24 incredible hours of running

I just can't let this go without comment.  The International Association of Ultra Runners just held their 24 hour world championship.  Shingo Inoue of Japan won, running 273.708 kilometers in 24 hours.  That's a pace of 8:28 minutes/mile, about the pace I ran my fastest marathon (3:35:32).  To keep up that pace for 24 hours boggles the mind.  Scott Jurek, who has won Western States 7 times and Badwater twice, took second, running 266.677 km, setting an American 24 hour record.  Amy Palmiero-Winters, the first amputee to ever make the American team, was the fourth female American finisher, running 199.544 km.  (I saw her at White Rock last year.)

Jurek celebrates breaking the American record.

It must take a huge amount of mental toughness to finish this type of race.  These races are typically run on a short loop; this one was 1.25 km.  The sheer monotony of the course must be enough to drive many runners nuts.  As crazy as this race sounds, it has a strange appeal to me.  Maybe one of these days I'll run one.

Article here.
Official results here.