George Washington University Student Spotlight!

I am honored to be featured in the student spotlight for the George Washington University MHA@GW program. Just started my last term tonight! Here is a link to the online article.

2016 Western States 100 Mile Run in the Books!

I will get around to writing my race report soon, but for now a copy of my brief post to my Facebook account! Results can be found here at this link: http://www.ultralive.net/ws100#tracking/overview

So it took me a few days to actually post something from WS100 this weekend! I went straight to work first thing Monday morning so I am just now sitting down to write something: I figured a picture of me and Warren running into the finish line would do well! I finished in 27 hrs and 37 mins! I was ecstatic with this finish, especially given my injuries and short amount of training prep! Knowing I wasn't in ideal shape and not knowing how my knee was going to hold up, my tactic was to go out slow at the beginning and try to maintain that pace as best I could. Over the course of the race it looks like my average pace in between check points only varied within a minute or so! I started out near 300th place and finished in 155th. It was an excellent day and I will work on writing my race report on my blog over this weekend! I am collecting any pictures and videos I can, so if anyone has any of me please send them to me I want to thank my care team who were instrumental in getting me healthy and running enough again to do it: Dr. Gary Gade, Chris Perillo, Bret Dewitt (Lincoln Physical Therapy), Dr. Ana Abalos, Monsters of Massage, and Dr. Robert Jamieson! I also want to thank my wife, Holly and son Warren, for supporting me in any training I was able to squeeze in and for being part of my main crew. Mark Gilligan of Ultra Signup for pacing me throughout the night! I also want to thank additional key members of my crew on race day: Mike Boberg, Nancy Boberg, Megan Boberg, Allen Boberg, Ashley 'Schmidt' Ross, and Matt-Steph Johnson! And special thanks to my sponsors: Clif Bar, Montrail, Mountain Hardwear, Camelbak, and Ultra Signup for unwavering support especially sticking by me when I was recovering from injury! Thank you to all that were supporting me and cheering for me remotely on race day through the online live webcast! I truly felt everyone's support throughout the whole process! I gratefully share this memorable accomplishment with all of you!

2016 Western States 100 Mile Run, Ready or Not!!

Race day is here and I will be running the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run again. I want to post the link to the live event webcast now before I get busy with the last minute preparations and forget! We will start this Saturday at 5 AM PST. As we pass through the check points this webcast will be updated often so you can see my progress and anticipate when I may be passing through certain checkpoints if anyone is wanting to see me come through anywhere or the finish, etc. Holly will also have her phone and my phone, but reception may be shotty for her most of the day. Anyway my bib # is 205 this year and the link is: http://www.ultralive.net/ws100/webcast.php You can search by bib # or my name. Again, I am grateful for everyone that has helped me recover from my injuries to the point I am running again! I only have 2.5 months of training under my belt, so I am not physically 100% ready, but I am mentally ready and prepared to grind this out! Please give me a high 5, a shout, and a pat on the back if you see me out there! I will need your positive energy! Thank you!!!

Grateful to Run 3 Miles Again and 2016 Update!

Starting Over, Grateful to Run 3 Miles Again, and 2016 Update!

With running the 2016 Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run only 3 months away, I am extremely grateful I am able to run 3 miles straight again on the treadmill!  For all my ultra running friends out there, you may have noticed I have been MIA for quite a while! Not because I was on some crazy/cool adventure anywhere or getting in some awesome secret training somewhere. Last October on a training run up on the trails in the canyons I was cruzin along headed down toward the river and all of the sudden my right knee felt very loose and wobbly!  Needless to say that was not a good feeling and quite concerning! At the time my hamstrings and IT band were super tight, so I figured those were the main culprit.  I spent the next couple of months trying to loosen those up, let them heal, etc but nothing was significantly helping my knee pain go away.  

