Pete Kostelnick began running in Kenai, Alaska
RUN PETE RUN - Pete Kostelnick began running on July 31 from Kenai, Alaska, enroute for Key West, Florida. Star Eagle photo by Melanie Piltingsrud
By MELANIE PILTINGSRUD
Contributing Writer
As a reporter, you never know what you’re going to be called upon to do to cover a story. On Oct. 3, I put on my running shoes…
Pete Kostelnick, originally from Iowa, is running from Kenai, Alaska to Key West, Florida – approximately 5,300 miles. He started his journey on July 31, and on Wednesday, his path took him through New Richland.
Two years ago, Kostelnick beat the record, which Frank Giannino, Jr. set in 1980, for the fastest run across America, running from San Francisco to New York City, covering 3,067 miles in 42 days, 6 hours, and 30 minutes. But there were some drawbacks to pounding out the miles that fast. “In a nutshell, it was a lot of pain, a lot of running – 72 miles a day. I mean, I wasn’t really enjoying anything I was seeing,” says Kostelnick. On this run, Kostelnick is averaging 53 miles a day, although he says he’s done anywhere from 20 to 92.
“It’s still about as big a challenge overall, just because I’m pushing all my gear,” says Kostelnick. On his previous trip, Kostelnick was followed by a van that carried food and water. This time, he’s carrying his own food and water, toiletries, clothes, “Lots of shoes,” – and spare tires – in a jogging stroller. “It’s tough that way, but it’s just a different type of challenge.”
When I caught up with him at 1 p.m. on Hwy. 30, Kostelnick had started out at 6:15 in Mankato, bound for Albert Lea. “It’s been kind of a slow going day,” he says. The powerful winds slowed him down somewhat as gear threatened to fall from his stroller.
Kostelnick has met all sorts of people along the way. “I met tourists on the Alaskan highway, people cycling all the way from South America to Alaska – lots of interesting people. It’s been a lot of fun. Lots of new friends,” he says. As he approached Hwy. 30, he even met a Lutheran minister. Pastor Scott Williams of St. Peter Lutheran, who’s been following Kostelnick’s progress on his Garmin tracker, (https://share.garmin.com/peterkostelnick) and is also an avid runner, joined him at Waldorf to run all the way to Casey’s on the east side of New Richland.
The road hasn’t always been peopled with fellow running enthusiasts though. “I didn’t run with a single person from Alaska to Alberta, which is 1,500 miles,” says Kostelnick. “That was almost a month. I met a few cyclists and a lot of retired people that RV up the Alaskan highway and back down."
Kostelnick is pacing himself. He says, “If I do a long day, sometimes I’ll do a shorter day the next day, but it’s just all based on where I can find a place to sleep. I have a tent, but I try not to use it too often because I don’t have a sleeping bag.”
Kostelnick says he runs a lot of ultra marathons, so for this trip, he followed his normal training routine, which includes some training weeks in which he runs 100 – 200-plus miles. Some of that running time he spends outdoors, and some on a treadmill. Though he admits that running on a treadmill vs. terrain is quite different, he says, “I’ve trained for races exclusively on the treadmill, and I’ve been fine on it.”
For others who would like to attempt such a journey, Kostelnick’s advice is, “Come prepared. I’ve met a lot of people that have tried these runs. They didn’t do the training and fizzled out pretty quick. So do the training, and it’ll be a lot more fun, too.”
Since Kostelnick isn’t trying to beat a clock on this trip, he’s taking the opportunity to visit family along the way. In Albert Lea, Kostelnick says, “I’ll meet my father-in-law and his wife and [my wife’s] grandparents for dinner tonight.” In Cedar Falls, Iowa, he’ll spend the night at his sister’s place.
Each day Kostelnick logs his journey on Instagram and Facebook. “It’s kind of like my daily journal entry,” he says.
Once he reaches his destination in Florida, the 31- year old will fly back to Ohio, where he and his wife, Nikki, have just moved, and look for a job in his regular field, accounting.
Kostelnick says most people he’s met along the way have been encouraging. “Some people will stop throughout the day and ask me what I’m doing,” he says. “I just tell them I’m trying to do something no one’s ever done before.
If you’d like to follow along on Kostelnick’s journey from the comfort of your computer screen, links to his Instagram and Facebook pages can be found here: http://petesfeetaa.com/