About Me

Running has been a part of my life since grade school.  I would say I defaulted into the sport more than pursued it.  Like most kids, I gave "traditional" athletics a try, since that's what everyone my age was doing.  I should have known that soccer, basketball and baseball weren't for me when I could neither kick, nor shoot, nor catch.  Yes, I was that kid who even scored in his own goal. Finally, when the teams changed from community-based to school-based, I bid my fond farewell attempting to preserve as much dignity as possible.

However, in living in a family where an active lifestyle was important, I had to consider other prospects for my athletic future.  After removing any sport that required hand-eye coordination from the list, I was left with cross country and track and field.  Beginning in 2000, I ran cross country every fall, to which I grew more in love with the trails and adventure each year.  I did give track a try, but running in circles just wasn't as fun.!

I continued competing in cross country through my sophomore year of college.  Especially when running at the collegiate level, I found out just how slow of a runner I was relative to most at a D3 school, but, more importantly, I realized that my body was quickly breaking down from the intensity and mileage.  To top it all off, I was also stretching myself too thin between various obligations - something had to give.  Knowing my body needed a break and that I just couldn't put in the time necessary to compete at my best, my running shoes found themselves a home in the back of the closet.

For the next several years, my shoes would resurface for a few runs, but no consistency ever took hold.  So much of my running career had been someone else giving the directives for each workout, that I felt lost on how to take on the sport on my own.  Finally, in April of 2015, I would rediscover my joy of running.  The motivation?  I wanted to start taking care of my health again, so I could set a good example if I had children some day.  To keep me to this, I also signed up for my first half marathon.  While the miles at the beginning were slow, I had to remind myself that it had taken me years to get to where I was before and now was no exception.

I have since completed two half marathon and a full marathon with another on the way.  Into the mix of the last several years, life has continued to progress in some amazing ways.

On June 12, 2010, I married my college sweetheart and could not be happier.  Although my wife isn't a runner (any time I mention anything negative about running she comments that that is why she doesn't run), she is supportive of my running endeavors.  She comes out to my races and cheers me on and has even created signs!

We then expanded our fitness family with the birth of our first daughter on August 9, 2016.  While she is still little, she loves to be in motion (clear indicator she wants to be a runner!).