I'm a born-again runner. I started running again when I was in my mid-30s. My kids got me into it.

The Edmonton Journal had a 10k road race and there was a little fun run associated with that. My older son was going in the 10k race and my younger son wanted to go in the short one. And my wife said sure, as long as dad goes with you. And dad was this portly 238-pounder, a smoker. Like so many people I threw my energy into my family, work and community endeavors, and I neglected my own wellness.

For me it was a wake-up call. It made me realize I'd better do something about my own wellness. So I started to run.

Over a period of time I lost the weight, quit smoking and started doing fun runs. Eventually I got into marathons and people were saying, "Wow, how did you go through this transformation?" And that got me thinking.

There were lots of places selling running shoes and technical gear, but there wasn't a specific running resource centre for people like me. For people who were runners, who were athletic and had always been that way, buying gear wasn't an issue. But for somebody like me who’d been away from it for a while and wanted to return, who needed that knowledge, needed that motivation and encouragement, there wasn't anything like running groups.

So that's why I started the Running Room.