First timers

There is not much that beats the excitement of someone running their first real event. Ordinary people doing great things and rising above what they ever thought possible.

Lately I have seen the owner of my local coffee shop out and about running. She is looking great and each time I saw her she seemed to be taking to it like a duck to water. Well yesterday she confided in me that she was running this Sunday’s half marathon in Sydney in memory of a girlfriend who passed on from breast cancer. Now having had friends and family suffer at the hands of this hideous disease I immediately made a donation to her cause. But what impressed me the most is that this lady made a decision on her own that this is what she was going to do to honour her friend and that to do it real justice she had been training well and following a program diligently.

Amazing really what the human spirit can do if we are willing to explore it a bit. Here was a lady - a grandmother no less with no running background at all who had no other expectations other than to set out, complete the event and honour her friends memory. In my humble view point there can be no greater thing for her to do and I reassured her that the way she was running she would surely do her friend proud.

Running together (while honouring our friends), stride for stride on a life changing ride! -- Sean Muller

Seeing real change

This morning while out on my run I happened to bump into a group of people I had randomly met and spoken to while running last year. Those that know me know that I randomly speak to people while out running - builds a sense of community and you get to know others that share a passion for your sport.

One of the ladies in the group had appeared to have lost a fair bit of weight and was looking really good. She commented that me sharing my story of weightloss with her had led her to persevering with the running and joining a spinning group at her gym. Well I am just blown away and extremely humbled that my simple story could have motivated this lady to actually turn her own situation around and get fitter. Her boyfriend even commented that her whole attitude towards things had flipped around and that their friend circle was now based around those interested in keeping fit, healthy and running. They also recounted how they have started entering more events and are finding joy in completing different distances. Again a wonderful achievement by them!

Running together (while hearing good stories of healthy positive change) - stride for stride on a life changing ride! -- Sean Muller

My weightloss journey in book format

Today is an extremely exciting day for me.


It is the day that I officially published my first book ‘The Urban Warrior - More than just an existence’. I have poured my heart and soul out about my weightloss journey and what went into the 40KG loss of weight and the complete life transformation that accompanied it.

‘The Urban Warrior - More than just an existence’ is so much more than just my tale of change. It is raw and frank and asks hard questions of us as so-called modern intellectual westerners.

Why do we struggle to beat obesity when we have the most sophisticated science on the planet? Why are tribes people living without access to all our luxuries so much happier and healthier? Why do we continue to invest so much time, energy and money into pursuits that will only send us to an early grave? All these and more are asked in the book.

While it is exciting to see that I have my first sales already, this book is about so much more than money. If it can reach out to anyone who is overweight or obese like I was and help to motivate them to change then my job as a human being is done.

Running together (while motivating others positively), stride for stride on a life changing ride! -- Sean Muller

Attempts at trail running

This weekend was one of those moments that reminds me why I got back into running. Friends and I headed down to the south of Sydney for The Coastal Classic 29KM bush run.

The course is renowned not only as extremely challenging as it features a number of different aspects of trail running such as single track, beach running and up and down cliff tops, but also what I learnt later in the day, the potential to go the wrong way. This is just something that one doesn’t encounter in road running in that you almost always have someone on hand to point out the route.

From the start I felt good and was running well. Noone was passing me on the flats and very few were coming near me on the uphills either. The downs I have yet to master and how some of the people fly down them like rock rabbits I have no idea. They seem to have some suicidal wishes. 

The 21K mark came and I was lying a good position and hoping to give the last 8K everything while heading after a bunch of blokes just ahead of me.

2.5K into this split of road I thought that something was not right as several blokes were coming back down and saying to us that it was the wrong way. The sign had however been pointing in the direction of the inland trail, but we found out that this had been switched by someone who was out to sabotage the race. I hope that it was not another runner ahead of me, but very disappointing to say the least and not the ideal way to turn any novice like me onto trail running.

Cest la Vie - it happens apparently that in trail one needs to get lost for some reason.

Running together (while getting lost on the trails), stride for stride on a life changing ride! -- Sean Muller