About

My life in a nutshell…..I love living it.  I really do.  I look at life as a journey of learning and overcoming.  I view it as a way to test myself and others around me to become better everyday.  I see life through a positive prism and make a concerted effort to see the positive in it all.  Life is too short to not enjoy it.

I am originally from New York and lived there for 34 years of my life.  I truly enjoyed New York and the lifestyle but moving to Dallas opened my eyes to see that life doesn’t have to go at 100 mph all the time.  Living in Dallas has slowed me down some and allowed me to see the forest for the trees.

My endurance lifestyle began in 2007 when I ran with Team in Training for the Westchester 1/2 Marathon.  It was the spark that lit the fire.  Once that race was over I signed up for the 1/2 Marathon in Miami and Philadelphia.  Moved to Dallas and signed up for the Dallas Running Club 1/2 Marathon.

Running a marathon was not in the cards for me at all and then one day I signed up for the Grapevine Sprint Triathlon.  The swim was in a pool and I essentially walked the last 50 yards of the swim and was essentially done with that, but wrote down that I was going to do a marathon now.

I contacted my old Team in Training crew and got the marathon training from them.  I followed that training to a T and went into the Rock N’ Roll San Antonio totally prepared….or so I thought.  After mile 18.5 my body started to shut down but I pushed and pushed and pushed because there is no quit or can’t in my life/vocabulary.

I crossed the finish line and fell into the arms of my wife, Karen, and essentially started crying.  I saw my step-son (chico) and gave him my medal and smiled.  Greatest gift I got that day was having them at the finish.  I had a goal of 4 hours and finished in 4:29:58 and am very proud of that for a first marathon.

From there I was going to just train and run marathons to beat that time and Oprah.  Well one day while on Facebook a friend posted that she was going to go see the triathletes at Oceanside.

Without thinking I told her I was doing it in 2011……no doubt.  I then signed up for Grapevine again and Caveman (two sprint tri’s.)  During my training my swimming was not getting better.  Karen found a pamphlet and asked that I sign up as she was tired of hearing me complain about being a terrible swimmer.

You have to understand that I think I can do it all on my own so I took that pamphlet and pushed it aside.  A couple of weeks later while being thoroughly frustrated I emailed Coach C.  Met with her and told her my goals.

My goal for 70.3 IMCA was not to just finish or complete it but to be competitive.  I wanted to be good at it even if it were my first one.  She said it was fine and we could do that.  I hired her and signed up for a race every month with my ‘A’ race being the US Open Toyota Championships.

I trained and trained and trained and each race I got faster and faster.  I did the US Open in 2:53:10 and was thrilled at completing the distance but think that I could have shaved 8 minutes off of that time.  In case you haven’t picked it up yet…..I AM COMPETITIVE!!!!!

So now I am focused on leading the life of an age group triathlete who helps others get through life by using running and triathlons as way to do it.

I believe in the power of endurance sports to provide us with strength, confidence, health, wellness and tons of other adjectives.  It is a lifestyle that will lead you to the tops of mountains because no matter how fast you are when you cross the finish line you are a doer, a finisher and unique.  We are the few that look at a race and think to themselves this is going to be fun.  Others run away and we run to.

With that mindset I decided to start the chapter of Marathon Makeover here in North Dallas.  This program converts couch potatoes into marathoners but it is more than just a marathon.  It is a way to change your life and in a positive manner.  I wanted to give back to the endurance community and this is my way of doing it.

5k – 23:12

10k – 51:09

15k – 1:09:06

1/2 Marathon – 1:36:22
Marathon – 3:31:28

Olympic Triathlon – 2:38:40

1/2 Ironman – 5:28:06
Ironman – Coming 2012