Hola, mi nombre es..... or to put it in other words...Hi, my name is...

Hi, my name is Jorge and I am the international part of this great group of runners that write in this new blog. I am 40 years old and I live in Monterrey Mexico, just a few hundred miles from the US border. I'm originally from Mexico city but trying to change our quality of life, my family and I  decided to move here a little bit more than three years ago.

At that point in my life, 2008, I was a mess, my weight was around 254 pounds and I had a hard time walking for long distances. When I'm talking about long distances I'm referring to more than a hundred feet!

January 2009 Disney trip.

But I was not always like that, I used to be a very good football player for many years up until college. I played football from age 10 till when I reached 21 years old. After that I took up running a couple of times but not for a long time, I left it only after a couple of months. Then I got married and the weight gaining began.

After our 2009 Disney trip when I was looking at our pictures I became aware of how overweight I was and decided it was enough, I had gone too far, i needed to do something ASAP! But how?

The following weekend the WDWToday podcast was having a live show (I've always been a fan of those guys). While I was listening, Mike Scopa and Michelle Scribner-MacLean began talking about a team they were creating with Deb Wills called Team AllEars. At that moment I knew I wanted to be part of it. After reading Michelle’s blog about her first half marathon and several Mike Scopa’s blogs about running at Disney, I was convinced I had to run someday trough Disney World and this was the perfect opportunity to do so.

I guess we can call that day, April 25th, 2009, "D day", the day that this wonderful journey began.

So after a lot of hard work I reached my goal of finishing the 2010 Disney Half marathon being part of the wonderful Team Allears and lost my first 35 pounds. I will never forget that wonderful experience, meeting such an amazing group of people and how,  thanks to them, I was able to take control of my life again.

Team Allears before heading to the 2010 Half Marathon starting line.

After that experience, with the confidence I got back, I was able to continue changing my life, I lost an additional 35 pounds for a total of 70 pounds and finished my first marathon almost a year after.

So far I've run a total of three marathons, seven half marathons and a little more than 20 10ks.

I've always said that what has kept me doing this for almost three years is the wonderful journey this has been and continues to be. During the journey I have lived lots of fulfilling experiences and met lots of people. People like Jamison, Brad ,Josh. Mush and Rob, people that motivate you all the time to do your best and remember you that you can do it.

Finishing my third marathon.

Right now I've gained around 10 pounds, the holidays were not easy on me! The goal right now is to continue running, loosing at least 15 pounds, staying injury free doing the Galloway method for my long runs and running two or three marathons this year.

I will run my fourth marathon in a couple of weeks, Torreon Marathon. I'm planning on running it as a fun run and have a great time with my friends and the people that will support me. I promise to post lots of pictures! Last year I learned that it's not always about personal records, you can run also just for the fun of it (more on that on a future post).

But the most important goal is to be part of Team Allears 2013 and run the Goofy challenge.

A little bit more about myself, I am a father of two beautiful kids and I'm married to the most wonderful wife. I work as a Risk Manager for a mutual fund company. And what do I enjoy more out of life? Spending time with my family, running, watching movies and of course Disney!

So there is a lot of work ahead and I will be sure of letting you know how things are going while I continue this journey. Keep on swimming!!!