My walking story, and the concept for this blog, begins in Sept of 2004, when my health reached rock bottom.

At the ripe old age of 49, I was forced to retire from my 27 year career as a Respiratory Therapist ( seems I was spending more time as a patient in the hospital, than as an employee in one.)

Despite being constantly short of breath, out of shape and unable to work full time, I couldn't allow myself to just lay around the house and feel sorry for myself. I decided, instead, to try some physical re-conditioning to see if I could maintain what little lung function I had left; shed some of the weight I had gained from years of steroid use, and perhaps, even beat the odds by living longer and happier than I'm supposed to.

At first I tried a little swimming and running, but they left me instantly winded. By default,I took up fitness walking (little did I know that I would actually come to love and excel in the sport.) At first I was so out of shape, I could barely walk a few blocks without suffocating; and on many days I was too short of breath to walk at all. Despite the concerns and doubts of some, I kept pushing myself to go a little farther each time.

A year later on 7-31-2005, I walked 13.1 miles in just over 3 hours, successfully completing my first half marathon. Then on 10-1-2006 , I did what others said was not possible..... I walked 26.2 miles at the Portland Marathon !

Though I may look healthy on the outside,on a good day my lung function is only 35-40% of normal, making endurance training.... incredibly difficult at time! Marathon walking is no exception! I've trained very hard to be able to walk as far and as fast I can today, and my doctors still can't figure out how I do it.

My goal now is to keep breaking barriers for as long as I can , and to demonstrate that anything is possible if you have the will and the passion.

Daily exercise is ESSENTIAL ! if you wanna live a half way normal life with chronic lung disease.

Oh....Did I mention that I'm also a......

Yup, I'm a guy and I and a big time "fanilow". It's good music blaring in my ears thats helps me forget I'm short of breath when I'm training for these long walks!

• About My Medical History
• Pulmonary Function Tests
• My ABG's during an attack
• My Doctor
• Where Im studied
• My home away from home

In my quest to become a more fluid and faster walker, I decided to explore the world of racewalking. Not knowing the first thing about this Olympic sport, I attended one of Dave Mc Govern's famous World Class Racewalking clinics. I didn't have the lung capacity to participate in all the the track workouts, but I still learned a lot, and by the end of the weekend........I was hooked BIG TIME!

I don't have the lungs to racewalk very far, so instead, I use a combination of traditional fitness walking methods mixed with intervals of "Legal" racewalking thrown in for good measure.

In March 2007, I completed another clinic and my technique improved dramatically. I'm now considered by Dave Mc Govern, -- a bonafide racewalker!

To date, I've completed 6 half marathons and 3 full marathons using a combination of racewalking and regular fitness walking techniques.

I know that I'll never be able to racewalk competitively, but given the nature of my disability,this more efficient walking style has allowed me to move much faster and farther than I ever dreamed I could.

My ultimate goal now is to finish a marathon in under 6:15 which I believe would make me one of the fastest lung challenged marathon walkers in the world!

Below is a clip of me racewalking the Al Zampa Memorial Bridge in Crockett, California.

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