I first started running seriously my freshmen year of HS when I joined the cross-country team for no good reason. It's not the sexiest sport but it's as tough as any other out there. Best shape of my life was during the summer of '95 before I moved to Texas. That was a hell of a summer - we trained 6 mornings a week and I did a minimum of 6 miles a day plus warm-up and cool-down runs. My blood pressure was down to 90/60 and I consistently keep pace w/ 18-minute 3 mile-ers during practice. Unfortunately, I never ran a race while in that condition and my PR stands at 21:04 (ran fall of 94) which is pretty poor.

Since HS I've continued running off and on for health reasons but have never come close to approaching my fitness level of the summer of '95. I continue to run today, alternating between the treadmill and track.