The first race ever held on Catalina Island to my knowledge was a 10k in Avalon in 1977. I entered because I had never been to Catalina and as it turned out, I absolutely loved the weekend experience there. I got notice that in 1978, Hans Albrecht was organizing the first Catalina Marathon, and I jumped at the chance to run through the interior of the island. There were only 40 of us runners entered in the first marathon, but almost everyone came back the next year and spread the word to our friends. For years, the Catalina Marathon kept growing but still seemed more like a reunion of friends than merely a race. There was no morning boat for the first 15 years and the fact that all runners camped out together was a big factor in establishing the traditions that made the Catalina Marathon special. Speaking for myself, the Catalina Marathon experience attracted me like a magnet for 41 years and encouraged me to prepare for peak performance every year that I was physically able to train as a competitive runner. There were a few years when I was recovering from injuries, but I was always able to show up to the starting line even if it meant doing a considerable amount of walking. One year, I even had my arm in a cast.

After 50 years of running and well over 100,000 miles in my log book, I am no longer able to run on a daily basis. However, I still spend a lot of time on my road and mountain bikes and manage to stay in fairly good shape. Wanda and I travel a lot and we have a second home in Idaho. I continue to get a lot of enjoyment out of spending time on trails, especially in the mountains. I love the experience of discovering a trail I have never run on before and am always ready to do some exploring. I no longer race competitively and Catalina Marathon is now a challenge of distance not of time. While running and walking Catalina, I really enjoy talking to other runners and of course do a lot of looking around at the beautiful scenery on the island.

I am probably thought of as an old school runner because I still represent the runners from the sixties and seventies who maintained simplicity in both training and racing. Even though I love listening to music at home, I never run with headphones. I also do not wear a fanny pack nor carry anything to slow me down with the exception of a hand held water bottle. I do not consume any special nutritional products designed for runners. However, I do have a GPS watch because I have always been interested in time, distance, and elevation. I believe that running and especially racing is a mental exercise where the focus is on the interaction between the sense of effort and the pace. Without distractions, that focus can lead to relaxation and visualization of the body moving at maximum efficiency. I also believe that visualization is the key to ultimately achieve the most challenging goals.