About Me

Hi, and welcome to my blog.

I'm in my late 30s quickly approaching 40, which is weird to me because I don't feel much different than when I was in my early 20s.  It's been said that age is a state of mind, and I suppose that's true because I just don't feel middle aged, although I may be quickly approaching the point where I have less years left than I've lived.  That's a weird thought to me--I think I still suffer from the delusion that I'm not ever going to die...I'm too busy for that death crap.

I'm married to a lovely woman (I think I got it right the second time around) who gave me two more beautiful children to keep my oldest daughter on her toes.  My little family means the world to me, and they offer me so much support in their own little ways.  I'm not sure that we fit the mold of the perfect family, but we're finding our own way through all that life throws at us.  To round out our rowdy household we have a Golden Retriever named Maxwell the Great. 

Professionally speaking, I currently work as a critical care nurse, but I may soon be going to grad school to become a CRNA. I'm a little embarrassed to tell you that returning to grad school and acquiring my Masters in Anesthesia (MSN-A) and my Doctorate in Nursing Practice (DNP) will be my 5th and 6th degrees respectively.  (BS in Biology, BS in Human Anatomy, BS in Nursing, Doctorate of Chiropractic.)  Life has tossed me some serious curveballs, and there have been days where I haven't handled that particularly well.  Overall though, I think I'm doing alright.  I love to learn, (which I guess is obvious by the plethora of degrees I have tucked in my hatband), and I tend to absorb knowledge at an alarming rate.

I recently restarted running (you can read more about that under the "The Starting Line" tab) first as a means to lose this ridiculous amount of weight that I've allowed myself to gain.  Turns out I love it, and my weight loss journey has almost become secondary to improving myself as a runner.  Losing weight is now less about dropping pounds for the health benefits, and more about becoming a more efficient runner.  Lugging around all these extra pounds is seriously hampering my splits.  My goals at this point are a little loose.  I know I want to run a marathon, but I'm unsure if that will be a lifetime achievement, or if it will be a gateway race to ultra/trail running.  It all remains to be seen.  I may be a running newbie, but I'm also over-educated which annoyingly leads to me needing to understand "why" the majority of the time.  I'm either a know-it-all that doesn't know anything, or a novice that knows too much.  I'm not sure which yet.
Other than running, I love to read and learn, I'm an amateur photographer (I've taken all these pictures of my lovely family), and a backpacking junkie who loves backcountry camping.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by and taking a minute learn more about me.  Leave me a comment if you like, I love that!