Frisbie’s journey started in middle school in River Falls, Wis., when her mother told her to try volleyball or cross-country. She didn’t really like volleyball, so she joined the cross-country team. She hadn’t considered running in college until recruiters expressed interest, and she realized the opportunity could help her pay for a higher education. So she ran track and cross-country at Iowa State.
She hadn’t really considered running professionally, either. Frisbie wanted to be close to home and had accepted an internship in the Twin Cities when a current teammate of hers told her about Minnesota Distance Elite, a small group that meets three times a week to train athletes who range from 1,500-meter runners to marathoners.
It’s a different type of team: one in which the runners — and the coach — have their occupations listed next to their personal-best times. Lundstrom is on the teaching faculty at the University of Minnesota school of kinesiology. He coaches teachers, an accountant, a data scientist and a software developer, among others.
Frisbie said it was an easy decision to join. She accepted a job as a graphic designer for a health care start-up and began training with the group. Her colleagues were shocked to see their “colleague who runs” on ESPN leading a major marathon.
“Having a more well-rounded life makes you a happier person and in turn a faster runner,” she said over a cider in Minneapolis, a city she intends to keep as her home base. And, she added, “It would stress me out if I just ran and it wasn’t making me any money.”
When asked about the reality of training as a professional running in Minnesota — where weeks can go by without the temperature rising above zero and thin layers of ice and several feet of snow can cover the ground — both Frisbie and Lundstrom said little more than “meh.” Most cities that attract professional runners and teams have more temperate climates: Think Eugene, Ore.; Boulder, Colo.; or Flagstaff, Ariz.