Why I Started Running:
I started running “Fun Runs” at the Rec Park which was just down the street from our home in Malone, NY when I was in grade school. They gave out popsicles after you finished and I remember those were the best tasting popsicles I had ever eaten. I can’t say that the popsicles started it all but I’ll tell ya, they didn’t hurt. I was a Skier-then-Snowboarder as a kid, so I was always at the Mountain when my Hockey friends were traveling all winter to various tournaments in the area. Many of those friends joined football in the fall and so after talking to my parents, I decided to go out for the Modified Cross-Country team in 7th grade. I made the team and was fortunate enough to experience instant success, qualifying for Junior Olympics that year. That sent my coach and my family to Mobile, Alabama for the 1993 National Junior Olympics Cross-Country Championships. This experience had me hooked on running and I’ve never looked back. I ran Cross-Country, Indoor and Outdoor Track all through High School and one season as a member of the swim team while rehabbing a foot injury I had sustained my junior year of XC. I continued my running career into college as I made the Varsity Cross-Country, Indoor and Outdoor track team for Cortland State University. Since graduating college, I have competed in many 5k races and series, the 15k Boilermaker, Half Marathons at Penn State and Syracuse, the Lake Placid Marathon and now adding Ironman Lake Placid to my list of events.
My Favorite Moments / Biggest Achievements:
My favorite moments have always been sharing the accomplishments and race experiences with friends and family. Modified Cross Country brought my family together and those road trips to different Invitationals and meets with my parents, grandfather and sister are some of the best memories of my childhood. Qualifying and competing in the Junior Olympics at 12 years old brought so much excitement to my life at that time. We had numerous newspaper and news writers coming to the house interviewing me and my family. It was the first time I had ever seen myself on TV or in the paper. In High School, being nominated as the team’s most valuable runner various years as well as making the State Championship meet year after year while also medaling in Track and Field with my teammates in the 4X800 relay are accomplishments I also hold close. Making the starting 5 for the Varsity Cross-Country team at Cortland State allowed me to travel all over the Country including the Hawaii Cross-Country Invitational in Oahu, Hawaii in 1999. In the years following college I would dip in and out of competitive running but always consistently training. I was able to win the YMCA 5k series for my age group a couple years in a row. Prior to this year, the Lake Placid Marathon was one of my favorite accomplishments but this year’s Ironman Lake Placid has ultimately changed my life. I’m not sure if it’s the level to which we push ourselves to finish, the three required disciplines (swimming, biking and running), the combination of mental and physical exertion required to complete it or the journey training, learning and preparing that has made it my most cherished experience but I know it is one I will never forget.
Future Goals:
My future plans are to continue on this Ironman Journey. Shifting the focus to raising money for charity and enjoying the lifestyle and mental strength which comes with training and preparing for these events. In 2020 my wife and I plan on volunteering at Ironman Lake Placid. We want to give back to an event that gave us such an amazing experience in one of our favorite towns. I will be competing in Ironman Maryland 9/19/20 raising money for both the Ronald McDonald House Charities of CNY and the Crouse NICU little fighters club. Both charities being very close to my family. My wife and I have twin girls, Scarlet and Whitney. They spent 71 days in the Crouse NICU being born 7/4/17, 79 days early. During their stay, we never missed a day visiting, holding and feeding them thanks to the Ronald McDonald House in Syracuse, NY who housed us and gave us a very comfortable place to sleep, rest and enjoy meals donated by various families and restaurants in the area. The location of this facility allowed us to stay at the Hospital as long as possible with our girls and gave my wife a place close-by to rest in between visits while I commuted back and forth from my job in Syracuse. After 2020, I plan on competing in Ironman Mont-Tremblant. If all goes well, my wife and I will sit down and discuss the future of Ironman competition for our family.