SHAWN REINE, Coach shawnr@fitpastors.com / @shawnreine I grew up in south Louisiana just outside of New Orleans living the "Fried Life" as I call it. My family set me on a path that was not the healthiest pattern of eating and living. I developed patterns that affected me later in life that caused me to slowly gain weight. I wasn't the heaviest in our family so I had this false sense of, I'm doing ok, and by comparison I was. I played sports all growing up, mostly baseball, but nothing that pushed me to better my health and fitness.

I was called into the ministry and I entered a Master’s Commission program then went off to Bible college at SAGU in Texas and onto the life of a Student Ministry Pastor. Late night pizza, not much rest, pressures and stress of ministry and slowly gaining 5 pounds a year took its toll. Sure I dieted and tried everything from Atkins to Fasting. I even once tried to get people to do a Daniel fast with me with the main intention of me losing weight. I would lose pounds and then simply gain them back. Over and over this happened, each time gaining even more weight than I initially lost. I was unhealthy, unfit, stressed, exhausted and 50 pounds overweight. I decided in 2008 that enough was enough. I had gone to the doctor and was told I needed to be on blood pressure meds and that my cholesterol was high among other weight related complications. Basically I was eating myself to death. I made a promise to myself that things needed to change. By this time Amy and I had been married 3 years and our son Mason was just born. I determined that I was going to live the healthiest year of my life, spiritually, emotionally and physically. I started eating better and drinking only water, cutting out sugars and sweets and most of all I started running. It started small. I ran one mile and thought I was going to die. I began to add more and more distance and had an idea to train and run a 5K race. After running that race I wanted to run more and better my time. I began to race myself and challenge and push myself to be faster than before. Every time I shaved off even a few seconds it was like I won the Olympic gold medal. I pushed myself even further and ran my first 10K that year. In 2008, the year that I turned my health around, I lost over 40 pounds. Most importantly when I went back to my doctor he told me that my blood pressure and my cholesterol were in great shape and there was no need for any medications.

I wanted to do more, lose more and overall maintain this new healthy lifestyle that I worked so hard to achieve. I refused to go back to the way I was. In 2009 I ran my first half marathon and since then have completed five more. In 2011 I ran my first full distance marathon in Denver, Colorado and finished in under 5 hours. It still wasn't enough… I continued to push myself. I moved on to the sport of triathlon. This is where i found what i was looking for. The drive, the endurance, the training and the pushing your body as far as it can go and then pushing some more. I started small with the sprint distances and

then on to the Olympic distances. In 2013 I was 65 pounds lighter than I was when i first started this health and fitness journey back in 2008. I had trained and prepared and completed my biggest challenge when I crossed the finish line of my very first 70.3 half ironman event. I couldn't believe what I had accomplished, all while leading Youth Ministries and now currently planting a new church in Denver. I am currently training for my second half ironman in 2014 and have dreams and desires to cross the finish line of a FULL ironman event and hear those beautiful words… “Shawn Reine, You are an Ironman”! My health and fitness journey is so very similar to yours. Its a constant struggle and balance of time, family, ministry, effort, money and all the same excuses that I used to make. The difference is I have decided to stop making excuses and simply keep setting goals!