Brief Bio -
An avid runner, I currently reside in the St. Louis area where I grew up.  Pursued art in school and developed a passion for running during my sophomore year of high school.  A graduate of Marquette I attended the University of Missouri-Kansas City on a running scholarship for five years, earning a Bachelor's in Studio Art.  I began studying the Chinese language my last two years there and plan on finishing that degree here soon.  Leaving Kansas City I returned home and lived with some friends while training back under my former high school coach Tim Cary.  The fall of 2005 gave me the opportunity to start my coaching career by returning to my alma mater (Marquette) and aid the team as an assistant coach.  I became a Level 1 certified coach in January 2007 and had the opportunity to help coach with the Lindbergh High School girl's track team that season.  My other job outside of coaching is up at Fleet Feet Sports where I am in charge of the racing team, joining their staff in March 2006.

Running Bio -
While running in high school, I started off just barely making the Varsity squad, with my best time 18:20 as a sophomore.  It wasn't till that track season and summer that I really got hooked on running with several of my team mates and I training over the summer that we had a pretty decent XC season my junior year, winning our first Conference, District, and Sectional boys team wins as well as our best team finish at state.  I closed out my junior season with a personal best of 16:58 at the state meet.  Track that same year I focused mainly on the 3200m and just missed qualifying for the sectional meet with a new PR of 9:59 - that left a bitter taste in my mouth that year.  As a senior I improved my XC 5K time to a 16:07 and made All-State.  In track I advanced to the state meet in the 3200m running my 2nd best time of 9:41 that year to place 9th, just missing All-State honors.  My season best came at Sectionals, clocking a 9:36 evenly.  In the post season, four of us traveled to the Footlocker National meet for the 4x1600m relay where sadly we got stuck in the slow heat, but still placed 10th overall with our time. 

My running career at college was plagued more by injuries, one after another, the first four years.  As a freshman I was the highest finisher in our conference, just missing honors there.  As I battled one leg pain after another, it finally ended with stress fractures in both legs the summer of 2003.  I pretty much red-shirted that entire year (indoor due to sever plantar fascia in both heels, outdoor due to lack of fitness and use to just start building base, XC due to stress fractures).  At the time it was miserable but looking back the stress fractures were a blessing.  It allowed me to start from scratch as by the end of 2003 I started back up running just 3 miles a week!  That indoor track season I raced mostly short races, not many 3Ks or 5Ks, since I didn't really have a strong base.  The outdoor campaign in 2004 I saw personal bests in the 800m and 1500m.  That summer I was able to get my mileage back up and for my final XC season in 2004 I was back up running 60-80mi weeks and healthy.  I was consistently running the mid to high 26min  for 8K, running a 32:54 10K and 26:16 8K split for my personal bests that season.  For track I got my indoor 5K time down under 16min finally, but nothing major really happened for outdoors - biggest feat was that I was consistent with my races at least.  I finally placed at the conference meet in the 10K by finishing 7th that year.

Post college my running has really improved.  I slowly moved up to the marathon distance by running the Lewis and Clark Half Marathon in the fall of 2005 (2nd place overall with a cracked rib).  The end of 2005 finally saw my first road race victory!  I had been plagued by too many 2nd place finishes that I wondered if I just had bad luck, but finally I got one and have been pretty consistent with a top 5 finish in a majority of my races.  My first marathon was Chicago 2006 - the goal was to hit around 2:45 or faster, but mainly to just get out and experience it and have fun.  I got stuck behind the last coral so most of my first half was spent weaving in and out of people so pace was definitely out the window.  I negative split the race finishing in a 2:47:57 which included a bathroom break (approx 1-2min).  I had a great time in the race and my coach was able to make it out there to help me along the way which was awesome.  That qualified me for Boston which was my 2nd marathon I ran in 2007 - this time it was not so good.  The weather was not the best and I didn't feel it after 10 miles into the race, so it was miserable to the finish as I struggled to get 2:48:05.  The summer of 2007 saw my best training to that point as I put together several weeks at 110-125 miles with my highest week ever at 145 miles!  I raced a half marathon at the conclusion of that 145 mile week (which was the end of a 30 day cycle of 20 miles every 9 days with the 10th day off) and broke my PR by almost 2 minutes in 1:12:28 to get 2nd and won my first cash prize.  I was pumped!  A month later I ran the Quad Cities Marathon (my 3rd) in hopes to run closer to my goal of 2:30 - I ran an 11min PR of 2:36:54 and finished 6th overall, just missing the cash prize for the top 5!  I did get a 1st place award for my age group, and was the 2nd American finisher.  The next big race I began training for was the Mardi Gras Marathon in 2008.  I competed in a half marathon once again about a month out from race time and was on pace to PR big through 9 miles (1:11:46 pace), but then the legs fell apart and I barely hung on to finish in 1:12:55 for 4th overall.  The marathon didn't go so hot either despite hitting my goals for the first half of the race - I did manage to somehow hold on to my 4th place overall finish in 2:40:11 after splitting 1:14:49 at the half.  Since that last marathon I have now been battling some knee issues and had to take several months off and as of April 2008 I am slowly beginning to run again, having to scrap most of my race plans for '08, it is back to the basics once again and rebuild for next year...

August 2008, I have been back up and running now for at least 13 straight weeks and feeling good once again.  I have not done any training under Tim at this point as I am taking this time off from the structured training and just having fun with the running, enjoying the mental break from the normal training.  The knee is completely better now and I have maintained around 30-40 miles a week.  From the 4 miler to the 15K, I finished a 6 week cycle where I ran 3 races and set 5 PR's....and the 15K was the only race I was really gearing towards which was more last minute - nice!  Body felt great, even though the week of the 15K I strained a groin muscle which bugged me the Wednesday that week (race was on Sunday) - so a few days after that I have since taken another week or two off from any serious running, but now at the start of October it seems to be getting better as I ease back into some light running.  Nothing major planned really till Feb anyway so I got plenty of time.  Really not too structured of a plan either which is kinda weird, but seems to be working - or at least to me it doesn't seem as structured as I have had in the past let's say.  With coaching and working crazy shifts - I must admit it is kinda nice to be at this point where I am not running high mileage as I am not super stressed out at this point like previous years...I should make a note of this for future reference.   

 

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