Member Profile

Bio: My childhood and adolescent years were spent as a bookworm and nerd (before being nerdy was a good thing). While I enjoyed outdoor activities and nature—hiking, biking, scuba diving—I did not display any evidence of athletic talent with the exception of discipline and resilience and perhaps some level of competitiveness, at least where it applied to scholarly efforts.
Although I toyed with becoming a forest ranger or oceanographer, I ended up pursuing medicine and a course consistent with my studious youth, spending my young adult years in school earning multiple advanced degrees and completing a couple of medical residencies.
I started running in my mid-thirties as an efficient way to get in some exercise and time outdoors during fellowship training (and there was a really nice and convenient trail that circled the Duke golf course). As I found myself with more leisure time I bought a road and then a mountain bike. My efforts were mostly of a recreational nature and other than an occasional “fun run” I never raced. However I was inspired enough by the efforts of others to add a marathon and a triathlon to my “to do at some point in my life when I have the time to train”.
Fast forward a decade or two and I realized there was never going to be “a point in my life when I have the time to train”. After finishing a couple of half marathons I determined it was time to go for a marathon in 2009—I completed it undertrained and in freak sleet/snow storm. The following year I started my journey as a triathlete.
Immediately I found that I enjoyed training as a triathlete much more than training as a runner. After recognizing some progress in a year of “winging” it in terms of training I decided to see what I could do with QT2 and a more structured/scientific approach. With QT2 I have progressed steadily, improving race execution and performance and taking on longer and more challenging races. As it turns out, discipline and resilience do seem to be helpful.