In 47 years of life there are three things I’ve never seen: bigfoot, a unicorn or a 90-year-old obese person. The two pictures are 92 pounds apart. Football is back but football season is much different than years past. My obsession included watching Thursday night, multiple college games on Saturday, noon till bedtime on Sunday and then top it off with Monday Night Football. Plus, I filled endless hours with ESPN and sports talk radio. You know what I didn’t have time for during football season? Eating healthy, exercise, prayer, Bible reading and general priorities. And the beer drinking… Each day of football was equal to 12 or more beers. The calories, the carbs, the gluten and the damage to my body. I was a ticking time bomb 12 months a year, but everything was heightened during football season. Eventually I would make big, I’m permanent changes in my life. I started to exercise and eat better to lose weight, and eventually ditch the binge drinking. And while I still do watch football, it doesn’t come before priorities. Faith, family and fitness before football. Arriving here didn’t come overnight, it took years. It took lots of setbacks while making new discoveries. I was growing closer to God during the process, which made binge drinking an easy elimination. I set goals, prayed for God to give me strength and relied on the Holy Spirit to tap me on the shoulder every now and again. It started by accepting things needed to change and eliminating all of my excuses. It continued through relentless consistency until discipline was built and habits were formed. The weight loss was never about appearance, it was always about better health. I didn’t know at the time that the journey would also lead to living a better life overall. I praise Jesus for what I’ve overcome and pray for the strength to continually grow. My Saturday mornings usually begin the same time my Friday evenings ended in the past. Instead of ultra-marathon drinking, I’m running ultra-marathons. Instead of laying around with hangovers, I’m out doing hard stuff. You can too. Go get it.