Kyle Schmidt, Endurance Athlete / Adventure Seeker

Welcome to duluthrunner.com! My name is Kyle Schmidt and I am The Duluth Runner.

This site is dedicated to getting people outdoors and encouraging them to live an active, healthy lifestyle – contributing to long-term happiness in the community!

Greg Hexum (local running legend and 2018 USATF Trail 1/2 Marathon Masters National Champion) will also be contributing to content on this site – including the Coaching service. 

While we will focus primarily on running as the outdoor recreation/exercise of choice, we are fully supportive of any activity that gets you moving 🙂 We run all around Duluth, MN (voted the Best Outdoor Town in America), focusing on trail running these days. 

Backstory

Although hockey was the sport I pursued after high school, it was always squished between running growing up (cross country and track). Not that I didn’t love hockey (I was pretty obsessed), but there was something about running that tugged at my heart. The goofy, friendly atmosphere was contagious and cheering for opponents was encouraged – weird and cool all at the same time! I LOVED IT!! I took seven years off from any consistent running after high school due to hockey but always knew it would make a comeback someday. That someday was the summer of 2012 and I’ve been all-in on running ever since.

It started out with a 1.5 mile run that felt both amazing and terrible. Amazing to be back running again and terrible because that’s what seven years off will do! A year of successful 5k training/racing obviously sparked the drive to tackle the infamous marathon distance (that’s the natural progression right?). Aside from a couple injuries, the marathon training went great and had me really loving this endurance stuff!

After three epic bonks in official races trying to break 3 hours, I ran a six lap marathon course near my home in November 2016 with my training partner Greg Hexum. He was crazynice enough to join me for the entire thing (3:37 a.m. start!). Brent Smith, winner of just about every “how-are-you-still-running” age group competition, joined for the second half – while a former coworker of mine Greg Rindal helped out for the final/most difficult lap. Thankfully I was able to finally run an entire marathon without the wheels falling off and covered the 26.2 miles in 2:58:13 (6:48/mile pace)! 

Next up was a transition to trail running. This combined two passions of mine perfectly: running and being in the woods. The training was more fun, easier on my body, and less stressful mentally as pace gets thrown out the window – so I didn’t need to worry about it! My first trail race was in May 2017 – a 25k. Then a last-minute entry into a trail marathon in July 2017. I was lucky enough to get through the lottery process and selected for both the Superior Spring 50k and Fall 50 mile 2018 races in Lutsen, MN on the incredible Superior Hiking Trail. While each trail race was great, the 50 miler truly altered my life in a way I can’t fully explain. 

Going Forward

I hope to convey at least a fraction of that experience through writing here at duluthrunner.com and light a fire for those not yet running/working out – or fan the flame for all you endurance junkies out there 😉

So please click around, (hopefully) get inspired, and let’s log some miles together!