ORM presents the series of stories on OCR Transformations. Runners and athletes whose mind body, and spirit have been altered through obstacle racing.
Glenn Nash grew up in the small town of Hephzibah, GA. However, he lived on the Mississippi Gulf Coast for most of his life. Glenn was very active up until 2002 and considered himself to be strong and fast for his size (feels 2’3” tall, but actually 5’6”).
He went to school to be an engineer, but has been in the commercial banking world for 22 years. Along the way, he spent a total of six and half years in the Army and Army Reserves. He has a beautiful wife of 24 years with two children (15 and 9). Besides eight knee surgeries, a hernia repair, and a kidney transplant…Glenn has a pretty decent medical history.
BROTHERLY LOVE
Travis, Shaun, and Brent are Glenn’s three brothers and like most families…Glenn would do anything for his brothers. So when Shaun (who is nine years younger) started having issues with his kidneys when he was less than ten years old, Glenn knew without question he would be there to help him. In 2002, Glenn was on deck to help with his brother’s transplant.
After the surgery, Glenn went from biking long distances, running 15ks and below, rock climbing, and diving and lifting weights, to six months of walking and stationary bike riding. Being stationary didn’t hold his interest for long and it was much harder for him to build himself back once he was medically released. A mixture of poor diet and lack of exercise caused Glenn to gain weight…taking him from about 190 pounds to 266 pounds over a handful of years.
PEAKED INTEREST
In the fall of 2012, brothers Travis and Brent along with Brent’s wife, Jessica ran a mud run. Travis lead the team through their first obstacle event and all of the stories shared peaked Glenn’s interest. Glenn could tell that obstacle course racing had many similarities to his military training, so Travis convinced him to sign up for a future event. The following October of 2013 was Glenn’s first event which was the Spartan Sprint in Mississippi.
Glenn had to step up his training and over the next two months he lost about fifteen pounds, but wasn’t making as much progress as he had hoped for. He was currently weighing in at 266 pounds which hindered him from being able to even run a quarter mile.
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED
In January 2013, Glenn joined a local gym’s weight loss competition (Cycology Fitness- Get Fit Challenge). Twelve weeks later, Glenn won the competition and was down about fifty pounds. He was so pumped about the results that he decided to enroll in the next eight week challenge…he won that too! The trick behind the Cycology program was their nutrition accountability and group fitness classes.
After winning both challenges, Glenn was now down to about 175 pounds and could easily run a 5k. With his new found agility, Brent suggested that Glenn try Crossfit to boost his strength. In June 2013, he added in a Crossfit workout to his routine about four to five times a week. The team at Cycology and Iron Strike truly played a role in Glenn’s transformation and helped him change his life for the better.
By the time the October Sprint came around, Glenn was ready! He was able to run four to five miles at a nine minute pace. He was able to do pull-ups one at a time, squat double his body weight, and deadlift even more than that. However, Spartan racing is different than a workout in the gym.
Even though Glenn felt 100% for the event, reality quickly set in. Although running wasn’t an issue, he still needed help over most of the obstacles, failed a few, but made sure to complete every single burpee. Victory was his at the end…along with feeling physically destroyed. After taking about a week to recover, Glenn made the promise to himself to never let himself feel that beat up again.
RUNNING WITH A CAUSE
Glenn has many people who contributed to his transformation. Travis is the main one to kick his butt and has reminded him of their objective ever since. The brotherly bond they share during each race cannot be described in words. The team at Cycology (Linda, Rebecca, and Alexa) continuously hold his hand and nudge him along. Daron and Nikki at Iron Strike Crossfit help challenge his competitive spirit and strengthen his body on a daily basis.
When Glenn feels lazy or defeated, he contributes his strength to Ryan Wilson (his training partner’s 7-year old nephew) who is battling cancer. Running for Ryan plays a major role in his motivation…even though they have never met. He also runs for Avery Akins who is a 9-year old with Rett Syndrome. Tracking her progress and meeting her has affected him in a way that helps keeps training in perspective. Glenn will often run with Henna tattoos that represent cancer and Rett Syndrome awareness.
CURRENT WORKOUT PLAN
Glenn’s current workout schedule includes running middle distance (3 to 6 miles) on Monday and Friday mornings, followed by 15 to 30 minutes of body weight calisthenics. A few times a month he will swap out his Monday or Friday run for spin class or swimming.
On Wednesday mornings he runs about 3 to 5 miles of speed work and saves Tuesday and Thursday mornings for 10 to 15 minutes of core work and 10 to 15 minutes of mobility work. Saturdays are either races or longer runs via trail running followed by a Crossfit workout. He tops it all off on Sundays with an OCR specific workout which can include: bucket carries, sand bags, spear throws, and rope climbs.
Glenn’s starting weight was 266 pounds in 2012 and currently weighs in at 159 pounds of pure beast mode.
Follow Glenn on Facebook!
Allison Dacus
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