I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am about the Fargo Fitness Challenge. What started out as an offer to come run the Fargo Marathon May 21/22 has blossomed into a movement to get people active and running.

Yes, Fargo is in North Dakota. No, buffalo still don’t roam free. Yes there is electricity. No, the movie Fargo was not actually filmed in Fargo (go figure). Yes, it’s flat. I mean REALLY flat!!!

It all started in November when my good friend Heidi asked if I’d like to come run in one of the Fargo Marathon events with her. She was a runner back in high school and was quite an elite level at one time until being derailed by back surgery (which has prevented her from running) and taking time to start a family. After 10 years, she was ready to give running (and her back) another shot. With my sister already committed to running, I had to finally stop waffling and sign my name to the dotted line.

So now I was running Fargo (my home town) but spiritually, I really needed more. I’ve really been in a slump lately and I needed to stoke the fires. Heidi and I spoke one Saturday and came up with an idea. What if we tried to inspire others to run/walk with us. Not just runners…but friends, family, neighbors, kids and acquaintances who might need a nudge (or push) to get active and back on the healthy track. There’s nothing better than having others there by your side encouraging, helping and challenging you every step of the way.

So that’s where we are friends. In the first week, we already have over 35 people on our Facebook page and another 11 people confirmed participating in one of the weekend events (5K, 10K, 1/2 Marathon or Full Marathon). My running spirits couldn’t be higher and those that I’ve spoken to are equally inspired. With around 100 days remaining until the event, I’d like to officially challenge you to join us in Fargo, May 21 and May 22. Click the link below to go to our Facebook page and join the movement. Can’t make it to Fargo? Pass this along and help be a part of something I think is going to be pretty great.

The Fargo Fitness Challenge Facebook Page

RMFR

I grew up in Fargo, North Dakota (yes, you can now mark that one off your list) and I have tons of great memories of that place. Looking back, I’ve come to realize I have more than typical childhood memories of that time but ones that relate back to running – even though I loathed it at the time. Other than my dad being a runner (before running was cool – read more), running really wasn’t on my mind. Where am I going with this? I’m getting there…

Driving around town, there was this woman. Not just any woman, this one was special. We named her “The Crazy Walker.” I mean you would see this woman EVERYWHERE!!! Fargo’s not as small as you’d think. It’s really spread out. In the morning you would see this woman on the south side of town and then later in the day she’d be all the way on the north side. Just the distance she walked would be enough to tag her “crazy” but there was more. She had the strangest gait you’ve ever seen. If memory serves me right it included frenzied arms, a full body tilt and head that wobbled like a bobble head.

I haven’t thought about her in decades until I was watching the ING New York City Marathon. After they announced Abdi Abdirahman at the starting line and mentioned his nickname, The Black Cactus. I love that nickname!!! That got me thinking about running nicknames and I decided I want one!!! Now I’m sure the cars I pass on the same route at the same time have developed nicknames for me and I’d be honored to carry the crazy name into the next generation. LONG RUN CRAZY BEARDED RUNNING GUY!!!

RMFR

I’d like to take this time to wish my father a Happy Father’s Day. He has always been there for me and supported me in every direction I’ve head. From supporting me thru sports to waving goodbye as I’ve moved across the country, he (as well as my mother) have let me venture off away from the nest. Where does this fit in to running? Read on…

Growing up in North Dakota, I was entrenched in seasonal sports. Football in the spring followed closely by hockey in the winter. Spring and summer where split between baseball, golf and mowing lawns (in my mind I considered mowing lawns a sport). The furthest sport from my mind was track. I threw the spot put and discus in eight grade but I wasn’t into at all. In high school, the football coaches at Fargo South High School (Go Bruins!!!) kept pushing me to the track team but I just couldn’t do it. What would you rather do, run laps or walk 18?

Take a trip back with me to the late 1970’s and 80’s. Then in my adolescent years, I never really paid much thought to the “modified” gray New Balance shoes in the garage next to the door. “Modified” may not be the best term to describe the 2 pounds of Shoe Goo that my dad used to keep the shoes together. I can still remember his running gear. A simple white cotton shirt (the kind you wore underneath “nice” shirts), shorts and toilet tissue in his hand (do I really need to explain?).

My dad was a “runner” before the boom. He didn’t compete in races and he wasn’t a member of running group – he just ran. He’s fathomed a guess at his weekly mileage and it was big. I remember several occasions my mother driving him out into the country so he could run home with the wind. We’re talking 10 to 15 miles several times a week. Saturdays at the lake where he would be gone for a couple of hours and come back drenched in sweat. Cotton shirts that were worn so thin you could practically see thru them.

Back then I never questioned his running, never asked if I could go and he never pushed me to run with him. But now that I’ve taking up running and he can no longer run – the example he set some 20 years ago has stuck with me. I know he’d give his left arm to run a race with my sister and I and we in turn would do the same. The truth is, there’s a part of him that is running with us every time we lace up our shoes.

Thanks Pa!!! You led by example – in running and in life – and I am trying to follow in your footsteps the best I can. Happy Father’s Day and I love you very much.

Just over three years ago in the sweltering heat (115+ degrees) of Las Vegas, Nevada, one man set out on a journey from a downtown office location to the JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort & Spa located in the outskirts of town. While this man ventured out on his own two feet to pound the pavement for the next 5+ miles, members and guests of the American Media Corporation traveled to the same resort in air conditioned luxury cars and plush leather bucket seats. Among many of the guests traveling the lazy man’s way was this writer…Troy Schrenk. Yep, that was me. That is, until I saw the Man, the Running Man that is, appear before me and all of the other guests just moments after arriving by car.

At first I thought it was a mirage of a man. I asked myself, “How could anyone possibly run in heat like this?” Sure enough, the Running Man was REAL…not a mirage. Who was this guy? His name and reputation was best known in hockey circles.  To me he was known as “E”, the bruising, bashing hockey star that could body check you into to tomorrow if you weren’t careful.  Little did I know that “E”, the former hockey star from North Dakota had become a “runner”. “E” a runner? How could that be? Well, it only took one look to know that this bruising body checker had truly become a refined athlete who could withstand the unbearable L.V. summer heat and had carved his body into a lean, mean running machine!

What an inspiration…I was in awe of the transformation that had taken place over the course of one year as “E” (Eric Selvig) had taken up running to transform his life (literally): physically, emotionally, and spiritually. It was in that moment, seeing him appear like a mirage in the Las Vegas desert that I too wanted and needed to transform my life.

So, it was then that my running journey began. I was inspired! That was the first step and nearly three years later my personal transformation through running is ongoing, ever changing and constantly evolving. Just as I was inspired, it is my hope that others will be inspired, motivated, and encouraged as a result of our writings, experiences and thoughts. I am thrilled to be a part of the ORB team and look forward to running with each of you.

RITN, Schritter