Before they were grandparents, they were champions
Before Dan was a grandfather, he was a few other things, including someone else’s grandson, but that is another story. He was a boy and son, student, athlete, scholar, student some more, graduated from UBC as a Food Scientist and worked in Research at General Foods (Ontario), husband, became a student again (Guelph) and then again (UBC), then started working with his shiny new PhD, yes in Food Science, for the Research Branch of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (Nova Scotia).
Somewhere around the end of being a student Dan became a father and after starting work, father again a couple more times. To be a grandfather, first you gotta be a Dad. He was a researcher, then research manager (BC) and all the while was running all over the place, literally - even doing a marathon. Somewhat to his own surprise he found himself a diplomat over in Brussels. Later he left the government for industry but the research/research management theme continued, as did the running – even though he and his wife lived in Malaysia for almost two years. He invented stuff and wrote things, lots of things, but mostly scientific and technical. He traveled for work and fun, and just kept running (over 20 countries now, racing in four).
In 2003 he retired, but kept running and kept writing – a book and a blog called Running in the Zone, and took up coaching and race directing. Then it happened. In 2006 Charlie was born and Dan was a Grandfather. But, he kept running and writing and then was discovered and became an actor! Now, here he is – a story teller.
- We’d like to thank Dan for this fantastic guest post. If you live in the Vancouver BC area and would like to hear Dan tell one of his stories in person, RSVP to our “Before they were grandparents…” live event this Thursday!
