After getting into endurance sports at the age of 14, I’ve always had lofty athletic goals. The first time I broke 40 minutes running a 10k, a spark was lit.
From there, I joined both my high school and college cross-country teams and throughout my college days, the team’s weekly mileage increased to near triple digits. I could feel myself getting stronger. I had a goal to run four consecutive 100-mile weeks and when I achieved that and felt good, I decided to run my first marathon.
Once I had completed a few more marathons, I decided that my next goal should be to run longer—and found ultrarunning. Although my first ultra kicked my butt, I won the race and realized that with smarter training and race-day execution, I could probably run faster.
But I soon realized that it wasn’t just “running faster” that I craved, it was running more. More miles and more ultras. I ran more miles because I simply loved running more. I ran more ultras because I quickly fell in love with the ultra community.
It wasn’t long before I figured out what my next big running goal would be: run 200 ultras in under 20 years. I met people who had run 100 ultras, but I knew that I could reach that milestone pretty quickly. Running 200 ultras over the course of two decades, though, would take more of a long-term commitment. I had to be nice to my body, but I also needed the finances and time to travel to races. I also needed supportive loved ones and knew I had to continue to enjoy running. It was also important to learn to ride the “good race” and “bad race” waves, but I finally reached that goal in 2021.
Now that I’ve been in Vermont for a few years, my wife, Kristina, and I are now clicking off the 4,000-foot Northeast peaks. Those 4,000 footers may be small, but they are mighty. And rocky—oh-so-rocky. Our new goal typically involves getting up early, driving a couple hours, tagging a peak or two, usually with our dogs, and hitting a brewery on the way home. We call it our “Fri-date.” When we get ambitious, we make a camping trip out of it to hit multiple peaks over the course of a few days.
I guess my point here is that my goals in both life and running have changed and evolved over my lifetime. Over the past 11 years, it’s been a pretty sweet ride to create and achieve new goals with Kristina. The “Fri-date” is here for the long run.