"That's the thing about running: your greatest runs are rarely measured by racing success. They are moments in time when running allows you to see how wonderful your life is," notes Olympic long-distance runner Kara Goucher. While Matt Nolan chased and found significant success as a runner, he celebrates the stories and perspectives born of running even more than his distinguished titles or long-standing place in the record books. A four-year varsity letter winner in cross country and three-year varsity letter winner in Track & Field, Nolan was a force to be reckoned with at every starting line. He was the DuPage Valley Conference cross country champion in his sophomore and junior years, placing second at the district championship as a sophomore. In his senior season, Nolan won the Proviso West Cross Country Invitational and placed 6th in the championship flight of the renowned Crete Monee Pow Wow Cross Country Meet. He raced to a 9th place finish at the 1980 USA Junior National Cross Country trials and was a runner-up in the TFA/USE National 10 Mile Championship’s 14-18 age group, finishing in 52:09. For as decorated as he was in cross country, Nolan truly shone in Track and Field. He set freshman, sophomore, and varsity school records for the 1600m and freshman and varsity records in the 3200m. Amazingly, his varsity records still stand 36 years later. A three-time DuPage Valley Conference Indoor Track & Field champion, Nolan won both the 1600m (1978 & 1979) and the 3200m (1979) during his tenure as a Redskin. He was a five-time DVC Outdoor Track & Field champion, medaling in the 4 x 880 relay (1978), 3200m (1979), and 1600m (1978-1980). In 1980, he set a DVC meet record of 4:08.5 in the 1600m and the Gil Dodds Memorial Trophy was retired in his honor. Nolan was a three-time IHSA Class AA District Track & Field Champion in the 4 x 800m relay (1979), 1600m (1980), and 3200m (1980) and a two-time district runner-up in the 1600m (1978 & 1979). He was a three-time IHSA state meet qualifier in the 1600m, a member of 3rd place 4x800m team (1979) that set a school record, and the 1980 IHSA Class AA state champion in the 3200m. Named a National High School Athlete Coaches Association All-American, a member of the NITCCA All-State Track & Field Team, and the NCHS Senior Male Athlete of the Year, Nolan’s senior year was a banner one. Every runner can tell the story of his favorite race and Nolan is no different. His 3200m state championship race will live forever in his mind and heart: “I remember seeing my coach, George Cyr, on the backside of the track and knowing he knew I was going to win…I was proud to be Cyr’s first state champion….Moments later, when I decided to jog a victory lap around the outside lane, I realized how incredibly spent I was. After the race, I remember I had never seen my mom so ecstatically happy in her life. That day was my day. My supporters, George and his wife, Mary Ann, my family, and I shared an emphatic victory. It was quite the incredible experience.” In that crowning moment of achievement, Nolan knew the sweetness of long-fought-for achievement and the greater gift of the joy in sharing it with others. After graduation, Nolan continued his running career at Auburn University, where he was the 7th runner on the 1980 SEC Cross Country championship team and was the freshman record holder for the indoor 1600m, running a 4:06.86. He later ran for North Central College, becoming a two-time Division III 1500m Track & Field All-American, placing 4th in 1983 and 2nd in 1985, all while setting school records in both the 800m and the 1500m. He was also a member of the NCAA Division III Cross Country National Championship team, running under legendary coach, Al Carius. Nolan graduated from North Central College with a BS in Math, Physics, and Computer Science and went on to earn a MS in Computer Science from U.C. Davis/Livermore. Life for Nolan is as interesting in the laboratory as it was on his feet. As a student at North Central, he helped design and construct a process for building electrochemical sensors for use in an IR100 award-winning device called a parameter spectrometer, whose purpose was to detect and quantify the presence of toxic vapors. After graduating from U.C. Davis/Livermore, Nolan was hired by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to write code for parallel processing supercomputers. He then began working on calibration of infrared sensors and a multi-spectral imaging camera to support the Brilliant Pebbles program as part of the Strategic Defense Initiative of the Ronald Reagan era. Several years later, he joined the Human Genome Project as part of the team at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory; they were tasked with completing genetic sequencing and assembly of chromosome 19. Nolan is listed as an author of the scientific publication of the human genome in the journal Nature. He has continued his work with the Joint Genome Institute funded by the Department of Energy, focusing on genomic sequencing since 1999. He is the co-author of over 200 scientific publications. The road Nolan has travelled is a storied one, lined with people who have made a definitive impact on his life. He has been married to wife, Karen Gibson for twenty-four years and is proud dad of three daughters, Lilah, Sara and Allison. In thinking about the miles he’s travelled over the years, Nolan offered this perspective: “You need to understand that everyone’s mind works a bit differently; some not like yours at all. Having some faults, weaknesses, is normal….I have adopted the expression, ‘Each of us is clueless in our own special way.’” Nolan intimately understands that true understanding of self and others only comes with time – and the passage of many, many miles in the race of life.