chapter 1

Long gone were the days I could call myself a runner. Two years ago, I was cross country running and fell, breaking my leg. It recovered a bit, but I couldn't run any more. I am still friends with some of my running club and go to the race meetings to support them.
Just after my accident, I was confined to bed rest for 6 months. The weight soon piled on, and my former self was a distant memory. My capacity for food was getting ridiculous and I was never getting the full feeling. By the time I could move about, I was 250lbs. I loved my new body and I loved to eat. I knew any future training was eating capacity, not running related.
At my first race meeting, I suddenly noticed that there were all sorts of food stalls selling fast food to the spectators. I'd never noticed them before. I wondered if I could match the race length in calories. The Saturday park runs at 5K were a good start. On top of what I'd normally eat in a day, I stuffed myself with hot dogs and burgers. Soon though the 5K events weren't enough to satisfy my hunger, so I started attending the 10K events and upping the food intake. Luckily there were lots locally for me to chose, and most weekends saw me supporting friends and eating loads. It took a while, but I could feel my capacity growing.
My week days were changing too. As a result of stretching my stomach at the weekends, I soon needed to eat the 10K in snacks at my desk between working to save my belly from rumbling loudly. To be fair, there was probably more thought to where my next snack was coming from than on my work.
By the time 300lbs came and went, I was attending a 5K run in the morning and catching the end of a 10K run as soon as I had got some snacks for the journey! My old friends were training hard for a long weekend of 3 half marathons to be held at Disneyland before the park opened. Of course, I wanted to be there to support them! Not least because a half marathon is 21K. At 320lbs I knew I might need a seatbelt extender on the plane and was relieved that the steward was discrete as she passed me the extender. I was sat next to my friends and as soon as we could do so, the armrests were lifted and my body could spill out onto their seats too.
Wow! Disneyland was amazing! I don't think you could find a salad if you tried, everything was fast food. As the races happened before the park opened, we had to be there early. I was up even earlier and at the hotel's all you can eat restaurant as it opened. I ate very well indeed, I ate till it hurt. An hour later, my firm belly left the restaurant well before my hips did! My shirt was looking pretty tight actually, and for the first time, I felt huge. My friends didn't seem to mind, they had long given up trying to get me to lose weight.