Hi, another LEO at my department directed me to this forum.
I took up running a year ago after I hit rock bottom and weighed 260 lbs (I am 6'1"). I think 4 years in a support MOS after college and 3 years sitting on my ass in a car eating donuts caught up with me.
Anyway, in addition to being a fatass I got a blood panel that was awful and my resting heart rate was 105. I started doing a paleo diet and crossfit, and running for 20-30 minutes in the morning. I've since increased that to an hour.
I'm currently 205 and my resting heart rate is 65.
Last weekend my department had a 5K fun run and I ran 17:51. A friend (the one that directed me here) said that I have a lot of potential and said I should get a coach and if I lost 20-30 lbs I could be a very competitive age grouper.
I played D1 football at a Big 10 school and have never thought of myself as a distance runner type. In fact I used to think of running as being kind of girly. Though over the last year I've begrudgingly come to appreciate the pain tolerance and discipline it takes to get out and run every day. The only pain it compares to is high school wrestling practice and the time I got knocked out cold on live ESPN.
Anyway, it'd be a lot easier to be "all in" with the weight loss if I knew I'd actually be competitive.
At 6'1" and 205 lbs is it even worth my time to diet, work with a Coach and teammates (to whom I'd be accountable), go run workouts every day after my shift, etc?
Or would I be happier eating donuts and running for fun?