In Health & Sport,
Dan
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Monday, December 17, 2012
ULTRACENTRIC 72 HOUR ULTRA RUN - RACE REPORT
Race report - ultra centric 72 Hour Run
Before I recount my experience at the 72 hour run, I want to take you back to where the journey to complete this race started almost 5 years ago. I was weighing in at 400 pounds, just had Gastric Bypass Surgery and walked up the stairs at the gym in shame because of my weight, to the treadmill. I set the treadmill for 2.5 mph and lasted about 10 minutes before I had to quit from exhaustion. I tried to go a little further, and a little faster everyday. From that point to now, I have completed 4 Full Ironman Triathlons, competed in more than 10 Ultra distance Runs ranging in distance from 31 miles to this incredible race which I will elaborate on now...
When I learned about this race, I asked my wife if it was cool if I signed up... Her response was something like "That's just ridiculous" to which, I HAD to register. This race would fall 3 weeks after running a 100 mile ultra in So Cal which is on concrete, and I tried to get my arms around the idea of a 100 mile race being a "Training Run", but that's what it was. One of the things I thought about this race, is that although it is 72 hours on a 2 mile loop, at least it was on a trail. Well, a few days before the race, I dove into the race website a little further,only to discover that this race is NOT on a trail, but asphalt!!! Are you kidding me? My feet were still pretty wrecked from the 100 in So Cal, so I went to Luke's Locker seeking the Hoka brand shoes, and found a pair that would work perfectly! More on the shoes later, but I will state that prior to the race, I wore the Hokas exactly 1 time to walk around in, and that was it, so I had no idea how they would hold up in the race, but put faith in what others told me about them and rolled with it.
On to the race....
The race took place in Meadowmere Park on beautiful Grapevine Lake which was an enclosed park with a 2 mile loop to slog out the miles on. The race started on Thursday morning at 9am, and I arrived at 6am to pick up my packet and set up my tent / camp which would be my makeshift home for the next 3 days. I was a stones throw away from the aid station and the port-o-joy, so convenience and location could not have been better! I finally met my Facebook buddy Kenny Norton for the first time in person, and we exchanged some jokes and encouragement. After getting everything set up, I made my way to the race start which was about 1/2 mile away from camp and ended up getting a ride in the back of the race directors truck. We got there right as the gun went off and the three day excursion was under way.
I stuck to my guns and started off slow. I finally realize that I can run beyond my abilities early and suffer and be reduced to a painful pathetic walk later, or I could run within myself, walk when needed, and be able to make it through a tough few days as "in tact" as possible. So, I swallowed a little pride, and let the rabbits go out like gang busters, while I hung back and did my thing, having confidence that eventually, I may catch up with them again.
My nutrition was Hammer Perpetuem, water, pickle juice, and whatever was on the menu from the aid station, which usually was incredible! That plan served me very well for the entire weekend and I never once felt like I bonked. As the first day progressed I got stronger towards the evening and fell into a comfortable rhythm. I hardly got any sleep the night before, so I was growing very sleepy, and after dinner was served at around 7:30pm, decided to run for a couple more hours and grab some sleep. I went into my tent at around 11pm, and I will be darned if I didn't wake up until about 8am the next morning. HOLY COW!!!! I don't even sleep that good at home. I woke up feeling so much better and was ready to give my second day a good go.
I rolled out of the sleeping bag, changed my clothes out, and was able to get back to the timing mat where the start / finish was to begin my next loop at about 9am when the 48 hour race was about to start. They were under way and it was great to see new faces on the course. I will digress a bit here. The first evening, when I laid down, there was a dude blasting some pretty cheesy Christmas tunes ALL NIGHT LONG!!! When I finally got up and at it on the second day, this gentleman was running the 48 hour race, and had obviously decided to let the music play on... At about 10am and after hearing about 50 comments about the music, I saw this guy running towards me the opposite direction, and asked "hey bro, are you planning on killing the music any time soon?" he said "are you not enjoying it?" I said it has been 15 hours straight and it was driving the majority of people bananas... Besides, IT'S NOT EVEN THANKSGIVING YET!!! (one of my biggest pet peeves surrounding the preemptive holiday celebrations) when I made my way by the camp on the next loop, ahhhhhh, silence! That was cool of that guy to put a fork in the tunes and I felt my heart rate drop about 10 beats on average after it was off.
During day 2 I kept the same M.O. As day 1, but felt pretty good the entire day. I ended up running 52 miles on day 1 and at the end of day 2, I had ran another 62 miles. It was awesome to see my buddy Derek Westbrook out on the course as well as all of the other friendly faces out there. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were out of bounds and my nutrition continued rock-steady. It was so awesome to have many of my friends come out and cheer me on! My beautiful family, Cindy, Christie L, Victor, Mike & Melissa, Monica, and Javier, you guys mean so much to me! I put together some pretty strong efforts and saw myself passing many of those that went out too hard from the day prior. After dinner and getting a "whiff" of myself, a shower was needed STAT! I got a change of clothes and my toiletries together to head to the top of camp where a shower in the men's room, which was NOT heated, was waiting for me. Then I thought, I am less than 2 miles away from a gym I teach at, so I took my party on the road, and had the most amazing shower ever. That was followed by a cheeseburger at the drive thru accompanied by a vanilla ice cream cone!!!! Life is good. I made my way back to my tent, caught another very restful nights' sleep. The temperature was perfect in the day, but freezing at night, and I hate being cold, so it took a bit to fall asleep, but after I finally did, you could hit me with a bath and I probably would not have woken up.
The morning of day 3 approached and I woke up at about 7 am to get after it. The 24, 12, and 6 hour races were all scheduled to start at 9am Saturday, and the course was about to get packed! I grabbed breakfast, stretched out, and got ready to make it happen. At this point, I had ran 114 miles, and I was determined to run at least 50 miles every day. The third day was tough, but I put together some pretty good clips of running, but was feeling particularly sleepy all weekend. Physically, my body felt strong, but I just felt like I had never slept before, all weekend... I had some great conversations with many different people throughout the day, and as the hours eeked on, would rely on positive comments from my new friends out on the course. I took several naps throughout the day and tried to save as much in reserve as I could for my final push.
