September 18, 2002
Powell reaches North Pole - in T-shirt and shoes
Traverse City resident's six year journey takes him 3,155 miles around GT Civic Center track
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
On August 22, 2002, Rich Powell reached the North Pole - on foot, wearing running shoes, shorts and a T-shirt.
The Traverse City resident had spent the past six years walking north, in three-mile increments courtesy of the track at the Grand Traverse County Civic Center. With a standing appointment with himself to walk at 4:40 each afternoon, four or more times a week, Powell has slowly accumulated miles until he finally reached his goal.
"I never believed I could walk 100 miles, I was astounded when I did, so after that I just started picking places to walk to," said Powell, who loves vacationing with his wife, Karen, in Canada and began setting walking goals to the north a few years ago. "After a while, I ran out of roads and cities to calculate miles on so I picked the North Pole."
With that milestone reached - and a special striped 'North Pole' he built to celebrate - the inevitable question is where to next?
"My standard reply is, 'Back to dry land,'" he said, noting that a goal of the South Pole, more than 9,000 miles away, would take 12 years or more.
Powell began walking on September 1, 1996, after his doctor told him he had to lose weight and lower his dangerously high cholesterol. Since then, he has dropped 29 pounds and reduced his cholesterol - formerly 299 - out of the danger zone. In addition, Powell said he has more energy and feels better because of the walking.
"I know if I don't keep working at it, I won't feel as good," said Powell, who has gone through three pairs of hiking boots and two pairs of running shoes. "It also increases my ability to handle stress."
Powell walked with a colleague for the first few years, but she threw in the towel after 1,000 miles. He kept going and his circuits soon turned into a 3,155-mile odyssey that had him walking year-round, in all kinds of weather except rain. Even howling winds and wind chills, driving snow and an unplowed track have not deterred him.
"Winter is my favorite time to walk," said Powell, who has also forged through sleet in the fall, wiping ice build up from his glasses. "There's never been a day too cold to walk."
"At times, the snow drifts over the track and that's when it gets fun, some of the few times you can have the track to yourself," he noted.
A computer consultant for the real estate industry, Powell has meticulously tracked his mileage, the weather and noteworthy events (September 2001 notes: 'injury, WTC, rain' to account for the month's diminished mileage). He used a GPS device and map software to precisely measure the distance from his house to the North Pole.
His monthly average has increased from 34.58 miles per month in 1997 to this year's average of 54.6 miles per month. The first two years of his walking, Powell also wore a backpack filled with 22-32 pounds of sand to increase the challenge. He eventually gave that up because it was hard on the shoulders.
Having a goal of the North Pole and a regular time slot to walk in helped this exercise program take root.
"I had tried walking many times as an exercise but always failed at it after a short period of time," said Powell, who lives just blocks from the Civic Center on the same street he grew up on. "
As the years and miles clicked off, Powell eventually enrolled his wife, Karen, into accompanying him on part of the journey.
"I am absolutely very proud of him," said Karen Powell, who has been walking with her husband on weekends since July 2001.
The couple also works on a weight training program together, one that emphasizes nutrition as well as repetitions.
"Being in my 40s, I'm trying to get a little more fit," she added.