Team inov-8 US Bio for Ultra Running

Original Post on inov-8 Team Website can be found here.

Primary sport(s): Trail & Ultra Running

Team member since: 2010

City/state of residence: Huntsville, Alabama. Hometown: Kingsford, Michigan

Occupation: Electrical Engineer

Goals for 2010

• Break 4:30 and finish in the top 5 at Mountain Mist 50km
• Run Rim to Rim to Rim (r2r2r) across the Grand Canyon
• Possible attempt to complete the Fastest Known Time (FKT) on the entire Pinhoti Trail with Rob Youngren (325 miles Flagg Mountain in Alabama to the Benton MacKaye Trail in Georgia). http://pinhotitrailadventurerun.blogspot.com/
• Run under 3:45 for 50km at Delano Park 12 hour
• Capture an Alabama State Age Record
• Finish in the top 3 at Chattanooga Mountains Stage Race and Stump Jump 50km

Notable achievements/memories/PR’s in your sport

• In November of 2008 over a three week span, I ran 1:16:38 at the Huntsville Half Marathon, a 34:45 at Dam Bridge 10km in Florence, Alabama and a 16:42 at Living Waters 5km in Decatur, Alabama, all of which were personal records.
• In 2009 I set course records with overall wins at Delano Park 50km in Decatur, Alabama (3:53:54) at Bartlett Park 50km in Memphis, Tennessee (4:07:10) and ran a personal best 3:53:15 at Dizzy Fifties 50km in Huntsville, Alabama, finishing 2nd overall and notching the 6th fastest time ever on the course.
• Starting on July 1, 2009 at the Alabama/Georgia border, I embarked on a 4 day, 183-mile stage event running east to west across the state of Alabama on back country roads with Jon Elmore and Eric Schotz as part of Team Elliott to raise awareness for Tay Sachs and helped to raise over $20,000 for NTSAD.
• I was awarded the 2008 Huntsville Track Club Male Performance Award and in 2009 finished 2nd overall in the HTC Gran Prix for Open Males.
• Qualifying for my first Boston Marathon while running at the Green Bay Cellcom Marathon with my parents in the crowd cheering me on in the last mile inside Lambeau Field, then later having my parents and with my wife Laura in Boston as I crossed the finish line of the marathon.

Favorite inov-8 gear: Roclite 295’s and Roclite 305’s

List one thing others may not know about you:

I am a great example that you don’t need to have a tremendous amount of natural ability to compete at a high level as long as you have the heart, will and sheer determination to succeed. I never ran a day in my life until 2003, when I was 27 years old. I started with just a few blocks at a time and it took nearly two years before I could run more than 10 miles. It was not until leaving Green Bay, Wisconsin and moving to Huntsville, Alabama when I began to run trails and ultras that I started to realize my potential. In the three years since the move, I have run over 10,000 miles and been competitive in nearly 100 races, with top 3 finishes forty times. My favorite saying is that I am just an ordinary person with average abilities striving to do extraordinary things and through hard work, every day I get a little closer to realizing my dreams and finding the upper limits of my potential.

Favorite energy drink/food

I enjoy Strawberry flavored HEED Electrolyte Sports Drink by Hammer. It has a very subtle taste, which means it goes down easy on long distance endurance efforts when your stomach can easily cost you a race. For shorter distance races, I enjoy PowerBar Gel Blasts Energy Chews but nothing beats Chips Ahoy Original Chocolates Chip Cookies, Mountain Dew and peanut butter & jelly sandwiches for longer races and training runs. For recovery, nothing beats good old-fashioned chocolate milk.

Your favorite race and why?

My favorite race is easily the Chattanooga Mountains Stage Race. It is a trail stage race with 22 miles on Lookout Mountain, 18 miles on Raccoon Mountain and 20 miles on Signal Mountain over a three-day period in late June. This race, put on by Rock/Creek of Chattanooga hits my strengths, which include technical trails, killer climbs, running in the blazing heat and going hard day after day on minimal recovery. In 2009 I nearly missed the race after having my flights delayed, then cancelled from Washington DC after a work trip. Luckily I caught a flight to Atlanta and drove to Chattanooga, arriving at 2am, just six hours prior to the first stage. After getting lost on the first day and finishing 9th, I came back to finish 2nd on days 2 and 3, making up enough time to finish 2nd overall for the entire stage race.

Advice to other athletes

I’ve learned so much over the years from people who have taken the time to teach me that I think it is so important that you turn it around and pay it forward. I try to give back more than I have been given through coaching new runners, and volunteering as much as possible. It is vital that athletes, who are in the spotlight for their talents, be role models and ambassadors to the sport and inspire others to achieve their potential. I have been blogging at http://www.siriusultrarunner.com not just on my race results, but the many running adventures that I have been on over the years. I try to explain in detail what is going through my head in the late stages of a grueling race, the beauty of the wilderness along the trails and what kind of world is out there if you are just willing to lace up the shoes and step off the beaten path. Along the way, hopefully I have inspired some people to discover the joy of trail and endurance running.