I'm having a lot of fun but working hard I did just 15miles in 12 hours.

Superior Hiking Trail on Snowshoes

Hola!
As they say, Minnesota weather is unpredictable. The warm temperatures and sunny days convinced me that it was time for early spring cleaning and say goodbye to some of my winter gear.  As I looked in my closet and contemplated on what I would gather to put away, I saw tons of leftover bars and gels from previous races.  I thought I should really use them on some mini adventure for I haven't been on the trail since the Arrowhead 135 race in which I dropped, unfortunately.
 
So...thoughts were racing through my head, as I wanted to challenge myself and test my limit, to see if I could accomplish an even longer distance than the last 300-mile run that I completed before the Arrowhead.  Immediately, the Superior Hiking Trail (SHT) came to mind. Due to the recent snow storm and temperature drop, the SHT would be a good choice for to snowshoe.  The SHT covers 280 miles from point to point with some areas where the trail stops when it meets with local towns and then continues. My plan is to snowshoe 208.5 miles from Two Harbors to the border of Canada and then repeat the course, which will give me a goal of 417 miles total, hoping to finish by Monday, March 25th. 

Once again, thank you to those who follow me. I will keep you posted. I have included the link below on the 300-mile run for those who are interested in reading for pleasure.  Special thanks to all the individuals who supported me all the way.  And, thanks to Phillip Gary who allowed me to relive the experience through his powerful storytelling.

 

Last snow storm?

I don't know if this will be the last snow storm but while I'm inside of my cozy sleeping system. Just another excuse for to test new gear.

The 300-mile man

It's almost two months since I ran the Tuscobia 150 miles, I came in 5th overall then next day I started the second 150 and I finished with a total time of 6 days 17 hours and 25 minutes.

Then a week later the Senior editor of snowshoe magazine contact me because he wanted to publish my Tuscobia adventure so I accepted and the article called "The 300 mile man" was published two days ago on www.snowshoemag.com

 I hope you enjoy it, as I did doing this race.

Click here 

Me during the winter storm

In the past days, I have been busy training and working with my gear, pretty much getting ready for my next race Tuscobia 150 miles. The race itself is semi self-support because we will have 2 Aid Stations along the way. The race starts from Parks Falls WI to Rice Lake, WI on the Tuscobia trail that is 75 miles, so we have to go back and forth. The final cutoff time is 60 hrs with two cutoffs in between -Birchwood, 86.5 miles at 6:00 on Sunday & Winter, 119.5 miles at 11:00 am on Sunday.

This will be my 3rd time, where in the last past two I finished second place in both, as I hope to finish again this year. During the Summer I have been thinking what if I try double, meaning 300 miles, where the first 150 miles will be the actual race and the other 150 miles will be my. In fact, that is what I will do this time. I'm going for the double 300 miles; it will be great to spend some time by myself on the trail during New Year's. For those who have been following me, I will keep you with some updates along the way. So far I plan to post once every 10 hrs or so if you think that it's cool, then that is what I will do. Please feel free to post comments. It'll be nice to know that someone is following & tracking me.

At least, winter shows up with snow storm. We got 12 inches of snow in 24 hrs. I didn't lose the chance to be outside, so I went for a 17-miles hike during the storm to try some waterproof gear. Overall, it was great experience to see and feel the power of our mother nature.

As a result of the big chunk of snow that we got already, I started to build an igloo outside my apartment. Hopefully I will finish by the end of the week and will spend some nights in there.

I hope you are having a great winter, go outside and feel the cold but be safe.

A week or so ago I went to see The Banff Mountain Festival film; it was great. I recomment it especially if you like the outdoors, then this for you. It is no your class Hollywood movie, instead it's a real deal. My favorite part of the film was the crossing the ice and climbing-hats off to the three guys who scaled the captain.

This past Saturday I was running with a group of friends in an event called Fatass, organized by a local race director, John Storkamp. We started off with trail running in Afton State Park followed by food/drinks and raffles, usually I never win anything but this was my day and I got a certificate from TC Running Company for a pair of Montrail sneakers. Also I got a bag of 10 gels, a bottle of electrolyte, and a big bottle of Heed, all thanks to Hammer Nutrition. And I left the event with a T-shirt and leftovers of banana cake from my friend Nancy. It was a great time with friends, great thanks to everyone who made this event a success. And finally, I bought a smart phone. Before I had no reception in places where I'd race like Colorado, Arkansas,or even areas of Wisconsin and Minnesota, but now I will be able to send post and photos from my phone.

Off season?

After three weeks without running a single mile in order to rest my muscles and also to spend more time with my family, I began my training last Sunday for two races that I'll have this winter, Tuscobia 150 mile and Arrowhead 135 mile. My training includes obviously running, winter camping,testing new gear, fixing old gear, and also some Do it Yourself (DIY) projects.

As you know, I like to do most of the outdoors sports, and this winter I'm planing to do snowshoeing on the Superior Hiking Trail. I hear from some friends that the snow can be up to 40" deep, to be sure of that I will go there and get some fun.

Ice climbing. Oh yeah! This year I'm looking forward to attend some ice climbing workshop sessions with the purpose of improve my technique. It will be from December 16th - 18th the Sandstone Ice Festival, two weeks before Tuscobia 150, so I'll have careful and avoid any possible injury.

I also have not done country skiing, so this winter I will do that. I've seen some videos on You Tube, hopefully it will help me.

Do you know that I'm have a 2 years old boy? Well, this summer I took him to the trail, and in the coming weeks I will be working on my training sled to make it warm and comfy so I can bring my little boy and show him the beauty of winter.