I just finished my second fun run in my life! To indroduce you a little bit further, I should mention Matt Mahoney. I´ve never met him but based on what he wrote and is still writing on his website, I think he is a really nice guy. It happens, that he also has a fantastic hobby: running. He did some pretty impressive runs, not to even mention his 15 starts at a particular nice run in Tennessee. But this might be another day´s topic.
Matt is also directing some running events. In addition to the pretty impressive one´s in the real world (Wickham Park Marathon and 50, 100, and 200 miles fun runs) he also started the longest race of the world: The Million Mile Ultra Run
“With 1000, 10,000, and 100,000 Mile Fun Runs”
“When: Starts 0000 GMT, 1 Jan. 1997. In the US, that’s 7:00 PM EST or 4:00 PM PST, Dec, 31, 1996. You may enter at any time and (if you’ve kept a log) enter your miles retroactively back to the start. However, the winner is the first to cross the finish line AND submit his/her miles.
“Where: Anywhere you want, as long as each day’s walk/run is measured and recorded.
Why: Nobody has ever run 1,000,000 miles. The record as of 1997 was held by Douglas Alistair Gordon Pirie of Great Britain (b. 1931), who ran 216,000 miles from 1941 to 1981 [Guiness Book of Records, 1992]. Herb Fred (b. 1929) ran 252,026 miles as of Aug. 31, 2015.
Rules: Cutoff for all races is 100 years, on Dec. 31, 2096. To complete 1,000,000 miles, you will have to average 27.4 miles per day, although there are no intermediate cutoffs.
All distance covered must be on foot and must be on measured courses of your own choosing. You may measure the courses yourself. You are NOT required to have your runs officially timed or witnessed, although you may wish to do so if you want to sumbit your results as an official record.
If you don’t know a distance exactly, you may use the lower limit of the estimated distance. For example, if your run is about 12-15 miles, you can count 12 miles.
Submit the number of miles or kilometers run during each month using the form below. You may submit mileage more than once a month if you like, submitting your final totals at the end of each month. Each entry replaces the previous one.”
For some reasons this fantastic race is not really popular. The number of runners who are actually submitting their distances is not high. Maybe it is because there is no chance to finish this race? I don´t know.
I really like those kind of stupid and funny rankings, so I entered all my recorded miles starting September 2010 and I just completed the 2nd fun run: 10.000 miles. It took me almost 6 years… I´ll probably not be able to finish the 3rd and last fun run, so this might be an excellent moment to stop running. Isn´t it? But wait: some month ago I came across another fun run. The only real other fun run out there worth thinking about. Somewhere in Tennessee. That very one which is only 60 miles long (althoug rumor has it it might be around 80 miles). That very one which is almost impossible to finish. That very one which is set on the very limit of human capabilties. Is it still allowed to dream?
Thanks Matt. You´re doing a great job!