The afternoon soon turned into night and an awesome dinner of Fajitas was accompanied by rice was served up.... AWESOME!!! I decided I would get dinner, run until about 1 am and get one last rest in for my final push to the finish at 9am. I fell asleep perfectly at 1am on Sunday and woke back up feeling really good. I grabbed some breakfast, did my morning duties and got after it. I walked a loop to let the legs loosen up and at about 5am started running. I started to do the math and realized I needed about 14-15 miles to hit my goal of 50 miles for the day... I BETTER GET MOVING I told myself. I then started to run, and began running strong. Believe it or not, the last 2 hours of the race were my fastest splits all weekend! I had 33 minutes left to finish the next 2 mile loop to round out 50 miles for day 3 and complete 164 miles for the race. I hammered out the last loop with everything I had, getting encouragement from my incredible wife and kids as well as my buddy Victor as I did, and ended up finishing that loop with 10 minutes to spare. Now, that may not seem like a fast pace (2 miles in under 21 minutes) but I assure you, that the feeling of running at that pace after running for 3 days is probably as close as I will ever come to feeling like I am running like a Kenyan!!!
When the race finished I planted myself in the front seat of the car and warmed up with the heater on blast! I sat there and just tried to ingest what I had just done... I ran 164 miles... ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY FOUR FRIKKIN MILES!!!! My wife corralled up the kids, and we headed back to where a feast was awaiting us for breakfast. We all pounded food like we had never eaten and awaited the awards ceremony to begin. I picked up my medal and was so stoked to learn I took first in my age group. At the end of day 1 I ended in 14th place out of 19 who ran the 72 hour race. At the end of day 2 I had moved up to 11th. At the end of the race, I ended in 7th overall and proved to myself I can finish strong if I just pace myself appropriately in the beginning stages of these longer events. This truly was an amazing experience.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS AND TAKEAWAYS:
1) I AM NOT AFRAID of any challenge placed in front of me.
2) I am not a quitter
3) Hoka brand shoes are the most amazing shoes in the history of mankind. While my feet did get blistered, I came off this run feeling like I only ran about 50miles and I was recovered in about 4 days afterwards, which I can only attribute to the shoes.
4) I love my wife more than I can express with words. On Friday evening, I was walking and was in sheer agony, and I saw my wife park the car at my camp, and walked / ran towards me. I absolutely lost it and balled like a baby on her shoulder, so thankful to see her, so thankful for her support and encouragement, but so thankful she lets me follow my dreams and propels me to be the best I can be.
5) Our bodies are capable of so much more than we can even fathom
6) I AM A RUNNER! I always knew I could run, from previous races and events, but I 100% buy in to the title "Runner" now.
7) Although I am not the biggest fan of Dean Karnazis, some of his words from his book got me through... "Run with your heart". I felt like I did this all weekend long.
8) finally, I slept too much during this race. I slept a total of between 18-19 hours during this race, and had I not, I feel like I could have ran well north of 200 miles, but we will have to wait until next time to see.
In closing, I would like to send a heartfelt thank you to every one of my friends and family who unceasingly give me support, love, and encouragement... I could not have done this without all of you, especially my great friends who showed up at the race and slogged out some miles with me and kept me company. To my amazing wife, you are my everything and I am so grateful for such an amazing wife, I am truly blessed. I am finishing up this race report as I am on a flight to Utah to attend the funeral services of my oldest brother Todd. He died way too young at the age of 49, and unfortunately, like the vast majority of my entire extended family, was Morbidly Obese. As I reflect on my journey, and the thought of watching my brother being lowered into a grave in two days, my sincere prayer and desire is that I can be a source of inspiration to my family so that we can all live a long, rewarding, limitless life, and not go to an early grave because of poor choices. My love for you all, for my family, and for the pursuit of Ultra Endurance and stamina motivates me everyday to push myself at work, at home, and in sport. I will leave you with this thought until my next sojourn commences... "If you want typical results, keep doing typical things"!
Your Friend In Health & Sport,
Dan Benintendi
Before I recount my experience at the 72 hour run, I want to take you back to where the journey to complete this race started almost 5 years ago. I was weighing in at 400 pounds, just had Gastric Bypass Surgery and walked up the stairs at the gym in shame because of my weight, to the treadmill. I set the treadmill for 2.5 mph and lasted about 10 minutes before I had to quit from exhaustion. I tried to go a little further, and a little faster everyday. From that point to now, I have completed 4 Full Ironman Triathlons, competed in more than 10 Ultra distance Runs ranging in distance from 31 miles to this incredible race which I will elaborate on now...
When I learned about this race, I asked my wife if it was cool if I signed up... Her response was something like "That's just ridiculous" to which, I HAD to register. This race would fall 3 weeks after running a 100 mile ultra in So Cal which is on concrete, and I tried to get my arms around the idea of a 100 mile race being a "Training Run", but that's what it was. One of the things I thought about this race, is that although it is 72 hours on a 2 mile loop, at least it was on a trail. Well, a few days before the race, I dove into the race website a little further,only to discover that this race is NOT on a trail, but asphalt!!! Are you kidding me? My feet were still pretty wrecked from the 100 in So Cal, so I went to Luke's Locker seeking the Hoka brand shoes, and found a pair that would work perfectly! More on the shoes later, but I will state that prior to the race, I wore the Hokas exactly 1 time to walk around in, and that was it, so I had no idea how they would hold up in the race, but put faith in what others told me about them and rolled with it.
On to the race....
The race took place in Meadowmere Park on beautiful Grapevine Lake which was an enclosed park with a 2 mile loop to slog out the miles on. The race started on Thursday morning at 9am, and I arrived at 6am to pick up my packet and set up my tent / camp which would be my makeshift home for the next 3 days. I was a stones throw away from the aid station and the port-o-joy, so convenience and location could not have been better! I finally met my Facebook buddy Kenny Norton for the first time in person, and we exchanged some jokes and encouragement. After getting everything set up, I made my way to the race start which was about 1/2 mile away from camp and ended up getting a ride in the back of the race directors truck. We got there right as the gun went off and the three day excursion was under way.
I stuck to my guns and started off slow. I finally realize that I can run beyond my abilities early and suffer and be reduced to a painful pathetic walk later, or I could run within myself, walk when needed, and be able to make it through a tough few days as "in tact" as possible. So, I swallowed a little pride, and let the rabbits go out like gang busters, while I hung back and did my thing, having confidence that eventually, I may catch up with them again.
My nutrition was Hammer Perpetuem, water, pickle juice, and whatever was on the menu from the aid station, which usually was incredible! That plan served me very well for the entire weekend and I never once felt like I bonked. As the first day progressed I got stronger towards the evening and fell into a comfortable rhythm. I hardly got any sleep the night before, so I was growing very sleepy, and after dinner was served at around 7:30pm, decided to run for a couple more hours and grab some sleep. I went into my tent at around 11pm, and I will be darned if I didn't wake up until about 8am the next morning. HOLY COW!!!! I don't even sleep that good at home. I woke up feeling so much better and was ready to give my second day a good go.
