44; Acting Manager, Water Engineering and Operations for Memphis Light, Gas, and Water
BUCKET LIST: Now that I’ve qualified for Boston, I hope to make it there and finish in 2025! Also, I’ve always played with the idea of doing longer-distance mountainous trail races, but with work and life, it’s hard to train for everything — maybe sometime in the future.
UP NEXT: I’m thinking about doing some 5k’s this summer, trail races in the fall, and the St. Jude Memphis Marathon Weekend.
FAVE FITNESS ACCOMPLISHMENT: Qualifying for the Boston Marathon for the first time. I didn’t start running until I was in my mid-30s, even though I have been active my whole life. It felt good to train consistently last year to prepare my body and see what it could do.
HOMETOWN: Drummonds, TN
SPEED BUMPS: Overtraining is real. I’ve done that before running and had to back down for nearly a year for my body to reset. I wasn’t pacing myself and ran too many races back to back. In late 2021, I broke my collarbone in a bike crash and was out for a couple of months. I don’t sit still, so injuries or hardships are tough for me.
MY GROUP: Los Locos Racing Team
FAVORITE JAMS: I usually listen to nothing or Texas/Red Dirt Country radio when rolling solo.
RECENT RACES: In November 2023, Upchuck 50K on the Cumberland Trail in Soddy-Daisy, TN, with a sub 6-hour finish and 11th place finish. December 2023, I did the St. Jude Marathon with a time of 3:05 and my first BQ!
MEMORABLE FITNESS EVENT: The 2021 Delta Epic 300-mile gravel bike race through the Mississippi Delta. My teammate and I were the only ones to finish due to the many miles of the course being extraordinarily muddy; everyone else quit. We hiked, pushed, and carried our bikes through the stickiest mud imaginable, but we were the only two out of about 100 participants to finish.
BEST EATS: You can’t go wrong with the Memphis sliders and fries at Slider Inn or brisket tacos at Loflin Yard.
DREAM DINNER COMPANY: Let’s call the whole cast of “Yellowstone” and have an outdoor feast! Ryan Bingham and Lainey Wilson can play songs after supper around the campfire. Perfect.
GO-TO GEAR: I like the new Altrafwd Experience shoes for fast road runs and the Topo Athletic Mountain Racers for trails. I also love the latest Garmin 965.
PET PEEVE: Snot rockets are nasty!
QUOTE: “This ain’t my first rodeo” – Vern Gosdin
Photo by D’Angelo Connell
