Anton Krupicka started to take running seriously when he was 11 years old.

ANTON KRUPICKA is a writer and runner whose inspiration comes from the natural world and all the beauty it has to offer. 

In terms of running his achievements include being a two-time champion of the Leadville 100 and getting second at the 2010 Western States 100. He is currently training for the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc 168k in Chamonix.

Anton has a particular way with words which will mean whether you’re a running fan or just an admirer of nature you’re sure to be inspired by this insight into his life. To find out more about his life and career and to visit his blog visit http://antonkrupicka.com/.

Could you tell us a little about your background and how it inspired you to run?

I started running in February 1995 when I was only 11 years old, so the ‘background’ was pretty limited. It was just something that I was good at as compared to my classmates in school, so I was encouraged to make it a daily habit and it very quickly became a core piece of my identity. I think everyone likes doing things that they feel like they have some competence at.

For me, though, for whatever reason I was pretty taken by it right from the start – I started running on a daily basis in February and I was keeping a daily training log by April. A bit over a year later I ran my first marathon, which I think is probably pretty unique.

Looking back, I can sort of identify why I took to it so quickly and fully. I liked the self-reliance aspect of it, as opposed to team sports, and it seemed like a pursuit where your results could be commensurate to the amount of work and focus you were willing to put into it. That was very appealing to me.

What role did your family play on your outdoor pursuits and what would become your outlook on life?

I think the biggest and most lasting role that my family played early on was raising me in a way that emphasised the importance of being curious about and a steward of the natural world. How being connected to a place, being connected to the land, is an essential part of having a solid centre as a human. Looking back, I can see how that was an enormous part of the appeal of running for me basically right from the start, even if I wasn’t able to fully recognise and elucidate that until a few years later.

The very first entry in my training log from April 1995 describes a lap around a two-mile cross-country route that I’d developed over the hills and pastures on my family’s land in Nebraska. From the very beginning, running was a tool for geographic exploration and integrating myself with my natural surroundings. Of course, in the early years, this was all under the guise of trying to improve my fitness and ability to compete well in races, but the reward from the beginning was certainly far deeper than mere race results.

As well as an avid runner Anton is also passionate about climbing and biking.

What is it about endurance running that makes you tick and how often and where are you currently running?

There are many things about running that are appealing. The sheer kinetic pleasure of it shouldn’t be ignored. Especially when you’re fit and healthy, just moving so efficiently under your own power is pretty thrilling. Beyond that, it’s simply a good excuse to engage with my surroundings in an unfettered, really quite primal way. I think humans are meant to move -cover ground – and running is the most stripped down, simple way to do that.

I also do a lot of rock climbing, biking, and skiing, though, too, and generally don’t discriminate among the whole spectrum of human-powered activities out there. But, again, the simplicity of running is hard to beat.

To be totally honest, I don’t really run that much anymore. This is largely because it’s a high-impact activity and in order to stay injury-free I’ve had to embrace biking (in the summer) and skiing (in the winter) as ways to give my body a break from the pounding. Now, I generally only run three or four days per week, and each time I go out I’m making sure that I’m using that foot-travel to do something that I really care about. This means that I’m either doing something race-specific, like hill-repeats or a long run, or I’m doing some big scrambling or alpine peak mission with lots of running to link rock formations or approach a technical alpine ridge or summit.

What do you see as your stand-out achievements in ultra running and have you set yourself any specific running challenges for 2016 and beyond?

In terms of race results, I suppose it’s easiest to point to being a two-time champion of the Leadville 100 or to getting second at the 2010 Western States 100, which I think is widely recognised as a race that really helped usher in the explosion of competitive depth in ultras that the sport has seen the last five years.

I definitely have some goals for 2016 and beyond. For running, specifically, I’m excited to return to the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc 168k in Chamonix in August, but I also have many other personal projects in the mountains, all more of a ridge-traverse/peak link-up variety.

What is it about the mountains that continue to inspire you to run and what have been some of your greatest experiences connecting with nature in this way?

Mountains are simply significant in that they’re so obviously dramatic. Competently engaging with such a forbidding, complex landscape requires a skill-set and a headspace that isn’t as necessary in a landscape that lacks the same topography and variability. Having said that, it is possible to have a meaningful, satisfying experience in a seemingly more benign, homogenous setting, say, a thick forest or vast prairie.

But, I am very fortunate to get to pick where I live, and where I develop a deep relationship with my surroundings, so as long as I have that freedom of choice I’ll probably choose the mountains.

Tell us more about your passion for writing and what can our readers expect from your blog and website?

I think my passion for writing is simply that I enjoy reading good writing. Actually doing any writing myself is fairly excruciating. Somewhat consolingly, that seems to be a pretty universal experience.

The idea is to use my website as a means for sharing some of my experiences and also recording them for my own selfish benefit. I really enjoy reading and getting inspired by other people’s trip reports and adventures in the mountains, so my hope is to maybe pay a little bit of that energy and psych forward, ideally motivating or inspiring someone else to go out and have an adventure.