At the advice of a good friend and chiropractor, Gary Gade, I finally decided to go to my primary care doctor to look into an MRI.  The MRI revealed a lateral meniscus tear in my right knee and several other "possible" issues! I was very bummed to received this news, but grateful to finally start getting to the bottom of the issue. A few weeks later I had a consult with a local orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Robert Jamieson,  to discuss options. Of course, with the thought of having a consult with a surgeon I automatically assumed some kind of surgery was going to be the best option.  However, I was very pleased that he was an athlete himself so he understood where I was coming from and we decided to give physical therapy a shot!  Another good friend, fellow ultra runner, and physical therapist, Chris Perillo, gave me some excellent advice and explained many of the medical terms to me.  As Chris only sees home health patients with joint replacements, he recommended I see Brett Dewitt at Lincoln Physical Therapy and Brett has been amazing! Working with Brett for only a couple weeks now, he has done amazing work to get my hamstring and IT Band on a fast track to recovery, and has also been able to make some headway on my meniscus tear!  Brett is also an endurance bike athlete so he too understands where I am coming from and the frustration of not being able to participate in my sport.

As you can imagine, it has been very frustrating to have to sit on the sidelines and not be able to participate in one of my passions, running.  Not being able to do any running for a few months definitely gave me a greater appreciation for when I am healthy and able to enjoy something I love.  I am not 100% yet, but I am very excited that I have finally been able to turn the corner on this injury and finally see the progress on the path to healing and getting back to something I love.  I have truly missed all of the camaraderie of my ultra buddies and am looking forward to seeing all of you again sometime soon out on the trails! A huge THANK YOU to all of my friends, family, and sponsors that have all helped me and supported me in this recovery process.  With only 3 months until I toe the line at Western States 100, the thought of just starting over on my training is daunting, but I am extremely grateful that I am now feeling well enough that I can run 3 miles straight on the treadmill.  This week I will try for 5 and go from there.  To put it in perspective, on a normal training year I would be able to be running close to 50 miles at this time in the year building up to 100 at the end of June.  I always remind myself this challenge I am facing is nothing compared to what many other people in the World have to face.  I will be extremely honored and grateful for crossing that Western States finish line this year in any time under the 30 hour cut off. 

As for my plans for 2016, I will be running/walking The Canyons 100k in the beginning of May and then Western States 100 at the end of June.  As for the rest of the year, I do not have any other races currently on my calendar.  I will just see how my body heals, hoping to return back to 100% at some point!  I have also been busy traveling back and forth to Washington DC as part of my Master of Health Administration (MHA) program through George Washington University, so that continues to be a top priority for me to continue to do well in. My expected graduation is July 2017!! That will be an exciting day to graduate on the nation's capital mall and have my masters all wrapped up. I am also involved in an exciting new business venture of a new running product me and a buddy developed that we will reveal shortly.  That's all for now!  See you All soon! 

Project 2012/2013 Update

Well, many of you have noticed I have not posted in a while, nor have you seen me out on the trails! Unfortunately this has all been intentional, I guess a forced sabbatical from running, as I have been on a mission to finish a career development goal of completing my CPA license, which has proven to be very difficult while juggling life's events and responsibilities. So, no injuries, no change of passion, just currently focused on my mission to complete the CPA!  2012 was a very busy year full of working many hours and traveling long distances for this traveling auditor. I am definitely chomping at the bit, ready to get out and run again! Here's to 2013 and to passing all of my CPA exams and obtaining my license :)

For some good ole public accounting busy season humor, here is a picture I made of what I have been up to lately. I call it The Three Stages of Public Accounting Busy Season. Enjoy :)

I just recently finished recording a Clif Cast episode that should be posted on the Clif Bar website soon. I will be sure to post a link when available.

Thank you to everyone who is supporting me on this current mission, especially my wife and son who don't get to see me as much as we all would like! Please browse through my previous blog posts to read about some of my truly amazing adventures and click on over to my sponsor's websites!

See you on the trail soon and stay tuned!

Wounded Veteran Run, Folsom, CA May 28, 2012

Here is another great opportunity to support our Wounded Warriors who sacrifice so much for each of us to continue enjoying our freedoms! We will never be able to repay them, but we can continue to help and support them. Let us never forget their sacrifice or ever take our freedoms for granted.

This is a 5k & 10k run / 3k walk benefiting the Wounded Warriors Project. It will be held Memorial Day, Monday, May 28, 2012 at Folsom, CA. For more information please visit: www.woundedveteranrun.com, or contact Courtney Hvostal, RD, at courtney@woundedveteranrun.com.  On the race website you are able to sign up online. Register today!