I rolled out of the sleeping bag, changed my clothes out, and was able to get back to the timing mat where the start / finish was to begin my next loop at about 9am when the 48 hour race was about to start. They were under way and it was great to see new faces on the course. I will digress a bit here. The first evening, when I laid down, there was a dude blasting some pretty cheesy Christmas tunes ALL NIGHT LONG!!! When I finally got up and at it on the second day, this gentleman was running the 48 hour race, and had obviously decided to let the music play on... At about 10am and after hearing about 50 comments about the music, I saw this guy running towards me the opposite direction, and asked "hey bro, are you planning on killing the music any time soon?" he said "are you not enjoying it?" I said it has been 15 hours straight and it was driving the majority of people bananas... Besides, IT'S NOT EVEN THANKSGIVING YET!!! (one of my biggest pet peeves surrounding the preemptive holiday celebrations) when I made my way by the camp on the next loop, ahhhhhh, silence! That was cool of that guy to put a fork in the tunes and I felt my heart rate drop about 10 beats on average after it was off.
During day 2 I kept the same M.O. As day 1, but felt pretty good the entire day. I ended up running 52 miles on day 1 and at the end of day 2, I had ran another 62 miles. It was awesome to see my buddy Derek Westbrook out on the course as well as all of the other friendly faces out there. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were out of bounds and my nutrition continued rock-steady. It was so awesome to have many of my friends come out and cheer me on! My beautiful family, Cindy, Christie L, Victor, Mike & Melissa, Monica, and Javier, you guys mean so much to me! I put together some pretty strong efforts and saw myself passing many of those that went out too hard from the day prior. After dinner and getting a "whiff" of myself, a shower was needed STAT! I got a change of clothes and my toiletries together to head to the top of camp where a shower in the men's room, which was NOT heated, was waiting for me. Then I thought, I am less than 2 miles away from a gym I teach at, so I took my party on the road, and had the most amazing shower ever. That was followed by a cheeseburger at the drive thru accompanied by a vanilla ice cream cone!!!! Life is good. I made my way back to my tent, caught another very restful nights' sleep. The temperature was perfect in the day, but freezing at night, and I hate being cold, so it took a bit to fall asleep, but after I finally did, you could hit me with a bath and I probably would not have woken up.
The morning of day 3 approached and I woke up at about 7 am to get after it. The 24, 12, and 6 hour races were all scheduled to start at 9am Saturday, and the course was about to get packed! I grabbed breakfast, stretched out, and got ready to make it happen. At this point, I had ran 114 miles, and I was determined to run at least 50 miles every day. The third day was tough, but I put together some pretty good clips of running, but was feeling particularly sleepy all weekend. Physically, my body felt strong, but I just felt like I had never slept before, all weekend... I had some great conversations with many different people throughout the day, and as the hours eeked on, would rely on positive comments from my new friends out on the course. I took several naps throughout the day and tried to save as much in reserve as I could for my final push.
The afternoon soon turned into night and an awesome dinner of Fajitas was accompanied by rice was served up.... AWESOME!!! I decided I would get dinner, run until about 1 am and get one last rest in for my final push to the finish at 9am. I fell asleep perfectly at 1am on Sunday and woke back up feeling really good. I grabbed some breakfast, did my morning duties and got after it. I walked a loop to let the legs loosen up and at about 5am started running. I started to do the math and realized I needed about 14-15 miles to hit my goal of 50 miles for the day... I BETTER GET MOVING I told myself. I then started to run, and began running strong. Believe it or not, the last 2 hours of the race were my fastest splits all weekend! I had 33 minutes left to finish the next 2 mile loop to round out 50 miles for day 3 and complete 164 miles for the race. I hammered out the last loop with everything I had, getting encouragement from my incredible wife and kids as well as my buddy Victor as I did, and ended up finishing that loop with 10 minutes to spare. Now, that may not seem like a fast pace (2 miles in under 21 minutes) but I assure you, that the feeling of running at that pace after running for 3 days is probably as close as I will ever come to feeling like I am running like a Kenyan!!!
When the race finished I planted myself in the front seat of the car and warmed up with the heater on blast! I sat there and just tried to ingest what I had just done... I ran 164 miles... ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY FOUR FRIKKIN MILES!!!! My wife corralled up the kids, and we headed back to where a feast was awaiting us for breakfast. We all pounded food like we had never eaten and awaited the awards ceremony to begin. I picked up my medal and was so stoked to learn I took first in my age group. At the end of day 1 I ended in 14th place out of 19 who ran the 72 hour race. At the end of day 2 I had moved up to 11th. At the end of the race, I ended in 7th overall and proved to myself I can finish strong if I just pace myself appropriately in the beginning stages of these longer events. This truly was an amazing experience.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS AND TAKEAWAYS:
1) I AM NOT AFRAID of any challenge placed in front of me.
2) I am not a quitter
3) Hoka brand shoes are the most amazing shoes in the history of mankind. While my feet did get blistered, I came off this run feeling like I only ran about 50miles and I was recovered in about 4 days afterwards, which I can only attribute to the shoes.
4) I love my wife more than I can express with words. On Friday evening, I was walking and was in sheer agony, and I saw my wife park the car at my camp, and walked / ran towards me. I absolutely lost it and balled like a baby on her shoulder, so thankful to see her, so thankful for her support and encouragement, but so thankful she lets me follow my dreams and propels me to be the best I can be.
5) Our bodies are capable of so much more than we can even fathom
6) I AM A RUNNER! I always knew I could run, from previous races and events, but I 100% buy in to the title "Runner" now.
7) Although I am not the biggest fan of Dean Karnazis, some of his words from his book got me through... "Run with your heart". I felt like I did this all weekend long.
8) finally, I slept too much during this race. I slept a total of between 18-19 hours during this race, and had I not, I feel like I could have ran well north of 200 miles, but we will have to wait until next time to see.
