Those who know me know that I wear lots of hats – I’m a distance runner, a social entrepreneur, an epidemiologist, and a dad. My goal with this site is to help other runners who lead and leaders who run – folks who also wear multiple hats and want to improve their running.

From a 3:25 to 2:42 marathon in four years

As a runner (you can follow me here on Strava), I love racing 10k’s, half marathons, and marathons around the world. In 2025, at age 39, I’ve run personal bests in the marathon (2:42 in Chicago), half marathon (1:17 in Geneva), and the 10k (34:19 in Bourg en Bresse) while my tech-for-good company (Vera Solutions) grew to nearly 140+ staff. As an entrepreneur, I’ve found that pursuing my potential as a runner has helped me grow as a leader and lead more effectively. As a coach, I help runners structure their training, refine their goals, tap into the latest science, and achieve big results.

I’ve been running since I was a little kid. My dad, an accomplished marathoner and cross country / track coach, instilled a love of running into me from age four. I competed through high school, specializing in middle distance on the track. I pivoted into competitive ultimate frisbee at Dartmouth College before moving to South Africa, where I ran my first half marathon in 2009 and played with the national ultimate team. I moved to London for my Masters and PhD and continued to play ultimate competitively while also getting talked into running my first marathon – Rome 2011 (where I ran 3:28 off of eight weeks of half-hearted training).

For the next six years, I got so swept up in academia and work that I lost sight of my running goals and my runner identity. But a leadership coach helped me rediscover it in 2017 and, since, I’ve been steadily training harder, learning more, and racing faster. So far, I’ve raced eleven half marathons (improving from 1:35 in 2020 to 1:17 in 2024) and seven marathons (improving from 3:25 in 2017 to 2:42 in 2025). I always mix in some shorter races, having run 10k and 5k PBs this year in addition to the marathon and half marathon PBs. In 2026, I’m running the Valencia 10k, Geneva Half Marathon, and still deciding which fall marathon to run.

I’ve launched RunToLead to share learnings and experience to help other running leaders achieve breakthroughs in their running, their careers, and their lives. So far, 100% of the runners I’ve coached 1-on-1 achieved PB’s in their first season. Some 2025 coaching highlights include Jack improving from 2:57 to 2:45 in Chicago (BQ), Jacob improving from 3:35 to 3:10 in Chicago, Rhone improving from 3:37 to 3:31 in Chicago, Russ improving from 3:01 to 2:53 in NYC, Felix improving from 3:30 to 2:56 in NYC, some completed their first marathon, and several others who shaved 20-30 minutes off their PBs.

I hope this site helps give you useful ideas for your running journey – races to check out, training approaches and workouts to try, and tips to help you grow as a runner and as a leader.

If I can help you out in any way, please get in touch!