Meet Austin

From near paralysis to lifestyle changes inspired by fatherhood

My story really starts in high school. I was always the chubby kid. I drank soda like it was going out of style, played way too many video games and ate like garbage. After high school I failed out of college and wasn't really going anywhere. I was in and out of different homes and racking up debt. 

Near paralysis

Come 2016 I had surgery to remove a tumor on the right side of my lower spine. In order to do this they went into my side took out a 3rd of my 9th rib and deflated my lung. I spent 5 days in the hospital after surgery and only really remember 24 hours of it. About a year later my girlfriend at the time (who now happens to be my wife) had informed me that during surgery the surgeon had come out and told my family that if I had waited any longer to have it removed I could have paralyzed. Thankfully this mass was non-cancerous and it never returned. Six months later I had a second surgery to remove a bone mass off my shoulder and that ended up being a pretty minor ordeal. 

Lifestyle changes

When 2017 came around, I decided to take my health and what I put into my body more seriously. I quit soda, ate better, and dropped from my heaviest weight of 200 pounds to about 150. On a 5 ft 6 inch frame that was pretty drastic. I stayed around 155 or so and just continued to live "healthy" or so I thought. 

Flash forward to 2021 I found out I was going to be a father. I knew I wasn't in the best head space and needed to change it in order to be the man I needed to be for my child and wife. With inspiration from guys like David Goggins and Cam Hanes I started running and pushing harder than I have before. I thought it would be pretty cool to run a half marathon. July came and I ran my first 10k out in the country by myself.

Through the summer I continued to work at it and a few weeks later I ran my first half marathon; again alone. I kept going farther and had the thought of doing the full marathon but with a child coming mid August I wasn't sure I was going to be able to train to make the mid September race.

Going the distance

In the hospital after my daughter was born the race organization emailed out that the full marathon was at capacity. I inquired about an exception but no luck. Two weeks before race day, I decided I was only doing the half, but I got an email saying they could fit me into the full. I went for it, and mind you the longest I had run to this point was 15 miles. So the next weekend I set out and ran 20 miles to prepare (7 days to race day). I came home in pain and I remember my wife looking at me with concern. I told her I have no idea how I am going to pull this off. Race day came and I had some set backs along the way but I ended up finishing the full marathon in 4 hours and 12 minutes. 

 New goals

I learned more about myself in those couple months than I could have in years of "normal" life. This year I am in better shape, pushing harder and have bigger goals than I have before. I am doing the same marathon in September and 13 days later running the IRONBUL 50K, my first ultra and first trail race.

This lifestyle change I have gone through has allowed me to be the best version of myself. I have taken on more responsibility at my workplace and it has given me the confidence to be able to go into difficult situations knowing I can achieve them. In order to meet my goals and continue to progress on the the journey of fatherhood I need to be the best version of myself each and every day. Running, lifting, and eating right has given me the tools to be able to be that. 

Running has shown me that the only limits that exist are the ones you set for yourself. Anything is possible if you work hard enough, push beyond what you think you can do and go the extra mile. What continues to drive me now is that if I continue to push, and do better that someone may see me and it may inspire them. Maybe they change their life as I have mine and their situation gets better, and maybe someone sees them and does the same. The amount of people whose lives could be changed for the better by doing these difficult challenges is what inspires me. If the chubby kid who failed everything else in life can do it, anyone can.