PROFILE
SOYBEANS AND MARATHONS
Tim Dufault’s favorite run is hard to beat BY DENNIS BARKER
T
im Dufault farms in the Red River
Valley near Crookston, Minnesota. He runs on and around his 1,800 acre wheat and soybean farm with his dog, a lab. He is a longtime MDRA member and a founding member of the Crookston Running Club. How and when did you get into running? Growing up I hated running. In high school we would have to run the 440 yard dash for gym. We knew nothing about pacing ourselves. So we would run as hard as we could for the first 220 yards and then stagger and gasp for air the last 220 yards. I didn’t go out for any teams. I didn’t think I could make any of them. After I started farming there would be early spring days when I would get itchy and just had to get outside. So I would do some short runs of about one to two miles. This would last a couple weeks and then I gave up. The spring I turned 40 years old I did this again. But this time it stuck. I remember running a mile and a half without stopping. I was pumped. I was really proud of myself. The running bug has stuck with me now for 19 years. I’m not much of an athlete. I’m just a slow, middle aged, overweight dad. I don’t have a lot of stamina. But I make up for it by being slow. I have been told I have good running form though. Why when I get going, I’ll have all four cheeks and a couple of chins moving in unison. What was your first race? We have a local 5K and 10K. I signed up for it but was nervous because I didn’t know how it all worked. But after the race I started talking
12
SUMMER 2019
TIM DUFAULT TAKES A SELFIE ALONG HIS FAVORITE RUNNING TRAIL ON HIS LAND NEAR CROOKSTON, MINNESOTA. to other runners and I liked the social part of it. So we started a running club (The Crookston Running Club) and eventually took over the 5K and 10K. We run it now and raise money for the local schools, police, things like that. We get together once a month at a pizza place and talk about running and a lot of other things.
What are some of your favorite running memories? Getting lost running is always fun. I was on a trip to Brazil once. We landed in Rio De Janeiro and had some free time that afternoon. I thought I would go for a run and stretch out
