The Ol' Glory Days

This is the first part of my story documenting the parts of my life that have brought me to Day 0, when I decided to change my daily habits for life, and for the better, to ultimately achieve my goals of reaching the best shape of my life, being fit and healthy, and full of energy. For other posts, see the rest of my story.

From as long as I can remember, I was always involved in sports of some kind. Like a lot of Canadians, I started skating at 3 and playing hockey by 5. I was an active kid, always running around, jumping, and climbing things. If there was an organized sport in my area, I wanted to play it. Over the years I played and competed in organized hockey, baseball, basketball, golf, soccer, badminton, track and field, and volleyball. I also enjoyed tennis, biking, hiking, canoeing, and skiing. Hockey and Golf were probably my biggest and best sports, the latter which I ended up competing at a National level (and actually an international Canada/USA tournament in Florida when I was 12).

This continued all the way up to my final years in high school, where I graduated class Valedictorian, Governor General's Award winner (top marks), and Male Athlete of the Year. Not bad for the short (5'4) dorky kid with glasses (since I was 7), eh? I was quick, agile, lean, fit, and healthy. By this time though, I had already put my body through a lot of abuse and had run into my first major speedbumps. It was going to take a lot to slow me down.