Sedona resident Michael Capozzoli freely admits to what his professional racewalking coach called a “defective gene.”

“If I do something a little bit, I do it a lot,” said the Sedona 62-year-old. After 351 racewalks totaling 981 miles, he has two bronze medals in the event Saturday, Feb. 15, at the Arizona Senior Olympics to show for it.

“One night, the mic was open in a comedy club,” he said. “I got up, I did a joke, next thing I know I’m doing stand-up comedy for the next 12 years.

“Fifteen years ago, I saw my son doing karate once. I said, ‘Is that fun?’ and he said, ‘Yeah, Dad.’

“Now I have a black belt in kenpo.”

The former sales and marketing representative from Boston lived in Phoenix from 1974 to 1984, then retired to Sedona in 2005 to be closer to his family, especially daughter Sarah, her husband Eric and grandson Isaiah Schairer.

Through his relentless racewalking, though, he hopes to accomplish a higher goal: Raise $1 million to build safe houses for women and children at the Verde Valley Sanctuary, a local domestic violence shelter.

“I raised just under $5,000,” he said the week after medaling at the state Senior Olympics in Phoenix. “I’m asking for one penny from everyone … all through social networking. It’s amazing how powerful it is.”

He won’t stop until the money is raised.

“With my big mouth, the more I talk about it, the more I get committed to it,” he said. “It’ll get done. There’s no bad way to raise a million dollars.”

Capozzoli qualified for the 2015 National Senior Games in Minneapolis by finishing the 1,500 meter racewalk in just over 10 minutes for one bronze medal, while posting a 38:31 time in the 5,000 meter racewalk for the other.

For the full story, please see the Wednesday, Dec. 25, issue of the Sedona Red Rock News.