This story is taken from Sacbee / Outdoors/Outbound / Cycling/Hiking/Running.

A new man: An Ironman

Kevin Clayton lost 100 pounds, rediscovered his athleticism and set his sights on the famous Triathlon

By Blair Anthony Robertson - Bee Staff Writer

Published 12:00 am PDT Thursday, September 14, 2006


Let's start with the obvious:

This guy is ripped.

He's 6-foot-3 and 195 pounds of broad shoulders, a narrow waist and lean muscle.

But Kevin Clayton came by his athletic build -- and his newfound athletic prowess as a triathlete -- the hard way.

Just two years ago, he was a 31-year-old owner of a small business who had let himself go. He ate when he was happy. He ate when he was busy. He ate when his wife got pregnant. He ate and ate whenever he pleased.

He ate so much that he came close to tipping the scales at 300 pounds.

Once a proud high school athlete and walk-on fullback at California State University, Sacramento, Clayton tried to hide his bulk under sweat shirts -- size XXL. In photos from those days, he rarely smiles.

Then, one day, his father woke up, had a heart attack and died. It was that sudden. Ron Clayton, 60, had worked for Roseville Telephone Co. as a repair technician for 28 years. The death was shocking and painful to Kevin, and it made him take stock.

Yes, he was happily married, had two young kids, a nice home and a business servicing commercial hoods and exhausts at restaurants that was going gangbusters, with a dozen employees.

But everything else? He asked himself some tough questions. If he died today, would he be content? The young, strapping high school and college athlete seemed like such a distant memory.

"I was thinking about the quality of life I had," Clayton says. "I saw myself and thought, 'This is awful.' "

It took some time, but he began to get his act together. One day, he got out his mountain bike and went for a ride. There is a hill near his house in Folsom -- Clayton couldn't make it to the top.

"It was a huge moment," he says, his eyes widening.

He began not only riding but training, tackling that hill until he could pedal to the crest. Then he found more hills and went farther and higher.

And he was doing everything else right, too. He asked his wife, Kathryn, to help him.

"The first thing I did was start eating less," he says.

It was a simple equation. He dropped the calories coming in and upped the calories he was burning.

"Here is my one extreme move I believe you must make to get started toward a healthier lifestyle: Go through your refrigerator, cupboards and pantry and get rid of all the bad food -- all of it. ... Now go to the grocery store and straight to the produce section. Buy as many fruits and vegetables as you think you will need for at least the next week. Your cart will be two-thirds full before you even leave the produce aisle," he says.

That simple strategy worked right away. The weight began to fall off. Five pounds one week. Then 10 and 20 and 50 pounds in subsequent months. He would drink lots of water, eat lots of spinach, lean meat and vegetables.

He began to see food not as something fun but as something useful. It was fuel. It affected the way he felt, the way he performed.

"I kind of got a brand-new husband, and it's great," says Kathryn, who gained weight during her pregnancies but otherwise was slender and, these days, is very fit.

Kevin's appearance changed. So did his outlook. When he was heavy, he was often irritable, Kathryn says.

"He wasn't happy with himself and he wasn't always fun to be around," she says. "Who he is today is so fit and healthy and so different."

Looking for a challenge

As the cycling progressed, Kevin bought a road bike and looked around for an event that would require him to train. When a local triathlon fell through, he set his sights on Eppie's Great Race, the local triathlon that substitutes kayaking for swimming.

It was a big deal for him to send in his entry fee, to commit to it three months in advance.

"When you know you are actually going to be in the event, it brings it up a notch," he says. "I didn't want to do this thing and look like a fool. I didn't want to do this thing and look like this fat guy."

The old competitive spirit that helped him excel at football and the pole vault at Oakmont High School in Roseville came out of hibernation. When Kevin played college football, he weighed 225. When he got married in 1999, he was 240. By 2003, he was 295.