J.R. Arebalo

Completed multiple 5ks, 10ks and half-marathons. J.R. has also run the White Rock Marathon and various hi-tech adventure races and has always loved outdoor competition and pushing himself. As a rugby player, he played on a college level 1st side (University of North Texas), club level 1st side (Denton RFC and Dallas RFC) and major league rugby (select professional side) for Dallas. J.R. also loves mountain biking and hiking and has climbed a number of fourteeners. His reason for going to the Pole: "It sounds challenging as hell and we don't get to truly challenge ourselves enough in this modern world we live in. It's so easy to talk about doing challenging things but another thing entirely to just shut up and actually do them. When I'm on my death bed, I want to be able to look back and say, "Once I ran a marathon at the North Pole." J.R. will be writing about the marathon for American Airlines' in-flight magazine.