I recently came across this: The 157lb dissection.

I loved it.  I love her honesty, how she just lays it all out there asking us to judge her.  My favorite line?  “The way you look should be a by-product of what you can do”.  Damn straight girls.

But, however much I believed this, it’s tough to hold onto, and the other day I slipped.

I had to have my picture taken at work for this magazine profile thing.  I was a little apprehensive about the whole thing.  One of the reasons why I became a photographer was so I stayed behind the camera.

I was pleasantly surprised how the pictures came out.  However, for the full body shot, as nice as the picture was, I did catch a thought shooting through my head.

“Wow my legs are huge”.

Then I felt so bad for thinking that.

My legs are muscular.  They will never fit into skinny jeans, boots will always be hit or miss (and forget ever being able to tuck my jeans into them), and when I sit, my lap takes up quite a bit of room.  My running, biking, swimming, all those squats, box jumps and wall ball shots made them even more muscular over the past year and a half.

So, inspired by that post, I thought I’d follow suit.  A snapshot of the body I possess (muscular legs and all) and the things it can do:

Age: 31
Height: 64 inches
Weight: 145 pounds

Neck: 13 inches
Chest: 34 inches
Waist: 31 inches
Hips: 38.5 inches

Most recent Marathon Time: 4:57:21 (Loch Ness Marathon, 2012)
Most recent half marathon time: 2:07:47 (Hook Half Marathon, 2013)

Half Ironman Triathlon Time: 7:25:16 (Toughman Half Ironman Triathlon, 2010)

Deadlift: 195 lbs
Back Squat: 155 lbs
Push Press: 90 lbs
Clean & Jerk: 95 lbs

My future endeavors?  I want to do a real unassisted pull up, I want to set a new half marathon PR, I want to deadlift 1.5 times my bodyweight and clean 100 pounds.  Is that all?  No, but it’s a start!

That’s why my legs are so large.  How was I going to do all that with thin model stick legs?  I can live with never wearing skinny jeans if it means I can run marathons and squat my bodyweight and then some.

A by-product of what I can do right?