Great Strides
My Breaking2 Project
As New Year’s Eve 2010 approached, Cathy Bergman searched for the perfect party dress – but nothing fit. Bergman had grappled with excess weight since her early 20s, and at more than 320 lb., she felt life closing in on her. She could barely squeeze into the seat of her car or walk to the mailbox. She couldn’t go dancing with her husband, Peter, because even standing was too painful. The New Year’s dress was the tipping point.
“I could no longer find anything that I could fit into,” Bergman says, a resident of Brebeuf, Que. “Unless you start shopping at a tent store, you won’t find a size larger than 6x. I was just draping myself in fabric. I was morbidly obese, menopausal and miserable, and I said, “That’s it. I’ve outgrown clothes. I need to make changes in my life.’”
That was eight years ago, and Bergman wasn’t kidding about those changes. Since then, she has shed 175 lb. and dropped 137 inches from her frame. And as the weight fell off, an athlete emerged.
Bergman has crossed 50 finish lines – 5ks, 10ks, trail runs, mud runs, obstacle races, six half-marathons, a marathon and four Ironman 70.3 triathlons. In January 2018, she ran the Miami Half-Marathon with a sub-two-hour goal, and this year she will also participate in Ironman Mont-Tremblant 70.3 for the fourth time and a return to Ironman Lake Placid 70.3.
“When I see before and after pictures, it makes me proud, not because of how I look, but how I feel,” she explains. “I’m not restricted by my body. That’s why I fell in love with running: It’s the freedom to move. I could see a hill and climb it. I could see a trail and follow it. It’s an absolute joy to be able to put on a pair of shoes, go outside and run. Every time I run, it’s magic.”
Bergman conjured that magic through hard work and commitment. On the advice of a nutritionist, she axed sugar and fast foods from her diet, and she began training with a local coach, Robert Roy. For Bergman, who had never exercised in her life, running seemed far-fetched, but that’s exactly what Roy had in mind.
“He told me, ‘I’m going to teach you how to run,’ and I thought, Good luck with that,” says Bergman.
She started walking on a treadmill, and on Sept. 4, 2011, she completed the À Toi Lola Mont-Tremblant trail race in 1:11:46. “I came in second to last, ahead of a woman who had recently given birth and was carrying her baby,” says Bergman, “but to me, it was