Sunday, March 03, 2013

All Over the World

Back in 2003, when I started this blog thingy, some of my first posts were about my friend Morty as he ran his first Boston Marathon.

I've said it before, they were more like 'tweets', that is before Twitter existed.  I was doing individual posts as I followed him through his race and tracked his progress.  The entries were quite weak.

Morty, however, is not.

Last week he completed running a marathon on all seven continents!   Yes, you read that right - every single continent.

I couldn't be more proud of him.

Allegedly, he never planned to achieve this goal.  I'm not sure if he opted to complete this after running in Australia or Asia.  I joked long ago that he could only do six, as I'm sure that Antarctica did not have a marathon.  He educated me on that - as they do.

He could have educated me on Europe too.  Regardless of being in Europe for about four weeks he did not run a race at that point.  He went to Iceland last year to run up in Reykjavik.  I kind of forgot that Iceland was part of Europe. It seems removed, doesn't it?

Back when he ran in Australia, years ago, I was way impressed. The day before leaving for England's penal colony, he ran the Columbus marathon. Then he was on a long long plane ride. The day after arrival, another marathon.  Crazy!

In Africa, he ran a marathon and then scaled Kilimanjaro.  Muy impressive.

But this time, he really knocked it out of the park.

While he was to run in Antarctica and then Punta Arenas a few days later, Mother Nature did not quite cooperate, as that bitch rarely does.  Folks could not get to the South-ish Pole, though clearly the organizers built in for this - changing the run date as needed until participants could arrive.

The problem was, the Punta Arenas one didn't seem like they'd change the date accordingly.

As luck (?) would have it, weather did clear and he was able to run both marathons - within 30 hours of each other.  Oy.

...and he said it was 57 miles.  That I don't understand.  26.2 + 26.2 do not = 57.  I'm guessing there was some kind of penguin pile-up they had to detour around.

Or he might have had to run out of site if he had to go #2.  Antarctica has a no-impact policy.  Yes, runners had to carry bags and such to clean up after themselves if the need arose....or I guess, descended.

Personally, I'd have held it in at all costs just to prevent potential probable frostbite on my tukus.

It was a great goal he achieved, but the idea of frozen butt or public defecation would keep me in the hotel watching SVU re-runs.

Still - what a great goal to have and I have nothing but admiration for the man. He's had some fun and got to see some great places along the way.  Of course, he almost always gets my admiration and always my friendship.




Song by:  Electric Light Orchestra

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Speaking go goal setting perhaps there is some inspiration here for you. As for Morty, well done!

Morty said...

I love it when I make the blog! Thank jebus that goal is done. So glad to be back in civilisation with the inter webs and toilets you can put your tp into. Santiago for tonight then back to the states. Next vacation will be a beach. And not one that's frozen over with penguins and seals.

Ur-spo said...

Antartica? what an achievement.

don said...

As I prepare for my flight to Mexico for my 14th Ironman, I ask myself, "Where is my Morty?".

Erik Rubright said...

Congratulations to Morty!