Hill & Dale Issue 11 | North Pole Run Club

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Outside my villa windows one week ago, palm trees, white sand, and miles of shoreline beckoned. We visited Siesta Key, Florida, with my wife’s family for a week of rest, food, and warmer weather.

Surprisingly, the weather wasn’t much different from Georgia. A monster winter storm blasted the United States Christmas weekend and yielded a high of 54 degrees in Siesta Key on December 26. For the Sunshine State, that’s frigid, folks.

I can’t help but wonder if snow will be in the forecast for January or February. Snow is a four-letter word in the South, but I still marvel like a child at the billions of ice crystals quietly descending from the sky and fostering a stillness across the land.

“Snow provokes responses that reach right back to childhood,” says English sculptor and environmentalist Andy Goldsworthy. Snow stirs wonder and curiosity and the desire to run.

Into the midst of my prospective winter wonderland resides a story about Brooks. Back in 2016, the Seattle-based shoe company sent the company I work for a sign to promote their promotional “North Pole Run Club.”

The towering sign featured Carl, a Yeti (abominable snowman) who loves running ultra-marathons through epic mountain landscapes.

Carl seems friendly at first glance, but I find myself reminiscing about the wampa in a memorable scene from The Empire Strikes Back (1980). Dragged to a cave after being attacked by the ferocious carnivore, Luke Skywalker managed to lift his lightsaber from the snow by way of the Force and free his suspended body.

The wampa subsequently pounced again, but Skywalker sliced his arm off before retreating with haste. I wonder if Carl knows about that wampa’s fate. 

Other members of the North Pole Run Club included Virginia (a gingerbread cookie), Dash (a reindeer), Penelope (a penguin), and Colonel Walnuts (a nutcracker).

The Brooks website for the NPRC featured a running buddy quiz, and I wondered if Carl might be my companion based on current running preferences (on the streets; a bold and bouncy style; durable running gear; and runs in the morning).

Based on my responses, Colonel Walnuts emerged victorious. The nutcracker, direct from the Tchaikovsky ballet no doubt, “insists on high-visibility gear to keep his runs serious and safe.” Shouldn’t we all this winter?

Speaking of which, as winter unfolds, I wonder if Georgia will be on the receiving end of snow—snow like they love at the North Pole Run Club. Unlikely, but I’m still intrigued by this frigid locale.

According to Live Science writer Jessie Szalay, “The Geographic North Pole is the northernmost point on the planet, where earth’s axis intersects with its surface.” Migratory birds are part of the ecosystem, along with polar bears, ring seals, and fish.

The article further states that no country currently owns the North Pole, though Russia, Denmark, and Canada have “staked claims to the mountainous Lomonosov Ridge that runs under the pole.” 

Everybody knows the most famous resident of the North Pole though: the man in black. Johnny Cash. Wait…I mean the man in red.

St. Nick. Kris Kringle. Santa Claus. Incidentally, Santa has an actual mailing address, which is part of the “official network of Finland’s post office, Posti.” As a portly fellow, I’m inclined to think that Santa doesn’t run much at the North Pole, but maybe he hops on the mill from time to time.

Should he wish to drop a few pounds from all the milk and cookies he consumes on Christmas morning, Santa can take part in the North Pole Marathon. 

A marathon at the North Pole? Indeed. Organized by Runbuk Inc., runners are treated to 26.2 miles of a course entirely “on” water, i.e. the Arctic Ocean. The website even outlines a few factoids of note concerning this frigid race.

First, the North Pole Marathon started on April 5, 2002. Richard Donovan, the current Race Director, completed the course alone. Second, 535 people have finished the marathon since its inception.

Finally, the records: 3:36:10 by Thomas Maguire in 2007 and 4:52:45 by Anne-Marie Flammersfeld in 2014. And what would a race at the North Pole be without jarring temperatures? In 2003, Martin Tighe finished first with a temperature of negative twenty-nine degrees Celsius and plenty of snow for good measure. 

Though I’m up for it, I don’t anticipate being part of the North Pole Marathon field based on the steep price tag: € 17,900 ($19,198 based on the current exchange rate). I suppose that a viable alternative would be to stay local, to look for races in Georgia or across the United States that mimic the frosty conditions of Santa’s frosty residence.

A February 2015 USA Today article lists the fifty coldest cities in the USA, and the top five aren’t surprising in the least: Fairbanks, Alaska; Grand Forks, North Dakota; Fargo, North Dakota; Williston, North Dakota; and Duluth, Minnesota.

Yes, I could find races in those states around the coldest days of the year and start a North Pole Run Club in local cities with like-minded cold aficionados. Brooks can jump in as the footwear partner and Carl can be the official mascot—unless Skywalker already got to him.

I hope you have a great day. We’ll talk soon.

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Photo courtesy of Roxanne Desgagnés