On May 8, 6:21*pm, Wayne Knight wrote:
This isn't going to rival Steve's fine report but I needed to boast a
wee bit to somebody and ROFF it is.

Beginning in 1992 when I started traveling as a consultant I began
chain smoking and eating like someone escaping a famine and entering a
McDonalds for the first time. At the same time I quit even the basic
activities I was doing like playing softball and taking long strolls/
hikes. By the time I turned 50 in 2008 I was over the 320 lb mark and
last year when I fished with Mr. Fortenberry in Michigan I was
carrying around 338 lbs. Even with a couple of hospital admissions for
a misfiring heart and the onset of Diabetes I would often jest my last
words were going to be "one more donut/cigarette isn't going to kill
me"

The last few years I had been mostly confined to roadside fishing.
Last May I couldn't make one of the easier hikes a mile or so in to a
brookie stream in the Smokys without stopping to catch my breath every
100 yards or so. In June, while fishing with Mr. Fortenberry on the
Jordan River, I proceeded to do Mr. Reid proud in quicksand laced
waters with a depth of 2'. On the way home from my cut short trip to
Michigan, I knew something had to change.

Last July 7th I consulted a physician, dietician, and trainer and
started a slow process to fitness. This morning I weighed in at 230
lbs and ran (slowly jogged is more like it) the Indianapolis Half
Marathon. I didn't set any records and won't be invited to Boston
Marathon anytime soon but I finished the darn thing. While I can't
confess to being smoke free, a pack now lasts me weeks and not hours.
In the morning I am heading out for Fontana Lake *and catching the
ferry to the Hazel Creek trail for a three day backpacking excursion
to its headwaters. Provided I don't become bear poop, I will post some
kind of a report when I return next weekend. Nothing as nice as
Steve's but a report that won't involve much roadside fishing except
for a planned head hunting trip for bigger browns in the Little River
on the way home from NC.

Thanks for reading

Well done, friend. The "quit smoking" will come. Don't respond to
nagging. You quit for yourself when you do.

I've been off of them for 36 years and LOVE them. But, for me, it
doesn't make sense.

Good luck

oz