For me, I’ve only been to certain places because I was running a marathon, otherwise I’d never have seen them. It’s a great way to find out about people and culture without being a traditional tourist.

From the Adventure Blog:

Running in foreign lands can also offer a good grasp on the country’s environment, whether it’s Easter Island, Mt. Kilimanjaro or Greenland. You could even be smack in the middle of a herd of gazelles, attempting to escape being some predator’s afternoon snack. Sylvester experienced this firsthand.

“My wife and I once ran a marathon in Kenya and camped in the brush the night before the race,” he recalls. “At one point, I was all alone on the path, and I rounded the curb to see two big elephant bulls with their tusks shining and trunks raised in anger. It was fantastic.”

I know some Team Geared Up readers have been to incredible places, maybe we should make a list of our own of incredible ones: I’ll start off with Connemara and Jungfrau…….

-Aisling-

Image of Tenzing Hillary Everest Marathon from Forbes List.

SINGAPORE (Team Geared Up) - Fearghal from revolutioncycle.ie emailed to say Mark Beaumont became the fastest person to circumnavigate the globe by bicycle.

Taking only 195 days his whirlwind tour du monde began last August and covered the requisite 18,000 miles through 20 countries.

Fearghal’s post links to the BBC news story

Beating the previous record of 276 days the 25-year-old crossed the finish line at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris at 1430 GMT after an 18,000-mile journey which began on 5 August last year. He endured floods and road rage, and was knocked off his bike in the American state of Louisiana by an elderly motorist who drove through a red light.

If you think about it, it’s not that long really. 195 days is a very short time if you consider all the things you’d see on the way.

-Robin.