Thanks to Lisa Messerer for pointing this out to us.

The February issue of Minnesota Monthly has an article about Pierre Ostor, the race director of the Arrowhead Winter Ultramarathon. The Arrowhead is a 135-mile race from International Falls to Tower in February. The race takes 2.5 days, and temperatures often hit 20 and 30 below.

Pierre is a veteran of many such endurance races, and the Minnesota Monthly article reveals some of his experiences during the Badwater Ultramarathon, the 135-mile race in Death Valley.

Minnesota Monthly Article: The Toughest Man Alive...Lives in White Bear Lake

Pierre's Badwater Splits: 2007 Kiehl's Badwater Ultramarathon Results

Arrowhead Website: Arrowhead Ultramarathon

Got the winter blues? Looking to get out of the house? Here's an event to keep you thinking about running even if you haven't been getting out the door.

Come watch the movie Spirit of the Marathon with us at the Duluth 10 movie theater on January 24th. It's a non-fiction story about six people training for the Chicago Marathon and was the Chicago International Film Festival’s Audience Choice Award winner. The film will be shown only on January 24th at 7:30pm, although there may be an encore showing sometime in February.

We here at Northland Runner will be meeting at the Amazing Grace Bakery & Cafe in Canal Park. Come join us for a cup of coffee and share some running stories anytime between 6:00 and 7:00pm. We will walk over to the movie theater promptly at 7:00. As of Jan 16th, tickets were only 20% sold, but we still recommend you buy your ticket beforehand in case it does sell out or there is a long line. You can get your ticket from the Duluth 10 theater or online at the movie website.

Come join us on the 24th! Contact Kris with any questions:

Phone: 218-390-4784

E-Mail: kris@northlandrunner.com

Movie website: http://www.marathonmovie.com/home.html

Description:

Continuing from the previous post, here a couple more of our favorite quotes from 2007:

Earth Week 4 Mile Run/Walk, April 28th

Vermilion Community College English Student: Mr. Helms, do I get an A if I beat you?

Will Helms, VCC English Instructor: Well, do you get an F if I beat you?

Will went on to win the race in 23:57, over a minute ahead of the nearest competitor.

Midnight Sun Midnight Run, June 23rd

Northland Runner: When is your next race?

Michael Benchina: In a few hours.

After running a 15:55 5k to win the Midnight Sun Midnight Run in Duluth at midnight, Michael ran a 16:48 to win the Knife River Solstice 5k at 10:00am.

We've taken the last few days to reflect back on the races we've attended and all the cool runners we've met in the past year. Here are a selection of our favorite photos from 2007, from the Steve Chadwick 5k in March to the Jingle Bell Run in December. You can click on an image to see a larger version, and if a picture was taken by a non-Northland Runner photographer, the source is noted in parentheses. Thank you to everyone who sent us photos, left comments on the Blogs and News pages, and sent us e-mails in the past year. We appreciate hearing your comments and feedback. Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to add to our community.

Our favorite photos from 2007:

(There are many more, but we had to limit ourselves to 40)

Steve Chadwick 5k March 17 Duluth, MN		Fitger's 5k April 21 Duluth, MN
Earthweek 4-Mile Run/Walk April 28 Ely, MN		Moose Run May 5 Moose Lake, MN
Bull Run May 9 Duluth, MN		Brat Trot & Walk May 26 Mahtowa, MN
Chester Bowl Run May 30 Duluth, MN		Midnight Sun Midnight Run June 22 Duluth, MN
Midnight Sun Midnight Run June 22 Duluth, MN		Blackwater Barge Festival Woods Trail Run June 23 Cohasset, MN
Heritage Days 5k July 6 Two Harbors, MN		Heritage Days 5k July 6 Two Harbors, MN
Dragin' Tail Run/Walk July 7 Lake Nebagamon, WI		Half Voyageur Trail Marathon July 14 Duluth, MN (Eve Stein)
Half Voyageur Trail Marathon July 14 Duluth, MN (Eve Stein)		Park Point 5 Miler July 20 Duluth, MN
Park Point 5 Miler July 20 Duluth, MN		Oulu Rock Run July 21 Oulu, MN
Oulu Rock Run July 21 Oulu, MN		Oulu Rock Run July 21 Oulu, MN (Gayle Weyers)
Kristin Burkholder 5k August 11 Esko, MN (Andy Raether-Prevost)		Ma & Pa Kettle 5k August 11 Kettle River, MN (Jen Schatz)
Flying Finn 10k August 26 Embarrass, MN		Fall Festival 10k September 2 Port Wing, WI
Mesabi Range 5k September 22 Virginia, MN		Morgan Park Run/Walk September 29 Duluth, MN (Eve Stein)
UMD Fall Homecoming 5k September 29 Duluth, MN (Thom Rieck)		Rock Hill Run October 3 Duluth, MN (Eve Stein)
Duluth Children's Clinic Harvest Run/Walk October 20 Duluth, MN		Duluth Children's Clinic Harvest Run/Walk October 20 Duluth, MN
Duluth Children's Clinic Harvest Run/Walk October 20 Duluth, MN		Pumpkin Run & Walk October 27 Cloquet, MN (Tom Urbanski)
Lester Park Run October 28 Duluth, MN (Lindsay Glesener)		Lester Park Run October 28 Duluth, MN (Lindsay Glesener)
Pine Valley Run November 4 Cloquet, MN (Eve Stein)		Smush Da Ticks Trail Fun Run November 11 Duluth, MN
Turkey Waddle 5k Run/Walk November 17 Duluth, MN		Gobble Gallop 5k November 22 Duluth, MN
Gobble Gallop 5k November 22 Duluth, MN (Jenelle Kleinke)		Jingle Bell 5k December 8 Duluth, MN

Our favorite quotes of 2007:

"Why don't you ask someone who likes running these things?"

- An unknown runner's response to an interview request at the Carlyle Sherstad 5k in Grantsburg, WI.

"She drinks pickle juice!"

- Friend of Kelly Pearson, the Carlyle Sherstad 5k women's winner. Unsatisfied with Kelly's answers to our questions, her running partner decided to share Kelly's training secret.

"Everything was fine until the popcorn cart cut me off."

- Kristi Prevost describing her battle with an errant and determined popcorn cart driver during the Midnight Sun Midnight Run.

Welcome to 2008. As you can see by the fact that our homepage is symmetrical again, the 2008 race calendar is now available. We have spent the last two weeks contacting race directors and gathering details for this year's calendar. As of now we have 117 races listed. This represents all the information that is currently available. We expect to add another 100 or so races throughout the year as race directors finalize their dates and times. Also, many listings do not have a time or race fee posted. This information is usually not available this early. We will contact each race director about two months before race day to get the final details. Also, every year a few races change their date, location, time, or even get cancelled, so check back periodically to get the latest information.

Happy New Year!