Athlete Stories

Abe H. Chicago 5K Racer Story
BY: ALEXIA KADOTA-BROWNER

“I need a healthy outlet to release all these negative emotions,” was Chicago native Abe H’s mindset as he turned bullying into fitness motivation.

In his weight loss journey since May of 2022, Abe has lost over 120 pounds training with his personal trainer Tim Olson and running on his own. The Life Time Chicago 5K this September will be his first official race.

“I remember my mile time being really slow…around 13 minutes in high school,” Abe said. He began his fitness journey with no real experience, but used a combination of strength training and running to help him find motivation and consistency.

He said that joining Life Time played a role in his training success. “I’m not a morning person, but seeing the Life Time parking lot was full at 6am is definitely motivating,” he said. “It’s nice to know that the other members also have similar goals.” Abe trains using Life Time’s treadmills to improve his run pace and track his personal records.

When he first started training, Abe recalled the difficulty of being active while overweight. He said, “I started with power walking because running was too much, but I was eventually able to build up to jogging then finally running.” After months of consistent training, he’s gotten his mile time down to 8 minutes, and runs 3.1 miles every week to test his endurance.

Although he’s improved drastically since the start of his fitness journey, Abe said his main goal for the 5K is to complete the race and feel proud of his accomplishment.