Friday, August 15, 2014

IT BEGINS

Hi everyone,
My name is Mark Dodge and I am part of the Fighting Texas Aggie class of 2007 (Whoop!) if you don't already know me. I currently live in the San Antonio area and am married to the most amazing woman Courtney and am blessed with an 18 month of son named Hudson. In the recent few months I have battled PTSD from my time in the US Army and injuries from my football career at A&M to a point where I was struggling with major anxiety and depression issues that started to effect my daily life. I will go into some detail regarding this in other posts. I was in major need of finding something I could sink my teeth into that would give me an "out" similar to what I had on the football field. I found that in cycling. Ever since God opened my eyes to my issues and road biking my life has changed. During that time I spoke to a friend that was doing a sprint triathlon (Thanks Matt) and decided that would be a challenge..... Well if you know me you know that when I do something I go all in or not at all. So I signed up for that event and during my 2 months of training I realized how much I loved the training. I started researching the training plans and nutrition needed to compete in endurance events and realized it was very different from what I was used to. I met with a friend about other events and was turned onto the the Ironman and was immediately drawn into the challenge. I started looking into events and timing and during that research I spoke to a good friend that works with a charity sponsoring the Ironman Houston. He challenged me with a opportunity that I couldn't pass up to. So...... I have officially signed up for the Ironman Texas in Houston and have set up a training plan to succeed in this challenge. I wanted to bring everyone along with me for this challenge as it will be new to me and fun to share. I will also be posting about my time in the military as well as my football career to give some back ground on my life. All I can think if now is hearing the words "Mark Dodge, You are an Ironman!"

Lord thank you for this day and my amazing support system in my family and friends for this journey. God Bless everyone!

Blessings,
Mark

Romans 5:2-5
Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because Gods love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

3 comments:

  1. Also, Justin Daerr is an Aggie and professional triathlete. He just won his first Ironman a few weeks back. He is super nice and helpful.

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  2. Not sure where my first comment went but I am Aggie class of 2001 and just became an Ironman three months ago at IMTX2014. It was amazing!

    A great resource is the Health & Fitness board on TexAgs.com. A bunch if great fellow triathletes that have me a ton of advice and help.

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  3. Sorry to hear you're struggling with the anxiety Mark but glad you're leaning on God and finding the athletic outlet! Live in Cibolo and will be following your progress! Chris Gig Em '96

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