Last night I watched the movie Spirit of the Marathon which followed six athletes as they trained and ran the Chicago Marathon. The runners were professional athletes such as Deena Kastor, and first timer marathoners. Each runner had very different objectives in their motivation to take on the event yet their pride at its completion had many similarities, even though Deena won the ladies race and the slowest finisher in the group took over five and a half hours. Last weekend the winner of the Frozen Otter Ultra Trek at Dundee, WI saw just one finisher. It is a 64 mile course that competitors run or hike within a 24 hour time limit. This year most of the field dropped out after 8 to 16 miles as  temperatures dropped to nearly 15 below zero. The winner was awarded a victory package that included energy drinks, gel flasks, Moosejaw adventure gear and a subscription to “Trail Runner” magazine. While Deena was probably paid handsomely for her win; a few days after the Frozen Otter, the winner was having 2 frost bitten toes removed!