In closing, I would like to send a heartfelt thank you to every one of my friends and family who unceasingly give me support, love, and encouragement... I could not have done this without all of you, especially my great friends who showed up at the race and slogged out some miles with me and kept me company. To my amazing wife, you are my everything and I am so grateful for such an amazing wife, I am truly blessed. I am finishing up this race report as I am on a flight to Utah to attend the funeral services of my oldest brother Todd. He died way too young at the age of 49, and unfortunately, like the vast majority of my entire extended family, was Morbidly Obese. As I reflect on my journey, and the thought of watching my brother being lowered into a grave in two days, my sincere prayer and desire is that I can be a source of inspiration to my family so that we can all live a long, rewarding, limitless life, and not go to an early grave because of poor choices. My love for you all, for my family, and for the pursuit of Ultra Endurance and stamina motivates me everyday to push myself at work, at home, and in sport. I will leave you with this thought until my next sojourn commences... "If you want typical results, keep doing typical things"!
Your Friend In Health & Sport,
Dan Benintendi
Monday, October 29, 2012
100EC 2012 RACE REPORT
It has been a week since I ran the 100 Mile Endurance Challenge in Southern California, I am recovered, and have sufficiently recounted my journey through this race in my mind so I can have you read and feel like you were there with me during this epic adventure. In retrospect, the only thing crazier than signing up for a 100 mile ULTRA is doing it again. You would think you "Know" what the day is going to bring, but that is never the case in these longer endurance events... You simply have to take what the day gives you and keep pushing forward. With that, let's get to it...
I was so thankful that my beautiful wife was going to be able to make the journey to So Cal with me and help be part of my "Crew". We left for CA on Wednesday morning and arrived in So Cal unscathed. We spent the next couple of days rounding up the rest of our supplies and enjoying some food from our favorite restaurants from days gone by. On Friday evening we were able to go out to an awesome dinner with my best friend, Aric and his wife Shonna to Claim Jumper, after which we picked up the bike that my friend, Jared Saunders of Jenson USA let us use for the race. Over dinner, Aric, my crew leader and Christie and I discussed a little bit about race strategy and we all got our minds focused on the journey ahead. That evening, I slept incredibly well and woke up race morning ready to rumble!
As I rolled out of bed early Saturday morning, I checked and double-checked that I had all of my nutrition, change of clothes, and everything else dialed in and before I knew it, it was time to head to the race start. The air was crisp, and there was a bit of a drizzle falling, and it looked like it was going to be a perfect day for a race. Cool, overcast, and plenty of open road... When we arrived at the race start, we did the typical check in, signing of waivers, pre race photos, weigh-in, and I got a little light ART done (Active Release Technique) to loosen the legs up a little. After all of the pre race formalities and introductions, there was nothing left to do but line up, fire up the Garmin watch and get on with a little run.
There were 50 registered for the race and 49 toed the line... As the horn went off to start the race, I was feeling calm, and confident in my ability to finish strong and knew I had an awesome, capable crew to get me through the rough patches. For the first 25 mile section, which wound through Corona and ended just south of Anaheim Angels Stadium, my buddy Aric rode the bike with the baby carrier attached to it, which was packed down with all of my supplies. 
This was at mile 10 w/ Aric
My game plan was simple; Run strong and steady, take in nourishment and hydration continually and consistantly, which mainly was comprised of GU Brew ULTRA Formula, Pickle Juice, Stinger Gels, defizzed Coke, and whatever other food sounded good along the way. For the first 25 miles, my goal was to keep a steady pace and get to the first aid station in under 5 hours. Well, I got there, ate a Grilled Cheese sandwich from Denny's, got more ART done, and was back out running in under 5 hours! Only one problem here... I had lost 4.5 pounds.
This was at mile 10 w/ AricMy game plan was simple; Run strong and steady, take in nourishment and hydration continually and consistantly, which mainly was comprised of GU Brew ULTRA Formula, Pickle Juice, Stinger Gels, defizzed Coke, and whatever other food sounded good along the way. For the first 25 miles, my goal was to keep a steady pace and get to the first aid station in under 5 hours. Well, I got there, ate a Grilled Cheese sandwich from Denny's, got more ART done, and was back out running in under 5 hours! Only one problem here... I had lost 4.5 pounds.
As I headed out for the second 25 mile section, I was not feeling very "Fresh", so I walked a little as I sucked down fluids and continued eating food. Christie rode the bike this section and we chatted as I slogged out the miles. I finally started feeling good so I started running... A few miles down the road, I see a familiar face riding towards me on a bike. It was my buddy David McManic, who actually moved from where I live, Fort Worth, TX, to sunny So Cal. He turned around and we chatted for a few. It was great to see him. I got a little more encouragement and was on my way again. There were a few sections here I walked a bit more than I wanted to, but this is my least favorite part of the run. A straight shot down a riverbed with little scenery but concrete and the occasional park off the side of the riverbed.
Mile 29There are so many underpasses that you dont realize how many times you go down and up steeper inclines and declines, but they eventually begin taking their toll at some point. At the end of this long stretch, we finally hit PCH, which spits us out right at Huntington Beach. At this point, I was ahead of my pace for the 2 years prior by several hours, and actually almost made it to the 50 mile aid station when it was still light.
Once I hit the 50 mile mark, I recieved more ART, ate some nice warm cheese pizza from PIZZA HUT, thanks to Aric, changed in to some dry clothes, strapped on my headlamp and regrouped for a challenging 3rd section.
There are several things I love and hate about the 3rd section... I love that we run right past the VERY spot I asked Christie to be my girl back in March of '92, we also run past the beaches I grew up on when I was a kid. We do, however, run by a tranzient village which can be a little "Hairy", and the relentless pounding of the hills that lead to Rancho Palos Verde. This 3rd section is NO JOKE!!! So, if you have'nt figured it out yet, this is a 101 mile foot race that is point-to-point from Riverside County to the Santa Monica Pier, ON CONCRETE!!!! It is the escense of an "Urban ULTRA Marathon". At about mile 53, we were pleasantly surprised to see Christie's brother, Fred, his girlfriend Arlena, and his son Alex, show up to help crew and lend a hand however they could. So, Aric, who took over cycling duties again at mile 50, and Fred, who brought his bike to join in the festivities, saddled up and we continued on down the Long Beach shoreline. The next aid sub station was at a Jack In The Box at mile 62.5. This was the only dark spot I had last year in the race and almost threw in the towel. I did not allow any negatvity to creep in, so I grabbed a few fries, went pee, and headed out. As we headed down Figueroa towards the beach, I was feeling tired and my legs and feet were really starting to bother me. I ran to the 65 mile mark in my Asics Kayano's and they were starting to give me hot spots on the outside of my feet, and I knew I had blisters there. I asked Christie to have my Mizuno Wave Prophecies ready for me a mile ahead and I switched out shoes. I knew that my Wave Prophecies had given me blisters on the inside of my arches, but they felt so much better than my Asics at that point, I really didn't care. The miles continue to add up, and as we continue climbing up to RPV, we approach "THAT SECTION" Kara Lubin, the race director, briefed us about before the race. I vaguely remember her saying something about a detour to the course because of a landslide, and the only diversion was on a street, with a hill, that is impossible to run. SHE WAS NOT LYING!!!!! As we approach said hill, I read, on what appeared to be on a wall, the words "Stop Ahead" in reflective paint. Wait a minute... That is the street, that is road paint, and up to a point I cannot see above the tree line, is the top of a hill I am supposed to get to somehow. I would not be exagerating if I guessed the slope of that hill to be at about 60%-70%. If I would have reached my hands straight out in front of me, they would have touched the road, and a crawl may have made the most sense. IT WAS RIDONCULOUS!!!! LEgs shattered, heart rate at threshold walking, I finally made it to the top. From there were some more hills and climbs, and eventually, we hit the 75 mile aid station. THAT WAS A BRUTAL SECTION.
