We all have that one year.

So, some of you might know that this has been a big year for me. Full of big runs and quite a few PRs. So every now and again you see where your life is and you wonder how you got here. Anyone who knew me in let’s say 2007 would never have expected for me to end up where I am today. So? How does one go from spending every weekend at car shows, being way overweight, and having very little direction in their life end up here? How do you end up married, spending almost every free moment running, and on a very upward tract in your career? I know that the answer that you are expecting me to give would be “go run”, right? That is something I would say. But rather I think it is more complex than that, or maybe simpler. My life took a radically different turn in one year, and that year would change the course of my life and lead me to where I am today. While running was a big part of it that was not the only factor. And a quick recap of some of the highlights show it is amazing how much can change in just one year. So for this blog take a trip down memory lane as I take you through the year that changed my life the most (so far) 2010.

So I have to set this up a little, for it to make any kind of sense. So coming into 2009 I had fairly recently moved back to Tulsa (Glenpool really) and away from my family in Bristow. Now I did not grow up in Bristow I spend the majority of my formative years in Jenks. But my family moved to Bristow after I left for college, and I moved there for work after I left Stillwater in 2007. But the small town life of Bristow was just not working well for me, so I thought moving back to more familiar surroundings would be good for me. So obviously I was not super happy with my home situation. Then to add to that I was in a new role at work but was not meeting that role with a whole lot of success. And to top it all off I had fallen into the trap of overeating, and spending way more money than I had to things I did not need or most of the time even want. It was just a constant shuffle of things in and out of my life like I was searching for something. And anyone who has known me for a long time knows that this is something that I was known to do. I was always getting into different hobbies and whatnot, just moving the pieces of my life around to try and fill some void.

Early in the year I had been seeing someone, but that relationship fell apart (and for the better as we were not good together at all). So here I was spending a lot of time alone in this new big house and not really knowing what to do with myself. Mostly I spend my time watching HBO and falling asleep on the couch. Then my mother gave me a book, and that book was “Born to Run”. She told me that this book meant a lot to her and had affected her pretty powerfully. Now my mother has always been a runner, so just being a kid of course I was totally against running. You know how stupid we are growing up, anything that your parent likes is stupid. So I am not even really sure why I agreed to read the book, but I had a lot of free time on my hands so I figured what the heck. And if I am honest this book hit me hard. It really made me question what I was doing and what was important to me and it seemed to me that the people in this book had the same problem I did. They all had a void in their life that needed to be filled, so maybe this was a way to do it. Now remember at this time I am not running. So there I was sitting on my couch in Glenpool and thinking I have to do something with my life so I decide that I need to start eating better and get into shape if I want anything in my life to move in the right direction. So I hatched a plan to run from my house to the local Arby’s (honestly I thought of this a healthy food option at the time) one mile away according the magic of Google Maps. Digging through my closet I found some old mesh basketball shorts, a plain white cotton undershirt, and some crappy old tennis shoes that I used to mow the lawn and headed out the door. About 15 minutes later I was at Arby’s and sure that I was going to die. I sat there and ate something a caught my breath before making the trip back to the house. That little run would greatly affect my life, but I promise I am getting back to 2010. So that run took place in October of 2009, I ran my first 5k at the Tulsa Run at the end of that month. The Tulsa Run was the best race I could have selected for my first not only because it is a blast and one of the biggest in Tulsa, but because I remember often sitting at the finish line as a kid waiting for my mother to finish. So there was a lot of personal connection to the race. Soon after though I stupidly decided that I would run my first Half Marathon at the Williams Route 66 in November. The hunger for running was growing but going into the new year I needed to do something big. I mean I was losing weight and feeling better, but I was still doing this mostly by myself and just felt like I needed to move the needle in a big way. It would take something big.

