Just don't call me athlete

its been a couple of months since i quit my job to pursue running and fundraising and i have been really busy. I have finalized my schedule for next year. I will running 7 ultras in 7 continents, right now I am concentrating on Brazil and Minnesota, I will start running with a sleigh next week once I find a suitable one and thanks to phd kit I will be warm enough in Arrowhead

Next year looks a bit like this

Race name Place Date Distance
Brazil 135 Ultramarathon Brazil Jan 23-25 217K
Arrowhead 135 Ultra USA Feb 2-4 217K
Mind Alpine Ultra Australia March 28- 30 160K
Namibia Race Africa May17-25 250K
Gobi Desert Race China June 14-20 250K
Coastal Challenge UK Sep 18-20 160K
Antarctica Argentina Dec 100K


It has been incredibly rewarding working on the schedule and a lot of fun working with the race directors to find the best possible race on each continent. There are other races that are not part of the schedule that i am looking forward, I still would love to run Badwater and I am running Toronto Half marathon with the Run of Vision team either as a pacer for a blind runner or blindfolded.

Ray who is still in Antarctica is writing my training, I have to say that i was really upset when I first saw the training schedule, I have track workouts and tempo runs, I have never attempted to run both long and fast, in my mind it's to hard on the body, of course I am doing great if ever so tired. I have graduated to a triple Latte in the last month.

So while I have quit working to run it's really difficult to answer the question " What do you do" is not like I am an athlete, I am a runner,the reason why I am able to quit my job and run for a living is why I am doing it, or what I am doing, not who is doing it.

Don't worry I am hardly complaining, N.Murray Edwards asked me Monday at a party the question all ultraruners get asked " Why?" "I understand your son, but besides that why do it?" Murray and his wife Heather are big patrons on cnib. I of course listed all the great things about participating on endurance sports, but I just couldn't convince him. Much later at home, i kept asking myself the same question, if my son where to all of a sudden be cured,would I stop running and the answer was NO. Somewhere, somehow , it became my passion, Murray and successful people like him( just in case you don't know, Murray Edwards is one of Canada's wealthiest individuals)understands passion and hard work his passion however makes him very wealthy, while mine makes me really fit. The amazing thing was that there looking at each other we wouldn't have traded places for anything in the world, but each in our own way had found what drives us to the point where most people think is impossible, and that is what dreams are made off.

“There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other.” Douglas H. Everett

South Pole Quest 2008

My friend and coach Ray Zahab, legendary arctic explorer Richard Weber, and elite adventurer Kevin Vallely are treking 680 miles (1094 kilometers), self-supported, to the South Pole in a goal of under 40 days. Dragging sleds weighing over 160 pounds(73kilograms) each, the team hopes to achieve what most are saying is impossible!


Click here to read how these amazing guys are doing on their blog.