About Me

I've been running (or jogging!) for about 12 years. In the early years, I rarely ran more than 5 miles and ran mostly to control my weight. Then, in 2008, my sister signed up for the Denver Half-marathon. Being the competitive little brother, I signed up at the expo without ever running double digit miles in my life. I finished in 1:50:00. It was at that point that I decided to run a marathon (a bucket list item for me). The obvious choice for my first marathon was the Denver Marathon in 2009. I followed a relatively loose plan, averaging probably 35 miles a week during the "peak" running weeks. My first marathon was a lousy experience for me. It was a hot day and I started out too fast. Like most first timers, I crashed hard between miles 18 and 20. I limped home with a 4:18 time. For a while I thought that would be my last marathon. Then a friend recommended I read Born to Run.

In the Spring of 2010 I began ramping up my miles again. I began changing everything about my running: my routine, my nutrition (I lost 40 lbs), and my running form. Initially it was a struggle to complete 5 miles on a treadmill. After a few months of training, I managed to finish the Bolder Boulder (a 10K) in a PR time of 49:25. It was at that point that I knew things were headed in a positive direction. For my second go-round at the Denver Marathon (now Denver Rock n' Roll Marathon), I started running more miles. This time my "peak" training weeks were closer to 50 miles. On race day I used a pretty conservative race strategy and it paid off. I finished in 3:55, 23 minutes faster than my previous attempt.

During the 2010-2011 off-season I decided to run an ultramarathon. To get my body ready, I spent the off-season running with a base of about 35 miles. After dealing with some early set backs due to knee tendinitis, I was able to push my weekly training to more than 70 miles (7 times) before I attempted the Leadville Silver Rush 50.

Following my inaugural season of ultrarunning, I decided to go to the next level. I had the bug and had to run the Leadville 100. Along the way, I ran across the Grand Canyon, completed one of the hardest 50 mile mountain races in the U.S. and began regularly logging runs of 20 - 30 miles. I plan to continue ultrarunning, but I find that my passion is in learning more about all the components that go into running (nutrition, hydration, cross training, training, etc...) and answering the questions of others that are attempting to blaze their own trail in running.

At the end of 2012, I suffered a fall on a trail run and did some pretty good damage to my left knee. While it is not clear the timing, I suffered a torn meniscus. That injury reared it's head after a good race at the start of 2013. Unfortunately, it shut me down from May until November in 2013. I had it repaired in August and began light running in November. At this stage, I am training full speed again and even more thankful than before for the gift of running and movement. I have also become a huge advocate for low carbohydrate diets and believe that nutrition has changed my life more than running.

On a more personal note, I live in Castle Pines North, CO (southern part of Denver metro area). CPN is roughly 6500 feet in elevation and very hilly. My average road run is between 75 and 80 feet in elevation gain per mile. I have two beautiful kids and an amazingly supportive wife. This means that I do most of my training in the mornings. And, I have given up most of my other free time activities to pursue running (golf, hanging out with friends, and brewing beer).