5 years ago I was way overweight. I couldn’t walk up a
flight of stairs without feeling like I’d just hiked through the Amazon jungle
or inflated a blimp with a kazoo. I didn’t like it, and one day decided to do
something about it. I conjured up some of the most amazing goals to get back
into shape and look and feel just like I did in high school. I was riding high
on the road to success.
Except I never did anything. All I did was make up some goals, maybe wrote them down, and waited for the results to start rolling in. If only it were that easy.
Here's from my graduation, not too long before I started running.
Then one day I did something that ended up being a game
changer for me. While talking with my wife one evening I said three words that
ended up being my magic words. Kind of like the old “bippety boppety boo” in
Disney’s Cinderella. Looking back over the past few years I realized that every
time I’ve set out to do something crazy, challenging, or insane I’ve started my
path toward those goals with the same three words. What are those words?
“Babe, I’m gonna…”
I recently dubbed my past achieved goals my “Babe, I’m
Gonna…” goals because every time I have said those words and followed them with
some goal I’ve found a way to achieve those goals. Way back when, when peeling
an orange was my equivalent of an Olympic gymnast doing a routine, I told my
wife, “Babe, I’m gonna run a 5k”. Fortunately I have a wonderful wife that
didn’t give me a look of, “Oh yeah? Let’s review your life insurance policy,”
and instead encouraged me on. I can’t go on any further without giving her
credit for helping me achieve all my “Babe, I’m gonna…” goals. She’s been
fantastic and I can’t say enough to thank her.
Running my first 5k
As I said, those three words have carried me through a lot.
They’ve pushed me to my limits and at times I’ve wanted to quit, but something
about giving up just didn’t jive with me because I knew I’d have to face my
wife and explain to her why I was quitting…and that would probably be more
difficult than whatever I was training for. I’ve endured with each of my “Babe,
I’m gonna…” goals and reached heights I never thought possible. And I am happy.
After finishing my first marathon
You can find Devin on twitter: @DevinHatch
