Why I started running:
I started running at age 29, after I quit a 2-pack-a-day smoking habit. I was worried about gaining weight, and so I committed to 30 minutes of regular exercise 3 days out of 4. I began running longer distances in 2008, when I joined my brother David and his wife Cindy in training for the Army 10-miler. I learned something pretty amazing - which is, to learn to run longer, you have to... run longer. Wow. What a concept. The 10 mile training was so exhilarating that I wanted to keep going, so I signed up for a February marathon. My sister-in-law had told me about the Jeff Galloway run-walk method, and I thought I might be able to finish a marathon if I followed that sort of a plan. It worked for me - and I used I to complete another 5 marathons over the next several years. I ran my first full marathon without walk breaks in June of 2014. I completed my first "ultra" marathon at the Can Lakes 50 miler in scenic upstate NY in October of 2015. Since that time I've completed 29 ultras, including 3 100'mile races, 5 24 hour's, several 12's, 48 and 49 hours respectively at ARFTA, 2 72 hour races, and 1 6-day. I was notified last week of my acceptance on to the 2019 Spartathlon team, which is my “A” goal for this year. Presently I'm running 100-130 miles a week and setting my sights on more and possibly longer multi-day events. |