Cook County moved a lot in May

The circumference of the earth is just under 25,000 miles, and this May, Cook County residents walked, ran, biked and paddled the equivalent of over halfway around it, covering the distance around Lake Superior 13 times over. Over 200 people participated in the third annual Move It! Get Active Cook County! event sponsored by the Sawtooth Mountain Clinic and numerous other entities, logging in their miles and minutes exercised on the clinic’s website for all the world to see. The total time they logged added up to 146 24-hour days.

Some appeared to use the event as motivation to get them out of the winter doldrums, logging in anonymously under mysterious names such as “The Count,” “Fergie & Fifur,” “Zippy,” or simply “I.” (Unfortunately, “Lazy” was motivated enough to sign up but never logged any minutes or miles. There’s always next year!)

For others, things became a bit more competitive. Russ Viton, who logged more miles biking, running, and walking than anyone – 626, an average of over 20 miles a day – wasn’t competing with anyone. “I didn’t do it for recognition, so I’m a little reluctant to take any,” he said. “It just became a whole lot of fun for me.”

Russ took care of his mother, who he said had a tremendous zest for life, during the last year of her life, and this was his way of celebrating her joie de vivre. She died in December. He had been mountain biking for years and started really putting on the miles in March, riding over lunchtime and after work with his wife Kathleen. He often biked 17-30 miles before work in the morning simply because the mornings were so beautiful, he said.

“Those who walked 100 miles are to be credited as much as anybody,” Russ said. He considered Sawtooth Mountain Clinic’s putting on this event an “enormous opportunity” for the community.

Russ might not have been trying to compete with anybody, but Mike Larson ended up competing with Russ, even though he said he didn’t start out intending to compete with anyone. “I really didn’t know what I was signing up for,” Mike said. “It just got to be fun!”

Mike spent the month logging the miles he was putting in on his bike in training for the Lutsen 99er, to be held June 23. He started noticing all the miles Russ was putting in. “As I saw competition stiffening up, I had to up my training regime!” he said. He and Russ started emailing each other. He would email, “Russ, you aren’t letting anyone else rest!”

Mike ended up coming in third in number of miles logged, with 473. He put in a gibe to Russ when speaking with the Cook County News-Herald: “I want to challenge him in an odometer check,” he said. “I think he might have his bike set on kilometers!”

Kerrie Fabius, who came in second in total miles logged, put in 583 miles both running and walking. She is preparing for the Gary Bjorklund Half Marathon (run in conjunction with Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth in June) and the Lutsen 39er.

In terms of time spent exercising, a mystery man calling himself “Jeremy R” came in first with 5,400 minutes logged. Over the course of 31 days, that amounts to an average of 174 minutes a day.

Logging in the second-highest number of minutes was someone who went simply by “Sobieck,” with 5,044 minutes.

Third-highest in time spent was Karen Neal, who put in 4,077 minutes hiking in the first 29 days of May before heading to her other home in Colorado. She and her husband Pat get up at 7:30 every morning and go on a two-hour trail hike with their younger dog, often with their friend Jetty St. John and her dog, or if it’s winter, they might go skiing or snowshoeing instead. “It’s so ingrained in our pattern right now,” Pat said. “I thought it was really fun to keep track, because I’ve never done that before.” She said Pat is 78, and the morning hike is the best part of his day. “This endorphin thing kicks in,” she said. “After I’m hiking 45 minutes to an hour, all of a sudden the world is just so darn rosy.” She considers endorphins “a wonder drug that our bodies give us if we let it.”

“Jetty and Pat are very competitive,” said Karen. “I’m not.” It gets pretty interesting sometimes, she said.

Karen and Pat live in Colorado six months out of each year, and they can hop on trails right outside their door. Their house sits at 10,000 feet, so they have to acclimatize when they get there. “Out here, I climb mountains,” she said. She has hiked 30 of the 54 mountains in Colorado that are over 14,000 feet.

“The only thing that really stops us is a really torrential downpour,” said Karen. “Or a blizzard.” If they don’t go, they all get “antsy,” she said. “I get antsy, the dog gets antsy, Pat gets antsy. We’re truly addicted, but I think it’s a positive addiction.”

Another Move It! participant with exercise firmly ingrained in her lifestyle is Virginia Cooley of Tofte. Two years ago, she hiked 18 miles of trail on her 76th birthday. “I decided to give myself a gift,” she said.

Virginia has been exercising “forever.” She has practiced martial arts and belonged to various gyms, and according to Birch Grove Foundation Director Patty Nordahl, who helped engage schoolchildren, staff, families, and seniors in the Move It! event at Birch Grove Community Center, has a library of over 300 exercise tapes and DVDs as well as lots of exercise equipment in her home. Virginia loves to hike trails, however. She told Patty, “I’m not an overachiever, but I do get carried away and don’t want to stop.”

Patty said, “She likes to meet people along the trails and enjoys the ‘drama, beauty, and romance’” of hiking trails. She climbs Carlton Peak from all three approaches and has walked the Sawbill Trail countless times, Patty said.

“I have a hard time turning around and walking back,” said Virginia. “I just want to keep on going!” Carlton Peak is currently her favorite hike, she said.

Virginia said she has a close friend who gives her a hard time about all her exercise, saying, “Why do you do it?” But when other people are talking about exercise, the same friend says, “Oh, you should see what my friend does!”

When asked what kind of exercise goals she has at this point, Virginia said she might like to walk to the top of the Empire State Building – 10,000 steps. She is also considering a 15-mile trail walk. “I want to explore all the trails that we have in Cook County,” she said. She just hopes she doesn’t run out of time before she gets to them all.

Another notable Move It! participant was Roger Michaelson of Tofte. According to Patty Nordahl, he just finished riding “around the world” on his stationary bike. “He started after heart surgery eight years ago,” Patty said. “He does 10 miles a day and is starting his second trip.”

“Hats off to the Sawtooth Mountain Clinic for putting this thing on,” said Mike Larson. “It’s become more of a community event than I could have imagined!”

Over 200 Cook County residents participated in May’s Move It! event sponsored by the Sawtooth Mountain Clinic as well as numerous other entities, covering 13,070½ miles by walking, running, paddling, biking, and other forms of exercise. The groups over more than one person that averaged the most miles or minutes per member are as follows:

Even 39 of the residents at the North Shore Care Center got in on the action, logging in 13,860 minutes total – an average of 11 minutes a day. The oldest participant was 105.

The entire results can be found at www.sawtoothmountainclinic.org/events/results.php. The community is invited to continue registering and tracking their exercise on the clinic’s website through the end of October.

Winners of a drawing held at the conclusion of the event are as follows:

. Ages 18 and under:
Hazel M. Kemp
$150 gift certificate to
Superior North Outdoor Center
in Grand Marais

. Ages 19-64:
Sue Nordman
$150 gift certificate to
Sawtooth Outfitters in Tofte

. Ages 65 and over:
Frankie Jarchow
$150 gift certificate to
Stone Harbor Wilderness Supply
in Grand Marais