I Tried To Inspire 5 People To Play Sports And Ended Up With Over 35,000 Friends

In April 2014 I was 110kg. Couldn’t go up the stairs without losing my breath. I hated the way I was living my life. In May 2014, I started doing sports. First I attended indoor cycling classes and then I started running. Some months later, 30kg were gone and I felt like somebody else.

I was happy, but I felt something was incomplete. I couldn’t just enjoy my new life without helping other people to do so. I enrolled into sports school and learned how to be a cycling instructor. And I started to study running. In late 2014, I became a cycling instructor in a gym and since then I’m teaching classes each Monday after my work schedule.

Each Tuesday, at 7.30PM, over 100 attend the training sessions that I’m organizing in Bucharest. Meanwhile, we attended CPR classes together, we had doctors teaching us important facts about nutrition. We grew up not only as a sports group, but as the most responsible sports community in Romania. Over 5.000 people joined the training sessions that I’m organizing in Bucharest since 2015. Some of the people involved from the start became part of the training team, because they also wanted to share their knowledge.

More info: youtube.com

In January 2015, I started a running programme called ‘From1to21’ in a group that I called ‘321sport’

The programme was dedicated to people who can run 1km (or less), but they want to finish a half-marathon (21km). I made a small contest to choose 5 people that I would help to finish their first half-marathon. Only 1 guy showed up. I wasn’t disappointed, I just made my first friend through sports.

I continued to do training sessions weekly. I worked my ass off to provide the best schedule, training tips, personal counselling and advice

I did everything after work schedule, so all my spare time was dedicated to helping others. I got involved which each and every participant. For quite a long time, it was only the 6 of us training (5 + me). Then, in a sunny day, 10 people came. I was amazed.

In May 2015, all of us finished their first half-marathon in Bucharest

We ran at the same pace, so we could finish holding hands. I cried after the finish, seeing all of them accomplished. In June 2015, I started the second season of #from1to21. More than 60 people took part. Over 100 where attending each training session.

In October 2015, more than 100 people finished their first half-marathon. Still holding hands

This is how we looked one month before the end of the third season of #from1to21, in April, 2016

And here I am – April, 2014 vs. October, 2015

I changed my life, but now I can be happy because I know I’m helping others to do so. And I’m going to do this for the rest of my life!

Training sessions couldn’t reach people from other countries, so I decided to start a show “Discover the World through its Marathons”

My 1st video… Berlin Marathon 2015. Main purpose? To turn running into something human & funny in order to inspire people to start running.

I started to invest my energy into learning how to film & edit videos, how to write scripts and create a show

My hometown video. Bucharest Marathon 2015. Now I do marathons (which are very difficult) while talking and filming. And after each marathon I start a video editing marathon… Crazy work for an amateur!

Over 30.000 people saw this running show. I felt that my mission started to have results!

People were telling me: “Because of your videos I’m going to start running TOMORROW”. Can’t imagine the huge dumb smile on my face every time I read them! The only thing I wanted in return for the hundreds of hours of work, the tons of passion invested and the lost nights because of planning? Seeing other people happy through sports. And somehow I ended up with 35.000 new friends all over the world (online & offline). I tend to become emotional every time I think about it, that’s why in this very moment I am considering crying as an option :-)

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