This past year, Hall finished her first Iron Man long0distance triathlon.
Shannon Hall knew something needed to change. The recent passing of her father, who was very ill with a number of health problems, was an eye opener for her own life and health habits.
“I told my husband, now is the time. If I am going to make changes, I am going to do it now,” says Hall.
Hall’s family has a history of diabetes, heart disease and various cancers. She admits that nutrition was never a priority growing up and that she now needs to supplement her lack of good nutritional habits.
“I was a big person, I could sit down and eat an entire bag of potato chips and not think anything of it,” Hall says. “The biggest thing for me was to know what was causing me to stress eat and how to not do things that would keep me from being successful with weight loss.”
It Doesn’t Happen Overnight
Hall bought a small plate to start eating smaller portions and changed her diet to have a focus on high protein with lowered carbohydrate intake. Sugar was another aspect she monitored closely.
“I started writing in a journal every time I ate,” Hall says. “I wrote what I ate, what I was feeling and what I was doing at the time. I got to know myself and did that for a good two months.”
While tweaking her diet was a huge step in Hall’s transformation, exercise was an essential step in her journey too.
“The only workout I was doing was on an elliptical that I picked up at a garage sale,” Hall says. “That seemed to be the only thing I could do because I was so big and that didn’t make me hurt all over.”
With a new diet and exercise regimen under her belt, Hall took on the intense task of long runs.
“I love to run super early in the morning,” Hall says. “No matter what time of year. Rain, snow, sleet I am out there running.”
Hall is quick to admit that continuing this lifestyle is still a challenge – a challenge she welcomes with open arms and a devout sense of perseverance.
“I have those days when I don’t want to work out, I don’t want to pack my lunch with something that is healthy, it’s so easy to break your habits,” Hall says. “I tell people all the time, ‘even when you don’t feel like doing it, do it anyway and go through the motions of it,’ believe it or not it makes a difference later in the day.”
Within five years Hall lost 204 pounds. If that sounds like a success though, her recent success is monumental.
Ironman
This past year, Hall finished her first Ironman, a famous long-distance triathlon. Plus, she completed the race with a torn meniscus and fractured elbow.
“For me, it was making myself do something more than running,” Hall recalls. “I was past the point of realizing that I wasn’t going to lose more weight than I had lost, and to keep myself focused I knew I had to set goals and seek out other challenges.”
When she began to train for this race with a friend, Hall had very little experience swimming, which coincidentally is a large part of an Ironman.
“I literally had to teach myself to swim,” Hall says. “It wasn’t until I got into open water after training indoors the whole winter, that I realized I have a deep-water phobia, like really bad.”
By the Numbers:
The Ironman Triathlon consists of a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bicycle ride and a marathon of 26.22 miles. With a limit of 16 to 17 hours to complete, the race is extremely difficult to complete and one of the most physically demanding events in the world.
Hall’s determination and fierce focus on completing the race allowed her to overcome her phobia of open water as she walked up to the starting line of the Ironman.
“I knew I had to overcome that phobia and swim in this. I got through it all though I was the last one to make it in,” Hall says laughing recalling race day. “Everyone was yelling, ‘You have one minute before they close you off,’ But, hey, I did it.”
Shortly after the race, Hall was having knee issues and problems with her elbow. It wasn’t until a week after the race that Hall went to the doctor and found out she had torn her meniscus during the race.
“(The doctors) couldn’t even believe I ran on it,” Hall says.
Regardless of a small setback, Hall plans to compete in an Ultramarathon, which is over 100 miles, in 2019.
Staying Motivated
Aside from her devotion to fitness and spending time with her husband and three children, Hall is actively working on a book, untitled as of yet, that focuses on her changing lifestyle within the last five years.
“It’s a book that I hope inspires everyone to be motivated,” Hall says.
Hall now advocates for healthy lifestyles and even offers advice to friends looking to exercise more and have a more balanced diet.
Throughout the past five years, Hall credits her husband as a huge motivator in her transformation, and her employer Quantum Health since they have sponsored her in several races and the annual biking fundraiser, Pelotonia.
“Just do it for yourself,” Hall says. “If you don’t do it for yourself, you aren’t going to ever stay with it.”
Rocco Falleti is an assistant editor. Feedback welcomed at rfalleti@cityscenecolumbus.com.
