INDIANAPOLIS -
Crossing the finish line at this weekend's 500 Festival Mini Marathon is extra important for one central Indiana couple.
There are 35,000 people expected to run the Mini Saturday, each with a story that got them there. For Tim and Soledad Hughes, it was an emotional journey to get fit that began with an eye-opening conversation with their two young daughters.
With walks as part of their daily routine, the Hughes family is the picture of health. It wasn't always this way. In fact, family photos paint a much bigger picture.
"We're out of breath. When I sit, I'm uncomfortable. We can't do the things that we want to do with our children," Soledad said.
That is how she felt a year ago. For Tim, although, he weighed 426 pounds, he didn't think much about his size. But it was a concern for his daughters, then four-year-old Sophie and nine-year-old Ale.
"I didn't want him to die, because I didn't want another father. I just wanted him to have more fun with us," Ale said.
"They just said, 'Daddy, I don't want you to die'," Tim said. "I actually broke down, started crying."
Then he got moving. Together, the couple ate healthier and made exercise part of their daily diet. But time wanted a bigger goal.
"And that was to run the Mini Marathon," Tim said.
It would be the first time they would join the 35,000 runners on the 13.1-mile course. That's something Soledad, now 50 pounds lighter, never dreamed she'd be capable of.
"It's such an accomplishment. A year ago, I could barely run on a treadmill for a minute without getting winded," she said.
A year later, almost to the date, from the conversation he had with his daughters, Tim, too, is a changed man. Having lost 105 pounds, he hangs on to one part of his past, the size 62 jacket that used to fit him, now a reminder of what he can do.
"I can run, I can play with the kids more. Don't get winded. It's easy to tie my shoes," Tim said.
As for his daughters, "I like how they worked out and stuff and I want them to do it forever, so they could be more healthy," Tim said.
Tim and Soledad know to cross the finish line, they have to take it one step at a time, as they look forward to new goals they can now set as a family.
"I think we're happier than we've ever been," Soledad said.
The Hughes family has made walks part of their daily routine.
Tim Hughes has lost more than 100 pounds this year. His wife has lost 50.
The couple were encouraged to lose weight by their daughters.
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