Featured Interview With Author Joe Drake
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
My wife, Lynn, and I raised our children in California’s Silicon Valley. We retired to Seattle in 2018, near where Lynn grew up, after I found out that I had Parkinson’s disease. Retirement allows me to focus on my health: I learned that vigorous exercise can slow the progression of Parkinson’s and so I started running seriously. In 2019 I ran my first marathon and have run 14 more since.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I was class valedictorian in high school yet I never learned to read for enjoyment until I read “Catch 22” the summer after graduation. It blew me away. I had no idea that reading books could be fun! Since then I have been an avid reader but I did not start writing seriously until retirement.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My tastes are varied. I love well-crafted fiction (Ken Follett, David Mitchell), quirkier stuff (Douglas Adams, Joseph Heller, Graeme Simsion, Kurt Vonnegut), and enlightening non-fiction (Michael Lewis, Bill Bryson). I am a retired engineer and in my writing I strive to educate, entertain, and inspire.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My debut memoir “Run With It: A True Story of Parkinson’s, Marathons, the Pandemic, and Love” details my journey as a person living with Parkinson’s disease (PD). To combat the disease I took up marathoning (Vigorous exercise is the only therapy that has been verified as effective for slowing and even stopping the progression of the disease) and I set a goal of running all the World Marathon Majors in 2021. These are annual races in Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago, and New York City”. Normally the events take place from March to November but the pandemic forced them to be rescheduled into a tight 6-week period in the fall. Two of them (Chicago and Boston) were held on consecutive days. It was an insane objective and as far as I know only one other person besides myself ran in all of them. Between training and running these races I developed a method for thriving despite PD and my book is my effort to share that approach with anyone else so afflicted. All profits from the sale of the book are donated to Parkinson’s research. I self-published the book 8 months after finishing the last of these marathons (New York City).
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