My Story

I'm updating this page over time, so if you're interested in hearing more about what brought me to where I am today, check back again another time for updates...
Last Updated: 8/13/13

Planting the Seed
A co-worker was telling me about running marathons, and about her experiences doing so.  I was simultaneously entranced and ashamed...

My Former Running Life
I was a runner in High School.  I wasn't a dedicated indoor or outdoor track guy, but I participated in them in random years, if they did not conflict with other ventures.  XC, however, was different.  I joined the team my freshman year, and participated faithfully every consecutive season.  Something about Cross Country was different than track; I don't know why, but I took it pretty seriously - even if I wasn't very good at it (compared to my teammates).  I peaked my Junior year (for various reasons that are much more clear to me now versus then), but that's a story for another time.  That year (junior year), my team won our region, and went to states in the NY Class A division.  I was the 6th man on that team.  I can't tell you many specific details about the type of runner I was, because I didn't keep any of the many results that our coach used to print and give to us.  The only time I really remember is my PR at Bear Mountain - 17:41.  I believe that my pace was 5:45-5:55 - I'm not sure, because I don't know if it's really a 5K or if the course distance has changed since I ran there.

After HS, I didn't run a whole lot.  I got back into it for a short while in college, and then for one summer after I graduated (and was running consistently in the 19:00-20:00 range for 5Ks), but after that one summer, I stopped running.  I did other fitness things sporadically (got big into weightlifting), but after Marriage and a Career kicked in I became a couch potato.  Fast forward 9 years and I'm having the conversation with my co-worker about how she loves running marathons.

My Journey Back
I started getting concerned about my weight when I hit about 190 lbs.  190 for some is not a big deal, but for a guy who stands about 5'5" tall, it's a bit much.  I decided that I needed to do something about it, and one day I talked my wife into trying Jillian Michaels' 30 day shred #3 workout (on demand).  It was a HUGE wake-up call.  I couldn't even make it through the warm up portion without struggling and gasping for breath, and taking rests.  Seriously - how sad is that?

Jillian's workout was followed by subsequent exercise TV jaunts, trials, and errors.  After a while, I decided that I would start incorporating some short runs into my training - mainly for variation and because I had liked running so much in the past.  Most of those early runs resulted in me starting out too fast, going further than I probably should have and soreness - bad soreness - injury soreness.  I couldn't run more than a half of a mile without feeling winded and worthless.  After about a year of sporadic TV workouts and runs about once a month, I started thinking about upping my running to at least once a week.  That's when I found myself talking to my co-worker.  Like I said, I was simultaneously entranced and ashamed, because I had always said that I was going to run the NYC marathon, but I obviously had not - and fallen far from a path that would take me there.

Watering the Seed
I came home from work the night after talking with my co-worker.  I had told her that I had always wanted to do a marathon, and she simply replied, "you should."  I told my wife about the conversation, and suggested that we should maybe do a marathon someday.  She responded by saying, "so let's do it."  That night we foolishly solidified our pact, and a few days later I had signed us up for the Philly Marathon in November.  It was April.

I then embarked on the journey which has led me to where I am today.  Being the over analytical person that I am, I quickly calculated what I needed to do in order to get to the starting point of the marathon training program that I decided to commit to and calculated my mileage increases accordingly.  In hindsight, I feel like it was a stupid move (read about that here), but regardless, it's what brought me to where I am now.

The First Race
I remember running my first race back - it was in July - 3 months after my wife and I had concocted this plan and started running.  The Morristown Spectacular - a 5K out and back, starts with a severe downhill, so (yup you guessed it) it ends on severe uphill.  Mean race organizers...  I remember wondering to myself - what am I really going to run this in?  I remember telling my wife that I didn't know if I'd even break 24 minutes.  However, I secretly thought I'd be in the 21-22 minute range (which at this point I still considered slow for me - my brain hadn't released me from my former running life yet).  I was shocked when I saw my time after I finished the race.  Granted I ran with the DS, but 31:20+ was not at all what I was expecting.  31?  I don't remember anyone from HS running any races in over 21 minutes, let alone 31...  That day was a HUGE wake-up call.

The Journey to Today
A lot has happened between that race and now (August 2013).  I have slowly been building this section of my blog to fill you in to where I find myself today.  As a result some parts (like this one) are being written long after I started writing "my story."  Along the way I have logged a decent amount of miles, raced in many different races, and hit many different hurdles.

The Stroller Guy
At some point (as any regular runner will understand), I began to run into the same people at different races.  These eventually lead to "hellos" at events, which lead to many acquaintances, which lead to a few decent friends.  After one particular race (I believe the Philadelphia Race for Open Space in 2012), a proper introduction happened between a common race attendant and I.  We exchanged names, and she promptly said, "It's nice to finally know your name.  My husband and I always just called you the stroller guy."  Hence, the Stroller Guy moniker was born (well not born then, but made known to me then).  Incidentally, she and her husband are turning out to be some of the better friends my wife and I have made along the way.  Interestingly enough, that woman has now changed her tune and sometimes refers to me as the "Stroller Man," but I swear she said "Stroller Guy" that day.  Besides, it's too late to change it now.  ...and yes.  In case you didn't know, I do run with a stroller a lot.  As you peruse the Annals and PR pages - look for "DS" and "SS" - those indicate events that I did with either a double stroller or a single stroller.

What's Next?

More Coming Soon (Maybe?)....