Born in Titusville, Florida, I have lived in Jacksonville since I was two years old. I attended high school (Edward H. White Sr. High) here and went to work for the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office shortly thereafter. I worked as both a Dispatcher and Reserve Police Officer, with a combined 16 years of service.

Realizing that career opportunities were limited without a college degree, I made the decision to attend college when I was in my mid-twenties and began applying to schools in and outside of Florida. My primary selection of schools were in Pennsylvania and I was accepted to Dickinson College (Carlisle, Pennsylvania), where I matriculated in January 1996.

I stayed on with the Sheriff’s Office as a part-time employee while I was away at school, though adventures at Dickinson (anthropology field school in Cameroon, neuro research on campus) kept me away more than expected and my state certification was in jeopardy by the time I returned. Rather than go through the academy again, I let it expire and left law enforcement for good. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t miss it.

I entered the IT field and worked in several capacities, as an Operations Analyst and a Six Sigma Black Belt, both in the outsourcing industry. I later followed my mentor to another company and worked with him until 2011 when I left to become a contract consultant.

After a decision to quit smoking in 2007, I began running marathons with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team In Training (TNT) program. I completed the Disney Marathon in January 2008 and was hooked. I completed seven half- and full marathons that year, even becoming a running coach for the TNT program.

I found time between races to marry my girlfriend of six years, also an avid runner, in March 2008.

Interested in cycling and wanting to try my hand at triathlons, I purchased a road bike in late 2008 and a triathlon (or time trial) bike in early 2009. That year I completed a triathlon of every distance, ranging from the short and fast Sprint distance to the Ironman triathlon distance of 140.6 miles.

These days, I still compete in triathlons, though my goals are more performance-based than just hoping to complete the distance. I am racing in another Ironman in fall 2012.