In December of 2009 I was a couch potato. I've run over 650 miles since then. In preparation for the Can Lake 50 mile run on October 9, I plan on running another 950. The total is roughly 1600 miles. That is almost the equivalent distance from my house in Morristown, New Jersey to Dallas, Texas. I have spent the past 20 weeks running more than I have in my entire life. On May 2, 2010, after the first 18 weeks of training, I completed the New Jersey Marathon. My time was below average (5:37). I'm 40 years old and am by no means a great runner. I went to my doctor to see if I was healthy enough to do this. He looked at me skeptically and said, "but you have a pot belly..." It was true. I wasn't in good shape. Since my training began I've lost almost 30 lbs. I plan to lose another 15 to 20.

After reading a couple of books on ultra-marathon running and going through the training for the New Jersey Marathon I decided to make it a goal to run 50 miles in less than 12 hours. In addition to trying to achieve this seemingly impossible goal I wanted to raise funds for a good cause. My thoughts immediately went to Africa, the "forgotten continent". I felt the immense task of running this kind of race lent itself to the immense cause of trying to help (in some small way) children of poverty, AIDS and war. After speaking to a Congolese colleague of mine I decided to raise funds specifically with the Run for Congo organization. To learn more, navigate through this site and read some of the articles that are referenced.