FEATURE: Derek Mitchell

"Most of you know my story, for those of you who don’t. Five years ago I was diagnosed with non cancerous tumor on my pituitary gland called a prolactinoma and one of the sever side effects of that is a severe testosterone deficiency - it blocks my bodies ability to produce testosterone. A side-effect of that, aside from it affecting my energy, my mood,, my drive, it severely affects my metabolism. The doctors say that is one of the primary factors of my weight gain over the years. He said I’ve had it since I was fourteen years old. So, I’ve been on medication to help with the tumor. Well last November, I hit 625 pounds and up until that point I was kind of using my hormone imbalance as an excuse to be like, 'Well I’m not going to work out, or eat better, I’ll just wait until for my hormones to level to start working out.' Well at 645 that was kind of the turning point. I decided, 'I’m not waiting anymore.'

At the start of this year I completely cut off soda, I started eating better, smaller portion sizes. My sister () she is a marathon runner, a former derby girl here in Kansas City, and she said, 'It’s great that you are making all of these changes, but you need to add in physical exercise.' About four years ago my family and I walked a 5K down in Joplin; so, I knew I could. So I started going out walking. I walked in my neighborhood, and I started a mile a day. My sister again said, 'why don’t you set yourself up and sign up for a 5K and use that as motivation to keep walking throughout the year, to do that 5K.' So, I did one in March, and she came up with the idea to do one a month to keep me motivated throughout the rest of the year.

One in March, three in April, one in May, and today makes seven. I’ve still got another next weekend. Since November of last year when I weighed 625 and now I weigh 538. So, I’ve lost 87 pounds since November. I’m really close to triple digit weight-loss so I’m really excited about that! I’m going to keep walking up to one 5K a month for the rest of the year. In December I’m going to attempt to get into the Guinness Book of World Records as the heaviest person to complete a marathon. So in December I’m going to go to Honolulu and walk that marathon. If I continue with my current weight loss, by December, I should be down to 450 and the current record holder is 400 pounds. Now, if I get under 400, hurray for me, I’m still going to walk the marathon, even if I don’t get into the record books. It will still be one of my first marathons!

That is my journey so far. I’m really excited that Glow Run was part of this. It was an awesome run, I had a great time. Huge party. I’m doing the Glow Run every year from now on."