Once I made my way to the aid station, I got weighed and had maintained a good weight and was only 2 pounds lighter than when I started the race, so everything was in check. I got some chicken soup, more ART, put on some warm clothes, and began shivering. UH OH!!! I realized I needed to get moving and SOON, but I needed to stretch and my body at this point was completely shattered. None-the-less, I had to press forwad and I left the 75 mile aid station in under 18 hours, giving me 6 hours to finish and attain my goal of a sub 24 hour finish. I announce to the race staff that bib #8 was checking out of the aid station and next stop was the finish line!
As we begin our journey up and up and up STILL, Christie decided she was going to walk / run with me this entire last section and Fred continued on bike. The hills going up seemed to last another 4-5 miles and as we hit the pinnacle, absolute fatigue and exhaustion had set in and I was doomed. I began falling asleep as I was walking and was absolutely destroyed! I told Christie and Fred I needed to sleep. They both, along with Aric by phone, itterated that I should'nt stop to sleep for fear that I would give up or not continue (As I did in my first attempt here in 2010). I assured them that would NOT happen, and I would finish, I just felt my body shut down and demanded sleep. Aric drove back to us and parked along the foggy road and let my stinky self enter his car for some shut eye. I told them to wake me up in 20 minutes. I could see the sense of discouragement and concern in their eyes, but, I did not have the words or ability to adequately express to them that there was NO WAY I would stop. NO WAY IN HELL!!! Over 50 friends and family had contributed to the Charity I was running for and there was NO WAY I would return home with my tail between my legs. The 20 minutes eek by, I slept for probably 5 minutes, but it was EXACTLY what my body needed, and I was ready to finish. I rose up from the car to everyones suprise, told Christie to get me a bunch of food, and we begin to walk as I stuff my face. At this point it was raining a bit and I was pretty damp, but we kept on with it and pushed ahead.
I finally felt the food and nourishment hit my system about the same time we hit "The Strand". This is a beach front stretch of homes and shops that lead from Manhattan Beach all the way to the Santa Monica Pier. It is about 17 miles long. I started putting together some pretty good clips of running. As the hours went on, I felt my energy starting to dip and asked Aric to grab me some breakfast. By this time, we were in Hermosa Beach, the sun was up, and a Sausage McMuffin never sounded or tasted so good. As I ate, I found a wall / bench I could lay on while Christie tried to rub my legs and keep me going.
I felt better and continued on, but shortly after this, I had a weird sensation... Like I was running and my toes, pinky toes in particular, were curling under my feet and that I was running on them. I stopped and checked to see if there was anything wrong with my socs. NOPE, so I put my shoes back on and helded off. I felt it again, checked it again, adjusted again, and began running again. Same thing... WHAT THE HECK??? So I took my compression socks off, then my Injinji Socks off, only to discover that every toe was blistered and my pinky toes were swollen to almost twice their size, oh yeah, and the inside of my arches were now one big blister, along with the outside that was already blistered from mile 65 on. Oh well, I wrapped my toes with Duct Tape, slapped the socks back on, and begin again. It was not more than 20 minutes after this that my dear old friend, Mr Plantar Fasciatis reared his ugly head on both of my feet. To say that every step was excrutiating would be an understatement. I have been through some pretty painful things in my life, but this pain was FAR worse than ANYTHING I had ever experienced in my life. Every step made me want to cry, but I tried to block it out as much as possible and kept marching on. I knew we were getting close, one sorry mile after another. Once we hit the section where we switch over to the Venice Beach Strand, which is the last before hitting the Santa Monica Pier, we crept along the familiar trail, but then, the directional arrows stopped, and we were not sure where to go. So, I called the directional coordinator for the race for directions, who unfortunately let us astray, and we ended up on a goose egg hunt for over an hour on my hobbled legs. At the end of the day, it is my fault because I was unsure of the course, but, none-the-less, we eventually got back on track and headed towards home.
Once we were on the Venice Beach Strand, I was so far beyond my time goal that I just enjoyed walking down the strand holding Christie's hand, doing some light window shopping, watching some of the "interesting" side shows, and just enjoyed being together. I didn't want to tell anyone how bad I really hurt, and I am glad I didn't, I just wanted ed it to be over ASAP! So, I see the big Ferris Wheel and I knew we were there. I had plenty of time to finish the final mile with about an hour and change to spare. So, I just kept up my slow, pitiful walk, until I finally hit the finish line completely shattered and beat down, but never so happy at the same time.
From the moment the race started, all the way to when it ended and everything in between, I knew I would finish. I knew I would not give up, no matter how tough it got, and I knew that I was tougher than this race! The bottom line is, I ran a GREAT race. No, I was nowhere near contention, matter-of-fact, I was the next to last finisher, HOWEVER, I FINISHED!!! My times and speed and confidence in this distance will continually improve with time, but ultimately, I got through 75 mile in under 18 hours and the last 25 miles took me over 11 hours to complete. You can see from that last stretch what internal struggles I had to deal with, but I never gave up, and I hope at the end of the day, one person who may read this, might find encouragement and hope to keep pressing through the tough times, because eventually, the pain will subside, and you WILL rise victorious! My battle cry has been and always will be, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE. I am just a regular guy, trying to be a good Dad, husband, and provider... I just dream big and am not affraid to do things that most might find "Ridiculous" or maybe even impossible. A typical response from someone who overheard me talking or asked about my run is: "How many days did it take you to finish"? One my friend, One REALLY LONG day!
I want to take a moment and thank, from the bottom of my heart, the awesome people that comprised my crew.
