Heading for the finish line at the 2008 Nike Human Race

We all have our reasons why we lace up our running shoes day in and day out. For some it’s as simple as “I’ve always run.” For me, it’s far more personal and I hope you’ll indulge me.

In the summer of 2008, my life was not in a good place for several reasons. First and foremost, I had to endure not one, not two, but three family health scares in just two months.

My mother had a rare heart condition that required her to have open-heart surgery… fortunately she pulled through like a trooper. Just a few weeks later my dad learned he had serious blockage in numerous arteries (caught just in the nick of time) and had several stents installed to keep his ticker ticking. And then my brother (who was the jock of the family) went in to get his heart checked and they found something wrong. Fortunately, a re-test showed that it was a phantom reading. Bullet dodged.

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