Miles for Mike makes a Global Impact bringing awareness to Stop Soldier Suicide

My running journey started in 2007. I spent a decade working on my fitness, running road miles and chasing as many half marathons and marathon finishes as I could Just me? I know better. Things changed in an instant on Memorial Day, 2017. While I’m thankful for that first season of running, the 7plus years since have been even more impactful My day started with an early morning run before a day at Disney World with my family. Hours later, I received a call from Ohio that my brother, Mike, a Navy veteran, had died by suicide. Of all the things I didn’t know during the next 24 hours, I knew running would be part of my healing process. The next day, my running journey ended, and my running mission started. As difficult as it was in the hours after his death, I was thankful to be able to turn to running to help process my grief My running immediately had a new purpose, a new motivation. In the months and year that passed, my miles slowed. I found trail running. I replaced finish lines with mountain ridges, sunsets, and hours lost (sometimes not on purpose) on the trail, focused on keeping my brother’s memory moving forward. I feel closest to him up on the trails. He was an avid rock climber, and I feel like we’re climbing mountains together now.

In the years since, Miles for Mike has continued to grow, and I hope to inspire others to not only find their trail shoes but also to raise awareness and support in the fight against suicide within the military community.

A year later, in 2018, I decided to run my first ultra marathon in his honor, the Cloudland Canyon 50k As I struggled to keep pace and make checkpoints, I carried his old Cincinnati Reds hat in my running vest Nobody wore hats like he did, and I had decided to only put it on if I was going to finish With about 4 miles to go, I took the hat out, put it on, and powered to the finish

In 2018, I started Miles for Mike in his honor Mostly a virtual effort, we met at a local lake trail on Memorial Day to run 22 miles in recognition of the veterans and service members lost each day to suicide Some ran 22 Some walked 2 Others participated around the country as the #milesformike hashtag began to show up all over the United States. Then, in 2020, with the passing of my dad, a 3-tour Vietnam Veteran, I decided to run an ultra-marathon in his honor I completed the 36-mile Georgia Jewel here in Dalton, Georgia, celebrating my two favorite veterans with some meaningful miles on some beautiful North Georgia trails. In the years since, Miles for Mike has continued to grow, and I hope to inspire others to not only find their trail shoes but also to raise awareness and support in the fight against suicide within the military community In 2023, I had bracelets made, with Miles for Mike and Stop Soldier Suicide printed on them. The bracelets have shown up everywhere. My goal was to reach all 50 states. They are now represented in Canada, Europe, Japan, Africa, South America, Greenland, and Iceland – and almost all 50 states If anyone is reading from South Dakota, Nebraska, Utah, New Mexico, Arkansas, or Vermont, we need to talk I didn’t know about the suicide crisis when Mike died. In the months after his passing, I started doing running challenges for an organization called Stop Soldier Suicide I was able to share Mike’s story through message boards and was thankful to interact with members of the Stop Soldier Suicide team.