2021 STARTING LINE

Bill Rodgers, one of the best American marathoners of all time, had a quote that “The Marathon will humble you. But the truth is, sometimes it will do more than humble you. Sometimes it will break your heart.” On the flipside, in December 2017 I had one of those marathon races that was absolutely flawless, and I walked away from the finish line with a 3-minute PR and a 2nd place finish at a USA National Championship. It took years of consistent hard work to make that leap on that day, and I was excited for the future. Since then, I’ve trained well and had some great races but haven’t executed another great marathon with a PR. Bill Rodgers is definitely right...
the marathon can really humble you and even break your heart.

2020 has been a year very similar to a marathon…or maybe many marathons…to say the very least. One thing this year has done is given each of us a little more time to reflect and internalize our thoughts. For me, 2020 made me realize that I want to share the ups and downs, the lessons learned and the questions asked in the marathon training and racing process. When I was in college, I remember reading Brian Sell’s training logs (that guy was the definition of hard, consistent work that resulted in an Olympic team). I remember reading every interview that was online and every book ever written about elite running that I could find. I’m pretty sure I read Running with the Legends half a dozen times and idolized guys like Bill Rodgers or Steve Jones (who has now been my coach for over 8 years).

I always appreciated the athletes that shared not only successes, but also the failures and the times in between. Social media can be a really positive outlet to share that journey, but it can also be limiting on sharing some of the bigger lessons learned. With the help of my amazing wife Kristin, I now have a website and blog that I plan to write fairly regular updates where I hope you follow my journey, draw some inspiration from it and help you achieve your goals. I may have been humbled in my last few marathons, but I’m learning, growing and excited for
sharing the journey to the next marathon with you all.