Aric, in his own words, stated: "I love getting one year of workouts in one day". I love you buddy and wish we didn't live so far away from one another. To my Bro-in-law Fred, his girlfriend Arlena, and my Nephew Alex, I love you guys and could NOT have finished without your support and encouragement. Most of all, I want to publicly express my love and grattitude to my amazing wife. She is my rock, she embodies anything and everything that is good in this life, and is always in my corner. I don't know what I did to deserve such a companion, but whatever the cost is, was, or will be, I will gladly pay it a thousand times over.
Thank you all for pulling me through. I also want to thank each and every one of you who contributed any dollar amount toward the 100 Mile Club, which is the benefiting charity of this event. The subtitle for this race just about sums it up... "Athletes running 100 miles for kids". I cannot thank you enough for your support, encouragement, and belief in me.
So, here we are one week later... I am fully recovered and raced in my last Triathlon of the season yesterday and won my division! It is amazing what our bodies are capable of. But most of all, when we releave ourself of doubt and fear, it is amazing what our mind can dream. Now it is time to turn my focus to the next Mount Everest, which will be upon us in 2 weeks... THE ULTRACENTRIC 72 HOUR ENDURANCE RUN!!!!!! 3 Days of running straight!!!! I am hoping for 200+ MIles, let's git er dun! "The greatest reward for success is the opportunity to do more". I hope to see you out on the road or trail soon...
Yours In Health & Sport,
Dan Benintendi
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
2012 ULTRA SEASON!!!
It has been a few months since my last update and times are as busy as always! In the past few months I have raced a Half Ironman in Grand Prairie TX and took 1st place in my group. Also, I have been ramping up my running training in preperation for a busy ULTRA season. My first race is in a few weeks in Southern California at the 100EC 100 mile Ultra Urban Marathon. In November I will be running 72 hours at The ULTRACENTRIC Experience in Grapevine TX. It features a 2 mile loop as many times as you can in 3 days! I am hoping for 210 miles. I am also registered for the Rocky Raccoon 100 Mile trail run in February 2013. So, quite a bust running schedule.
My daughter started cheerleading for my oldest son's football team and she loves it. Ayden is getting so big and is doing awesome in school and on the football field and scouts. Austin is growing like a weed and is ramping up for soccer season!!! Chriastie is healthier and fitter than I have ever seen her, she works her butt off as a mother, wife, and athlete and is gearing up for a marathon in December and the 50 mile Trail Run at Rocky Raccoon in Feb. All-in-all, my life could not be better. Work is good, my family is good, training is good, IT'S ALL GOOD!!! I will keep my blog updated a little better going forward...
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
2012 UPDATE!!!!
It amazes me how fast time is flying by! Since my last post, I have finished another Ironman in The Woodlands, TX.. This makes Ironman #4. It was a rough race, super hot, and I did not have much time to train (About 45 days), but I got it done and had a great experience.
Life seems to be moving so fast. I accepted a promotion at work and have also been covering my old responsibilities until my replacement starts next month, so just on the work-front, things have been chaotic. Aside from that, I am teaching Spin Classes at 24 Hour Fitness on Monday night at 5pm and then Tue & Thurs at 5:45am.
My life is so good. I have the absolute BEST wife in the world, the best children, and seriously could not be happier. Aside from the work and family, we got Christie a new Suburban, since her Escalade was about ran into the ground, and I also got a new KIA Optima to help with fuel expenses with the added travel, and to not have to worry about repairs on a higher mileage car. We got a new addition to the family with our 2nd cat we adopted. He is a lil Orange guy so we named him OJ. (The glove doesn't fit his paw either).
Last month, a good friend of mine, Buddy, was killed while on an early morning run, by a hit-n-run driver, who subsequently took his own life. He was running against traffic and the car that sealed his fate, crossed the center median and struck him from behind. Since then, I have been on the road running 1 time, and had a close call, and made the decision to only run trails and the treadmill. Buddy leaves behind 4 beautiful kids and a wonderful wife. I try to explain to my kids how I grew up without a dad, and how I try my hardest to be the best Dad I can. It makes me realize that all the times I fix a broken toy, take my boys camping, go for a bike ride, kiss a booboo or scraped knee, play video games, or watch a movie, or build a Pinewood Derby car for Cub Scouts, someday my kids will look back on those times and have fond memories.
As I head into the latter part of the summer, I am starting to ramp up for a very busy fall and winter schedule. I am racing in Augusta, GA in September at Ironman August 70.3. In October, I will be running in the 100EC 100 mile ULTRA Run in So Cal. I completed this last year in 28.5 and I am hoping to break 24 hours this year. In November I will tackle my next Mt Everest... A 72 Hour run at ULTRACENTRIC in Grapevine, TX. It is hard to imagine a 100 Mile run being a Training race, but thats what it is. I am hoping for 210 Miles. I am registered for Rocky Raccoon 100 Mile Trail Run in Huntsville, TX in Feb 2013. This will be my 3rd attempt at this race. My first I got to 76 miles and timed-out. The second I rolled my ankle twice at mile 26 and had to drop, so this will be the equalizer!
I will post some pics soon, but I appreciate everyones love and encouragement. I don't really post a whole lot or really seek after the "Lime-Light" much these days. I am learning that there is a tremendous amount of gratification that comes with a bit of humility. I will try to do a better job of updating this site as I ramp up training. I cannot wait to see how the rest of 2012 unfolds!!!
Monday, February 27, 2012
Sunday, January 15, 2012
4 Years & Counting...
It has been a few months since my last entry in my blog and it continually amazes me how fast time is flying by. Today marks exactly 4 years since I had Bariatric Surgery, so I thought a bit of reflection and update might be in order.
When I think back to the time I was 400 pounds, holding my wife's hand in the operating room, preparing to have Bariatric Surgery, which would alter my innards as well as permanantly alter the way I view food, I remember that the most important reason for having surgery was to live a longer healthier life, be here for my wife and kids, and improve my quality of life. Looking at the picture below reminds me how huge I was, when I could barely fit on the operating table, weighing 400 pounds, 60% body fat, 58" waist, 5XL shirt, deflated self esteem, and I could do little for myself let alone for others...
