How I Started Running:
In January 2012 I found myself in physical therapy for a loose IT band in my left knee. My wife got tired of seeing me buckle and hit the floor without warning, so she set up the appointments. After a month and a half I was feeling much better, but still had issues with arthritis in both knees, which I took pain medicine daily to control.
I didn’t want to go back to falling and having my wife pick me up off the floor, so I started walking each day to maintain my knee’s strength. Over time I started jogging and increasing my distance. I also noticed that I needed less pain medicine for my arthritis!
In May 2012 I participated in my first 5k. I had a blast, even though I was exhausted afterwards. A few weeks later I did another. That fall I did my first half marathon, of which I walked a good portion. I should have realized at thi point I was hooked on running.
Over the next several years I ran many more races, to include full marathons. With each new (longer) distance I said “never again!” but was unaware that was just something runners say just after they finish and feeling like death warmed over.
I got my first taste of triathlons in 2015 with an indoor sprint distance. I thought it was ok and thought to myself “Ok, I can check that off my to-do list.” I didn’t. I kept doing them and went further until I finally did a full Ironman – Ironman Texas 2017.
My Favorite Moments / Biggest Accomplishments:
I’d have to say that my biggest accomplishment is finishing a full Ironman, but this may not be accurate. Perhaps my biggest accomplishment is getting into endurance racing and using it to find peace in my mind, keeping me focused on big goals, and leveraging it to help animals.
Future Goals:
I have an almost endless list of future goals. At one point, I was to break The Guinness World Record for the most consecutive days running a half marathon on a treadmill – the Record was 52; I was going to do 70. Though approved to make the attempt by Guinness, logistics has sidelined that goal. My next goal is another full Ironman in November 2019 in Tempe, Arizona followed later on by a 50k ultramarathon sometime in 2020.