Running Biography

I got married in July of 1976. Within 6 months of enjoying Mary-Lynne’s great Italian cooking, I gained 25 pounds. 

At this time “jogging” was becoming the latest fad. Jim Fixx wrote a book called "The Complete Book of Running" popularizing the sport of running and demonstrating the alleged health benefits of regular jogging.

The famous cardiologist George Sheehan's book "Running and Being" became a New York Times best seller. 

Bill Rogers won the Boston marathon in 1979, and everyone was getting into it.

In the beginning I ran around a tiny indoor track at the YMCA in Manhattan. I ran to the music of a piano player in the room, and we reversed directions at her command every 5 minutes.

Soon I was ready to tackle the great outdoors and before long I was entering 10K races almost every weekend.

I loved the shirts that they gave out at races. In those days you could register for a 10K for $15-$20, drink all the beer you wanted at the end of the race and come home with a quality t-shirt. I became obsessed with running and loved wearing the shirts to show off my new passion. I would always wear the most coveted shirt at all my 10K races.

I joined the Teconic Road Runners Club, mainly because they always had a keg at the finish line of all their races, and I also joined the Texaco Runners Club.

Although I may have been a slightly better athlete than most of the guys I hung out with, I was strictly average amongst serious amateur athletics. All my life I’ve suffered with mediocrity, always finishing somewhere in the middle of the pack. 

During this time, my fastest 5 mile run was 30:30 and my fastest 10K was 42:10.

Soon afterwards I caught marathon fever, and that lasted for ten years. During that time I ran five full 26.2 mile marathons, my fastest being 3 hours and 33 minutes.

12/1980 Maryland 3:59:35	12/1981 Jersey Shore 3:44:26
3/1981 Shamrock 3:32:41	11/1986 New York City 4:18:20
11/1990 New York City 4:32:22

While training for my last marathon in 1990, my good friend Mitch Hersh invited me on a Colorado 14,000' peak (aka 14er) outing. I was overwhelmed by the experience and I immediately switched passions, gave up running races, and began a 20-year stretch of avid Colorado mountaineering.