Word: ultramarathon
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...messenger named Pheidippides, who ran 25 miles home to deliver news of a great victory in the battle of Marathon, then dropped dead from exhaustion. What a wuss. For today's extreme-endurance athletes, Pheidippides' fatal exertion would be a gentle warm-up. The real challenge is found in ultramarathons?races of up to 100 km (62 miles) or even farther, often over the kind of rough terrain that would make the average jogger hang up his sneakers in horror. Ultrarunners endure cramps, blisters, dehydration and the occasional exhaustion-induced hallucination. Why? All for the pleasure of more running...
...center of the ultramarathon movement, with up to 15,000 runners pounding through a choice of scores of events each year. But for those in search of roads less jogged, Asia is beginning to offer its own share of long marches?from the Lake Saroma 100-km run in northern Japan to China's Gobi March, a six-stage, 250-km painfest that locals call the "Race of No Return." But the best of them all, for combining suffering and scenic beauty, is probably the annual Mongolia Sunrise to Sunset?a 100-km, waterside race around spectacular Lake Khovsgol...
...messenger named Pheidippides, who ran 25 miles home to deliver news of a great victory in the battle of Marathon, then dropped dead from exhaustion. What a wuss. For today's extreme-endurance athletes, Pheidippides' fatal exertion would be a gentle warm-up. The real challenge is found in ultramarathons - races of up to 100 km (62 miles) or even farther, often over the kind of rough terrain that would make the average jogger hang up his sneakers in horror. Ultrarunners endure cramps, blisters, dehydration and the occasional exhaustion-induced hallucination. Why? All for the pleasure of more running...
...Pittsburgh to Philadelphia. The Karnazes megamarathon will require staying up for more than three days, not to mention the possibility of sleep running and hallucinating. "My curiosity is how far this human system can go," says Karnazes. "What is it really capable of?" His endurance is legendary in the ultramarathon community, a 12,000- to 15,000-strong collection of rabid overachievers. On the road to 300 Karnazes pursues a vampire-like training schedule, rising at 2 a.m. for 50-mile runs and then putting in a full day at his natural-food business. The night runs also allow...
...ultra universe has another twist: women have a physical advantage. Pamela Reed whipped Karnazes to win the 2003 Badwater Ultramarathon, a 146-mile annual jaunt through the furnace of Death Valley, Calif., that ends more than halfway up Mount Whitney and reduces many ultras to roadkill. "It isn't the power that comes into play, it's your ability to go long distance. That's where the curves get closer together," says Dr. Lewis Maharam, medical director of the New York City Marathon. Ultramarathoners eventually burn fat, and women have a higher percentage of body fat than men do, giving...