COTTAGE HILLS – Bethalto Police Officer and Shinobi Fitness owner Timothy Minnick recently won $10,000 from a national television competition called “The Million Dollar Mile.”
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The show, which airs on CBS, describes itself as “an unprecedented television event series” in which “contestants have the chance to win $1 million every time they run.” Between that contestant and that exorbitant amount of money, however, is what the show describes as “the most challenging obstacle course ever designed” as well as a “group of elite athletes with one mission: to stop the contestants from winning the money at all costs.” Minnick competed in fall 2018, but his episode aired on March 27. He was awarded $10,000. Another competitor on his episode won $50,000, but the other two were eliminated.
Minnick himself has been training in martial arts for more than two decades, with about half of those years spent training with obstacles. He has also been a police officer for more than 10 years. He opened Shinobi Fitness in Cottage Hills around four years ago.
“I was inspired and determined to show the world and my 6-year-old daughter that it's never too late to pursue your dreams,” Minnick said of his entry on the show. “Even a 40-year-old police officer with four past knee surgeries and reconstructions in both knees could still make it to the big stage.”
Mentally, Minnick said he was prepared for the event, but physically, he wavered a bit during some of the more challenging obstacles.
“Mentally, I was ready for it,” he said. “Physically, that all changed when I exited the water from my first obstacle, Deep Water Solo, and my chest and arms cramped up. From that point on, all I could do was mentally push myself to get up the rope at the end.”
As for training, Minnick trains five days a week, saying he does it “constantly.” He said the only alteration to his daily routine was to reintroduce running.
“With bad knees, I don't run much and definitely not far,” he said. “I am good for fast sprints, like catching the bad guys as a police officer, but you'll never see me run a marathon. I was able to get my mile down to six minutes prior to competing. During the competition, commentators stated I was running a four-minute-mile pace.
With the winnings, Minnick said he wants to invest half into a family vacation and half into Shinobi Fitness.
“Shinobi Fitness is a martial arts and obstacle training facility,” he said. “We offer children's and adult classes in Bujinkan Ninjustu and Obstacle Training. Two of our youth members competed on American Ninja Warrior Junior this season.”
In the future, Minnick plans on running the Missouri Tough Mudder obstacle mud run in May and wants to one day be a cast member on a season of the CBS hit reality show “Survivor.” He said his friends have been supportive of his television run.
“All of my friends have been really supportive of my run,” he said. “They know I did my best and was smart to stop when I did, otherwise I would probably have ended up like half of the competitors so far and came home with nothing.”
The show itself is presented by Tim Tebow and will be moved to the position after "Survivor" on Saturday evenings following its former Wednesday evening slot for the first two episodes. Its executive producer is LeBron James.
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