I recall having a sense of rebirth or a fresh start after I had Gastric Bypass, performed by the most awesome surgeon in the world, Dr David Kim of Colleyville, TX. I didn't know at the time what the future held for me, but I knew that anything would be an improvement from the life or direction I was headed in. A few weeks after surgery I hopped on the treadmill, which I was barely able to stay on for 10 minutes at 2.5 MPH. I tried to increase speed and distance a little more everyday and soon graduated to a slow jog. One morning on the treadmill, I noticed the Spin Class going on at the gym, heard the loud music, the instructor pushing the group, and thought to myself... "Maybe one day". A few months after surgery, I had already lost 100 pounds and mustered up the courage to go to my first Spin Class, which I only made 20 minutes or so of because of the shear agony on my jewels... (nuff said bout that)! I went back the next day and stayed a little longer, until I found myself completing the entire class and soon became hooked on Spinning. Speaking to a friend about Spin opened the door to getting a great road bike and set up for a few hundred bucks which then led to a love of cycling.
As I continually pushed myself running, and Spinning, I remember coming to a point where my legs were absolutely shattered, but I had the desire to workout, I just didnt know what to do next. I decided to brave my fears, put on some swim trunks, take my shirt off, and jump in the pool for a swim. I could barely do a lap without having to stop, but each day, like I did on the treadmill, tried to go a little further and a little faster every day. One day I was sitting back thinking that I am running, I am cycling, and now I am swimming... This is what they do in Triathlons!!! So, I hopped on line and started to look for events, and found my first race, which I would complete EXACTLY 9 months post-op. It was the Denison Dash Sprint Tri... IT WAS AWESOME!!! Here is a picture from that day in Summer of 2009.
After that race, I knew I was hooked and immediately found another triathlon I could compete in the very next month. After I finished that, I knew I was capable of more. So I registered for my first marathon which would fall on the 11th month anniversary of my surgery date. I finished that marathon in 4:52:-- and loved it. Without going through every race in detail here, I will list what I have done since that time in the past few years:
5 x 5K's (Run)
4 x 10K's (Run)
1 x 1/2 Marathon
3 x Marathons
9 x Sprint Triathlons
1 x Olympic Triathlon
6 x 70.s Half Ironman Triathlons
3 x 140.6 FULL Ironman Triathlons
2 x 50K (31 Mile) ULTRA Runs
2 x 38 Mile ULTRA Runs
1 x 50 Mile ULTRA Run
2 x 75 Mile ULTRA Runs
1 x 104 Mile Run (28.5 hours straight)
4 x 100 Mile Cycling Races
2 x 10K (6.2 Mile) Swim
and thousands upon thousands of miles and hours in training. Below is a picture of some of the rewards for these races...
These awards and medals mean so much to me, but not nearly as much as what I have discovered about me, my life, and my family along the way. Somewhere along the last 4 years of my journey, I got caught up in my own "Hype" and began focusing more on ME and lost sight of the very reasons I had my surgery in the first place, which I stated above. I found myself neglecting my responsibilities at home for the sake of 8 hour training days on Saturdays, which in turn lead to missing ball games, fun mornings and other things with my family. I wish I could go back and do these past 4 years with the 20/20 sight I have now over again, but life is about living, taking stalk of yourself, recognizing when we are at fault, and then making the necessary changes to put things back in proper order in our lives. Since refocusing and recommiting to that which matters most, not only have I found more happiness at home with my family and beautiful wife, but I have had countless memories that I may have otherwise missed. One of which, was watching my 8 year old son and his football team go undefeated and go on to win the Super Bowl, aside from numerous opportunities to emberass the heck out of him while bringing the "TEAM SPIRIT"... GO IRISH!!!
In June, I got an awesome opportunity to begin teaching Indoor Cycling (Spin Class) at 24 Hour Fitness. This has been such an awesome experience. I remember when I first went in to business for myself many years ago, my mom gave me a plaque that read "A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, then shows the way". It is so incredible to be able to teach these classes, help people reach their goals, and see that permiate into all aspects of their life. In teaching classes, I have also been able to have much more intense training sessions, coupled with longer rides on the weekend, and this past year, improved my Ironman time by 1 hour, and finally completed my Mount Everest, 100 miles of running in under 30 hours! I did this with less hours of training, with much more intense sessions, which in turn, allowed me to have more time with my family. Proper balance and perspective in all things is the key!
So, with all that said, it has been an incredible 4 years. There is absolutely no way in the world I could have even done half of these things without the love, support, and encouragement of my beautiful wife. She is my strength, is the love of my life, and over the past year, our love has transcended beyond what I ever thought was possible. Life is so good, I am so abundantly blessed, and there are far too many people to thank. There are countless people in my life, everyday, that inspire me, and make me want to do better. To those who have supported me and sponsored me in my journey, Xterra Wetsuits, Mad Duck Cyclery, Suplicy Bikes, Champion Systems, Playtri, Trident, TriCowtown, Erin Baker Cookies, Active Spine & Sport, 100 Mile Club, Obesity Help, and everyone else who has supported me in my ventures, I can't thank you enough!
I am not sure what 2012 holds for me as far as races are going, but I know I will be doing the 100 Mile Endurance Challenge Run For Kids again in October, and another Ironman. I am just not sure as I am trying to figure out if I will be having my 2nd round of Plastic Surgery to remove the rest of my loose skin from the weight loss. I will keep y'all updated of my schedule as I figure it out.
The more time that passes, the more I realize that I really dont care how much I weigh. What I care about now is Body Fat %, endurance, how well I feel, and pushing my physical limits. While I have lost 200 pounds, which is awesome, what is far better is that I have gone from 60% body fat to between 11-12% now. One of my goals is to get below 10% this year. So, without rambling on too much, I just want to thank each and every one of you for your continual love, support, and encouragement. Many of you tell me what an inspiration I am to you, and I know I do not always respond to each of you directly, I want you all to know that when I am running for 20+ hours, I recount every one of those kind words in my head, and they are what keep me going. All of you are as much an inspiration to me as I may be to you.
I hope this year brings you all prosperity and I hope that we all can continue to focus on persuing our worth-while goals while keeping those things of greatest importance in perspective. Here's to another incredibly awesome year of successful weight loss & maintenance!!!!
Below are some before pictures that were taken the day before surgery 4 years ago, and some taken yesterday. (Sorry I didn't dress up for them)
Yours In Health & Sport,
Dan Benintendi
When I think back to the time I was 400 pounds, holding my wife's hand in the operating room, preparing to have Bariatric Surgery, which would alter my innards as well as permanantly alter the way I view food, I remember that the most important reason for having surgery was to live a longer healthier life, be here for my wife and kids, and improve my quality of life. Looking at the picture below reminds me how huge I was, when I could barely fit on the operating table, weighing 400 pounds, 60% body fat, 58" waist, 5XL shirt, deflated self esteem, and I could do little for myself let alone for others...
