Life can change at any given time. This man is the strongest, and most motivated human being I have ever met. He turned his life around. This man is my father, Kevin Murphy. My father will motivate you, and do whatever he needs to do to help you to reach your goals, and to fulfill your dreams. My dad is 5’10 and shrinking. Hes a little round, but in shape. I wouldn’t be where I am today athletically without him. He had some problems starting at a young age. But he turned those around and he now is a healthy fit man.

My dad use to have some health problems, he was overweight and didn’t know what to do. One of those problems is he used to smoke. He started to smoke in 1990. He smoked for a little over 10 years. I am happy to say that I got my father to quit smoking when i was two or three years old. My dad quitting smoking was like david beating goliath. It was a big step in his life. I was two or three years old, and one day I was out on the patio with my dad while he was smoking. As he was sitting there smoking, he found me on the ground with one of his used cigarette buds in my mouth. While i had the bud in my mouth, I looked at him and said “ dad I want to be like you.” That instant he stopped smoking and threw away all his cigarettes. That changed his life. Still today he hasn’t smoked or even touched a cigarette. Overcoming his smoking problem made my dad a stronger person. It was painful for him to quit, but he knew it was the right decision.

Second, my dad was overweight. He looked as if he was plump. He almost weighed 300 pounds. When i was two or three years old, he use to eat unhealthy. Now he eats healthy foods and only drinks water. Most of the food he eats is organic or all natural. This lifestyle of eating has been apart of my household for four or five years now. He started to workout and lose weight, when i was six years old.  So he had to deal with being overweight for three or four years. He now weighs under 200 pounds. It took him almost a year to get under 200 pounds. That is what motivated me to work hard. My dad motivates me to workout every day. I look up to him for that. I hope someday I will motivate my children like he does to me. To lose all his weight he started running. When he first started running he could only run a little over 100 yards. But that didn’t stop him. That shows how motivated he is, and how determined he is to change his life around. Now he’s run three marathons, one triathlon, multiple half marathons, and several other races. I look up to my dad so much because of these accomplishments. My dad always says “ If you want it so bad you’ll work for it.” I can’t explain how much he motivates me. My dad and i never workout together, but he does give me the workouts to do. He kinda got me into running to. I try to run twice a week, and they other days i am doing other workouts. If it weren’t for him, i wouldn’t be where i am today athletically. He’s inspired me by the work ethic he had and how hard he works.
The hardest problem for my father to overcome was drinking. He started to drink before he was twenty one. He dropped out of college after attending for just one year, he did not graduate. Some of his buddies and him moved out to Colorado. My dad drank a lot. I didn’t get to experience him when he drank because he quit before i was born. I didn’t get to see the affect on him either. He came back a couple years later and quit drinking. My dad quit drinking because he saw his health take a turn is what he told me. He said he wasn’t able to do what he wanted to so he quit. He has not touched an alcoholic beverage since, and he has been sober for over twenty years. Just they way he turned his life around inspires me to be the best person I can.

My father has taught me a way of life. Once he got my on the baseball ball field i have never been more determined in my life. The first field i stepped on was one of the small all dirt fields at Carl Sandburg Middle School. He taught me how to set goals and what to do to reach them. He asks me the same question every day. “Did you train today?” This quote to me means so much, it shows that he cares, and that he’s there for me. Just the way he turned his life around motivates me and makes me feel like i can do whatever i put my mind to. He also tells me that. Whenever i set a high goal he says “ you can do anything you put your mind to, you can do it.” My father has been through so much. The way he turned his life around, and the way he coped with the problems, and changed his drinking, and smoking habits make me motivated to become the best athlete possible.