What an epic 🔥 adventure this life has been. 🛫 I’ve learned the hard way (repeatedly) that life begins where your comfort zone ends.🏕 I’ve out run 🏃depression, PTSD & TBI🧠 through some blissful miles, including ~150 marathons (or ultras), covering all 50 🇺🇸 states and 6⭐ world majors. It’s been over 2500 days since my last day off 💤- Life is worth living everyday. Fast, slow, short, long, alone, or together. Doesn’t matter. Just get it done, with a smile on my face 😼. OK, maybe not… I kinda look like death when I run hard. 💀💨
I spent several years pretty much running full time. I’d hitchhike 👍 there, stealth camp ⛺️ on the side of the road 🛣, then get up and run 🏃♂️ the race. No budget 💵, food insecure 🍔, oft managing simply on post race snacks 🍌. All those races took care of wardrobe 🎽concerns too. Yup, I was the Hobo Runner. I’m currently working on the book 📗 about those journeys…
🚧Now, I’m hard at work at the Hobo Hideout, building a new life. A new self. 🚜🪚🪓🔨. But how did I get here?
I ran 🏃♂️ cross country in high school📚, transforming from a miserable, depressed wretch 😭to the beginnings of the man 💪 I am today. Then I got to college 🏫 and my attention went elsewhere. Go 🦅 Eagles! I still ‘ran’ Boston almost every year, but that was pretty much it. After being humbled by a poor performance in 2012 (ie I walked most of the way😩), I realized I wasn’t 18 anymore, and it was about time I got back into shape. For months things went pretty well. My body remembered what it was like to run, and my mind rejoiced at the rediscovered passion. I was a 🏃♂️runner again. Maybe not 18… but 21 and holding still sounds good to me 😹
On April 15th, 2013, everything I believed in was challenged. Barely a hundred feet away from the first 💣 explosion that day, it took years to get past my own resulting demons👿. Through 🏃♂️ running, and its incredible community, I became stronger 💪 than ever. I emerged prouder of being both a Bostonian and a runner, and more committed than ever to making the world 🌎 a better place
Throughout 2015 I was knocking off all my old high school PR’s 🔥. I was in the best running shape of my life, and rapidly improving. Then in mid December, cycling 🚴♂️ home from work💻, my life was forever changed. A distracted driver 🚘 plowed straight through me from behind, then sped off. Miraculously I survived – but I was left with significant injuries. The neurological 🧠 and spinal issues from that crash devastated my life. I lost my livelihood and my home🏠. But I would not give up. My Boston experience had made me psychologically invincible💪. This would test that, but I would not falter. I continued 🏃♂️running. Painfully. Slowly. But still running🏃♂️
Now as I continue to heal, Boston remains my internal 🔥 fire, and has driven me to a level of running 🏃♂️I never thought I could attain. Most importantly, it has taught me to cherish the run. Where the mind leads, the body will follow. I’ve been through the abyss and I’ve been to the pinnacle🏔. I kinda like it here on top, so don’t expect me to stop running. Ever. Come join me on this adventure! It’s better together.