Trail Gangsta of the Month — trail gangstaz

Name: Nick Vargo Fiedler

Age: 39

Hometown: Birmingham, AL

Current Residence: Phoenix, AZ

Occupation: Director of Customer Success

1. How did you get into trail running?

I found Aravaipa on meetup.com when I first moved out to Phoenix for work and didn't know anyone, before that it was strictly streets. However, running Papago or South Mountain with a group became a weekly tradition and I fell in love with the trails.

2. Favorite part about the AZ running scene?

The weather is good most of the year and there is pretty much every type of...

Names: Melissa & Sarah Ostaszewski

Age: 30, 30

Occupations: Merchandiser, Copywriter

Hometown: Crown Point, IN

Current Residence: Flagstaff, AZ 

1. How do you pronounce your last name?!

Melissa: Ah-stuh-zew-skee is how most of our family pronounces it.  Real Polish way is something like Ah-stuh-chef-ski\ee

Sarah: “Aah-stuh-zoo-skee” is how we pronounce it. Our grandparents on our dad’s side pronounce it like “Aah-stuh-chef-skee.”

2. How did you discover trail running?

M: I ran in the Indiana Dunes (now a national park!) along Lake...

Andre Lee

Age: 50

Hometown: Washington, DC

Current Residence: Tempe, AZ

Occupation: Massage Therapist 

1. How did you first get into running/trail running?

I have been running/racing since I was 5 years old. I ran track through the Indiana Institute of Technology in Fort Wayne, IN. I then transitioned to marathons in 1989 and triathlons in 1990.

I really became interested in trail running with Ragnar in 2013. A friend, Josh Uriarte, approached me to be a team member. I jumped at the chance. We raced a few years together there. Josh worked a lot with Aravaipa...

Full Name: Peter Mellen

Age: 40

Hometown: Naples, FL

Current Residence: Memphis, TN 

Occupation: Service Advisor, Race Director for Motivated Running 

1. How did you discover trail running?

When I began running roads and increased my mileage to the point I felt I was able to go up to a full marathon, I wanted more! That’s where my desire to try my first 50k in 2019 happened. It was just the drive to do more mileage after that. Now I’ve completed a 50 miler and looking at 100k and 100 miler by 2022.

2. What...