#60 | Sunny Stroeer | The Iditarod Trail Invitational

Sunny Stroeer returns to talk about completing the Iditarod Trail Invitational, a 1,000-mile winter race across the Alaskan wilderness. This is my second podcast with Sunny, so if you want to learn about the background to Sunny's life and transition into an endurance athlete, please watch Episode 22 of my podcast. This current episode deals entirely with Sunny's successful completion of the Iditarod Trail Invitational, a 1000 mile endurance race through the Alaskan wilderness in winter. The Background: Sunny is an absolute free spirit and adventurer. After a Harvard MBA and hard-charging strategy consultant in her twenties, she turned her back on material possessions and her career at age 30 in order to live in an Astro Van so she could run and climb full-time. Her specialty is the high altitude endurance realm; she holds speed records on Aconcagua and on the Annapurna Circuit and has excelled on high trails in the Colorado Rockies. Join us for this conversation on speed records, management consulting, empowering women and the magic of Utah. To learn more about Sunny: https://www.sunnystroeer.com Chapters 0:00 Welcome back Sunny Stroeer 2:30 From Aconcagua to Alaska 5:07 Fifty kilometres a day 7:38 Turned down the first time 10:08 Why not the short distance? 12:43 No mandatory gear list 15:19 Learning a new skill set 17:55 Like a summit for 30 days 20:25 When it rains 22:59 The famous dog sled race 25:29 Choosing skis 28:00 Wind with nothing to break it 30:35 The red lantern 33:08 Feet, temperature and energy 35:40 Riding it with her husband 38:14 A selfish journey with a loved one 40:48 Limping to the finish on a bike 43:24 Packing for 1,000 miles 45:54 A stress fracture and little training 48:31 Who made it to McGrath 51:03 Fixing a crown before the race 53:34 A rest day with her husband 56:04 150 miles of nothing 58:37 Frostbite 1:01:09 The air drop she didn't know about 1:03:43 A ten-egg omelette 1:06:20 The weight of the food 1:08:54 Racing in those conditions 1:11:28 Burning a glove by the fire 1:14:03 When every glove is wet 1:16:34 Out on the sea ice 1:19:06 Skiing together for safety 1:21:38 Two feet of fresh snow 1:24:09 Rescues near Nome 1:26:42 Slow and steady 1:29:18 A trail partner in 2021 1:31:50 Re-entering society 1:34:20 A thousand miles in 30 days 1:36:50 One day at a time 1:39:22 Alcohol in Arctic communities 1:41:56 The South Pole again 1:44:27 What the race costs 1:46:58 Not knowing if she'd make the cut-off 1:49:29 Ryan's 14,000 km around Brazil 1:52:04 Appreciating simple things 1:54:35 Real endurance versus selfies on Everest 1:57:05 Where to find Sunny The Ryan Pyle Podcast is ad-free by choice. If you enjoy these conversations, you can buy me a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/ryanpyle Ryan's TV series are streaming around the world. Follow the Podcast X: https://x.com/RyanPylePodcast Facebook: https://facebook.com/ryanpylepodcast Follow Ryan Pyle YouTube: https://youtube.com/@ryanjpyle Instagram: https://instagram.com/ryanpyle X: https://x.com/RyanPyle Facebook: https://facebook.com/ryanpyle https://www.ryanpyle.com