“One seventy-eight point odd. No no no,” Drosh said. “Not at five-ten. Too much flab,” he added, tapping my stomach and buttocks with his pen.

That was weird. I could’ve told him to f— off, that I played fine the way I am. I had no fat. I’d been an MLS starter for almost two seasons. Instead, nobody said anything.

– from “The Churning” by Justin Edison

In the book, obviously, hero Arman Hessabi meeting his pseudo-nemesis, Drosh, is a key chapter. It was a bit of the fantasy (being in good-enough shape) meeting the cold, hard reality (not good enough for the Premier League). I had a great time with this part, Ch. 7 (in the current layout).

Post-run, at 186.8#

Growing up, my sister occasionally called me “tub o’lard.” Sweet. I can’t blame her–siblings can be awful to each other. And I was a bit, uh, husky to say the least (260# at high school graduation). Yikes.

So here I am at 40, post run and looking very impressed.

I’ll get back to this subject soon.

Thanks for reading,

Justin