Life is an ultramarathon

I just read "Extreme running", a new coffee table book by Kym McConnell and Dave Horsley. It's all about extreme races across the globe, and written in quite a sensationalist way, full of superlatives, as each race seems to be the toughest on Earth, taking place on the most hostile environment :) . I guess it's hard to tell whether it's more dangerous to be lost in the Sahara desert, attacked by a jaguar in the jungle or stuck in a blizzard by -40°C near the North Pole...


A total of 24 races are introduced, eg. 3 or 4 races per continent. For some reason, one race per continent is much more detailed than the others, including loads of anecdotes, and a subjective day-by-day race report. This creates a strange contrast with other races described somehow more objectively in only 2 to 4 pages. I guess the aim was to show the overall challenges given by each continent, but I'd prefer something a bit more consistent across the races.

Nevertheless, it's full of great pictures and definitively inspiring!

Just for fun, a list of superlatives inspired from the book:

• The northern-most: North Pole Marathon
• The southern-most: Antarctic Ice Marathon
• The highest: Everest Marathon
• The hottest: Badwater Ultramarathon
• The wettest: Jungle Marathon
• The largest: Comrades Marathon

We don't even talk about distances here, as it is only a minor factor with respect to other issues...

Ultra coffee table book.