Chad Arnold feels pain when he exercises, just like everyone else. But excuse him if he can't help but smile in spite of it, or perhaps because of it.
After all, for much of his life he's known a debilitating lifestyle, one almost totally bereft of any physical activity. So now that burning sensation is just a little addictive.
"I think I've become an endorphin junkie," said Arnold, 45, of West Jordan. "I like how I feel."
Arnold had that grin pasted across his face during every leg of the Magnathon minitriathlon June 23, from the moment he entered the pool until his final kick across the finish line. Arnold won his age group in the sprint division by default, because nobody else in the 22-person field was in his competitor's bracket. But even if he had come in dead last, he'd still be thrilled.
"Compared to the big dogs, (a sprint triathlon) is pretty minimal," said Arnold, a warranty administrator for a heavy equipment company. "But it's a heck of a lot better than sitting on the couch."
The couch was Arnold's domain for much of his adult life prior to 2001 when brain surgery changed his life. Before that, medication for a condition he's had since childhood forced a lethargic lifestyle that allowed him only 10 waking hours each day.
Arnold first noticed a "funny feeling" at age 5, and it persisted into his early teens. It was the first indication of encephalitis, a virus-borne disease that led to seizures due to inflammation in Arnold's brain. During the worst times, Arnold had at least one seizure a month after the condition flared up in his teen years. He wrecked eight vehicles as a result.
The hurt-then-heal damage to Arnold's brain led to scar tissue, so he was put on medication that caused him to sleep roughly 14 hours each day. So, while he occasionally made time for country western dancing with friends, his day-to-day regimen didn't allow any room for much physical activity.
"I couldn't walk across a football field if my life depended on it," Arnold said. "That was tough to live with."
But after decades of virtual inactivity, everything changed for Arnold. At age 39, he had brain surgery that allowed him to stop taking the medication that had rubbed everything but work out of his life.
As a result, a man who had never really been athletic suddenly became a workout warrior, logging about 3,000 miles of training in 2006 alone. Arnold comes from athletic stock — his mother, Joanne Arnold, was a highly competitive racer in her day — but until recently, Little League baseball was the only notch on his athletic resume.
Today, Arnold does about 75-100 miles on his bike each week and regularly puts in time in the pool, too. He doesn't care much for the running portion of the triathlon format, but he "put(s) up with it." With an additional six to eight hours at his disposal, Arnold also works country western dancing and fly fishing into his schedule.
"I've got a lot of making up to do," said Arnold, who credits his dancing friends with raising money that kept him afloat when he was unable to work in the roughly six months after his surgery.
Arnold started his exercise routine with the goal being "maintenance, remaining active." That approach evolved to include training for 5K, triathlon and 100-mile biking competitions. To date, Arnold has competed in about 25 triathlons since 2004, and he's planning on entering the Magnathon race again in August.
For the longest time, Arnold watched from the sideline and cheered during his mother's races. Now the tables have turned.
"It's a whole lot better to be the participant than the cheerleader," Arnold said.