missoulamarathon.org >>
Mitch moved to Missoula 3 years ago. He was living in Nevada at the time working as a Hydrologist. Work offered him a position in Missoula, and suggested a 4-month trial run, “I was like yeah I’ll take a 4-month work vacation in Montana.” He was pretty set on just staying in Nevada, “then there was too many good things about Missoula, so I decided to move here.”
He joined Run Wild Missoula in February of 2025. “When I get started with something, I go into it pretty headstrong. I do too much too fast a lot of times.” In November of 2024 Mitch got a few injuries from yoga, “I was going 5-6 days a week and I went from 0 to that and wrecked myself.” In the couple months following the yoga injuries he was feeling down and missing activities. Mitch saw an advertisement for the Missoula Marathon, and soon after learned about the training class. “I needed the structured training class otherwise I would’ve gone out and wrecked myself (again). It was frustrating starting out slow at the beginning, but I recognized it was part of the bigger plan.”
Running the Missoula Marathon was a big win for Mitch. His family came out from Minnesota to cheer him on, and his brother ran the half marathon. His dad was so inspired by Earl the Elk of the Missoula Marathon, that he purchased an elk bugle to cheer on Mitch throughout the race, “it was really hilarious, everyone else has cowbells, but my dad had an elk call.” After the marathon Mitch kept his running streak going. “The training class worked pretty well for me, but I still wrecked myself a bunch. I went to PT for the first time.” He enjoys running because it’s an activity where you can work through injuries, eat whatever you want, and connect with people. He treasures the Missoula running community, especially how everyone comes together to run and share their stories, hopes, and dreams. There are so many folks out there running in all sorts of ways.
Around the time Mitch joined RWM a lot was changing in his life. In December 2024 he crashed his car, so the New Year 2025 he starting biking everywhere and training for the marathon. “I started to access Missoula’s active community. Before I moved to Missoula, I didn’t know running could be like this. In Missoula you could go on a group run everyday of the week. It’s wild to know there’s that many people out there running.”
This past year Mitch has gotten more into trail running. He participates in Wednesday Wild Miles, and the RWM Trail Sessions. He’s also done a handful of trail races and recently finished his first 55K, River of No Return, in Challis, ID. “I decided to sign up for the race this past spring. I had an itch for a new challenge.” So give Mitch some kudos when you see him out on the trails! To connect with Mitch you can chat about anything outdoor related: biking, hiking, running, climbing – he loves it all! A message Mitch would like to share with other members is, “Keep training – if you get injuries always listen to you body.”
