43; Physician – Spinal Cord Injury Medicine
I ♥ RUNNING: I love the friendships and community I’ve built along the way. These are my people.
BUCKET LIST: I want to run the Camino de Santiago across Spain with some of my closest friends!
UP NEXT: In 2027, I plan to continue working toward my goal of running a marathon in all 50 states and hopefully run Scotland’s 53-mile Highland Fling Race. I may also consider my first 100-mile ultra, but we’ll see how the year goes.
FAV FITNESS ACCOMPLISHMENT: My favorite was completing two 50-mile ultramarathons — the Hennepin Hundred and Farmdale Trail Run — on back-to-back weekends in October 2025. Finishing one 50-miler is a challenge; completing two just seven days apart pushed me beyond what I thought I was capable of and showed me just how far I had come. The best part was sharing that joy with my three best friends.
HOMETOWN: Chicago, IL
SPEED BUMPS: After more than 20 years away from running, I was 50 pounds heavier and had spent much of my adult life prioritizing my career over my health. Starting over at 40 was humbling, and an early injury made it even more challenging. Since then, I’ve learned that progress is rarely a straight line. Injuries, difficult races, and missed goals have taught me patience and resilience. Sometimes overcoming hardship isn’t about succeeding — it’s about growing through the struggle and continuing to show up.
MY GROUP: I’m a member of North Mississippi Endurance, DeSoto Runners Club, and MRTC.
FAV JAMS: “All I Do Is Win” by DJ Khaled
MOST MEMORABLE FITNESS EVENT: I hadn’t run in more than 20 years. I decided to prove to myself that I still could, and I set a goal of completing the 2024 St. Jude Marathon. I gradually worked my way up to running three miles and joined the DeSoto Running Club. Ironically, I injured myself on my very first run with the club, but that day also led me to three incredible friends who trained alongside me throughout the next year. Crossing the finish line at St. Jude with my wife, Marie, and our daughters, Caiden and Avery, there to celebrate with me was an experience without words. More than finishing a marathon, it proved I could rediscover a part of myself I thought I had lost.
DREAM DINNER COMPANY: I would have dinner with Dr. Joseph Bell, the Scottish physician whose remarkable powers of observation helped inspire Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes.
INSPIRATION TO BE FIT: Turning 40 brought a sense of urgency — a realization that if I wanted to change the trajectory of my health, the time was now. Just as important is my family. I want to take care of myself so I can be fully present for my wife and daughters — not simply for more years, but with the health, energy, and vitality to make those years count.
QUOTE: “Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.” — Theodore Roosevelt, 1899
Photo by Tindall Stephens
