My brush with local fame

Last Wednesday, the following article appeared in the Living section of the Oregonian:

My workout - Once a size 34, she's now an athlete

Changes - Bonnie Crawford has lost 160 pounds through exercise and Weight Watchers

Who: Bonnie Crawford, 29, Beaverton

Stats: 5 feet 7 inches; 198 pounds

Private life: Born in California, Crawford came to Oregon to attend Lewis & Clark College. She works in product marketing for GE Security. She and her husband of eight years, Preston, have four cats.

Fitness past: Crawford has a family history of weight problems. While she was inspired by her husband's loss of 150 pounds, "What really tipped me over the edge was almost growing out of a size 34," Crawford says. "I didn't want to shop from catalogs."

From 358 pounds, she lost 150 pounds in two years and maintained the loss for 18 months before losing another 10. She did it all through exercise and Weight Watchers. She didn't think Weight Watchers would work, but losing nearly 10 pounds the first week was a huge boost. She added veggies to her diet. She added exercise. And she got hooked.

On New Year's Eve of 2002 she walked her first 5K, the First Run. She finished in an hour and two minutes, just ahead of a guy pushing his wife in a wheelchair. She went on to do more 5Ks and bike rides, longer walks, triathlons and a half Ironman.

Current workout: Monday: 30- to 45-minute swim. Tuesday: 20- to 30-minute fast run. Wednesday: 60- to 90-minute bike ride. Thursday: 20- to 30-minute fast swim. Friday: rest day. Saturday: 90-minute to three-hour bike ride. Sunday: 60- to 90- minute slow run.

Results? "I'm frustrated with myself for not doing it sooner. It's changed everything in my life for the better: job, confidence, friends. I now go anywhere without thinking twice about seat belts, airplane seats, small hotel bath towels." Crawford is now a size 16 and can stand inside one leg of her former jeans. "It's all mental," she says. "You can't do it for someone else."

Nutrition: The Crawfords don't cook. They eat takeout or food that can be heated up. Crawford eats 2,000 calories a day, including lots of broccoli and no red meat. A nutrition coach helped her lose the last 10 pounds.

Sample breakfast: nonfat yogurt, nonfat latte, banana. Morning snack: one ounce flavored almonds, two chocolate chip rice cakes. Lunch: organic frozen meal, salad with light dressing. Afternoon snack: fruit, Clif bar. Dinner: soy milk, vegetable soup, two pieces of whole grain bread, maybe more rice cakes. She sometimes has another latte and, during hard workouts, an energy drink or bar.

In the future? A half Ironman in July in New York and a whole Ironman in 2007. She'd like to lose another 20 pounds and have surgery to remove excess skin. She continues to attend weekly Weight Watchers meetings, and she offers online support to others through her Web site, www.speedleopard.com.

I've gotten great feedback and several new readers of SpeedLeopard.com which is wonderful. I love encouraging others to get to their own goals.

The funniest thing happened yesterday though. Lots of people from my office, the local bike shop and others who I hadn't heard from in ages called or emailed me about the article. The random thing though is someone at this bike shop on the other side of town from where I live saw me and asked "were you in the paper this week?" It was pretty crazy since it's not like I knew this guy or frequent that particular bike shop.