Running and Triathlon
For the past decade plus, I have been into running long distance. My uncle Tom inspired me to start running (thanks Tom!) beginning with the Cherry Blossom 10 miler in 2000. Since then, I ran the Marine Corps Marathon in 2000, the New York City Marathon in 2001, the DC Marathon in spring 2002, the Top of Utah Marathon in fall 2002, the Philly Marathon in fall 2002, and a number of 5k’s, 10k’s, 10 milers, half-marathons, and other races.
After the Top of Utah Marathon, I hiked around in Arches and Canyonlands National Parks with my good friend Mark Thurber. Also in 2002, I bandit ran parts of the Marine Corps Marathon with my friend Rick.
After a year hiatus from marathons (including a debilitating hamstring injury), I came back in 2005 to run the Boston Marathon and the Ottawa Marathon where I ran a 3:27 and 3:32 respectively. I ran the fall 2005 Chicago Marathon and qualified for Boston which I ran in a respectable 3:16 in 2006.
Since 2008, I starting doing triathlons. I did a baby one in 2007 and did five more in summer 2008, including a half-Ironman shortly before my wedding. Since then, I’ve done five more half Ironman’s, and I completed my first Ironman in 2011 in honor of my 40th birthday and impending fatherhood. I completed my second Ironman in 2012. Here is a link to my latest running times.
Peace Corps
I served in the Peace Corps from 1997-1999 in Ecuador where I was an agricultural extensionist. Among my projects was an effort to export organic quinoa to the U.S. With the collaboration of the Andean Partnership/Inca Foods and Escuelas Radiophonicas del Ecuador (ERPE), we were able to export 2 containers of quinoa in 1998. Inca Organics and ERPE continued the project and involved several thousand farmers in the project. The project was featured in a document on 40 years of Peace Corps involvement in Ecuador and an article in the Atlantic Monthly. ERPE also was selected for the 2002 Slow Food Awards.
I continued my involvement with returned Peace Corps Volunteers as a contributor to the Committee for a New Peace Corps, a group dedicated to reinvolving the returned volunteer community into the life of Peace Corps and the broader U.S. internationalist mission. I am also active in Friends of Ecuador, a group dedicated to helping Ecuador and its people meet the challenges the country faces. I also served on the board of the National Peace Corps Association, the parent organization for Friends of Ecuador.
Development/Travel
Between 1993 and 1999, I spent most of my time outside of the United States. I did a second Bachelor’s in the UK at the University of East Anglia (UEA) from 1993-1995. Summer 1994 I spent in Nicaragua where I conducted a diagnostic of an agricultural cooperative with my good friend Nick Hoskyns. In summer 1995, I worked in Uganda at an orphanage doing development projects with some UEA colleagues. I had the chance to hitchhike to Rwanda that summer. In spring 1996, I returned to Nicaragua and spent a month in Costa Rica. From 1997-1999, I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador. More recently, I had a chance to do some research in Cuba in 2001. The attached page has some of my writings on development, including the UEA diagnostic and columns I wrote for the Peace Corps in-country magazine while in Ecuador. Christmas 2004, I went to Tanzania to climb Kilimanjaro with my good friend Stacy and her company Duma Explorer.
In the last few years, I have had some wonderful adventures with my fiancée (now wife) Bethany. We traveled to Mexico to Isla Mujeres and Chichen Itza over Christmas 2005. In summer 2006, we had an amazing trip to Italy, Spain, and Morocco. Later that summer, we did a road trip across the U.S. as Bethany took up a new job in Seattle. That trip included stops in Glacier National Park, the Badlands and included the wonders of the Sturgis motorcycle rally and Mt. Rushmore. In summer 2007, Bethany and I got engaged on the beach in southern Turkey and then flew back to the States. We did a mini road trip from Denver to Austin by way of Sante Fe and Guadalupe Mountains State Park before spending the summer in Seattle. In 2008, Bethany moved to Austin for a year-long fellowship and we drove from Seattle to Austin by way of four national parks — Mt. Rainier in Washington, Glacier in Montana, Arches in Utah, and Big Bend in Texas. In October 2008, we got married and did a bike tour in Tuscany. 2009 highlights including a trip to the Olympic Peninsula and a return trip to Glacier National Park, where we had a close encounter with some grizzlies!
Since then, we have had many more adventures, South Africa in 2010, the birth of our son Will in 2011, Ironman Canada in 2012, Brazil in 2014, Canada 2015, Hawaii 2016, Ecuador 2017, and Tanzania 2018 (all with Will!).