I actually have met some people along the way who have undertaken this crazy World Marathon Challenge. Some did it for charity, some did it for themselves, some did it to say they did it. It was conceived as a means of doing seven marathons on seven continents in seven days. It’s a shortcut (sorta — I mean, you ARE still running seven marathon in seven days on seven continents!) to the Seven Continents Club and a fast-pass to Guinness Book of World Records stature for fastest to run a marathon on all seven continents. It’s a helluva thing to do — a logistical and physical nightmare with an epic story to whip out at cocktail parties. But it also has an epic price tag: 36,000 EUR with a 1000 EUR discount if you pay in full at the time of booking.
At current exchange rates, that means this trip would run me $38,977.75 in US Dollars (as I’d pay the full amount up front). I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was tempted but that cost? That cost is enough to temper the temptation, to irrevocably beat the challenge swords into common sense plowshares.
As I prepare to run my seventh continent, I’m content in the level of craziness I’ve shown time and again with my own personal running challenges. It hasn’t been cheap, to be sure. But I’ve had a great time and seen a lot of places. While the World Marathon Challenge itinerary supposedly affords business class airfare between the destinations, it all feels tantamount to running the Amazing Race — sure, you’re dashing through these places and you’re seeing 26.2 miles of them by foot, but I don’t know if you get to really appreciate the experience of being there. It’s all a mad rush and while I have occasionally done an in and out travel trip to an exotic locale, I do try and pack in some sort of cultural experience, be it a world’s largest tourist trap item or local cuisine in some dive bar that only the locals know about.
Still, it would be something to do — to hit seven continents in seven days and to run a marathon on each and every one? That’s a story to be told, to be sure. But I can think of a lot more stories I could write with close to $40,000. So I’ll cheer the folks I have known or may come across who undertake the challenge, and I may even be a bit jealous of the experience. But I’ve got plenty of my own adventures in my pocket and on my docket.
I am reminded as I close this post of one of my favorite movie quotes. It’s said by Paul Newman as Sidney J. Mussburger in The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) and goes like this:
“Sure, sure, the wheel turns, the music plays, and our spin ain’t over yet.”
And so happily and perhaps haphazardly my turn continues. And I don’t think I’d have it any other way.