Me finishing my first 5k phone in hand for music

The Medal from 2010

Notice the Styling white cotton Tee-shirt

At the beginning of the year I found what that would be, the 50k at Post Oak in February. I talked a little about that race last post, but at the time I signed up I did it because I basically thought it would be impossible. I have often been quoted as saying that goals are not goals if you know that you can do them. That just makes it something you can do. I honestly at this point assumed that I would try this, fail, and have to reset with something else. I mean really how could it be possible to run ten 5ks in a row, on trails, in the woods. Forget that I was reading about people running 100 miles, that was just in a book. This was for real and me that we are talking about. I was never going to survive the race. But I had a more fundamental problem right out of the gate, how does one train for a 50k? So like anyone who doesn’t know where to start I turned to Google. Even though it was just a few years ago, back in 2010 it was hard to find anything about training for an ultra. But I eventually found a plan for a 50 mile run. I figured, well if I do that I should be able to do a 50k no problem. But the program was full strange language that I did not understand, like 4x1600 to TMP. I reached out to the only place I could think of Runner’s World Tulsa. As a non-runner I had been there several times over the years to get my mother shoes for a birthday or Christmas or whatever. I was in luck when I call as Kathy the owner of Runner’s World Tulsa answered and she took pity on me (or was excited about sharing the suffering) and explain speed work. So I hung up the phone pretending like I knew what she was talking about only thinking to myself, how do you run at a certain pace? I mean at this point I had no gear, I was just keeping track of my distance by running the same loops that I had mapped out on the internet. So I did the only thing that I could think of and wrote all the parts of this work out on a big legal pad and went to the YMCA to jump on a treadmill to do the workout as prescribed. So basically I was being a big idiot but I was lucky that I had good people all around who were eager to help me out, because I am sure I looked like a professional running at my 11 minute pace and checking things off on this pad. So finally a longtime friend of the family Steve Lee (an amazing all-around athlete) came up to me and said, “what in the hell are you doing?” After explaining my stupid plan, he told me that there was a group that training on Turkey Mountain on Saturday mornings. He said this group would be able to help me out and that they would be doing some training runs out at Post Oak as well. It was clear I should hook up with them and see what I they could teach me. And just like that TATUR (Tulsa Area Trail and Ultra Runners) became part of my life. On the first run out there it was cold and dark (7am in December) and I showed up late. Having no idea where they would be running I just took off on the only marked trail I saw (great ultra-running tactic) and hoped for the best. And when I somehow amazingly caught up to the back of the group I ran into one Mr. Randy Ellis, one of the best runners and for sure one of the best people you could ever meet on the trail. This running legend made me feel welcome in the group and assured me that my dreams of the Post Oak 50k were not stupid. It was just what a scared new runner needed to hear. To this day I still look up to Randy as one of my running idols, and just an amazing human being.

Randy During A Race

His book about running across the country. Oh did I forget to mention that?

Meeting the TATUR group was one of the best things that could have happened. The whole group was all over my plan of running this first 50k, and many of them had already done that kind of distance or further. So they became not only big supporters, but a wealth of knowledge. So with this group behind me I completed my first 50k, and then soon after I was in all kinds of ultras. The 6-hour Snake Run, Lake McMurty, and then what would become a big goal for me that year the Midnight Madness 50 mile run. In preparation for this I was doing all kinds of races and any other running event I could find. One such event was taking part in Lisa Smith-Batchen’s quest to run 50 miles in every state in the US. I ended up running the entire 50 miles with her while she was in Tulsa. Not only did I learn lessons from her that I still quote to this day, but I also ended up with my photo in Runner’s World magazine when they did a story on the run. So here I am only a few months into 2010 and I have gone from a new runner to that ultra-guy who is at every local race. I really came out of nowhere, but most of the people who knew me before just figured this was the latest fad for Stormy and soon enough I would move onto something else. Surprisingly it seems that they would be wrong on this one.

This is actually the flier from when she was in Tulsa

That is me in the Green Shirt (without beard)

So here we are into this story a little ways and still all we have talked about is running. I promise that this year being important was not just about running, there were so many other little things that happened that year that seem like not a big deal and would turn into major events. For example, early in the year while running a little 15k trail race in Eureka Springs AR, a place that I visited as a kid but had not though much about since, I meet a man named Shannon McFarland. We finished the race right next to each other he burned me on a big downhill right before the finish line and came in 10^th and I came in 11^th. I don’t know why but at that time finishing in the top ten was a big deal to me. Anyways we talked for a while after the event, he kept blabbing on about this half marathon in Bentonville that I had to come up and run. I didn’t ever follow up with him even though he seemed like a nice guy, and then it turned out we ran a bunch of events through the next year without realizing the other was at the same event. In fact, we would run our first 100-mile race together without even knowing it. But eventually we got on the same page and now Shannon is one of my best friends. This reintroduction to Eureka would also be important, but more on that later.

