Anton just keeps Riding the Wind
Often running is seen as something that we do in our spare time, a leisure activity, fitted in with our busy lives of work and other stuff. It’s maybe more to those lucky enough to do it professionally. But to some it’s a way of life, running is their life, they live to run.
Anton Krupicka is one such human being. He runs every day, twice a day, and he runs a very long way (over 30 miles in some single training stints) – he could be pigeon-holed as an ‘ultra-trail runner’.
The first week of April (well Mar 29 – Apr 4) saw Anton cover 170 miles, on trails, high mountain trails. When he isn’t running, he is probably writing about running, on his excellent blog Riding the Wind. These blogs aren’t just ordinary tales of a run, they are also an insight into a man’s interaction with nature, with his environment. He is also very interested in analysis of his running, mapping his runs, looking at training techniques and shows a healthy interest in barefoot running.
He doesn’t always run alone. Often running on Green Mt. USA, with his fellow students and equally committed runners. Krupicka does race, and is very good at it, winning races such as the world-famous Leadville 100 – and professes that all of his preparation on the trails are for the purpose of ‘the race’…
in a month I’ll be inducing a different kind of symmetry with my running: the climactic, satisfying race performance that is the only appropriate coda to several months of diligent preparation.
But my feeling is that this isn’t the only means to his end. Reading his blogs you are sucked into his world of summit visits and tribulations battling snow, his diligent programme of running, because he just has to. Anton also has his followers too, and lots of ‘em. His blogs regularly get dozens of comments, equally effusive.
But don’t get me wrong here, Krupicka isn’t one dimensional. He likes music, he hangs with his friends in his favourite diners and my betting is that beneath his ‘wildman’ look he is a pretty cool and dapper guy. Anton is a talented writer too, with views on society that echo his love of the natural environment and a world more simple:
Lately, I’ve also been thinking about the act of running as a creative process, perhaps a very particular type of performance art that, if occassionally shared with others through racing and other collaborative efforts qualifies it as a contributory activity of some value. That is, of value to a society, the kind of value that isn’t typically assigned a dollar amount.
It’s all highly inspiring stuff, but don’t believe me, follow Anton’s life riding the wind, and leave some time to get your own running fix!
