The first Ultra-Marathon I ever skied was the 24 Hours of Telemark in Hayward, WI. It was a 5K loop that you skied as many laps as you could in 24 hours. For some reason it just seemed like something I'd "enjoy". It went great for 10 hours. Then I fell apart. I kept going throughout the duration of the event but skiing too fast the first half of the race took me out of the competition. Every ultra since then has taught me about my body and learning to overcome what I think I know of it- and instead actually listen to it, respond appropriately, and eventually succeed.
In 2007 I competed in my first Susitna 100. Run, bike, or ski- at that time it seemed obvious to me what the best choice was. Why would you choose any other method? However, the rapid advancements in fatbikes at the time was quickly changing the best method from "maybe skis or maybe bikes" to what it is now. In all but the deepest and softest snow (slowly becoming an anomaly), bikes now excel. They're faster and a lot less work (in the whole-body sense). After finishing the Susitna 100 that year in sixteen hours and one minute, I was soon awakened to the possibilities of a much longer 350 mile Iditarod Trail Invitational (aka ITI)...
In 2008 I won the Susitna 100 overall thanks to a ground blizzard. Only two people were willing to persevere through it, and second place (a fatbiker) was six hours back from my winning time of twenty hours even. Now for sure I would have to do the ITI. I looked into it that year but the cost of entering was my deterrent. No way would I be able to justify that race as a college student without a job.
I would go on and win the Susitna 100 overall for two more years in a row, and remain the top skier for two more years beyond that. This only helped to solidify my beliefs that I was going to do the ITI... eventually.
In 2007 I competed in my first Susitna 100. Run, bike, or ski- at that time it seemed obvious to me what the best choice was. Why would you choose any other method? However, the rapid advancements in fatbikes at the time was quickly changing the best method from "maybe skis or maybe bikes" to what it is now. In all but the deepest and softest snow (slowly becoming an anomaly), bikes now excel. They're faster and a lot less work (in the whole-body sense). After finishing the Susitna 100 that year in sixteen hours and one minute, I was soon awakened to the possibilities of a much longer 350 mile Iditarod Trail Invitational (aka ITI)...
In 2008 I won the Susitna 100 overall thanks to a ground blizzard. Only two people were willing to persevere through it, and second place (a fatbiker) was six hours back from my winning time of twenty hours even. Now for sure I would have to do the ITI. I looked into it that year but the cost of entering was my deterrent. No way would I be able to justify that race as a college student without a job.
I would go on and win the Susitna 100 overall for two more years in a row, and remain the top skier for two more years beyond that. This only helped to solidify my beliefs that I was going to do the ITI... eventually.
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