He signed up to prove a sign wrong.He had no idea what was coming.

Raanan walked past Escapist CrossFit one day and saw a sign: "We'll make you fit in 12 weeks." He did not believe it. He decided to try it anyway. He had not done serious sport since he was 25. He had chronic back issues. He had a dislocated vertebra that gave him a week every year where he could not walk. His first session ended after one round because his face lost all colour. He came back. He trained three, four, five times a week. He started running 10ks on weekends. His back improved. His knee improved. He went from not being able to hold 130 watts on an assault bike to deadlifting, cleaning, doing gymnastics. Then he fell on the edge of a box, broke a rib, and Rickard told him to go get it checked. The X-ray showed something else. A CT scan confirmed it. A 4cm tumour in his left lung. Stage three cancer. The chemotherapy started. Then surgery to remove half his upper left lung. Then the cancer moved to stage four. Then a second round of chemotherapy, harder than the first. From October to January he could barely walk his dog for 15 minutes. He came back to Escapist last month. This episode is a conversation between Rickard and Ronan about what fitness actually is for, what it means to build an identity as someone who trains, and why the body you build before the crisis is the body that gets you through it. Ronan's goal right now: run a 10k without losing his breath. He is working toward it with one and a half lungs. This is not a fitness story. This is a story about what never starting over again actually means when life removes your ability to start. —— Links:→ Health and Fitness Map: escapistcrossfit.com/health→ Free assessment in Berlin: go.escapistcrossfit.com/freenonsweat-page→ Escapist Academy: escapistcrossfit.com/academy —— Hosted by Rickard Long · Escapist CrossFit Berlin · escapistcrossfit.com