I was 44 years old when I started running.

My motivation was to quit smoking. I had tried the pills and the patch, hypnosis and acupuncture, cold turkey and wild turkey – nothing had helped me quit smoking.

Then one night, I watched a movie called Happy with my oldest son.

At one point, the narrator said that a person gets the same endorphin rush from running as from smoking a cigarette.

The very next morning, I threw on a pair of ratty old sweat-pants, sneakers better suited for lawn-mowing and…

I wheezed and gagged and coughed, and a block later, had to walk. I finished only one mile, but the feeling I had when I was done was better than any cigarette that I smoked.

I’ve largely been quit smoking since June 2015.

I run about 1,000 – 1,500 miles a year including about 2 dozen races. Mostly the races are 5k and 10k races, but I do a few half-marathons, and one marathon, each year.

As of 2020, I’ve run four marathons.

I ran the New York City Marathon in 2016, Chicago Marathon in 2017, the Three Bridges Marathon in 2018. and the Marine Corps Marathon in 2019.

My youngest son is diagnosed with Down Syndrome, and it is important that we fight for inclusion and civil rights for individuals with the diagnosis.

So in 2018, became an Athlete Ambassador for the National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS) and ran 250 miles – from Washington,DC, to New York City – to raise awareness for 2018 World Down Syndrome Day.

If you are over the age of 40, I want to encourage and motivate you to start running, in the hope that it changes your life like it did mine.

The idea for this podcast is simple: record my runs and share them in a podcast. How you use the episodes is up to you, but here are a few ideas.

You can follow me on Facebook or Instagram, or sign up to receive email updates from me directly.

If you enjoy the podcast, please consider supporting it as a Patron.

Now that that is out of the way…Let’s Go For a Run.