I recall having a sense of rebirth or a fresh start after I had Gastric Bypass, performed by the most awesome surgeon in the world, Dr David Kim of Colleyville, TX. I didn't know at the time what the future held for me, but I knew that anything would be an improvement from the life or direction I was headed in. A few weeks after surgery I hopped on the treadmill, which I was barely able to stay on for 10 minutes at 2.5 MPH. I tried to increase speed and distance a little more everyday and soon graduated to a slow jog. One morning on the treadmill, I noticed the Spin Class going on at the gym, heard the loud music, the instructor pushing the group, and thought to myself... "Maybe one day". A few months after surgery, I had already lost 100 pounds and mustered up the courage to go to my first Spin Class, which I only made 20 minutes or so of because of the shear agony on my jewels... (nuff said bout that)! I went back the next day and stayed a little longer, until I found myself completing the entire class and soon became hooked on Spinning. Speaking to a friend about Spin opened the door to getting a great road bike and set up for a few hundred bucks which then led to a love of cycling.
As I continually pushed myself running, and Spinning, I remember coming to a point where my legs were absolutely shattered, but I had the desire to workout, I just didnt know what to do next. I decided to brave my fears, put on some swim trunks, take my shirt off, and jump in the pool for a swim. I could barely do a lap without having to stop, but each day, like I did on the treadmill, tried to go a little further and a little faster every day. One day I was sitting back thinking that I am running, I am cycling, and now I am swimming... This is what they do in Triathlons!!! So, I hopped on line and started to look for events, and found my first race, which I would complete EXACTLY 9 months post-op. It was the Denison Dash Sprint Tri... IT WAS AWESOME!!! Here is a picture from that day in Summer of 2009.
After that race, I knew I was hooked and immediately found another triathlon I could compete in the very next month. After I finished that, I knew I was capable of more. So I registered for my first marathon which would fall on the 11th month anniversary of my surgery date. I finished that marathon in 4:52:-- and loved it. Without going through every race in detail here, I will list what I have done since that time in the past few years:
5 x 5K's (Run)
4 x 10K's (Run)
1 x 1/2 Marathon
3 x Marathons
9 x Sprint Triathlons
1 x Olympic Triathlon
6 x 70.s Half Ironman Triathlons
3 x 140.6 FULL Ironman Triathlons
2 x 50K (31 Mile) ULTRA Runs
2 x 38 Mile ULTRA Runs
1 x 50 Mile ULTRA Run
2 x 75 Mile ULTRA Runs
1 x 104 Mile Run (28.5 hours straight)
4 x 100 Mile Cycling Races
2 x 10K (6.2 Mile) Swim
and thousands upon thousands of miles and hours in training. Below is a picture of some of the rewards for these races...
These awards and medals mean so much to me, but not nearly as much as what I have discovered about me, my life, and my family along the way. Somewhere along the last 4 years of my journey, I got caught up in my own "Hype" and began focusing more on ME and lost sight of the very reasons I had my surgery in the first place, which I stated above. I found myself neglecting my responsibilities at home for the sake of 8 hour training days on Saturdays, which in turn lead to missing ball games, fun mornings and other things with my family. I wish I could go back and do these past 4 years with the 20/20 sight I have now over again, but life is about living, taking stalk of yourself, recognizing when we are at fault, and then making the necessary changes to put things back in proper order in our lives. Since refocusing and recommiting to that which matters most, not only have I found more happiness at home with my family and beautiful wife, but I have had countless memories that I may have otherwise missed. One of which, was watching my 8 year old son and his football team go undefeated and go on to win the Super Bowl, aside from numerous opportunities to emberass the heck out of him while bringing the "TEAM SPIRIT"... GO IRISH!!!
In June, I got an awesome opportunity to begin teaching Indoor Cycling (Spin Class) at 24 Hour Fitness. This has been such an awesome experience. I remember when I first went in to business for myself many years ago, my mom gave me a plaque that read "A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, then shows the way". It is so incredible to be able to teach these classes, help people reach their goals, and see that permiate into all aspects of their life. In teaching classes, I have also been able to have much more intense training sessions, coupled with longer rides on the weekend, and this past year, improved my Ironman time by 1 hour, and finally completed my Mount Everest, 100 miles of running in under 30 hours! I did this with less hours of training, with much more intense sessions, which in turn, allowed me to have more time with my family. Proper balance and perspective in all things is the key!
So, with all that said, it has been an incredible 4 years. There is absolutely no way in the world I could have even done half of these things without the love, support, and encouragement of my beautiful wife. She is my strength, is the love of my life, and over the past year, our love has transcended beyond what I ever thought was possible. Life is so good, I am so abundantly blessed, and there are far too many people to thank. There are countless people in my life, everyday, that inspire me, and make me want to do better. To those who have supported me and sponsored me in my journey, Xterra Wetsuits, Mad Duck Cyclery, Suplicy Bikes, Champion Systems, Playtri, Trident, TriCowtown, Erin Baker Cookies, Active Spine & Sport, 100 Mile Club, Obesity Help, and everyone else who has supported me in my ventures, I can't thank you enough!
I am not sure what 2012 holds for me as far as races are going, but I know I will be doing the 100 Mile Endurance Challenge Run For Kids again in October, and another Ironman. I am just not sure as I am trying to figure out if I will be having my 2nd round of Plastic Surgery to remove the rest of my loose skin from the weight loss. I will keep y'all updated of my schedule as I figure it out.
The more time that passes, the more I realize that I really dont care how much I weigh. What I care about now is Body Fat %, endurance, how well I feel, and pushing my physical limits. While I have lost 200 pounds, which is awesome, what is far better is that I have gone from 60% body fat to between 11-12% now. One of my goals is to get below 10% this year. So, without rambling on too much, I just want to thank each and every one of you for your continual love, support, and encouragement. Many of you tell me what an inspiration I am to you, and I know I do not always respond to each of you directly, I want you all to know that when I am running for 20+ hours, I recount every one of those kind words in my head, and they are what keep me going. All of you are as much an inspiration to me as I may be to you.
I hope this year brings you all prosperity and I hope that we all can continue to focus on persuing our worth-while goals while keeping those things of greatest importance in perspective. Here's to another incredibly awesome year of successful weight loss & maintenance!!!!
Below are some before pictures that were taken the day before surgery 4 years ago, and some taken yesterday. (Sorry I didn't dress up for them)
Yours In Health & Sport,
Dan Benintendi
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