Øystein Pettersen has left full-time professional ski racing in order to chase his dreams and help others chase theirs.
“I’ve always believed in chasing dreams. One of my biggest dreams is to get more people out there on skis, and helping them chase their dreams,” says Pettersen.
As the 36-year-old former national ski team skier and sprinter-gone-marathon-racer steps down from skiing fulltime as a professional, he continues to stay involved with skiing full time.
As part of his dream chasing, Pettersen believes in stepping up to new challenges.
Accordingly, Pettersen kicked off the next chapter of his dream-chasing life by participating in the 60-kilometer UltraBirken trail running race in Lillehammer, Norway, this weekend.
As a rookie to long-distance trail running, Pettersen embarked on the task at what he felt was a glacial pace, but still managed to pull into third place overall in the well-attended event with several ambitious trail runners on the start line.
“I started out at a pace that I thought was slow, but I bonked brutally mid-race and finished the rest barely crawling to the finish. I guess I should have known I was in trouble when I was leading at the first feed station! Nevertheless, it was amazing. What an adventure, and what an atmosphere,” Pettersen said, laying down at the finish from exhaustion, but still smiling and laughing.
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Who knows what Pettersen’s next adventure will be, but be sure to join him on the journey here on the Team Madshus blog, and in Madshus social media channels:
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