I labored long and hard for titles for this post. I thought maybe, “How to lose 60 pounds in two and-a-half months” or, “how to stop yourself from dropping dead at 42.” But instead, I think I’ll just let the numbers do the talking.

I turned 42 on March 13th and that night I rode my bicycle for 15 miles. It took me a little more than a half hour and my average speed was about 25 mph. The odometer read 1,003. Since January 1st I’d ridden 1,003 miles on my bike. Now, let’s rewind: Last Thanksgiving, I weighed 227 pounds and was told by my doctor that if I didn’t make changes, I was going to either have a stroke, or a heart attack. With this alarming news, I did what anyone would do... I got depressed and ran from it. I never changed my habits and I slipped into a very deep depression. By Christmas, I weighed over 230 pounds.

On January 1st, I went out to the garage and reset the odometer on my bike. My goal wasn’t that lofty. I told myself that if I could average five miles a day on my bike, that’d be about 1500 miles for the year. Seemed reasonable. My first ride was for four miles. My average speed was just over 11 mph. I was dead. I tried to follow that up with some sit-ups and managed to do five.... yep, five of them.