It is hard to see but that is me in the Red and Shannon next to me.

We had not met at this point.

As I said at the beginning 2009 at my work was not going very well, and moving into 2010 I was not doing much better. Running would eventually be a great outlet to allow me to focus in on my work, but it started as a big distraction. But during the year other things would happen that would change my professional path. I was asked by my work to take part in a professional leadership training class that the company (J-W Energy) was holding in Dallas. It would be a four-part class taking place over four weeks throughout the year. Basically you would go for a week of meetings in this hotel near the home office, then we would come back a month later. I have always liked these self-help type of classes, and it was neat but I didn’t really think much would come of it. With the benefit of time on my side I know that in that year I would make business connections that would rocket me through the organization over the next few years. The curriculum itself would not be near as valuable as the people that I was able to learn from. Also, my enthusiasm for the opportunity came through and I made a good impression on group. By the end of that year those business connection, particularly with a man that would become my boss for a large part of the next 6 years Gene Gradick Jr, would be some of the most influential that I would ever have. I continued to work and learn from most of those individuals and we able to see that I was derailing myself from my career path. With their guidance I really changed my work life and have been blessed with a fair amount of success as a result.

Another small event that would become the major driver of my life came from a small race I decided to take part in, on June 6^th 2010. The race is not held any more but was fun and a neat concept. The race was called the TATUR Estim8ur. In this race you would run on an unknown course, any kind of personal timing equipment was not allowed. All you know before the start of the race was the distance, 8 miles. The goal of the race was not to win (or be the first across the finish line) but rather every runner is made to guess what their finishing time will be and at the end whoever comes closest to that time wins. So really it is anyone’s guess who will come out on top. To make it interesting you place your estimated finish time on your back so other can decide if you know what you are doing and run your pace. At the time of this race I was racing a lot, so my running was progressing pretty well. As such I was running much faster than I had planned and the next thing I know I was the first runner to cross the finish line. This would have been my first overall victory (had it been that kind of race) and I was excited about how well the run went, but I was about 2 minutes ahead of my estimated time. Needless to say I lost by a lot. At the end of the race I was hanging around and started talking with the lady that won the race. She finished within two seconds of her estimated time. We had a good laugh about the whole race, and how I crossed first and yet she totally kicked my butt. As we talked I found out that on the course she had ran into my mother and talked with her for a while. Well we kept talked for a while, as I am quite chatty, but the whole time I was trying to figure out if the guy she ran with was a friend or like more than a friend. This question would not get answered that day rather we ran out of time. She told me that her mother was in town and she had to meet her for breakfast. So, before I knew what had happened she was gone and I was just hanging out by myself again thinking about what to do next. I wanted to be able to talk with her again but in all my chatting I never asked for any contact information. I only knew her name, Brynna.

