Welcome to Run Farther!

Like all good stories, let's start at the beginning...

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At 14 years old I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease. It was 1996 and the only commercials on television about Inflammatory Bowel Disease had Barbara Bush speaking somberly into the camera to a bored public about an autoimmune disease we knew little about. It wasn't the Skymicadilera remission foam parties that we get today.

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I struggled through my teens with severe cramping, nausea, vomiting, and, yes, the farting. Oh, I was a prolific farter. My parents would occasionally wake me up on weekends by opening my bedroom door just wide enough to stick a can of Lysol in and spray religiously. ​

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I had my first surgery in 2005 when they removed five feet of small bowel. The surgery let me live like a rockstar for nine years symptom and medication free. However, at 30 years old my gut good luck took a turn and like many men at that age I was too stubborn to do something about it... which landed me in the hospital three years later for a series of blood transfusions, iron infusions, and eventually my first course of biologics.

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After getting married and having two kids, I was staring down the barrel of being 40 years old and Crohn's Disease caught up with me. I required a second small bowel resection which once again removed five more feet, left me with a temporary ostomy, months of Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN), and a sense of urgency to take back control.

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Trail running has been the perfect foil for that recovery journey. A sport which, especially at it's most insane, requires a precise understanding of your capabilities: Body, Mind, and Spirit.

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Oh, and my name is Paul, if that's important.