Celebrating 10 years of running and racing

It is hard to believe but when I run the Twin Cities Marathon next Sunday, I will be celebrating the 10 year anniversary of my first marathon. In 1998 I ran the Twin Cities Marathon to raise money for the cancer wing of the Fairview Childrens Hospital. I finished in 3:55, meeting my goal of a sub 4 hour marathon. Little did I know that in the next ten years I would complete the following:

10 marathons (5 Twin Cities, 1 Grandmas, 1 Boston, 1 Chicago, 1 New York, 1 A-10)
4 Half-Ironman Triathlons
2 Ironman Triathlons (Ironman Wisconsin)
4 50K Ultra marathons (31 miles in length)
1 50 mile Ultra
1 100K Ultra (62 miles)
3 100 mile Ultras (Leanhorse- 19:52, Western States- 23:38, Superior Sawtooth 31: 20)
1 Hood to Coast 197 mile team relay

Clearly I found a passion of mine as I trained for the 1998 marathon. I am very proud of the progress I have made as an endurance athlete, but even more proud that I have fully embraced the notion of living life on my terms. As some of you know, this journey started with Anne's cancer diagnosis. This event woke me up to how I was choosing to live my life at the time. I made a decision that would forever alter my life and that decision was that I will define my life, it will NOT be defined for me by external circumstances.

All of this running is a reflection of that decision. I challenge myself every year to take it a step further than I think is possible- call it my Covey "sharpen the saw" habit.

So, next Sunday I will celebrate 10 years of honoring a commitment to myself which has made an enormous impact on my life and the joy I have in it. I have been blessed by the friends I have made, the wonderful people I have met, the impact we have had for several charities and health I have maintained.

Most of all I am so grateful for the support, patience and understanding of Anne, Allie and Drew. Being married to a endurance athlete is not easy and as a father I am not always present, physically and mentally. I love you guys. Thank you.

SO....the question to you is- What do you want to celebrate in 10 years from now? What can you commit to today that will bring you more happiness and satisfaction? The choice is yours each and every moment of your life. Choose wisely.

P.S.- Don't expect a super fast time from me on Sunday, this will be a training run to get me ready for my fourth 100 miler the following weekend.

Live Big

2008 Superior Sawtooth 100 Mile Trail Run

That's me at mile 9 with Lake Superior behind me, it was a glorious start to the day!

One down, One to go!

I successfully completed the Superior Sawtooth 100 Mile Trail Run last weekend. It took 31 hours, 20 minutes, 28 seconds. I can honestly say this was the hardest running I have ever done, even harder than Western States. I did not appreciate the technical difficulty of the Superior Hiking Trail until I started running. My initial time in mind was 25 hours, but the night before I revised it back to 30 hours given the feedback from veterans of the race. I would have been close to breaking 30 hours had I not gotten lost during the last 7.1 mile stretch of trail- DOH! I went another 2 miles out of the way for a grand total of nearly 104 miles.

The course was stunning in its scenic beauty and in the way it brought me to complete breakdown and suffering. Not finishing was never an option, but enjoying the last 30 miles was not much of an option either. Thankfully, I had the motivation from the students in Tanzania to keep me moving forward with purpose.

For the first time I carried a digital camera with me and took lots of photos along the way. I have posted this photos for you to see the course, the aid stations and the witness the journey unfold.

I need to give major thanks to Nick Stoneman (my race buddy), Larry Pederson (the race director), my family (for supporting my crazy hobby) and all of the other runners, race and aid station volunteers who make these experiences so memorable and special.

I had a few firsts in this race:

- first time running over 24 hours
- first time running on a trail not meant for running, but for hiking
- first time eating a grilled cheese on the course
- first time eating a grilled ham and cheese on the course
- first time eating a hamburger on the course
- first time eating pancakes on the course
- first time being so physically spent that I could not run for more than 5 minutes at a time
- first time I took photos along the course- enjoy these.
- first time hallucinating while running- yes, you have heard the stories, it really does happen at night and during the day

I am recovering quickly and will start to set my sights on my next 100 mile challenge which is in just over four weeks.

Enjoy the photos and thank you to those who have contributed to the Endurance Africa cause. We can do it and help make a new classroom a reality for the students of the Peace House Secondary School.

Here is the link to the race photos: http://flickr.com/photos/28965358@N04/