It’s been a while, Skimblers, but we’ve got an awesome Member Spotlight for you with Paul Gilbert! Paul has been with us for two years now, but has really used us in the past year to track his progress and use it to motivate him to push himself– he’s lost 20 pounds since! We got to ask Paul some questions to find out more about his Skimble experience.
What was your starting point versus your current fitness status?
My starting point of fitness was about two years ago- I just finished a extended treatment of prednisone. As you may know, one of the infamous side effects of the drug is weight gain, and I was close to 198 pounds. While I was exercising regularly, it wasn’t overly impressive- very conservative in distance and time, and by that I mean my running program. As this year began I noticed I had only run 200 miles. I thought I had to step this up and I set myself the goal of running 300 miles. Right now I’ve run 290 miles and now considering that I can run over 311 miles (500 km). Since having this goal I’ve lost 20 lbs.
What’s your next fitness goal?
I have two goals, the first is to lose at least another 5 lbs, with the ultimate goal of another 10 lbs. My other goal has to do with this race I did this past summer. I did “The Dirty Dash“, an 8km trail race. I was used to running 8km but the hills did me in. I finished in just a little over an hour. The next time I race it’s going to be under 1 hour. I have a new running plan that includes a number of hills, including a nice 6.8% grade climb. I plan to beat those hills next year.
What’s your favorite thing about Skimble?
Only one? There’s a lot of things I like about Skimble. I like the social aspect, the messages, forums and the friendly competition that can happen between followers. I do check my status and the status of my followers. Nothing gets me pumped up for workouts like seeing them either catching up to me, or passing me on points. It’s the fun aspect of Skimble. There are a few people whom I’ve written and they’ve written back and you know we’ve got a very friendly rivalry going on.
Give us a fun fact about yourself:
I started running when I turned 40. I told people I couldn’t afford a red Porsche, so I took up running as my mid-life crisis activity. One person heard me say that and he turned to me and said “that’s the saddest thing I’ve ever heard”.
My workout coach, Theo the Cat. Always wants to help me with my form.
That’s awesome, Paul, and thanks for chatting with us! We know you’re going to reach your goals with the Skimble motivation behind you 🙂
We at Skimble HQ get psyched when we find out that our members are going out and challenging themselves with monumental athletic feats. If you are planning to participate in some sort of challenging event, and are using the Workout Trainer and/or GPS Sports Tracker apps to help you train, we’d love to spotlight you! Please send us an email to trainers@skimble.com if you’re interested.