Todd Brown for Fiscal Responsibility   Who I Am

My name is Todd Brown and I have lived in Rocky Hill for the past 20 years. I am married to Kim Brown, we have no children unless you want to count our dogs which are family to us. My hobbies define me as much as my work does. The hobby that consumes the most of my time is distance running. While people often talk of the loneliness of the distance runner, my long runs are often runs spent talking with friends while we run the miles away. The conversation like our running can go in any direction. I was very competitive as a twenty something runner and while not as fast today I still am fairly competitive. My passion is now my running streaks rather than finishing times. A streak is a consecutive number of finishes. The three streaks I have that I am proudest of are the Mount Washington Road Race, it is a race up the auto road and for those who have not been to the top of Mount Washington it is 7.6 miles at an average grade of 11.5%. I first ran Mount Washington in 1998 and have not missed a year since; my streak stands at 15 in a row. My first Boston Marathon was the 99th Boston in 1995 and I have not missed a year since. My streak at Boston is at 18 and my goal is to make the Quarter Century Club, 25 consecutive runnings as a qualified runner. My longest streak is at the Manchester Road Race on Thanksgiving Day. I first ran Manchester in 1977, the last year Amby Burfoot won. Amby currently has a streak of 49 consecutive finishes compared to mine of 35 to become 36 in November. But my streak started at an earlier age, with my body able, I should be able to eclipse his streak, although it will be a sad day when Amby is no longer running Manchester. I served on the Board of the Hartford Track Club. I still host two Winter Series events for the club. The Winter Series are more group runs than races, but some people choose to compete more than be social. I also organize a runners' bus to the Boston Marathon every April for the Hartford Track Club. More than half the riders are repeat riders and the bus trip feels like an annual family reunion. I am a member of the High Pointers Club. The goal of the club is to stand on the highest ground on each of the 50 states. I currently have 41 states to my credit; the states remaining on my list are all in the western United States. I am currently organizing the 2014 High Pointers convention to be held in Tennessee. I have been competing in the Connecticut River Raft Race since college. It is a quirky event where people with few nautical skills attempt to race down river. I have served on the board of directors for the raft race. I grew up in Glastonbury. My mother still lives in the house that our family bought when I was three. I purchased my paternal grandparents house from my grandmother's estate. The house has been in our family since 1958 and I had many fond memories from my childhood in that house. While the house was going through probate I had the opportunity to buy my maternal grandparents house in Glastonbury and chose not to buy it. I was single and the house was larger than I needed. While I would have liked to have owned a house built in 1746, it needed more time and work than I wanted to take on. By virtue of being a larger house in Glastonbury its cost of ownership, taxes, insurance, maintenance and utilities would have been higher every year. Those decisions speak a wealth about me. I have respect for where I came from and yet I also am a frugal spender. The choice my grandfather made in buying that house in Rocky Hill was still a very good choice when I bought the house. The other grandparent's house while very nice was more than I needed. I drive a 2009 Volkswagen Jetta Sportwagen TDI. TDIs are diesel powered. I get over 40 miles per gallon with the VW. The vehicle is also large enough to hold both of our bicycles inside or a week's worth of camping gear. While we could have afforded a larger vehicle my frugal nature made it clear to purchase only as much car as I needed. I went to college at SUNY Buffalo and Central Connecticut State University. I initial was a Physics major, but switched to Chemistry. I currently work at a small family owned manufacturing company doing a combination of R&D and Analytical Chemistry. Analytical Chemistry is very exacting work; it requires very good record keeping. Any method you use to get results must be documented. Any results you submit must be reproducible. Being a small company I also am in charge of our hazardous waste disposal. I also coordinate all internal audits for our ISO 9001.2008 certification. Previously I worked at Loctite, now Henkel here in Rocky Hill. I am a political novice. However I will be part of the Connecticut House Republicans and they have a wealth of experience to share. I will be ready to represent Rocky Hill and the rest of District 29 on my first day in office.