Saturday Spotlight:
Name: Stefan Josephs
Age: 34
Marital Status: Married to Laura for 3+ wonderful years
Kids: 1 beautiful son, Holden James, who was born on May 9th, 2020, and my 17-year-old dog Maggie is almost another child
Occupation: Attorney (real estate, estate planning, estate administration, estate litigation and small business administration)
Hobbies: Running, Yoga, Orange Theory, Craft Beer, Pizza, Baseball, Hanging out with my elderly dog
Hometown: Setauket
Current Town: Setauket (Laura and I bought our house 4 years ago, but we previously lived in Port Jeff Station)
College: Graduated from Stony Brook University (first year at Oneonta, more on this later in the week)Law School: Touro in Central Islip
Favorite Race: Port Jeff 15k and the Bench 5k
Frequent Running Spots: Selden Hills, the Hills of Port Jeff Village and the Greenway Trail in Setauket/Port Jefferson
Personal Message:First of all, like so many WOTWs before me, I am surprised and grateful that Lou reached out to me. I am new to the group (December 31, 2019) and not very interesting, but I am honored and look forward to getting to know more of you. In fact, I encourage everyone to send me a friend request, so we can get to know each other even better.
When I am not running, I love to drink and learn about Craft Beer, watch sports (unfortunately, I am a die-hard Mets and Knicks Fan), do Yoga and Orangetheory work outs, and walk Maggie, as her running days are far behind her. I love to play Chess, Backgammon and backyard games like cornhole. I am a new father; my son is only two months old. My wife would say I am obsessed with Pizza, not just eating it but learning about its history and the science behind great pizza. I am a neat freak and get on my friend’s nerves frequently, as I have a terrible habit of throwing out drinks and food before people are finished (it was even the theme to the best man’s speech and made of honor’s speech at my wedding).
I enjoy reading, listening to books on tape and writing, but, as you will all see, I tend to write way too much.I have always enjoyed running. As a kid, I played sports: soccer, basketball and little league; later, roller hockey replaced basketball. I was never good at any of them, but I was relatively fast and had good endurance. As I got older and stopped playing sports, I would run casually for exercise and fun. In my early twenties, my dog and I ran three miles together every morning. No fancy running watch, no formal races, no training, but running was my therapy to ease the anxiety of the coming day. As I got older and the demands of work and law school took over, my running diminished considerably.
Fast forward to a few years after law school, around the fall of 2016, Laura and I were planning our wedding, I was barley exercising and I was suffering from a painful reoccurring skin infection, which required multiple procedures and finally a surgery in NYC to remove a small muscle. The doctor suggested I increase my exercise, and I figured it would help me fit into my wedding Tux, so I started running again. Right away, it felt like I was back to normal. Since the Port Jefferson brewery opened, I have been a mug club member. In the Spring of 2017, two weeks before our wedding, on a whim, I entered my first formal race: the Port Jeff Brewery 15K. I was immediately hooked and have been running races and taking running more seriously ever since.Since taking running seriously,
I have seen the red “Selden Hills Warriors” shirts at every race. One of friends, Charlie, invited me to run the Hills, but I was intimidated and made excuses to avoid it. By the time I decided to get over my fear (and the Hills), Charlie had moved upstate. Another friend, Tom, invited me to run the course, but Tom injured his back and was unable to run. (Hope you’re feeling better, Tom) Finally, I was lucky enough to meet Bauer at my Thursday night running club, Craft Running Club. He encouraged me to run the course with him on New Years Eve of last year (and even took it slow to guide me). Bauer also invited me to join the ever growing Rush Hour Renegades, which made Wednesdays one of my favorite nights! The Hills are now my favorite running courses, I cherish the friendships I’ve developed cresting the hills, and I look forward to forming new bonds. Thank you, Bauer!
I was born and raised in Setauket and attended the Three Village School District. I started college at SUNY Oneonta, but I hated the cold and snow and transferred to Stony Brook University after my first year. I graduated in 2008 with a degree in Economics. After college, I worked for a small bank, where I won multiple awards and became the youngest person to be admitted to the bank’s management training program. After the bank was purchased by a big national bank, I decided to go to Law School. I was lucky enough to receive a full academic scholarship to attend Touro Law School, where I met the love of my life, graduated 4th in my class and had the honor of serving as the managing editor of the Law Review.Now, I live and work in Setauket. I have the privilege of working with my Father and wife. I handle a bulk of the firm’s transactional work and my wife handles much of the firm’s litigation work…needless to say, I do not win very many arguments at home or work.I look forward to getting to know you all better on the hills, at races, and on Facebook.