A Lofty Goal

My name is Mike. In May of this year, my wife Kelley and I made the decision to run the New York City Marathon.  Kelley had been working up from a combination of mostly walking with some running to the point that she could run several miles.  We thought running the marathon would provide a good goal, given her love of visiting New York City and the fact that the race would take place just two weeks before her 40th birthday.  We later learned it would also be the 40th anniversary of the NYC Marathon, which made it an even better fit.

It’s Time for a Change

It had been several years since I had run a marathon and I had gotten pretty out of shape. While Kelley had found a marathon training program and began her preparations, I realized I needed to make some changes if I wanted to hold up my end of the bargain on reaching our goal. Finding time to get out and run consistently was a challenge for me with work and other commitments, but with the launch of EA SPORTS Active, I thought the program would be a good complement to the runs I could get in. I really wanted to lose some weight before we got into some of the longer runs. 

Transformation

When the program came out, I brought it home and started a 30-day challenge on hard.  It only took me two workouts before I admitted I may have been a bit aggressive on the difficulty setting.  I dropped back to medium and went through the entire 30-day challenge.  I lost about 12 pounds during that first challenge, which made the running a little easier.  I could also see and feel that my upper body was getting more toned. 

Variety is the Spice of Life

With that success under my shortening belt, I did another 30-day challenge, this time on hard.  EA SPORTS Active had become an enjoyable way for me to track our running as well providing variety of exercises that built up my legs and upper body.  I usually worked out with EA SPORTS Active early in the morning before the kids got up or late at night after we had put them to bed, when it would have been difficult to run. The runs I could fit in a few times a week did build up my endurance, but EA SPORTS Active really made me sweat.  After some of the lunge, squat, and jump combinations I felt more wiped out than after a run - inline skating was a real challenge and I still remember when I was finally able to successfully complete all the jumps on hard!  The different sports activities - volleyball, tennis, basketball, baseball - along with the multiple track workouts - fast kick-ups, slow kick-ups, and high knees - kept things interesting and worked a variety of muscles.  My kids got a kick out of some of the phrases that the trainer used to motivate me - my son in particular thought the trainer took a little too much enjoyment in the command to, "Start your run.....NOW!" I would even use some of my favorites with my wife when we were out on our runs, telling her, "Your body is going to thank you for this."

What a pleasant surprise!

One of the most surprisingly effective features was the Journal.  It was a great reminder to make good decisions when eating and to stay rested and hydrated as well as keeping track of the workouts outside of EA SPORTS Active. It really kept me motivated.  I wanted to get that gold medal every day!

The Results

EA SPORTS Active kick-started my weight loss and got me in good enough shape to take on the longer training runs with my wife (who would also join me occasionally for an EA SPORTS Active workout).  As we got into those longer runs, I used the upper body workouts to keep toned and help maintain good posture while running.  All told, I ended up losing about 35 pounds in the six months of training, dropped four inches off my waist,  and got stronger and more toned in my upper body.

A Day to Remember

The marathon itself was the icing on the cake.  The weather was great - cloudy and very cool, but not cold.  It was windy but once we got warmed up, we were very comfortable.  It was an amazing experience.  Over 43,000 runners participated and the cheering crowds along the route were unbelievable.  We ran the entire 26.2 mile marathon together and finished in just over 5 hours.  Now that it's over, I'm looking forward to the release of EA SPORTS Active More Workouts to see what's been added and using the 6 week challenge to stay in shape.   Thanks for helping me get back in shape and sharing an experience with my wife that we will remember forever!

Results not typical. Individual ate a reduced calorie diet and exercised and used EA SPORTS Active regularly.