Jeff is the one of the left.

Envision the inner workings of a machine: pistons moving up and down, belts turning, cylinders firing, pumps pumping, and motors running full speed. Now envision the inside of someone's head working just as powerfully turning thoughts and ideas into reality a hundred miles a minute.

Jeff Van Horn's interior wiring has given him a gift that has enabled him to inject the necessary fuel into not just one but two independently owned Virginia running stores, purposely and yet most naturally named Virginia Runner.

I had the pleasure of spending a couple days with Jeff at a SuperFeet dealer visit in Bellingham, Washington. He is 42 years old, tall, medium to thin build, with a light olive complexion and a receding hairline. He walks confidently yet often with his hands in his pockets or one hand grasping his chin while he thinks, resembling a genius in the midst of plotting out an unsolved mathematical equation.

In Jeff's youth he was a child who couldn't sit still, who questioned the norm, and sought out challenge and the life less ordinary. He didn't have an easy childhood being the kid who basically didn't follow the leader, and he got scolded for it on occasion. However, now ironically he's the kid who grew up to turn those very same apparent problems into assets, which provided him with a outlet.

Prior to embarking on the retail footwear industry, Jeff received a Bachelor of Arts in Sports Medicine and Exercise Science from Central Michigan University. He worked as an athletic trainer for three years at Potomac High School in Virginia. His goal while working at Potomac H.S. was to not only treat and rehab injured athletes but also teach them how to look beyond their injuries. He taught his athletes how to hope for a brighter future.

"You'll get better in time," explained Jeff as he described how he started many conversations with athletes who found themselves face to face with debilitating injuries that temporarily took away scholarships and dreams. Although he couldn't bring scholarships back, he certainly had a fighting chance at making their dreams real and attainable by just instilling belief.

Much like his childhood, Jeff Van Horn's entry into the running shoe industry didn't start off all roses. Rather, it was more smoke and mirrors which he had to sift his way through to get to more stable and higher grounds.

Jeff worked at two local running shops in Northern Virginia, which later became the industry stepping-stones along his path. He worked almost four years at these running stores eager to learn as much as he could from his superiors and colleagues in an effort to provide the best quality customer service. He was a man outside the box looking in and thinking, "How can I do this better to benefit the customer?"

Although Jeff was fired from the two running stores, it did not stop his dream. In fact it helped shape and develop his entrepreneurial spirit that was fueled by his energy and motivations.

"I've just gotta put my time in, pay my dues, one day I'll have my own store," spoken in hindsight as Jeff remembered his days spent spinning his wheels working for other people. He knew he could do it better, do it right, do it his way; he just needed the right moment.

That moment came in 1999 when Jeff opened Virginia Runner located in Fredericksburg, VA. His business took off like wildfire. In 2003 Jeff opened his second store located in Woodbridge, which doubled his expectations in just one year.

Much of what Jeff learned through his experiences is reflected in the way he runs his business. He is honest, open, forgiving, and, above all, believes everything has a way of working out in due time. After getting to know Jeff a little better I became convinced that his unsteadiness, knee tapping, pacing, and general need to exert energy was because he has so many thoughts and he can't put all of them to work. He is simply overwhelmed with anxiety to get it all out. However, it was this healthy anxiety that allowed Jeff the ability to establish his two stores.

"Perseverance is overcoming defeat and rising to an occasion," said Jeff while I ran next to him and listened as we descended a hill in Washington state last September. I thought to myself, 'this is a guy who's been through the ringer and here he is telling his story very matter of fact.' He recited a quote by Napoleon Hill that he said resonated in him many times throughout his journey with entrepreneurship: "One of the most common causes of failures is the habit of quitting when one is overtaken by temporary defeat." I never forgot it.

Jeff Van Horn is a man who undoubtedly marches to the beat of a different runner.