October 2008 Tat of the Month

Douglas Allen - Changed Man

Local runner Douglas Allen found himself overweight and not happy. He knew something had to change. One day he told himself it was time. He put his foot down. And then the other in front of that. And then another. And another. He began to run. A few endurance races and a Columbus Marathon later, Douglas is a new man. Here it is in his own words.

"I got the tattoo yesterday (Nov. 12th) at 5 in the evening. It took about three and a half hours. Longer than it took to run the marathon. Why? Nearly 3 years ago at the tender young age of 25 I stepped on the scale and clocked an astronomical weight of 235. I had also recently broken in a pair of size 40 pants. That was a defining moment, to say the least. I embarked on a mission to lose weight. I did not want to do a diet, I wanted a lifestyle change. Over the course of a year with just dietary changes and very minor workouts I dropped 55 lbs.  January 2007 I decided I wanted to finish out the change by tackling a marathon. I was peer pressured into a duathalon and a couple of 5ks and we moved into an apartment complex with a treadmill up at the office. So I started training.
     I spent all year running, and talking about running, and spending money on running. I dropped 15 lbs, won some hardware for the shelf, and suffered.  I had a few blisters, chafed nipples, piriformis syndrome, the last coming about 6 weeks prior to the Columbus Marathon. I had to take 3 weeks off and even missed my last long run. All said I pulled through and showed up on race day. It was an awesome experience that I will do again and again. I even made my goal of qualifying for Boston. My reward was a nice dinner and a tattoo or in this case two. Seems like a fitting reward for a runner, someone who has a good relationship with pain. So I got my wings if you will."  

Thanks Douglas for the submission. Good luck in your running!

Congrats to Douglas on earning some fine CRC merchandise.

Do you want to be the running tat of the month? Send us a picture at info@columbusrunning.com or stop by the store. Please let us know why, how, and when you got the tattoo...

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