Long Distance Ultra Runner Ken is Stronger at Age 66!
I
began distance running at age 29 and ran for 3 years before completely torching
my knees after my first marathon sending me into 20 years of running avoidance! In 2001, I met some distance runners in
Minnesota and began training for ultras.
50M Run on the Sly, 62M Edmund Fitz, 92M at FANS – I kept moving up.
Then after moving to Prescott, AZ in 2004, friends like running star Heidi
Schuette, gave me the Boston bug and I qualified 5 times beginning at age 58!
My 2014 race with the bombing in Boston was quite emotional but too lengthy to
describe.
I
still ran ultras after moving to Prescott.
I got involved in the local running community, starting a running
club. Before long I was forming and
administrating new races while helping with several others. In 2009 I was awarded the Al Clark award by the YMCA for the
individual that most helped advance running in our community, a huge honor for
me.
Several
local runners still tell me that they got into running because of me, that I
trained with them at their speed and ran alongside them in their first races. I have done well running myself but knowing I
helped a few others along the way has made the running journey one of my
greatest accomplishments. I have many
friends in the running world – who could ask for more?
I
am also honored that Yolanda would
pick me as an inspiration! Indeed she
inspired me without knowing it and without knowing me. A few years ago I watched her go mile after
mile in the Across the Years multi day event. I remember commenting to my significant other
Deborah – “How can she do that?” Then I
got to meet Yolanda at the 2017 FANS race only to discover that she is even
nicer than she is talented. I sure hope
our paths cross again.
-Ken-
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