Welcome to the Juggernaut's Cave

Welcome to The Juggernaut’s Cave

Welcome to the first installment of the writings on the wall in the Juggernaut’s Cave. It’s a place where I can share my thoughts, dreams and life’s ambition. Which is a load of bullshit… I’m really here to talk about what drives me forward in my constant pursuit to undo all the damages I did to my body during my twenties. 

In true Juggernaut fashion, my life history is littered with taking anything that interests me to the extreme. Gaining momentum and disregarding any repercussions that may result from my actions.

Starting in the Middle

In my twenties, I found myself like a lot of people exiting college and embarking into the real world: overweight and lost. At the twilight of my third decade, I was a a morbidly obese smoker with little notion of what nutrition and exercise truly meant. I will post my before picture if I ever hit my goal, but that's for another post.

My true waking point came on my 28^th birthday. My mother had given me my birthday gift: a beautiful blue enamel Dutch oven (I’m an avid home cook, more on that later). Two days after my birthday, she asked me to come back to her house. From the mere tone of her request, I knew something was wrong. The six blocks from my house to hers felt like a journey from one side of the country to the other--my imagination was running wild.

I entered her house to see her and my father sitting at the dining room table. There they shared with me the latest news from her recent hospital visit. They had found a pin-sized tumor in her stomach which turned out to be early stages of cancer. She intended to tell me on my birthday, but didn't want to put a somber cloud on the occasion.

Though they were optimistic that they caught it very early, she still had to have over 70% of her stomach removed just weeks later. Several months of chemotherapy and loads of visits to the hospital later, she was declared in full remission. We were truly blessed to be mere hours from one of the world’s greatest cancer treatment centers.

That was enough to waken the inner Juggernaut.

As my mom was going through these treatments, she pointedly addressed my weight issues and unhealthy lifestyle. She urged me to lose some of my weight so I wouldn’t suffer the same consequences. At this point I was over 300 pounds and smoking approximately a half pack of cigarettes a day.

Something had to change.

I made a promise to my mom that day that I would do what I could to reverse the trauma I was putting my body through. Through the advisement of friends and co-workers, I began tracking my food consumption through SparkPeople and took up running. I’d love to say that it was an instant attraction between me and running, but that is far from the truth.

Over the past six years, I have logged thousands of miles on the pavement while training for distance events, including countless 5Ks, 10Ks, a smattering of mud runs (which is where my moniker comes from), duathlons, two (ill-advised) triathlons, over a dozen half marathons and three full marathons.

Upon turning 30, I read the book “The Easy Way to Stop Smoking” by Allen Carr and successfully quit smoking cigarettes...nearly five years ago with not a single backslide to date. I have also developed a passion for cooking nutritious, fitness-friendly meals for myself. All this has resulted in over 80 pounds of weight loss, but I’m not done yet. I am currently at 230 pounds and would like to see 210 on the scale. From there, I’ll make a new goal and run towards that, but I always find a balance between obsession and living.

Why are we here?

This brings us to the Juggernaut’s Cave: a place for me to showcase my passions for all things; namely music, nutrition and fitness. Through the encouragement of a couple of my friends (who have not yet met), I have dusted off my long-dormant—and obviously rusty—writing abilities (which was a major passion of mine in college). One is a Self Diagnosed OCD—and my personal writing muse—from the west coast. The other is my brother in every way but blood from the east coast, Veggie Macabre.

As I continue to share, I’ll weave for you a tapestry of things that I would personally like to read through a variety of formats.

However, I will primarily be focusing on three topics:

Music Playlists: One of the biggest inspirations that kept me lacing up my Brooks Adrenalines (which I have over 8 pairs of size 13—if anyone needs some) is music. I love making playlists for myself and my friends. I will be crafting special themed playlists and sharing them with my readers (if you build, it they will come, right?). So, if you have a specific goal you want, you can get your very own Juggernaut Playlist…just drop me a line at thejuggernautcave@gmail.com.

Recipes/Nutrition: As I mentioned (a couple times now), I have a long history in the kitchen. I’ve often been told that I should leave my current profession and become a chef, but I live by the creed that I don’t want to rely on my passion for survival; it is my greatest escape. Recently, I have converted my home cuisine to the Paleo diet (grain free, legume free, dairy free, high in protein and fruits/vegetables)…hence the Cave.  I must stress that this is for home, this guy’s got to live and I LOVE BEER: a major no-no to true paleos. I just find that I can better regulate my weight and digestion by focusing on it within my kitchen. I will share some favorite recipes and even some of my own creations in upcoming entries.

My Personal Journey/Training Log: I hope to use this platform to take me to that next level of weight loss and eclipse the 100 pound total loss (hoping to do that by the time the snow is off the ground here…which could be as late as May). I have also committed to my niece, Hannah, and my buddy, Will, to running the Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, MN on June 21^st. You will hear all about our training triumphs as we log countless miles towards the finish line.

I hope you find my cave to be interesting, inspiring and, if nothing else, entertaining. I realized I touched on a couple sensitive topics right out the gate, but don’t want to mislead you, I approach life with my heart on my sleeve with unapologetic honesty. If you like it, you’re always welcome back to my cave. If not, then get out of my way because once I start, I can’t be stopped.

Thank you for reading.