WALT DISNEY WORLD MARATHON
Marathon Just One Step For Jasica
By BILL WARD wward@tampatrib.com
Published: Jan 7, 2006
TAMPA - Tony Jasica says he takes full responsibility for going from 200 pounds to 350 in the span of about three years. But he also can pinpoint the start of the sizeable increase in his waistband: The introduction by McDonald's of two Big Macs for $2 in 1992.
"It was the most sinister thing they could've thought of," the 6-foot-2 Jasica says with a laugh. "It was like, 'Let's give you all your daily calories and all your daily fat in one meal.' "
Making the weight gain even easier was the fact Jasica was working in the restaurant industry and receiving employee meals, logging long hours and not exercising.
More importantly, the Tampa resident says, he was "not caring" about his health.
But come Sunday, Jasica, 40, will show how much he now cares about himself - and how his life has come full circle - when he takes part in the Walt Disney World Marathon at Lake Buena Vista.
In the span of about 10 months, Jasica has shed 72 pounds, going from 300 to 228. No, he's not back to his pre-Big Mac attack weight of 200, but he's shooting for 210 within the next few months. Sunday's race will be Jasica's first marathon since 1992, when he ran the Los Angeles Marathon in a little more than four hours.
His fastest marathon was his first, the 1991 Orange County Marathon, which he completed in 3 hours, 52 minutes.
Jasica's main concern now is completing Disney's 26.2-mile course Sunday in order to make good on the promise made to his "muse" and close friend, Debbie Detweiler of Bradenton. Some of his close friends and family also are coming to see him run Disney.
Jasica, a graduate of the University of Southern California's film school, credits Detweiler for the motivation to lose weight, as well as the inspiration to complete the screenplay he always had talked about doing. That came in March and, within seven weeks, Jasica had completed a 125-page draft for a film.
Since then, he has achieved other goals. He won an amateur stand-up comedy routine at the Tampa Improv and, with that win, reached the club's "professional" status to perform at other venues. He re-established contacts with some USC classmates, including film writer David S. Goyer ("Batman Begins," "Blade" and "Dark City"). He traveled to Los Angeles to pitch his screenplay, which he hopes will wind up on one of the major cable networks.
"What Tony has done in the last several months has been amazing," Detweiler said. "Everything he said he was going to do, he's done."
During Easter, Jasica says Detweiler was the spark that got him to take better care of his health by starting a diet and exercise program. He already had lost some weight, dropping from 300 pounds to 282. But he knew he was still too heavy to be considered healthy.
"Debbie said, 'You know what, women like it when men take care of themselves,' " Jasica said. "It was her way of saying I was too fat. It was a nice way of saying it but it was telling me something none of my family and friends had the guts to tell me."
Knowing his weight might cause problems running, Jasica decided to start with swimming and walking. The first week after Easter he lost 5 pounds and was so excited, he told Detweiler he was going to run the Disney marathon. Considering he was 277 pounds and the marathon was only eight months away, it was a bold commitment. But Jasica said it was a promise he needed to make.
"When you make a promise to someone besides yourself, you become accountable for it," he said. "It's easy to make a promise to yourself and break it and say, 'Whatever, nobody really knows anyway.' "
Jasica, who co-owns a video production company, also made a commitment to Balance Bars, the nutritional food bar he was using as meal replacements. He went online and applied for one of Balance Bar's grants, which help individuals and communities reach athletic goals. Jasica composed an essay about his desire to lose weight and run Disney and was awarded a $1,500 grant in September from Balance Bar. The grant, one of just 11 awarded to some 1,200 applicants, is aiding him with running shoes, apparel, entry fees and accommodations at Disney.
Jasica started his running slowly and has worked his way up to 18-mile runs in preparation for Sunday's race. With two marathons to his credit and careful preparation, Jasica is confident he will finish Disney. He still has a goal of reaching 210 pounds and possibly competing in a triathlon, as well as marathons outside the United States.
His main goal, however, is to maintain this healthy lifestyle.
"I have no intentions of ever going back up to 300 pounds or even 250," Jasica said. "I love roller coasters but when you're 300 pounds, you can't ride in the front row. They won't let you. You have to ride in the 'fat row,' Row 5, where there's an extra-large harness and double seat belts. And when you are 300 pounds, no one ever, ever wants to sit next to you in an airplane.
"Those days are gone and I'm not going back."
Courtesy of Bill Ward and TBO.com
