Friday, January 11, 2008

Year in review

Year in review
Well, the year is over and it started out very well and ended very well. In January, Parker’s Place kicked off its very first Weight Loss Challenge. We took 16 people and helped them change their lives. It was a 6 month challenge that lasted the whole 6 months and in the end Jim Meyer won by losing 148 pounds or over 34% of his body weight. This was Wisconsin’s first attempt at something similar to the Biggest Loser and it was a huge success. I spent a lot of time on television promoting it and it paid off. In the end, 16 people changed their lives.
In the summer, after having such a great success with that program we kicked off the first Shape-Time challenge for people that had to lose 15 to 30 pounds and it too was a huge success. In the end, after 10 weeks, Lynn Wright won losing 25 pounds and shedding 16% of her weight. Once again lives were changed.
Also, while all this was going on I too decided to get back in the game and begin to run again competitively and this year I finished #3 in the country in the 55 meter dash, #9 in the 60 meter dash and #1 in the 100 meters (hand timed at 11.1). I also won the Badger State games in the 100 meters (tying the meet-record) and won the 200 meters. My son Corbin went to the Junior Olympics in Kentucky and finished in the top 40 in the country in the 800 and 400 meters (these rankings were out of a population of 5000 kids in his age group) all in his best times.
This summer Mark Skumatz and Bill Backhaus also ran with me in the Duathalon held in Dousman and respectively they ran and biked quicker than they had even the year before. We also started a Fit club. The way someone gets into this club is by completing three disciplines in a set amount of time (using Army standards). They are a 2 mile run, push-ups and sit-ups. You must pass all three disciplines with a 60% or more to be put into this club. At every 5 year age bracket there are different standards. The following have completed and successfully passed into the ‘07 Fit Club: Bill and Nancy Backhaus, Mark Skumatz, Chris Staut, Lisa Harrison, Mary Richter, Phil D., Sheryl Chatfield (age76), Grace Sipos, Bill Hombsch, John Eske, Amy Haden, Lynn Wright, Bob Cherney, Sue Nelson, and Jim Juneau. Congrats to all and let’s get it in 2008 again.




Now we have something called the 300 club. To get into this club you must complete the following disciplines: 25 Chin-ups, 50 dead Lifts, 50 Push-ups, 50 vertical jumps (24” box), 50 Floor sweeps with (135 pound weights), 50 Single arm clean and jerks with 30 to 35 pound dumb bells and finish off with 25 final chin-ups. The following have completed the task: John Eske, Kevin D., Bill Backhaus, Chris Staut and Ben Yeager (the one who started this club). There were a bunch that did the modified version of this discipline. The difference was the amount of weight they were lifting. The chin-ups were substituted for Lat –pull downs and the box vertical jump was 12”. The people who did it were Todd and Brenda Wildrick, Sue Nelson, Lynn Wright, Carol Fischer, Jodi Hoffman, Mary Richter, Sharon Ernest, Jim Juneau, Sue Randall, Kelly Neu, and Jon Peterson. Congrats to them also. Next year let’s try and move you up into the “big leagues”. Don’t settle for where you are going above and beyond. You can do it!
A special thanks to the following people, without these people I would not have been able to do all that I was able to do: Mary Richter, Jodi Hoffman, Kia LaBracke, Jim Meyer, Lisa Harrison, Amy Boakes, Carol and Paul Fischer, Kelly and Sheila (Quest Technologies), Jodi (First Bank), Dan (Schwefel’s), Dorn Chiropractic, Heather Shannon (WTMJ4), Ann (Valeo), Scott (OASD), Theresa (Lake Country Salons), Jacqueline(Enhancing Light), and Julie (Country Springs).
A very special thanks to my trainers. Without these people I would not be able to open and I know that I have the best trainers in the world. Mark Skumatz, Joni Belkow, Toni Hilbert and Gabriele Langan. You guys are the best!
Let’s make 2008 even better then 2007 was. Let’s put Parker’s Place on the map.