In 2002 I decided I needed a challenge...after 13 years of fitness and life goals such as training for entry at the Royal Marines Commando Training Centre at 15-16 only to get injured and have to come out a short time into training, to playing football at a semi professional level at 20 to training to become a Wing Chun Kung Fu teacher at the age of 24..I had never cut corners in pushing myself to extremes...so it was that in 2001 I began 6 months of almost daily training in preparation for the 2002 London Marathon...only to get a knee injury from too much road running (it was the foot and mouth epidemic in Sussex so no off road runs) 10 days before the race...strapped it up and cracked on and completed my first marathon in 4 hours 46mins...
Two further half marathons followed (Hastings and Brighton with times under 2 hours)..and here I am again at 37 and a father of 3 inspired to push myself past my limits again...by training for an Ultra-Marathon event over the South Downs on 26th June 2011...strongly inspired by the man?..machine?..who knows? above...Dean Karnazes..
In 1976, as a high school freshman, Karnazes joined the cross country team under Benner Cummings. Cummings’ running theory was that running is about finding your inner peace; his motto was "run with your heart." That season, Karnazes was awarded "Most Inspirational" team member. Karnazes also ran his first endurance event that year, a fundraising run on a track for underprivileged children, finishing in just under six hours and raising a dollar a lap from his sponsors. While most students ran only 10-15 laps around the track, he ran 105.
Karnazes was not compatible with his high school track coach and stopped running for fifteen years. He resumed running on his 30th birthday with an impromptu all-night, 30-mile trek in his underwear and old lawn-mowing shoes.
Dean's running accomplishments are many and varied including 50 marathons in 50 American states in 50 consecutive days...148 miles on a treadmill in 24 hours...and 350 miles in under 81 hours without stopping!!
He is also about to embark on a run across America!!...INSPIRATION indeed!!!
Puts my 28 mile off road Ultra to shame but for me its a massive CHALLENGE!!..Please follow my progress, ups, downs, trials, trails and tribulations over the next 4 months.
No comments:
Post a Comment