This was actually the banner from the previous year

After the race I actually ended up going out to my parent’s house to spend the day. And I was distracted, I just couldn’t get this girl out of my mind. I really felt like I had missed my chance to see what could have come of us hanging out. So, then I did something I have never done before, Facebook stalking. LOL, ok not really stalking but I looked her name up on Facebook and sent her a message. At this time, I really didn’t know if she was in a relationship or what, and pretty much just felt like a creeper for contacting someone like this. Particularly someone that I had only just kind of met. I am pretty sure this is a textbook runner horror story. You are a girl and finish a race, then you talk to some weirdo just trying to be nice and the next thing you know he is sending you Facebook messages. That was what was going through my mind until to my great surprise she wrote me back. Soon she agreed to meet up with me and go for a run. I know, total shocker, I get a girl to agree to meet up with me and I still want to go for a run. I am basically super romantic. Anyways we went for this run, and I was dragging her all over the Riverside trails, until she finally told me that she was done with the running. So we walked back to our cars, and spent the next hour or so talking in the parking lot until she said she had to get home. She later told me that her sister was waiting for her to call to make sure I didn’t kill her or something. So she was gone again but not before your man got her to agree to plans for a second meeting (still not calling it dates at this point) to not run but go to the lake. And the rest my friends is history. We continued to hang out, and even went on an official date finally to the Philbrook Museum like fancy people. And she was able to slowly find out that I was not a causal runner and that I basically embodied the difference between a runner and a jogger (as Dean Karnazes once said, “The difference between a runner and a jogger is that a jogger still has control of his life.”) and still she did not run away. But rather she took it all like a champ and even went to the magical Eureka Springs with me for a running weekend. And as we all know that is the true sign of love. If you take someone to a weird place that you love for reasons that make no sense and they love it too, then you have a keeper. She agreed to pace me for the final 10 miles of my fifty-mile race, and saw me at my most vulnerable. When you have been running all night it is hard to put up an act. Anyways, the moral of the story is that a few weeks ago I finally married that girl. For reasons that elude me she agreed to all of this. Despite me proposing during the middle of the Victorian Classic 10k in (you guessed it) Eureka Springs, with most of our friends along for the trip.

Brynna Helping me at the end of Midnight Madness

Brynna and I right before the Start of the Mother Road 100

As for the rest of 2010, I would that year run my first 50-mile official race (despite having gone that distance with Lisa during her 50 mile run in Tulsa) the Midnight Madness, and by the end of the year run my first 100-mile race. The Mother Road 100 from Baxter Springs, KS to Catoosa, OK. I only ended up running that race because a good friend of mine and a very gifted runner (and cyclist) Jason McGinnis had to drop out at the last minute due to injury. I had been training to run the Williams Route 66 marathon in Tulsa and had not run longer than 18 miles for a while. But I figured what the heck and gave it a try. I was only able to finish with the help of some amazing people like Kathy Hoover the wonderful owner of Runner’s World Tulsa, Ken and Dana Childress who are masterminds of this kind of distance, Jason who came out and paced me in for the final bit, and of course Brynna who drove around all over creation to crew me for this mess. As of yet I have not bested my finish from that race, crossing the line at 23 hours and 10 mins (maybe Western will be the lucky race to make that time fall, lol). I was down for the count after that race, in case you are wondering 100 miles on pavement is not awesome for the feet. But the next weekend I was still signed up for the Route 66 marathon and I hated to miss out. So I stayed off my feet for the whole week and then jumped into the marathon just hoping not to die. I was somehow able to finish in 3 hours and 38 minutes and received the “my first marathon” medal. Did I mention that it was my first marathon? Yeah with all the jumping straight from 5k’s into ultra-running I had never got around to running a marathon so that was my first. It was a great experience and I have made that race a part of my running calendar every year since.

Jason and Brynna bringing me in at the finish of my first 100

Andy, Aaron and I before Route 66

I know that is whole rambling post has been a little disjointed. If I want to be honest I wrote it over the course of several weeks. I have been meaning to be a lot more punctual about my blog post, but with the wedding and all the travel I just have not made time for it like I had hoped to. But, if you guys will stick with me I am really going to try and keep making an effort to keep this up. Just like this post I think it is very important that we look back on where we came from when we get a chance. Who knows what little things in our everyday life will have ripples that we will feel years down the road. I would have never thought that getting overly excited about running races would not only have given me some of my closest friends, but would also lead me to meet my future wife. And if we don’t take the time to appreciate the little things that happen and keep those stories alive we could lose some great moments. I mean really one of the things that made it take so long to write this post was that I had way too much to talk about. Even just looking at that one year, if I wanted to write down every major event that happened to me, this post would be 100 pages long. I encourage anyone reading this today to look back and think, what was a year that changed your life? I bet if you are like me, you might be able to pick one and talk about a lot of big things that happen on year “x”. But the truth is that these little moments are happening all the time, and even though we might have big accomplishments in any given year (like running your first ultra) the big movers of our lives are not those. Running that big race or buying a new house might seem like a big deal at the time, but it is the chance encounters and happy accidents that your will be talking about 10 years from now.

For the next post I will try and get back on track, but until then Go Run Tulsa, you never know maybe this one will change your life.