262 Miles

That is what a man I just read about in my December issue of Mens Health ran straight without stopping! Can you believe that? 262 miles without stopping to go to the bathroom, eat, etc.
According to this small bit in the issue (Yes, I am 2 months behind in my reading), this man on his 30th birthday went out and ran 30 miles and started at 11:00pm, without any serious training. Now he ran 262 miles and his next goal is 300 miles!!!
It amazes me what man can do when we put our mind to something, especially when it comes to athletics. Before this, one of the most impressive athletic events I ever heard of was an event in Hawaii called the Double Ironman. In a regular Ironman, people swim something like 4 miles, then bike 126 miles, and finish by running a marathon. Now double that and you got a Double Ironman (swim 8 miles, bike 252 miles, run over 52 miles). WOW!!!
I was watching NBC about 10 years ago and there was, and probable still is, a 100 mile race through some California hills and mountains. These athletes start REAL early in the morning and walk/run a course that takes them through some high altitudes and narrow trails. Once darkness sets in in the evening, the competitors are trully on their own. If they get hurt, fall off the mountain, etc, there may not be anyone that comes along for hours and search teams can't start until their daylight.
When I was in high school, I ran Track for 4 years, Swam for 2 years, and ran Cross Country for 2 years. When I was training for Cross Country during the Summer, I got up to a 14 mile run and ran a couple of 12 mile runs. On the Swim Team, during Christmas break when there was no school, we had double practices every day except on Christmas Day and New Years Day. Practices went from 7-11am, then we came back at 1pm and went until 3:00pm. During the morning session we would swim no less than 12,000 yards and in the afternoon usually somewhere around 10,000 yards. Add to it that the power in the school was shutdown and the pool was cold and yes, I was trully insane to WANT to be on the team. At one practice, the coaches bought us all Dunkin Donuts as a treat for practicing so well. When I got done with practice, I ran over to the donuts and proceeded to eat 6! Oh, one other sidenote to that story: I had just swam over 3000 yards STRAIGHT without stopping (it was distance swim).
I still enjoy exercising today, but it is not quite that intense today. Yes, my martial arts that I do three times a week can be painful and strenuous, but it is not that intense.