You all oughtta read this book. Wow.

[quote="DeezNutz":1bhsqv5o]Is the psycho dude that decides he wants to run some nights after drinking at the bar and then busts out 20 miles or so?[/quote:1bhsqv5o]
Actually, he did that just once, on his 30th birthday. Got lit, damn near cheated on his wife, walked home, took off his pants (he had shorts on underneath), put on his tennis shoes and took off. He knocked out 30+ miles that night. Then, somehow, it became some sort of crazy fucking addiction and now he is one of the elite long distance runners out there. The first time he ran the Western States run (100 miles, off road, and up and down HUGE mountains), he placed 15th out of over 300 entrants. He also won the Badwater Ultramarathon in 2004.

From Wikipedia -

128.75 miles in 24 hours on treadmill in NY (2007)
350 miles in 80 hours and 44 minutes without stopping (2005)
North Face Endurance 50: fifty marathons in fifty U.S. states in fifty consecutive days
Inaugural South Pole Marathon in running shoes
148 miles in 24 hours on a treadmill (2004)[8]
Single-handedly completed the 199 mile Providian Saturn Relay six times
1000-Mile/10 Day Buckleholder at the Western States Endurance Run[9] (i.e., better than ten twenty-four hour finishes. Note: Karnazes current count is 11 finishes in less than twenty-four hours each)

Best part of the book is when he called the organizer of the 199 mile charity relay race where teams of 12 people compete in it. He said, "I don't have eleven friends to run it with me, I'm going solo.". The race director said, "Suuuuure you are.".

I highly recommend this book. GREAT reading.