Jerry Przywara Learned That In Running And In Life Progress Isn’t Linear
My guest today is someone that has been fairly active in the Facebook group the past couple of years, so his name may be familiar to some of you.
Outside of what he has shared in the group, he’s someone that I don’t know a whole lot about.
I am looking forward to getting to know more about Jerry Przywara while going a few easy miles with him today.
Running As A Means To An End
Jerry Przywara has only recently gotten into the sport of running.
As a child, Jerry didn’t view running as a sport.
He was active in sports when he was younger, but he saw running as a way to get in shape for a sport or as a punishment.
As an adult, Jerry wasn’t nearly as active and didn’t pay close attention to what he ate.
The result was he slowly began to gain weight.
Had he continued the trajectory he was on, he would have eventually reached 300 pounds.
His wife got him a Fitbit for Christmas 7 years ago and that was what tuned Jerry into his habits.
Greater Awareness Led to Big Changes
Jerry is the type of person that enjoys checking items off lists.
Wearing a Fitbit, helped Jerry become more aware of how inactive he had become over the years.
He quickly realized the amount of food he was consuming didn’t match up with his activity level.
As Jerry began to increase his activity and make better food choices he noticed his weight begin to lower.
Initially, Jerry only ran on the treadmill and ran in terms of minutes rather than miles.
Eventually, a few minutes of running turned into a few miles.
Jerry did his first outdoor run after solely running on the treadmill for one and a half years.
Snowball Effect
The week before Jerry ran his first 5k, was the first time he had run outside.
Jerry set a goal for the race, which was to finish it in under 30 minutes.
His untrained 16-year-old son decided to run the race as well.
Jerry has been training for a few months at the time of the race and he was concerned about his son going into the race untrained.
Jerry quickly realized that he had no reason to be worried because his son flew past him at the end of the race.
That 5k that they both ran was what pushed his son to join the cross country team at his school.
Running had provided a sort of snowball effect for both Jerry and his son.
At the time Jerry had lost 40 pounds and began to increase both his distance and pace.
Pushing His Limits
Jerry had been running for a couple of years and had never gone more than 6 miles in that time.
At an appointment with his doctor, who was also an athlete, Jerry got the idea to start pushing his limits.
Jerry signed up for his first half marathon shortly after that appointment.
He set a goal to run under 2 hours and trained diligently.
The weather on the day of the race was less than ideal.
Jerry was met with cold, rain, and wind.
Even with all that adversity he just barely missed his goal.
Jerry has since run more half marathons and lost more weight.
This change in lifestyle has been more of a marathon rather than a sprint.
2020 Adjustments
Jerry, much like the rest of the world, has had to make adjustments to his life and running this year.
The pandemic has had a positive overall effect on Jerry’s running and consistency.
He has been fortunate to be able to work from home, which saved him the time he used to spend on a long commute.
Jerry has used that extra time to be more consistent with his running.
He has also focused more on foam rolling, strength training, and sleep.
In the past, Jerry has dealt with small injuries that occasionally popped up.
Jerry admitted that he had to learn the hard way about what did and did not work for his body.
He typically runs 4 days a week, never back to back days, and focuses more on preventative work.
Multiple Path To Success
Running has taught Jerry many valuable lessons over the years.
One such lesson is that running, much like everything in life, doesn’t necessarily follow a linear progression.
There is not always one clear plan or path to reach a goal.
Jerry has learned that he is capable of so much more than he ever thought.
He is looking forward to when life returns to some semblance of normalcy.
Jerry loves to combine traveling and running because he sees it as the best way to explore a new place.
This post is accompanied by an episode of my podcast, Diz Runs Radio.
Click this link to listen to my conversation with Jerry Przywara.
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Originally published at http://www.dizruns.com on October 26, 2020.