Apr 062011
 

In Part 1 of our interview with Peter Engwall, we learned about the man who lost nearly 150 pounds when he decided to change his life for the better.  In Part 2, we are going to learn about Peter Engwall, the man he is today.  Peter has “an amazing wife, and the best son in the entire world!”  And loves coaching his sons baseball and football teams.  He’s a Project Manager for a wireless telecommunications company in Seattle, Washington.  His schedule is extremely busy, but Peter always makes time for his Ironman training.  Peter remains extemely active and we asked him a variety of questions relating to his fitness goals and about his website, http://auggiesdad.sweat365.com/.

As you may recall, Peter began exercising in order to lose weight and quickly discovered that entering himself in endurance events would help him stay focused on the end result of losing weight.  One summer, he decided to sign up for his first Sprint Triathalon.  Four years later he is planning on completing his first Full Ironman in November.  Peter has also set a variety of other goals.  He wants to complete an Olympic Distance race in under three hours and plans on completing his first Full Ironman in the alotted 17 hours.  Lastly, he wants to remain injury free.

Peter’s life has been filled with memorable experiences.  He married his best friend.  He witnessed the birth of his son.  He was on the Oprah Show.  He completed a sprint triathalon.  He completed a half marathon.  And he completed a half Ironman.  As a beginning runner, I know what Peter means when he says that those are memorable moments.  It’s about being able to complete something that once was impossible and being able to accomplish something like that makes anything seem possible.

Training allows you to “get away from it all,” Peter says.  When in training, all your thoughts and worries get focused on your training and it allows you to clear your head.  And for Peter, it has been a surprisingly social activity.  He has met numerous people that he has trained and worked with, including our first hero, Mitch Roberts.  Peter began training with Mitch because he recognized the fact that it was important to find people to train with that are smarter and people to train with that are faster.  I’m not sure which category Mitch falls into, but my guess is that it’s not the smarter one (Just Kidding). 

http://auggiesdad.sweat365.com/ is a place that Peter goes to log his workouts and serves as a reminder to when his next races are scheduled.  He has been able to track his distances through the website and he says it’s great to see his results grow.  His post on http://sweat365.com/blog/2008/05/14/lifestyle-changes-yield-big-results/, is how I learned about Peter losing nearly 150 pounds as a result of his lifestyle change.

Through Peter’s website, he has been able to make many new friends from many different areas.  His favorite websites are http://runningbrothers.com/ (obviously) and http://www.slowtwitch.com/.  He encourages all of you to be yourself and have fun. 

Lastly, Peter believes that every person should make someone else’s life just that much happier.  He recommends that you change the life of someone else for the better.  And I can honestly say that your story, your participation and becoming one of our heroes has changed our lives for the better.

If you would like to learn more about Peter Engwall, please visit his website, http://auggiesdad.sweat365.com/.

Apr 042011
 

When my brother and I began RunningBrothers.com, we did it for a variety of reasons, but mostly because we were both seeking a lifestyle change.  My brother and I needed to get more healthy and we figured that by starting this website, our readers, ourselves and each other would help to hold us accountable to reach our goals.  Peter Engwall was one of our readers and has commented on our blog often and we interviewed Peter, our hero, to find out more about him and allow our readers to learn about one of our heroes as well.  In the process, I was amazed to discover the journey that Peter has gone through.  His story is amazing and his attitude is even greater.

Before Peter changed his life, he weighed more than 300 pounds.  One day, while watching the Oprah show, he came across a program designed by Bob Greene on thebestlife.com and made the decision to get involved in the program.  Thebestlife.com was not a diet, but a lifestyle change.  Peter made this decision for a variety of reasons, he wanted to stop being lazy, to be healthier, but most of all, he wanted to be able to play with his son. 

Peter began the program by making small improvements in his diet and exercise.  His local gym kept tabs on those trying to lose weight and Peter began to see his weight loss results posted in the gym.  He made the top 100 and as the months continued on, Peter began to move up the ladder.  Because of this lifestyle change, Peter Engwall lost nearly 150 pounds.  His weight loss results were so amazing that thebestlife.com wanted to share his story as one of their success stories and even invited him to be a guest on Oprah’s show. 

When I interviewed Peter, I had not heard of his story, I simply knew that he followed our website and was extremely enthusiastic in doing so.  During the interview he made almost little to no mention about the fact that he lost almost 150 pounds and appeared on Oprah.  When we talk about heroes on this website, we are referring to you, our readers, because you help us to stay motivated and encourage us to do better.  Every comment we receive and kind word that we get makes us try that much harder.  Peter, since visiting our blog, has continuously encouraged us to do better through his kind words and willingness to participate on our website.  But, he is also our hero for another reason.  It takes a lot of guts and effort to commit to a lifestyle change and it’s not easy.  Peter’s story is inspiring to all of us because it demonstrates our ability to make a decision for positive change in our lives. 

I want to thank Peter for being our friend, our follower, and our hero.

For more information about Peter Engwall, visit his website, auggiesdad.sweat365.com.

Stay Tuned for Part #2 of our interview with Peter Engwall