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Running helped overweight consultant trim off the fat

By Fiona Green
Inspirational Runners - Part 1

Steve Swearingen shows some paunch after skydiving and before running. Steve had tipped the scales at 300 pounds before changing his lifestyle.

Steve Swearingen, a 40-year-old marketing consultant and a regular participant in the Trinity 5000 summer series, recently ran a 5K PR of  22.58. The achievement was particularly impressive considering that three years ago Steve tipped the scales at 300 pounds.

Over the years, a  busy work schedule coupled with bad eating habits and a lack of physical activity had caused the pounds to pile on. Realizing that it was time to make some changes in his life, he began slowly by first improving his diet and then introducing a short walk to his daily routine.

Although this initially proved to be somewhat challenging, Steve persevered. After a few weeks, his weight started to drop and he threw a little jogging into the mix.  He was soon jogging more than he was walking and before long he realized that he had become a runner.

Being able to run for the first time in years provided him with a  great sense of accomplishment and confidence and he decided to enter his first road race --  the 2005 Fort Worth Turkey Trot 10K.
Arriving 10 minutes late, he had to start the race alone but was soon passing the walkers and some of the runners on his way to a 51:26 finish. Incidentally, he would highly recommend this strategy to anyone needing an ego boost!

Since then he has run many of the area races. often 'doubling up' and running both a 5K and a 10K on the same day. Thanks to his new fitness regimen, he has dropped almost 120 pounds.

As regards to cross training, Steve eschews traditional sports like cycling and swimming, explaining that he prefers jumping out of planes (attached to a parachute, of course). This is another experience he highly recommends!

Having run several half marathons, his next goal is to run a sub- 4- hour marathon this year in San Antonio. We wish him luck.