Redefine Challenge

Anthony Robles is a name most of you probably have never heard before. On March 19th he won the NACC wrestling national championship in the 125lb weight class. And right now, your probably thinking...so?!

Anthony was born with only one leg. He wrestled a perfect 36-0 season this year, and beat the defending national champion to win the NCAA title.
When asked about how he thought he would fare in the tournament with his handicap he replied, "I really don't see missing my leg as a handicap, you know, my parents raised me strong and they didn't give me any special treatment. So, I believe I can do anything I set my mind to and wrestling is something I enjoy, I love it and I'm just trying to be best at it."

Well said, and a great reminder for me to put my "challenges" in perspective.

Here is a link to some ESPN video of the championship match:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5W4RZq1NRg

On To Ultra Season!

Just a short week after the Snowshoe National Championships, Meg and I took a spring training trip to southern Missouri and northern Arkansas. We enjoyed the warm weather, great trail running, and of course the Waffle Houses!

We love Waffle House grits!

During the trip I was able to average about 3 to 4 hours of running a day, focusing on base work. We found lots of great trails in the Mark Twain National forest and in the Ozark hills around the East Wind Farm community, where we stayed for several days. The East Wind Community is an intentional egalitarian community of people who live and work together farming, making nut butters, and manufacturing a few other products. They are a great group of people, and were very patient with all of my questions about the community and area. The relaxation and warmth was a great end of snowshoe racing season, and beginning of ultra season.

Meg and I helped to make dinner in the East Wind Community's kitchen. It's a lot of work cooking for 80 people.

We saw lots of Ozark springs, including the 23rd largest in the state (Who knew?!)

Snowshoe National Championships

On March 12th and 13th the snowshoe racers from around the country converged at Lakewoods Resort outside of Cable, WI for the 2011 Snowshoe National championships. The weekend would consist of men's and women's junior and senior races, as well as citizen races and a team relay. I took part in the senior men's 10K race, as I had qualified for the championships earlier in the year. The race day conditions were nearly perfect. The temperature was near 25 degrees, and a few inches of snow had fallen the night before the race to "freshen-up" the course. With a little help from our local friends at the American Birkiebeiner the trail grooming was great. The race started at a good pace, with several of my fellow midwest racers taking up spots in the lead pack. I fell into place at the back of the chase pack knowing that my second half strength would help me make up a lot ground later. The course wound through the Lakewoods resort golf course, with several challenging hills. I started out at a comfortably hard pace, and put the hammer down after about 5.5K. I finished in 46:21 and 16th place at my first ever Snowshoe National Championships. I was really happy with my strong race and how much improvement I showed during the season. I think I can expect even stronger snowshoe results next season. I can't wait for the 2012 Nationals in Frisco, CO. After the race I was able to meet Bob Dion, the owner of Dion snowshoes. Thanks in large part to my result at the race, I was asked to join the new Dion snowshoe racing team. Dion snoeshoes are what I have been racing on all season, and I am excited to race with them and on the Dion snowshoe team next season. For those of you who have not tried snowshoe racing before, I would highly recommend it! Not only is it a great time, but it is an excellent off season workout that closely mimics running. I know it has helped me tremendously in my early season ultra races. Thanks again to all of the volunteers who helped put on the races, and congrats to all of the participants.

2010 Races

The 2010 race season was a big success for me. I continued with great coaching from Jason Kask, with Superior Performance. He had me come into the season with a great base in May, and kept up my mileage while adding in more ANT (anaerobic-threshold) work in June and July. Come September I started to back off, and have a great peak for my September and October.

I started the season with the Ice Age Trail 50K in May. It was a great race, and I pulled off the win, which was great too! I raced in my new Mizuno Ascends, which worked great on the hilly "kettles" of the course.


In June I traveled out to South Dakota to race at the Deadwood Trail Marathon, which was also the RRCA South Dakota trail marathon championships. After leading for the first half of the race I was passed and gaped by about 5 minutes. I managed to close the gap with a mile to go, and the race came down to a great 200 meter sprint! I came in a close second against great competition, and was really pleased with how I raced, and the strength I showed in the second half.

I September I raced in northern Minnesota at the Superior Trail 50 Miler, on of the most challenging 50 milers in the midwest. The race travels along the Superior Hiking Trail from Finland, MN to Lusten, MN. After sleeping in my tent with Meg and Sundari (our dog) at the starting line I woke up at 5 AM to rain and fog. The rain would be the theme of race making the challenging course even more taxing. I ran neck and neck with another runner until the last aid station with 5 miles to go, where I pulled away and cruised in for the win and new course record in 9:09:18!

My final race of the 2011 season was the Glacial Trail 50K in southern Wisconsin. The race travels along the Glacier Trail near Greenbush, WI. The race day turned out to be unusually hot, and was a big factor in the race. I again showed strong half racing, closing the gap the first place runner had on me and coming in a close second place. Meg had a great race here too, coming in first by almost 8 minutes, and beating several former winners.

I had a bit of unfinished business at this race from last year. In 2009, I was leading with 4 miles to go, when I got lost for almost 40 minutes. I ended up finish in 9th place, but I learned the importance of knowing the race course and watching for trail markers - especially in ultras!

Race winner, and second place at the Glacial Trail 50K


My 2010 season ended with several great races, a course record, and lots of know knowledge about race nutrition, training, and race planning. I'm really looking forward to racing in 2011! Stay tuned for my 2011 racing schedule, and more on our evolving low-impact living.

What Happened To 2010?!

2010 was jam packed for Meg and me. We adopted a Scandinavian Hound in July named Sundari (it means beautiful in Nepali). She is such a sweet, mellow dog. She loves to run with us, but is just as willing to veg. out after a workout.



2010 also saw us take a big plunge of a different sort...into home ownership. We bought a house here in Duluth just a 5 minute run from the Superior Hiking Trail, and some of the best single track running and biking trails around. We love our house! It has solar water heating, and passive solar heat right now. We are also looking into other impact-reducing systems like water capture and solar power. This spring we are looking forward to building big raised garden beds in the back yard!
We started a new hobby in 2010 related to our gardening and experiment in low-impact living. We became bee keepers! Bee keeping is a great way to increase your garden yield, "grow" your own honey, and help out the environment. Wild bees are not doing very well right now, so they could use our help. I will have another post about our bees, garden, and low impact living later.