Chris Davis is Becoming a Natural!

Chris Davis came in on Friday to get fitted for a new pair of inov-8s and I’ll tell you, I was so excited- I felt like I was meeting a celebrity. I was so excited because I wanted to meet him and to tell him how inspiring he was. He started at 696 lbs and is now down to 294 and aiming to reach 200lbs. After meeting Chris, if possible, I think was even more inspired by Chris and his #commitment.

Spartan Race founder Joe D. is helping Chris meet his health goals by providing him with housing, a diet plan and a training plan to get him ready for the Spartan Beast September 22^nd. Chris has already completed 2 Spartan Races- including a 5mile sprint complete with sets of 30 burpees at a time, and a 10 foot wood wall soaked in slippery dish soap and water that Chris climbed. Nicole, Lizzie and I will be doing our first Spartan Race in Amesbury on August 11^th and Chris will be there doing his third!

Now, some may say Chris has an advantage by having someone to help train him and work with him. But after hearing what Chris has to do every single day- living without his family and friends up in the mountains of Vermont, eating nothing but raw fruits and vegetables, and walking up and down the mountain at least 10 miles per day carrying sand bags and other heavy objects- you know that man is #committed to becoming healthy.

You could see in Chris’s eyes that this has not been easy. It is wearing to be away from home for that long, to be living on only raw fruits and vegetables and working out as much as he has, and the changes in his body are not easy either. He shared with us that because he is losing weight so drastically, it changes his center of balance among many other things and it’s hard to even walk sometimes. But when Chris reached in his bag to pull out his old, size 72 pants, that Lizzie and I could both easily fit into, you could see nothing but pride and happiness in that man’s face and you could tell that he was going to keep at it until he reached his goals.

Chris used to have trouble with fitting into his shoe size, and now we are helping him choose a shoe that will help him scale walls and climb mountains. Chris was a little worried that he wouldn’t be able to fit into a size 13, because he has a wide foot and had heard that our shoes were narrow. He also used to have to wear a size up because of the width of his feet. But since he’s lost so much weight, he was back to his normal shoe size, and they fit great!

Chris had never worn minimalist shoes before, so we are transitioning him slowly. We gave him a pair of Road-X 255, our 3 arrow, 9mm drop road running shoe for his road and hard trail training, and a pair of Terrafly 313 GTX (also a 3 arrow 9mm drop) for his hiking on the mountain. He said he could feel the difference between his motion control shoes that were prescribed to him for over pronating. He liked the lightweight feel of the minimalist shoes and we talked to him about natural running and pose running, that with training, could help strengthen his feet and ankles. He was also excited because his last shoes held water and mud and had no grip during the Spartan Race in PA he did last weekend. 

We know there are many of you #committed athletes out there, all overcoming different challenges and all with different goals. Everyone has their own challenges to overcome and PRs to set, and at inov-8 we want to help you reach those goals. Share your #committed stories with us here, or pictures on our "Share your commitment" Pinterest board, or with us on Facebook. We love to be inspired by you!