Where are you from?

Currently Independence, OH

Current P.R.

2:58:29

Typical pace

Anywhere 6:00 – 12:00.  It’s okay to run slow. Remember that.

Number of marathons

Many.  Probably getting close to 100 if you count ultras

Occupation

Accountant

Favorite marathon

Sehgahunda

Hobbies

Running, baseball, backpacking, singing loud and often, but mostly raising my kids

Favorite Running Food

Coca-Cola

What are you reading now?

Tribe by Sebastian Junger

Who do you train with?

A few friends here and there. Mostly myself.

Personal goals

Don’t screw up the great life that I’ve been blessed with

A quotation you like…

Perhaps the genius of ultrarunning is its supreme lack of utility. It makes no sense in a world of space ships and supercomputers to run vast distances on foot. There is no money in it and no fame frequently not even the approval of peers. But as poets apostles and philosophers have insisted from the dawn of time there is more to life than logic and common sense. The ultra runners know this instinctively. And they know something else that is lost on the sedentary. They understand perhaps better than anyone that the doors to the spirit will swing open with physical effort. In running such long and taxing distances they answer a call from the deepest realms of their being – a call that asks who they are… – David Blaikie

Why do you run?

I used to know, but I no longer know.

Describe your best marathon memory.

Breaking 3:00 after 14 years of running marathons. It was nice to finally get under 3.

Why do you pace?

I enjoy watching people suffer and yelling at them to not give up, and then watching them not give up.  When someone comes up to you at the end and says they couldn’t have done it without you, it’s a phenomenal feeling. 

Tell us your best pacing experience.

Fireman carrying a girl that I paced to a BQ to the medical tent after her body shut down after finishing the Illinois Marathon in 2016.  It was cold and rainy and windy and no one was there to help her but she kept screaming “it was so worth it!” through tears as I carried her 70 yards to the medical tent.  I’ve never seen a human push so hard in my life.

Why should someone run in your pace group?

Hopefully it’s because you don’t want to think and just want to run.  Just tuck in and I’ll get you there, I promise.

Any tips for runners about to join your group?

You didn’t train so it wouldn’t hurt. You trained so you can handle the hurt.

Anything else you’d like to share?

God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy.

What philanthropic activities do you have?

I volunteer to pace marathons.