If you’ve been reading awhile, you know I love, love, love watching or reading about people doing cool things.  My “stalking” lists were full of people who seem to really tackle challenges head on and inspire the rest of us to reach higher.

Two cool women have recently taken on very different challenges that have inspired and motivated me all week, and shown that you can do fun and challenging things regardless of what venue you choose.

Super Kate (aka Kate Geisen) just completed the LBL 24 Hour Adventure Race as the only female on Team Virtus.  During the race she had to bike, run, and paddle through all different kinds of terrain.  Like any 24 Hour race, she had to deal with extreme fatigue, food issues, and normal aching body parts.  But, unlike in a 24 Hour road race, Kate also had to deal with wrecking on her bike and other accidents.  Yikes!  She had to be strong AND brave – I love it! And because of Kate, I’m now going to add an Adventure Race to my bucket list.

In a completely different venue is an amazing feat by Laura Range.  On Wednesday, she began a 24 Hour run on a TREADMILL.  Yes, you are reading that correctly.  Can you imagine running for 24 Hours on a treadmill?   Talk about mental AND physical discipline! And what makes it more amazing to me is that she didn’t just phone it in, she ran over 100 miles!  Wow!  Yay, Laura!

During her run, Laura was sending funny texts to the Ultra List.  It was so entertaining and inspiring to “virtually” watch her progress as she hit milestones.  When it was over, she sent this brief report to the list explaining how she did it:

Hello All,
I just wanted to say “Thank You” so much to everyone who sent encouraging words during my 24 hours on the treadmill.  It was so great to see those messages when I opened my email to update my progress.  It was an amazing experience with my friends, coworkers and local running club, the Slugs.  There were 4 treadmills going for 24 hours and I was the only 24 hour runner.  Our local running club filled slots during the graveyard shifts ranging from 3-12 hour and employees of the hospital filled the other slots in 15 minute blocks.  My coworkers decorated my treadmill and I always had tons of support.  The charity event raised almost $4000!  My feet got bad about 4-5am and my stomach acted badly at that time too.  But my stomach rallied quickly, thank goodness.  I ran/walked with just socks and barefooted on and off to try to help the blisters and swelling of my feet.  My feet are the  pain complaint during the event.  My feet feel like they
have been burnt.  But that will heal quickly.  I officially made 101.2 miles.  I have run five 100 mile trail races and have yet to go under or near 24 hours.  But they are two different animals:)  My son and mom came to see me finish and considering it was a treadmill event, I enjoyed the event and may even do it again next year:)
I attached a link with a few pics taken during the event if you are so inclined to look.
Thank You Again,
Laura
https://picasaweb.google.com/Justrunoutside/24HourTreadmillChallenge?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCJjuroiMl6zHSQ&feat=directlink

These are the type of women who inspire me to get out there and keep challenging myself.  This weekend I need to do a 5 hour trail run in preparation for Western States, and I will keep their inspiring stories in my head for when I want to call it a day because I’m tired or afraid I’m going to get eaten by a mountain lion.  Have an inspired weekend!

What are you going to do this weekend?

Happy Running!

Tagged as: 24 hour treadmill run, Adventure Racing, Kate Geisen, Laura Range, LBL Challennge, Team Vitrus