My experience 35+ years ago on the Bucknell Cross Country team was foundational for me. That is where I learned about the value of working as a team (“the strength of the wolf is the pack and the strength of the pack is the wolf”), and the idea of working hard on a consistent basis (100 mile weeks for 4 years will make you a pretty good runner) over a period of years to achieve goals.

I hunted down this article written by one of my Captains, Bob Braile, in 1995 – nearly 20 years after he ran. I think it captures perfectly the kind of influence running can have on someone’s life. And on the core roots of building a company like RunSignUp | GiveSignup.

Around 2004 I started to help out Lorenzo Eagles as a volunteer assitant coach for the Moorestown High School Cross Country team.  I continued thru 2014, when I ran out of time to be able to participate like I should (although I still help organize the annual Turkey Trot). In the early days I got a bonus, my daughters ran on the girls team and I would get to see them every day at practice. It was a great experience where we grew the team from the typical 15-20 runners to over 70 boys on the team.

In 2007 Dave Welsh of the Haddonfield Running Company and I opened up the Moorestown Running Company. Joe Halin, Ralph Harris, Ed Scioli, Colleen Tindall, and Mo Shockley were all important parts of that fun journey.  Due to the time that RunSignUp took, I sold my half of the store to Dave in October, 2012.  But I still visit every week since I can walk from RunSignUp to the store and grab a slice of pizza or a sandwich next door on Main Street in Moorestown.

Lorenzo Eagles and I started the Moorestown Turkey Trot in 2004 as a fundraising activity for the Cross Country Team. At the time we did not have a home cross country course, and we raised money for building and maintaining the course. It took us several years, but we got it done!

Today the Turkey Trot is an annual tradition in town with over 1,000 people coming out on Thanksgiving morning each year.

In 2006 I started helping my friend Bill Van Fossen with the Scott Coffee Run, a 1,000+ person 8K in Moorestown. That is when I first used Active.com, and thought about doing something different and better.