Welcome! The Beginning of the Story.

"Hey, ever heard of the Tecumseh Trail Marathon?"

I guess that was the beginning. Jim and I had chatted in passing at different running events over the years, but neither one of us is terribly forward. I blame it on engineer brain. Jim's a computer engineer. I'm an electrical engineer who has reformed somewhat by turning into a human factors engineer.  Jim runs. I run. After a few emails back and forth, somehow we wound up running the Tecumseh Trail Marathon together. It must have been divine intervention.

I could tell you about the time years ago when I beat Jim at a half marathon one cold January 1st. Well, okay, he had just run the Huff 50K a few days before, but whatever. Apparently he looked for me after the race, but I was gone baby gone. I could also mention the time I was running in the marathon in Knoxville, TN, and thought I saw him going the opposite direction, and yelled, "Jim!" I wasn't even sure it was him so when he didn't turn around, I assumed it wasn't and kept going. I mean, why in the world would he be running a marathon in Tennessee when we both lived in Ohio??? I beat him in Knoxville, too. ;-)

Since the cold water, ice bath, mud fest that was the Tecumseh Trail Marathon, a lot has happened. Jim evened out the win / loss record. He might even be winning, but I'll never admit it. We've run many miles and races together.

Jim is a born and bred Ohioan. He has always called Ohio home. He became a runner from an early age when he ran many a mile with his dad, and he's always been a car guy.

When we first began getting to know each other, Jim told me that he had a barn where he stored his old cars. Now, I'm from Texas so I probably had some preconceived notions of what that might look like, but I was very wrong. It was decorated with big gas stations signs, some of which even light up. I have to say, it was all very impressive!

He's dad to the Madcat, and as you can tell by these pictures, he might be a little goofy. They always say you want to find someone with a sense of humor, right?! Winner, winner chicken dinner...

Minecraft Madcat and Pokemon Jim

Marine Corps Marathon

Finishing my 1st 50 miler

I am originally from Texas and have lived in New York, Maryland, Tennessee, and now Ohio. Most of those moves were courtesy of the U.S. Army. After high school, I got on a plane from Texas to West Point, New York, for one of my first big adventures.

After living in Tennessee for quite a few years and running a few ultras, I found my way to Ohio with a new job. I also found many trails and bike paths. I had never seen anything quite like it! My love of the outdoors grew and so did my relationship with God. Moving to Ohio has been one of the best decisions I have ever made.

While I enjoy living in Ohio, I also love to travel. To say Jim loves to travel is probably an understatement. Now we both have a traveling / running buddy, and I have to say, he's a a great one!