Tri My Will

Above is a picture of me, Dan Benintendi 15 short months ago. I weighed 400 pounds, with a 56” waist, size 5XL shirt, size 22” dress shirt, and as miserable as could be. I made a decision to change my life the day my wife told me she felt like a single mom because I had no ambition or desire to do anything except sit around and eat. January 14th 2008 I had Gastric Bypass Surgery and truly feel like that was the day I was given another shot at living life again. I began to exercise for the first time in 15 years. I fell in love with running, fell in love with “Spin Class”, and fell in love with swimming. All these things equaled Triathlon! 9 months after surgery, I competed in my first Sprint distance and completed it in 1:33:--, one month later I competed in another Sprint distance and finished in 1:13:--. I began to believe I could truly do anything I set my mind to so I registered for the Run The Rock 26.2 mile marathon in Dallas, and exactly 11 months after surgery completed it in 4:53:17. I then registered for The Cowtown 26.2 mile Marathon in February and completed that in 4:23:01. I began to grow to love endurance sports and had such a desire to do Ironman, that I registered for 5 events this year. I completed Florida 70.3 in 6:15:15 on May 17th, am registered for Buffalo Springs 70.3 in June, Louiseville 140.6 Full in August, Augusta 70.3 in September, and 70.3 Texas Longhorn in Austin in October. I am so excited for the future, and so grateful to be able to call myself an athlete… Who would have thought? 15 months… From Super Morbidly Obese to Triathlete and Endurance Junkie! To learn more about me and my story visit http://www.trimywill.com/ and to learn about my epic swim next year that will begin in Spain and end in Africa next year visit http://www.swimfromobesity.com/ . Thanks to all those who have supported me through my journey, and thanks to Brent for helping me find my true potential as an athlete.