Five years ago, climbing a flight of stairs was a challenge for Rosemarie Hernandez Jeanpierre. She was 5 feet 2 and weighed 220 pounds.
On Sunday, the 43-year-old nurse -- now half the woman she used to be -- will try to break four hours in the Los Angeles Marathon, and burnish an impressive racing pedigree.
It's a long shot that would mean cutting almost an hour off her fastest marathon time. But odds mean nothing to a woman once considered morbidly obese, who shed 110 pounds and worked her way into the city's amateur running elite.
Or, as she told me again and again -- in a voice reflecting her own amazement -- "Never in my wildest imagination did I believe I would be able to become an athlete."
I wanted to meet her because I was intrigued by her story. No Jenny Craig or LipoZap; no Lap-Band surgery or boot-camp training. Just daily vigilance and exercise -- healthful food, small portions and hours spent running and working out until 100 pounds fell off. All immeasurably hard work.
I met up with Jeanpierre at LA Fitness on La Cienega and Pico. I'm grateful she spotted me, because I'd seen only her pre-diet photo and would never have recognized the slender woman who called out to me.
She was wrapping up her daily 90-minute routine -- 30 minutes on the elliptical, then an hour of weight training on upper body machines. Her shirt and pants were soaked; her face was dripping sweat; damp strands of hair dangled from beneath a red bandanna.
She works out in T-shirts with 3/4 -length sleeves and cargo shorts that come to her knees. That's to cover the folds of loose skin left when half of her body weight disappeared. "When I race," she told me later, "I have to wear compression shorts" so the extra skin doesn't flop around. It bothers her, but surgery to fix it is not a priority. This has never been about vanity.
Still, her body looks trim and tight. I can see her calves flex and biceps tighten when she throws a punch in kick-boxing class.
"She's an animal," said instructor Jeann Young. "The first time she took my class she came up to me afterward and said, 'Thank you for challenging me.' I wanted to say 'Heck, I'm just trying to keep up with you.' "
Young had no idea that Jeanpierre used to weigh more than 200 pounds. "That explains it," Young said. "She's one of the most driven students I've ever seen."
